Men of Power are Men of Prayer

Part of our Christian experience is learning how to recognize the enemy and how to deal with him. God’s people need to be more offensive and less defensive. Defense is when we wait for somebody to attack us, then all of a sudden we throw up a shield and worry about what we are going to do. We have to be warriors. We need to be offensive with our attack on the enemy by presenting the truth. We should not wait for him to attack the truth and tear things all apart. We must march onward and forward.

“Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in mount Ebal.” Joshua 8:30. Already there was trouble in the land, because something good was about to happen. Joshua said, “Let us build an altar unto the Lord; let us do something for the Lord; let us show honor and glory to the Lord.” This was one of the rare occasions when Israel said, “All right, let us just do it.” When you get people together who say let us do something for God, great things can and will happen.

“And all Israel, and their elders [notice who is involved here], and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them . . . .” Verse 33.

That tells me that everybody was involved. Joshua said, “We are going to build an altar unto the Lord” and all of Israel said, “Okay.” That meant the elders and the priests. Today it would mean everybody in the church—men, women and children.

Why did they come together? “That they should bless the people of Israel.” Ibid. They got together to build that altar because there was a blessing in the making.

Seek the Blessing

“And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.” Verses 34, 35. Everybody was included. Even if you were a stranger, as it were, one who just walked along with Israel, whether you were just along for the ride or not, you got involved!

God gives us so much truth today, but many choose to read only part of it or choose to live only part of it. We are not willing to go all the way with the Lord. When Joshua read from the book, he read everything; he did not leave out anything. He challenged the people. What a challenge it is for us in Adventism today, in our Christian walk. Many times we are receiving only half of the message, watered down theology, not the whole truth.

All of Israel came together in a unification effort, a joining together for joint power. Somehow, we find it difficult to find real unity in the Christian world today.

We know that we are never to unify on wrong principles, but sometimes we think it might be all right to do so. It is not! Joshua read everything that was to be read, and he challenged the people to take a stand on what was read, because it said a blessing was coming. Let me tell you, we need that blessing! There are blessings now and there are blessings that are coming—but only for those who listen and heed and do what is written in the law of the Lord. There will be a curse for those who do not.

Water for the Thirsty

God was ready to pour His Spirit out upon these people as they came together and said, “Let us do something for God; let us put up an altar.” God’s people today need to join together to do something for God, to get out the Three Angels’ Messages. It is going to take a united effort of all of God’s people to accomplish this. This may be the hour to which God has called all of us. We need to make a commitment before the Lord. We need to pray that hearts and minds will be open to do God’s work.

The Bible says that the gospel has to go into all of the world. What power there would be in a prayerful, united effort to spread the gospel message! Then Jesus could come! We should use every avenue that God gives us to do this.

Satan says, “No!”

The Lord is looking for Joshuas, for leadership. He is looking for laity, for you and for me, to say we will do our part, by the grace of God.

The blessings are going to come! The women, it said in Joshua 8, came; the little children came together; the stranger was there. Everybody needed to hear what Joshua had to say. Everybody needed to be blessed. Oh, dear friends remember this: when everybody says “Yes,” the enemy says “No, it is not going to happen.” But, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4.

The devil is a smoke screen artist. That is all he does. Just hold your breath a little bit and walk on through his smoke; that is all you have to do. Do not worry about it; he cannot stop the movement of God. Oh, he is going to act like he is going to do just that and that is enough for some people, but it should not be enough for us. It is not enough for those who are really honest, true, and faithful.

God Will Supply our Need

Circumstances will never stop God’s people, and we need to quit reasoning as the world reasons about outreach for Jesus and move forward in faith. He has already commissioned us to go into all of the world. He has already invited us to go; He has begged us; He has pleaded with us. Certainly He has supplied all that is necessary. If He tells us to go some place, He will absolutely supply all of our needs.

Now, remember the people of God said, “Let us do it! Let us build an altar.” In other words, let us give praise to God; let us remember who God is; let us do things the way God wants it done.

The devil is going to be on the attack. Since we already know that, we should have a plan to defeat him. Joshua 9:1, 2 tells us: “And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof . . . .” Here we go! All of a sudden, because God’s people began to show some action, everybody around them got uptight. God’s people made a commitment, and they were on the move, and the surrounding nations got mad about it. “They gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua [against him, not beside him] and Israel, with one accord.”

