The World’s Biggest Cemetery

Because of unbelief the children of Israel, after the miraculous delivery from slavery in Egypt, were not allowed to enter the Promised Land and for forty years they wandered around the wilderness. The story is told in the fourteenth chapter of Numbers.

“Then the Lord said: ‘I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valley; tomorrow turn and move out into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’

“And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, “As I live,” says the Lord, “just as you have spoken in My hearing [passing sentence on themselves], so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection. I the Lord have spoken this; I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.” ’

“Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.” Numbers 14:20–37.

They wandered and kept wandering until all the people that had come out of Egypt above 20 years of age (except Caleb and Joshua) had died. The whole wilderness became a cemetery. Their experience was carefully recorded as an example to help the people who live at the end of time before the return of Jesus Christ. This story is for us, for we are those people.

In I Corinthians 10:1–13, it says, “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

“Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Paul goes into great detail about their experience as they wandered back and forth for so many years. So that others may learn from it, He mentions some of the major sins that were committed, causing many of them to be destroyed. He says, “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Hebrews 3:14–4:2.

John also mentions the wanderings in the book of Revelation. “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.” Revelation 2:14.

Ellen White said, “We here read the warnings which God gave to ancient Israel. It was not His good pleasure that they should wander so long in the wilderness; He would have brought them immediately to the Promised Land had they submitted and loved to be led by Him; but because they so often grieved Him in the desert, He sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest, save two who wholly followed Him. God required His people to trust in Him alone. He did not wish them to receive help from those who did not serve Him.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 281.

The older you get, the more you recognize that many of the difficulties experienced in life are the result of choices that have been made earlier. There is no way to escape the fact that choices you make as a youth will affect your future.

The Israelites made wrong choices during the first year or two in the wilderness that affected their outcome. They continually rebelled against the Lord. Their failure of not entering Canaan a few months after they left Egypt was the result of their own choices.

Remember what Paul said, in I Corinthians 10:11 that all these things happened to them for examples for the people that are living in the end of the ages. We are those people.

Listed below are the reasons the Israelites were prohibited from entering the Promised Land:

  1. In Hebrews 3:15, Paul says, “If you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” A heart is hardened by not listening. When the Holy Spirit speaks to your mind and you neglect to act on it and are determined to go your own way, the next time the Spirit speaks the voice will not be heard as distinctly. In that way a heart becomes hardened and less likely to respond to truth. Millions of people put off responding to the “still small voice” for a more convenient time, but the voice grows more faint with every rejection. (See Prophets and Kings, 169.)
  2. In Hebrews 3:16, Paul says, “For who, having heard, rebelled.” Rebellion occurs when God says to do something, and you decide to act differently.
  3. In Hebrews 3:17, Paul puts it plainly when he says, “They sinned.” Ellen White comments about that in the book Patriarchs and Prophets, 410. She says [towards the end of their wanderings], “Here Miriam died and was buried. From that scene of rejoicing on the shores of the Red Sea, when Israel went forth with song and dance to celebrate Jehovah’s triumph, to the wilderness grave which ended a lifelong wandering—such had been the fate of millions who with high hopes had come forth from Egypt. Sin had dashed from their lips the cup of blessing. Would the next generation learn the lesson?”
    After leaving Egypt and especially after crossing the Red Sea, the children of Israel were excited. They had all promised to be faithful and follow the Lord. We still have the same experiences today. When people get excited, they say, “O, we are going to finish the work in the next three to four years. We have a short-wave radio station. We’re going to reach the whole world.” The Lord allows things to develop so that the excitement wears off and the real heart is revealed. Often the situation takes a completely different turn. The Israelites thought they would be in the Promised Land in a few short months.

While they waited for Moses to return from the mount where he met with the Lord, the patience of the Israelites was tested. Led on by the mixed multitude that had left Egypt with them, they determined that they would not remain in the wilderness. Some wanted to go back to Egypt while others wanted to go forward to the Promised Land. One thing was sure—they did not want to stay in the wilderness. They had made their decision. However, they sinned and all died in the wilderness. “Sin had dashed from their lips the cup of blessing.” Ibid.

  1. In Hebrews 3:18, Paul explains it again. He says, “They did not obey.” There are many people today who want to be religious but they never understand the role that obedience must play as part of their religion.
  2. In Hebrews 4:3, Paul says that they did not enter into His rest.
  3. In Hebrews 3:19, Paul says, they could not enter into the Promised Land. These people had to die in the wilderness because of their unbelief. When the Bible talks about belief or unbelief, the same words can be translated faith or doubt. Unbelief means you do not trust what God has said enough to do what He says and put it into practice. We all need to pray to the Lord that we might have belief and never be a victim of unbelief. Life dishes up many situations where because of the circumstances Satan tempts unbelief.

John the Baptist said in John 3:35, 36, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Unbelief will prohibit you from entering into the Promised Land.
Remember, these things are examples or types. The wilderness is the experience that we are going through right now in this world and represents the biggest cemetery. The land of Canaan is the Promised Land. It represents a land in heaven where God is going to take all of His faithful ones. The choices we make day by day will determine if we will make it or die in the wilderness. This death is not just temporal but is the loss of eternal life. Many Israelites who died in the wilderness will not be in the heavenly Canaan.

  1. Concerning the Israelite wandering, it says in Hebrews 4:1, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” This appears to be a description of people who are trying to get there but they never make it. This would make the worst kind of nightmare, with your mind all confused about everything, thinking that somebody is chasing but you cannot get away from them. It seems that the faster you run, you can never get away till something wakes you up. You come short. “They came short.” Tragically, they never made it.
  2. In Hebrews 4:2 is an especially sad reason for failure of the Israelites to enter the Promised Land. Paul says, “The gospel was preached to us as well as to them.” The Israelites had the gospel. We have the gospel, the good news of salvation through Jesus, and it is not complicated. Jesus said, “If you believe in Me, you have eternal life” (John 3:16). In the gospel of John that statement is made in different language over, and over, and over again. The word believe does not merely make reference to a mental assent, but it has reference to putting your trust in somebody. The Israelites had the gospel, but these people died in the wilderness. How can you perish if you have the gospel? Paul says that the gospel did not do them any good; it did not profit them because it was “not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Hebrews 4:2.
  3. In I Corinthians 10:6, Paul says, “We should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.” When God took them into the wilderness, He put them on a different diet from that which they had been used to in Egypt. They were given some health reform principles, which you can read in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These included sanitation, quarantine, disease control, cleanliness, and diet. They did not like the health reform and wanted flesh food and more highly spiced food than the manna that was provided for them. Paul says, “Do not lust after evil things.” They lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt.

There is tremendous resistance in Adventism today against health reform. The Bible says in Psalms that they were eating angel’s food (Psalm 78:25) and they didn’t like it. They preferred the food they had become used to while in Egypt. The manna provided was such that throughout all their wanderings in the wilderness, their feet never swelled up, even though they walked many miles in the desert. Although they remained in perfect health, they continually grumbled and complained.

  1. In I Corinthians 10:7, Paul says, “Do not become idolaters as were some of them.” Idolatry is a huge subject. When I was a child I never thought I was an idolater. I did not worship idols. I never fell down before them. So I thought I was not an idolater. Spending time in Myanmar with my missionary parents, I had witnessed people kneeling down to a huge image of Buddha, but we were Christians. We did not kneel down to it. How shallow is often our understanding of idolatry. In I John 2:15, 16, the apostle warns about making idols of worldly things. People make many things into idols.
  2. In I Corinthians 10:8, Paul says, “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did.”
  3. In I Corinthians 10:9, Paul says, “Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted.” With all the evidence at the Red Sea and the manna never failing to fall to sustain them, the Israelites still questioned the presence of the Lord. They queried if the Lord was with them. (See Exodus 17:1–3.) Could we be guilty of the same kind of thinking? “Well, if God was with me, then this would not happen to me.”
  4. Paul says, “Don’t complain like they did.”

Because of all these things, they were not allowed into the Promised Land and had to die in the wilderness. The wilderness became their cemetery, the biggest cemetery in the world.

The Lord has led modern Israel, us, out of Egypt, and we are on a journey through the wilderness on our way to the land that He has promised us. The question remains to be answered if modern Israel will reach the Promised Land and be allowed to enter or will she die in the wilderness as did Israel before her. The devil is determined to claim her as his and cause modern Israel to die in the wilderness, as did ancient Israel. He was successful enough the last time that there were only two who went in and he wants to make the same thing happen again. Ellen White says, “Today Satan is using the same devising to introduce the same evils and his efforts are followed by the same results that in the days of Israel laid so many in their graves.” The Review and Herald, February 4, 1909.

Our carnal traits of character are not to be retained. An honest perusal of the above list will bring the conviction that many of us have been guilty of some of the same things. That being the case, what are we going to do about it? The choice remains with us. We can continue to hold on to our wrong traits of character and continue wandering or make a complete surrender to Jesus. In The Youth Instructor, March 5, 1903, we are told: “God will call us to account if we retain wrong traits of character, refusing to call to our aid the power of the Word, and in the name of Jesus correct our faults and subdue the passions of the natural heart. Many enthrone Satan in the heart, to triumph over Christ by the indulgence of evil inclinations. Sin reigns where Christ should reign. Those who thus continue to cherish sin can never be saved as they are.”

Cherished sin causes a condition in which you cannot be saved. “Unless they change, they will never enter heaven themselves, and they make very difficult the path of those who are trying to overcome. Their faulty, unconsecrated lives place them on the side of the power of darkness, while they are professedly on the side of Christ. Jesus makes them the objects of His tender solicitude and unwearied labor, until, notwithstanding all His efforts, they become fixed in sin. Then those over whom He has wept and yearned in love and compassion are left to pursue their own course. The Saviour turns from them, saying, sadly, They are joined to their idols; let them alone. God forbid that this should be said of us.” Ibid.

“Many who, like ancient Israel, profess to keep God’s commandments have hearts of unbelief while outwardly observing the statutes of God. Although favored with great light and precious privileges, they will nevertheless lose the heavenly Canaan, even as the rebellious Israelites failed to enter the earthly Canaan that God had promised them as the reward of their obedience.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 162.

