Archives: Articles

IssueM Articles

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

by

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7, 8. Recently, I was invited to the home of some friends to have breakfast. Before we partook of their delightful food that was filled with the bounties from God’s goodness, we spent about an hour reading and discussing two articles written by Ellen White in The Signs of the Times, August 7, 1901 and August 14, 1901. The articles are entitled, “Ask and It Shall Be Given You.” The entire articles follow with some pauses here and there to point out some illuminating thoughts and if possible to add some illustrations in hope that you too will be able to say with me, “We have eaten together at the table of our Lord and satisfied an hungering for more.”

I am certain that you will immediately be captured by the mighty conviction that we have been neglectful in audibly thanking and praising our God for His wonderful mercies. “It seems so sad that we praise God so little. Gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving need now to be searched for, and cultivated as lost arts. They are more precious to our Lord Jesus than all the treasures of gold and silver which the earth contains. Every human being should appreciate the kindness and love wherewith God hath loved us. When we were yet enemies, Christ gave His life that we might be saved. How much have we appreciated this gift?” Now you will agree that these opening words make us think seriously; for we so often forget to express audibly in praise and thanksgiving that which the Lord’s servant tells us Jesus longs for and desires to hear from our lips.

“In His instructions to His disciples, Christ dwelt upon the great gift of the Spirit, declaring that nothing was too great to be expected from the coming of the divine Spirit. He longed to quicken and enlarge the conception of His disciples by communicating to them His own complete appreciation of God’s love, that they might be able to comprehend the value of the gift of all gifts, given by God with the giving of His beloved Son,—the gift of the Holy Spirit. On all who love and serve God this gift has been bestowed. Christ has made provision for all to receive His Spirit; for He desires to see human nature released from the bondage of sin, and, by the power which God gives, renewed, restored, raised to a Holy rivalry with angels.” Did you notice that nothing is too great for the Holy Spirit to accomplish? God compares the gift of the Holy Spirit to the gift of His Son. These may be new thoughts to some of us. What further impressed me was that it is only the gift of the Spirit which can release us from the power of sin.

“To the woman at the well Christ said, ‘If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water . . . Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’”

God Could Give Nothing More

“Yes; in giving the Holy Spirit, it was impossible for God to give more. To this gift nothing could be added.” No wonder it tells us in the Scriptures that God can supply all of our needs: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19. “The Holy Spirit is the vital presence of God.” The Spirit of God is the actual presence of God with us, “and if appreciated will call forth praise and thanksgiving, and will ever be springing up into everlasting life. The restoration of the Spirit is the covenant of grace. Yet how few appreciate this great gift, so costly, yet so free to all who will accept it? When faith takes hold of the blessing, there comes rich spiritual good. But too often the blessing is not appreciated. We need an enlarged conception in order to comprehend its value.

“Christ declared, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’” Why is it that in our church services, our worships in our homes, and our daily prayers, we ask so little for this Divine Power?

“O what amazing love and condescension! The Lord Jesus encourages His believing ones to ask for the Holy Spirit. By presenting the parental tenderness of God, He seeks to encourage faith in the reception of the gift. The heavenly Parent is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.

“What greater thing could be promised? What more is necessary to awaken a response in every soul, to inspire us with a longing for the great gift? Shall not our half-hearted supplications be turned into petitions of intense desire for this great blessing?” Perhaps we should pause here to ascertain why so many in God’s true church are so satisfied with their present experience without the help of the Spirit, and amazingly unconcerned with their lack of divine power to overcome sin as Christ overcame. Listen to God as He describes what He sees among His people: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Revelation 3:17, 18. What a pity! Seldom do we hear prayers that are beseeching, pleading, and longing with God for the precious gift that would change our condition. If we could only cast off the stupor that Satan is placing around us, and realize that we could receive the greatest gift of all heaven if we would ask, we would discover that our conception is enlarged—we would comprehend the value of this gift.

Tame Supplications

“We do not ask for enough of the good things God has promised. If we would reach up higher and expect more, our petitions would reveal the quickening influence that comes to every soul who asks with the full expectation of being heard and answered. The Lord is not glorified by the tame supplications which show that nothing is expected. He desires everyone who believes, to approach the throne of grace with earnestness and assurance. Do we realize the magnitude of the work in which we are engaged? . . . Our entreaties would rise before God with convincing earnestness. We would plead for power as a hungry child pleads for bread. If we realized the greatness of the gift, if we desired the attainment of the blessing, our petitions would ascend with earnestness, importunity, urgency. It would be as if we were at the gate of heaven, soliciting entrance.

“I do not understand the tameness in the requests offered to God. We are to urge our way into the very presence of God, into the Holy Place of the Most High. We are to plead for that which we most need,—the bread of life, the leaf from the tree of life. As Jacob wrestled with the angel, saying, ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,’ so we are to . . . ask with an urgency that will not be turned away, that expects God to bestow His blessings with a liberality that is an assurance to all fear.

“‘Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His Maker, Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it. I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.’ This is the Word of the Lord, which is Yea and Amen. Then let your prayers be more fervent, more heavily weighted with faith and hope. Let the intensity of your desire be proportionate to the value of the object you wish to obtain. The greatness of the gift and our need of it should fill us with a hungering desire for it.” I have often been accused, in evangelism, of speaking too plainly, of pressing a point beyond the need; but never have I read from the servant of the Lord such a startling revelation of how we are to approach God in our need for the Holy Spirit.

Ellen White continues, “Have we reason to believe that an earnest application to the Source of all power for the deep moving of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts will be crowned with success? Certainly; but before we talk to others in regard to this, let us first talk with God. Plead with Him as if your life was depending upon the gift you desire. Remember that the blessing is promised unconditionally, absolutely, certainly. If you ask in faith, presenting the name of God’s Son as your endorsement, your prayer will be heard and answered. God’s goodness makes this promise unchangeable. The infallibility of the promise is to inspire faith in the one who asks. ‘Ask, and ye shall receive.’

Conditions of Receiving

“We should ask with an earnestness that will not be denied. The Lord has an intense desire that every one should take advance steps in absolute certainty, relying upon God. He is the light and life of all who seek Him. The measure which we receive of the holy influence of His Spirit is proportionate to the measure of our desire to receive, of our faith to grasp, and of our capacity to enjoy the great goodness of the blessing, and to impart it to others.”

And now Ellen White shifts the emphasis from the pleading, from the crying out, from the desire, to the conditions upon which we receive the gift from Heaven, for there are conditions. “‘Everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth.’ Christ is here presenting a law of the divine government. Asking for the Holy Spirit is connected with receiving this gift. The Lord reads the hearts of all men. He selects from His subjects those He can use, choosing material which can be worked. He selects the most unpromising subjects, and through them magnifies His own wisdom and power by causing them to sit among princes.” Now isn’t that something! He can take the lowest individual, the one who’s mind has been so filled with evil that he is almost unable to comprehend the goodness of God. He can take the least, and with the Holy Spirit, He can so develop them that they can sit among princes.

“In all ages He has used human beings to carry out His purposes. He chooses subjects who will not be perverted, who in all righteousness and faith will honor His name. He passes by the men who have perverted the capabilities He has given them, and selects men of His own wisdom, who make Him their trust, their dependence, their efficiency. He hews and polishes the rough stones He has quarried out of the world. He works through men who realize that they must submit to the ax, the chisel, and the hammer, lying passive under the divine hand. Through those who voluntarily submit themselves to Him . . . in faith and hope, He works out His plans.”

