Bible Archives - Page 12 of 13

The Gospel in the Great Controversy

October 26, 2017 by Maria Cofer

There are many who say, “I have heard this message before;” but I ask, “Why has it not changed you? Where are you spiritually?” In The Great Controversy, the chapter called “The Snares of Satan,” Satan does not care whether you are praying, studying or attending church so long as you remain in an indifferent, careless state. While Jesus is in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary ministering on our behalf, we have the opportunity to repent and be cleansed of our sins. It is during this time that Satan wants us to remain careless and indifferent. The time is very short. Many are hearing message after message and are being convicted but not being changed. Many will say that the message was so powerful and I am so convicted; I see my sin and I am going to get it right. After a few days, however, they return to the same condition as before the conviction.

Martin Luther and John Wesley had similar experiences in which they began to study the Word and had a desire to surrender but did not know how. As a result, they failed many times until they had an understanding of righteousness by faith and came to a point where they had to make a choice and count the cost. This is the experience of many Christians today.

In John 6:25–29, it says, “And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said unto Him, Rabbi, when camest Thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”

He goes on to say, “And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Verse 40. “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Verse 44. Jesus said, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven.” Verses 48–58.

This group of disciples came to Christ after He had performed the miracle of the loaves and the people were filled. They came seeking another miracle and asked in verse 28, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” They were basically asking: “What can I do to secure my own salvation?” They wanted to know what work they could do to inherit heaven. Jesus was trying to tell them that there was nothing they could do. He said, “I am that bread that came down from heaven. Unless you eat of My flesh and drink of My blood you have no life in you. Those who eat of My flesh and drink of My blood, those are the ones that will be resurrected on the last day.”

To eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of Christ means to behold Him—to study the life of Jesus Christ and to live out that which you are reading. By beholding you become changed. Many of these individuals that heard what He said decided that it was too difficult to do these things and they left. Though they were called His disciples, they followed Him no more. Here was a crossroads. Jesus looked upon the few that remained and asked, “Are you going to leave as well?” They responded, “Lord where would we go?” (See John 6:67, 68.)

Each must make a decision. Each, as studying the word of God and seeing those things that are required of us, must sacrifice to drink of His blood. In the place of spending time with Him throughout the day, many would rather do a work or suffer punishment in a vain attempt to inherit eternal life.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a man that was very earnest and desired to know of God. As he began to read the Bible he became convicted.

“An earnest desire to be free from sin and to find peace with God led him at last to enter a cloister and devote himself to a monastic life. Here he was required to perform the lowest drudgery and to beg from house to house. He was at an age when respect and appreciation are most eagerly craved, and these menial offices were deeply mortifying to his natural feelings; but he patiently endured this humiliation, believing that it was necessary because of his sins.” The Great Controversy, 123.

He was trying to do a work in order to inherit salvation himself, but God was working with him.

“Every moment that could be spared from his daily duties he employed in study, robbing himself of sleep and grudging even the time spent at his scanty meals. Above everything else he delighted in the study of God’s word.” Ibid.

These things are examples for us. Everything that Luther experienced, we are going to experience. Luther’s experience needs to be ours. He delighted in the study of God’s word.

“He had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and to this he often repaired. As his convictions of sin deepened, he sought by his own works to obtain pardon and peace. He led a most rigorous life, endeavoring by fasting, vigils, and scourgings to subdue the evils of his nature, from which the monastic life had brought no release. He shrank from no sacrifice by which he might attain to that purity of heart which would enable him to stand approved before God. ‘I was indeed a pious monk,’ he afterward said, ‘and followed the rules of my order more strictly than I can express. If ever monk could obtain heaven by his monkish works, I should certainly have been entitled to it. … If it had continued much longer, I should have carried my mortifications even to death.’ … As the result of this painful discipline he lost strength and suffered from fainting spasms, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. But with all his efforts his burdened soul found no relief. He was at last driven to the verge of despair.” Ibid.

Until Luther began to understand that it is by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ that one is fitted to accept the free gift of salvation, he did everything he could to secure his salvation. If he had stopped searching before that, he would have been lost, but he continued to search.

“When it appeared to Luther that all was lost, God raised up a friend and helper for him.” Ibid.

Pray for spiritual friends to walk with you! Do not be discouraged—whatever your situation. There are times God will allow things to happen in your life; you may experience discouragement, bitterness and trial so that you can see your need of Jesus Christ. Many do not see their need. If you are not searching and agonizing, what can He do for you?

God raised up a helper for Luther. “The pious Staupitz opened the word of God to Luther’s mind and bade him look away from himself, cease the contemplation of infinite punishment for the violation of God’s law, and look to Jesus, his sin-pardoning Saviour. ‘Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death. … Listen to the Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor.’ ‘Love Him who first loved you.’ … Thus spoke this messenger of mercy. His words made a deep impression upon Luther’s mind. After many a struggle with long-cherished errors, he was enabled to grasp the truth, and peace came to his troubled soul.” Ibid., 123, 124.

Luther found the peace that God offers. Many are searching today but cannot find it because they are constantly looking at their sins and do not believe that Jesus pardons them personally. Focus on today and pray that God will give you His Holy Spirit and grace for today because you cannot do a work of a lifetime in one day. Do not focus on yourself. Look to Christ daily. Do not allow Satan to make you feel that you are not worthy. God came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

“To a friend of the Reformation Luther wrote: ‘We cannot attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by the intellect. Your first duty is to begin by prayer. Entreat the Lord to grant you, of His great mercy, the true understanding of His word. There is no other interpreter of the word of God than the Author of this word, as He Himself has said, “They shall be all taught of God.” Hope for nothing from your own labors, from your own understanding: trust solely in God, and in the influence of His Spirit. Believe this on the word of a man who has had experience.’ ” The Great Controversy, 132.

We are not to trust in intellect or human wisdom but in God. You need to believe that He will guide you into all truth. Ezekiel 36:25–27 says, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.”

His judgments are His law. He wants to put in us His character. The Holy Spirit will cause us to walk in His statutes. God will write His law upon our hearts and that will cause us to walk in His ways. It was not until Luther had this understanding that he was truly converted.

“The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with Luther. It is to be continued to the close of this world’s history. Luther had a great work to do in reflecting to others the light which God had permitted to shine upon him; yet he did not receive all the light which was to be given to the world. From that time to this, new light has been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new truths have been constantly unfolding.” Ibid., 148, 149.

Luther did not have all the light—he had a small understanding. We have so much light with so many books yet many would rather read other literature. There is no excuse for those who have not read the Conflict Series or have not studied The Great Controversy. The messages they did not have then we have now. We need to be putting these principles into practice.

“From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook the world in the Great Reformation. There, with holy calmness, the servants of the Lord set their feet upon the rock of His promises. During the struggle at Augsburg, Luther ‘did not pass a day without devoting three hours at least to prayer, and they were hours selected from those the most favorable to study.’ In the privacy of his chamber he was heard to pour out his soul before God in words ‘full of adoration, fear, and hope, as when one speaks to a friend.’ ‘I know that Thou art our Father and our God,’ he said, ‘and that Thou wilt scatter the persecutors of Thy children; for Thou art Thyself endangered with us. All this matter is Thine, and it is only by Thy constraint that we have put our hands to it. Defend us, then, O Father!’ …” The Great Controversy, 210. [Emphasis added.]

There is no excuse for us to neglect prayer and study. We need to agonize over souls. The most polished instrument that Satan can use is an individual who is not converted, who does not pray, but appears to be a Christian. There are similar experiences like those disciples who left Christ after He said that the only way for salvation was to eat and to drink of Him. Those who stayed still struggled. They came to a full understanding when the Holy Spirit came and then they could teach others. In Acts 2:37 we see the response to their teaching: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” There it is again, “what shall we do?” Verses 38, 39: “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

This is not just for them but for us. We need to fall on the Rock and be broken—we need to agonize even if we do not feel like it. Go to God and ask to be led to the Rock. If you have never experienced falling on the Rock and being broken, you will never experience repentance. You will never be converted and when Jesus comes, you will be lost.

John Wesley

Wesley had the same experience:

“Wesley and his associates were led to see that true religion is seated in the heart, and that God’s law extends to the thoughts as well as to the words and actions. Convinced of the necessity of holiness of heart, as well as correctness of outward deportment, they set out in earnest upon a new life. By the most diligent and prayerful efforts they endeavored to subdue the evils of the natural heart. They lived a life of self-denial, charity, and humiliation, observing with great rigor and exactness every measure which they thought could be helpful to them in obtaining what they most desired—that holiness which could secure the favor of God. But they did not obtain the object which they sought. In vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the condemnation of sin or to break its power. It was the same struggle which Luther had experienced in his cell at Erfurt. It was the same question which had tortured his soul—‘How should man be just before God?’ Job 9:2.” The Great Controversy, 254. [Emphasis added.]

This was the same experience that Luther had. Wesley had seen the righteousness of Christ and wanted to be holy.

“John and Charles Wesley, after being ordained to the ministry, were sent on a mission to America. On board the ship was a company of Moravians. Violent storms were encountered on the passage, and John Wesley, brought face to face with death, felt that he had not the assurance of peace with God. The Germans, on the contrary, manifested a calmness and trust to which he was a stranger. …

“In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterwards, ‘Were you not afraid?’ He answered, ‘I thank God, no.’ I asked, ‘But were not your women and children afraid?’ He replied mildly, ‘No; our women and children are not afraid to die.’—Whitehead, Life of the Rev. John Wesley, page 10.” Ibid., 254, 255.

These were individuals believing they are about to die. Some were singing with the peace of God in their hearts while others were screaming. When you come face to face with death, at that time you will know that you are right with God or not. Life is short. Are you hid with Christ in God? John Wesley realized that he did not have the faith in God that he had witnessed among the Moravians.

“On his return to England, Wesley, under the instruction of a Moravian preacher, arrived at a clearer understanding of Bible faith. He was convinced that he must renounce all dependence upon his own works for salvation and must trust wholly to ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). At a meeting of the Moravian society in London a statement was read from Luther, describing the change which the Spirit of God works in the heart of the believer. As Wesley listened, faith was kindled in his soul. ‘I felt my heart strangely warmed,’ he says. ‘I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: and an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.’ ” Ibid., 255, 256.

He finally began to understand Bible faith and to know what it means to “behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He now understood that it was not by looking to yourself or anything you can do but it is by faith in Jesus. With that faith abiding in you, obedience will become the fruit. You will love others because this is the result of abiding in Christ and spending time with Him.

“Through long years of wearisome and comfortless striving—years of rigorous self-denial, of reproach and humiliation—Wesley had steadfastly adhered to his one purpose of seeking God. Now he had found Him; and he found that the grace which he had toiled to win by prayers and fasts, by almsdeeds and self-abnegation, was a gift, ‘without money and without price.’

“Once established in the faith of Christ, his whole soul burned with the desire to spread everywhere a knowledge of the glorious gospel of God’s free grace.” Ibid., 256.

Once Wesley had a personal experience with God, he had the desire to share, and that must be your desire. You must have a true burden for souls. Do you understand what it means to cry between the porch and the altar?

“He continued his strict and self-denying life, not now as the ground, but the result of faith; not the root, but the fruit of holiness. The grace of God in Christ is the foundation of the Christian’s hope, and that grace will be manifested in obedience. Wesley’s life was devoted to the preaching of the great truths which he had received—justification through faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, bringing forth fruit in a life conformed to the example of Christ.” Ibid., 256. [Emphasis added.]

Jesus prayed all night because He had a love and a burden for souls. Wesley’s whole life changed because it was now being led by the Holy Spirit to a similar burden. We must understand that Christianity includes that burden and that love. When we really begin to understand the work going on in the heavenly sanctuary, God will give us new motives, new thoughts, new feelings. When we are in Christ we have become new.

“Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and the gospel. ‘There is, therefore, the closest connection that can be conceived, between the law and the gospel. On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and points us to, the gospel; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that “with man this is impossible” (Matthew 19:26); but we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us humble, meek, and holy: we lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings; it is done unto us according to our faith; and “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:4), through faith which is in Christ Jesus.’ ” The Great Controversy, 263.

The law and the gospel are one. The law will show you your sins but it is not a remedy for your sins. It will convict but not convert. The law will point you to the gospel, which is Jesus Christ, and He will save you. His law will be fulfilled in us.

In many churches the law has been done away with—made void. When there is no law being upheld, no sin being shown, you cannot see Christ or the cross, or that the law cannot be fulfilled in us. Many want to feel good and not hear about sin. They want to be happy in their sinful condition, feeling that they are saved. The majority of Christianity believes that the law cannot be kept. This is a sad condition.

Many think that by going to church on Sabbath, wearing a long skirt, not eating meat, doing devotions, they are justified.

Galatians 2:16 says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

“To those who urged that ‘the preaching of the gospel answers all the ends of the law,’ Wesley replied: ‘This we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell.’ The apostle Paul declares that ‘by the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Romans 3:20); ‘and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel his need of the atoning blood of Christ. … ‘They that be whole,’ as our Lord Himself observes, ‘need not a physician, but they that are sick’ (Matthew 9:12). It is absurd, therefore, to offer a physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine themselves so to be. You are first to convince them that they are sick; otherwise they will not thank you for your labor. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken.” Ibid., 264.

You need to show people that they have a need and are not ready to meet Christ; otherwise they will not accept your message because they think that they are good and have no need of Jesus. In Isaiah 50:4 it says, “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”

“At the close of his long life of more than fourscore years—above half a century spent in itinerant ministry—his [Wesley’s] avowed adherents numbered more than half a million souls. But the multitude that through his labors had been lifted from the ruin and degradation of sin to a higher and a purer life, and the number who by his teaching had attained to a deeper and richer experience, will never be known till the whole family of the redeemed shall be gathered into the kingdom of God. His life presents a lesson of priceless worth to every Christian. Would that the faith and humility, the untiring zeal, self-sacrifice, and devotion of this servant of Christ might be reflected in the churches of today!” The Great Controversy, 264.

One man, through the power of the Holy Spirit, was able to win at least half a million souls to Jesus Christ!

We are at the last moment of earth’s history. Is it your experience right now that you are literally agonizing and praying for yourself and for others? The more we see what the condition of ourselves and God’s people are in, the more our time will be spent in prayer instead of looking for a fun church and fun things to do. Whatever you are doing you may incorporate God’s word, His Spirit of Prophecy, into your mind by listening to tapes or reading. Many get so caught up on social media and every other time-consuming habit that it cancels out the seed that God has placed within you and has no opportunity to germinate.

Ellen White said: “I had a dream once in which I saw a large company gathered together, and suddenly the heavens gathered blackness, the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and a voice louder than the heaviest peals of thunder, sounded through the heavens and the earth, saying, ‘It is done.’ Part of the company, with pallid faces, sprang forward with a wail of agony, crying out, ‘O, I am not ready.’ The question was asked, ‘Why are you not ready? Why have you not improved the opportunities I graciously gave you?’ I awoke with the cry ringing in my ears, ‘I am not ready; I am unsaved—lost! lost! eternally lost!’ ” The Youth’s Instructor, July 21, 1892.

Everyone will be speechless. There will be no excuses in that day. There were times when Ellen White said they were so burdened that they would pray for hours and hours until they felt in their soul that their burden was lifted and the peace of God came upon them. We need to know how to agonize as Jacob did. God is graciously allowing us this time. Probation is extended for you.

Luther and Wesley had to search until God showed them the way. Behold God, our loving Redeemer. Spend time with Him before time runs out.

Maria Cofer and her husband, John, have established a digital media company to create and promote video media teaching the unique message of Adventism using social media such as Facebook and YouTube. They are currently engaged in establishing training schools under the name, The Schools of the Prophets for the youth. She may be contacted via gospelofhealth.org.

The True Witness Speaks

May 13, 2020October 25, 2017 by Hazel Hendricks

The Teachings of the Shepherd’s Rod in the Light of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy

(This book was written and published many years ago. Reprinted with permission of the author.)

Author’s Preface

The Shepherd’s Rod teachings came to me in the autumn of 1933. A book was sent to me which I was asked to read through twice before saying anything to anyone. I received it with joy, for across the page were the words, “The 144,000—A Call for Reformation.” Just what I was interested in!

I became an ardent supporter of the Shepherd’s Rod. Though I had read the Bible through at least three times and the Testimonies and other writings of the Spirit of Prophecy almost as many times, I could not see that this new teaching was false; so the words and entreaties of friend and ministers fell as stones at my feet. I worked all the more to give this doctrine to others.

I realize now why I could not see the falsehoods the Shepherd’s Rod teachings contain. I was so busy searching through the Spirit of Prophecy writings to find quotations and statements to harmonize with the Shepherd’s Rod that the thought never came to me that I was taking the truth out of its setting and placing it in the framework of error. How differently I would approach the matter now! I would leave the quotations from the Spirit of Prophecy just were they belonged and read from cover to cover and from book to book, then judge between truth and error. I would bring the teachings to the light of the Spirit of Prophecy.

It took seven years to bring me to my senses. Seven years of perplexity, confusion, heartache, darkness, gloom, loneliness, and suffering, mentally, physically, and spiritually, finally brought me to the place where my eyes could be opened. But as I cried out for the Lord to open my eyes and let me see what was wrong, whether I was untrue to the Shepherd’s Rod or to the Seventh-day Adventist church, I began to receive light.

The following blessed assurances were realized in my experience:

“Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the truth that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived;…but it is impossible for him to hold under his power one soul who honestly desires, at whatever cost, to know the truth.” The Great Controversy, 528

“God will open the eyes of honest souls to understand the cruel work of those who scatter and divide. He will mark those who cause divisions, that every honest one may escape from Satan’s snare.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 334

I send this booklet out with a prayer that it will be of some help to those who have been led astray, as well as to those who have remained upon the true platform. My heart goes out to those in deception; for I know just how they were ensnared, and how hard it is to get free. I had declared many times that if the Shepherd’s Rod were not true, nothing was. But sincerely and honestly believing a lie does not make it true.

“God will not condemn any at the judgment because they honestly believed a lie, or conscientiously cherished error; but it will be because they neglected the opportunities of making themselves acquainted with truth.” Testimonies to Ministers, 437

Let us study the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy as we have never studied before, and may truth be so embedded in our minds and hearts that we will stand unshaken against the delusions of these last days. My desire now is to help those who have been deceived, and to redeem the time that is past. I pray and beseech all those who are now in the clutches of the enemy of truth to step back upon the platform of the three angels’ messages, that the prayer of Christ may be fulfilled: “That they all may be one.”

Appreciation is hereby expressed for the hearty reception accorded the first edition of this booklet and for the many expressions of gratitude from those who have been helped by it to avoid or renounce this Shepherd’s Rod delusion.

With some clarifying revisions this edition is sent forth with the prayer that it may continue to be a blessing to the remnant church. May God help us all to realize that “God has a church upon the earth, who are his chosen people,” that “He is leading, not stray offshoots,…but a people.” (Testimonies to Ministers, 61); and to believe what Ellen White wrote to the General Conference session before her death, that “the God of Israel is still guiding His people, and that He will continue to be with them, even to the end.” The Remnant Church, 70

Hazel Hendricks

[Italics are mine throughout unless otherwise noted.—H.H.]

Introduction

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20
“We are forewarned that there would be false prophets in the last days, and the Bible gives a test by which to try their teachings, in order that we may distinguish between the true and the false. The grand test is the law of God, which is applied both to the prophesyings and to the moral character of the prophets. If there were to be no true prophesyings in the last days, how much easier to have stated the fact, and thus cut off all chance for deception, than to give a test by which to try them, as if there would be the genuine as well as the false.”—R.F. Cottrell in Early Writings, 138

Because in the last days there are the true as well as the false prophets, we are not to despise prophesyings, for we have the promise, “I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Joel 2:28

“The words of a true prophet will harmonize with the law of God and the testimony of all previous prophets of God. One who claims to be a prophet may fulfill every other test, but if his instruction is contrary to the Bible and the testimonies, he proves himself to be false.” S.N. Haskell, Bible Handbook, 138, 139

“Truth is straight, plain, clear, and stands out boldly in its own defense; but it is not so with error. It is so winding and twisting that it needs a multitude of words to explain it in its crooked form.” Early Writings, 96

Chapter 1: When is the Kingdom Set Up?

The culmination of the teachings of the Shepherd’s Rod is the setting up of the kingdom of God during the loud cry and before the second, visible coming of Christ. Many texts of Scripture are quoted along with passages from the Spirit of Prophecy to try to prove this point, but let the Spirit of Prophecy speak for itself without any other interpretation, and we shall see the truth.

Will the kingdom of God, the kingdom of glory, be set up wholly or in part, at any time before the second, visible coming of Christ?

The Shepherd’s Rod—”‘And in mercy shall the throne be established: and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.’ Isaiah 16:5

“The fact that the establishment of Christ’s throne, according to this scripture, is yet in the future, and that He is to set His throne in the tabernacle of David on the earth, which He did not at His first coming, it proves that this time in the antitypical reign He will sit on the throne of David; and as He is to judge, and seek judgment, and hasten righteousness while sitting on the throne, it further proves that He will do this before the close of probation, for He cannot hasten righteousness after the door of probation (righteousness) has been closed to all nations.” Tract 8, 86

The Spirit of Prophecy—”Not until the personal advent of Christ can his people receive the kingdom. The Saviour said: ‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ We have seen by the scriptures just given that when the Son of man comes, the dead are raised incorruptible, and the living are changed. By this great change they are prepared to receive the kingdom; for Paul says, ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.’ Man in his present state is mortal, corruptible; but the kingdom of God will be incorruptible, enduring forever. Therefore man in his present state cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But when Jesus comes, he confers immortality upon his people; and then he calls them to inherit the kingdom of which they have hitherto been only heirs.” The Great Controversy, 322, 323

“So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory; and this kingdom is referred to in the Saviour’s words, ‘When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations.’ This kingdom is yet future. It is not to be set up until the second of advent Christ.” Ibid., 347

“About His coming cluster the glories of that ‘restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.’ Then the long-continued rule of evil shall be broken; the ‘kingdoms of this world’ will become ‘the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.’ ‘The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.’ ‘The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.’ He shall be ‘for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people.’

“It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the Messiah shall be established under the whole heaven.” Ibid., 301, 301

The Spirit of Prophecy plainly tells us that the kingdom of God will not be set up in part or wholly before the second, visible coming of Christ; that man cannot enter the kingdom until he is changed from mortal to immortal, which change cannot take place until Christ comes.

The Throne of David

The Shepherd’s Rod quotes many Bible texts that speak of David and Israel, to prove the setting up of the kingdom of God before the close of probation. To the surface reader, to the inexperienced, and to those who do not “dig deep” it is confusing, but if one will bear in mind what the Spirit of Prophecy says, it is clear that the kingdom of God cannot be set up until the Second Advent. Let us take some of the texts that are quoted by the Shepherd’s Rod and see what light the Spirit of Prophecy throws on them.

The Shepherd’s Rod—”Again we read in Hosea 3:4,5 that the children of Israel were to ‘abide many days without a king;’ which has been their lot unto our time ever since from the days when they were led into Babylonish captivity. But ‘afterward,’ some time in the future says the Scripture, ‘shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.

