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Bible Study Guides – The Second Advent Church Rejects the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, Part 11

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March 6, 2005 – March 12, 2005

Memory Verse

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24.

Suggested Reading: Testimonies, vol. 8, 104–106; 247–251.

Introduction

In this lesson, we will conclude the study on the second advent church’s rejection of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy.

The following quotation had reference to the 1901 General Conference session: “One day at noon I [Ellen White] was writing of the work that might have been done at the last General Conference if the men in positions of trust had followed the will and way of God. Those who have had great light have not walked in the light. The meeting was closed, and the break was not made. Men did not humble themselves before the Lord as they should have done, and the Holy Spirit was not imparted.

“I had written thus far when I lost consciousness, and I seemed to be witnessing a scene in Battle Creek.

“We were assembled in the auditorium of the Tabernacle. Prayer was offered, a hymn was sung, and prayer was again offered. Most earnest supplication was made to God. The meeting was marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The work went deep, and some present were weeping aloud. . . .

“The speaker turned to those who had been praying, and said: ‘We have something to do. We must confess our sins, and humble our hearts before God.’ He made heart-broken confessions and then stepped up to several of the brethren, one after another, and extended his hand, asking forgiveness. Those to whom he spoke sprang to their feet, making confession and asking forgiveness. . . . The spirit of confession spread through the entire congregation. . . .

“No one seemed to be too proud to make heartfelt confession, and those who led in this work were the ones who had influence, but had not before had courage to confess their sins.

“There was rejoicing such as never before had been heard in the Tabernacle.

“Then I aroused from my unconsciousness, and for a while could not think where I was. My pen was still in my hand. The words were spoken to me: ‘This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.’ [Emphasis in original.] I thought of where we might have been had thorough work been done at the last General Conference, and an agony of disappointment came over me as I realized that what I had witnessed was not a reality.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 104–106.

1 According to the above reference, what was the Lord’s assessment of the attitudes of the leading men following the 1901 General Conference session? What similar experience did Jesus have with the Jewish church? John 5:39, 40.

2 What was not received because of the attitude of these men? See the Jewish similar experience in John 3:3–12.

3 What work needed to be done that was not done at the 1901 General Conference? Compare the experience of the Jews in John 12:40–43.

4 What great disaster occurred in 1902 because the leading men did not forsake their sins and humble their hearts at the 1901 General Conference? What did Jesus say would happen to the Jews because they refused to repent? Luke 19:41–44.

note: “Today I [Ellen White] received a letter from Elder Daniells regarding the destruction of the Review office by fire. . . . I was not surprised by the sad news, for in the visions of the night I have seen an angel standing with a sword as of fire stretched over Battle Creek. Once, in the daytime, while my pen was in my hand, I lost consciousness, and it seemed as if this sword of flame were turning first in one direction and then in another. Disaster seemed to follow disaster because God was dishonored by the devising of men to exalt and glorify themselves.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 97.

“At the General Conference, held in Battle Creek in 1901, the Lord gave His people evidence that He was calling for reformation. Minds were convicted, and hearts were touched; but thorough work was not done. If stubborn hearts had then broken in penitence before God, there would have been seen one of the greatest manifestations of the power of God that has ever been seen. But God was not honored. The testimonies of His Spirit were not heeded. Men did not separate from the practices that were in decided opposition to the principles of truth and righteousness, which should ever be maintained in the Lord’s work.” Ibid., 97, 98.

5 What was God’s purpose or desire in the burning of the two institutions in Battle Creek in 1902? What similar appeals to the Jews did the Lord make? Isaiah 55:5, 7; Malachi 3:7; Acts 3:19, 20.

note: “When the Battle Creek Sanitarium was destroyed, Christ gave Himself to defend the lives of men and women. In this destruction God was appealing to His people to return to Him. And in the destruction of the Review and Herald office, and the saving of life, He makes a second appeal to them. He desires them to see that the miracle-working power of the Infinite has been exercised to save life, that every worker may have opportunity to repent and be converted.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 102.

6 Why did Ellen White repeat, at the 1903 General Conference, the same vision that she presented at the 1901 General Conference? Why does God give repeated calls to repentance? 11 Corinthians 13:1–5.

comment: At the 1903 General Conference, in March and April, Ellen White repeated the theme of this vision, which revealed what might have been done. Here are a few of the words that she wrote: “In every institution among us there needs to be a reformation. This is the message that at the last General Conference I bore as the word of the Lord. At that meeting I carried a very heavy burden, and I have carried it ever since. We did not gain the victory that we might have gained at that meeting. Why?—. . . There were those at that meeting who did not see the work that needed to be done. If they had confessed their sins, if they had made a break, if they had taken their stand on vantage ground, the power of God would have gone through the meeting and we should have had a Pentecostal season.” The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.

7 What is the standard of character development that God requires of His people? Revelation 14:4, 5, 14; 11 Timothy 2:22; 1 Peter 1:22.

note: “God is in earnest with us. If the heart is pure, there will be purity of action and nobility of purpose in all the work done. Every mind is to be cleansed, every heart purified.” The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.

comment: The statements written between 1879 and 1903, in last week’s and this week’s lessons, reveal a trend in the leaders to reject the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and to mold the work of the church according to their own ideas. By 1888, Ellen White refers to this attitude of rejection as “satanic,” and after the 1901 General Conference the observation is that no change was made. At the 1903 General Conference, on April 1, Ellen White referred to the January 3, 1903, vision and said that there was still no change in the attitudes of the leaders and ministers, even after the Review building was burned.

We see that as the Jews rejected Jesus and His word in the first advent movement, the leaders, ministers, and people rejected the testimonies of God’s spirit in the second advent movement.

8 Who does God say the people of our day are like? To see the similar development in the Jews, see Acts 7:51–54.

note: “When the Jews took the first step in the rejection of Christ, they took a dangerous step. When afterward evidence accumulated that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, they were too proud to acknowledge that they had erred. So with the people of our day who reject the truth. They do not take time to investigate candidly, with earnest prayer, the evidences of the truth, and they oppose that which they do not understand. Just like the Jews, they take it for granted they have all the truth, and feel a sort of contempt for anyone who should suppose they had more correct ideas than themselves of what is truth.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 169, 170.

comment: As Jesus began an independent work among another class of people in Galilee, so in the second advent movement, God used Edward A. Sutherland and Percy T. Magan to begin an independent ministry in the South that was not to come under the control of the conference.

note: In writing about this, Ellen White stated: “When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202, 203.

9 In the above reference, to whom was the Madison school to be amenable? For the biblical principle, see Proverbs 3:6; James 1:5–8.

comment: It is clear from this statement that Sutherland and Magan could not work under the direction of the conference and still be amenable to God. In both the Old and New Testaments, God instructs His people to seek their counsel and instruction from Him.

10 What prophecy did Ellen White make concerning the church in 1904? What counsel given in Galatians 6:7, 8 would we do well to heed? See a similar experience that developed in the Jewish church in Matthew 23:37-39.

note: “Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 250.