Joshua and the leadership of God had just conquered Jericho and Ai. These were tremendous battles, and they just routed the enemy, so everybody was certain they knew what was going to happen. They thought, God’s people are moving forward, so we are going to have to do something here.

Uplifting the Law of God

And then Israel had the boldness, in the face of all the nations, to make a startling pronunciation. They said something like, “We are pronouncing that we are going to uplift the law of Jehovah in all the land of Canaan.” They had the nerve, the audacity, to lift up the law of Jehovah! Is not that something that God is asking us to do, to lift up His downtrodden law and show it to the world? This is it exactly!

It is not just to Joshua of old, but God has reached down to men and women today. He says, “Lift up; elevate the law of Jehovah.” Israel said, “Yes, what the Lord has said we are going to do.” Israel intended to be the sole ruler of Canaan, and the law of God was going to be that which would be elevated for the world to see.

It scared the rest of the nations! The other six nations thought, “Oh, no, we are in trouble.”

We Know the Victor

Do you know what the devil would say today if we really united? The same thing! “Oh, no, I am in trouble.” The devil does not have a plan to fight the unity of God’s people and the power of God together. So he uses the divide and conquer method. Yet we still try to stay aloof and separate. Do we join a group over here just to have unity? No, the right principle has to be there. We cannot unite upon wrong principles. This is what Joshua was saying. He did not leave out a word. He never bypassed a thing. He said, “This is the way it is going to be,” and all Israel said, “Yes, God’s people are taking over the world.”

We go around moping today because we are such a small minority. I do not know how we are going to accomplish the work. It just seems that this work is never going to get done; yet we know who wins the battle, do we not? We know how it is going to be won. How wonderful to be able to do God’s work, by faith to look through the time frame, and say, “Here is the winner!” It is a sure thing; it is not a gamble!

The gamblers of our society would like to have a sure bet such as that—to be able to look into the future and know who is going to win the race. Amazing! They would give everything they ever had, or ever touched in their lives, for that sure thing, and many of us are not willing to give time, means, energy, or talents to tell them!

Israel had a sure thing, and we have a sure thing, also. We know who is going to win; we know the final score.

Getting Along

These six nations of Canaan came together, and the Bible tells us that they came in one accord. (See Joshua 9:2.) Six different nations, different because they were at odds with each other; that is why they were not together under one rulership. Six nations, not counting Gibeon, who did not like each other, came together in one accord, but notice whom they were against. They were against God’s people. They fought among themselves. They were separate nations, because they could not get along. Like so many denominations today who do not agree, when it comes to God’s people uniting and lifting up the law of Jehovah, all the denominations, all the nations of the world, will come together against you.

Are we seeing these kinds of things taking place today? Yes, we are. Everybody disagrees, and they cannot get along with anyone, until someone comes along to give a Bible study, to lift up the truth as it is in Jesus. Then they put aside their differences to make sure they eliminate the ones teaching truth. That is what happens. That is what happened in Israel.

These six nations had hatred for one another. No doubt family members and others had been killed as they all went into battle and separated. But these pagan nations put aside the hate and the differences in order to attack God’s people and try to eliminate them.

What God Has Said, We Will Do!

The book of Revelation tells us that everybody is going to go against God’s last day people, too. Do we understand that this is going to happen? It sounds so brutal to some of us, but as we read Scripture, we are in awe as we see these things taking place.

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:16, 15.

Look at the parallel. The whole world is going to unite against the true and faithful of God in the last days. They are going to put aside their differences. You see denominations coming together today in the religious world. They do not believe the same, but they are all coming together. What do you think the purpose of that might be? It is to fulfill prophecy. We are going to see it.

They are going to put aside their prejudice, their dislikes, their doctrinal beliefs, to come against a people who are bold enough to say, “What God has said, we will do. By the grace of God we will lift up the law of Jehovah.” As we just read in Revelation, it says that God’s people should be killed. What an awesome thought that is for us today. It seems impossible that we are walking in some of the footprints of ancient Israel. We will go through some of the same things.

