Issue: 1995 September

Children’s Story – Rowena and the Pills

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Mr. and Mrs. Woods were a very fine young couple. One day Jesus gave them a lovely baby girl to make their home even happier than it was. Of course, they had to think of a name for this sweet little member of their family. Thus her name became Rowena.

Rowena was a sweet cuddly little baby, and she grew very fast. Time slipped by very rapidly for Rowena’s mother and father, as they were very busy people. Almost before they could realized it, their little child was three years old.

Well, one day the Woods family had to move. This was a big job for mommy and daddy, but Rowena just thought it was great fun. Things were scattered around and she could get into everything. She loved seeing what was in this box and that box. Moving turned out to be a great adventure for little her.

Especially was it fun when they got to their new home. For it had a stair way and upstairs rooms to investigate. Rowena had fun running up and down the stairs. But there was one room upstairs that Daddy had hooked shut, thinking that it was safe to lock out a little three year old girl, who was having fun getting settled in her new home.

The locked room was the room Daddy and Mommy were using for storage of the things that they were not needing at the present time. As mommy was cleaning up her kitchen she had a box of medications that were more in the way than they were useful, so she set them up on top of the refrigerator for a while. Then she decided that was not a good place, and since she was not using any of them, she decided to put them in the store room upstairs. That would be plenty safe, as the door was locked with a hook.

Little did Mommy know how clever their little three year old daughter was. One day when mother was very busy she paused for a moment and thought, “I wonder where Rowena is. She is so quiet and I haven’t seen her for a little while.” She called Rowena, but no answer. Mother began looking, never thinking that Rowena could get the locked door open. But mother went up the stairs, and there was Rowena in the store room.

Not only was she in the store room, but she had found the box of medications, and had consumed a whole bottle of carters little liver pills and a bottle of ionized yeast. Well, Rowena was already a very sick little girl lying on the floor.

Poor Mother, what was she to do? She had no car, as daddy had taken the car to work. She called a neighbor, who, as soon as possible, got in touch with Rowena’s daddy. He came home very quickly and rushed Rowena to the hospital. By the time she arrived there, she was unconscious.

The doctor and nurses began working on her immediately. They took a long rubber tube and put it down her nose, into her stomach and pumped out everything that was in there. They found the remains of the pills that Rowena had swallowed. The doctor shook his head and said that they did not think it would be possible to save Rowena’s life.

Mother called the minister of the local Seventh-day Adventist church, who came over to the hospital. When he saw little Rowena he too, realized that only God could save her life, so he anointed her with a little oil. He and the doctor with her parents knelt beside her bed and prayed that Jesus would heal little Rowena.

Jesus did heal her, but it took her a long time to get strong again. She had to learn to walk and talk all over again.

Is not Jesus wonderful? He loves the little children, and even when they make mistakes He wants to help them. But, it would have been better if she had not eaten those pills!

The End

Martin Luther, part X – The Fanatics

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While many new friends were joining the Reformation, even in the face of persecution, a principle of weakness was growing from within the ranks of the reformers. Two camps began to form, dividing the Protestant world—the Luther an and the Reformed.

Fanatics arose calling for forsaking all outward ordinances claiming men were to be guided by an inner light and that religion was exclusively a spiritual communion. Luther saw that this theory would end in the destruction of not only the outward but also the inward spirit of religion. At first the differences were confined to Luther and Carlstadt who had stood together against Dr. Eck. They differed in the Sacrament of the Supper, and Luther, who at an earlier time seemed to recognize the presence of Christ in the Sacrament as a symbol, reverted backward to the old position that the body and blood of Christ were actually present in the bread and wine but that these maintained their natural substance as well. “His doctrine of justification by faith alone implied the total renunciation of this idea; but, as regards the Sacraments, he did not so fully vindicate his freedom from the old beliefs.” History of Protestantism, book 1, 508

Carlstadt would not give in on this point and he also “attacked Luther on the subject of images . . . Luther not only tolerated the presence of images in the churches, like Zwingli, for the sake of the weak; he feared to displace them even when the worshippers desired their removal. He believed they might be helpful. Carlstadt denounced these tendencies and weaknesses as Popery.” Ibid, 509

Hatred of images began to be shown through acts of violence as churches and cloisters were broken into and images burned. Luther called on Frederick to curb this fanatical spirit. This is evidence that the reformer believed that the Reformation had more to fear from fanaticism within than from the persecutors.

Carlstadt began to decry Luther and Lutherans and Elector Frederick ordered him out of his dominions. Carlstadt moved southward spreading not only his views of the Supper and images but also proclaiming loudly his hatred of Luther and blaming him for all of his calamities.
The aged Elector began to fear that the Reformation was going too far. The necessary process of causing men to question and seek answers and the extreme ideas of some caused him alarm but his faith in the Reformed doctrine grew even as his health failed. He was at peace as he dictated his last instructions to his brother and called for reading of the promises of God’s word as he breathed his last.

War of the Peasants

The oppression of the German peasants had grown for centuries. The privileges to roam the forest and hunt and build their huts where they pleased, had been removed. They were expected to remain on their native property and by their sweat till the fields of their masters and spill their blood defending their masters in their quarrels. The small income that they were given was stripped from them by the priest by spiritual threat. As they compared their lot with their masters they were embittered.

The Reformation came on the stage and could have worked to heal the hearts of princes and their subjects, but its progress was prevented by force and then it was accused of causing the unrest that it could have cured if it had been allowed to grow. The poor, by imposed ignorance, knew of only one way to right the situation—death to their oppressors and destruction of their castles and lands. The rulers were content to shut their eyes to their own misdeeds and blame the Gospel for the unrest.

Some justification for this view was supplied as Thomas Munzer, a professed convert of the Reformation, used a religious element to fire the already hot tempers of the peasants. He put himself at the head of the revolted peasantry and taught them to put on the sword of Gideon and seek their liberty by their own hands. The peasants wrote twelve articles of demands which were quite moderate and reasonable but which the unwise princes chose to deny with their hands pressed to their swords.

Luther must now decide on the right course for the Reformation concerning this battle ready to erupt. “He knew that to ally so holy a cause as the Reformation with a movement at best but political, would be to profane it; and that to borrow the sword of men in its behalf was the sure way to forfeit the help of the mightier sword which alone could win such a battle. The Reformation had its own path and its own weapons, to which if it adhered, it would assuredly triumph in the end. It would correct all wrongs, would explode all errors, and pacify all feuds, but only by propagating its own principles, and diffusing its own spirit among men. Luther, therefore, stood apart.” Ibid, 514

This course made it possible for him to try to work with both parties. He was able to speak to each side. He told the peasants that they had chosen the wrong way to try to improve their lot. They must exercise Christian submission and wait for the healing power of the Gospel. He urged them to allow the process of reform to do its work and he argued that “it was preachers, not soldiers—the gospel, not rebellion, that is to benefit the world. And he warned them that if they should oppose the gospel in the name of the gospel, they would only rivet the yoke of their enemies upon their neck.” Ibid, 514

He worked faithfully with the princes reminding them of the tyranny which they and their fathers had long exerted toward the people. He spoke more plainly to the bishops revealing how they had hid the Gospel from the people replacing the doctrines of truth with fables and cheats. He said they were only reaping what they had sown and that God was using the peasantry as His instrument for their chastisement.

The courage and wisdom of the Reformer were evident as Luther spoke with these parties at the brink of war, but his mediation was not successful in preventing the cruel violence which soon erupted. Insurrection began to spread like wildfire, in the summer of 1524, filling towns with tumults, sedition and terrors. The twelve articles were published and demands for their enforcement were followed by armies of peasants who trampled fields, looted barns and storehouses, demolished castles of the nobility, and burned convents to the ground.