It is too late in earth’s history to continue playing games. The Lord knows your spiritual condition and whether you have made a complete surrender and are willing to forsake all your sins.

When all others had apostatized, Caleb and Joshua committed their case to the Lord. If you are willing to commit your case to the Lord, He can save you. “Satan stands at our right hand to accuse us, and our advocate stands at God’s right hand to plead for us. He has never lost a case that has been committed to Him.” The Review and Herald, August 15, 1893.

You may be the weakest, most sinful person and be in a lot of trouble right now; you may think that your sin is so great that you will never get out of here. In fact, you will not, unless somebody leads you out. That Somebody Who can lead you out is Jesus Christ. He is the only Way out of the wilderness and He has never lost a case that has been fully committed to Him.

“He [Jesus] is making intercession for the most lowly, the most oppressed and suffering, for the most tried and tempted ones.” Ibid. “He will help His believing children in every emergency if they will place their entire confidence in Him, and implicitly obey Him.” The Review and Herald, March 15, 1887.

Bible texts are from NKJV unless otherwise noted.

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

Question and Answer – What is the “great gulf” in Luke 16:26?

The Gulf of Disobedience

“The closing scenes of this earth’s history are portrayed in the closing of the rich man’s history. The rich man claimed to be a son of Abraham, but he was separated from Abraham by an impassable gulf—a character wrongly developed. Abraham served God, following His word in faith and obedience. But the rich man was unmindful of God and of the needs of suffering humanity. The great gulf fixed between him and Abraham was the gulf of disobedience. There are many today who are following the same course. Though church members, they are unconverted. They may take part in the church service, they may chant the psalm, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1); but they testify to a falsehood. They are no more righteous in God’s sight than is the veriest sinner. The soul that longs after the excitement of worldly pleasure, the mind that is full of love for display, cannot serve God. Like the rich man in the parable, such a one has no inclination to war against the lust of the flesh. He longs to indulge appetite. He chooses the atmosphere of sin. He is suddenly snatched away by death, and he goes down to the grave with the character formed during his lifetime in copartnership with Satanic agencies. In the grave he has no power to choose anything, be it good or evil; for in the day when a man dies, his thoughts perish (Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6).

“When the voice of God awakes the dead, he will come from the grave with the same appetites and passions, the same likes and dislikes, that he cherished when living. God works no miracle to re-create a man who would not be re-created when he was granted every opportunity and provided with every facility. During his lifetime he took no delight in God, nor found pleasure in His service. His character is not in harmony with God, and he could not be happy in the heavenly family.

“Today there is a class in our world who are self-righteous. They are not gluttons, they are not drunkards, they are not infidels; but they desire to live for themselves, not for God. He is not in their thoughts; therefore they are classed with unbelievers. Were it possible for them to enter the gates of the city of God, they could have no right to the tree of life, for when God’s commandments were laid before them with all their binding claims they said, No. They have not served God here; therefore they would not serve Him hereafter. They could not live in His presence, and they would feel that any place was preferable to heaven.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 269, 270.

Inspiration – Some Who Will Not Be There

CAIN—Notwithstanding that Cain had by his crimes merited the sentence of death, a merciful Creator still spared his life, and granted him opportunity for repentance. But Cain lived only to harden his heart, to encourage rebellion against the divine authority, and to become the head of a line of bold, abandoned sinners. This one apostate, led on by Satan, became a tempter to others; and his example and influence exerted their demoralizing power, until the earth became so corrupt and filled with violence as to call for its destruction.

LOT’S WIFE—If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels’ warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom. But his hesitancy and delay caused her to lightly regard the divine warning. While her body was upon the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and her children in the ruin. Although so greatly favored in being called out from the wicked city, she felt that she was severely dealt with, because the wealth that it had taken years to accumulate must be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she presumptuously looked back to desire the life of those who had rejected the divine warning. Her sin showed her to be unworthy of life, for the preservation of which she felt so little gratitude.

KING SAUL—Saul knew that in this last act, of consulting the witch of Endor, he cut the last shred which held him to God. He knew that if he had not before willfully separated himself from God, this act sealed that separation, and made it final. He had made an agreement with death, and a covenant with hell. The cup of his iniquity was full.

JUDAS—God has appointed means, if we will use them diligently and prayerfully, that no vessel shall be shipwrecked, but outride the tempest and storm, and anchor in the haven of bliss at last. But if we despise and neglect these appointments and privileges, God will not work a miracle to save any of us, and we will be lost as were Judas and Satan.

HEROD, HERODIAS, PILATE, AND INDIVIDUALS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION—And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes—the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.

The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the picture of their own work. Each actor recalls the part which he performed. Herod, who slew the innocent children of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel; the base Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of John the Baptist; the weak, timeserving Pilate; the mocking soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:25)! all behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun, while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, exclaiming: “He died for me!”

Those who derided His claim to be the Son of God are speechless now. There is the haughty Herod who jeered at His royal title and bade the mocking soldiers crown Him king. There are the very men who with impious hands placed upon His form the purple robe, upon His sacred brow the thorny crown, and in His unresisting hand the mimic scepter, and bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery. The men who smote and spit upon the Prince of life now turn from His piercing gaze and seek to flee from the overpowering glory of His presence. Those who drove the nails through His hands and feet, the soldier who pierced His side, behold these marks with terror and remorse.

With awful distinctness do priests and rulers recall the events of Calvary. With shuddering horror they remember how, wagging their heads in satanic exultation, they exclaimed: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him.” Matthew 27:42, 43.

Vividly they recall the Saviour’s parable of the husbandmen who refused to render to their lord the fruit of the vineyard, who abused his servants and slew his son. They remember, too, the sentence which they themselves pronounced: The lord of the vineyard “will miserably destroy those wicked men” (Matthew 21:41). In the sin and punishment of those unfaithful men the priests and elders see their own course and their own just doom. And now there rises a cry of mortal agony. Louder than the shout, “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (John 19:15), which rang through the streets of Jerusalem, swells the awful, despairing wail, “He is the Son of God! He is the true Messiah!” They seek to flee from the presence of the King of kings. In the deep caverns of the earth, rent asunder by the warring of the elements, they vainly attempt to hide.

NERO AND HIS MOTHER; PAPAL PRIESTS AND PONTIFFS—Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ, the heroic Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving John, and their truehearted brethren, and with them the vast host of martyrs; while outside the walls, with every vile and abominable thing, are those by whom they were persecuted, imprisoned, and slain. There is Nero, that monster of cruelty and vice, beholding the joy and exaltation of those whom he once tortured, and in whose extremest anguish he found satanic delight. His mother is there to witness the result of her own work; to see how the evil stamp of character transmitted to her son, the passions encouraged and developed by her influence and example, have borne fruit in crimes that caused the world to shudder.

There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to be Christ’s ambassadors, yet employed the rack, the dungeon, and the stake to control the consciences of His people. There are the proud pontiffs who exalted themselves above God and presumed to change the law of the Most High. Those pretended fathers of the church have an account to render to God from which they would fain be excused. Too late they are made to see that the Omniscient One is jealous of His law and that He will in no wise clear the guilty. They learn now that Christ identifies His interest with that of His suffering people; and they feel the force of His own words: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40).

Heaven, 106–110.

Bible Study Guides – The Last Enemy

December 4, 2016 – December 10, 2016

Key Text

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).

Study Help: The Great Controversy, 531–550.

Introduction

“Pain cannot exist in the atmosphere of heaven. There will be no more tears, no funeral trains, no badges of mourning.” The Great Controversy, 676.

Sunday

1 DEATH’S ORIGIN AND THE FIRST GREAT LIE

  • With what was the first Biblical mention of death associated? Genesis 2:17. What lie was told by the serpent in a conversation that took place at this tree? Genesis 3:1–4.

Note: “The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden—‘Ye shall not surely die’ (Genesis 3:4)—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom and is received by the majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents. The divine sentence, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Ezekiel 18:20), is made to mean: The soul that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so credulous concerning the words of Satan and so unbelieving in regard to the words of God.” The Great Controversy, 533.

  • When faced with temptation to eat from this tree, what did the first pair do? Genesis 3:6. What came as a result of this sin? Romans 5:12; 6:23.

Note: “It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death.” The Great Controversy, 668.

Monday

2 THE NATURE OF DEATH

  • How did God bring body and breath together to give life to the first person? Genesis 2:7. What happens when a soul dies? Psalm 146:4.
  • What control does a person have over death, and what state does one enter upon dying? Psalm 6:5; 89:48; 115:17; Ecclesiastes 8:8; 9:5.

Note: “Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of consciousness in death—a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of humanity. According to the popular belief, the redeemed in heaven are acquainted with all that takes place on the earth and especially with the lives of the friends whom they have left behind. But how could it be a source of happiness to the dead to know the troubles of the living, to witness the sins committed by their own loved ones, and to see them enduring all the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? How much of heaven’s bliss would be enjoyed by those who were hovering over their friends on earth? And how utterly revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body the soul of the impenitent is consigned to the flames of hell! To what depths of anguish must those be plunged who see their friends passing to the grave unprepared, to enter upon an eternity of woe and sin! Many have been driven to insanity by this harrowing thought.” The Great Controversy, 545.

  • What did Jesus say about death? Matthew 9:18, 19, 23, 24; John 11:11–14.

Note: “Christ represents death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the last trump shall sound those who die will sleep in Him.” The Desire of Ages, 527.

  • How did the apostle Peter signify that a righteous person does not go immediately to heaven upon death? Acts 2:29, 34.

Tuesday

3 THE SERPENT’S LIE RETOLD

  • How were the Israelites warned against heathen customs involving supposed communication with the dead? Leviticus 19:28; Deuteronomy 14:1.

Note: “Nearly all forms of ancient sorcery and witchcraft were founded upon a belief in communion with the dead. Those who practiced the arts of necromancy claimed to have intercourse with departed spirits, and to obtain through them a knowledge of future events. …

“This same belief in communion with the dead formed the cornerstone of heathen idolatry. The gods of the heathen were believed to be the deified spirits of departed heroes. Thus the religion of the heathen was a worship of the dead. …

“The deification of the dead has held a prominent place in nearly every system of heathenism, as has also the supposed communion with the dead. The gods were believed to communicate their will to men, and also, when consulted, to give them counsel. Of this character were the famous oracles of Greece and Rome.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 684.

