force

Temperance and Vital Force

by

It is important to recognize who God really is. He made the heavens and the earth and every thing that is. He also created this human body that is fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). “Know ye that the Lord, he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of His pasture.” Psalm 100:3.

Every manufacturer that produces a product, requiring instructions, leaves an owner’s manual explaining how to operate the product. We are a product of God’s design, and He has given us an owner’s manual, the word of God. Health is based on obedience. Therefore, by obeying God’s word, it not only impacts us physically, but it also helps us to develop trust in the living God. This is crucial in the development of our characters.

The Bible says, “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.” Psalm 119:73.

To have knowledge is power, but without understanding, that power is of no avail. Understanding is the ability to apply the knowledge. The subject of this article is health law or doctor number seven: Always temperate. Many times we don’t understand this particular doctor. Inspiration tells us, “The gospel minister should preach the health principles, for these have been given of God as among the means needed to prepare a people perfect in character. Therefore, health principles have been given to us that as a people we might be prepared in both mind and body to receive the fullness of God’s blessing.” A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education, 43.

The gospel minister should preach the health principles, for these have been given of God as among the means needed to prepare a people, to perfect a character. So the health message is not just about veganism; it is also about perfection. People are afraid of that word. The medical missionary work has its place and part to play in God’s finishing work.

To receive the fullness of God’s blessing, we are told, “It is a duty to know how to preserve the body in the very best condition of health, and it is a sacred duty to live up to the light which God has graciously given.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 44. “The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.” Medical Ministry, 77. Therefore it is important to understand that if character is our title to heaven, then health should be as sacredly guarded as our character, because there is an interrelationship between the health of the body and health of the soul.

Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1, 2.

In I. You go to sleep at a certain time. You don’t drink; you don’t smoke. You do everything to win a corruptible crown. And if people can do that, I don’t know why they cannot be temperate in everything, because athletes definitely discipline themselves, but when it comes down to doing spiritual things, it’s hard.

I saw a documentary of a woman body builder. She was working out for a contest and had so much muscle that she looked horrid. Because of the hormones, even her voice had changed. She needed to get down to a certain weight, so she was fasting and eating nothing but protein. She knew the risk factor with kidney problems, but she said, “I gotta win this prize.” For a corruptible crown, it could cost irreversible damage to her kidneys. Paul said, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” I Corinthians 9:27.

The Bible tells us, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on and are punished.” Proverbs 22:3. A prudent man is a wise man—he avoids danger. A simple person is not aware of the situation, but nevertheless, whether we are ignorant or not, when we violate law, we will reap the consequence. Therefore, prevention is better than cure.

There is an old English style poem that we have put in our health books: “The Fence or the Ambulance.” It is about a village in which was a high mountain with a cliff. The road going up the mountain was so narrow and the drop so deadly that many of the peasants who traveled the road often slipped off the edge into the valley, where they would be scooped up by an ambulance and taken off to the hospital.

One old gentleman in the town began to protest. He said, “Why don’t we put up a fence on the cliff and dispense with the ambulance in the valley? It doesn’t make sense; we spend more money on treating disease than preventing it.” And so they cried out, “Fanatic, fanatic! If we dispense with the ambulance, he would want us to dispense with all of our charity programs as well.” That is the whole mindset of society today. We spend more time and energy on treatments or cures than on prevention.

It is more beneficial to learn how to prevent sickness than to cure diseases. We need the fence. In Psalm 139:14, it says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Genesis 2:7 says that when God took the elements and the dirt of the ground and formed man, He breathed into him the breath of life. That life was not oxygen; that life was not the Holy Spirit; that life was the life of God. God put His life into that dirt and exalted it, and that dirt became a living organism. That is why the Bible says, “The Lord is the strength of my life.” Psalm 27:1. God has given me that life—a heartbeat and 60,000 miles of blood vessels in which the red blood cells travel at the speed of 43.5 miles an hour. What an amazing body we have been given!

At creation, when God put life into man, He gave him the power to move. God put vital force into that man. You can call that vital force electrical energy, because the first thing that develops in a fetus is the brain and the central nervous system, which communicates to the whole body; the brain is the instrument of the mind.

“The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the electric currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind.” Temperance, 13.