Death and destruction raged from town to town and the princes seemed to be chased before this whirlwind. But they recovered and joined their forces to oppose the rebels. On May 15th, 1525, they found the rebel camp of Munzer and his forces who were poorly armed. The princes sent a messenger with an offer of pardon if the rebels would lay down their arms. The rebels killed the messenger at Munzer’s suggestion and both camps prepared for battle. Munzer stood before his army and claimed that the Lord would fight for them and that they would be delivered as Israel at the Red Sea, David with Goliath, and Jonathan when he attacked the Philistine garrison. He vowed that his own coat would catch all the bullets shot at them and insisted that victory was theirs.

The first onset of battle, however, found the rebels at flight with Munzer among the first to try to escape. He was captured and more than five thousand peasants were slain. The battle moved into another region where over two-hundred castles had burned besides noblemen’s houses and monasteries. “Luther raised his voice again, but this time to pronounce an unqualified condemnation on a movement which, from a demand for just rights, had become a war of pillage and murder. He called on all to gird on the sword and resist it.” Ibid, 517

The war ended with terrible retaliation taken by the princes against the peasants. Estimates of the slain range from 50,000 to 100,000, with the high figure probably more accurate. Munzer was decapitated after torture on the rack where he admitted his crimes. Other rebel leaders were convicted and died with dreadful tortures.

In the end, the revolt was not seen in the places where the Gospel had taken hold. The differences between Protestantism and Romanism were illustrated. If only the Reformation had been allowed to do its work in all of the provinces, how different would have been the result. “This outbreak taught the age, moreover, that Protestantism could no more be advanced by popular violence than it could be suppressed by aristocratic tyranny.” Ibid, 518

The Battle of Pavia

Romanism, because it mixed with the politics of Europe, found its fortunes rose and fell with the King or Emperor with which it sided. Protestantism, free from this encumbrance, was able to develop principles and find its course apart from the turmoil of the political arena. But, God could intervene in the political arena for the benefit of the Reformation. Marvelous was the outcome where man could never have maneuvered such victories. This was made manifest in the Battle of Pavia and the resulting Diet at Spires and the effects of these on Protestantism.

The Kings of France and Spain were battling one another for possession of Italy. Of course, the Pope thought that he was rightful ruler and he used his political influence to try to keep these two kings of about equal power so that one would check the other. All three were agreed on one thing however, they were enemies of the Reformation. During the course of battle, the Spanish Charles V defeated the French Francis I, capturing the well fortified Pavia and taking Francis captive. The king was carried to Madrid as a trophy and spent a year in captivity. Charles worked out an agreement for Francis’ release which stipulated among other things that they would fight together the Turks and the enemies of the Church, rooting out heretics.

Charles thought this was his chance to finally rid the world of the hated monk who had none to defend him. He called for a diet at Augsburg for the purpose of executing the Edict of Worms. The prospects for Protestantism grew darker every hour. The emperor had never been stronger and Frederick was now dead. The princes which backed Protestantism were new to the cause and were discouraged by the dangers. Germany was divided, the Ratisbon League was rampant and it appeared that the author of the Edict of Worms was about to carry out the order. “The only man who did not tremble was Luther . . . He knew that if the Gospel had been stripped of all earthly defense it was not because it was about to perish, but because a Divine hand was about to be stretched out in its behalf, so visibly as to give proof to the world that it had a Protector, though ‘unseen’, more powerful than its enemies.” Ibid, 521

Luther Marries

While calamity seemed about to strike, Luther did not run but he took Catherine von Bora as his wife. Many of his friends were stunned that he could make such a move while disaster seemed eminent. “Even some of the disciples of the Reformation were scandalized at Luther’s marrying an ex-nun, so slow are men to cast off the trammels of ages.

“With Catherine von Bora there entered a new light into the dwelling of Luther. To sweetness and modesty, she added a more than ordinary share of good sense. A genuine disciple of the Gospel, she became the faithful companion and help-meet of the Reformer in all the labours and trials of his subsequent life.” Ibid, 522

The Diet at Spires

Events seemed to foretell a repeat of the crusades and the extinction of Protestantism but to the amazement of all the storm moved and dispensed its fury over Rome.

One would have thought that the Pope would have thrown his lot with Charles at this important juncture but in a suicidal policy he turned from the emperor and called for a league against him. Clement did not want the emperor to be too strong for he designed to set Italy as an independent kingdom with he himself as its temporal monarch. His dream, of restoring the power of the papacy to its glories under Gregory VII, misled him. The “Holy League,” of all the nations who feared the emperors overgrown power, was set in motion with the King of England at its head.

In Germany, meantime, the diet at Augsburg had been so poorly attended in the autumn of 1525, that it was adjourned to midsummer of the next year in Spires. June of 1526, found the assembling of all the electoral princes except the Prince of Brandenburg. None was aware of the league against the emperor.

The Reformed princes made a strong showing, riding into the city with large retinues of armed retainers bearing a banner embroidered with five letters which stood for, in translation, “The Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” Under this banner they would conquer. They first demanded a church for the preaching of the gospel and when denied they opened their hotels for worship. On one occasion as many as 8,000 were gathered to hear the sermon. Luther’s tracts were freely distributed and helped to move the public strongly in the Reformed direction.

Charles had made his brother Ferdinand of Austria to preside over the diet. He thought to see something of the movement of the diet before reading his brothers instructions. In August, the Reformed princes gave a paper with certain complaints against the policies of the emperor. Seeing the diet turning toward Wittenberg, Ferdinand drew forth the emperor’s letter demanding that all within his kingdom move forward according to the form and tenor of the Edict of Worms. What was to happen now? What was to be done? The Reformation seemed at the Red Sea, blocked on every side.

At this hour a strange rumor reached Spires. There was strife between the emperor and the pope! Here were the great workings of the unseen hand made evident. The mighty confederacy was broken into two camps as the walls of the Red Sea and the Protestant army under its sacred banner were to march through to safety. “Instead of girding himself to fight against Lutheranism for the Pope, Charles must now ask the aid of Lutheranism in the battle that he was girding himself to fight against the Pope and his confederate kings.” Ibid, 529. “Thus the storm passed away. Nay, the crisis resulted in great good to the Reformation.” Ibid, 530

The Diet of Spires resulted in a decree which made the existence of Protestantism legal in the Empire with every state free to act in religion according to its own judgment. “This edict was the first legal blow dealt at the supremacy and infallibility of Rome.” Ibid, 530

By November, an army of 20,000 was marching through the snow to join the emperor’s general and march on Rome with an iron chain with which to hang the Pope. On the 5th of May, the troops reached Rome and were within the walls in hours. The Pope and his cardinals fled to the Castle of St. Angelo, and when he would not surrender the attack began.

In the first assault, the general was slain and the army left without a strong leader. The unrestrained army proceeded to plunder the magnificent city of the accumulated wealth of centuries. Their rage and greed resulted in unsparing and pitiless pillage. Even the corpses of the Popes were robbed of their rings and ornaments. Plunder was piled in heaps in the market places.

The remaining inhabitants suffered cruel tortures. Estimates of the number of victims range from 5,000 to 10,000 with all ages, ranks and both sexes suffering together. The more than 30,000 armed men of the city knew no bravery. They might have stopped the advancing army or chased them from their walls if they had been courageous. But in a matter of days, the city fell from the prime of her medieval glory which it had taken centuries to develop and which centuries have not been able to restore.

The End

Food For Life – Salt and Hypertension

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Let us take a look at the subject matter for this month’s article—preservatives. You may like this, or you may not but: the “proof is in the pudding!” And what I read is not necessarily what I like to read; but it is a viable fact that man cannot live by “bread alone,” but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. With this in mind, let us look at various articles printed on this subject. First of all let me talk to you about salt! Is it bad or is it essential? “Food should be prepared in as simple a manner as possible, free from condiments and spices, and even from an undue amount of salt.” “I use some salt, and always have, because from the light given me by God, this article, in place of being deleterious, is actually essential for the blood. The whys and wherefores of this I know not, but I give you the instruction as it is given me.” “Good baked or boiled potatoes served with cream and a sprinkling of salt are the most healthful. The remnants of Irish and sweet potatoes are prepared with a little cream and salt and re-baked, and not fried; they are excellent.” Counsels on Diets and Foods, 340, 344, 323. [All emphasis supplied.]

