Is It Time to Give Up Milk?

Many years ago we understood that animal products like milk could be wholesome additions to our diet if used in small amounts at a time. As Seventh-day Adventists we also had read from the writings of Ellen G. While that we should anticipate a day to come that we could no longer do that with any assurance of safety. We were warned in 1902 “that the time will soon come when there will be no safety in using eggs, milk, cream, or butter, because disease in animals is increasing in proportion to the wickedness among men.” Counsels on Diets and Foods, 356. 1902 was a long time ago and the world is certainly more wicked than in that time. That day has come! The diseases in animals have become very widespread and so intense that they have begun to pose a serious threat to humans. Scientists have always proclaimed that it was impossible for many diseases to cross the specie lines from animals to man. It appears now that long held belief does not always hold true.

Diseases now are being transmitted across specie lines in two categories: prion diseases and retro-virus caused diseases. Prions still are not totally understood. We are not sure exactly how they act in transmitting disease but researchers have found positive correlations between their presence of the transmission of at least one disease; that of BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in animals and the occurrence of CJD (Creutzfeld Jacob) disease in humans. BSE is more commonly known as the “mad cow disease.” Prions are simple protein molecules and how they could transmit disease is not yet understood. What is understood is that neither cooking or even pasteurization can kill or inactivate them. In fact, research has proven that they can survive 300 degrees centigrade for extended periods of time. This temperature would reduce the meat or milk to carbon or ash but the prion would still be quite intact! There is no safety in ingesting any form of animal products, even cheese and gelatin. The makers of gelatin maintain that they have so processed the animal product that it has now become a pure chemical and could not therefore cause disease. Those who have examined the technique they utilize in processing have seen that the prion can easily survive all six of their procedures.

A second category of disease transmission involves the retro-viruses. This new family of viruses poses an even greater danger to humans than even the prion. A retro-virus has the ability to incorporate itself in to one’s genetic makeup. That is to say that it actually becomes part of the host. The virus now becomes basically immune to all the weapons of the human immune system because the body does not recognize it as being foreign. The only way to totally eradicate the viruses is to kill it’s host! Lets avoid these viruses at all cost. Some of the diseases caused by retro viruses are HIV, BPV, BLV, and BIV. BPV or Bovine Papilloma Virus, a disease associated with cancerous tumors in cattle, has been isolated in commercially prepared milk available in retail outlets as long ago as 1979. It appears that as SDA’s we should have seen the light on discontinuing these food sources long ago. In the United States it is estimated that up to 80% of the commercial dairy herd may carry BLV or Bovine Leukemia Virus. This disease can be transmitted from the infected lymphocytes of a diseased animal since milk is made up largely from lymphocytes it seems very prudent to avoid milk at any cost. There is evidence that it is very possible for infected lymphocytes to cross the intestinal membrane barrier and enter the blood stream in a virulent state. Also there is no guarantee that the genetic information of the retros is deactivated by pasteurization. Even though the active virus may have been “killed” by the heat, the particle can still be absorbed by the intestines. It is entirely possible that the genetic information from the particle may still be incorporated into the human. It is estimated that 40% of the dairy herd may be infected with BIV or Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus. BIV is the Bovine counterpart of the human HIV, the virus that eventually turns into AIDS. One very startling discovery is that HIV and BIV have common genetic material: the “Trans-activating gene” or more commonly called a Ta T gene. The reason this is so frightening is that even though humans may not be susceptible directly to BIV, the BIV Ta T gene may be able to trans-activate or trigger latent HIV particles in the human and indirectly cause HIV in humans. Some medical researches feel that many more humans than is presently imagined are carrying either latent or deactivated HIV viral particles in their bodies that their immune system has been successful in controlling. With sufficient dietary “doses” of BIV infected foods, these latent particles have an excellent possibility of being activated and the human host developing a full blown case of AIDS. Tests with chimpanzees which have similar anatomical and physiological make up as humans have clearly demonstrated how real this possibility is.

These things may sound quite frightening, but we must remember that God so loves us that He gave us warnings in advance so that we would be able to avoid these diseases by simply not eating those things that are no longer safe. In Romans 1:17 we are told that “the just shall live by faith.” Those who survive the end times will have to be so full of faith in God’s wisdom that they will accept His directions for every aspect of life

Destruction of the French Protestants

“Henry IV had adjured his mother’s faith, in the hope of thereby purchasing from Rome the sure tenure of his crown and the peaceful possession of his kingdom. He fancied that he had got what he bargained for; and being, as he supposed, firmly seated on the throne, he was making prodigious efforts to lift France out of the abyss in which he had found her.” Wylie 309, 310. The so called “civil wars” which were in fact crusades by the government against the Protestants, had left the nation scarred. Henry IV had gone far to efface these frightful traces and to rid the nation of debt. He had, however, also formed political alliances with Protestant nations and was preparing to go to war against the House of Austria, a strong Catholic force. “His heretical foreign policy excited a suspicion that although he was outwardly a Roman Catholic, he was at heart a Huguenot. In a moment, a Hand was stretched forth from the darkness, and all was changed.” Ibid. The dagger of Ravaillac, the monk, brought him and his policy to an end.

His eight year old son, Louis XIII, succeeded him on the throne and Parliament immediately made his mother, Maria de Medici, regent. “Maria de Medici lacked the talent of her famous predecessor, Catherine de Medici, but she possessed all her treachery, bigotry, and baseness. She was a profound believer in witchcraft, and guided the vessel of the State by her astrological calculations. When divination failed her she had recourse to the advice of the Pope’s nuncio, of the Spanish ambassador, and of Concini, a man of obscure birth from her native city of Florence.” Ibid., When Louis XIII grew a few years older he hoped to break his bonds, so he banished his mother to Blois and hired assassins to rid him of Concini. Soon he was under the influence of a favorite, equally worthless. With the court caught up in intrigue and blood, the nobles retired to their estates and lived like independent kings and awaited the civil broils yet to come on their unhappy land.

Evil Tidings

There were many signs to warn the Huguenot of the sure approach of evil times. One was the reversal of the foreign policy of Henry IV. Louis XIII disconnected himself from his father’s allies, and joined himself to his father’ enemies by a double marriage. He took the hand of the Spanish Infanta and his sister he offered to the Prince of Austria. This renewed influence of Rome and Spain, once more in France, boded of persecution and war, and some reported that the price of this double alliance was the suppression of heresy.

The court continued to speak soft words to the Protestants but the priests wanted all of the rights gained by the Edict of Nantes to be abrogated one by one. There were still voices calling for toleration, but the clergy was ever reminding those who voiced such opinions that the king had taken an oath to exterminate heretics. Parliament was told that “all treaties sworn to the Huguenot were provisional; in other words, that it was the duty of Government always to persecute and slay Protestants, except in one case—namely, when it was not able to do it.” Ibid., 311.

War was not long in coming. First the king placed himself at the head of an army whose mission was to retake the territory of Lower Navarre and Bearn in the mountains of the Pyrenees, the hereditary kingdom of Jeanne dAlbret. This kingdom was one of the most flourishing in all of Christendom and was nine-tenths Protestant. A decree was issued giving all of the ecclesiastical property to the Romish clergy. The Jesuit Arnoux, the King’s confessor, reasoned that since this property belonged to God it could not be lawfully held by any but his priests. The Bearnese were not silent but the King’s army forced their submission to the reestablishment of the Popish religion by use of the cudgel, the dagger and a multitude of violences. This was the first of the dragonnades which were repeated afterwards in France at large.

The Protestant now divided France into eight circles and appointed a governor over each with the power to impose taxes, raise armies, and engage in battle. The majority, however, opposed hostilities and determined to fight only in self-defense. The pope and cardinals came to the King’s aid with 1,400,000 crowns to defray war expenses. In the battles that followed, the king was very successful. The Protestants lost all but two of their cautionary towns: La Rochelle and Montauban.

Cardinal Richelieu

The queen-mother introduced Cardinal Richelieu to the council-table of her son and the cardinal quickly rose to the top place. “He put down every rival, became the master of his sovereign, and governed France as he pleased.” Ibid., 316. He was a man of great schemes with genius and activity to carry them out. He resolved to make the throne a greater power in France and to break the power of the nobles. He also sought to reduce the Austrian power and was dear to the anger and alarm his policy awakened in Rome. But he felt that before he could accomplish any of these projects he must first subdue the Huguenot, for their political rights were an obstacle in his path.

He determined to strike a fatal blow at La Rochelle. He saw this city as a symbol of the political and religious power of the Huguenot. Richelieu raised vast land and naval armaments and besieged the city in 1627. He raised a dike to close the channel to the sea and prevent help from that route. Attempts by the Duke of Rohan to raise an army of Huguenot to come to the aid of their brethren in La Rochelle fell on deaf ears. After fifteen months of siege, with two-thirds of the population dead from starvation and battle, the city surrendered. The Huguenot fell as a political power in France. All ancient privileges were annulled. Cardinal Richelieu put off his armaments, washed his hands and sang the first mass to reestablish the Roman Catholic religion in the city.

The Roman Catholic nobles had assisted Richelieu in putting down the Huguenot. Now they found that they had cleared the way for their own suppression. “It was the design of God to humble one class of his enemies by the instrumentality of another, and so Richielieu prospered in all he undertook. He weakened the emperor; he mightily raised the prestige of the French arms, and he made the throne the one power in the kingdom.” Ibid., 320 Having succeeded in all of his goals and having triumphed over all attempts to end his life by assassination, he held power until his death. “The cardinal first, and six months after, the king, were both stricken, in the mid-time of their days and in the height of their career. They returned to their dust, and that day their thoughts perished.” Ibid.

“We have now arrived at the end of the religious wars. What has France gained by her vast expenditure of blood and treasure? Peace? No; despotism. The close of the reign of Louis XIII shows us the nobles and the mob crushed in their turn, and the throne rising in autocratic supremacy above all rights and classes. One class, however, is exempted from the general serfdom. The Church shares the triumph of the throne. The hand of a priest has been laid upon the helm of the State, and the king and the clergy together sway the destinies of a prostrate people. This ill-omened alliance is destined to continue—for, though one cardinal minister is dead, another is about to take his place—and the tyranny which has grown out of it is destined to go on, adding year by year to its own prerogatives and the people’s burdens, until its existence and exactions shall terminate together by the arrival of the Revolution, which will mingle all four—the throne, the priesthood, the aristocracy, and the commonality—in one common ruin.” Ibid.

Cardinal Mazarin

Louis XIV, a child of four and a half years, is now king. His mother, Anne of Austria is sole regent and she calls upon Richelieu’s disciple Cardinal Mazarin to aid as prime minister. His work was to keep all that Richelieu had won and this was no easy matter. “Extravagance created debts; debts necessitated new taxes; the taxes were felt to be grievous burdens by the people. First murmurs were heard; then, finally, insurrection broke out.” Ibid., 321. In this War of the Fronde, the nobles and the mob were not successful in throwing off the yoke, however, the troubles of the country were a shield for a time over the small remnant of Protestantism which had been spared in France.

Shut out from political activity, the Protestants transferred their talents and activity to the pursuits of agriculture, of trade, and of manufactures where they excelled. In agriculture the crops of the Huguenot seemed to produce seven fold, in manufacture their craft and skill made them superior, in trade their honesty, especially in contrast to the doubtful integrity of the Catholics, placed almost all foreign trade in their hands. Protestants took a foremost place among the learned physicians, the great lawyers, and the illustrious orators of France. As a religious body, they were under constant threat of extermination and so their courage and zeal for building up their churches was weak. They were weak. Despite spiritual decay in French Protestantism as a whole, there were still individual Protestants whose names and labors drew the attention of Europe and French Protestant literature blossomed in the stormy seventeenth century.

Mazarin succeeded in war, not only against his own citizens but also in war against Spain and Austria, humbling both and transferring to France their political and military preponderance. It is interesting to note “that two princes of the Roman Catholic Church were employed in weakening a power which was the main support of that Church, and in paving the way for that great Revolution which was to reverse the position of all the kingdoms of Europe, striping the Papal nations of their power, and lifting up the Protestant kingdoms to supremacy.” Ibid., 327. Mazarin prospered in his plans but like Richelieu he died before he could enjoy the fruits of his anxious labors.

