Issue: 2002 May

The Seed, Part II

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What constitutes having our heart’s door stay open? Faith opens the door; obedience, or a positive response to what God says, keeps the door open. Obedience always follows true faith. They never walk apart from each other. If they do, it is because faith is not genuine but is presumption. There will always be obedience, a positive response to God’s Word, if there is true faith.

That is what is meant by a good-ground hearer, and that is the only thing we can offer God in our Christian experience. We have no power within ourselves to make ourselves new. There are many professed Christians relying upon something other than the power of God in their lives to make them Christians.

Eventually, the tempest is going to come; trouble is going to come; the storm is going to rage. What is going to happen to those people who are relying upon a supposed hope, leaning on a prop like a tomato plant leaning on a rotten stake? What is going to happen when the tempest breaks? They are going to fall!

Tremendous Exodus from Adventism

We are told, and we cannot be told too often, that in the times in which we find ourselves there is going to be a tremendous exodus from Adventism. Now the question is, Are we going to be prepared to stay within the truth, within this message—this tremendous light that we have? Are we going to allow Jesus to stay within our hearts and to work in us the kingdom of God, whereby when trouble comes, we are able to stand, no matter what?

The Psalmist says,

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Psalm 46:1–3.

Receive God’s Word

In regard to this matter of opening the door by faith and having the door remain open by obedience, Christ’s Object Lessons, 61, says, “Our part is to receive God’s Word and to hold it fast, yielding ourselves fully to its control, and its purpose in us will be accomplished.”

Our part is to receive the Word of God. We do that by faith, and we retain it by obedience. Do you want to know what those two are theologically? They are justification and sanctification. However, you can pick up books that have been written by Seventh-day Adventists today, that totally contradict what this says. May I say, it is very startling to read contradictions to the truth in Adventism today. It is unbelievable! I believe it is indeed the omega of apostasy that we see in our very midst.

Born Again Do Not Sin

If you want to be aroused out of your sleepiness or sluggishness, this will do it. It will startle you and cause you to awake. 1 John 3 gives us a tremendous statement. I do not know what New Theology does with this statement. It must sit there with an eraser trying to get it out of the way. They have to cut that out, because they do not know what to do with it! 1 John 3:9 says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” So if the seed is allowed to remain in me, by faith and by obedience, allowing Jesus to do upon my heart that which only He can do, that seed is going to develop, and I am going to have a character that is perfect before God. Perfect in an imperfect world. A character that is righteous in an unrighteous world. Do you see that God has called us higher than merely sitting in pews? He has called us to something much higher than that, much higher than church membership, much higher than any position one can hold in the church.

God has called us to have a character like His. His seed is able to produce that. Tremendous statement—whosoever is born of God, whoever has that new nature, does not commit sin!

I think the New Theologians need to go back and study the simplicity of the Word of God. They may need to get a hoe and a rake and go out into the garden and learn the simple lesson of salvation as Jesus did. You and I need to learn the same. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Mark 4:28.

Is that an echo of 1 John 3:9? “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” Do you see any disease there? Do you see any sin there in the growth of that plant? No! God says, let Me put My hand on it.

“The germination of the seed represents the beginning of spiritual life, and the development of the plant is a beautiful figure of Christian growth. . . . At every stage of development our life may be perfect; yet if God’s purpose for us is fulfilled, there will be continual advancement.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 65.

Perfect at Every Stage

We continually move onward as we grow. At each stage we can be perfect in our character before God. Righteousness in an unrighteous world. Perfection in a world of imperfection. Kindness in a world that is not kind. Love where the world knows only hatred. God’s people are to stand out. As true Christians, with God’s Word in our hearts, we reveal a nature that is contrary to our original nature.

God uses Paul again. Galatians 3:16: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He [God] saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to Thy seed, which is Christ.” Christ is the seed, the incorruptible seed of God, whereby He is able to produce a new Creation in us.

Jesus Wants to Reproduce Himself in Us

The ultimate goal of every seed is to produce seed of its own kind. Who is the incorruptible Seed? Christ. He has put His seeds in the catalog book, the Holy Bible. He says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. Whose spirit and whose life do you think that they are? They are Christ’s, the incorruptible Seed.

Jesus wants to reproduce His Seed in us. If that is true and if that happens, we will reflect in character the character of Jesus, because a seed only reproduces itself and its own kind. “Every seed brings forth fruit after its kind. Sow the seed under right conditions. . . .” Christ’s Object Lessons, 38.

When planting seeds, there are really, basically only four conditions. Three of them only God can deal with, we have no part, and one condition is ours. So we get 25 percent of the obligation. The conditions are sun, water, air, and good ground.

“Every seed brings forth fruit after its kind. Sow the seed under right conditions, and it will develop its own life in the plant. Receive into the soul by faith the incorruptible seed of the Word, and it will bring forth a character and a life after the similitude of the character and the life of God.” Ibid.

An amazing truth! Should we not be determined to make our calling and election sure by opening the door and keeping it open, allowing Jesus to do the work, through His Word, on our hearts whereby we become new creations?

I am more determined to become what He wants me to be and to do it in the manner which meets the conditions He has given. We are not to be satisfied with just being a professed Christian, not satisfied with just being baptized or having our membership in a church. The kingdom of God begins within us, and it works out from there!

It does not happen by observation. Jesus wants to reproduce us, and He can only do that through His Seed, the Word of God. Notice this promise that God made in the Garden after Adam and Eve chose to lay aside the incorruptible for the corruptible: “And I [God] will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15. It was going to cost God something. His heel was going to be bruised, and we know what that meant—Calvary. But I want you to notice that God was going to put enmity between Satan and the woman.

The woman, representing the spiritual church, would carry the incorruptible seed. Who is the incorruptible seed? Christ and His Word. Enmity or hatred towards sin and Satan only comes by our reception and our response to the Word of God. It does not come any other way. We can be on our knees all day, but if we get up and walk contrary to what God has told us and to what we know, we will never be at enmity with Satan or sin.