Today, the use of an excess amount of that delicious flavoring is well known to increase the risk of high blood pressure. The incidence of high blood pressure in populations using large amounts of sodium is well documented. The amount of salt needed every day can be as low as between 200 and 300 milligrams for a sedentary person up to well in excess of 2 grams for a laborer in extremely heated conditions (such as roofing in the summer or hard physical labor in tropical conditions or in a boiler room etc.) Since most Americans consume between 6 and 13 grams of salt per day obtaining adequate amounts is seldom a problem.

A person who is using large amounts of preprocessed foods can obtain large amounts of sodium without knowing it (over 20 grams per day). One of the easiest ways to decrease sodium is to decrease the foods eaten which have large amounts of salt added. Most health reformers have discarded most of these foods already for other reasons. They include all foods which contain monosodium glutamate, baking soda or baking powder, foods that are cured, smoked, pickled, salted or prepared in salty brines such as sauerkraut, pickles, soy sauce (and many other sauces), all regular chips such as potato chips, corn chips, popcorn, salted crackers, and salted nuts. The next step is moderate use of salt in cooking and especially at the table. Most experts recommend that the sedentary person not consume more than about 1 teaspoon of salt per day (or between 2 and 3 grams) which is an easy range to be in if you are using natural foods (not highly processed) and are moderate in the use of salt in cooking and on the table.

The National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have advised everyone to cut down on salt to prevent high blood pressure. Although many people are getting too much salt that does not mean that less is always better—in the summer especially when people are spending alot of time out of doors many people do not get enough of it. While experts agree that many of the nation’s fifty million or so hypertensives should decrease their salt intake, ‘there is not conclusive scientific evidence that the general population should adopt a low-sodium diet.

Salt—sodium chloride—is an essential ingredient of the blood. Sodium is necessary to maintain proper blood volume and controls the water-balance in body cells. It is required for transmission of nerve impulses and the proper utilization of carbohydrates and proteins. Chloride is needed for proper pH and for production of hydrochloric acid by the stomach and for certain enzymes.

People who are afraid of getting too much salt and are getting strenuous activity in warm or hot conditions may actually need more of it than they normally obtain.

Corn Spread

1 cup Millet Flour

2½ cups soft Water

1 Tsp. Sea Salt

Place these ingredients in your small mini-crock pot. Stir well, and let cook overnight.
Cook 1 – 16 oz. pkg. of frozen corn according to pkg. directions and when finished place in blender, whiz on high until very smooth. Drop by spoonfuls the millet flour mixture which has cooked.

Add Seasonings:

2 tsps. Butter flavoring

1 tsp. Coconut flavoring

½ tsp. Sea Salt

½ cup Cashews

Whiz again to mix properly. If you wish a thicker butter, drain the cooking water off the corn.

The End

Sanctuary, part 3

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As this legal system, which we have been considering, was only a “shadow,” a “figure” and “patterns” of no value in itself only to teach us the nature of that perfect system of redemption which is its “body,” the “things themselves,” which was devised in the councils of heaven, and is being wrought out by “the only Begotten of the Father;” let us, guided by the Spirit of truth, learn the solemn realities thus shadowed forth. By these patterns, finite as we are, we may, like Paul, extend our research beyond the limits of our natural vision to the “heavenly things themselves.” Here we find the entire ministry of the law fulfilled in Christ, Who was anointed with the Holy Ghost and by His own blood entered His Sanctuary , heaven itself, when He ascended to the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, as “A minister of the Holies,” etc., Hebrews 8:6, 2. Paul, after speaking of the daily services in the Holy and the yearly in the Holy of Holies, says, “The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way of the Holies was not yet made manifest; while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered” etc., “until the time of reformation. But Christ being an High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,” “by His own blood He entered (on or into) the holy things.” Hebrews 9:8–12

The “things” are “good in themselves,” “holy,” or “heavenly,” and in “heaven itself,” where Christ has entered as our High Priest to “minister” for us; and those “holy things” “in heaven” are connected with the “greater and more perfect tabernacle,” “which the Lord pitched and not man”; the same as the holy things of the first covenant were connected with their tabernacle, Hebrews 9:1–5; and all those holy things together make the Sanctuary. The Holies (two) verse 8, the way of which was not made manifest till the time of reformation when Christ shed His own blood, belong to His “greater and more perfect tabernacle,” spoken of in the next verse. I translate the names literally because they are not literal in our common version. The Douay Bible has them as here given. The blood of Christ is the way or means by which He, as our High Priest was to enter both apartments of the heavenly tabernacle. Now if there be but one place in the heavens, as many say, why were there two in the figure? And why, in applying the figure, does Paul speak of two? Perhaps those who “despise the law” and “corrupt the covenant of Levi” can explain this; if not, we advise them to abide by Paul’s exposition of the matter. [See Hebrews 9:6–15.]

Christ Enters The First Compartment

Hebrews 6:19, 20 is supposed to prove that Christ entered the Holy of Holies at His ascension, because Paul said that He had entered within the veil. But the veil which divides between the Holy and the Holy of Holies is “the second veil,” Hebrews 9:3; hence there are two veils, and that in Hebrews 6, being the first of which he speaks, must be the first veil, which hung before the Holy and in Exodus was called a curtain. When He entered within the veil, He entered His tabernacle, of course the Holy, as that was the first apartment; and our hope, as an anchor of the soul, enters within the veil, i.e., the atonement of both apartments, including both the forgiveness and the blotting out of sins.

Those who hold that Christ entered the Holy of Holies at, and has been ministering therein ever since, His ascension, also believe, as of course they must, that the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation is the antitype of the atonement made on the tenth day of the seventh month under the law. If this is so, the events of the legal tenth day have had their antitypes during the Gospel Dispensation. The first event in the atonement service of that day was the cleansing of the Sanctuary, as we have seen from Leviticus 16. Then, upon their theory, the Sanctuary of the new covenant was cleansed in the early part of the Gospel Dispensation.

Evidence is not wanting that neither the earth nor Palestine, their Sanctuaries, was then cleansed. I call them their Sanctuaries, for they are not the Lord’s. But if the Lord’s new covenant Sanctuary was then cleansed, the 2300 days ended then; but if they are years, which we all believe, they extend 1810 years beyond the 70 weeks, and the last of those weeks was the first of the new covenant or Gospel Dispensation. The fact that those days reach 1810 years beyond the 70 weeks and that the Sanctuary could not be cleansed till the end of those days is demonstration that the antitype of the legal tenth day is not the Gospel Dispensation. Again, if the atonement of that day is typical of the atonement of the Gospel Dispensation, then the atonement made in the Holy, Hebrews 9:6, previous to that day, was finished before the Gospel Dispensation began. It has been shown that that atonement was made for the forgiveness of sins, and I have found no evidence that such an atonement was made on the tenth day of the seventh month. The Gospel Dispensation began with the preaching of Christ; and if it is the antitype of the legal tenth day, one of these two things is true: either the Saviour, instead of fulfilling, has destroyed the greater part of the law, the daily service of the Holy which occupied the whole year except one day, the tenth of the seventh month; or else He fulfilled the whole law except one three hundred and sixtieth part of it before the Gospel Dispensation began and before He was anointed as the Messiah to fulfil the law and the prophets. One of these two conclusions is inevitable on the hypotheses that the Gospel Dispensation and the atonement made in it, is the antitype of the legal tenth day and the atonement made in it. Upon which of these horns will they hang? If on the former, the declaration, “I came not to destroy the law,” pierces them; but if they choose the latter, it then becomes them to prove that the law, which had a shadow of good things to come, was fulfilled within itself, that the shadow and substance filled the same place and time; also they will need to prove that the entire atonement for the forgiveness of sins was made before the Lamb was slain with whose blood the atonement was to be made. Now it must be clear to every one that if the antitype of the yearly service (Hebrews 9:7) began at the first Advent, the antitype of the daily [sacrificial service] (Hebrews 9:6) had been previously fulfilled; and, as the atonement for forgiveness was a part of that daily [sacrificial] service, they are involved in the conclusion that there has been no forgiveness of sins under the Gospel Dispensation. Such a theory is wholly at war with the entire genius of the Gospel Dispensation and stands rebuked, not only by Moses and Paul, but by the teaching and works of our Saviour and His commission to His apostles, by their subsequent teaching, and the history of the Christian church. But again, they say the atonement was made and finished on Calvary when the Lamb of God expired. So men have taught us, and so the churches and world believe; but it is none the more true or sacred on that account if unsupported by Divine authority. Perhaps few or none who hold that opinion have ever tested the foundation on which it rests.

