America

Facing the Crisis – Warnings of Coming Persecution

by

Every time I see the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor or see its picture in a book or in a magazine, I feel moisture gathering in my eyes and a heartbeat in my throat. For in America, the land that I love, its citizens will soon lose, and even now are losing, many of their freedoms. When people lose their freedom, one of the first segments to be curtailed is religious liberty—freedom to worship God and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

America is represented in Revelation 13 as the lamb-like beast, but we are aware as well, that Revelation 13 also pictures America as becoming a persecuting dragon who will, through the papal power, set up and enforce the image of the beast. Soon there will come a time in America when true Christians will lose all their religious freedom.

There is a growing movement today within the United States for people control. This is hidden under the guise of such terms as a one-world order or a global government. Most Americans are unaware of the ultimate goals of these movements. Silently the stage is being set by the forces of evil to gain power to persecute those who obey the Commandments of God, including the fourth commandment.

Those who teach that Christ’s soon coming will end this world of sin and usher in an everlasting kingdom, not on this earth but in heaven above, will be targeted. On the other hand are the nominal churches who believe that when Christ comes He will set up His kingdom on earth and bring peace upon this world for a thousand years. These will not be subject to persecution. The real issue will be over the Sabbath day.

As the end draws near, under the leadership of the antichrist, an unstoppable movement is developing to enforce Sunday worship in the place of God’s command to keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath. Turning to the Spirit of Prophecy, we read, “In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point of issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 983.

“In America, laws to exalt the false Sabbath will be passed.… all who will not bow to the decree of the national councils, and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin to the disregard of God’s holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast.” Selected Messages, book 3, 385.

Sabbath laws and persecution will spread over the entire world. “The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world. As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world.” Maranatha, 214. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious sabbath.

Revelation 13:8 says, “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Beloved, we need divine power to comprehend the fulfilling prophecies that are now taking place in preparation of accomplishing this hellish goal. In this article we will discuss the warnings of coming persecutions to all who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. We will look at the subtle changes that are taking place.

In the Scriptures, we find that Jesus spoke of this end time when great persecutions would face His followers. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13.

In 2 Timothy 3:12, 13, Paul writes, “…all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

Once again, let us read from the Spirit of Prophecy. Mrs. White says the great deceiver’s “…principle concern is to silence this sect of Sabbath keepers….we will finally have a law to exterminate all who will not submit to our authority.” Testimony to Ministers, 473.

And again, “It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be blotted from the earth, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.” Ibid., 37.

These messages are speaking of the end time battle between God’s true Sabbath and Satan’s false “Sunday sabbath” which is so soon to burst upon us. Since the first Advent of Christ there have been periods of persecutions directed against the followers of Christ. No sooner had Jesus Christ started His Christian church than persecutions began and continued for the next three hundred years.

This was Satan’s gigantic effort through apostate Judaism and pagan Rome to exterminate Christianity. During these years thousands upon thousands of Christians were beheaded, buried alive, fed to lions, boiled in oil, crucified and, by other means, tortured and put to death. Then some years later, through papal Rome, Satan made his greatest attack yet against Christians for 1,260 years.

Not merely thousands but millions were persecuted and put to death during this long period of papal supremacy. In The Great Controversy, Ellen White shares the inspired revelation of the terrible atrocities hurled against the Waldenses, the Hussites, the Lutherans, the Calvinists and the Anabaptists. You will further discover there how the Church of England persecuted and burned at the stake, the Pilgrims and the Puritans, a people who believed and taught the Scriptures.

The Inquisition banned the Bible and forbade the people to read the Scriptures. Yet what was the result of all these persecutions? “Notwithstanding all these continued persecutions and horrible punishment, the church daily increased.” Storm Warnings, 12

You may be surprised to learn that in the day in which we live millions of Christians have been, and are being, persecuted and many martyred by the enemies of Christianity. This is happening in Communistic countries such as China and Cuba, and in Socialistic Regimes such as Africa.

In a book published in 1999 entitled, Storm Warnings, the author, Don Mac Elvaney, states “Today millions of Christians are being persecuted, imprisoned or martyred in Communist China, while 2.1 million Christians have been martyred in Southern Sudan by the followers of Islam in 1990 alone. Over a million Christians have been martyred in Burundi, the Central African Republic, and in the Marxist front line states of Southern Africa in recent years. About one thousand Christians a day are being martyred somewhere in the world today. The greatest number since the beginning of the Christian Church.” (see page 10.)

The reality of such a truth should be very alarming. I have received word that Christians who recently emerged from such persecutions in Russia are now preparing to go back to underground organizations in order to serve God. The hundreds of letters that I receive from around the world reveal that great changes are sweeping the entire globe and from the Adventist Network of February 1, 2000, pages 7, 8, is evidence of the persecution of Seventh-day Adventists in Mexico where thousands were baptized despite ongoing persecutions:

“In Chiapas, Mexico, 33 pastors baptized more than 3,600 people in the ocean off Puerto Madero on Sunday, January 23, 2000. The Adventist church leader in this region reports that the baptisms were the result of a week–long evangelistic campaign held in the area in mid-January. At least 10,000 from across the region crowded on the shore to watch the event.

“The baptisms came at a time of increasing difficulty for Adventists in a nearby village. Since 1994 ongoing conflict between different Christian groups in the region has forced at least 20 Adventist families to leave the area and ten homes have been burned down. The current dispute results from plans by the five remaining Adventist families to build a new church in the village on land donated by church members.

“The general assembly, a local governing power, has refused to allow the building to go ahead and is threatening to evict the Adventists from the village. In spite of the persecutions the brethren have continued to spread the gospel while working to establish better relations and mutual respect with the locals who have persecuted them for their beliefs.”

Here in America the prosperity that has been ours since the end of World War II has caused millions of professed Christians to believe that the good life will continue forever. But a small remnant have not succumbed to this deep sleep. They are aware of a growing political power of anti-Biblical sentiments that are taking control of our country. Christian standards and beliefs are ridiculed and belittled on the television and in the movies.

Christianity is being attacked in popular books and even by the media in newscasts. “The decline of America should be obvious to any thinking American. The explosion of crime, gang warfare and drive-by shootings in our cities; the disintegration of the American family with proliferating divorce, infidelity, child abuse, single-parent families and teen age rebellion; the explosion of drug usage, the highest in the world; the rampant spread of promiscuity, pornography, homosexuality and sexually transmitted diseases; the gross immorality and corruption at the highest levels of
U. S. government are all irrefutable evidence of a country whose culture, morality conditions and spiritual life are in a free fall.” Storm Warnings, 23-24. (please note that this author is writing from a non-Adventist perspective.)

Faced with this reality, is it any wonder that the judgments of God have been steadily increasing, especially in the past two decades? God is endeavoring to awaken the inhabitants of our country to their sins and to their need of repentance. We have become so accustomed to hearing and seeing on TV the results of earthquakes, storms, fires, and other disasters, that I feel it necessary to summarize the catastrophic events that have taken place recently.

Beginning in the early 1980s America suffered a terrible drought followed by severe flooding in the Midwest and in California, which destroyed huge amounts of crops. Then came Hurricane Hugo in 1989 which caused great damage in South Carolina. Soon after, in 1992, a very powerful earthquake rocked San Francisco followed by four powerful earthquakes in California.

