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Sanctuary, part 3

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As this legal system, which we have been considering, was only a “shadow,” a “figure” and “patterns” of no value in itself only to teach us the nature of that perfect system of redemption which is its “body,” the “things themselves,” which was devised in the councils of heaven, and is being wrought out by “the only Begotten of the Father;” let us, guided by the Spirit of truth, learn the solemn realities thus shadowed forth. By these patterns, finite as we are, we may, like Paul, extend our research beyond the limits of our natural vision to the “heavenly things themselves.” Here we find the entire ministry of the law fulfilled in Christ, Who was anointed with the Holy Ghost and by His own blood entered His Sanctuary , heaven itself, when He ascended to the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, as “A minister of the Holies,” etc., Hebrews 8:6, 2. Paul, after speaking of the daily services in the Holy and the yearly in the Holy of Holies, says, “The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way of the Holies was not yet made manifest; while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered” etc., “until the time of reformation. But Christ being an High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,” “by His own blood He entered (on or into) the holy things.” Hebrews 9:8–12

The “things” are “good in themselves,” “holy,” or “heavenly,” and in “heaven itself,” where Christ has entered as our High Priest to “minister” for us; and those “holy things” “in heaven” are connected with the “greater and more perfect tabernacle,” “which the Lord pitched and not man”; the same as the holy things of the first covenant were connected with their tabernacle, Hebrews 9:1–5; and all those holy things together make the Sanctuary. The Holies (two) verse 8, the way of which was not made manifest till the time of reformation when Christ shed His own blood, belong to His “greater and more perfect tabernacle,” spoken of in the next verse. I translate the names literally because they are not literal in our common version. The Douay Bible has them as here given. The blood of Christ is the way or means by which He, as our High Priest was to enter both apartments of the heavenly tabernacle. Now if there be but one place in the heavens, as many say, why were there two in the figure? And why, in applying the figure, does Paul speak of two? Perhaps those who “despise the law” and “corrupt the covenant of Levi” can explain this; if not, we advise them to abide by Paul’s exposition of the matter. [See Hebrews 9:6–15.]

Christ Enters The First Compartment

Hebrews 6:19, 20 is supposed to prove that Christ entered the Holy of Holies at His ascension, because Paul said that He had entered within the veil. But the veil which divides between the Holy and the Holy of Holies is “the second veil,” Hebrews 9:3; hence there are two veils, and that in Hebrews 6, being the first of which he speaks, must be the first veil, which hung before the Holy and in Exodus was called a curtain. When He entered within the veil, He entered His tabernacle, of course the Holy, as that was the first apartment; and our hope, as an anchor of the soul, enters within the veil, i.e., the atonement of both apartments, including both the forgiveness and the blotting out of sins.

Those who hold that Christ entered the Holy of Holies at, and has been ministering therein ever since, His ascension, also believe, as of course they must, that the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation is the antitype of the atonement made on the tenth day of the seventh month under the law. If this is so, the events of the legal tenth day have had their antitypes during the Gospel Dispensation. The first event in the atonement service of that day was the cleansing of the Sanctuary, as we have seen from Leviticus 16. Then, upon their theory, the Sanctuary of the new covenant was cleansed in the early part of the Gospel Dispensation.

Evidence is not wanting that neither the earth nor Palestine, their Sanctuaries, was then cleansed. I call them their Sanctuaries, for they are not the Lord’s. But if the Lord’s new covenant Sanctuary was then cleansed, the 2300 days ended then; but if they are years, which we all believe, they extend 1810 years beyond the 70 weeks, and the last of those weeks was the first of the new covenant or Gospel Dispensation. The fact that those days reach 1810 years beyond the 70 weeks and that the Sanctuary could not be cleansed till the end of those days is demonstration that the antitype of the legal tenth day is not the Gospel Dispensation. Again, if the atonement of that day is typical of the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation, then the atonement made in the Holy, Hebrews 9:6, previous to that day, was finished before the Gospel Dispensation began. It has been shown that that atonement was made for the forgiveness of sins, and I have found no evidence that such an atonement was made on the tenth day of the seventh month. The Gospel Dispensation began with the preaching of Christ; and if it is the antitype of the legal tenth day, one of these two things is true: either the Saviour, instead of fulfilling, has destroyed the greater part of the law, the daily service of the Holy which occupied the whole year except one day, the tenth of the seventh month; or else He fulfilled the whole law except one three hundred and sixtieth part of it before the Gospel Dispensation began and before He was anointed as the Messiah to fulfil the law and the prophets. One of these two conclusions is inevitable on the hypotheses that the Gospel Dispensation and the atonement made in it, is the antitype of the legal tenth day and the atonement made in it. Upon which of these horns will they hang? If on the former, the declaration, “I came not to destroy the law,” pierces them; but if they choose the latter, it then becomes them to prove that the law, which had a shadow of good things to come, was fulfilled within itself, that the shadow and substance filled the same place and time; also they will need to prove that the entire atonement for the forgiveness of sins was made before the Lamb was slain with whose blood the atonement was to be made. Now it must be clear to every one that if the antitype of the yearly service (Hebrews 9:7) began at the first Advent, the antitype of the daily [sacrificial service] (Hebrews 9:6) had been previously fulfilled; and, as the atonement for forgiveness was a part of that daily [sacrificial] service, they are involved in the conclusion that there has been no forgiveness of sins under the Gospel Dispensation. Such a theory is wholly at war with the entire genius of the Gospel Dispensation and stands rebuked, not only by Moses and Paul, but by the teaching and works of our Saviour and His commission to His apostles, by their subsequent teaching, and the history of the Christian church. But again, they say the atonement was made and finished on Calvary when the Lamb of God expired. So men have taught us, and so the churches and world believe; but it is none the more true or sacred on that account if unsupported by Divine authority. Perhaps few or none who hold that opinion have ever tested the foundation on which it rests.

The Foundation Of A False Theory

  1. If the atonement was made on Calvary, by whom was it made? The making of the atonement is the work of a Priest, but who officiated on Calvary? – Roman soldiers and wicked Jews.
  2. The slaying of the victim was not making the atonement: the sinner slew the victim, Leviticus 4:1–4, 13–15, etc.; after that the priest took the blood and made the atonement. (See Leviticus 4:5–12, 16–21.)
  3. Christ was the appointed High Priest to make the atonement, and He certainly could not have acted in that capacity till after His resurrection. We have no record of His doing any thing on earth after His resurrection, which could be called the atonement.
  4. The atonement was made in the Sanctuary, but Calvary was not such a place.
  5. He could not, according to Hebrews 8:4, make the atonement while on earth. “If He were on earth, He should not be a Priest.” The Levitical was the earthly priesthood, the Divine, the heavenly.
  6. Therefore, He did not begin the work of making the atonement, whatever the nature of that work may be, till after His ascension, when by His own blood He entered His heavenly Sanctuary for us.

Let us now examine a few texts that appear to speak of the atonement as passed. Romans 5:11: “By Whom we have now received the atonement,” (margin, reconciliation). This passage clearly shows a present possession of the atonement at that time the apostle wrote, but it by no means proves that the entire atonement was then in the past.

When the Saviour was about to be taken up from His apostles, He “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,” which came on the day of Pentecost when they were all “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” Christ had entered His Father’s house, the Sanctuary, as High Priest, and began His intercession for His people by “praying the Father” for “another Comforter,” John 14:15. “And having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 2:33, He shed it down upon His waiting apostles. Then, in compliance with their commission, Peter, at the third hour of the day began to preach, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,” Acts 2:38. This word remission, signifies forgiveness, pardon or more literally, sending away of sins.

Now put by the side of this text another on this point from his discourse at the ninth hour of the same day, Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore; and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Here he exhorts to repentance and conversion (turning away from sins); for what purpose? “That your sins may be (future) blotted out.” Every one can see that the blotting out of sins does not take place at repentance and conversion, but follows, and must of necessity be preceded by them. Repentance, conversion, and baptism had then become imperative duties in the present tense; and when performed, those doing them “washed away,” Acts 22:16, remitted, or sent away from them their sins, (see Acts 2:28); and of course are forgiven and have “received the atonement”; but they had not received it entire at that time because their sins were not yet blotted out.