The Foundation Of A False Theory

  1. If the atonement was made on Calvary, by whom was it made? The making of the atonement is the work of a Priest, but who officiated on Calvary? – Roman soldiers and wicked Jews.
  2. The slaying of the victim was not making the atonement: the sinner slew the victim, Leviticus 4:1–4, 13–15, etc.; after that the priest took the blood and made the atonement. (See Leviticus 4:5–12, 16–21.)
  3. Christ was the appointed High Priest to make the atonement, and He certainly could not have acted in that capacity till after His resurrection. We have no record of His doing any thing on earth after His resurrection, which could be called the atonement.
  4. The atonement was made in the Sanctuary, but Calvary was not such a place.
  5. He could not, according to Hebrews 8:4, make the atonement while on earth. “If He were on earth, He should not be a Priest.” The Levitical was the earthly priesthood, the Divine, the heavenly.
  6. Therefore, He did not begin the work of making the atonement, whatever the nature of that work may be, till after His ascension, when by His own blood He entered His heavenly Sanctuary for us.

Let us now examine a few texts that appear to speak of the atonement as passed. Romans 5:11: “By Whom we have now received the atonement,” (margin, reconciliation). This passage clearly shows a present possession of the atonement at that time the apostle wrote, but it by no means proves that the entire atonement was then in the past.

When the Saviour was about to be taken up from His apostles, He “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,” which came on the day of Pentecost when they were all “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” Christ had entered His Father’s house, the Sanctuary, as High Priest, and began His intercession for His people by “praying the Father” for “another Comforter,” John 14:15. “And having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 2:33, He shed it down upon His waiting apostles. Then, in compliance with their commission, Peter, at the third hour of the day began to preach, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,” Acts 2:38. This word remission, signifies forgiveness, pardon or more literally, sending away of sins.

Now put by the side of this text another on this point from his discourse at the ninth hour of the same day, Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore; and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Here he exhorts to repentance and conversion (turning away from sins); for what purpose? “That your sins may be (future) blotted out.” Every one can see that the blotting out of sins does not take place at repentance and conversion, but follows, and must of necessity be preceded by them. Repentance, conversion, and baptism had then become imperative duties in the present tense; and when performed, those doing them “washed away,” Acts 22:16, remitted, or sent away from them their sins, (see Acts 2:28); and of course are forgiven and have “received the atonement”; but they had not received it entire at that time because their sins were not yet blotted out.

The Process Of The Atonement

How far then had they advanced in the reconciling process? Just so far as the individual under the law had when he had confessed his sin, brought his victim to the door of the tabernacle, laid his hand upon it, slew it, and the priest had with its blood entered the Holy and sprinkled it before the veil and upon the altar and thus made an atonement for him, and he was forgiven. Only that was the type, and this the reality. That prepared for the cleansing of the great day of atonement, this for the blotting out of sins “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and He shall send Jesus.” Acts 3:19. Hence, “by Whom we have now received the atonement” is the same as “by whom we have received forgiveness of sin.” At this point the man is “made free from sin.” The Lamb on Calvary’s cross is our victim slain; “Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant” “in the heavens” is our interceding High Priest, making atonement with His own blood, by and with which He entered there. The essence of the process is the same as in the “shadow.” First, convinced of sin; second, repentance and confession; third, present the divine sacrifice bleeding. This done in faith and sincerity, we can do no more; no more is required.

Then in the heavenly Sanctuary, our High Priest with his own blood makes the atonement and we are forgiven. 1 Peter 2:24: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” (See also Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4–12.) His body is the “one sacrifice” for repenting mortals to which their sins are imputed and through whose blood in the hands of an active Priest they are conveyed to the heavenly Sanctuary. That was offered “once for all,” “on the tree;” and all who would avail themselves of its merits must through faith, there receive it as theirs, bleeding at the hands of sinful mortals like themselves. After thus obtaining the atonement of forgiveness we must “maintain good works,” not the “deeds of the law;” but “being dead to sin should live unto righteousness.” This work we all understand to be peculiar to the Gospel Dispensation.

An inferential objection arises, which in many minds overwhelms any amount of Bible argument on this point. It is, New Jerusalem cannot be defiled, hence needs no cleansing; therefore, New Jerusalem is not the Sanctuary. A very summary process of inferential deduction truly, especially for those who have said so much on the insufficiency of mere inferential testimony. We would advise them to review the grounds of their faith and see how many and strong arguments they have for the earth or Palestine being the Sanctuary and how many objections to the Sanctuary of the new covenant being where its Priest is, that are not entirely inferential; and then in place of their inferences, take the plain testimony of the Word and teach it. But how was the Sanctuary defiled?

The Earthly Sanctuary Had To Be Cleansed

The Sanctuary of the Old Testament, being on earth, could be, and was, defiled in various ways—by an unclean person entering it. “She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.” Leviticus 12:4. It could be profaned by the high priest going out of it while the anointing oil was upon him for the dead (see Leviticus 21:12) and by a man’s negotiating to purify himself. (See Numbers 17:20; 19:20.) All of the chief of the priests and of the people polluted it by transgressing very much after all the abominations of the heathen. (See 2 Chronicles 36:14.) “Surely, because thou hast defiled My Sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations (idolatry), therefore will I diminish thee.” Ezekiel 5:11

“Moreover this they have done unto Me; they have defiled My Sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths: for when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My Sanctuary to profane it.” Ezekiel 23:38, 39. “Her priests have polluted the Sanctuary; they have done violence to the law.” Zephaniah 3:4. Antiochus polluted it by offering swine flesh upon its altar. (See 1 Maccabees 1:20–24.) From these texts we can clearly see that it was moral rather than physical uncleanness that defiled the Sanctuary in the sight of the Lord. True, it did become physically unclean, but that uncleanness had to be removed before the atonement was made by which it was reconciled or cleansed. (See 2 Chronicles 29.) And that, we have seen, was the law of cleansing, Leviticus, chapters 12 to 15; the object must be made visibly clean, so to speak, so that we would call it clean, to prepare it for its real cleansing with blood. Now no one supposes that New Jerusalem is unclean or ever has been, as its type was when overrun, desecrated, and desolated by Syrian, Chaldean, or Roman soldiery, or trode by wicked priests. Even if it were, the removing of such defilement would not be the cleansing it was to undergo at the end of the 2300 days. The Sanctuary was unclean in some sense, or else it would not need to be cleansed; and it must in some way have received its uncleanness from man. Removed, as the heavenly Sanctuary is from the midst of mortals and entered only by our Forerunner, Jesus, made an High Priest, it can only be defiled by mortals through His agency, and for them cleansed by the same agency. The legal typical process of defiling and cleansing the Sanctuary through the agency of the priest has been examined. With that in our minds, let us go to the New Testament. Paul says, Colossians 1:19, 20: “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made (margin, making) peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.” When “things on earth” are spoken of in connection or contrast with “things in heaven,” no one can understand them all to be in the same place. “Things in heaven” are to be reconciled as well as “things on earth.”