Where is the Power?

Genesis 3:15 is a tremendous promise God has given to us. The seed is spiritual; the woman is spiritual. It is in regard to the body of the believers. God has always had a body of believers who have chosen to be good-ground hearers, to open by faith and to keep open by obedience, the door to their heart, and He has them today. The question is, Are you one of them, or are you a membership Christian, or just a baptized Christian, or a pew-sitting Christian? Are you satisfied with a form that denies the power? Where is the power? It is in the Word of God. It is in the Seed, and God has promised to put it in our hearts, if we are willing to open them.

Let us link it up right with our time. “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.

Is God revealing a physical remnant here, in regard to the physical structure or physical church, or is He revealing a body of believers and a spiritual church? It is the spiritual. Why? Because it is the seed of the woman. God deals with a spiritual church in Revelation 12:17. You may say, Wait a minute, the Seventh-day Adventists have been given the testimony of Jesus Christ, which we are told in Revelation 19:10 is the Spirit of Prophecy.

Yes, I agree totally. The vessel into which God has put His truth in the last days, interestingly enough, has been a physical organization. But God reveals His true church as a spiritual church in Revelation 12:17. He does not want us to be deceived into thinking like the Jews in Jesus’ day were thinking.

What did they say? They demanded “. . . when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” Luke 17:20. It is not something you are going to be able to see.

It is not something you are going to be able to point out and to feel physical substance. He even clarifies it in verse 21: “Neither shall they say, Lo here [right over there, that church on the corner]! or, lo there [no, it is not that one over there; it is this one over here]! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” It is a spiritual seed; it is a spiritual church; it is a spiritual kingdom. God wants no one to be deceived in the last days in regard to this issue.

We have been given, with the Spirit of Prophecy, more light than the Jewish nation had in Jesus’ day, and to turn away from that light into darkness is a startling act. We do not have to walk in darkness; we do not have to walk in apostasy, if we open our hearts by faith and allow the Seed to have its way upon our hearts and, by obedience, continue to walk with Him.

Revelation 12:17 speaks about the testimony of Jesus, as pertaining to the Spirit of Prophecy, physically speaking. Spiritually speaking, it means the witness of Jesus Christ.

In the original Greek, the word testimony means witness. So we are seeing the Seed reproduced in His people. They have the witness of Jesus Christ in their lives. When other people listen to His people, when they watch them, they hear and see Jesus.

Growing in Jesus

When Jesus was on earth, He cleansed leprosy immediately. Leprosy is represented in the Word of God as sin. When we have sin in our lives, all we need to do is confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. (See 1 John 1:9.) How long do we have to wait? We do not have to wait. It is immediate. But sanctification, this growing in grace, this growing into His likeness and having His likeness reproduced in us, is a lifetime experience.

We must do our part by keeping the door of our heart open by faith and letting it stay open by obedience, allowing God to do His work, because it is not going to happen, apart from Him. He is the one Who has the power over the seed. So let us determine to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and never forget that the kingdom of God begins in us.

What Does Soul-Saving Mean?

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There are two reasons why the majority of remnant-church members, among big or small congregations, have fallen into the Laodicean condition: 1) Misdirected delegation. They have gladly turned over the work of soul-saving to the institution’s soul-saving departments, a distinctly human tendency of escaping responsibility or “passing the buck.” 2) They do not fully realize that the work of soul-saving encompasses their daily lives and every little thing they say and do. The impartial, yet merciful and accurate, judgment will take all of these into account. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14.

“Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. Multitudes leave to institutions and organizations the work of benevolence; they excuse themselves from contact with the world, and their hearts grow cold. They become self-absorbed and unimpressible. Love for God and man dies out of the soul.

“Christ commits to His followers an individual work—a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and the poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the Gospel.” The Ministry of Healing, 147.

Individual Accountability

On the other hand, not enough is being said and done by the leadership itself to emphasize the very nature of the Investigative Judgment as regards the individual accountability of each member for how his character exerts an influence, consciously or unconsciously, upon others, towards eternal life or eternal death. Soul-saving is thought to be the exclusive work and responsibility of evangelists, pastors, ministers, Bible workers, etc. While this is true in the strictest sense, each member has a non-transferable, inescapable, definite role for soul-saving—because of the talents entrusted to him, especially that of life and time. Notice the following:

“Thou God seest me.” Genesis 16:13. “God is a vigilant observer of the actions of the children of men. Nothing occurs in earth or heaven without the knowledge of the Creator. Nothing can happen without His permission. He on whom the fate of an empire may depend is watched over with a vigilance which knows no relaxation by Him who ‘giveth salvation into kings,’ [Psalm 144:10] to whom belong ‘the shields of the earth’ [Psalm 47:9]. And the poor man is as tenderly watched over as the monarch upon his throne.

“God is constantly at work for the good of His creatures. . . . Times without number God has interposed to avert death, to keep men, women, and children in safety when Satan purposed a result wholly disastrous. . . .” My Life Today, 291.

While the above passages offer great comfort and assurance to God’s people who are in distress or who are being persecuted for righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10), it must never be forgotten that God loves righteousness but hates iniquity or sin, as well as rebellious sinners, “with perfect [or righteous] hatred.” (See Hebrews 1:8, 9; Psalm 139:22.) Because God is merciful, just, and righteous, His perfect love of purity will bring sin and impenitent sinners to a just and merciful judgment. Thus, the pre-advent or Investigative Judgment:

“In the Judgment the use made of every talent will be scrutinized. How have we employed the capital lent us of Heaven? Will the Lord at His coming receive His own with usury? Have we improved the powers entrusted us, in hand and heart and brain, to the glory of God and the blessing of the world? How have we used our time, our pen, our voice, our money, our influence? What have we done for Christ, in the person of the poor, the afflicted, the orphan, or the widow? God has made us the depositaries of His Holy Word; what have we done with the light and truth given us to make men wise unto salvation? No value is attached to a mere profession of faith in Christ; only the love which is shown by works is counted genuine. Yet it is love alone which in the sight of Heaven makes any act of value. Whatever is done from love, however small it may appear in the estimation of men, is accepted and rewarded of God.” The Great Controversy, 487.