The Process Of The Atonement

How far then had they advanced in the reconciling process? Just so far as the individual under the law had when he had confessed his sin, brought his victim to the door of the tabernacle, laid his hand upon it, slew it, and the priest had with its blood entered the Holy and sprinkled it before the veil and upon the altar and thus made an atonement for him, and he was forgiven. Only that was the type, and this the reality. That prepared for the cleansing of the great day of atonement, this for the blotting out of sins “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus.” Acts 3:19. Hence, “by Whom we have now received the atonement” is the same as “by whom we have received forgiveness of sin.” At this point the man is “made free from sin.” The Lamb on Calvary’s cross is our victim slain; “Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant” “in the heavens” is our interceding High Priest, making atonement with His own blood, by and with which He entered there. The essence of the process is the same as in the “shadow.” First, convinced of sin; second, repentance and confession; third, present the divine sacrifice bleeding. This done in faith and sincerity, we can do no more; no more is required.

Then in the heavenly Sanctuary, our High Priest with his own blood makes the atonement and we are forgiven. 1 Peter 2:24: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” (See also Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4–12.) His body is the “one sacrifice” for repenting mortals to which their sins are imputed and through whose blood in the hands of an active Priest they are conveyed to the heavenly Sanctuary. That was offered “once for all,” “on the tree;” and all who would avail themselves of its merits must through faith, there receive it as theirs, bleeding at the hands of sinful mortals like themselves. After thus obtaining the atonement of forgiveness we must “maintain good works,” not the “deeds of the law;” but “being dead to sin should live unto righteousness.” This work we all understand to be peculiar to the Gospel Dispensation.

An inferential objection arises, which in many minds overwhelms any amount of Bible argument on this point. It is, New Jerusalem cannot be defiled, hence needs no cleansing; therefore, New Jerusalem is not the Sanctuary. A very summary process of inferential deduction truly, especially for those who have said so much on the insufficiency of mere inferential testimony. We would advise them to review the grounds of their faith and see how many and strong arguments they have for the earth or Palestine being the Sanctuary and how many objections to the Sanctuary of the new covenant being where its Priest is, that are not entirely inferential; and then in place of their inferences, take the plain testimony of the Word and teach it. But how was the Sanctuary defiled?

The Earthly Sanctuary Had To Be Cleansed

The Sanctuary of the Old Testament, being on earth, could be, and was, defiled in various ways—by an unclean person entering it. “She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.” Leviticus 12:4. It could be profaned by the high priest going out of it while the anointing oil was upon him for the dead (see Leviticus 21:12) and by a man’s negotiating to purify himself. (See Numbers 17:20; 19:20.) All of the chief of the priests and of the people polluted it by transgressing very much after all the abominations of the heathen. (See 2 Chronicles 36:14.) “Surely, because thou hast defiled My Sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations (idolatry), therefore will I diminish thee.” Ezekiel 5:11

“Moreover this they have done unto Me; they have defiled My Sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths: for when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My Sanctuary to profane it.” Ezekiel 23:38, 39. “Her priests have polluted the Sanctuary; they have done violence to the law.” Zephaniah 3:4. Antiochus polluted it by offering swine flesh upon its altar. (See 1 Maccabees 1:20–24.) From these texts we can clearly see that it was moral rather than physical uncleanness that defiled the Sanctuary in the sight of the Lord. True, it did become physically unclean, but that uncleanness had to be removed before the atonement was made by which it was reconciled or cleansed. (See 2 Chronicles 29.) And that, we have seen, was the law of cleansing, Leviticus, chapters 12 to 15; the object must be made visibly clean, so to speak, so that we would call it clean, to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood. Now no one supposes that New Jerusalem is unclean or ever has been, as its type was when overrun, desecrated, and desolated by Syrian, Chaldean, or Roman soldiery, or trode by wicked priests. Even if it were, the removing of such defilement would not be the cleansing it was to undergo at the end of the 2300 days. The Sanctuary was unclean in some sense, or else it would not need to be cleansed; and it must in some way have received its uncleanness from man. Removed, as the heavenly Sanctuary is from the midst of mortals and entered only by our Forerunner, Jesus, made an High Priest, it can only be defiled by mortals through His agency, and for them cleansed by the same agency. The legal typical process of defiling and cleansing the Sanctuary through the agency of the priest has been examined. With that in our minds, let us go to the New Testament. Paul says, Colossians 1:19, 20: “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made (margin, making) peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.” When “things on earth” are spoken of in connection or contrast with “things in heaven,” no one can understand them all to be in the same place. “Things in heaven” are to be reconciled as well as “things on earth.”

The Heavenly Sanctuary Cleansed

If they needed reconciling, they were unreconciled; if unreconciled, then unclean in some sense in His sight. The blood of Christ is the means, and Christ Himself the agent of reconciling to the Father both the things in heaven and the things on earth. People have an idea that in heaven, where our Saviour has gone, everything is and always was perfect beyond change or improvement. But He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2. He went into heaven, and Paul says that the “building of God, an house not made with hands” is in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1

For what did He go to His Father’s house? “To prepare a place for you.” Then it was unprepared; and when He has prepared it, He will come again and take us to Himself. Again, Hebrews 9:23: “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” What were the patterns? “The tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,” verse 21, which constituted the worldly Sanctuary, verse 1. What were the heavenly things themselves? The greater and more perfect tabernacle (see verse 11), and the good things and the holy things (see verses 11, 12). These are all in heaven itself. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself.” Verse 24. Paul here shows that it was as necessary to purify the heavenly things as it was to purify their patterns, the worldly.

The End

Micah

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The book of Micah is a beautiful book. Micah lived about 700 B.C. At this time, the Children of Israel had been living in the Land of Canaan for about 700 years and were well established. Israel was all still intact. They thought that as God’s people, He would always preserve them. After all, there were no other people on earth who were preaching the truth. If they were wiped out, who would God have? They were the depositors, as Paul says, of the oracles of God.

In Micah 3:11 God, through the prophet says, “Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay.” They were making a comfortable, secure living in the priesthood. “And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord. . .” Does anyone like to be used? We do not like to be used, but how often we are tempted to use God. The Children of Israel used God. They leaned on Him to their advantage. “We are His people. We do not have to listen or obey Him, but He must take care of us. He has promised us things and we are going to hold Him to those promises. All nations will be blessed through us.” They knew everything was not right, politics had entered the church, but they reasoned if there was anything wrong at the head of the church, God would right it.

God’s church was going through. Through conniving or politics or however else the leaders happened to get at the head of God’s church—since they were on top of the heap that was going through, they thought they were going to succeed, too. All they had to do was stay on top. “Are we not God’s people? therefore, no harm can come to us.” “Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:12. Because of this attitude, because of you who are entrenched in your offices, because of you leaders of the people who are working for pay instead of for a calling, Jerusalem will be devastated, will be plowed like a field and be left destroyed.

Micah 4:3 says, “Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.” It is a hard thing for us to admit that God is not dependent upon us. Somehow we are determined that God has to be dependent on us. It is true, God wants to use us and it is even true that God has made His work dependent on some men, somewhere. God has suffered many losses because people have been untrue. He could have, many times, sent angels to do the work, but He has left it in the hands of men, and many times, unfaithful men.

And yet, never has God made His work entirely dependent upon people and never has He made it dependent upon any certain group of people. Hosea, a contemporary of Micah, says, “I will say to those who were not My people. ‘You are My people!’ ” Hosea 2:23. John the Baptist said, “God can raise up children to Himself from these stones. Do not think that He is dependent on you.” One of the most dangerous philosophies for the church, is to come to the place where we think that because we are God’s church , He is dependent on us. It is deadly and it destroyed the Children of Israel. Because they thought God was dependent upon them, the Children of Israel continued to carry out their ceremonies, rituals, and forms of worship. As apostasy deepened, the forms of worship increased. Their professions increased while their morality decreased.

Micah, in chapter 6, verse 6 speaking for the people says, “With what shall I come before the Lord, . . . Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?” Do you know why God required calves a year old? Because He did not want them to get the use out of them and then give them when they were old. A year old calf was a real sacrifice. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Isaiah, descibes what the people were saying in chapter 58, “Look God, we have done everything. We have fasted. We have come with our sackcloth and ashes and we have given offerings and tithes and we have worshipped and come before You day after day and You do not hear. How come?” Isaiah answers, “It is because your sins have hid His face from you.”

