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Inspiration – The Present Crisis

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The faith and patience of those who have waited long, have been sorely tried. “Hope deferred has made the heart sick;” and the cry has come up before God, “Lord, how long?” But now the signs are fulfilling—nation rising against nation, startling calamities by land and by sea, famine, pestilence, fearful storms, sweeping floods, and great conflagrations. All these testify that we are approaching the grand consummation. The cry going up to God from the waiting ones, will not be in vain. The response will come, “It is done.”…

The crisis is now upon us. The battle is to be waged between the Christianity of the Bible and the Christianity of human tradition. Is there not a criminal neglect in our present sleepy condition? There must be a decided advance movement among us. We must show to the world that we recognize, in the events that are now taking place in connection with the National Reform movement, the fulfillment of prophecy. …

The National Reform movement, that the world and the church have linked hands to bring about, will manifest the same oppression, haughtiness, arrogance, and intolerance which have prevailed in past ages. …

This nation has been highly favored of God. It has been the great center of religious light and liberty. O, do not sleep now, and in your inactivity feel that you are doing the will of God! The experience of God’s commandment-keeping people now should correspond with the events that are crowding upon us.

It should be the business of all the righteous in the land, as they see signs of the approach of peril, to arouse to action, and not sit in calm expectation of ruin, comforting themselves with the belief that this work must go on, because prophecy has foretold it, and that the Lord will shelter his people in the day of trial. Effectual, fervent prayers should be ascending to Heaven, that this calamity may be deferred; for we are not ready to meet it.

Every passing hour now is one of activity in the heavenly courts, to make ready a people upon the earth to act a part in the great scenes that are soon to open upon us. These transient moments, that seem of so little value to us, are weighty with eternal interests. They are molding the destiny of souls for everlasting life or everlasting death. The words we utter today in the ears of the people, the works we are doing, the spirit of the message we are bearing, will be to human souls the savor of life unto life or of death unto death. We must be washing our robes of character in the blood of the Lamb. If we would be saints above, we must first be saints below.

We have lost much time in inaction, because we have not realized the time in which we are living. This we deplore, and would humble our souls before God, pleading with him for pardon for sleeping at our post of duty, and allowing the enemy to gain the advantage over us. Many have chosen to do nothing, when they should have been diligent to repulse the enemy. Let your services now be dedicated to God. Gird on the armor for vigorous work, saying, “Here am I, Lord, send me.”

It is essential that we be much in prayer to God, that his voice and his power may be manifested in behalf of his people, and that the angels may hold the four winds until the truth is more fully proclaimed, and the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. God is not pleased with the attitude of his people. Satan is taking the world captive, and the sentinels for God and the truth are letting him do it. “Watch then, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” [I Corinthinians 16:13]. Arouse, and come to the front. Be stanch to defend your religious liberty.

Many of our people are registered in the books of heaven as slothful servants. They have buried their talents of money and capability in the world, and the work they should have done has been left undone. Some to whom the Lord has intrusted means, have been ease-lovers, and have not done their duty in the fear and love of God. Many have left the smaller churches, to unite with larger ones, where they carry no burden of responsibility, and are only in the way. Such lose their spirituality and vital force, because they do comparatively nothing for the truth. What account will these have to give to the Master when he shall say, “Give account of thy stewardship”?

We are not ready for this great issue to which the enforcement of the Sunday law will bring us. Let the members of our churches become missionaries for the Master; let them not linger in ease and indifference; but let them go forth to work for God. Their spiritual muscles have been nearly palsied with inaction. Go without the camp, bearing the reproach for Christ and the truth. Work today in the Lord’s vineyard. Go out into the highways and hedges, and stir up the people to investigate the truth. Woe to all who profess to walk in the light, yet who are at ease in Zion. They absorb the God-given rays of righteousness, but do not diffuse the light to others. The parable of the faithless servant who hid his Lord’s money, condemns them, and they are classed among those who refuse to be co-laborers with Jesus Christ, selfishly caring for their own ease, and leaving those for whom Christ has died, to perish without the knowledge of the truth which God has graciously given to them. Those who have been the receivers of spiritual light, may become the receptacles of darkness, to whom the words of Christ are applicable, “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! [Matthew 6:23] …

Every true child of God should now be inquiring, “What wouldst thou have me to do? Brethren, for Christ’s sake, do something, and do it now. Satanic influences are all around us, to be met and resisted. The tares are mingled with the wheat, error with truth, coldness with zeal, darkness with light. There must be a returning to our first love. We must battle nobly with tribulation and danger, in the midst of trials, tests, and provings of God. We must be rich in faith and good works. The message to the Laodicean church is applicable to those who have been made the repository of rich truth. This church is distinguished in prophecy by its great profession of advanced light; yet it was filled with spiritual pride and lukewarmness in religion. They had a religious theory, but were greatly lacking in moral power and holiness. They are pronounced wretched, poor, blind, and naked. O that our people would realize the danger, and heed the counsel of the True Witness, “Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed; … and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see” [Revelation 3:18].

Will we now, who have such great light, make some sacrifice for Jesus, who for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich? We must arouse, and through piety and earnest work for the Master, partake of his spirit of love for souls, of faith in God, that he may work with us, by us, and through us.

Excerpts from The Review and Herald, January 1, 1889.

Questions and Answers – Time Set Aside for God

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How important is it to set apart daily time with God? How will this help me in developing Christian character?

Each morning, a great while before daybreak, Jesus rose and prayed to His Father (Mark 1:35). If Jesus was so serious about reserving time for His Father, we should also realize the importance of personal time with God.

First, we should desire to be with the Lord simply because we love Him. Those who allow their personal worship time to be crowded out by late sleeping or the activities of daily life show a lack of friendship with God.

Second, time with God enriches us personally. Bible reading familiarizes the reader with the teachings, guidelines, and promises of God. A willful neglect of these will leave us unprepared when temptations arise. Adequate time for personal prayer lays the foundation for a day of communion with God.

Third, making regular time for devotions demonstrates our earnestness to receive God’s help. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41. These were Jesus’ words to His disciples, just prior to events that would bring them into great trial. But, their eyes were heavy and sleep took the place of prayer. Jesus had asked, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Verse 40. More than one hour would have been better, but they could not devote even one. They showed that preparing to remain faithful in the trials ahead was not their first priority. When we neglect prayer and study, or shirk the faithful hour and content ourselves with a few random minutes, we evidence to God and angels that we have higher priorities than establishing a walk with God.

So what should you do? Decide that personal time with God each morning will be a serious priority from now on. Make time for it at the beginning of your day, when the house is quiet and distractions are not pressing in to steal your attention. Allow adequate time. Jesus recommends at least one hour. Do not be tempted to omit or shorten this time or to put it off until later in the day. If one day you make a mistake and are not consistent, do not give up; have your worship that evening, if necessary, and then pray for help to become more consistent.

Morning worship is not a guarantee that we will be faithful throughout the day, for victory lies in continuing and maintaining the union with God formed in the morning. If we leave our devotional hour and forget to pray, we are likely to fall into some temptation. If this happens, do not become discouraged about the value of morning devotions. Rather, pray for help to continue your communion with God, instead of breaking it off at the end of your devotional time.

Merely reading and saying a perfunctory prayer will be of little help if we fail to fully surrender the will to Christ. Complete submission, seeking God’s will, and communion with Him must take place. If these things are continued through the following hours, we will be prepared to stay strong in the Lord through the whole day.

If you have a Bible question you wish to have answered, please write to Steps to Life or e-mail it to: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Is it Alright to Skip Church?

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While preaching in Texas about 20 years ago, I was approached by a man who told me about his grandfather whose desire it had been to see Jesus return in his lifetime, but he had died and Jesus still had not returned. The man then told me about his father who had also wanted to see Jesus come, but he died. He also thought that he would live to see Jesus come, but he was 70 years of age, and that was in 1987.

There have been millions of people who, expecting to see Jesus come during their lifetime, prepared to meet Him. They accepted the Three Angels’ Messages, the truths concerning the hour of God’s judgment, faithfully kept God’s commandments and expected to be ready to see Jesus when He comes, but in their time they have died. We are told that these faithful ones who accepted the truth of the Three Angels’ Messages and died before Jesus returns will see Him come. Before the general resurrection that happens when Jesus comes, there is to be a special resurrection for these people to see the final events and Jesus coming in the clouds. “All who have died in the faith of the third angel’s message come forth from the tomb glorified, to hear God’s covenant of peace with those who have kept His law.” The Great Controversy, 637.

“In the time of trouble we all fled from the cities and villages, but were pursued by the wicked, who entered the houses of the saints with a sword. They raised the sword to kill us, but it broke, and fell as powerless as a straw. Then we all cried day and night for deliverance, and the cry came up before God. The sun came up, and the moon stood still. The streams ceased to flow. Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. But there was one clear place of settled glory, whence came the voice of God like many waters, which shook the heavens and the earth. The sky opened and shut and was in commotion. The mountains shook like a reed in the wind, and cast out ragged rocks all around. The sea boiled like a pot and cast out stones upon the land. And as God spoke the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming and delivered the everlasting covenant to His people, He spoke one sentence, and then paused, while the words were rolling through the earth.” Early Writings, 34. It is at that time that the everlasting covenant will be delivered to His people.

Ellen White wrote, in 1913, that if we had done our work, Christ could have already come. “Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to the earth in power and great glory.” The Review and Herald, November 13, 1913. Jesus wants more than anything else to come back to this world that has been so corrupted and save His people. He is “waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” Hebrews 10:13.

For Him to stop waiting, something needs to happen! “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” Verses 14–18.

