2010 March Archives - Page 2 of 2

Keys to the Storehouse – Trial of Your Faith

March 26, 2018 by Judy Hallingstad

“Faith … is the great blessing—the eye that sees, the ear that hears, the feet that run, the hand that grasps. It is the means, not the end.” In Heavenly Places, 104.

If your faith is a conviction, you will not be swayed and all that you do will be Christlike. You will be living your life for the Lord. You can honestly say, “For to me to live is Christ.” Philippians 1:21.

If your faith is just a preference, a choice depending on the circumstances, you will be swayed and double minded. You will abandon your faith because it will not be convenient at all times and places to represent Christ.

It is a terrible thought that any of us would abandon our faith for any reason. We do not know what is in our hearts.

God wants you and me to be part of the heavenly family so He allows trials to alert us to the danger we are in. Without the testing we may be unaware of some shortcoming that may cause us to lose out on heaven.

He says in 1 Peter 1:7, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

I thank God for testing my character. I want Him to search me and to know my heart to prepare me for heavenly places. I so enjoy walking with Him that I would like to walk through the heavenly gates with Him.

The whole universe is watching us this moment. May God be praised in all that we say, hear and do under all circumstances. I pray that your spiritual muscle will increase.

“It is coming in contact with difficulties that will give you spiritual muscle and sinew. You will become strong in Christ if you endure the testing process and the proving of God. … Remember when trials come that you are a spectacle to angels and to men, and that every time you fail to bear the proving of the Lord you are lessening your spiritual strength. You should hold your peace from complaining, and take your burden to Jesus, and lay your whole soul open before Him. Do not carry it to a third person. … Say, ‘I will not gratify the enemy by murmuring. I will lay my care at the feet of Jesus. I will tell it to Him in faith.’ If you do this you will receive help from above; you will realize the fulfillment of the promise, ‘He is on my right hand that I should not be moved’ (Psalm 16:8). ” That I May Know Him, 282.

Heavenly Father, Try me so that I may know whether my faith is a conviction, or just a preference. I pray that I will never abandon my faith because of inconvenience. I choose to always have time for you in my life that I may have peace in the midst of everyday responsibilities and trials. Amen.

Pen of Inspiration – The Precious Promises

March 26, 2018 by Ellen G. White

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” II Peter 1:4

If we escape the contaminating influences of this degenerate age, we have earnest work before us, and we must have a living connection with Christ. We must have a knowledge of his life and character, and a desire to be like him. Then we must seek earnestly to overcome the temptations that are around us, and have faith to believe that his promises will be verified unto us. “And besides this,” says the apostle, “giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue [I Peter 1:5].” The sinner who comes to Christ for pardon, hope, and salvation, must lay the foundation in a pure, virtuous character. Christ will not accept a polluted offering. The soul-temple must be cleansed from all defilement. Then the work of character building is begun aright. He that clings to cherished sins and continues to indulge sinful habits, cannot be a partaker of the divine nature; for he has not escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The apostle continues, “And to virtue, knowledge [Verse 5].” The Lord is not pleased to have any of us remain in ignorance. He would have us put to the best use the talents of reason and intelligence that he has given us. We are not excusable if we allow things of minor consequence to so occupy our God-given time that the mind will not be stored with useful knowledge. The mental powers should be taxed to think, and thus we will gain strength to reach any height in knowledge. We must not be satisfied with reaching a low level. There are high and holy attainments for us to reach. But we shall never make that advancement that God would have us until we have an experimental knowledge of Christ and his work of redemption. We must not allow earthly, temporal interests to absorb our minds and steal our affections from our Creator. Although the world with its customs, maxims, and amusements intrudes itself upon the mind, Christians will show by their words and deportment that they have chosen Christ as their portion; they have chosen to be partakers with him of his self-denying, self-sacrificing life, that they may one day be partakers of his glory.

The great temptation of this age is the indulgence of pride, the love of praise, and the love of the world. Time is golden; and a day spent in selfish gratification is a day lost to all eternity. But time employed in searching the Scriptures with a desire to learn the truth, will bring everlasting riches. Angels come near to pour light and knowledge into the darkened understanding, and the light thus given, strengthens the intellect, and quickens the perception to discern the precious gems of truth. Knowledge thus gained is not left to perish with common, earthly things, but will be carried with us into the eternal world, and through the ceaseless ages of eternity the riches of God’s word will be continually unfolding. …

To “knowledge” we are commanded to add “temperance” [Verse 6, first part]. It is the duty of true Christians to practice temperance in eating, in drinking, and in dressing. The Lord wants us to be examples of piety to those who know not Jesus and his matchless love. My sisters, we need a better knowledge of ourselves, a better understanding of this wonderful house in which the Lord has placed us. We want to know how to keep it in a healthful condition, so that the human machinery may act harmoniously. The better health of body and mind we possess, the more acceptable service can we render to God. Great evils follow the indulgence of perverted appetite. The blood becomes feverish and diseased, and impatience is the sure result.

The apostle adds: “And to temperance, patience [Verse 6, last part].” Who ever saw an intemperate man or woman that exercised the grace of patience? How much unhappiness might be avoided if all would eat, and drink, and dress with an eye single to the glory of God! We cannot afford to make the world our criterion. We want to be right because it is right. It is the Bible standard that we are to reach. The Lord tells us to come out from the world and be separate, and his promise is, “I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters [II Corinthinians 6:18].” What an exalted position is here offered us! The privilege of becoming members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. Some seem to think that it is demeaning to become a Christian. Not so. The religion of Christ never degrades. It refines, purifies, and ennobles the receiver, and fits him for the society of heavenly angels. The work of overcoming is a grand, a noble work. It is a hand to hand battle with the powers of darkness, and in this battle we must individually engage.

“And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity [II Peter 1:5-7].” Here Peter presents to us the ladder of true sanctification, the base of which rests upon the earth, while the topmost round reaches to the throne of the Infinite. We cannot with one effort reach the topmost round of this ladder. We must climb round after round. It is in this struggle that we are in danger of becoming dizzy, and fainting and falling, unless we keep our eyes upward, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We see the heights to be reached, and become discouraged over future difficulties when it is present duties that demand all the power of our being. But we have the promise that divine aid will be combined with our human effort. We may be more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us and given his life a ransom for us.

Jesus has made an infinite sacrifice in behalf of the race. He stepped down from the eternal throne, laid aside his robes of royalty, clothed his divinity with humanity, and came to a world all seared and marred by the curse, that the lost race might one day be restored to their glorious Eden home. He has become the representative and surety for the race. He has brought the treasures of heaven within our reach, and it remains for us to say whether or not we will avail ourselves of them. It is only by the light reflected from the cross of Calvary that we can know the value of the human soul, or the depth of degradation from which man was rescued. It was to restore man to the perfection in which he was first created that this great sacrifice was made. With his human arm Jesus encircles the race, while with his divine arm he grasps the throne of the Infinite, thus uniting finite man with the infinite God and connecting earth with heaven. How can we neglect so great salvation? It is natural for man to cling to life. Some live through years of intense suffering, and still desire to have their lives prolonged. But when Jesus offers us life, immortal life in the mansions he has prepared for us, why do we turn from it and devote our time and energy to securing earthly treasures?