  • How was King Saul led to seek counsel from Satan under the guise of the supposed spirit of the dead prophet? I Samuel 28:7–14.
  • What should be the perspective of every true worshiper of the living God? Isaiah 8:19, 20.

Note: “If men had been willing to receive the truth so plainly stated in the Scriptures concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, they would see in the claims and manifestations of spiritualism the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders. But rather than yield the liberty so agreeable to the carnal heart, and renounce the sins which they love, multitudes close their eyes to the light and walk straight on, regardless of warnings, while Satan weaves his snares about them, and they become his prey. ‘Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,’ therefore ‘God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie’ (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11).” The Great Controversy, 559.

Wednesday

4 CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH

  • Who controls life and death? Psalm 68:20; Revelation 1:18. Although He holds the keys of death, what did Jesus do? Hebrews 2:9; Acts 2:24.

Note: “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. ‘He that hath the Son hath life’ (1 John 5:12). The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life. ‘He that believeth in Me,’ said Jesus, ‘though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ (John 11:25, 26). Christ here looks forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous shall be translated to heaven without seeing death. … By His word and His works He declared Himself the Author of the resurrection. He who Himself was soon to die upon the cross stood with the keys of death, a conqueror of the grave, and asserted His right and power to give eternal life.” The Desire of Ages, 530.

  • What has Jesus done to death? 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14, 15.

Note: “The question, ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ has been answered. By bearing the penalty of sin, by going down into the grave, Christ has brightened the tomb for all who die in faith. God in human form has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. In dying, Christ secured eternal life for all who believe in Him. In dying, He condemned the originator of sin and disloyalty to suffer the penalty of sin—eternal death.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 230, 231.

  • In contrast to death’s penalty, what is God’s gift? Romans 6:23; John 3:16.

Note: “To the believer, Christ is the resurrection and the life. In our Saviour the life that was lost through sin is restored; for He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will.” The Desire of Ages, 786, 787.

“All believers who pass through a natural death, have, through eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, eternal life in them, which is the life of Jesus Christ. In dying, Jesus has made it impossible for those who believe on Him to die eternally.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 926.

Thursday

5 DEATH DESTROYED

  • What happens after the first and second resurrections? Revelation 20:4–15.

Note: “At the close of the thousand years, Christ … bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. … What a contrast to those who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked bear the traces of disease and death.” The Great Controversy, 662.

  • What will finally happen to all the wicked? Matthew 13:40–42. Rather than eternal punishment, what is inflicted on them? Malachi 4:1–3.

Note: “Some [of the wicked] are destroyed as in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished ‘according to their deeds’ (Psalm 28:4). … He [Satan] is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit. His punishment is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on. In the cleansing flames the wicked are at last destroyed, root and branch—Satan the root, his followers the branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the demands of justice have been met; and heaven and earth, beholding, declare the righteousness of Jehovah.” The Great Controversy, 673.

  • What will happen to even death itself? I Corinthians 15:26; Revelation 21:4.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 How was death introduced to this world?

2 What state does a person enter after death?

3 How was the first lie of the serpent perpetuated throughout history?

4 What has Christ done to the curse of death?

5 How do we know that the wicked are not left to burn eternally?

Copyright © 2015 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive? Chapter 4

by Danny Vierra

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive booklChapter 4 – The Thunder of Justice and the Marian Movement

The world is ready and ripe for this almost overpowering deception. In fact, the December, 1996, issue of Life magazine featured, on its front cover, a picture of a statue of Mary and the caption: “Two thousand years after the Nativity, the mother of Jesus is more BELOVED, POWERFUL, and CONTROVERSIAL than ever. The Mystery of MARY.” The ending of this article was especially of interest to me. It stated: “Mary… might lead to an ecumenical reunion of Christian churches . It might lead to a closer understanding of the teenage girl who gave birth in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. We could come to know Mary…

“Can we ask this simple girl to guide what has become not a cult but a huge and passionate congregation, a movement requiring a hero, a worldwide flock that has long demanded more of her? That has demanded, in some instances, that she deliver her message herself? I wonder: If Mary became merely human— if people could truly touch Mary— would Mary be enough?”

Please beware, friends, of the expositors of this type of thinking, who also refer to Mary as “Co- Redeemer, Mediator, and Advocate.” First of all, nowhere in the Bible is there any reference to the Virgin Mary as being man’s “Co- redeemer.” The prophet Isaiah, when writing about Jesus Christ, said the following: “And thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer , the mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 60: 16). In the New Testament, the apostles Paul and Peter each made poignant statements when referring to the price that was paid and the blood that was shed for man’s redemption. Paul said: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God [not Mary] in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” And Peter tells us what the purchase price was: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold… But with the precious blood of Christ , as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (I Cor. 6: 19, 20; I Pet. 1: 18, 19). There can be, then, only one Redeemer— Jesus Christ, the One Who paid the ransom price of His life’s blood, thus giving up an infinite life for a lost human race. Secondly, how can Mary be our “Mediator” when the Bible explicitly warns: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name [than that of Jesus Christ— see verse 10] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved ” and “For there is one God, and one mediator [not two] between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”? (Acts 4: 12; I Timothy 2: 5). Obviously, Jesus is the only Being qualified to be mankind’s Mediator. And thirdly, would the mother of Jesus ever claim to be our “Advocate” when I John 2: 1 says: “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ”? If the true Virgin Mary were alive, would she contradict the words of her Son? Yet, the book, The Thunder of Justice , which records many of the so- called statements made by the counterfeit Virgin Mary to different people around the world, says that Mary’s role is that of “Co- Redeemer, Mediatrix, and Advocate.” “While Calvary was first and foremost the scene of Our Lord’s Passion and death, it also caused Our Lady to suffer hidden and mystical wounds. No longer does God want the precious wounds of Our Lady to be hidden. Rather, His people are to understand the tremendous purification mankind received and will receive through devotion to Mary’s Hidden and Mystical wounds .” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 29). As if she were crucified for us also! or had an infinite life to give!

Friends, was it Mary’s wounds that Isaiah wrote about in his famous Chapter 53? Was she the one “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”? Was she the one “bruised for our iniquities”? or the one brought “as a lamb to the slaughter”? No! No! It was Christ! Isaiah did not mince his words when he wrote: “Surely He hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed…. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted…. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” (Is. 53: 4- 9). It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who said: “I have trodden the winepress alone [or by Myself]; and of the people there was none with Me [not even Mary].” (Is. 63: 3).

Yet, The Thunder of Justice further claims that when the so-called Mary appears to people, some of the other blasphemous titles she uses to identify herself are the following: “The Lady of All Nations,” “The Guardian of the Faith,” “The Immaculate Conception,” “The Pure Sinless One,” “The Mother of the Church,” “Queen of the Holy Rosary,” “Our Lady of Guadalupe” (which means, “She Who Crushes the Serpent”), “His Immaculate Spouse [of the Holy Spirit],” “The Second Eve” or “The New Eve,” “The Queen of the World,” “The Queen of Heaven,” and, last but not least, “The Queen of the Coming Age.”

Please do not think that I am being disrespectful toward Mary by writing this book, for I hope and pray I will meet her on Resurrection Day, when the saints come forth from the grave.

She was indeed a wonderful Christian lady. That is why God chose her to be the mother of the Messiah. But when Satan uses her image as his means of deceiving souls , as a watchman on the walls of Zion, I must blow the trumpet. Therefore, I must take the time to expose the blasphemy implied by some of these names. First, let me address the title of “The Immaculate Conception” together with “The Pure Sinless One.” Did you know that when you mention the name “Immaculate Conception,” almost everyone believes the title applies to the virgin birth of Jesus? But that is incorrect. The Immaculate Conception, which is a Roman Catholic doctrine, doesn’t apply to Jesus at all. It refers to the birth of the Virgin Mary, who, according to the Roman Catholic Church, was conceived without the stain of original sin (see Webster’s Dictionary). This is why she is called “The Pure Sinless One.” The Bible, on the contrary, tells us plainly that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and “there is none righteous, no not one .” (Romans 3: 23; 3: 10). Besides this, it is very clear from the genealogical records in the Bible and from the fact that Mary was a full- blooded Israelite that she was descended from Abraham on both sides of her family. Now notice this statement by the apostle Paul in Hebrews 2: 16 concerning the human nature of Jesus: “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.” And Abraham dwelt in fallen, human flesh 2000 years after Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden and several centuries after God destroyed the world by a Flood for the great wickedness of man. Yet, the Catholic Church and the Marian Movement would like us to believe that Mary was holy. In fact, the well- known Catholic prayer, “Hail Mary,” includes the words: “Holy Mary , Mother of God , pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” which words the Roman Catholic Church admits in A Catechism of Christian Doctrine, p. 27, were composed by the Church itself under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, not once in Scripture is Mary called “holy Mary,” but, on the contrary, the Scriptures authored by the Holy Spirit (II Pet. 1: 21), when referring to Jesus, call Him “that holy thing” and “Thy holy child Jesus.” (Luke 1: 35; Acts 4: 30). Christ is the only person in the Bible whose human birth is described thus!

Still again, The Thunder of Justice contradicts the Word of God when referring to what has been labeled the “Assumption”: “Mary was assumed into heaven… Because of her sinlessness, her body did not have to undergo corruption in the grave …. The Church has always held the truth about Mary’s Assumption, and in 1950 it was formally declared to be part of the Catholic dogma by Pope Pius XII .” (Ibid., p. 44). This doctrine, therefore, has now received the stamp of papal infallibility. But has it the stamp of Scriptural authority? If we study our Bibles to see whether “those things were so,” as did the faithful Bereans as recorded in Acts 17: 11, we will, in fact, learn that the only mortals that have been taken into heaven from Adam unto this day are Enoch, Moses, Elijah, and many saints that were resurrected with Christ when He rose from the dead. The Bible says of Enoch: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5: 24); of Elijah, the Word says: “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (II Kings 2: 1); of Moses, Jude 9 says: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,” and Matthew 17: 1- 3 says that when Jesus was “transfigured…. there appeared unto them [Peter, James, and John] Moses and Elias [Elijah] talking with Him.” In this awesome scene, Jesus had given to the three disciples that were watching, a glimpse of His glory, and the two mighty men of God that appeared with Him were perfect representatives of every person who will be saved throughout history. Moses, though having died, was resurrected by Christ, and thus, as it were, was a pledge to all who die in Christ— that they, too, will come forth from the grave at the resurrection of the righteous (John 5: 28, 29; I Thess. 4: 16), and Elijah was a type of all the saved who will be alive and translated when Christ comes the second time. (I Thess. 4: 17). To see that such is a proper interpretation, read Matthew 16: 27, 28— 17: 1- 3 and compare with Peter’s own evaluation in II Peter 1: 16- 18.