Joining in a Common Cause

So these nations came in one accord. They put their minds and powers together, and they put all differences aside. “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Revelation 17:13. There is the parallel! They come together, put all their strength and power together, and their one sole purpose is to eliminate God’s last day people from the planet.

I am not so blind as to know that God’s last day people, those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 12:17), are not of a particular name or denomination, even though some of us like to think along those lines. If it is not in the Scripture, dear friends, do not be projecting that this is what God means. Since when do we know more than God? We are not to add nor subtract from what God says.

As we come to the end of time on this earth, we are going to see the political and the religious groups joining together against the true remnant, against those who love Jesus with all their hearts.

God Makes No Mistakes

There are those who are not safe to be saved in God’s kingdom, those who are not willing to obey Him now. If we are not willing to obey Him now, we will not obey Him in heaven. If we will not obey Him now, we are not safe to take to heaven, and we will not be there. Are you obeying God now with everything that is in your mind and in your heart that you know to be truth? If you are not, you are not safe to be saved in God’s kingdom. God is not going to make a mistake.

Let us consider Joshua 9. Here is where the Gibeonites come into the story. Evidently they were the only thinking nation around. As God’s people conquered nations, God had them get rid of all the surrounding nations. God did not want His people in close proximity to the heathen, to people who would teach them bad things. Although God loves every individual, pagan or heathen, whether they think about Him or not, He knew that some of the filth of the heathen would rub off on His people just by being in close proximity.

So as they conquered the nations, God said, “Kill them all, men, women and children.” Does that sound brutal? I guess it would, compared to the way we think today. We are not willing, today, to separate from a friend, just one person. We are not willing to stay away from things that we know are not good for us. This is the way the children of Israel were, too, but God made it very clear how He feels about these issues.

The other nations knew that, too. Israel was coming off the success of their battles, and the surrounding nations were scared, because they knew what the God of heaven had commissioned Israel to do. They knew that they were next on the list, and they had to be on the offensive. They were going to have to attack and kill God’s people before they were attacked and killed.

It did not have to be that way, as we learn from the nation of Gibeon, who put on their thinking caps. They knew a lot about the God of heaven. Someone had been witnessing, and the message was getting out to every nation. So when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, they went to work.

They knew that they were going to be killed. How did they know it? They knew how Israel was set up and what was going to take place. All of their “Adventist” friends were passing on the information. Everybody knew what was happening.

Following Orders

Today, if we in Adventism were standing for what is right and doing what we are supposed to be doing, the nations of the world would quiver and shake at the thought of us, also. Jehovah God leads these people, they would say. These people are going through. These people move forward; God moves everything out of the way for them. There is nothing that can happen to these people.

When God said to take a nation, He told Joshua, “We are going into battle and not one of your men will be hurt. Every one of them will come back. There will not be a scratch on them. They will do hand-to-hand combat; there will be hailstones coming out of the heavens; people will be killed all over the place; people will be running for their lives; it is going to be a horrible scene and a horrible sight.” We might think that surely one of God’s people would have fallen and twisted an ankle or one of them would have hurt a hand, but not a one of them was hurt. Tell me the God of heaven is not working on behalf of His children! When He gives you your marching orders, you know that He is going to be preparing the way.

Here Gibeon is thinking, we have seen what happened to Jericho; we have seen the God that they serve; look what they did to Ai! (See Joshua 6; 8:1–29.) We do not want to end up like that. But they also knew that the heathen nations close to them would be killed. They were only about three miles away. They knew they were about to become extinct.

Preparing

Friends, if we do not get it right, we are going to be put out of existence. I do not like the way Gibeon went about this deceit and fraud, but they had a plan. They were more prepared than are some of us. We do not have a plan. We wait until the bottom falls out, then we start looking around. If you know the bottom is going to fall out, and you are going to end up somewhere in the pit, you had better get yourself a ladder or a rope. We wait until we get down there in that mess and then all of a sudden we start asking, “Where is the rope? Where is the ladder?” The Lord says, “I am not going to save you, because you knew what was going to happen. You should have been prepared before, by faith.”