Buying God

How does mankind come to the place where he thinks he can do things to buy God’s love? God requires a change of character. Can we do something to buy our way into heaven? Can we attend enough meetings to somehow appease God, as though He needed appeasing? Can we give enough offerings, enough tithe, or fast long enough?

There is nothing we can do to atone for our sins but accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus. However, there is a condition. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.” John 3:3. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9. Is that a fair condition? God says, “You cannot claim Me as your Lord unless you allow Me to come into your life.”

The Children of Israel leaned on the Lord, but did not want Him to come into their lives or to be subject to Him. Why? They were afraid He might change their lives and we do not want to be changed because we like the way we are. That is why the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17. By faith, we know that God loves us and He will do nothing but what is for our own good. By faith, we know that God’s way brings peace and joy and happiness even though it may not look like it to the natural eye. “In the world,” Jesus said, “you will have tribulation.” John 16:33. You may suffer persecution for keeping the Sabbath. You may suffer loss of job, or be unpopular. Even family members may turn against you. But, by faith, we know that while we suffer persecution on the outside, God has promised to give us peace, joy, and happiness on the inside.

Now the Children of Israel asked Micah, “Doesn’t God want us to worship Him? Doesn’t He want our calves of a year old? What about our sacrifices of oil and calves and our convocations and our ceremonies and all these other things?” The gist of Micah’s answer is, “Unless these ceremonies are bringing you closer to God in character, why do them?” (See Micah 6:6–8.)

The Scribes and Pharisees read the Scriptures daily and Jesus said, “You study the Scriptures every day and they teach of Me and yet you refuse to come to Me.” (See John 5:39.) They went to church, they fasted, they gave, they prayed and they even kept the Sabbath of the Lord, but they were lost. They fooled everyone into thinking they were religious and yet, there was one thing they never did. They never surrendered or accepted the way God had worked out for them. God’s way involved the cross. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24

We must be broken on the Rock and yield completely to the Lord. I must come to the place where I am willing to yield all sin. But someone says, “I am not willing. So what do I do?” We are told if we pray, “Lord, make me willing to be made willing,” The Mount of Blessings, 142. He will do that. God will begin to work on our heart. God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord through Micah gives promises to encourage us in this work of surrendering. “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; and I will receive His righteousness.” Micah 7:7–9

Promises and Warnings

God is merciful, yet the Children of Israel used these promises of God’s love and grace and goodness as excuses for sin. That is dangerous and presumptive. They said, “God is going to save us anyway. He will correct all our iniquity. Do not criticize. Do not cry aloud. Just trust in the Lord.”

“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who make my people stray; who chant ‘Peace’” Micah 3:5. Why were they crying peace? Because they thought they were standing on the promises of the Lord. They said, “Peace! Everything is going to be all right. God’s going to see us through.” God said, “While they chew with their teeth, but who prepare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.” Ibid. God was putting nothing in their mouth. “Therefore you shall have night without vision, and you shall have darkness with divination; the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. So the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners abashed; indeed they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” Micah 3:6–8. But they said, “Don’t do that. Just say peace. Stand on the promises of God.” (See Jeremiah 6:14 and Desire of Ages, 106.)

True prophets were not prophets of peace. They gave good courage and promises on condition of obedience, but they also warned against iniquities. These prophecies of Micah are given for today. Notice Micah 4:1, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days . . .” In Micah 4:6, 7, it says, “’In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.’” God has promised, in the last days, to gather the outcasts of Israel and to make of them a remnant.

The Remnant—His Church

Have we learned the lessons from Micah? Are we today in danger of crying “Peace! Peace!” when there is no peace? Or are we in danger of trying to appease God and earn our way into His favor? Are we standing on promises to our own destruction, not fulfilling the conditions? “Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies. Opposition has risen in the church to the plain testimony. Some will not bear it. They wish smooth things spoken unto them.” Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, 283, 284

“Just as long as God has a church, he will have those who will cry aloud and spare not, [like Micah] who will be his instruments to reprove selfishness and sins, and will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear. I saw that individuals would rise up against the plain testimonies It does not suit their natural feelings. They would choose to have smooth things spoken unto them, and have peace cried in their ears. I view the church in a more dangerous condition than they ever have been. Experimental religion is known but by a few. The shaking must soon take place to purify the church.” Ibid. The remnant in the last days are going to be made up of the poor, blind, lame and halt. “In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient and independent of God and He cannot use them. But the Lord has faithful servants who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed the knee to Baal, but it may be under a rough and uninviting exterior that the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character will be revealed. Chaff like a cloud will be blown away on the wind even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat. All who assume the ornaments of the sanctuary, but who are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness will appear in the shame of their own nakedness.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 8, 80, 81

That was the message of Micah. God’s people are in danger of trusting in being God’s people. “We are the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” And yet, being the temple of the Lord, they have not developed a Christian character. God says He will destroy them, but a remnant will be left of poor and humble people. The promises in Micah are made to the remnant, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the [what?] remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many men.” Micah 2:12. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the [who?] remnant of His heritage?” Micah 7:18. The remnant is going to increase, people will come in, but it is only going to be a remnant of the Children of Israel.

“‘In that day,’ says the Lord,‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted.’” Micah 4:6. There is coming a time when God will mold together a remnant. They are going to cry and be heard from one end of the earth to the other. It is described as three angels flying in the midst of the heavens with a fourth angel giving them power and that the earth was lightened with its glory. Then it is that God is going to receive the glory. Man’s wisdom will be made of none effect.

Many people are not going to be satisfied with this because God alone will receive the glory. All of man’s glory will be made of none effect. Look at Micah 4:9. “Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor.” People are going to be crying, “Look, we do not have any more kings in our midst. Where are our great counselors? They seem to be gone.” But it is at that time that Jesus will take charge of the church. It is that time that He and the Holy Spirit will receive the glory and He will be the head of the church. What God is looking for today is to become the head of His people. He wants to pour out upon His people, His Spirit. If we will yield ourselves to His character, to His Spirit, to His leading and guiding, God is willing to take charge of the church for His name’s honor and glory.

Today the Lord is inviting us to turn from the strongholds of men to the strongholds of God. May we each have the privilege to be among His remnant in that day when the Lord’s word will go forth with power to the world and He will come to judge the nations in truth and righteousness.

The End

Self Deception

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Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Corinthians 3:18. This is a curious concept. How can you be guilty of self deception ? Other people deceive us by withholding or giving wrong information to us. But how can you withhold information from yourself? I do not think that is possible. What about giving yourself wrong information? That is possible.

The will is stronger than both the imagination and memory. This may seem mysterious, but consider this situation. You have done something, about which you are not happy. As you remember the circumstances, you wish you had done differently. You think, “Well, this would have been a better way. If I had done this or if I had said this, it would have been much better.” Reconstructing the situation up to the point that you can be prepared for another situation of the same kind, and planning to handle it more skillfully the next time is okay. But do not go too far with this because if you keep remembering the better way, you may, after a while, persuade yourself that you actually have done it that way. That is extremely dangerous. James writes about that in James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” You can deceive your own heart.

Examples of Self Deception

It is a curious thing to notice that the Jewish leaders who rejected Christ, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who led the revolt against the directorship of Moses, thought themselves doing right. You could say they were sincere if you were not too particular how you define the word sincerity.

Speaking of the priests and rulers of Christ’s time, Ellen White writes in Desire of Ages, 541, “Satan told them that in order to maintain their authority, they must put Jesus to death. Yet such was their deception that they were well pleased with themselves. They regarded themselves as patriots, who were seeking the nation’s salvation.” This is a fearful self-deception.

Ellen White, says of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Patriarchs and Prophets, 397, “They ventured still further, and at last they really believed themselves to be actuated by zeal for God.” They were planning revolt against Moses and developed a plan far enough that they were ready to kill Moses, yet thought they were led by the Lord.

How does self deception happen? Does sincerity not provide an excuse? Are people judged and held guilty if they are sincere?

