Issue: 2003 November

Restoring the Temple – Danger is Brewing in the Cup, Part II

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The culprit is caffeine! Whether you get it in your coffee, tea, soda, eat it in your chocolate and cocoa, or swallow pills, caffeine is affecting your health in dozens of dangerous ways.

Cancer

Caffeine does not appear to cause cancer directly but increases the growth of tumors which are caused by other carcinogens. Heavy coffee drinking doubles the risk of bladder cancer, while tea drinking increases rectal cancer.

Ulcers

Caffeine causes increased gastric acid secretion which in turn aggravates peptic ulcers. Even decaffeinated coffee has been shown to stimulate stomach acid through the irritating effect of caffeole which contributes to taste and aroma in coffee.

Sleep

While caffeine can delay the onset of sleep, it also interferes with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage when dreams occur. In a recent study, women who routinely took caffeine-containing medications had more trouble falling asleep at night than those who had no caffeinated medications.

Heart Disease

Caffeine affects the heart and blood vessels by elevating cholesterol and triglyceride levels. At Stanford University, researchers report that middle-aged men who drink three or more cups of coffee per day had elevated blood levels of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol).

A recent Norwegian study of 7,589 men and 8,585 women found that the more coffee they consumed, the higher was their homocysteine level. Those with elevated homocysteine levels have a greater risk of coronary artery disease.

What about decaffeinated coffee? Two studies have shown that LDL cholesterol increases when coffee drinkers switched to decaffeinated coffee. Besides elevating blood fats, coffee can cause heart palpitations and increase the rate of irregular heartbeat. Mild hypertensives should also restrict their caffeine intake.

Caffeine Addiction

Among the most detrimental effects of caffeine on the body is drug dependency. The addiction to caffeine has given rise to a new disease called caffeinism. Increased blood levels of caffeine may cause a craving for nicotine; so anyone wishing to quit smoking must stop drinking caffeinated beverages.

How can you know if you are addicted to caffeine? Individuals who drink 5–6 cups of coffee or caffeinated beverages have shown behavioral and psychophysiological symptoms to caffeine. The symptoms of caffeinism are: restlessness, anxiety, irritability, muscle tremors, agitation, jitters, insomnia, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, diarrhea, increased urination, and headaches.

Children and Adolescents

According to pediatricians, children and adolescents are some of the most targeted groups for caffeine addiction. On a body-weight basis, 1–5 year-olds are the highest consumers of caffeine. A child who drinks one can of soda per day is getting the equivalent of four cups of coffee for an adult. One-third of all the children who drink high levels of caffeinated beverages shows hyperactive behavior, which is typical of caffeinism. No wonder pediatricians are concerned about the growing number of soda-guzzling youngsters and adolescents who come in with irritability, headache, and nervousness.

10 Ways to Overcome the Caffeine Habit

Caffeine is a health and spiritual hazard that may cost you your eternal life. One study showed that increasing consumption of caffeine causes a corresponding decrease in religious involvement as measured by church attendance. For the optimal functioning of the brain, heart, and body, as well as for the abundant health of your family, complete abstinence from caffeine-loaded beverages is the prudent choice. So, give caffeine a “quitting notice”! The methods below will help you to quit for good.

1 Have a dry brush massage.

When you feel drowsy, have a dry brush massage before you shower. Brush the skin with short or long, low strokes toward the heart. Skin brushing acts as a natural stimulant.

2 Take a hot/cold shower.

When you feel sluggish and need a mental pickup, take a hot shower for a minute and follow it by a cold shower. Repeat this up to seven times each. This wet exercise will stimulate your circulation and energize your mental attitude.

3 Get outdoor exercise.

If you are unable to take a shower, take a brisk 15-minute walk, job, or bike ride, and you will have the same beneficial stimulus to brain, blood, and muscles.

4 Watch your diet.

Stay away from sugar and other concentrated sweets. Avoid overeating.

5 Have water or herbal tea on hand.

Keep a glass of cool water, catnip, or other herbal tea on hand to replace the habit of sipping down caffeinated beverages.

6 Take a hot foot bath.

Headache is a serious withdrawal symptom, which can be alleviated by a simple 20–45-minute hot foot bath. Finish the hot foot bath by throwing a bucket with ice and water over your feet.

7 Take a little sip.

When symptoms [headache, dizziness, and backache] begin to appear, take a tablespoon of caffeine beverage and then wait 30 minutes. If symptoms are still there, take another tablespoon. These symptoms will disappear in a few days, and you need to stop the sips of caffeine.

8 Lubricate your body.

Drink 8–10 cups of water daily and eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables.

9 Drink the Water of Life.

Take a daily drink of the water of life which your Maker offers, and you will never thirst for the artificial drinks like coffee, tea, or soda. “But whosoever drinketh of the water the I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14.

10 Keep yourself busy.

Do not allow leisure time to accumulate as idleness produces self-indulgence.

An Alternative Stimulant

We live in a “click-of-the-button” society. People want instant answers to their physical, emotional, and social problems. If they are tired, they want some magical concoctions to pep them up; if they are emotionally down, they want something to instantly lift their spirits. So, thousands turn to caffeine, alcohol, or illegal drugs to get an instant “high.” We must understand, however, that for every mountain peak there is a corresponding valley. The more frequently we depend on artificial stimulants, the greater will be the immediate “high,” but the deeper and more drastic the “low.” The lows create an appetite for bigger and “better” highs, which never get satisfied and so addiction develops.

Our Creator knew that as frail mortals we would have our low and high days. This is why He says, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, . . . Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 40:1–5. God sent His Son to lift us out of the valleys and straighten the rough places of our experience. Instead of leaning on caffeine-loaded beverages to pep your spirits up, lift you out of depression, or energize your mind, ask Him to be your Stimulator of positive thoughts and energized living. A friendship with Jesus Christ will give you thousands of positive mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. What’s best, there are no side effects when you get “stimulated” by the Creator of the Universe.

Reprinted from Danger is Brewing in the Cup, Northwestern Publishing Association, Sacramento, California.

Preparing for the Latter Rain, Part II

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The second event in the ministry of Christ that is identified as an important parallel in the second advent movement is brought to light in John 5:1–15. John says that this event occurred at a feast of the Jews. By putting a few references together from this gospel and The Desire of Ages, we can identify this feast as the second Passover during the ministry of Jesus. John goes on to explain the ensuing controversy between Jesus and the Sanhedrin.

We want to look carefully at the attitude of the priests and rulers toward the work of Jesus at this time, just a year following the first cleansing of the temple at which Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from sin. “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. . . . For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him.” John 5:16, 18, NIV.

We see that their attitude has changed from challenging Jesus, as revealed at the first cleansing of the temple, to open rejection and plans for murder a year later. Chapter 21 of The Desire of Ages, entitled “Bethesda and the Sanhedrin,” provides further insights into this incident. Ellen White explains the reason Jesus performed this healing on the Sabbath. “He [Jesus] had come to free the Sabbath from those burdensome requirements that had made it a curse instead of a blessing.

“For this reason He had chosen the Sabbath upon which to perform the act of healing at Bethesda. . . . A wise purpose underlay every act of Christ’s life on earth. . . . Among the afflicted ones at the pool He selected the worst case upon whom to exercise His healing power, and bade the man carry his bed through the city in order to publish the great work that had been wrought upon him. This would raise the question of what it was lawful to do on the Sabbath, and would open the way for Him to denounce the restrictions of the Jews in regard to the Lord’s day, and to declare their traditions void.” The Desire of Ages, 206.

Mrs. White spends much time in this chapter providing insights on the attitudes of the priests and rabbis, but we will cite only two statements.

“The priests and rabbis were taking the Son of God to task for the very work He had been sent into the world to do. By their sins they had separated themselves from God, and in their pride were moving independently of Him.” Ibid., 208.

This is a profound statement. Only one year after Jesus began His ministry, the priests and rabbis had separated themselves from God and were working independently of Him. They had completely rejected the work of Jesus to cleanse the heart from sin. Here we see a church that the great majority of the people regarded as the chosen of God. During the next 40 years, the people looked to this church for their spiritual guidance while at the same time it was totally separated from God.

The second reference is: “But Israel knew not the time of her visitation. The jealousy and distrust of the Jewish leaders had ripened into open hatred, and the hearts of the people were turned away from Jesus.” Ibid., 232.

Not only did the priests and rulers turn away from Jesus themselves, but they also led the people away from Jesus. Because the Jews rejected Christ and His work to cleanse the heart from sin, a very interesting development now takes place.

“The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ’s message and was bent upon His death; therefore Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His message . . . .” Ibid.

Because of their rejection of Him, Jesus now turns to another class and begins a ministry independent of the organization. This was just one year after He announced the beginning of His work.