Now, if you travel a long distance by foot, and you are a long way from Israel, your shoes are going to be a little dirty, right? So the men of Gibeon began to prepare. They put old shoes on their feet, and the Bible says that they got moldy bread, as proof that they had come a long distance.

When they were questioned, they said they had traveled a long way. “Look at our shoes; look at our wine bottles; this is our bread. Look at it, we started out with fresh bread,” they lied, “now this has mold all over it.” Joshua 9:12, 13.

Almost impulsively the children of Israel said, “We will make a treaty with you.” When the children of Israel gave their word to make a treaty, God held them to their word. When you give your word, you have to keep your word, even when you find you made a mistake.

We Have Heard of Your God

The Gibeon people came to Joshua and said, “We are your servants. We submit to you.” It is very difficult to be angry with someone when they tell you they are there to serve you. There is nothing to beat down, nothing to win in battle; they are ready for service.

“And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt.” Verse 9.

Friends, I wonder today, since we are Seventh-day Adventist Christians and people who love Jesus, when someone mentions the God that we serve, what do people think about Him? These heathens had heard about God. They knew who He was. If someone sees you as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian today, what do they see? They should see something in you! They should know that something is working inside of you, so they would say, “I may not understand all that you are talking about, but I know the Spirit of God is inside of you!”

Verse 11 continues: “Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us [as they came together from their nation], saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us.” Come together, you see, let us sign a pact; let us sign an agreement, so later you cannot turn around and kill us. The Gibeons did not want to be killed.

Under the Death Decree

I want you to notice that some things began to happen. Verse 15 simply says, “And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live.” They knew that without this pact they were going to die, because they had seen and experienced and heard about the power of God.

Many more people would accept our message today, the message that we have to give, if they understood that there is power in what is being said. If power were accompanying what is coming out of our mouths, being lived out in our lives, the world would take notice!

These people said they wanted to live, and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. Three days later they found out who the Gibeonites really were. It took three days for Joshua to discover that he had been lied to by this nation! (Verse 16.) Of course, Israel got a little uptight about it, and they started to murmur.

The Bible says, in verses 18 and 19, “And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them.” Why? Because they signed an agreement.

Servants You Will Be

Notice what instructions the God of heaven tells Joshua to give to the people of Gibeon: “You may live because we signed this contract, this peace agreement. But your nation will go get water for us, and you will cut our wood for us as long as you live here.” (Verse 23.) Why? Because they gained, as it were, their birth rights by deceit.

They could have come there and said, “We now understand the power of the God that you serve.” I believe that God and Joshua would have been just, if they had only come in plain truth and said, “We have had a change of heart. We want to serve the same God that you serve. Yes, we live next door, and we know that we should die. We know that if you make war against us, we all are going to die and you are all going to live. We want to live.” But they did not do that. They gained life by deceit, and because they did, they were in servitude to Israel for the rest of their generations.

Perfect Freedom in Servitude

God wants us to have freedom of movement, freedom of thought and of action in the world today. We should know God’s Word and implement the knowledge in it with great freedom and ease, not with the idea that we are serving a God who has us under His thumb! That is the way some people go around, but they have not been born again. A reformation has not taken place in their lives, if that is the way they feel today.

Every time Israel did exactly the way God asked them to do in dealing with the nations around them, they were more than conquerors. If we do exactly what God says to do, we will also be able to handle what confronts us.

Gibeon was now under a peace treaty, so what happened? When these other nations, who were ready to make war, heard about Gibeon becoming turncoats, they said, “Let us get rid of them. They have turned to Israel for help, now let us go kill them.” So Gibeon ran to Joshua.

“The inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city . . . .” Joshua 10:1, 2.

These other nations were tight, because Gibeon was a big place “and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.” Verse 2. They knew what happened to Ai. They knew what happened to Jericho, and Gibeon was even greater than that and had more men of war. They said, “Man, they have joined with Israel, now we are going to be conquered; we are going to have to get rid of them.”

A Peculiar People

Verse 4 simply tells us, “Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.”

Friends, what happens when you really unite together? Persecution comes! Has just the thought of persecution,—not being liked, being rejected,—maybe prevented some of us from doing what we should be doing?