Once the new covenant has been received, sin is taken away, bringing an end to the plan of salvation. When Jesus comes to this world the second time, He is going to announce that there is no more offering for sin. Those who retain sin at that time will be lost. Those who are saved will be without sin (Revelation 22:11, 12). The plan of salvation is all over before Jesus returns the second time. We cannot look forward to that time with rejoicing unless the Holy Spirit is working in us a work of overcoming sin, because when Jesus leaves the Most Holy Place, there is no more forgiveness (Hebrews 10:18; 9:28). Since this is the way it is going to be, Paul says that we need to hold fast our confession (Hebrews 10:23), and, “having boldness to enter the Holiest” or Holy Places (verse 19). Different versions of the Bible use different language, but the Greek word is hagios, which should correctly be translated as “holy places.”

In the plan of salvation, as illustrated in the sanctuary, there are three stages, and it is necessary to go through all three stages to be saved. The first is to enter the courtyard where the sacrifice is offered. The courtyard of the heavenly sanctuary is this world. It was in this world where Jesus, represented by the lamb without blemish, offered His life on the cross to save man from sin. That sacrifice must be accepted by faith in order to receive the benefits that are provided. Paul explains in Hebrews 13 how by His blood we are sanctified, made holy, and therefore able to enter into the Holy Place. This is the first apartment of the sanctuary, which involves learning holy living. Before entering into the Holy Place it is necessary to be washed clean. That cleansing, represented by the laver, is located just outside the entrance to the Holy Place. However, it is not enough to just reach there in order to be saved. Let me illustrate:

When playing the game of baseball, even if you have run to the third base, you are not really safe and can still be put out until you get home. There are many people who think that if you just get to the courtyard and accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that is all it takes to be saved. That is a deception, and it is just the first step in the Christian walk. In fact, Paul discusses that in detail in the book of Hebrews. He said that we need to not just lay down the foundation, but we need to go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1), describing the experience of the Holy Place. The experience in the courtyard is the preparation to go into the Holy Place and the experience in the Holy Place is preparation for entry into the Most Holy Place.

In the Jewish service under the Old Covenant, opposite things happened in the Holy Place and in the Most Holy Place when throughout the year the amount of sin that accumulated in the sanctuary increased in the Holy Place. When the people confessed their sins, though the real record is in the heavenly sanctuary, the earthly record, the blood of the offering, was in type taken into the Holy Place where it stayed until the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement all the sin was removed in type, and it was gone. That is what happens in reality in the heavenly sanctuary. When the sins are removed, the Lord will come.

There is coming a time, if you are a Christian, when there will be no more temptations. No more will you be tempted to be discouraged or to break God’s law in any way. At present, the devil has access to God’s people 24 hours a day every day of the week, so it is hard to even imagine not being tempted, but that time is coming. It is exciting to know that soon life will be experienced the way God intended.

Ellen White wrote, “He [God] created man for happiness.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 290. Today, that is not very obvious because of sin and all of the trouble caused by the devil’s temptations. David wrote, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11. That will be the experience of life in heaven.

Paul said we have this hope, so we are waiting for this to happen. Jesus also is waiting for this to happen, so do not let loose, hold on, do not turn away, do not turn back and do not give up your faith. When a prophet or apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us a warning, it is because there is a danger looming. The danger is that by becoming impatient we will give up, as many others have given up waiting. Paul cautions and counsels and exhorts us to not give up. He says, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holy Places by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:19–23. Paul is here writing about entering by faith into the Holy Places of the heavenly sanctuary, but in that same context, he says, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Verses 24, 25.

When I was a student about 19 or 20 years old, I was in a Christian institution that held regular religious services. There was prayer meeting at midweek, a religious service on Friday evenings and services on Sabbath morning, which included Sabbath School and church. I was a bookish sort of person and thought that I did not need to go to all of those religious services because I could read. I had a Bible and Spirit of Prophecy books, and I probably read more than any other student in the school at that time. I was content to just stay in my room and read on my own. Since becoming a pastor, I have met lots of other people like me.

At that same time, I became acquainted with an elderly man in his eighties who had been a Christian for many decades, and he was at the institution. After a short time, this man approached me and said, “I want to talk to you. What were you doing last Friday night? You were in your room studying your Bible, were you not?” I was in my room reading. I knew he could not get me in trouble, because I was not doing anything wrong. But then he continued, “You know, it is good that you are studying your Bible, and it is good that you are praying, but God’s will for His people is not only to study and pray, but for them to assemble together to study and to worship Him.” I thought about what he said. I actually checked things out in the Bible and found that the Bible supported what he told me.

Elder Ralph Larson, a Bible teacher, also spoke about this to our Bible worker training school students about 20 years ago. He said, “I have always told ministerial students that if you do not pray at least 30 minutes a day, your ministry will not amount to much.” We all need to have a prayer life. We all need to study. But he was talking to me: “Study is good, prayer is good but do not forget to assemble together with others to study and worship Him.” Paul emphasizes this same thing.

There are many churches where someone is assigned to note who is present and who is not present so that those who are missing can be visited; there is nothing wrong with doing that. God also keeps a record of which people assemble to worship Him and which people are not there.

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them, so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.” Malachi 3:16. These were God’s people, the ones who feared Him, those who assembled to speak to one another. God heard it, and He wrote a book of remembrance. “ ‘They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.” Verses 17, 18.

The Lord looked down and saw the people who were assembled and talking about Him. The Lord said, “Get the book. Put it in the book.” The Lord keeps a record.

After that elderly gentleman, who was about sixty years older than I was and deserving of my respect, had a talk with me giving his wise counsel, I decided I would go to the Friday evening services and not spend all that time reading my Bible alone in my room.

Right after the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit had filled the church, “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2:42. One of the things that made the early church so powerful was that the people had fellowship. They were just like a family. It is going to be that way again among His people just before Jesus comes. It is exciting to think that we could be part of that group. I did not understand the importance of fellowship until after that elderly gentleman talked to me. I could never develop a close relationship with the other members of the church if I stayed in my room and never talked to them.

I am still bookish, but I try to fellowship with God’s people and not spend all my time just reading and praying on my own. Part of God’s plan is for His people to worship and fellowship together. I meet people who have told me they believe the Three Angels’ Messages, but for one reason or another, they cannot go to church. Some people have legitimate reasons, and others have all sorts of reasons for not going to church.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. If we are really walking in the light, we are going to have fellowship with one another. As I travel about, I see too many people like me, staying in their rooms, studying and praying. They are often on their own with not much fellowship; everybody doing their own thing.

The Lord specifically said what His ancient people were to do on the Sabbath: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations. …” Leviticus 23:3, 4. The Sabbath is a holy convocation, a place where people assemble to worship the Lord.

Paul said, “How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” 1 Corinthians 14:26. The word edification means to build something up. Edification takes a lot longer than destruction. A house can be destroyed in one day.

I remember when I was a senior in college the administration and the board of the college decided that they were going to destroy the old dormitory, a three-story wooden frame building that was considered a fire hazard to the surrounding buildings. A crane was brought in with a leaden bob, which was dropped onto the top two stories, causing them to collapse. When there was only one story left, they decided to burn the rest. The heat was so intense from that fire that it was felt a quarter of a block away. The fire was over in 30 minutes, and the building was destroyed very quickly. A church, a family, a marriage, an institution, can be destroyed very quickly, much faster than it can be built up.

Building something up takes time. A house can take months and lots of work. It is the same way in a church, in a marriage, in a family, in an institution; if you want to build something up, it takes time and much work. It takes time, often many months or even years to build relationships, and church is one of the places where God wants to build a fellowship, bringing many different people together to build a relationship among those who are getting ready to go to heaven. It takes work. Many people know that and use it as a reason and often an excuse for not going to church, because they are too tired and they know that it takes work. It takes even more work if you are among the members of a small church rather than if you are in a large church. That is also one of the reasons why many people gravitate toward large churches where they can sit in the pew without any responsibilities.

There is a special group of people, however, who have legitimate reason not to go to church.

Ellen White says, “There will always be duties which have to be performed on the Sabbath for the relief of suffering humanity. This is right, and in accordance with the law of Him who says, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’ [Matthew 12:7]. But there is danger of falling into carelessness on this point, and of doing that which it is not positively essential to do on the Sabbath.” Medical Ministry, 50.

Much care is needed in these cases not to be doing things on the Sabbath that could be done at other times. She also says, “Often physicians are called upon on the Sabbath to minister to the sick, and it is impossible for them to take time for rest and devotion. The Saviour has shown us by His example that it is right to relieve suffering on this day; but physicians and nurses should do no unnecessary work. Ordinary treatment, and operations that can wait, should be deferred till the next day. Let the patients know that physicians must have one day for rest.” Ibid., 214.

A physician relative told me, “I am struggling in order to study my Sabbath School lesson 15 minutes a day.” He was busy from morning till night. Mrs. White, writing to a physician, said, “Your work being always urgent, it is difficult for you to secure time for meditation and prayer; but this you must not fail to do. The blessing of Heaven, obtained by daily supplication, will be as the bread of life to your soul and will cause you to increase in spiritual and moral strength, like a tree planted by the river of waters, whose leaf will be always green, and whose fruit will appear in due time.

“Your neglect to attend the public worship of God is a serious error. The privileges of divine service will be as beneficial to you as to others and are fully as essential. You may be unable to avail yourself of these privileges as often as do many others. You will frequently be called, upon the Sabbath, to visit the sick, and may be obliged to make it a day of exhausting labor. Such labor to relieve the suffering was pronounced by our Saviour a work of mercy and no violation of the Sabbath. But when you regularly devote your Sabbaths to writing or labor, making no special change, you harm your own soul, give to others an example that is not worthy of imitation, and do not honor God.