“When this prophecy was made, David, the king of ancient Israel, had been dead for many years. Therefore, the David of Hosea’s prophecy can only be the antitypical king who reigns in the ‘latter days’—our time. Thus we see that, out of the twelve tribes, all those, and only those, who ‘fear the Lord and His goodness’ (not the unconverted Jews who even deny the divinity of Christ) shall be gathered together, and shall appoint themselves one ‘head’ or ‘king’—David in antitype.” Tract 8, 11, 12

The Spirit of Prophecy—”The prophecies of judgment delivered by Amos and Hosea were accompanied by predictions of future glory. To the ten tribes, long rebellious and impenitent, was given no promise of complete restoration to their former power in Palestine. Until the end of time, they were to be ‘wanderers among the nations.’ But through Hosea was given a prophecy that set before them the privilege of having a part in the final restoration that is to be made to the people of God at the close of earth’s history, when Christ shall appear as King of kings and Lord of lords. ‘Many days,’ the prophet declared, the ten tribes were to abide ‘without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.’ ‘Afterward,’ the prophet continued, ‘shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.’’ Prophets and Kings, 298

“To the ‘profane wicked prince’ had come the day of final reckoning. ‘Remove the diadem,’ the Lord decreed, ‘and take off the crown.’ Not until Christ Himself should set up his kingdom was Judah again to be permitted to have a king. ‘I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it,’ was the divine edict concerning the throne of the house of David; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him,’” Ibid., 451

“He ‘shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne.’ Not now ‘upon the throne of His glory;’ the kingdom of glory has not been yet ushered in. Not until His work as a mediator shall be ended, will God ‘give unto Him the throne of His father David,’ a kingdom of which ‘there shall be no end.’” The Great Controversy, 416

We see by the above quotations from the Spirit of Prophecy that there is to be no king on the throne of David until Christ Himself shall receive it when He appears as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the one raised up to sit on David’s throne. See Acts 2:29-30.

The Cleansing Fountain

The Shepherd’s Rod—”Speaking of the time when the descendants of the two ancient kingdoms, Judah and Israel, are to be gathered together with the antitypical David as their king, the prophet Zechariah says: ‘In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.’ Zechariah 13:1

“The fact that ‘to the house of David’ there is a fountain opened ‘for sin and for uncleanness,’ proves that the consolidation of these two kingdoms is accomplished, and that then the gospel is proclaimed in all the world, because no one can by that ‘fountain’ have his sin and uncleanness washed away after the close of probation.” Tract 8, 17, 18 (Italics theirs.)

In other words, the Shepherd’s Rod teaches that there can be no “house of David” until the kingdoms of Judah and Israel are literally reunited on this earth, and that after this union takes place, the gospel is proclaimed to all the world. But according to the Spirit of Prophecy, a spiritual “house of David” is referred to, and the “fountain” signifies the divine provisions for our salvation.

The Spirit of Prophecy—”In order to gain a proper knowledge of ourselves, it is necessary to look into the mirror, and there discovering our own defects, avail ourselves of the blood of Christ, the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, in which we may wash our robes of character and remove the stains of sin. But many refuse to see their errors and correct them; they do not want a true knowledge of themselves.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 58, 59

“To Jeremiah, Christ is ‘the fountain of living waters;’ to Zechariah, ‘a fountain opened…for sin and for uncleanness.’” Patriarchs and Prophets, 413

“Christ came as the Great Physician to heal the wounds that sin has made in the human family, and His Spirit, working through His servants, imparts to sin-sick, suffering human beings a mighty healing power, that is efficacious for the body and the soul. ‘In that day,’ says the Scriptures, ‘there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.’ (Zechariah 13:1) The waters of this fountain contain medicinal properties that will heal both physical and spiritual infirmities.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 227

The Ensign of Isaiah Eleven

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The above quoted scriptures [Isaiah 11:2-5; Revelation 22:16] plainly show that from the ‘stem’ of Jesse came the ‘rod’ (David), and that from the rod sprang the Branch (Christ). Therefore, ‘in that day’—in our time—David the visible king and Christ the invisible King of kings shall constitute the ‘ensign,’ and ‘to it shall the Gentiles seek,’ and His ‘rest’ (or His resting place,—the location, where the ‘rod’ or ensign stands), and ‘it’ (the kingdom) ‘shall be glorious,’ proving that the church, or kingdom, shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Saith the Lord, ‘I will make the place of My feet glorious.’ (Isaiah 60:13)” Tract 8, 42

These passages are used by the Shepherd’s Rod to prove that Judah and Israel will be united into a literal kingdom under David as king. But the Spirit of Prophecy gives no such idea.

The Spirit of Prophecy—”The groups of missionaries in heathen lands have been likened by the prophet to ensigns set up for the guidance of those who are looking for the light of truth.

“’In that day,’ says Isaiah, ‘there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious; and it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people….And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.’” Isaiah 11:10-12 Prophets and Kings, 375, 376

Broken in Pieces

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The Prophet Daniel plainly declares that ‘in the days of these kings,’ and not after their destruction, ‘shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,’ and that instead of Christ’s second advent, as understood by some, it is ‘the kingdom’ that ‘shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,’ and thus it shall fill ‘the whole earth.’” Tract 8, 56. Daniel 2:44, 35

Thus the Shepherd’s Rod teaches that a kingdom which is set up before Christ’s second coming will break in pieces and consume all these other kingdoms before Christ appears.

The Spirit of Prophecy—”Our kingdom is not of this world. We are waiting for our Lord from heaven to come to earth to put down all authority and power, and set up His everlasting kingdom.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 360, 361

Where and When Perfect Safety?

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The following scripture reveals the fact that at the time God shall use this spiritual kingdom to smite the nations, it will be in perfect safety as though in heaven. ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the cow. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ Isaiah 11:6-9″ Tract 8, 57, 58

The Spirit of Prophecy—”Those who accept the teachings of God’s Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. And yet, ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.’ Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.

“In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a country. There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters….’My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.’…There ‘the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.’ ‘Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree.’ ‘the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;…and a little child shall lead them.’ ‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ saith the Lord.” The Great Controversy, 675, 676

The Shepherd’s Rod places the above pictured scene, which the Spirit of Prophecy says is in the new earth, or Paradise of God, in a kingdom on this earth before the second coming of Christ. As the Spirit of Prophecy has plainly stated that the kingdom cannot be set up before the second, personal coming of Christ nor the saints receive the kingdom, the Shepherd’s Rod falls before the test. Does it not seem ridiculous to claim that the Shepherd’s Rod teachings are in perfect harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy?

“This Man”

The Shepherd’s Rod also endeavors to bolster its theory of a temporal kingdom of David before the close of probation by Jesus’ parable of the pounds.

The Shepherd’s Rod—”but as they ‘sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us,’ it is plain that before Christ’s return, the kingdom is to be set up….There is to be a ‘man’ in Christ’s visible stead reigning over them. Hence, while probation lingered, and while by ‘simple means’ He is ‘taking the reins in His own hands’ (Testimonies to Ministers, 300), they said to Christ in their message, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ Hence ‘this man’ is the antitypical David, the ‘simple means’—the visible king, and Christ the invisible King, as He was in the exodus movement—the type.” Tract 8, 63 (Italics theirs.)

Note that when one goes into error, to what length it will take him, as the above application of Luke 19:14 shows. But let the Spirit of Prophecy speak again:

The Spirit of Prophecy—”The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God, on the charge of high treason against the government of Heaven. They have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them….All see that their exclusion from heaven is just. By their lives they have declared” ‘We will not have this Jesus to reign over us.’” The Great Controversy, 688

“On whose side are we? The world cast Christ out; the heavens received Him. Man, finite man, rejected the Prince of life; God, our Sovereign Ruler, received Him into the heavens. God has exalted Him….We must all think candidly. Will you have this man Christ Jesus to rule over you, or will you have Barabbas?” Testimonies to Ministers, 139

“This man” referred to is none other than Christ Himself, and not a human man reigning in His stead, as the Shepherd’s Rod would have us to believe.

In a careful study of the teachings of the Shepherd’s Rod as compared with the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, one can see that the restoration of a literal Israel and the promises to them on condition of the obedience, and the promises and prophecies of the restoration of spiritual Israel, have been confused and intermingled and mixed in with one another. From this intermingling and twisting and misapplication, the doctrine of the setting up of the kingdom before the second, visible coming of Christ is obtained. But if the reader will carefully study the book, Prophets and Kings, which deals with the restoration of literal and spiritual Israel and the promises made to both, all will made plain.

The Covenants

Let us note some examples of misapplication of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy by the Shepherd’s Rod. Take the old and the new covenant. The old covenant is found in Exodus 19:5-8, and the new is found in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Please read these texts in your Bible.

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The old ‘covenant or agreement between God and His people was upon the promises of both parties based thus….[Deuteronomy 28:1-9 and Exodus 19:8 are quoted in the tract. Please read them.]

“The above paragraph describes the first covenant, which covers the period from the time it was made to the imminent and final ingathering of the twelve tribes as a kingdom, and which covenant has been broken by the Old and New Testament churches until this very day….But the new covenant, which the Lord is now about to make, is to be unlike the old. The commandments of God (Exodus 20:1-17) will not be written on tables of stone (Exodus 31:18), but ‘in fleshy tables of the heart,’ and at that time all shall ‘know the Lord,….from the least of them unto the greatest of them’—exhibiting a church without tares. Jeremiah 31:34

“This is the second covenant, which God is about to make, and the law God, being written on the heart, will be perfectly kept; then, and not before, will the blessings, which His ancient people failed to realize, be fully ours.” Tract 8, 68-70 (Italics theirs.)

Notice that the Shepherd’s Rod says that the old covenant is the only one in existence and that the new covenant is yet to be made; that the old covenant covers the period from the time it was made to the gathering in of the twelve tribes into a kingdom. The Spirit of Prophecy will correct this false teaching and give the truth of the matter. To state that the new covenant is yet future is virtually to deny that Christ has come in the flesh, which we are told false prophets do. 2 John 7

The Spirit of Prophecy—”As the Bible presents two laws, one changeless and eternal, the other provisional and temporary, so there are two covenants. The covenant of grace was first made with man in Eden, when after the Fall, there was given a divine promise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. To all men this covenant offered pardon, and the assisting grace of God for future obedience through faith in Christ. It also promised them eternal life on condition of fidelity to God’s law. Thus the patriarchs received the hope of salvation.

“This same covenant was renewed to Abraham in the promise, ‘In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. This promise pointed to Christ….

“Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be ratified until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God since the first intimation of redemption had been given; it had been accepted by faith; yet when ratified by Christ, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was simply an arrangement for bringing men again into harmony with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God’s law.

“‘Another compact—called in Scripture the ‘old’ covenant—was formed between God and Israel at Sinai, and was then ratified by the blood of a sacrifice. The Abrahamic covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ, and it is called the ‘second,’ or ‘new’ covenant, because the blood by which it was sealed was shed after the blood of the first covenant. That the new covenant was valid in the days of Abraham, is evident from the fact that it was then confirmed both by the promise and by the oath of God,—the ‘two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie.’” Patriarchs and Prophets, 370, 371

“Every time a soul is converted, and learns to love God and keep his commandments, the promise of God is fulfilled, ‘A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.’” The Desire of Ages, 407

Here, as is so often true, the teaching of the Shepherd’s Rod is in absolute contradiction to the Spirit of Prophecy. The Shepherd’s Rod doctrines cannot be additional light, as it is claimed, for whatever new light may come will not contradict what God has given before.

A Warning

Let the reader bear in mind that all these texts of Scripture referred to or quoted by the Shepherd’s Rod are to substantiate the theory of the setting up of a kingdom before the second coming of Christ; but please keep in mind the statements of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy that the kingdom is not set until the second coming of Christ. The kingdom cannot be established before that time because it is incorruptible and eternal, and flesh and blood cannot inherit it. Man is mortal and will not receive immortality until Christ comes. The second coming of Christ cannot be counterfeited, “for as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

Light to the Gentiles

The Shepherd’s Rod—”‘And He said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel’ only: ‘I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.’ (Isaiah 49:1-6) In other words, those (of ‘Israel’) who declare the sealing message of the 144,000 to the church, shall also declare God’s glory among the Gentiles, thus be His salvation unto the end of the earth, and bring all their brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations. Isaiah 66:19, 20

Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth’ (that is, the one whom they called, ‘this man,’ (Luke 19:14…) ‘to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee.’” Tract 8, (Rev. Ed.), 86

The Spirit of Prophecy—”The prophet was permitted to look down the centuries to the time of the advent of the promised Messiah….This glorious light of the world was to bring salvation to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Of the work before Him, the prophet heard the eternal Father declare: ‘It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.’ ‘In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee: and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.’ ‘Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west: and these from the land of Sinim.’

“Looking on still farther through the ages, the prophet beheld the literal fulfillment of these glorious promises. He saw the bearers of the glad tidings of salvation going to the ends of the earth, to every kindred and people. He heard the Lord saying of the gospel church, ‘Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream….’

“Jehovah declared to the prophet that He would send His witnesses ‘unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud,…to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off’….

“The prophet heard the voice of God calling His church to her appointed work, that the way might be prepared for the ushering in of His everlasting kingdom. The Message was unmistakably plain: ‘Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee….’ These prophecies of a great spiritual awakening in a time of gross darkness, are today meeting fulfillment in the advancing lines of mission stations that are reaching out into the benighted regions of earth.” Prophets and Kings, 373-375

Let us consider the statement the Shepherd’s Rod makes concerning “Him whom man despiseth” (Isaiah 49:7), interpreting it to mean “this man” whom they would not have rule over them (Luke 19:14). This is interpreted by the Spirit of Prophecy as follows:

“The work of redemption involves consequences of which it is difficult for man to have any conception….As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus….Great as is the shame and degradation through sin, even greater will be the honor and exaltation through redeeming love. To human beings striving for conformity to the divine image there is imparted an outlay of heaven’s treasure, an excellency of power, that will place them higher than even the angels who have never fallen.

“‘Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth,…Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall choose thee.’

“‘For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’” Christ’s Object Lessons, 162, 163

The Two Pipes

Let us now take up some of the statements made concerning the symbols found in Zechariah. Please read Zechariah 4:1-6, 12-14.

Following are the comments made by the Shepherd’s Rod. Note the idea conveyed as compared with that expressed by the Spirit of Prophecy:

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The two pipes through which the oil is carried into the bowl, can only represent the channels (prophets) through whom the oil is transferred from the Bible into the bowl, in the period during which both olive trees (Old and New Testaments) live—in the Christian Era.

“Let the reader take a searching look at the visual illustration on page 19, and he will see the utter impossibility of the candlestick’s (the church membership’s) and the tubes’ (ministers’) themselves, extracting oil direct from the olive trees. The interpretation of the Scriptures, therefore, being entrusted to the two pipes (prophets) in the Christian Era shows that ‘no prophecy of the Scriptures is of any private interpretation,’ but is of inspiration only….

“The interpreters (the two golden pipes), therefore, are the only ones who are enabled to bring forth meat in due season (golden oil) from the Scriptures (olive trees) into the storehouse (golden bowl) of present truth, and by the aid of the ministers (seven tubes) to pass on the oil to the church (candlestick), that it might illumine with the light of life this dark and dying world of ours.” Tract 6, revised, 23, 24

The Spirit of Prophecy—”The continued communication of the Holy Spirit to the church is represented by the prophet Zechariah under another figure, which contains a wonderful lesson of encouragement for us….

“From the two olive trees, the golden oil was emptied through golden pipes into the bowl of the candlestick and thence into the golden lamps that gave light to the sanctuary. So from the holy ones that stand in God’s presence, His Spirit is imparted to human instrumentalities that are consecrated to His service. The mission of the two anointed ones is to communicate light and power to God’s people. It is to receive blessing for us that they stand in God’s presence. As the olive trees empty themselves into the golden pipes, so the heavenly messengers seek to communicate all that they receive from God. The whole heavenly treasure awaits our demand and reception; and as we receive the blessing, we in our turn are to impart it. Thus it is that the holy lamps are fed, and the church becomes a light bearer in the world.

“This is the work that the Lord would have every soul prepared to do at this time, when the four angels are holding the four winds, that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads….We should daily receive the holy oil, that we may impart to others….From the two olive trees the golden oil of goodness, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, love….The dispensation in which we are now living is to be, to those that ask, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit.” Testimonies to Ministers, 509-511

“Let every man who enters the pulpit know that when he has angels from heaven in his audience. And when these angels empty from themselves the golden oil of truth into the heart of him who is teaching the word, then the application of the truth will be a solemn, serious matter. The angel messengers will expel sin from the heart, unless the door of the heart is padlocked and Christ is refused admission….

“The Holy Spirit is doing its work on the hearts. But if the ministers have not first received their message from heaven, if they have not drawn their own supplies from the refreshing, life-giving stream, how can they let that flow forth which they have not received?…A man may lavish all the treasures of his learning, he may exhaust the moral energies of his nature, and yet accomplish nothing, because he himself has not received the golden oil from the heavenly messengers….If the Christian minister receives the golden oil, he has life.” Ibid., 338

The Shepherd’s Rod says that it is impossible for the people or ministers to obtain the oil directly from the Bible, but that they must obtain it through a prophet; but the Spirit of Prophecy tells us that the minister must obtain the golden oil directly from the heavenly messengers, or angels. The teaching of the Shepherd’s Rod on this point is a subtle device of the enemy to cause men to trust in the arm of flesh.

“The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Spirit is represented in the prophecy of Zechariah….Without the Spirit of God a knowledge of His Word is of no avail. The theory of truth, unaccompanied by the Holy Spirit, cannot quicken the soul or sanctify the heart.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 407, 408

The author of the Shepherd’s Rod would convey the thought to God’s people that they can obtain knowldege of the Scriptures only through him. According to his teachings on this very point, the thought he wishes to convey in his tract is that the two pipes represent Mrs. E.G. White and himself; and as Mrs. White is dead, that leaves him to communicate the “oil” to the church. He claims that the church, was without the Spirit of Prophecy from 1915 to 1930, that is, from Sister White’s death to the beginning of his revelations. The Spirit of Prophecy tells us that the “oil” represents the Holy Spirit, and each one of us can obtain this “oil” only through faith and prayer. Each one is to ask for it of God, and when it is obtained, then the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in the character.

The Overcomers

The Shepherd’s Rod—”The church of the Laodiceans, being the last of the seven churches, is the last section of the Christian church in which the wheat and the tares are commingled. The overcomers, the marked ones, from it, those who hear the Rod, begin the eighth section of the church—the one symbolized by the ‘barn’ (Matthew 13:30) and by the ‘vessels’ (verse 48), also by the ‘golden candlestick, of Zechariah 4. Of her the Lord says:… ‘The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.’” Tract 9, 61, 62 (second revised edition)

The Spirit of Prophecy—Now note the application of Isaiah 62:3 in the Spirit of Prophecy. “There is the new Jerusalem, the metropolis of the glorified new earth, ‘a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem in the hand of thy God.’ ‘Her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.’ ‘The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.’ Saith the Lord, ‘I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people.’ ‘The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.’” The Great Controversy, 676

“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name.” Revelation 3:12

In the quotation from the Shepherd’s Rod, the author states that the overcomers, or marked ones, are those who hear the Rod and who are gathered into the kingdom, “barn,” or place of safety, before the second coming of Christ; and that the church shall be called by a new name and shall “be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” (Isaiah 62:3) But the Spirit of Prophecy definitely places this scene after the coming of Christ, and says that it is the New Jerusalem, that is “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God,” and it is at that time that the overcomers receive their new name.

Prophecies Concerning Literal and Spiritual Israel

Theories concerning the setting up of a temporal kingdom of David are due to a misinterpretation of Old Testament prophecies. The Jews of the time of Christ misunderstood these prophecies and so were expecting the Messiah to set up an earthly kingdom at that time. Likewise, thousands of Christians of our day have fallen into a similar error, and are expecting the literal fulfillment of these prophecies by the establishment of a kingdom of David in old Jerusalem.

The Shepherd’s Rod has taken the prophecies concerning literal Israel, including promises given to them on the condition of obedience, and uses all of them to apply literally to spiritual Israel, thus forming the theory of the setting up of the kingdom on this side of the second of Christ.

Few seem to realize the great purpose of God to be fulfilled through Israel, His chosen people. In the introductory chapter of Prophets and Kings we are told that “it was God’s purpose that by the revelation of His character through Israel men should be drawn unto Him. To all the world the gospel invitation was to be given. Through the teaching of the sacrificial service, Christ was to be uplifted before the nations, and all who would look unto Him should live. All who….turned from idolatry to the worship of the true God, were to unite themselves with His chosen people.” And the astonishing statement is made that “As the numbers of Israel increased, they were to enlarge their borders, until their kingdom should embrace the world.” (Prophets and Kings, 19) Through Jeremiah the Lord had told His people that if they would be faithful to God in the observance of the Sabbath, Jerusalem would “remain forever.” Jeremiah 17:24, 25

How different would have been the history of our world had Israel fulfilled God’s great purpose for them. “But,” says Mrs. White, “ancient Israel did not fulfill God’s purpose. The Lord declared: ‘I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?’ (Jeremiah 2:21) ‘Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.’ (Hosea 10:1).” Ibid.

We are also told that “the withdrawal of divine favor during the period of the exile led many to repentance; yet after their return to the land of promise, the Jewish people repeated the mistakes of former generations.” Ibid., 21. Thus Israel failed, and many glorious promises made on condition of obedience have never been fulfilled nor ever will be. Finally, Israel, as a nation, rejected and crucified their Messiah, and ceased to be the chosen people of God; and the kingdom of David shall be no more “until he comes whose right it is.” Ezekiel 21:27. At that time—His second coming—”the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:32, 33. Not a temporal kingdom with some earthly representative of King David on the throne, but the eternal kingdom of Christ in the earth made new. Let us review some of the promises to Israel and see where and when they apply to spiritual Israel.

The Shepherd’s Rod—The Shepherd’s Rod teaches that “the Scriptures plainly point out that the Gentiles will be driven out of the Holy Land. [Zechariah 1:19-21 quoted.] ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.’ Zechariah 1:17

“Zechariah then saw the powers that had ‘scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,’ symbolized by four horns. Immediately afterward he saw four carpenters, representing the agencies used by the Lord in restoring His people and the house of His worship….See Zechariah 18-21.

“God had commanded that Jerusalem be rebuilt; the vision of the measuring of the city was an assurance that He would give comfort and strength to His afflicted ones, and fulfill to them the promises of His everlasting covenant. His protecting care, He declared, would be like ‘a wall of fire round about;’ and through them His glory would be revealed to all the sons of men. That which He was accomplishing for His people was to be known in all the earth. ‘Cry out and shout, thou inhabitants of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.’ Isaiah 12:1-5” Prophets and Kings, 580, 581

Concerning the time when Nebuchadnezzar’s armies were about to take the walls of Zion by storm, the Spirit of Prophecy says:

“The city was soon to fall into the hand of the Chaldeans; its gates and palaces were to be set on fire and burned; but, notwithstanding the fact that destruction was imminent, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were to be carried away captive, nevertheless the eternal purpose of Jehovah for Israel was yet to be fulfilled. In further answer to the prayer of His servant, the Lord declared concerning those upon whom His chastisements were falling:

“‘Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away form them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul.’ (Jeremiah 32:37-41)…

“In confirmation of these assurances of deliverance and restoration, ‘the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

‘Thus saith the Lord the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is His name; call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;…I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first….
“‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.’ Jeremiah 33:1-14.

“Thus was the church of God comforted in one of the darkest hours of her long conflict with the forces of evil. Satan had seemingly triumphed in his efforts to destroy Israel; but the Lord was overruling the events of the present, and during the years that were to follow, His people were to have opportunity to redeem the past….