You know, the Church of Rome, Satan’s masterpiece, demands obedience from its subjects. No matter what truth God may open to men, the followers of Rome are not allowed to investigate it for themselves with their own God-given intelligence. They must accept only that which has been taught by their so-called “fathers” of Pagan tradition. It’s a known fact, that before a man can become a priest of Rome, he must swear by an oath to never question any teaching of the Church, even though he discovers that such a doctrine is contrary to God’s eternal Word. On the other hand, God cannot and will not use any man in His church who has become so worldly-wise that he feels safe to question God’s teachings. God does invite men to study and search for truth; and when such a man is Spirit-filled, he will come to the conscious decision never to question God’s declared truth.

And now comes another condition for receiving the Holy Spirit: we need to impart it to others. “Those who ask because they wish to impart to others will not be disappointed. God will reward those who come to Him in earnest faith. He assures us that the thought of His majesty and sovereignty should not keep us in fear. He will do much more graciously than we suppose if we will come to the footstool of His mercy. He urges His sovereignty as a reason for His great and merciful bountifulness in supplying the demands upon Him. He pledges Himself to hear our prayers, declaring that He will hear them. He condescends to appeal from the instinct of parental tenderness to the infinite benevolence of Him whose we are by creation and redemption. He says, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.’ The needy and the soul-hungry never plead with God in vain.

Humility is Essential

“Humanity and divinity must be linked together in the experience of every overcomer. In our weakness we are to accept Christ’s power. He gives us the assurance, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’

“In view of this tell me who should wear countenances more bright and more cheerful, more full of sunshine, than those who live by faith in the Son of God. In Him the needy and hungry find all their wants supplied. But let us not forget that those who God has blessed with the good things of this life are to be His helping hand, to supply the necessities of His needy ones. They are to be laborers together with Him. They are His stewards in trust, and are to use their goods for the advancement of His work, that His name may be glorified. The Lord desires to employ the church as a channel through which to communicate His bounties. If His people would keep the channel open, receiving the spiritual and temporal gifts of His grace, and imparting them to the needy, there would be no sick ones neglected, no orphans crying for food. The hearts of the widow and the fatherless would sing for joy.”

Now the servant of the Lord speaks of the channels in which we are to work when Spirit-filled. “God has given man the richest of His gifts. This He has done that man may dispense His bounties. Medical missionary work and the Gospel ministry are the channels through which God seeks to pour a constant supply of His goodness. They are to be as the river of life for the irrigation of His church. There is not the semblance of an excuse for the lifeless condition of a people who know the plain ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ God calls our attention to the words, ‘Ye are the light of the world . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ He reminds us that we have only to ask, and we shall receive; to seek, and we shall find; to knock, and it shall be opened unto us.”

What are we to do besides ask? God makes it very plain through the voice of His prophets, for we are told, “Throw open the windows of the soul heavenward, and close them earthward.” Now some of you may not like what I’m about to say; but if we are going to follow this instruction, we must shut off the airwaves of this so-called music permeating the earth today through the radio; we must turn away from the earthly environments of entertainment that is devil-made. In response, we should open up and lift our voice in praise and thanksgiving to God’s greatest Gift. We should be often in prayer, in the study of the Godly counsels written to us. It is thus that we shall become mighty in power for God.

The Universe is Waiting

“The Lord has made His church the repository of divine influence. The heavenly universe is waiting for the members to become channels through which the current of life shall flow to the world, that many may be converted, and in their turn become channels through which the grace of Christ shall flow to the desert portions of the Lord’s vineyard.

“The heavenly universe is burdened with the magnitude of the divine gifts which it has to impart. Angels are longing for the great joy of imparting the grace of God to men who will impart it to their fellow-men. The commission is, ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.’ All who belong to the church are commanded to shine.” There is a responsibility in receiving this wonderful gift. “Every receiver of divine grace is held accountable for the souls of those within his reach who are in the darkness of unbelief, ignorant of the rich blessings God is waiting to bestow upon them.

“‘As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.’ Those who take part in the solemn rite of baptism, in the name of the highest authorities of heaven, pledge themselves to come out from the world, to separate themselves from its idolatrous practices. God places His sign upon them, making them members of the royal family. And they on their part pledge themselves before angels and before men to live for Christ. They are buried with Him in baptism in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection. ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on this earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.’”

And now comes the final punch line. “In the day of final accounts, what will the church give as a reason for her strange indifference to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth? My brethren and sisters, keep the temple of God pure and holy, that He may use it to the glory of His name. God will enlarge His faculties and multiply His gifts to you, as you make use of them to gather souls under the blood-stained banner of the Redeemer. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. By yielding to the temptations of the enemy, by losing sight of God, you have lost the sense of what a child of God ought to be. Your powers of perception are clouded. But the way is open for your spiritual life to be reinforced with new power. ‘Ask and ye shall receive.’”

The End

Are There Tares in Your Field?

by

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” Matthew 13:24–30.

Jesus taught in parables to help us understand the unknown by explaining something we understand. Jesus describes the spiritual world in terms of the physical world. He takes us from what we understand to what we do not understand.

“Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” Matthew 13: 36–43.

The field is the world and the wheat and tares are both being planted in this field. In the Middle East there is a weed that looks like a wheat plant when it first springs up. There actually were people in Jesus’ day who took the seed of this weed, or tares as it was called, and scattered it in their enemies wheat field. Although the weeds could not be seen at first, as they grew you could see them all through the wheat. The weeds take nutrients and water and if there are too many of them they can actually choke out the wheat. The presence of tares represents a very dangerous situation.

The Field of the Mind

Here Jesus is talking about the spiritual world and illustrating it with the natural world. The field is the world—the spiritual world. What is the spiritual world? It is the world of the spirit working on the minds of men. God’s spiritual field are those who claim to be His children, or His professed church. “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field.” 1 Corinthians 3:9. [All emphasis supplied.] Each one of us who is part of God’s professed church, is part of this field. Our spirit, our mind, is part of this field. The aggregate of all the minds of all who profess to be God’s people in the whole world is the whole field.

The field is the world—the spiritual world. Then what is the good seed Jesus came to plant? The good seed is the gospel, the truth of the Bible. Jesus came to plant the gospel, the truth, in the minds of those that choose to follow Him. As this good seed grows up and matures in your mind, eventually it becomes an integral part of your character so that you are called the good seed. Jesus said the good seed are the children of the kingdom.

The Battle Over the Mind

What are the tares? Or what is the seed that produces the tares? The tares are spiritual ideas that are implanted in the mind by the devil. If this seed grows up and matures in a person’s mind, even though he professes to be a child of God, in reality, he is a child of the devil.

The devil cannot force himself on you, but you can open up your mind to him, and that is very dangerous. There are some statements by Ellen White on this subject. “If there is any way by which Satan can gain access to the mind, he will sow his tares and cause them to grow until they will yield an abundant harvest.” Adventist Home, 402. Notice that your mind is the field. If the devil can gain access to your mind, he is going to sow tares. “In no case can Satan obtain dominion over thoughts, words, and actions, unless we voluntarily open the door and invite him to enter. He will then come in and, by catching away the good seed sown in the heart, make of none effect the truth.” Ibid.

The devil is out there, friends. There is a battle going on in the world today and the battle is for your mind. What are you reading? What are you listening to? What are you looking at? The devil has gone all over the world sowing seeds. “Satan is their chosen leader. It is while men sleep that the enemy sows his tares in the heart.” Manuscript Release, vol. 10, 323. Satan is seeking access to your mind to sow these spiritual plants. They are poisonous plants and if they grow up, you will lose your soul. We want to study what these tares are that the devil plants in the minds of God’s professed people.

