Keys to the Storehouse – A Pill

When we think of the word pill, we think of something that is annoying. Many times we forget that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:28, 29.

The following quotations are taken from the book, Keeping the Heart, John Flavel, W. Baynes& Son, 1820, 35.

“Impatience makes the soul less fit to pray over its troubles, or receive the sense of that good which God intends by them.”

Our impatience tends to block the good that God intends.

“Affliction is a pill, which, being wrapped up in patience and quiet submission, may be easily swallowed. But discontent chews the pill, and so embitters the soul.”

I pray that each of you will not allow discontentment to embitter your souls and all patience and quiet submission make it easier to swallow.

“God throws away some comfort which He saw would hurt you, and you will throw away your peace after it.”

Could this be true for you? Have changes in your lifestyle caused you to throw away your “peace”?

The following true story demonstrates the love of God working to save a soul. He is also working to save your soul.

“Sister T loves this world. She is naturally selfish. She has suffered much with bodily infirmities. God permitted this affliction to come upon her, and yet would not permit Satan to take her life. God designed through the furnace of affliction to loosen her grasp upon earthly treasures. Through suffering alone could this be done. She is one of those whose systems have been poisoned by drugs. By taking these she has ignorantly made herself what she is; yet God did not suffer her life to be taken, but lengthened her years of probation and suffering that she might become sanctified through the truth, be purified, made white and tried, and, through the furnace of affliction, lose her dross, and become more precious than fine gold, even than the golden wedge of Ophir.” Testimonies to the Church, vol. 2, 184.

Has the love of the world become so deeply rooted in your hearts that it will require a severe trial to remove it? Are you ready to wrap up that “pill of affliction” in patience and quiet submission so that all the dross be removed and you can become more precious than fine gold? God loves you and He will do anything to get your attention and at last welcome you into His kingdom.

Father: Whatever the pill may be that I need, I know that Your grace is sufficient to help me through. Give me the patience needed to wrap around that pill of affliction and let quiet submission take over in my heart as You work a miracle of transformation in my life. I want to be part of Your kingdom now so that I may walk with You throughout eternity. Amen.

Current Events – Historic Win for Gay Marriage

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22.

“And there were also sodomites [male temple prostitutes] in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.” I Kings 14:24.

“The world is following in the steps of the inhabitants of the Noachian world and of the Sodomites. Of the days of Noah it is written. ‘God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’ (Genesis 6:5). And Jude says, ‘Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire’ (Jude 7).” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 105.

“Impurity is today widespread, even among the professed followers of Christ. Passion is unrestrained; the animal propensities are gaining strength by indulgence, while the moral powers are constantly becoming weaker. . . . The sins that destroyed the antediluvians and the cities of the plain exist today—not merely in heathen lands, not only among popular professors of Christianity, but with some who profess to be looking for the coming of the Son of man. If God should present these sins before you as they appear in His sight, you would be filled with shame and terror.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 218.

June 26, 2013, the United States Supreme Court dramatically advanced gay rights in rulings that direct the federal government to provide equal treatment to same-sex spouses and allow the resumption of gay marriages in California.

In a pair of 5-4 rulings on the final day of the court’s term, the justices struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to gay couples married under state law, and let stand a ruling that found Proposition 8, a 2008 voter initiative that ended same-sex marriage in California, unconstitutional.

In striking down DOMA, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Congress had no business undermining a state’s decision to extend “the recognition, dignity and protection” of marriage to same-sex couples.

By excluding such couples from the rights and responsibilities of marriage contained in more than 1,000 provisions of federal law, “DOMA writes inequality into the entire United States Code,” Justice Kennedy wrote.

The DOMA ruling had immediate effects. The president’s administration said it would move swiftly to ensure same-sex married couples get the same tax and other benefits as heterosexual couples, although the process for doing so is uncertain for same-sex couples who marry in one state, then move to a state that doesn’t recognize gay marriage. http://online.wsj.com, June 26, 2013.

The Supreme Court made landmark rulings furthering gay rights, but the lack of a mandate to states ensures the fight over same sex marriage will only heat up in regional ballot campaigns, legislative battles and courts.

Oregon and Ohio are among the states where voters could decide whether to extend marriage rights to gay couples in 2014, according to activists on both sides. State lawmakers in Nevada and Illinois are also mulling such unions. Meanwhile Indiana lawmakers may place a constitutional gay marriage ban on the 2014 ballot.

The Supreme Court decided two cases on Wednesday. In one, the court struck down part of the national Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. That will extend over 1,000 federal benefits to married gay couples. www.chicagotribune.com, June 26, 2013

In a pair of landmark decisions, the Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the 1996 law blocking federal recognition of gay marriage, and it allowed gay marriage to resume in California by declining to decide a separate case.

The court invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to gay couples who are legally married in their states, including Social Security survivor benefits, immigration rights and family leave. http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com, June 28, 2013.

The Mystery of the Three Clocks

People are born with a remarkable alarm clock in their head. Most people find it difficult to measure the passage of time with a degree of accuracy while awake but when they are asleep it is a different matter.

A great deal of research has been done on the subject of sleep and for many years it was assumed that there was a sleep center located in the brain; a mechanism that puts us to sleep when we need rest. But years of the most painstaking research, has failed to uncover the slightest trace of such a mechanism.

Scientists, in search of finding a sleep center, instead found an arousal center, an awakening mechanism located in the hypothalamus, which is deep in the brain at the top of the brain stem. This leads to the rather startling conclusion that man’s normal state is to be asleep and he is only awake when the alarm clock in his head is ringing. To appreciate this function of the human brain it is helpful to understand just a bit about the fantastically complicated mechanism inside our head.

The human brain is essentially an electrical device. When a piece of electrical equipment is operating, a magnetic or electrical field surrounds it. You can’t see it, or feel it, or hear it, but it is there. A simple coil of wire connected to an amplifier can pick up and amplify the invisible field surrounding the motor.

Science has devised a way to detect and record the delicate impulses of the brain by cementing tiny electrodes to the scalp to record brain activity while asleep. The results of these experiments show that our alarm system is connected to our various senses. Sound from our ears can awaken us as well as light from our eyes and also our other senses. We can be awakened by hunger or pain.

We have become so accustomed to the almost miraculous things accomplished in the human body that nothing seems to surprise us anymore and we just expect great performance from such wonderful beings as we modestly admit we are. Any such attitude we may have had while doing these experiments was dispelled recently when discovering some other living alarm clocks.