The process of self deception is slow. It takes, sometimes, quite a little time. And it can happen to anybody. The Jews had the Scriptures and were looking right at the Messiah in person, watching His miracles, and hearing His marvelous teachings, but they were not immune from self deception. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had been in the mountain with Moses when God spoke to Moses personally on the mountaintop. Surely they would be immune from making such a mistake and getting into self deception. But that is not the case.

It begins with something small. The devil does not come out at once and urge you to murder somebody. He did not come at once at the very beginning to urge the Jewish leaders to murder Christ; or Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to murder Moses. Probably all of them would have rejected such a thought. Satan has to start with something smaller.

The Process of Self Deception

With Korah, self deception started with self pity. Patriarchs and Prophets, 395, tells us that Korah was part of the family of Levi. He was in some sense related to the tribe of Levi, but he was not chosen to be among the priesthood, which he resented. Self-pity, we are told, is a very pernicious emotion in the human heart. What starts with self-pity eventually comes to murder. It was this way with the Jewish priests. They had been upset over the fact that shepherds had heard the angels singing. Why had not the angels sung to the rabbis? When the shepherds came, why did they not come to the rabbis? They felt slighted, passed by, and that is where it began with them.

“Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul . . . by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul.” Desire of Ages, 322

“A temptation, slight at first, had been harbored, and had strengthened as it was encouraged, until their minds were controlled by Satan.”Patriarchs and Prophets, 396. The mind can go completely under the control of Satan. Starting with a small temptation, there is no telling where it will lead. From a small temptation comes a redefining of events in a person’s thinking, “that’s the way it actually happened. I wish it would have happened like this.” As it becomes reinforced repeatedly, a person actually begins to think it did happen like that. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram thought over the unhappy experiences of their deliverance from Egypt. Passing by the happy thoughts, they thought about going back to the wilderness by the command of God. They thought about the various hardships and trials the people had had and reconstructed it in their minds until they came to believe it was Moses’ fault. Moses had done his best and had offered to sacrifice his life. But when the mind starts reconstructing the past, it can come to believe what did not happen at all.

Starting with a small temptation, you reconstruct things in the mind, wishing that it had been like this instead of the way it actually was, until you actually begin to believe events were according to your reconstruction. Now you are believing your lies and are literally deceiving yourself. The will, which wants it to be that way, is stronger than the memory of how it actually was. When the will and memory come into conflict, the will is going to win if the conflict lasts very long. The memory cannot resist the power of the will. When a person believes his own lies, he is what they call a pathological liar. He is in desperate shape.

“It is by sinful indulgence that men give Satan access to their minds, and they go from one stage of wickedness to another. The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier for them to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last their habits of wrongdoing become fixed. Sin ceases to appear sinful to them.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 404

We are not excusable, if we walk in darkness when the light is available to us. We are responsible for everything we know of the will of God and for everything that He gives us opportunity to know. The Jews who rejected Jesus and the people who rebelled against Moses had ample opportunity to have things straight. They had enough experience to know. Jesus has given us all the information that we need about our situation. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-pity or an apparently tiny sin. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-justification, to disregard a small ray of light, or to utter doubts.

Zedekiah’s Mistake

Another outstanding Bible example of self deception is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

Zedekiah could not bring himself to stand for truth. Three Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image on the Plain of Dura. You know that famous story by heart, but did you know that those three Israelites were not the only Israelites who were there that day? Zedekiah also went to Babylon. Why?

“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together [notice] the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” Daniel 3:1-3. The Babylonians considered Israel a province and they called it the Province Beyond the River with Zedekiah as the governor of the province. In Israel, of course, he was called king; but he knew he was no king. What was he doing in Babylon? He was there to stand on the Plain of Dura, and, if he obeyed the king’s command, he was to bow before that golden image.

Imagine Zedekiah anxiously looking around. He was aware there were other Israelites there. He probably saw the other three standing tall and wondered for a moment if he should stand tall too, but then his courage failed. He had had a lot of time to think about this.

It is a long, long journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, while prince of Babylon, had made a very fast journey across that Arabian desert. He had taken an army and had gone up the Euphrates River in the slow and normal manner and down the sea coast, planning to invade Egypt way down south. But when he was nearing Egypt a messenger came to him with the news that his father, the king of Babylon, had died. Nebuchadnezzar was prince of Babylon at this time. Because he naturally feared that somebody else might try to take the kingdom before he got back to assert his right to the throne, he left most of his army to fend for themselves, and took a few specially chosen men, and went straight across the desert toward Babylon. It took him three weeks even at that.

Zedekiah had three weeks of going that way to think about what he had done and to persuade himself that he had done the right thing. You know, he was reconstructing his memory, putting all of it together, convincing himself, persuading himself that he had done the right thing in bowing before that image on the Plain of Dura despite the fact he saw the deliverance that came.

He elected to follow the princes of the church instead of the prophet of the church. So then Jerusalem was besieged, burned, and the temple was destroyed. Thousands were slain. Zedekiah and some of his family tried to escape , but they were caught, and taken to Ribla, where Zedekiah was forced to watch while his sons were slaughtered. Then his eyes were put out and he himself was taken to Babylon to die. He died miserably. Can you imagine another six weeks going again to Babylon, his sightless eyes staring forever at the last thing they had seen, the slaughter of his sons?

Process Decisions

How do these things come to us? I call them process decisions. Very few people decide they are going to be lost. But people make process decisions. By a little rejection of light here, a little embracing of sin there, little by little people finally come to a place where they cannot turn back.

If we are to examine ourselves in the light of this biblical material, we ought to recognize the danger of the process decisions that are about us. We can make process decisions by deciding that it is perfectly all right for us to associate with sinners. Proverbs 1:10 says, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” We have the experiences of Samson and Solomon. We have the experience of all Israel, and we have the experience of modern Israel seeking the embrace of the daughters of Babylon. A decision to fellowship and build a relationship with sinners, other than a saving relationship, can be a process decision. The one who decides to marry one who does not follow God needs to remember this counsel. If you would not have a home where the shadows are never lifted, do not unite your life with one who is an enemy of God.

A decision to seek the pleasures of the world can be a process decision—”it will not mean anything to go to the theater a few times. It will not hurt to just watch some fictional programs on television. It will not hurt to go to a few dances.” This can end with the destruction of your own life.

A decision to seek wealth instead of service, to serve yourself in this world instead of serving the Lord can be a process decision that is extremely dangerous. The Scriptures warn us in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase; this is also vanity.” A decision to ignore missionary responsibilities, a decision to procrastinate, a decision to just wait a little longer may end in destruction. “God’s people cannot with safety enter into intimate associations with those who know the truth, but do not practice it.” Messages to Young People, 390. Inasmuch as there are ever more persons among us now who know the truth, but are not practicing it, we need to think about this as well.

The Effect of Our Words

The words are an indication of what is in the heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” But the words are more than an indication of character, they have power to react upon the character. Did you follow that? The words are more than an indication of character. Words tell what kind of person you are. But also, they react on the character. You can talk yourself into things. You can say things that are not true until you believe them. “Men are influenced by their own words. Often under a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really believe; but the expression reacts upon the thoughts. They are deceived by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at Satan’s instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or decision, they are often too proud to retract it and try to prove themselves in the right, until they come to believe that they are.” Desire of Ages, 323. This is how a person can become a pathological liar and become so self deceived that he loses contact with reality and believes his own imaginations to be true.

We are in a period of time in which we need to watch very, very carefully that we do not practice self deception upon ourselves. A time that we need to take very great care that we do not let anybody else practice deception on us. May the Lord bless us and help us to carry these words from His sacred word and from His inspired counsels into all of our thoughts and life practices.

The End

Financing God’s Last Army

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God Has Devised Methods Of Support For All His Plans

For every plan that God has devised for the finishing of His work, He has devised methods and left instructions about how that plan is to work and how it is to be supported. Some missionary workers are to receive money from the profits of their labors, such as literature evangelists, physicians and nurses, missionary farmers and tradesmen. But those participating in the work of the gospel ministry are not to receive their living from the profits of secular labor. This includes more than just those called “ministers”. According to Ellen White the work of the gospel ministry includes the following kinds of workers.