Safety in the Spirit of Prophecy

We are living in the time of the end when there will be all manner of deceptions. It is the most treacherous time in the history of the world. God knew and foresaw thousands of years ago that perilous times would come. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Malachi 4:5. This special reformation prophet is one of the two identifying marks by which you can identify God’s people in the last days. 1. They keep all of God’s commandments and 2. have the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 12:17; 19:10.

If we follow and stay close to the spiritual gifts God has given to His people in these last days, we will not be tripped up. The Lord has revealed to us what the tares are that the devil plants in people’s minds. If our minds were strong enough to understand everything that was in the Bible, we would not need the Spirit of Prophecy. But most of us do not understand our Bibles very well, and the Lord has given us some special help.

“The good seed represents those who are born of the word of God, the truth. The tares represent a class who are the fruit or embodiment of error, of false principles. ‘The enemy that sowed them is the devil.’ Neither God nor His angels ever sowed a seed that would produce a tare. The tares are always sown by Satan, the enemy of God and man.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 70. The tares are false spiritual principles, or teachings.

Let us look at some statements which will make it more specific. “The warnings and the messages that the Lord has graciously given me to correct the errors that would come in, and to set things in order, the people should have, for the enemy will continue to work to bring in false theories and to mingle with the truth strange suppositions. These appear as light to those who receive them, but they are deceptive theories that will be brought in as tares sown among the wheat.” Paulson Collection, 6. False theories are one kind of tare.

False Doctrine is Dangerous

“Satan has sown plentifully the seed of dangerous heresies, that will produce a harvest of corruption, and will be as tares among the wheat.” Signs of the Times, July 11, 1895. Dangerous heresies––another kind of tare. Is doctrine important? Have you ever met someone who said, “I don’t think doctrine is too important as long as you are sincere.” Martin Luther and all the rest of the Protestant Reformers thought doctrine was important. The apostles thought doctrine was important. Wrong doctrine can lead you straight to destruction.

Jesus, the great teacher, taught His disciples how to distinguish truth from error, how to distinguish a tare from the wheat. “He weeded life of its vanities and follies, distinguishing between the tares and the wheat.” Signs of the Times, March 28, 1895. That is why we need to be studying the Bible. The apostle Paul, writing to people who had just become Christians, told them to desire the sincere milk of the word. Then they needed to grow so they could understand the solid food of the Word. 1 Corinthians 3:1–4. One reason you need to attend church, is to associate with mature Christians and learn to tell the difference between truth and error, between the tares and the wheat.

I have observed that people who are fifty or sixty years of age and have been diligent students of the Word of God for thirty to fifty years, go and seek counsel from someone else when they find something new in their studies. They ask, “I found this in the Bible, what do you think about it?” The anomaly, the paradox of the situation, is that so often when someone who is around eighteen to twenty-two years of age and has been a Christian for five or ten years, finds something in the Word of God they have never seen before, they are ready to tell it to the whole world without going for counsel to anyone. One of the reasons God placed elders in the church was to be spiritual guardians of the flock, especially of those who are new Christians. Now an elder is not someone to lord it over another, but isn’t it nice if you need advice to have someone you can go to who is a mature Christian and can help you when there is a text in the Bible you wonder about. That is one of the reasons for the church, to help people so they will not be confused between the tares and the wheat. Heresy is dangerous. It is planted by the devil.

Coarse Manners

There are a lot of other things the devil tries to plant in the mind of God’s professed people so they will be ruined before the harvest comes. “They persist in carrying with them their objectionable traits of character. [She is talking about professed church members.] They have vulgar sentiments, coarse manners, low habits. They carry these to others through their school association, and through life they sow tares instead of precious wheat.” Signs of the Times, October 13, 1909. Vulgar sentiments, low habits, coarse manners––that is part of what the devil is sowing in the human mind. Jesus was a refined, courteous person. There was never any coarse or low talk that escaped out of His lips. He did not even think that way, so He did not talk that way. Those kinds of things––cheap foolish talk, coarse talk, vulgar thinking and acting in speech—are part of the tares the devil plants in the human mind that destroy so much peace and happiness in the family. If the tare grows to maturity, it prevents a person from having eternal life.

Unbelief and doubt––these are popular tares that the devil has scattered throughout the professed people of God all over the world today. Some people believe it is a good thing to be able to doubt, but Jesus never commended anyone for doubting, He rebuked them for it. Unbelief or doubt will be one of the special sins that develop among people in the last generation. 2 Peter 3:3–6.

Remember, tares are people who profess to be part of God’s people. “They do not love the truth, and it has not a sanctifying, refining influence upon them. The time will come when the sensual, the proud, the careless in heart, those who are opposed to the truth, will have to be separated.” Bible Echoes, September 18, 1899. The sensual, proud and careless––these things are tares the devil plants in the human heart.

Reap What You Sow

“It is anything but wise, my young friends, to seek your own pleasure, to sow a crop of tares in foolish, sinful actions, which will not only lead others to do the same but will bring forth a bitter harvest.” That I May Know Him, 236. Young friend, I want to ask you, What kind of seed is being sown in your mind? “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7. What you are sowing today, you are going to reap tomorrow.

Jesus summarized what all the tares were like in Matthew 13. He said the time is going to come when the tares are taken out of the field. “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.” verse 41. Those who break God’s law will be separated out. That is a summary statement that covers all the different kinds of tares. All the weeds the devil plants in the human mind lead people to break God’s law—lawlessness.

The devil is the one who plants the tares. When did he plant them? While people were asleep. “It is while the husbandman sleeps that tares are sown; while the shepherds are neglecting their duty, the wolf finds entrance to the fold.” Sketches from the Life of Paul, 201. It is when the spiritual leaders are neglecting their duty that the tares are planted. How is it in your home? God wants parents to be the spiritual leaders of their family. Are you spiritually asleep? Is the devil planting tares in the minds of your children? “It is not by force that Satan takes possession of the human mind. While men sleep, the enemy sows tares in the church. While men are spiritually sleeping, the enemy accomplishes his work of iniquity. It is when his subject ‘understandeth it not’ (Matthew 13:19) that he catcheth away the good seed sown in the heart.” Selected Messages, vol. 2, 353. What is happening in your church? Are the pastor, the Sabbath School teacher, the elder, the father, the mother, spiritually asleep? If they are, the enemy of all good is out to plant tares in the minds of your church, your family and your young people. Parents, we need to know where our children are and what they are doing. If we were more alert, the devil would not have so much opportunity to plant tares. There are some young people growing up in whose minds the devil is planting more tares than in others.

Planted While Asleep

“If faithfulness and vigilance had been preserved, if there had been no sleeping or negligence upon the part of any, the enemy would not have had so favorable an opportunity to sow tares among the wheat. Satan never sleeps. He is watching, and he improves every opportunity to set his agents to scatter error, which finds good soil in many unsanctified hearts.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 113. If you are asleep, there is someone out there who is planting tares in the minds of your family and church members. The more tares planted, the bigger the job in getting them out. Those tares have to come out if your family and friends are going to be saved.

How sad it is that so many spiritual leaders have been asleep, and in God’s professed church all over the world, tares have been sown and terrible delusive heresies have infiltrated. It is causing the loss of millions of souls.