11 Who, like the Jews, are in danger of rejecting the truth at the present time? For the example of the Jewish experience in rejecting the truth, see John 5:40; 12:37–41.

note: “Unless there is less of self, and far more of the Holy Spirit to take control of the minds and hearts of men who have stood in the foremost rank, there will be a failure on their part to walk out in harmony with the opening providences of God; they will question and quibble over any light that the Lord may send, and will turn away from the teachings of Christ, confiding in themselves, and trusting in their supposed knowledge of what is truth. As the Jews refused the light of the world, so many of those who claim to believe the present truth will refuse light which the Lord will send to His people.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 174.

comment: The Jews had the Light of life in their midst but rejected it. (John 3:19–21; 8:12.) As Jesus lived among the people during the first advent and was not accepted, so the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy live among God’s professed people today, and are not accepted.

Bible Study Guides – The Second Advent Church Rejects the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, Part 1

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February 27, 2005 – March 5, 2005

Memory Verse

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39, 40.

Suggested Reading: John 5; Testimonies, vol. 5, 62–84; vol. 8, 104–106.

Introduction

Before beginning this lesson, let us take time for a little review. In The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, 725, 726 and the Review and Herald, December 16, 1892, we are told that there were two events during the first advent that had their counterpart in the second advent movement—the first cleansing of the temple with the second angel’s message (Revelation 14:8) and the second cleansing of the temple with the loud cry of the third angel (Revelation 18:1, 2).

The similarity of the trials and attitudes between the people at the time of the first cleansing of the temple and the time of the second angel’s message were studied in previous lessons. Last week we studied the trials and attitudes of the Sanhedrin—the priests and rulers—toward the ministry of Jesus. Because of their hatred of Jesus and His Word, Jesus left them to begin an independent work among another class of people. In this week’s lesson we will study the trials and attitudes of the second advent church toward the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. It is the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that stand as the audible voice of God in the second advent movement.

Let us keep in mind the purpose of our study. “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ—how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

Some Bible texts may identify trials and attitudes of ancient Israel that have their counterpart in the Spirit of Prophecy reference cited with the question.

1 What is true of the second advent movement that was also true of the first advent movement? See Luke 19:41–44.

note: “Sufficient light was given to the Jewish people so that they might have known ‘the time of their visitation.’ [Luke 19:44.] . . . From Christ, the Light of the world, shone forth the clear, bright beams of His Father’s glory. Yet the Jews comprehended it not.

“Thus it is in our day. The light of truth is shining upon us as clearly as it shone upon the Jewish people, but the hearts of men are as hard and unimpressible as in the days of Christ. . . . Many who claim to be standing in the light are in darkness and know it not. They have so enshrouded themselves in unbelief that they call darkness light, and light darkness. They are ignorant of that which they condemn and oppose. But their ignorance is not such as God will excuse, for He has given them light, and they reject it.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 408.

2 What similar attitude of the Jews during the first advent was manifest at the General Conference held at Minneapolis? See John 5:39, 40.

note: “A woe is pronounced upon all such unbelief and criticism as was revealed in Minneapolis and as was revealed in Battle Creek. By their fruits ye shall know them. Evidence at every step that God was at work has not changed the manifest attitude of those who in the very beginning pursued a course of unbelief which was an offense to God. With this barrier they themselves had erected, they—like the Jews—were seeking something to strengthen their unbelief and make it appear they were right. Therefore they could not drink in the great salvation that the Lord proffered them. The riches of divine grace they refused.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 369, 370.

comment: The Jews were diligent students of the Scriptures, but when Christ came among them, they did not accept Him because of their unbelief. When they rejected Christ, they rejected the foundation of their faith. The Christian world of today, who claim faith in Christ yet reject the Law of God, the Bible, and the Spirit of Prophecy, are making a similar mistake as did the deceived Jews.

3 When was this attitude of unbelief and rejection of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy instruction first recognized as a serious problem in the church of the second advent movement? What type of rejection occurred in Israel? Jeremiah 36:20–26.

note: “For years the Lord has been presenting the situation of the church before you. Again and again reproofs and warnings have been given. October 23, 1879, the Lord gave me a most impressive testimony in regard to the church in Battle Creek. . . . I [Ellen White] had no confidence in the course which many were pursuing, for they were doing the very things which the Lord had warned them not to do.

“That God who knows their spiritual condition declares: They have cherished evil and separated from Me. They have gone astray, every one of them. Not one is guiltless. They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters. . . .

“Many excused their disregard of the testimonies by saying: ‘Sister White is influenced by her husband; the testimonies are molded by his spirit and judgment.’ . . . Have I not a knowledge of the state of the church, when the Lord has presented their case before me again and again for years? Repeated warnings have been given, yet there has been no decided change.

“I saw that the frown of God was upon His people for their assimilation to the world. . . .

“Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 63, 64.

4 List three things from the note above that God had identified as serious problems that caused His professed people to be separated from Him. What did God’s people do in Jeremiah’s time? Jeremiah 2:11–13, 17–25.

comment: In the first advent we saw that it was the rejection of Jesus that separated the leaders and people from Him. In the second advent movement, it is the rejection of the instruction given in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that separated the ministers and the people from God by 1879. Three years later the following warning was written concerning the second advent church.

5 Describe the warning that was sent to the second advent church in 1882. What is the type of this prophecy about being weighed in the balance? Daniel 5:27.

note: “The church will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. If her moral character and spiritual state do not correspond with the benefits and blessings God has conferred upon her, she will be found wanting. The light has been shining clear and definite upon her pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. If her talents are unimproved, if her fruit is not perfect before God, if her light has become darkness, she is indeed found wanting. . . . We profess to know God, and to believe the truth, but in works deny Him. Our deeds are directly adverse to the principles of truth and righteousness, by which we profess to be governed.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 83, 84.

comment: If a tree does not bear good fruit, it will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:17–23.)

6 What did God say concerning the condition of the church by 1885 that was similar to the spiritual condition in ancient Israel? See Nehemiah 9:32–35.

note: “Like ancient Israel, the church has dishonored her God by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and Christ has departed. His Spirit has been quenched in the church.” Review and Herald, May 5, 1885.

7 In the reference above, what is said of the relationship of Christ and the Holy Spirit to the church? What is the promise given to the followers of Christ? John 14:15–18.

8 What is the only hope that remains for the church? How does the Bible make it clear that this was the same standard in the apostolic church? Matthew 5:48; Colossians 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; Hebrews 12:14.

note: “Their only hope of salvation is to separate from the world, and zealously maintain their separate, holy, and peculiar character. . . .

“Perfection, holiness, nothing short of this, would give them success in carrying out the principles he has given them.” Review and Herald, May 5, 1885.

9 Describe the attitude of the men who were holding positions of trust and molding the work after their own similitude in 1888. How were the Jews cultivating hatred against Jesus and working with Satan? John 5:16–18; 8:42–47.

note: “The perils of the last days are upon us. Satan takes the control of every mind that is not decidedly under the control of the Spirit of God. Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this Satanic work at Minneapolis [1888]. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it the more, because it was a testimony against them. . . . They went on in their own spirit, filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings, as did the Jews. . . . Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude, as far as they possibly could.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 79, 80. [Emphasis in original.]