Cameramen set up their cameras outside the town of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. As soon as the sun went down the whole countryside started to crawl with strange looking insects. Residents who had lived in the area for many years could not recall any other such visitation.

They all seemed to be climbing upward and soon the clumsy looking insects stopped. Each one seemed to heed some mysterious signal that they had gone far enough. With their grotesque claws they searched for a spot where a firm grip may be obtained, sometimes on the bark of the tree, sometimes on the outermost leaves. Here a mysterious and wonderful thing happened. While this is the most common phenomena in all of nature, it is surprising how few people have actually witnessed the spectacular and awe inspiring event—the drama of insect metamorphosis, the transformation of an earth bound nymph to a beautiful free-flying adult insect.

The soft, moist, pale body of the adult insect frees itself from the dead adolescent shroud. In spite of a beautiful creamy white coloring and large red eyes and jet-black markings on its shoulders, the adult cicada presents quite a bedraggled appearance. Inflation of the wings will change all of this. As they are pumped up, the wings change from useless wrinkled pads to beautiful transparent air-foils capable of flight. One cannot but marvel at the beautiful construction of these wings; a framework of veins for strength, a fragile membrane to provide ample lift for a heavy bodied insect.

Within a few hours the ghostly whiteness of the new adults is changed to a glossy, brownish black. Simultaneously, the soft outer shell hardens to form a strong protective exoskeleton. All of this has happened throughout the course of a single night starting with a nymph climbing a tree and now we have a mature insect outfitted with armor plate, camouflage and wings ready for the serious business of life.

The new day dawns and the hoards of insects struggling up the tree have disappeared, but by mid-morning a new sound breaks the contented buzz of the spring woods, the unique sound of the cicada. What is mystifying is how a little insect can make such a loud noise. Only the male makes the sound. The incessant noise and severed branches on the ground are always associated with the cicada. The male makes the noise but when it comes to the fallen branches, mama cicada is the culprit. The branches of the trees are literally covered with punctures made by her ovipositor or egg placer. The ovipositor is driven into the branch as though the wood was putty and eggs are pumped through the hollow center into the protective fibers of the wood. Removing the outer layer of the wood reveals the cicada eggs laid neatly in double rows. After the female deposits 200 to 600 eggs in this way her life work is complete and she dies.

It doesn’t seem possible that a delicate insect like this, less than an inch in length, could dig deeply into the wood with such ease but it has a secret weapon that makes it possible. The tapered ends of the ovipositor are equipped with saw teeth and, with alternating motions, it literally saws its way into the woody fibers. The consuming zeal with which she goes about her task suggests that this is her ultimate purpose in life.

Within a few weeks the noisy honeymoon is over, life functions have been faithfully completed and one by one the adult cicadas fall to the ground as their flame of life flickers and goes out. As suddenly as they appeared, they depart. The future of the species is all wrapped up in those tiny eggs hidden in the branches of the trees. After six or seven weeks there is a stirring of activity when the newly hatched nymph shakes off the egg shell, drops to the ground and buries into the earth there to remain for seventeen long years.

Over two hundred years of scientific research has revealed that the cicada is the Methuselah of the insect world, living longer than any other insect. The cicada nymph lives alone in an underground passage several feet below the surface of the earth. As the seventeenth year of its existence draws to a close the cicada nymph tunnels up and stops just one quarter of an inch from the surface, there to wait a mysterious inner prompting. As soon as the sun goes down on the appointed day, millions of cicada alarm clocks go off all over the eastern states of the United States. Responding to the signal the cicadas push their way from their dark prison. Exactly seventeen years ago parents of these cicadas were enacting this same role at this very spot.

The time keeping ability of the cicada makes man’s mental alarm clock pretty rusty. We felt we might be on the trail of a significant truth so the investigation was carried one step further. In the field of chemistry some chemical reactions take place instantaneously. Others take time to react. With an accurate knowledge of the conditions involved it is possible to predict not only what will happen when certain chemicals are mixed, but exactly when it will happen.

How can we explain the marvel of these clocks? How do you explain the alarm clock in the human brain? Some believe man is a highly developed creature with a highly developed intelligence but how about the cicada. He is probably smart too. How about the chemicals; are they smart? Obviously that cannot be the answer. As we go from the chemicals through the cicada to man, we are ascending a scale of intelligence. As we ascend the scale of creature intelligence we also descend another scale, that of accuracy and dependability.

Man’s mental clock is much less reliable than the cicadas and even the cicada can’t match the chemicals. The chemicals are completely dependable because they are completely subject to God’s law. Did you ever stop to think what this world would be like if the chemicals were not dependable? I’d hate to walk into a chemistry laboratory and try to perform an experiment if chemical behavior was no more predictable than human behavior. You could not take a drink of water or draw a breath of air without any safety or certainty. We are fortunate indeed that chemicals obey the law of God but how about man? The submission of the chemicals to the law of God is a blind involuntary thing. Man on the other hand has a mind, a will and a God given power of choice. He can submit his will to the will of God or he can choose to defy God and go his own way and defy His laws. But how smart is it for a man to disobey the God who created him? Is it a mark of intelligence? Some seem to feel it is.

In a criminal society composed of those who defy human law, disobedience of the law is sometimes considered a mark of distinction and obedience a sign of weakness. Today there is a segment of intellectual society that seems to feel that obedience to God’s moral and spiritual law is a sign of weakness and that simple faith and humble submission to His will is somehow intellectually degrading. Yet down through the centuries there comes the quiet voice of One who said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38.

In this age when some have almost deified the human intellect there are those who say I will trust nothing but myself, I will follow my own reasoning regardless of where it leads me and again that quiet voice says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12.

Today, man is frantically searching for a solution to his problem, but isn’t the first step a recognition of what the problem really is? Isn’t the problem in the things that we have been considering? Unlike the chemicals, man has a will of his own. He can choose to obey God’s law or defy it. Take two liquids, one water and the other deadly poison. I have the power of choice; I can drink the water or the poison, but right here my power of choice stops. I cannot choose the result. Laws that are immutable and absolute fix the result.

We have another choice, you and I. We can choose to believe God and obey Him or we can go our own way in unbelief, but here again we cannot choose the result, which is fixed by the eternal law of God that says, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36.