Next came Hurricane Andrew striking Southern Florida with the most expensive disaster in our nation’s history, some $33 billion in damage. This was followed in Los Angeles by the worst rioting in our country since the Civil War. Then in 1993 another record storm hit the East Coast followed by the worst terrorist attack in American history in New York at the World Trade Center. This was soon followed by the bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City, which killed scores of innocent men, women and children.

Incredible disasters continued. In 1994 with temperatures the lowest since recording began in 1890, a vast portion of the Midwest sustained a wind chill of 90 degrees below zero. Next, the state of Pennsylvania was hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in that state, centering in Reading. Two days later a large earthquake struck Los Angeles, creating some $10 billion in damage and leaving thousands homeless.

During the year 1994, America crossed the line from being the world’s largest creditor nation to being the world’s largest debtor nation. Almost 1.5 million personal bankruptcies took place in 1998 alone, a record since the great depression. Now, friend, do not miss the facts by looking at this total picture. I believe God is permitting these tragic events to happen because America is following and tolerating a lifestyle which, the Bible clearly states, removes God’s blessings.

Sins such as fornication, adultery, sodomy, sexual perversions and the shedding of blood of the unborn are everyday occurrences. Do you realize that America aborts 1.6 million babies a year, that since 1973, some forty million children have been killed in the womb? (See Storm Warning, 30.)

Morally this nation hit the bottom with its 1998 gay-lesbian celebration at the Disney World in Orlando, Florida. “A review of the gay days, 1998, scheduled events was amazing. On June 3 from 9pm to 3am was an event titled, ‘Who Is Your Daddy?’ The description of the event followed: A leather, latex and bondage party featuring live flogging and spanking; masters and slaves; plus piercings. Sponsored by the Absolute Leather ED and SM group of Florida. There were two events called Seductive Dancing. There were male strippers and female impersonators. Gay days ended on June 7 with a Sunday Gospel brunch from 10:15am until 3:30pm, an event entitled ‘Sin Tonight, Repent Tomorrow.’ And wonder of wonders, the President of the United States sent a letter of congratulations for events like this!” Ibid., 41.

Listen, friend, America cannot continue in this direction and remain a great nation. Proverbs 14:34 reads, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” I totally agree with the following found in Storm Warning, 46. “The Bible states that ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ Psalm 11:3. The foundations of America have been destroyed. The husband and wife family unit, which is ordained by God, is being replaced with a term ‘domestic partners,’ and homosexuals are being allowed to adopt children. America is becoming unglued. The nation is full of violence as innocent blood is being shed from coast to coast. It seems every week a mass murderer kills several people. This was virtually unheard of before 1963. The violence started against children in the womb has spread like a cancer throughout the entire society. It is truly ironic that America has developed the technology to allow men to walk safely in space, yet in most of our cities it is unsafe to walk the streets.”

The Bible speaks, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20. Woe to those who acquit the guilty but deny justice to the innocent.

And now Ellen White speaks. “The earth groans under the burden of accumulated guilt, and everywhere dying mortals are compelled to experience the wretchedness included in the wages of unrighteousness. I was shown that men have carried out the purposes of Satan by craft and deceit, and a dreadful blow has recently been given. It can be truly said: ‘Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter,’ ‘and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.’ In some of the free states the standard of morality is sinking lower and lower. Men with depraved appetites and corrupt lives have now an opportunity to triumph. They have chosen for their rulers those whose principles are debasing, who would not check evil, or repress the depraved appetites of men, but let them have full sway. If those who choose to become like the beasts, by drinking liquid poison, were the only sufferers; if they alone would reap the fruit of their own doings, then the evil would not be so great. But many, very many, must pass through incredible suffering on account of others’ sins. Wives and children, although innocent, must drain the bitter cup to its dregs. Without the grace of God, men love to do evil. They walk in darkness, and do not possess the power of self-control. They give loose reign to their passions and appetites until all the finer feelings are lost and only the animal passions are manifested. Such men need to feel a higher, controlling power, which will constrain them to obey. If rulers do not exercise a power to terrify the evildoer, he will sink to the level of the brute. The earth is growing more and more corrupt.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 362.

And what about Communism which has wrought such brutality and wickedness in past years? Do not be misled. Communism, even in America, is not dead but is much alive. Mikhail Gorbechev is still one of the most powerful leaders of the New World Order and he has headquarters in the Presidio, formerly the U. S. Army or government military base in San Francisco, California. That is amazing!

There are literally scores of organizations with papal cooperation who are pushing for a New World Order or a Global Government. When this happens, freedom will be a thing of the past. Never forget, it was through 1,260 years of papal rule by cruel persecution that the papacy once controlled the nations of earth.

One way to accomplish this goal again would be the passage of laws to punish hate crimes. A hate crime would be defined as anything derogatory that might be said of religious groups, races, lifestyle, etc. The Word of God identifies the Roman religious system as an enemy of the Law of God and of His Holy Sabbath Day. If the law against hate crimes should be passed, then if one were to teach Bible truths regarding this power or if he should pass out a book like The Great Controversy written by Ellen White or other literature that would identify the papacy and expose her sins and aims, he could be accused of breaking the law. He might be imprisoned and fined for simply sharing God’s Word.

The near future could very well bring such persecutions upon God’s people. Yet we have the divine commission to teach all the truths of God’s Word to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. In Revelation 13:15-18 God foretold that terrible persecutions will be executed under the reign of the image of the beast, “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.”

Concerning this time Jesus warns, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9. “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:2.

Now let us conclude by reading the inspired instructions God has given to His remnant, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, as found in the book The Great Controversy, Chapter 35, “Liberty of Conscience Threatened.” “In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God—that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them.

If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders.” Ibid., 573.

“Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed! [Even by some of our own church leaders.]

“The defenders of the papacy declare that the church has been maligned, and the Protestant world are inclined to accept the statement. Many urge that it is unjust to judge the church of today by the abominations and absurdities that marked her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse her horrible cruelty as the result of the barbarism of the times and plead that the influence of modern civilization has changed her sentiments.

“Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put forth for eight hundred years by this haughty power? So far from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the nineteenth century with greater positiveness than ever before. As Rome asserts that the ‘church never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err’ (John L. von Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, book 3, century II, part 2, chapter 2, section 9, note 17), how can she renounce the principles which governed her course in past ages?”

“The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility. All that she has done in her persecution of those who reject her dogmas she holds to be right; and would she not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be presented? Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.” Ibid., 563, 564.

“The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: ‘The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.’ The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized ‘those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’ [Did you get that? That the church may not employ force?]

“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’…The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’…

“Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words: ‘Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.’” Ibid., 564, 565.

And what about the attitude of John Paul II? We should note that it is really not different from the above testimony of the archbishop of St. Louis when he said that heresy and unbelief are crimes. John Paul’s grand design is set forth by Malachi Martin in his book, The Keys of This Blood. This book, published only ten years ago, reveals John Paul’s grand design to bring the whole world under his control. Martin refers to this as the “coming global government.”

On page 287, he writes, “…to defend every person’s right to be wrong…sets [them] apart from John Paul.” He continues by saying, “…it is axiomatic for John Paul that no one has the right—democratic or otherwise—to a moral wrong; and no religion based on divine revelation has a moral right to teach such a moral wrong or abide by it.”