The Sanhedrin’s rejection of Jesus at the time of the second Passover can now be entered as “2F” on the First Advent Time Line.

Now let’s look at the second advent movement and the parallel attitudes, as documented in the Spirit of Prophecy. Although there are many quotations that could be studied, we will review only five. Four of these five references give specific dates as to when these attitudes were revealed.

By 1879, only 16 years after the church was organized, God sent the following message to those in responsible positions in Battle Creek, Michigan. At this time in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the General Conference headquarters were located in Battle Creek. So testimonies given to the Battle Creek church must be understood as referring to those in denominational leadership positions.

“For years the Lord has been presenting the situation of the church before you. Again and again reproofs and warnings have been given. October 23, 1879, the Lord gave me a most impressive testimony in regard to the church in Battle Creek.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 63. [Emphasis supplied.]

As the Jewish leaders began taking a position of opposition to Jesus from the beginning of His ministry, so we see that the leaders in the second advent movement set themselves on the same course of rejection of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy from the beginning.

“I had no confidence in the course which many were pursuing, for they were doing the very things which the Lord had warned them not to do.

“That God who knows their spiritual condition declares: They have cherished evil and separated from Me. They have gone astray, every one of them. Not one is guiltless. They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters. . . .

“Many excused their disregard of the testimonies by saying: ‘Sister White is influenced by her husband; the testimonies are molded by his spirit and judgment.’ . . . Repeated warnings have been given, yet there has been no decided change.

“I saw that the frown of God was upon His people for their assimilation to the world. . . . Yet now when I send you a testimony of warning and reproof, many of you declare it to be merely the opinion of Sister White. You have thereby insulted the Spirit of God.” Ibid., 63, 64.

In the first advent, we saw that it was the rejection of Jesus that separated the leaders and people from Him. In the second advent movement, it is the rejection of the instruction given in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy that separated the ministers and the people from God by 1879. Three years later the following warning was written concerning the second advent church.

“The light has been shining clear and definite upon her [the church’s] pathway, and the light of 1882 calls her to an account. . . . The knowledge of our state as God views it, seems to be hidden from us. . . . We profess to know God, and to believe the truth, but in works deny Him. Our deeds are directly adverse to the principles of truth and righteousness, by which we profess to be governed.” Ibid., 84. [Emphasis supplied.]

Our Father in heaven has given us a report of how He viewed the condition of the church by 1885. It is found in the Review and Herald, May 5, 1885: “Like ancient Israel, the church has dishonored her God by departing from the light, neglecting her duties, and abusing her high and exalted privilege of being peculiar and holy in character. Her members have violated their covenant to live for God and Him only. They have joined with the selfish and world-loving. Pride, the love of pleasure, and sin have been cherished, and Christ has departed. His Spirit has been quenched in the church. . . .

“Their only hope of salvation is to separate from the world, and zealously maintain their separate, holy, and peculiar character. . . .

“Perfection, holiness, nothing short of this, would give them success in carrying out the principles he has given them.”

Herein is the reason the people of God are still on this earth over 100 years later. They have not chosen to abide by the principles of truth and righteousness—that is perfection and holiness. The people of God who reach this exalted standard will have complete unity and harmony among them.

There are two more references concerning the direction the church has taken. Several years following the 1882 statement we referred to earlier, Sister White was shown that the attitude of the leaders had developed into hatred against those that God had appointed to bring a special message to the 1888 General Conference session. Later they even hated the message.

“Some have been cultivating hatred against the men whom God has commissioned to bear a special message to the world. They began this Satanic work at Minneapolis [1888]. Afterward, when they saw and felt the demonstration of the Holy Spirit testifying that the message was of God, they hated it the more, because it was a testimony against them. They would not humble their hearts to repent. . . . They went on in their own spirit, filled with envy, jealousy, and evil surmisings, as did the Jews. . . . Yet these men have been holding positions of trust, and have been molding the work after their own similitude.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 79, 80.

I would like to emphasize that I am not presenting these parallels to criticize the leaders or ministers, but to reveal how God views the condition of the church and the direction it is taking. We need to understand the similarities in the attitudes of the people in the two advent movements. The satanic rejection of the testimonies was so entrenched in the minds of those who held responsible positions that in 1902 God burned down two of the church’s major institutions—the Review and Herald building and the Battle Creek Sanitarium—to try to correct the situation. These judgments of God were not accepted as such, and the rejection continued. The next references we will look at were written in 1903.

“One day at noon I was writing of the work that might have been done at the last General Conference if the men in positions of trust had followed the will and way of God. Those who have had great light have not walked in the light. The meeting was closed, and the break was not made. Men did not humble themselves before the Lord as they should have done, and the Holy Spirit was not imparted. I had written thus far when I lost consciousness, and I seemed to be witnessing a scene in Battle Creek.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 104.

The above statement was written in St. Helena, California, January 5, 1903, and had reference to the 1901 General Conference session. Later that year, at the 1903 General Conference session during March and April, she repeated the theme of this vision that revealed what might have been done.

“The Lord has shown me what might have been had the work been done that ought to have been done. In the night season I was present in a meeting where brother was confessing to brother. Those present fell upon one another’s necks, and made heart-broken confessions. The Spirit and power of God were revealed. No one seemed too proud to bow before God in humility and contrition. Those who led in this work were the ones who had not before had the courage to confess their sins.

“This might have been. All this the Lord was waiting to do for His people. All heaven was waiting to be gracious.

“God is in earnest with us. If the heart is pure, there will be purity of action and nobility of purpose in all the work done. Every mind is to be cleansed, every heart purified.” The General Conference Bulletin, April 1, 1903.

These six statements, written between 1879 and 1903, reveal a trend in the leaders to reject the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and to mold the work of the church according to their own ideas. By 1888, Mrs. White refers to this attitude of rejection as “satanic,” and after the 1901 General Conference, the observation is “that no change was made.” On April 1 at the 1903 General Conference, Ellen White referred to the January 3, 1903, vision and said that there was still no change in the attitudes of the leaders and ministers, even after the two fires in 1902.

We see that, as the Jews rejected Jesus and His word in the first advent movement, the leaders, ministers, and people rejected the testimonies of God’s spirit in the second advent movement.

“When the Jews took the first step in the rejection of Christ, they took a dangerous step. When afterward evidence accumulated that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, they were too proud to acknowledge that they had erred. So with the people of our day who reject the truth. They do not take time to investigate candidly, with earnest prayer, the evidences of the truth, and they oppose that which they do not understand. Just like the Jews, they take it for granted they have all the truth, and feel a sort of contempt for anyone who should suppose they had more correct ideas than themselves of what is truth. All the evidence produced they decide shall not weigh a straw with them, and . . . afterward, when they see light as evidence they were so forward to condemn, they have too much pride to say ‘I was wrong’; they still cherish doubt and unbelief, and are too proud to acknowledge their convictions.” Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 169, 170.

As Jesus began an independent work among another class of people in Galilee, so in the second advent movement, God used Edward A. Sutherland and Percy T. Magan to begin an independent ministry that was not to come under the control of the conference.

In writing about this, Ellen White stated: “When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. . . . The burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. . . . I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 202, 203.

It is clear from this statement that Sutherland and Magan could not work under the direction of the conference and still be amenable to God. They must work independent of the organization, as Jesus did. From this small beginning the independent movement now encircles the globe.

With this information, we add the second parallel as “2S” to the Second Advent Time Line.

Maurice Hoppe is Director of Revelation Ministry, which is dedicated to helping people prepare for the soon coming of Jesus. His special emphasis is the closing scenes of this earth’s history, the parallels between the first and second advents, and the need for unity among the people of God. He may be contacted by e-mail at: hoppe@revelation-ministry.com, or at: P. O. Box 184, Days Creek, Oregon 97429.

First Things First

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[Editor’s Note: This sermon was presented at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting, July 2003. The conversational style of the speaker has been preserved.]

In case you do not know it, homes in America have been falling apart by the hundreds and thousands. That is not new. Homes have been under siege since the Garden of Eden. We find that almost every day we are assaulted with news stories about mothers drowning their children so they can run off with their lovers. Husbands and wives are killing each other; fathers and mothers are locking their children in dingy, stinky closets where the children live in filth.

We have to ask ourselves, What is really going on in the minds of human beings today? Well, we would say it is the signs of the times. Yes, it is the signs of the times. Jesus could see what would happen near the end of time, and He prophetically gave us insight into those things. He gave us this insight so when we would see these things come to pass, we would begin to understand that the Bible is true, and we would prepare our lives to meet Jesus when He returns.

I really believe, and I have been a pastor long enough to know, that in the heart of every one of us there are troubles in our families that we wish were not there. Maybe not in our immediate family but in the extended family. Why are so many homes experiencing troubles? There is an answer, and it, too, is very basic.