Love for Self

While one may hasten to point out that whatever he or she is currently doing is “being done out of love” and thus is “accepted and rewarded by God,” the following paragraph qualifies it and takes it beyond any level of rationalization or self-justification. The secret motives that actuated their deeds that were supposedly “done out of love,” hidden to men and women their whole lives, will be revealed. They were actually done out of love for self, not for God’s glory, in accordance to His revealed will in the Law and Testimonies.

“The hidden selfishness of men stands revealed in the books of heaven. There is the record of unfulfilled duties to their fellow men, of forgetfulness of the Saviour’s claims. There they will see how often were given to Satan the time, thought, and strength that belonged to Christ. Sad is the record which angels bear to heaven. Intelligent beings, professed followers of Christ, are absorbed in the acquirement of worldly possessions or the enjoyment of earthly pleasures. Money, time, and strength are sacrificed for display and self-indulgence; but few are the moments devoted to prayer, to the searching of the Scriptures, to humiliation of soul and confession of sin.” Ibid., 487, 488.

“How solemn is the thought! Day after day, passing into eternity, bears its burden of records for the books of Heaven. Words once spoken, . . . can never be recalled. Angels have registered both the good and the evil. The mightiest conqueror upon the earth cannot call back the record of even a single day. Our acts, our words, even our most secret motives, all have their weight in deciding our destiny for weal or woe. Though they may be forgotten by us, they will bear their testimony to justify or condemn.

“As the features of the countenance are reproduced with unerring accuracy on the polished plate of the artist, so the character is faithfully delineated in the books above. Yet how little solicitude is felt concerning that record which is to meet the gaze of heavenly beings. Could the veil which separates the visible from the invisible world be swept back, and the children of men behold an angel recording every word and deed, which they must meet again in the judgment, how many words that are daily uttered would remain unspoken, how many deeds would remain undone.” Ibid., 486, 487.

In addition to doing the actual medical missionary work, giving Bible studies, preparing souls to accept Christ through baptism, and nurturing new members to grow in the faith and in the knowledge of the Scriptures towards character perfection, the following ways of witnessing are not given the attention of which they are worthy. Yet they are as important as a successful campaign of public evangelism!

A Saving Silent Influence

“Ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”

1 Thessalonians 1:7, 8.

“If you can exert a saving influence over one soul, remember there is joy in heaven over the one that repented. . . . You may, by judicious effort, be the means of bringing back the lost sheep to Jesus’ fold. Although you may be young, you must work with Christ; with His Spirit in your heart you can do much more than it now seems possible for you to do.

“If your example is Christlike, that alone, if you do not say a word, will be a help to many. Patient continuance in well-doing will help others to place their feet in the path of truth and righteousness. . . . Be careful to start right, and then keep quietly on.

“The firm purposes you may possess in carrying out good principles will have an influence to balance souls in the right direction. There is no limit to the good you may do. If you make the Word of God the rule of your life, and govern your actions by its precepts, making all your purposes and exertions in the fulfilling of your duty a blessing . . . , success will crown your efforts.

“The youth [as well as the older ones, too] who are consecrated to God sway a mighty influence for good. Preachers or laymen advanced in years cannot have one half the influence for good upon the young that the youth, if devoted to God, can have upon their associates.” My Life Today, 122.

Influence by Example

“The unstudied, unconscious influence of a holy life is the most convincing sermon that can be given in favor of Christianity.” The Acts of the Apostles, 511.

“Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12.

Influenced by our Atmosphere

“By the atmosphere surrounding us, every person with whom we come in contact is consciously or unconsciously affected.

“This is a responsibility from which we cannot free ourselves. Our words, our acts, our dress, our deportment, even the expression of the countenance, has an influence. Upon the impression thus made there hang results for good or evil which no man can measure. Every impulse thus imparted is seed sown which will produce its harvest. It is a link in the long chain of human events, extending we know not whither.” Messages to Young People, 417

“Every soul is surrounded by an atmosphere of its own [counterfeited by the New Age aura],—an atmosphere, it may be, charged with the lifegiving power of faith, courage, and hope, and sweet with the fragrance of love. Or it may be heavy and chill with the gloom of discontent and selfishness, or poisonous with the deadly taint of sin.” Ibid.

“If by our example we aid others in the development of good principles, we give them power to do good. In their turn they exert the same influence upon others, and they upon still others. Thus by our unconscious influence thousands may be blessed.

“Throw a pebble into the lake, and a wave is formed; and another and another; and as they increase, the circle widens, until it reaches the very shore. So with our influence. Beyond our knowledge or control it tells upon others in blessing or cursing.

“Character is power. The silent witness of a true, unselfish, godly life carries an almost irresistible influence. By revealing in our own life the character of Christ, we co-operate with Him in the work of saving souls. It is only by revealing in our life His character that we can co-operate with Him. And the wider the sphere of our influence, the more good we may do. When those who profess to serve God follow Christ’s example, practicing the principles of the law in their daily life; when every act bears witness that they love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves, then will the church have power to move the world.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 339, 340.

Our Words

“For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.” 1 Peter 3:10, 11.

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Proverbs 25:11.

“If the lips were constantly guarded so that no guile could corrupt them, what an amount of suffering, degradation, and misery might be prevented. If we would say nothing to wound or grieve, except in necessary reproof of sin, that God might not be dishonored, how much misunderstanding, bitterness, and anguish would be prevented. If we would speak words of good cheer, words of hope and faith in God, how much light we might shed upon the pathway of others, to be reflected in still brighter beams upon our own souls. . . .” My Life Today, 180.