Now listen to me carefully. Is not Martin actually saying here that, according to the present pope, no one, including Seventh-day Adventists, has the right to believe or teach a different doctrine than that taught by the Roman pontiff? And is not this echoing the sentiment of the archbishop of St. Louis as documented in The Great Controversy? Frightening, is it not?

Should not such a statement as this awaken us as to what the purposes of Rome really are? Prophecy shows that the great day of God is right upon us. It hasteneth greatly. (See Testimonies vol. 1, 361.)

Can we not see that even now the deadly wound is almost fully healed? Soon the pope will be in a position to persecute those whose understanding of the Scriptures differ from his own. Turning again to The Great Controversy, 581 we read, “God’s Word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the Word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”

And so, beloved, let us not wait until it is too late in order to escape her snare. We must understand what her purposes are now, right now.

America’s Twin Towers Toppling

by

Our Days are Numbered

In the United States of America, the keepers of national security and national prosperity of the most powerful nation in the world, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, have been attacked. We may be witnessing what could very well accelerate the shift of public trust from civil government power for security, to the church or religious power. History shows that when a nation suffers imponderable reverses and the civil government is perceived to be impotent to deal with the crisis, it turns to religion as a “city of refuge.” The same historical fact also reveals that when this happens, national religious bigotry blossoms very rapidly and persecution is not far behind.

Or it may precipitate the Third World War, if the United States resorts to “righteous” retaliation, justified, as it may seem to many. Violence breeds violence. But no military might can match or cope successfully with suicidal missions of religious convictions. When men are taught the terrible lie that death is the entrance to heaven or that a soul survives the body, what is there to stop desperate men from committing suicide as the ultimate release, or killing others as a means of gaining heaven, if the ones being destroyed are perceived as “enemies of the truth.”

Scapegoats

Finding and punishing the perpetrators of such a history-making travesty of this magnitude hardly ever gets traced back to the real masterminds. Were the true masterminds of St. Bartholomew’s Massacre in France ever brought to justice by the world’s tribunal? It was called by historian Henry White, in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the “. . . blackest in the black catalogue of crime, most horrible among the fiendish deeds of all the dreadful centuries . . . .” The Great Controversy, 271, 272. The king of France, then, will be blamed for “the butchery [that] continued for two months” where “seventy thousand of the very flower of the nation perished.” But who was behind it all? “The king of France, urged on by Romish priests and prelates, lent his sanction to the dreadful work. A bell, tolling at dead of night, was a signal for the slaughter. Protestants by thousands, sleeping quietly in their homes, trusting to the plighted honor of their king, were dragged forth without a warning and murdered in cold blood.” Ibid., 272. There will be scapegoats and fall guys galore, but never the ones who hatched, developed and engineered the scheme—not till the day when all the secrets of man are revealed in Heaven. All real wars, since the fall of man, have had a religious agenda in the background although not acknowledged as such by contemporary historians. Those who did acknowledge this fact were, and continue to be, discredited, not because they were inaccurate, but because they chronicled the truth. The same masterminds behind these religious wars of conquest are responsible for such misinformation campaigns as “the Reformation led by Luther was a rebellion against church authority.”

The papacy that has survived all individual popes, and the Roman Catholic Church, the “mother of harlots” (Revelation 17:5) has slowly returned to world prominence, quietly solidifying its worldwide power as prophesied in Revelation 13. All other world religions and denominations, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and historic Adventists as well, are splintering through internal dissension and intrigue over minor issues rendered major by spiritual myopia. Talk about the enemy from within! Sometimes we do not even need our enemies to vex us. We can discomfit each other and hand the victory to them.

“If We Lose Our Freedom, We Lose Our Nation”

A cryptic statement made by an U.S. Senator reflects the brave, yet confounded, spirits of officials at the highest echelons of government, over these well-coordinated “terrorist attacks.” It is an honest yet fearful admission of helplessness to say, “there were security lapses.” Post-war U.S. invincibility is now a myth, even as the Jews believed that Jerusalem’s walls were impregnable. Titus and his Roman horde desolated Jerusalem for at least six months in a.d. 70, literally leaving not “one stone upon another,” (Matthew 24:2) as Jesus tearfully prophesied 40 years prior.

But the “attack against freedom” to which many of our nation’s leaders referred to as “begging for retaliation against its cowardly perpetrators” was not on the incomparably more vital religious liberty issue—the ultimate freedom—but “freedom from fear of being attacked by terrorists.” Their declaration had more to do with losing temporal life and its advantages, financial wealth and stability—not freedom to worship God according to dictates of conscience as currently guaranteed by the First Amendment. It is always those things, opportunities, and the people who matter most that are taken for granted and ignored—until they are suddenly yanked away without a moment’s notice.

This is a foretaste and a forewarning of how the element of surprise has never failed. It will be the same strategy used in the final national crisis, which will also be the final and ultimate religious crisis.

“Marvelous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Romish Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false Sabbath, and that they are preparing to employ the very means which she herself employed in by-gone days. . . . The Christian world will learn what Romanism really is, when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. Throughout the land she is piling up her lofty and massive structures, in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. She is stealthily and unsuspectedly strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is soon to be given her. In the near future we shall see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will incur reproach and persecution.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 397.

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis

Definitions: Thesis: create the problem. Antithesis: manufacture and propose the solution. Synthesis: control the situation. This simple formula has been used in micro scale and macro scale for generations, increasing merely in sophistication and deadly affectivity. It began in heaven as the “mystery of iniquity.” The Problem: the Son of God was in the way of Lucifer’s ambition to be greater than the Creator. The Solution: create doubt in the minds of the angels by making it appear that he was working for their interest, ultimately resulting in rebellion. The Situation: Lucifer thought he finally had control of the situation until he and one-third of the rebellious angels were cast from heaven down to earth. What he attempted to accomplish in heaven, he simply repeated with more devilish cunning in the Garden of Eden, with devastating success. Since then he has been successful in destroying untold millions through the generations by this method employed by his agents on earth, both civil and religious.

The Decline of America’s Image of Invincibility

From the worldly point of view, the twin symbols of the United States’ might and wealth—the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., nerve center of military power, and the World Trade Center in New York, symbol of economic and financial strength, have been exposed as frightfully vulnerable. All the high-flying, budget-busting “star wars” and “missile shield technology” projects of the past and present administrations suddenly look so pitifully puny and futile. But according to The Great Controversy, page 441, America’s secrets of power and prosperity as one of the world’s greatest nations, are the principles known as Protestantism and Republicanism. The true basis of America’s success and prosperity will not be appreciated by the vast majority till they lose it—in the coming days.

Freedom Attacked, Freedom Defended

One of President George W. Bush’s earliest statements following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, was, “Freedom itself was attacked . . . Freedom will be defended.” O, that the leaders of this nation knew on what true freedom is based, as did past leaders such as James Madison, Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ulysses Grant, and others. All the current brave talk and rhetoric, in spite of inspiring human endeavors crossing political party lines and race and religious differences, to collectively deal with the crisis, will not erase one stark fact—the ultimate enemy will come from within. It will be the least suspected, for it will present itself, as it has in past generations, culminating during the Dark Ages, as Christ’s representative on earth!