The Heavenly Sanctuary Cleansed

If they needed reconciling, they were unreconciled; if unreconciled, then unclean in some sense in His sight. The blood of Christ is the means, and Christ Himself the agent of reconciling to the Father both the things in heaven and the things on earth. People have an idea that in heaven, where our Saviour has gone, everything is and always was perfect beyond change or improvement. But He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2. He went into heaven, and Paul says that the “building of God, an house not made with hands” is in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5:1

For what did He go to His Father’s house? “To prepare a place for you.” Then it was unprepared; and when He has prepared it, He will come again and take us to Himself. Again, Hebrews 9:23: “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” What were the patterns? “The tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry,” verse 21, which constituted the worldly Sanctuary, verse 1. What were the heavenly things themselves? The greater and more perfect tabernacle (see verse 11), and the good things and the holy things (see verses 11, 12). These are all in heaven itself. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself.” Verse 24. Paul here shows that it was as necessary to purify the heavenly things as it was to purify their patterns, the worldly.

The End

Self Deception

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Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Corinthians 3:18. This is a curious concept. How can you be guilty of self deception ? Other people deceive us by withholding or giving wrong information to us. But how can you withhold information from yourself? I do not think that is possible. What about giving yourself wrong information? That is possible.

The will is stronger than both the imagination and memory. This may seem mysterious, but consider this situation. You have done something, about which you are not happy. As you remember the circumstances, you wish you had done differently. You think, “Well, this would have been a better way. If I had done this or if I had said this, it would have been much better.” Reconstructing the situation up to the point that you can be prepared for another situation of the same kind, and planning to handle it more skillfully the next time is okay. But do not go too far with this because if you keep remembering the better way, you may, after a while, persuade yourself that you actually have done it that way. That is extremely dangerous. James writes about that in James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” You can deceive your own heart.

Examples of Self Deception

It is a curious thing to notice that the Jewish leaders who rejected Christ, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who led the revolt against the directorship of Moses, thought themselves doing right. You could say they were sincere if you were not too particular how you define the word sincerity.

Speaking of the priests and rulers of Christ’s time, Ellen White writes in Desire of Ages, 541, “Satan told them that in order to maintain their authority, they must put Jesus to death. Yet such was their deception that they were well pleased with themselves. They regarded themselves as patriots, who were seeking the nation’s salvation.” This is a fearful self-deception.

Ellen White, says of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in Patriarchs and Prophets, 397, “They ventured still further, and at last they really believed themselves to be actuated by zeal for God.” They were planning revolt against Moses and developed a plan far enough that they were ready to kill Moses, yet thought they were led by the Lord.

How does self deception happen? Does sincerity not provide an excuse? Are people judged and held guilty if they are sincere?

The process of self deception is slow. It takes, sometimes, quite a little time. And it can happen to anybody. The Jews had the Scriptures and were looking right at the Messiah in person, watching His miracles, and hearing His marvelous teachings, but they were not immune from self deception. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had been in the mountain with Moses when God spoke to Moses personally on the mountaintop. Surely they would be immune from making such a mistake and getting into self deception. But that is not the case.

It begins with something small. The devil does not come out at once and urge you to murder somebody. He did not come at once at the very beginning to urge the Jewish leaders to murder Christ; or Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to murder Moses. Probably all of them would have rejected such a thought. Satan has to start with something smaller.

The Process of Self Deception

With Korah, self deception started with self pity. Patriarchs and Prophets, 395, tells us that Korah was part of the family of Levi. He was in some sense related to the tribe of Levi, but he was not chosen to be among the priesthood, which he resented. Self-pity, we are told, is a very pernicious emotion in the human heart. What starts with self-pity eventually comes to murder. It was this way with the Jewish priests. They had been upset over the fact that shepherds had heard the angels singing. Why had not the angels sung to the rabbis? When the shepherds came, why did they not come to the rabbis? They felt slighted, passed by, and that is where it began with them.

“Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul . . . by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul.” Desire of Ages, 322

“A temptation, slight at first, had been harbored, and had strengthened as it was encouraged, until their minds were controlled by Satan.”Patriarchs and Prophets, 396. The mind can go completely under the control of Satan. Starting with a small temptation, there is no telling where it will lead. From a small temptation comes a redefining of events in a person’s thinking, “that’s the way it actually happened. I wish it would have happened like this.” As it becomes reinforced repeatedly, a person actually begins to think it did happen like that. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram thought over the unhappy experiences of their deliverance from Egypt. Passing by the happy thoughts, they thought about going back to the wilderness by the command of God. They thought about the various hardships and trials the people had had and reconstructed it in their minds until they came to believe it was Moses’ fault. Moses had done his best and had offered to sacrifice his life. But when the mind starts reconstructing the past, it can come to believe what did not happen at all.

Starting with a small temptation, you reconstruct things in the mind, wishing that it had been like this instead of the way it actually was, until you actually begin to believe events were according to your reconstruction. Now you are believing your lies and are literally deceiving yourself. The will, which wants it to be that way, is stronger than the memory of how it actually was. When the will and memory come into conflict, the will is going to win if the conflict lasts very long. The memory cannot resist the power of the will. When a person believes his own lies, he is what they call a pathological liar. He is in desperate shape.

“It is by sinful indulgence that men give Satan access to their minds, and they go from one stage of wickedness to another. The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier for them to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last their habits of wrongdoing become fixed. Sin ceases to appear sinful to them.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 404

We are not excusable, if we walk in darkness when the light is available to us. We are responsible for everything we know of the will of God and for everything that He gives us opportunity to know. The Jews who rejected Jesus and the people who rebelled against Moses had ample opportunity to have things straight. They had enough experience to know. Jesus has given us all the information that we need about our situation. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-pity or an apparently tiny sin. It is very dangerous to indulge in self-justification, to disregard a small ray of light, or to utter doubts.

Zedekiah’s Mistake

Another outstanding Bible example of self deception is Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.

Zedekiah could not bring himself to stand for truth. Three Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image on the Plain of Dura. You know that famous story by heart, but did you know that those three Israelites were not the only Israelites who were there that day? Zedekiah also went to Babylon. Why?

“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together [notice] the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” Daniel 3:1-3. The Babylonians considered Israel a province and they called it the Province Beyond the River with Zedekiah as the governor of the province. In Israel, of course, he was called king; but he knew he was no king. What was he doing in Babylon? He was there to stand on the Plain of Dura, and, if he obeyed the king’s command, he was to bow before that golden image.

Imagine Zedekiah anxiously looking around. He was aware there were other Israelites there. He probably saw the other three standing tall and wondered for a moment if he should stand tall too, but then his courage failed. He had had a lot of time to think about this.

It is a long, long journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, while prince of Babylon, had made a very fast journey across that Arabian desert. He had taken an army and had gone up the Euphrates River in the slow and normal manner and down the sea coast, planning to invade Egypt way down south. But when he was nearing Egypt a messenger came to him with the news that his father, the king of Babylon, had died. Nebuchadnezzar was prince of Babylon at this time. Because he naturally feared that somebody else might try to take the kingdom before he got back to assert his right to the throne, he left most of his army to fend for themselves, and took a few specially chosen men, and went straight across the desert toward Babylon. It took him three weeks even at that.

Zedekiah had three weeks of going that way to think about what he had done and to persuade himself that he had done the right thing. You know, he was reconstructing his memory, putting all of it together, convincing himself, persuading himself that he had done the right thing in bowing before that image on the Plain of Dura despite the fact he saw the deliverance that came.

He elected to follow the princes of the church instead of the prophet of the church. So then Jerusalem was besieged, burned, and the temple was destroyed. Thousands were slain. Zedekiah and some of his family tried to escape , but they were caught, and taken to Ribla, where Zedekiah was forced to watch while his sons were slaughtered. Then his eyes were put out and he himself was taken to Babylon to die. He died miserably. Can you imagine another six weeks going again to Babylon, his sightless eyes staring forever at the last thing they had seen, the slaughter of his sons?

Process Decisions

How do these things come to us? I call them process decisions. Very few people decide they are going to be lost. But people make process decisions. By a little rejection of light here, a little embracing of sin there, little by little people finally come to a place where they cannot turn back.