In addition to the three patriarchs mentioned above, there was a host of saints that came out of their graves at Christ’s resurrection. Matthew 27: 51- 53 states: “The earth did quake… And the graves were opened: and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Ephesians 4: 8 tells us that these people, more trophies, were taken to Heaven at Christ’s ascension: “Wherefore he saith, When He ascended up on high, He led Captivity captive (or “a multitude of captives”— margin ), and gave gifts unto men.” These heroes of faith were raised as a part of the antitypical offering of “firstfruits” from the grave with Jesus and as a pledge of the final great harvest of the rest of the redeemed on Resurrection Day at His Second Coming! On the other hand, it is also interesting to note that in addition to the definition given to the word “Assumption” by the Roman Catholic Church— namely, “the bodily taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary”— the word’s primary definition, according to Webster’s College Dictionary, is: “something taken for granted; a supposition; or to assume as true.” Today I know more about the “Assumption” than when I was attending Catholic schools, because while there, I assumed it was truth.

Furthermore, I find it strange that the Apostle John, who lived a number of years after all the other disciples had died and who wrote the Gospel of John and the Apocalypse during the mid 90’s A. D. (when he was an old man), never once mentioned anything about Mary’s having been taken to Heaven, as Rome claims. John, of all the disciples, would have been the final authority on this matter. Please notice why. As Christ’s death on the cross drew near, Jesus beheld His mother and His Disciple John standing beside her at the foot of the cross. As He gazed into her grief- stricken face and then upon John, “He saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her… unto his own home .” (John 19: 26, 27). Christ had made John His mother’s caretaker for as long as she should live! “John understood Christ’s words, and accepted the trust. He at once took Mary to his home, and from that hour he cared for her tenderly. O pitiful, loving Saviour; amid all His physical pain and mental anguish, He had a thoughtful care for His mother…. and in receiving her as a sacred trust, John was receiving a great blessing. She was a constant reminder of his beloved Master .” (The Desire of Ages, p. 752). And John wrote about this matter in the Gospel of John not long before his own death, at a time when Mary, his senior by 25 to 30 years or more, was undoubtedly dead. Why, then, did not John record anything about her “Assumption” in Sacred Writ? Because it just did not happen! For she, just like the beloved apostle, is peacefully sleeping in the grave until that climactic day when she will once again hear the voice of her Son, calling her from the grave on Resurrection Morn!

But it is true that Mary was “highly favoured” [or graciously accepted— see Bible margin] by God and “blessed… among women” (Luke 1: 28), because she had been chosen by God to conceive [miraculously]… in her womb “and bring forth a son,” whose name she should call “Jesus.” (Luke 1: 31). But, the very next verse pinpoints the only One in the verse who deserves to be extolled: “He [Jesus] shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1: 32, 33). In fact, just a few verses later, after Mary had conceived and had gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth, Mary plainly declares with her own lips: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour .” (Luke 1: 46, 47). Please notice, that Mary humbly acknowledged that the child within her womb was the Son of God— the long- promised Messiah and Deliverer of mankind, Who had consented to become a member of the human race in order to save it, Whom she was to name Jesus, and Who was, just as He is for every person in the world, her Saviour —for the name Jesus means “Jehovah is salvation, or “Saviour” [Matt. 1: 21, margin].

Mary held no illusions that she was the “Mother of God” [words of Catholic origin and part of the “Hail Mary”], for no member of the Godhead had an original mother. “Yahweh” (or “Jehovah”) was the “Self- existent One,” the basic meaning of the term, or the Great “I AM.” Moses, who talked with the “I AM” for a period of forty years, clearly understood this. In Psalm 90, of which he is the author, he wrote, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” And the prophecy in Micah 5: 2 that pinpointed Bethlehem of Judea as the birthplace of the promised Messiah describes Him as One “Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting [‘ the days of eternity’— margin].” Rather, Mary realized that she was “blessed among women” to be so “highly favoured” as to become the human instrument by which a member of the Godhead could become incarnate as a human being to effect the rescue of a lost human race. She was the mother of the Messiah, the God- man, when He transferred His original existence into a human one. He became the Son of man, but He remained Deity— the Son of God.

Mary always knew and kept her proper place. When Gabriel told her of the miraculous manner in which she would conceive a child through the agency of the Holy Spirit and that “therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God…. For with God nothing shall be impossible,” her humble response was, “Behold the handmaid [female slave, Greek] of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1: 35, 37, 38). The word “handmaid” in the Greek is doule, which means slave, involuntary or voluntary (as in Mary’s case). The word actually describes real slavery, bondage, or servitude; but even when its usage was meant to be qualified to indicate a perceived relationship to another, as in Mary’s foregoing acknowledgment, it still indicated an attitude of subjection or subserviency by the user. In any event, it is obvious from Mary’s words that she was very humbly compliant with God’s will.

This is also apparent again when she arrives at the home of her cousin Elizabeth, mother- tobe of John the Baptist— Christ’s messenger to announce His arrival and mission— and exchanges initial greetings with her, both being under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. After Elizabeth had acknowledged Mary as “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1: 43), Mary replied, as already noted above, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. ” But note carefully her attitude expressed in her next remarks: “For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” (Luke 1: 46- 48). “Low” in the Greek comes from a word with the connotation of “humiliation” or “abasement,” and is very appropriately used with her choice of “handmaiden,” or submissive “female slave.” She is saying, “Socially, prestige- wise, I am a nobody.” But then she quickly acknowledges the fact that it is the child she bears Who is the Hero and Whose mighty achievements will be so wonderful and so permanent that all future generations, even in eternity, will call her “blessed” for being the willing human agent, in cooperation with God, to make the reality of mankind’s redemption possible. It is hard to imagine a woman who possessed such demonstrated humility now emerging in today’s world as a person assuming such presumptuous titles and boastful achievements as those listed in this chapter, which exalt her to a position of Deity. Interestingly enough, there is not one prayer to Mary in the entire Bible— not one instance of her miraculously helping anyone, nor any promise that she could or would. Jesus is the Savior of the world, the Lamb that was slain, the Sin- bearer with whose stripes and wounds we are healed, the Resurrection and the Life, our High Priest and Mediator before the Father, the “Seed” of the woman who would crush the “serpent’s” head, the descendant of David who was to become ruler on David’s throne forever and ever. In fact, dear friends, notice this beautiful and unequivocal prophecy of the Messiah’s birth and eventual rulership on the throne of His human ancestor David as given by the “gospel prophet” Isaiah: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God , The Everlasting Father , The Prince of Peace . Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9: 6, 7). This prophecy, dear friend, includes all of Heaven’s intent!

Go to Chapter 5 ⇒

All emphases in this article are mine.
Published by Modern Manna Ministries

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive? Chapter 3

by Danny Vierra

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive booklChapter 3 – Modern Day Spiritualism– a Masterpiece of Deception

So why the deception? Because spiritualism lives! As long as there is a devil, there will be spiritualism. And as long as spiritualism lives, the lie— that in death there is continuing life— will be perpetuated! And this bias will often affect the work of otherwise well- meaning translators. Have you not noticed how more and more movies and their plots are being centered around the dead communicating with the living? Satan is working with added enthusiasm in these last days, because he knows that his time is short and that one of his best tools for bringing the world under his deceptive control is spiritualism, based on his great lie that there is in man an immortal spirit that continues on after death and that it is possible for the living to receive vital light and benefit by communicating with the spirits of dead loved ones. These cherished dead can be convincingly impersonated in form, feature, sound of voice, and factual information unknown except by the living participant( s) and the “dead” communicant, as well as by Satan and his fallen angels, who are constantly seeking to cause the multitudes of earth to follow a demonic agenda in direct opposition to Christ’s great gospel commission to prepare the world for His coming and the final end of Satan and his kingdom.

Thus, “the doctrine of man’s consciousness in death, especially the belief that the spirits of the dead return to minister to the living, has prepared the way for modern spiritualism. If the dead are admitted to the presence of God and holy angels, and privileged with knowledge far exceeding what they before possessed, why should they not return to the earth to enlighten and instruct the living? If, as taught by popular theologians, the spirits of the dead are hovering about their friends on earth, why should they not be permitted to communicate with them, to warn them against evil, or to comfort them in sorrow? How can those who believe in man’s consciousness in death reject what comes to them as divine light communicated from glorified spirits? Here is a channel regarded as sacred, through which Satan works for the accomplishment of his purposes. The fallen angels who do his bidding appear as messengers from the spirit world. While professing to bring the living into communication with the dead, the prince of evil exercises his bewitching influence upon their minds.

“He has power to bring before men the appearance of their departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect; the familiar look, the words, the tone, are reproduced with marvelous distinctness. Many are comforted with the assurance that their loved ones are enjoying the bliss of heaven; and without suspicion of danger, they give ear ‘to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. ’

“When they have been led to believe that the dead actually return to communicate with them, Satan causes those to appear who went into the grave unprepared. They claim to be happy in heaven and even to occupy exalted positions there, and thus the error is widely taught that no difference is made between the righteous and the wicked. The pretended visitants from the world of spirits sometimes utter cautions and warnings which prove to be correct. Then, as confidence is gained, they present doctrines that directly undermine faith in the Scriptures. With an appearance of deep interest in the well- being of their friends on earth, they insinuate the most dangerous errors. The fact that they state some truths, and are able at times to foretell future events, gives to their statements an appearance of reliability; and their false teachings are accepted by the multitudes as readily, and believed as implicitly, as if they were the most sacred truths of the Bible. The law of God is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised, the blood of the covenant counted an unholy thing. The spirits deny the deity of Christ and place even the Creator on a level with themselves. Thus under a new disguise the great rebel still carries on his warfare against God, begun in heaven and for nearly six thousand years continued upon this earth…. Many will be ensnared through the belief that spiritualism is a merely human imposture; when brought face to face with manifestations which they cannot but regard as supernatural, they will be deceived, and will be led to accept them as the great power of God.” (The Great Controversy, pp. 551- 553).