All world empires, beginning with ancient Babylon, ultimately crumbled when their time was up, according to the unfailing prophetic timetable of Daniel and Revelation. They fell by Divine fiat, through a fundamental flaw from within, which the enemy recognized and used to their advantage. The last and final world-wide spiritual Babylon will fall as did its type—by forsaking God and replacing His immutable, unchangeable law of Ten Commandments with man-made laws that ultimately counterfeit the seventh-day Sabbath memorial of creation with Sunday Sabbath, and enforcing it as a law of the land. This is the final apostasy that comprises the national crisis, which leads to national destruction.

Why New York?

God’s prophet of the end was shown, in vision, the fiery destruction of fire-proof buildings in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other major cities of the United States. Here are some excerpts:

“February 15, 1904: ‘When I was last in New York, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These building were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify the owners. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. . . .

“‘As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in glorifying self. . . . Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding the faces of the poor. In the books of heaven, an account of every business transaction is kept. There every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.

“‘The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at lofty and supposedly fireproof buildings, and said, “They are perfectly safe.” But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.’” Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 413.

“I have no light in particular in regard to what is coming on New York, only I know that one day the great buildings there will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God’s power.” Ibid., 412. (See also Testimonies, vol. 9, 12, 13.)

While the foregoing testimonies refer to the time when the enactment and enforcement of the Sunday Law take place in the United States, what happened to the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York is a clear sampling of what is yet to come—a great terror, an overwhelming surprise, a blinding force! The most powerful machinery to wound and kill human beings is being prepared.

Note the following statement: “Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. . . .“ Maranatha, 138.

“The work of the people of God is to prepare for events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force.” Ibid., 182.

“The Lord is removing His restrictions from the earth, and soon there will be death and destruction, increasing crime, and cruel, evil working against the rich who have exalted themselves against the poor. Those who are without God’s protection will find no safety in any place or position. Human agents are being trained and are using their inventive power to put in operation the most powerful machinery to wound and to kill. . . .” Ibid., 137.

Troubles Will Increase

Over 100 years ago, the Spirit of Prophecy warned: “Satan delights in war; for it excites the worst passions of the soul, and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite nations to war against one another; for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God.

“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. . . . It is God that shields His creatures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord does just what He has declared that He would do, He withdraws His blessings from the earth, and removes His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law, and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. . . .

“Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, is Satan exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon the inhabitants of the world. The beasts of the field will groan, and the earth will languish.

“And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon the faithful few whom the Lord has sent to them with messages of warning and reproof. It will be declared that the nation is offending God by the violation of the Sunday Sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the nation, preventing its restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus, the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated, and upon grounds equally well established.“ The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 406, 408.

Scenario of What is to Come

So what does the future hold? The following listing gives you a brief, general scenario of what lies ahead according to prophecy. These events are not listed in any suggested chronological order.

  1. Troubles, crimes, calamities and disasters, both domestic and worldwide, increase. (See Review and Herald, November 17, 1910; Ibid., February 26, 1914.)
  2. Immorality, infidelity, and spiritualism increase; anti-typical spiritual Sodom and Gomorrah and atheistic Egypt reinstated. (See Maranatha, 153; Counsels on Health, 615.)
  3. Economy deteriorates. (See Signs of the Times, August 24,1904; The Upward Look, 362.)
  4. Religious fervor picks up; mainstream preachers go on the offensive to get people to return to church and “old, traditional” values are revived. (See The Publishing Ministry, 38, 39; The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 415.)
  5. Political leaders, at a loss for political answers, turn to religion. (See The Publishing Ministry, 38, 39.)
  6. Political and religious leaders join hands in an attempt to solve problems. (See The Great Controversy, 450.)
  7. Spiritualistic and miraculous manifestations increase. (See Early Writings, 85; Maranatha, 156.)
  8. Calamities increase. (See Christian Service, 155.)
  9. Religious fanaticism increases; more suicidal attacks by extremists; more mass suicides; bombings and public disturbances renewed with more violent color and religious discrimination and prejudice. (See Evangelism, 610, 611.)
  10. Every principle of the United States’ Constitution is repudiated. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 451.)
  11. Mainstream churches now join together in reversing themselves on their former position of anti-nomism; they now urge the nations to keep the Ten Commandments, where the fourth commandment is Sunday, not the seventh-day Sabbath. Moribund state Sunday Laws are revived. (See The Great Controversy, 573.)
  12. Sunday Law passes in Congress in the United States. Other nations and governments follow suit shortly. (See The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 2, 477, 478.)
  13. The Latter Rain poured out on the prepared saints—their sins are blotted out as well as the sins of all who accept the final message—this is the judgment of the living. (See The Great Controversy, 611; Review and Herald, April 21, 1891.)
  14. The Final Loud Cry of Revelation 18 goes forth throughout the world. Many miracles follow. (See The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 429, 430.)
  15. Standard after standard will be left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord’s army join the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy unite with the commandment-keeping people of God. (See Testimonies, vol. 8, 41.)
  16. The Sunday Law will now be enforced, first, by inducements and fines. (See The Great Controversy, 607.)
  17. All faithful Sabbath-keepers throughout the world suffer persecution in varied forms and in different degrees. (See Early Writings, 33, 34.)
  18. Sunday Law now enforced by death penalty. There are many martyrs, as a witness. As a result, more people are converted. (See The Great Controversy, 615, 616.)
  19. The seal of God is placed upon foreheads of the faithful. (See Early Writings, 38.)
  20. Probation closes. (See The Great Controversy, 490.)
  21. Holy Spirit fully withdrawn from the earth; Jesus casts down the censer and declares, “It is done,” signaling the end of the Investigative Judgment. Four winds of strife let loose. (See Early Writings, 279, 280; The Great Controversy, 614.)
  22. Seven last plagues begin to fall. God finally announces, “It is done.” (Revelation 16:17.) To the living saints it is like “voice of many waters,” to the living wicked, it sounds like terrible “thunder.” (See Revelation 19:6; Last Day Events, 272.)
  23. This voice of God opens up the graves for the Special Resurrection of two classes of people:
    • Those faithful of the Advent Movement who died in the faith of the Third Angel’s Message, keeping the Sabbath holy, and
    • Those who pierced Jesus’ side at the cross and the most violent persecutors of God’s people. (See Early Writings, 285; The Great Controversy, 637.)
  24. The 144,000, who have lived through six of the seven last plagues under the protection of the heavenly angels, and the specially resurrected saints now hear the voice of God
    • Announcing the day and hour of Jesus’ coming, and
    • Delivering the everlasting covenant to them that kept the law when the world made it void. (See The Great Controversy, 640.)
  25. Midnight Deliverance—the final anti-type of the midnight deliverance of ancient Israel at the Passover in Egypt. The universal death decree has gone into effect. Some try to slay God’s people but their swords fall like straw. (See Early Writings, 284, 285.)
  26. In the east, God’s living Israel, the church triumphant, see the unmistakable sign of Jesus’ appearing—a “black cloud, about half the size of a man’s hand.” (See The Great Controversy, 640.)