“Humbled in the sight of the nations, those who once had been recognized as favored of Heaven above all other peoples of the earth were to learn in exile the lesson of obedience so necessary for their future happiness. Until they have learned this lesson, God could not do for them all that He desired to do….To the prophet was given the message:

“‘He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.” Jeremiah 31:10-12 Ibid., 471-476

The reader will notice that the above quotations from the Spirit of Prophecy were promises made to Israel at the time they were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Turn to page 551 of Prophets and Kings, where begins the story of “The Return of the Exiles.” The promises made through Jeremiah are beginning to be fulfilled. Please read this and following chapters to get the complete history.

“‘At the end of the years of humiliating exile, God graciously gave to His people Israel, through Zechariah, the assurance: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.’ (Zechariah 8:3)…

“These promises were conditional on obedience. The sins that had characterized the Israelites prior to the captivity, were not to be repeated.” Ibid., 704 (Italics supplied.)

But the Israelites failed, and thus separated themselves from God.

“Through messages such as those borne by Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, as well as through oppression from heathen foes, the Israelites finally learned the lesson that true prosperity depends upon the obedience to the law of God. But with many of the people, obedience was not the outflow of faith and love. Their motives were selfish. Outward service was rendered as a means of attaining national greatness. The chosen people did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world as a safeguard against being seduced into idolatry….Thus ‘going about to establish their own righteousness,’ they built themselves up in a self-sufficient formalism….Thus Satan had succeeded inn preparing the hearts of the people to reject the Saviour when He should appear. Their own pride of heart, and their false conceptions of His character and mission, would prevent them from honestly weighing the evidences of His Messiahship.” Ibid., 708-710.

“Christ would have averted the doom of the Jewish nation if the people had received Him….They determined that they would not receive Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. They rejected the Light of the world, and henceforth their lives were surrounded with darkness as the darkness of midnight. The doom foretold came upon the Jewish nation. Ibid., 712

In the previous quotations we have been studying the history of literal Israel and the promises made to them upon condition of obedience. Israel failed, and thus received the promises only in part. Now let us study spiritual Israel and see how these promises will be fulfilled in them.

Promises to be Fulfilled to Spiritual Israel

“That which God purposed to do for the world through Israel, the chosen nation, He will finally accomplish through His church on earth today. He has ‘let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen,’ even to His covenant-keeping people, who faithfully ‘render Him the fruits in their seasons.’ Never has the Lord been without true representatives on this earth who have made His interests their own. These witnesses for God are numbered among spiritual Israel, and to them will be fulfilled all the covenant promises made by Jehovah to His ancient people.

“Today the church of God is free to carry forward to completion the divine plan for the salvation of a lost race….God’s church on earth was as verily in captivity during this long period of relentless persecution, as were the children of Israel held captive in Babylon, during the period of the exile.

“But, thank God, His church is no longer in bondage. To spiritual Israel have been restored the privileges accorded the people of God at the time of their deliverance from Babylon. In every part of the earth men and women are responding to the Heaven-sent message which John the revelator prophesied would be proclaimed prior to the second coming of Christ: ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.’

“No longer have the hosts of evil power to keep the church captive; for ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,’ which hath ‘made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication;’ and to spiritual Israel is given the message, ‘Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’ (Revelation 14:8; 18:4) As the captive exiles heeded the message, ‘Flee out of the midst of Babylon,’ and were restored to the Land of Promise, so those who fear God today are heeding the message to withdraw from spiritual Babylon, and soon they are to stand as trophies of divine grace in the earth made new, the heavenly Canaan.” Ibid., 713-715.

“‘Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.’ (Isaiah 60:1) Christ is coming with power and great glory. He is coming with His own glory, and with the glory of the Father. And the holy angels will attend Him on His way. While all the world is plunged in darkness, there will be light in every dwelling of the saints. They will catch the first light of His second appearing. The unsullied light will shine from His splendor, and Christ the Redeemer will be admired by all who have served Him. While the wicked flee, Christ’s followers will rejoice in His presence.

“Then it is that the redeemed from among men will receive their promised inheritance. Thus God’s purpose for Israel will meet with literal fulfillment. That which God purposes, man is powerless to disannul. Even amid the working of evil, God’s purposes have been moving steadily forward to their accomplishment. It was thus with the house of Israel throughout the history of the divided monarchy; it is thus with spiritual Israel today.

“The seer of Patmos, looking down through the ages to the time of this restoration of Israel in the earth made new, testified:

“’I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’ (Revelation 7:9-10)” Ibid., 720, 721.

Could the truth be more clearly expressed that the restoration of Israel is “in the new earth,” and not in old Jerusalem?

Peace and Safety

In misleading the people to believe that God’s people will be in a kingdom, set up before the close of probation, in a place of “perfect peace and absolute safety,” the Shepherd’s Rod is joining in the last day “peace and safety” cry foretold by the apostle Paul. (1 Thessalonians 5:3) What a different picture is given by the Spirit of Prophecy!

“When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction….

“The people of God—some in prison cells, some hidden in solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains—still plead for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of His chosen….

“With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory from the throne of God, spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company….

“It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people.” The Great Controversy, 635, 636 (Italics supplied.)

“The living righteous are changed ‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air.” Ibid., 645.

In Early Writings we have the same scene pictured again. One does not find the saints of God in a kingdom of “perfect peace and absolute safety,” but quite the contrary. Not until they stand around the throne in heaven, do we see them in perfect peace and safety.

“I saw the saints leaving the cities and villages, and associating together in companies, and living in the most solitary places. Angels provided them food and water, while the wicked were suffering from hunger and thirst. Then I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them. I saw a writing, copies of which were scattered in different parts of the land, giving orders that unless the saints should yield their peculiar faith, giving up the Sabbath, and observe the first day of the week, the people were at liberty after a certain time, to put them to death. But in this hour of trial the saints were calm and composed, trusting in God and leaning upon His promise that a way of escape would be made for them. In some places, before the time for the decree to be executed, the wicked rushed upon the saints to slay them; but angels in the form of men of war fought for them….

“Soon I saw the saints suffering great mental anguish. They seemed to be surrounded by the wicked inhabitants of the earth. Every appearance was against them. Some began to fear that God had at last left them to perish by the hand of the wicked….

“It was an hour of fearful, terrible agony to the saints. Day and night they cried unto God for deliverance….Like Jacob, they were wrestling with God….

“As the saints left the cities and villages, they were pursued by the wicked, who sought to slay them. But the swords that were raised to kill God’s people broke and fell as powerless as a straw. Angels of God shielded the saints. As they cried day and night for deliverance, their cry came up before the Lord.” Early Writings, 282-285

Foundations of Our Faith

The Shepherd’s Rod group claims to believe in the inspiration of Mrs. White’s writings, but confronted with such explicit quotations as these from her pen, the only possible answer is that she did not understand about the setting up of the kingdom of David. For instance, the leader of this group was asked how he harmonized his exposition of Zechariah 14:4, concerning the Lord descending on the mount of Olives before the close of probation, with the statement in Early Writings, pages 51 and 53, that this will be fulfilled at the close of the thousand years, when the New Jerusalem descends to the earth. His answer was that what Sister White said was all right, but that hers was a secondary application. Christ would descend at the end of the thousand years, said he, but the primary application of this passage is to the coming of David. He did not explain how the Mount of Olives could twice part asunder and become a great valley.

Is this new doctrine of the kingdom of David being set up in Jerusalem before the close of probation a part of this Advent message? Perhaps the greatest and most comprehensive revelation that came through Ellen White was the wonderful representation of the great conflict between good and evil, from the fall of Satan to the restitution of the new earth. She tells us how in the early days of this message, the little group of believers earnestly prayed for guidance in their search for truth, and how at times, explanations would be made to her in vision. She said: “A line of truth extending that from that time to the time when we shall enter the city of God, was made plain to me.” In telling of this, she said further: “Many of our people do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid.” Series B, no. 2, 57, 56

Let us consider what the acceptance of this central doctrine of the Shepherd’s Rod, “present truth” (falsely so-called), would mean to “the foundations of our faith.”

In 1856 Mrs. White was given a vision in which most of what she had been shown ten years before was repeated, concerning this “line of truth,” covering the last events in the great conflict. She was then instructed to write it out. In obedience to this instruction we have that remarkable series of books on the conflict of the ages. How clearly and specifically the closing events are delineated—the sealing, the loud cry, the time of trouble, the seven last plagues, the second coming of Christ, the judgment of the wicked dead, when the saints shall reign as priests and kings, to the parting of asunder of the Mount of Olives and the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the second resurrection, the second death, and the purification of the earth by fire, on to the earth made new with New Jerusalem as the capital of the universe.

Is it conceivable, after a hundred years of preaching this revealed “line of truth,” more than half of that time under the instruction and counsel of the Lord’s messenger that God would now reveal to us that one of the most important events in the history of the great conflict had been omitted: namely—the setting up of a temporal kingdom of David before the close of probation and the second coming of Christ? Certainly some “do not realize how firmly the foundation of our faith has been laid.”

The Return to Palestine

This false doctrine of the establishment of a kingdom of David in Palestine before the close of probation leads this Shepherd’s Rod group into an error against which we were warned in the early days of the Advent Movement. While, as far as we know, this particular fantastic theory of “the land of our fathers” becoming “our final and superb dressing chamber” for entrance into heaven, had not been advanced at that time, the truths stated and the warning given are certainly pertinent at this time. The Lord’s messenger wrote:

“Then I was pointed to some who are in the great error of believing that it is their duty to go to old Jerusalem, and think that they have a work to do there before the Lord comes. Such a view is calculated to take the mind and interest from the present work of the Lord, under the message of the third angel; for those who think that they are yet to go to Jerusalem, will have their minds there, and their means will be withheld from the cause of present truth, to get themselves and others there….I also saw that old Jerusalem never would be built up; and that Satan was doing his utmost to lead the minds of the children of the Lord into these things now, in the gathering time, to keep them from throwing their whole interest into the present work of the Lord, and to cause them to neglect the necessary preparation for the day of the Lord.” Early Writings, 75, 76

Believers in the Shepherd’s Rod are doing the very things against which the Spirit of Prophecy here warns us. Some whom I know are saving up their means to get to Palestine, and their minds and interests are centered there. To be sure, they give many reasons that may be different from those stated above, but the evil results are just the same whatever the inducement. Satan certainly would present other reasons to deceive, and this false doctrine of the kingdom is his strongest.

A False Foundation

The setting up of the kingdom before the close of probation and, therefore, before the second coming of Christ, is the foundation of all the Shepherd’s Rod teachings; and as it is contrary to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, as has been clearly shown, it is a false doctrine. Thus, all the other points of doctrine presented by the Shepherd’s Rod which lead up to this main issue of the kingdom, can be proved false in like manner.

A Solemn Warning

Let everyone prayerfully consider the following statement and solemn warning from the Spirit of Prophecy. What is said here fits into my own experience to the very detail:

“My soul is much burdened, for I know what is before us. Every conceivable deception will be brought to bear upon those who have not a daily, living connection with God. In our work no side issues must be advanced until there has been a thorough examination of the ideas entertained, that it may be ascertained from what source they have originated. Satan’s angels are wise to do evil, and they will create that which some will claim to be advanced light, will proclaim as new and wonderful things, and yet while in some respects the message is truth, it will be mingled with men’s inventions, and will teach for doctrines the commandments of men. If there was ever a time when we should watch and pray in real earnest, it is now. There may be supposable things that appear as good things, and yet they need to be carefully considered with much prayer; for they are specious devices of the enemy to lead souls in a path which lies so close to the path of truth that it will be scarcely distinguishable from the path which leads to holiness and heaven. But the eye of faith may discern that it is diverging from the right path, though positively right, but after a while it is seen to be widely divergent from the path of safety, from the path which leads to holiness and heaven. My brethren, I warn you to make straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way.” Testimonies to Ministers, 229

Let us now take up some of the separate issues that lead to the false doctrine of the kingdom.

Chapter 2: Ezekiel 9

A subject of which the Shepherd’s Rod makes an issue almost as strongly and as falsely as the kingdom, is Ezekiel 9. Let us bring this also to the light of the Spirit of Prophecy:

The Shepherd’s Rod—”According to Ezekiel 2:3; 3:1, 4, 5, 7, the prophet was to bear his message to the whole ‘house of Israel’ (the term ‘house of Israel,’ denoting either all twleve tribes or only the ten tribes as the case might be). Yet he did not understand the meaning of the vision. Had he, he would have explained it, rather than declaring: ‘I came to them of the captivity of Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.’ Ezekiel 3:15

“Since at the time of the vision, the house of Judah, the two-tribe kingdom, was in captivity in the land of the Chaldeans, and the house of Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom, was in dispersion among the nations whither it had been carried away and scattered some years before (2 Kings 17:6), there was no possibility of Ezekiel’s delivering the message to them. And as it is to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Ezekiel 9:9),—the twelve tribes,—consequently it was prophetic in Ezekiel’s time….

“And finally as no slaughter such as the one described in Ezekiel 9 has ever occurred, its fulfillment is obviously yet future.” Tract 1, 11, 12, second revised edition. (Italics theirs.)

These are rather astonishing statements. Is it true that Ezekiel did not understand the meaning of the message he was sent to deliver? Is it true that he did not go to those to whom he was told to go? And is it true that the dire predictions of punishment to be visited upon those who led God’s people into idolatrous worship were never fulfilled? Let us see.

Ezekiel’s Vision and Predictions

The Spirit of Prophecy—”While Jeremiah continued to bear his testimony in the land of Judah, the prophet Ezekiel was raised up from among the captives in Babylon, to warn and to comfort the exiles, and also to confirm the word of the Lord that was being spoken through Jeremiah. During the years that remained of Zedekiah’s reign, Ezekiel made very plain the folly of trusting to the false predictions of those who were causing the captives to hope for an early return to Jerusalem. He was also instructed to foretell, by means of a variety of symbols and solemn messages, the siege and utter destruction of Jerusalem.

“In the sixth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the Lord revealed to Ezekiel in vision some of the abominations that were being practiced in Jerusalem, and within the gate of the Lord’s house, and even in the inner court. The chambers of images, and the pictured idols, ‘every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel’ (Ezekiel 8:10)—all these in rapid succession passed before the astonished gaze of the prophet.

“Those who should have been spiritual leaders among the people, ‘the ancients of the house of Israel,’ to the number of seventy, were seen offering incense before the idolatrous representations that had been introduced into hidden chambers within the sacred precincts of the temple court. ‘The Lord seeth us not,’ the men of Judah flattered themselves as they engaged in their heathenish practices; ‘the Lord hath forsaken the earth,’ they blasphemously declared. Ezekiel 8:11, 12.

“There were still ‘greater abominations’ for the prophet to behold. At a gate leading from the outer to the inner court he was shown ‘women weeping for Tammuz;’ and within ‘the inner court of the Lord’s house,…at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.’ Ezekiel 8:13-16.

“And now the glorious Being who accompanied Ezekiel throughout this astonishing vision of wickedness in high places in the land of Judah, inquired of the prophet: ‘Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke Me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.’ (Verses 17, 18)…

“The day of doom for the kingdom of Judah set before them the hope of averting the severest of His judgments. ‘Should ye be utterly unpunished?’ He inquired. ‘Ye shall not be unpunished.’

“Even these words were received with mocking derision. ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth,’ declared the impenitent. But through Ezekiel this denial of the sure word of prophecy was sternly rebuked. ‘Tell them,’ the Lord declared, ‘I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, the days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.’

“’Again,’ testifies Ezekiel, ‘the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, behold they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of My words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.’” Ezekiel 12:26-28 Prophets and Kings, 448-450.

The second section of the book of Ezekiel, chapters eight to nineteen, opens with the account of the vision given “in the sixth year; in the sixth month; in the fifth day of the month.” The eighth chapter consists of a series of scenes of the heathen abominations that were being practiced in the holy temple of God in Jerusalem. The last words of this chapter introduce the account in the ninth chapter, of the punishment to be meted out to the perpetrators of this terrible desecration of God’s house of worship. The Lord said to Ezekiel: “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.” Ezekiel 8:17, 18.

It is very plain to be seen that chapter nine is a continuation of chapter eight, where under the symbol of “men” with slaughter weapons, the execution of God’s judgment is foretold. First a mark was to be placed on the foreheads of those in the city who were sighing and crying for the abominations that were done, and then they went forth to slay, without mercy, all upon whom no mark had been placed.

Shepherd’s Rod Claims Refuted

It is certainly evident from these considerations that Ezekiel understood the message to be given, and gave it: He was raised up to “warn” and “comfort” the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah. The Lord said to Ezekiel: “All my works that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.” Ezekiel 3:10. That surely indicates understanding of all God’s messages, including Ezekiel 9.

We are told that “through Jeremiah in Jerusalem, through Daniel in the court of Babylon, through Ezekiel on the banks of the Chebar, the Lord in mercy made clear His eternal purpose, and gave assurance of His willingness to fulfill to His chosen people the promises recorded in the writings of Moses.” Prophets and Kings, 464. It is also said in Prophets and Kings that “Ezekiel made very plain” the falsity of predictions that the exiles would soon return to Jerusalem. Evidently he understood and made plain all that God revealed to him.

As to whether Ezekiel really went to those to whom the Lord commissioned him to deliver His message, we learn that three times in chapters two and three he was commanded to go. “I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation.” (Verse 7) “Then,” says Ezekiel, “I came to them of the captivity of Telabib.” Verse 15.

Certainly there is no reason to assume that Ezekiel’s message did not reach the whole house of Israel then residing in the region of that eastern country where the prophet himself was an exile.

We have here some rather strange reasoning on the part of the leader and spokesman of the Shepherd’s Rod. On the basis of Ezekiel’s statement that at Telabib, he “sat where they sat, and remained there astonished [overwhelmed,—A.R.V.] among them seven days,” he concludes that Ezekiel did not understand the meaning of the vision, and that “had he, he would have explained it.” Does the fact that he remained among them seven days prove that the Lord’s messenger was dumb? Mrs. White says that the visions received by Ezekiel had “in rapid succession passed before the astonished gaze of the prophet.” The very thought of the utter destruction of the city of God and the slaughter of the priests, princes, and people because of their apostasy must have been terrible to contemplate, both to Ezekiel and the other exiles. Doubtless, too, Ezekiel’s astonishment was due to the fact that the captives did not accept his message, even though he had been warned that they would not hearken unto him. Verse 7.

The final argument of the Shepherd’s Rod on their theory of Ezekiel nine is that this prediction has never been fulfilled; therefore it must be in the future. Incidentally, it may be said that this Shepherd’s Rod theory sounds like an echo of what was being said in Jerusalem by those who were resisting the warnings of Ezekiel. The vision, they said “is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off.” What was the Lord’s answer? “Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 12:27, 28) Ezekiel nine is among the words which God had spoken, and there is abundant evidence that all these predictions were fulfilled.

As already quoted from Prophets and Kings “the day of doom of the kingdom of Judah was fast approaching” and there was no longer any “hope of averting the severest of His judgments.” And what judgment could be more severe than the slaughter of the religious and civil leaders and the people? the Lord told Ezekiel to say, “The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.” (Ezekiel 12:23) Ezekiel nine is an integral part of one of those evil men and women in Jerusalem who had engaged in sun worship and practiced other heathenish abominations were marked for slaughter in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s message was given by means of symbols. It is clear from the record that the Lord used human agents in carrying out His decree. Again and again the slaughter of the impenitent in Jerusalem is foretold, a reiteration of the prediction in Ezekiel nine. In chapter 21 we read: “Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: it is sharpened to make a sore slaughter.” (Verses 9, 10) “This sword is sharpened,….to give it into the hand of the slayer.” (Verse 11) “It shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon My people.” (Verse 12) “It is the sword of the great men that are slain.” (Verse 14) “I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for their slaughter.” Verse 15.

It was the Lord’s decree, and He chose Nebuchadnezzar to execute the decree. “Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchanezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof.” Jeremiah 25:9.

Predictions Literally Fulfilled

We find the history of the fulfillment of these prophecies in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. The writer of Second Chronicles thus sums up the causes and the final outcome in this tragic episode in the history of God’s chosen people.

“All the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all that abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by His messenger, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: He gave them all into his hand.” 2 Chronicles 36:14-17.

As a conclusive evidence to Ezekiel and to us that these predictions against Jerusalem were fulfilled, it is significant that on the very day of the beginning of their fulfillment, the Lord revealed it to Ezekiel in Babylon. “Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.” Ezekiel 24:1, 2.

It was also revealed to Ezekiel that he would have the account of the destruction from an eye witness who escaped. “He that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause to hear it with thine ears.” (Ezekiel 24:26) And this promise to the prophet was fulfilled. “And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.” Ezekiel 33:21

“In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem,’ to besiege the city, The outlook for Judah was hopeless. ‘Behold, I am against thee,’ the Lord Himself declared through Ezekiel. ‘I the Lord have drawn forth My sword out of the sheath: it shall not return any more….Every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water.’ ‘I will pour out Mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of My wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy.’ Ezekiel 21:3, 5-7, 31” Prophets and Kings, 452.

“The enemy swept down like a resistless avalanche, and devastated the city. The Hebrew armies were beaten back in confusion. The nation was conquered. Zedekiah was taken prisoner, and his sons were slain before his eyes. The king was led away from Jerusalem a captive, his eyes were put out, and after arriving in Babylon he perished miserably. The beautiful temple that for more than four centuries had crowned the summit of Mount Zion, was not spared by the Chaldeans. ‘They burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.’ 2 Chronicles 36:10” Ibid., 458, 459.

“But now Zion was utterly destroyed; the people of God were in their captivity. Overwhelmed with grief, the prophet exclaimed: ‘How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow!’” Ibid., 461, 462.

From these inspired records is it not perfectly clear that all that the Lord foretold through Ezekiel was fulfilled? In Prophets and Kings, 448, quoted above, we are told that Ezekiel was “instructed to foretell, by means of a variety of symbols and solemn messages, the siege and utter destruction of Jerusalem.” These warnings and predictions were faithfully given, with the assurance that “none” (not one) of God’s words should be prolonged, and that the time was near. The Lord said to them that it would be “in our days.” The Lord said to them that it would be “in your days.” The Lord even named the agent He had chosen for execution of his judgments against Jerusalem. Then we have the Sacred Record that those foretellings were fulfilled.

But in the face of all this the false prophet of the Shepherd’s Rod, claiming to speak by inspiration, announces that “no slaughter such as the one described in Ezekiel 9 has ever occurred,” but is yet to be fulfilled by the slaughter of Seventh-day Adventists.

Can anyone with an open mind fail to see that all Ezekiel’s predictions were fulfilled in the retribution that came upon Jerusalem, her leaders, and the people at the hands of the Chaldeans?

Note—Sad to say, in spite of this terrible punishment of His chosen people for their idolatry, and the mercy of God in permitting them to return and restore the temple and government, they eventually failed to carry out His purpose for them. “By the Babylonian captivity the Israelites were effectually cured of the worship of graven images,” but they failed to learn the all-important lesson of complete dependence on God for salvation. The principle of salvation by works which “lay at the foundation of every heathen religion” now became “the principle of the Jewish religion.” “The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth” became “representatives of Satan.” The Desire of Ages, 29, 36 Their rejection of their Messiah sealed the doom of the Jewish nation. “Looking for the last time upon the interior of the temple, Jesus said with mournful pathos, ‘Behold your house is left unto you desolate.’” Ibid, 620. The final siege and destruction of Jerusalem, which Jesus had predicted (Matthew 24), was one of the most bloody and pitiful in the annals of history.

“In the destruction of the impenitent city,” says, Mrs. White, Jesus “saw a symbol of the final destruction of the world.” Thus both the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 636 B.C. and its final destruction by Titus in A.D. 70 are referred to by the Spirit of Prophecy as examples, or symbols of the general destruction of the wicked at the end of the great conflict of the ages.