We all need Jesus to be our comfort and hope in affliction, suffering, and death. He has brightened the tomb for all who center their hopes in him. Through him life and immortality are brought to light. He is the Life-giver, and he it is who will break the fetters of the tomb when he shall come in power and great glory. Shall we, in view of the shortness of this life, neglect to secure that life which runs parallel with the life of God? Every day it is our privilege to live for Jesus. Commence the day with prayer; morning, noon, and night let your prayers ascend for wisdom and grace to overcome every device of Satan. Jesus is your only hope; upward to God be the soul’s adoration. Christians should be the happiest people upon the earth. In the eyes of the world, houses, lands, and money make men honored and respected. Not so in the sight of God. He measures them according to their moral worth. If they live for display, to receive the praise of men, they will receive no other reward. Their names will be written in the earth to perish with all things perishable. If they live to honor and glorify God, if true goodness, benevolence, and the love of God are seen in their connection with their fellow-men, their names will be immortalized among the heavenly host, and Jesus declares that he will not blot their names out of the book of life.

The apostle continues: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” The Christian’s life is one of progression, not of backsliding. “For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall [Verse 10].” I once knew a man in the State of Maine whose religious life was very consistent, but who seemed greatly depressed at times, fearing that he might become a backslider, and that through his example others might fall. One day he came to the prayer-meeting, his face radiant with hope and joy, and said: “I have found the way; I need never fall and dishonor my Saviour. By constantly adding grace to grace we may go straight forward in the Christian course. The apostle says, ‘If ye do these things ye shall never fall.’ ” Let those trembling souls who constantly fear lest they shall fall, fear no longer. Let them live upon the plan of addition, and God will work for them upon the plan of multiplication. The apostle has presented the only true sanctification. There are many today who claim that they are holy and cannot sin. The only correct standard of sanctification is the law of God. By it is the knowledge of sin. Genuine sanctification is the work of a life-time. It is climbing the ladder round after round. …

Now is the time to wash our robes of character in the blood of the Lamb.

The Review and Herald, December 1, 1885.

The First Commandment

February 4, 2019March 26, 2018 by C.A. Murray

When we study God’s word, a correct understanding of that word is the result of a number of factors and ingredients. Not only do we need an understanding of the people and the times of the particular book under consideration, but the overall context.

We see God in His word as One attempting to initiate and desiring to establish and maintain an intimate relationship with His people. His desire has always been to make an atonement for the world in general and His people in particular. This provides the background of our studies, not only for the commandments, but for every law, every rule, every ordinance, prohibition, every sanction, as well as every blessing, promise and every prophecy that God gave to His children and through them to the world.

From the time God asked Abraham to look into the sky and count the stars, through the long period until the first stone hit the holy brow of Stephen, there was something very special that God wanted to do with the Jews, to the Jews, for the Jews and through the Jews to the world. So, Jesus began to codify in Exodus a set of laws predicated on the demonstrated fact that you can do, because He has already done. God enjoins that to His people today. We can indeed do all things because of what Christ has already done.

When we were kids and we were playing, my dad many times would tell us to do something, or more accurately tell us to stop doing something. Sometimes we would get a little insubordinate, a little obstinate or hardheaded and the context for what ensued was the fact that my father did not take a particular liking in saying anything twice. There were times as kids when we thought we were out of range and in a safety zone, that we would actually question one of my father’s directions. He would say, “Don’t do that.” Sometimes in a fit of insanity we would say, “Why”? My old-schooled dad would provide a context for the discussion. “Because I am your father,” he would say. “I brought you in; I will take you out,” or “Because I said so.”

Once when I was 10 or 11, I searched my brain and it occurred to me that because “I said so,” or “because I am your father,” was not sufficient justification to alter or abate my intended course of action. I might have even used the word, “Stupid.” I thought I was out of reach and I thought he had not heard me, but my father sprang like a cat with blinding human strength and lifted me off my feet and said, “Because if I catch you doing that again I will kill you.” While growing up in my house there were many infractions to which death was the ultimate penalty. But I stayed alive long enough to baptize my dad into the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Yet over and over again we see this preamble that we are about to look at that contextualizes the perspective future relationship and activities between God and His people.

Exodus 20:2 says, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” We see this pattern over and over again no less than ten times—four times on God’s behalf and six times it was recited by the Lord Himself. He recited this many times to a people who in many instances did not know God and even when they were introduced to Him they were disposed to develop an almost irresistible case of spiritual Alzheimer’s. There are pages in the Old Testament riddled with stories of a people afflicted with a selective memory loss. This loss resulted in their continual wandering from God. They never really got it right.

A loving Lord, knowing the unstable nature of his chosen people, would often have to reformulate in their minds the reality that He was the Lord God and beside Him there was no other.

He is the Lord God. Not just any god, but your God. He is the God who brought you out of Egypt. Pharaoh was a type of Satan, a type of sin. Jehovah is saying, I delivered you from their presence and their power. This is what I did for you; now I want you to do the following for me.

Verse 3 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” I always thought it was interesting that the Lord would have to put that there. It occurred to me that, other than Jehovah God, the one true God, there is no other god.

The word used in the Hebrew is Elohim, the im is a plural ending. It is mostly used in Scripture for God and often denotes the title or office of God. El was also the head of the Canaanites Pantheon, so it was a borrowed word. They had El; we have Elo—our God is greater than your god. Elohim bespeaks divinity, might, power and keeping ability. It is masculine in gender and always plural. Sometimes it means Jehovah, the real God; other times it means the false god. How do you know the difference?

When the context is singular with a plural Elohim, it is the true God. An example of this is found in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image.” So Elohim created man in his image. You have the plural Elohim with the singular word his. The plural with the singular is talking about the true God.

Another example is found in Genesis 1:29: “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb.” Again Elohim plural with singular word I. Look at Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” When you have a singular with a plural, you are talking about the true God.

When you have a plural with a plural, you are talking about a false god. It is the same word but a different god. God says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me [Exodus 20:3].” No false gods before God.

There is but one true God. The mixed multitude in the desert thought that there were many gods. They had been seduced by 400 years of living in Egypt, over 200 of which they were in Egyptian bondage. But God would have them to know that there is only one true God and anything else is fiction or an idol. How dare we attempt to replace the real God with fiction.

The core meaning of the first Commandment is not to elevate to god status anyone or anything that can never really be God.

As bad as it is not to know God, it is arguably and grievously worse to know Him and live like He does not exist. Nothing comes before God. Nothing is more important than God. Not your money, your home, your job, your reputation, not your spouse or your family. Family is very important—next to God, but none of these temporal things can save you. Like jaundice—these things that replace God are symptoms of a deeper problem.

If your job is more important than Jehovah, you have a problem because the real issue is not your job and may lie somewhere else that is far more invasive and sinister.

The real demigod is not what we own; it is what we are. What you own is a symptom of what you are. Some say, “Tell me where a person spends his money and I will show you what he is.” Paul says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” II Timothy 3:1, 2. People are going to fall out of love with God and in love with themselves. God says that the prevailing sin of these last days, of the end times, the fertile garden from which so much misery grows, is the sin of self love. The problem we have is that we are so much in love with ourselves that we do not have room for God. We have replaced God with us.

Man’s god today is himself. What was alluded to in Timothy is stated emphatically in Romans 1:25: “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” Heaven’s complaint is that those who were created for God’s glory have decided they don’t want Him anymore.

At the beginning of Christ’s mediatory work in the Holy of Holies in the days surrounding 1844, heaven stepped into high gear and so did Satan.