Message of the Hour

What we desperately need now is genuine and thorough repentance over our sins of self-righteousness (Laodiceanism) and Christ’s unity among brethren! Stop magnifying the faults of others! Never pass judgment on others based on your own personal convictions and opinions. Help one another overcome weaknesses and acquire good habits through education and example. Encourage and motivate one another to carry forward the work and message of the third angel in love, patience, longsuffering, tact, consistency, and mercy.

Remember ancient, literal Israel—the type of modern, spiritual Israel, the Seventh-day Adventist people? As God’s people, they were far from perfect, even as is modern Israel! But whenever one of them sinned, whatever sin it was, and repented, the priest did not condemn him. A divine remedy for forgiveness of sins by confession and offering of an animal sacrifice as the symbolic substitute and surety was available through the sanctuary services. After the blood was spilt and obtained, the priest interceded in the holy places for the repentant sinner. The same is true for spiritual Israel today through a much better hope, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and His all-powerful mediatorial work as our great High Priest during this anti-typical Day of Atonement! In and through Christ alone there is complete justification and perfect, progressive sanctification by living faith that works by love and purifies the soul from sin. This is the amazing, enabling, empowering, sin-destroying, saving grace of Christ!

Secrets of Unity

“The secret of unity is found in the equality of believers in Christ. The reason for all division, discord, and difference is found in separation from Christ. Christ is the center to which all should be attracted; for the nearer we approach the center, the closer we shall come together in feeling, in sympathy, in love, growing into the character and image of Jesus. With God there is no respect of persons.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 259.

“But spiritual success comes only to those who have learned meekness and lowliness in the school of Christ.

“We should remember that the world will judge us by what we appear to be. Let those who are seeking to represent Christ be careful not to exhibit inconsistent features of character. Before we come fully to the front, let us see to it that the Holy Spirit is poured upon us from on high. When this is the case, we shall give a decided message, but it will be of a far less condemnatory character than that which some have been giving; and all who believe will be far more earnest for the salvation of our opponents.” Counsels to Writers and Editors, 72.

“Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, education, that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same. There are no two whose experience is alike in every particular. The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing.

“So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another. We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little moment, when, could our eyes be opened, we should see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil.” The Ministry of Healing, 483.

“We cannot afford to let our spirits chafe over any real or supposed wrong done to ourselves. Self is the enemy we most need to fear. No form of vice has a more baleful effect upon the character than has human passion not under control of the Holy Spirit. No other victory we can gain will be so precious as the victory gained
over self.

“We should not allow our feelings to be easily wounded. We are to live, not to guard our feelings or our reputation, but to save souls. As we become interested in the salvation of souls we cease to mind the little differences that so often arise in our association with one another. Whatever others may think of us or do to us, it need not disturb our oneness with Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit. [1 Peter 2:20 quoted.]” Ibid., 485.

Unconverted Christians

The truly heart-converted Christian is known by his fruits—the very first of which is meekness, learned from the school of Christ. Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” Matthew 11:28. Working out our own salvation by our own self-righteousness is going to wear out our life forces in a very short time. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18. He who struts around like a peacock today will be nothing but a feather duster tomorrow. Premature spiritual and physical death is the result, but Jesus came to give life, and to give it more abundantly, hence, He pleads, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29. Meekness and lowliness of heart—not appearance nor words—is the condition for the divine rest that our Gentle Shepherd promises to the rest-less, stressed-out yet proud Christian.

“Where the Spirit of God is, there is meekness, patience, gentleness, and longsuffering; there is a tenderness of soul, a mildness which savors of Christ. But these fruits are not manifested by the unconverted. The more real need there is for this class to humble themselves before God, the less sense they have of their real standing, and the more self-confidence they assume. The more they claim to be led by God, the more overbearing they are to all around them, the more incapable of receiving any reproof, the more impatient of contradiction, and the less they feel the need of counsel. Instead of being meek and gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy, love, and good fruits, they are exacting and tyrannical; instead of being swift to hear and slow to speak [or write], they are slow to hear and swift to speak.

“They are unwilling to learn of anyone. The temper is fiery and vehement. There is a set determination, a fierceness in the very looks and deportment. They speak and act as though they would take the work out of God’s hands and pass judgment themselves upon those whom they consider in the wrong.

“A true disciple of Christ will seek to imitate the Pattern. His love will lead to perfect obedience. He will study to do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven. He whose heart is still defiled with sin cannot be zealous of good works; and is not careful to abstain from evil, is not vigilant and watchful over his own motives and conduct, is not jealous over his unruly tongue; he is not careful to deny self and lift the cross of Christ. These poor, deceived souls fail to keep the first four precepts of the decalogue, defining the duty of man to God, neither do they keep the last six commandments, defining the duty of man to his fellow men. [See Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14; John 14:15; Romans 14:10.]

“The fruits of the Spirit, ruling in the heart and controlling the life, are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, bowels of mercies, and humbleness of mind. True believers walk after the Spirit, and the Spirit of God dwells in them.—Manuscript 1, October 9, 1878, ‘Church Difficulties.’” This Day With God, 291.

[All Emphasis Supplied.]

To Pledge Allegiance

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Did you know that God requires our allegiance and that there is a special sign that shows our allegiance? Why, someone may ask, would there be a sign of loyalty to God? Surely He knows already whether or not we love Him! What kind of a sign is it? Is there a battle going on? Are there different sides to be taken? Is there a need for a sign showing which side a person is on?

Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, displayed the sign of their allegiance by their choice to partake of the forbidden fruit. Perhaps it seemed arbitrary for God to pick a tree and tell them not to eat of it. It certainly did not fit into their logic. But signs of loyalty are, of necessity, arbitrary or they would not be a sign at all. Colors for flags are arbitrarily chosen and a meaning assigned to them.

Many stories have been told of patriots who have risked their lives to keep the flag flying high. The sight of the U.S. flag still bravely flying through the night at Fort McHenry, in spite of the fierce attack upon it, inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled Banner.” The flag could have been hauled down and a white one signifying surrender raised in its place, and the fighting would have stopped. But the courageous soldiers were not willing to give up that flag for the sake of peace. They were willing to give up life itself to remain true to their pledge of allegiance.

A flag is only a piece of cloth. There is very little real monetary value in it. Why would people risk their lives to keep a particular piece of cloth waving in the breeze above their fort? It is because the flag represents something of far more value than just the threads in the cloth. That flag proclaimed boldly to the world what they stood for. To pull it down would have signified a change in their allegiance, and they were not willing to give up their liberty.

Looking for a Sign

There was a young man a few years ago, a runaway, who found himself looking for a sign. He wanted a sign that would show him that someone loved him. He was an independent sort of fellow. He found that as he lived with his loving parents that rebellion was growing in his heart. He didn’t want to put up with the restrictions they placed on him. He didn’t like the way they always seemed to interfere in his affairs. Finally, one night, he decided he had had enough. He walked out.

He did not allow himself to think of the agony he would be leaving behind in the hearts of his parents. He was determined to have a good time. He found a job and life seemed to be going well. He had plenty of friends and no one to interfere.

After a while, however, life in the fast lane began to seem empty. He was unable to suppress thoughts of his parents. They began to seem more and more dear to him. He wondered how they were faring and tried to imagine what they thought about him. He could picture his father’s furrowed brow and almost hear his strong voice. He imagined a disapproving look on his mother’s face. “They will probably never want to see me again,” he thought.