If we are to examine ourselves in the light of this biblical material, we ought to recognize the danger of the process decisions that are about us. We can make process decisions by deciding that it is perfectly all right for us to associate with sinners. Proverbs 1:10 says, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” We have the experiences of Samson and Solomon. We have the experience of all Israel, and we have the experience of modern Israel seeking the embrace of the daughters of Babylon. A decision to fellowship and build a relationship with sinners, other than a saving relationship, can be a process decision. The one who decides to marry one who does not follow God needs to remember this counsel. If you would not have a home where the shadows are never lifted, do not unite your life with one who is an enemy of God.

A decision to seek the pleasures of the world can be a process decision—”it will not mean anything to go to the theater a few times. It will not hurt to just watch some fictional programs on television. It will not hurt to go to a few dances.” This can end with the destruction of your own life.

A decision to seek wealth instead of service, to serve yourself in this world instead of serving the Lord can be a process decision that is extremely dangerous. The Scriptures warn us in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase; this is also vanity.” A decision to ignore missionary responsibilities, a decision to procrastinate, a decision to just wait a little longer may end in destruction. “God’s people cannot with safety enter into intimate associations with those who know the truth, but do not practice it.” Messages to Young People, 390. Inasmuch as there are ever more persons among us now who know the truth, but are not practicing it, we need to think about this as well.

The Effect of Our Words

The words are an indication of what is in the heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” But the words are more than an indication of character, they have power to react upon the character. Did you follow that? The words are more than an indication of character. Words tell what kind of person you are. But also, they react on the character. You can talk yourself into things. You can say things that are not true until you believe them. “Men are influenced by their own words. Often under a momentary impulse, prompted by Satan, they give utterance to jealousy or evil surmising, expressing that which they do not really believe; but the expression reacts upon the thoughts. They are deceived by their words, and come to believe that true which was spoken at Satan’s instigation. Having once expressed an opinion or decision, they are often too proud to retract it and try to prove themselves in the right, until they come to believe that they are.” Desire of Ages, 323. This is how a person can become a pathological liar and become so self deceived that he loses contact with reality and believes his own imaginations to be true.

We are in a period of time in which we need to watch very, very carefully that we do not practice self deception upon ourselves. A time that we need to take very great care that we do not let anybody else practice deception on us. May the Lord bless us and help us to carry these words from His sacred word and from His inspired counsels into all of our thoughts and life practices.

The End

Financing God’s Last Army

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God Has Devised Methods Of Support For All His Plans

For every plan that God has devised for the finishing of His work, He has devised methods and left instructions about how that plan is to work and how it is to be supported. Some missionary workers are to receive money from the profits of their labors, such as literature evangelists, physicians and nurses, missionary farmers and tradesmen. But those participating in the work of the gospel ministry are not to receive their living from the profits of secular labor. This includes more than just those called “ministers”. According to Ellen White the work of the gospel ministry includes the following kinds of workers.

“Institutions that are God’s instruments to carry forward His work on the earth must be sustained. Churches must be erected, schools established, and publishing houses furnished with facilities for doing a great work in the publication of the truth to be sent to all parts of the world. These institutions are ordained of God and should be sustained by tithes and liberal offerings.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 464

“I have had special instruction from the Lord that the tithe is for a special purpose, consecrated to God to sustain those who minister in the sacred work, as the Lord’s chosen to do His work not only in sermonizing, but in ministering. They should understand all that this comprehends.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 187

“Light has been plainly given that those who minister in our schools, teaching the word of God, explaining the Scriptures, educating the students in the things of God, should be supported by the tithe money. This instruction was given long ago, and more recently it has been repeated again and again.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 215

“The tithe should go to those who labor in word and doctrine, be they men or women.” Evangelism, 492

We Are Responsible for the Use of Our Tithe

The gospel confers individual responsibility upon each of us. In no case can this personal responsibility be avoided or transferred. God will not condone our using tithe for the preaching of apostasy or any use other than specified: “There are fearful woes for those who preach the truth, but are not sanctified by it, and also for those who consent to receive and maintain the unsanctified to minister to them in word and doctrine.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 261, 262

Diversion of Tithe

One of Satan’s major goals is to divert the money that should be coming into the Lord’s treasury and thereby dry up the financial resources to finish God’s work. He has successfully done this by causing men to neglect to give, to invest in worldly speculations that fail, to bequeath their property to children and grandchildren who do not love the truth, and by the needless use of funds for selfish gratification.

We have a responsibility to be sure that our tithe and gifts to God’s cause are supporting the preaching of the truth and that the devil does not out-general us and secure those assets that God has placed into our hands into the wrong storehouse.

What Is The Storehouse?

Only two storehouses exist in the world, “There are only two places in the world where we can deposit our treasures—in God’s storehouse or in Satan’s, and all that is not devoted to Christ’s service is counted on Satan’s side and goes to strengthen his cause.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 448

Where Is The Storehouse?

“Do not worry lest some means shall go direct to those who are trying to do missionary work in a quiet and effective way. All the means is not to be handled by one agency or organization.” Spalding Magan, 421

“Send direct to the people. God’s ways are not to be counterworked by man’s ways. . . . Have this money come direct to your destitute portion of the vineyard. The Lord has not specified any regular channel through which means should pass.” Spalding Magan, 498

Surplus Tithe Money

“If you have means that is not needed after settling with your ministers in a liberal manner, send the Lord’s money to these destitute places,” (missions and churches with limited tithe.) Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 184

Regular And Irregular Lines

In Ellen White’s day the terms “regular workers” and “regular lines” referred to conference employees and programs and “irregular workers” were the independent ministries. “For years the same routine, the same ‘regular way’ of working has been followed, and God’s work has been greatly hindered. . . .

“God calls for a revival and a reformation. The ‘regular lines’ have not done the work which God desires to see accomplished. Let revival and reformation make constant changes. Something has been done in this line, but let not the work stop here. No! Let every yoke be broken. Let men awaken to the realization that they have an individual responsibility.

“The present showing is sufficient to prove to all who have the true missionary spirit that the ‘regular lines’ may prove a failure and a snare. God helping His people, the circle of kings who dared to take such great responsibilities shall never again exercise their unsanctified power in the so-called ‘regular lines.’ Too much power has been invested in unrevived, unreformed human agencies.” Spalding Magan, 175

“The people to whom God has given His means are amenable to Him alone. It is their privilege to give direct aide and assistance to missions.” Spalding Magan, 177

Special Counsel Concerning Bible Workers

The following quotation is helpful as we seek to answer the question of using tithe money to pay a person not in conference employ: “There are minister’s wives, Sisters Starr, Haskell, Wilson and Robinson, who have been devoted, earnest, whole-souled workers, giving Bible readings and praying with families, helping along by personal efforts just as successfully as their husbands. These women give their whole time, and are told that they receive nothing for their labors because their husbands receive their wages. I tell them to go forward and all such decisions shall be reversed. The Word says, ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire.’ When any such decision as this is made, I will in the name of the Lord, protest. I will feel it in my duty to create a fund from my tithe money, to pay these women who are accomplishing just as essential work in the same line as that of the ministers, hunting for souls, fishing for souls. I know that the faithful women should be paid wages proportionate to the pay received by ministers. They carry the burden of souls, and should not be treated unjustly. These sisters are giving their time to education those newly come to the faith, and hire their own work done, and pay those who work for them.” Spalding Magan, 117

Obviously this same counsel would apply to full-time Bible workers today.