Just as God began to raise up young people like James White, 1821, and Ellen White, 1827, with strength, stamina and the Holy Spirit, Satan also raised up his champions, Karl Marx, 1818, and Fredrick Engels, 1820.

Charles Darwin in 1831, the same year that William Miller preached his first sermon, jumped aboard a ship called HMS Beagle. As an unpaid naturalist, he made amazing discoveries in the Galapagos Islands about 1,000 leagues west of the country of Ecuador. By the time he returned in 1836, he had convinced himself that mankind was the product of an evolutionary process that he called natural selection. Chance was in, God was out. He fine tuned his ideas for 23 years. Others bought into his theories and during the days of the Great Disappointment, October, 1844, Darwin was saying that God had nothing to do with creation.

By the time the first edition of the Origin of the Species came out in 1859, it sold out in one day. Five additional editions also sold out within days of their release. One doctor said, commenting on Darwin’s work, “He is the single most influential individual on planet earth in the last 250 years.” And it is no coincidence that Darwin came to the front about 1844. When Christ stepped up His ministry, Satan also stepped up his.

Another doctor stated, “With the publishing of the book, Origins, mankind had finally escaped from God.” Satan didn’t stop there. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels collaborated on a book called The Communist Manifesto, released in 1848. The Communist Manifesto served as inspiration for countless 20th Century and 19th Century dictators and tyrants, including Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Polpot and many others who got their theology from The Communist Manifesto. None of them had any value for human life. When you take God out of the picture, all you are left with is an animal in a world that asserts that daddy was a gorilla and mommy was a chimpanzee.

The Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” Psalm 53:1. There are scientists that will tell you that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does in creation. Dr. Mike Denton says that by the time Darwin’s last edition of Origins came off the press in 1872, even Darwin himself was plagued by self doubts because he was unable to meet the many objections to his own theories. By the end of his life, Charles Darwin wasn’t even buying what he was selling.

In 1844 one month after the great disappointment, Engels collaborated on another book called The Holy Family. There was nothing holy about it. The book was described as a sarcastic assault and revolt against the state, the family, religion and God Himself. Engels lived with a woman all of his life but he never married her. He refused to marry her. As an affront to God, he taught that marriage was unnatural, unethical and evil.

It was not a coincidence that these men came to the front about the end of the 2300 days because Satan knew his time was short. Now the whole world accepts a myth or theory as fact.

Science was the hook used to pull God from His throne and to replace Him with us. So a new ideology is born. Nobody buys that God is dead. The new theology simply is that God is unnecessary because we have science, art, medicine, college degrees and PhDs. We are not illiterate; we don’t live in tents, we live in houses and we rely on ourselves. God is just not necessary. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Romans 1:22.

The most overused, underrated, bankrupt word in the English language is love. “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:8. The concept of love, like ethics and morality, has absolutely no meaning without God. You can talk about emotionalism and physical attraction, but if you are talking about real love you have to be talking about God. How curious it is that the further we move from God or stray from God in these last days, the more we tend to use words that substitute for God and the more we use terms that have their relevance and meaning only in God.

We tend to deify the terms and forget about God. We have made a god of love. I love my dog. I love my cat. I love my new clothes. I love my television. I love this summer. I love, I love, I love and if any of them get old and rusty I am turning them in on a new model. The concept of the word love itself has been adulterated. We talk about love, we read about love, we hear about love and sing about it, we sell love, we worship love. Ever searching, never finding, looking for love in all the wrong places.

You cannot purchase a $1,500 handbag or a $4,500 watch for a cool $25. Love in today’s world is little more than justification of self-indulgence.

God is love, but love is not God. The God of love, as much as He loves, says you cannot have any other gods before me, not even love itself. So man is latter day’s god. Love is his holy spirit and the logical, predictable end to that kind of ideology is evolution. When you put man at the top and take God off the throne, you are in for trouble. We see how twisted we can become when we leave out the pure gospel. I am my god and you are yours.

Have you heard of the story of the self-made man who worshipped his own god? He is absolutely pathetic, and of all men most miserable. If you are your own god, may I suggest to you that your god is too small. If you are your own god, one day you are going to run into something that your god can’t handle. If you are your own god, some days your god is going to be sick. If you are your own god, occasionally your god is going to have a day where he simply does not want to be bothered. If you are your own god, sooner or later your god is going to face a problem he can’t solve. If you are your own god and your god can’t keep you, can’t heal you, can’t help you, can’t cure you or comfort you or free you or constrain you or transform you—if your god can’t save you, then what in the world is your god going to do with me?

Theology aside, it just makes sense to serve the living God. If you reject God, all you are left with is you. When it comes to my salvation you are not good enough for me. The Lord said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore in loving kindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3. That is the God I want.

Look around. We have paid a heavy price for our arrogance. This year I heard on the news that nine fourth graders were arrested for plotting the murder of their teacher. It was so well organized that it shocked the community. When asked why, they said it was because she talked mean to one of them. The god of this world has replaced reason, sanity, morality, humility, kindness and sympathy. And terrorists, allegedly in the name of God, flew a plane into a 110 story building and we cry, where was God? He is right where you left Him.

He has not gone anywhere. He is right where you left Him. In the beginning God—He was there, and He is still there now. He says in Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

What are the ideologies of this world? They are contingency, temporality, relativity and autonomy.

Demi-god #1: Contingency

This suggests that everything that happens in this world is the result of cause and effect. You do something, you get a response so there is no need to ascribe any of the outcomes in my life to God. I do the work, I get the reward. In other words, 299 people apply for a job. I get the job, 298 did not get the job. It was not because God helped me; it was because I deserved the job. I worked for the job, I am better than the rest of them or just plain dumb luck. The bottom line—no God. The new god—man. Man controls his own destiny, not God.

Some Christians believe that they have to help God out. If I don’t do it, it won’t get done. Do you see how that pushes God to the side, takes Him off the throne and puts self on top?

Demi-god #2: Autonomy

This concept is, I determine who calls the shots in my life. I reserve the right to make my own decisions. The concept is that it is my life and I can do what I want. There is no need to seek or follow God for direction. If I want something I get it and I don’t need to ask God or anybody else about it. I don’t owe anything to anybody. An animal lover will leave five million dollars to his pet and leave nothing to feed starving children in Haiti who are eating mud patties. “I” determines what has value. Autonomy says I report to me. Bottom line—no God. New god—autonomy. I give meaning to my life and I don’t need God. God is unnecessary. Defacto god—man.

Demi-god #3: Relativity

This suggests the idea that absolutes are unintelligent and unreasonable. It insists that the idea that one size fits all, that there is one rule or one set of rules is stupid. In any situation you adjust the rules to fit the situation. That is relativity. I am different and you are different so the rules for each one of us must be different. Why would we ascribe to one set of rules? Bottom line, there is no God. New god—relativity. Defacto god—man.

Situational ethics says that what is right for me, is what is right. What is right for you is not right for me. What is right for me is not right for you. You determine what is right for you and I will determine what is right for me and this idea that there are ten rules that never alter or change, that is not right. That is relativity.

Demi-god #4: Temporality

This simply suggests that nothing lasts forever. Your car, house, your wife, your job, your religion—they are not going to last forever. They will all change. There are people today who expect things to change and even engineer change. My car is going to last so many years; I will have to get a new one. They don’t expect to be in the same place or relationship. The idea that some things can be unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever, is incomprehensible. Bottom line, there is no God. New god—change. Defacto god—man. If this marriage were to get rough, I am gone. It will never last, so why work at it.