Help Others

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” 1 Timothy 4:16.

“I have read of a man who, journeying on a winter’s day through deep drifts of snow, became benumbed by the cold, which was almost imperceptibly freezing his vital powers. He was nearly chilled to death, and was about to give up the struggle for life, when he heard the moans of a fellow traveler who was also perishing with cold. His sympathy was aroused, and he determined to rescue him. He chafed the ice-cold limbs of the unfortunate man, and after considerable effort raised him to his feet. As the sufferer could not stand, he bore him in sympathizing arms through the very drifts he had thought he could never get through alone.

“When he had carried his fellow traveler to a place of safety, the truth flashed home to him that in saving his neighbor he had also saved himself. His earnest efforts to help another had quickened the blood that was freezing in his own veins and sent a healthy warmth to the extremities of his body.

“The lesson that in helping others we ourselves receive help must be urged upon young believers continually, by precept and example, that in their Christian experience they may gain the best results. Let the desponding ones, those disposed to think that the way to eternal life is trying and difficult, go to work to help others.” My Life Today, 234.

“Every truly converted soul will be intensely desirous to bring others from the darkness of error into the marvelous light of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.” Ibid., 59.

Speak the Truth

Ezekiel 3:17–21 says that if we speak the truth boldly in God’s love to warn the erring one, and he repents, we have saved a soul and saved our souls as well. But if we refuse to warn the erring when God plainly brings the task upon us, that person will lose his soul and you and I have lost ours as well. It is in this sense that we are expected of God, by His enabling grace, to possess the courage of heroes and the faith of martyrs!

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58.

“Those who stand in defense of the honor of God, and maintain the purity of truth at any cost, will have manifold trials, as did our Saviour in the wilderness of temptation. The yielding temperaments, who have not courage to condemn wrong, but keep silent when their influence is needed to stand in the defense of right against any pressure, may avoid many heartaches and escape many perplexities, and lose a very rich reward, if not their own souls.

“Those who in harmony with God, and through faith in Him, receive strength to resist wrong, and stand in defense of the right, will always have severe conflicts and will frequently have to stand almost alone [in the choices and in the decisions they make]. But precious victories will be theirs while they make God their dependence. His grace will be their strength. Their moral sense will be keen, clear, and sensitive. Their moral powers will be equal to withstand wrong influences. Their integrity, like that of Moses, of the purest character.” My Life Today, 320.

Relieve Suffering

“And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” Luke 9:2.

“Christ established His temporary hospital on the green hill slopes of Galilee and in every other place where the sick and the suffering could be brought to Him. In every city, every town, every village through which He passed, with the tender compassion of a loving Father He laid His hand upon the afflicted ones, and made them whole. This same work Christ has empowered His church to do.

“At the close of His earthly ministry, when He charged His disciples with a solemn commission to go ‘into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,’ He declared that their ministry would receive confirmation through the restoration of the sick to health. Ye ‘shall lay hands on the sick,’ He said, ‘and they shall recover.’ Mark 16:15, 18. By healing in His name the diseases of the body, they would testify to His power for the healing of the soul.

“The Saviour’s commission to the disciples includes all believers to the end of time. . . . Never has the world’s need for teaching and healing been greater than it is today. The world is full of those who need to be ministered unto—the weak, the helpless, the ignorant, the degraded.

“God’s people are to be genuine medical missionaries. They are to learn to minister to the needs of soul and body. They should know how to give the simple treatments that do so much to relieve pain and remove disease. They should be familiar with the principles of health reform, that they may show others how, by right habits of eating, drinking, and dressing, disease may be prevented and health regained. . . . The Great Physician . . . will bless every one who will go forward humbly and trustfully, seeking to impart the truth for this time.

“In a special sense the healing of the sick is our work.” My Life Today, 226.

“The necessities of life must be attended to, the sick must be cared for, the wants of the needy must be supplied. He will not be held guiltless who neglects to relieve suffering on the Sabbath. God’s holy rest day was made for man, and acts of mercy [not mercenary acts!] are in perfect harmony with its intent. God does not desire His creatures to suffer an hour’s pain that may be relieved upon the Sabbath or any other day. . . .

“Labor to relieve the suffering was pronounced by our Saviour a work of mercy and no violation of the Sabbath.” Ibid., 231. (See John 9:1–14.)

Remember, we are saved in order to save others, not that we are saviours in and of ourselves, but that we are engaged in the sacred work of saving souls as co-laborers with Christ, pointing the sinner to Christ Jesus, the Source of salvation! Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32.

Worship and Music

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Worship, music and counterfeits. A definition of terms may prove useful to assure that all readers understand these words in the same way.

For purposes of this article, music is a gift of God. It is a wonderful gift, because He has given us a part of Himself. Everybody knows that God is love. And God gives us that love. What about music? In Exodus 15:2 and Isaiah 12:2 it says, “The Lord is my strength and song.” God Himself is my song, and He gives me music.

Everybody has their own ideas concerning worship, but a definition can be helpful. R. C. Leonard provides one: “Worship is the central focus of a vital Christian faith, and the most distinctive activity of the church of Jesus Christ. The biblical words translated ‘worship’ (Hebrew shachah, Greek proskuneo) mean, literally, to bow down or bend the knee. Such was the ancient gesture of honor to a sovereign and superior authority. To worship is to offer the oath of covenant loyalty to the Great King, and to affirm our faithfulness as His servants. For this reason, the worship of God, through Jesus Christ, lies at the heart of all Christian expression.” R. C. Leonard, Worship in the Church, January 1997, http://members.aol.com./laudemont/witec.hum. (April 15, 2001).