10 How did God describe these ministers who would not enthrone truth in their hearts? For a biblical type, see Matthew 15:1–9.

note: “Unless the truth is enthroned in the heart, and a thorough transition takes place from darkness to light, those who handle sacred responsibilities are ministers of darkness, blind leaders of the blind. ‘Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.’ [Jude 1:12.] God requires that every soul that names His name shall have the truth enthroned in the heart.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 81.

comment: Jesus used similar phraseology in Matthew 15:14 and 23:16, first part, to describe the religious leaders. These attitudes are not presented to criticize the leaders or ministers, but to reveal how God views the condition of the church and the direction it is taking. We need to understand the similarities in the attitudes of the people in the two advent movements, so we do not reject the truth.

11 What did the Lord reveal to John the Revelator and to Ellen White concerning the attitude of the people toward the Spirit of Prophecy? For a biblical type, see John 5:47; 11 Chronicles 36:14–16.

note: “I [Ellen White] have been shown that unbelief in the testimonies has been steadily increasing as the people backslide from God. It is all through our ranks, all over the field. But few know what our churches are to experience. I saw that at present we are under divine forbearance, but no one can say how long this will continue. No one knows how great the mercy that has been exercised toward us. But few are heartily devoted to God. There are only a few who, like the stars in a tempestuous night, shine here and there among the clouds.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 76.

12 What will happen to those who have yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs when the test will come to every soul? For a biblical type, see John 6:60–66; 11 Thessalonians 2:10–12.

note: “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 81.

13 What is the only safety for God’s faithful people? Ephesians 6:12–17; 1 John 2:15–17.

note: “Our only safety is to stand as God’s peculiar people. We must not yield one inch to the customs and fashions of this degenerate age, but stand in moral independence, making no compromise with its corrupt and idolatrous practices.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 78.

Food for Life – Eggplant Spread

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Eternal life is the receiving of the living elements in the Scriptures, the doing of the will of God. This is what is meant by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. It is the privilege of all to partake of the bread of heaven by studying the Word, and thus gain spiritual sinew and muscle.

“Each one must appropriate the blessing to his own soul, or he will not be fed. . . . You know you would not be nourished by seeing a well-spread table, and by others eating. We would starve if we did not partake of physical nourishment, and we shall lose our spiritual strength and vitality if we do not feed on spiritual bread. . . .

“The table has been spread, and Christ invites you to the feast. Shall we stand back, refusing bounties, and declaring, ‘He does not mean this for me?’ We used to sing a hymn that described a feast where a happy household gathered to partake of the bounties of the board at a kind father’s invitation. While the happy children gathered at the table, there stood a hungry beggar child at the threshold. She was invited to come in; but sadly she turned away, exclaiming, ‘I have no father there.’ Will you take this position as Jesus invites you in? Oh! if you have a Father in the courts above, I entreat you to reveal the fact. He wants to make you a partaker of His rich bounties and blessings. All who come with the confiding love of a little child will find a Father there.” The Faith I Live By, 22.

Eggplant Spread  –  This is a favorite Romanian recipe.

5 to 7 large eggplants

1 large onion, finely diced

1 medium-sized bulb garlic, finely diced

1/2 cup fresh parsley, diced

Salt to taste

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise (optional)

Bake the eggplants in the oven at 350 degrees until they are very soft (45 to 60 minutes). When cooled, remove the peels. Chop the eggplant pulp very finely, until mushy. Add onion, garlic, parsley, salt to taste, and olive oil. If the flavor seems to be too strong, add mayonnaise and mix well together. Spread on bread or toast and enjoy!

Bianca Lazor, a homemaker and mother, is an English to Romanian language translator. Originally from Romania, she now lives in Hawaii with her husband, John, and son, Joshua. She may be contacted by e-mail at: paradise7@hawaiian.net, or by telephone at: 808-965-0222.

Ask the Pastor – The Unconverted Spouse

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Question:

What did Peter mean when he said, in 1 Peter 3:1, 2, “Likewise, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation [coupled] with fear”?

Answer:

One thing that we need to remember, when we read counsel such as this, is the fact that when people are converted, they will experience trials in their lives. We are not removed from relationships that exist between family members and husbands and wives. Where one is converted and the other is not, special care needs to be given to present the gospel in all of its power, so a loved one will experience the witness and respond.

There are few experiences more difficult than to be united in marriage to an unbeliever. The Christian young man or young woman should never go voluntarily into such a union. Paul’s counsel surely reflects the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he says, in 11 Corinthians 6:14, 15: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for . . . what communion hath light with darkness? . . . or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

But where one member of an already formed family is brought to know the Lord while the other remains in the darkness of unbelief, serious misunderstandings and perplexing circumstances can arise.

If the wife has been converted, while the husband has not been, special wisdom and grace are called for on her part to draw the husband to know the Lord. If she takes a superior attitude toward her unconverted husband, she will only stir up his opposition to the truth and make her circumstances miserable. She is counseled here, by Peter, to be in subjection to her own husband. She is to manifest such grace and humility of spirit that even though he resents the Word that is being presented to him, it is by her exceptional behavior and the beauty of her Christian character that he is won to Christ.

We have the saying that actions speak louder than words. This is a principle of Scripture. A whiney, dominating woman will drive her husband further from God instead of drawing him to Christ. But a gentle, gracious lady, whose life is characterized by purity and whose adorning is not simply that which is outward but which is inward, will have a great influence over even a godless husband. The goal of the purposes of a loving wife should be to win her unbelieving husband.

I have never read in Scripture where force or nagging ever won anyone to the Lord. But there are many instances where a meek and submissive spirit has won multitudes to the Lord. This is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The world works in just the opposite way. Force is the order of the day. This is why, in the issue of the Sunday law, force will be used to try to control the conscience.

The same principle is to be used where the wife is the unbeliever and the husband is a believer. Kindness, patience, care, and love are mighty when applied to the marriage relationship to win the heart of the unbelieving mate.

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life. If you have a question you would like Pastor Mike to answer, e-mail it to: landmarks@stepstolife.org or mail it to: LandMarks, Steps to Life, P. O. Box 782828, Wichita, KS 67278.

Restoring the Temple: Physiology of Digestion

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Respect paid to the proper treatment of the stomach will be rewarded in clearness of thought and strength of mind. Your digestive organs will not be prematurely worn out to testify against you. We are to show that we appreciate our God-given intelligence by eating and studying and working wisely. . . . We are to appreciate the light God has given on health reform, by word and practice reflecting clear light to others upon this subject.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 101.

“God holds you responsible to obey the light He has given you on health reform.” Ibid., 102.