Therefore, Satan, in his efforts to deceive the very elect in these last days, will use his demons to impersonate our departed loved ones in the form of familiar spirits : boyfriends and girlfriends, grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. So why not a masterpiece of deception— a demon impersonating the mother of Jesus Christ!!!

Go to Chapter 4 ⇒

All emphases in this article are mine.
Published by Modern Manna Ministries

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive? Chapter 2

by Danny Vierra

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive booklChapter 2 – The First Lie– Man’s Immortality

In the very beginning of earth’s history, Satan, while in the form of a serpent, told the first lie to Eve. He told her that if she disobeyed the command of God not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she would “not surely die, ” even though God had expressly warned her that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die .” (See Genesis 3: 4; 2: 17). Satan treacherously assured her (another monstrous lie) that upon eating the fruit “your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods , knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3: 5). Friends, are we still believing the devil today? The Bible is quite clear that only God “hath immortality .” (I Tim. 6: 16). In fact, the Bible, on the other hand, contains a number of Scriptures that prove that mortal man receives not his immortality until the second coming of Christ— at the time of the resurrection. (I Cor. 15: 51- 55; John 5: 28, 29). Now please note these unequivocal and authoritative pronouncements on the condition of man in death from Ecclesiastes 9: 5 and 10: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything …. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

I remember the first time I ever read these Scriptures. I immediately wondered why I had always believed that a dead person could speak to me if he so chose. Was this another error of the Roman Church that had been sold to me by the priests? After all, according to the Bible, are not seances meetings in which the devil tries to send his deadly messages to unwary people through a human medium who is supposed to be able to communicate with the so- called spirits of the dead? The greatest of all seances in the Bible occurred when Saul went to the Witch of Endor , described in the Scriptures as “a woman that hath a familiar spirit”— that is, a woman who received messages from an evil angel who claimed to be the “spirit” of a particular dead person usually known to the seeker— and asked her to bring up Samuel from the dead since “the Lord answered him not , neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets?” (I Sam. 28: 6, 7). Since when does a man of God go to the devil for advice when the Lord explicitly said: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits,… to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God”? (Lev. 19: 31; see also Isa. 8: 19, 20). The Bible plainly states: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence;” for when a man dies, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish .” (Ps. 115: 17; 146: 4).

So why do most people, both Christians and non- Christians, believe the doctrine of the immortality of the soul? I believe the problem exists because of a misinterpretation of Scripture. In Genesis 2: 7, the Bible says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul.” The Hebrew word for “soul” used in this text is nephesh. Besides being translated 428 times as “soul” in the Old Testament, nephesh is also translated as the following: life— 119 times; person— 29 times; and creature— 19 times. “There is nothing in the words translated ‘soul’ or in their usage in the Bible that even remotely implies a conscious entity that survives the body after death, or that attributes immortality to it. Nephesh is not part of the person; it is the person!” (Bible Dictionary by Siegfried H. Horn, Ph. D., p. 1061).

I believe the confusion stems from a misinterpretation of verses like the following: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12: 7). Many people use this verse in an attempt to prove that the “soul” or “spirit” is, therefore, immortal and goes to God at the point of death. But, if you look at Job 27: 3, you will find a Scripture that will help you understand that the “spirit” is simply the breath of life by which man lives, and which is only lent him of God, and at death goes back to the Great Author of life—“ All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” The Hebrew word used here for spirit is ruach, which is defined in Gesenius’ Lexicon as follows: (a) spirit or breath; (b) breath of the nostrils; (c) breath of air. When the spirit, or breath of the nostrils, goes back to God, the body, made originally from the dust of the earth, now begins its process of going back to the earth as it was and ceases to function as normally, and the nonbreathing individual no longer exists as a living, conscious, thinking being, but will rest in the grave until he is called forth by the voice of Christ “at the last day.” (John 6: 39). “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice , And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation .” (John 5: 28, 29). The righteous dead will rise at the second coming of Christ and together with the living saints will meet the Lord in the air (see I Thess. 4: 15- 18), but the wicked dead will not rise until one thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20: 5). How can someone “live again” except he has first experienced having died?

By now, friends, you may be asking yourself the question: “How can the Virgin Mary be alive when the Bible so clearly tells us there is no consciousness in death?” To further establish the point, let us look at a few more Scriptures that prove that man is mortal. In the Book of Job, we read: “Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost [breatheth out; Strong’s Concordance], and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more [the heavens roll back at Christ’s second coming (Rev. 6: 14)], they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.” (Job 14: 10- 12). And if that weren’t clear enough, Job continues: “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come . Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.” (Job 14: 14, 15). Obviously, Job believed that he would sleep in the grave until Jesus called him out on Resurrection Morning. (See also Job 17: 13- 16). After all, it was Jesus who spoke of death as a sleep when referring to Lazarus’s state. He never once implied that Lazarus had gone to heaven, but, on the contrary, said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.” (John 11: 11). Then in John 11: 23, Jesus tells Martha, “Thy brother shall rise again,” and Martha responds, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus, in calling Lazarus from the tomb, said, “Lazarus, come forth (John 11: 43),” not “Lazarus, come up!” or “Lazarus, come down!” I believe that Jesus’ use of the word sleep is a very appropriate synonym when used in place of the word death (the first death), because the word implies a temporary state— a state from which every soul “shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt [the second death (see Rev. 20: 12- 14)].” (Daniel 12: 2).

The great teacher, the apostle Paul, clearly understood that he, too, would sleep in the grave until the second coming of Christ: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure [death] is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His [Christ’s] appearing.” (II Tim. 4: 6- 8). Paul knew, as did Martha, that not until the resurrection of the last day, at the second coming of Christ, would he receive the reward of eternal life and be changed from mortality to immortality. Remember, it was Paul who told us in the Sacred Word that mortal man will not put on immortality until the last trumpet blast that calls forth the righteous dead at the coming of Jesus: “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [for some will be living when Christ comes], but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible [the Virgin Mary also], and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [Please notice when this happens— not at death, but at the second coming of Christ].” (I Cor. 15: 51- 53). Earlier in the chapter, Paul stated: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man [Adam] came death, by man [Christ] came also the resurrection of the dead . For as in Adam all die , even so in Christ shall all be made alive . But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming .” (I Cor. 15: 20- 23).

To solidify this position, let us now look at the request of the thief on the cross, who was crucified next to Jesus as recorded in Luke, Chapter 23. The repentant thief, believing Jesus was indeed the Son of God, “said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” To this request Jesus responded, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou [thou shalt] be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 42, 43). Those who believe in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul often refer to these Scriptures to prove that the spirit of the dead goes immediately to Heaven at the time of death. But let us take a closer look at Luke 23. First, we need to understand that the comma placed before the word “today” was supplied by the translators. If you place it after the word “today,” it would then read, “Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 43). Second, Jesus did not ascend into Heaven as He died, for in John 20: 17, He told Mary in the early morning of His memorable resurrection: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father .” It should also be noted that this statement was made two days after His death on the cross. Thus, the repentant thief was given, that day [Good Friday— the day of the crucifixion], the assurance of eternal life and a place in Paradise, but he, as with the rest of the righteous dead, would not receive his reward until Jesus comes the second time. (See Rev. 22: 12).

Go to Chapter 3 ⇒

All emphases in this article are mine.
Published by Modern Manna Ministries

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive? Chapter 1

by Danny Vierra

Is the Virgin Mary Dead or Alive booklChapter 1 – My Early Adoration of the Virgin Mary

Growing up as a young Catholic boy in a middle- class family, I was sent by my parents to Annunciation School, where I received my grammar school education. While attending the school for eight years, I was required to attend Mass every Sunday at the Cathedral of the Annunciation, where I would eventually serve for a couple of years as an altar boy, assisting the priests. How I remember the beauty of the Cathedral— the 30- foot- high ceilings, the beautiful mosaic windows, the gold articles of furniture, the purple and scarlet colors, and the statues of the Saints, Mother Mary, and Baby Jesus.

It was not long before the Virgin Mary became as important to me as Jesus Himself. I had a fervent and devoted love for her. I prayed thousands of Hail Marys throughout my younger years, sometimes while kneeling in front of one of the statues of the “Mother of God.” Mary was everywhere. I remember the statue of the Madonna (Italian for my lady) in my mother’s garden and the Madonna vase on her dresser. In the vase were palm leaves, holy cards, and rosary beads. Because of my Italian heritage and my membership in the Church of Rome, I soon learned to respect and reverence the Virgin Mary as being holy and sacred. I heard her name mentioned far more times than that of Jesus, and she soon became my most precious “mediator” to the throne of God.

It was not until I graduated from Annunciation School [the “Annunciation,” according to Roman Catholic teachings, is the announcement which the Angel Gabriel made to the Virgin Mary when he told her that she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ, as related in Luke 1: 26- 38, and celebrated on March 25, as Lady Day] and was accepted into St. Mary’s High School [another school dedicated to the Virgin Mary], where I was to receive the next four years of my education, that I began to question the teachings of Catholicism. The nuns at Annunciation, who were my sole teachers for eight years, had taught me about our first parents, Adam and Eve, who were created by God and lived in the Garden of Eden. But while attending St. Mary’s, where I was to receive my higher education, I suffered a great disappointment that I will never forget. I remember so well the day the priest, who taught my religion class, told me, along with the other students, that the story of Adam and Eve was not to be taken literally. It was merely a story in the Bible— not a fact ! My world was shattered and my confidence in the teachings and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church was marred. I, therefore, began to question the system as a whole. Had I been lied to my first eight years of schooling? and were there other doctrines that I had been taught that were not true?