Louis XIV

When the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV, who had been on the throne for eighteen years, now began to govern. He told his ministers that they were to give council only and he would reign as he pleased. Seldom has a monarch had more power. His own well-known words express it— “The State, it is I.” He was the sole master of the rights, liberties, and consciences of his subjects. His reign would be either a source of blessing or of far-reaching misery.

“The error of Louis XIV, as a man, was his love of pleasure. He lived in open and unrestrained licentiousness. This laid him at the feet of his confessor, and sank him into a viler vassalage than that of the meanest vassal in all his dominions. The ‘Great’ Louis, the master of a mighty kingdom, whose will was law to the millions who called him their sovereign, trembled before a man with a shaven crown. From the feet of his confessor he went straight to the commission of new sins; from these he came back to the priest, who was ready with fresh penances, which, alas! Were but sins in a more hideous form. A more miserable and dreadful life there never was. Guilt was piled upon guilt, remorse upon remorse, till at length life was passed, and the great reckoning was in view.” Ibid., 327.

Since the penances imposed by the King’s confessor often involved treachery against the Protestants, conditions of the Huguenot became worse from the moment Mazarin breathed his last and Louis XIV began to reign. Throughout his reign his policy toward the Protestants was to work toward their extinction and to revoke the Edict of Nantes. His first act in this line was to send out commissioners two by two—one Protestant and one Catholic—into all of the provinces to hear grievances and settle quarrels. In every case they found for the Catholics and against the Protestants. Next came a decree against “Relapsed Heretics.” This enabled the state to seize and bring to tribunals any person who entered a Protestant church if they had ever at any time in their life had any relationship with the Catholic church or given any suspicion of having leanings toward Catholicism. Other ordinances authorized a priest and a magistrate to visit every dying person and urge them to join Catholicism on their death bed. Children could adjure Protestantism at the age of seven and their parents were required to pay for their maintenance under a Catholic roof. Spies haunted Protestant sermons and any minister who spoke a word against the Virgin or any saint was indicted for blasphemy. Protestants were excluded from all public office and from the practice of law or medicine and in fact from all of the professions. They were forbidden to sing psalms nor could they bury their dead except before dawn and at the edge of night and not more than ten mourners could attend a burial. But the priests declared that more must be done to cause this “formidable monster of heresy to expire completely.” Under this tyranny Protestants began to flee from their native land.

Persecutions heightened. New ordinances and arrests struck the Protestants. Protestants could only print books with permission; worship had to be suspended if a bishop was visiting; their domestic privacy was invaded and parental rights were violated; their temples were demolished. “But perhaps the most extraordinary means employed was the creation of a fund for the purchase of conscience.” Pellison, a former Calvinist, was in charge of this office which had clerks and books and “daily published lists of articles purchased, these articles being the bodies and souls of men…The daily lists of adjurations amounted to many hundreds; but those who closely examined the names said that the majority were knaves, or persons who, finding conversion profitable, thought it not enough to be once, but a dozen times converted.” Ibid., 329

“Louis XIV was now verging on old age, but his bigotry grew with his years…No fitter tool than Louis XIV could the Jesuits have found. His Spanish mother had educated him not to hesitate at scruples, but to go forward without compunction to the perpetration of enormous crimes.” He now fell under the influence of Madame de Maintenon the granddaughter of the Protestant historian Agrippa d’Aubigne and a former Calvinist. The king secretly married her after his queen died and she and Father la Chaise, his confessor, became counselors and partners in deeds of tyranny and blood that brought further darkness and horror over the life of the king. “It was deemed bad economy, perhaps, to do with money what could be done by the sword. Accordingly the dragonnades were now set on foot.” A regiment of cavalry was sent into each province and the majority of the soldiers were quartered in Protestant homes where they were given permission to carry out any type of horror short of killing the family. “The details must be suppressed; they are too horrible to read…Thousands rose to flee from a land where nothing awaited them but misery. The court attempted to arrest the fugitives by threatening them with the galleys for life. The exodus continued despite this terrible law.” Ibid., 329

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes

“Everywhere there was a Reign of Terror; and the populace, entirely in the hands of ruffians, who, if they forbore to kill, did so that they might practice excruciating and often unnamable tortures upon their victims, now came in crowds to the priests to adjure. ‘Not a post arrives,’ wrote Madame deMaintenon, in September, 1685, ‘without bringing tidings that fill him [the king] with joy; the conversions take place every day by the thousands.’ Twenty thousand adjured in Bearn, sixty thousand in the two dioceses of Nimes and Montpelier: and while this horrible persecution went on the Edict of Nantes was still law…

“The king, on the 18th of October, 1685, signed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Revocation swept away all rights and liberties which Henry IV and Louis XIII had solemnly guaranteed to the Protestants.” Ibid., 332 The execution of the edict began immediately.

“The Protestants amounted to between one and two million; their factories and workshops were to be found in nearly all parts of France; their commerce and merchandise upheld its great cities, their energy and enterprise were the life of the nation; and to be all at once flung beyond the pale of law, beyond the pale of humanity! They were stupefied. Their churches were laid in ruins and everywhere “booted apostles” scoured the land carrying on the work of “converting” as Louis XIV reasoned, “for had not the Saviour said, ‘Compel them to come in?’ ” Ibid., 333

One clause of the Revocation demanded that all Protestant pastors leave the country while another made it a death penalty for a layman to flee. “The frontiers were jealously guarded; sentinels were placed at all the great outlets of the kingdom; numerous spies kept watch at the seaports; officers patrolled the shore; and ships of war hovered off the coast to prevent escape.” Ibid., 334. But despite all of these efforts it is estimated that upwards of one half a million Protestants emigrated. Nearly every country in Europe became their refuge with England, Holland and Germany receiving the largest numbers. “The Duke of Saint Simon says in his Memoirs that all branches of trade were ruined, and that a quarter of the kingdom was perceptibly depopulated.” Ibid., 335. “In short, not an art was cultivated, not a trade was carried on in France which did not suffer from this blow; not a province was there where the blight it had inflicted was not to be seen in villages half-depopulated, in habitations deserted, in fields lying unploughed, and in gardens and vineyards overgrown with weeds and abandoned to desolation.” Ibid., 336. The fleets of foreign ships all but disappeared as the trade of the Protestants took this foreign trade and wealth to the lands where they fled.

By this act Louis XIV drove away the genius and learning, the art and glory of his realm, and scattered it among the nations of Europe. He did more to weaken France than all that Richelieu and Mazarin had done to strengthen her and in this his folly is as conspicuous and as stupendous as his wickedness. It was not alone in France that the effect of the Revolution worked against those who had invoked it. “It was the treachery and cruelty of the Revocation that, above most things, aroused the Protestant spirit of Europe, and brought about that great Revolution which, three short years afterwards, placed William of Orange on the throne of Great Britain.” Ibid., 338.

The Prisons and the Galleys

The sincerity of the conversions of the “New Catholics” was seriously doubted by the Jesuits even though they loudly boasted publicly of their successes. So, new ordinances were enjoined requiring frequent examination of those who have adjured their Protestantism. There proved to be an insufficient number of priests to perform this task, so Capuchins were called upon to instruct the new converts. These men proved to be so ignorant that a mere youth could silence them. “To gorss ignorance they not infrequently added a debauched life, and in the case of Protestants of riper years, their approach awakened only disgust, and their teaching had no other effect on those to whom they were given, than to deepen their aversion to a Church which employed them a her ministers.” Ibid., 339

“When the first stunning shock of the edict had spent itself, there came a recoil. The more closely ‘the new converts’ viewed the Church into which they had been driven, the stronger became their dislike of it. Shame and remorse for their apostasy began to burn within them.” Ibid. They began to desire their old religion again and so they withdrew from the cities in numbers and began to seek the mountain wildernesses and forests that they might practice their worship in the caves and on the tops of mountains. “There they promised one another to live and die in the Reformed faith.” Ibid.

When the king and his counselors learned of this, they were enraged. ” ‘Afterwards,’ says Quick, ‘they fell upon the persons of the Protestants, and there was no wickedness, though ever so horrid, which they did not put in practice, that thy might enforce them to change their religion…In Paris there was a desire to conceal from Louis the formidable proportions of the actual horrors. But in other parts of France no check was put upon the murderous passions, and the brutal lusts, and the plundering greed of the soldiery.” Ibid., 340. The prisons were filled with those who tried to escape and when there was not room to contain them they were shipped to Canada. If they survived the horrors of the trip they were sold into a slavery so cruel that in most cases they soon perished. “Those who were thus dragged from the pleasant fields of France, and put under the lash of barbarous taskmasters in a foreign land, were not the refuse of French society; on the contrary, they were the flower of the nation.” Ibid., 341. Others were sent into the galleys to suffer indescribable tortures. Hundreds suffered this fate. “It was not till 1775, in the beginning of Louis XVI’s reign, that the galleys released their two last Protestant prisoners.” Ibid., 343.

The Church in the Desert

The hidden churches were ministered to by men who had not received their training in any school or college but who had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. “More arrests, more dragoons, more sentences to the galleys, more scaffolds; such were the means by which they sought to crush the ‘Church of the Desert.’ ” When companies were found they were slaughtered. Exact lists of the massacred in different places included encounters where 300-400 old men, women and children were left dead upon the spot. “But no violence could stop these field-preachings. They grew ever larger in numbers, and ever more frequent in time, till at last, we are assured, it was nothing uncommon, in traversing the mountain-side or forest where they had met, to find, at every four paces, dead bodies dotting the sward, and corpses hanging suspended from the trees.” Ibid., 345. Years of persecution could not extinguish them. They continued though in chains. “At last, amid the clouds of sevenfold blackness, and the thunderings and lightenings of a righteous wrath, came the great Revolution, which with one strike of awful justice rent the fetters of the French Protestants, and smote into the dust the throne which had so long oppressed them.” Ibid., 347.

Children’s Corner — From Persecutor to Persecuted, part 3

The story up to this point: Until his teens, Philip was like many millions of children growing up in southern India. Then one day he was recruited by a radical political faction, the RSS, dedicated to eradicating all western influences from India. He became active in persecuting the local Christians when, shortly, he fell ill and developed crippling contractions of all his extremities. Every effort at finding the cure proved futile. Philip was devastated. A virtual beggar for six years, he contemplated suicide, but, at the last moment, backed out of drinking a bottle of poison. He turned to the gods of the Hindus, but they were unavailing, as was Allah of the Muslims. Finally, swallowing his pride, he went to the local Pentecostal church where the congregation prayed for him. Nothing happened then, but three months later, while praying alone in great agony of spirit, he heard a “divine” voice instructing him to “untie” his hands and let them down. Tremblingly he obeyed and was instantly cured. Shouting with joy, he jumped on a bicycle and rode home, then on to twenty-five surrounding villages, triumphantly proclaiming Jesus of the Christians, This caused a sensation and many Hindus acknowledged the true God. But his former political friends were enraged. Moved by a spirit from below, they served him an ultimatum to stop preaching Jesus or face death. Philip launched into an earnest appeal which touched the hearts of his enemies. They left him unhurt and rejoicing. The Devil retreated for awhile, but was not about to give up. His next strategy was to work through Philip’s parents. But the God of Heaven was looking after His own. The enemy of souls was about to suffer another crushing defeat.

Their attempt to kill Philip thwarted, the RSS leadership realized that another method to stop Philip from spreading Christianity had to be devised. They now turned to his parents, and with barely veiled threats coerced them into cooperation.

The elder Mr. Jagadeesan was a man of standing in the community. He was fairly wealthy by local standards and commanded much respect in the village. A staunch Hindu, he was an exemplary patron of the village temple, but his son’s conversion to Christianity was an acute embarrassment. Much as he rejoiced in the healing Philip experienced, he was nonplused by his determination to spread his new-found faith. Secretly, he wished he could learn more about his Jesus whom Philip was so enamored with, but his pride stood in the way. It would never do to let the world know he had leanings toward the foreign religion, so he covered it up with an outward bravado. He would protect his dignity at all costs. Thus when the RSS leadership strongly recommended that he rein Philip in, he was easily persuaded to comply. But he wanted to avoid offending Philip too, and decided to exercise great tact and wisdom.