“Institutions that are God’s instruments to carry forward His work on the earth must be sustained. Churches must be erected, schools established, and publishing houses furnished with facilities for doing a great work in the publication of the truth to be sent to all parts of the world. These institutions are ordained of God and should be sustained by tithes and liberal offerings.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 464

“I have had special instruction from the Lord that the tithe is for a special purpose, consecrated to God to sustain those who minister in the sacred work, as the Lord’s chosen to do His work not only in sermonizing, but in ministering. They should understand all that this comprehends.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 187

“Light has been plainly given that those who minister in our schools, teaching the word of God, explaining the Scriptures, educating the students in the things of God, should be supported by the tithe money. This instruction was given long ago, and more recently it has been repeated again and again.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 215

“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.” Evangelism, 492

We Are Responsible for the Use of Our Tithe

The gospel confers individual responsibility upon each of us. In no case can this personal responsibility be avoided or transferred. God will not condone our using tithe for the preaching of apostasy or any use other than specified: “There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 261, 262

Diversion of Tithe

One of Satan’s major goals is to divert the money that should be coming into the Lord’s treasury and thereby dry up the financial resources to finish God’s work. He has successfully done this by causing men to neglect to give, to invest in worldly speculations that fail, to bequeath their property to children and grandchildren who do not love the truth, and by the needless use of funds for selfish gratification.

We have a responsibility to be sure that our tithe and gifts to God’s cause are supporting the preaching of the truth and that the devil does not out-general us and secure those assets that God has placed into our hands into the wrong storehouse.

What Is The Storehouse?

Only two storehouses exist in the world, “There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 448

Where Is The Storehouse?

“Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization.” Spalding Magan, 421

“Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counterworked by man’s ways. . . . Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” Spalding Magan, 498

Surplus Tithe Money

“If you have means that is not needed after settling with your ministers in a liberal manner, send the Lord’s money to these destitute places,” (missions and churches with limited tithe.) Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 184

Regular And Irregular Lines

In Ellen White’s day the terms “regular workers” and “regular lines” referred to conference employees and programs and “irregular workers” were the independent ministries. “For years the same routine, the same ‘regular way’ of working has been followed, and God’s work has been greatly hindered. . . .

“God calls for a revival and a reformation. The ‘regular lines’ have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

“The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the ‘regular lines’ may prove a failure and a snare. God helping His people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called ‘regular lines.’ Too much power has been invested in unrevived, unreformed human agencies.” Spalding Magan, 175

“The people to whom God has given His means are amenable to Him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aide and assistance to missions.” Spalding Magan, 177

Special Counsel Concerning Bible Workers

The following quotation is helpful as we seek to answer the question of using tithe money to pay a person not in conference employ: “There are minister’s wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to education those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them.” Spalding Magan, 117

Obviously this same counsel would apply to full-time Bible workers today.

Special Need For Bible Workers

It is God’s will that we prepare thousands to do Bible work. (See Testimonies, vol. 9, 126.) “In every school that God has established there will be, as never before, demand for Bible instruction.” Evangelism, 42. What is this Bible instruction to accomplish? The next sentence says, “Our students are to be educated to become Bible workers.” Ibid. “In every city there should be a corps of organized, well-disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work.” Christian Service, 72

This work will require money. “It almost seems as if scarcely anyone dares ask a worker to go into cities, because of the means that would be required to carry on a strong, solid work. It is true that much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these places; and God desires us to lift our voices and our influence in favor of using means wisely in this special line of effort.” Evangelism, 42

If We Fail God’s Plan Will Succeed Through Others

If none of us feel a responsibility to fill the gap and become trained in Bible work and then help to train others, the Lord will pass us by and finish His work with others. If we do not feel a responsibility that all of our tithe support the giving of the three angel’s messages, God can at any time find other intelligences and other money or sources of support to finish His work, but we will be the losers. If we support apostasy with our tithe and offerings we are not hastening the Lord’s coming by getting the last message to all the world—rather we are delaying His coming and in dire danger of being accounted as an evil servant at the end. Matthew 24:44–51

“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers, 300

“There will soon be an awakening that will surprise many. Those who do not realize the necessity of what is to be done, will be passed by, and the heavenly messengers will work with those who are called the common people, fitting them to carry the truth to many places. Now is the time for us to awake and do what we can.” Loma Linda Messages, 83

“If we are to bear a part in this work to its close, we must recognize the fact that there are good things to come to the people of God in a way that we had not discerned; and that there will be resistance from the very ones we expect to engage in such a work. A man that is sincere in the wrong is not justified in the wrong.” 1888 Materials, 1024

Tithe and Educational Reform

God’s plan for the rapid finishing of His work in the world involved educational reform that would refashion people’s thinking about who and what the church is, who and what a minister is, who is qualified to receive tithe and what kind of education this person should receive.

“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world!” Education, 271

This missionary training was to prepare young people as quickly as possible for a useful life as a self-supporting or mission board supported missionary. Adventist young people were to be taught the great reforms that God had given to His people—reforms in dress, diet, education, recreation, healthful lifestyle, methods of healing, and reforms in church organization. This training would also include manual skills, would not include games and amusements, and would be offered in a simple setting with simple buildings.

Adventist education was to train young people to be thinkers and to be able to govern themselves instead of being merely reflectors of other men’s thoughts and having to be governed by others.

The Connection Between Christian Education and Tithe

Many times in the past different ones were led to reject truth because they didn’t understand that God is not dependent upon the literary institutions to prepare His workers and they have looked only to the graduates of these institutions for instruction and have sent their tithe support only to these workers. God has often used those that He has trained in another manner to carry forward His work.

In the last great work of God for the world, “the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of the Spirit than by the training of literary institutions.” Great Controversy, 606

The tithe and offering issue has to do with more than what organization you send it to. It has to do with more than just money and who is going to handle God’s money in this world. It has much to do with the finishing of God’s work. As long as your money goes to support apostasy there will not be revival and reformation for you because “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

The End

Christian Patriotism, part 2

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Lo, the people shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations, He plainly declared His will that His church should be forever separated from the nations of this earth. But, contrary to His expressed will, and against His solemn protest, Israel set up a kingdom that they might be “like all the nations.” God wanted not only Israel, but that all people on the earth, should know that He is better than all other gods, that He is a better King than all other kings, that He is a better Ruler than all other rulers, that He is a better Lawgiver than all other lawgivers, that His law is better than all other laws, and that His government is better than all other governments. (See Deuteronomy 4:5, 6.)

But Israel would not have it so. Israel would be like all the nations. And so it has been, from that day to this. God has never been allowed by His professed people to reveal Himself to the world as He really is.

“Like all the nations.” The Israelites did not realize that to be in this respect unlike other nations was a special privilege and blessing. God had separated the Israelites from every other people, to make them His own peculiar treasure. But they, disregarding this high honor, eagerly desired to imitate the example of the heathen! And still the longing to conform to worldly practices and customs exists among the professed people of God. As they depart from the Lord they become ambitious for the gains and honors of the world. Christians are constantly seeking to imitate the practices of those who worship the god of this world. Many urge that by uniting with worldlings and conforming to their customs they might exert a stronger influence over the ungodly. But all who pursue this course thereby separate from the Source of their strength. Becoming the friends of the world, they are the enemies of God. For the sake of earthly distinction they sacrifice the unspeakable honor to which God has called them, of showing forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

With idolaters, religion always has been, and still is, a part of the government. In heathen systems, religion and the governments are always united; while in the true system, the genuine Christian system, they are always separate. And this was the lesson which God taught to Nebuchadnezzar. (See Daniel 3.) In a way in which it was impossible not to understand, the Lord showed to that king that he had nothing whatever to do with the religion, nor with the directing of the worship, of the people. The Lord had brought all nations into subjection to King Nebuchadnezzar as to their bodily service; but now, by an unmistakable evidence, this same Lord showed to King Nebuchadnezzar that He had given him no power nor jurisdiction whatever in their souls’ service. In things between men and God, the king was plainly and forcibly given to understand that he had nothing whatever to do. To the rulers of the Medo-Persian empire, God taught the separation of religion and the state—that with man’s relationship to God, rulers and state can have nothing whatever to do. (See Daniel 6.)