Failure to Obey

It all boils down to the failure to abide by the Law of God, to our failure to teach it properly in our homes. The first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. On a spiritual level, God is the only god that is to be recognized. Jehovah, Yahweh, the Lord, is His name. He is the only one. He is a jealous God, and He said, “I am the only one who is to be worshipped.” He is the creator of all things. The responsibilities to God are spelled out in the first table of the law.

The second table also has its first commandment, which is really the fifth commandment of the total law. The first commandment deals with the respect for the Creator of human life. The second table, in reality, is connected very carefully and is a part of the first table. The first table lays out the spiritual relationship that we are to have; the second table deals with human relationships. They are all tied together. The second table, I believe, helps us to understand the relationship of the first table.

Childhood Influence

How many times I have had people tell me about their childhood—how they are the way they are today because of how they were raised. Some of those comments have been positive, but usually most have been negative. “My dad did not like me.” “My mother whipped me too much.” “I had chores to do.” I had this and I had that as a bad experience in my life.

All that might be true, but we do not have to stay there. Growing evidence suggests that the structural and functional brain reserves, thought to develop in childhood and adolescence, may be crucial in determining when cognitive impairment begins. A leading researcher, Robert Abbott, says that there is a whole constellation of diseases out there that occur in later years that are associated with how children are treated early in life.

Foundation of the Home

The fifth law of God’s Ten Commandments is terribly important. The fifth law, in reality, is the whole foundation of the home. Do you think that we have need of restoring the family? I think it is one of the most crucial needs that we have in Adventism today. A lot of times it is easy for us to point out into the world and say, You know, this is taking place in the world, and the world really needs to come to grips with its problems and resolve those things. I would like to suggest that we need to resolve some problems within the church, and we have the tools with which to do that.

Exodus 20:12, the fifth commandment, says, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

This is the first commandment that is foundational in understanding who God is. I say this, because where does a child learn about God? By reading the first commandment that says, “I am the Lord thy God”? No. They learn it from mom and dad. The fifth commandment is foundational in understanding every other relationship that we have on this earth. I think that this is where we have gone astray. This is where we have failed, as Seventh-day Adventists. We claim to be the people of the Book; we claim to be the repairers of the breach, the restorer of paths to walk in, and yet have we really understood the law ourselves so that we can teach it to our children in the right and proper way?

Absolute

Previous commandments to the fifth law have dealt with the object and the manner of worship—God and the Sabbath. This commandment deals with the nursery and the school of worship. Where is the discrimination taught to really discern between good and evil? This commandment, I believe, would solve all those problems, if it was rightly understood and rightly taught, because it is profoundly deep in its concepts.

Let us consider what this commandment teaches. First of all, it is absolute. Parents are to be honored, whether they are living or dead, known or unknown, good or evil. Now that is kind of a big order, is it not? But I did not write the Ten Commandments, God did, and God does not qualify His commandments. He does not say, Honor thy father and thy mother, if they treat you right, and they do not spank you very often. Honor your father and your mother if they are sober and if they are good, upstanding citizens. That is not what the commandment says. It is absolute.

I am the first one to confess that this can be hard. Yet there is one thing that I know about God’s Law; it is always possible to keep it. God never asks us to do something that is impossible. Perhaps we were raised in a home where we have carried a lot of “extra baggage”; we have had a lot of problems; we cannot relate to our parents in the right way. Then we read God’s Law, and we come to the fifth commandment that says, “Honour thy father and thy mother . . . .” We swallow hard and say, “I do not think I can do that.” Know for a certainty that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do it. There are consequences for not doing it, and there are consequences for doing it—one has good consequences and the other has bad consequences.

Present Society

Today, the society in which we live does not promote honoring father and mother. For years, there have been many television programs that have depicted the father as a buffoon and the mother as incompetent, that family life in the home is nothing but a joke, and that the children are petted and allowed to do just about anything and everything they want. We have grown up on those kinds of examples that have come to bear on our lives. So when we come to a church setting and a spiritual teaching that we are to honor our father and our mother, it kind of flies over our head because of how we have been trained.

We can honor our parents, though, from the standpoint of a child, even those who may be despicable. A father may be a reprobate, guilty of all sorts of crime, but God, in His wisdom, sees how that can make children better for the honor they pay to their parents. It is kind of designed as a two-edged sword. The Bible talks about a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. This commandment deals not only with parents, but it deals with children and with children and parents.

There is damage that can come because of disrespect of parents. There is nothing honorable about being ashamed of one’s own parentage. A lot of times we think it is smart to be ashamed, especially as young people growing up. I remember what it was like when I was growing up; we thought it was cute and cool to talk about our parents as “the old man” and “the old lady.” Maybe some of you have been there, too. I am ashamed of that kind of thing, as I understand now exactly what God requires of me, but there are still some young people today who have that kind of disrespect in their heart relative to their parents. Somehow we, as Seventh-day Adventists, need to tighten the screws down a little bit in our thinking as to how we need to understand God’s Law, because whether you are as old as I am or much younger, this still applies to us in a multitude of ways. There is never an excuse to continue being disrespectful or dishonorable of our parents. People see us. People watch us. They watch how we relate to our family. They watch how we relate to other positions of authority around us. They watch how we relate to God.

No Respect, No Reverence

We preach reverence in the church sanctuary, and rightfully so. When we come into the house of God, there should be an attitude of reverent awe that we are coming into the presence of the Lord. I would like to suggest that this same honorableness needs to be in the home as well. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the parent. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the teacher. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the police officer. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the minister. Never should a child be allowed to be disrespectful to the President of the United States. You do not have to agree with everything, but do you realize that all those attitudes stem right back to this fifth commandment? Look at the irreverence that is displayed by young people today to the school, to the government, to the neighbor, to the environment by throwing trash out onto the road. The children displaying such disrespect have not been taught how to honor their parents, to be obedient to their parents. If they are not taught how to be obedient to their parents, they are not going to be obedient or respectful to anyone else.

As a little child grows, that little child, looking to the earthly parent, sees the only God he can understand. Worship, like other things, comes by practice and experience, and those first lessons are taught in the home. This is why Ellen White makes such an important point about bringing the nature of that little child into harmony with God’s plan of salvation while it is still an infant in arms. (See Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4b, 132, 133.) Many times children are petted and allowed to do whatever they want. Oh, someone may say, they are just babies; they cannot learn. That is not true; what they say is not according to God’s plan. Children need to learn, from the time they are just little infants in arms, how they are to relate to God through the parent. Now that puts parents in a very awesome position, does it not? Practically speaking, God is revealed through the parent to the child. If there is no reverence, no respect for the parents, there will be no reverence for God.

Restore the Home

How do we restore the home? How do we accomplish restoring the home and restoring the family? Malachi 4:4 says, “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the statutes and judgements.”

God is saying, through the prophet Malachi, remember the Ten Commandments. I gave those to Moses in the mount, along with the statutes and the judgments.

Continuing in verse 5, we read, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” What is being spoken of here? This is the Second Coming, is it not? Elijah was long off the scene, but Elijah was manifest in John the Baptist, in the Elijah message John the Baptist preached. The Elijah message has come again in the person of Ellen White, through the gift of prophecy.

The coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord is the Day of Judgment. We are living in the time of the judgment. God is saying that there is going to come a reform. In the last days, just before Jesus comes, that work is going to be under the Spirit of Prophecy. This Elijah message will be of such a nature, “He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Verse 6.

What a message we have here! The last message is going to be a message of restoring the family. I am thankful for the gift of prophecy that sets us in a proximity where we can know every truth that God has for us to develop our characters, so we can meet Him with peace in our hearts. In those messages there is the concept that is going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Do you think that needs to take place today? It most certainly does. And it is going to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. This is a message that we, as Seventh-day Adventists, need to understand, to put into practice, so we can be the light that God wants us to be.

The Elijah Message

The Elijah message is to do a special work. If we are ever going to be ready for Jesus to come, we can know about all the prophecies, and we can speak all the mysteries, and we can understand all these things, but if we do not have love, we are nothing. Where is love learned? Love is learned in the home. As a Seventh-day Adventist, we can draw out the chart of the 2300 days, with all its intricate inner portions, the 1260 days, and all the rest of that. We can understand all of those things, but if we do not have our own family with us, what is it really all worth?

I know that many of you have reached out to your families. You are praying for them right now. My wife and I are the only Seventh-day Adventists on either side of our family. We were converts to this faith. It is hard reaching out to families. The one thing that we have discovered is that we really cannot say much to them. We have to live the message, and then leave the rest with the Lord.

God has a plan. He says, “I am going to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers,” and that is going to have to be an accomplished fact before I can come back again. (Malachi 4:6.)