Just imagine what a world we would have if we all could simply put all man-made gods away and put God first. The tall skyscrapers are built on a firm and deep foundation. The glory of all of the ten wonderful commandments, the constitutional reality of man’s existence, is foundation and revolves around the fact that In the beginning God (Genesis 1:1) and God desires and deserves no rival, for truly there is no god but God. There is none like Him.

God does not try to justify, explain or rationalize it. He simply says, In the beginning God. You have to accept that first page, that first chapter, that first line or else close the book because everything else in the book is based on In the beginning God. If you are going to live with Him and live for Him, then you can’t have anybody else in front of Him. God says, I am a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). God, God and only God.

“Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.” Isaiah 44:6–8.

Ellen White says, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us.” Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White, 1922, 204. If you cannot see the future, look back toward the past. You should be able to see a pattern of God inserting His hand into your life and bringing you from day one to today. You should be able to look and see where God kept you, directed you, instructed you. It is not an accident that you are here. God is in control of all life. There is no god but God.

Our God says, Don’t put anybody in front of me—not your children, not your sister, your husband or your wife. He is going to say to you, I knocked but you didn’t answer; you didn’t hear me over the sound of the television. I sent a letter, but you left it in the mailbox. I prayed for you, but you didn’t answer. Thou shall have no other gods because no one on this earth has a heaven to give you or a hell to keep you from. We owe our all to God and there is none other than God and one day very soon we are going to see Him face to blessed face.

Don’t let anything get between you and God. When you put your hand into His hand, nothing can take you out of His hand. He will take us home if we will but walk with Him.

Pastor C.A. Murray’s sermon was taken from the Ten Commandment Weekend, 2008 series aired on 3ABN. For more information contact www.3ABN.org.

Life Sketch of Ruth Josephine Wallner Grosboll, 8-25-1916 to 1-11-2010 Pt. 1

March 26, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

Ruth Josephine Wallner Grosboll passed away on January 10, 2010, in Wichita, Kansas. She worked at Steps to Life Ministries for over 15 years and has been a regular contributor to LandMarks magazine.

Ruth Josephine Wallner was born to Joe and Agnes Wallner in Huron, South Dakota, on August 25, 1916. She was born into a family that was well acquainted with heartache and trouble. Her father Joe Wallner was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1878 to German merchants who operated both in Austria and Hungary.

At birth, the physicians said that Joe would probably never survive babyhood and certainly would never grow up to manhood because he was born with a congenital heart defect. His heart valve leaked so badly that it was said you could hear the swishing with your naked ear close to his chest even if you didn’t have a stethoscope.

During this time of disappointment and sadness, a Jewish physician told his mother, “Never let that boy eat any fat.” That medical counsel was followed his entire life, and though he did continually suffer heart problems and had to take to his bed many times, he survived until the age of 78.

After Joe immigrated to the United States, in 1910 he met and married Agnes Shoonhoven, the eldest daughter of ten children of a prosperous German farmer in Iowa. Agnes was 10 years younger than he, and in that same year a set of twins was born of which only one survived. The girl who lived was named Maize. In 1912, Agnes’ father was killed in a tragic accident on a horse, leaving Agnes’ mother with several children still at home to raise. Agnes stepped into this crisis situation and began to help her mother raise the younger children, and for years Agnes’ younger brothers and sisters stayed at her home for longer or shorter periods.

The year after her father died Agnes’ second child, Dorothy was born and four years after the accident Agnes had her final and youngest daughter in 1916 and named her Ruth.

When Ruth was born, one of Agnes’ youngest sisters was living with her and helped take care of Ruth in her babyhood. Christine was about 17 years of age when Ruth was born. Agnes’s younger siblings were often in their home so they developed a very close relationship to Ruth, Dorothy and Maize, which lasted as long as they lived.

When John and Ruth Grosboll moved to Kansas in 1992, Christine, who was in her nineties at that time, came with them. Christine was almost as close to my mother as her real mother even though she was an aunt, because she had taken care of my mother since babyhood. Christine lived with John and Ruth Grosboll until she died at about 95. Her funeral service was held in the Steps to Life chapel. Although my mother was very stoical and I had never seen her in tears to the extent that the tears ran down her cheeks, she was as close to tears as I had ever seen my mother when she came up to Christine’s casket at the end of the service.

Approximately six months after Ruth was born, her mother and grandmother who, by this time had been a widow for four years, accepted the Three Angels’ Messages and became a part of the Second Advent Movement. Ruth’s father was opposed to this new religion and eventually went to the public libraries in an effort to do research that would prove that his wife Agnes and her mother were totally confused about the right day to keep as the Sabbath. As a result of his research he was astonished to find out from the historical evidence in the library that his wife was correct and it was the rest of the Christian world that was wrong about which day to keep as the Sabbath. He thereupon became a Sabbath-keeper himself and also became a part of the Second Advent Movement; however, this took many years, and for those many years Agnes had to try to raise her girls as Sabbath keeping Christians with a great deal of opposition from her husband.

Joe and Agnes Wallner moved with their family from South Dakota to Montana and homesteaded a 640 acre farm which was about 120 miles from the nearest town. Joe also worked in the winter in the mines near Butte, Montana. He bought a house in town and the family lived in it during the winter and on the 640 acre homestead farm in the summer. At one time a snowstorm and bitterly cold weather prevented Agnes from coming back home from town so the girls had to fend for themselves for days during the inclement weather until their mother was able to return home with provisions. Since they had chickens, they always had eggs and during those days of being stranded alone without their parents the girls ate so many eggs, fixed so many ways, that Ruth said for a long time after that, she could hardly stand to look at an egg.

A woman needed to be strong to survive in that environment, but Agnes Wallner was strong. She was well able to fight off mad bulls with a pitchfork and she knew how to use guns. She also knew how to satisfy the stomachs of crews of men running threshing machines and how to take care of people who were hurt when there were no physicians around.

In 1922, Agnes had her final child and only son, naming him Leonard. As time went on and Maize and Dorothy were teenagers, Agnes saw that her daughters had an interest in boys and also that there were no Sabbath-keeping young men in that area of Montana—their family worshipped as what is commonly called today, a home church. She decided that something must be done about this because she was unwilling for her daughters to grow up and have no social outlet except the barn dances in the community and she did not want her daughters to be participating in these. She heard from relatives that in Washington state there was an Adventist high school and also that this was a fruit-growing area affording ready employment so she decided to take her daughters and son there.

When she announced her decision to her husband he was very upset because they had a 640 acre farm where he could eventually retire which would provide them a livelihood in their later years, so he earnestly protested such a move, wanting to keep the farm. But Agnes was adamant in her decision. She said, “I am not willing for my daughters to grow up here. I want them to associate with Sabbath keeping young people and I am firm in my decision to move to Washington state. I am going to move there with my daughters and son and if you choose to stay in Montana on this farm so that I have to move alone, I will still move.” They moved to Granger, Washington, in 1927.

That first year Joe worked in the mines for income, but a few months later they moved to Granger where they lived in the Yakima Valley for the rest of their lives and are buried in the Toppenish, Washington cemetery. In 2006, I had the opportunity with Mother and Evelyn to visit their graves where we prayed and looked forward to the coming resurrection.