A Moody Institute of Science Presentation, Moody Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.

The Sabbath a Sign

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’ ”
Exodus 31:13

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Of what do you first think when you hear these words?

What do these words of the first sentence of the fourth commandment really mean? I would like to begin by considering some important but solemn information from the past. We need to really think about the following questions, not just rehearse the words on auto pilot. God calls us to dig deep, to think and to reason. Did the Jews believe that the true day of worship was on the seventh day of the week? Did they have guidelines as to what the Sabbath was about and how to keep it? Yet, and here is a thought that is staggering to my mind, with this Sabbath doctrine, or truth, and their dedication to this truth, they crucified the Messiah, the Lord and Creator of the Sabbath, and the very central figure of their religious beliefs. Then, in consequence, they were completely and utterly destroyed as a nation. The question is, What happened? What went wrong? How is it they could keep the seventh day Sabbath and yet be utterly lost and destroyed? Does that situation startle and alarm you? It should. It pertains directly to us.

In our quest for an answer let’s first go to the fourth commandment itself. The very first sentence says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8 KJV. I propose to you that here is the very heart of the matter. The very first sentence of the fourth commandment is just that, a command. It says of the Sabbath that we are “to keep it holy.” Understanding and acting upon this command is essential to our salvation. God didn’t just say, “Remember the Sabbath day to go to church,” or “Remember the Sabbath day to catch up on your rest” or “Remember the Sabbath and don’t go to work on that day.” He said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Just what does that mean in terms of personal and practical application?

The Desire of Ages, 283 gives a very short, succinct explanation. “In order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy.” We need now to ask ourselves a question in order to rightly comprehend the significance of our situation in relation to God’s command to “keep the Sabbath day holy.” The question is this, Are we holy? Are you holy? Am I holy? Just in case there is any doubt about that, let’s turn to several texts and see what God has to say about that.

Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” Jeremiah 17:9 KJV adds, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” These texts and many others decisively answer that question. We are not and cannot be holy of ourselves. It is impossible.

If God commands us to keep the Sabbath day holy (and He does have the right and the authority to do so, does He not?) and we have no hope of being holy, it sounds like He is requiring something of us that we cannot do. But is this our situation, our predicament? No, it is not. God does not require something of us that is not possible for us to do. So how do we reconcile this situation? God requires us to keep the Sabbath holy. In order to keep the Sabbath holy, we must be holy. We are not holy and have no way to make ourselves holy. So what is the solution to this problem in which we find ourselves?

In Exodus 31:13 we read, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’ ” Here is our answer. God says, “I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” Isn’t that a wonderful promise? Consider the following beautiful and profound statement: “The Sabbath given to the world as the sign of God as the Creator is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier. The power that created all things is the power that re-creates the soul in His own likeness.” God’s Amazing Grace, 156.

Do you or I have the power to bring ourselves back to a likeness of the image of God? No. Adam and Eve, after their sin, “were told that their nature had become depraved by sin.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 61. Later in the same book, on page 595, it says, “Sin has marred and well-nigh obliterated the image of God in man.” And The Review and Herald, February 4, 1890, says, “Man cannot possibly meet the demands of the law of God in human strength alone. His offerings, his works, will all be tainted with sin.”

We are not holy. It is impossible for us to make ourselves holy. But God, in His love, in His mercy has provided the solution. Since we have no power or capability whatsoever to change our state of degradation, of having a depraved nature, He created the plan of salvation to rescue us from this dilemma. Patriarchs and Prophets, 595, says it this way: “It was to restore this [the image of God—holiness] that the plan of salvation was devised.”

The Father and His Son devised the great and wonderful plan of salvation on our behalf such that we can have God’s image, His holiness, recreated in our souls. So in order to really keep the Sabbath holy we must understand and implement in our lives the great plan of salvation, the new covenant. It is impossible to obey the fourth commandment without the plan of salvation, or the new covenant. Is it any wonder that under Inspiration these words were spoken, “Those who would share the benefits of the Saviour’s mediation should permit nothing to interfere with their duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God. The precious hours, instead of being given to pleasure, to display, or to gain seeking, should be devoted to an earnest, prayerful study of the word of truth. The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God.” The Great Controversy, 488. It is only through the plan of salvation, carried out in the heavenly sanctuary, that we can obey God’s command to keep the Sabbath day holy, because there is no other way that we can become holy.

Let’s review what we have covered so far.

1 God says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

2 In order to keep the Sabbath holy, we must be holy.

3 We are not holy. Our natures are depraved by sin.

4 We cannot meet the demands of the law of God in human strength alone.

5 God has devised a plan whereby our natures can be recreated in His image; whereby we can become holy. It is known as the plan of salvation, the new covenant.

6 As we accept this plan of salvation in our lives, we can now obey God’s command to keep the Sabbath holy.
Let’s go back to our example of the Jews. We left our earlier discussion of the Jews without answering the question, Did they keep the Sabbath day holy?” Let’s look at that now. Remember first, that in order to keep the Sabbath day holy we must ourselves be holy. We just learned that it is through Christ alone and the plan of salvation carried out in the sanctuary of heaven that we can become holy. How do we become holy? We become holy by going to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. It is there that we confess our sins and overcome them in the strength of Jesus.

Now, did the Jews as a nation accept this plan and go to Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary? No. Rather than transfer their confession from the “shadow,” that is the ceremonies of the earthly sanctuary, to the true “High Priest” in the “true tabernacle” in heaven, the very next morning after Jesus’ death they resumed their sacrifices in their earthly temple. They continued these useless sacrifices for the next 40 years. By doing this they rejected the One true Sacrifice, the offer of the only One who could make them holy. So did they have the slightest hope of being holy? Not the least. Could they and did they keep the Sabbath holy? No, they could not, and they did not. They rejected and crucified the very One who gave His life to secure for them forgiveness, pardon, and a holy character, and then rejected His ministry on their behalf in the sanctuary in heaven! Therefore, they could not become holy, and since they were not holy, they could not obey God’s command to “keep the Sabbath holy.”

Now, what connection is there between the Jews and what they did and us today? In the book Counsels for the Church, 262, it says, “To us as to Israel the Sabbath is given ‘for a perpetual covenant’ (Exodus 31:16). To those who reverence His holy day the Sabbath is a sign that God recognizes them as His chosen people. It is a pledge that He will fulfill to them His covenant. In other words, He will sanctify us, or make us holy. Every soul who accepts the sign of God’s government places himself under the divine, everlasting covenant [also known as the plan of salvation].”