So in reality, what God is waiting for is for the Seventh-day Adventist message, through the Spirit of Prophecy, to sink into the hearts and the minds of those He has called to be His children. It needs to sink in to such an extent that the home base will change and there will be folks who will come to Him as changed people. Someone may say, “You do not know how I was raised. I do not know whether I would ever be able to change.” Do you think your battles are any more severe than anyone else’s? No, they are not. God can help you. God can take this message, and He can put it down in your heart and teach you to love that message so that it just kind of oozes out your pores.

If that happens, there is going to be a whole new set of circumstances that will begin to take place. The battle that we face individually will no longer be our battle but the Lord’s. It is His battle, and we can rest assured that whatever the consequences are, God will take care of it. That takes off a whole lot of pressure.

The Bible says that if you honor your father and your mother, your days upon the land are going to be long. Needless friction wears the life out. God knows that, so here is a blessing that can come to those who obey His command. They will not only build relationships but they will also have a long life because of the peace of mind they have.

Carryovers

There are carryovers to this, and I alluded to this earlier, about how what is done in the home affects the nation. Now, I realize that we are not in the game of politics, but at the same time, we have to live in the country, and the apostle Paul makes it very, very plain that we are to honor the governor and that we are to deal with civil matters in a right way. (See Romans 13:1–4.)

The reason why, when young people go to ball games and their team loses, they begin to riot and burn the town down, is because of the violation of the fifth commandment. They have not had any honor of the family at home, and as a result, they have no honor for anything in civil society either. In reality, home is linked with heaven, and God has ordained it so.

Linked With Heaven

We come together for worship, and we want the worship to be “just so.” How is it with our home? Do we want our home to be “just so”? Are we ordering the events in our home so reverence for God can take place when we go to church?

God has a message. He wants the home linked with heaven. The earthly parent He wants linked with the Father of eternity. Would you reach Heaven? Then reverence the home. Would you worship God? Then honor your parents, living or dead.

Back to Basics

“Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” 11 Chronicles 20:20. “Here me, O Seventh-day Adventists, and ye inhabitants of Wichita, Kansas, or Denver, Colorado, or Portland, Oregon, or Seattle, Washington, or where ever it might be that you live.” In reality that is what it is saying. Unless we personalize it, we are going to miss the point.

This test of prosperity is tied right in with the law. It says, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” We need to start with first things first. We are never going to be able to accomplish anything that is good unless we come back to the basics of Scripture. We must learn them, make the application of them into our lives, and allow them to be lived out in our lives. But so often we, in our own wisdom, try to do these things apart from God, and we fail. Maybe because we have failed so many times, it is now time for us to go back to the basics, back to the home, back to the instruction that God has given concerning the home. He says that He is going to restore the home before He comes.

If not us, then who? If not now, when? It has to start somewhere. I, like you, get older each year, and the older I get, I wonder, When is Jesus going to come? I believe that Jesus can come in my lifetime, and I want to do all in my power to hasten that day. I know that you do, too. I hope that by sharing some things old that it will help you to reflect a little bit more of perhaps where we have failed. There is nothing wrong in looking back where we have failed, but we must learn from it and go forward in the strength and the power that God gives to us.

Pastor Mike Baugher is Associate Speaker for Steps to Life Ministries. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mikebaugher@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Power of the Gospel

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[Editor’s Note: This sermon was given at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting, July 2003. The conversational style of the speaker has been preserved.]

I read a little sign that I want you to think about. It got my attention when I drove by it recently: “Exposure to the Son will Prevent Burning.” Now think about that. It’s true! We all say don’t get in the sun or you’ll get burned, but this sign is talking about our need of exposure to Jesus Christ. Our exposure to Him will make sure that we don’t burn! So, friend, let’s contemplate that a little bit. We need some more exposure to the Son.

I would like to focus on the power of the gospel. I know I need it in my life, day by day. The church, God’s last-day people, needs power. Jesus is coming, and great signs and wonders will take place that will almost addle the mind. Yet we look for something inside of us. Lord, what is it that we need? What must we do to be saved? Where is this power of the gospel? What is it? How can we have this power? I look at the life of Christ and the disciples, and wherever they went, things happened. I want to be around things that are happening, manifestations of the power of God.

In 1904, Ellen White wrote something that you would think that we didn’t need to hear again, as Seventh-day Adventists. After all, we have the information, don’t we? We have it on the printed page, and we’ve read a lot of it, but friends, where is it finding place to lodge? We need not just the head knowledge but the heart knowledge. “The theme of redemption will employ the minds and tongues of the redeemed through everlasting ages.” Lift Him Up, 76. Notice the theme of redemption. If this theme of redemption is what we are going to think about through these ceaseless ages, don’t you think we need to be contemplating it now? Yes, if this is going to occupy our minds there, it needs to occupy our minds now, or we won’t be there for it to occupy our minds!

We think we know all of the answers to all the problems in the world, but what about this thing of redemption, the power of the gospel?

Why Hasn’t Jesus Come?

A very familiar paragraph in The Desire of Ages, on page 671, says, “The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity.” I’ve asked myself the question, “Why hasn’t Jesus come back?” Has anyone asked that lately? And then I happen to stand in front of the mirror, and maybe it answers the question. Isn’t that right? I can say that about myself, but you need to say it about yourself today. Right?

There has got to be a reason why He hasn’t come, because we know that He could have come shortly after 1844. [“Had Adventists, after the great disappointment in 1844, held fast their faith and followed on unitedly in the opening providence of God, receiving the message of the third angel and in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming it to the world, they would have seen the salvation of God, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts, the work would have been completed, and Christ would have come ere this to receive His people to their reward. But in the period of doubt and uncertainty that followed the disappointment, many of the advent believers yielded their faith. . . . Thus the work was hindered, and the world was left in darkness. Had the whole Adventist body united upon the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, how widely different would have been our history!” Evangelism, 695, 696.]

So there must be something wrong. We can’t just say everything is fine, pat it, and keep going.

The Image of God

I am looking at what inspiration says: “The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity.” That’s awesome to me; how about you? It is an awesome thought to think that the very image of God is going to be reproduced in you and in me. How is this going to be accomplished? I know that it is going to be, but maybe when you look at your life today and when I look at my life, we see some of the weaknesses and characteristics that we are not so happy with, and ask, “Is this the very image of God?”

Why is it so important for the image of God to be reproduced in humanity? And really, who’s on trial here, anyway? Is it really you; is it really me? Who is really challenged in the very beginning—you, me, or God?

“The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is involved in the perfection of the character of His people.” The Desire of Ages, 671. Think about it. The honor of God! God is being challenged. Jesus is being challenged. After all, there is going to be a people who are like Jesus. So God, as it were, is on trial. The enemy, Satan, says it is not going to happen, and you know what? He is going about making sure it is not happening, in a lot of cases. We say that we want to be like Jesus, and yet our lives show differently, in the way we talk, in the way we act, and in the way we conduct ourselves. Just looking at our own character today, is it the character of Jesus? Do you really have the mind of Christ today?

Friend, if not, then that is one of the reasons He has not come back. He is coming back after a people that is like Him.

Ignorant of Salvation

When we think about the theme of redemption all through the ceaseless ages, what do we need as a people now to better prepare us? What kind of instructions? What should we be dwelling on? What should we be spending our time on?

Testimonies, vol. 4, 394, puts it this way: “The people [of God] are more ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation and need more instruction upon this all-important subject than upon any other.” That is awesome to me. I thought, surely not Seventh-day Adventists, surely not you and me—we say we’ve been born-again and have a relationship with Jesus Christ; He is our Lord and our Saviour; He is our Friend; He is our Redeemer. We say we have the connection, but Ellen White says, “The people are more ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation.” You and I realize there is no excuse, because there is so much material right in God’s Word that talks about the plan of salvation. We think we know it, yet as a people, we ought to be studying it as we study the sanctuary.

The sanctuary is the heart of Adventism, is it not? In studying the earthly sanctuary and the message, we should better understand the plan of salvation. Somehow, God’s servant says, we have become ignorant on this subject. When I read that, I said, This is the servant of God, and we need to know more about it, because there is power in what we learn about salvation—power of the gospel.

Why would God’s servant say we were ignorant of these things? Why do we need to study more about it? Romans 10:2 says, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Zeal is not going to do it! Now let me tell you, I like to see a zealous Christian, a happy Christian, an excited Christian. Do you think a Christian should be a little excited? Do you think a Christian should have a little zeal about them? There should be some excitement, some zeal, but it says here, “I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”

Verse 3 says, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Friend, I wonder today; have we really submitted ourselves unto the righteousness of God, or are we tiptoeing around, thinking that we have our own righteousness and that we are doing so well and that we have got everything where it should be? There is a problem with that, because the Bible tells us that we need to be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not” the Son of man is going to come. Matthew 24:44.