That is divine testimony, published to all the world, that innocence before God is found in the man who disregards any human law that interferes with his service to God. It is also divine testimony that the man who disregards such laws, in so doing does “no hurt” to the king, to the State, nor to society. The lessons in the book of Daniel teach to all people that no religious or ecclesiastical institution or rite has any right to any place in the law. And that when, against right, it is put into the law, it gains no force whatever from that, and is to receive no respect nor recognition whatever.

Our Duty to God and the State

Jesus Christ came to reveal to men the kingdom of God. Of it He said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:36. Christ says in another place, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22:21. In that time, the head of the Roman Empire was Caesar. He was set before the people as God; the people were required to worship him as God; that system was essentially a union of religion and the State. In view of this, when Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” He denied to Caesar, and so to the State, every attribute, or even claim, of divinity. He showed that another than Caesar is God. Thus He entirely separated Caesar and God. He entirely separated between the things which are due to Caesar and those which are due to God. The things that are due to Caesar are not to be rendered to God. The things due to God are not to be rendered to Caesar. These are two distinct realms, two distinct personages, and two distinct fields of duty. Therefore, in these words Jesus taught as plainly as it is possible to do, the complete separation of religion and the State; that no State can ever rightly require anything that is due to God; and that when it is required by the State, it is not to be rendered.

The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses—extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.

Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ established, but by the implanting of Christ’s nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12, 13. Here is the only power that can work the uplifting of mankind. And the human agency for the accomplishment of this work is the teaching and practicing of the word of God. (See Desire of Ages, 509.)

The conduct of Christ, the Example, was totally separate in all things from politics and the affairs of the State. Christianity, therefore, is the total separation of the believer in Christ from politics and all the affairs of the State, the total separation of religion and the State in the individual believer in Christ.

Our Relationship to the State

In Romans 13 and 14 is one of the strongest of the many strong treatises that there are in the Bible upon the total separation of religion and the State—the separation between that which is due to God and that which is due to Caesar. After recognition of the right of the State to be and require subjection and tribute, Paul marked the sphere of men’s relation to the state: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.” Romans 13:8–10. Now everybody knows, and Paul knew as well as anybody ever knew, that there are other commandments of the very law from which he quoted these. Why did he leave these entirely out (the first four commandments) and say “if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself?” Why—the simple reason that he was writing of men’s relationship and responsibility to the powers that be, to the State; and he was laying down the principle that when men have recognized the right of the State to be, have paid the required tribute, and have fulfilled all obligations to their neighbors, there is nothing more for them to render to the State; there is no other commandment in that sphere, and therefore no other duty to be performed toward the powers that be.

Thus the Scripture distinctly sets the limit of the jurisdiction or the requirements of the State, at recognition of right to be, tribute, and the relationship of man to man in working no ill to his neighbor. Beyond this the State has no right to go.

State Not To Control Which Day We Worship On

But the Word of the Lord does not stop here; it positively prohibits the powers that be from touching the relationship or obligation of men to God. “One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it.” Romans 14:5, 6. The matter of the observance of a day, the duty to esteem one day above another, is not comprehended in that part of the law which relates to neighbors; nor is it comprised in the duties designated as marking the sphere of the powers that be. It is in that part of the law which, by the words “if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is definitely excluded from all cognizance of the powers that be.

The observance of a day, the duty to esteem one day above another, is due solely to God. For “he that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord,” Romans 14:6, not to men. It is comprehended in that part of the law which details man’s relationship to God alone, and concerning which to God alone every one is to give account himself. (See Romans 14:12.) Therefore, the powers that be, all men, and all combinations of men, are definitely commanded by the Lord to let every man alone in the matter of the observance of a day. On that subject all are commanded to “let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” And this, because it is an obligation due solely to God, and “every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Ibid.

How different are the ways of professed Christians today from the Christianity of the New Testament! The vast mass of professed Christians today, in hunting for another commandment in the sphere of the powers that be, would inevitably write it thus: If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt do no work on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.

But the Christianity of the New Testament, in defining the sphere of the powers that be, says, “If there by any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;” and then, as to the observance of a day, commands the powers that be, and all men, and all combinations of men: “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. . . .every one of us shall give account of himself to God . . . Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant?”

The day to be esteemed above others is the Sabbath of the Lord. “Render therefore . . . unto God the things that are God’s.” Matthew 22:21. And any man who does not esteem that day above others, who does not regard it unto the Lord, but esteems every day alike, is responsible to God alone and must render account of it himself to God, and not to man. While the thing that he does is wrong, it is a kind of wrong for which he is responsible to God, and not to the powers that be.

All this also conclusively shows that any movement on the part of the powers that be, or of men or combinations of men through the powers that be, to require the observance of a day or to cause men to esteem one day above another is a plain joining together of what is God’s and what is Caesar’s, is a positive union of religion and the State.

The End

Health – The Brain and the Nerves

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There is a strange relation between the mind and the body. Diseases of each affect each. Involuntary actions of the heart, digestion, etc., are affected by the mind. Certain nerve-cells in the brain restrain other nerve-cells. One center causes contraction of the small blood-vessels: If this continued, the contraction would be too severe and prolonged. Another center therefore restrains the action of the first, thus balancing up the work of contraction, so that the proper supply of blood goes to all the body. This principle is called “inhibition.” Coughing and sneezing may be controlled by opposite nerve-cells. Cells that inhibit action of other cells lie in the front part of the large brain, or cerebrum. Here lies the power to exercise the will. 

We can inhibit wrong desires and curb evil inclinations. At first self-indulgence is a moral sin; then it becomes a physical disease. If we allow certain cells to act daily, always in certain ways, – that is, in our thoughts – this action becomes easier the oftener done; in other words, habit is formed. When we do a wrong act once, it is easier the next time, and becomes easier with each repetition. So with right ways. If we conquer evil and do right, it will become habitual. God gives us power if the will is submitted to him to overcome habit. While we cannot understand the will wholly, we know it is that which makes character, and character is what we are. This will live forever if the individual believes in Jesus Christ, and lives with the will submitted to Him. 

As one accustoms himself to think along certain lines, so the brain-cells become set, and thought runs in a certain groove, or channel. Think pure, sweet, happy thoughts, in harmony with the love of God and Christ’s example, and the brain and mind are thus attuned to heaven’s music. Philippians 4:8 is a good mental exercise. Proverbs 23:7 states a fact. A man once confessed to a Christian worker that it was impossible for him to think pure thoughts. Even Scriptures read in his hearing were, in his evil mind, associated with impurity in some form. He said that he had allowed his mind so to develop that it was impossible for him to be saved, for he could not think of anything but sin. God hates sin, and he will pour out his wrath upon it; but he does not destroy men: this they do themselves. How? – By thinking on evil, and then acting it out. In this way it becomes ingrained in them, a part of them; in fact, it is they themselves, SIN! This God will consume in the last day, because it has already consumed the man. If we heed the invitation of mercy before this condition of mind becomes fixed, there is hope. God wrought miracles in the past, and healed the lesions of the brain-cells, so that it was possible for pure thoughts to travel their course, and thus affect the character; and where a heart is now truly desirous of such a change, God freely gives it. 

The Youth’s Instructor, December 13, 1900.

The Case of Miss Clancy

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Do You have faith in God? That was a question Jesus used to ask. It is one thing to say, “Yes, I have faith in God,” when everything is going well; you have money in your checkbook, your physical exam showed you were healthy, you are current on your house payment, none of your children are sick, and you are not having a major crisis at your work. It is another thing to say, “Yes, I trust in God,” when things are not going so well; you have been diagnosed with a very serious disease, or maybe your job is not as certain as you thought it was and you might get laid off, there is not enough money to pay bills, somebody is sick, and one wrong thing piles up on another. Do you trust in God? Do you really trust Him now—or is your trust in something else?

The Bible says a rich man’s wealth is his strong city. His confidence and trust are in his wealth. That is very common. In Matthew 19:23, 24, Jesus, speaking about rich men, says, ” ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ ” Do we realize that in comparison to people in many other countries, most people in the United States are rich? Solomon said when a person is rich, he trusts his riches. If you have your trust in riches or anything other than Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved. It is impossible.