We have a responsibility. You yourself can make a decision to open your heart and let the devil plant tares inside. Some people do that. For every new doctrine and teaching they say, “I want to find out about that!” They allow these new theories to get a foothold before they have carefully studied God’s Word. “There have been and will continue to be entire families who have once rejoiced in the truth, but who will lose faith because of calumnies and falsehoods brought to them in regard to those whom they have loved and with whom they have had sweet counsel. They opened their hearts to the sowing of tares; the tares sprang up among the wheat; they strengthened; the crop of wheat became less and less; and the precious truth lost its power to them. For a time a false zeal accompanied their new theories, which hardened their hearts against the advocates of truth as did the Jews against Christ.” Testimonies to Ministers, 411. There are some who receive lying reports, slander, against the messengers of God. If you receive a lying report against a true minister, a messenger of God, and turn your back on them, you have no promise in Holy Writ that God is going to send you someone else. It is very dangerous to reject a messenger of God. Spreading evil reports is one of the ways the devil sows tares and causes people to lose their souls. Some just live on these reports. Someone will say, “Do you know about this?” and they will say, “Is that so!?” Then they believe it. That is very dangerous.

Books of the Pioneers

We need to be opening our minds to the truth and find books that have been written by people who are mature and experienced Christians and love the truth. In the nineteenth century there was a man named J.N. Andrews. He knew several other languages as well as biblical languages. He made the comment one time to someone he knew that if the New Testament was lost, he could reproduce it from memory. He was an outstanding biblical scholar. He was also a student of history and wrote the History of the Sabbath, a fascinating book.

“I am instructed that the Lord, by His infinite power, has preserved the right hand of His messenger for more than half a century, in order that the truth may be written out as He bids me write it for publication, in periodicals and books. Why?—Because if it were not thus written out, when the pioneers in the faith shall die, there would be many, new in the faith, who would sometimes accept as messages of truth teachings that contain erroneous sentiments and dangerous fallacies. Sometimes that which men teach as ‘special light’ is in reality specious error, which, as tares sown among the wheat, will spring up and produce a baleful harvest. And errors of this sort will be entertained by some until the close of this earth’s history.” This Day With God, 126.

What are you reading? When we open our mind and read religious books, we need to know we are reading something by someone who has been born again and believes all the Bible and is following it. I have observed among new Christians, that when someone reads a book or magazine and they become confused, it takes a Bible worker weeks or months to help them to see again what the Bible says. There is a lot of that happening today. The devil is sowing all kinds of tares.

What Do We Do About Tares?

There is a lot of confusion in the Christian church today on the tares. Whenever you talk about this subject there are some people who say, “Well, they are just supposed to be left.” Notice what Jesus said about the tares when the servants of the owner asked if they should gather them up: “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them . . . Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.” Matthew 13:29, 40.

We need to understand who and what a tare is. When a tare is just growing up, you and I cannot tell the difference between them and the wheat. Who is the tare? It is someone who professes to love Jesus and be a part of His professed people, but his heart is entertaining sins you and I cannot see. We cannot judge someone’s heart. Consequently, we cannot disfellowship or separate them from the church. You cannot interpret what Jesus said in a manner to make Him contradict the rest of the Bible.

In I Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul is very clear that if a tare grows up in a persons life to the point where they are living in open sin––if they are lying, stealing, committing adultery, taking their brethren in the church to court––we are to put them out from among us. But can you tell when someone is proud or covetous? You might guess, but you can not tell. Only God knows for sure.

Tares Kill Out the Wheat

No one can be uprooted or disfellowshipped from the church because of a motive or a sin of the heart, but they can and should be disfellowshipped if they are living in open sin among God’s people. Do you know why? Because, if you have too many tares and they grow too much, they will destroy the wheat. That is one of the greatest dangers in the church today. There are people who want to say, “Let’s keep all the tares in!” Friends, the Bible says when a tare gets to the point where the person is living in open sin, you had better get that tare out. If you do not, it will destroy the whole church. In the Christian church today, people who are living in open sin are allowed to be members of the church and it is destroying the whole crop.

“Tares have a lesson to teach. They are of Satan’s sowing, and if left unchecked will spoil the wheat by their rank growth.” Counsels to Teachers, 189. Have you ever had a garden and the weeds got away from you? “If the attributes of Satan are not expelled from the soul, the wheat crop will be stunted. The tares will come to be the crop, and will kill out the wheat.” Review and Herald, October 3, 1899.

Do you want the wheat crop to be destroyed? That is what will happen if the tares grow up and go to seed and become mature, and are not disfellowshipped from the church. If this is done the tares will destroy the whole crop. “The thorns of sin will grow in any soil; they need no cultivation; but grace must be carefully cultivated. The love of the world in the heart leaves no room for Christ. Those whose hearts are divided claim to believe the truth, but do it not. They wish the crown, but refuse the cross.” Ibid.

We would not be in as much trouble in the Christian world today if we had always been awake so the devil could not have planted so many tares in the church, but we have been asleep. “The earth was cursed because through disobedience man gave Satan opportunity to sow in the human heart the seeds of evil. The ground that in the beginning produced only good began to produce tares and their growth called for continual warfare.” This Day With God, 12. If there are tares in my mind, what am I to do? I have to fight a continual battle against them. If there are tares in my family, among my children, I have a battle to fight to help them to get those tares out; otherwise souls will be lost.

Getting Tares Out

How do you get the tares out? “When truth is received into the heart, the tares growing there are uprooted.” Youth Instructor, August 16, 1900. That is why we need to be studying the Bible. If I have the tare of impatience, as I study the Bible I find how I am supposed to talk and I can change. It takes work, but the Holy Spirit will help me to change my habits. No one in heaven will lose their temper. If I am going to heaven, I have to be that way, too; that tare has to come out of my life. I need to help my children get the tares out of their lives. If a child has Christian parents, they can help that child so that it will actually be easier to be saved. Help your children so there are not so many tares that get planted in their lives when they are young. If the tare is something in the heart, we are not to disfellowship, but people need to be warned about the tares so they can work to get them out of their life.

When you get involved in this warfare, to help people get the tares out of their life, an interesting thing happens. If you are a pastor in a church and begin preaching sermons to help people get the tares out of their lives, there are always some who do not like that kind of preaching. They have some darling plants they are growing in their minds. “If persons are as deserving of being separated from the church as Satan was of being cast out of heaven, they will have sympathizers. There is always a class who are more influenced by individuals than they are by the Spirit of God and sound principles; and, in their unconsecrated state, these are ever ready to take sides with the wrong and give their pity and sympathy to the very ones who least deserve it. These sympathizers have a powerful influence with others; things are seen in a perverted light, great harm is done, and many souls are ruined. Satan in his rebellion took a third part of the angels.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 114, 115. Can you imagine that, one-third of the angels! They were in a perfect place. There was no pain or trouble like there is here. Why were they deceived? It was because of sympathy. One of the problems pastors get involved in is when a parent comes and says, “I want to help my son or daughter overcome this bad habit. My spouse does not want to.” It is a big problem. “Satan in his rebellion took a third part of the angels. They turned from the Father and from His Son, and united with the instigator of rebellion” Ibid., 155. False sympathy is a problem to contend with when you want to help someone get the tares out of their life.

The reason we are interested in helping people get the tares out of their life is not because we want to be hard–hearted––we want them to have eternal life! None of us can have eternal life if any tare remains and goes to seed in our character. The tare will spoil and kill out the wheat. There is a danger of mingling voluntarily with tares. There are some who, when they casually read this parable of the wheat and tares, say, “They are all going to grow together anyway so we just won’t worry about it.” Have you ever noticed what happens to a wheat plant if there are tares planted all around it? It gets choked out.