In society today, you hear a lot of news about the belief that everything is going to be all right. The economy is getting better. Right now we [the United States] are going to police the whole world. We are hearing that we are going to have peace in the world. The Bible says, “. . . then sudden destruction cometh.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. When everything seems to be stabilizing, look out! We live in that time of earth’s history. I understand more and more, day by day what God’s servant and what His Word mean, “Kenny, you just need to occupy for today, son. Do not get too excited about tomorrow, because you don’t have it yet.” After all, the Lord has those things in control; He is going to take care of our needs; we need to just occupy for today. (See Luke 19:13.)

Have we really submitted to Jesus Christ today in such a way in our hearts and our lives that if something should happen today, we are ready to meet Him? Friend, we need some more exposure to the Son! I am determined, by the grace of God, not to continue to be ignorant in regard to the plan of salvation, to not only know but also experience what it means to know Jesus. The more we preach the gospel and live the gospel, we are going to have the power of the gospel! “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.

Knowledge of Salvation

I’m wondering today if we, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, sometimes think, maybe, that it is foolish. We’ve got it; we understand it; we’ve read about it; we’ve experienced it; so just let’s leave it. Hosea 4:6 says that there is a people who is going to perish for a lack of knowledge. How could Seventh-day Adventists be lost because of a lack of knowledge, with all the things that we have? We have a wealth, a world of information. But are we using it? Are we utilizing it?

Luke 1: 77 says, “To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins.” So part of the knowledge of salvation is experiencing the remission of sins in our lives. That’s important! If we have no sin, we are not going to worry so much, or we may think about salvation or the blood, and it is not important to us, because we feel we are so good. Verse 78 says, “Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us.” We are here today by the mercy of God!

I have often asked myself the question, What is so wrong about feeling good about your relationship with Christ? Is there anything really wrong with feeling content? Could it be dangerous? Should we be striving for a better relationship? Or does there come a time where it plateaus, and we don’t need anything anymore; we’re all right; we have it all together?

Reasonably Good

We need to know we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, don’t we? If we don’t know if we have that connection, there is something wrong. But if we compare that relationship to somebody else’s, or we don’t feel we need any more, there can be trouble. Sometimes I think we have that problem, especially those that have been in Adventism for a lot of years. We can grow a little lukewarm. We think it is enough to be “reasonably good.” It is easier to be “reasonably good” than it is to be perfect.

But the Bible says we are to be perfect. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. It doesn’t say be “reasonably good.” The person, who feels and thinks that “he is reasonably good, and is contented with his condition, does not seek to become a partaker of the grace and righteousness of Christ.” Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 7. Is there anyone today that thinks they are “reasonably good”? Have you become content with that condition?

Walk in Faith

Chapters 8 through 10 of Ephesians talk about the gift of grace. Abraham is spoken of in Genesis 15:6: “He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” If I were to ask you today if you believe, how would you answer? If you really believe, it is counted to you for righteousness. How we need Christ’s righteousness today! We have nothing to offer, but when we come to Christ with that belief, He can do something with us.

When was the last time you really walked in faith—not the pocket-book talking, not the savings account talking, not all that stuff in the world talking, but really walked in faith? God wants us to walk in faith. “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17. “Without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and yet how many of us really walk in faith, believing God will take care of our needs? It is so important, in Adventism today, that we learn to trust God—trust that He can turn bad things around and make something good come out of them; trust Him when there is no money in the bank to pay the house payment, the car payment, the insurance, the taxes.

If we are going to be co-laborers with Him, we are going to have to have faith. The Bible also says, in Matthew 5:6, that we need to hunger and thirst after righteousness. Think about the things we hunger and thirst for in this life, and how much more important are the things of eternity.

Earthly Nature

I got to thinking a little about the earthly nature. People say that when they were baptized the old man was killed. That is what is supposed to happen. When you give your life to Jesus, and you go down into that watery grave, that’s where the old man stays. But how often we’ve looked and the old man has come back again. The old nature has come back, and what a struggle that is for every child of God. We need Jesus to keep the old man, the earthly nature, away. We need to understand the plan of salvation, the importance of His grace and strength, the power of the gospel.

The earthly nature is something we fight day by day. We fight it, because we are not totally surrendered to Christ. After baptism, we are still going to be tested and tried. Some want to know how big the battle is going to be. It depends on the kind of fight that you put up or whether you turn it over to Christ.

No Acceptable Excuses

I’ve heard people say, “I am impatient. I have been impatient all my life, and I guess I will be impatient until the Lord comes.” Well, look out now. I have heard some say, “I have a temper.” I have had Seventh-day Adventist Christians say, “You know I can’t control my tongue, I am a cusser. I’ve cussed all my life; I can’t seem to gain the victory, and I know the Lord understands.” Others have said, regarding a bad habit, “It is just something I was kind of born with, and I can’t really help it.” All these things are dealing with earthly nature. These things are part of the old man that is coming back. That is not of Jesus. Bitter and sweet water is not going to come out of the same mouth, out of the same stream. It has to be one way or the other. As long as we keep thinking it is okay, that we are “reasonably good,” we somehow convince ourselves that these things are natural, and we think everything is going to be all right. No! We have to be transformed. Christ’s character must be fully reproduced in us.

No excuses are acceptable. If you say you cannot change because this is the way you were born, heaven is not going to be your home. You are going to have to be born again.

In The Desire of Ages, 391, we read: “By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude.” [Emphasis supplied.]

The Word destroys the natural earthly nature. Friend, if the earthly nature has a hold on you today, there is nothing that you can do without the Holy Spirit. I don’t care how you were raised; I don’t care what happened to you. People say, “I am an abuser, because I was abused.” Come off of it! My Bible tells me that when you have been born again, all things become new. (11 Corinthians 5:17.) It doesn’t say some of them; it says, all things become new. Then when you give your life to Christ, it is no longer your mind but His. You can’t think the way you were thinking before. You can’t even respond the way you used to respond. You realize, if you have the mind of Christ, you can’t hate anybody. You can’t even dislike anybody. There are people I choose not to be around, but I have yet to meet an individual, and I think most of you would say the same thing, that I don’t want in heaven.

Get It Together

The Bible tells us, in Ephesians 6:17, that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. I like to think about the two-edged sword. Whichever way you swing it, it begins to cut and divide and to separate. Sometimes it separates you from family and friends in a way that you don’t understand, but the big challenge is to just accept it. Walking in the will of God and wanting to do what Jesus wants you to do, you just say, “Lord, I trust you. I have faith in you.”

God, in the last days, is going to use men and women and children to finish His work. I believe He may divide and separate them from their families. We’re going to have to cut loose of these earthly things, these things that slow us down.

“For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.” Acts 22:15. The Word of God makes us a witness. Matthew 4:4 says, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We need to be listening to every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. But we have to do more than listen. Luke 11:28 says, “Blessed [are] they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” We have to hear and keep the sayings—not just doers only or just hearers only. We have got to get the whole thing together. We have to realize that as the Spirit comes into us it imparts life.

There is power in the gospel. There is power in the blood. They are powerful today. I don’t want to hear us say, “We don’t have power. We are just this little group over here.” The work will never be finished that way. I can guarantee the work is going to be finished, with or without you, with or without me. We are told, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James 1:22. Colossians 3:16, 17 says that the Word needs to dwell in us. When the Word of God is dwelling and living inside of us, this old earthly nature is going to be destroyed.

A Living Force

How are we to present this gospel? God wants us to have zeal. He wants some of us who have never said “Amen” before to say “Amen.” Have you ever been so excited you couldn’t be quiet? If there is something in the world that you like, that you enjoy, you let everyone else know about it. This is what is needed. We need to have this zeal, this excitement for God!

Ellen White said it like this: “The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace men may possess Christlikeness of character and may rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until all who will accept salvation are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.” The Ministry of Healing, 99. How many lifeless sermons and theories do we hear from the pulpit nowadays?

The gospel of Christ I present to you today is the power of God unto salvation. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It’s a cross; it’s a glory; it’s the blood. I am thankful for it today. Without His promises, what could we do? What will we do in the hour of crisis, in the hour of test and trial? We need to hide the Word of God in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. (See Psalm 119:11.) The devil is going to bring every possible thing he can against God’s people in the last days. Friend, where will you stand? Where will I stand? I want heaven to be my home, how about you? I don’t want to have gone this far and somehow miss out on heaven, how about you?

You can make a difference, if you let the Spirit of God come in. He says to “Behold the Lamb.” John 1:29. Friend, please do it. Don’t behold individuals; don’t look to others today. Look to Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Finisher of your faith. Experience the power of the gospel. Remain faithful until Jesus comes.

Pastor Kenny Shelton is speaker for the television ministry of Behold the Lamb in Herrin, Illinois. He may be contacted by e-mail at: BTLM@GTE.net or by telephone at: 1-800-238-2856.