The Lord had to teach some lessons of trust to the children of Israel. For this purpose, He put them through a rigorous forty-year training course during which time they had no way to get food. Have you ever been without food? It is bad to be without food when there is a grocery store nearby, but it is worse to be without food in the desert. For a while they did not know where the food was going to come from. So Moses told them, “Now the Lord is going to provide for you.” The Lord let them go in the desert a few days until they ran out of food, before He started providing manna. Have you ever been in a situation where you were looking for a job and you said, ” Lord, are you going to let me spend my last dollar before I find a job?”

When the Lord sent the manna, He did not send enough for a week—He only sent enough for one day. They were never more than one day away from being out of food. The next day the Lord sent a little more. If they kept it for more than a day, it spoiled. The only exception was on Friday, then the Lord sent a two days supply so that on Sabbath they did not have to gather food. The Lord taught them to put their trust in Him. We are also going to have to learn to trust in God alone. God has given us principles of living to help us learn to trust in Him.

To the tent meetings

Miss Clancy was an elderly Irish Protestant lady. She will be surprised when she gets to heaven because people have heard about her in many places. They will come to her from all over and say, “I learned to have faith in God from you.”

Her story began in 1919, when a Seventh-day Adventist minister by the name of Carlisle B. Haynes was having evangelistic meetings in a canvas tent in New York City on 95th Street and Broadway. Miss Clancy came to these tent-meetings, sat down, and started listening.
Whenever Carlisle B. Haynes would preach something from the Bible she would look it up, take notes, and check to see if that was really what the Bible said. If that was what the Bible said, she believed it and would do it. She soon started getting ready for baptism. She accepted everything the Bible taught until, Elder Haynes preached on tithing. He noticed after that, Miss Clancy was not so happy anymore. She became sad, gloomy and upset and he wondered what had happened.

Miss Clancy finally requested a personal interview with Elder Haynes. When she came to see him, she had her notes. Together, they reviewed the notes of his sermon. There are seven points she had enumerated. Here they are:

Notes on Tithing

1. The tithing plan explained. Leviticus 27:30-32. The word tithe means a tenth or ten percent. It says, “And all the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.” It belongs to the Lord. “It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.” The tithe or the tenth is holy. It does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord.

2. Tithe anciently was used for the support of those who ministered about holy things. Numbers 18:20-24 says, “Then the Lord said to Aaron: `You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they [that is the Levites] shall have no inheritance.’ ” Anciently, the tithe was used for those who worked in holy service.

3. The New Testament teaches that this tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:13, 14, Paul refers to the passage in Numbers 18 and says, “Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” The New Testament says that the tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry.

4. Jesus endorsed the tithing plan. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the other undone.”

5. God promises to bless the faithful payment of tithe. Malachi 3:10-12 says, ” ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this.’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ says the Lord of hosts; ‘And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Wealthy men like John D. Rockefeller and Colgate paid tithe.)

6. Those who do not do as God commands will not prosper. Haggai 1:5-11. “Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’ Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.’ says the Lord. ‘You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.’”

7. God’s curse is upon men, money and property when God is not honored and obeyed. Malachi 3:8, 9 says, “Will a man rob God? Yes you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

As Elder Haynes listened to her, he thought to himself, “Well now, what is she going to say? What is she going to object to?” Miss Clancy said, “Now, do I have to do this?” Elder Haynes replied, “Why would there be an exception for you? I’m not the one who told you this, this is what God’s Word says.”

Six Dollars

To this reply, Miss Clancy stated, “Well, you don’t understand my circumstances. Now, I don’t enjoy telling you this, but I must tell you because you need to understand why I don’t see how I can do this. First of all,” she said, “I am not employed. I don’t have a job. I really don’t have any means of support. But,” she explained, “I have a son-in-law and he sends me $6.00 a week.”

Elder Haynes was listening—$6.00 a week, even in 1919, was not much money. Miss Clancy continued, “I’m renting a little kitchenette apartment. I’ve been there ten years and the rents have gone up with the other apartments all around, but, the Lord has been good to me. My landlord has not increased my rent.”

“How much is your rent?” inquired Elder Haynes.

“My rent is $4.50 a week.”

Miss Clancy receives $6.00 a week from her son-in-law to live on. Her rent is $4.50 a week, leaving $1.50 for all other expenses including food. Elder Haynes was aghast. “That’s impossible! You can’t live on that!”

“I know. I know you can’t live on that, but the Lord’s been good to me and has helped me to live on that. I have been living on that for many years. But now you’re telling me that I need to pay a tithe which is 60¢ on $6.00 and then my rent is still going to be the same. So you are telling me that instead of living on $1.50 a week, now I’m to live on 90¢ a week.”

What would you do if you were the preacher? Would you say, “Well sister, I recognize that you’re in a very difficult situation and God doesn’t expect you to pay tithe.” Elder Haynes felt so bad. Now he knew why she was going through a trial. When all you have to live on is $1.50 a week and now you are only going to have 90¢ a week, what are you going to eat? Does God make an exception for the poor? There are no exceptions in the Bible. And he had to say to her, “I’m not the one who made the rules. God said that He would open the windows of heaven and that He will bless you. If you will do what He says to do, He will take care of you. I don’t know how He’s going to do it. All I know is that God will not fail you.” She thought it over and said, “Well, God’s taken care of me before and I’ll do it.”

Six Dimes

The next week she came to church and she handed Elder Haynes 60¢ tithe. In writing about it later, he said that was the hardest 60¢ he ever had anybody put in his hand to accept. He did not want to take it, but God had commanded it and he took it. And every Sabbath from then on she would come to church, go up to him and hand him 60¢. And in his mind, he would just have a sinking feeling, “What is happening to this lady? Is she going hungry?” Once he bent down and whispered in her ear, “Miss Clancy, how are you getting along? Are you all right?”

“Praise the Lord! I am,” was all she replied. The preacher wondered what was happening.

Finally, the third time, he again inquired, “Miss Clancy, are you sure, everything is all right?”

“Pastor, something strange has been happening,” She beamed, “I never knew before that the neighbors could be so kind and thoughtful. I’ve never had this happen before. They never did the things before that they’re doing for me now.”

“Well what things are they doing?”

“They bring me little presents—a loaf of bread, a pound of butter. A neighbor will come over and give me some flour and another will give me some cereal and another will give me a quart of milk and another will give me some fruit. They even come over and give me cake.” She continued, “I’m living better now on 90¢ a week than I used to live on $1.50.”

“Do you think somebody has been putting them up to this?”

“Yes I do. I think somebody has put the neighbors up to this.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Do you need to ask me that, Pastor? If you had not counseled me to pay tithe like you did, I would have been robbed of God’s blessing.”

“Miss Clancy, I have reached the conclusion that you are the ablest financier in New York City and I have long wanted to ask you how you could possibly make 90¢ a week cover your weekly needs.”

“Ah Pastor, I’ve told you the neighbors help it to stretch, but aside from that my needs are simple. I have learned to live on porridge and oatmeal and these are cheap. To me, now, it seems that I’m getting along better than I was before.”

Every week she came and put in 60¢. This went on for three or four months, but one day there was a knock on the door of his study. Elder Haynes opened the door and there stood Miss Clancy with a playful smile on her face.

“Pastor, now you are going to have to give me some respect. Because now I am a woman of means.”

“Well, what has happened?”

Ten dimes plus offering

“My son-in-law wrote a letter the other day and told me that he had been feeling for some time that he really should send me more money. It was just too difficult to live on just $6.00 a week. He said that from now on he was going to send me $10.00 a week. Pastor, do you know what that means? My tithe on $10.00 will be $1.00, my rent will be $4.50 a week, so that will give me $4.50 left. My income has just gone up from 90¢ a week to $4.50 a week. My disposable income has gone up five times. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that money. I guess I’m going to have large offerings to help the gospel go to the mission field.”

Someday if you are faithful, you will get to meet Miss Clancy. Maybe you will have a story to tell her about how God helped you, how God opened the windows of heaven for you. Do you know, friends, God is somebody that you can trust. Do you believe that? Miss Clancy found out that when you do what God says, He opens up the windows of heaven. Nobody knew how God was going to open up the windows of heaven, but as soon as she started paying tithe, something changed and she started getting along better than she had before. The same thing will happen to you. When you are faithful to return to God His own, God opens the windows of heaven and takes charge of your life.

Look what Jesus said about this in Matthew 6:30-33, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things shall be added to you.”