We need to be thinking very clearly in our minds about the responsibility we have as to who we associate with. If you voluntarily associate with tares all the time, God will not work a miracle to keep them from having an influence upon you. “The tares and wheat are now co–mingled, but then the one Hand that alone can separate them will give to every one his true position. Those who have had the light of truth, and heard the warning message, heard the invitation to the marriage supper,––farmer, merchant, lawyer, false shepherds who have quieted the convictions of the people, unfaithful watchmen who have not sounded the warning or known the time of night,—all who have refused obedience to the laws of the kingdom of God, will have no right therein. Those who have sought an excuse to avoid the cross of separation from the world, will, with the world, be taken in the snare. They mingled with the tares from choice. Like drew to like in transgression. It is a fearful assimilation. Men choose to stand with the first rebel, who tempted Adam and Eve in Eden to disobey God. The tares multiply themselves, for they sow tares, and they have their part with the root of all sin.” Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers, 6.

Are We In the Harvest?

The focal point in the parable about the wheat and the tares is about the harvest. What is the harvest? Jesus said it is the end of the age. Today we are still living in the age of grace. No matter how bad you have been you can be forgiven and God wants to help you take all the tares out of your life. He wants the seed of the gospel to grow up in your life. But there is a time when the age of grace will be over. That will be the harvest. When you watch someone harvesting a wheat field with a combine, you notice the harvest does not happen instantly. It takes a period of time; and that is the case with the spiritual harvest, too.

The spiritual harvest takes some time. There are two harvests mentioned in the parable. “Let both grow together [that is both the tares and the wheat] until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares.’ ” Matthew 13:30. The tares are harvested first. They are bound up in bundles to burn. After the tares are harvested, then the wheat is harvested. Notice, in the time of the harvest a separation takes place. All have professed to be the children of God, to be part of His church, but now a separation is going to take place. The angels are going to do that separation. When the harvest time comes the tares and wheat no longer look alike because now the plants are mature. Whatever plant has been growing up in the mind, will then be evident to the whole universe. The wheat and the tares are going to be fully distinguished and differentiated.

The tares are harvested first and are bound in bundles. This binding in bundles is happening right now! Here are some ways people are being bound into bundles today. “The world is leagued against the truth, because it does not desire to obey the truth. Shall I, who perceive the truth, close my eyes and heart to its saving power because the world chooses darkness rather than light? Shall I bind myself up with the bundles of tares because my neighbors refuse to be bound up with the wheat? Shall I refuse light, the evidence of truth which leads to obedience, because my friends and relatives choose to follow in the path of disobedience which leads away from God? Shall I close my mind against the knowledge of the truth because my neighbors and friends will not open their understanding to discern the truth as it is in Jesus? Shall I refuse to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because my neighbors choose to remain dwarfs spiritually?” God’s Amazing Grace, 6. There are many people who say, “Oh, my husband is not doing it, so I am not going to do it either.” They are binding themselves in bundles with their friends and associates who are going to perdition.

“The true people of God are now pulling apart [that is when a separation takes place], and the tares are being bound in bundles ready to burn. Decided positions will be taken. Satan will move upon minds that have been indulged, upon men who have always had their own way, and anything presented to them in counsel or reproof to change their objectionable traits of character is considered faultfinding, binding them, restraining them, that they cannot have liberty to act themselves. The Lord in great mercy has sent messages of warning to them, but they would not listen to reproof.” 1888 Materials, 995. If God sends me a warning, a reproof, and I will not listen and just go on my way, I am binding myself in a bundle with the tares.

This binding in bundles in our age of the world is happening with very rapid speed. There are large groups of Christians today that are already bound up in bundles. “Can we not see how earnestly Satan is at work binding the tares in bundles, uniting the elements of his kingdom, that he may gain control of the world? This work of binding up the tares is going forward far more rapidly than we imagine. Satan is opposing every obstacle to the advancement of the truth. He is seeking to create diversity of opinion and to encourage worldliness and avarice. He works with the subtlety of the serpent and, when he sees it will do, with the ferocity of the lion. The ruin of souls is his only delight.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 383.

There are many ways people are binding themselves up in bundles today. At His trial, Jesus said He did not do anything in secret but in the open. Today people are binding themselves in bundles in secret societies with other people who do not believe the Bible. People are binding themselves with other associations which cause them to break the law of God. We need to be careful we do not bind ourselves with those who are preparing themselves to be lost. It is happening all over the world. People are being bound in bundles.

The Shaking and the Harvest

There is another figure of speech used in the Bible to describe this separation process where the tares and the wheat are separated. In the Bible it is called the “shaking.” When you see the shaking taking place in the church, you know we are in the time of the harvest––and the tares are bound in bundles first. “The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares. Those who have been members of the same family are separated. A mark is placed upon the righteous. ‘They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels.’” Testimonies to Ministers, 234. Members of the same family are separated in the time of judgment.

“A new life is coming from heaven and taking possession of all God’s people. But divisions will come in the church. Two parties will be developed. The wheat and tares grow up together for the harvest.” Selected Messages, vol. 2, 113. When you see division coming, two parties developing in the church, where are you in the history of the world? You are at the harvest, the end of time. What we see happening in the Christian church today, in the Seventh–day Adventist Church today, should cause us to wake up and realize where we are. We are in the time of the harvest. The shaking is the beginning of the harvest.

“Trials are to come upon God’s people and the tares are to be separated from the wheat.” Review and Herald, March 19, 1895. The final separation is coming sooner than we expect. The signs of the times in the religious world and in the Seventh–day Adventist Church show us clearly we are in the time of the harvest when two parties are being developed. Don’t you hear everyone talking about it? There is a division in the church. The tares and the wheat are being separated. Soon the final separation is going to take place. Are you going to be bound in bundles with a group of people who may claim to be Christians but are going to lose eternal life, or are you going to be part of the wheat? Is the truth going to grow up to full maturity in your heart?

I have always looked at this parable as being in the future, but no longer. We are now in the harvest time. Divisions have come, two parties have been developed and the angels are doing a work that just a few years ago we did not understand. If there was ever a time to say, “Lord, I want all the tares out of my life and the plant of the gospel of truth to grow up to full maturity in my mind,” it is now.

I want to be gathered into God’s garner, in the harvest. It is time to get on our knees and say, “Lord, I want the Holy Spirit to take all the tares out of my life. I want the truth to grow up to full maturity in my life.” When we see Jesus, we are going to be like Him. The plant of the truth is going to have grown to full maturity in our lives.

The End

Editorial – Will You be an Overcomer?

by

“The last great day is right upon us. Let all consider that Satan is now striving for the mastery over souls. He is playing the game of life for your souls. Will there be sins committed by you on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan? Oh what revealings! The husband will know for the first time the deception and falsehood that have been practiced by the wife whom he thought innocent and pure. The wife for the first time will know the case of her husband, and the relatives and friends will see how error and falsehood and corruption have been clustering about them; for the secrets of all hearts will stand revealed. The hour of Judgment is almost here,—long delayed by the goodness and mercy of God. But the trump of God will sound to the consternation of the unprepared who are living, and awaken the pale nations of the dead. The great white throne will appear, and all the righteous dead will come forth to immortality. Whatever have been the little sins indulged will ruin the soul, unless they are overcome. The small sins will swell into the greater sins. Impure thoughts, private, impure actions, unrefined, low, and sensual thoughts and actions in the marriage life, the giving loose reins to the baser passions under the marriage vow will lead to every other sin, the transgression of all the commandments of God. Men that God has entrusted with noble talents will be, unless closely connected with God, guilty of great weakness, and not having the grace of Christ in the soul will become connected with greater crimes. This is because they do not make the truth of God a part of them. Their discipline has been defective, the soul culture has not been carried forward from one advance to another, inborn tendencies have not been restrained, but have degraded the soul. For all the natural weaknesses Jesus has made ample provision, that they may be overcome through his grace. If not overcome, the weakness will become a tyrant, a conqueror, to overcome them, and the heavenly light will become beclouded and extinguished.” Review and Herald, May 24, 1887.