So if we truly keep the Sabbath holy, it is a sign that we have accepted God’s plan, God’s covenant for the “restoration in the human soul of the image of God.” Education, 371.

It is impossible to keep the Sabbath day holy if we do not connect to the great plan of salvation, the new covenant, made by God the Father and Jesus and which is carried out in the “true tabernacle” (Hebrews 8:2), the sanctuary in heaven. We do not want to repeat the fatal mistake made by the Jews in rejecting the ministration of Jesus, our great High Priest in heaven. This plan of salvation is our only option for obeying God’s command to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

I invite you to make the commitment to “permit nothing to interfere with [your] their duty to perfect holiness in the fear of God” (The Great Controversy, 488), and thereby fulfill the command of God, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New International Version.)

Brenda Douay is a staff member at Steps to Life. She may be contacted by email at: brendadouay@stepstolife.org.

The Work of a Lifetime

From the study of life’s instruction book, we know that Christ often used everyday events to drive home a point. We call these occurrences parables. One of my favorite parables is that of the sower. It was one of the first ones I knew about in any great detail, and how I first became familiar with it is an interesting story.

Twenty years ago, I was the chief financial officer for a non-profit organization that operated bookstores in United States National Park Service areas. We had approximately sixty outlets in eleven western states. It came to pass that we needed to hire a controller. One of the applicants, when inquiring about the position, asked if it required working on Saturdays. I explained that at that point in time, I had worked for the organization for seven years and had never had to work on a Saturday and that our work was typically Monday through Friday. He responded that he would not want to apply if Saturday work was required, as he was a Seventh-day Adventist. Since I had never heard of Seventh-day Adventists, his remark did not mean much to me, other than that he was willing to turn down the chance for a relatively high-paying job simply because he did not want to work on Saturday.

During our interview, the applicant again stressed the fact that he would not work on Saturday, further explaining that his determination often made him the “odd man out” in previous positions. We acknowledged this restriction to his work and admonished him that if he were hired, he could not evangelize at the office, a condition to which he agreed.

Our interview was on a Friday. When it concluded, I asked him if he was going to head back home that evening, which required a two-hour plane flight, or wait until Saturday to go home. He replied that he was going to stay over until Sunday, at his own expense, because he did not want to travel on Saturday.

Again, I was struck by his determination to keep a low profile on Saturdays. It brought to my mind an incident that had occurred forty years before when I was about ten years old. I was attending Sunday school in the Methodist church. We were studying the Ten Commandments. When we read the fourth commandment, my little numbers-oriented brain did a quick calculation and realized that we were in church on the first day of the week, not the seventh. When I asked my Sunday school teacher about it, and later my parents, I received a vague answer that did little to satisfy my curiosity.

Nothing more occurred that caused me to reflect on this disparity for forty years—until this young applicant made it so prominent during the application and interview process.

After the applicant left our office, the executive director of our organization advised that we ponder this situation over the weekend and decide on Monday whether or not to make a job offer.

During the entire weekend, I was pondering the situation and anxiously looking forward to an opportunity to ask this young man about this “seventh-day thing.”

Monday morning, the executive director asked me to what conclusion I had come regarding a job offer. My exact words were, “I am absolutely giddy with anticipation,” which was clearly not the answer that he had expected. He had decided not to make an offer, as he felt that this man would indeed be an “odd man out” and would not participate in our Friday afternoon “attitude adjustment” sessions or other office social events.

However, since the controller position reported to me, he said that if I was willing to make it work, he would allow me to offer the young man the position, which he accepted.

The largest grossing outlet that we operated was a trading post on the Navajo reservation in northeast Arizona. Because the controller was primarily responsible for the financial record-keeping of that operation, it was important that he become familiar with that operation as soon as possible. Accordingly, after a couple of weeks of orientation in the home office, he and I made plans to travel there. It was a six-hour drive, as there were no airports anywhere close to the trading post.

Once we were in my car and well out of town, I asked the young man about this “Saturday thing.” He responded that he had been admonished not to discuss his religion on the job and that he did not want to violate his agreement. I assured him that since I had brought it up, there would be no negative consequences to our discussion.

Well, being a faithful Seventh-day Adventist, he had his Bible tucked in his suitcase. Every question I had, he answered with an appropriate Bible text. When we reached our destination, I got the Gideon Bible from my motel room and joined him in his room. We studied until eleven o’clock that evening, at which point I was a converted man.

The readiness with which I had accepted the truth came as a bit of a surprise to this young man, and he cautioned me that it was important to nurture the seed that had just been planted. He turned to Matthew 13 and read me the parable of the sower, and asked that I carefully consider that three of the four outcomes from sowing seed did not produce fruit—an expression that I did not fully understand at that time.

Well, twenty years later, that seed has not only sprouted, but it has produced a plant that, through gracious pruning by the Holy Spirit, has entered the fruit-bearing phase of growth.

The parable of the sower is the first one discussed in Christ’s Object Lessons. Sister White’s explanation of it consumes 29 pages, more than that of any other parable other than the talents.

In her analysis of this parable, Sister White made this statement on pages 42 and 43:

“The education to be secured by searching the Scriptures is an experimental knowledge of the plan of salvation. Such an education will restore the image of God in the soul. It will strengthen and fortify the mind against temptation, and fit the learner to become a co-worker with Christ in His mission of mercy to the world. It will make him a member of the heavenly family; and prepare him to share the inheritance of the saints in light.”

I encourage you to read for yourself to determine why she made this statement in her discussion of the parable of the sower. In this article, I would like to mine the Scriptures and inspired writings so that we can make perhaps a bit of progress in the five objectives enumerated in the preceding paragraph.

  1. Restoring the image of God in our characters
  2. Strengthening and fortifying our minds against temptation
  3. Fitting ourselves up to become co-workers with Christ in His mission of mercy to the world
  4. Becoming members of the heavenly family
  5. Preparing ourselves to share the inheritance of the saints in light.

Clearly, any one of these objectives could be the source of a lengthy article all by itself—if not a whole series of articles. So here we will be able to skim only the surface. But I hope to pique your interest in one or two of these areas enough to give you something to study on your own during your private devotionals.