“You have failed to see the real importance, not only of attending religious meetings, but also of bearing testimony for Christ and the truth. If you do not obtain spiritual strength by the faithful performance of every Christian duty, thus coming into a closer and more sacred relation to your Redeemer, you will become weak in moral power.” Counsels on Health, 368. This counsel was not just to attend meetings, but to take an active part in them.

The danger for this physician was that he would become weak in moral power because he could not attend church regularly. That is too high a price to pay. I have friends who have not been to church for years and when we do not listen to Divine counsel, we become weak in moral power.

I know that temptation. I succumbed to it when I was a young man and decided I did not need to go to church because I read my Bible and studied and prayed on my own. Fortunately, God spoke to me through that elderly gentleman who, without criticism or jumping on me with a tongue-lashing, simply explained to me the need of fellowship with like believers for the edification of the church.

The apostle Paul says we must exhort one another, “and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). “The Day,” the day that Jesus will come again, that is fast approaching. Someday, if you are in prison for your faith, it will be impossible to attend church because you will be behind iron bars. So take advantage of the spiritual opportunities that God places within your reach while they are available.

Someone may say, “But you do not know how tired I am.” Still, meet with God’s people on Sabbath, or you will miss the special blessing that He has for His people on His holy day. You cannot afford to continually miss it without eventually becoming weak in moral power and running the risk of losing your soul.

[Bible texts are NKJV translation.]

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

Devil’s Deceptions

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What should be the final authority for your belief and practice? Many different answers have been proposed for this question. To some it is the opinions of learned men; to others it is the conclusions of science, or the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils; to yet others it is simply the voice of the majority. But there is a more satisfactory answer than any of these.

The prophecies in Revelation 13 and 14 are very clear that in the very last days of this earth’s history there is going to be worldwide religious legislation. In Revelation 13:15–17 we read the following: “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” [Emphasis supplied.]

In the previous verses it is predicted that the earth will be deceived by this power and that it will pass legislation regulating how worship is to be conducted, and all who refuse to worship according to these laws will be prohibited to buy or sell. Eventually, a death decree will be added to this law.

While studying the Bible we find over and over again that God never forces the will or the conscience. Notice what the Lord says to the inhabitants of this world in the very last chapter of the Bible: “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17.

Salvation is offered in the Bible as a free gift, but it is only to those who want it, to those who are willing to comply with the conditions. The conditions are mentioned right in this very same chapter. In Revelation 22:14, 15 it says, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral [those who break the seventh commandment], and murderers [those who break the sixth commandment], and idolaters [those who break the second commandment], and whoever loves and practices a lie [those who break the ninth commandment].”

At the end, it will be the commandment keepers on the inside of the Holy City, and those who break the commandments will be on the outside. It has been recorded very simply, very plainly and very clearly in the book of Revelation, so even a child can understand. God never forces a man’s will or his conscience. He gives an invitation to all to be subjects of His government and to be loyal to the government of heaven.

Satan, on the other hand, constantly resorts to deception. He is called, all through the Bible, the deceiver. He deceived our first parents and is repeatedly called a deceiver and a liar. Jesus called him the father of lies! If Satan fails in his attempt to deceive or seduce, his next step is to compel by cruelty. And that is exactly what we read in Revelation 13:15–17. Eventually, laws will be made to put to death any who refuse to worship in accordance with the laws.

At first, those who are faithful to God will not be able to buy or sell. How will these people feed their families? How will they have clothes, food, shelter, transportation, or anything else if they are unable to buy or sell? If that law fails to make them worship the beast, eventually the death decree will be established, as it says in verse 15. Through fear or force, Satan endeavors to rule a person’s conscience and to secure homage to himself. To accomplish this he has studied the past and he has worked over and over again through both religious and secular authorities. We believe, from reading Revelation 13, that he will do exactly the same in the future as he has done in the past and will move upon religious and secular authorities to make and enforce human laws that are in defiance of the law of God.

We know that this religious legislation in Revelation 13 is in defiance of the law of God because it enforces the mark of the beast, the worship of the image of the beast. In Revelation 14:9–11 we read, “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’ ”

Liberty of conscience has been bought at a high cost, a sacrifice that you and I cannot comprehend. The people of the United States of America have liberty of conscience as a result of people who fled from persecution in Europe and other places and said, “We are going to have a government where people have civil and religious liberty.” But, we have political corruption in our world today, even in our own country. This political corruption is destroying the love of justice and the regard for truth so that people are to the place where they want security more than they want freedom.

We are going to see the prophet’s words exemplified in the soon coming conflict that is predicted in Revelation 13 and 14. “The dragon [the devil] was enraged with the woman [a symbol of the church in Bible prophecy], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Then I stood on the sand of the sea.” Revelation 12:17; 13:1. In other words, he had almost all of the world’s population on his side.

What are you going to do in such a time as that? Are you going to be deceived along with the majority, or are you going to read the word of God and say, “I am going to be obedient to the law of God, and I am going to live in harmony with that law”? Do you remember what Jesus said to the devil? He said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4.

After Jesus had fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and was literally starving to death, He held to the position that He would not go contrary to the word of God, not even to provide food for Himself, one of the most basic necessities of life.

How is it with you? What is your position on the word of God and the law of God? Are you loyal to the commandments of God and to the government of God? Or will you be deceived by the miracles worked through people receiving manifestations of spirits—spiritualism? There is only one class of people who will stand and not be deceived by the final deceptions that will take the world captive, and they are pointed out in the book of Isaiah. “To the law and to the testimony [the testimony of the prophets]: If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20.

This is the final authority and test to know whom to believe and what to practice to be on God’s side of the great controversy. It is not whether you go along with miracles or religious legislation or anything like that. The question and/or test that will provide security in the final conflict between truth and error is the word of God—the law of God. Test the spirits to see if they are in harmony with God’s law. That is the question Isaiah asks. Is it in harmony with God’s law and is it in harmony with the Bible, the testimony of God’s prophets? If it is not in harmony with God’s law as found in Exodus 20:3–17, then there is no light in it and it is not on God’s side.

God’s word is a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). If there is no light, then the spirit is an evil one, a fallen spirit, one of the devil’s angels. Any miracle done or command made not according to the Word cannot be trusted, because the devil is a liar and a deceiver. His policy has been deception from the first and will continue to be to the last. The only protection and safeguard against the influence of false teachers or the delusive power of spirits of darkness, according to Isaiah 8:20, are the Scriptures. Only an intelligent knowledge of the word of God, the Scriptures, will provide a safeguard against deception and enable you to evaluate the miracles, the teachings, and recognize the devices the devil uses to deceive the world.

The devil knows very well that the Bible shows him for who he is. For this reason he has devised many distractions to keep God’s people from gaining a knowledge from God’s word. Every possible device has been invented to keep men and women occupied, entranced and busy, so they do not obtain that crucial knowledge. The devil knows that the plain utterances of the Bible reveal his deceptions. At every revival of God’s work, the prince of evil is aroused to more intense activity, and right now he is putting forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and His followers, because he knows his time is about to run out.

“The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures.” Darkness Before Dawn, 36.

It is only through the Holy Scriptures that a person will be able to tell the difference between what is true and what is false. The counterfeit will appear so much like the true that most of the people in this world will think they are experiencing the most wonderful revival and reformation that has ever been, but they will be deceived.

Those who endeavor to keep all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. Every testimony, every miracle needs to be tested by the testimony of the Scriptures. It will only be possible to stand in a time like this if you are standing in the power of God. In order to endure this deceptive trial that is fast approaching, an understanding of the will of God as revealed in His word is needed. To honor God is to understand what the Bible says about His character, His government, His purposes, and then choose to act in accordance with that government, with that character, with those purposes.

Only those who have filled their minds with Bible truth will be able to stand firm through that great deceptive time. I challenge you to study your Bible and Spirit of Prophecy today. Find out what the Bible says. “Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble.” II Peter 1:10.

To every soul, to every person there is going to be asked a close, searching, test question. The test question is simply, “Am I going to obey the laws of God as revealed in His word, or am I going to obey the laws of men when they contradict the law of God?”

The decisive hour is near. Are your feet planted on the unchangeable word of God? Are you prepared to stand in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? The third angel’s message closes telling of the people who go through this time of test and trial and come out victorious. It says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

John the Revelator has pointed out a time of worldwide lawlessness for which God will judge the world and send the sinners to destruction. The Bible is very clear in both the Old and New Testaments that this world is going to be destroyed at the coming of Christ. The mass of world population will be caught in deliberate violation and disobedience to the law of God just as it was before the flood. The people who do not receive the mark of the beast and do not worship his image are described as people who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). Are you going to be in that number?

Several times in the gospels it is recorded that Jesus told His disciples what would happen to Him when He went to Jerusalem. He said, “We are going to Jerusalem, and I am going to be betrayed by the chief priests and scribes. They are going to give Me to the Gentiles—to the Roman government, to mock and scourge, and I am going to be crucified, and then on the third day, I am going to rise again” (Matthew 16:21; 20:19).

The Bible says that when He told the disciples this, they were exceedingly sorry (Matthew 17:23). In fact, they were so sorry about it that they could not accept it. They just could not believe it. Many people today believe that the whole world is going to be converted, but this is not taught in the Bible. In fact, it says just the opposite.