Now, consider counterfeits. One popular definition is that a counterfeit is a cheap imitation of the real thing. It is cheap, and it is an imitation. Whenever there is something important that comes from God, Satan has to counterfeit it. So if you notice a counterfeit, it is a good idea to look at the real thing, because it must be very important for Satan to bother counterfeiting it. Do counterfeits look nice? Do they sound nice? Certainly! They are glittery and beautiful and meant to attract. Counterfeits are not good things to have, because they are not worth much and can even be dangerous. You do not want to be found using counterfeit money, do you?

True Worship

All through history, worship has been conducted in different ways, true worship and counterfeit, pagan worship. Even true worship has varied at different times and in different cultural settings. This article does not have time or space to examine historical worships. Presently, we are concerned with worship in the last days, in our own time. God gives us information concerning the worship He requires in the final days. We find it in Revelation 14, in the Three Angels’ Messages. In fact, that is one of the basic things they are all about. God does not leave any significant chance of our misunderstanding what He wants.

Look at the Three Angels’ Messages in Revelation 14:6–12, and read them through. In the first message, verse 7, the angel says, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” There is that word—worship. We are commanded to worship, and who is to be the object of our worship? The Creator God. That is very plain. We are commanded to worship the One and only true God, the One Who, down through history, has repeated His covenant with us to be our God and to claim us as His people. This is the first big message for us.

The second and third messages tell us that there is someone we are commanded not to worship—the beast. The scope of this article does not include identifying the beast, but the angels’ messages tell us the consequences of worshiping the beast—nothing but bad things, horrifying things. The end of that message gives the identifying marks of those who worship the true God—they keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

It is reasonable to say that all of these identifying marks and commands lead to the conclusion that the worship of God is the true worship and the only true worship. Also, the worship of the beast is the false, or counterfeit, worship. Everything that goes with the worship of the beast is false or counterfeit worship. Some of the things this involves include the false sabbath and the false music. Although many other things could be included, the emphasis of this article is music, true God-based music and false, counterfeit music.

Where Does Music Come In?

Some may ask, Can you prove that music is a part of worship? There have been many people, throughout history, who have said that instrumental music should not be used. John Calvin, for example, claimed that the instrumental music used in the Old Testament times was meant for people who were tender and like children. “But in New Testament times Christ has come and the church has reached full age, it would only bury the light of the gospel should we introduce the shadows of a departed dispensation.” John L. Girardeau, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church, New Covenant Publication Society, Havertown, PA., 1983, 63, 64.

What about music in worship in the last days, in the setting of the Three Angels’ Messages? Consider the following statements:

“As a part of religious service, singing is as much an act of worship as is prayer. Indeed, many a song is prayer.” Education, 168. Many other quotations could be cited which include instrumental music.

“Singing is just as much the worship of God in a religious meeting as speaking. . . .” Selected Messages, Book 3, 333.

According to Mrs. White, music in worship includes speaking, prayer, and singing. Each of these aspects of music may be true worship or counterfeit worship. So music is an important part of worship, making it an important part of the Third Angel’s Message and what God wants from us in these last days. It does matter what our music is like. It shows our allegiance to God and our acceptance of His covenant, or it shows our allegiance to the beast. God does not accept any counterfeit in His worship.

The Roles of Music in Worship

Let us examine exactly what music accomplishes in the worship service. Actually it plays many roles:

  1. Music sets the mood. The thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the people are controlled by the music. Alertness or sleepiness may be caused by the music. Music creates a proper frame of mind for the rest of the service. If a minister wants to introduce strange ideas of theology, he can use what we call celebration music to put the people into a hypnotic state, and they accept and retain in their minds whatever he wishes—without even knowing it is happening.
  2. Music creates unity and harmony. People feel and think together because of the music. It is a kind of group entrainment. (That word is not entertainment.) What is entrainment? Scientists have discovered that when two rhythms are placed adjacent to each other they lock into each other and become the same rhythm. They first discovered this with pendulum clocks—back in the 1600s. If the clocks were close together, the pendulums would start swinging the same. Since then we have learned that we can control all kinds of body rhythms with music. Just play the music with the speed or vibration you want, and you can slow down or accelerate the heart rate, or any of the other rhythms in the body, including brain waves.

If you play fast, jazzy rhythms at the beginning of church, your whole body gears up to the same thing. Scientists have found ways to eject rhythms of whatever tempo they want, add certain tones into musical recordings, and nobody knows they are there, but their brains accept them and respond accordingly, maybe even slowing them down enough to become like zombies. One danger of this is that Satan can use his counterfeit in accompaniment tapes that vocalists buy, and nobody ever knows the difference. Recent research shows that group entrainment may take place. One study showed that, in a university class, the brain waves of the students entrained with those of the professor. This has serious implications for those who are using NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to control others. “While preaching, praying, or conversing, some professed Adventists who had rejected present truth used mesmerism to gain adherents, and the people would rejoice in this influence, for they thought it was the Holy Ghost.” Early Writings, 44. Now the scientists are showing us it can really happen. Do not think it is foolish imagination. Satan is using his false, counterfeit worship and the music in it to control people’s minds. This fact makes it extremely important that we do not use Satan’s music in worship, and certainly not anywhere else either.

  1. Music creates a kind of people. You are what you eat; you are what you see; you are what you hear. You are the kind of music to which you listen.
  2. Music invokes the Holy Spirit and invites the presence of angels. “When the singing is such that angels can unite with the singers, an impression is made on minds that singing from unsanctified lips cannot make. . . . The songs in which every word is uttered clearly, in a musical tone, are the songs that they [angels] join us in singing. They take up the refrain that is sung from the heart with the spirit and the understanding.” Evangelism, 509, 510.
  3. Most important of all, music is an act of worship. This places it as a significant part of true worship, which then makes it an important part of the Three Angels’ Messages.