“My son,” he called gently to Philip one day, “You say Jesus has healed you. I really don’t see anything wrong with that, but we’re facing a serious problem as a family. The RSS leadership is very upset that you’re preaching this Jesus to all the villages about. They have threatened to destroy us all if you don’t stop this activity. My own dignity and standing among the people are at stake. Let me suggest something. Why don’t you simply read your Bible at home, for my sake, don’t go to the different villages.”

Philip listened with head bowed respectfully. He felt a lump rising in his throat as the significance of his father’s words hit home. A titanic struggle was raging within his breast. He loved his family dearly. They were all so closely knit. It would be the greatest tragedy if anybody was hurt on account of what he was doing. He wanted so desperately to say, “Okay, Dad, I’ll do as you say.” And yet, how could he say it? Hadn’t he promised solemnly that he would proclaim the God who had healed him? But again, maybe Jesus would understand if he reneged this time. After all, it was too dangerous—not for himself, but for his beloved family. He would gladly suffer for the sake of Jesus, but why should his family face harm on his account?

Drawing aside the cosmic curtain, unseen and unsuspected by Philip and his father, one might have beheld a gripping scene, such as has been enacted innumerable times since Father Adam brought sin into the world, and arrested the attention of the unfallen universe. For a battle, as grim and terrible as any fought in the history of humankind, was in progress between the hosts of darkness and the legions of heaven. Back and forth the deadly conflict raged, depending on which direction Philip was leaning. Now the demonic forces under their evil commander appeared to succeed in engulfing him in doubt and despair. Now the white-clad angels of heaven thrust them back and restored peace and joy to his heart. Until at long last Philip made his final decision: He loved and respected his father, but he loved Jesus more. He would not disappoint his Saviour. Behind the invisible curtain one would now have seen the bright angels succeed in completely linking their arms about Philip, and heard a hallelujah song as the news of victory was transmitted across the expanse of the heavens from world to world.

Not wishing to hurt his father and appear rebellious, Philip made a noncommittal reply to the standoff. He knew deep in his heart that no human ties could ever stop him from carrying out the commission he had received form heaven. And in the days following he continued to slip out to the villages. Soon, however, the RSS got wind of his defiance and returned to ratchet up the pressure on is father.

The elder Jagadeesan was beside himself. What was he to do with Philip? He could not wish for a nicer son, but his activities were landing him in a heap of trouble. As he mused on what course to follow, a plan began to formulate in his mind. He would try one more time to appeal to Philip, and if he succeeded in stopping him from preaching, well, but if not, he would resort to a foolproof measure. This measure-of-last-resort, however, he could not divulge immediately.

The next time Philip was at home, his father again called him to himself. Then he did a most unbelievable, extraordinary thing—something in fact so rare in an Eastern patriarchal society as to be almost unheard of and probably to warrant newspaper headlines! He actually fell down on his knees and grasped Philip’s feet. “My beloved son,” He pleaded, “Have pity on your mother and me. Keep your religion to yourself, but please don’t go about preaching it. We will all perish at the hands of the RSS if you don’t listen.”

If Philip had a gargantuan struggle the first time, it was infinitely worse now. To see his dignified father humbling himself on the floor in such abject fashion was almost too much for him. He felt the lump rising in his throat again, his eyes misted over. He longed to relieve his father’s distress, but how could he do it without offending his God? If he could have looked with supernatural vision he would have noted the spiraling escalation in the conflict between the forces of good and evil over his soul. Reinforcements from both camps would have been seen rushing to aid their own sides. But Philip was riveted to the Rock, and nothing, not even his father’s agonized pleas, could shake him loose. The holy angels rejoiced at another victory.

Choked, but fighting to hold back his emotion, Philip bent over and picked his father off the floor. His hands were trembling. He tried to reassure his father that he would do all he could to preserve his honor and dignity, and to protect the family from harm. But he could not refrain from telling about his Savior who had showed such mercy to him.

The ensuing days were difficult for Philip, but his resolve was strong. Relying on divine help, he continued the preaching rounds of the villages. It was now that Father Jagadeesan decided the time had come to implement his measure-of-last-resort. He wished he didn’t have to do it, but his hand was being forced. More than mere human help was needed to change Philip’s mind. The cosmic contest was taking a decidedly more ominous turn.

A few days later, under the pretext of making a business trip, Mr. Jagadeesan left to visit the neighboring state of Kerala. He had heard of the mighty powers of the shamans (witch doctors) of that region. He intended enrolling the services of one of them to convince Philip of the error of his ways. After some haggling a price was agreed upon and Mr. Jagadeesan, with the shaman in tow, returned home. He chuckled to think of the surprised, perhaps frightened, look on Philip’s face when he would see their “guest.”

It was close to midday when the unlikely duo reached the village. The shaman lost no time in beckoning Philip to himself. The sooner he finished his job, the sooner he could collect his fees! Unloading his sack from his back, he proceeded to open it. The eyes of the onlookers nearly popped out of their heads as the articles of his trade were exposed. A human skull with empty eye sockets stared at them, grinning a hideous, toothy grin. An assortment of other human bones came to view too, as did a variety of animal horns, teeth, hair and nondescript body parts. A bottle containing a mysterious liquid added to the interesting mix. But the thing that caught the singular attention of Philip was a figurine approximately six inches tall. He could not recall ever seeing anything with such a horrible, malicious look on its face. He didn’t have to guess, he knew at once it was a representation of the Devil himself.

Drawing a circle about three feet in diameter, the shaman instructed Philip to sit cross-legged inside it near the top, while he arranged his charms in front. This done, he looked at Philip. “You have one last chance to decide that you will no longer preach Christianity,” he growled menacingly. “If you refuse, I will cast a spell on you and return you to your former crippled condition. Now make up your mind quickly.”

It was with some foreboding that Philip had watched his father come home in the company of the shaman. He felt his mouth go dry and his heart begin to race, but he gave no outward indication that he was afraid. He remembered his previous deliverances by One who was mightier than all the gods of the Hindus. Now sitting inside the sinister circle, facing the angry medicine man and his frightful charms, his response was to close his eyes. “O God,” he prayed silently, “You are the only true, living God. I am Your humble servant. This man is a fraud, a false prophet. He doesn’t know anything. Please come down and place Yourself between him and me.”

The shaman noted Philip’s response with scorn. But half afraid that he might cave in without the aid of his antics, he feigned impatience. He was anxious to demonstrate his invincible power so he could claim his reward. So without further ado, assuming correctly, that Philip’s silence was a refusal, he launched quickly into his carefully rehearsed routine. Renting the air with unintelligible incantations, he waved his arms in bizarre patterns with different objects in his hands by turn. The mysterious liquid he sprinkled over Philip and the charm on the floor. The family stood quietly around, keenly observing every detail of the proceedings, expecting any moment to see Philip’s hands and feet shrivel back into their previous withered condition. Philip remained statuesque.

For an hour the rigmarole continued unabated. But it was becoming apparent that something was not quite right. The shaman’s face was growing grimmer by the minute. Notwithstanding beads of sweat on his brow and running down his scraggly beard, his movements were becoming more energetic, the pitch of his voice more frenzied. It was clear he was doing his very best.

Another couple of hours dragged by with no hint that the gods were listening, much less acting. Now the shaman was beginning to show signs of tiring. He was not waving his arms as vigorously anymore. His voice was hoarse, body drenched in perspiration. The onlookers were growing restless. How long would this drama go on? Soon a new phenomenon became evident. The poor man began to break off in the middle of his chant to slap himself and scratch vigorously. Now it was his arms, now his belly, now his back and chest. A puzzled look came over him. Intermittently he began glancing around as if to make sure an escape route was still open. And now a nameless terror overwhelmed him. He stopped altogether.

“What’s the matter?” Mr. Jagadeesan was anxious. He wasn’t going to pay him for nothing.

“I don’t know,” the man replied in shocked disbelief. “There’s something wrong here. This fellow has a superior power. My charms are all dead, and I can’t explain this itch. I think it’s time to quit. Don’t worry about paying me, just please don’t tell anybody what happened here. I need to save my business.” So saying, he hurriedly gathered up his paraphernalia, slung the bundle onto his back and unceremoniously bolted out the door. The angels had battled mightily for four hours.

Once again Father Jagadeesan fell on his knees. “O my son,” he spoke with emotion. ‘Your God is the true God. Please pray for us. We want to follow Him too.”

This dramatic story of the Christian God was noised far and wide, bringing him praise and glory.

And Philip’s standing as His especially favored one was confirmed in the minds of the populace. Many former Hindus today can trace the beginnings of their conversion to this time when the God of heaven signally honored the faith of His humble servant. Amen.

Witnessing to People At the State Fair

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14. Jesus said that this gospel would be preached to all nations before He returned to receive His people to Himself. How is this to be accomplished? The Lord has given you and me the privilege to work for Him. He has called us to “cry out with a loud voice,” to “plead with the people,” and to present the “Third Angel’s Message.” He has asked us to tell his people to “come out of Babylon.” How can we accomplish this most sacred work for the Lord?

There are many avenues of witnessing. We can travel, do door to door evangelism, give Bible studies, feed the poor, visit the sick, be hospitable, preach, print books, give literature and magazines and much more. If we take advantage of our opportunities, if we listen to the guiding voice of the Holy Spirit, if we love Jesus more than ourselves, and if we love people more than ourselves, we will be looking for any opportunities to do the Lord’s work. A member of our church recently had back surgery. Most would not think of this as a witnessing opportunity. But God can turn even the worst situations into an opportunity. This gentleman was able to witness and even give whole Bible studies to nurses and patients in the hospital. He was only there three days and gave out many Spirit of Prophecy books and signed up several people for Bible studies through the mail. Is there anything impossible for God?

God is raising up a people for Himself, and a group of people who want to finish the work of getting out His last day message. Ellen White says, “If you are in communion with Christ, you will place His estimate upon men; you will feel for others the same anxiety, the same deep love that He has felt for you. Then you will be able to win, not drive, to attract, not repulse, the souls for whom Christ died.” She goes on to say, “Not one soul would ever have been brought back to the fold, if Christ had not made a personal effort to save that which was lost; and it is by this personal effort that you can rescue souls. If they stray, you will not, cannot rest in quiet indifference and ease. You will leave the ninety and nine that are within the fold, and will go out to seek the lost.” General Conference Bulletin, 23.

Leaves of Autumn

Last year we were looking for new avenues of witnessing. It was suggested that we secure a booth at the Kansas State Fair. Ellen White tells us that we should be represented at these kinds of events so we can spread God’s literature like the “leaves of autumn.” We were truly blessed both last year and this year by witnessing at the fair. The fair here in Kansas is a ten day event and there are always many exhibitors showing off their products and competing for the attention of the people. We were on the second floor of the commercial building and as you walk in the door and look up, you saw Steps to Life’s bright blue exhibit. It was the most outstanding booth in the building. Unlike the other exhibitors, we were not competing for the business of the people. On the contrary, we were giving away free books! As people passed by our booth, we would hold out a book and ask them, “Would you like a free book?” Most people are astounded that anyone would be giving away free books. As they passed by, they would often take either a book or a pamphlet and sometimes more than one. Last year, we featured the National Sunday Law as our give away book. This year, we featured two books: Who are the Angels and What’s Behind the New World Order? Both of these books are excerpts from The Great Controversy.