Satan puts in our hearts and our minds the thought that we have to be loved by everybody. Why is it that we have such a desire to be liked and to be loved by every person? It might be a nice desire, but how do we deal with it when we see that it is not a reality? It is not going to happen, because we are different. We must be different! So different that people can see the difference in us as we go about our daily lives.

Gibeon was smart enough to go to Joshua and say, “Look this is going to be brutal here. There is going to be a fight. Please come and help us.” Verse 6 tells us, “And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp of Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants . . . .”

God’s plan was that when anyone comes to Him, they are grafted into the family of God. We are promised that we are to receive the promises and everything just exactly like the bloodline. Gibeon came in. If they had come in the right way, they could have received all of the blessings that God was giving Israel. They could have accepted His bounties. That is what God wants for all of us.

We have to understand the ways God has in His Word for us. They simply said, “Help us, we need help,” “For all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.” Verse 6. Do you think that Joshua was thinking, “I really wonder if we should even sacrifice our men to go down since these people came to us and deceived us. They have lied to us, should we even bother?” But the Lord intervened. He came to Joshua and told him to go, so Joshua would know exactly what to do. (See Verse 8.)

Trusting God

Friends, when you are going down a road and you do not know what to do, go to God. It is good to get counsel from a brother, but go to God and talk to Him about it first. You labor on it with God. Get your Bible, open it up, and begin to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to what you need to read.

Get out the inspirational books and pray to God to show you what you need to know. Certainly, you can call a brother and tell them that you are at the crossroads and you need some help. You may ask them what is their advice. Ask them to pray with you on the issues. If, in that crossroad, you really want to know and to do God’s will, He will manifest Himself to you. He will show you a plain path; He will tell you what to do.

Joshua was not just a special pick. He was not somebody different from you or me. He was a man, who served God, who loved God, so he heard from God. “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not.” I like this. Here all these nations are going to come against Israel, who are not even trained to fight. Yes, they have won battles, but only because God fought the battles for them. And now God tells Joshua to not worry about them: “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” Verse 8.

Stepping Out in Faith

Everyone who came against God’s people was going to die, and not a one of God’s children would be hurt. Do we believe the promises of God? Do we think Joshua had to exercise faith here? Sure he had to exercise faith. God does not move into action without it. It is not possible. So even though he was a man of God and the Lord spoke to him, he had to exercise faith to know that God could be trusted.

Do you believe God can impress you? Does God speak to your heart? We are embarrassed sometimes to say we believe God has spoken to our heart, because our brethren ask what God said. Then, depending on what we say and their understanding of the Scriptures, they might question whether God spoke to us or whether it was the enemy. The only way to know is to go to Scripture.

God told Joshua to just go out and not to worry, because He was going to deliver the children of Israel. God says that to you and to me today. The battle has already been won. It is finished! He knew how it was going to turn out, if they would just follow Him. Do you know how it is going to turn out? Do you really know who is going to be victorious? Yes, you do! Now all you have to do is go forward by faith. Do not look to the right; do not look to the left. Just as Jesus had to be about His Father’s business, we will be about it also. Men of power today, dear friends, are men of prayer.

The Lord is speaking to us today, as He spoke to Joshua back then, the very same way—giving us messages that bring comfort to our hearts. Our minds can know that we are not alone in this battle. The angels of God are with us. The power of the Spirit is with us, and He will see us through to the end.

Christ’s Concept of Fatherhood

Our concepts of fatherhood are gained by observation. As we pass from infancy through childhood to maturity, we form our opinions as to what a father is and what a father does, as well as what he does not do, by watching our own fathers. In my childhood, an incident involving my father made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind.

A Father Protects

When I was about ten years old, our family was living on a farm in Oregon, and there were cows to milk each morning and evening. One evening, my sister and I were in the barn milking the cows, somewhat nervously and apprehensively. This was because my older brother was raising a hunting dog, and the dog had been acting strangely for several days. Because this type of dog was known to go mad at times, we were worried.

Then it happened. From the hill behind the barn there came a frenzy of strange, unnatural barking, and it was clearly moving in our direction. We quickly put our milk pails on the floor and scrambled to the top of the stanchions, which held the cows’ heads. These were only six feet high, but it was the best that we could do. There was no place else to go.