The world is going to be converted to worship antichrist. They will believe that they are worshiping Christ, but it is not the real One. The disciples were deluded by the teachings of popular theology in their time. They thought Jesus was going to give temporal dominion to the children of Israel and give victory over the Roman government. They could not tolerate the thought that He was going to die an ignominious death, but when the time came, exactly what Jesus predicted happened. The words that they needed to remember were somehow banished from their minds, and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if He had not forewarned them of what was going to happen. In the same way, in the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation, the future of our world and what is going to happen just before the end of the world is opened up to us just as plainly as what Jesus told His disciples was going to happen to Him.

But, these events connected with the close of probation and the important truths concerning the time of trouble that is coming upon this world, even though they are clearly presented in the Bible, are misunderstood. There are multitudes of people in the world today that have no more understanding of these things than if they were not even recorded in Bible prophecy. And Satan is watching to catch away the truth, to catch away every impression that would make you wise unto salvation so that the time of trouble will find you unready.

Have you ever thought about the fact that when God sends to men warnings that are so important that they are represented in symbolic form as being presented by angels flying in the midst of heaven, as you see in Revelation 14:6–12, that God requires every person who has reason, to pay attention to what He is trying to warn us about? The fearful judgments that are pronounced in the Three Angels’ Messages against the worship of the beast and his image, against Babylon, should lead every Christian to a diligent study of the Scriptures of the prophecy, to learn what this mark is, what this image is, and how to avoid receiving it.

But the masses of the people turn away their ears from hearing the truth. They are turned to fables. The apostle Paul predicted that this would happen. Looking down to the last days, he wrote, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” II Timothy 4:3, 4. Paul predicted that would happen in the future. That has happened. The multitudes today do not want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of their sinful, world-loving hearts. Satan provides them the deceptions that they love, so they can have an easy religion, and they can go to heaven sitting down, as it is said.

Would you like to be one of God’s people, one of His children in these last days? God is looking for a people on the earth who will maintain the Bible and the Bible only as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men are not good enough, because they are still men. The deductions of science are not good enough. The deductions of science have been proved false over and over again in the past. Much of what we believe, much of our deductions, much of our conclusions will be proved false in the future. That is not good enough for a final authority, especially on religious things.

What about the creeds and the decisions of ecclesiastical councils? These are numerous and discordant as are the churches that they represent. How about the voice of the majority? A study of religious history reveals what it was like in the days of Jesus. The majority has been wrong over and over again; in fact, almost every time, because the devil is a deceiver and he deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

What should be the final authority as evidence for or against any point of religious faith?

Before accepting any doctrine or teaching, the question you need to ask is: “Is there a plain ‘Thus says the Lord,’ in support of this doctrine or teaching?” That is not too hard of a question to require. Paul was teaching the truth to people who did not know a lot about it and commended them, saying, “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11. The apostle Paul preached the gospel to people, and they decided to check him out.

They did not just accept it because Paul said it, because Paul was a human being. These people in Berea said, “We are going to find out if what the apostle Paul is teaching is really true. We are going to check the Bible.” So they started searching the Scriptures every day to find out if what the apostle Paul taught about the Messiah was really true. For doing that, the apostle Paul commended them. God is going to have a people in the last days who maintain the Bible and the Bible only as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms.

Before accepting any doctrine, precept, or teaching, we should demand a plain “Thus says the Lord” in its support. If the Lord does not say so, what confidence can you have? Even the apostle Paul commended the people who checked him out to see, “Is this really what the word of God says?” Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32. In other words, Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, then, that is what proves you are My disciples, and the result will be that you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

What side of the great controversy are you going to be on as we approach the end of the world?

(Bible verses are from the New King James Version.)

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

Miracle! The Conversion Testimony of John Lazor

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I was born in Stockbridge, Michigan, United States of America, in 1953, and raised in Northville, near Detroit. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home; on the contrary, I grew up in a very dysfunctional family with an abusive, alcoholic father. Life for me was very difficult. I never felt loved by either of my parents in my growing-up years, and my four siblings and I fought almost constantly. Rarely did I ever see my father sober, and in his drunken stupors I was often beaten for no reason at all, causing me to grow up bitter and hateful. There was just one bright spot in my childhood years—my mother saw a need to have us obtain some religious training, so she sent us off to a nondenominational Sunday School and church on the church bus. Attending somewhat regularly, and accepting Jesus Christ as my Saviour resulted in my baptism at age 13. However, things changed drastically in my mid-teen years.

It is no wonder that in my mid-teen years I started hanging around with a bad crowd, quit attending church, and became heavily involved with alcohol, using and selling drugs, stealing, partying, attending rock music concerts, and all that goes with that wild lifestyle. Although having been arrested for a felony and spending some time in jail, I still believed in God—that He was up there somewhere, just looking down on me. But I wanted nothing to do with Him. I just wanted to live my own life the way I wanted to live.

But something within me began to change when I was 18 years old. I began to realize that the life I was living was empty and vain. This caused me to think for the first time about my future. I realized that I wanted something more in life; that the life of drugs and partying was not the way I wanted to live my whole life. I thought that now, as an adult, I needed to start thinking seriously about having a job, a family, etc. I knew that I needed to change my lifestyle, so I decided that I should quit the drugs and alcohol, and start going back to church. So, I returned to church, and tried to change my ways. But it was more difficult to change the drug and alcohol habits after several years than I had thought! I would stay away from the drugs and alcohol for a few weeks—or even a few months—then it was back with my old friends, and into the old situations again, and before I knew it, I was right back there in my old ways. This continued for about a year-and-a-half: the attempts to change my life, and then the fall back into my old lifestyle.

Then one night at the age of 20, there was a breakthrough. I had been clean and sober for about six months. Then for three weekends in a row I fell victim to the devil’s temptations, and found myself using the drugs again! I thought I’d had the victory after six months, but found how weak I was when hanging out with the wrong crowd. My willpower was not as strong as I had thought. On that last of the three weekends, Friday night, January 26, 1973, something happened that forever changed my life. After again falling into the trap of getting high with a girlfriend, I went home and felt guiltier than ever before. Unlike other times, I now realized that I had no strength in myself to overcome that terrible drug habit, and that the only way to overcome it would be by taking hold of the strength of God! For the first time in my life, I fell down on my knees and cried out to God for help to gain the victory that I was powerless in myself to achieve! And the Lord answered that prayer right then! Getting up off my knees, I felt a new power—God’s power—surging through me. I remember saying words to the effect, “Praise God; I’ll never get high again!” It was as though God showed me right then and there that the victory was won forever, for now it was God who was doing it, not me! And, praise the Lord, that victory was real, and is real, for it has now been more than 38 years since that life-changing night, and I have never once used drugs or alcohol since! But that was only the beginning.

I knew right away that if God has the power to change my life in such a dramatic way instantly, then that’s the kind of God I wanted to live for! I then recommitted my life to the Lord and I started to read the Bible more regularly and seriously, searching for a church that followed the Bible all the way. I realized that the church I had been attending had many man-made teachings instead of basing them all on the Bible, so I went to Catholic, Pentecostal, “The Jesus People,” and many other churches in search of a truly Bible-based church. Finding none, I was very disappointed and decided that I would quit attending formal church services, and just meet with a few friends to have our own “church” services under a tree. It was at this time that an old friend, who had also become a Christian about the same time I was reconverted, showed me a beautiful Bible he had received as a gift. I told him that the old Bible I had was falling apart—literally missing pages, and the cover falling off. I wanted a new Bible, but I couldn’t afford one. He told me that I could get a free Bible. I wanted to know how. He told me to just pray to God, and ask Him to send me a free Bible! I believed that God was interested in even small things, so I began to pray for a new free Bible.

Within a few weeks of beginning to pray for a new Bible, my mother received a brochure in the mail, with an invitation to attend a “Voice of Prophecy” Bible crusade. I had no idea what the Voice of Prophecy was, but several things in the brochure made it clear to me that this was of God, and that He wanted me to attend that crusade. The most prominent of them was that if I attended 19 of the 27 meetings, I would receive a free Bible! There was the answer to my prayer! I knew that the Lord wanted me to attend this crusade to get my free Bible! I had no idea what church or denomination was holding the crusade, for it was held in a community center. But I knew that I was supposed to be at those meetings.

The first thing I noticed when entering that community center in Plymouth, Michigan, in April of 1973 were the smiles on the faces of the young people who greeted me at the door. All of the people there seemed radiant with the love of Christ. I wasn’t used to seeing this at the other meetings I had attended, so this made a good impression right away. But the most important thing was the message. It was straight from the Bible! None of man’s added teachings! I was invited back night after night, and I gladly came. I wanted that free Bible—but after a few nights, I realized that there was another reason I was to be there—it was that Bible-based teaching I so hungered for, but found nowhere else! I knew now that I was attending not just for that free Bible, but also for the life-changing truth that I was hearing each night! Unlike all the other meetings I had attended, the pastor, Elder Robert Wiese, handed out a paper each night with every text that was used in the sermon, and encouraged us to go home and look up all the texts and study them for ourselves! That’s what I really wanted—sermons based completely on the Bible! And every night after the sermon, the pastor would encourage us to go “all the way with the Lord”; not just what was convenient, but to accept all His teachings, and go all the way with Him! And this was what I wanted!

After the 19 nights and my free Bible, of course, I knew that I was to attend the rest of the meetings, for by that time I knew that this was God’s true message, and that the real reason God had led me there was to bring me to His marvelous light of truth! After learning the truth about the true Sabbath, the state of man in death, the Three Angels’ Messages, Bible prophecy, and more, I knew that this was God’s true message, and that I wanted to be part of God’s true church! At the last meeting when the pastor made a call for all who wanted to follow the Lord all the way, and to be baptized, and be a part of His last day remnant church to come forward, all of my former shyness left me immediately, and I was on my feet and at the front, committing my life to God’s true message, and publicly showing my desire to serve Him and be part of His true church! I gave my life totally to Jesus—accepted Him as Saviour and Lord of my life, to live for Him!