Therefore, when we find ourselves moving, that is using vital force; that is electrical energy. Was the light that covered Adam and Eve a sunlight or electrical light? Neither; it came from God. God breathed the breath of life into him; that light came out, because the Bible says that God is life and is light (I John 1:5; Romans 6:23). Moses, after 40 days and 40 nights in the mount, glowed because of the time he was in the light (Exodus 34:29–35). Adam and Eve were created with that vital force. “This sinless pair wore no artificial garments. They were clothed with a covering of light and glory, such as the angels wear.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, 25.

The Bible says, in Psalms 104:2, “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.” They were clothed with light that came from the Light, not the sunlight. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the light vanished. The light did not come from barley green or Noni juice, but directly from God himself while ever they were connected to Him. Sin separates and disease is the result of disconnecting from the fountain of life.

“God endowed man with so great vital force that he has withstood the accumulation of disease upon the race in consequence of perverted habits, and has continued for six thousand years.” Healthful Living, 45. It took almost 2,000 years from the time of creation for disease to manifest itself and cause infant mortality rate; children dying before their parents. Children should outlive their parents. It was so rare, so uncommon for a child to die before his parents, within the first 2,000 years of this earth, that God put it on record in Genesis 11:28. There is only one place where you see it happen. In some countries, like Papua, New Guinea, the child mortality rate is almost 25 percent among children from 8 to 15 years of age.

Children today sometimes die before their parents. “This fact of itself is enough to evidence to us the strength and electrical energy that God gave to man at his creation.” Conflict and Courage, 21. It took more than 2,000 years of crime and indulgence of base passion, to bring bodily disease upon the race to any great extent.

“If Adam, at his creation, had not been endowed with twenty times as much vital force as men now have, the race, with their present habits of living in violation of natural law, would have become extinct. At the time of Christ’s first advent the race had degenerated so rapidly that an accumulation of disease pressed upon that generation, bringing in a tide of woe and a weight of misery inexpressible.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 138, 139. We are living off Adam’s vital force. Adam lived 930 years, and back then the people did not die of any disease.

There will be a group of people who do not have to die, because already there have been two people escape this world alive—Enoch and Elijah. There are two ways in which you can die. In Job 21:23, 24, it says, “One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.”

The description here does not sound like a sick man or woman. When the fruit gets ripe, it will either be plucked or fall to the ground. When God is finished with you, He will lay you to rest, or He is going to pluck you to be translated. That is a good way to die. Moses, at 120 years of age, struck the rock too many times in disobedience and was not allowed to live to enter the Promised Land. The Bible says that his vital force was not abated, and his vision was not dim. He just went up to the mount where God gave him a view of the Promised Land. He closed his eyes and died. If I have to die, that is the way I would like to go—just close my eyes, and the next time I open them I see Jesus.

However, “Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.” Verse 25. I pray to God that I never need to be on life support; I do not want to suffer.

Throughout the ten generations before the flood, from Adam down to Noah, the average lifespan was 912 years. After the flood, the lifespan dropped to 317, as we see in the example of Shem, the son of Noah, who was born before the flood. Today the average lifespan is 70 years.

There are two types of energy in our bodies—useable and reserve. The useable energy can be likened to a checking account. The reserve can be likened to a savings account. We write checks out of our checking account to pay bills and operating expenses. The savings account is extra money stored for emergency situations. Ideally, we do not touch our savings, but we add to it. If we have a bill for $150 and only have $100 in the checking account, and write a check for $150, there will not be enough in the account to cover the check. In order to honor the check, we would have to transfer $50 from the savings account into the checking account to make up the difference. If we continue to do that, when the roof starts leaking, the car breaks down, or some other emergency happens and we go to the savings, we may find that we have exhausted the savings by all the transfers into the checking account. When we expend our energy and are continually operating on reserve, we may end up with cancer or diabetes, and we will want a quick fix. But it does not work that way. We have exhausted our vital force, our savings account. We have to know how to preserve vital force to have good health.

“God has endowed us with a certain amount of vital force. He has also formed us with organs suited to maintain the various functions of life, and He designs that these organs shall work together in harmony. If we carefully preserve the life force, and keep the delicate mechanism of the body in order, the result is health; but if the vital force is too rapidly exhausted, the nervous system borrows power for present use from its resources of strength, and when one organ is injured, all are affected. Nature bears much abuse without apparent resistance; she then arouses and makes a determined effort to remove the effects of the ill-treatment she has suffered. Her effort to correct these conditions is often manifest in fever and various other forms of sickness.” The Ministry of Healing, 234, 235.