Soon after moving to Granger the family was involved in agriculture again with chickens, cows and goats, as well as large gardening operations and farming. Because Joe had heart trouble all his life the girls had to do both men’s and women’s work. They not only took care of milking and other chores connected with livestock but they also pitched hay and did all kinds of work that men did on a farm. Their father’s weakness resulted in the girls becoming exceptionally physically strong women. None of them had the figure of today’s beauty queens but if they were motivated to do so, they could pick up most any beauty queen with one arm and throw her in any direction desired.

Although my mother never lost her temper with me so that she became violent, I was well aware throughout childhood that, if she wanted to, she could pick me up with one hand and send my body in any direction that she pleased. When she and her sister Dorothy were in nurses training, an invalid lady who had to be picked up said to the nurses, “When you have to pick me up let one of those two farm girls pick me up because I feel secure when they are holding me.”

Ruth graduated from Yakima Valley Academy in 1935. She attended the 100th year reunion there in 2006. After her graduation she then went to Walla Walla College and took pre-nursing. Her sister Dorothy was thinking about becoming a teacher, but later changed her mind and decided to become a nurse also. Ruth could take nursing in an Adventist school in Portland, Oregon, or in Adventist schools in California but Dorothy, who had decided to become a nurse also, could not because she had not taken pre-nursing courses. Ruth and Dorothy learned, however, that there was an Adventist nursing school that would accept a student into nursing school without pre-nursing. This allowed both Dorothy and Ruth to attend nursing school together and be in the same class rather than Ruth having to wait for Dorothy to take pre-nursing or for Dorothy to be behind her in nursing school. This nursing school was in Hinsdale, which is located about 20 miles from Chicago, Illinois. In 1937 Ruth and Dorothy left home and went to Hinsdale.

Ruth passed her state board examinations and received confirmation of her new status as a registered nurse in a document, dated August 31, 1940, which she retained with her important papers for the rest of her life.

The year before, in 1939, John N. Grosboll had graduated with a major in business from Emmanuel Missionary College in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and came to the Hinsdale area to work with his older brother who was working there as a painting contractor. Actually, John had two older brothers and one brother-in-law who were all painting contractors in the Hinsdale area and each of these relatives had picked out an Adventist girl whom they thought John should marry. However, they each picked a different girl but John had other ideas. One day when John was in the cafeteria with a male friend of his he saw Ruth Wallner and recognized from her dress that she was a student nurse and he asked his friend who she was. Later, when he was with this friend again and saw her, he inquired about her again and his friend said, “Well, that is same girl you asked me about before!” John said to his friend, “I want you to arrange a blind date for me with that girl and with you and your girlfriend.” John bragged for the rest of his life that once he had dated Ruth, he never dated another girl again and he held it up to her face that she could not say that she had never dated another boy after she dated him. Her retort to this was that he had a reputation of going out with one girl after another and she did not have a reputation like that and she could not tell that such a man was really serious after one date. They were married on September 26, 1940, and the year of John’s death would have been the year of their 60th wedding anniversary.

John and Ruth lived in the Hinsdale area for a short time after their marriage. They had both worked their way through school and although they did not have much money they were not in debt to anyone. They wanted to be involved in work that would make a difference in the world, not only for time but for eternity. A few months after they were married they joined an evangelist by the name of W. D. Frazee who was working at that time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ruth got part time nursing jobs and John got part-time painting jobs, but their full-time work for which they were not paid and worked as volunteers, was personal evangelism. They passed out hundreds of pieces of literature about the Three Angels’ Messages every week and this led to Bible studies and baptisms.

They were only in this work a short time when tragedy again struck their family. In late summer 1941 Ruth’s only brother, her father’s and mother’s only son who was not yet 20 years old, on the day before he was to go away to Walla Walla College with other students, was enjoying a game of volleyball. As he was preparing to serve the ball, all of a sudden a horrible look came over his face and he dropped over dead. John and Ruth felt that they must leave Baton Rouge and go to Ruth’s family in this hour of crisis so they made arrangements with Elder Frazee to leave and got in their car and drove nonstop for 36 hours to Granger, Washington. They did not have enough money to return.

They were acquainted with Adventist medical and nursing personnel in the area and found that there was a small town, Toppenish, which was near Granger, that had no hospital. All the sick there had to be transported to a hospital in Yakima, almost 20 miles away. John and Ruth got the idea of starting a small hospital in Toppenish, so they opened a ten-bed hospital. John was the business manager, accountant and overall superintendent of the operation. Ruth and her older sister Dorothy, who was not yet married, were the two registered nurses and Ruth’s mother Agnes Wallner was the cook. I have always supposed that the patients in that hospital had the best food of any hospital in the United States, genuine German cooking with all the fat, sugar, salt and other things that make food taste good. My father used to say that she could even make sawdust taste good! Other workers were also hired to help them in all these areas. It was in this hospital that I was born in 1943 and was given the first name of his father and grandfather and the middle name of his maternal grandfather.

It was the time of World War II and the hospital had to be closed down. My father, John Nelson, was drafted into the army in 1943. For a while Ruth moved wherever John went so they could keep their family together. They lived in El Paso, in Abilene, Texas, and other places, but the time came when John Nelson had to go overseas. He was shipped to the Pacific-Asia war theater and spent time in India and Burma, often not seeing any other Adventists for long periods of time. He witnessed for his faith by showing the soldiers from Daniel 2 that Hitler could not take over the world. Ruth went back to Toppenish to where her parents had moved from Granger and, while there, taught church school.

John Nelson met and got acquainted with Adventist missionaries in India and Burma while he was in the service as a U.S. soldier. He thought that he would like to be a missionary to a foreign country as well so when he returned to the United States in 1946, he immediately began making plans to bring this idea to a reality. He took a course work at Walla Walla College to prepare for mission service. During that time John and Ruth had a second son in 1947 at Walla Walla and named him Marshall James. When Marshall was a few months old, the family left on a ship for Burma.

To be continued.

Removing the Protection from Jerusalem

March 26, 2018 by Marshall Grosboll

In ancient times people mostly lived off the land. The people of God lived in the valleys where their cows grazed and they worshipped in the mountains. The heathen also had their places of worship in the hills. Isaiah 65:7 says, “Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.”

The Lord was also worshipped on the mountains. Abraham was directed to the mountain to make sacrifices. Mt. Sinai, where God met and talked with His children, was above the plain where the children of Israel were encamped after coming out of Egypt. Later, God had His temple built on Mt. Moriah, outside of Jerusalem. God was also worshipped on the mountain which was called the mountain of God.

In the last days we are told that the mountain of God would be higher than all the other mountains. Isaiah 2:2, 3 says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.” This passage of Scripture refers to the time when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church and many people from all walks of life and from all nationalities come into the church.

In the last days the people of the earth are likened to a people living in a valley. Looking forward to Jesus’ second coming, Joel 3:13–17 says, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.”

We find the same expression used in Revelation 14:15, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.” Joel 3:13, 14: “Come, go down for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” God is in the mountain while the people are in the valleys. Some versions say the valley of judgment. It continues, “For the Day of the Lord is come in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake: but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.” Joel 3:14–17.

The real meaning of this verse in context is that God, who dwells on high, is judging these people in the valley. They are being judged and are receiving the decision for eternal life or eternal damnation.

In Hebrew there are two words for valley. The first is ameq, which means a great large valley, big valley, wide valley. That is used here because it is a valley that houses all the people of the world; it is a big valley.