We had little more than climbed to our unsteady perches than the dog appeared, wild-eyed and slobbering. He clawed his way through the slightly open door, came to where we were, and started leaping up at us. We could do nothing but call desperately for our father, who had gone to the house on an errand.

Fortunately, our father had heard the frenzied barking, noted where it was coming from, and was already running toward the barn. As he came through the door, without decreasing his speed, he picked up some small object from the floor, and armed with this altogether inadequate weapon, he went straight for the dog. I believe he was ready to grapple with that mad dog with his bare hands, if necessary, in order to protect his children. The dog saw him coming and fled through the back door.

This, to me, was an unforgettable lesson—a father protects his children.

A Father Listens

Now Christ had no earthly father, yet He had some very clear concepts of fatherhood. He must have gained them by watching his stepfather, Joseph. We have very little direct information about Joseph in the Bible, beyond the simple statement that he was a just man (Matthew 1:19). Who was this man, to whom the Creator of the universe entrusted the care of His only-begotten Son? We would like to know more about him. What kind of a father was he? Actually, there is no mystery. As we look at the various statements that Christ made about fathers and fatherhood, we are really looking at Joseph, and we can see that God did well to choose him as a stepfather for His Son.

The gospel of John records over 100 instances where Christ applied the term Father to God. This was far and away His favorite usage. Why? Having grown up in a Hebrew home, He could have used the Hebrew Elohim or Adonay. Since He and most of His listeners spoke Greek, He could have used the Greek, Theos (God) or Kurios (Lord). Apparently these terms did not adequately convey the meaning that He wanted His hearer to understand, so He made the greatest usage of the endearing term, Father. According to Jesus, a father listens.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He instructed them to begin their prayers with the words, “Our Father.” This would be chancy at best, if it were not that the Father is always listening. Jesus knew that if His instruction was followed, there would be prayers ascending to the Father at all hours of the day and night, so His words were equal to a declaration that the Father is always listening.

Jesus also inspired Ellen White to write: “You need not fear an improper hour. His eye never slumbers nor sleeps. He always hears the prayer of the humble suppliant and grants His blessing. He never turns away unblessed those who seek Him with the whole heart.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 19, 319. [Emphasis supplied.]

In addition to that she wrote: “The Father hears every prayer of His contrite children. The voice of supplication from the earth unites with the voice of our Intercessor, who pleads in heaven, whose voice the Father always hears. Let our prayers therefore continually ascend to God. Let them not come up in the name of any human being, but in the name of Him who is our Substitute and Surety.” In Heavenly Places, 79. [Emphasis supplied.]

A Father Provides

Jesus said it like this: “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Matthew 6:31, 32.

“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11:11–13.

“Christ made an appeal to us concerning the willingness of God to help, arguing from the natural love of the parent to his offspring. What father could turn from his son who asks bread? Should anyone dishonor God by imagining that He will not respond to the call of His children?” Selected Messages, Book 1, 329.

A Father is Merciful

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Luke 6:36.

“Mercy is an attribute that the human agent may share with God. As did Christ, so man may lay hold on the divine arm and be in communication with divine power. To us has been given a service of mercy to perform for our fellow-man. In performing this service, we are laboring together with God. We do well, then, to be merciful, even as our Father in heaven is merciful.” Signs of the Times, May 21, 1902.

A Father Loves

“For the Father himself loveth you . . . .” John 16:27.

“There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ, and who really desire to be children of God, yet they realize that their character is imperfect, their life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. To such I would say, do not draw back in despair. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes; but we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God. No, Christ is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Said the beloved John, ‘These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’ And do not forget the words of Christ, ‘The Father Himself loveth you.’ John 16:27. He desires to restore you to Himself, to see His own purity and holiness reflected in you. And if you will but yield yourself to Him, He that hath begun a good work in you will carry it forward to the day of Jesus Christ.” The Faith I Live By, 118.

A Father Transmits His Likeness

“He that hath seen me hath seen the Father . . . .” John 14:9.