We found that more women liked the book on angels, and more men liked the book on the New World Order. We also found out that less people came to the fair this year than last, yet we were able to give away more books. Praise God. Let me give you a list of the books we gave away. You will be amazed. First, there were 7500 What’s Behind the New World Order and over 6000 Who are the Angels. We also gave out 600 National Sunday Law books, 1210 Steps to Christ for a Sanctified Life, 200 Why Protestants, Why Catholic (which is the same book as the New World Order book with a different title), 200 How to Quit Smoking, 100 How to Keep the Sabbath, 100 Uncertainty of Life, 400 8 Laws of Good Health, 1500 Wake Up to Wellness, 2000 Eat for Strength. (These three pamphlets were about God’s 8 laws of health and the harm that meat, caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco can have on the body.)

Health—Entering Wedge

Many people today are interested in good health. They are hungering for anything that will help them take off weight, avoid illnesses, and give them a better quality of life. We see in today’s world that God is able to use our health message to reach people for Christ. It is truly the right arm of the gospel. Many people want to quit smoking but are just not strong enough to overcome. Can you relate to not being strong enough of yourself to overcome sin? Jesus is strong enough, though. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Philippians 4:13. Through our love for others, we can help them to find God’s answers to the dilemmas they face. The theme of our booth was the 8 Laws of Health. We listed them on our blue background in an easy to remember order. It spelled NEW START; Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sunshine, Temperance, Air, Rest, Trust, in Divine Power. We even talked to many people about vegetarianism. Some were so interested that they bought Country Life cookbooks. Of course, as we presented healthy living to them, we also talked to them about God’s plan for their lives.

We saw many people at the fair this year that we saw last year. One was an exhibitor who was very interested in the National Sunday Law book. When she saw that we were back out at the fair again this year, she rushed down to our booth to see if she could acquire three more National Sunday Law books. She said she had people who had to read this book. Her name was Virginia. Virginia also told us that she had been talking to her daughter about the Sabbath and on what day the Sabbath fell upon. Her daughter said it wasn’t Saturday, so Virginia told her to read the National Sunday Law book. After reading this book, her daughter decided to do some investigative work to prove it all wrong or right. She later came back and told her mother, “You know, Mom, you were right!” Then she went to work and started telling all her coworkers about the Sabbath. Praise God!

We also met another lady who had been at the fair last year and she also had read the National Sunday Law book. She was convicted on the truth and when she saw us at the fair this year, she came over to get more of our books. She told us that she believed the truth and wanted to keep the Sabbath. She said that when she had read the book, she went to talk to her pastor to get some answers, but her pastor could not give her any good rebuttals to the truth she had learned. The devil can not do anything against the truth of God. She told us that she had recently moved to Iowa and wanted to know if we knew of any home churches. Do we ever! We are setting her up with a home church in Iowa so that she can worship with God’s true Seventh-day Adventist people.

Our very first day at the fair was very exciting. We were passing out books left and right. Suddenly, two gentlemen came up to me and started talking to us about God. They were very enthusiastic about following Jesus the way He said to follow Him. We talked about overcoming sin and that this is why we need the Holy Spirit in our lives. They agreed and said today most people do not believe you can overcome sin. Then one of the men asked me to tell him on what day the Sabbath fell.

I said, “What does the Bible say?”

He said, “The Bible tells me it is the seventh day, which would be Saturday.”

“That’s right,” I said. He was amazed.

He said that we were the first people he has met that agree with him. He then asked “When does it start and end?”

I said, “What does the Bible say?”

He said, “The Bible tells me that it starts from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.”

“That is correct,” I said.

“You mean you believe that too?” he said.

“Yes, we believe in only what the Bible says. We go by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” I said.

As we talked further, I found that he had learned all this from studying his Bible and searching for the truth. He told me that they had no where to worship God and did not know of anyone who believed as he did. I discussed starting a home church in his area. He is very excited about the home church idea and wants to learn how to keep the Sabbath properly. He has even offered to let us use a small warehouse which he is building for his company to worship in. God is wonderful!

High School Students

We had many high school students at the fair and some were there not solely for fun. Some had school projects, and they were working on customer service. We found this out as they came by our booth and loaded up on books and pamphlets. They said they were looking for bad customer service and we were not it. As they went from booth to booth, we saw one student earnestly reading What’s Behind the New World Order. He was sitting directly opposite our booth at a rest area. We continued to pass out books and talk to people, periodically looking over to where this young man was sitting. He must have read half that book before he moved on, because he sat there for a very long time. We could tell that this young man was going to have more than customer service stories to share with friends and family.

Of course, there is always a down side to every effort to do Gods’ work. Satan is out to discourage and destroy the people of God and all who would listen to them. This should not dishearten us, though. God’s people triumph in the face of adversity. When you pass out free literature, you must expect some people to take the books and throw them away. Pastor Marcussen calls his National Sunday Law books little preachers. I agree with this analogy when speaking of literature that leads people to the truth. When people threw these books at the fair, it was like shooting these poor little preachers. But God is merciful. Periodically, we would send out our medics and nurses to check the trash cans and retrieve the wounded little preachers.

Some had been destroyed, but a lot were just wounded and after retrieval and revival, we sent these little books back out to fight the battle against the powers of darkness. One man read the New World Order book and was furious. We watched as he climbed the stairs, rounded the corner, then the second corner, then to our booth and said “This is what I think of you and your book.” He ripped it in half and threw it in the trash can in front of our booth. He then stormed off looking very pleased with himself. But I think we had more people take the books after his big show. They probably were interested to find out why he was so upset. The children who helped at our booth were a big help handing out literature and checking trash cans. These little helpers of God were not too proud to go and retrieve these little books. Remember Virginia that I told you about earlier? Her booth was at a very strategic corner where people would throw away their books. She was helping with our booth by retrieving books thrown away in her trash can. Does God have everything planned out?

The Lord wants to use each one of us to complete His work, but we need to listen to that still small voice which is the Holy Spirit. One morning as I was getting the booth ready, I had sat down to d o some morning devotions. As I was reading, I was impressed by the Holy Spirit. I looked downstairs and saw a girl who was running a horoscope booth. I was impressed that I should go down and give her a book. So I picked out a book and some pamphlets, and I went downstairs, walked up to her and said, “Hi. I was upstairs doing my devotions and the Lord impressed me that I should give these books to you. I hope you will enjoy them.” She said thank you, and I walked off. That was the last time I saw her at the booth. I do not know if she read the books or what the Lord is doing in her life. I do know that she did not sell horoscopes anymore. God knows the hearts of the people. We need to just follow his guiding hand and listen to the urging of His Spirit.

Call Now for Next Year

“The harvest truly, is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Luke 10:2. God wants all to be laborers for His harvest. There are many people who will be saved if we love them enough to give them this message. The state fair in your area is a great way to reach people with His last day message. You will need to get in contact with your state fair as soon as possible. They fill up booth spaces very quickly. Remember, time is growing short. Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:2-5: “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrines, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned away to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” There will come a time when people will no longer listen to God’s last day messages. We are responsible for the people we know and will have to answer for those who we did not love enough to give them the message. The fair is a great way to meet people and to present God’s message. I encourage you, reader, and your church to actively get involved in witnessing. We at Steps to Life want to help you to get God’s Three Angels’ Messages out to the world. Let us know how we can help.

Food For Life — November 1996

Happy Thanksgiving! Have we not a great deal to be thankful for this past year? It hardly seems possible that a year has passed since I wished you a happy 1995 Holiday! And now it is 1996 about to end! Surely we all have a multitude to thank God for!

“Disease never comes without a cause. The way is prepared, and disease invited, by disregard of the laws of health. Many suffer in consequence of the transgression of their parents. While they are not responsible for what their parents have done, it is nevertheless their duty to ascertain what are and what are not violations of the laws of health. They should avoid the wrong habits of their parents and, by correct living, place themselves in better conditions.

“The greater number, however, suffer because of their own wrong course of action. They disregard the principles of health by their wrong habits of eating, drinking, dressing, and working. Their transgression of nature’s laws produces the sure result; and when sickness comes upon them, many do not credit their suffering to the true cause, but murmur against God because of their afflictions. But God is not responsible for the suffering that follows disregard of natural law.

“God has endowed us with a certain amount of vital force. He has also formed us with organs suited to maintain the various functions of life, and He designs that terse organs shall work together in harmony. If we carefully preserve the life force, and keep the delicate mechanism of the body in order, the result is health; but if the vital force is too rapidly exhausted, the nervous system borrows power for present use from its resources of strength, and when one organ is injured, all are affected. Nature bears much abuse without apparent resistance; she then arouses, and makes a determined effort to remove the effects of the ill-treatment she has suffered. Her effort to correct these conditions is often manifest in fever and various other forms of sickness…

“Intemperate eating is often the cause of sickness, and what nature most needs is to be relieved of the undue burden that has been placed upon her…An abstemious diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.

“Some make themselves sick by overwork. For these, rest, freedom from care, and a spare diet, are essential to restoration of health. To those who are brain weary and nervous because of continual labor and close confinement, a visit to the country, where they can live a simple, carefree life, coming in close contact with the things of nature, will be most helpful. Roaming through the fields and the woods, picking the flowers, listening to the songs of the birds, will do far more than any other agency toward their recovery.” Ministry of Healing, 234-237


November Recipe:

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 Cup Cashew Pieces

2 Tbs. Coriander Powder

1 Cup Date Rolls or Pieces

¼ tsp. Cardamom Powder

½ tsp. Sea Salt

1& 2/3 Cups Cashew Milk

1 Tbs. Vanilla (alcohol free)

Blend the thoroughly mixed above ingredients with 1 16 oz. can of Libby’s Pumpkin. Stir well, and pour into ice cube trays and freeze. When ready to eat, put through the Champion Juicer for delicious, home-made ice cream.

Man Made Tests

I am sorry indeed to hear that you have been passing through trials caused by any who claim to believe the truth.

God does not lead any man to advocate such actions as praying with eyes open. We have not a particle of evidence that this was done by the disciples of Christ.

Removing the shoes from the feet when entering the house of worship is not a duty required of us. Anciently those who ministered in sacred office were required, upon entering the sanctuary of God, to remove their sandals, and wash their feet on which dust has accumulated. But there is not the least occasion for this to be done now.
If those who claim to believe the sacred truth for this time should go back to the practice of the ceremonial observances required from the Jews, what kind of a representation would be made before angels and before men?

We should use the utmost care to cleanse every corner of the heart from sin. Those who, in the place of cleansing the soul-temple, perform outward ceremonies, thinking that these will recommend them to God, will find themselves enshrouded in spiritual darkness, even as were the Jews.
To ensure cleanliness God required many ceremonies from ancient Israel. These ceremonies were to illustrate the necessity of carefulness in all their actions, that they might be preserved from all the impurity that it was possible for them to avoid. But these outward ceremonies have not the least bearing upon the people of God at this time. When Christ, our Sin-bearer, died upon the cross, these ceremonies lost their force; for in His death type met antitype.

Those who present such tests to the people of God today only confuse the mind. They put outward performances in the place of the precious truth, making works take the place of religion of heart and life.

God’s Great Tests

God has given a test to all the world. “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughtout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”

This is the Lord’s test. Let us not descend from it to man-made tests.

Grand Truths vs. Nonessential Fables

These weak productions, presented to the church for their instructions and practice, are the product of minds who need that one teach them the first principles of the gospel of Christ.

I have received from the Lord warnings to give to Seventh-day Adventist churches. He has instructed me that Satan is the inventor of unimportant, nonsensical fables, which he presents to human minds to eclipse the grand, elevating, purifying truths for this time. The enemy strives by these miserable inventions to lower the sacred principles of truth, to lead the mind away from health-giving truth to sham ceremonies.

Satan is not pleased when the people of God demonstrate the ennobling, elevating influence that pure truth has upon human minds. He is the author of the silly fables which some have been presenting. The cheap, weak tests which he leads men to advocate should not be received or tolerated in our churches.

Let Us Pray With Closed Eyes

It would seem that the ideas of believers praying with their eyes open, as though looking into heaven, is one of Satan’s cheap fables, and the taking off the shoes when entering the house of worship is another production of his. The Lord is not pleased when His people, who have received such grand, noble truths from His word, allow their minds to dwell on the weak, silly fables which have been presented to me for my opinion. These deceived souls are told that Sister White prays with her eyes open. No; Sister White closes her eyes when she prays, that with spiritual vision she may behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

By the exercise of faith we cleave the dark shadow which Satan throws across our pathway. He desires us to look upon discouraging, forbidding things, so that we shall not obtain clear views of God and eternal realities. Let us pray with closed eyes, seeing by faith the Saviour who knows our every weakness, our every necessity, and who helps our infirmities. “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as were are, yet without sin. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.”