Last-Day Fulfillment of Ezekiel Nine

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [“types,” margin]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11.

In times of crises in the agelong conflict between good and evil, there have been outstanding places, events, and personalities which naturally have become designation symbols for future generations. Thus we have “Babylon” and “Jezebel” to symbolize apostasy in the Christian dispensation, and “Elijah” with a special message from God just before the second coming of Christ. Likewise Ezekiel’s symbolic vision, in a time of all but universal apostasy, with a man going through Jerusalem placing a mark on the faithful servants of God, and the subsequent slaughter of all others, has been used by the Lord’s messenger to the remnant church as an illustration or symbol of the sealing of God’s servants just before the close of probation and the general destruction of the wicked.

As already stated, the Shepherd’s Rod teaches that Ezekiel did not understand the meaning of the vision recorded in his ninth chapter, and that therefore he did not give it and that his prediction has never been fulfilled. These statements have clearly been disproved in what has gone before. It is claimed that the meaning of this prophecy has now been revealed through the inspired leader of this offshoot, and that it will be fulfilled by the slaughter of Seventh-day Adventists who reject the teachings of the Shepherd’s Rod, that this slaughter is literal and imminent and will take place just before or at the beginning of the loud cry.

Recognizing that Mrs. White, in The Great Controversy, applies Ezekiel nine to the final slaughter of all the wicked, the Shepherd’s Rod claims that she teaches that there are to be two fulfillments of this prophecy—first the slaughter of Laodicean Seventh-day Adventists before the finishing of God’s work in the earth, and later the general slaughter of the wicked after probation has closed.

Let us see what the Spirit of Prophecy really says. Did Mrs. White see two slaughters: one on the church and then another on the world?

In chapter 41 of The Great Controversy we have a vivid picture of the final judgment to “fall upon Babylon in the day of the visitation of God’s wrath,” (page 653), and upon all the people of the world, who now realize that the time of their salvation has past. Among those in despair there are ministers who have been false shepherds, who have “sacrificed truth to gain the favor of men,” and who by “setting aside the divine precept,” have contributed to the terrible condition of lawlessness and corruption.

“The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the minister. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. ‘We are lost!’ they cry, ‘and you are the cause of our ruin;’ and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels, will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God’s people, are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.

“’A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword.’ (Jeremiah 25:31)….The time has come for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. Now the controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. ‘The Lord hath a controversy with the nations;’ ‘He will give them that are wicked to the sword.’

“The mark of deliverance has been set upon those ‘that sigh and that cry for all that abominations that be done.’ Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel’s vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given: ‘Slay utterly old and young, both maid, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.’ Says the prophet: ‘They began at the ancient men which were before the house.’ (Ezekiel 9:1-6.) The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together.

“’The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.’ (Isaiah 26:21)….

“At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the whole earth,—consumed with the spirit of His mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants.” The Great Controversy, 655-657.

Here we have a vivid description of the final act in God’s “controversy with the nations” and will all who have stood on the side of Satan, including the unfaithful shepherds in the churches. It is the end of the great controversy. The destruction of sinners is complete. The saints are taken to heaven, and the earth is left desolate, “emptied of its inhabitants.” It is the final destruction of the wicked world, of which the destruction of old Jerusalem was a symbol. The question is, Will there be a slaughter of unfaithful Seventh-day Adventists at some time previous to the general destruction of the wicked?

In the Testimonies to the Church, where the Lord’s servant has faithfully rebuked sin, and warned ministers and people of the coming destruction that awaits the unfaithful, very naturally she has made use of the symbolic vision of Ezekiel nine. We quote quite fully what she has written. Speaking of the “duty to reprove sin” “among those who profess to be His commandment-keeping people” she says:

“The true people of God, who have the spirit of the work of the Lord and the salvation of souls at heart, will ever view sin in its real, sinful character. They will always be on the side of faithful and plain dealing with sins which easily beset the people of God. Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who are to stand without fault before the throne of God, will they feel most deeply the wrongs of God’s professed people. This is forcibly set forth by the prophet’s illustration of the last work under the figure of the men each having a slaughter weapon in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. ‘And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.’

“Who are standing in the counsel of God at this time? Is it those who virtually excuse wrongs among the professed people of God, and who murmur in their hearts, if not openly, against those who would reprove sin? Is it those who take their stand against them, and sympathize with those who commit wrong? No, indeed! Unless they repent, and leave the work of Satan in oppressing those who have the burden of the work, and in holding up the hands of sinners in Zion, they will never receive the mark of God’s sealing approval. They will fall in the general destruction of the wicked, represented by the work of the five men bearing slaughter weapons. Mark this point with care: Those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the power of the Holy Ghost, represented by a mark by the man in linen, are those ‘that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done’ in the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such, and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they are represented as being in agony, even sighing and crying. Read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel.

“But the general slaughter of all those who do not thus see the wide contrast between sin and righteousness, and do not feel as those do who stand in the counsel of God and receive the mark, is described in the order to the five men with slaughter weapons: ‘Go ye after him through the city, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.’” Testimonies, vol. 3, 266, 267.

The foregoing quotation is one used by the Shepherd’s to prove that there is a special fulfillment of Ezekiel 9 in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but it does not say so.

What does the Spirit of Prophecy say is “represented by the work of the five men bearing slaughter weapons”? Answer: “The general destruction of the wicked.” And who is it that Mrs. White says “will never receive the mark of God’s sealing approval,” but “will fall in the general destruction of the wicked”? Answer: It is “those who commit wrong.” It is the ones who oppress “those who have the burden of the work” and hold up “the hands of sinners in Zion [the church].” Unless the people in the church “repent,” they will not be sealed, but will go down “in the general destruction of the wicked.”

If the leader of the Shepherd’s Rod is speaking by inspiration, as he claims, would he contradict what the Lord revealed through Mrs. White? His only defense is to say that Mrs. White did not understand fully the two slaughters. There is not an intimation or the faintest suggestion in the Spirit of Prophecy that the slaughter of the unfaithful in the Laodicean church. The explanation is that this refers to the “general slaughter of all those who do not thus see the wide contrast between sin and righteousness.”

Let us turn to the Spirit of Prophecy again and get another view of the same subject. In a chapter on “The Seal of God,” in Testimonies, vol. 5, we read:

“‘He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.’…

“Jesus is about to leave the mercy seat of the heavenly sanctuary, to put on garments of vengeance, and pour out His wrath in judgments upon those who have not responded to the light God has given them….With unerring accuracy, the Infinite One still keeps an account with all nations. While His mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account will remain open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of His wrath commences. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. There is no more pleading of mercy in their behalf.

“The command is: ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.’ These sighing, crying ones [in Jerusalem] had been holding forth the words of life; they had reproved, counseled, and entreated. Some who had been dishonoring God, repented and humbled their hearts before Him. But the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel; although many still continued the forms of religion, His power and presence were lacking.

“In the time when His wrath shall go forth in judgments, these humble, devoted followers of Christ will be distinguished from the rest of the world by their soul anguish, which is expressed in lamentation and weeping, reproofs and warnings….

“The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord commissions His messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands: ‘Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare.’…

“Here we see that the church—the Lord’s sanctuary—was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. The ancient men, those as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust….

“No superiority of rank, dignity, or worldly wisdom, no position in sacred office, will preserve men from sacrificing principle, when left to their own deceitful hearts. Those who have been regarded as worthy and righteous, prove to be ring-leaders in apostasy, and examples in indifference and in the abuse of God’s mercies. Their wicked course He will tolerate no longer, and in His wrath He deals with them without mercy….

“The day of God’s vengeance is just upon us. The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land. Those who link in sympathy with the world are eating and drinking with the drunken, and will surely be destroyed with the workers of iniquity. ‘The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.’

“Our own course of action will determine whether we shall receive the seal of the living God, or be cut down by the destroying weapons. Already a few drops of God’s wrath have fallen upon the earth; but when the seven last plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent, and find shelter. No atoning blood will then wash away the stains of sin.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 207-212.

The Shepherd’s Rod teaches that the 144,000 cannot be perfected and fitted for translation until they go to Palestine as citizens of that perfect kingdom of David. We are told that “as long as His people are commingling with the tares, and live among the Gentiles, they can never be fitted for translation.” But that is not the teaching of the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy, as all Seventh-day Adventist Bible students know. The following from Testimonies, vol. 5, gives a true picture of the final struggles of the people of God in the days of purification of the church and the sealing of the 144,000.

“While the followers of Christ have sinned, they have not given themselves to the control of evil. They have put away their sins, and have sought the Lord in humility and contrition, and the Divine Advocate pleads in their behalf….

“The assaults of Satan are strong, his delusions are terrible; but the Lord’s eye is upon His people. Their affliction is great, the flames of the furnace seem about to consume them; but Jesus will bring them forth as gold tried in the fire. Their earthliness must be removed that the image of Christ may be perfectly reflected; unbelief must be overcome; faith, hope, and patience are to be developed.

“The people of God are sighing and crying for the abominations done in the land. With tears they warn the wicked of their danger in trampling upon the divine law, and with unutterable sorrow they humble themselves before the Lord on account of their own transgressions. The wicked mock their sorrow, ridicule their solemn appeals, and sneer at what they term their weakness. But the anguish and humiliation of God’s people is unmistakable evidence that they are gaining the strength and nobility of character lost in consequence of sin….

“The faithful, praying ones are, as it were, shut in with God. They themselves know not how securely they are shielded. Urged on by Satan, the rulers of this world are seeking to destroy them; but could their eyes be opened, as were the eyes of Elisha’s servant at Dothan, they would see the angels of God encamped about them, by their brightness and glory holding in check the hosts of darkness.

“As the people of God afflict their souls before Him, pleading for purity of heart the command is given, ‘Take away the filthy garments from them,’ and the encouraging words are spoken, ‘Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.’ The spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness is placed upon the tried, tempted, yet faithful children of God, the despised remnant are clothed in glorious apparel, nevermore to be defiled by the corruptions of the world. Their names are retained in the Lamb’s book of life, enrolled among the faithful of all ages. They have resisted the wiles of the deceiver; they have not been turned from their loyalty by the dragon’s roar. Now they are….not only pardoned and accepted, but honored. A ‘fair miter’ is set upon their heads. They are to be as kings and priests unto God. While Satan was urging his accusations, and seeking to destroy this company, holy angels, unseen, were passing to and fro, placing upon them the seal of the living God. These are they that stand upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, having the Father’s name written in their foreheads. They sing the new song before the throne, that song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. ‘These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God.’” Testimonies, vol. 5, 474-476.

In the quotations given above, the whole truth of the subject of Ezekiel 9 is clearly stated.

There is no mention made of a kingdom set up before Christ comes, with the people of God, especially the 144,00, safely within; but just the opposite. The 144,000 are particularly mentioned during the time of Jacob’s trouble. They are in anguish and trouble, with the enemy of God’s law seeking to destroy them. They are purified during this time, and not in a perfect kingdom of David in old Palestine, without which, says the Shepherd’s Rod, “they can never be fitted for translation.” Their pilgrimage on this earth is over, and now they stand before the throne of God.

Surely, it behooves every Seventh-day Adventist to study as never before to know what the Spirit of Prophecy really teaches, that he may not be ensnared by the terrible delusions of Satan, who will if possible deceive the very elect. Every one of us must be fortified by the truth and with God’s Holy Spirit if he is to stand.

Chapter 3—The 144,444:

Where Were the 144,000 Seen?

As stated above, the teachings of the Shepherd’s Rod center in the theory of a kingdom of David to be set up in old Jerusalem before the close of probation and the Second Advent. The 144,000, it is said, will have been sealed and will be the sinless citizens of that perfect kingdom of David. From Jerusalem as a center they are to go as missionaries to give the “loud cry” to all the world, the results of which, it is claimed, will be the conversion of the great multitude mentioned in Revelation 7:9.

Therefore, in harmony with this theory, it must be that John in vision (Revelation 14:1) saw the 144,000 stand not on Mount Zion in heaven, but on earth.

The Shepherd’s Rod—”Let it be carefully noted that in his vision John saw the 144,000 stand not on Mount Zion in heaven, but upon earth, for had it not been otherwise, he would not say ‘and I heard a voice from heaven.’” Tract 8, 4

“In view of the fact that the 144,000 stood on Mount Zion while the elders and the beasts were before the throne, the 144,000 were, therefore, sealed while the judgment was in session. Moreover, Christ being seen with them in His symbolical form (a lamb), again proves that they stand with Him in Mount Zion during probationary time—while the judgment is in session.” Ibid., 6, 7.

The Spirit of Prophecy—”In holy vision the prophet saw the ultimate triumph of God’s remnant church. He writes:

“’I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory….stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.’ Revelation 15:2, 3.

“’And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.’ (Revelation 14:1) In this world their minds were consecrated to God; they served Him with the intellect and with the heart; and now He can place His name ‘in their foreheads.’ ‘And they shall reign for ever and ever.’…

“’These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.’ The vision of the prophet pictures them as standing on Mount Zion, girt for holy service, clothed in white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints. But all who follow the Lamb in heaven must first have followed Him on earth, not fretfully or capriciously, but in trustful, loving, willing obedience, as the flock follows the shepherd.

“’I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps; and they sung as it were a new song before the throne…and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth….In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.’” Acts of the Apostles, 590, 591.

“While John was shown the last great struggles of the church with the earthly powers, he was also permitted to behold the final victory and deliverance of the faithful. He saw the church brought into deadly conflict with the beast and his image, and the worship of that beast enforced on pain of death. But looking beyond the smoke and din of the battle, he beheld a company upon Mount Zion with the Lamb, having, instead of the mark of the beast, the ‘Father’s name written in their foreheads.’ And again he saw ‘them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God,’ and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 752, 753.

“We all entered the cloud together, and were seven days ascending to the sea of glass, when Jesus brought the crowns, and with His own right hand placed them on our heads. He gave us harps of gold and palms of victory. Here on the sea of glass the 144,000 stood in a perfect square.” Ibid., vol. 1, 60, 61.

“Upon the crystal sea before the throne, that sea of glass as it were mingled with fire,—so resplendent is it with the glory of God,—are gathered the company that have ‘gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.’ (Revelation 15:2) With the Lamb upon Mount Zion, ‘having the harps of God,’ they stand, the hundred and forty and four thousand that were redeemed from among men;….And they sing ‘a new song’ before the throne, a song which no man can learn save the hundred and forty and four thousand. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb,—a song of deliverance. None but the hundred and forty-four thousand can learn that song; for it is the song of their experience,—an experience such as no other company have ever had….These, having been translated from the earth, from among the earth, from among the living, are counted as ‘the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.’ (Revelation 14:1-5; 15:3) ‘These are they which came out of great tribulation’ (Revelation 7:14-17); they have passed through the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation; they have endured the anguish of the time of Jacob’s trouble; they have stood without an Intercessor through the final outpouring of God’s judgments. But they have been delivered, for they have ‘washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ‘In their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault, before God. ‘Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.’” The Great Controversy, 648, 649.

It is plain by the foregoing quotations that the Spirit of Prophecy places this scene in heaven. It is the time of “ultimate triumph,” “the final victory and deliverance” of the church. The 144,000 are no longer “in the world.” It has taken seven days to ascend to the sea of glass, and there, with the Lamb upon Mount Zion, stand the 144,000.

The Shepherd’s Rod—”As the 144,000 are the ‘first fruits,’ there must be second fruits, for where there is first, there must also be second. And as the first fruits, there must also be second. And as the first fruits are the ‘servants of God,’ they must subsequently be sent to all nations to gather second fruits (Isaiah 66:19, 20)—the great multitude of Revelation 7:9, whom John saw after viewing the sealing of the 144,000.” Tract 8, 16, 17.

This theory is false, because the 144,000 stand in heaven, after “final victory and deliverance,” “having been translated from earth, from among the living.” Therefore they cannot “subsequently be sent to all nations to gather the second fruits.” The fact that they are servants of God does not prove the theory, for in Revelation 22:3 we read concerning the new earth: “There shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.” Further, we have the following definite comment on Isaiah 66:19:

The Spirit of Prophecy—”Jehovah declared to the prophet that He would send His witnesses ‘unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud,….to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off.’…

“The prophet heard the voice of God calling His church to her appointed work, that the way might be prepared for the ushering in of His everlasting kingdom….

“These prophecies of a great spiritual awakening in a time of gross darkness, are today meeting fulfillment in the advancing lines of mission stations that are reaching out into the benighted regions of earth.” Prophets and Kings, 374, 375.

An Army With Banners

In the closing chapter of Prophets and Kings, “Visions of Future Glory,” we have a vivid picture of the last great struggle of the church militant and her glorious triumph. No picture is given of a haven of “perfect safety as though in heaven,” for we are told that “the darkest hour of the church’s struggle with the powers of evil, is that which immediately precedes the day of her final deliverance. But none who trust in God need fear; for ‘when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall,’ God will be to His church ‘a refuge from the storm’ (Isaiah 25:4)….The day of wrath to the enemies of God is the day of final deliverance to His church.” Prophets and Kings, 725-727.

But of this remnant church purified in the fires of affliction, it is said, “Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. ‘Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners,’ she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.” Ibid., 725. This does not mean the gathering in of the “great multitude” by the 144,000 as the Shepherd’s Rod would have us believe. In this time of test there is a mighty struggle with foes from without and within, but it is a time of personal victory and the final triumph of the church. In speaking of this time “when the test will come to every soul,” the Spirit of Prophecy has said:

“When trees without fruit are cut down as cumberers of the ground, when multitudes of false brethren are distinguished from the true, then the hidden ones will be revealed to view, and with hosannas range under the banner of Christ. Those who have been timid and self-distrustful will declare themselves openly for Christ and His truth. The most weak and hesitating in the church will be as David—willing to do and dare. The deeper the night for God’s people, the more brilliant the stars. Satan will sorely harass the faithful; but, in the name of Jesus, they will come off more than conquerors. Then will the church of Christ appear’ fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banner.’” Testimonies, vol. 1, 353.

“I was shown that the seven last plagues will be poured out after Jesus leaves the sanctuary. Said the angel, ‘It is the wrath of God and the Lamb that causes the destruction or death of the wicked. At the voice of God the saints will be mighty and terrible as an army with banners; but they will not then execute the judgment written. The execution of the judgment will be at the close of the one thousand years.’” Early Writings, 52.

The Wheat and the Tares

This theory of the slaughter of the unfaithful in the Laodicean church and the establishment of a kingdom of David before the close of probation, calls, of course, for the separation of the good from the bad in the church before the end. The Shepherd’s Rod, therefore, teaches that “the harvest is the loud cry of the third angel’s message,” and that the “tares” are separated from the “wheat” at this time. Let the Spirit of Prophecy speak again:

“It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for, but to hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 69.

“This warning is brought to view in Revelation 14. Here is a threefold message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings, and immediately followed by the coming of the Son of man ‘to reap the harvest of the earth.’” The Great Controversy, 311.

“The wheat and tares grow together until the harvest, the end of the world. Then the tares are bound in bundles to be burned, and the wheat is gathered into the garner of God. ‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’” Christ’s Object Lessons, 75.

“Again, these parables teach that there is to be no probation after the judgment. When the work of the gospel is completed, there immediately follows the separation between the good and the evil, and the destiny of each class is forever fixed.” Ibid., 123.

Now let us quote the paragraph containing the sentence used so much by the Shepherd’s Rod:

“Many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never enter there. Man judges from appearance, but God judges the heart. The tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of probationary time.” Ibid., 72

It is just the last sentence in the above quotation which is used by the Shepherd’s Rod. Notice that it does not say the last part of probationary time, but the end; and to fit in with the other quotations, it could mean only what has already been stated above in all other quotations.

It would make too large a volume to take up every point of controversy; neither is it necessary with the main issues proved false. Let the reader bear in mind this one principle: To find the truth of any subject mentioned in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, get all the statements on that one subject and put them together as one whole. Then the reader will have a full understanding of the truth brought forth, and thus will not be confused when points of controversy arise, as one would if only quotations or texts are taken here and there, separate from the context.

Chapter 4: Warning Against Deception

It will be found who bear false messages will not have a high sense of honor and integrity. They will deceive the people, and mix up with their error the Testimonies of Sister White, and use her name to give influence to their work. They make such selections from the Testimonies as they think they can twist to support their positions, and place them in a setting of falsehood, so that their error may have weight and be accepted by the people. They misinterpret and misapply that which God has given to the church to warn, counsel, reprove, comfort, and encourage those who shall make up the remnant people of God….

“Those who advocate error will say, ‘The Lord saith,’ ‘when the Lord hath not spoken.’ They testify to falsehood, and not to truth.” Testimonies to Ministers, 42, 43.

“When men arise, claiming to have a message from God, but instead of warring against principalities and powers, and their rulers of the darkness of this world, they form a hollow square, and turn the weapons of warfare against the church militant, be afraid of them. They do not bear the divine credentials. God has not given them any such burden of labor. They would tear down that which God would restore by the Laodicean message.” Ibid., 22, 23.

“The conflict is to wax fiercer and fiercer. Satan will take the field and personate Christ. He will misrepresent, misapply, and pervert everything he possibly can, to deceive, if possible, the very elect. Even in our day there have been and will continue to be entire families who have once rejoiced in the truth, but who will lose faith because of calumnies and falsehoods brought to them in regard to those whom they have loved and with whom they have had sweet counsel.” Ibid., 411.

To those who may misled into thinking the Shepherd’s Rod must be true because of the interpretations of figures and symbols, I would refer to these statements:

“Others, who have an active imagination, seize upon the figures and symbols of Holy Writ, interpret them to suit their fancy, with little “regard to the testimonies of Scripture as its own interpreter, and then they present their vagaries as teachings of the Bible.” The Great Controversy, 521.

Misguided Efforts to Reform the Church

“There are little companies continually rising who believe that God is only with the very few, the very scattered, and their influence is to tear down and scatter that which God’s servants build up. Restless minds who want to be seeing and believing something new continually, are constantly arising, some in one place and some in another, all doing a special work for the enemy, yet claiming to have the truth. They stand separate from the people whom God is leading out and prospering, and through whom He is to do His great work. They are continually expressing their fears that the body of Sabbath keepers are becoming like the world….Some of these profess to have the gifts among them; but are led by the influence and teachings of these gifts to hold in doubt those upon whom God has laid the special burden of His work, and to lead off a class from the body. The people, who, in accordance with God’s word, are putting forth every effort to be one, who are established in the message of the third angel, are looked upon with suspicion, for the reason that they are extending their labor and are gathering souls into the truth….One man arises with wild, erroneous views, and claims that God has sent him with new and glorious light, and all must believe what he brings.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 417, 418.

What is it that Satan would rejoice to do?

“O how Satan would rejoice to get in among this people, and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is essential, and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings, and to refute claims not endorsed by the work of God!” Testimonies to Ministers, 228.

We are told in an official publication of the Shepherd’s Rod that this organization “exists solely to accomplish a divinely appointed work within the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, wherein it therefore strictly confines its activities.” According to this there is no burden for salvation of sinners, either at home or abroad, who never heard or accepted the Advent message. The words of Mrs. White, quoted above, are definitely applicable to the members of this offshoot. Let us repeat: “When men arise claiming to have a message from God, but instead of warning against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, they form a hollow square, and turn the weapons of warfare against the church militant, be afraid of them.”

This is a very accurate description of the Shepherd’s Rod work. It is negative. Church leaders are called “conference prelates” who yield to “demon power” “to prolong the lukewarm condition indefinitely,” and there are many like denunciations. And what is the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy? “Be afraid of them.” The following counsel seems very applicable to those who pursue such a course.