The second word is gaya which means a smaller valley, a narrower valley with high sides, but more narrow than ameq. That is used to depict God’s people, those on the narrow way. Here in Isaiah 22:1 we find another valley. It says, “The burden against the valley of vision.” Isaiah in the last few chapters has been talking about several valleys and several nations. There is a whole chapter on Moab and a chapter on Damascus. He talks about Samaria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and then in chapter 21, finally Babylon.

In the Bible, Babylon, denoting the world, and Jerusalem, God’s people, are always pitted against each other. In Chapter 21 it begins with the burden of the wilderness of the sea, a dry and desolate valley. A valley of the sea is very interesting because a sea in prophecy, according to Revelation 17:15, represents multitudes and peoples. Babylon is a great vast dry desolate valley of many peoples, nations, multitudes and languages. The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.

In Isaiah 21:9 it says, “I looked and look, here comes a chariot of men and with a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Literal Babylon fell at one time. This is referring to the same Babylon we find in Revelation: Babylon is fallen, is fallen.

In chapter 22, we find a narrow valley, a smaller valley and this is the valley of vision. The people of God were called, led, guided and directed by vision. God refers to them as a people of vision, a valley of vision. Metaphorically they are living in a land of vision. In Hosea 12:13 it says, “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.” God’s people were established, preserved and directed by a prophet. II Chronicles 20:20 says, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.”

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This prophecy is written to the land of vision. When people listen to vision, they become established. When they disregard vision, they become destroyed.

What does Isaiah 22:8–10 say about the people in the land of vision who do not listen to visions? It says, “He removed the protection of Judah.” He removed the protection of Judah. “You looked in that day to the armour of the house of forest. You also saw the damage to the city of David. It was great: you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses you broke down to fortify the walls.” What didn’t they do? “You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to its maker, nor did you have respect to Him who fashioned it long ago.” Verse 11. It says you’ve got a lot of human plans, wisdom, councils, and meetings, but you did not look to the counsel of God and so He removed the protection of Judah.

When God’s protection is gone, things deteriorate very quickly. Where there is no vision, the people perish. It doesn’t matter how many provisions you may have had for the future. You soon perish, and the provisions also perish.

When God’s protection is removed, the strongest fortifications become like paper maché. The greatest, most skillfully laid plans become like kindergarten strategy. The greatest security and the greatest secure institutions become like the Titanic on its maiden voyage. The most secure political alliances become like the alliance between Brutus and Caesar. Ruin follows. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Could this be true of the United States of America? Are we great because of natural resources, education or because of some super intelligence that God has given to us? Is that what made America great today?

“Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity.” The Great Controversy, 441.

Is America always going to remain with the Protestant ethics of liberty of conscience and belief in the Bible and God, with the idea of Republicanism? Republicanism is a little different than democracy. Republicanism believes in protecting the rights of the minority, not just the majority. Pure democracy means that you protect the rights of the majority.

“The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” Ibid., 588.

What happens when God withdraws His protection from America?

“Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.” Ibid., 589.

Satan delights in war. When God’s protection is not over us, Satan can bring us into confusion and war. But he does not stop there. “Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows.” Ibid., 589.

Aren’t you thankful that God only allows Satan to go so far and that God protects as much as we allow Him to protect? “It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same.” Ibid., 589.

God’s protection will be removed. In Isaiah 22 it says He will remove His protection from Jerusalem. Satan will bring disaster upon disaster until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation.

“In accidents and calamites by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. … These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” The Great Controversy, 589, 590.

God has signally blessed this country because it has been established on the principles of the Bible, upon principles of religious freedom, upon principles of belief in God and in His word. “Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.” Ibid., 614. I want to be under the banner of God; how about you?

It is a pretty terrible thing when God withdraws His protection. When He removed the protection from Israel of old, Israel was destroyed. When He removed it from Jerusalem, Jerusalem was destroyed. When He removes it from America, national apostasy will be followed by national ruin, and America will be destroyed.

Could God’s blessing be removed from the church as well? Remember, Isaiah is especially written for the last days. Isaiah 22:22 says, “The key of the house of David I will lay on His shoulder; so He shall open, and no one shall shut; He shall shut, and no one shall open.”

There are three special times when God opened a door that no one could shut and closed the door that no one could open. It happened the first time when the temple in heaven was opened when Jesus ascended to heaven and the temple on earth was closed. The temple in heaven was opened and could not be closed. It happened the second time in 1844 when God opened the door to the Most Holy Place and closed the door to the Holy Place.

The Holy Place door was closed forever. No one can open it. The door into the Most Holy Place is open and no one can close it. It will happen the third time when God leaves the Most Holy Place and closes that door and no one can open it.

What counsel does God have for us in Isaiah 22:1, 2? “The burden against the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are gone up to the housetops? You who are full of noise, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: your slain men are not slain with a sword, nor dead in battle.”

Here we see God’s people in great apostasy. The men are gone, but they are not slain in battle. It is not through battle with the enemies that they are slain, but they are apostatizing. Somehow the ranks are narrowing and thinning, not through conflict with the world, but through some inner apostasy.

It continues, “All your rulers have fled together, they are captured by the archers: all who are found in you are bound together (Verse 3).” Here we find political alliances.

Isaiah 22:4: “Therefore I said, Look away from Me; I will weep bitterly, do not labor to comfort Me, because of the plundering of the daughter of My people.” God says, this is a time to weep. Verse 5: “For it is a day of trouble, and treading down, and perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.” Could there come a time in this church when God withdraws His protection? Look at what happened in Battle Creek, at the very headquarters of this church. We are told that was just the beginning. When apostasy takes hold of this church, God’s blessings will be withdrawn.

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

Battle Creek was only a beginning. God will not be trifled with.

There will come a time when His hand will be removed, and we see one disaster after another. Isaiah 22:7 says, “It shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.” There will come a time when our choicest institutions will be filled with non-Adventists and when they will eventually be taken over.

Isaiah 22:8, 9: “He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in the day to the forest of the house of forests. You also saw the damage to the city of David, and it was great.” But what did you do when you saw that the damage was great? Verses 10, 11: “You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses you broke down to fortify the walls. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool.” Just consolidate, bring them together. When two are going bad, bring them together; make one strong conference out of two. “But, you did not look to its maker, nor did you have respect to Him who fashioned it long ago.”

We can institute all the studies we want, but dear friend, where is the prayer and repenting? Where is the weeping between the porch and the altar? Where is the belief in the visions? Where is simple obedience to what God has told us?

We are told the last great deception will be as follows. Satan is constantly pressing in the spurious to lead away from the truth. “The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit of God.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 48. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18. Ellen White is referring that to our church. “Satan will work ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence of God’s remnant people in the true testimony.” Ibid. They consolidated. They carried out studies, they carried out all kinds of things, but they did not look to their Maker and the protection was removed.

What next? Look at Isaiah 22:12–14: “And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness, and girding with sackcloth: But instead joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating meat, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, Surely for this there shall be no atonement for you, even to your death, says the Lord God of hosts.”

God says that He called for weeping and for mourning, but you went on, rejoicing and saying all is well. You went on with your religious ceremonies of killing the sheep and went on with your eating of meat and drinking and partying and saying all is well, happy and joyous, when I (the Lord God) called for weeping and mourning.

It is very interesting to look at Ezekiel 9:4. There can be no doubt that this verse refers specifically to God’s last church because it describes the time God’s Spirit left between the cherubim which is in the Most Holy Place. This is just before His Spirit leaves, just before the close of probation. But before He leaves, “The Lord said to Him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men” who do what? “Who sigh and cry for all the abominations done in Israel.” Those who did what the Lord called them to do in Isaiah 22, who went out and sighed and cried.