As a people, we shall have to meet all classes of professed Christians. There will be those who will bring to the foundation a large amount of wood, hay, stubble, which will be consumed by the fires of the last day, and if they themselves are saved, it will be as by fire. Only by straightforward repentance and conversion can they be purified and made white and tried.

Take Heed to Yourselves

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Here is plainly shown the difficulties that will come into the church through men who are not satisfied to dwell upon the lessons given them by our Lord Jesus Christ, who are always seeking for something strange and odd, to present as new light which other men have overlooked. “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”

It has ever been the will of God that in all the cities of America Seventh-day Adventists should do a widespread missionary work. Churches should be built where every Sabbath the people may assemble to worship God and to hear the gospel. Earnest efforts should be made to do the work which should be done at the present time. The Scriptures are to be opened to all who comply with the invitation that the Lord sends to come and listen to the message the Lord sends to His people.
One man is not to suppose that his gift is so full and perfect that it will supply all the church requires. Every talent and every gift that God has set in the church is to be recognized and acknowledged, but great caution is to be exercised to prove all things and hold fast only that which is good.

Not Swayed by Every Wind of Doctrine

The fourth chapter of Ephesians contains instruction which we should all heed. After speaking of the need of unity, the apostle says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” To speak the truth in love means to walk in the truth, to practice the truth in the transactions of life, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, doing works which correspond to the elevating influence of the truth. It means to have a faith which works by love and purifies the soul, making us alive in Christ. It means to have in the soul the living water, which Christ gives and which springs up unto everlasting life.

Faithful ministers of the gospel are often made sorrowful by the conduct of those members of the church who do not help, but hinder them, making their work severe and taxing by bringing in strange things, which have no foundation in truth, but are a tissue of falsehood. These persons corrupt the word of God by mingling with it their human opinions, thus making the genuine testing truths for this time of none effect.

The office of minister of the gospel is one of high dignity. True gospel ministers are co-laborers with God in the faithful accomplishment of His great plan. As God’s messenger, they speak the truth in love. They are representatives of Christ, and though their work is often made very hard, yet God will sustain them against all criticism if they will be true to principle, whatever this may mean to them.
Letter 29, 1901. Manuscript Releases, Vol. 3, 55-60.

Dangers of Compromise

We need to have the story of Jesus written in our hearts. God has promised, under the new covenant, to write His law into our hearts and minds—our hearts representing our affections and our minds representing our intellectual aspects. We need to believe and to love His law and the story of Jesus, and it needs to be more dear and precious to us than life itself. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives to the death.” Revelation 12:11. We need to come to the place that we would give our life for Christ’s sake because we love Him that much, and we do not want anything to separate us from Him.

This was the experience Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had when they refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image. We also need that experience; for things are happening all around us—increase of crime, wars and rumors of wars, and the judgments upon the land. (See Matthew 24.) The United Sates is speaking like a dragon.

But, we are not to be fearful. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18 that perfect love casts out all fear. We need that perfect love to cast out all fear. There is a tendency to become frightened about what the Bible tells us is going to occur in the last days. It is comforting to know that Jesus is coming again soon to redeem us. But, the Bible also speaks of a “time of trouble,” which may not appear very comforting to us. It is natural for us to be afraid. “And you will hear of wars, and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Matthew 24:6. We are not to be troubled, or to fear, or have apprehension for the future, because we know that Christ will carry us through. If we are planted on the rock, nothing can shake us. We are to lift up our heads, because our redemption draws near.

“We have nothing to fear for the future except we forget how the Lord has led us in the past.” Life Sketches, 196. It is important that we remember the past, because what happened in the past is applicable to us today. “These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11. That is us. We must study history so that we will not be led astray in the future. It only makes sense that if someone else has gone through an experience that we are to go through, that we look and see how they handled it. It is well to learn from their mistakes, failures and success. We do not need to worry about the future if our soul is right with God.

Beware of Men

In Matthew 10:17-19, Jesus is speaking to His disciples when he sent out the twelve. He is telling them (as well as us) what they were going to encounter. He says, ” But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in the synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak.” These things happened over and over again. Many people have gone through these experiences. And we will face such things too. But we are not to be frightened, for Jesus will be with us.

During the Protestant Reformation, the Papacy tried many different tactics to destroy it. Persecution did not work, but one scheme was almost successful. If God had not intervened, the Protestant Reformation would have failed, because they were on the very verge of accepting the bait.

When Luther was brought before the diet, he boldly declared that nothing was going to shake him. He said, “Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me.” The diet was baffled. Here was one man, one lone monk with no backing, standing before all the great men of the empire, and they could not shake him. We need to stand as Luther, as the three worthies, and Daniel stood. We dare not swerve our allegiance to God.

Shortly after Luther’s experience came one of the grandest moments for the Protestant Reformation, namely the “Protest of the Princes.” Instead of one man standing before the diet, they had some of the most powerful princes in the empire; and they stood on the offensive, not on the defensive.

They had peace for a few years, but then came one of the most formidable obstacles to the Protestant Reformation—the Augsburg Diet in 1529 and 1530. The Elector and Princes were going to what seemed sure death. Their heads and morale were hanging low. It was then that Luther composed the song “A Mighty Fortress.” It was timely and uplifted their spirits. It would be well for us to memorize that song.

Charles V had come back. He had vanquished Italy, and he controlled almost all of Europe. The pope had given him the order, “Crush Lutheranism.” He marched up to Augsburg with that sole purpose. The princes and the Elector knew it was dangerous, but Luther encouraged them. He said, “Go ahead, confess Christ before the great men in this world.” The Papists met them with warm friendship. They were trying to get them to yield to compromise. But that did not work. Next, they threatened persecution and death. That did not work either. Then they tried the most successful inducement and the most to be feared. The Romans said, “OK, we’ll send three of our theologians and you send three of yours. We’ll try to come to an agreement.” This was the new and most formidable of the dangers. This plan almost crushed the Protestant Reformation.

Luther Begs to Be Excused

First, the Romanist party made amazing compromises and concessions. The Protestants put together a confession of twenty-one points. There were only three that the Protestants and Romanists were wrangling over. The Roman party made it appear that they had won the Reformation. They knew that if they could get the Protestants to yield once, they would eventually yield on everything. Unfortunately, the Protestants, agreed at first. But Luther, from his hideout, wrote letters. Let me read from one. “I learned that you have begun a marvelous work, namely, to reconcile Luther and the pope, but the pope will not be reconciled, and Luther begs to be excused.” The Reformation was saved. He knew that when they began to yield, they stepped off the platform to sure ruin. Yielding will always bring ruin. We cannot compromise.

Whenever the church has yielded to compromise, the result has always been a losing battle. The early church was pure in the days of the apostles, but they compromised, and now we have the Roman Catholic Church, which The Great Controversy says, is “The masterpiece of Satan.” Compromise is spiritual suicide on the installment plan. We cannot pull down the banner even a little bit. It may appear to look good, but it is not. That is what resulted in the dark ages. The Waldenses compromised and many lives were lost. The Bohemians compromised and their nation was bathed in blood. This sad history is for us to ponder.

We read from The Great Controversy, 607: “As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment keepers. They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and other rewards and advantages as inducements to renounce their faith. But, their steadfast answer is, ‘show us from the word of God our error,’ the same plea that was made by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their stand to keep all the commandments of God.” The early Christians let down the standard to convert pagans and it resulted in converting the church to paganism.

We too, are going to have to answer for our faith. We must stand firm. Our God is a mighty fortress. He will uphold us, and give us strength. We must say as Luther, “Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me.” The Great Controversy says that if Luther would have yielded in one point, Satan would have won the victory. Neither can we yield in one point.

Dare to be a Daniel

Daniel was thrown into the den of lions because he prayed with his windows open, as he always did. He did not compromise on one point, and God shut the lions mouths. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could have bowed down to tie their shoes. But that would have been compromising. They knew very will that it could result in their death, but they stood firm. Even though the “greatest” man in the world opposed them.

Their steadfast adherence to right converted Nebuchadnezzar. That is encouraging, if we stand for the right, souls may be converted. Before this, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were tested on the point of appetite. Because they stood firm on the word of God then, they were able to stand the more severe trials.

We must set our face as firm as a flint now, if we stand later. “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5. Right now we are deciding if we are going to stand as did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, or, if we are going to bow down as all the other Hebrews did. We are choosing under which banner we are going to be arraigned. We are either with Luther saying, “Here I stand. I can do no other,” or we are compromising.

Little Things

Some people excuse themselves saying, “God understands.” God does understand your situation, and He tells you in His word what you need to do. The devil is in the business of giving excuses, not God. We read in Romans 1:20, that we are all without excuse. There is no excuse if it goes against God’s word. Daniel and his three friends stood firm in the little things. Because they had proved faithful in that which was least, they could be trusted with that which was more. “What if Daniel and his companions had made a compromise with those heathen officers and had yielded to the pressure of the occasion by eating and drinking as was customary with the Babylonians? That single instance of departure from principle would have weakened their sense of right and their abhorrence of wrong. Indulgence of appetite would have involved the sacrifice of physical vigor, clearness of intellect, and spiritual power. One wrong step would probably have led to others until their connection with Heaven being severed, they would have been swept away by temptation.” Sanctified Life, 23. It is the little things in life that make up the sum of life’s big things.
Too many times we think that little things do not matter much. But, little choices set us on the path which we are going to take. When a tree is young, if you bend it, it will grow bent. There are some funny looking trees, because they were bent that way when they were saplings. By compromising in little things, we prepare ourselves to compromise in big things.

Compromise and indifference in a religious crisis is one of the sins that God hates the most. We cannot flatter ourselves that we will stand when we are forced by law to disregard the Sabbath, if we do not keep the Sabbath now. It’s not just in the Sabbath, it’s in everything of our lives. “It is the grossest presumption for mortal man to venture upon a compromise with the Almighty in order to secure his own petty temporal interest.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 249. God says what he means and He means what He says. Right now in the little things, we are determining our destination. “It is as ruthless a violation of the law to occasionally use the Sabbath for secular business as to entirely reject it, for it is making the Lord’s commandments a matter of convenience.” Ibid. It is just the same to compromise in any other point. It is the principle.

Solomon compromised. This was what led to his ruin. He knew that polygamy was against God’s law, but it was a very common practice. And the first wife he took, appeared to be converted, but eventually he set up an idol to another god, which he and his children worshipped—because he took one wrong step. If we, like Solomon, take that one wrong step down—it is much easier to take the next one. We are developing habits that determine where we are going to stand. One little compromise in sin will eventually crowd out all the good.

Do you think that the Jews at their first departure from the right had any intentions of crucifying the Son of God? No, none whatsoever. But they took the one wrong step, and it led to that terrible sin. The fall of any person can be traced back to one departure from the right. We cannot, even in the slightest thing, compromise. It will not work. God considers it the grossest presumption to compromise in the smallest thing.

Compromise is the most dangerous thing we can do for our souls. In the history of the Israelites there are many examples of failure, but fortunately, there are encouraging examples also—Daniel, and his three companions, Joseph and others.

There is a song with these words: “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.” We must dare, like Daniel, to stand for the right no matter what. We cannot depart in the slightest, because it will lead to us going all the way, renouncing everything, and being lost.

Right now we are deciding if we are going to be numbered on the Lord’s side. If we know to do right, and do not do it, we will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting. Different people have different temptations and problems. It may not be the Sabbath issue. It could be something else. We dare not depart slightly, we must stand firm as a rock. The record says of Jesus that “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51. That is what we must do—set our face steadfastly to go to the New Jerusalem. We must not allow anything to hinder us. WE must not compromise in the slightest, because it will be our ruin if we do. Many pleasing allurements and inducements may be held out, but we cannot compromise. We must, as did Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, stand erect, not allowing anything to sway us.