Keep in mind that we are told by Inspiration that study of the Scriptures will give us a deeper understanding of the plan of salvation and will accomplish these five essential objectives in our lives and our character.

The first one we’ll look at is “restoring the image of God in our character.” That is a big subject and clearly one that cannot be covered fully in even one entire article, much less in part of one. It is summed up fairly succinctly in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” We are to be as perfect in our sphere of existence as Christ is in His sphere. (See Our High Calling, 108 or That I May Know Him, 131.) “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:28.

In commenting on this text in the book Education, Sister White wrote, “The germination of the seed represents the beginning of spiritual life, and the development of the plant is a figure of the development of character. There can be no life without growth. The plant must either grow or die. As its growth is silent and imperceptible, but continuous, so is the growth of character. At every stage of development our life may be perfect; yet if God’s purpose for us is fulfilled, there will be constant advancement.” Education, 105, 106.

Let’s begin exploring that injunction for constant advancement to completion by reading John 14:1–9 ISV:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you? And if I am going away to prepare a place for you, I will come back again and welcome you into My presence, so that you may be where I am. You know where I am going, and you know the way. Thomas asked Him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you have known Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip told Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.’ ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know Me?’ Jesus asked him. ‘The person who has seen Me has seen the Father. So how can you say, “Show us the Father” ’?”

This is a wonderful passage and contains much food for thought, but I want to concentrate on verse 9. “The person who has seen Me has seen the Father.” The disciples had the privilege of actually physically seeing Christ. We have the Word that portrays Christ to us and, through diligent study, we can essentially know Christ as well as His disciples did.

In addition to the Bible, we have been blessed with the Spirit of Prophecy, written by one who, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also saw and conversed with Christ. I’d like to quote a description of Christ’s character from a letter that Sister White wrote to Emma and Edson in 1874. In it, she lists twenty aspects of His character which we are to manifest in our own character if we are to be a faithful reflection of His.

“Christ never murmured, never uttered discontent, displeasure, or resentment. He was never disheartened, discouraged, ruffled, or fretted. He was patient, calm, and self-possessed under the most exciting and trying circumstances. All His works were performed with a quiet dignity and ease, whatever commotion was around Him. Applause did not elate Him. He feared not the threats of His enemies. He moved amid the world of excitement, of violence and crime, as the sun moves above the clouds. Human passions and commotions and trials were beneath Him. He sailed like the sun above them all. Yet He was not indifferent to the woes of men. His heart was ever touched with the sufferings and necessities of His brethren, as though He Himself was the one afflicted. He had a calm inward joy, a peace which was serene. His will was ever swallowed up in the will of His Father. Not My will but Thine be done (Luke 22:42), was heard from His pale and quivering lips.” This Day With God, 263.

So, if we expect to have the image of God restored in us, we need to manifest the twenty characteristics that are enumerated in the above paragraph.

  1. Never murmur
  2. Never complain
  3. Never utter discontent
  4. Never express displeasure
  5. Never express resentment
  6. Never be disheartened
  7. Never be discouraged
  8. Never be ruffled
  9. Never fret or worry
  10. Be patient
  11. Be calm
  12. Be self-possessed under the most exciting and trying circumstances
  13. Perform our work with a quiet dignity and ease, regardless of the commotion around us
  14. Never be puffed up by praise or approbation from others
  15. Remain unfazed by threats from our enemies
  16. Be unmoved and unexcited by passion and trials
  17. Empathize with the woes of our fellow pilgrims
  18. Be moved by the sufferings and necessities of our brethren as though we were the ones afflicted
  19. Manifest a calm, inward joy and a peaceful serenity
  20. And perhaps most importantly, fully surrender our will to the will of our heavenly Father so that we can say with Christ, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”

Although this is a tall order, remember that our objective is to understand the plan of salvation through the study of God’s word. We have several promises in the Word that give us absolute, incontrovertible hope toward this goal—texts that we are familiar with that contain promises that we have every right to claim as our own. Keep in mind that it is not presumption to claim the promises of God, so long as we comply with the conditions under which those promises are given.

The first promise is contained in Philippians 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word that is translated perform in this text is actually a compound word that means to fulfill completely, to execute or to terminate.

The second wonderful promise we can claim is also in Philippians and is another that we should claim daily: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 NKJV.

We also have a more sure word of prophecy that tells us that, “Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It is not gained by a happy flight of feeling, but is the result of constantly dying to sin, and constantly living for Christ. Wrongs cannot be righted nor reformations wrought in the character by feeble, intermittent efforts. It is only by [1] long, persevering effort, [2] sore discipline, and [3] stern conflict, that we shall overcome. We know not one day how strong will be our conflict the next. So long as Satan reigns, we shall have self to subdue, besetting sins to overcome; so long as life shall last, there will be no stopping place, no point which we can reach and say, I have fully attained. Sanctification is the result of lifelong obedience.” [Emphasis added.] The Acts of the Apostles, 560, 561.

There is one key phrase in this paragraph that I’d like to bring to your attention: “So long as Satan reigns.” How long is that? Until Christ returns. The second point I want to look at is strengthening and fortifying our minds against temptation. We’ve just read that so long as Satan reigns, we shall have temptations to resist. So long as life shall last on this earth, we will be faced with daily, perhaps even hourly, temptations to stray from the path of truth and righteousness. So what can we do about that?

As you might expect, the Bible does not leave us to speculate about that. There are several texts that give us divine wisdom in strengthening and fortifying our minds against temptation.

First, let’s look at the wisdom of David. In Psalm 101:3 he wrote, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

There are two bits of wisdom in this text. The first is obvious. Do not look at anything that causes your mind to stray into forbidden paths. This is sometimes a difficult thing to do, especially in today’s world. To accomplish this objective, you must—and I know that I’m making a rather dogmatic statement here—you must destroy your television—at least figuratively. I believe it to be the single most effective means that Satan uses to promote his agenda of reproducing his malevolent character in humans. It is also imperative that you put mental blinders on. Satan uses billboards, magazines, advertisements of all kinds, Internet pop-ups, and a myriad of other means, ceaselessly tempting us to set wicked things before our eyes. You cannot even walk through the check-out line when buying groceries without being confronted by displays of unrighteousness.

The second bit of wisdom that is expressed in Psalm 101:3 is this: “I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me.”