Today, we are living in the midst of apostasy in the United States of America. Someday God’s protection will be removed. It won’t come in one day; it is even happening today. We are living in the midst of apostasy within the church and God calls for repentance. The Bible says that those who are repentant and those who are concerned, He’s going to seal and carry through. But those who go on uncaring, and instead of weeping and mourning as it says in Isaiah 23:13, they have joy and gladness, continual religious ceremonies, of the slaying of ox and killing of sheep, of eating meat, or the Old King James says, “eating flesh, and drinking wine” Isaiah 22:13; and “let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” I Corinthians 15:32. People who are planning to live their whole life in this earth.

I heard a sermon from a union president who was saying, “Today we are planning now for the 21st century.” “We are not planning on God coming before then.” “Let us go on with our business, for we’re going to die here in this land.”

It says in Isaiah 22:14, “It was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, Surely for this iniquity there’ll be no atonement.” Because you were joyous when God said to mourn; you went on saying everything was good when God said, ”Cry aloud and spare not and tell the house of Jacob their sins and the people of Israel their transgressions.” Isaiah 58:1.

Today God is calling for prayer, repentance, weeping and tears. The question today is, Will we join the apostasy or will we repent? Will we cry aloud and spare not? Will there be anybody who stands in the breach as the Bible says? Very soon we are going to see the very close of earth’s history; in fact, it’s happening today. We see Isaiah 22 being fulfilled. Very soon we are going to see plagues. We are going to see greater and greater apostasy, both within America and within God’s church. We are going to find most Adventists are going to be lost. We are going to see more and more of human plans and human devising.

Today it is time to look away from man’s devising and to look at the Maker. It’s time to look at the visions. It’s time to say, “Lord, our best plans are nothing without You. It’s time for You to come in and pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us. We can’t win any souls with our plans, methods and devising. We need You, and we need Your power.”

It’s time for us to get down on our knees and pray and plead for God’s power. The best human skills are not going to convert one of our children. We need to pray for God’s power to be poured out on our television program. I am so impressed that we need God’s power pleading with the people as they are watching. Nothing we can say is going to change a human heart unless the Holy Spirit is working on that heart.

We need God’s power today. We need to look away from consolation. Look away from manipulation. Look away from human plans. We need to look at the Maker. It is time to pray that God pours out His Spirit on this church. It is time for us to look to the Maker.

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington State, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

Neglectful Blindness in the Light of Truth

March 26, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

Often people put their trust in things that turn out to be not so trustworthy. This is one of the most common human experiences, and also one of our greatest disappointments. Some put their trust in the government, some in the church, the military, or the court system while others trust only in their own mind. As human beings, we have a seemingly insatiable desire to know what is going to happen in the future. The God of the Bible gives a challenge in Isaiah 45 and 46. He challenges those who are worshipping all other gods. He says, “Prove your case. Who can tell the future? I can tell the end from the beginning.”

In the Bible, we find the only accurate prophecies from ancient times dealing with not only up to the present, but to things that have not yet happened.

The disciples of Jesus also enquired about the future.

A few days before His crucifixion, Jesus left the Jewish temple in Jerusalem for the last time. He had just denounced the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and of the nation as a whole and as He was leaving He made this pronouncement. He said, “See, your house is left to you desolate.” Matthew 23:38.

This was not an arbitrary decree but Jesus explained why. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to you, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” Verse 37.

He then went on and told them, “You are not going to see me anymore, until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Verse 39. Here He referred to what they will say in the resurrection at the last day. He then walked out of the temple, and with His disciples went out of the city, up into the Mount of Olives where they sat down overlooking the temple. See Matthew 24:1.

This temple they saw was not the original which had been built by Solomon. Great stores of material had been gathered by King David for the first temple and built according to the plans that had been given him by divine inspiration; however, David was not allowed to build it himself. See I Chronicles 28:12, 19.

David’s son, Solomon, who was declared to be the wisest of Israel’s monarchs, completed the task. The building is reputed to have been the most magnificent building that the world has ever seen. However, because of the apostasy of the Jewish people, God allowed that building to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. About 500 years before Christ was born the Jews, returning from captivity to a land that had been largely desolated during their absence, rebuilt the temple.

This second temple was not nearly as magnificent as the first and when the people, the old men who had seen the first temple, saw it, they wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes (Ezra 3:12).

Describing the second temple the Bible says, “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:9.

The prophet explained how that was going to happen. “For thus says the Lord of hosts; Once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven, the earth, the sea, and dry land; And I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations: and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:6, 7.

Though the second temple did not have the visible tokens of the glory of God like the first one did, it was honored and was more highly exalted because in this second temple there came the desire of all nations. The Man of Nazareth taught and healed in its sacred enclosure. The presence of Christ alone made it more glorious than the first.

But Israel had put from her God’s proffered gift. And that day, when the humble Teacher had passed out from the temple for the last time, Jesus said, “Your house is left to you desolate.”

Now the disciples were filled with awe and wonder and astonishment as they heard Christ speaking these words, and as He was going out of the temple they tried to draw His attention to the wonderful architecture and to the skill and to the wonderful and expensive materials that had constructed this temple.

“Then as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” Mark 13:1.

The temple walls were made with white marble. They were fitted together so tightly that, according to tradition, you could not stick a knife between them. From a distance it was a gorgeous sight and looked like one solid piece of white marble. The disciples attempted to draw Jesus’ attention to this marvelous building that He had just said was left to the Jewish people, desolate. “And Jesus answered and said to him, Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Verse 2.

At this the disciples were in a state of astonishment. They thought that if Jerusalem would be overthrown, Jesus must be talking about the events associated with His personal coming back to this world in temporal glory, to take the throne of universal empire, to punish the impenitent Jews and to break off the Roman yoke. Jesus had told them that He was going to come back to this world a second time. So when He mentioned the judgments that were going to come upon Jerusalem their minds reverted to that coming. “Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3.

Fortunately, in mercy, the future was veiled from the disciples. If they had known that in just a few more days their Lord and Master would be tried, scourged and crucified and also that for most of them, within their own lifetime, Jerusalem and the temple would be totally destroyed with not one stone being left upon another, they would have been filled with horror and unable to think logically or analytically about anything. They would have been overwhelmed, so Jesus simply presented to them an outline of the prominent events that were to take place before the destruction of Jerusalem and before the close of time. The prophecy He uttered had a two-fold meaning; firstly it had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but it also had to do with the terrors of the last great day.

Jesus declared to His listening disciples the judgments that were going to fall upon apostate Israel and especially the vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Before this dreaded hour would come there would be unmistakable signs that would precede the awful climax. This would come swiftly and suddenly.

He warned, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand).” Matthew 24:15.

Luke records this in literal terms and in the most graphic language. Jesus said, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.

“Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains; let those who are in the midst of her depart; and let not those who are in the country enter her.” Luke 21:20, 21.

In other words, when they would see the idolatrous standards of the Roman armies set up on the holy ground around Jerusalem, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight.

This is an interesting command that Jesus gives. He told them that when they saw the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem they were to flee.

But how were the Christians to flee from Jerusalem if there were Roman armies surrounding and besieging it? Jesus did not explain how it would happen; He just gave them instructions what they were to do. He told them they were not even to take time to return home to get a garment but when they had the opportunity they were to immediately flee.