Praise Ye the Lord

What difference does it make what music we have in our worship services? If music is basically entertainment, why do we have music in worship at all? Many people have said that music is just a matter of preference. In other words, just choose what you like. The problem is there is a big difference. And it all goes back to God’s music for God’s worship and Satan’s music (counterfeit) for Satan’s worship.

A search of the Bible will reveal not only what God wants us to sing about but also how He wants us to sing. If music is an important part of the worship of God, He must have given us some instruction about it.

The thing mentioned more often than anything else is praise. “Praise ye the Lord. . . . Let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp.” Psalm 149:1, 3. “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.” Psalm 147:1.

Offer Thanksgiving for His Goodness

The thing mentioned most frequently after praise is thanksgiving. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High.” Psalm 92:1. Does God get tired of hearing us thank Him? No, He does not.

We should use joyful songs. “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of His name: make His praise glorious.” Psalm 66:1, 2. “O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” Psalm 67:4.

What Should Our Music Include?

Majesty—“They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord. . . .” Isaiah 24:14.

God’s Righteousness—“They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness.” Psalm 145:7.

God’s Power—“Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength: so will we sing and praise Thy power.” Psalm 21:13.

God’s Mercy and Judgment—“I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.” Psalm 101:1.

To God’s Name—“So will I sing praise unto Thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.” Psalm 61:8.

Other verses give us the following: To the glory of God, God’s goodness, Ways of the Lord, Science of Salvation, Psalms, Holy songs, Words of the Law, Prophecy, Songs of Triumph and Victory, Faith and Holy Cheer, Hope and Trust. And the final song for the future: the Song of Deliverance.

Music of the Word

It seems that God has given us plenty to sing about without resorting to the devil’s counterfeit songs about our own selves and our own feelings. It would be a good idea if we would try to practice now for the music of heaven.

I have a dream that some might like to share with me. Imagine a few Seventh-day Adventist churches here and there who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus and are doing all they can to avoid the devil’s counterfeit music, becoming serious about their music being God’s music. Even a church or two could start it. What if these churches started making the music of their church Seventh-day Adventist music? How, you ask, could you do that? Well, there is the previous list that God gave us. With that, suppose we sing songs about the Three Angels’ Messages, about Christ’s Second Coming, about the Sabbath, about the state of the dead, about the sanctuary, about the Spirit of Prophecy—the pillars of our faith. That is just a start. There are plenty of songs in our hymnal that we already know and more good songs that we could learn. For example, do you know the song about the judgment, “Christ the Lord, All Power Possessing,” found on page 415 in the new hymnal? The first verse is about Christ ascending to heaven; the second verse pictures the judgment; the third verse is about Christ coming back. The tune is an exciting, vigorous tune, and the song is well worth some effort to learn. After searching out all of the wonderful songs that truly tell of our own Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, we need to think about the words as we sing them and breathe new life into them. Our whole church will become invigorated!

Words with Meaning

Where Mrs. White wrote that song is an act of worship and song is prayer, she continues as follows: “If the child is taught to realize this, he will think more of the meaning of the words he sings and will be more susceptible to their power.” Education, 168. The older ones among us are not too old to learn the same lesson.

Are you and your church singing God’s music in your worship services, or is the devil’s counterfeit music sneaking in among you? Is your music preparing you for heaven?

The First Lie, Part II

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Last month we began looking at some of the texts in the Bible dealing with the state of the dead, which we might find hard to explain. We learned that we are going to have to give an answer for each of our beliefs, and we need to be prepared to do that. Let us look at a few other texts in the Bible and see how we can explain them. These texts all contain the same word, mourn. I want you to see how this word is used in the Bible.

Mis-Translated Words

In Amos 1:2 it says, “And he said: ‘The Lord roars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of Carmel withers.’” Have you ever seen a pasture mourn? No, pastures cannot mourn.

Isaiah 24:4 uses this same word: “The earth mourns and fades away, The world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish.”

In verse 7, you will see this same word used again, although some versions of the Bible have translated the word as fails in this text. The Greek word translated as fails is the same word that is translated as mourn. “The new wine fails [mourns], the vine languishes, All the merry-hearted sigh.”

Isaiah 33:9 says, “The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.” That word, mourns, is also used in Job 14:22.

So what are these texts saying? In each one of the verses it said that something which is inanimate, like grass, or the earth, or a vine, mourned. The word that means to mourn was used. What does that mean? It means, literally, that it is languishing, languid, falling, failing, or dried up.

With this knowledge, let us look at Job 14:22, and put that same definition in there. “His relatives or his kinfolk will be in pain over it [that is over his death], And his soul will be languishing [dried up, failing, or falling—any one of those].” You see, when a flower gets droopy and falls, that is a sign that the life has gone out of it. The same word is used here. This word is also used concerning people—they mourn. But it is used, very often, in regard to inanimate things that have no life in them at all; they are languished or dried up or falling or failing. Dried up is a good translation there. So Job 14:22 is not a hard text to explain, if you have an understanding of the words.

Check the Context

There are a few texts in Ecclesiastes with which some people have trouble, such as Ecclesiastes 3:21. Remember, verse 21 is a question, not a statement: “Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?” Somebody could object and say that the spirit of man goes up, but the spirit of the beast goes down.

We ought to look at the whole context. Let us see what it says in verses 19 and 20: “For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.”

So what is the answer to verse 21? The answer is to say, Let us read verses 19 and 20. Verses 19 and 20 say that man has no advantage over the beast; they all go to one place. They are all dust. When a man dies, he is in the same condition as a beast. The only hope is the resurrection, the future.

Ecclesiastes 9; 12; Psalm 6:5 and 115:17 are texts where the wise man talks about the state of the dead, that they do not know anything. But some of the most troublesome texts in the Bible, concerning the state of the dead, are in the New Misplaced Commas

Probably the easiest one of all to explain is what Jesus said to the thief on the cross. (See Luke 23:43.) Jesus said, “Truly I say to you today . . . .” Say it right, and it will help the person understand. After you say “today” just pause for a long time.