Ellen G. White and Racism, Part I

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[Editor’s Note: This sermon was presented at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting, July 2003. The conversational style of the speaker has been preserved.]

On March 21, 1891, Ellen G. White, 64 years of age, slowly walked to the podium of the Battle Creek, Michigan, Tabernacle Church. From the pulpit, she observed the delegates of the General Conference session and thought about the sermon she was about to deliver. Her sermon, entitled “Our Duty to the Colored People,” focused on an issue that she felt would win her no friends. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, in her opinion, must grapple with an issue they had been skirting for too long. Convinced that the leaders of the church could no longer look the other way, pretending that the problem was not there, she contemplated the task before her. She was not at ease, uncomfortable with the issues that she was about to unleash on her brethren. Knowing that many would not be happy with her words, she struggled through the presentation with carefully measured words. On one side, she did not want to hurt any sensitivities; however, she felt the need to push the leaders of the church into action, to shake them from what she considered to be a sad indifference towards Negroes in the United States.

Color Line

Feeling that Negroes in the South had been abandoned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for too long and that it was time to launch reforms and change the policies of the church, she opened her presentation declaring, “There has been much perplexity as to how our laborers in the South shall deal with the ‘color line.’ ” The Southern Work, 9. With this sentence, she projected onto the leaders of the church an issue that made them uncomfortable. In the sermon, she clearly stated her position on the nature of racism in America and the stance that the church should take.

Over 100 years have passed since Ellen White expressed her concern in regard to the “color line.” Although non-Adventist scholars have written thousands of books on race and racism, the literature produced by Seventh-day Adventist writers and scholars, with the exception of the writings of Ellen White, displays a pronounced silence on the topic. Adventist historians have, by and large, looked the other way. As a community, Seventh-day Adventists feel uneasy with the issue. However, the “color line” continues to be one of the most pressing issues facing the church today.

When Ellen White spoke of the “color line” in 1891, she was referring to a unique American phenomenon. Although the ideas have been exported to all of the corners of the earth, its roots are deeply imbedded in the history of the United States. The term “color line” refers to the fact that, in the United States, the quality of a person’s character is judged by the color of his/her skin. People with light-colored skin, or “whites,” as they are generally termed, are deemed to be of a pure and better stock. People of color, and especially Negroes, because of their dark skin, are considered to be of inferior stock.

Evidently it not only appears to be a thought accommodated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but a living reality in our experience, that the white brothers and sisters are superior to the black brothers and sisters in the church and that the churches should be led only by “whites.” So, the church does not display much difference in attitude and behavior from the American society and the world at large.

Control and Power

In order for us to understand the uniqueness of the American racial attitude, the concern of Ellen White, and how it affects us as Seventh-day Adventists, we need to define the words slavery and racism. According to Webster’s Dictionary, slavery is defined as “the condition of a slave, bondage, the keeping of slaves as a practice or institution. Slavery emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by a master.” Racism is defined as “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievements, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.”

In both definitions, we see no mention of color. What we do see is a desire to rule and control for selfish purposes. In the experience of the Israelites in Egypt, we clearly see that their situation had nothing to do with color: “And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel [are] more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and [so] get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus 1:6–11.

What we see in these texts is a position of control and power—not color, but control and power. So the American form of slavery and/or racism, which Ellen White called “color line,” is indeed a unique American phenomenon that has affected the nations of earth. It is this, friends, because it says that a person is not judged by his/her character but by the color of his/her skin, and that will determine the person’s character. But most specifically, this determination is aimed at the black race as the inferior race and the white race as the superior race.

Secular Perspectives

In the book Uprooting Racism: How White People can Work for Racial Justice (Kivel, Paul, New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, May 2002), it is stated that the American society has been built upon a foundation of racism for so long that it has become part of the landscape—always there but seldom acknowledged. The author, a Caucasian, also notes that racism is pervasive, its effect devastating, and the need to fight against it urgent, that people of color are being blamed for social problems and attacked on all fronts. Recent immigrants, African American women on welfare, youth of color, and affirmative action programs are just some of the current targets of white anger. It seems like gains made in Civil Rights and Social Justice during the 1960s and the 1970s are being rolled back in the 1980s, the 1990s, and 2000s.

Mr. Kivel also wrote that white people do many things to survive the heat. They move to the suburbs, put bars on their windows, put locks on their hearts, and teach their children mistrust, for their own protection. They believe the enemy is “out there” and they can be safe “in here.” They have never thought about what it means to be “in here” with other white people and why they are so afraid of people with darker skin color “out there.” Since they do not talk about their fears, they are precluded from doing anything effective to put out the fire.

Racism is often described as a problem of prejudice. Prejudice is certainly one result of racism, and it fuels further acts of violence towards people of color. The assumption of Kivel’s book is that racism is the institutionalization of social injustice based on skin color, other physical characteristics, and cultural and religious differences. White racism is the uneven and unfair distribution of power, privilege, land, and material goods, favoring white people. Another way to state this is that white racism is a system in which people of color, as a group, are exploited and oppressed by white people, as a group.

During a recent seminar entitled Vision Beyond the Dream presented by Dr. Claud Anderson (author of Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice, PowerNomics Corporation of America, Bethesda, Maryland, August 1994), racism was defined as a power relationship or struggle between groups of people who are competing for resources and political power. It is one group’s use of wealth, power, and resources to deprive, hurt, injure, and exploit another group to benefit itself. He said that the root word of racism is race, which means to be in competition, in a contest, or in a match for a prize or other group benefits.

Church Perspective

In a Review and Herald article dated January 21, 1896, under the title “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” Ellen White made a very serious statement: “The law of God contained in the ten commandments reveals to man his duty to love God supremely and his neighbor as himself. The American nation owes a debt of love to the colored race, and God has ordained that they should make restitution for the wrong they have done them in the past. Those who have taken no active part in enforcing slavery upon the colored people are not relieved from the responsibility of making special efforts to remove, as far as possible, the sure result of their enslavement.”

Could it be that, as a church, we have adopted this American phenomenon philosophy from a religious perspective and have sought to justify it by misquoting the testimonies of the Spirit of Prophecy to suit our unregenerated hearts? Are black people within the Seventh-day Adventist Church contemplated and tolerated on the basis of economics?

In the book Against the Odds (Bowser, Benjamin, Editor, et. al., University of Massachusetts Press, November 2002), a native South African shares his experiences of racism in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Africa. He accounts that racial discrimination in the church raised its ugly head the first time for him personally in 1930. W. H. Branson, then President of the African Division of Seventh-day Adventists with headquarters at Clairmont, South Africa, separated the white members from the colored members in the Windberg church and instructed the former to attend the Clairmont church. The excuse was that colored people would have greater opportunities for leadership and that evangelism would be more effective among their group. The separation, in which colored members had no say, caused great bitterness among them. They felt rejected by their white brethren. Only a child at the time, this South African experienced the events on that fateful Sabbath in 1930 and listened to the feelings expressed by his family and other church members. The segregated colored church at Windberg remained a part of the Cape Conference until 1933. Ironically, Elder Branson, the man who set the Seventh-day Adventist Church on the road of racial segregation in South Africa, went on to become President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists!

Thus it was Americans who introduced apartheid into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Africa. Unfortunately, white South Africans built on this episode and proceeded to institutionalize separation on the grounds of race in all spheres of Adventist life in that country. It is a sad fact that apartheid in the Seventh-day Adventist Church preceded apartheid in South Africa.

Misapplication of Quotes

Elder Branson, like many other white believers, evidently used Ellen White’s writings to justify segregation of whites and blacks, more specifically, worshiping separately. I suppose he used quotations such as those shown here:

“Let as little as possible be said about the color line, and let the colored people work chiefly for those of their own race.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 206.

“The colored people should not urge that they be placed on an equality with white people. The relation of the two races has been a matter hard to deal with, and I fear that it will ever remain a most perplexing problem.” Ibid., 214.

“In regard to white and colored people worshiping in the same building, this cannot be followed as a general custom with profit to either party—especially in the South. The best thing will be to provide the colored people who accept the truth, with places of worship of their own, in which they can carry on their services by themselves.” Ibid., 206.

The reasons for those statements made by Ellen White must be made clear. It is one thing to make statements, but it is another thing to make the statements clear. Why did Mrs. White make these statements? Did she support segregation? As a servant and messenger for God, who regards all men as equal, did she support racism? We know from her testimonies that she did not. There are justifiable reasons for her statements. We are given some very positive explanations in the same book; I will give six of them that she listed. These appear immediately following those statements given above.

She states, in regard to black and white worshiping together/separately that: “This is particularly necessary in the South in order that the work for the white people may be carried on without serious hindrance.” Ibid., 206.