“You may feel that you cannot meet the approval of heaven. You may say, ‘I was born with a natural tendency toward this evil, and I cannot overcome.’ But every provision has been made by our heavenly Father whereby you may be able to overcome every unholy tendency. You are to overcome even as Christ overcame in your behalf. He says, ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.’ It was sin that imperiled the human family; and before man was created the provision was made that if man failed to bear the test, Jesus would become his sacrifice and surety, that through faith in him, man might be reconciled to God, for Christ was the lamb ‘slain from the foundation of the world.’ Christ died on Calvary that man might have power to overcome his natural tendencies to sin. But one says, ‘Can I not have my own way, and act myself?’—No, you cannot have your way, and enter the kingdom of heaven. No ‘my way’ will be there. No human ways will find place in the kingdom of heaven. Our ways must be lost in God’s ways.” Review and Herald, February 23, 1892.

“When there is a determined purpose born in your heart to overcome, you will have a disposition to overcome, and will cultivate those traits of character that are desirable, and will engage in the conflict with steady, persevering effort. You will exercise a ceaseless watchfulness over your defects of character; and will cultivate right practices in little things. The difficulty of overcoming will be lessened in proportion as the heart is sanctified by the grace of Christ. Earnest, persevering effort will place you on the vantage-ground of victory; for he who strives to overcome in and through the grace of Christ, will have divine enlightenment, and will understand how great truths can be brought into little things, and religion can be carried into the little as well as into the large concerns of life.” Youth’s Instructor, September 7, 1893.

“Every one who is to receive the overcomer’s reward must first overcome every sin; and not until he overcomes through divine grace, can he entertain hope of entering the haven of eternal bliss.” Testimonies to the Church Regarding Individual Responsibility and Christian Unity, 13.

The End

Recipe – Confetti Couscous

by

1 ½ cups water

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground cumin

1 cup uncooked couscous

15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup thawed frozen corn

½ cup diced red onion

½ cup diced yellow bell pepper (optional)

½ cup diced red bell pepper (optional)

¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 to 4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (2 limes)

In medium sauce pan, combine salt, cumin and 1 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add couscous, stir and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with fork. Let stand 5 minutes. Fluff again. Add beans, corn, onion, bell peppers if using, cilantro and jalapeno. Stir in oil and enough lime juice to give salad a puckery edge. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Food – Couscous

by

“Our Creator has furnished us, in vegetables, grain, and fruits, all the elements of nutrition necessary to health and strength.” The Signs of the Times, January 6, 1876.

Couscous is among the healthiest grain-based products.

A Berber dish of semolina traditionally served with a meat or vegetable stew spooned over it, the name is derived from Berber seksu, meaning well rolled, well formed, rounded. Today, it is still a staple in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Western Libya. One of the first written references of couscous is from an anonymous thirteenth century Moroccan/Andalusian cookbook. To this day, couscous is known as the Moroccan national dish.

Originally made from millet, historians have different opinions as to when wheat began to replace the use of millet. The conversion seems to have occurred sometime in the twentieth century. The best and most famous couscous is made from hard wheat.

The key to preparing an authentic couscous is patience and care. There are two basic steps in preparing couscous before the cooking process: forming the couscous and humidifying and drying the couscous. The first of these steps, forming the couscous—that is, preparing couscous from “scratch”—is rarely done anymore. The original “from scratch” process involves rubbing and rolling together large grains of hard wheat semolina with finer grains of semolina sprayed with salted water to raise the humidity of the semolina so the two sizes affix to each other to form couscous, the large grain serving as a kind of nucleus for the smaller grains. Modern couscous factories do all of this by machine, including the needed drying process. When one buys couscous, in a box or in bulk, this first step has been done.

The second basic step is the only step with which you need to be concerned. The couscous is best if it is steamed and not submerged in liquid. However, the couscous that is sold in most Western supermarkets has been pre-steamed and dried, and the package directions usually instruct to add 1.5 measures of boiling water or stock and butter to each measure of couscous and to cover tightly for 5 minutes. The couscous swells and within a few minutes it is ready to fluff with a fork and serve. Properly cooked couscous is light and fluffy, not gummy or gritty. It should taste tender, not al dente and not mushy; the grains should be separate and taste moist, not wet and not dry.

Couscous may be prepared in a variety of ways with vegetables, fruit and spices. The Confetti Couscous salad is perfect for a summer dinner, served over a bed of radicchio or watercress. Garnish the salad with sliced avocados and cherry tomatoes or dice a half cup of each and toss right in.

Children’s Story – The Right Decision

by

It was 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 were going to have a fine time. Fred Davis, a boy about my own age, took me cordially by the hand, 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 as could be.

At last Mrs. Davis said it was almost bedtime. Then I expected family prayers, but we were very soon directed to our chambers. How strange it seemed to me, for I had never before been in a household without family worship. “Come,” said Fred, “mother says you and I are going to share the bed,” and I followed him up two pair of stairs to a nice little chamber which he called his room; and he opened a drawer and showed me a box, and boat, and knives, and powder-horn, and all his treasures, and told me a world of new things about what the boys did 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 put my portmanteau (a leather trunk that opens into two halves) in my hand, just before the coach started, 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 in front of 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. I wished many wishes—that I had slept alone, that Fred would go to sleep, or something else; I hardly knew what. But Fred would not go to sleep.

Perhaps struggles like these take place in everyone’s mind when he leaves home and begins to act for himself, and on his decision may depend his character for time, and for eternity. With me the struggle was severe. At last, to Fred’s cry, “Come on, come to bed,” I mustered courage to say, “I will kneel down and pray first; that is always my custom.” “Pray?” said Fred, turning himself over on his pillow and saying 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 the Christian man; for in after years I was thrown amid trials and temptations which would have drawn me away from God and from virtue, had it not been for my settled habit of secret prayer.

Let every boy who has Christian 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 you. Carry them with you and stand by them, and then in weakness and temptation, by God’s help, they will stand by you. Take a manly stand on the side of your God and Saviour, of your father’s God. It is by abandoning their Christian birthright that so many boys go astray, and grow up to be young men dishonoring parents, without hope and without God in the world.

M.A. Vroman, Sabbath Readings for the Home Circle, A. B. Publishing, Ithaca, Michigan, 1905, 29–31.

Customs of Bible Times – Conducting Negotiations to Secure a Wife

by

The customs of the Arabs in certain areas of Bible lands when they negotiate to secure a bride for their son, illustrate in many respects Biblical practices. If a young man has acquired sufficient means to make it possible for him to provide a marriage dowry, then his parents select the girl and the negotiations begin. The father calls in a man who acts as a deputy for him and the son. This deputy is called “the friend of the bridegroom” by John the Baptist (John 3:29). This man is fully informed as to the dowry the young man is willing to pay for his bride. Then, together with the young man’s father, or some other male relative, or both, he goes to the home of the young woman. The father announces that the deputy will speak for the party, and then the bride’s father will appoint a deputy to represent him. Before the negotiations begin, a drink of coffee is offered the visiting group, but they refuse to drink until the mission is completed. Thus Abraham’s servant, when offered food by the parents of Rebekah, said, “I will not eat, until I have told mine errand” (Genesis 24:33). When the two deputies face each other, then the negotiations begin in earnest. There must be consent for the hand of the young woman and agreement on the amount of dowry to be paid for her. When these are agreed upon, the deputies rise and their congratulations are exchanged, and then coffee is brought in, and they all drink of it as a seal of the covenant thus entered into.