Twenty years later, I finally decided to search the Scriptures for myself. As I studied the Word of God, I discovered many truths that I had never learned while attending Catholic schools. In fact, I found many of the doctrines of Rome to be contrary to the Bible. One doctrine, for instance, was the doctrine of the immortality of the soul— the doctrine of man’s consciousness in death. What happens to a person when he dies? Does his soul live on forever in the form of a spirit that floats up into Heaven, where he will enjoy eternity, or down into Hell, where he will be tormented forever? How would the priests who “straightened me out” in regards to the Creation story explain these Scriptures: “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18: 20) and “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”? (Dan. 12: 2).

Have you noticed the thousands of billboards that have appeared throughout this country in the past few years urging you to call for a message from the Virgin Mary? “Why are two billion Hail Marys said daily? Why did five million people, many non- Christian, visit Lourdes this year to drink the healing waters? Why did more than 10 million trek to Guadalupe to pray to Our Lady? Why have 15,000 priests gone to Medjugorje since 1981? Why is it that more girls have been named for Mary than any other historical figure?… Why the need to talk with her? Why are Mary hymns creeping into Methodist songbooks?” (Life, Dec., 1996, p. 45). Where is the Virgin Mary right now, anyway? Is she in heaven with Jesus, or in New York, or in Florida? Or is she in the grave sleeping until Jesus comes? What about all the reported miracles, visions, appearances, messages, predictions, weeping statues, and bleeding icons? What is it about Mary? According to those of the “Marian Movement,” over 300 apparitions, significant enough to merit attention (for there have been thousands reported), have occurred since Fatima. “Fatima is the key Marian apparition of the Twentieth Century. In fact, Pope Pius XII noted that the message of Fatima is one of the greatest interventions of God through Mary in world history since the death of the Apostles.” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 132).

The December 30, 1991, issue of Time magazine reported that “the late 20th century has become the age of the Marian pilgrimage ” to many shrines established to commemorate the many sightings of the Virgin Mary in recent years. “These apparitions have brought millions of people to faith in Catholicism’s Mary. The shrine at Lourdes, France, attracts about 5.5 million pilgrims annually; Poland’s Black Madonna draws 5 million; Fatima, Portugal, ‘draws a steady 4.5 million pilgrims a year from an ever- widening array of countries. ’ Since John Paul II visited the shrine of Mary at Knock, Ireland, ‘attendance has doubled to 1.5 million people each year. To handle the influx, a new international airport was opened at Knock in 1986. ’ A ‘Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine’ has recently opened in Orlando, Florida. The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City ‘draws 20 million visitors a year’….‘ Mary, ’ a goddess suitable for all religions, is already adored by a quarter of earth’s population. ” (A Woman Rides the Beast, pp. 453, 454, 457). Unquestionably, Marian apparitions are attracting a huge following, considerably larger than Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, which reported an incredible fifteen million visitors in 1996.

Years ago, “Saint Louis de Montfort, in the Seventeenth Century, wrote about what it would be like for the church in the latter days, and the role of Mary in that plan. He stated, ‘In the Second Coming of the Lord, Mary will be made known in a special way by the Holy Spirit so that through her, Jesus may be better known and served …. Mary will shine forth higher than ever in these last days to bring back poor sinners who have strayed from the family of God…. Mary will raise up apostles of the latter times to make war against the evil one. ’” (The Thunder of Justice, p. 73). Later, “Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater that Marian apparitions signify that the Blessed Virgin’s journey through time and space is a pilgrimage toward the Second Coming of Jesus and her final victory over Satan. This is her role now as it has been predestined from the beginning.” (Ibid., p. 19).

Certainly from the statements above, one might be led to regard Mary as the most important being there is, greater than Jesus Himself. But if you study the Bible, while praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit to define the Word and make its truths known, I believe you will plainly see that not only are the above statements erroneous and deceptive, but that Mary’s involvement in future events is utterly impossible!

Go to Chapter 2 ⇒

All emphases in this article are mine.
Published by Modern Manna Ministries

The Uncertainty of Life

By Marshall Grosboll

The Uncertainty of LifeIntroductory note:

On July 22, 1991, Pastor Marshall Grosboll with his wife Lillian, their son Matthew and daughter Christine were killed in the private plane (pictured on the front) they were flying. Although not foreseeing the death of his entire family, Marshall was acutely aware that at any time his own life could instantly be cut short. Especially was he aware of this since he was traveling so much all around the world. He had been in Europe with his family earlier that same month and was scheduled to go to New Zealand a couple of days after the accident. Because he was so aware of the possibility, at any moment, of sudden death by accident, he preached a great deal about it. The last article which he himself, as director of Steps to Life, wrote in the ministry’s News Notes was about the shortness of human life. He preached about this subject to the churches he pastored and to non- Christians in evangelistic sermons. This booklet is adapted from two sermons he preached in late winter of 1986 to the Wichita South Seventh-day Adventist Church when he was pastor there.

A month before going to Europe he left a note with a few brief directions about what to do if something should happen to him. The morning of July 22, before leaving his parent’s home with his family for the last time, he indicated that he did not think he was going to live long. But life in this world was not uppermost in his mind. He knew the really important thing was to be ready to inherit eternal life, so he had spent a large part of the last night of his life praying. Friend, any of us could suddenly die in an accident– the important thing is that we are ready to die. Would you be among the saved in the end if you were to die today? Until you are ready to die, you are not really ready to live, even in this world, because this life is only to be a preparation for eternity. May this booklet help you to be ready for your last day on this earth, whenever that might be.

Part I The Challenger

This week we mourned with the rest of America. I have to admit that I have an interest in the space shuttle program. My favorite picture in my office is one of Christ, but I also have two pictures of the shuffle hanging on the other wall.

My wife’s aunt in Washington, DC., is a veteran worker for NASA and she keeps us supplied with pictures, data, books and shuffle decals. My son has models and toys of the shuffle. Upon investigation, we found that only one of them was of the Challenger.

I first heard about this week’s tragedy K while walking down the corridor of the San Diego Airport. I overheard someone say that the shuffle had blown up. I asked, “What did you say?” He said, “The shuttle just blew up.” I immediately checked into my motel room and turned on the television to catch the news. There I saw the replay over and over again. I wanted to say it wasn’t so, but it was. I hoped against hope at first that maybe, somehow, the spaceship had remained in tact and had glided into the Atlantic somewhere, and that soon someone would find them. But the blast, they said, was equal to a small atomic bomb.

One of my ministerial friends at the meeting in San Diego is an aerospace engineer and worked for NASA for seven years before entering the ministry. He was involved in the development of the shuffle and knew every detail of the plane. It was his opiKon that it had to be the external fuel tank. The boosters, he said, cannot explode; they just burn. The fuel tank contains half a million gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which, when ignited, creates a tremendous reaction, as we all witnessed.

I was interested in the crew. Most of us, I think, have become attached to the school teacher, Christa. And there was Michael Smith, who as a boy had one dream– to fly. One time, while quarterbacking his high school football team, they were trailing in the second half by seven points. He called a time out– his coach expecting him to come over and get a new play– but he did not come. Then his coach saw him staring up at ajet passing over the field. He had called a time out just to look at an airplane. Football, even quarterbacking his high school football team in an important game, did not hold the interest that airplanes did. “Come on, Mike,” his coach called, we’re in a football game!” But he had a dream. And then there was Judy Resnik, whom my family and I had the privilege of meeting once at a special reception for NASA personnel that my wife’s aunt invited us to. Her father called her “Little Judy” when she was growing up in Akron, Ohio, and she liked it. Whenever she called home, she said, “Hi, Daddy, this is Little.” She always called him Daddy, and she was still his “Little Judy.”

Like Michael, the pilot of the craft who once called a time- out while playing high school football to look at an airplane go overhead, she also had some priorities in life. She was the only astronaut on board who did not leave behind a spouse and at least two children. In fact, Judy had never married. She had given herself to getting a doctorate degree at the University of Maryland and to becoming an astronaut. She had succeeded, but she was still Daddy’s girl and Mother’s darling. As they watched their beloved daughter lift off on her second shuttle flight, they were full of joy and pride for her.

They knew about the dangers. They knew that the lift-off was the most dangerous part of the flight, and the higher the shuffle went the safer it was. As they watched the craft lift and roll, and reach a speed of 2,000 mph and an altitude of over 10 miles within 75 seconds, they knew that the most dangerous phase was just about over. Then they saw the fireball. The sound would take another full minute to reach the earth, but they could see it. Judy’s parents were standing next to Michael Smith’s children, who began to cry. One of them said, “Daddy! I want you, Daddy! You always promised nothing would happen.” Then the lights went out as the wife of Onizuka, who was leaning against the wall where the light switches were located, fainted and pulled down the switches as she sank to the floor.

Fifty-five times we have sent men and women into space. We have sent them clear to the moon and back– not once but many times– and never an accident from lift- off until return. Not a single mishap. Our record was near perfect. Surely, we had perfected our arts. But as of this week, times have changed.

Life is not Certain on this Earth but God is

There is nothing in this life that is foolproof, at least nothing mechanical. Nothing in the weather. Nothing in your body. There are no supermen and no super agents. It takes but one projectile through the heart, or the bursting of one vessel in the brain, or one drunk driver swerving into our lane at the wrong time, and all is wiped out. Nothing in this life is foolproof.

Our pioneers recognized that fact. That is why George Washington prayed before going into baffle or leading out in Congress. He did not pray because it was expected of him— he prayed because he knew he needed God’s help. Yes, he must have Him. He was totally dependent upon Him, thus, he declared a national day of fasting and prayer.

Our forefather’s recognized that there are too many things that can and will go wrong, and that without God’s special intervention, all our plans and accomplishments will one day perish. That is why in the constitution they stated that we are one nation under God. Not under the President or Congress, but under God. They knew that we would only remain a nation as long as God was in control, and that when He ceased to bless, the nation would begin to suffer reverses until it would cease to exist.