“Let them [colored believers] be shown that this is done not to exclude them from worshiping with white people, because they are black, but in order that the progress of the truth may be advanced. Let them understand that this plan is to be followed until the Lord shows us a better way.” Ibid., 206, 207.

“Let us follow the course of wisdom. Let us do nothing that will unnecessarily arouse opposition—nothing that will hinder the proclamation of the gospel message. Where demanded by custom or where greater efficiency is to be gained, let the white believers and the colored believers assemble in separate places of worship.” Ibid., 208.

“Let the work be done in a way that will not arouse prejudice which would close doors now open for the entrance of the truth.” Ibid., 209.

“While men are trying to settle the question of the color line, time rolls on, and souls go down into the grave, unwarned and unsaved. Let this condition of things continue no longer.” Ibid., 210.

“The time has not come for us to work as if there were no prejudice. Christ said: ‘Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.’ Matthew 10:16. If you see that by doing certain things which you have a perfect right to do, you hinder the advancement of God’s work, refrain from doing those things. Do nothing that will close the minds of others against the truth. There is a world to save, and we shall gain nothing by cutting loose from those we are trying to help. All things may be lawful, but all things are not expedient.” Ibid., 215.

Mrs. White is here expressing concern about something, as God has expressed it to her, which shall be brought up shortly.

Intermarriage

Then there are those who are against intermarrying of whites and blacks on the grounds that Ellen White says so, without again addressing the reasons for her statements. Quotations such as the following ones are used.

“But there is an objection to the marriage of the white race with the black. All should consider that they have no right to entail upon their offspring that which will place them at a disadvantage; they have no right to give them as a birthright a condition which would subject them to a life of humiliation. The children of these mixed marriages have a feeling of bitterness toward the parents who have given them this lifelong inheritance. For this reason, if there were no other, there should be no intermarriage between the white and the colored race.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 343, 344.

Notice, she did not say between whites and other races; she said between white and colored races. There is a reason. She further wrote:

“In reply to inquiries regarding the advisability of intermarriage between Christian young people of the white and black races, I will say that in my earlier experience this question was brought before me, and the light given me of the Lord was that this step should not be taken; for it is sure to create controversy and confusion. I have always had the same counsel to give. No encouragement to marriages of this character should be given among our people. Let the colored brother enter into marriage with a colored sister who is worthy, one who loves God, and keeps His commandments. Let the white sister who contemplates uniting in marriage with the colored brother refuse to take this step, for the Lord is not leading in this direction.” Ibid., 344.

But why did Mrs. White give this counsel? Was she against interracial marriages? She further states in the same book, “Time is too precious to be lost in controversy that will arise over this matter. Let not questions of this kind be permitted to call our ministers from their work. The taking of such a step will create confusion and hindrance. It will not be for the advancement of the work or for the glory of God.” Ibid.

So we see that the thing God was concerned about, and thus shared with Mrs. White, was that these controversial matters not obstruct His work. If we were to accept the interpretation of some brethren concerning Ellen White’s instruction as fact that God is against races intermarrying, then we would need to address ourselves to the Holy Scriptures, where we read of Moses’ experiences with his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron.

“And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.” Numbers 12:1.

Backbiting, criticizing behind Moses’ back, Miriam spoke against his wife, who was of a different race. In the book Patriarchs and Prophets, 383, we understand that: “Yielding to the spirit of dissatisfaction, Miriam found cause of complaint in events that God had especially overruled. The marriage of Moses had been displeasing to her. That he should choose a woman of another nation, instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews, was an offense to her family and national pride. Zipporah was treated with ill-disguised contempt.

“Though called a ‘Cushite woman’ (Numbers 12:1, R.V.), the wife of Moses was a Midianite, and thus a descendant of Abraham. In personal appearance she differed from the Hebrews in being of a somewhat darker complexion. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah was a worshiper of the true God.”

Some believers will still maintain that Mrs. White is only supporting what the Bible teaches, and they will quote Scriptural references such as Deuteronomy 7:3, 4; Judges 3:6, 7; Ezra 9:1–3,12.

“Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” Deuteronomy 7:3, 4.

As you read the other scriptural references, you will see that the matter of concern arising out of these texts is that of intermarrying with heathen or unbelievers. The counsel had nothing to do with marrying people of color. Why should they not have married these heathen or unbelievers? Because the influence of these unbelievers would have turned the hearts of the children of Israel from following Jehovah. That was the concern of God.

To be concluded . . .

The Man Nobody Knew – Part I

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The gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 19, has become a very scary text to me. Why? It is because I preach. What is the purpose of preaching and teaching in the Christian church? When we gather to study God’s Word, we are supposed to learn to know God. That is the purpose of it. But this text involves a public conversation that Jesus had with the leaders of the Jewish church. You could call them the General Conference. Remember who Jesus was. He was the One who had instructed Moses by saying, “Go down to Egypt and bring My people out of there.”
(See Exodus 3:10.) He was the One. He was the One who spoke the Ten Commandments from the top of Mount Sinai. He was the One who appeared and spoke to Moses. He was the One who dwelt in that pillar of cloud and fire that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. He was the One who had inspired the prophets in the Old Testament. He was the One who had appeared to Gideon and Manoah.

The Jews had looked forward to the coming of the Messiah for over a thousand years, and when He came in human flesh, notice what Jesus said to them in John 8:19: “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’ ” Now these were the religious leaders of that time. Do you suppose that they were the last preachers, the last religious leaders of whom Jesus said, “You don’t even know me”?

We are supposed to be teaching and preaching about Him. We are supposed to be helping people learn to know Him and to follow Him. That is what the leaders said they were doing. They said, “God is our Father. We are His people.” (See Verse 41.) But Jesus said, “You do not know Him. You do not know Me.” Why this is scary is that if I am to teach you to know Jesus, can I teach you to know Somebody whom I do not know? That is scary, if you are a preacher. These people were sure that they knew God, but Jesus said, “No, you do not know Him. You do not know Me. You do not know Him.” This is a theme that keeps recurring in the gospel of John.

John 17:25, 26 says, “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare [it], that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” You cannot teach somebody about a love that you do not have. You cannot teach somebody else to know Jesus, if you do not know Him. How many were in the crowd surrounding Jesus when He said these words in John 17? Eleven men, that is all, just eleven.

Life Eternal

How important is it whether or not you know God or whether or not I know God? In John 17:2 and 3, Jesus is praying to His Father, and He says, “As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Notice the word and in verse 3. Sometimes little words in the Bible are important. This is eternal life: if they know You, that is the Father, and if they know Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Jesus said that if you know one, you will know the other. He made that very clear on a number of occasions.

In Matthew 11:27, He said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and [the one] to whom the Son wills to reveal [Him].” This idea, which the Jews had, the Islamic people and some other people have, that you can know the Father and not worry about the Son, is not so. Jesus said you cannot know just the Father; you either know both of us, or you do not know either one of us. How important is this? As we read in John 17:3, this is life eternal. If you know the Father and the Son, that is eternal life. Do you really want to know God?

Do You Know God?

Today, we are living in a world that is very, very dark. We talk about the explosion of knowledge, but the world in which we live is dark because of the misapprehension of God. People do not know God in the world in which we are living. They go to church; they sing about God; they pray to God; they read the Bible; but they do not know God. Do you know Him?

The Jews read the Bible. Probably most of them could quote more scripture than could most of us. They read the Bible, but they did not know the Author of the Bible. The same thing has happened among Christians. There are numerous people who go to a Christian church every week. They hear the Word of God read; they can quote the apostles’ creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Many of them can quote the Ten Commandments. All those things are fine and good. We are not criticizing any of those things, but do they know God? Do they know His Son?

Whatever you may know about theology—history, Greek, Hebrew, the writings of the church fathers, the teachings of the theologians—if you do not know God and His Son, you will not have eternal life. If you do know them, whether or not you can read or write or are knowledgeable about theology or history or Greek or Hebrew or all of those things, you will have eternal life. There will be many people in the kingdom of heaven that in this world did not know how to read or write. You do not want me to turn that around, do you? I am going to, so get ready. There are going to be a great number of people in hell who not only knew how to read and write but had extensive knowledge about theology and history, Greek, Hebrew, and the writings of the fathers and the traditions of the church but did not know God. These people, to whom Jesus was talking in John 8:19, knew theology. They could read Greek and Hebrew and Aramaic. They could read the Old Testament in the original handwriting of the prophets, but they did not know God.

Invest the Time

As I have studied this subject, I have not just studied it for your benefit; I have studied it for my benefit as well. I have been talking to the Lord about this. I said, “Lord, please, I want to know You.” I do not pretend that I could teach you to know Him in a short article.