Special Need For Bible Workers

It is God’s will that we prepare thousands to do Bible work. (See Testimonies, vol. 9, 126.) “In every school that God has established there will be, as never before, demand for Bible instruction.” Evangelism, 42. What is this Bible instruction to accomplish? The next sentence says, “Our students are to be educated to become Bible workers.” Ibid. “In every city there should be a corps of organized, well-disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work.” Christian Service, 72

This work will require money. “It almost seems as if scarcely anyone dares ask a worker to go into cities, because of the means that would be required to carry on a strong, solid work. It is true that much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these places; and God desires us to lift our voices and our influence in favor of using means wisely in this special line of effort.” Evangelism, 42

If We Fail God’s Plan Will Succeed Through Others

If none of us feel a responsibility to fill the gap and become trained in Bible work and then help to train others, the Lord will pass us by and finish His work with others. If we do not feel a responsibility that all of our tithe support the giving of the three angel’s messages, God can at any time find other intelligences and other money or sources of support to finish His work, but we will be the losers. If we support apostasy with our tithe and offerings we are not hastening the Lord’s coming by getting the last message to all the world—rather we are delaying His coming and in dire danger of being accounted as an evil servant at the end. Matthew 24:44–51

“Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness.” Testimonies to Ministers, 300

“There will soon be an awakening that will surprise many. Those who do not realize the necessity of what is to be done, will be passed by, and the heavenly messengers will work with those who are called the common people, fitting them to carry the truth to many places. Now is the time for us to awake and do what we can.” Loma Linda Messages, 83

“If we are to bear a part in this work to its close, we must recognize the fact that there are good things to come to the people of God in a way that we had not discerned; and that there will be resistance from the very ones we expect to engage in such a work. A man that is sincere in the wrong is not justified in the wrong.” 1888 Materials, 1024

Tithe and Educational Reform

God’s plan for the rapid finishing of His work in the world involved educational reform that would refashion people’s thinking about who and what the church is, who and what a minister is, who is qualified to receive tithe and what kind of education this person should receive.

“With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world!” Education, 271

This missionary training was to prepare young people as quickly as possible for a useful life as a self-supporting or mission board supported missionary. Adventist young people were to be taught the great reforms that God had given to His people—reforms in dress, diet, education, recreation, healthful lifestyle, methods of healing, and reforms in church organization. This training would also include manual skills, would not include games and amusements, and would be offered in a simple setting with simple buildings.

Adventist education was to train young people to be thinkers and to be able to govern themselves instead of being merely reflectors of other men’s thoughts and having to be governed by others.

The Connection Between Christian Education and Tithe

Many times in the past different ones were led to reject truth because they didn’t understand that God is not dependent upon the literary institutions to prepare His workers and they have looked only to the graduates of these institutions for instruction and have sent their tithe support only to these workers. God has often used those that He has trained in another manner to carry forward His work.

In the last great work of God for the world, “the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service. The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of the Spirit than by the training of literary institutions.” Great Controversy, 606

The tithe and offering issue has to do with more than what organization you send it to. It has to do with more than just money and who is going to handle God’s money in this world. It has much to do with the finishing of God’s work. As long as your money goes to support apostasy there will not be revival and reformation for you because “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

The End

The Case of Miss Clancy

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Do You have faith in God? That was a question Jesus used to ask. It is one thing to say, “Yes, I have faith in God,” when everything is going well; you have money in your checkbook, your physical exam showed you were healthy, you are current on your house payment, none of your children are sick, and you are not having a major crisis at your work. It is another thing to say, “Yes, I trust in God,” when things are not going so well; you have been diagnosed with a very serious disease, or maybe your job is not as certain as you thought it was and you might get laid off, there is not enough money to pay bills, somebody is sick, and one wrong thing piles up on another. Do you trust in God? Do you really trust Him now—or is your trust in something else?

The Bible says a rich man’s wealth is his strong city. His confidence and trust are in his wealth. That is very common. In Matthew 19:23, 24, Jesus, speaking about rich men, says, ” ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ ” Do we realize that in comparison to people in many other countries, most people in the United States are rich? Solomon said when a person is rich, he trusts his riches. If you have your trust in riches or anything other than Jesus Christ, you cannot be saved. It is impossible.

The Lord had to teach some lessons of trust to the children of Israel. For this purpose, He put them through a rigorous forty-year training course during which time they had no way to get food. Have you ever been without food? It is bad to be without food when there is a grocery store nearby, but it is worse to be without food in the desert. For a while they did not know where the food was going to come from. So Moses told them, “Now the Lord is going to provide for you.” The Lord let them go in the desert a few days until they ran out of food, before He started providing manna. Have you ever been in a situation where you were looking for a job and you said, ” Lord, are you going to let me spend my last dollar before I find a job?”

When the Lord sent the manna, He did not send enough for a week—He only sent enough for one day. They were never more than one day away from being out of food. The next day the Lord sent a little more. If they kept it for more than a day, it spoiled. The only exception was on Friday, then the Lord sent a two days supply so that on Sabbath they did not have to gather food. The Lord taught them to put their trust in Him. We are also going to have to learn to trust in God alone. God has given us principles of living to help us learn to trust in Him.

To the tent meetings

Miss Clancy was an elderly Irish Protestant lady. She will be surprised when she gets to heaven because people have heard about her in many places. They will come to her from all over and say, “I learned to have faith in God from you.”

Her story began in 1919, when a Seventh-day Adventist minister by the name of Carlisle B. Haynes was having evangelistic meetings in a canvas tent in New York City on 95th Street and Broadway. Miss Clancy came to these tent-meetings, sat down, and started listening.
Whenever Carlisle B. Haynes would preach something from the Bible she would look it up, take notes, and check to see if that was really what the Bible said. If that was what the Bible said, she believed it and would do it. She soon started getting ready for baptism. She accepted everything the Bible taught until, Elder Haynes preached on tithing. He noticed after that, Miss Clancy was not so happy anymore. She became sad, gloomy and upset and he wondered what had happened.

Miss Clancy finally requested a personal interview with Elder Haynes. When she came to see him, she had her notes. Together, they reviewed the notes of his sermon. There are seven points she had enumerated. Here they are:

Notes on Tithing

1. The tithing plan explained. Leviticus 27:30-32. The word tithe means a tenth or ten percent. It says, “And all the tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s.” It belongs to the Lord. “It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.” The tithe or the tenth is holy. It does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord.

2. Tithe anciently was used for the support of those who ministered about holy things. Numbers 18:20-24 says, “Then the Lord said to Aaron: `You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they [that is the Levites] shall have no inheritance.’ ” Anciently, the tithe was used for those who worked in holy service.

3. The New Testament teaches that this tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:13, 14, Paul refers to the passage in Numbers 18 and says, “Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” The New Testament says that the tithing plan has been ordained for the support of the gospel ministry.

4. Jesus endorsed the tithing plan. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the other undone.”

5. God promises to bless the faithful payment of tithe. Malachi 3:10-12 says, ” ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this.’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ says the Lord of hosts; ‘And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Wealthy men like John D. Rockefeller and Colgate paid tithe.)

6. Those who do not do as God commands will not prosper. Haggai 1:5-11. “Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’ Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.’ says the Lord. ‘You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.’”

7. God’s curse is upon men, money and property when God is not honored and obeyed. Malachi 3:8, 9 says, “Will a man rob God? Yes you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

As Elder Haynes listened to her, he thought to himself, “Well now, what is she going to say? What is she going to object to?” Miss Clancy said, “Now, do I have to do this?” Elder Haynes replied, “Why would there be an exception for you? I’m not the one who told you this, this is what God’s Word says.”

Six Dollars

To this reply, Miss Clancy stated, “Well, you don’t understand my circumstances. Now, I don’t enjoy telling you this, but I must tell you because you need to understand why I don’t see how I can do this. First of all,” she said, “I am not employed. I don’t have a job. I really don’t have any means of support. But,” she explained, “I have a son-in-law and he sends me $6.00 a week.”

Elder Haynes was listening—$6.00 a week, even in 1919, was not much money. Miss Clancy continued, “I’m renting a little kitchenette apartment. I’ve been there ten years and the rents have gone up with the other apartments all around, but, the Lord has been good to me. My landlord has not increased my rent.”

“How much is your rent?” inquired Elder Haynes.

“My rent is $4.50 a week.”

Miss Clancy receives $6.00 a week from her son-in-law to live on. Her rent is $4.50 a week, leaving $1.50 for all other expenses including food. Elder Haynes was aghast. “That’s impossible! You can’t live on that!”