“Those who would be overcomers must be drawn out of themselves; and the only thing which will accomplish this great work, is to become intensely interested in the salvation of others. This does not mean that you are to convert men to your way of doing, or to compel them to view things in the same light as you do; but you are to seek to present the truth as it is in Jesus, and laboring to be a blessing to others, you will be blessed of God abundantly. That you have done and are doing something to enlarge the boundaries of the kingdom of God in rescuing poor souls from Satan’s yoke of superstition and error, will rejoice the heart, and broaden your ideas and plans….Some of you will consider it your privilege to leave your homes that you may labor in the islands of the sea, and rescue souls from the bondage of sin and error. As you gain a new and deeper experience, you will learn what it is to pray in the Holy Spirit; and those who are backslidden from God will be reclaimed, and there will be more anxious manifested to learn of Jesus to be meek and lowly of heart, than to point out the mistakes and errors of your brethren.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 207, 208.

Organization and the Platform of Truth

“Our work was not sustained by large gifts or legacies; for we have few wealthy men among us. What is the secret of our prosperity? We have moved under the orders of the Captain of our salvation. God has blessed our united efforts. The truth has spread and flourished. Institutions have multiplied. The mustard seed has grown to a great tree. The system of organization has proved to a great tree. The system of organization has proved a grand success….

“Let none entertain the thought that we can dispense with organization. It has cost us much study and many prayers for wisdom, that we know God has answered, to erect this structure. It has been built up by His direction, through much sacrifice and conflict. Let none of our brethren be so deceived as to attempt to tear it down, for you will thus bring in a condition of things that you do not dream of. In the name of the Lord I declare to you that it is to stand, strengthened, established, and settled.” Testimonies to Ministers, 27, 28.

“God is leading a people out from the world upon the exalted platform of eternal truth, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. He will discipline and fit up His people. They will not be at variance, one believing one thing and another having faith and views entirely opposite, each moving independently of the body. Through the diversity of the gifts and governments that He has placed in the church, they will all come to the unity of the faith. If one man takes his views of Bible truth without regard to the opinion of his brethren, and justifies his course, alleging that he has a right to his own peculiar views, and then presses them upon others , how can he be fulfilling the prayer of Christ?” Ibid., 29, 30.

“Ministers who have preached the truth with all zeal and earnestness may apostatize and join the ranks of our enemies, but does this turn the truth of God into a lie? ‘Nevertheless,’ says the apostle, ‘the foundation of God standeth sure.’ The faith and feelings of men may change; but the truth of God, never. The third angel’s message is sounding; it is infallible….

“It is as certain that we have the truth as that God lives; and Satan, with all his arts and hellish power, cannot change the truth of God into a lie….

“The Lord has singled us out and made us subjects of His marvelous mercy. Shall we be charmed with the pratings of the apostate? Shall we choose to take our stand with Satan and his host?…Rather let it be our prayer: ‘Lord, put enmity between me and the serpent.’ If we are not at enmity with his works of darkness, his powerful folds encircle us, and his sting is ready at any moment to be driven to our hearts. We should count him a deadly foe. We should oppose him in the name of Christ. Our work is still onward. We must battle for every inch of ground. Let all who name the name of Christ clothe themselves with the armor of righteousness.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 595, 596.

“I saw a company who stood well guarded and firm, giving no countenance to those who would unsettle the established faith of the body. God looked upon them with approbation. I was shown three steps—the first, second, and third angels’ messages. Said my accompanying angel, ‘Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of these messages. The true understanding of these messages is of vital importance. The destiny of souls hangs upon the manner in which they are received.’ I was again brought down through these messages, and saw how dearly the people of God had purchased their experience. It had been obtained through much suffering and severe conflict. God had led them along step by step, until He had placed them upon a solid, immovable platform. I saw individuals approach the platform and examine the foundation. Some with rejoicing immediately stepped upon it. Others commenced to find fault with the foundation. They wished improvements made, and then the platform would be more perfect, and the people much happier. Some stepped off the platform to examine it and declared it to be laid wrong. But I saw that nearly all stood firm upon the platform and exhorted those who had stepped off to cease their complaints; for God was the Master Builder, and they were fighting against Him.” Early Writings, 258, 259.

“Words of power have been sent by God and by Christ to this people, bringing them out from the world, point by point, into the clear light of present truth. With lips touched by holy fire, God’s servants have proclaimed the message. The divine utterance has set its seal to the genuineness of the truth proclaimed.” Gospel Workers, 307.

“Perilous times are before us. Everyone who has a knowledge of the truth should awake and place himself, body, and spirit, under the discipline of God. The enemy is on our track. We must be wide awake, on our guard against him. We must put on the whole armor of God. We must follow the directions given through the Spirit of Prophecy. We must love and obey the truth for this time. This will save us from accepting strong delusions. God has spoken to us through His Word. He has spoken to us through the testimonies to the church and through the books that have helped to make plain our present duty and the position that we should now occupy….

“Let not erroneous theories receive countenance from the people who ought to be standing firm on the platform of eternal truth. God calls upon us to hold firmly to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority.” Ibid., 308.

“Abundant light has been given to our people in these last days. Whether or not my life is spared, my writings will constantly speak, and their work will go forward as long as time shall last. My writings are kept on file in the office, and even though I should not live, these words that have been given to me by the Lord will still have life and will speak to the people….Never have testimonies been more clearly brought before the people than those that have been recently traced by my pen. God bids me urge upon the attention of our people the importance of their study. Let this work begin now. Then, whether I am permitted to labor or am laid away to rest until Jesus comes, these messages are immortalized….Every conceivable thing will be brought in to deceive, if possible the very elect; but the Lord will certainly take care of His work.” Selected Messages, bk. 1, 55-57.

The Poverty of a Cause

October 25, 2017 by Ralph Larson

Can the cause of Calvinistic theology, on the issue of Christ’s human nature, and the introduction of these Calvinistic doctrines into our Seventh-day Adventist faith be defended with valid biblical and/or Spirit of Prophecy evidence?

That the answer is “No” seems to be apparent even to the supporters of the Calvinistic cause. That is why they have repeatedly refused to enter into any theological discussion with those of us who are standing in defense of our spiritual heritage, our historic faith.

Our hundreds of personal appeals have been ignored. The mass of evidence that we have set forth has brought no response. The attitude of “Let’s close ranks and stonewall it” has prevailed among the Calvinists.

The defense of the Calvinistic doctrines, rather than depending on biblical or Spirit of Prophecy evidence, has generally consisted of two basic strategies: (1) personal attacks against the defenders of our historic faith, which range from the superficial to the wildly inaccurate and irresponsible, and (2) an incredibly perverse distortion of the doctrine of church authority, whereby it is maintained that it is a violation of church order for a church member to protest against the introduction of false doctrines into our faith. Thus it had been until the recent Review broke ranks.

THE REVIEW BREAKS RANKS

In a series of editorials that appeared on July 8 and 22 and on August 12, 19, and 26, 1993, the senior editor of the Review stepped out from behind the “Let’s stonewall it” position and ventured to make a defense of Calvinism. He chose to defend the Calvinistic doctrine that our Lord came to this earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam as opposed to the historic Seventh-day Adventist doctrine that Christ came to earth in the human nature of fallen man, as attested to by 400 statements by Ellen White and 800 statements by other church leaders, all published before 1957.

We greet this venture with mingled sadness and satisfaction. While it can only bring sadness to our hearts when we see the Review openly advocating error, we nevertheless rejoice that an opportunity is now given to concerned church members to evaluate the evidence that is being offered to support the cause of Calvinism. We believe that such an evaluation, when compared with the evidence being presented in defense of our historic position, can only bring positive results and will clearly reveal the abject poverty of the Calvinistic cause.

THE USE OF BIBLICAL EVIDENCE

The Review editor introduces his treatment of the scriptural evidence with this question and answer: “But what does the Bible indicate concerning His nature—was it pre-fall or post-fall? The Scriptures don’t give a specific answer….”

We ask, “Are these scriptures not specific?”

Romans 1:3: “Made of the seed of David according to the flesh.”
Hebrews 2:11: “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”
Hebrews 2:14: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same….”
Hebrews 2:16: “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.”
Hebrews 2:17: “Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren….”

In order to weaken the force of Hebrews 2:16, the Review editor states, without documentation, that the words, “He took on Him the seed of Abraham,” should be translated, “He concerns Himself with, or helps, Abraham’s descendants.”

Not in my Greek New Testament, which presents both of the words took in this verse in the form of the Greek word lambano (using English letters).
Not in my first Greek Grammar (Davis) which gives the meaning of lambano as “take, receive.”
Not in my second Greek Grammar (Dana and Mantey) which also gives the meaning of lambano as “take, receive.” Not in my Strong’s Concordance which gives the meaning of lambano as “take, get hold of, seize, obtain, etc.”
Not in my Young’s Concordance, which gives the meaning of lambano as “accept, attain, have, hold, obtain, receive, take, take upon oneself, etc.”
Not in my Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, which says of lambano: “The original etymological meaning is ‘to grasp’ or ‘to seize.’”
Not according to Ellen White, in whose writings we find passages like this:

“The Redeemer of the world might have come attended by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of angels; but instead of this He clothed His divinity with humanity, made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, For verily he took not on HIm the nature of angels but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.” Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, December 15, 1957. [All emphasis supplied]

Please examine this statement carefully and notice the three scriptural passages that Ellen White links together. Philippians 2:7: “Made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made [Romans 8:3] in the likeness of sinful flesh. [Hebrews 2:16] For verily He took on Him the seed of Abraham.”

We direct your attention to this because the Review editor labors strenuously (forty-four lines in article three) to convince us that these three scriptural passages cannot be properly associated together. His disagreement with the Spirit of Prophecy here is total and complete. The disagreement is lent added emphasis by Ellen White’s other usages of Romans 8:3. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”

In her twenty-eight usages of Paul’s expression, “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” we find fifteen equivalencies in which she equates “likeness of sinful flesh” with expressions of her own. These expressions include “our nature” four times; “human nature” three times; “nature of man” twice; “in all things (points) like His brethren” three times. Her emphasis in all of these passages using the words “in the likeness of sinful flesh” is on similarity, not dissimilarity.

Next, we observe six non-equivalencies in which the emphasis is on contrast rather than similarity. In these statements we read that the “likeness of sinful flesh” made Him different from the angels (three times) and different from the unfallen Adam (twice). Then there is an interesting passage in which she contrasts “flesh” with “sinful flesh”:

“He took our infirmities. He was not only made flesh, but He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Letter 106, 1896

Finally, among these twenty-eight usages of Paul’s words “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” we find two extremely powerful inclusive equivalencies in which Paul’s words are equated with more than one of her own expressions. In the Signs of the Times, February 20, 1893, Ellen White wrote:

“He was to take upon Himself our nature …He had taken upon Himself the nature of man…made in the likeness of sinful flesh…one with the fallen race.”

Notice carefully the inclusive equivalencies: Our nature equals human nature equals likeness of sinful flesh equals one with the fallen race. Surely these statements should remove all doubt and satisfy all questions as to what Ellen White intended us to understand from her usage of Paul’s words, “in the likeness of sinful flesh.”

At this point, someone is likely to say, “But I was taught that Ellen White’s role was strictly pastoral, that she was not a theologian and that she has no authority in doctrinal matters. I was taught that she only approved of the various points of our faith after they had been studied out by others.”

Many of us were taught that. It took me a while to discover that there was not a word of truth in that teaching. Space does not permit us to deal fully with the problem in this article. We will address it later. Meanwhile, we may gain an impression of the monstrous misrepresentation which characterizes that teaching by comparing Selected Messages, bk. 1, 206, 207, with L.E. Froom’s Movement of Destiny, 110.

THE USE OF SPIRIT OF PROPHECY EVIDENCE

In an unpraiseworthy attempt to make it appear that Ellen White’s writings are “apparently contradictory” and that “In Ellen White’s writing we seem to find two opposing lines of thought,” the Review editor sets forth this quotation in his fourth article:

“He vanquished Satan in the same nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the victory.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 924

Taken by itself, this sentence could mean either that Christ overcame in human nature as contrasted with divine nature, which He never used to deliver Himself from temptation, or in unfallen human nature as contrasted with fallen human nature. But notice what happens when we read the sentence in its context as it appeared in the original source, The Youth’s Instructor, April 25, 1901:

“When Christ bowed His head and died, He bore the pillars of Satan’s kingdom with Him to the earth. He vanquished Satan in the same nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the victory. The enemy was overcome by Christ in His human nature. The power of the Saviour’s Godhead was hidden. He overcame in human nature, relying upon God for power. This is the privilege of all. In proportion to our faith will be our victory.” The Youth’s Instructor, April 25, 1901

Surely it is apparent that Ellen White is here contrasting human nature with divine nature, rather than contrasting two different aspects of human nature. It would be useless to argue that to overcome in the nature of the unfallen Adam is the privilege of all.

It is certainly not my privilege to meet the enemy of my soul in the unfallen nature of Adam. Is it yours? Or do we not all have to face Satan in our fallen human natures and learn that “in proportion to our faith will be our victory”?

Confronted with such a glaring abuse of evidence as this, some readers will no doubt feel that the discussion need proceed no further. But in order to be systematic, we will consider the Review editor’s other uses of Ellen White’s writings in which, unfortunately there is no noticeable improvement.

THE BAKER LETTER

The two longest Spirit of Prophecy quotations used by the Review editor in articles one and four are credited to the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1128.

The original source is a lengthy personal letter that Ellen White, who was in Australia, wrote to an apparently discouraged young minister in Tasmania, Elder W.L.H. Baker. The Review editor introduces his excerpts from this letter with the words, “Ellen White cautions us.”

Actually, this was not a general message addressed to us. It was a personal and private letter directed to an individual minister who had a particular problem which we do not have. What was his problem? We may learn about it by observing that in her letter Ellen White told Baker ten times that Christ never sinned.

She also warned him against spending too much time reading the writings of the church fathers and against presenting Christ to the people as one “altogether human, such an one as ourselves.”

There were some church fathers who advocated a doctrine of the Incarnation called Adoptionism. This was a concept that Christ, though perhaps born of a virgin, was not born as the Son of God but was altogether human, such an one as ourselves. At the climax of His spiritual progress, He was adopted to be the Son of God. Before His adoption He could have sinned, and most probably did, according to this teaching. We discuss the Baker letter in detail in our book The Word Was Made Flesh.

Here we will simply point out the problems:

The letter was written in 1895-96, a two year period in which more than 250 public statements that Christ had come to earth in the human nature of fallen man had been made by our church leaders. Nineteen of these statements had been published by Ellen White herself, and she had written strong approval of some statements made by others. Why would she then rebuke Baker for believing the same things? She rather rebuked him for carrying the idea too far and losing sight of the fact that Jesus never sinned.

Ellen White appealed in Testimonies, vol. 5, 696, that if we wanted to know what she believed, we should read her published works. Although she lived and published profusely for twenty years after writing the Baker letter, she never published it. It remained in her files sixty-two years until in 1957 the writers of Questions on Doctrine used it to offset Ellen White’s 400 statements that Christ came to earth in the human nature of fallen man!

The Baker letter contains no statement that Christ came to earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam, but it contains statements that are interpreted to mean that. Then these interpretations are set forth as evidence that Ellen White contradicted herself.

“Altogether human” and “Divine-Human” are opposite poles in meaning. There could be no divine nature in a Christ who is “altogether human, such an one as ourselves.”

THE SECOND ADAM

Ellen White referred to Christ as “the second Adam” quite frequently. Need we be uncertain as to what she meant by this?

No, indeed. In 1874 she wrote four articles in the Review and Herald in which she presented a detailed comparison of the temptations of Christ with the temptations of Adam and referred to Christ as “the second Adam.” (See Review and Herald, 1874, issues of February 24, March3, July 28 and August 4.) From these articles we glean the following lines:

“Through His humiliation and poverty Christ would identify Himself with the weaknesses of the fallen race….The great work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the place of fallen Adam….The King of Glory proposed to humble Himself to fallen humanity! He would place His feet in Adam’s steps. He would take man’s fallen nature.”

“The Son of God humbled Himself and took man’s nature after the race had wandered four thousand years from Eden….In behalf of the race, with the weaknesses of fallen man upon Him….”

“The humanity of Christ reached to the very depths of human wretchedness, and identified itself with the weaknesses and necessities of fallen man.”

We remind the reader that it is within this immediate context that Ellen White refers to Christ as the second Adam. And of course, all of this is within the larger context of her 400 statements that witness to the same truth. Against this background we must evaluate the Review editor’s argument that by referring to Christ as the second Adam, she was indicating that He came in the human nature of the unfallen Adam, something she absolutely never says.

This is another example of how Calvinism places an alien interpretation of Ellen White’s words. Then this interpretation is set forth as an evidence that she makes apparently contradictory statements and that her writings contain two opposing lines of thought. The disagreements are not between Ellen White and herself. They are between Ellen White and her Calvinistic interpreters.

Against this background, we must evaluate the Review editor’s use of Ellen White references to the unfathomable mystery of the Incarnation as an indication that we cannot be sure what human nature Christ came in. Her 400 statements that He came to earth in the human nature of fallen man would permit no such conclusion.

The Review editor, having set forth alien interpretations of certain Ellen White statements as evidence that she spoke on both sides of the issue, then adds, “We could list many more statements in support of each side” (article four).

Here he greatly overreaches himself. We have no choice but to firmly challenge this statement and advise our readers that the Review editor can do no such thing. May I here present a quotation from page 273-274 of our research volume, The Word Was Made Flesh:

“Untold numbers of Seventh-day Adventists just cannot believe that a mistake was made by the authors of Questions on Doctrine, et. al., and they feel confident that somewhere there must be a statement by Ellen White that Christ came to earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam.

“Very well. I hereby offer a reward of $1,000.00 to the first person who will find that quotation and deliver it to me.”

This offer was kept open for a period of one year after the book was published. Though thousands of gift copies were sent at considerable expense to our church leaders and theologians, there was not a single response from any of them to my offer. If the Review editor knew of many such statements, why did he not accept the challenge and claim this reward? The question could have been settled seven years ago! Is it now becoming clear why the Calvinists have tried to avoid theological discussions? Perhaps the reasons will appear even more clearly as we consider the Review editor’s methodology.

PROBLEMS OF METHODOLOGY

The Review editor ascribes to himself a somewhat neutral position, affirming that it is not his purpose “to try to prove that one side is ‘right and the other ‘wrong.’” But by the end of the series, he has clearly aligned himself with the Calvinistic doctrines and has employed a methodology which we cannot accept.

Perjorative terms. In contrast to those who hold the Calvinistic view of the nature of Christ, those who hold to the historic SDA view are characterized by these words and phrases:

Have made it a matter of controversy
A more insistent group
The most vocal advocates
The outspoken proponents
They feel so angry with church leaders
The most vociferous advocates
They force a sinful nature on Christ
They are possibly driven by pride and legalism
Wanting to contribute to their own salvation

Space limitations preclude a point by point refutation of these personal thrusts, but we will here state that they are all inaccurate, prejudicial and inflammatory. They are yet another demonstration of the time-tested principle of discussion seen so often in Calvinistic writings called the argument ad hominem (against the man), that those who have evidence will present their evidence, while those who do not have evidence will attack the man. Thus, personal thrusts of this kind should be recognized as indications of the poverty of a cause.

INCORRECT ACCUSATIONS

Twice the Review editor indicates that we who are clinging to the historical SDA position regarding the human nature of Christ are accusing those who disagree with us on this point to be guilty of apostasy. I have not yet met or heard of a person who assumes any such attitude. Those historic Adventists with whom I am acquainted are convinced that persons who hold a wrong doctrine of Christ are very likely to continue in a wrong direction, embracing false doctrines of justification, sanctification, original sin, the sanctuary, and the Spirit of Prophecy. They point to present conditions in the church which strongly support this opinion, but they do not apply the term apostasy to the opposing view on the nature of Christ in itself.

Neither do the historic Adventists believe that Christ was just like us or exactly like us, as the Review editor alleges. The editor creates confusion by skipping back and forth between references to Christ and references to the human nature of Christ. Historic Adventists have never proposed that Christ, who has a Divine-Human nature, is like ourselves, who have only human natures. Actually they have not even proposed that the human nature of Christ is just or exactly like ours. They rather follow the Scriptures, the Spirit of Prophecy, and not a few eminent scholars who say that His human nature was like ours in all points except sin.

The historic SDA’s have never proposed or even hinted that the church should return to the Arian view of Christ (that He was a created being) once held by a few of our pioneers. The question of the human nature of Christ has no relation whatever to Arianism. To state or imply that our use of the word historic commits us to Arianism is about as logical as to insist that it commits us to observing the Sunday Sabbath, as all of our pioneers did before they learned about the true Sabbath.

The Calvinists first tried to fasten on us the term traditional Adventists, knowing full well how offensive the idea of following tradition is to most Adventist people. When we defeated their purpose by identifying ourselves as “historic Adventists,” they then shifted to the new “guilty by association” tactic of trying to identify us with Arianism. Guilt by association is a weak argument at best, but when the implied association is without any basis in fact, guilt by association is no argument at all.

QUESIONS AND ANSWERS

In his fourth article, the Review editor poses a question:

Did Ellen White favor the prelapsarian or the postlapsarian view?”

We might expect that a reference to the fact that she wrote 400 statements supporting the postlapsarian view, and not a single statement supporting the prelapsarian view (remember the $1,000.00 offer?) would provide a satisfactory answer to this question. But instead of this, the editor answers an altogether different question, which has not been asked. Here is his answer: “In her thousands of comments about Jesus’ humanity, she nowhere calls this matter one of the pillars of the Adventist faith.”

We observe:

This provides no answer whatever to the question that was posted. It is an adroit sidestep.

While it is true that Ellen White does not describe the humanity of Jesus as a pillar of our faith, it is equally true that she did not so describe His virgin birth, His incarnation, His resurrection or His second coming. Are we to conclude that these truths are therefore so insignificant and unimportant that divisions of thought regarding them should not be a matter of concern? Suppose some of our members openly denied any or all of these truths. Would we yet consider them faithful Seventh-day Adventists?

If Ellen White’s 400 statements that Christ came in the human nature of fallen man do not satisfy us, what is the real problem? Would we be satisfied with 4,000 or 40,000? Hardly. The problem is not with the evidence. It is with our stubborn, unbelieving hearts. Confronted with a similar problem, Jesus said that some persons would not believe though one rose from the dead. What a horrible condition to be in! May God deliver us!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO US?

To summarize: We have found that the Review editor’s five articles in defense of the Calvinistic doctrine that our Lord came to this earth in the human nature of the unfallen Adam do not bear up well under investigation. The writer has employed rejection of Spirit of Prophecy evidence, accusing Ellen White of contradicting herself, using a Spirit of Prophecy quotation in total violation of its context, withholding Spirit of Prophecy evidence from his readers, and representing a subject about which Ellen White and our pioneers had no doubts at all so if it were so mysterious that we can hardly hope to understand it.

This mystery technique has a long history, from the fall of Lucifer to the present:

“Everything that was simple he [Satan] shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 41

“These [Jewish] teachers spoke with uncertainty, interpreting the Scriptures to mean one thing, and then another. This left the people in great confusion.” Review and Herald, March 5, 1901

“The same thing is done today. The Word of God is made to appear mysterious and obscure in order to excuse transgression of His law.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 39

We will find it helpful, when confronted with challenges about mysteries, to distinguish between the what and the how. We can know what Jesus did, in coming from heaven to be born of a virgin and to take the human nature of fallen man. These truths are clearly stated and can easily be understood and embraced. This is not to say that we can explain how He did it, nor is any such explanation necessary. Confusion occurs when we lose sight of the distinction between the what and the how.