“Truly, I say to you today [right now, when we are both on the cross], you will be with Me in paradise.” Jesus did not say, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” How do we know that Jesus did not mean to say, “Today you will be with Me in paradise”? Can you prove it from the Bible? The answer is simple. He did not go there that day! How do we know that? Because, three days later, on the first day of the week, He said to Mary Magdalene, “I have not yet ascended to My Father . . . .” John 20:17.

According to Revelation 2:7, God’s throne is in paradise. Since, three days later, Jesus said, I have not gone yet, He was not intending to say to that man that he would be in paradise with Him that day, because He did not go there that day.

Incorrect Translations

Let us examine a text that is a little harder. “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Philippians 1:21–23.

Now when you just read this text the way it is stated in the English Bible, you are in deep trouble. You can read it over and over again, and you only have two choices: you live here in the flesh, or you depart to be with Christ. But there is a problem here, and the problem again is with the translation. Because in verse 23, the word between is an incorrect translation.

It was translated that way by translators who were trying to make it agree with what their preconceived opinion was, but that is not right at all. The Greek word that is translated between here, is the word that means out of. If you look in a Greek Lexicon, you will not find this word ever translated as between, except in this one text. It is not translated that way any place else in the Bible or in any other Greek literature, to my knowledge. Now if you put the words out of in this text, you will find that this text says something completely different. Look at verse 23 again. “For I am hard-pressed out of the two.” What does he mean hard-pressed out of the two? Paul did not want to stay here in the flesh, and he did not want to die either.

He said, Really, I am hard-pressed. I have a different desire, either staying with you or dying. What did he want to do? He wanted to be translated as was Enoch and go live with Christ. That would be far better than staying here, and it would be far better than death. Nevertheless, he says, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. So that is a little bit harder to explain than Luke 23:43, because here you have the problem with a bad translation.

I worked with an evangelist one time who used to have many Bible translations, and he would take the one that had the right translation of the text to show the person. I found that was a very convincing technique. I have never found an English Bible that has this right, so I do not ever bring it up to people, because most people cannot read Greek. They would be taking my word for it, unless they got a Strong’s Concordance and an Interlinear Bible and checked it out, which they could do. However, we need to know the facts. If it comes up, we ought to know what the truth is, so we can explain it any time.

Difficult Texts

Another text that is difficult to understand is 11 Corinthians 5. In 11 Corinthians 5:1–8, Paul is talking about the very same concept that he was talking about in Philippians 1—how we can remain here in this body of flesh or we can die and be unclothed, but he really does not want to do either of those things. He would rather go and be with the Lord.

It will take you several minutes to go through these verses. You have to go through them phrase by phrase by phrase, then analyze, what is he saying? Being clothed, being naked as in the state of death, being clothed in this temple, or to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. He is talking about three things, not two. If you keep that in mind, you will

Let us go now to the hardest one of all. The hardest text (passage) in the whole Bible about the state of the dead, for me, is Luke 16.

Now, this could happen to anybody—suppose you come up to a passage of Scripture that you cannot explain; it seems to teach contrary to what all the rest of the Bible teaches. What are you going to do? Are you going to throw out 100 Scriptures because there is a Scripture that you cannot explain?

That would be dangerous, would it not? So even if you could not explain this passage (Luke 16) at all, you would not want to throw out all the rest of what the Bible says on this subject. To really understand this passage, I recommend you read Christ’s Object Lessons, 260–271. The title of the chapter is “A Great Gulf Fixed.”

Luke 16:19–31 is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Ellen White says, “In this parable Christ was meeting the people on their own ground.” Ibid., 263. The next question is, What was their own ground? Did the people, in Christ’s day, understand the truth about the state of the dead? They did not. You can look in the writings of Josephus and the Jews. The Jews had developed a theory about how, after you died, you went down to a hot place. They even had described what kind of a place it was.

Jesus Meets Us Where We Are

Mrs. White says, “The doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who were listening to Christ’s words.” Ibid. So did they believe that after you died you were in a conscious state? Yes, they did. They were confused. Now, friends, we are going to get into something that I cannot fully explain. Why did the Lord not choose to correct them?

We know what Jesus believed about death, because when we read John 11, the story of Lazarus, Jesus said when he was dead that he was asleep. Nevertheless, notice what Ellen White said Jesus did: “The Saviour knew of their ideas.” He knew these people believed that you were conscious after death. He knew what they were thinking, and what did He do? “And He framed His parable so as to inculcate present important truths through these preconceived opinions.” Ibid.

He took their preconceived opinions, which were all mixed up, and He said, I am going to teach you something. I am not even going to straighten you out on that, I am just going to teach you something. Now before you and I get to arguing too much with the Lord about why He did this, let me ask you this question. Has God ever taught you something when you were all mixed up, but He did not teach it all to you at once; He just taught you a little bit? Has that ever happened to you?

That has happened to me. God does not wait until our thinking is all straightened out on everything before He starts to teach us. Sometimes He starts to teach us right where we are. We may be all mixed up, and He just comes to us on our own ground. He says, Well, I am going to tell you a story. And what a story!

Teaching by Parables

What do we learn from this story? There are several things. First, the Jews thought that they were the favorites of heaven. Who went to heaven, and who went to hell in this story? The Gentile went to heaven, and the Jew went to hell! (See Ibid., 262, 268.) That was just the beginning. They also thought that if you were rich, that proved you were honored and blessed by God. If you were poor, that meant that the curse of God was upon you. Who went to heaven, and who went to hell in this story? The rich man went to hell, and the poor man went to heaven.