We were a nation with religious freedom— our citizens were allowed to worship unmolested according to their conscience. We were not a non-religious country. We were not atheistic. We were established through faith in God. Our courts were based upon the justice as found in the Bible, and upon that Book every witness had to swear. They realized that there is nothing sure without the surety of God.

That is why the minters of our first coins inscribed the words: “In God we trust.” They knew that the value of those coins would only remain stable as long as God maintained the health of the economy— as long as He gave us the will to sacrifice, the integrity to work hard, and the honesty to preserve what was not ours– and then to bless the output and to multiply. Thus we became the “bread basket” of the world. But today we no longer pray when about to embark on a mission, even a dangerous mission. No longer do we give God the credit when things succeed. No longer do we fast and pray when things do not.

I was amazed when a hurricane of 160 mph winds was headed for the costs of North Carolina and Virginia, and it mysteriously tumed up shore. I praised God for sparing our land another day, but how disappointed I was a few hours later to hear a news commentator say: “We were lucky that time.” Lucky! How can God continue to protect us over and over again when we totally deny Him.

As I was riding in a 727 from Kansas City to Washington National Airport last November, a young female executive came and sat next to me in the seat she had been assigned to. She was raised a Jew but had become an atheist. Her question to me was, “If there really is a God, why does He allow such calamities as AIDS, for example.” My response to her was, “Why should God protect you from disaster. You do not even believe in Him, nor are you following what He says.”

“But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven” Luke 21: 9- 11.

Before Jesus comes there will yet be more wars, earthquakes, famines (and don’t think it can’t happen in America), pestilences, disasters by land, sea, air, and space.

“The restraining power of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land (and could we say by air and space), follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture” Testimonies, vol. 6 408.

I ask you candidly and plainly, as you review the news over the past couple of years, has there been a continuing increase in disasters? From the Korean air crash, the Indian air crash and the carnage of the 101st Airborne, to the shuffle explosion; from starvation in Ethiopia and volcanoes in South America, to leaking toxic gases in India; from skyjacking, to cruise jacking, to the assassination of Indira Gandhi; from bankrupt banks to foreclosed farms.. .when will we learn that we need God to survive?

“At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? ‘While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you!” ‘ Daniel 4: 29- 31.

There is nothing sure or stable in this life without God’s direct protection and care– not your marriage, your money, your children, your health, your church, your nation, and certainly not yourself. Nothing! We need to humble ourselves before God and invite Him into our lives. We need to realize our total dependence upon Him. Everything may be going right in your life.

Everything may have gone right for a long time, but it only takes a moment to turn everything around, and if God is not in control of your life, that moment is coming. It will come at a most unexpected time! It will come suddenly!

On television we saw seven people perish unexpectedly last Thursday in a heart- rending space disaster. We cried for them and their families, but did you know that since you awoke this morning 90,000 people on planet earth have died? Oh, they have not been publicized and we do not know them, but every one of them was special. Most of them had families– mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, spouses, who are even now mourning them. Ninety thousand people so far this morning, and every 60 seconds 250 more tragically die? This earth is a disaster. It is time to get right with God. It is time to do the work He has given us to do. It is time for Jesus to come.

“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” Luke 13: 1

They had their disasters in Jesus’ day. The Bible records them. Once the Galileans were peaceably worshipping in Jerusalem, offering their sacrifices, and Pilot sent his soldiers in to cut them up and throw them on top of their sacrifices so that all their blood mixed together. What a catastrophe, and right within the church! Would public worship ever seem the same again? Why were they slaughtered? Had they committed some aggravated sin so that God was punishing them? No! Jesus said. They had not sinned any more than the rest of the people. “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” ‘ Luke 13: 2- 3. These Galileans had not sinned any more than any of the other people– maybe less– but God was beginning to withdraw His protection from Jerusalem and disasters were beginning to happen. “Why did you hear,” Jesus said, “about what happened to some people from Jerusalem? It is not just Galileans who are suffering disasters, but Jerusalemites also.”

“Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” Luke 13: 4- 5.

What did Jesus mean when He said unless you repent you will all likewise perish? Jesus could see down the stream of time when God’s protection would be completely withdrawn from Jerusalem and when all within, except those who had accepted Christ and had fled from the city when Jesus told them to, would be barbarously murdered, as those Galileans were, by the Romans soldiers. God’s protecting hand was being withdrawn from the city. They had rejected the only true God and followed a God of their own choosing.

Repent

“Repent,” Jesus said. “Repent.” That is a word that isn’t too often heard anymore. Oh, a few people make cartoons about people holding up signs that say to repent, but today we are living in a day and age when it is more popular to praise people. Calls to repentance are seldom heard, but that is what is needed today. At least that is what the Bible says is needed today– not just in the world but in the church. Why? Because as a people we have apostatized. We have carried on a form of religion without the power thereof. We may have, some of us anyway, kept the Sabbath and paid our tithe, but we have not all found Jesus. These outward things, Jesus said, we should have done, but not to have left the other undone.

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” ‘ Revelation 3: 14- 15. Dear friend, it is time to be on fire for the Lord. That is not something that is nice to be, that is what God requires. We must, we must, we must, dear friend, spend that time with Jesus every day. And we must, we must, we must overcome the sins that Jesus points out in our lives. To remain lukewarm is fatal; it is absolutely fatal! The Bible says that God is going to destroy every professing Christian that remains lukewarm. The lukewarm Christian is not going to barely get into heaven; he or she is not going to get in at all.

It is time that Jesus becomes our all in all. It is time that He is our absorbing theme– not football, not television programs, not secular music, not making money.

Those seven who were on the ill- fated shuttle flight this Thursday all had one thing in common. They were a few who were chosen out of thousands– they were a remnant. And what made them that remnant? They made being on that shuttle their first and only interest. Even in a high school football game, Michael Smith wasn’t interested in the game any more when an airplane flew overhead. Dear friend, when we love the Lord that much, we will be saved! When we would rather read the Bible than watch the Super Bowl, that is conversion. When we would rather starve to death than work on the Sabbath or use the Lord’s tithe for our own use, that is conversion.

I have some simple questions to ask you: Do you spend more time reading the Bible, or watching television? Do you spend more time tuned in to the radio, or in prayer? What is molding your life? Where do your thoughts run in your leisure moments?

“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” ‘ Luke 13: 1- 5.

Someday, while people are eating and drinking, marrying and giving~ in marriage, and while life is progressing, another explosion is going to take place. The sky is suddenly going to rip apart and whole islands are going be moved out of their place. The streams are going to cease to flow and the homes we have lived in are going to be ripped asunder. like lightening from the East our Lord will come with 10,000 of His holy angels. life on planet earth is going to suddenly come to a halt. Our academies are all going to be closed and our churches are going to be destroyed.

“These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firsifruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God” Revelation 14: 4- 5.

Jesus says to repent, or we are all going to be destroyed. I am so glad that the destruction that overtook the seven astronauts this week was not a final destruction. Everyone of them will be raised again. I hope that some or all of them are saved. It is a shame that of all the personal belongings taken on board, from pennants to pet frogs, there is not a mention of any of them taking a Bible on board— though maybe the Gideons had one on board already. I hope they were living up to the light they knew. I hope that Mr. Resnik gets to hear his daughter say to him again, “Hello, Daddy, this is Little.” I hope someone witnessed to them about Jesus in time– not just the One who lived 2,000 years ago, but about the One living in their heart. I hope so.

But I know this, that soon there is going to be another blast that is going to rip the whole earth apart. In that day, who is going to be able to stand? As Psalms 24: 4 says, it will be “he who has clean hands and a pure heart.”

Today the football game of life is in progress, but overhead are flying the three angels of Revelation 14 with the everlasting gospel to give to the world. Isn’t it time to call a time out, to look and to listen and to follow. Another shuffle is about to leave this stricken world, and this one will succeed. Upon that shuffle only a remnant will be found– a small number from so many who would like to go, but who did not put their whole heart and mind and soul into being there. I want to be on board when Jesus comes, don’t you? I do not want my children crying because I am not there, do you? Rather, I want to hear them saying: “Hello, Daddy, it’s me.” It’s time for the Lord to come, I hear the people say; the stars of heaven are growing dim, it must be the breaking of the day. The signs foretold in the sun and moon, in earth and sea and space, aloud proclaim to all mankind, the coming of the Master draweth on.

Let us repent and be ready. “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” ‘ Revelation 3: 14- 16.

Part II From Death to Life

The tragedy of life is that it ends. When you go on a vacation, the vacation soon comes to an end, but you feel refreshed, and you have the pictures; at least you have the pictures in your mind. You have the memories. Memories are one of the most important things in life.

But suppose you went on a vacation, and after it was through you had total amnesia. Even the subconscious memory of the vacation was wiped out. You had no pictures. No memory of it. You had no recollection of having been on a vacation at all. How many would like to go on a vacation like that?

Suppose with me that someone should offer you a two week vacation anywhere in the world via private jet, or private cruise— you choose— with the best accommodations, the finest food, the nicest friends, a private servant, chef and butler. The price tag on this two week vacation was $2,000. How many would go? Maybe a little out of our reach, but a bargain at twice the cost. However, just for today, this vacation offer is on sale for just $195. $195! Anywhere in the world— Austria, the Congo, Brazil, Spain, Shanghai, Paris, Alaska, Rome, the South Seas or any combination. $195! How many would go?

But, as is often the case, there is one little catch with the bargain price. First, no one could know that you had gone. And second, after you got back you would be put through some kind of machine that would totally wipe out that memory so that not even you would have any idea you had ever been on a vacation at all. Who knows, maybe you have already been on a vacation like that; you just can’t remember. Anyway, now that you know the fine print at the bottom of the vacation offer, how many would still be interested in going at the bargain price?

Think of all the fun you would have during those two weeks? Maybe if I had enough time and just concentrated on the positive, I could sell quite a few tickets. But the thinking person would say— for what? However good the vacation might be, it would soon be over, and then for what? It would be as though it had never happened.

Lease on Life

Yet, an awful lot of supposedly thinking people are taking vacations just like that. They are going through the vacation of life, existing for the pleasures that they can receive while here. But for what? When it is over, and the memory is wiped out, and as time goes on and no one even remembers that they ever existed, what is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of riches that perish? What is the purpose of knowledge that vanishes? What is the purpose of hard work for things that suddenly cease to exist? What is the purpose of improving yourself just to vanish into thin air as though you never existed? That is the question Jesus asked.