Thoughts of home came more and more frequently until he finally decided to write a letter and see if they cared to see him again or not. Soon after writing the letter the young man boarded a train. The destination was home. He was dreadfully nervous. As he rode, he clenched and unclenched his fists. His jaw worked nervously. His stomach seemed to be tied in a knot. On the train he found himself seated by an elderly gentleman.

The older man noted the nervousness of the young man and finally struck up a conversation with him. Before long he had heard the whole story. The young man ended with, “I don’t know if they’ll ever want me back again after the way I have treated them. I can hardly stand to find out the answer.”

Sign of Love

As the train rounded a bend in the tracks, the young man suddenly stiffened. “Please, sir,” he said. “My home is just around the next bend. It is right by the tracks. I wrote to my folks and told them I would be riding by today, and that if they wanted me back to put something white in the yard. If they did not, I would know that I should just ride on by and never trouble them again. I just cannot bear to look. Please, sir, would you look for me?” The man readily agreed.

Suddenly his excited voice broke into the rhythmical clicking of the tracks. “Look, boy, look!” he nearly yelled.

The boy lifted his head. Tears sprang to his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. Every white thing in the house must have been out in that yard. The clothesline, the bushes, the trees were draped with white sheets. Snow could have done little more!

Those two parents would not have let anything stop them from showing their long lost son the sign of allegiance and love he had requested. Never did they question what the neighbors would think. It did not matter if people thought they had lost their minds. What a reunion that must have been!

Those parents had to decide whether or not to utilize their son’s choice of what the sign would be. At any other time, white sheets in the yard would have been of no value, but because he had requested it, it was meaningful. The message the son had sent was essentially, “If you love me, hang out a white sheet.”

Which Team Are You On?

A sign of allegiance is often used in physical education class in school. Each time basketball is played, new teams are chosen. All the students are dressed alike in uniforms and confusion can reign, because it is difficult to tell who is on which team. Without some kind of distinction, teammates might end up playing against themselves.

To solve this problem, “pinnies” are usually provided for all the members of one team to wear. Then it is easy to tell who is a teammate and who is not. The pinnies become a sign telling to which team the player is loyal. These pinnies are arbitrarily chosen. On any other occasion they would be quite meaningless, but on the basketball court, they represent who is on which team. Anyone wanting to be on the team with the pinnies must be willing to wear one.

The Christian life is something like the basketball team mentioned above. It isn’t always easy to tell whose side we are on. The Bible says that Satan and his teammates will disguise themselves so that they look as if they are on God’s side (2 Corinthians 11:13–15). In fact, so deceptive is Satan that many of his followers do not even know they are following him. They think they are on God’s side (Matthew 7:21–23). That is why God has done something like what a physical education teacher does. He has given us a sign by which we might know on which team we are.

The sign of our allegiance to God goes far deeper than a display of emotions, or saying a few words that anyone could repeat, or wearing a lapel pin. God says more than “If you love Me, honk your horn.”

Follow the Blueprint

The story has been told of a man who bought some land and asked his son to manage and develop it into a farm for him while he traveled. He showed his son the blueprint for the layout of the proposed farm.

The son looked over the plans with admiration. The barns would be spacious, well built, and conveniently located. The house would be a comfortable one with a lovely view. The soil looked rich, and it would have its own water supply from a well. As they strolled across the acres together, blueprint in hand, he could almost envision the finished farm nestled there among the hills. What a haven of rest it would be! It was a good plan he decided. It would be a farm with which anyone could be happy and proud. But, knowing of his son’s independent ways, the father stipulated one thing. He would hire his son to build it on condition that he build it exactly as he specified.

Happily the son agreed to take the responsibility for it and to do the best he could. He agreed to follow exactly the blueprint his father had given him.

The father left, and the son immediately set to work to develop the farm. He took hold of the project energetically, and gradually things began to take shape.

As he worked, he often consulted the plans his father had given him. Repeatedly he was impressed by his father’s wisdom in the decisions he had made. Often he remarked about how good they were. He carried them out exactly as his father had specified down to the smallest details.

More Convenient

The day came, however, when the well was to be dug. As he looked at the plans, a puzzled expression appeared on his face. “I wonder,” he mused, “why Father put the well so far from the house? It will be such a long walk to go clear out there by the barn. He must not have realized what a difficulty that will be. Perhaps it’s been a long time since he had to carry the water in himself!” After considering it for some time, he finally decided to change the location of the well. He was certain that his father would be pleased with his decision when he understood why the change had been made.

Finally the farm was finished. Crops were planted and the fields became a lush green. The place looked like a peaceful dream when Father finally returned. The son met him with a proud smile. “See, Father,” he said with a wave of his hand, “it’s done exactly as you said. Is it not beautiful?”

Actions Reveal Motives

Again the two ambled across the acres looking at the farm. At each place the father would stop and express his pleasure at what had been done. Finally, they got to the spot where the well should have been. A puzzled expression passed over the elderly gentleman’s face. “Why, where’s the well?” he questioned. “I thought it would have been right here. Did I make a mistake?”

“Oh, no,” the son replied. “The well is right over there by the house.”

“By the house?” the father asked again. “I thought I planned for it to be out here by the barn.”

“Oh, yes, now I remember,” the son replied. “I noticed that. I thought it would be inconvenient to have it so far from the house, so I had them make just a minor change and dig it over there instead.”

The father looked sorrowfully at his son. “I thought you said you made everything the way I wanted it. You promised me that you would. But now I find that you did not. You did not make anything the way I wanted it. Not one thing.”

“Father!” the younger man nearly exploded. “How can you say that? I did everything the way you wanted except for the well. But I thought this would be better than the other plan. I changed only one thing. How can you say I did not do anything at all the way you wanted it?”

“It is really quite simple, Son,” the father explained. “That well is significant. It tells me that the only reason you built the rest of the farm as I specified is that you liked it that way. You happened to think my plans were good plans on the rest of the farm. But if your ideas disagreed with mine, then you followed your own way. You actually built the whole farm the way you wanted it, not the way I wanted it.”

It was a quiet pair that finished the tour of the farm. The son had little to say. His father’s words had made a deep impression. The well was indeed a sign of whether or not he loved and trusted his father enough to follow his requests even if he did not fully understand or agree with them. He had not set out with the intention of proving his lack of loyalty to his father, but his decision had revealed the hidden motives in his heart. His actions had shown what his motives had been even though the son himself had not understood his own heart.

God also makes it clear to us that our actions display the hidden motives of our hearts, even when we don’t understand them ourselves. Many times the Holy Scriptures remind us that a tree is known by its fruit. A good pear tree, at the right time, will be covered with pears. The pears reveal what kind of tree it is. So the fruits of our lives reveal where our loyalties really are and whether or not we are abiding in Jesus.

An Unusual Sign

The Bible tells the story of a battle in which Israel was involved. After the war a most unusual sign was used to determine who was friend or foe.

The Ammonites had declared war on Israel. They were determined to get control of some land they were accusing Israel of having taken from them. Israel began looking for a leader, and finally decided to make a man named Jephthah captain over their armies.

As Jephthah took control of the situation, he first tried negotiating with the Ammonites. He reminded the king of the history of how the land was actually obtained in the first place. When it was apparent that the Ammonites were going to fight anyway, Jephthah recruited all the help that he could. With a prayer in his heart and making a solemn vow to God, he led his army to battle.