When you make God first in your life and choose to follow Him, God takes responsibility for you. God is going to see to it that you have food and clothing and will take care of you. Would you like to see God open the windows of heaven in your life? Would you like to be blessed? The Lord says, “Return the tithes and offerings into the storehouse and try Me out. And I will open the windows of heaven to you and all people will call you blessed.”

There is nothing in this world that is as good or as wonderful as being blessed by God.

The End

Question & Answer – Explain who are the “sons of God” and “daughters of men” in Genesis 6:2?

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“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” 

Genesis 6:2

“The descendants of Seth were called the sons of God; the descendants of Cain, the sons of men. As the sons of God mingled with the sons of men, they became corrupt and, by intermarriage with them, lost, through the influence of their wives, their peculiar, holy character, and united with the sons of Cain in their idolatry. Many cast aside the fear of God and trampled upon His commandments. But there were a few that did righteousness, who feared and honored their Creator. Noah and his family were among the righteous few.” The Story of Redemption, 62. [Emphasis supplied.]

“The Scriptures briefly state the reason for the prevailing iniquity in Noah’s day. The sons of God married the daughters of men. Those who still cherished the knowledge of God united themselves with the ungodly and corrupt, and as a result became assimilated to them in character. The message of warning would have been received by a larger number, had it not been for their connection and association with those who despised and derided the word of God.” The Signs of the Times, February 16, 1882.

“For some time the two classes remained separate. The race of Cain, spreading from the place of their first settlement, dispersed over the plains and valleys where the children of Seth had dwelt; and the latter, in order to escape from their contaminating influence, withdrew to the mountains, and there made their home. … But in the lapse of time they ventured, little by little, to mingle with the inhabitants of the valleys. This association was productive of the worst results. ‘The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair’ (Genesis 6:2). The children of Seth, attracted by the beauty of the daughters of Cain’s descendants, displeased the Lord by intermarrying with them. Many of the worshipers of God were beguiled into sin by the allurements that were now constantly before them, and they lost their peculiar, holy character. …”  Christ Triumphant, 38.

“The great crime in the marriages of the days of Noah was that the sons of God formed alliances with the daughters of men. Those who professed to acknowledge and revere God associated with those who were corrupt of heart; and without discrimination they married whom they would.” Messages to Young People, 456.

Editorial – The Voice of God, part 2

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It has always been difficult for God’s professed people to recognize the voice of God among them in the present. The voice of God through past time in former prophets and messengers is recognized, but the present messengers are usually despised. Examples of this are: the Jews rejected the prophets over and over and killed them but “revered” them after their death. (See Matthew 23.) In Christ’s day the Pharisees claimed to believe the whole Old Testament but rejected the voice of God among them. The same was true for the Christian church—a large contingent rejected Paul while he was alive, but revered him in later ages. (See II Timothy 4:9-16.) The same has been the true with Seventh-day Adventists in recognizing the voice of God today. The question is: will you be one of those select few that recognizes the voice of God today and chooses to obey it?

“I inquire: Do you believe that the testimonies of reproof which have been given you are of God? If you really believe that the voice of God has spoken to you, pointing out your dangers, do you heed the counsels given? Do you keep these testimonies of warning fresh in your minds by reading them often with prayerful hearts? The Lord has spoken to you, children and youth, again and again; but you have been slow to heed the warnings given. If you have not rebelliously braced your hearts against the views that God has given of your character and your dangers, and against the course marked out for you to pursue, some of you have been inattentive in regard to the things required of you…” Testimonies, vol. 3, 362, 363

Just as Ezekiel was told to bear a message to the people whether they would hear or not, so Ellen White was told to bear a message, yet not to attempt to prove that it was the voice of God:

“I fell asleep, and in the night season I was taught of God. My guide said, ‘I have a work for you to do. You must speak the words given you by the Lord. After these words have been spoken, your duty here is done. You are not required to enter into detail before individuals, whatever may be their position or work, if they do not recognize the voice before individuals, whatever may be their position or work, if they do not recognize the voice of God in the message He gives you to bear in His name. All your efforts to remove their doubts will be of no avail if they gather the clouds of darkness about their souls. If you enter into particulars, you weaken the message. It is not you speaking, but the Lord speaking through you. Those who want to know the will of God, who do not desire to follow their own will and judgment, will be easily entreated. They will be ready to discern the right way.’” Upward Look, 339

We each individually have a responsibility to recognize the voice of God when it speaks to us.

“What voice will you acknowledge as the voice of God? What power has the Lord in reserve to correct your errors, and show you your course as it is? What power to work in the church? You have, by your own course, closed every avenue whereby the Lord would reach you. Will he raise one from the dead to speak to you?” Testimonies for the Battle Creek Church, 50

If we do not recognize the voice of God given in the Spirit of Prophecy to His remnant people, it is prophesied that we will not escape the snares for these last days. Neglecting or rejecting the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy is not a minor matter—it will prove to result in the loss of the soul for many Seventh-day Adventists. For the honest seeker plenty of evidence of their origin is available, but even the resurrection from the dead would be to no avail for many in modern Israel. (See Luke 16:19-31.)

Through his Holy Spirit the voice of God has come to us continually in warning and instruction, to confirm the faith of the believers in the Spirit of Prophecy. “Repeatedly the word has come, Write the things that I have given you to confirm the faith of my people in the position they have taken. Time and trial have not made void the instruction given, but through years of suffering and self-sacrifice have established the truth of the testimony given. The instruction that was given in the early days of the message is to be held as safe instruction to follow in these its closing days. Those who are indifferent to this light and instruction must not expect to escape the snares which we have been plainly told will cause the rejecters of light to stumble, and fall, and be snared, and be taken. If we study carefully the second chapter of Hebrews we shall learn how important it is that we hold steadfastly to every principle of truth that has been given.”

Keys to the Storehouse – New Homes

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It is sad what the Lord could not fulfill because of sin, but He has opened the door wide through Jesus Christ to a future that is indescribable.

What would have been if there had been no sin

“The home of our first parents was to be a pattern for other homes as their children should go forth to occupy the earth. … The blue heavens were its dome; the earth, with its delicate flowers and carpet of living green, was its floor; and the leafy branches of the goodly trees were its canopy. Its walls were hung with the most magnificent adornings—the handiwork of the great Master Artist. In the surroundings of the holy pair was a lesson for all time—that true happiness is found, not in the indulgence of pride and luxury, but in communion with God through His created works. If men would give less attention to the artificial, and would cultivate greater simplicity, they would come far nearer to answering the purpose of God in their creation. Pride and ambition are never satisfied, but those who are truly wise will find substantial and elevating pleasure in the sources of enjoyment that God has placed within the reach of all.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 49.

Our future if we are faithful

“With Jesus at our head we all descended from the city down to this earth, on a great and mighty mountain, which could not bear Jesus up, and it parted asunder, and there was a mighty plain. Then we looked up and saw the great city, with twelve foundations and twelve gates, three on each side, and an angel at each gate. We all cried out, ‘The city, the great city, it’s coming, it’s coming down from God out of heaven!’ And it came and settled on the place where we stood. Then we began to look at the glorious things outside of the city.

  • There I saw most glorious houses, that had the appearance of silver, supported by four pillars set with pearls most glorious to behold.
  • These were to be inhabited by the saints.
  • In each was a golden shelf. I saw many of the saints go into the houses, take off their glittering crowns and lay them on the shelf,
  • then go out into the field by the houses to do something with the earth; not as we have to do with the earth here—no, no. A glorious light shone all about their heads, and they were continually shouting and offering praises to God.” The Adventist Home, 546.

What God has prepared for us we just cannot imagine! We all must be faithful in the little things of this life and not get so caught up in the material things of this world that we lose out on eternal life. What a terrible loss it would be not to get to enjoy the miracle of eternal life in homes that will never rot.

Heavenly Father: You have prepared for me a mansion on land that will never fail. Help me not to collect the baubles of this world or get sidetracked by the devil’s temptations to indulge in worldly luxuries that will be burned up when You appear. Oh Lord, keep my eyes turned to Thee and let nothing of this world turn them away from our heavenly future. Remind me always that I am a sojourner here and my home is with Thee, in heavenly places! Amen.