When to the above list of grievous problems are added the personal thrusts, the judgment of motives, and the inaccurate accusations, all wrapped in words of praise to Jesus, the picture is depressing indeed. We regret the necessity of placing before our readers such a somber picture of present conditions at the Review.

We regret even more the necessity of pointing out that these Review articles do not differ in any significant degree from the other defenses of this Calvinistic doctrine that have been attempted since its first recommendation to us in the book Questions on Doctrine in 1957.

In our book, The Word Was Made Flesh, a 365 page research report, we have set forth the fully documented evidence which demonstrates conclusively that the statement about the human nature of Christ in QOD is a methodological monstrosity and an historical fraud. And it appeared to establish a pattern that has been followed by most, if not all, of the defenders of Calvinism from 1957, until now.

And in imitation of teachers of error in all ages, leading Calvinistic Adventists have now launched a massive campaign to thrust out of the church those who wish to be true to our historic faith.

We would identify the first major move in that campaign as the publication of the Issues book by the officers of the North American Division. The second move may well be the Review articles that we have just examined. The third appears to be looming up before us in the proposed changes in our church organization, completely contrary to the counsels of the Lord, that will place greater power in the hands of fewer men and will give to conference committees the authority to disfellowship members from local churches! (See Vance Ferrell’s Pilgrims’ Rest, October, 1993.)

Should this alarm us? Not at all. It should cause us to look up and to lift up our heads, for our redemption draweth nigh. But it should alert us to the fact that we are now entering a very dangerous phase of our pilgrimage. We must proceed with our guidebooks—the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy—always close at hand. We cannot afford to place blind confidence in any human being or in any human organization. We must be prepared to stand alone and to suffer for our faith, if necessary.

“We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Life Sketches, 196

“Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” Isaiah 26:20

The End

The Morning Star

October 23, 2017 by Jack Kendall

For many years before the beginning of the Reformation, the Bible was an almost unknown book. Except for the Waldenses, who had for hundreds of years had the Bible in their own tongue, it had been locked up in a language known only to the highly educated. As centuries passed, the darkness appeared to increase in intensity; but by the beginning of the fourteenth century, in many countries there appeared tokens of the coming dawn. Just as in the darkness of the nighttime sky the morning star can be seen, brightly shining, giving promise of the near approach of day, so in fourteenth century England there arose a man who was destined to strike a blow against Rome that would eventually result in the freeing of men, churches and nations. He was the herald of reform, not only for England but for all of Christendom.

Born in 1324 in the parish of Wycliffe, John followed his ancestors in taking as his surname the place of his residence. There is little known of his early life, for history has preserved for us almost nothing of the personal incidents in his life. The services done for his own time and for future generations are the things that have occupied the interest of historians, almost to the exclusion of any personal matters.

At the age of sixteen, Wycliffe was sent to Oxford. A quick mind, a penetrating intellect and a retentive memory allowed him to advance very quickly in the learning of his day. In addition to his other studies, Wycliffe became proficient in both canon and civil laws. This branch of learning was to be especially valuable to him in the coming battle that was soon to arise between the crown of England and the pontiff of Rome.

While in college, Wycliffe’s attention was directed to the Scriptures. In the study of God’s Word he found satisfaction for the great want of his soul. As he studied, the determination arose within him to share the truths he had found. His devotion to truth, however, could not help but bring him into conflict with Rome.

In 1365, Wycliffe was appointed to be head of Canterbury Hall, a new college at that time. Through rivalry, he was later removed from that position by a new archbishop of Canterbury. He appealed to the pope, but in 1370 the case was decided against him. From this point on, his conflict was no longer to be with the primate of England but with the very pontiff of Christendom. However, to properly understand the situation, we need to go back a century in time.

In 1205, Hubert, the primate, or head of the church in England, died. The churchmen, in a secret meeting that very same night and without consulting with the king, elected Reginald as the new archbishop of Canterbury. By the next morning, Reginald was on his way to Rome to receive his confirmation from the pope. When King John learned of what had taken place, he was furious and set about to place the Bishop of Norwich in that position. Then both parties—the king and the churchmen—sent their representatives to Rome to plead their cause.

The man who then reigned as pope was Innocent III. Innocent, who was vigorously pursuing the course laid out by Gregory VII—that of humbling the pride of kings—was working with all the skill and power at his command to make the power of kings subject to the papal see. John had appealed to the pope to arbitrate the case, and in this he had revealed his weakness. The pope was not slow to recognize the advantage and to make the most of it. Innocent annulled both elections and appointed his own nominee, Cardinal Langton to be archbishop.

King John could clearly see the danger of such an encroachment on the royal pregrogative. The see of Canterbury was the highest seat of dignity and jurisdiction in England, excepting only that of the throne itself, and in an age when ecclesiastical authority was even more to be feared than temporal authority, this was a dangerous threatening of the authority of the king and of the national independence. Filled with the bitterness of humiliation, John ordered all of the prelates and abbots out of England and refused to seat the pope’s appointee. Unfortunately, John was one of the weakest of England’s kings, and the pope was not slow to strike back, placing all of England under interdict. Being under interdict meant that the gates of heaven were locked and that no one in England could enter. All who died were condemned to wander as disembodied ghosts in some doleful region, amid unknown sufferings, until it should please the pope to open heaven to them. The church doors were closed and the dead were buried in ditches or open fields, while marriages were performed in church yards.

The king braved this situation for two whole years. Eventually, Innocent pronounced the sentence of excommunication upon him, deposing him from his throne and absolving his subjects from allegiance to him. It was one thing to pronounce the king deposed but quite another to enforce the decree. In order to fully accomplish this, the pope recognized that he needed an army, and looking around him, he determined to secure the assistance of Philip Augustus of France. Promising Philip the kingdom of England as his prize, the pope succeeded in obtaining his help.

When John saw the fearful danger he was in, his resolve left him and he determined to make peace with the pope at any cost. As a part of the bargain, the king agreed that he and all future kings of England should hold England as tenants of the land, on condition of loyalty to Rome. In recognintion of this arrangement, England would make an annual payment of a thousand marks to Rome. Should John or any of his successors default in payment, they would immediately forfeit all right to their dominions, which would immediately revert to Rome. On May 15, 1213, it is said that the king met with the papal legate and placed his crown at the legate’s feet. The haughty legate there upon kicked it around as though it was a worthless object before placing it again on John’s head.

The barons of England were appalled at John’s cowardly stand. Determined not to be slaves of the pope, they unsheathed their swords and vowed to maintain the ancient liberties of England, or die in the attempt. Appearing before the king in April of 1215, they presented him with a charter confirming the rights of England. Though the king stormed and at first refused, on June 15, 1215, John signed the Magna Charta at Runnymede. This, in effect, told Innocent that John revoked his vow of vassalage and took back the kingdom he had laid at the pontiff’s feet.

When the news reached Innocent, he correctly interpreted the significance of what had taken place. He realized that the Magna Charta was a great political protest against, not only himself but his whole system. In it he saw the beginning of an order of political ideas and a class of political rights entirely antagonistic to the fundamental claims of the papacy. He was infuriated and immediately declared the whole transaction null and void.

The bold attitude of the barons saved the independence of England, and though future kings of England came to the throne without taking the oath of loyalty to the pope, they continued, year by year to send the thousand marks which John had agreed to pay. At last, during the reign of Edward II, the annual tribute payment was quietly stopped without protest from Rome.

Nearly thirty-five years passed without any payment being made. Then suddenly and quite unexpectedly, in 1366, Pope Urban V demanded not only the annual tribute but all of the arrears. Urban, however, was not dealing with John but with Edward III. During the hundred years that had passed since the signing of the Magna Charta, England had been increasing in strength and greatness. Not only had she advance as center of learning but she had won some brilliant military victories and was already beginning to be feared and respected by nations of the continent. When the summons from the pope arrived, England hardly knew whether to meet it with indignation or with derision.

While acting as chaplain for the king, the position he now held, Wycliffe showed that the papal assumption of authority over secular rulers was contrary to both reason and revelation.

At this moment the eyes of all of Europe were on England. Should England submit, it would so greatly add to the prestige and power of the papacy as to reduce the whole world to vassalage. “The demands of the pope had excited great indignation, and Wycliffe’s teachings exerted an influence upon the leading minds of the nation. The king and the nobles united in denying the pontiff’s claim to temporal authority and in refusing the payment of the tribute. Thus an effectual blow was struck against the papal supremacy in England.” The Great Controversy, 82

The crisis was a great one, and the decision of England determined that the tide of papal tyranny would, from that point on, recede. Even though it was Edward III and Parliament who issued the decision that struck the blow against papal tyranny, it was Wycliffe who was the real champion in turning the tide of the battle.

The next great battle that Wyclffe was to fight for England was against the monastic orders. The pope had given these monks the power to hear confessions and to grant pardons. In spite of the fact they were sworn to poverty, these friars were constantly playing upon the superstitions of the people to increase their wealth. Wycliffe began to write tracts against these orders. In his writing, he not so much attacked the men as he sought to point the people to Bible truth. His plain speaking, however, soon attracted the attention of Rome, and bulls were dispatched to England demanding immediate measures be taken against the reformer to silence him. Just when it appeared that his enemies would succeed in silencing him, the pontiff of Rome died.

Though only sixty years of age, Wycliffe became seriously ill. The news of his illness brought great joy to the friars and they quickly made their way to his bedside, expecting to hear his recantation. Instead of recanting, the reformer raised himself and said in a strong voice: “I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars. Astonished and abashed, the monks hurried from the room.” Ibid., 88

The idea occurred to Wycliffe to give the whole Bible to the people of England so that every man in the realm might read for himself the Word of God. No one had ever thought to do this before, but this was the work Wycliffe now set himself to do. He realized that if he were successful in this endeavor, he would do more to place the liberties of England on a sound foundation than might be accomplished by a hundred brilliant victories.

Wycliffe had but a few years of time left to complete this great work he had set his hand to accomplish. He was a good Latin scholar and he turned to the Vulgate Scriptures for his source from which to translate, a translation which, unfortunately, contained many errors. In spite of the flawed source, Wycliffe’s Bible was remarkable in its effect upon the language, contributing to the formation of the English tongue by way of perfecting and enlarging its vocabulary. Because he wrote largely for the common people, Wycliffe studied to be simple and clear.

Once having completed this greatest of all his accomplishments, Wycliffe had no fear of death. In giving the Bible to England he had kindled a light which could never be put out. The Magna Charta which the barons had wrested from King John would have turned to little account had not Wycliffe given his countrymen the even mightier charter of freedom. “It might take one or it might take five centuries to consummate their emancipation; but with the Bible in their mother-tongue, no power on earth could retain them in thralldom. The doors of the house of their bondage had been flung open.” Wylie, The History of Protestanism, vol. 1, 111

Once the work was completed, though there were no printing presses, the interest in Wycliffe’s work was so great that hundreds of expert hands were ready to assist in multiplying the copies.

When the hierarchy learned what Wycliffe had done, they were greatly perplexed. They had comforted themselves with the thought that Wycliffe had but a short time to live, and once he was gone, they felt certain his work would come to nothing. Though they might successfully silence the reformer, a mightier voice than his was now raised against the errors of Rome. The horrified prelates raised a great cry.

The question was raised as to the right of the people to read the Bible. As the question had never before been raised in England, there were no laws governing its circulation. Though laws were soon enacted to prohibit it being read, the clergy had been caught so completely by surprise that it had an opportunity to become quite widely distributed before its circulation was banned.

It seems that in the life of every reformer there comes a moment when he must stand alone, forsaken by all others, painfully aware of his isolation. Following the release of his Bible, a general clamor was raised against the reformer. “He was accused of being a heretic, a sacrilegious man; he had committed a crime unknown to former ages; he had broken into the temple and stolen the sacred vessels; he had fired the House of God. Such were the terms in which the man was spoken of, who had given to his country the greatest boon England had ever received.” Ibid., 113

It was under Wycliffe that English liberty had its beginning. The English Bible assured England’s greatness. As she began to resist the papacy she began to grow in power and wealth.

Wycliffe expected that his death would be by violence. The primate, the king and the pope were all working to bring about his destruction. However, on the last Sunday of 1384, while he was in the act of consecrating the bread and wine, he was struck with an attack of palsy and fell to the church floor. He was carried to his bed in the rectory where he died on December 31, 1384. That a man who defied the whole hierarchy and who never gave into compromise of any kind, should die in his own bed, was truly a miracle.

“The papists had failed to work their will with Wycliffe during his life, and their hatred could not be satisfied while his body rested quietly in the grave. By the decree of the Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death his bones were exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into a neighboring brook. ‘This brook,’ says an old writer, ‘hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.’—T. Fuller, Church History of Britain, b. 4, sec. 2, par. 54.

Little did his enemies realize the significance of their malicious act.” The Great Controversy, 95, 96

The political measures that Parliament adopted at Wycliffe’s advice in order to guard the country against the usurpations of the popes, reveal how clearly he saw the true purposes of the papacy to devour the wealth and liberty of the nations. Under his wise guidance, England was able to foresee the great evil and took precautions to protect themselves only after it had all but destroyed them.

In his submission to the Bible lay the secret of Wycliffe’s wisdom. He turned the eyes of England from popes and councils to the inspired Word of God. He taught that the Word of God was an all sufficient rule and that every man, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, had a right to interpret it for himself. Thus he taught men to throw off the blind submission to the teachings of men, which is bondage, and to submit their conscience to the Word of God, which alone is liberty.

It was under Wycliffe that English liberty had its beginnings. The real secret of England’s greatness is found in her acceptance of the Bible, very early in her development, and the principles of order and liberty which it brought her. This love for freedom and submission to law are the foundation upon which our political constitution and our national genius was built. It was Wycliffe who laid that foundation.

“Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the reformers. In breadth of intellect, in clearness of thought, in firmness to maintain the truth, and in boldness to defend it, he was equaled by few who came after him. Purity of life, unwearying diligence in study and in labor, incorruptible integrity, and Christlike love and faithfulness in his ministry, characterized the first of the Reformers. And this notwithstanding the intellectual darkness and moral corruption of the age from which he emerged.” Ibid., 93

The End

Bible Study Guides – Discernment

October 20, 2017 by Reformation Herald Publishing

August 14 – 20

Key Text

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put dark-ness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight” (Isaiah 5:20, 21)!

Study Help: The Desire of Ages, 668–672.

Introduction

“Let God’s people pray to Him for clear spiritual discernment, that they may distinguish the theories of men from the Word of the living God. Let them study the Scriptures.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 18, 151.

1 DETERMINE TO LISTEN

How can we be sure that we are hearing the voice of God? John 10:27; Matthew 7:16–20, 24–27; Galatians 5:22, 23.

Note: “The good tree will produce good fruit. If the fruit is unpalatable and worthless, the tree is evil. So the fruit borne in the life testifies as to the condition of the heart and the excellence of the character. Good works can never purchase salvation, but they are an evidence of the faith that acts by love and purifies the soul. And though the eternal reward is not bestowed because of our merit, yet it will be in pro-portion to the work that has been done through the grace of Christ. “Thus Christ set forth the principles of His kingdom and showed them to be the great rule of life. To impress the lesson He adds an il-lustration. It is not enough, He says, for you to hear My words. By obedience you must make them the foundation of your character. Self is but shifting sand. If you build upon human theories and inventions, your house will fall.” The Desire of Ages, 314.

What demonstrated that Jesus heard His Father accurately? How should this description of Jesus apply to us also? John 5:19, 20, 36.42

2 LOOKING AT HISTORY

What has been the varied experience of God’s church through the ages with regard to listening to the Lord’s voice? 2 Kings 22:13; 23:3; Zechariah 7:11–13; Jeremiah 29:17–19.
What personal testimony did Jeremiah and David declare of their listening to the voice of God? Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:57–60.
What can we learn from the experience of Jesus’ disciples in listening to God’s voice? Mark 7:5–8; Matthew 28:19, 20.

Note: “It was most difficult for them [Jesus’ disciples] to keep His lessons distinct from the traditions and maxims of the scribes and Pharisees. They had been educated to accept the teaching of the rabbis as the voice of God, and it still held a power over their minds and molded their sentiments. Earthly ideas, temporal things, still had a large place in their thoughts. They did not understand the spiritual nature of Christ’s kingdom, though He had so often explained it to them. Their minds had become confused. They did not comprehend the value of the Scriptures Christ presented. Many of His lessons seemed almost lost upon them.” The Desire of Ages, 670.

“In the commission to His disciples, Christ not only outlined their work but gave them their message. Teach the people, He said, ‘to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you’ (Matthew 28:20). The disciples were to teach what Christ had taught. That which He had spoken, not only in person, but through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament, is here included. Human teaching is shut out. There is no place for tradition, for man’s theories and conclusions, or for church legislation. No laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority are included in the commission. None of these are Christ’s servants to teach. ‘The law and the prophets,’ with the record of His own words and deeds, are the treasure committed to the disciples to be given to the world. Christ’s name is their watchword, their badge of distinction, their bond of union, the authority for their course of action, and the source of their success. Nothing that does not bear His superscription is to be recognized in His kingdom.” Ibid., 826.

3 LISTENING TO THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE

From the apostle Paul’s experience, how important is it to listen to the voice of our own conscience? Acts 24:16; 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 John 3:21.
What will eventually happen if we neglect to follow the voice of conscience? Matthew 6:22, 23; Titus 1:15; 1 Timothy 4:2.

Note: “When a person once neglects to heed the invitations, reproofs, and warnings of the Spirit of God, his conscience becomes seared, and the next time he is admonished, it will be more difficult to yield obedience than before. And thus with every repetition. Conscience is the voice of God, heard amid the conflict of human passions; when it is resisted, the Spirit of God is grieved.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 120.

“Singleness of purpose, wholehearted devotion to God, is the condition pointed out by the Saviour’s words. Let the purpose be sincere and unwavering to discern the truth and to obey it at whatever cost, and you will receive divine enlightenment. Real piety begins when all compromise with sin is at an end. …

“But when the eye is blinded by the love of self, there is only darkness. ‘If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness’ (Matthew 6:23). It was this fearful darkness that wrapped the Jews in stubborn unbelief, making it impossible for them to appreciate the character and mission of Him who came to save them from their sins.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 91, 92.

What should we do with each impression or idea that we may have about what God is telling us? John 5:39; Hebrews 4:12.

Note: “Impressions and feelings are no sure evidence that a person is led by the Lord. Satan will, if he is unsuspected, give feelings and impressions. These are not safe guides. All should thoroughly acquaint themselves with the evidences of our faith, and the great study should be how they can adorn their profession and bear fruit to the glory of God.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 413.

“If you are in doubt upon any subject you must first consult the Scriptures.” Ibid., vol. 5, 512.

4 HONESTY

What is God’s attitude toward any dishonesty? Proverbs 19:5; Acts 5:3–5.

Note: “God hates hypocrisy and falsehood. Ananias and Sapphira practiced fraud in their dealing with God; they lied to the Holy Spirit, and their sin was visited with swift and terrible judgment.” The Acts of the Apostles, 72.

“From the stern punishment meted out to those perjurers, God would have us learn also how deep is His hatred and contempt for all hypocrisy and deception.” Ibid., 75.

“In much of the service professedly done for God, there is self-emulation and self-exultation. God hates pretense. When men and women receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they will con-fess their sins, and, pardon, which means justification, will be given them. But the wisdom of the human agents who are not penitent, not humbled, is not to be depended on, for they are blinded in regard to the meaning of righteousness and sanctification through the truth. When men are stripped of self-righteousness, they will see their spiritual poverty. Then they will approach that state of brotherly kindness that will show that they are in sympathy with Christ.” This Day With God, 326.

What can happen when we are not honest with ourselves in the study of Scripture? Ezekiel 14:3, 4. What can we do about this? Verse 6.

Note: “Take up the Bible without prejudice and in a humble, teachable spirit, and, with the understanding open to the impressions of the Spirit of God, let its convincing power mold the life and conscience.” The Bible Echo, September 2, 1895.

“You should not search for the purpose of finding texts of Scripture that you can construe to prove your theories; for the word of God declares that this is wresting the Scriptures to your own destruction. You must empty yourselves of every prejudice and come in the spirit of prayer to the investigation of the word of God.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 308.

5 MEEKNESS AND HUMILITY

What essential character quality must each one of us learn from Jesus? Matthew 11:29; Psalms 22:26; 25:9.

Note: “Meekness and humility will characterize all who are obedient to the law of God.” The Signs of the Times, July 22, 1897.

“If our will is not in accord with the divine requirements, we are to deny our inclinations, give up our darling desires, and step in Christ’s footsteps.” The Review and Herald, October 23, 1900.

“Each must have an individual experience and put forth personal efforts to reach souls. God requires each to put all his powers into the work and, through continual effort, educate himself to do that work acceptably. … All the workers must use tact and bring their faculties under the controlling influence of the Spirit of God. They must make it a business to study His word and hear God’s voice addressing them from His living oracles in reproof, in instruction, or in encouragement, and His Spirit will strengthen them, that they may, as God’s workers, advance in religious experience. Thus they will be led on step by step to greater heights, and their joy will be full.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 576, 577.

“If you are willing to learn meekness and lowliness of heart in Christ’s school, He will surely give you rest and peace. It is a terribly hard struggle to give up your own will and your own way. But this lesson learned, you will find rest and peace. Pride, selfishness, and ambition must be overcome; your will must be swallowed up in the will of Christ.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1091.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What evidence demonstrates that we have heard God?

2 What prevented God’s people in the past from hearing Him?

3 How can we maintain a good conscience?

4 How do we know if we are being honest with God?

5 What should we do if we find that our will is not in harmony with God’s requirements?

Bible Study Guides – How to Study the Bible

October 20, 2017 by Reformation Herald Publishing

August 7 – 13

Key Text

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 593–602.

Introduction

“ ‘If any would not work, neither should he eat’ (2 Thessalonians 3:10). The same rule applies to our spiritual nourishment; if any would have the bread of eternal life, let him make efforts to obtain it.” Faith and Works, 49.

1 THE REQUIRED EFFORT

What is required when studying the Bible? Proverbs 2:1–5.

Note: “We cannot obtain wisdom without earnest attention and prayerful study. Some portions of Scripture are indeed too plain to be misunderstood, but there are others whose meaning does not lie on the surface to be seen at a glance. Scripture must be compared with Scripture. There must be careful research and prayerful reflection. And such study will be richly repaid. As the miner discovers veins of precious metal concealed beneath the surface of the earth, so will he who perseveringly searches the word of God as for hid treasure find truths of the greatest value, which are concealed from the view of the careless seeker.” Steps to Christ, 90, 91.

Can we rest satisfied with what has already been discovered in the Scriptures by ourselves or by others? Matthew 13:52; Proverbs 4:18.

Note: “We are to discover new aspects of truth in both the Old and the New Testament, to behold the exceeding breadth and compass of truths which we imagine we understand, but of which we have only a superficial knowledge. He who earnestly searches the Scriptures will see that harmony exists between the various parts of the Bible.” The Bible Echo, October 15, 1892.

2 SINCERE SEARCHERS WILL BE REWARDED

What is more important than intelligence in order to rightly understand the Bible? Matthew 11:25; Psalm 25:9.