No Guile in Their Mouth

The four angels are holding the four winds until God’s people are sealed. When these winds are released, God will have a people—the living saints, 144,000 in number. They will know and understand the voice of God. Early Writings, 14. The Bible says, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:1-5. In this article we will concentrate on the characteristic described in verse 5, “And in their mouth was found no guile.”

In the Strong’s Concordance the word “guile” has several synonyms used to describe it: decoy, trick, wily, crafty, deceit, subtle and deceiver. Remember these words as we go on in this study.

Nathanael — An Example

Jesus spoke of a man without guile: “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Nathanael was evidently bigoted against anyone from Nazareth. The devil used this to tempt him that Jesus could not be the Savior. Nevertheless, he went to see for himself. Nathanael was praying for truth and guidance in this exact thing—of a Saviour to come.

The Spirit of Prophecy says that Nathanael was a seeker after truth. As bad as his thought was of Jesus coming from Nazareth, he did not allow that to get in his way of accepting the truth. He was not just a seeker after truth, but was a follower of truth. That is why Christ said that he was an Israelite indeed in whose mouth there was no guile.

To better understand guile, let us look at it from an opposite view point. Nathanael had no guile, but here is a group that Jesus describes quite differently. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.” “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” John 8:31-33, 37, 40-45.

Professor Only

Remember synonyms for guile are: decoy, trickery, wily, crafty, deceitful or subtle. Nathanel was a seeker after truth, and nothing would stand in his way of seeking truth or following it when truth was revealed to him. But here Christ speaks to a group that he wants to give the truth to, and they will have nothing to do with it—yet they profess to be one in whose mouth is found no guile. But Jesus says to them, “Your father is” who? “the devil,” and that he was a liar and the father of it. They were professors only.

The hundred and forty and four thousand have no guile in their mouth—they do not just profess to be Christians. At the time of the end, the whole world will be converted to follow the beast, other than the small remnant that is following the lamb withersoever he goeth. Everyone at the end is going to profess to be a Christian.

The following verse fits that group whose father is the devil even though they profess to be Abraham’s seed and the children of God. “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and to worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee.” Revelation 3:9. If you are not of the church of God, what church are you? The synagogue of Satan. You can profess to be a Jew, because it says here that they say that they are Jews, but they are not. What are they? They are liars. They are bearing false witness.

All of these things tie in together with not having guile in your mouth. The ninth commandment says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Exodus 20:16. Any that are a decoy, or a deceiver, or tricky, or wily, or crafty or subtle—just as the group that Jesus talked to in John 8—have guile in their mouth and are bearing false witness.

There is no greater false witness than to bear witness that we are a Christian and in reality we are not. The greatest deception, subtlety and craft, and devil uses, is people who make a profession, but yet have guile in their mouth. This all came form the devil in the beginning. He is the one that was the first to have guile in his mouth. He has led all professed Christians who are not born again to have guile in their mouths also. The hundred and forty-four thousand have none of this in their mouth. They will be just what they profess, wholly and completely.

Lucifer in Heaven

The synonyms that were mentioned earlier are used in the Spirit of Prophecy to describe what went on in heaven with Lucifer. As the great conflict is just beginning to happen, the angels and even the devil himself did not see where it would lead. Lucifer was just letting the envy and jealousy that was found in him have control. Here are various descriptions from the book Patriarchs and Prophets talking about Lucifer. “The angels joyfully acknowledged the supremacy of Christ, and prostrating themselves before Him, poured out their love and adoration. Lucifer bowed with them, but in his heart there was a strange, fierce conflict. Truth, justice, and loyalty were struggling against envy and jealousy. The influence of the holy angels seemed for a time to carry him with them. As songs of praise ascended in melodious strains, swelled by thousands of glad voices, the spirit of evil seemed vanquished; unutterable love thrilled his entire being; his soul went out, in harmony with the sinless worshippers, in love to the Father and the Son. But again he was filled with pride in his own glory. His desire for supremacy returned, and envy of Christ was once more indulged.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 36, 37.

“Leaving his place in the immediate presence of the Father, Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. He worked with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God.” Ibid., 37. He concealed his purpose under what?—an appearance of reverence for God. Everything now that he was saying and doing with the angels, he said, was in reverence for God. “He began to insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that though laws might be necessary for the inhabitants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide. They were not beings that could bring dishonor to God; all their thoughts were holy; it was no more possible for them than for God Himself to err. The exaltation of the Son of God as equal with the Father was represented as an injustice to reverence and honor. If this prince of angels could but attain to his true, exalted position, great good would accrue to the entire host of heaven; for it was his object to secure freedom for all. But now even the liberty which they had hitherto enjoyed was at an end; for an absolute Ruler had been appointed them, and to His authority all must pay homage. Such were the subtle deceptions that through the wiles of Lucifer were fast obtaining in the heavenly courts.” Ibid. [All emphasis supplied.]

Satan says he is reverencing God. He wants the best for God’s kingdom. But, at the same time he is working against His law.

“Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him by the holy beings under his command, he had so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned. Lucifer had presented the purposes of God in a false light—misconstruing [guile] and distorting them to excite dissent and dissatisfaction. He cunningly drew his hearers on to give utterance to their feelings; then these expressions were repeated by him when it would serve his purpose, as evidence that the angels were not fully in harmony with the government of God. While claiming for himself perfect loyalty to God, he urged that changes in the order and laws of heaven were necessary for the stability of the divine government. Thus while working to excite opposition to the law of God and to instill his own discontent into the minds of the angels under him, he was ostensibly seeking to remove dissatisfaction and to reconcile disaffected angels to the order of heaven. While secretly fomenting discord and rebellion, he with consummate craft caused it to appear as his sole purpose to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace.” Ibid., 38.

Lucifer used subtlety, deception and craft. He talked to the angels and twisted the truth. Then when the angels made distrustful comments themselves, Lucifer would make it sound like He was loyal to God. He said, “You know, here I am, trying to magnify and follow God’s law and to give Him reverence that he deserves, and yet here you angels are causing discontent and strife.” Satan was the one doing this, but he turned the whole thing around once he got the discontent and strife started. Then he made it look like he was trying to lead the angels to the right path that they should be going in—while he was all the time drawing them to himself.

“Lucifer had at first so conducted his temptations that he himself stood uncommitted. The angels whom he could not bring fully to his side, he accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. The very work which he himself was doing, he charged upon the loyal angels. It was his policy to perplex with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God. Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. And his high position, so closely connected with the divine government, gave greater force to his representations.

“God could employ only such means as were consistent with truth and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not—flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify the word of God and had misrepresented His plan of government, claiming that God was not just in imposing laws upon the angels; that in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, He was seeking merely the exaltation of Himself. It was therefore necessary to demonstrate before the inhabitants of heaven, and of all the worlds, that God’s government is just, His law perfect. Satan had made it appear that he himself was seeking to promote the good of the universe. The true character of the usurper and his real object must be understood by all. He must have time to manifest himself by his wicked works.

“The discord which his own course had caused in heaven, Satan charged upon the government of God. All evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration. He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the statutes of Jehovah. Therefore God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his claims, to show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from the first that he was not in rebellion. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.” Ibid., 42, 43.

He was supposedly reverencing God, but actually he was tricky, and crafty, he was deceitful, and subtle. All these words show that he had guile in his mouth. Here he was professing that he was there to exalt God. His position was the covering cherub. He was in the glory and presence of God. All of his life, he was to reveal to the angels the things that came from God. Now, he went around professing that he was doing such a thing, but in reality, he had guile in his mouth. All the things that he was saying were contrary to what he was professing.

Lucifer was actually a falsifier of God. Any professed Christian that has guile in his mouth is doing the same work as Lucifer did in heaven. Having guile in your mouth began with the devil. That is what the whole controversy is all about. Is the guile that the devil first gave in heaven and now on earth, true? The people in the world are struggling to know who to believe—God or Lucifer. In the end, when the great controversy is over, the hundred and forty-four thousand are going to be the full proof that the devil was a deceiver. They will be without guile in their mouth because they will be the full representation as far as we as human beings can be of what God’s character is all about. That is the reason they will have no guile in their mouth. Their profession will be fully shown by every work and deed and thought that they do.

1 Peter 3:10 says: “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.” No what?—guile. Do you love life? When Christ comes, eternal life and eternal death is going to be the end for each one. “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” James 1:26.

Bible Tests

The Bible tells us how we know if we have guile in our mouth. “For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, or of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Luke 6:44, 45. Whatever is in your heart, your mouth is going to speak. Sooner or later, when circumstances are just right, the mouth will speak what the heart is feeling and believing.

The words that we speak are so important! “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:36, 37. The words that are coming out of your mouth are either going to justify you or condemn you. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” and what greater fruit than what comes out of your mouth?

List of Synonyms

We will look at some different words the Spirit of Prophecy uses when describing “guile.” No matter how much you profess to be a Christian, no matter how much you pay your tithe, and offering, and come to church every Sabbath, go door to door and do whatever it may be—if these kind of words are coming out of your mouth, you have guile in your mouth.

One that is mentioned is the use of enticing words. Webster’s dictionary says the word enticing is to lure or tempt. Do you use words to tempt somebody to say or do or think something that they would not do otherwise? Give thought to the words that come out of your mouth.

Another word that the Spirit of Prophecy describes as speaking with guile is using vain words. Vain words mean idle words, worthless words or empty words. For almost every word that Ellen White uses to describe guile—Webster’s Dictionary defines as false words, lying words or deceiving words. On vain words it says, “It suggests a deceiving lack of real substance.” Do you use vain words in your speech—worthless words, a conversation that does not amount to anything.

Another word that Ellen White describes as having guile in your mouth is exaggerating words. That is a representation of things beyond the truth, which means it is a lie. Do we use exaggerating words in what we say?

Those that gossip have guile in their mouth. The definition in the dictionary was “those that go from house to house tattling and telling news.” Do we have guile in our mouth as far as gossiping is concerned? Whether it be the truth or not, do we like to go and tattle tale the newest thing that is come up or going on with somebody?

Backbiting is having guile in your mouth. The definition of that was “to slander, to reproach, or speak evil of the absent.” In seeing a problem do we say, “Hey, you want to hear such and such about this person?” It serves no purpose other than to belittle, and slander the character of somebody else. Do you backbite in what you say?

A type of having guile in your mouth is joking. The definition is “to jest, something said to make a laugh, an illusion, not real.” Do we jest and joke? Unless it is something that has happened, most jokes have been made up by somebody. Although it makes people laugh, it is not the truth.

Related to joking is to speak light and trifling words. The definition of that was, “of little weight, or worth of importance.” In our conversations, do we have words that are light and trifling, that have no weight, or no importance? The words that we speak have their influence upon those that hear them. If people hear me speaking words that have no importance, how much are they going to listen when I give them the gospel message which is important?

Having guile in your mouth includes being proud and boastful. Do we speak proud and boastful words? Whether it be spiritual as with the Pharisees, or worldly, it is very easy to use proud and boastful words in the things we speak about.

Flattery and praise is another form of having guile in your mouth.

Another form of guile in your mouth is evil surmising. The definition of that is “presumption to accuse or guess, to form an opinion without knowledge.” When you have no absolute proof of something, but because of your feelings, or what has happened in the past, you evil surmise about somebody. You have no proof, but because of circumstances, you let your tongue speak words of evil surmising. That must be put away.

We need to be careful about using passionate words. This means “easily aroused, excited or agitated feelings and emotions.” Do you ever let your feelings and emotions get the best of you? Then before you know it you are saying passionate words. Do not let your emotions and feelings cause you to use passionate words.

The next one is using careless words. One understanding of careless words is speaking things that first pop into your mind without giving thought to them. Do you use careless words in your conversation?

Having guile in your mouth includes using harsh words. This means to be rude, abusive, stern, severe or cutting. We know that Jesus gave many rebukes, and very strong ones. In the one we just read He told the Pharisees that they were of their father the devil, that he was a liar and a murderer and they were just like him. But they were not harsh words. We are told that there were tears in His eyes when He gave these rebukes. It was the truth, but he had a love for these souls and their salvation.