This text may mean something different to you, but to me it means that I will not use the sinful acts of others as an excuse for my own sin. Stop and think how common that is. How often have I been prone to think, “Well, I may lie now and then, but at least I don’t steal.” Just because you don’t speed doesn’t mean you can run red lights. And just because someone you know and perhaps even admire commits a transgression, that does not give you license to do the same.

Another wonderful piece of wisdom that the Word gives us is found in 11 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV: “Casting down arguments [the KJV says imaginations] and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

“Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”… that is the hard part.

And what occurs when we have succeeded in this effort? We are clearly told in Isaiah 55:7 NKJV. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Here God promises us that when we turn from our unrighteous thoughts, He will have mercy on us and will abundantly pardon. What a wonderful thing of which to be ever mindful.

A wonderful promise is given us in I Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

My experience is that finding the way of escape sometimes takes effort and the exercise of will, often beyond what is typical. Remember what we read earlier from The Acts of the Apostles, “sore discipline” is required to overcome. Sore is not a word that connotes to me something that is easily done. The Christian walk is indeed a battle and a march.

The third area in which we are to make continual progress is “fitting ourselves up to become co-workers with Christ in His mission of mercy to the world.”

We all are familiar with the great commission, which, according to the synoptic gospels, was the very last divine command given to us by Christ before His ascension into heaven: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:18–20.

The obvious question is, How do I fit myself up to become a co-worker with Christ in His mission of mercy to the world?

One way is clearly implied in that text: “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” I cannot teach Christ’s commands to others unless I know them myself. And how can I hope to know them without studying the word of God?

I would submit that fitting ourselves up to become coworkers with Christ involves a deep commitment to come apart from the world and be separate. Unless we separate from worldly influence, we will obviously be like the world. John gave us some explicit instruction on that in I John 2:15–17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Here again we are confronted with the need for “not my will, but Thy will” be done.

Inspiration also gives us some wonderful counsel on becoming a co-worker with Christ.

“The worker for God is not left without a pattern. He is given an example which, if followed, will make him a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. He is bidden to glorify God by carrying out unselfish aims and purposes. The Lord understands man’s nature, and He holds up before him the laws of the kingdom of heaven, which he is to honor and obey. He places the Bible in his hands, as the guidebook that will show him what is truth, and what he must do in order to inherit eternal life. This book draws the attention from temporal interests to spiritual realities. It tells man, fallen and sinful though he is, that he can become a prince and a king in the heavenly courts, an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ.” This Day with God, 30.

A consistent study of the Bible will enable the diligent student to focus on spiritual realities rather than on secular, worldly interests. When we make the determination to live our lives according to the instructions given in the Bible, we will unavoidably separate ourselves from the world, from temporal interests, and become fit to be co-workers with Christ. May the Lord help us in this struggle.

The fourth area in which we are to make continual progress is “becoming members of the heavenly family.” What a comforting thought, “becoming members of the heavenly family.”

Well, ponder this somewhat sobering thought from Christ’s Object Lessons, 270: “When the voice of God awakes the dead, he will come from the grave with the same appetites and passions, the same likes and dislikes, that he cherished when living. God works no miracle to re-create a man who would not be re-created when he was granted every opportunity and provided with every facility. During his lifetime he took no delight in God, nor found pleasure in His service. His character is not in harmony with God, and he could not be happy in the heavenly family.”

Although this statement is couched in the negative, it can be interpreted to reveal how to be a happy member of the heavenly family.

Essentially, it stresses the necessity—not just the desire, but the necessity—of taking advantage of every opportunity and using every facility to be recreated in the image of God, to form our characters in harmony with the divine image. We must find delight in God and pleasure in His service. Our character must be in harmony with God if we would be happy in the heavenly family.

I remind you once again that this is the work of a lifetime.

The last area that I want to look at is another one that should bring joy to our hearts: “preparing ourselves to share the inheritance of the saints in light.”

What exactly is that inheritance? The Bible gives us tantalizing glimpses, but no detailed description. What it does give us, however, should serve as a powerful incentive for us to strive to walk the narrow path and enter in at the strait gate. Before we look at some of those tantalizing glimpses, let me quote a brief statement from Early Writings:

“The true Christian’s joys and consolation must and will be in heaven. The longing souls of those who have tasted of the powers of the world to come and have feasted on heavenly joys, will not be satisfied with things of earth. … Their amusement will be in contemplating their treasure—the Holy City, the earth made new, their eternal home. And while they dwell upon those things which are lofty, pure, and holy, heaven will be brought near, and they will feel the power of the Holy Spirit, and this will tend to wean them more and more from the world and cause their consolation and chief joy to be in the things of heaven, their sweet home. The power of attraction to God and heaven will then be so great that nothing can draw their minds from the great object of securing the soul’s salvation and honoring and glorifying God.

“As I realize how much has been done for us to keep us right, I am led to exclaim, Oh, what love, what wondrous love, hath the Son of God for us poor sinners! Should we be stupid and careless while everything is being done for our salvation that can be done? All heaven is interested for us. We should be alive and awake to honor, glorify, and adore the high and lofty One. Our hearts should flow out in love and gratitude to Him who has been so full of love and compassion to us. With our lives we should honor Him, and with pure and holy conversation show that we are born from above, that this world is not our home, but that we are pilgrims and strangers here, traveling to a better country.” Ibid., 112, 113.

If we could just remember that we are pilgrims and strangers here and that a better country awaits us, one in which there is no lying, no stealing, no killing, no temptations, no sexual immorality, no intemperance, no dishonoring of parents, no doctors or hospitals, no jails, no locks of any kind on any thing, no tears, nor sorrow, nor sickness, we should be willing to make whatever preparations are necessary to obtain that inheritance, shouldn’t we?

We’ve looked at the “nots,” the things that will not be in heaven. What about the “ares,” the things that are in heaven?

Here is a suggested list of the ten best things in heaven, beginning with number 10. This list is in no way comprehensive, as there are certainly more than ten best things in heaven. And it is not necessarily in order. If you were to compose such a list, it could be totally different.

  • A mansion, apartment, or permanent dwelling of some sort in the Holy City—whatever you want to call it—but permanent, no need of continual upkeep, with your name on the door (John 14:2, 3).
  • Streets paved with transparent gold (Revelation 21:21).
  • Travel to distant planets with perfect speed, such as manifested by Gabriel when he responded to Daniel’s prayer. Whatever type of environment you relish, you’ll be able to enjoy it in heaven.