Clogs the Machinery

“You indulge your appetite by eating more food than your system can convert into good blood. It is sin to be intemperate in the quantity of food eaten, even if the quality is unobjectionable. Many feel that if they do not eat meat and the grosser articles of food, they may eat of simple food until they cannot well eat more. This is a mistake. Many professed health reformers are nothing less than gluttons. They lay upon the digestive organs so great a burden that the vitality of the system is exhausted in the effort to dispose of it. It also has a depressing influence upon the intellect; for the brain nerve power is called upon to assist the stomach in its work.

“Overeating, even of the simplest food, benumbs the sensitive nerves of the brain, and weakens its vitality. Overeating has a worse effect upon the system than overworking; the energies of the soul are more effectually prostrated by intemperate eating than by intemperate working.

“The digestive organs should never be burdened with a quantity or quality of food which it will tax the system to appropriate. All that is taken into the stomach, above what the system can use to convert into good blood, clogs the machinery; for it cannot be made into either flesh or blood, and its presence burdens the liver, and produces a morbid condition of the system.” Ibid., 102, 103.

Digestion Aided by Moderate Exercise

“Exercise is important to digestion, and to a healthy condition of body and mind. You need physical exercise. . . . Healthy, active exercise is what you need. This will invigorate the mind. Neither study nor violent exercise should be engaged in immediately after a full meal; this would be a violation of the laws of the system. Immediately after eating there is a strong draft upon the nervous energy. The brain force is called into active exercise to assist the stomach; therefore, when the mind or body is taxed heavily after eating, the process of digestion is hindered.” Ibid., 103.

Aided by Pure Air

“The influence of pure, fresh air is to cause the blood to circulate healthfully through the system. It refreshes the body, and tends to render it strong and healthy, while at the same time its influence is decidedly felt upon the mind, imparting a degree of composure and serenity. It excites the appetite, and renders the digestion of food more perfect, and induces sound and sweet sleep.” Ibid., 104.

Avoid Very Hot or Cold Food

“The stomach is greatly injured by a large quantity of hot food and hot drink. Thus the throat and digestive organs, and through them the other organs of the body, are enfeebled. . . .

“Food should not be eaten very hot or very cold. If food is cold, the vital force of the stomach is drawn upon in order to warm it before digestion can take place. Cold drinks are injurious for the same reason; while the free use of hot drinks is debilitating. . . .

“Many make a mistake in drinking cold water with their meals. Food should not be washed down. Taken with meals, water diminishes the flow of saliva; and the colder the water, the greater the injury to the stomach. Ice water or ice lemonade, taken with meals, will arrest digestion until the system has imparted sufficient warmth to the stomach to enable it to take up its work again. Masticate slowly, and allow the saliva to mingle with the food.

“The more liquid there is taken into the stomach with the meals, the more difficult it is for the food to digest; for the liquid must first be absorbed.” Ibid., 106.

Caution to Busy People

“Take time to eat, and do not crowd into the stomach a great variety of foods at one meal. To eat hurriedly of several kinds of food at a meal is a serious mistake.

“In order to secure healthy digestion, food should be eaten slowly.” Ibid., 107.

Limit Variety

“For those who can use them, good vegetables, prepared in a healthful manner, are better than soft mushes or porridge. Fruits used with thoroughly cooked bread two or three days old will be more healthful than fresh bread. This, with slow and thorough mastication, will furnish all that the system requires.” Ibid., 108.

“Do not have too great a variety at a meal; three or four dishes are a plenty. At the next meal you can have a change. . . .

“There should not be many kinds at any one meal, but all meals should not be composed of the same kinds of food without variation. Food should be prepared with simplicity, yet with a nicety which will invite the appetite.” Ibid., 109, 110.

War in the Stomach

“Disturbance is created by improper combinations of food; fermentation sets in; the blood is contaminated and the brain confused.” Ibid., 110.

“It is impossible for the brain to do its best work when the digestive powers are abused. Many eat hurriedly of various kinds of food, which set up a war in the stomach, and thus confuse the brain. . . .

“When fruit and bread, together with a variety of other foods that do not agree, are crowded into the stomach at one meal, what can we expect but that a disturbance will be created?” Ibid., 111.

Fruits and Vegetables

“There should not be a great variety at any one meal, for this encourages overeating, and causes indigestion.

“It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal. If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause distress, and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to have the fruit at one meal, and the vegetables at another.” Ibid., 112.

Sugar and Milk

“Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided. . . .

“Sugar and the milk combined are liable to cause fermentation in the stomach, and are thus harmful.

“The less that condiments and desserts are placed upon our tables, the better it will be for all who partake of the food. All mixed and complicated foods are injurious to the health of human beings. Dumb animals would never eat such a mixture as is often placed in the human stomach. . . .” Ibid., 113.

Afflict the Stomach, Afflict the Soul

“If men and women would only remember how greatly they afflict the soul when they afflict the stomach, and how deeply Christ is dishonored when the stomach is abused, they would be brave and self-denying, giving the stomach opportunity to recover its healthy action. While sitting at the table we may do medical missionary work by eating and drinking to the glory of God.” Ibid., 111.

Nature Nugget: The Mangrove Rivulus

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The Mangrove Rivulus is a small killifish (a family of numerous small, oviparous fishes much used as bait and in mosquito control) found in the tropical and subtropical portions of the western Atlantic/Caribbean Basin from central Florida south through the West Indies and Caribbean to Brazil. It is strictly a coastal species occurring in salt and brackish habitats and rarely in freshwater. Its range closely parallels that of red mangrove forests, which is its preferred habitat, where it occupies marginal and ephemeral (temporarily flooded) bodies of water such as stagnant, seasonal ponds, sloughs, and mosquito ditches. It also occurs in similar habitats away from the mangroves in elevated marsh habitats above the intertidal zone, especially in microhabitats such as the burrows of the great land crab. The crab burrows provide refuge for the Mangrove Rivulus during the dry season when seasonal pools of water dry up. Up to twenty-six small individuals have been found in a single crab burrow, but one or two per burrow is the usual number found.

Tolerating the extremes of temperature and salinity found in these habitats, the Mangrove Rivulus is one of the few fishes that can survive here. It can tolerate salinities from 0–68 parts per thousand and temperatures ranging from 7–38 degrees Celsius. It also can tolerate low oxygen levels and high sulfide levels that are produced in these habitats from decaying leaf litter, which would kill most fish species. The Mangrove Rivulus is also amphibious and frequently travels across land during rains to reach pools of water or crab burrows. It will also leave drying up bodies of water and waters that are too low in oxygen or too high in sulfides and bury itself in moist debris. It is capable of surviving out of water in this moist situation for up to 60 days. It is able to do this because of special epidermal capillaries that allow it to absorb oxygen and expel carbon dioxide through its skin.