“In the Bible the will of God is revealed. The truths of the Word of God are the utterances of the Most High. He who makes these truths a part of his life becomes in every sense a new creature. He is not given new mental powers, but the darkness that through ignorance and sin has clouded the understanding is removed. The words, ‘A new heart also will I give you,’ mean, ‘A new mind will I give you.’ A change of heart is always attended by a clear conviction of Christian duty, an understanding of truth. He who gives the Scriptures close, prayerful attention will gain clear comprehension and sound judgment, as if in turning to God he had reached a higher plane of intelligence.” My Life Today, 24.

A Father Draws

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him . . . .” John 6:44.

In our time, unfortunately, there are fathers who are not worthy of the name. Children who grow up in their homes have a very poor concept of fatherhood and have difficulty applying the term “Father” to God. To them, the word has no richness of meaning, no drawing power, because of the poor example of fatherhood they have had.

It is clear that Jesus had no such problem. He grew up in a home where luxuries may have been lacking, but where the excellent fatherhood qualities of His stepfather, Joseph, were constantly before Him. His childhood experiences gave Him a rich treasury of resources on which to draw in setting before us the attributes of the heavenly Father.

A Father Forgives and Restores

Clearly, the climax to all of the teachings of Jesus about the fatherhood of God is in the immortal parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–32. No one ever misunderstands this parable. I need only to refer to it and the picture will be formed in your own mind. I do not need to quote it.

I have heard Adlai Esteb, a missionary to China, tell about a trip that he made into Tibet, during which time he had occasion to speak to a group of primitive Tibetan herdsmen. Not knowing what better thing he could do, he read to them, through a translator, the story of the prodigal son as given by Jesus. When he had finished the story, he said he saw tears trickling down the cheeks of these rough Tibetan tribesmen. They understood!

Everybody understands the story of the prodigal son. Jesus planned it that way, and Jesus planned that His representation of the nature and character of God would cause every one of us to say, with the prodigal, I will arise, and go to my Father.

The Irish Protestant and Heaven

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 bank account; 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 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; your job is uncertain; there is not enough money to pay the 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.” Proverbs 10:15; 18:11. His confidence and trust are in his wealth. That is very common. Jesus, speaking about rich men, said, “‘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.’” Matthew 19:23, 24.

Do we realize that, in comparison to people in many other countries, most people in the United States are rich? David 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. (See Psalm 49:6, 7.) It is impossible.

Learning Trust

The Lord had to teach some lessons of trust to the children of Israel. For this purpose, He put them through a rigorous 40-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 from where their food would come. So Moses told them that the Lord was going to provide for them. (See Exodus 16:8.) 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-day supply so that on Sabbath they did not have to gather food. (See Exodus 16:14–31.) 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.

Won to the Faith

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 Carlyle B. Haynes, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, was having evangelistic meetings in a canvas tent in New York City on 95th Street and Broadway. Miss Clancy came to these tent-meetings and listened.

Whenever Pastor 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, that Miss Clancy did not seem so happy. She became sad, gloomy, and upset, and he wondered what had happened.

Notes on Tithing

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 were seven points she had listed. Here they are:

  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. In Numbers 18:20–24, we read, “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 genera-tions, that among the children of Israel they [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. Jesus said, “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.’” Matthew 23:23.
  5. God promises to bless the faithful payment of tithe. “‘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.” Malachi 3:10–12.
  6. Those who do not do as God commands will not prosper. “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.’” Haggai 1:5–9.
  7. God’s curse is upon men, money and property when God is not honored and obeyed. “‘Will a man rob God? Yet 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.’” Malachi 3:8, 9.

As Elder Haynes listened to her, he thought, “Well, now, what is she going to say? To what is she going to object?”

The Test

Miss Clancy asked, “Do I have to do this?”

Elder Haynes replied, “Why would there be an exception for you? I am not the one who told you to do this; this is what God’s Word says.”

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 on which to live. 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 cents on $6.00, and then my rent is still going to be the same. So are you telling me that instead of living on $1.50 a week, now I’m to live on 90 cents 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 going to have only 90 cents a week, what are you going to eat? Does God make exceptions for the poor? No, 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 will 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.”

Stepping Out in Faith

She thought it over and finally said, “Well, God’s taken care of me before. I’ll do it!”