Pastor Wiese came to my home and gave me follow-up Bible studies, which further solidified my understanding of God’s word and His present truth message for these last days. Then in July, I attended part of the Michigan Seventh-day Adventist Camp Meeting, which I felt was “a taste of heaven”! I learned much Bible truth at those wonderful meetings. I also became a vegetarian at that camp meeting, and have been so for nearly 38 years! Then on August 25, 1973, I was baptized in the Plymouth Seventh-day Adventist Church, and became a member that day. It was the most wonderful day of my life! There’s a song that tells how I felt in my newfound faith: “New Life in Christ,” by John W. Peterson. The lyrics are:

New life in Christ! Abundant and free!

What glories shine, What joys are mine,

What wondrous blessings I see!

My past with its sin, The searching and strife

Forever gone—There’s a bright new dawn!

For in Christ I have found New Life!

Two years later, I felt the call of God to the gospel ministry. I was led to Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University) in Collegedale, Tennessee, United States of America, to study for the ministry. After four years, I received my Bachelor’s degree in theology, and began my ministry in the Florida Conference as a youth pastor. Since then, I have been involved in ministry as a pastor, academy Bible teacher, academy chaplain, and academy boys’ dean in several states, drug education counselor, and short-term foreign missions worker in Romania, Thailand, and the Philippines. I presently serve as director of Paradise Ministries International, a self-supporting ministry in Hawaii, operating a Bible Correspondence School and literature distribution program. My greatest desire is to see the Three Angels’ Messages spread throughout the entire world, so that Jesus may come again, and all of the faithful be gathered with Him in that glorious Kingdom He is preparing for us, to be with Him forever! Maranatha!

John Lazor is founder and director of Paradise Ministries International of Hawaii, and pastors the Paradise Free Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kalapana, Hawaii. Pastor Lazor may be contacted by phone at: 808-965-2666, or by e-mail at: paradisemin7@yahoo.com.

Would you like to share how the Lord has worked in your life? Because of space, not all submissions can be published, but we would love to hear from you. Please write or email us at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

The Two Witnesses

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The setting in Revelation 11 for the two witnesses is the 1,260-year time period, and the release of the two witnesses and their rise to prominence in the world has more to do with the second-advent movement than with the Dark Ages. It is during the great second-advent movement that the Bible has received so much attention and wide circulation. Let us read the prophecy of the two witnesses.

“I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, ‘Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.

But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.

And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.

Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.

The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them.

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Revelation 11:1–13.

This is a very interesting description of the two witnesses. Two times the 1,260-year time period is mentioned: in verse 2, “They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” And in verse 3 this same time period is mentioned as 1,260 days or years: “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” As used in prophecy, a month is equal to 30 days. Thirty times 42 months equals 1,260 days or years.

There is an explanation of these verses in The Great Controversy, 266, as follows: “The periods here mentioned—‘forty and two months,’ and ‘a thousand two hundred and threescore days’—are the same, alike representing the time in which the church of Christ was to suffer oppression from Rome. The 1,260 years of papal supremacy began in A.D. 538, and would therefore terminate in 1798.”

We see that the setting for the two witnesses is the Dark Ages of papal oppression. This was one more attack by Satan to destroy the knowledge of the plan of redemption, the new covenant ministry of Christ in the sanctuary.

Many ask what it means to be “clothed in sackcloth.” This is explained in a reference from The Great Controversy, 267: “When the Bible was proscribed by religious and secular authority; when its testimony was perverted, and every effort made that men and demons could invent to turn the minds of the people from it … then the faithful witnesses prophesied in sackcloth.”

The two witnesses (verse 3) are not directly identified in this chapter. There are several symbols used to represent them. Two symbols are found in verse 4: “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” In verse 6 is another symbol in which they are personified as men: “These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying.”

There is one more symbol, and it is found in verse 10: “The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”

Let us make an observation about these symbols. When the two witnesses are represented as “these men,” it indicates that they have a human aspect to them. And when they are represented as “prophets,” they are understood to be under divine inspiration.

We are told in the introduction of The Great Controversy, v, vi: “The Ten Commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible, with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the Bible, as it was of Christ, that ‘the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’ John 1:14.”

As Christ was both human and divine, so the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy are a combination of the human and the divine. As Jesus was God’s representative of truth to the people in the first advent, so the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy stand in the place of Christ to witness to the truth in the second advent. The way people relate to the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy is just the way they would treat Jesus if He were here in person. It is possible that they could be a symbol of the Scriptures, for it says in Revelation 11:4, “These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”

In The Great Controversy, 267 there is a statement so specific that it settles their identity beyond question. “Concerning the two witnesses the prophet declares further: ‘These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.’ ‘Thy word,’ said the psalmist, ‘is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ Revelation 11:4; Psalm 119:105. The two witnesses represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament. Both are important testimonies to the origin and perpetuity of the law of God. Both are witnesses also to the plan of salvation.”

We now understand that Revelation 11:1–13 is a description of the way the Bible was treated during the 1,260 years of papal oppression and what God is going to do with the Bible at the end of that time period.

The next verse, Revelation 11:5, is very specific about how to deal with those who try to harm the Old and New Testaments, the Bible: “If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.”

What does the phrase mean “fire comes from their mouths”? We know that “from their mouths” is a symbol for speaking. The phrase “fire comes from their mouths” means that anyone who harms them will be destroyed by fire.

Revelation 20:9, 10 tells us how this prophecy will be fulfilled: “They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.”

This shows the importance of reverence for the Bible. True Christians will show much respect and reverence for the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. The following statement from The Great Controversy, 268 will be very helpful to read:

“The meaning of this fearful denunciation is set forth in the closing chapter of the Revelation: ‘I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.’ Revelation 22:18, 19.

“Such are the warnings which God has given to guard men against changing in any manner that which He has revealed or commanded. These solemn denunciations apply to all who by their influence lead men to regard lightly the law of God.”

Returning to our main text, the next verse in Revelation 11 presents even more interesting symbolism: “These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague.” Verse 6.

Let us turn back to the Old Testament and read about an event that happened in the time of Elijah, where the word of God literally shut up the sky so that it did not rain for three and a half years.

In I Kings 17:1, it says, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.’ ”

There is a comment from the book Prophets and Kings, 120, 121 about this event: “To Elijah was entrusted the mission of delivering to Ahab Heaven’s message of judgment. He did not seek to be the Lord’s messenger; the word of the Lord came to him.”

We see in this statement that it was the “word of the Lord” that shut up the skies so it would not rain for three and a half years. The word of God has power, even over the elements.

The word of God has power to turn water to blood also. There is an event recorded in the Old Testament in which the word of the Lord turned water to blood and a prophecy in the New Testament, which says that this will happen again. In Exodus 7:19 it says, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs”—and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars.’ ”

There is another description of this event found in Patriarchs and Prophets, 265: “Moses and Aaron were directed to visit the riverside next morning, where the king was accustomed to repair. … Here the two brothers again repeated the message to him, and then they stretched out the rod and smote upon the water. The sacred stream ran blood, the fish died, and the river became offensive to the smell. The water in the houses, the supply preserved in cisterns, was likewise changed to blood.”

In the New Testament the prophecy that water will again turn to blood is recorded in Revelation 16:3, 4: “The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.”

In these events we understand that the word of the Lord is very powerful. It is very important that the sinner show reverence, respect and obedience to the Bible, lest it pronounce these severe judgments upon him.

The next four verses, Revelation 11:7–10, describe a very interesting event using many symbols: “Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”

“When they shall have finished [are finishing] their testimony,” means that toward the end of the 1,260-year time period a beast coming up out of the abyss will attack the Bible. “The period when the two witnesses were to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, ended in 1798. As they were approaching the termination of their work in obscurity, war was to be made upon them by the power represented as ‘the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit.’ …

“But another power—the beast from the bottomless pit—was to arise to make open, avowed war upon the word of God.” The Great Controversy, 268, 269.

The symbolism is a little difficult to understand at this point, but there are some explanations in The Great Controversy that will make things clear so that we may understand the prophecy. In verse 8 a couple of clues are given to help us find out who the beast represents and what the abyss is.

“Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt.” Revelation 11:8.

This verse is saying that the beast coming out of the abyss will manifest characteristics similar to Sodom and Egypt. Egypt is known for its defiance of God, especially at the time of the exodus. “Of all nations presented in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No monarch ever ventured upon more open and highhanded rebellion against the authority of Heaven than did the king of Egypt. When the message was brought him by Moses, in the name of the Lord, Pharaoh proudly answered: ‘Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go.’ Exodus 5:2, A.R.V. This is atheism, and the nation represented by Egypt would give voice to a similar denial of the claims of the living God and would manifest a like spirit of unbelief and defiance. ‘The great city’ is also compared, ‘spiritually,’ to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom in breaking the law of God was especially manifested in licentiousness. And this sin was also to be a pre-eminent characteristic of the nation that should fulfill the specifications of this scripture.” Ibid., 269.

The time of the beast to rise up is made quite clear in the following statement: “According to the words of the prophet, then, a little before the year 1798 some power of satanic origin and character would rise to make war upon the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God’s two witnesses should thus be silenced, there would be manifest the atheism of the Pharaoh and the licentiousness of Sodom.” Ibid.

We still don’t have an answer as to who the beast represents. So let’s look further into the information given in Revelation 11:9–11:

“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.” (KJV)

The Great Controversy gives us an explanation of these verses and the history that is a fulfillment of these events.