At the time that Jesus spoke those words the city of Jerusalem was a highly fortified city and any person who publicly foretold that Jerusalem would be destroyed and there would not be one stone left upon another at the temple would have been regarded as Noah was when he predicted a worldwide flood. They would have been considered a crazed alarmist and out of their mind. But Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35.

Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem and her stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain. This is exactly what the Lord predicted was going to happen in Jerusalem through the prophet Micah hundreds of years before it happened. “Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. Who build up Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money: yet they lean on the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? no harm can come to us.” Micah 3:9–11.

Notice that these people who are living in wickedness say, “We are God’s people.”

There are people today who say they are Christians and that no harm can come to them, yet they are not living a Christlike life but live directly contrary to the way Jesus said to live. Jesus said to the people in His day, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don’t do what I say?” Luke 6:46.

Because they were living like the devil while claiming to be God’s own people their outcome was predicted: “Therefore because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.” Micah 3:12.

This prophecy described the condition of the Jewish nation in the time of Christ. Although they were proud of their self-righteousness,, they were living in sin and were transgressing the principles of the law of God. They hated Christ because of His purity. His holiness was a living rebuke to the way that they were living and they accused Jesus of being the cause of their troubles. They knew that He was sinless. Jesus said, “Which of you convicts me concerning sin?” John 8:46.

They had no answer, but they condemned Him to death because they said His death was necessary for the security of their nation. “If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him: and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. And then, do you not consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish?” John 11:48, 50.

As Micah had predicted, they built up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity, and yet, even though they had killed their Saviour, who reproved their sins, because of their self-righteousness they still claimed to be the people of God, His favored people, and expected the Lord to deliver them from their enemies.

This same thing has happened many times through earth’s history and is still happening today. Many people claim that they are God’s people but refuse to follow His instructions. They make a profession without reflecting His character; they do not walk as He walked, or live as He lived.

For nearly forty years after A.D. 31 when Jesus predicted this destruction, the judgments against Jerusalem were delayed. God is wonderfully long-suffering. The murderers of His Son were given almost forty years to consider the evidence and see the development of the Christian church and what was happening in the world. For two generations the fathers, mothers and children had opportunity to evaluate the character of Christ.

But when the time came that the children also rejected not only the light that their parents had, but also additional light that they themselves had received, the cup of their iniquity was full. The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem just confirmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence and eventually God gave them up.

When God sees that no matter what evidence He gives a person they still refuse to submit, there is no way they can be saved. He finally gives up and leaves them over to their own control. The Holy Spirit ceases to plead with them because they have committed the unpardonable sin and have come under the control of another spirit.

In their hatred toward the disciples of Jesus, the Jews rejected God’s last offer of mercy to His chosen people. His protection was removed and also His restraining power upon Satan and his angels who came to totally control God’s chosen people. Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, the only One who could deliver her.

There now was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one another and uncontrolled passions made the people tyrants.

False accusations made their lives uncertain. They had said, “Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Isaiah 30:11. And now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his control and sway. All kinds of awful things happened but the leaders still said, “This city cannot be destroyed; it is God’s own city. We are not afraid that this city will be destroyed; God won’t ever let it happen.”

So the multitudes believed, right to the last, that the Most High was going to deliver them from their adversaries. But, they had spurned the Divine protection and now they had no defense. They were rent by internal dissentions and her children were slain by another’s hands.

All the predictions that Jesus gave concerning Jerusalem were fulfilled right to the letter. They learned the truth of His words—As you measure to somebody else it will be measured to you again. See Matthew 7:2.

There were many signs that occurred before the destruction of Jerusalem, showing that something awful was going to take place.

One of the most interesting fulfillments of prophecy when you look at that historical event of the destruction of Jerusalem is that you will find that not one Christian perished in the city. Jesus had given His disciples warning and every one who listened to the warning was saved. This is what Jesus had said to them:

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains; let those who are in the midst of her depart; and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled.” Luke 21:20–22.

The Romans under the general Cestius surrounded the city, about A.D. 66. It was the time of the Feast of Tabernacles and there were people from throughout the world who were gathered in Jerusalem during this siege. Unexpectedly, Cestius abandoned the siege when everything seemed to be in his favour. These events were so overruled that neither the Jews nor the Romans did anything to hinder the flight of the Christians. Upon the retreat of Cestius the Jews sallying from Jerusalem pursued after his retiring army and while both forces were thus engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to leave the city unmolested.

Also, at this time the country had been cleared of enemies who might have endeavoured to intercept them. At the time of the siege the Jews had been gathered together in Jerusalem and thus the Christians throughout the land were able to make their escape without hindrance.

It is interesting that Jesus gave a command that would seem impossible to be fulfilled and yet the opportunity to escape was there, just as He told them. All those who listened and obeyed the command of Jesus were saved; not one perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. They fled without delay to a place of safety beyond Jordan.

Read Matthew 24 carefully. The destruction of Jerusalem was used by Jesus as a symbol of what will happen to the entire world who rejects the authority of God and His law and the gospel of Jesus Christ at the end of time.

The Bible says, “Flee from the wrath to come.” Matthew 3:7.

If you are willing to listen to the instructions that Jesus gives in His word, then at the end of the world you will not be among the nations that mourn because they then realize that they have been worshipping the anti-christ and not the true Christ.

You can be saved. You do not have to be destroyed in the destruction of the world that is coming. Jesus said it like this:

“Watch therefore: for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready: for the Son of man is coming at an hour when you do not expect.” Matthew 24:42–44.

Jesus is coming, and He is coming in our time.

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: (316) 788–5559.

Editor’s Letter – The Passover

March 26, 2018 by John J. Grosboll

The Passover, the most significant feast of all, a national festival the Jews kept for 1500 years “was to pass away forever.” The Desire of Ages, 652. In its place Christ instituted the communion service which is a memorial of His great sacrifice on Calvary and will be observed by the followers of Jesus “through all ages.” Ibid. The communion service is a sacred ceremony, a symbol of the sacrifice on Calvary referred to by Paul, as “Christ our Passover sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7). The sacrifice on the cross at Calvary is the real Passover which we commemorate every time we participate in the communion service and this is not commemorated just once a year. We do this often (I Corinthians 11:26), though Calvary will never be repeated.

The feast of unleavened bread represented the result of the Passover—the life of the believer will be lived without the leaven of wickedness and will be lived in harmony with the truth (the law). This began to be fulfilled on the exact dates of the feast of unleavened bread for the disciples of Christ in A.D. 31 (John 20:22). Unfortunately, one disciple did not begin to have this experience until the end of that period (John 20:27). The first fruits in the antitype are Christ and those raised with him on the 16th day of the first month A.D. 31. As Christ was raised on the day of offering the first fruits, so every baptized Christian is to rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Baptism is a memorial of the antitype of the offering of the first fruits which occurred on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread. The Christian living in sin is giving the lie to his profession and is violating the sacred antitype or reality of the experience of the feast of unleavened bread. This feast was observed once a year, but in the New Covenant it occurred only once for all time—on the 16th day of the first month in A.D. 31 when Christ was raised from the dead. This experience will never be repeated.

The feast of weeks or Pentecost occurred once for all time on the very day of that feast in A.D. 31 when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples and the harvesting of the world began. This feast represented the gift of the Holy Spirit which was to be with the true church from that time forever. Only those Christians who have received the Holy Spirit are experiencing the reality of the feast of weeks in the antitype and this experience is to be constant, not just once a year.