When one organ is affected, all are affected. If the liver is damaged, it is going to also impact the kidneys or the lungs.

If our vital force is too rapidly exhausted, the body seeks to compensate. It will pull from its resource, its savings account. Often symptoms are treated, but that does not solve the problem. We are depleting our vital force, and we need to know how to preserve that.

Road rules, speed signs, stoplights and guardrails are erected on roads for the purpose of safety and for the traveler to be aware of the existing dangers. God also has given us guardrails. Temperance is a guardrail. It is a wall of protection around us that preserves and restores one’s vital force.

“Temperance alone is the foundation of all the graces that come from God, the foundation of all victories to be gained.” Temperance, 201. Temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit. True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously, wisely, that which is healthful. Few realize as they should that their habits of diet have to do with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. There are several areas in our lives where temperance needs to be incorporated. We are told that, “The appetite should ever be in subjection to the moral and intellectual powers. The body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 562.

The word temperance, when used in the context of health, has three very distinct meanings:

1 Moderation in the use of that which is good

2 Total abstinence from that which is harmful

3 Self-control

The Bible says, “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste.” Proverbs 24:13. “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” Proverbs 25:16. It is clearly saying not to overdo even good things. I call that the honey principle.

“Only one lease of life is granted us; and the inquiry with every one should be, ‘How can I invest my powers so that they may yield the greatest profit?’ ” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 41. How can I do most for the glory of God and the benefit of my fellow men? For life is valuable only as it is used for the attainment of these ends.

“Our first duty toward God and our fellow-beings is that of self-development. Every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. Hence that time is spent to good account which is used in the establishment and preservation of physical and mental health.” Ibid. We cannot afford to dwarf a single function of mind or body. Intemperance in the true sense of the word is at the foundation of a large share of the ills of life.

“When the plagues of God shall be all around you, you will then see the principles of health reform and strict temperance in all things—that temperance alone is the foundation of all the graces that come from God, the foundation of all victories to be gained.” Temperance, 201. By the time the plagues are falling, if we have not practiced temperance, it will be too late.

We are told that, “Through intemperance, some sacrifice one half, and others two thirds, of their physical, mental, and moral powers, and become playthings for the enemy.” Ibid., 146. We rob God. It is gone for eternity.

One of first things to be aware of is excess in eating and drinking. Excessive indulgence in eating, drinking, sleeping and seeing, is sin. You can sleep too much. You can eat too much. When you see something constantly, whether it is reading or devilvision (television), it is sin. There is a law in temperance dealing with study. It says, “The more elevated and refined the powers, the more pure and unalloyed the happiness. …

“Those who eat and work intemperately and irrationally, talk and act irrationally. It is not necessary to drink alcoholic liquors in order to be intemperate. The sin of intemperate eating—eating too frequently, too much, and of rich, unwholesome food—destroys the healthy action of the digestive organs, affects the brain, and perverts the judgment, preventing rational, calm, healthy thinking and acting.” Ibid., 138.

We are talking here about the good stuff—eating and drinking too much, too frequently. There is more danger in eating too much than too little. “There are many sick who suffer from no disease. The cause of their sickness is indulgence of appetite. They think that if the food is healthful, they may eat as much as they please. This is a great mistake. Persons whose powers are debilitated should eat a moderate and even limited amount of food.” Child Guidance, 399. It amazes me that we continue to overload our bodies with too much food, especially when it is already debilitated.

“There should be no delay in reform. Efforts should be made to preserve carefully the remaining strength of the vital forces.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 159. We must do everything to preserve what we have “by lifting off every overtaxing burden. The stomach may never fully recover health, but a proper course of diet will save further debility, and many will recover more or less, unless they have gone very far in gluttonous self-murder.” Ibid.

The next thing outside of food is temperance in dress, for which there is a physiological reason. “God’s people are to learn the meaning of temperance in all things. They are to practice temperance in eating and drinking and dressing. All self-indulgence is to be cut away from their lives. Before they can really understand the meaning of true sanctification and of conformity to the will of Christ, they must, by cooperating with God, obtain the mastery over wrong habits and practices.” Medical Ministry, 275.

“In all respects the dress should be healthful. ‘Above all things,’ God desires us to ‘be in health’—health of body and of soul (III John 1:2). And we are to be workers together with Him for the health of both soul and body. Both are promoted by healthful dress.

“It should have the grace, the beauty, the appropriateness of natural simplicity. Christ has warned us against the pride of life, but not against its grace and natural beauty.” The Ministry of Healing, 288, 289.