Reproduction in the Mangrove Rivulus is very unusual. It is the only known vertebrate “hermaphrodite” that is self-fertilizing. Hermaphrodite means that it has both male and female reproductive parts. Both eggs and sperm are produced in reproductive organs called “ovotestes.” Each hermaphroditic individual fertilizes its eggs before laying them. The young are “clones,” meaning that they are genetically identical to the parent. This hermaphroditic mode of reproduction may be an adaptation to isolation in the crab burrows and other microhabitats these fish invade. Not all Mangrove Rivuli are hermaphrodites. There are two types of males that occur: primary males and secondary males. Primary males are hatched from fertilized eggs, but secondary males were once hermaphrodites that underwent a change and became males due to certain environmental conditions. True females have not been found in the wild but occur in captive-raised populations. Hermaphroditic individuals are identified by the presence of an eyespot at the upper base of the caudal fin and by a white band in the outer part of the anal fin. There is recent evidence that shows that the young adult fish are able to reproduce by normal sexual reproduction at first, but as they age, they become hermaphroditic. Eggs, at laying, vary in development from recently fertilized to ones containing already developing embryos. Mangrove Rivuli eggs are capable of surviving droughts in damp substrates or debris in a state of “embryonic diapause” where the embryo is in suspended animation. Eggs in this state are viable for several months and hatch soon after inundation by water.

God has implanted in the genes of His creatures enough genetic variability to allow for adaptation for survival under the most extreme circumstances. “It was the Maker of all things who ordained the wonderful adaptation of means to end, of supply to need. . . .

“He who studies most deeply into the mysteries of nature will realize most fully his own ignorance and weakness.” Education, 133.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

The Pen of Inspiration: Abiding in Christ, Part I

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I am am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” [John 15:1, 2.]

When the purging comes, we frequently feel that the Lord is against us. Instead of this, we should look to ourselves, and see if there is not something we have left undone, or something we need to take away from our lives, before we can stand in right relation to God. We should let nothing interpose between us and the beams of light that will come to every one of us if we will comply with the conditions specified. We do not want to be the branch that shall be taken away, but the branch that shall produce fruit.

“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” [Verses 3, 4.] It is for our present and eternal interest that we understand these words. Do we let our petitions come up before God daily? Do we realize that we must have an abiding Christ if we would represent Christ to the world in our speech, in our characters, and in all our dealings with our fellow men? When this is our experience, we shall not be found fruitless.

“I am the vine,” the Saviour continues, “ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” [Verses 5, 6.]

How important it is that we so relate ourselves to our Creator and to our Redeemer that the influence we exert shall represent Christ and represent the Father. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that those who abide in Christ might become the sons of God. Everything is at stake here. What will you do about it, my brethren and sisters? Are you going to let worldly ideas, worldly customs and practises [sic], come into your lives and characters? Are you going to study what this one or that one will say? Or are you looking to the One who so loved the world that he did not withhold from us his only begotten Son? God gave Christ to the world to reveal to men that humanity united with divinity could overcome the temptations that are in the world through lust. This union we must experience. We must be living branches of the True Vine, daily laying hold of our Redeemer, that we may bear the fruits of a Christian character. Christ is our only hope. “I am the vine,” he declares, “ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

“I in him.” It is of the greatest importance that you abide in Christ, and that in your humanity you lay hold upon divinity. Unless you take hold by living faith of his divine power, you will miss that life that measures with the life of God. We can not afford to miss that life. We can not afford to live careless, indifferent, selfish lives; for such God can not accept.

God has given Christ as a pattern of what our lives should be. Do you see him walking in the streets, and looking upon and pitying the sick? His heart is drawn out in compassion for them. He weeps for the afflicted and the suffering. He draws them close to his heart of love, and heals them. . . .

What we need . . . is a faith that abides in Christ, that lays hold upon his power, that is obedient to him, and that leads us to take up the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice. This unites the soul to Christ, and makes us one with him.

To every one of us the Lord holds out this privilege if we will cut away our own wrong habits and practises [sic]. There are many who think that they can retain their wrong habits, their perverted appetites and passions, and at the last get into a condition of self-denial. But the longer selfishness is practised [sic], the harder it is to break away from it. What the Lord wants now is men and women who have the missionary spirit, who understand why Christ gave his life, why he laid off his royal robe and kingly crown, and came to the world as a little child, to be brought up in poverty.

The Lord has the power to forgive the sins of every soul, . . . if you will repent of your backslidings, if you will turn to the Lord, and will cut away from your lives wrong habits and dispositions and your hardness of heart. What you need is the humanity that was in Christ Jesus, that laid hold upon divinity. Take hold upon that divinity, and bring it into your life, and you will be a savor of life unto life. Every one of us should stand in that position where we can receive a commission from God. Will you not come into that place? Will you not humble your souls before God, that you may comprehend and respond to the immense sacrifice that has been made in your behalf?

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,” the Saviour said, “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.” [Verses 7, 8.] There is peace to be found in continuing in Christ’s love, and in daily carrying out the conditions upon which our salvation depends.

What can you do in the work of saving the lost unless Christ imbues you with his divine power? A little is being done in our world; but O, that the good work might spread abroad and reach every needy soul! O that the present truth might be proclaimed in every city! This great need is kept before me night and day. Some nights I can not sleep. I seem to be proclaiming to companies as large as this the great salvation, the great power of God, the great glory to be obtained by the exercise of a living faith. We need to lay hold of Jesus Christ, that we may have the power to become the sons and daughters of God.

There is something for each one of us to do. It is no use to talk of being Christians if we leave unhelped those who are perishing all around us. . . .

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples.” It is fruit that Christ wants. When we are willing to practise [sic] self-denial and self-sacrifice, as Christ practised [sic] it in his life, we shall bear fruit to God’s glory. Often after a day of toil, although tired and worn with labor, while his disciples were sleeping, his voice could be heard all through the night pleading with the Father that he would clear the highway, that the words of the living God might reach the multitudes, and that they might lay hold of the truth. Such labor as this costs something. It does not mean the making of a little sacrifice. It costs much to be men and women of God. . . .

The General Conference Bulletin, May 17, 1909.

To be continued . . .

Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world’s attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ’s second advent.

Children’s Corner – The Right Decision

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It as the beginning of vacation when Mr. Davis, a friend of my father, came to see us, and asked to let me go home with him. I was much pleased with the thought of going out of town.

The journey was delightful, and when we reached Mr. Davis’ house, everything looked as if I would have a fine time. His son, Fred, was a boy about my own age, and all the family soon seemed like old friends.

“This is going to be a vacation worth having,” I said to myself several times during the evening, as we all played games, told riddles, and laughed and chatted merrily.

At last, Mrs. Davis said it was almost bedtime. Then I expected family prayers, but instead, we were very soon directed to our bedrooms. How strange it seemed to me, for I had never before been in a household without the family altar.

“Come,” said Fred, “mother says you and I are going to be bed fellows,” and I followed him up two pair of stairs to a nice little room. There he undressed first and jumped into bed. I was much longer about it, for a new set of thoughts began to rise in my mind.

When my mother told me good-bye, she said tenderly, in a low tone, “Remember, Robert, that you are a Christian boy.”

I knew very well what that meant, and I had now just come to a point of time when her words were to be minded.

At home I was taught the duties of a Christian child; abroad I must not neglect them, and one of these was evening prayer. From a very little boy, I had been in the habit of kneeling and asking the forgiveness of God, for Jesus’ sake, acknowledging His mercies, and seeking His protection and blessing.