“I begged of my attending angel to let me remain in that place. I could not bear the thought of coming back to this dark world again. Then the angel said, ‘You must go back, and if you are faithful, you, with the 144,000, shall have the privilege of visiting all the worlds and viewing the handiwork of God.’ ” Early Writings, 40.

  • Free access to the tree of life, with a different heavenly fruit each month, and to the river of life (Revelation 22:1, 2).
  • Animals, perhaps of kinds that we cannot even imagine, to have as pets and companions (Isaiah 11:6, 65:25).
  • Beautiful forests and other unspoiled natural environments lightened by the glory of heaven (Early Writings, 18; Revelation 22:5; Isaiah 60:19–21).
  • Lush gardens, vineyards, and orchards with healthy, disease-free and pest-free fruits and vegetables (Isaiah 65:21, 22).
  • Join with the angels in making heavenly music (Psalm 147; Revelation 14:2, 3; 15:2, 3).
  • The companionship of the saints (Psalm 23:6; throughout Psalm 37; Psalm 69:35, 36; Isaiah 60:19–21).
  • Divine fellowship with our God and our Creator. “They shall be My people, and I will be their God” occurs in one form or another at least eleven times in Scripture. I John 1 says much about the fellowship we will experience as followers of Christ.

A more thorough study of these points will result in a better understanding of the incredible sacrifice that made this incredible gift available to us.

May the Lord bless us and the Holy Spirit guide us as we strive to walk the narrow way.

John Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. After retiring as chief financial officer for the Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, Arizona, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, to join the Steps team. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

A Cross to Carry

A Cross to Carry

There are many people today who do not want to be called an enemy of God, but they do not want to serve Him either. Unlike Switzerland that claimed neutrality during World War II, it is impossible to be neutral to the Christian religion.

In some places in the world today it is popular to call yourself a Christian. In New Testament times during the first century, the Christian religion was not popular at all; in fact, it was very unpopular to be called a Christian. One would wonder why the Christian religion was so unpopular and shunned by the masses when Jesus did so much good, healing all manner of sickness and diseases and this often in public places.

Jesus explained it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.

Notice, He said that most people would take the easy way and go down the broad road. There would be only a few who would tackle the narrow way, which seems more difficult and restricted. “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘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, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ ” Matthew 16:24, 25. He went on to ask, “What do you really gain and what are you profited if you should gain the whole world, and lose your own soul” (verse 26)?

The statement Jesus made was unpopular and still today is not desired by the masses. Self-denial is not popular. But Jesus said that not only are you to deny yourself, but also you are to take up your cross and follow Him. The cross was an instrument of torture and cruelty and ignominy. Paul explained what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24.

Paul further explains what it means in Galatians 5:19–21. He said, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness [licentiousness], idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Those who practice the works of the flesh, as they are outlined here, he says will not inherit the kingdom of God, but those that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh. They have crucified those evil passions and desires of the flesh—their sinful nature. To take up your cross means to crucify the sinful nature, or the flesh.

There is something else that is involved in taking up your cross, and Jesus talked about it in Matthew 10:34–39. He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies [foes] will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Notice what Jesus was saying here. He is talking about the conflict that will occur in people’s families because of the Christian religion “a man’s foes will be those of his own household.”

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” I Corinthians 3:16, 17 KJV. If a drug that is destroying his body enslaves a person, then he must crucify that craving and stop using the harmful substance if he would be a Christian. It would also be a cross to bear for a man or woman whose spouse is angry and threatening divorce because he or she has chosen to follow the Lord and to be obedient to all His commandments.

There are many promises for those who choose to deny themselves, lift up their cross and follow Jesus. Listed are a few things the Christian receives in return. Notice, first, John 15:11. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

He promises peace. He said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. “The hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:32, 33.

Love and joy and peace are promised to all of Jesus’ followers right now in the present life. However, in addition to the promises relating to this present life, He has also made promises for the future life. Concerning those who have taken up their cross and followed Him, He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal [everlasting] life.” Matthew 19:29. Jesus Christ has made wonderful promises to those who follow Him, and His word is truth on which we can depend.

Now there is something, however, that is very important to understand, since we have been talking about the cross and about the need for the Christian to take up his cross and follow Jesus if he would receive salvation. It is important to understand that God does not make the crosses. God has never made the cross, and it was never something that He intended that any human being should ever have to bear. The Bible is very clear that God does not tempt anyone. Notice what James said, in James 1:13 and 17: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. … Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

The crosses that we bear in this world are the result of sin, inherited and cultivated sin. Consider the drunken person, for example, or the addict; it is not God’s desire for him to be this way, but because of the subtle influence of the world and the devil and his own sinful nature, he has fallen into an evil habit, which has become an addiction. Neither is there anything burdensome or grievous about God’s commandments. John tells us, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” I John 5:3.

The cross in the family occurs when a Christian has a desire to keep all of God’s commandments and because the other members of the family do not have the same conviction, they are inspired by Satan to oppose him or her because they love the world and not God. There is no cross in the commandments themselves; we read that they are not burdensome.

The world has chosen to make God’s rest day a common workday. This is something that has happened because the world at present is being ruled mainly by the devil. When a person chooses to follow God and obey Him and follow Him in obedience to all of His commandments, that person will be opposed by the world and by the devil.

The question might be asked, Is it possible to be saved without opposition? The Bible very clearly answers this—No! It is not possible to be saved without opposition. Notice what Paul said: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” II Timothy 3:12. So, although God doesn’t create any of our crosses and it is not His will for us to have any, the devil will always oppose anyone who chooses to follow the Lord making it impossible to follow Him without opposition. If you are not willing to endure opposition, then you cannot be saved. “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” Matthew 18:7.

In God’s mercy He prepares us for the offenses that have to come and gives many promises to those who suffer persecution or trouble or trial because they have chosen to follow Him. Notice what the apostle Paul said about this: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” I Corinthians 10:13.

Because the cross involves following Jesus up the narrow way, do not ever get the idea that there are no hardships for those who choose the wide easy road of the world. In fact, there is no easy way. There is pain and suffering for the worldly person too, and he will be forced to endure it but without the promise of Jesus when He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age [world].” Matthew 28:20. Those who choose not to follow Jesus will not avoid pain and suffering. The Bible says, in Proverbs 13:15, that “the way of the unfaithful is hard.” And in Isaiah 57:21, the Lord says, “There is no peace … for the wicked.”