I hope that you are spending time studying the story of Jesus every day. One of the best ways to start learning to know Him is to begin studying the story of His life when He was here in this world. It is recorded in four different places. It is recorded by two of His disciples, Matthew and John. It is also written in the words of the apostle Peter. A young man by the name of John Mark wrote down the words of the apostle Peter as he preached and explained the life of Christ. You can think of the book of Mark as Peter’s gospel.

Then there was a man who was called “The Beloved Physician.” He was an associate of the apostle Paul, and he worked and traveled with the apostle Paul all over the Roman Empire. Not only did he listen to the apostle Paul preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but he traveled back to Palestine and sought out the eyewitnesses who had seen Jesus work miracles and who had listened to Him, and he asked, “Tell me, what did you see and what did you hear?” Then he wrote it down. He was a historian as well as a physician. You can think of the gospel of Luke, Luke having been an associate of Paul, as being the apostle Paul’s gospel. It was written especially for the Gentile audience, and I have found that this gospel is the favorite of many Gentile Christians.

You can pick which gospel you want to study, but if you want to get to know Him, you are going to have to invest some time.

For those who have married, when you were getting acquainted with your spouse, did you say to him or her, “Look, I am too busy for you; we will spend time together for one or two hours a week, but that is all the time I have for you”? You recognize that if you are going to enter a human relationship like marriage, you are going to have to invest some time in somebody. Everybody knows that. If you want to know Him, you are going to have to invest some time in Him, also.

It is not going to be enough for you to simply attend church once a week for a couple of hours. The preachers in the sacred desk can preach their hearts out, but you need more time with Him than that. You need to be studying His life everyday.

I am so glad that I made the decision, before I turned 20 years of age, that I was going to study something from the life of Christ every day. It has been my practice for many years to attempt to do a detailed study of one chapter from either the gospel of Matthew or the gospel of John every single day. It used to be that I could accomplish it in less than an hour. It has recently become much more difficult, so much more difficult that sometimes it takes two days to cover a chapter. One day, not too long ago, I said, “Today I am not as busy as I sometimes am. I am just going to take the time to study a whole chapter.” I did complete the chapter, but it took most of the morning. So I do not always cover a chapter anymore, because even though I have read those chapters and quoted those chapters hundreds of times, I am finding more and more depth of meaning each time I study them.

Jesus Christ is the One that is described in the Bible as the One who is altogether lovely. (See Song of Solomon 5:16.) If you are not spending time with Him every day, you are missing one of life’s greatest pleasures. You are missing out. I invite you to begin, if you have not yet done so. Decide you are going to get to know Him; you are going to spend time studying His life every day.

Prejudice

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up,” that is to be crucified, “that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for the last time. He knew that, when He arrived there, He was going to be crucified. “And sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was [set] for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw [this], they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save [them].’ And they went to another village.” Luke 9:51–56.

Jesus was on His way to the cross. He knew it; He was tired, and He was looking for a place to stay for the night. He sent messengers ahead of Him to the village to find a place for Him to stay the night. But the villagers were prejudiced.

Have you ever had to deal with somebody who is prejudiced? How do you deal with human prejudice? How do you deal with human annoyance? How do you deal with personal resentment? Rising above personal resentment and annoyance is one of the marks of a great person, and Jesus surpassed all the great men of history in this regard.

Abraham Lincoln

Perhaps some of you have heard the story of Abraham Lincoln. During the initial stages of the Civil War, things were very discouraging for the Union forces. The Secretary of War (today we call that position the Secretary of Defense) was Edwin M. Stanton. One day, Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Stanton and sent it by a messenger. When Stanton read this letter from Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, he tore it up and told the messenger that the President was a fool. He repeated it, evidently, at least twice. The messenger was so outraged he could hardly speak. Imagine talking about the President of the United States in that way when you are just an underling. You are the person who is supposed to be receiving the orders.

The messenger went back to President Lincoln so outraged he could hardly speak because of the insulting behavior of this member of the President’s cabinet. Abraham Lincoln inquired as to what had happened, and the messenger told him. He said, “He tore your letter up and said that you were a fool.” Then he waited to see what the President would say.

President Lincoln said, “Did he call me that?”

He said, “Yes,” and he repeated it.

Abraham Lincoln laughed and said, “Well then, it must be true; he is usually right.”

How do you React?

How do you react to personal resentment? How do you react to annoying comments? When people do not understand, when they are prejudiced against you and angry with you, and think you are a fool, how do you react?

The people in this Samaritan village were treating Jesus in these ways. They would not even give Him a place to stay for the night. James and John were just like Abraham Lincoln’s messenger. They knew Jesus was the Son of God. They became angry and said, “This is totally inappropriate. Do you want us to call fire down from heaven and burn these people up and get rid of them?”

Jesus said, “No, you do not know what spirit you are of.” They did not know Him yet. Do you know Him?

One of the ways that you know whether or not you know Him is the way you react. Do you react the same way Christ reacted when there is prejudice against you, when there is personal annoyance or resentment or even hatred? Someone may say things about you that are cutting; they may spread rumors about you, and talk against you, trying to destroy your influence. How do you react then?

I receive many letters from people who are angry and upset about various things. I will not give you a list of the things people are angry and upset about because I have learned that even repeating the list of things makes them more angry and more upset. People are upset about something that was said in a sermon or something that was printed in a magazine or something that was said or done by a missionary worker. We have had people write letters to Steps to Life and call on the phone about things. Maybe they saw a picture in our magazine about something that happened in Africa and have become upset as to how things were done there.

Do you know that it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not become irritated? In the King James Version it uses the word provoked. That word means irritated. Love does not become irritated. How much can go wrong—with your husband or your wife or your children or your parents or somebody else where you work— before you become irritated? How you react gives you an indication of whether or not you are getting to know Him.

One of the most amazing things about Jesus’ life is that nothing ever made Him irritated. It is an amazing thing, when you see what happened to Abraham Lincoln, in that he could just laugh about it and go back to work. That is amazing. There are not very many men like that. But Jesus surpasses them all.

To be concluded . . .

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

Editorial – The Gospel to All the World . . .

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“By giving the gospel to the world, it is in our power to hasten the coming of the day of God.” Review and Herald, November 11, 1913.

It is this desire and this missionary spirit that has motivated true Christians since apostolic times. This is what caused the Waldenses to travel all over Europe, at the peril of their lives, with gospel literature. This is what caused the Reformers to stand, at the threat of death, for Bible truth. This is what impelled the nineteenth century Seventh-day Adventists to begin sending missionaries all over the world and caused ministers in the twentieth century to start Bible correspondence schools and to begin using radio and television to reach the world with the last message of mercy. This was the motivation in the 1990s to start sending millions of tabloids containing earth’s final warning to the entire inhabited world. This is what motivated the use of large newspapers and billboards to advertise the last warning message. This is the reason historic Seventh-day Adventists became so excited in 1993 about using short-wave radio to reach the entire world with the Three Angels’ Messages.

We, at Steps to Life, have been praying that, if it was the Lord’s will, He would open up the way for us to enlarge our evangelistic outreach through television. We are working on some exciting possibilities to get our television program on stations all over the United States. These possibilities are still there, but God has much larger plans than we could have imagined. God is opening up new resources of technology to help us spread the gospel message to the whole world quickly.

Steps to Life television programming has been broadcasting in southern Kansas every week since 1987. The Lord used the television program as the conduit to send us an invitation to broadcast to the world by Internet Radio. Over the years, the owner of Heartland Internet Broadcasting (HIB), a conservative, Christian ministry located in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.A., and one of its technical personnel have listened to and liked our television program. Several days ago we received a telephone call, inviting us to visit them. Many exciting potentialities have opened up as a result of this visit.

Starting November 1, 2003, Steps to Life will be broadcasting every day, 365 days a year, to all the world! This is the way it will work. Anyone any place in the world, who has access to the Internet with a sound card, will be able to tune in to the Heartland Internet Broadcasting station, KHIB, and hear a Steps to Life Internet Radio broadcast!

Weekdays, Monday through Friday, our programming can be heard from 9:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Central Time in the United States. On Sabbath and Sunday, the broadcast time will be from 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. Central Time in the United States. Obviously it will be at every hour of the day and night somewhere in the world during these broadcast times.

If you receive our newsletter, you know that we are living in very uncertain times and that income in almost all non-profit organizations and ministries is down from what it was a year ago. In spite of this, we believe that the Lord miraculously opened this door of opportunity for us and that as we go through it by faith, He will impress His servants to sustain the giving of the Three Angels’ Messages to all the world.

We cannot discuss all the wonderful possibilities in this editorial, but get your seatbelt fastened! If the Lord wills, Steps to Life could be broadcasting from Wichita to all the world on Internet Television soon. This is not a dream but a realistic possibility that both KHIB and we are seriously discussing for the near future. If you would like to see Steps to Life evangelistic television worldwide, please put this on your prayer list.