“Why don’t you come to bed, Robert?” cried Fred. “What are you sitting there for?”

I was afraid to pray, and afraid not to pray. It seemed that I could not kneel down and pray before Fred. What would he say? Would he not laugh? The fear of Fred made me a coward. Yet I could not lie down on a prayerless bed. If I needed the protection of my heavenly Father at home, how much more abroad!

At my hesitation, Fred finally cried, “Come on, come to bed.”

I mustered courage, and replied, “I will kneel down and pray first; that is always my custom.”

“Pray?” said Fred, as he turned over on his pillow and said no more.

His propriety of conduct made me ashamed. Here I had long been afraid of him, and yet when he knew my wishes, he was quiet and left me to myself. How thankful I was that duty and conscience triumphed.

That settled my future course. It gave me strength for time to come. I believe that the decision of the “Christian boy,” by God’s blessing, made me a Christian man; for in after years I was thrown amid trials and temptations which could have drawn me away from God and from virtue, had it not been for my settled habit of secret prayer.

Let every child who has pious parents, read and think about this. You have been trained in Christian duties and principles. When you go from home, do not leave them behind.

Carry them with you, and stand by them; then, in weakness and temptation, by the help of God, they will stand by you.

The Spirit and Power of Elijah, Part I

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Elijah the Tishite, an inhabitant of Gilead, is one of the greatest characters of Old Testament times. He has the peculiar distinction of being the only man since the flood to be translated to heaven without seeing death. From those far-off times until the present age he seems to be God’s type of a true man. The prophet Malachi could find no better type of the forerunner of Christ than Elijah the prophet; and the angel Gabriel, four hundred years later, when making known to the aged priest Zacharias the birth of his wondrous son, said: “He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, . . . and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias.” Luke 1:15–17.

The final fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, which is to reach to the very end, is still in the future. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5, 6. Elijah was a type of all those who will be translated at the Second Coming of Christ.

A Man of Like Passions

One noted writer has said; “We are studying the life of a man of like passions with ourselves—weak where we are weak, failing where we would fail; but who stood single-handed against his people, and stemmed the tide of idolatry and sin, and turned a nation back to God. And he did it by the use of resources which are within the reach of us all. This is the fascination of the story. Prove to us that he acted by the spell of some secret which is hidden from us meaner men; convince us that he was cast in a heroic mold to which we can lay no claim,—then we must lay aside the story; disappointment has overcast our interest: it is a model we cannot copy, an ideal we cannot realize, a vision that mocks us as it fades into the azure of the past.

“But this is not the case. This man by whom God thrashed the mountains, was only a worm at the best. This pillar in God’s temple was, by nature, a reed shaken by the breath of the slightest zephyr. This prophet of fire, who shone like a torch, was originally but a piece of smoking flax. Faith made him all he became; and faith will do as much for us, if only we can exercise it as he did, to appropriate the might of the eternal God. All power is in God; and it has pleased him to store it all in the risen Saviour, in some vast reservoir; and those stores are brought into human hearts by the Holy Ghost; and the Holy Ghost is given according to the measure of our receptivity and faith.

“Elijah’s strength did not lie in himself or his surroundings. He was of humble extraction. He had no special training. He is expressly said to have been a man ‘of like passions’ with ourselves. When, through failure of faith, he was cut off from the source of his strength, he showed more craven-hearted cowardice than most men would have done; he lay down upon the desert sands, asking to die. When the natural soil of his nature shows itself, it is not richer than that of the majority of men; and, if anything, it is the reverse.”

It was said of John the Baptist that he would go before Christ in the spirit and power of Elias. When we think of John the Baptist, we are wont to think of the great power he wielded as the wilderness preacher; and when we think of Elijah, we are apt to think of him on Mt. Carmel, praying down fire on the sacrifice, or of his wonderful departure out of this world. But let us notice the text, “He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias.” Let us consider not alone the power these men wielded, but the spirit they manifested, and especially the training, experience, and discipline through which Elijah passed before he came to Carmel.

Student of Prophecies

Elijah was evidently a student of the prophecies, and from the writings of Moses (Deuteronomy 11:13–17) he had learned that God had said that if the people should turn aside and worship other gods, he would shut up the heavens, so that there would be no rain. Now, under the reign of Ahab, who had done more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him, Elijah knew that the true God had been set aside, and that Baal had been set up.

And so “he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not.” Afterward he went boldly into the presence of Ahab and said, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” When he had delivered his message, “the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.” [James 5:17; 1 Kings 17:1–3.]

Think of those lonely days and weeks and months beside that drying brook in the wild wilderness gorge that runs down from near Jerusalem to the northern shores of the Dead Sea! But God had commanded him to go there, and has promised that the ravens should feed him there. “So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: . . . and it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.” [1 Kings 17:5–7.] When the last drop of water had seeped into the ground, Elijah was still there.

Elijah Obeyed

Then the word of the Lord came unto him again, saying, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath.” [Verses 9, 10.]

It will be noticed that Elijah did exactly what he was told, “according unto the word of the Lord”; and afterward he could say, when the time came for God to display his power wondrously through his servant, “I have done all these things at thy word.” [1 Kings 18:36.]

The word “Zarephath” means “place of refining,” and surely this last mission upon which God had sent his servant was calculated to drain the last dregs of pride or self-reliance or independence from the already tried soul of Elijah. Some one has remarked that Elijah, with his great heart, would not have so much minded to sustain a poor widow during those terrible years of famine, but it was certainly not pleasant to his manly nature to feel that a poor widow was to sustain him. So the days slowly passed into weeks, and months, and years. The barrel of meal did not waste, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of God that he spake by Elijah.

The pen of inspiration records only one instance in the life and experiences of Elijah during those weary years of drought and famine, and that was the death of the widow’s son, who, Jewish tradition says, afterward became Elijah’s servant, and who was also the future Jonah. However this may be, Elijah raised him to life, and presented him again to his mother. We can judge of his hold upon God during those times by the testimony of this woman, who said, “I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.” [1 Kings 17:24.]

Challenge to the Gods

“It came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth . . . And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have foresaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.” 1 Kings 18:1, 17, 18. Then Elijah called for a great convocation of all Israel and of all the false prophets, on Mt. Carmel, that a test might be made of the rival systems of worship, and the god that answered by fire was to be acknowledged as the true god.

The prophets of Baal chose their bullock and laid it on their altar, and cried aloud and cut themselves with knives from morning until noon, and from noon until the time of the evening sacrifice, saying, “O Baal, hear us.” But “there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.” [Verse 26.] Then Elijah said unto all the people, “Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. . . . And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood.” [Verses 30, 33.] Elijah was triumphant in the midst of that unbelieving host. He was more than conqueror. When all was ready, he called three times for four barrels of water to put on the wood and the sacrifice. By his mighty faith he even piled up difficulties in the way of God. Instead of trying to make it as easy as possible for his prayers to be answered, he soaked the wood and the sacrifice and filled up the trench around about his altar with water.