“This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution, in 1793, ‘The world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest of the European nations, uplift their united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man’s soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of a Deity.’—Sir Walter Scott, Life of Napoleon, vol. 1, ch. 17. ‘France is the only nation in the world concerning which the authentic record survives, that as a nation she lifted her hand in open rebellion against the Author of the universe. Plenty of blasphemers, plenty of infidels, there have been, and still continue to be, in England, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere; but France stands apart in the world’s history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.’—Blackwood’s Magazine, November, 1870.

“France presented also the characteristics which especially distinguished Sodom. During the Revolution there was manifest a state of moral debasement and corruption similar to that which brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. And the historian presents together the atheism and the licentiousness of France, as given in the prophecy: ‘Intimately connected with these laws affecting religion, was that which reduced the union of marriage—the most sacred engagement which human beings can form, and the permanence of which leads most strongly to the consolidation of society—to the state of a mere civil contract of a transitory character, which any two persons might engage in and cast loose at pleasure. … Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for the witty things she said, described the republican marriage as “the sacrament of adultery.” ’—Scott, vol. 1, ch. 17.” The Great Controversy, 269–271.

I would like to go back to Revelation 11:8 and make a brief comment about the last part of the verse: “Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”

In The Great Controversy, 271 it states, “ ‘Where also our Lord was crucified” [Revelation 11:8]. This specification of the prophecy was also fulfilled by France. In no land had the spirit of enmity against Christ been more strikingly displayed. In no country had the truth encountered more bitter and cruel opposition. In the persecution which France had visited upon the confessors of the gospel, she had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.” Ibid., 271.

“It was in 1793 that the decrees which abolished the Christian religion and set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three years and a half later a resolution rescinding these decrees, thus granting toleration to the Scriptures, was adopted by the same body.” Ibid., 287.

In Revelation 11:13 there is a symbolic description of the effect this legislation had on the nation of France: “At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” [Most commentators believe the quote ‘seven thousand people’ are the nobility that were destroyed by the French revolution.]

“Those who had chosen the service of rebellion were left to reap its fruits until the land was filled with crimes too horrible for pen to trace. From devastated provinces and ruined cities a terrible cry was heard—a cry of bitterest anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church—all were smitten down by the impious hand that had been lifted against the law of God.” Ibid., 286.

After the action of the French assembly was rescinded, a wonderful change for the better took place for the two witnesses. It is recorded in Revelation 11:11, 12: “But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.”

“Since France made war upon God’s two witnesses, they have been honored as never before. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized. This was followed by similar organizations, with numerous branches, upon the continent of Europe. In 1816 the American Bible Society was founded. When the British Society was formed, the Bible had been printed and circulated in fifty tongues. It has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. …

“But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. Men became dissatisfied with the results of rationalism and realized the necessity of divine revelation and experimental religion. From this time the work of foreign missions attained an unprecedented growth.”

“The improvements in printing have given an impetus to the work of circulating the Bible. The increased facilities for communication between different countries, the breaking down of ancient barriers of prejudice and national exclusiveness, and the loss of secular power by the pontiff of Rome have opened the way for the entrance of the word of God. For some years the Bible has been sold without restraint in the streets of Rome, and it has now been carried to every part of the habitable globe.” Ibid., 287, 288.

And today we see the continuing expansion of the circulation of the Bible throughout the world in the printed and electronic media. Thus we see the prophecy of the two witnesses being fulfilled at the present time to meet the needs of the people in the great second-advent movement. What a blessing this has been in the proclamation of the Three Angels’ Messages!

Everyone today who is within reach of the Scriptures has the privilege and responsibility of learning about the Three Angels’ Messages, the Investigative Judgment and the Second Coming of Jesus.

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

Maurice Hoppe is retired and volunteers at Steps to Life. His primary responsibility is working with the Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders and the Training Program for Lay Workers. He also conducts a Bible Correspondence School from his home with emphasis on Bible prophecy. He can be contacted at: mauricehoppe@stepstolife.org.

Bible Study Guides – Is It Easy?

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September 11, 2011 – September 17, 2011

Key Text

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Ephesians 6:10.

Study Help: Steps to Christ, 67–76; Patriarchs and Prophets, 453–461.

Introduction

“Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you.” Steps to Christ, 72.

1 THE ENEMY’S ATTACK

  • Who are we fighting if we are seeking to do God’s will? Ephesians 6:12.

Note: “There is little enmity against Satan and his works, because there is so great ignorance concerning his power and malice, and the vast extent of his warfare against Christ and His church.” The Great Controversy, 507.

  • Who is the enemy seeking to destroy and how does he propose to do this? Numbers 25:1, 2. What warning should we heed? I Corinthians 10:11, 12.

Note: “Satan is continually seeking to overcome the people of God by breaking down the barriers which separate them from the world. … All who are not decided followers of Christ are servants of Satan. In the unregenerate heart there is love of sin and a disposition to cherish and excuse it. In the renewed heart there is hatred of sin and a determined resistance against it.” The Great Controversy, 508.

“It was by associating with idolaters and joining in their festivities that the Hebrews were led to transgress God’s law and bring His judgments upon the nation. So now it is by leading the followers of Christ to associate with the ungodly and unite in their amusements that Satan is most successful in alluring them into sin.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 458.

2 PERSEVERE!

  • In this warfare, what must we remember? Luke 18:1.

Note: “Christian life is more than many take it to be. It does not consist wholly in gentleness, patience, meekness, and kindliness. These graces are essential; but there is need also of courage, force, energy, and perseverance. The path that Christ marks out is a narrow, self-denying path. To enter that path and press on through difficulties and discouragements, requires men who are more than weaklings.” Evangelism, 479.

  • What will enable us to endure in this warfare and develop perseverance? II Peter 1:4; John 14:14.

Note: “The Scriptures are to be received as God’s word to us, not written merely, but spoken. …

“So with all the promises of God’s word. In them He is speaking to us individually, speaking as directly as if we could listen to His voice. It is in these promises that Christ communicates to us His grace and power. They are leaves from that tree which is ‘for the healing of the nations’ Revelation 22:2. Received, assimilated, they are to be the strength of the character, the inspiration and sustenance of the life. Nothing else can have such healing power. Nothing besides can impart the courage and faith which give vital energy to the whole being.” The Ministry of Healing, 122.

“If we live according to His word, every precious promise He has given will be fulfilled to us. …

“But only as we live in obedience to His word can we claim the fulfillment of His promises. The psalmist says, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me’ Psalm 66:18. If we render to Him only a partial, halfhearted obedience, His promises will not be fulfilled to us.” Ibid., 226, 227.

  • What promises does our Father give us as we seek to develop families that will honor His name? Psalm 32:8.

Note: “Not only are the best beloved to receive particular attention, but also the restless, wayward children, who need careful training and tender guidance.” The Adventist Home, 276.

3 GOD’S GRACE

  • As we see our weakness and insufficiency, what promise is especially important to us? II Corinthians 12:9.
  • What is God’s grace? I Corinthians 1:4, 5; II Corinthians 9:8.

Note: “Grace is an attribute of God exercised toward undeserving human beings.” The Ministry of Healing, 161.

“To learn of Christ means to receive His grace, which is His character.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 271.

  • What other promises are there for the partakers of His grace? Colossians 1:11; Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 1:19.

Note: “You are to give all—your heart, your will, your service—give yourself to Him to obey all His requirements; and you must take all—Christ, the fullness of all blessing, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helper—to give you power to obey.” Steps to Christ, 70. [Emphasis author’s.]

  • What circumstances, if any, are very difficult and seemingly impossible to change? Philippians 4:13.

Note: “Men and women can reach God’s ideal for them if they will take Christ as their helper. What human wisdom cannot do, His grace will accomplish for those who give themselves to Him in loving trust. His providence can unite hearts in bonds that are of heavenly origin.” The Ministry of Healing, 362.

“The power of the love of Christ wrought a transformation of character. This is the sure result of union with Jesus. When Christ abides in the heart, the whole nature is transformed. Christ’s Spirit, His love, softens the heart, subdues the soul, and raises the thoughts and desires toward God and heaven.” Steps to Christ, 73.

4 HOW CAN I HAVE THIS HELP?

  • How can I, my family, and my church have this experience with Jesus Christ? John 15:4, 5.

Note: “Do you ask, ‘How am I to abide in Christ?’ In the same way as you received Him at first. ‘As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him’ (Colossians 2:6). …

“Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.’ This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.” Steps to Christ, 69, 70.

  • What must be our attitude? Acts 9:6.

Note: “Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he [Satan] too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ he hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears. … Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you.” Steps to Christ, 71, 72.

“Then if Christ is dwelling in our hearts, He will work in us ‘both to will and to do of His good pleasure’ Philippians 2:13. We shall work as He worked; we shall manifest the same spirit. And thus, loving Him and abiding in Him, we shall ‘grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ’ Ephesians 4:15.” Ibid., 75.

“At times the heart may be ready to faint; but a living sense of the dangers threatening the present and future happiness of their loved ones should lead Christian parents to seek more earnestly for help from the source of strength and wisdom.” Child Guidance, 64.

5 CONSISTENCY

  • What commands are given to us who have received such great light and blessing? Ephesians 5:1–8.

Note: “It is the privilege of all to give to the world in their home life, in their customs and practices and order, an evidence of what the gospel can do for those who obey it. Christ came to our world to give us an example of what we may become. He expects His followers to be models of correctness in all the relations of life. He desires the divine touch to be seen upon outward things.

“Our own homes and surroundings should be object lessons, teaching ways of improvement, so that industry, cleanliness, taste, and refinement may take the place of idleness, uncleanness, coarseness, and disorder. By our lives and example we can help others to discern that which is repulsive in their character or their surroundings, and with Christian courtesy we may encourage improvement.” The Ministry of Healing, 196.