Reasons for the Marriage Dowry

Bride’s family – In the Orient, when the bride’s parents give their daughter in marriage, they are actually diminishing the efficiency of their family. Often unmarried daughters would tend the flock of their father (Exodus 2:16), or they would work in the field, or render help in other ways. Thus upon her marriage, a young woman would be thought of as increasing the efficiency of her husband’s family and diminishing that of her parents. Therefore, a young man who expects to get possession of their daughter must be able to offer some sort of adequate compensation. This compensation was the marriage dowry.

It was not always required that the dowry be paid in cash; it could be paid in service. Because Jacob could not pay cash, he said, “I will serve thee seven years for Rachel” (Genesis 29:18). King Saul required the lives of one hundred of the enemy Philistines as dowry for David to secure Michal as his wife (I Samuel 18:25).

The bride – It was usually customary for at least some of the price of the dowry to be given to the bride. This would be in addition to any personal gift from the bride’s parents. Leah and Rachel complained about the stinginess of their father Laban. Concerning him they said, “He hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured the price paid for us” (Genesis 31:15, ARV margin). Laban had had the benefit of Jacob’s fourteen years of service, without making the equivalent of at least part of it as a gift to Leah and Rachel.

Since a divorced wife in the Orient is entitled to all her wearing apparel, for this reason much of her personal dowry consists of coins on her headgear or jewelry on her person. This becomes wealth to her in case her marriage ends in failure. This is why the dowry is so important to the bride and such emphasis is placed upon it in the negotiations that precede marriage. The woman who had ten pieces of silver and lost one was greatly concerned over the loss, because it was doubtless a part of her marriage dowry (Luke 15:8, 9).

Special dowry from the bride’s father

It was customary for fathers who could afford to do so to give their daughters a special marriage dowry. When Rebekah left her father’s house to be the bride of Isaac, her father gave her a nurse and also damsels who were to be her attendants (Genesis 24:59, 61). And Caleb gave to his daughter a dowry of a field with springs of water (Judges 1:15). Such was sometimes the custom in olden times.

Fred H. Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, Moody Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, 1953, 127, 128.

Keys to the Storehouse – Fake and Artificial

by

It is often hard to realize just how artificial our lives have become and the destruction it has caused in all areas of life—physically, mentally and also spiritually.

“Our artificial civilization is encouraging evils destructive of sound principles. Custom and fashion are at war with nature. The practices they enjoin, and the indulgences they foster, are steadily lessening both physical and mental strength, and bringing upon the race an intolerable burden. Intemperance and crime, disease and wretchedness, are everywhere.” The Ministry of Healing, 125.

Artificial is not genuine or natural. We are right in the middle of this artificial civilization, which is encouraging evils and destroying sound principles.

Artificial is something that is fabricated—a counterfeit. The devil is destroying our minds and bodies through the artificial, which all seem so real. Look around and you will see the fruits of the devil’s labor:

  • Artificial snow, artificial ice, artificial flowers.
  • Artificial lighting creates more awake time, making it easy to cram more activities into each day and ignore the health law of good rest, which ends in health problems.
  • Television creates artificial scenarios and “encourages evils destructive of sound principles.”
  • “Custom and fashion are at war with nature.” Most of the material in our clothing is of manmade synthetics that are destructive, preventing good ventilation that allows the pores of the body to breathe.
  • “A fashionable life is a hard, thankless life. How often time, money, and health are sacrificed, the patience sorely tried, and self-control lost, merely for the sake of display.” Christian Education, 168.
  • Modern farming practices using genetically modified seeds (GMO) and the abundant chemical fertilizers and pesticides have stripped most of our food of its natural nutrients and often flavor. Results of this can be seen in the overweight population of the West and the increase of diabetes, heart conditions and cancers that are affecting people younger and younger each year. Our bodies are suffering from its effects. We eat more but get less nutrition. In fact, we are being gradually destroyed.

“Our artificial habits deprive us of many blessings and much enjoyment, and unfit us for living the most useful lives. Elaborate and expensive furnishings are a waste not only of money, but of that which is a thousandfold more precious. They bring into the home a heavy burden of care and labor and perplexity.

“What are the conditions in many homes, even where resources are limited and the work of the household rests chiefly on the mother? The best rooms are furnished in a style beyond the means of the occupants and unsuited to their convenience and enjoyment. There are expensive carpets, elaborately carved and daintily upholstered furniture, and delicate drapery. Tables, mantels, and every other available space are crowded with ornaments, and the walls are covered with pictures, until the sight becomes wearying. And what an amount of work is required to keep all these in order and free from dust! This work, and the other artificial habits of the family in its conformity to fashion, demand of the housewife unending toil.” The Ministry of Healing, 367.

The opposite of artificial is genuine or natural. When you look around, there is not much that is natural or genuine to be seen. We really do live in an artificial society. But, there are certain things that are unacceptable when faked and must be absolutely genuine. One is faith. Is your faith genuine or is it artificial? The artificial or synthetic manmade faith, also known as presumption, can seem so real but is so dangerous to spiritual health.

“Only he who has true faith is secure against presumption, for presumption is Satan’s counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God’s promises and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression.” Mind, Character and Personality, vol. 2, 534.

Father: Help me to recognize the artificial in my life and turn toward the genuine. I do not want a counterfeit faith presuming on Your mercies in the midst of my disobedience and yet still claiming Your promises. Forgive me Father; keep me from presumptuous sins; let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight. Amen.

Health – That Pesky Wart

by

Not too long ago several people asked for suggestions in getting rid of warts naturally. After a little research, this is what I found.

The wart is classified as a viral skin infection that remains solely within the skin. Because it takes repeated contact with the wart to spread, it is usually not contagious unless you continually rub your wart onto another person’s skin. Some people have more than one wart on their body because of the repeated contact with their own skin. Most warts are harmless, but they are just plain ugly.

Is there a way to get rid of the unsightly, pesky wart naturally? Many people have tried different things that have worked for them. Here are a few comments and suggestions I found while researching for natural ways to annihilate it.

“The simplest and probably most effective natural way to get rid of warts that I know of is to apply vitamin E directly to the thing and keep applying it once or twice a day until it falls off or disappears. Many people have found it most convenient to saturate the gauze portion of an adhesive bandage, apply it over the wart and change daily. It may take anywhere from one week to several months to achieve results.

“Curiously, I have never come across a single word in the medical literature about applying vitamin E to warts. But many readers have sent in letters to Prevention, describing what often seems to be astonishing success, and when others try it, they too write in about amazing results. So the therapy is kept alive—a true folk remedy.

“Robert Rodale, editor of Prevention, told me that as a young boy he developed some ugly-looking warts on his arm, and his father, J. I. Rodale, took him to a doctor. The doctor, apparently a wise old bird, looked at the warts and told young Robert that if they did not go away within two weeks, he was going to have to burn them off. To the child’s mind the idea of having his skin burned was a horrifying prospect. Two weeks later, all the warts had vanished.