A big one is scornful words. Do you use scornful words? Do you preach to and scorn your child until he just wants to turn away and walk in disgust?

A suspicious charge is having guile in your mouth. In a suspicious charge you just kind of throw the hint out there. “I don’t know if it’s so, but I kind of think that this is the way it is with that person.” You are throwing out a suspicious charge to get people to look in a certain direction and to believe what you are putting out there. You are not sure of it yourself, but you give a suspicious charge.

The next one is using jealous words. Do we use jealous words in our conversation?

The last synonym that we will look at is the use of filthy words. Anything that leads somebody to have a thought or word or action in a wrong impure direction is using filthy words. A major problem area for this is in telling jokes. You can use filthy words in the way that you lead your hearers to think upon what you are joking about. Do we use filthy words in our communication?

Where is Your Conversation?

The whole battle is over whether God is a God of love. Is His character a character of love? Is his law just? The devil once professed that God was love. But at the same time he went around deceiving the angels. His fruits were bearing witness of another thing. The hundred and forty-four thousand are going to end the great controversy. They are going to show that God is love and His law is just. They are going to show it because their profession will be more than a profession. There will be no guile in their mouths.

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:20. Is that where your conversation is that you have day in and day out? When it is all over with here, that is just where the hundred and forty-four thousand are going to be headed—to Heaven. We should strive to be among the hundred and forty-four thousand.

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.” I Peter 2:21-23. There was no guile in his mouth. There was not a profession, and then turning around and being a deceiver and a decoy and deception. He left us an example that we should follow His steps. It is possible to have no guile in your mouth, as Jesus had no guile in His mouth.

“For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour [or help] them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:16-18. We show by our conversation if we are in Heaven and we plan to be there in body and spirit as soon as the Saviour returns. Take action if the devil has deceived you into having a conversation that is not in Heaven. You can conquer no matter what kind of guile has been in your mouth. I pray that each one will look at the words that they are speaking. I pray for a blessing upon each one and I know the Lord will help every one to be victorious, that is truly seeking to be, without guile in their mouth.

Which Church Do We Take Them To?

“We want to understand the time in which we live. We do not half understand it. We do not half take it in. My heart trembles in me when I think of what a foe we have to meet, and how poorly we are prepared to meet him. The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ—how the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews, and today he is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants, that they may not be able to discern the precious truth.” Selected Messages, vol. 1, 406.

This statement makes it very important for us to study the history of the Jewish people just before the first coming of Christ. Their experience, according to this statement, is an illustration of the experience of God’s people just before the second coming. Let us notice four points from this statement.

First: We do not half understand or take in the time in which we live.

Second: We have a foe to meet that we are poorly prepared to meet. (She is writing in the Review and Herald so obviously the “we” refers to those who profess to be God’s remnant people—Seventh-day Adventists.)

Third: The trials of the children of Israel and their attitude just before the first coming were presented to Ellen White over and over again as an illustration of the position that professed Adventists would occupy just before the second coming.

Fourth: Last of all, a specific point of comparison is made between their time and ours namely, the devil sought then to take control of their minds as he is now seeking to control the minds as he is now seeking to control the minds of God’s remnant people, so they will not understand the truth.

We will look at the last point first. How does the devil get control or take control of people’s minds? A description of this process was written out by Ellen White in Letter 311, October 30, 1905. She wrote, “He prepares minds by degrees to become imbued with his spirit…In the future Satan’s last exploits will be carried out with more power than ever before. He has learned much, and he is full of scientific scheming to make of no effect the work that is under the supervision of the One who came to the Isle of Patmos to educate John…The miracles that Christ wrought gave to the world evidence of the divinity of His mission. This powerful evidence the Jews would not receive, because Christ’s teaching did not harmonize with their preconceived ideas, or exalt the human agencies who continually exalted themselves.

“The Lord has been giving me instruction that we are meeting the same unbelief today, and that we shall continue to meet it as we bear the last message of mercy to the world. Every ingenious device will be used, every possible method taken advantage of, to lead men to live a lie…the course of false science led the Jews to strong unbelief…The Jews who were fulfilling the prophecies in the Old Testament Scriptures, did not realize what they were doing. They professed to believe these prophecies, and they did not know that they were working out the plan foretold…At this stage of the earth’s history, many act like drunken men…A spiritual drunkenness is upon many who suppose they are the people who shall be exalted…they cannot walk straight…They are looked upon by the Lord with great pity…They are scientific schemers…The developments of these last days will soon become decided. When these spiritualistic deceptions are revealed to be what they really are—the secret workings of evil spirits—those who have acted a part in them will become as men who have lost their minds…A marvelous work shall take place. Ministers, lawyers, doctors, who have permitted these falsehoods to overmaster their spirit of discernment will be themselves deceivers, united with the deceived…They will misinterpret the warnings and messages God has sent, placing on these warnings their false statements, to make God’s word of no effect…Some who have been deceived by men in responsible places will repent, and be converted. And in all our dealings with them, we must remember that none of those who are in the depth of Satan’s snares know that they are there…How my heart has been agonized as I have seen souls accepting the inducements held out to them to unite with those who were warring against God. When they once accept the bait it seems impossible to break the spell that Satan casts over them, because the enemy works out the science of deception as he worked it out in the heavenly courts. He has worked so diligently with men in our day that he has won the game again and again.

“What, I ask, can be the end? Again and again have I asked this, and I have always received the same instruction, Never leave a soul unwarned. Those who are bound in Satan’s coils are the most confident and the most boastful. They will protest at the thought that they are ensnared, yet it is the truth.”

Analysis of Statement

Degrees: The devil does not get control of men’s minds all of a sudden, but gradually—gradually he introduces ideas which eventually bring the mind far away from the truth and change it into a totally different direction. Because of the gradualness, of his operations, and the way he mixes truth with error, and because it is generally stated in the language of truth—without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, nobody knows that anything is happening.

Scheming: This work described above is not haphazard but done according to scientific scheming.

Preconceived ideas: The Jews rejected the evidence that Jesus gave of the divinity of His mission, because this evidence did not agree with their preconceived ideas. It did not exalt the human agencies—the professed church and especially its organization—who continually exalted themselves. Their preconceived ideas included the idea that the work of salvation must come through the authorized channel of the Sanhedrin. Remember all this is predicted to be part of the experience of God’s people again. Whenever we mark out a way that God has to work, we are in grave danger. We are in even more serious danger when we began to fight those who are not working the way that we are.

Same preconceived ideas: We are meeting the unbelief of the Jews today. (Written in 1905.)

False ideas will continue: God’s people will have to continue to meet (in the future after 1905) this unbelief as we bear the last message of mercy to the world. This statement clearly shows that God’s true people will have to meet the same unbelief from His professed true people until the end, just as Jesus and His disciples had to meet the unbelief of the Jews—God’s professed people in those days.

Profession is a lie: The devil will lead men to “live a lie.” This means that men’s profession and their real character will be completely different. They will profess to be finishing God’s work in the world while they are actually fighting the revival and reformation movement that must come if any are going to be ready at the end.

“Only channel:” Through false science the Jews developed strong unbelief. This false science was their method of interpreting the scripture so that the Jews, and their religious organization, had to be the channel through which God would work for salvation.

Wake up to late: This same scientific scheming and spiritual drunkenness is present today and when these spiritualistic deceptions are revealed to be what they really are—the secret working of evil spirits—those who have acted a part in them will become as men who have lost their minds.

Adventists deceiving other Adventists: Leaders in Adventism (“Minister, lawyers, doctors will have their spirit of discernment overmastered by falsehoods, will become deceivers and will unite with other Adventists who are deceived. (The context of the entire letter shows clearly that it is talking about Adventists in the last days.) It does not say that they will forsake the inspired writings but that they will misinterpret the warnings and messages God has sent—just like the Jews.

Some of the deceived will be salvaged: Some of the Adventists who have been deceived by these “men in responsible places” will repent and be converted.

None of the deceived know they are deceived: In all our dealings with these Adventists who have been deceived by their leaders, we must remember that none of those who are in the depth of Satan’s snares know that they are there.

The spiritual trap: As Ellen White in vision, saw Adventists accepting inducements held out to them to unite with those who were warring against God, she said that she was agonized. Once they accepted the bait, Satan cast a spell over them so that it seemed impossible for them to break free again. The questions now are what are these inducements held out by Adventist leaders which are bait to other Adventists to deceive them and cause them to unite with those who were warring against God?

First we must understand how a group of Adventists could be warring against God. Since this is in an overall context and comparison of the Jews in the time of Christ, how did the Jews in the time of Christ war against God? One of the principal ways they fought God was by warring against his people. For example, look at the reaction to John the Baptist and to Stephen. (The professed church made war against the true church. Does this sound familiar?)

It now becomes clear what inducements some Adventists will hold out to other Adventists to get them to unite with those (Adventists) who are warring against God. (In the final analyses the only real way anybody in this world can war against God is by warring against His true people.) The inducements would be any attractions offered by professed Adventists to get other Adventists to join them in making war against the true Adventists.

A spiritual war is not like a military conflict. When inducements are first held out to true Adventists, arguments are often used which indicate that the structure really wants to have unity etc. with all the Adventists, but these few independents won’t talk to us, or work with us. (The list is long.) But the real objective is to get all the people and all their financial support controlled by a central organization which is fighting Historic Adventism around the world.

In a spiritual war, when you join the wrong side, the objectives change as you go along. But God is allowing things to develop that will reveal everybody’s real character. When an organization takes Adventists to court and puts them in prison, this should be evidence enough about what is going on for any praying, studying, soul. This has happened over the years and similar activities of harassment are continuing around the world against the true Adventists.

Many of God’s professed remnant people are still blind to reality and think that some way God is going to use an unrepentant organization, in such an apostasy as this, to finish His work. Others believe that in some way God is going to force the organization to repent and reform, but just as with the Jews once a pathway has been entered and traveled down for a long time, the ability to make such a change eventually becomes impossible.

Right now every time somebody stands up and shows the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy concerning our medical work or educational work or church organization, immediately there is a war against the reformer. Habit patterns are so deeply ingrained in the minds of Adventists, just as in the minds of the Jews, that the great majority, both leaders and laymen, are not going to turn back to obedience to the Spirit of Prophecy.

We are not in the same situation as the Jews were in when John the Baptist first appeared—the revival and reformation movement has been appealing to Adventists to repent and come into harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy for years, and the apostasy has gotten so bad that instead of asking for baptism as they did from John the Baptist, the organization takes the innocent to court and attempts to put them in prison. The fact that most Adventists are supporting such legal actions (which collectively cost any millions of dollars) is shocking evidence of how deep into a Laodicean condition they really are. This is an exact parallel to what happened in the church in Christ’s day, which Ellen White said was given to her over and over again as an example of our experience as we near the end.

The Adventists who are fulfilling this prophecy are those in conference churches who are attempting to get all other Adventists to join them to destroy Adventists who have been cast out of the system for standing up against the apostasy. The inducements are legion. For the shallow-minded, the inducement is to join a big church, that has a perfect organization and supposedly a worldwide school system from kindergarten through the university, with supposed employment available in medical institutions and clinics around the world. To the lazy, it is to just be a pew-warmer and not have to be in a life and death struggle such as the independent Adventist churches are going through, with attacks of false doctrine, fanaticism, plus every blow which the structure can muster to destroy the revival and reformation movement in Adventism and every independent Adventist church worldwide. For some it is peace and fellowship and more social outlet with their relatives and friends who believe that you must be in the structure to go through to the end. (Just like the Jews in Jesus day.) Whatever the inducement is, once the bait is accepted by an Adventist who has been free and true and faithful, Satan casts a spell over the mind according to Ellen White and it is almost impossible for those individuals to break loose from this spell again. (We have seen this happen over and over again all over the country and locally.) Whenever a person is induced, for any reason, to join with those who are making war against Historic Adventists, the devil has direct access to their minds. A spell is cast over them and often, they will not communicate anymore with Historic Adventists.