I am telling you, Jesus was turning their heads pretty hard in this story. But that is not all. There is something even more important. It taught that we are judged in the future by the life that we live in this world. Our eternal destiny is determined by the life that we live, and after we die, it cannot be changed.

After you die, your eternal destiny is fixed! Ellen White says, “He held up before His hearers a mirror wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God. . . . Christ desires His hearers to understand that it is impossible for men to secure the salvation of the soul after death. . . . The rich man had spent his life in self-pleasing, and too late he saw that he had made no provision for eternity.” Ibid., 263, 264. Then she talks about the fact that everyone has a certain amount of light, and if they do not make use of the light that they have, they will be lost.

Remember what Abraham said to the rich man who begged, “Please, if somebody went to them from the dead, if a miracle were worked, then they would believe.” Abraham said, “No, they have Moses and the prophets. If they do not believe them, they will not believe even somebody who rose from the dead.” (See Ibid., 264.) Did that turn out to be true in the case of the Jewish nation? It did.

“The conversation between Abraham and the once-rich man is figurative.” Ibid., 265. Jesus is not describing something that ever happened or that ever will happen in reality. It is a parable to illustrate certain things to the Jewish nation. Now if you study this chapter in Christ’s Object Lessons, you will find that this parable is a special teaching device of Jesus, not just for the Jewish nation. There is a whole section in this chapter to show that this parable has a special application to people who are living in the time of the end of the world. That is you and me. Now we have not exhausted the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We have barely scratched the surface. This parable is one of the most instructive and comprehensive parables that Jesus told.

Preparing to Give an Answer

Do I have the right, on the basis of this story that Jesus told, using their preconceived opinions and giving it in figurative language, to say that you are conscious after death? No, I do not at all. Jesus has told us plainly in John 11 what He believes about the state of the dead and so have the prophets and so have the apostles.

There is a gulf, an uncertain time, and when a person dies, that gulf is fixed. That is why death is so serious and so solemn, because once a person dies their eternal destiny is fixed.

As long as you are alive, if you are on the wrong side—you can still change your destiny. You can change it either way, according to Ezekiel 18. Do you want to be headed toward the right place? Do not wait and think that you will do it just before death. That is not so easily done, and besides that, very often death comes suddenly, without time to change.

This parable about the rich man and Lazarus helps us to look at death in a completely different way. Death is not something to be afraid of or about which to worry. It is simply something for which to be prepared. We need to always be prepared.

The only way to live, and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us this, is to be ready all the time, to have your life committed to the Lord Jesus all the time, because then you are ready to live for Him. But if you die, you are ready for that, too. You do not need to worry about it, because if you are in Christ, the moment you close your eyes in death, in what will just seem a second to you, you will open them up again and have a new body.

You will have eternal life. According to the parable, you will be in Abraham’s bosom. That is figurative language, too, of course, for Heaven.

Friend, every one of you is going to be tested on this pillar of our faith. I hope that you are all ready for that test. I hope that you are ready to give an answer for your faith, with meekness and fear, to everyone that asks you. Show them what the Bible teaches, so when they hear about an apparition, and when they hear about Peter, or James, or John, or Mary, the Mother of Jesus, appearing, they will know who it is and will not be deceived. [Bible texts given in literal translation.]

Editorial – The Church that Appears to Fall, Part III (Letter 55, 1886)

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All the policy in the world cannot save us from a terrible sifting, and all the efforts made with high authorities will not lift from us the scourging of God, just because sin is cherished. If as a people [those who profess to be the people of Revelation 12:17] we do not keep ourselves in the faith and not only advocate with pen and voice the commandments of God, but keep them every one, not violating a single precept knowingly, then weakness and ruin will come upon us.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, 323.

Notice, this statement says that ruin can come upon those who profess to be the Seventh-day Adventist Church, if we do not “as a people” keep the commandments.

The same concept, in different words, states: “All the struggles to carry our appeals to the highest authorities in our land, however earnest and strong and eloquent may be the pleas in our favor, will not bring about that which we desire unless the Lord works by His Holy Spirit in the heart of those who claim to believe the truth. We may struggle as a mighty man in swimming against the current of Niagara, but we shall fail unless the Lord pleads in our behalf.” Ibid.

The following situation is prophesied (in the next sentences):

  1. We are to wait for orders from God.
  2. Nations will be stirred to their very center.
  3. There will be national laws to exalt Sunday as a day of worship.
  4. Support will be withdrawn from those who proclaim the message about the true Sabbath.
  5. These individuals (#4 above) will feel the oppressive power of both popery and the Protestant world.
  6. Satan will work deceptive miracles.
  7. Satan will set up his power as supreme. (You will either have to bow to Sunday laws or be cut off.)
  8. It is in this context that the church may appear as about to fall. The reason that it will appear to fall is because the number of people professing the Adventist faith will be so drastically reduced that it will appear that it is going to cease to exist.

“An apostate church will unite with the powers of earth and hell to place upon the forehead or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and prevail upon the children of God to worship the beast and his image. They will seek to compel them to renounce their allegiance to God’s law, and yield homage to the papacy. Then will come the times which will try men’s souls; for the confederacy of apostasy will demand that the loyal subjects of God shall renounce the law of Jehovah, and repudiate the truth of His word. Then will the gold be separated from the dross, and it will be made apparent who are the godly, who are loyal and true, and who are the disloyal, the dross and the tinsel. What clouds of chaff will then be borne away by the fan of God! Where now our eyes can discover only rich floors of wheat, will be chaff blown away with the fan of God. Every one who is not centered in Christ will fail to stand the test and ordeal of that day. . . . Those who have been self-distrustful, who have been so circumstanced that they have not dared to face stigma and reproach, will at last openly declare themselves for Christ and His law; while many who have appeared to be flourishing trees, but who have borne no fruit, will go with the multitude to do evil, and will receive the mark of apostasy in the forehead or in the hand.” Review and Herald, November 8, 1892.