When the war was finished, Jephthah had won a resounding victory. Jephthah was then made a judge over Israel.

A strange thing happened after the war, however. Things were just beginning to settle back to normal when a messenger from the tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of Israel, gave Jephthah a terrible message.

“Why did not you call us to help you fight the Ammonites?” they challenged. “Since you did not, we are going to burn your house down on top of you.” This was no idle threat. The men of Ephraim were irate. They had banded together to attack the city of Gilead, where Jephthah lived. It is very likely that they were jealous because they had not been able to enrich themselves with the spoil from the battle with the Ammonites.

Jephthah responded immediately, defending his actions and setting the record straight. He reminded them that he had called them to come and help him fight the Ammonites at a time when he needed them desperately. They had flatly refused to help! “Since you did not come,” he continued, “I had no choice but to take my life in my hands. We had to go and fight the Ammonites with a much smaller army than we needed, but the Lord was with us. What grounds do you have for fighting against me?” he questioned. He probably would have felt justified in attacking the Ephraimites because of their refusal to help in a time of need.

The Ephraimites were unimpressed. They were prepared for war. Jephthah quickly marshaled his men, the Gileadites, to defend themselves against the Ephraimites. Again Jephthah was victorious. The Ephraimites fled for their lives.

When the Ephraimites fled, the Gileadites strategically placed themselves at the river crossings where the Ephraimites would have to cross to get back to their homes. Before allowing any man to cross the river they would ask, “Are you an Ephraimite?”

Naturally, no Ephraimite would want to answer “yes” for fear of losing his life, so even if the answer was “no” the Gileadites had one more question that had to be answered before anyone was allowed to cross the river.

It was a very simple question, but the answer would invariably reveal the true identity of the person being questioned. The man would be asked to repeat the word Shibboleth, a word meaning river. The Ephraimites had a little quirk in their speech that was either a difference in dialect, or a minor speech impediment like a lisp that they had inherited. They could not pronounce the sound sh. Instead of saying Shibboleth, an Ephraimite would always say Sibboleth. By this ingenious but simple test, any Ephraimite crossing the river would be identified. The test worked. The Ephraimites were not allowed to escape.

If you think about the sign that the Gileadites were looking for, it is a very unusual and significant one. The Ephraimites were not destroyed because they said Sibboleth. The problem was not that they had a lisp. The word Sibboleth only revealed who they were. They were destroyed because of who they were. They were destroyed because of what they had done. (See Judges 11; 12.)

True Allegiance to God

A sign of allegiance to God is not something we do in order to win His favor. It is not something to earn salvation. It is something that reveals who we are. It is something that reveals whether or not we have been born again. It reveals whether or not we are willing to follow Him. It is something that reveals whether or not we are abiding in Him, just as fruit reveals whether or not a branch is abiding in the vine. (See John 15.)

What does God look for as the sign of allegiance and love to Him? “I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:19, 20.

The Sabbath is the one commandment we must accept solely by faith in Jesus’ authority. Keeping it does not save us, but it demonstrates our true allegiance. Today, during the judgment, God is again bringing His people back to full obedience. Though we are not held accountable until we have an opportunity to know the truth (James 4:17), out of love for us God is again teaching us these forgotten principles, that we may not inadvertently become followers of the lawless beast. Will you show your allegiance and love to God?

Reprinted from https://www.StepstoLife.org

(April 1, 2002).

Children’s Story – On Freedom’s Shore

by

I wish I might have known my grandfather Leer, but he died before I was born. I can see him, though—a short, stout German farm boy, plowing the gently, rolling fields of his father’s land in Russia’s southern Ukraine.

It was good land, rich black soil. Valentine Leer stopped the horses and squatted on his heels to rub the dirt between his fingers. It was still moist from the winter rains. The best growing land in Russia, he smiled proudly to himself. And his father’s farm was the best kept, the most productive.

Straightening up, he looked out across the upturned furrows behind him to his little village nestled in the poplars among the low hills. Kassel, just fifty miles north of Odessa on the Black Sea, had been home to his people ever since they left Germany, maybe fifty years ago in the early 1800s. They had come in response to the Czar’s call for more thrifty, hardworking German farmers, with the modern methods of Western Europe, to settle these thousands of fertile acres.

Valentine loved the little village which his people had named after their hometown in Germany. He could see the Lutheran church where he helped with the younger boys, the school, and his whitewashed mud cottage in the cherry orchard under the great endless blue of the sky. Someday he would have his own cottage, and he knew who would share it with him—at least, he hoped he knew!

Putting up the horses for the night, Valentine strode toward the welcoming lamp light, hungry for a bowl of his mother’s Borsch. Or maybe there would be Kase Knepf or Strudel tonight. Whatever it was, he knew there would be plenty.

But when he came in, the kitchen was empty. From the next room, he heard his father’s angry voice.

“But, officer, I have already paid my taxes down at Odessa.”

“I did not make the law. I just follow my orders. Fifty more rubles to the Czar this year. After all, there is a war going on.”

There had been a war going on as long as Valentine could remember.

“I cannot pay it now,” his father said. “I do not have the money.”

“If you do not have it in by Monday night, you either go to jail, or we take five desiatine (roughly 1.1 hectares or 2.47 U.S. acres) of your land.”

There was a scraping of chairs and boots, and the front door closed.

Valentine saw his father sink heavily into a chair. His mother sat in the corner wiping her eyes. He waited for his father to speak.

“Ach, so. Another freedom gone.”

“But I do not understand, Father.”

“You are young, my son. Tonight you have seen two of the promises in Catherine the Great’s manifesto broken.

First, the taxes. She promised us freedom from taxation. But year by year they have become heavier until I can hardly pay them. And then this Russian officer! We Germans were to have our own government, with an administrative board appointed by the Czar. One of our own officers should be collecting the taxes. But now the only question is: Where do I get the money? If I do not get it, I will lose the land.”

For the first time, Valentine realized the heavy burden his father carried. He ate his supper silently, wishing there was some way he could help. Scarcely had they finished their meal when Conrad Schmidt, their neighbor to the east, came in. He looked so old and beaten that Valentine’s father exclaimed, “Conrad, what is wrong?”

“They have taken my land,” he almost whispered. “You know I did not have much. My wife has been sick and I had a poor harvest last year. There were other expenses and I could not pay the taxes. So they have taken the land.”

“If I were younger,” Conrad continued slowly, “yes, if I were younger and my wife strong, you know what I would do? I would go to America!”

Valentine slipped out the back door. He had to think. What was happening to the German colony? How could the Russians take their land away from them? It was not right.

He looked up to see Herr Wall, their Lutheran school teacher, swinging briskly down the road, bulging satchel in hand. Herr Wall was always hurrying. “Where are you going?” Valentine called.

“To America,” he answered. Then he stopped and laughed. “Ach, lieber, Valentine. You look surprised! Yes, but it is true. The Russian officers brought me orders from the Czar to turn over our Lutheran school to the Ministry of Education. We were to be free to control our own school, but now it is to be taught and controlled by the Russians!”

“But, America, Herr Wall,” Valentine protested. “What do you know about America? It is so far away.”