“And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” [Verses 36, 37.] God more than met Elijah’s faith on this occasion. Not only was the sacrifice consumed, but also the wood and the stones and the dust and the very water that was in the trench.

No Compromise

Immediately following this remarkable demonstration of God’s power, Elijah took the false prophets down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. There was no compromise with sin. That was the secret of his power. This is where King Saul had failed in his war with Amalek. God had told him to “go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” 1 Samuel 15:3. But Saul spared Agag and the best of the sheep. Some one has aptly remarked that if we save our Agags, when we would be at our best in some great crisis (as when Samuel went out to meet Saul) there will be the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen just when we would have them keep still, and it will be to our utter chagrin and undoing.

“Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. . . . and Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.” [Verses 32, 33.] Let us slay utterly, and give heed to the admonition, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:14.

The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, October 12, 1916; October 19, 1916.

To be continued . . .

Lessons from the Children of Israel, Part II

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Have you ever set yourself about a task that you wanted to accomplish, but you could see that it was teetering in the balance between success and failure? Even though you do everything that you can to make it succeed, it fails. Do you, when someone asks you about the outcome, have a tendency to minimize the failure and to maximize the part that did succeed? Pride will not allow a person to exercise their faith because of the fear of failure.

Ten of the spies that had been sent into the Promised Land were scared to death, looking around and among themselves, that if the children of Israel went to the Promised Land, they were going to fail. (Numbers 13:25–14:1.) They did not want to face that. As a result of their fear, they began to work against Caleb, Joshua, Moses, and God. It appeared that they were against everything.

That is the process that we can go through. It happens that way sometimes. It seems that things can go along smoothly, and then, all of a sudden, a foul spirit can upset things so badly that everything is in an uproar.

Ultimately, the bottom line for the ten spies was not that they were concerned about Caleb and Joshua and Moses. They just did not want to obey the Lord.

That is usually the bottom line. If you begin to deal with issues and there are those of a rebellious spirit, it is usually because there is an area of rebellion in their hearts. They are not willing to surrender to the Lord, and it is really God that they are rebelling against and not the flesh and blood with which they have to deal. That is precisely what we see being taught in this lesson given from the experience of the children of Israel.

A Big Lie

“And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, [is] a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof . . . .” Numbers 13:32. This was an out and out lie. It was a fabrication of the first order. They went over to the Promised Land, and if indeed the land was eating up inhabitants, from where did the giants come? From where did the huge amount of grapes come that they brought? They fabricated the idea that it was the land.

“And all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” Verse 32, last part. Well, that was not really true either. There were giants that were there, but now the story begins to grow. At this point the evil spirit had so influenced their thinking that they began to do things that, under other circumstances, they would never have done. They determined that they would discourage all effort to go in and possess the Promised Land, so they lied about it. They claimed there was not really anything good in it at all.

There is only one way that we can keep ourselves from falling into a similar trap, and that is, when God comes to us and reveals to us His will, we do it immediately. That is the only way we will be saved from getting involved in some kind of trap that will ultimately close us out of the Promised Land and leave us dying in the wilderness. When God comes to us, when we know what His will is, we must immediately set things in action, so we can follow what He has asked us to do.

Reaction to the Lie

What was the response of the congregation upon hearing this lie? They were rejoicing earlier, but now they have heard a lie. Their reaction is given in Numbers 14:1: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.”

We cannot begin to measure the amount of torment that these people experienced in their minds that night. The only reason they were tormented at all, however, was because they had forgotten that pillar of fire that was giving light through the darkness of night—and they had chosen to believe a lie. They were in their tents with the flaps closed, crying all night.

“And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return to Egypt?” Verses 2, 3. Little did the people realize that their words would be fulfilled. They would die, but not in the land of Egypt.

Maybe they had forgotten about God, but He had not forgotten about them. He had heard every word that they were saying. Right in the shadow of the cloud, right while they were in the shade of His presence, they rebelled against Him. They began to murmur and complain, and God heard it all.

There is another aspect of this lesson that needs to also be considered. That is the fact that the children of Israel not only rebelled against Joshua and Caleb, but against Moses and Aaron. They rebelled against their leaders.

Need for Leadership

We wrestle with this today, wondering how we are to relate to leadership. A spirit similar to that of the children of Israel is circulating in and amongst the congregation of modern Israel today. I believe that a lot of this came from the 1960s and the 1970s eras, when a spirit took control of a large majority of the world, and they were determined that they would not be beholden to anyone—nobody was going to tell them what to do. If they wanted to have free love, then they were going to have free love. If they wanted to do drugs, they were going to do drugs. If they wanted to just do their own thing, that was what they were going to do.

That prevailing spirit of the world in the ’60s and ’70s has made its way into the church, and we find that a lot of the turmoil within the church is because the people are not going to be beholden to anyone but God. There is a truth to that. We know that we are not to put any man before God.

Ellen White counseled: “I do hope you will not look to man, nor trust in men, but look to God and trust in God.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 395. She also wrote: “Man’s inventions [sayings of others] are not only unreliable, they are dangerous; for they place man where God should be. They place the sayings of men where a ‘Thus saith the Lord’ should be.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 109.

Although we should not put man in the place of God, at the same time, we are told that an order of leadership was put in place by God to lead His people as they were making their way to the Promised Land. This order was followed by the disciples as they established churches, and is important in our groups today.

Writing of this, Mrs. White said: “The same principles of piety and justice that were to guide the rulers among God’s people in the time of Moses and of David, were also to be followed by those given the oversight of the newly organized church of God in the gospel dispensation. In the work of setting things in order in all the churches, and ordaining suitable men to act as officers, the apostles held to the high standards of leadership outlined in the Old Testament Scriptures. They maintained that he who is called to stand in a position of leading responsibility in the church ‘must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.’ Titus 1:7–9. ” The Acts of the Apostles, 95.

However, as the children of Israel began to entertain some of the thoughts that came to them, it was their determined effort to rebel against the vision of a Promised Land that was flowing with milk and honey. They first rebelled against those who tried to encourage them to enter the Promised Land; then their rebellion went up the line of command until it reached Moses and Aaron. The people began to murmur and complain against the leadership, which ultimately ended with God.

How do we understand the issue of leadership today? What is its ordained place within the congregation today? I have come to the conclusion that we need to have leadership today. We need to have people in positions that can lead the congregation. The lack of such leadership is why, in many aspects, the home church movement is in shambles. It does not have the leadership that it should.

The lessons of the children of Israel are speaking to us in these verses from Numbers. How are we going to work out the issues facing the home church movement? We must get beyond our fears, first of all. We look out and see the walled cities; we see the giants that are out there. We have been told this, and we have been told that, and as a result, we are scared to death to move forward and to bring things into the order that God would want them to be. As a result, we are still just kind of wandering along.