“The Lord’s workers cannot be too careful that their actions do not contradict their words; for a consistent life alone can command respect. If our practice harmonizes with our teaching, our words will have effect; but a piety which is not based upon conscientious principles is as salt without savor. To speak, and do not, is as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. It is of no use for us to strive to inculcate principles which we do not conscientiously practice.” Counsels on Health, 559, 560.

“The consistent life, the patient forbearance, the spirit unruffled under provocation, is always the most conclusive argument and the most solemn appeal.” The Ministry of Healing, 494.

“The pure influence of truth will elevate the whole man. … He will carry the sanctifying influence of the truth into his family and let his light so shine before them that they by seeing his good works may glorify God.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 415, 416.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What makes the upward walk difficult?

2 How can you persevere and endure unto the end?

3 What is God’s grace and what will it do for you?

4 How can you have a changed life?

5 What will be the result of converted members of the family?

Copyright © 2002 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Bible Study Guides – Genuine Faith

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September 25, 2011 – October 1, 2011

Faith of Our Fathers

Key Text

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1.

Study Help: Testimonies, vol. 8, 255–264; Patriarchs and Prophets, 44, 45, 112–116.

Introduction

“To depend upon what we can see is not faith. Faith depends upon God’s promises.” Sabbath-School Worker, July 1, 1895.

1 LIVING BY THE INVISIBLE

  • What simple definition does the Bible give for faith? Hebrews 11:1. How is faith in God to affect us in a practical way?

Note: “Faith is trusting God—believing that He loves us and knows best what is for our good. Thus, instead of our own, it leads us to choose His way.” Education, 253.

“All things are possible with God, and by faith we may lay hold on His power. But faith is not sight; faith is not feeling; faith is not reality. ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’ [Hebrews 11:1]. To abide in faith is to put aside feeling and selfish desires, to walk humbly with the Lord, to appropriate His promises, and apply them to all occasions, believing that God will work out His own plans and purposes in your heart and life by the sanctification of your character; it is to rely entirely, to trust implicitly, upon the faithfulness of God.” Special Testimonies on Education, 115. (Emphasis author’s.)

  • Why can we be inspired by the faith of our forefathers? Hebrews 11:2.

Note: “Although the patriarchs and apostles were subject to human frailties, yet through faith they obtained a good report, fought their battles in the strength of the Lord, and conquered gloriously. Thus may we trust in the virtue of the atoning sacrifice and be overcomers in the name of Jesus.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 15.

2 MARVELS OF GOD’S CREATION

  • Describe the marvelous way by which our God both creates and sustains. Hebrews 11:3; Psalm 33:8, 9; Acts 17:28, first part.

Note: “God is perpetually at work in nature. She is His servant, directed as He pleases. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps it in position in its rotation.

“The God of heaven is constantly at work. It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears and every flower blooms. Every drop of rain or flake of snow, every spire of grass, every leaf and flower and shrub, testifies of God. These little things so common around us teach the lesson that nothing is beneath the notice of the infinite God, nothing is too small for His attention.

“The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood; it presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. It is not as the result of a mechanism, which, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath. In God we live and move and have our being. Every breath, every throb of the heart, is a continual evidence of the power of an ever-present God.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 259, 260.

  • How can God’s creative power change our lives? Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26, 27.

Note: “One of the most earnest prayers recorded in the Word of God is that of David when he pleaded, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God’ [Psalm 51:10]. God’s response to such a prayer is, A new heart will I give you. This is a work that no finite man can do. Men and women are to begin at the beginning, seeking God most earnestly for a true Christian experience. They are to feel the creative power of the Holy Spirit. They are to receive the new heart, that is kept soft and tender by the grace of heaven.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, 1165.

3 SEEK IN ORDER TO FIND

  • What is needed in order to please God, and how only can we be truly blessed in seeking Him? Hebrews 11:6.

Note: “Should you become alarmed for your own souls, should you seek God diligently, He will be found of you; but He will accept no halfhearted repentance. If you will forsake your sins, He is ever ready to forgive. Will you just now surrender to Him? Will you look to Calvary and inquire: ‘Did Jesus make this sacrifice for me? Did He endure humiliation, shame, and reproach, and suffer the cruel death of the cross because He desired to save me from the sufferings of guilt and the horror of despair, and make me unspeakably happy in His kingdom?’ Look upon Him whom your sins have pierced, and resolve: ‘The Lord shall have the service of my life. I will no longer unite with His enemies; I will no longer lend my influence to the rebels against His government. All I have and am is too little to devote to Him who so loved me that He gave His life for me—His whole divine self for one so sinful and erring.’ Separate from the world, be wholly on the Lord’s side, press the battle to the gates, and you will win glorious victories.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 438, 439.

  • Describe the way we are to seek God. Psalm 119:2, 145; 1 Chronicles 16:10–13.

Note: “Let the soul be drawn out and upward, that God may grant us a breath of His heavenly atmosphere. Let the spirit groan after God, and mingle faith with fervent desire. We should encourage gratitude and praise, and always be found warring against every unholy impulse, crushing out of the soul every unclean lust. This is the warfare that must be accomplished. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts may turn to God as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. The sunflower keeps its face sunward. If it is turned from the light, it will twist itself on the stem, until it lifts up its petals to the bright beams of the sun. So let everyone who has given his heart to God, turn to the Sun of Righteousness, and eagerly look up to receive the bright beams of the glory that shine in the face of Jesus.” The Signs of the Times, December 16, 1889.

4 INTO A NEW REALM OF LIFE

  • How does the faithful person stand in contrast to the proud one? Habakkuk 2:4.

Note: “When the sinner, in view of all his transgressions, exercises faith in God, and believes that he is pardoned because Christ has died as his sacrifice, he will be filled with gratitude to God, and will have tender sympathy toward those who, like himself, have sinned and are in need of pardon. Pride will find no place in his heart. Such faith as this will be a death-blow to a revengeful spirit. How is it possible for one who finds forgiveness, and who is daily dependent upon the grace of Christ, to turn away in coldness from those who have been overtaken in a fault and to display to the sinner an unforgiving spirit? Every one who has real faith in God will crush pride under his feet. A view of the goodness and the mercy of God will lead to repentance, and will create a desire to possess the same spirit. He who receives the Spirit of God will have clear discernment to see the good there is in the characters of others, and will love those who need the tender, pitying sympathy of forgiveness. The repenting sinner sees in Christ a sin-pardoning Saviour, and contemplates with hope and confidence the pardon written over against his sin. He wants the same work to be done for his associates; for true faith brings the soul into sympathy with God.” The Review and Herald, May 7, 1895.

  • How is faith closely linked together with God’s law, a turning away from sin, and deliverance from it? Romans 14:23, last part; 1 John 3:4–6.

Note: “There must be a revival of the strait testimony. The path to heaven is no smoother now than in the days of our Saviour. All our sins must be put away. Every darling indulgence that hinders our religious life must be cut off. The right eye or the right hand must be sacrificed if it cause us to offend. Are we willing to renounce our own wisdom and to receive the kingdom of heaven as a little child? Are we willing to part with self-righteousness? Are we willing to give up our chosen worldly associates? Are we willing to sacrifice the approbation of men? The prize of eternal life is of infinite value. Will we put forth efforts and make sacrifices proportionate to the worth of the object to be attained?” Testimonies, vol. 5, 222.

5 A STREAM THAT NEVER RUNS DRY

  • How does the Lord explain the far-reaching extent to which our faith can be exercised? Mark 11:22–24; Luke 17:5, 6.

Note: “Faith takes God at His word, with or without feeling.” The Signs of the Times, May 15, 1884.

“If men will endure the necessary discipline, without complaining or fainting by the way, God will teach them hour by hour, and day by day. He longs to reveal His grace. If His people will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through the human channels.” The Desire of Ages, 251.

“There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. All who consecrate body, soul, and spirit to His service will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical, mental, and spiritual power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in mind and heart. Through the grace given us we may achieve victories that because of our own erroneous and preconceived opinions, our defects of character, our smallness of faith, have seemed impossible.

“To everyone who offers himself to the Lord for service, withholding nothing, is given power for the attainment of measureless results. For these God will do great things. He will work upon the minds of men so that, even in this world, there shall be seen in their lives a fulfillment of the promise of the future state.” The Ministry of Healing, 159, 160.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What is faith?

2 How do doubts, which often can arise in conjunction with the theory of evolution, hinder one’s spiritual potential?

3 What are some key elements needed in order to search out God successfully?

4 In what ways should my life come more into harmony with genuine faith?

5 What are the secrets to victorious Christian life at its fullest?

© 2005 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Editorial – Understanding the Prophecies

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Recently, I studied a theological presentation given by an Adventist minister, in which he attempted to destroy the foundation and central pillar on which the Adventist faith is built. Since this person was well-versed in Greek and Hebrew and religious history, he was able to make an interesting attempt to actually destroy the faith of which he claimed to be a part. As I was studying this and comparing his comments with my Hebrew Bible of the book of Daniel, I was wondering in my mind, how would a person that was not trained in theology deal with this. One of these days, all of God’s people, whether trained in theology or not, will have an opportunity to deal with these things, because “Every position of our faith will be searched into, and if we are not thorough Bible students, established, strengthened, settled, the wisdom of the world’s great men will be too much for us.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 386.

Are you getting ready to have a talk with one of the world’s great men about what you believe from the Bible about the times in which we live and what we are to do to be ready for the second coming of Christ?