“I should add, though, that the action of vitamin E on warts seems to be rather more than a placebo effect, as a number of readers report that warts on their pet dogs went away after application of the vitamin.

“An interesting remedy involving the application of banana skins was described in the journal Plastic Reconstructive Surgery (December 1981). In this report, an Israeli doctor found the inner side of a banana skin to be ‘a painless, non-inflammatory local treatment’ in curing warts, especially plantar warts. ‘A piece of fresh banana skin is applied once daily to the affected area [by surgical tape], after washing,’ she writes. ‘After one week of treatment, the wart becomes softer and the pain diminishes. … After two weeks of treatment shrinkage of the wart becomes obvious.’ After six weeks, the warts ‘completely disappear’ and a two-year follow-up revealed no recurrence whatsoever.

“Plantar warts on the feet have been reported to die of heat prostration following daily 15-minute baths of the affected foot in water heated to 118° to 120° F (just about as hot as you can tolerate). Trim the callus off the growth first, and keep up the baths for two weeks. The virus that causes plantar warts, it seems, is sensitive to heat, and when the temperature reaches 120° F, its goose is cooked.” Mark Bricklin, Executive Editor Prevention Magazine, The Practical Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, New, Revised Edition, by Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, p. 517, 518.

Then he continues with the following folk remedies for warts:

“An old Indian method, which a woman from Ontario, Canada, told us ‘really works,’ is to ‘go out and pick a dandelion two or three times a day and put the milk from the cut end on the wart.’ The woman said that she got rid of her warts ‘in no time after they grew back again after having them burned off.’

“This anecdote brings up an important point. Many people probably imagine that having warts burned off or surgically removed by a doctor is the swiftest and most reliable method to rid yourself of warts.

“Not true. The fact is, as any honest dermatologist will tell you, warts that are ‘destroyed’ have an amazing propensity to return over and over again, no matter how many times they are treated, often spreading or growing in the process. This does not seem to happen with vitamin E or other natural methods.

“Another reader took the advice of the mystic, Edgar Cayce, who suggested putting warm castor oil on gauze and applying it three times a day for half an hour. The reader reported that Cayce’s method got rid of 14 warts on both hands in two months.

“Cod-liver oil, rubbed often on a wart, is yet another remedy reported to us.

“If this doesn’t work, you may be interested in knowing about a combination herbal-abrasive technique described to us by Dr. Karl-Heinz A. Rosler, of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Dr. Rosler, who holds a Ph.D. in pharmacognosy, and is therefore highly knowledgeable about herbs, said that as a youth he suffered acute embarrassment from warts on his hands. He tried an emery nail file and worked on the warts until they almost bled, but had to stop because they became so inflamed.

“The warts stayed with him for many years. Then, he was told by a neighbor that the juice of the aloe plant, famed as an anti-inflammatory agent, could be useful in getting rid of warts. What the neighbor had done was to deliberately burn his warts with a match and then apply juice from the aloe leaf, so the inflammation would disappear along with the wart.

“Dr. Rosler said that by coincidence, at about this time, a Ph.D. wrote a paper saying there is nothing beneficial in the aloe plant. Nevertheless, Dr. Rosler told us, ‘I decided to try a little folk medicine on myself. I again filed the warts back and applied the juice from a fresh aloe plant, and this did keep down the inflammation, to such an extent that the next day I was able to continue filing—and I filed the warts flat, applying the aloe juice each day. I soon had all of the warts filed down to nothing, and they never reappeared.’ ” Ibid., 518, 519.

In The Merck Manual of Medical Information, Second Home Edition, published by Pocket Books, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, 1229, the following information is given:

“In general, warts can be removed with chemicals, cut off, frozen off, or burned off with a laser or electrical current.

“Typical chemicals used for removal include salicylic acid, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, trichloroacetic acid, cantharidin, and podophyllin. Flat warts are often treated with peeling agents such as retinoic or salicylic acid. 5-Fluorouracil cream or solution may also be used. Some chemicals can be applied by the person, whereas others must be applied by a doctor. Most of these chemicals can burn normal skin, so when they are applied at home, it is essential to follow directions carefully. Chemicals usually require multiple applications over several weeks to months. The wart is scraped to remove dead tissue before each treatment.

“Freezing [cryotherapy] is safe and does not usually require any numbing of the area but may be too painful for children to tolerate. Warts may be frozen with various commercial freezing probes or with liquid nitrogen sprayed on or applied with a cotton swab. Cryotherapy is often used for plantar warts and warts under the fingernails. Multiple treatments at monthly intervals are often required, especially for large warts.”

We have looked at some natural ways and some chemical ways to destroy the pesky wart. When it comes right down to it, you will need to make the final decision of what is best for you.

Current Events – Mob Mentality

by

“In every mob wicked angels are at work, rousing men to commit deeds of violence.” Last Day Events, 23.

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began in September 17, 2011. Solidarity encampments and demonstrations have been organized across the United States and throughout the world to call for economic, political and social change. It’s unclear what the Occupy protests have accomplished, but millions of dollars in costs of repair and maintenance and police overtime have been incurred by cities since the protesters began gathering, and protesters are beginning to camp out again. www.washingtonpost.com; www.democracynow.org, April 25, 2012.

Saudi Arabia closed its Cairo embassy and recalled its ambassador following protests over a detained Egyptian human rights lawyer in a sharp escalation of tension between two regional powerhouses already on shaky terms due to uprisings in the Arab world. The unexpected Saudi diplomatic break came following days of protests by hundreds of Egyptians outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo and consulates in other cities. www.miamiherald.com, April 28, 2012.

Bahrain is a small desert island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, an oil-producing nation of about one million. In mid-February 2011, Bahrain was gripped by a series of pro-democracy demonstrations in Manama, the capital, set off by the example of revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. At least 70 people have been killed in violence related to the uprising. topics.nytimes.com, April 23, 2012.

Tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters have taken to the streets in Syria on the second day of the UN [United Nations] and Arab League-brokered ceasefire. Security forces were widely deployed and despite the agreed truce, activists claim that more than 15 people have been killed. Syrian troops fired tear gas and bullets on thousands of protesters who spilled out of mosques after noon prayers on Friday, activists said. State media reported that bombs and shootings killed 17 soldiers as the latest diplomatic efforts failed to halt more than 13 months of bloodshed in the country. www.guardian.co.uk, April 20, 2012; ibnlive.in.com, April 21, 2012.

KANO, Nigeria (AP) – Gunmen attacked church services on a university campus on Sunday in northern Nigeria, using small explosives to draw out panicked Christian worshipers, who were then shot in an assault that killed at least 16 people, officials said. www.nytimes.com, April 29, 2012.

A Tibetan exile who set himself on fire in Delhi [India] earlier this week has died, as Indian police and paramilitaries launch a security crackdown to prevent further protests or self-immolations during the visit of the Chinese premier, Hu Jintao. Authorities fear that more Tibetans will follow suit to protest at Chinese policies in their homeland. About 30 Tibetans have died and another dozen have been seriously injured in the past 13 months in similar protests, mainly inside China. guardian.co.uk, March 28, 2012.

The protesting employees of the National Commission for Women Development staged a demonstration outside the Karachi [Pakistan] Press Club on Monday. They were forced to disperse when personnel of the police department were apparently ordered to use high-pressure water cannons on them. Moreover, a large number of demonstrators were baton-charged and some of them arrested, because nothing the law enforcers did was enough for making the protesters stop voicing their grievances and demands.

www.pakistantoday.com, April 3, 2012.