Remember that Jesus said, in Matthew 7:13 and 14, there are two ways: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” There is a narrow way and a broad way. Only a few people will choose the narrow way for it is restricted. Most people will go down the broad road because that way seems easier and does not require any self-denial. On that road everyone does what is right in his own eyes disregarding the Lord’s instruction, but there are consequences! In Psalm 37:37 and 38, David said, “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.”

There are two paths. One is a narrow path where you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. There you will have joy and peace and the comfort of His presence on your journey and experience, at the end of the path, everlasting life. The other path, the one that Jesus said most people would choose, is the broad path. It begins with ease and pleasure with no self-denial. But Satan is a cruel, hard, taskmaster and just around the corner, out of sight, the path gets harder and harder as you go along, and the farther you travel on that road makes it more difficult to make a U-turn. It involves sickness, heartache, despair and, in the end eternal death.

Concerning the future for those who choose to go up the narrow way, this is what the apostle Paul said: “As it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” I Corinthians 2:9, 10.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet outlines the future reward of the righteous. In chapters 11, 35 and again in chapter 65, he outlines the wonderful future for God’s children, a place where there is no sickness, or death, or trouble of any kind. John also describes the future. He said, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ ” Revelation 21:1–4.

That is the wonderful, exciting and glorious future that is in store for those who choose to go up the narrow way, take up their cross and follow Jesus. Unfortunately, most of the people in the world today are comfortable traveling on the broad road. The Bible clearly predicts over and over that the majority of people in the world will be on Satan’s side of the question at the end. Revelation 13:3 says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”

In the next verse it says that they worshiped it. That, of course, is contrary to the law of God, the second commandment, but that is what most of the world will be doing. It says, all the world was astonished and they followed the beast—that is, the antichrist—and worshiped it. Then, in verse 14, concerning the beast that comes from the land, it says, “He deceives those who dwell on the earth, by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who is wounded by the sword and lived.”

Again, in Revelation 16, and this is so important that the prophet emphasizes it over and over again, in the last half of the book of Revelation, that most of the world will be deceived and will go down the broad road at the end. Notice what it says: “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Verses 13, 14.

The whole world will be deceived. This is incredible and is repeated in Revelation 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 and again in chapter 19. Over and over again, in the last half of the book of Revelation, it says that in the last days the whole world will choose to go down the broad road, except for very few people that the Bible calls “the remnant.” It is hard to imagine that the whole world will be deceived, and they will persecute and oppose God’s people. The remnant will be denied the ability to buy and sell because of an effort to force them to receive the mark of antichrist, the mark that will mark them for destruction, for eternal destruction.

The sign that distinguishes God’s children in the last days, those who chose to be on God’s side of the question, is found in Revelation 14:12. After describing the mark of the beast, the image to the beast, those worshiping it, and the warning not to do that, it identifies who God’s children are during this time. The Bible says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

The sign that you are God’s child has always been the same since the beginning of time. It is the sign of obedience, a determination to obey God and follow Him doing His will. Hebrews 8:10 tells what God promises His followers, His children, through the new covenant. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Revelation is a symbolic book. It talks about everybody in the world in the last days receiving a symbolic mark or seal in their forehead. You can read about it in Revelation 14. Satan opposes this because he wants people to receive the mark of antichrist, which is the mark of rebellion that will cause those who receive it to meet with eternal destruction. It is Satan’s plan, first, to deceive the great majority and then to coerce, or force, the rest into submission, thus sweeping the whole world into his net. The Bible predicts that the majority will be deceived and almost the whole world will array itself against God and His people in the last days (Revelation 13:13–17). God gives a warning to those who are about to do this (Revelation 14:9–12). It is a message of warning to help anybody that is willing to listen to be prepared and to not receive the mark of destruction. In the last days, everyone in the world will receive a symbolic mark. Some will receive what is called the seal of God (Revelation 7), and others will receive what is called the mark of the beast (Revelation 13) or the mark of antichrist or the mark of destruction.

The world today is in the process of rejecting God’s last warning message, and people are preparing to receive the mark of rebellion. The second coming of Christ will be completely different than the first coming of Christ. At His first advent, Jesus came as a sin bearer, to bear the sins of the world. But at His second coming, this is not His mission; He is coming as king of kings and Lord of Lords. He is coming to judge the world. When He comes, the whole world will be divided into two camps, those who have the seal of loyalty—the seal of God spoken of in Revelation 7, and those who have the mark of rebellion, the mark of the beast—the mark of antichrist, spoken of in Revelation 13 and 14. Those who have the seal of God will be those who keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus.

The whole world will be divided into just two groups, two camps. One camp will all be saved and the other will all be lost. In which camp will you be?

(Unless otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Editorial – Times of Terror

In A.D. 31 Jesus said concerning the last days just before His second coming, “And there will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity [or without resources], the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear, and for the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.” Luke 21:25, 26.

In 1904 Ellen White published this statement: “Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 28.

The twentieth century fulfilled the prediction about a great terror coming upon human beings. There were the communist revolts and revolutions starting shortly after 1900. World War I broke out and, twenty years later, World War II with a depression between. Between the late 1940’s until 1989 we experienced the rise of totalitarism that covered more than half the world. The number of people violently killed by the two world wars totaled around 80 million and more than 100 million have been violently killed by totalitarian revolutions.

But as frightening as the twentieth century was, the twenty-first century is starting out to be worse. Without going into the details of the global troubles in the natural world, the economic world, the religious world, and the military world, that you probably already know about, let us look at what God has counseled us in regard to the time in which we are living:

“Every hand should be outstretched to help the hand that is doing something for the Master. The time may come when the hands that have upheld the feeble hands of another may, in turn, be upheld by the hands to whom they ministered. God has so ordered matters that no man is absolutely independent of his fellowmen.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 496.

“Faith is the clasping of the hand of Christ in every emergency.” Gospel Workers, 262.

“The hand of Christ can reach the veriest sinner, and bring him back from transgression to obedience; but no Christianity is so lofty that it can soar above the requirements of God’s holy law.” The Signs of the Times, March 31, 1890.

“God says to His people, ‘Press together, press together; that you may not be destroyed as were the inhabitants of Jerusalem.’ ” Ibid., October 31, 1900.

“We are to unify, but not on a platform of error.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 259.