If they had been in the structure and no light of revival and reformation had shone on them and they had not access to the Spirit of Prophecy, then they would not be accountable for light that they had never seen or had opportunity to see. But when God has allowed the light to shine on them and then they turn back from obeying it to join those who are persecuting the true and faithful, “when they once accept the bait it seems impossible to break the spell that Satan casts over them.” (Marshall preached a whole sermon about this at the 1888 Bible Conference. See Tapes # 556, 557 “To Deceive the Elect” Part I and II.) They are in the same position as those who went back to the structure after the feeding of the 5,000. Even though the door was open for them to return and be saved, they did not do so. They thought they were saved and in the true church, but they had rejected Jesus. Jesus said to His faithful followers, the one who accepts you accepts Me. The converse of this is, the one who rejects you rejects Me. “To reject the Lord’s servants is to reject Christ Himself.” Desire of Ages, 489.

The deceived will protest :Ellen White asked what would be the end of this. She was always given the same instruction—”never leave a soul unwarned.” We are printing this article, so that no soul who is willing to read will be unwarned. Many will scoff at the message, for she says in the next sentence, “Those who are bound in Satan’s coils are the most confident and the most boastful. They will protest at the thought that they are ensnared, yet it is the truth.”

If you are with conference leaders, and pastors who are working with them, and other such as doctors and lawyers who have shown a determination to fight against and try to destroy independent Adventist churches and members—namely the Historic Adventist movement worldwide—if you are sure that you are right and your opponents are wrong, have you ever thought about fasting and praying that the Lord would reveal to you his ways and plans for Adventism? The more sure you are that you are right, the more this quotation implies.

Having looked at the fourth point in the quotation (SM vol. 1, 406) we will now look at the third point, which is about the trials of the children of Israel and their attitude just before the first coming, this was presented to her over and over again as an illustration of the position that professed Adventists would occupy just before the second coming.

While it would be impossible to look in depth at the children of Israel before the first coming of Christ in this article, we will notice two points: how they were misled by the devil on (1) their position about the church and its leaders and (2) their work of evangelism.

The position of the leaders of Israel about evangelism, the church and its leaders before the coming of Christ as follows:

You must be a member: You had to be part of Israel to be saved, or in other words you had to be a recognized member of the Jewish church to be saved.

You must get permission: Anybody who did not obtain permission from the Sanhedrin and who did not follow the directions of the Sanhedrin could not engage in evangelism because he could not bring people into the organized body as members. (His work would not be recognized.)

The independent ministries are heretics: The conclusion was that anybody who was not authorized by the church leaders to work for the Lord was not in the Lord’s work and actually a heretic.

You must oppose this heresy: Therefore, the work of any such person or group of persons should be opposed to the utmost by all loyal Israelites. The above conclusions are thoroughly documented in the first several chapters of the book Desire of Ages.

They were interested in evangelism, but only if it was sponsored and authorized and directed by the right people—namely the Sanhedrin. For this reason people like John the Baptist and Jesus were condemned as heretics (and worse) because they were not sponsored by what they thought was the church, neither were they authorized and directed by what they thought was the church. According to the quotations quoted, this is the situation that we are to be in during the end of time again.

Jesus and Evangelism

“At this time [when Jesus came] the systems of heathenism were losing their hold upon the people. Men were weary of pageant and fable. They longed for a religion that could satisfy the heart.” Desire of Ages, 32.

As a result of the lack of morality in pagan religions, the morality of the Jewish people from their possession of the Old Testament, attracted the attention of man people in the empire to Judaism. Many accepted Judaism to a greater or lesser extent. The Jews took advantage of this weakening of the systems of heathenism on the people, but Jesus condemned their evangelism because of the spiritual consequences to the proselytes. Proselytizing was carried on in many parts of the Roman empire by the Jews. There were synagogues scattered in many places of the empire. Frequently, when Gentiles examined Judaism to discover what made it effective, they were led to embrace it. As heathen religions lost their hold on the people and the Jews carried on aggressive missionary activity, proselytes to the Jewish religion could be numbered in the hundreds of thousands, if not in the millions, according to various scholars, both Jewish and Christian. Josephus said, “The masses have long since shown a keen desire to adopt our religious observances; and there is not one city, Greek or barbarian, nor a single nation, to which our custom of abstaining from work on the seventh day has not spread, and where the fasts and the lighting of lamps and many of our prohibitions in the matter of food are not observed.” (See Seventh-day Adventists Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 62, 63.)

Will we meet these Jewish proselytes in heaven? We know from the New Testament that many of them will be lost even though they were converted through the chosen people of God. What would have to happen for them to be saved?

The religion of Judaism was self-limiting—all their system, sanctuary, sacrifices, and ceremonies pointed forward to the Messiah. If He did not come, their entire religion would actually be meaningless. So for those who accepted Judaism to be saved, they had to receive the Messiah into their heart, otherwise their entire religion was but empty husks and would not fulfill the deepest desires of the soul.

The same is true today. Adventism is self-limiting also. Everything in Adventism, the Three Angels’ Messages, the sanctuary message and all the doctrines, surround the one central truth that Jesus is coming the second time to this world. The message of Adventism is a message given to prepare us to meet Him without character spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. The purpose of the Spirit of Prophecy is to help to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. When people have accepted the doctrine of Adventism and the message of the soon coming of Jesus, they are not then ready to be translated. “When souls are converted, their salvation is not yet accomplished. They then have the race to run; the arduous struggle is before them to ‘fight the good fight of faith.’ ” Our High Calling, 163.

Now suppose that when we teach people the truths of the Three Angels’ Messages that we then bring them into a church that is fighting the Historic Adventist movement worldwide and teach them that they must not have anything to do with those Historic Adventists who are not part of the conference, because if they do they will be misled and ruined spiritually and become fanatical and heretical. This is exactly what the Jewish church did in the time of Christ. They were busy all over the world with their proselytizing campaigns which were very successful and they taught their converts that they must not have anything to do with Jesus of Nazareth because He was an impostor. What about today? Do Historic Adventists have the same truth that the pioneers in Adventism taught and preached? Yes they do. Historic Adventists have been cast out for the precise reason that they have contended for the faith once delivered to the saints. All people brought into the Adventist faith today must eventually, before the end, become part of the Historic Adventist revival and reformation movement worldwide, if they are going to avoid the seven last plagues, remain Adventists to the end and be translated.

Christ is no more divided today than ever before in history. He never contradicts Himself and He never fights Himself. Neither does He change his testimony. “It is not the true church of God that makes war with those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Signs of the Times, April 22, 1889.

“I see perplexities on every side. As character develops man and woman will take their position, for varied circumstances brought to bear upon them will cause them to reveal the spirit which prompts them to action. Every one will reveal the character of the bundle with which he is binding himself. The wheat is being bound up for the heavenly garner. The true people of God are now pulling apart, and the tares are being bound in bundles ready to burn. Decided positions will be taken. Satan will move upon minds that have been indulged, upon men who have always had their own way, and anything presented to them in counsel or reproof to change their objectionable traits of character is considered faultfinding, binding them, restraining them, that they cannot have liberty to act themselves. The Lord in great mercy has sent messages of warning to them, but they would not listen to reproof. Like the enemy who rebelled in heaven, they do not like to hear, do not correct the wrong they have done but become accusers, declaring themselves misused and unappreciated.” 1888 Materials, 995.

We are now fulfilling the prophecies that there would be two opposing parties in Adventism at the end, just as there were two opposing parties in Palestine in the time of John the Baptist and Jesus. Those that attempt to destroy other Adventists cannot possibly be in the right, even if they understand theological truth.

In closing here are a few prophecies about the two opposing parties in Adventism at the end: “Confederacies will increase in number and power as we draw nearer to the end of time. These confederacies will create opposing influences to the truth, forming new parties of professed believers who will act out their own delusive theories. The apostasy will increase. Manuscript Release, vol. 7, 197. (Similar in Selected Messages, vol. 2, 383.)

In the third chapter of Malachi, two parties are brought to view. Here the Lord denounces His professed people who are not faithful sentinels. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1182.

In the message to the church at Sardis two parties are presented—those who have a name to live, but are dead; and those who are striving to overcome. Study this message, found in the third chapter of Revelation…To the church of the present day this message is sent. Review and Herald, August 20, 1903.

Editorial – Who Are Loyal?

Years ago I was working with several ministries who were sponsoring revival and reformation camp meetings in all regions of the country. Shortly before one of these camp meetings the pastor of a nearby church preached a sermon against the camp meeting and its sponsors. His subject was concerning loyalty to the message and the church etc… Since, in this magazine, we have explained many times from inspired writings who and what the church is, we will not enter into that subject here. We will merely ask, “what is the bottom line about who is loyal and who is not loyal to the work of God today?

Jesus had this problem when He was on this earth. See Desire of Ages, 111. Following are a few guidelines from the writings of Ellen G. White about who are loyal.

The loyal obey all the commandments of God: “The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God.” Great Controversy, 438.

“How can fathers consent to their children attending school on the Sabbath, or any part of the Sabbath, the same as on any common weekday? Here is a cross to life. Here the line of separation is drawn between the loyal and disloyal. This is the sign that there is a people who will not make void the law of God although it is at a sacrifice to themselves.” Manuscript Release, vol. 5, 79.

The one who is loyal will refuse to obey earthly powers if they require him to violate a command of God. “The laws of earthly kingdoms are to be obeyed only when they do not conflict with the laws of God…when they try to control the minds and consciences of those whom Christ died to make free, God’s children are to show their loyalty to him by refusing to disobey his commandments.” Signs of the Times, May 13, 1897.

The one who is loyal will be at war against sin and evil: “In every age the true church of God has engaged in decided warfare against satanic agencies. Until the controversy is ended, the struggle will go on, between wicked angels and wicked men on the one side, and holy angels and true believers on the other.” Special Testimonies, Series B, No. 2, 5.

The One who is loyal will rebuke evil. (He generally will be accused of being critical, backbiting, and divisive when he does this duty.) “God would have His servants prove their loyalty by faithfully rebuking transgression, however painful the act may be.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 323, 324.

The loyal will not be found imbibing of worldly pleasure and will be practicing self-denial and humility: “Beware of those who preach to others the word of life, but do not themselves cherish the spirit of humility and self-denial which it inculcates. Such men cannot be depended on in a crisis…many today assert their loyalty to God, but their concerts and other pleasure gatherings, their worldly associations, their glorifying of self, and eager desire for popularity, all testify that they have not obeyed his voice.” Testimony to the Battle Creek Church, 71.

“How shall we know that they are disloyal and untrue?—‘By their fruits ye shall know them’…The Lord will not write as wise those who cannot distinguish between a tree that bears thorn-berries and a tree that bears olives.” Review and Herald, September 7, 1897.

The loyal are involved in evangelism: “He has opened a fountain for Judah and Jerusalem, and every member of his church is to show his loyalty by inviting the thirsty to drink of the water of life.” Review and Herald, November 12, 1914.

They will engage in acts in of love and reverence for Jesus: “Acts of love and reverence for Jesus are an evidence of faith in Him as the Son of God.” Desire of Ages, 564.

They will participate in the ordinance of the Lord’s House: “This ordinance of feet washing was made a religious service…It was given as something to test and prove the loyalty of the children of God.” Evangelism, 275.

“The loyal have given the affections of their entire heart to Jesus: It is the whole heart that Jesus prizes. The loyalty of the soul is alone of value in the sight of God.” Testimonies vol. 5, 73.

“They will not fail to declare all the Word of God: “in order to retain their position in the church, some consented to be silent in regard to their hope; but others felt that loyalty to God forbade them thus to hide the truths which He had committed to their trust.” Great Controversy, 372.

The loyal will be separate from the world: “It is impossible for a man to become loyal to God, rendering obedience to all his commandments, without finding himself immediately marked as odd from the rest of the world, and cut off from the society of those who transgress that law…a separation becomes necessary.” Review and Herald, January 13, 1885.