Note: “It is sometimes the case that men of intellectual ability, improved by education and culture, fail to comprehend certain passages of Scripture, while others who are uneducated, whose understanding seems weak and whose minds are undisciplined, will grasp the meaning, finding strength and comfort in that which the former declare to be mysterious or pass by as unimportant. Why is this? It has been explained to me that the latter class do not rely upon their own understanding. They go to the Source of light, the One who has inspired the Scriptures, and with humility of heart ask God for wisdom, and they receive it. There are mines of truth yet to be discovered by the earnest seeker. Christ represented the truth as treasure hid in a field. It does not lie right upon the surface; we must dig for it. But our success in finding it does not depend so much on our intellectual ability as on our humility of heart and the faith which will lay hold upon divine aid.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 704.

Who will give us an understanding of essential Bible truths? Proverbs 2:6; Luke 10:21; 24:45. Why isn’t it necessary to our salvation to be able to explain everything that is difficult to understand in the Bible?

Note: “Many feel that a responsibility rests upon them to explain every seeming difficulty in the Bible in order to meet the cavils of skeptics and infidels. But in trying to explain that which they but imperfectly understand, they are in danger of confusing the minds of others in reference to points that are clear and easy to be understood. This is not our work. Nor should we lament that these difficulties exist, but accept them as permitted by the wisdom of God. It is our duty to receive His word, which is plain on every point essential to the salvation of the soul, and practice its principles in our life, teaching them to others both by precept and example. Thus it will be evident to the world that we have a connection with God and implicit confidence in His word. A life of godliness, a daily example of integrity, meekness, and unselfish love will be a living exemplification of the teaching of God’s word, and it will be an argument in favor of the Bible which few will be able to resist.” Ibid., 705, 706.

3 HAVING A PROPER ATTITUDE

What attitude should we have when we study the Bible? Psalms 10:17; 46:10; Isaiah 57:15.

Note: “We should come with reverence to the study of the Bible, feeling that we are in the presence of God. All lightness and trifling should be laid aside. While some portions of the word are easily understood, the true meaning of other parts is not so readily discerned. There must be patient study and meditation and earnest prayer. Every student, as he opens the Scriptures, should ask for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and the promise is sure that it will be given.

“The spirit in which you come to the investigation of the Scriptures will determine the character of the assistant at your side. Angels from the world of light will be with those who in humility of heart seek for divine guidance. But if the Bible is opened with irreverence, with a feeling of self-sufficiency, if the heart is filled with prejudice, Satan is beside you, and he will set the plain statements of God’s word in a perverted light.” Testimonies to Ministers, 107, 108.

How should we respond to other people’s conclusions about what the Bible says? 2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11.

Note: “Truth is eternal, and conflict with error will only make manifest its strength. We should never refuse to examine the Scriptures with those who, we have reason to believe, desire to know what is truth as much as we do. Suppose a brother holds a view that differs from yours, and he comes to you, proposing that you sit down with him and investigate that point in the light of the Scriptures; should you rise up filled with prejudice and condemn his ideas while refusing to give him a hearing? The only right way would be to sit down as Christians and investigate the position presented in the light of God’s word, which will reveal truth and unmask error. To ridicule his ideas would not weaken his position, though it were false, or strengthen your position, though it were true. If the pillars of our faith will not stand the test of investigation, it is time that we knew it; for it is foolish to become set in our ideas and think that no one should interfere with our opinions. Let everything be brought to the Bible; for it is the only rule of faith and doctrine.” The Bible Echo, October 15, 1892.

4 UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WORD

How can we be sure that we understand any portion of the Bible correctly? Isaiah 28:10, 13; 2 Corinthians 13:1.

Note: “’The Holy Scriptures ought to be explained by other and clearer texts; … this Holy Book is, in all things necessary for the Christian, easy of understanding, and calculated to scatter the darkness. We are resolved, with the grace of God, to maintain the pure and exclusive preaching of His only word, such as it is contained in the biblical books of the Old and New Testaments, without adding anything thereto that may be contrary to it. This word is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all life, and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all the powers of hell, while all the human vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God.’” The Great Controversy, 203.

“The Book of books has the highest claims to our reverent attention. Superficial study cannot meet the claims it has upon us, nor furnish us with the benefit that is promised. We should seek to learn the full meaning of the words of truth and to drink deep the spirit of the holy oracles.” The Bible Echo, October 1, 1892.

“You must dig deep in the mine of truth if you would find its richest treasures. Comparing scripture with scripture, you may find the true meaning of the text; but if you do not make the sacred teachings of God’s Word the rule and guide of your life, the truth will be nothing to you.” My Life Today, 22.

How did Jesus use this method to overcome Satan’s temptations? Matthew 4:6, 7; Isaiah 59:19.

Note: “Temptations often appear irresistible because, through neglect of prayer and the study of the Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God’s promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angels are round about those who are willing to be taught in divine things; and in the time of great necessity they will bring to their remembrance the very truths which are needed.” The Great Controversy, 600.

5 BEGIN WITH PRAYER

Why do we need to pray before we open the Bible? 1 Corinthians 2:11–13; James 1:5; Psalm 10:17.

Note: “Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we shall be continually liable to wrest the Scriptures or to misinterpret them. …

“There is much reading of the Bible that is without profit and in many cases is a positive injury. When the word of God is opened without reverence and without prayer; when the thoughts and affections are not fixed upon God or in harmony with His will, the mind is clouded with doubt; and in the very study of the Bible, skepticism strengthens. The enemy takes control of the thoughts, and he suggests interpretations that are not correct.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 704, 705.

Whose help should we be asking for in prayer? Luke 11:9–13. What will that Helper do for us? John 16:13; 14:13, 16, 17, 26.

Note: “The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of those things easy to be understood, or prevent us from wresting truths difficult of comprehension. It is the office of heavenly angels to prepare the heart so to comprehend God’s word that we shall be charmed with its beauty, admonished by its warnings, or animated and strengthened by its promises. We should make the psalmist’s petition our own: ‘Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law’ (Psalm 119:18).” The Great Controversy, 599, 600.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 How much attention and focus should I give to studying the Bible?

2 What is more important than intelligence in the study of the Scriptures?

3 How can we guarantee the help of angels in understanding the Bible?

4 Why are we often overcome by temptation?

5 How should we prepare each time before we begin to study the Bible?

Bible Study Guides – Listening to God’s Word

October 20, 2017 by Reformation Herald Publishing

July 31 – August 6

Key Text

“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 197–210.

Introduction

“God speaks to us in His word.” Steps to Christ, 87.

1 THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY

How much authority does the Word of God have over human teaching? Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 8:20.

Note: “The Holy Scriptures are the perfect standard of truth.” Education, 17.

“ ‘All human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.’ ” The Great Controversy, 204.

“The Lord has one path of safety for His people, and that is the path of obedience to His word. That word is given to us as our guide.” The Bible Echo, August 19, 1895.

How can we use our reasoning powers properly in understanding God’s Word? Isaiah 1:16–18; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 25; 2:14–16.

Note: “When we come to the Bible, reason must acknowledge an authority superior to itself, and heart and intellect must bow to the great I AM.” Steps to Christ, 110.

“We are to beware of deifying reason, which is subject to the weakness and infirmity of humanity.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 703.

“With your Bibles open before you, consult sanctified reason and a good conscience. Your heart must be moved, your soul touched, your reason and intellect awakened by the Spirit of God; and then holy principles revealed in the word of God will give light to the soul.” The Review and Herald, February 7, 1893.

2 LISTENING TO GOD THROUGH HIS WORD

What will be the result if we personally listen to God through His word? Deuteronomy 4:6; Psalm 119:94, 97–100.

Note: “The precious book of God contains rules of life for men of every class and every vocation.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 416.

“We shall advance in true spiritual knowledge only as we realize our own littleness and our entire dependence upon God; but all who come to the Bible with a teachable and prayerful spirit, to study its utterances as the word of God, will receive divine enlightenment.” Ibid., vol. 5, 704.

“In searching the Scriptures for yourself, you will become established in the faith. It is of the greatest importance that you continually search the Scriptures, storing the mind with the truths of God.” The Bible Echo, October 15, 1892.

“Conservative traditions received from educated men, and from the writings of great men of the past, are not safe guides for us in these last days. … Daily, hourly, we must be actuated by the principles of Bible truth—righteousness, mercy, and the love of God. He who would have moral and intellectual power must draw from the divine source. At every point of decision inquire, ‘Is this the way of the Lord?’ ” The Review and Herald, February 7, 1893.

What assurance do we have that God will talk to us, individually, through the Bible? John 6:63; Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 34:8.

Note: “The word of the living God is not merely written but spoken. The Bible is God’s voice speaking to us, just as surely as though we could hear it with our ears. If we realized this, with what awe would we open God’s word, and with what earnestness would we search its precepts! The reading and contemplation of the Scriptures would be regarded as an audience with the Infinite One.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 393.

“When Satan presses his suggestions upon our minds, we may, if we cherish a ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ be drawn into the secret pavilion of the Most High.” Ibid.

“So many are full of busy plans, always active; and there is no time or place for the precious Jesus to be a close, dear companion. They do not refer every thought and action to Him, inquiring: ‘Is this the way of the Lord?’ If they did they would walk with God, as did Enoch.” Ibid.

3 ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATION

Why were the Scriptures written? John 20:31.
If we reject God’s voice in His written Word, can we expect Him to communicate His will to us through other means? Luke 16:31; Proverbs 28:9. Why?

Note: “The law and the prophets are God’s appointed agencies for the salvation of men. … If they do not listen to the voice of God in His word, the testimony of a witness raised from the dead would not be heeded.

“Those who heed Moses and the prophets will require no greater light than God has given; but if men reject the light, and fail to appreciate the opportunities granted them, they would not hear if one from the dead should come to them with a message. They would not be convinced even by this evidence; for those who reject the law and the prophets so harden their hearts that they will reject all light.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 265.

Why can’t we rely on anyone else to listen to God for us? Ezekiel 14:12–14; 33:14–16.

Note: “We must study the truth for ourselves; no man should be relied upon to think for us, no matter who he may be or in what position he may be placed. We are not to look upon any man as a perfect guide for us. We are to counsel together and be subject one to another; but at the same time we are to exercise the ability God has given us to learn what is truth. Each one of us must look to God for divine enlightenment, that we may individually develop a character that will stand the test of the great day. …

“Many are drifting into darkness and infidelity, picking flaws with the Bible, bringing up superstitious inventions, unscriptural theories, and speculations of vain philosophy; but it is the duty of everyone to seek a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. The importance and benefit of Bible study cannot be overestimated. In searching the Scriptures our minds are led to dwell upon the infinite sacrifice of Christ, on His mediation in our behalf. As we see His love, as we meditate upon His humiliation and sufferings, the same spirit of self-denial and sacrifice for the good of others will be kindled in our hearts.” The Bible Echo, October 15, 1892.

4 FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WITH GOD

Why were the people of Berea commended? Acts 17:10–12.

Note: “No man can safely trust his soul to the minister, or to men who are learned and talented. Jesus charged the priests and rulers, who were regarded as learned in the Scriptures, as being ignorant both of the Scriptures and the power of God. Those to whom God has intrusted talents are responsible for the use of their gifts, and should study the Bible as a book that may be understood. A single text has proved in the past, and will prove in the future, a savor of life unto life to many a soul. As men diligently search, the Bible will open out new treasures of truth that will be as bright jewels to the mind.” The Signs of the Times, August 20, 1894.

“Unless the mind is used, it will cease to expand; unless the taste is cultivated to love the Bible, it will cease to relish the truths of God’s word. The student can see only to the depth of what he has explored, and he cannot appreciate that which lies beyond the compass of his own narrow boundaries. But his very ignorance will make him conceited, talkative, and boastful. What can I say to you, young men and young women, to arouse you to vigor in your efforts to overcome obstacles? Mental effort will become easier and more satisfactory as you put yourselves to the task of understanding the deep things of God. You should each decide that you will not be a second-class student, that you will not allow others to think for you.” The Review and Herald, May 20, 1890.

What was Timothy told to do while he waited for Paul to return? 1 Timothy 4:13, 15, 16.
What does Jesus say of those who hear His words and obey them? Matthew 7:24, 25.

Note: “Those who hear and obey the words of Christ are building upon the rock, and when the tempest comes, their house will not be over-thrown. They will through faith in Christ Jesus gain eternal life.” This Day with God, 215.

5 LOOKING DEEPER

How deeply should we study the Bible? Colossians 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

Note: “There is but little benefit derived from a hasty reading of the Scriptures. One may read the whole Bible through and yet fail to see its beauty or comprehend its deep and hidden meaning. One passage studied until its significance is clear to the mind and its relation to the plan of salvation is evident, is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained. Keep your Bible with you. As you have opportunity, read it; fix the texts in your memory. Even while you are walking the streets you may read a passage and meditate upon it, thus fixing it in the mind.” Steps to Christ, 90.

“You are to offer to God nothing less than your best. You should do better and better work as you put in practice what you learn. You should seek to fathom every subject requiring your investigation, comparing not only the ideas and thoughts of men concerning the matter, but also comparing Scripture with Scripture, that you may know that you do know every point of the faith. The taxation of your mind will only strengthen your mental powers for greater effort.” The Review and Herald, May 20, 1890.

“An understanding of Bible truth depends not so much on the power of intellect brought to the search as on the singleness of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness.” The Great Controversy,

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What are the conditions to receiving enlightenment from God as we study the Bible?

2 What question should we ask when making any decision?

3 What effect will searching the Scriptures have upon us?

4 What do we become when we are ignorant of our Bible?

5 Instead of reading many Bible chapters without learning anything, how can we discover the deep, hidden truths of the Bible?

Organizational Unity

October 19, 2017 by John J. Grosboll

“It is the work of the Christian to mend, to restore, to heal. This healing process saves many a soul and hides a multitude of sins. God is love; God is, in Himself, in His essence, love. He makes the very best of what appears an injury, and gives Satan no occasion for triumph by making the worst appear and exposing our weakness to our enemies. The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and as stated in Revelation, ‘cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’” Testimonies to Ministers, 265

Do you understand the significance of this statement? If the world is introduced into, and married to the church, it will become Babylon. She does not place it in a time frame, but she says it will happen and our danger as Seventh-day Adventists is that we will be reading the statements Ellen White wrote in the Review and Herald in 1893, which say that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is not Babylon, and saying, “See, here this proves everything.” It does not prove everything at all, friends. You have to look at all of the inspired statements before you draw your conclusions. Do not take one group of statements that were addressed to a specific situation in 1893 and then forget everything else that was written and assume that you know it all.

Who ever thought up this terrible heresy that has gone around among God’s people that professed Israel can never become Babylon? There are two cases in the Bible where Israel became Babylon, one in the Old Testament and one in the New. By the introduction of the world into the church, it can become Babylon. We have been inclined to believe that it is only the acceptance, and promulgation of such false doctrines as, Sunday sacredness, and the immortality of the soul, that constitute Babylon, but Ellen White is very clear that while these do clearly mark a church as being part of Babylon, it is the acceptance of these, and kindred heresies, “and the rejection of the truth,” which convert the church into Babylon. See Selected Messages, book 2, 68. This should cause every Seventh-day Adventist great concern.

“Unsanctified ministers are arraying themselves against God. They are praising Christ and the god of this world in the same breath. While professedly they receive Christ, they embrace Barabbas, and by their actions say, ‘Not this Man, but Barabbas.’ Let all who read these lines, take heed. Satan has made his boast of what he can do. He thinks to dissolve the unity which Christ prayed might exist in His church. He says, ‘I will go forth and be a lying spirit to deceive those that I can, to criticize, and condemn, and falsify.’ Let the sin of deceit and false witness be entertained by a church that has had great light, great evidence, and that church will discard the message the Lord has sent, and receive the most unreasonable assertions and false suppositions and false theories.” Ibid., 409

Friends, we have accepted false witness and been engaged in the sin of deceit for a long time.

One of the greatest shocks I have experienced came a few years ago when I was reading the book The Word Made Flesh. Toward the back of the book is a section that shows how some material is used in the book Questions on Doctrines. The material used is a collection of statements by Ellen White that were put together by one of our “scholars or theologians.” I had done some research in my life and as I was studying over this material, I started comparing the sources and how it was put together. In just minutes I was in a state of shock. I said to myself, “No honest man could do this.” See The Word Was Made Flesh, Section 4, 219-275, and especially pages 249-264. You can disagree with me, but I do not believe that it is possible that anyone who is smart enough to do research could do this with an honest mind.

This took place a number of years ago, but have you ever noticed any public declaration that says we repudiate Questions on Doctrine and appeal to God and all of humanity to forgive us for publishing it? Remember, we have studied that there are four steps that have to be taken before Historic Adventists can ever be in harmony and unity with the world structure. They are: repentance, confession, restitution and a willingness to get back on the stand on the platform of truth. There is only one way to have unity and that is, if we are all willing to repent, confess, make restitution and stand together on the platform of truth.

“Infidelity has been making its inroads into our ranks; for it is the fashion to depart from Christ, and give place to skepticism. With many the cry of the heart has been, ‘We will not have this Man to reign over us.’ Baal, Baal, is the choice. The religion of many among us will be the religion of apostate Israel, because they love their own way, and forsake the way of the Lord.” Ibid.

The word Baal or Baalim in Hebrew means lord. When you are worshipping Baal, you are obeying and following a different lord. You think you are doing your own thing, following your own way, but the devil really has control of you and you do not know it.

We are at a time when the trumpet must give a certain sound. We are to show people that there can be no unity between truth and error and that there can be no unity between those who are standing under Satan’s banner and those who are standing under the banner of the Lord.

“Evil must be assailed; falsehood and error must be made to appear in their true character, sin must be denounced; and the testimony of every believer in the truth must be as one. All your little differences, which arouse the combative spirit among brethren, are devices of Satan to divert minds from the great and fearful issue before us.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 1014

If you are a believer in the truth, you must stand against evil and apostasy. If you do not, you cannot be accounted today as one of God’s children. It is just that simple.

“All who live a conscientious life, who bear testimony of the claims of God, of the evil of sin, of the judgment to come, will be called the disturbers of Israel. Those whose testimony awakens the apprehension of the soul, offend pride, and arouse opposition. The hatred of evil against good exists as surely now as in the days of Christ when the multitudes cried, ‘Away with him! Release unto us Barabbas.’” Ibid., 1013

Anyone whom God commissions to do this kind of work is going to be accused of being critical. People are going to speak evil of them and try to destroy their influence.

Have you ever met someone who said, “I want peace. I just can’t stand all of this conflict”? Do you know when we will have true peace? “The true peace will come among God’s people when through united zeal and earnest prayer the false peace that exits to a large degree is disturbed.” Ibid.

There is a false peace in Adventism today and we are out to disturb it. We want to shake people up right down to their shoes so that they no longer feel secure and make them realize that if they do not do something different, they are going to go straight to destruction. We have to go through the steps we have been studying about, repentance, confession, restitution and standing together on the truth.

“While we cannot fellowship with those who are the bitter enemies of Christ, we should cultivate that spirit of meekness and love that characterized our Master—a love that thinketh no evil and is not easily provoked.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 3, 1163

Those who are followers of Christ cannot fellowship with those who are His bitter enemies. If you can fellowship with people who are enemies of the cross of Christ and are not teaching Historic Adventism, there is something seriously wrong. You are not headed in the direction you think you are.

Before Jesus comes, God’s people are going to have a true and perfect unity with one another. The question is not whether or not it is going to happen; it is a matter of prophecy. If those whom God has commissioned to have this unity do not do so, he will raise up others who will, but those refused to be united will lose their souls.

Even when we do have unity, we will not have the type of unity that many people expect. Ellen White describes true unity as being “unity in diversity.”

We are not going to come to the point where we all have the same identity or have absolute uniformity. That is not what we are talking about when we talk about unity. Ellen White describes this with the phrase “uniformity in diversity.” We are all still going to be individuals. Like branches that are part of a vine, all are different and yet they are all united to the vine.

One of the problems that even Historic Adventists are having today is that many people believe that in order to have unity, other people have to think the same as they think, sing the same, play the piano the same, preach the same way and right on down the line. If this idea is a reflection of your thinking, not only are you never going to experience the type of unity you are hoping to achieve, but you are actually going to become a roadblock to true unity, because in order to obtain unity you are going to try to get everybody else to be like you are, and that is not the unity we are talking about. All will, however, think the same with regard to the platform of truth. We will all agree on all the truths that God has given us.

I want to study a little bit about church organization, because that is part of this subject.

“God is leading a people out from the world upon the exalted platform of eternal truth, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. He will discipline and fit up His people. They will not be at variance, one believing one thing and another having faith and views entirely opposite, each moving independently of the body.” Testimonies to Ministers, 29

Notice, if we are going to have unity, we are not going to have theological views that are absolutely contradictory to one another, each one of us moving independently from the body. How can you not move independently form the body and still have unity and not compromise any truth? If you do not understand who the true church is versus the professed church, you will never make it. You have an absolutely impossible situation.

“Through the diversity of the gifts and governments that He has placed in the church, they will all come to the unity of the faith.” Ibid. [All emphasis supplied]

Did you notice that coming to the unity of the faith has something to do with the governments that God has placed in His church?

In a book written by a person whom I used to consider a very close friend of mine, the author totally reinterpreted prophecy. The problem with the total reinterpretation is that some of the reinterpretations contradict the Spirit of Prophecy, so I cannot accept that. I am not saying this to criticize that person, because anyone can make a mistake. Fields of secular endeavor are not the only areas in the world where mistakes are made. You can make a mistake in theology even if you are sincere. How am I going to keep from going off on a tangent independent of the body? Sister White points out that one of the purposes of governments in the church is to help us keep from going off on a tangent.

“If one man takes his views of Bible truth without regard to the opinion of his brethren, and justifies his course, alleging that he has a right to his own peculiar views, and then presses them upon others, how can he be fulfilling the prayer of Christ? And if another and still another arises, each asserting his right to believe and talk what he pleases without reference to the faith of the body, where will be that harmony which existed between Christ and His Father, and which Christ prayed might exist among His brethren?” Ibid., 29, 30

If I am really going to find out the opinion of my brethren in some organized way, we must have some kind of church organization. That has to do, Sister White says, with the organization, the governments that God has placed within the body of Christ—so, unity in diversity. This unity can happen if I have regard to the opinion of my brethren and I am willing to keep myself from going off independent of the truth of the body.

“When ministering brethren come together in council, let deference be shown to the expression of intelligent principles, let intellectual freedom be freely accorded to all. There should be unity and love and freedom in communication one with another. It should be a pleasure to consult one with another, to compare ideas and to review plans. An atmosphere of goodness, confidence, and love should be diffused; for this is the assurance of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God should be felt, and the soul should be humbled in acknowledging the condescension of God in planning for every soul for whom Christ had died, and thus hearts would be softened and broken.” Manuscript Release 311, 30

I may not be in harmony with the professed church, but I must be in harmony with the true church. That is not optional. I must not go off independently on my own, out of harmony with the body. But I cannot be sure that I am in harmony unless we have communication, and that requires some type of association, or “government.”

It is in the order of God that people who are widely different in character, disposition, background and thought should get together to counsel and talk. This is one of the greatest safeguards of unity and the organization of God’s church.

“Perfection of character means perfection in unity.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 179. We will never have perfection of character until we have perfection in unity.

“An army in battle would become confused and be defeated if the individual soldiers should move according to their own impulses instead of acting in harmony under the direction of a competent general. The soldiers of Christ also must act in harmony. A few converted souls, uniting for one grand purpose under one head, will achieve victories in every encounter.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 139

This is a wonderful promise. It is a statement that all of the people in home churches ought to learn. If you are united, if you have harmony and are organized, you are going to have victory at every step.

We have written a booklet entitled No New Organization. Do not get the idea that we are forming some new organization. We absolutely are not. The new organization has already been started. But we did not start it.