“I know. I know you can’t live on that, but the Lord’s been good to me and has helped me to live on that. I have been living on that for many years. But now you’re telling me that I need to pay a tithe which is 60¢ on $6.00 and then my rent is still going to be the same. So you are telling me that instead of living on $1.50 a week, now I’m to live on 90¢ a week.”

What would you do if you were the preacher? Would you say, “Well sister, I recognize that you’re in a very difficult situation and God doesn’t expect you to pay tithe.” Elder Haynes felt so bad. Now he knew why she was going through a trial. When all you have to live on is $1.50 a week and now you are only going to have 90¢ a week, what are you going to eat? Does God make an exception for the poor? There are no exceptions in the Bible. And he had to say to her, “I’m not the one who made the rules. God said that He would open the windows of heaven and that He will bless you. If you will do what He says to do, He will take care of you. I don’t know how He’s going to do it. All I know is that God will not fail you.” She thought it over and said, “Well, God’s taken care of me before and I’ll do it.”

Six Dimes

The next week she came to church and she handed Elder Haynes 60¢ tithe. In writing about it later, he said that was the hardest 60¢ he ever had anybody put in his hand to accept. He did not want to take it, but God had commanded it and he took it. And every Sabbath from then on she would come to church, go up to him and hand him 60¢. And in his mind, he would just have a sinking feeling, “What is happening to this lady? Is she going hungry?” Once he bent down and whispered in her ear, “Miss Clancy, how are you getting along? Are you all right?”

“Praise the Lord! I am,” was all she replied. The preacher wondered what was happening.

Finally, the third time, he again inquired, “Miss Clancy, are you sure, everything is all right?”

“Pastor, something strange has been happening,” She beamed, “I never knew before that the neighbors could be so kind and thoughtful. I’ve never had this happen before. They never did the things before that they’re doing for me now.”

“Well what things are they doing?”

“They bring me little presents—a loaf of bread, a pound of butter. A neighbor will come over and give me some flour and another will give me some cereal and another will give me a quart of milk and another will give me some fruit. They even come over and give me cake.” She continued, “I’m living better now on 90¢ a week than I used to live on $1.50.”

“Do you think somebody has been putting them up to this?”

“Yes I do. I think somebody has put the neighbors up to this.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“Do you need to ask me that, Pastor? If you had not counseled me to pay tithe like you did, I would have been robbed of God’s blessing.”

“Miss Clancy, I have reached the conclusion that you are the ablest financier in New York City and I have long wanted to ask you how you could possibly make 90¢ a week cover your weekly needs.”

“Ah Pastor, I’ve told you the neighbors help it to stretch, but aside from that my needs are simple. I have learned to live on porridge and oatmeal and these are cheap. To me, now, it seems that I’m getting along better than I was before.”

Every week she came and put in 60¢. This went on for three or four months, but one day there was a knock on the door of his study. Elder Haynes opened the door and there stood Miss Clancy with a playful smile on her face.

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

“Well, what has happened?”

Ten dimes plus offering

“My son-in-law wrote a letter the other day and told me that he had been feeling for some time that he really should send me more money. It was just too difficult to live on just $6.00 a week. He said that from now on he was going to send me $10.00 a week. Pastor, do you know what that means? My tithe on $10.00 will be $1.00, my rent will be $4.50 a week, so that will give me $4.50 left. My income has just gone up from 90¢ a week to $4.50 a week. My disposable income has gone up five times. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that money. I guess I’m going to have large offerings to help the gospel go to the mission field.”

Someday if you are faithful, you will get to meet Miss Clancy. Maybe you will have a story to tell her about how God helped you, how God opened the windows of heaven for you. Do you know, friends, God is somebody that you can trust. Do you believe that? Miss Clancy found out that when you do what God says, He opens up the windows of heaven. Nobody knew how God was going to open up the windows of heaven, but as soon as she started paying tithe, something changed and she started getting along better than she had before. The same thing will happen to you. When you are faithful to return to God His own, God opens the windows of heaven and takes charge of your life.

Look what Jesus said about this in Matthew 6:30-33, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these things shall be added to you.”

When you make God first in your life and choose to follow Him, God takes responsibility for you. God is going to see to it that you have food and clothing and will take care of you. Would you like to see God open the windows of heaven in your life? Would you like to be blessed? The Lord says, “Return the tithes and offerings into the storehouse and try Me out. And I will open the windows of heaven to you and all people will call you blessed.”

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

The End

Editorial – The Voice of God, part 2

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It has always been difficult for God’s professed people to recognize the voice of God among them in the present. The voice of God through past time in former prophets and messengers is recognized, but the present messengers are usually despised. Examples of this are: the Jews rejected the prophets over and over and killed them but “revered” them after their death. (See Matthew 23.) In Christ’s day the Pharisees claimed to believe the whole Old Testament but rejected the voice of God among them. The same was true for the Christian church—a large contingent rejected Paul while he was alive, but revered him in later ages. (See II Timothy 4:9-16.) The same has been the true with Seventh-day Adventists in recognizing the voice of God today. The question is: will you be one of those select few that recognizes the voice of God today and chooses to obey it?

“I inquire: Do you believe that the testimonies of reproof which have been given you are of God? If you really believe that the voice of God has spoken to you, pointing out your dangers, do you heed the counsels given? Do you keep these testimonies of warning fresh in your minds by reading them often with prayerful hearts? The Lord has spoken to you, children and youth, again and again; but you have been slow to heed the warnings given. If you have not rebelliously braced your hearts against the views that God has given of your character and your dangers, and against the course marked out for you to pursue, some of you have been inattentive in regard to the things required of you…” Testimonies, vol. 3, 362, 363

Just as Ezekiel was told to bear a message to the people whether they would hear or not, so Ellen White was told to bear a message, yet not to attempt to prove that it was the voice of God:

“I fell asleep, and in the night season I was taught of God. My guide said, ‘I have a work for you to do. You must speak the words given you by the Lord. After these words have been spoken, your duty here is done. You are not required to enter into detail before individuals, whatever may be their position or work, if they do not recognize the voice before individuals, whatever may be their position or work, if they do not recognize the voice of God in the message He gives you to bear in His name. All your efforts to remove their doubts will be of no avail if they gather the clouds of darkness about their souls. If you enter into particulars, you weaken the message. It is not you speaking, but the Lord speaking through you. Those who want to know the will of God, who do not desire to follow their own will and judgment, will be easily entreated. They will be ready to discern the right way.’” Upward Look, 339

We each individually have a responsibility to recognize the voice of God when it speaks to us.

“What voice will you acknowledge as the voice of God? What power has the Lord in reserve to correct your errors, and show you your course as it is? What power to work in the church? You have, by your own course, closed every avenue whereby the Lord would reach you. Will he raise one from the dead to speak to you?” Testimonies for the Battle Creek Church, 50

If we do not recognize the voice of God given in the Spirit of Prophecy to His remnant people, it is prophesied that we will not escape the snares for these last days. Neglecting or rejecting the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy is not a minor matter—it will prove to result in the loss of the soul for many Seventh-day Adventists. For the honest seeker plenty of evidence of their origin is available, but even the resurrection from the dead would be to no avail for many in modern Israel. (See Luke 16:19-31.)

Through his Holy Spirit the voice of God has come to us continually in warning and instruction, to confirm the faith of the believers in the Spirit of Prophecy. “Repeatedly the word has come, Write the things that I have given you to confirm the faith of my people in the position they have taken. Time and trial have not made void the instruction given, but through years of suffering and self-sacrifice have established the truth of the testimony given. The instruction that was given in the early days of the message is to be held as safe instruction to follow in these its closing days. Those who are indifferent to this light and instruction must not expect to escape the snares which we have been plainly told will cause the rejecters of light to stumble, and fall, and be snared, and be taken. If we study carefully the second chapter of Hebrews we shall learn how important it is that we hold steadfastly to every principle of truth that has been given.”