Have you studied the prophecies in Daniel verse by verse and word by word until you know how each statement and phrase fits into every other statement and phrase in the prophecy? If what you believe is really the truth, every phrase and every clause in the prophecy will perfectly fit, and you will be able to explain what the main themes or subjects are; and you will be able to fit all the parenthetical statements into their appropriate place within the main subject.

Theologians today try to explain the Bible in what they suppose is the historical context, but Peter says that the Bible writers actually did not know and understand what they were writing about except as they attempted to search it out. (See I Peter 1:10, 11.)

Many years ago, an elderly minister gave some young men, of whom I was one, a quiz concerning what we believed from the book of Daniel and why we believed it. It was appalling how little we understood. Maybe you need to have some quizzes in your church to see whether you believe historical Adventist theology or whether you have a name that does not really describe what you believe.

Bible Study Guides – Biblical Faith

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December 4, 2011 – December 10, 2011

Key Text

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” II Corinthians 5:7.

Study Help: Steps to Christ, 67–75; Testimonies, vol. 1, 303–310.

Introduction

“Hold the faith with a firm hand, but be sure that you hold it in righteousness.” The Signs of the Times, December 13, 1899.

1 LAMBS OF GOD

  • What should we all realize who accept Christ as our Saviour? Hebrews 12:1–3.

Note: “Oh, how often we yield to temptation because we do not keep our eye upon Jesus! Our faith is not continuous because, through self-indulgence, we sin, and then we cannot endure ‘as seeing Him who is invisible’ [Hebrews 11:27].” Testimonies, vol. 5, 652.

“Worldly attractions will be presented to draw your attention from the Lord Jesus; but laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets, press on toward the heavenly goal, showing to the world, to angels, and to men that the hope of seeing the face of God is worth all the effort and the sacrifice that the attainment of the hope demands.” The Review and Herald, December 29, 1910.

  • How can we grow in our Christian walk? I Peter 2:1–3.
  • What other means does God use to help us grow in Christ? Hebrews 12:4–12.

Note: “The Lord permits trials to come upon us in order that we may make earnest, heartfelt intercession. Trial brings us to God, and leads us to form a closer connection with Christ our Saviour. Trial forces us to do as the word of God directs.” The Signs of the Times, August 20, 1896.

2 WHEN TRIALS COME

  • What are we to realize when faced with difficulties? James 1:2–4; Psalm 84:11.

Note: “The Word does not say that we are to count it all joy when we fall under temptation, but when we fall into temptation. It is not necessary to fall under temptation, for temptation comes upon us for the trying of our faith. And the trying of our faith worketh patience, not fretfulness and murmuring. If we put our trust in Jesus, He will keep us at all times, and will be our strength and shield. We are to learn valuable lessons from our trials. …

“Many become the sport of the enemy, because when temptations comes, they do not rest in Jesus, but worry themselves out of His arms, and in perplexity lose all their faith and courage. They do not remember that Jesus has helped them out of difficulties in the past, that His grace is sufficient for the daily trials, and that He can help in the present trouble. We make failures in our little, daily difficulties, and allow them to irritate and vex us; we fall under them, and so make stumbling blocks for ourselves and others. But blessings of the greatest importance are to result from the patient endurance of these daily vexations; for we are to gain strength to bear greater difficulties. Satan will press upon us the most severe temptations, and we must learn to come to God in any and every emergency, as a child would come to its parents.” The Review and Herald, May 19, 1891.

  • What assurances does God offer as we exercise faith in Him? Ephesians 6:14–16.

Note: “We are not to be like the man who said, ‘I have prayed and prayed, but I do not receive.’ A companion said to him, ‘Let us pray together then, and claim the promise of God.’ So they bowed in prayer; but when they rose from their knees, the man said, ‘I don’t feel any different, and I didn’t expect I should.’ This is the way that many present themselves before God; they would be surprised if God should answer their prayers. They do not expect the Lord to answer their prayers, or think that the Lord will hear them, and their petitions are in vain; for they go away as they came.” The Review and Herald, May 19, 1891.

3 ABIDING IN CHRIST

  • How does Christ depict His relationship with His children? John 15:1–5; I John 3:3.

Note: “[John 15:5, 4 quoted.] In this vine is all spiritual life. From Christ’s fullness alone can we obtain nourishment unto eternal life. The vine stock is unseen; but the branches—members of His body—are visible. The scion which before was leafless and apparently lifeless, becomes, when grafted into the vine, a partaker of its life and fatness. Fiber by fiber, and vein by vein, the graft adheres to the parent stock, till the life-giving sap flows to the adopted member, causing it to bud, and blossom, and bear fruit.

“The scion becomes a part of the living vine by forming a perfect union with it. Thus it is with the sinner. By repentance and faith, he becomes connected with Jesus Christ, and lives in him. This connection joins soul to soul—the finite with the infinite. But, contrary to nature, the branch which has been united with the true vine brings forth, not fruit of its own kind, but the fruit of the vine of which it has become a part. The Spirit of Christ, flowing into the hearts of all who are indeed united with Him, makes them partakers of the divine nature. They become pure, even as He is pure.” The Review and Herald, September 20, 1881.

“The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Saviour, pervades the soul, renews the motives and affections, and brings even the thoughts into obedience to the will of God, enabling the receiver to bear the precious fruit of holy deeds. …

“If the follower of Christ would grow up ‘unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Ephesians 4:13), he must eat of the bread of life and drink of the water of salvation. He must watch and pray and work, in all things giving heed to the instructions of God in His word.” The Acts of the Apostles, 284, 285.

  • What is one of the wonderful results of abiding in Christ? II Corinthians 1:3, 4.

Note: “Christ is represented by the vine that imparts the nourishment, the vitality, the life, the spirit, the power, that the branch can bear fruit, and then when affliction and disappointment come, you are to show altogether a different character of fruit than the world. There is the evidence that you are connected with Jesus Christ, and that there is a power that sustains you in all your afflictions and disappointments and trials; and this power and this grace sweetens every affliction.” Reflecting Christ, 355.

4 THE FRUITS OF FAITH

  • What are we to add to our faith, and what fruit will be shown? II Peter 1:3–9; Galatians 5:22, 23.

Note: “The soul that loves God, rises above the fog of doubt; he gains a bright, broad, deep, living experience, and becomes meek and Christlike. His soul is committed to God, hid with Christ in God. He will be able to stand the test of neglect, of abuse and contempt, because his Saviour has suffered all this. He will not become fretful and discouraged when difficulties press him, because Jesus did not fail or become discouraged. Every true Christian will be strong, not in the strength and merit of his good works, but in the righteousness of Christ, which through faith is imputed unto him. It is a great thing to be meek and lowly in heart, to be pure and undefiled, as was the Prince of heaven when He walked among men.” The Review and Herald, December 3, 1889.

  • If our character is not becoming Christlike as it should be, what is the basic problem? II Peter 1:10, 11; Hebrews 3:12. If we find ourselves in this predicament, what should be the cry of our heart? Mark 9:24.

Note: “When the tempests of temptation gather, and the fierce lightnings flash, and the waves sweep over us, we battle with the storm alone, forgetting that there is One who can help us. We trust to our own strength till our hope is lost, and we are ready to perish. Then we remember Jesus, and if we call upon Him to save us, we shall not cry in vain. Though He sorrowfully reproves our unbelief and self-confidence, He never fails to give us the help we need.” The Desire of Ages, 336.

“It is faith that connects us with heaven, and brings us strength for coping with the powers of darkness. In Christ, God has provided means for subduing every sinful trait, and resisting every temptation, however strong. But many feel that they lack faith, and therefore they remain away from Christ. Let these souls, in their helpless unworthiness, cast themselves upon the mercy of their compassionate Saviour. Look not to self, but to Christ. He who healed the sick and cast out demons when He walked among men is the same mighty Redeemer today. Faith comes by the word of God. Then grasp His promise, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. Cast yourself at His feet with the cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief’ [Mark 9:24]. You can never perish while you do this—never.” Ibid., 429 (author’s italics).

5 LIVING BY FAITH

  • Why is it that a proud person can never be truly faithful? Habakkuk 2:4.

Note: “Advancement in Christian experience is characterized by increasing humility, as the result of increasing knowledge. Everyone who is united to Christ will depart from all iniquity. … When Christ is cherished in the heart, His likeness will be revealed in the life. Humility will reign where pride was once predominant. Submission, meekness, patience, will soften down the rugged features of a naturally perverse, impetuous disposition. Love to Jesus will be manifested in love to His people. It is not fitful, not spasmodic, but calm and deep and strong. The life of the Christian will be divested of all pretense, free from all affectation, artifice, and falsehood. It is earnest, true, sublime. Christ speaks in every word. He is seen in every deed. The life is radiant with the light of an indwelling Saviour. In converse with God and in happy contemplation of heavenly things the soul is preparing for heaven and laboring to gather other souls into the fold of Christ. Our Saviour is able and willing to do for us more than we can ask or even think.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 49, 50.

  • How can we follow the Lord even when circumstances point against us? II Corinthians 4:17, 18; 5:7.

Note: “Faith looks beyond the difficulties, and lays hold of the unseen, even Omnipotence, therefore it cannot be baffled. Faith is the clasping of the hand of Christ in every emergency.” The Faith I Live By, 100.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What may be clouding my spiritual eyesight as I seek to look to Jesus?

2 How can I improve in my exercise of faith during trials and difficulties?

3 How can I promote the life-giving sap to flow more freely from Christ to me?

4 The standard of Christian virtue is high—yet, how are we encouraged along the way?

5 What occurs in the soul who keeps in close touch with God at the foot of the cross?

© 2005 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.