The next week when she came to church, she handed Elder Haynes 60 cents for tithe. In writing about it later, he said that 60 cents was the hardest to accept of any amount he ever had anybody put in his hand. He did not want to take it, but God had commanded it, so he took it. Every Sabbath, from then on, she would come to church, go up to him and hand him 60 cents. In his mind he would get 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, he again inquired, “Miss Clancy, are you sure everything is all right?”

Strange Things Are Happening

“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 are doing for me now.”

“Well, what 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; another will give me some cereal; 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 on 90 cents a week than I used to live on $1.50.”

“Do you think somebody has been putting them up to this?” the pastor asked.

“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.”

Living Humbly

“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 cents 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 cents. 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.

The Windows of Heaven Open

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

“Well, what has happened?” asked the pastor.

“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 from 90 cents 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 to give large offerings to help the gospel go to the mission field.” (See “The Strange Case of Miss Clancy” by Carlyle B. Haynes, Signs of the Times, December 28, 1954.)

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, you can trust God! Do you believe that? Miss Clancy discovered that when you do what God says, He opens up the windows of heaven. No one knew how God was going to open 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.

Notice what Jesus said about this, “‘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 all these things shall be added to you.’” Matthew 6:30–33.

When you make God first in your life, and you choose to follow Him, He takes responsibility for you. God is going to see to it that you have food and clothing and shelter. 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.” Malachi 3:10.

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

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Editorial – The Church that Appears to Fall, Part V

This recent series of four editorials has been based on Letter 55, 1886, written to Elders Butler (then General Conference President) and S. N. Haskell, as published in Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 318–328. In this letter, Ellen White divides the Seventh-day Adventist Church into two groups.

The larger of these groups, sometimes referred to as the “Professed Church,” is destined to go to ruin and destruction—to fall. They profess to be the “True Church.” (See Signs of the Times, September 4, 1883 and Counsels to Teachers, 491.)

The other group is destined to appear to fall, because it will seem that they are going to be annihilated. Since it appears that this group will be destroyed, we must face the reality that the majority of this smaller group could be martyred. (See Maranatha, 199.) But instead of falling, it will remain. This smaller group is referred to by Ellen White, in other places, as the “True Church.” (See Signs of the Times, April 22, 1889.)

Both of these groups profess the Seventh-day Adventist faith. They are both visible, and they both claim to be God’s special, denominated people.

The “Church” that only appears to fall but does not, according to Letter 55, has the following characteristics:

  1. They profess the Adventist faith and
  2. are actually practicing the truth.
  3. They come before God with repentance, humiliation, and deep heart searching.
  4. They are living representatives of the truth they advocate.
  5. They honor God’s law by strict and holy compliance.
  6. They walk before the Lord with purity and holiness.
  7. They honor God as did Daniel by righteousness, holiness, and truth.
  8. Support is withdrawn as they continue to proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages.
  9. The members are overcoming and
  10. are the remnant who purify their souls by keeping the truth.

The “Church” that not only appears to fall but that actually does fall, according to Letter 55, has the following characteristics:

  1. They are not constantly becoming more spiritually minded.
  2. They are becoming self-righteous while not doing the will of God.
  3. They profess the Adventist faith but are keeping it apart from their lives.
  4. They do not bring their hearts to the test of God’s great moral standard of righteousness; they do not live it.
  5. They claim to believe the truth and advocate the law of God.
  6. There is internal corruption.
  7. God has promised not to forsake them if they do not forsake Him.
  8. God has promised to work for them if the sins which brought His wrath upon the old world do not become their crimes.
  9. God asks them to cleanse the camp of moral defilement and aggravating sins, because
  10. sin is cherished weakness, and ruin will come on all individuals and groups (churches) that allow a knowing violation of any commandment.
  11. God has been robbed by the withholding of money from His treasury.
  12. This church is advised to humble their souls before God with humiliation and fasting and prayer and repentance for sin so disaster and ruin might be avoided.
  13. This church finally ceases to exist because all the members who are continuing in sin fall.
  14. Many of the ministers in this church have only a human commission, not a commission from God, and they will be weeded out by the Sunday Law test.

Dear Friend, if that still, small voice is telling you that you are in the large group of professed Adventists who are not really true Adventists, it is not yet too late for you to change sides, to change leaders.