“But it is free, my lad. No one will take my school away from me in America. Yes, I am going. I will write and tell you all about it.”

During the following years, Valentine thought often about Herr Wall and America. As he became responsible for more of the duties and problems of the farm, and built the little cottage to which he brought his bride, Fredricka Hieb, he treasured the occasional letter which came from his teacher.

But there was much to keep him busy at home and in the community. As Valentine and his bride walked slowly home over the muddy road one spring evening, avoiding the deep ruts left by the farm wagons, they talked about the Baptist preacher who had recently come to their village.

“You know, Fredricka, I feel that this teaching is more like what I have studied in the Bible myself. I believe I must accept it and be baptized.” He saw her face whiten in the dusk. “But Valentine, you know it is forbidden to change your religion. You know how the Orthodox Church and the government are working together to clamp down on Protestants. I just know you will be put in jail!”

“When something is right to do,” he answered, “then the only thing is to go ahead and do it.”

In spite of Fredricka’s fears, he was baptized. That was when his life of active service really began: a word of comfort to a downhearted Russian peasant here, a pamphlet on the love of God to an educated Russian officer there, and guidance and help to the new little Baptist Church in the German community.

But Fredricka had been right. It was not long before these activities brought him persecution. During the next few years he began to feel that he knew the interior of the Velva jail, five miles away, almost as well as his own home. When he returned from jail, discouraged, he could always find comfort in his children, Karl and Carolina.

“Father!” called little Karl, running out through the lean-to one night. “There is a big, big man in the house!”

Valentine dropped the plow and hurried in. What could it be this time? Surely not more taxes.

Fredricka stood at the kitchen door, tears in her eyes. “It was an officer, Valentine,” she choked. “He is taking a census for … for military service. Sometime this year you will have to go!”

Valentine picked up baby Carolina and put his arm around his wife. “Come, Karl,” he said, “It is time to go in to worship.” He took the big German family Bible from the shelf and sat down.

“That breaks the last promise, does it not? Exemption from military service. But we must remember, Fredricka, that God has a purpose behind all this. Though we cannot see what it is yet, we can trust Him.”

Valentine remembered the confidence and peace of that worship period the next evening when the heavy door of the little jail in Velva slammed behind him.

“Ivanovitch!” He heard the towering, fur-capped officer bellow. “Take this … this Baptist and lock him up. I do not know for how long. Forever, for all I care!”

“But officer,” fussed the balding little jailer. “You know this Valentine Leer makes nothing but trouble in here. He is always converting …” The nervous little jailer’s voice trailed off. The door was shut and the officer gone.

“All right, all right, Valentine Leer,” he sighed. “What is it this time?”

Valentine sank down wearily on the hard slat-covered bed and began to unlace his muddy boots.

“This time, Mr. Ivanovitch, your officers on horseback drove me five miles on foot through the mud to you here because I was reading from the Bible to my Russian neighbor. I was reading from the Book of John, you know, the part where our Savior says …”

“You mean you were out making converts for the Baptist Church again. Proselytizing. That is against the law!”

“Yes, you are right. It is against the laws of Russia, and I am sorry for that. I do not like to disobey laws, especially the laws of a country which has been so good to our people in the past. But if God’s laws tell me to preach, and man’s laws say not to, then I must obey God’s laws.”

The jailer slid down beside Valentine, his eyes on the curious faces of the other inmates as he scooted nearer.

“Tell me something, Leer,” he half whispered. “I do not know much about the laws of God, but I would like to know why it is so important for you to do this—to keep preaching this gospel you talk about, always ending up in jail here. Why are you so different from the rest of us anyway?”

Valentine leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment. He was very tired. Being marched five miles through deep mud had not been easy, especially after a hard day’s work in the fields. He wanted to be alone to rest and think—to think about the letter which had come that day from Herr Wall in America. He would really prefer to talk to the jailer later.

Then a picture of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail came to his mind. They had been tired, too, and had been beaten besides, when they sang their triumphant hymns. He turned to the jailer.

“Mr. Ivanovitch, I am glad to tell you why I seem different. It is just a matter of faith. I see you have an icon over there. You have a fine one, my friend; the gold frame is beautiful and the picture of Jesus is lovely. Now when the priest has blessed this icon, you say it is sacred and you pray to it. You have faith in the icon, do you not?”

The jailer nodded.

“Now I have faith, too, but not in a picture made by a man like myself. I have faith in God and His Son, Jesus. I can pray directly to Him. I know that God hears me, that His Spirit is with me always, wherever I am. I do not have to buy an expensive icon, and then a more expensive one, hoping that it will bring me blessings. I talk with the Creator who made the universe, and yet Who loves and cares for me. Is that not wonderful?”

“Look,” he said, “I will read it to you just as our Savior said it.”

He took his German Bible from an inner pocket and slowly translated several sweet promises into Russian. He could see that the other prisoners were straining to hear, and he wished he could read louder so that they would be sure to get the meaning.

“Come now,” he said finally. “I will teach you how to pray directly to your heavenly Father. We will kneel together.”

As he knelt, Valentine rejoiced to see four of the men climb from their bunks and slip to their knees on the floor. “Now I will teach you the prayer our Savior taught His disciples.” And Valentine slowly repeated the words of the Lord’s Prayer. Soon others were joining in with, “Our Father, which art in heaven …”

Suddenly they heard the tramp of boots outside and the grating of a big key in the lock. Before the jailer could get to his feet, the heavy door swung open, revealing the overseer of the southern Ukrainian prisons.

The overseer cursed in anger.

“Ivanovitch, you swine; what is going on here? Oh, yes, now I see. It is that Valentine Leer here again. These Baptists,” he roared. “When you have one, you have two. If there are two, there will be four. And now look; we have six, and one of them is my jailer.”

“All right,” he sighed. “Let him go. And do not bring that little Leer into one of my jails again. He makes as many converts inside as he does outside!”

Well, I am free to go home again, Valentine thought, pushing along through the mud. Home to what? A few acres of land which could be taken from him at any time, Russian schools for his children where they would be indoctrinated with the Orthodox belief, military service which might take him from home for many years to fight in wars of conquest he could not conscientiously support, and most important, to a total lack of understanding of what religious freedom should be.

He realized that he had come to the place where he must either give up his spiritual work for others or be prepared for a future which could include not only the Velva jail, but also a Siberian prison.

He had almost memorized the words of Herr Wall’s letter—“There is freedom here in America, Valentine. You can worship or not, as you please. You can change your religion, preach any message you wish—no one hinders you in any way.”

Valentine turned to look at the fields of home. He would miss the rich acres and the mild climate, as well as the Russian people. But when he would plow and plant and preach again, it would be on freedom’s soil.

Sequel: Valentine Leer did come to America. He was a Baptist at that time. In America he met an English speaking man who shared the Ten Commandments with him. That was all it took. The Holy Spirit gave him understanding as he studied for himself.

Valentine Leer raised up twenty-five Seventh-day Adventist churches in North and South Dakota. He also raised $70,000 for the College of Medical Evangelists [now Loma Linda University] to give young people the opportunity he did not have—to learn.

The American branch of the Leer family prospered and grew over the years. Many of them are missionaries, ministers, and teachers carrying on the family tradition of active service for the Lord like their progenitor, Valentine Leer.