Determined to Rebel

Numbers 14:5–8 says, “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, [which were] of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, [is] an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”

I would like to take a little ministerial license on verse 9. It begins with the word only—“Only rebel not ye.” I would like to substitute, for the word only, the word please—Please do not rebel against God. I really believe that was the intent of the pastoral heart of these men in making an appeal to the people to follow the promises of God. In spite of how circumstances seemed, God was still in control of things. “[Please] rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they [are] bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord [is] with us.” Please do not be afraid of them.

We would like to believe that they followed the pastoral counsel of Caleb and Joshua and that they were willing to submit to the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Friends, this lesson is speaking to us who are living in the twenty-first century. What is to be our relationship as we make our way to the Promised Land? In reality, we in the United States are sailing along pretty well, compared to some places in the world. I am speaking even spiritually. There are places around the world where your head is cut off if you even think about changing faith. How does this relate to the pleading of Caleb and Joshua? Notice verse 10: “But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.” The people were starting a campaign to see if they could gain control and do things their way. They wanted to go back to Egypt.

Interestingly, when a person rebels against God and no longer wants to serve Him, the course that he or she takes is never a course into blatant atheism; it is a course into idolatry. As we begin to read the story of the history of the children of Israel, we see that this very same thing took place. Those Seventh-day Adventists whom I have known, who had served the Lord with faithfulness of heart and then began to rebel against God and what He wanted them to do, slid into the area of idolatry. They began to do all the things that brought them pleasure before they were Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

The shamefacedness that is to be addressed, according to the New Testament, now becomes a proud face. (See 1 Timothy 2:9.) All the bangles and bobbles are once again worn. The health message goes out the window. The modesty of dress and the places visited become an idolatrous involvement. It is not an atheistic involvement; it is an idolatrous involvement.

This is what we are actually to learn from the experiences of the children of Israel. The congregation wanted to stone the godly leadership to get them out of the way, so they could slip back into idolatry. If it had not been for the immediate intervention of God, that would have happened.

God’s Forbearance

Sometimes we wonder why things are in the state that they are. The limit of God’s forbearance has not yet been reached. When God’s forbearance has been reached, He will personally intervene and put a stop to what is happening. I never want to be in a place or in a set of circumstances where I have pushed God to the point where He has to personally intervene and bring me to the place He wants me. I want to be able to follow Him where He leads; I do not want to have to be driven with a whip. There are times when that will happen, and many experiences could probably be related as illustrations.

Numbers 14:10 continues, “The glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.” You would think that, with the next words spoken, Moses would have stood back and said, “Lord, have at it.” God said, “Moses, I want you to get out of the way. I am going to destroy all these miserable wretches. Then I will use you, and I will make a nation out of you.”

But Moses said, “Oh no, Lord, please do not do that. Spare your people.” I have never quite been able to work that out in my own thinking, but it is recorded for us. It is something we must consider.

The people had sinned, but Moses interceded on behalf of those people, and because of his action, God said, “All right, I have pardoned the people because of your intercession.” (Verse 20.) There is something to be said for personal confession and personal involvement, but we have this example that, because of the intercession of another, pardon is extended. This tells me that there is a place for the work of intercession which we do not totally understand.

Obedience Required

One thing that needs to be emphasized in this lesson from the children of Israel is the fact that, even though God requires obedience of His people, He is still a God of great mercy. He is longsuffering; He is of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.

“And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word: but [as] truly [as] I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Verses 20, 21. The Lord said, “My plan may know some delay. I may have to wait for a little while, but ultimately, this is going to move back out into the eternity of time, and My glory is going to be known.”

“Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.” Verses 22, 23.

The Lord continued, declaring that Caleb had a different spirit. Caleb had followed Him, and Caleb would go into the Promised Land, and his seed would possess the land. (Verse 24.)

Whoredoms

“(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long [shall I bear with] this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, [As truly as] I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, [concerning] which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But [as for] you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.” Verses 25–33.

This is an interesting declaration that God makes concerning their “whoredoms.” To what is God referring? He is referring to the idolatrous practices in which they were involved. For some reason, they had not yet been cleansed of all of that. It was their lapse into idolatry—their seeking another god—that had brought them to rebellion against Jehovah. And He declared, “Because of these whore-doms, because of this idolatry, your carcases are going to waste in the wilderness.”

You would think that somehow this would be all there was to Scripture, because the lessons are so clear, but we find that is not the case. There are repeated instances of God’s chosen people turning their backs on Him.

Time Prophecy

Verse 34, which is a favorite text for Seventh-day Adventists, is then given: “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”

Seventh-day Adventists have always looked at this text as a formula which outlines prophetic time—and rightfully so, because this is a prophecy. This formula has been utilized to determine prophetic time, because it is in the setting of prophecy that it is given. God said this is what is going to happen; this is why it is going to happen; and this is how long it is going to happen. We can very comfortably utilize this formula when we need to measure time in prophetic settings and when we need to place things in their right perspective.

This formula has correctly and successfully been applied many times, particularly so in the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9. Application of this formula to the 70 weeks prophecy accurately identified the very time when Jesus would begin His ministry and how His ministry would be executed. When we see how the formula of this text fits so precisely, we are encouraged, for the Lord has given us the key to unlock other prophecies. The more prophecies we unlock, the better our understanding is of Scripture and coming events. We do not have a thing to be ashamed about as far as our understanding of the Bible is concerned; it is based on good, biblical interpretation.

Conversion Flourishes

Verse 35 says, “I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.” So the story continues that after this pronouncement, conversion flourished among the children of Israel. They suddenly decided that what the Lord had said about them going in and taking the land, they wanted to follow.

They said, “We need to go to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” (Verse 40.) They recognized the fact that they were not doing what God wanted, but there is more involved in gaining God’s acceptance than just saying, “I have sinned.”

Judas, clutching the bag of 30 pieces of silver, went in before the priests and, throwing the bag down before them, said, “I have sinned,” but Judas found no place for pardon. (Matthew 27:3, 4.) Many instances are given in Scripture where the confession, “I have sinned,” is voiced, but it does not bring the approbation of God upon the person.

“We are going to go up,” the people said, “and we are going to do what God told us to do after all. We have sinned, we know that this is what God wanted us to do.”

Moses said, “I am sorry; do not even try it. Do not go there.” (Verse 41.)

Presumption

“Go not up, for the Lord [is] not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.” “But they presumed to go up unto the hill top; nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.” Verses 42, 44. The presence of God and the leadership of God stayed in the camp. But the people decided that, in spite of the fact that God’s presence and the leadership were not with them, they were going to go anyway.

That is what we call presumption. That can happen even in our own experiences. We can recognize that we have failed the Lord, but if we have not taken the proper steps to come back into His favor, and we go off on a tangent again, we will find that we will again suffer defeat. That is where confusion begins. We cannot begin to understand why we are experiencing the trouble that we are. It could be that we have not really understood what is outlined for us in the lessons from the past.

Is history indeed going to repeat itself in our generation? I hope not. I hope you have dedicated your life as I have dedicated my life to finishing the work of God. There is a lot of work that is yet to be done. It is a work of faith. God expects us to step out in faith, regardless of the circumstances; whatever the walled cities or giants may be, He says, “I want you to follow Me.”

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.