Do you remember that the early Adventists did not intend to start any kind of an organization? They were just going to work through the organizations that already existed, but as they began preaching the first angel’s message, they were thrown out of their churches. In the days of John Wesley, these Protestant churches were spiritual Israel. They did not have all of the truth, but they were living up to all of the light that they had. They were spiritual Israel. When they disfellowshipped the true body of Christ, what did they become? They became Babylon.

You who belong to the Adventist world structure, please consider this. The Protestant churches in Ellen White’s day disfellowshipped the true body of Christ and rejected the first angel’s message; and as a result of that, they became Babylon.

After these Adventists had been disfellowshipped, they were widely scattered, yet they resisted the idea of becoming organized. They knew that the churches they had just come out of were Babylon, and they did not want to be like them. Ellen White said that the Adventists afraid to organize because they were afraid they would become Babylon if they organized. But the churches in New York, because of their lack of organization, were already Babylon. See Testimonies, vol. 1, 270.

We have had the same problem of late. People have twisted statements, like the one about no new organization in Notebook Leaflets, 51, until Historic Seventh-day Adventists are afraid to start church organization. If you do not want your home church to become Babylon, you are going to have to get church organization in action.

If you have a home church and you are going to be organized, you need to have one or more elders and deacons in your church so that you can be organized. Read the first part of the book of Acts and you will find there the job of the elders and deacons in the church.

The first step in the organization of the Christian Church was in the ordination of the apostles. See The Acts of the Apostles, 18. In the last year or so we have had many letters and phone calls in which people say, “Well, couldn’t you do the same work if you did not ordain someone, because then it wouldn’t stir up so much controversy?” Well, that is just about the same as saying, “Couldn’t you be a Christian without getting baptized?” Listen, when God teaches you to do something, if you are not in harmony with divine counsel, you are an apostate. There is no other way about it. We did not ordain to stir up controversy, but because the Bible teaches it. We did it to be true to our conscience.

There are people who are saying, “You do not believe in organization.” The fact that we ordained people ought to prove the falsity of this accusation. If we did not believe in organization, we would not ordain anyone.

Unless we can learn to associate together and be able to call councils where we can get together and discuss what we need to do, as the apostolic church did, the devil has a very good chance of destroying us. This is one of the reasons why we are studying the subject of unity. We are determined that we are going to follow all of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy counsel in this matter. Are you willing to follow all of the counsel in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy? If you are, we must become more organized and, by the grace of God, we are going to do it.

The End

Our Greatest Need

October 18, 2017 by John J. Grosboll

As a preacher I am often contacted by people with suggestions to preach about certain subjects that they are concerned about. These suggestions are always the pet subject of the people who think everyone should agree with their interpretation on the subject. Identifying the king of the north, the identity of the 144,000, or how to apply certain aspects of health reform are just a few. Though these are important issues, they are not salvational issues.

The most important question anyone can ask himself or herself is, Am I ready for Jesus to come and am I going to spend eternity in the kingdom of heaven?

So, whatever view you hold concerning the king of the north, or concerning what constitutes appropriate dress, it will not do you any good if the Lord should come and you are not ready to meet Him.

As I pondered the reason why many professed Christians will not be ready for the Lord to come, I finally narrowed it down to just one big reason that covers a multitude of other reasons.

The One Who Overcomes

The Bible teaches that if you are going to be ready for the Lord to come, you must be an overcomer. In Revelation 2 and 3 to all seven churches, which represents the whole Christian world for all time, salvation is promised only to the overcomer.

Revelation 21:5–7: “Then He Who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’ And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega [the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet], the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.’ ” We see here that it is the one who overcomes who is going to inherit everything.

Salvation is for those who overcome. Today we are living in a pessimistic age, but the 19th century, in Ellen White’s time, was an age of optimism. I could hardly believe it and used to laugh as a child when my father would tell me how people used to talk. There were people who would actually stand in front of the mirror and say, “Every day in every way I’m getting better and better.” They would repeat it believing that if they said it enough it would actually happen. It was believed that life would get better and better.

I thought, What trash! What craziness! How could people be so foolish in just one generation past? The fact of the matter is they lived in a time of optimism. Because of all the new inventions, they thought they could conquer disease and war and they thought they were going to live in a utopian society.

After a couple of world wars in the 20th century, confidence was destroyed. Since then we have become a very pessimistic people. Now people say to preachers, “I can’t overcome.” The preachers too are affected just like other people by the society in which they live and have adjusted their preaching to suit the tenor of what people think. This is where the doctrine of perfectionism came from. It is the idea that you just come to Christ and instantly you are perfect from that time on. Seventh-day Adventists do not believe in perfectionism, have never taught it, and Ellen White never endorsed that doctrine.

The pendulum has swung from the extreme view of the 19th century clear to another extreme wherein the people now say it is impossible to be perfect, although the Bible clearly teaches Christian perfection.

Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13)! All parents love to give good gifts to their children.

Why can’t People Overcome?

If that is the case, if indeed our heavenly Father wants to give His children the Holy Spirit, why is it then that these people cannot overcome? They have not received the Holy Spirit because they are unwilling to make an undivided commitment to God. Luke 14:33: “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Unless you are willing to make an unreserved, undivided commitment to God, to follow Him and to obey Him, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will continue pleading with you; however, cannot work in your life contrary to your will. We need to understand that the Holy Spirit will never work contrary to your will and in order to work in your life, your will has to be totally surrendered to God.

Without full surrender and total commitment, you become stuck. That is why people get discouraged in their Christian walk. They say, “I can’t overcome,” which is true without the Holy Spirit. Why don’t they have the Holy Spirit? Because they have not made an undivided, unreserved surrender to God. Now we could go one step further and ask why they have not made an undivided, unreserved surrender to God. If that is the way you get the Holy Spirit, why don’t people do it?

The reason people are not willing to make an undivided commitment, to give their undivided affections to God is because they don’t know Him. Therefore, they don’t love Him and they don’t trust Him. How can you make an unreserved surrender to somebody that you don’t know, and you don’t trust, and you don’t love?

Would you want to marry somebody you do not know, do not love and do not trust? Of course not. People do not know, love and trust God because they lack faith. Ellen White says, “Every failure on the part of the children of God is due to their lack of faith.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 657. It doesn’t matter how weak you are, how sinful you are, or whatever your problem is; if you have faith in God and understand the plan of salvation, He is going to make it work out in your life.

Every failure on the part of the children of God is because of their lack of faith. The disciples came to the Lord one time and they said, “… Lord, increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).

Romans 10:6–17 explains why there are some people that do not have any faith. If you do not have faith, then you do not know God and cannot make a commitment. You are stuck and cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

Verse 17 tells how to get the faith you need so that you can be saved. It says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

It is never the wrong time to decide that it is time to get serious about knowing God and learning how to get the faith that you need, so that you can make the commitment to Him and receive the Holy Spirit. Thus the plan of salvation can work out in your life.

Start by reading the Bible through. Maybe you have done this before, but each time you read, you will find some new treasure that you had previously missed. Learn the principles found in God’s word regarding life and then apply the principles to your own life.

Some people have read the whole Bible several times, concentrating on certain chapters. However, it is not enough just to read. The Bible says in Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” David memorized Scripture passages that would come to his mind readily when they were needed.

Many people find temptations irresistible. When the devil comes at them with temptations they do not have any weapons with which to fight him. Temptations often appear irresistible because, through neglect of prayer and the study of the Bible, the tempted one cannot readily remember God’s promises and meet Satan with the weapons of Scripture.

When the devil came to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation, His only defense was the word of God. Scripture that He had previously committed to memory was His only weapon against His wily foe.

Scripture memorization Suggestions

If you want to win in your Christian life, it would be beneficial to have some scriptures memorized. Here are a few suggestions:

The Sermon on the Mount – The length of this passage may be scary for some people, being three chapters, but most people have memorized part of it anyway. Most people can say the Lord’s Prayer which is part of that sermon. The Golden Rule is also a part and can be found in Matthew 7:12. Jesus said, “… do to others the way you’d like them to do to you.” I think about that scripture often. I am convinced that if I do not learn to do to others the way I would like for them to do to me, I will not be in the kingdom of heaven. That same principle is also taught throughout the writings of Ellen White.

Within the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus specifies in very clear language that anyone can understand who will be saved and who will be lost. Jesus also spoke there about the ten commandments. It would do well to memorize the whole sermon.

Remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When you put the word of God (Romans 10:17) in your mind, it has an effect on the way you think and the way you feel, and it starts having an effect on the way you act. It enables you to make an unreserved surrender to the Lord and to receive the Holy Spirit. Thus you start having victory in your life over bad habits.

The Love Chapter – Another passage worth memorizing is I Corinthians 13. It is wonderful to recite to yourself these passages about love. Read them in different translations. Once while a guest in someone’s home I was asked to share for morning worship with them. I had my Greek New Testament with me so I just read to them a literal translation of I Corinthians 13 and we were all blessed. It is one of the most important chapters for a Christian to understand. Paul spells out 15 different characteristics of love, all of which should be manifest in the life of each Christian.

The Ten Commandments – These should be memorized with an understanding of every word. It is also beneficial to know where all 10 of them are repeated in the New Testament. Interestingly, each time they are mentioned they are repeated as a divine obligation. Someday we might have to answer to that in a court of justice.

The Three Angels’ Messages – These messages are the very reason that Seventh-day Adventists exist. It is these three final messages that have to be sounded to the world before the Lord can return. They contain God’s last invitation of mercy to a planet that is in rebellion. And as we approach the end of the world, the eternal destiny of every single person in the world will be determined by whether that person accepts or rejects the warnings therein.

Have you carefully noticed the final instructions that Jesus gave to His disciples before the crucifixion? This instruction is so important, so precious and so wonderfully recorded in John chapters 13 to 17 that it would do well to commit to memory. If you are feeling a little weak-minded at the length of the passage just remember that the Waldensian young people would memorize the whole gospels of Matthew and John.

John 17 is one of the clearest chapters in the whole Bible that describes the mediatorial work of Christ in our behalf in heaven. Here we get a preview of what He was going to do after His resurrection.

Make sure your life is in harmony with the divine commands given to Christians in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1. In a sermon recorded in Romans 12, Paul describes 40 different characteristics that identify Christian living. He also elaborates the practices that, if continued, will bar you from the kingdom of God. These can be found in I Corinthians 6:9, 10; Ephesians 5:3–6; Colossians 3:5, 6; Romans 1:28–32; Romans 2:8, 9 and Galatians 5:19–21.

Peter’s Ladder – 2 Peter 1:3–7 describes the Christian growth in the form of a ladder.

The disciple described as the one whom Jesus loved teaches the way to develop the grace of brotherly love in I John 2:2–5.

And finally, James admonishes in James 3 the importance of getting control of the littlest member of the body that often gets us in so much trouble. Whoever can control his tongue will be able to overcome other character defects. There will be a group of people who will overcome and be like those described in these scriptures. The Lord has promised to have a group of people at the end who are without fault before the throne of God. John said it in Revelation 14:5. Paul talked about it in Ephesians 5. Jesus talked about it and all the apostles talked about it and we are living in the time when it is going to happen. The question is, Am I going to be part of it?

Toward the end of James’ book, after he had given much instruction for being ready for judgment, he says to the people, especially for those who live in the last days: “… the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:9)!

Dear friends, Jesus came to this world to save you, to save every member of the human race who is willing to be saved. He came to this world the first time as a Saviour and not a judge. But let me tell you something. When He comes the second time, He is not coming as a Saviour; He is coming as a judge. All cases will have been decided before He leaves the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. You will already have been saved or you will never be saved. There is no second chance. That time is rapidly approaching.

Before the door of mercy shuts, it would be well for us to say, “Lord, I am serious. I am going to pray every day. I am going to study Your word every day. I am going to seek to bring my life into harmony with what I read in Your Book. I am going to make an unreserved commitment. Lord, I want to receive the Holy Spirit so that I can have victory in my life.”

He is calling to us today, pleading with us to return into His fold where there is safety. The Lord never fails to do His part when we approach Him in sincerity and repentance.

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Scriptural Basis Of Communion

October 18, 2017 by Mike Thompson

Jesus’ time with His disciples was rapidly drawing to a close. But a few hours remained and they were to be spent for the benefit of His beloved disciples. This was the setting, and it was under these circumstances that Jesus initiated that very first communion service.

Jesus knew that in just a few hours he would make the supreme sacrifice. There were many things on Jesus’ heart that he longed to share with His disciples, but before He could say this meaningful good-by, he saw a need to prepare their hearts for the things he was about to say.

“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.” John 13:3-5

These words are rich in meaning. When Jesus laid aside His garments that he might serve his disciples, it was not the first time he had done so. When Jesus was in heaven, he took the great step of condescension in laying aside His kingly robes, the robes of deity, and came down to this earth to be robed in the robes of a servant. Jesus laid aside His kingly robes, but more than that, he put on the vestments of human flesh, sharing in our human nature in the fullest sense.

Who was Jesus? Was he some created being? No, He was one with the Father. “For….his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. It was this everlasting Father who laid aside the robes of deity and came down to this earth, taking upon Himself the vestments of fallen human nature.

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2. Jesus was everlasting, just as was His Father.

Paul also compared Him to Melchisedec, who was a type of Christ. “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.” Hebrews 7:3. Paul is using this to say that Christ is without beginning of days—not a created being, but one with the Father.

In that upper room when Jesus laid aside His garments to serve, he was but demonstrating that which He had literally done in order to become one with us.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5-7

Christ did not just look like a man. His humanity was not like a veneer or some costume that is put on the outside, but He was really made just like we are. That is what it means when we are told that He was made in the likeness of men—he partook of the same fallen, sinful nature.

We do not spend time enough contemplating the great step that Christ took when he became one with the human family. The Holy Spirit gives us glimpses, but we still see it as through a darkened glass, and even the clearest glimpses we see are nothing as compared to the glory He laid aside to come down to this earth. When we reach the kingdom of glory and we see unveiled all of the glory he laid aside to come down to this earth, then we will marvel.

“This was a voluntary sacrifice. Jesus might have remained at the Father’s side. He might have retained the glory of heaven, and the homage of the angels. But He chose to give back the scepter into the Father’s hands, and to step down from the throne of the universe, that he might bring light to the benighted, and life to the perishing. Nearly two thousand years ago, a voice of mysterious import was heard in heaven, from the throne of God, ‘Lo I come.’ ‘Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me….Lo, I come (In the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God.’ Hebrews 10:5-7.In these words is announced the fulfillment of the purpose that had been hidden from eternal ages. Christ was about to visit our world, and to become incarnate. He say, ‘A body hast Thou prepared Me,’ had he appeared with the glory that was His with the Father before the world was, we could not have endured the light of His presence. That we might behold it and not be destroyed, the manifestation of His glory was shrouded. His divinity was veiled with humanity,—the invisible glory in the visible human form.” The Desire of Ages, 23.

Can you grasp it?

That night in the upper room, as Jesus was about to leave His disciples, though he knew he would see them again, he saw evidence that the devil was working among the brethren. There was strife among them as to who would be the greatest, and this pained the heart of Jesus. He had spent three and a half years with them, and yet, as he was preparing to leave this world, their minds were wrapped up in self. Somehow he had to get the message through to them that this was not the spirit which must be among those who would walk in his footsteps and finally enter the kingdom of heaven. Though he might have given them a very scathing rebuke, he laid aside the opportunity of using words and he set them an example. Taking the place of a servant, he began to wash His disciples’ feet. This demonstration had an effect that the most eloquent sermon Christ might have preached or the strongest rebuke could not have equaled.

“This action opened the eyes of the disciples. Bitter shame and humiliation filled their hearts. They understood the unspoken rebuke, and saw themselves in altogether a new light.” The Desire of Ages, 644. In other words, they saw themselves in the real light. They needed to see themselves in this light or else they were not qualified to enter into the Lord’s supper. Jesus saw that it was necessary that they receive this rebuke through His example to prepare their hearts, minds and spirits for what was to come next. Seeing the King of kings and Lord of lords condescend again to become a servant, broke their hearts.

“When Jesus girded himself with a towel to wash the dust from their feet, he desired by that very act to wash the alienation, jealousy, and pride from their hearts. This was of far more consequence than the washing of their dusty feet. With the spirit they then had, not one of them was prepared for communion with Christ. Until brought into a state of humility and love, they were not prepared to partake of the paschal supper, or to share in the memorial service which Christ was about to institute. Their hearts must be cleansed. Pride and self-seeking create dissension and hatred, but all this Jesus washed away in washing their feet. A change of feeling was brought about. Looking upon them, Jesus could say, ‘Ye are clean.’ Now there was union of heart, love for one another. They had become humble and teachable.” The Desire of Ages, 646

There cannot be unity among God’s people while there is a striving for supremacy and while pride and selfish ambition still lives in the heart. Though we may deny these things, placing over them a cover of piety and sincerity, the Lord sees through it all, and until we are cleansed from them, we are not prepared to take of the meaningful emblems.

As the disciples submitted to be cleansed through the means the Lord had provided, so must we.

“Like Peter and his brethren, we too have been washed in the blood of Christ, yet often through contact with evil the heart’s purity is soiled. We must come to Christ for his cleansing grace. Peter shrank from bringing his soiled feet in contact with the hands of his Lord and Master; but how often we bring our sinful, polluted hearts in contact with the heart of Christ. How grievous to Him is our evil temper, our vanity and pride. Yet, all our infirmity and defilement we must bring to Him. He alone can wash us clean. We are not prepared for communion with Him unless cleansed by His efficacy.” The Desire of Ages, 648,649

Having washed His disciples feet and prepared them for communion, He then gave them the following charge: “Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:13,14. This is the charge that the Lord has given to us as well—that we should wash one another’s feet just as He washed the disciples feet, thereby setting us an example.

“This ordinance is Christ’s appointed preparation for the sacramental service. While pride, variance, and strife for supremacy are cherished, the heart cannot enter into fellowship with Christ. We are not prepared to receive the communion of His body and His blood. Therefore it was that Jesus appointed the memorial of His humiliation to be first observed.

“As they come to this ordinance, the children of God should bring to remembrance the words of the Lord of life and glory: ‘Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.’ There is in man a disposition to esteem himself more highly than his brother, to work for self, to seek the highest place; and often this results in evil surmising and bitterness of spirit. The ordinance preceding the Lord’s supper, is to clear away these misunderstandings, to bring man out of his selfishness, down from his stilts of self-exaltation, to the humility of heart that will lead him to serve his brother.” The Desire of Ages, 650

The opportunity of serving one another, of following the example of Christ, is a very special one. Where there are differences, it is a time of making reconciliation, of putting things right, being brought into full unity with one another and with Christ, as we receive this very special cleansing.

When this service is completed, because we have faith in Jesus and believe by faith that we have been cleansed by Him, we are not to come around the table with mourning and solemness, even though it is a very sacred and solemn time. The Lord wants us to come with a spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing.

“But the communion service was not to be a season of sorrowing. This was not its purpose. As the Lord’s disciples gather about His table, they are not to remember and lament their shortcomings. They are not to dwell upon their past religious experience, whether that experience has been elevating or depressing. They are not to recall the differences between them and their brethren. The preparatory service has embraced all this. The self-examination, the confession of sin, the reconciling of differences, has all been done. Now they come to meet with Christ. They are not to stand in the shadow of the cross, but in its saving light. They are to open the soul to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. With hearts cleansed by Christ’s most precious blood, in full consciousness of His presence, although unseen, they are to hear His words, ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.’ John 14:27.” The Desire of Ages, 659

You cannot buy that peace with a million dollars. It cannot be purchased with all the treasures of this earth; but the Lord Jesus Christ has given us that peace that passes all understanding, and we can rejoice in that peace as we come around the table and partake of the very precious emblems.

Jesus told His disciples that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until He came for them, took them back to the kingdom of glory and sat down with them in heaven; then He would drink of the fruit of the vine again. Do you believe that Jesus is longing to drink of the fruit of the vine again? Not that He misses drinking grape juice, but He misses His faithful children and He is longing to gather them in that glad reunion that will take place when He comes. As we partake of the emblems He has given us, He wants us to look forward with rejoicing to that time, believing that through His grace, we have been forgiven and cleansed.

Remember that Jesus became a servant. He came to give Himself for us, linking Himself with us by ties that are never to be broken; He will retain His humanity forever. We are linked to the Deity, and He loves us because He not only laid down His life for us, but He has entered into the human experience. We are very precious and very special, and when He ascended to heaven, we meant everything to Him.

Jesus wanted assurance from the Father that through His efficacious sacrifice it would indeed be possible for Him to take His children into the kingdom of heaven so they could sit down with Him and drink again of the fruit of the vine. I like the way Ellen White portrays the scene in the very last chapter of The Desire of Ages.

“All heaven was waiting to welcome the Saviour to the celestial courts. As he ascended, He led the way, and the multitude of captives set free at His resurrection followed. The heavenly host, with shouts and acclamations of praise and celestial song, attended the joyous train.

“As they drew near to the city of God, the challenge is given by the escorting angels,—‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!’

“Joyfully the waiting sentinels respond, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’

“This they say, not because they know not who He is, but because they would hear the answer of exalted praise, ‘The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in!’

“Again is heard the challenge, ‘Who is this King of Glory?’ for the angels never weary of hearing His name exalted. The escorting angels make reply, ‘The Lord of hosts; He is the King of Glory!’ Psalm 24:7-10.

“Then the portals of the city of God are opened wide, and the angelic throng sweep through the gates amid a burst of rapturous music.

“There is the throne, and around it the rainbow of promise. There are cherubim and seraphim. The commanders of the angel hosts, the sons of God, the representatives of the unfallen worlds, are assembled. The heavenly council before which Lucifer had accused God and His Son, the representatives of those sinless realms over which Satan had thought to establish his dominion,—all are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to celebrate his triumph and to glorify their King. But he waves them back. Not yet; he cannot now receive the coronet of glory and the royal robe. He enters into the presence of His Father. He points to His wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet; he lifts His hands, bearing the print of nails. He points to the tokens of His triumph; he presents to God the wave-sheaf, those raised with Him as representatives of that great multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming. He approaches the Father, with whom there is joy over one sinner that repents; who rejoices over one with singing. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man if he would be overcome by Satan. They had clasped their hands in a solemn pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race. This pledge Christ has fulfilled. When upon the cross He cried out, ‘It is finished,’ he addressed the Father. The compact had been fully carried out. Now he declares, ‘Father, it is finished. I have done Thy will, O My God. I have completed the work of redemption. If Thy justice is satisfied, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.’ John 19:30; 17:24.

“The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. Christ’s toiling, struggling ones on earth are ‘accepted in the Beloved.’ Ephesians 1:6. Before the heavenly angels and the representatives of unfallen worlds, they are declared justified. Where he is there his church shall be. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ Psalm 85:10. The Father’s arms encircle His Son, and the word is given, ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’ Hebrews 1:6.

“With joy unutterable, rulers and principalities and powers acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of life. The angel host prostrate themselves before Him, while the glad shout fills all the courts of heaven, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing!’ Revelation 5:12” The Desire of Ages, 833-834

As we partake of the emblems of the communion service, let us do so looking forward to that time when Jesus will take us home and again we will sit with Him around the table. Once again, who will be the servant? It will be Jesus.

As the disciples in the upper room recognized that Jesus was the Son of God, though they had never seen his full glory, and yet marveled at His condescension, how will we marvel as there in heaven we see Him crowned. When we see the awesomeness and glory of Christ, the great God, and now, not withstanding all of this, He serves us again, little wonder we will cast our crowns at His feet, exclaiming before all the angels, “Worthy is the lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.

The End