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry. ‘ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided? ‘ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” Luke 12: 16- 21.

Then whose shall they be after you cease to exist? You can have all the insurance policies in the world, you can write up your will any way you want to, you can have all the alarm systems and security devices on your home that money can buy or genius invent. Nevertheless, when you die, you lose it all. None of us own a thing in this life– we only lease. You might think you have a deed to your house, but it is only a lease, and that lease runs out when you die!

Jesus said, “Fool! . . . Then whose will those things be which you have provided?” That is the question of the age. Think about it. Daydream about it. There is no such thing as being permanently rich in this life. It is only loaned, and the loan runs out when you die. “Then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

That is why Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourself treasures on earth, where tornadoes and lawsuits destroy and where death breaks in and steals; but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where you can enjoy them forever.” Good advice isn’t it? Dear friend, if you are lost, your life has been a total waste. It does not matter what accomplishments you may have made or how rich or well thought of you were. You may have been the President of the United States, the dictator of Russia or even the much sought after president of the Philippines. You may have owned the oil wells of the world, but if you are eventually lost; for what? When your life ceases to exist, whatever the excuse for being lost, you might as well have never lived.

You know, it is amazing the excuses that people can give for being lost. “My parents were too strict.” “The school was not fair.” “The preacher was boring.” “I would have lost my job for keeping the Sabbath.” “The Bible was boring.” I have wondered if when standing before the bar of justice, if those who have “good” excuses, whatever that means, are going to feel better about being lost than those who have poor excuses. Have you ever wondered that?

The Real Purpose of Life

There is but one real purpose in life, dear friend, and that is to be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let all other considerations vanish in comparison to that.

But how is this accomplished? Jesus plainly said in Matthew 7 that there were going to be but very few people saved, even though a whole lot of people where going to think they were saved. How can we make sure?

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” John 5: 24.

Most assuredly, Jesus said. This is what it takes. If anyone gives you any other way to eternal life than this, believe it not. According to Jesus, this is most assuredly the way. Unless we are hearing the voice of Jesus leading us day by day, we are lost. We need to realize the seriousness of television. Too many voices are trying to grab our attention. We may even be watching “good” programs— and we wouldn’t watch any other, wouldwe?– but if it is drowning out the voice of Jesus, it is accomplishing its purpose. Our time is sacred. We must take time to hear the voice of Jesus if we want to be saved. We must spend time with Jesus every day, morning by mom ing, and retain Him in our thoughts throughout the day.

Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” Matthew 16: 24. For, as Peter said, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be save,” Acts 4: 12, than the name Christ Jesus.

We must hear the voice of Jesus. If we are not taking the time to hear the voice of Jesus through Bible study and prayer, we are going to be lost. We are lost. But I would like you to notice that there are two things Jesus said we must do in order to have eternal life. Now Jesus paid the price. He died to atone for our sins. But Jesus said that we also have something to do in order to receive that gift. Jesus said it, not me. And these are the two things we must do.

  1. We must hear the words of Jesus.
  2. We must believe in God.

We must not only hear. We must believe. That is the secret, Jesus said, to eternal life and the reason most people will not be saved.

Ninety- five percent are too busy to hear the voice of Jesus. But even of the small percent who do hear, ninety- five percent of those do not believe what they read or hear. They do not believe God. Oh, they may believe that He exists– even the devils believe that, James said. But they do not believe Him– they do not believe His truthfulness or His authority. They do not believe what He says. They do not accept His words, His authority, His wisdom or His messengers.

Thus it was with the Jews. They did read the Bible, but they did not believe. “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” John 5: 37- 40.

Oh, they read the Bible, but they were too wise to believe it, or to believe in Him whom the Bible said should come. He was too humble. He did not fulfill their pride or their ambitions.

What two things are necessary for salvation?

There are two things necessary for salvation. You must:

  1. hear, and
  2. believe.

But the Jews could not. It did not agree with their pride nor their human logic. The leaders taught men to reverence them, but Jesus claimed no human titles. They thought they were pretty good, but Jesus called for repentance. God had sent His Son into the world, but God’s Son did not meet with their approval. Oh, they had read and memorized the Scriptures. They could quote whole sections of it, but they twisted it to their own destruction, and they would not believe in Him to Whom Scripture pointed.

“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” John 5: 44.

Dear friend, what we are needing today is to spend more time with the Scriptures and with the testimony of Jesus Christ, which the Bible says is the spirit of prophecy. We are needing to spend more time with the Scriptures, but more than that, we are needing to spend more time with it on our knees– in sincere repentance, clinging to the foot of the cross.

“Oh Lord, as we read Your Word, may we be converted, put away our pride and put away our preconceived opinions. May we accept Your simple, humble truths.”

If Jesus should come to earth today, would He be accepted? He had no degrees, you know. Where would He go? Could He be a minister in our churches, or a teacher in our schools or a physician in our institutions? Would we accept His words of truth? Would He find a place in our church or in our hearts, or would He be left outside knocking to get in as is pictured in the Laodicean message? I tell you this, as soon as we decree that an individual must have a certain degree or come from a particular institution to be a minister or worker in any line, we have barred Christ from the ministry of our church, because His qualifications were other than what mankind can give. He was anointed from above. Oh that we had that same prerequisite, and that prerequisite alone, today. We need training, but more important, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus should come to earth today, would you receive Him? Would you? Of course you would. But so thought the Jews! How do we know? You can know, because He is still here today.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” Matthew 28: 19- 20.

He is still here. You may not see Him, but then, the Jews in Jerusalem 1,900 years ago never thought they had met the Messiah either. But He was there. And He is here, but He is still unrecognized and unaccepted.

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” John 14: 19- 21.

Who is it who will see Jesus? He who hears the words of Jesus and believes. “He who has My commandments.” How do you have the commandments of Jesus? By reading them. By putting them in your mind. “He who has My commandments.” But He who has and does what? “And keeps them.” He who believes what Jesus said. In him, Jesus said, I will come and abide.

Again, what does it require to be saved? Two things.

  1. We must hear the words of Jesus.
  2. We must believe.

If you were living in Jerusalem and God should choose to send His Son in the form of a humble Galilean peasant, and you were expecting Judean royalty, would you believe? If you were living in the last days and God should choose a humble New England woman to be His messenger, and you were expecting a German theologian, would you believe?

If God should say that the seventh-day of the week is holy, whereas you had been taught by parents and theologians that the first day of the week was sacred, would you believe God or the theologians? Who would you believe? Would you believe God?

If God should choose to close Platte Valley Academy but your job was at stake or your alma matter in jeopardy, would you believe?

If God should choose you to be a messenger of His as He did Isaiah to preach the word or to witness to your neighbor, would you believe, or would you find excuses.

Dear friend, it is time we have more confidence in the power of prayer and more willing acceptance of God’s answers. It is time we are willing to be lead by His Spirit. It is time we have more simple, apostolic faith in His Word. It is time we quit reasoning away what we are told about how to treat the sick, how to eucate the young, how to raise our children and how to choose our spouses. It is time we study, rightly dividing the word of truth so that we are not putting our own interpretation on it, but having honestly ascertained what God has said, it is time we simply believed and obeyed. Is that right or wrong? And why shouldn’t we believe? Why shouldn’t we follow more fully? “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” John 15: 11.

It is He who brings happiness in life. God loves you, dear friend. He only wants the best for you, but His way may not be your way, so you are going to have to have faith in Him. Sickness may devour a loved one. Are you still going to believe? God may call you out of some comfortable circumstance into the path of hardship. Are you still going to believe? God may strike your pride to the ground. Are you still going to believe? God may even say something that you don’t agree with at all. Are you still going to believe?

“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father” John 5: 24.

Jesus is calling you today, dear friend, to cease your business in life– to put down the telephone and turn off the television, to close the newspaper and come home from the party, and to go into your closet and hear His voice speaking to you. Have you heard His voice? But having heard, you must believe. Oh, dear friend, if you will but take the time to hear, and then if you will believe, you have eternal life. Praise the Lord! You will find rest unto your soul. You will find a peace within that not all the troubles of the world can disturb.

“For God so loved the world. That He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3: 16. You can have that gift, today. You can have a peace and a joy that will never end, but will last throughout eternity.

For more Bible Study Resources by Topic see https://www.stepstolife.org/bible-study-resources-topic/

Question & Answer: How was Matthew 16:28 fulfilled?

“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.”

“His prayer is heard. While He is bowed in lowliness upon the stony ground, suddenly the heavens open, the golden gates of the city of God are thrown wide, and holy radiance descends upon the mount, enshrouding the Saviour’s form. Divinity from within flashes through humanity, and meets the glory coming from above. Arising from His prostrate position, Christ stands in godlike majesty. The soul agony is gone. His countenance now shines ‘as the sun,’ and His garments are ‘white as the light’ (Matthew 17:2).

“The disciples, awaking, behold the flood of glory that illuminates the mount. In fear and amazement they gaze upon the radiant form of their Master. As they become able to endure the wondrous light, they see that Jesus is not alone. Beside Him are two heavenly beings, in close converse with Him. They are Moses, who upon Sinai had talked with God; and Elijah, to whom the high privilege was given—granted to but one other of the sons of Adam—never to come under the power of death. …

“Moses upon the mount of transfiguration was a witness to Christ’s victory over sin and death. He represented those who shall come forth from the grave at the resurrection of the just. Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without seeing death, represented those who will be living upon the earth at Christ’s second coming, and who will be ‘changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;’ when ‘this mortal must put on immortality,’ and ‘this corruptible must put on incorruption’ (1 Corinthians 15:51–53). Jesus was clothed with the light of heaven, as He will appear when He shall come ‘the second time without sin unto salvation.’ For He will come ‘in the glory of His Father with the holy angels’ (Hebrews 9:28; Mark 8:38). The Saviour’s promise to the disciples was now fulfilled. Upon the mount the future kingdom of glory was represented in miniature—Christ the King, Moses a representative of the risen saints, and Elijah of the translated ones.” The Desire of Ages, 421, 422.