“Special attention should be given to the extremities, that they may be as thoroughly clothed as the chest and the region over the heart, where is the greatest amount of heat. Parents who dress their children with the extremities naked, or nearly so, are sacrificing the health and lives of their children to fashion. If these parts are not so warm as the body, the circulation is not equalized. When the extremities, which are remote from the vital organs, are not properly clad, the blood is driven to the head, causing headache or nosebleed; or there is a sense of fullness about the chest, producing cough or palpitation of the heart, on account of too much blood in that locality; or the stomach has too much blood, causing indigestion.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 531. The Bible tells me the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). In order to have good health, we must have good blood.

If there is unequal circulation in the body, we are going to have disease, especially women. Women have a lot of female problems because of improper dress. I would encourage us to study dress, not only in the spiritual sense, but in light of physiology, because the way we dress affects our vital force. “Satan invented the fashions which leave the limbs exposed, chilling back the life current from its original course. And parents bow at the shrine of fashion and so clothe their children that the nerves and veins become contracted and do not answer the purpose that God designed they should. The result is, habitually cold feet and hands. Those parents who follow fashion instead of reason will have an account to render to God for thus robbing their children of health. Even life itself is frequently sacrificed to the god of fashion.” Ibid., 532.

Temperance in Labor 

“We should practice temperance in our labor. It is not our duty to place ourselves where we shall be overworked. Some may at times be placed where this is necessary, but it should be the exception, not the rule.” Child Guidance, 397.

“They are expending the vital force which they will need at a future time. And when the energy they have so recklessly used is demanded, they fail for want of it. The physical strength is gone, the mental powers fail. They realize that they have met with a loss, but do not know what it is. Their time of need has come, but their physical resources are exhausted.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 64, 65.

We need a little break every now and then. Come aside and rest. Remember the day of rest God gave us. Tests have been made on body processes that have determined that for everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, the heart beats more slowly on Saturday than on any other day of the week. I thank God for the Sabbath day.

Regular Hours of Sleep 

In daylight hours the pineal gland synthesizes serotonin. In the absence of light it converts serotonin to melatonin. The serotonin levels fall and the melatonin levels rise at night. The balance between serotonin and melatonin seems to affect mood and other physiological changes. Therefore we have to be in bed at a certain time in order to benefit from this precious hormone. But after 12:00 o’clock we can forget it.

The points of regularity in time for eating and sleeping should not be overlooked since the work of building up the body takes place during the hours of night.

Temperance in Study

Intemperance in study is a species of intoxication. And those who indulge in it like the drunkard wander from safe paths and stumble and fall in darkness. I know people who spend all their time and energy in studying, reading, studying and reading and basically nothing else, to excess.

“Make it habit not to sit up after nine o’clock. Every light should be extinguished. This turning night into day is a wretched, health-destroying habit, and this reading much by brain workers, up to the sleeping hours, is very injurious to health. It calls the blood to the brain and then there is restlessness and wakefulness, and the precious sleep, which should rest the body, does not come when desired.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 9, 46.

Every sin, every unrighteous act, every transgression of law affects the body and depletes it of its vital force. To go forth into the next life deprived of half the power that might be carried would be a tragedy.

The world should be no criteria for us though it is fashionable to indulge the appetite. There is no encouragement given to any of the sons or daughters of Adam that they may become victorious in the Christian warfare unless they decide to practice temperance in all things. Blessings of physical and mental vigor would be given to all Christians who keep their bodies in subjection, bringing their appetites and passions under control of an enlightened conscience, feeling it a duty owed to God and to their neighbors to obey the laws which govern health. They will have moral power to engage in the warfare against Satan. We can have no right understanding of the subject of temperance until we consider it from a Biblical standpoint. Nowhere should we find a more comprehensive and forceful illustration of true temperance and its attendant blessings than is afforded by the history of Daniel and his three friends in Babylon. (See Daniel 1, 2.)

“Sin brings physical and spiritual disease and weakness. Christ has made it possible for us to free ourselves from this curse. The Lord promises, by the medium of truth, to renovate the soul. The Holy Spirit will make all who are willing to be educated able to communicate the truth with power. It will renew every organ of the body, that God’s servants may work acceptably and successfully. Vitality increases under the influence of the Spirit’s action. Let us, then, by this power lift ourselves into a higher, holier atmosphere, that we may do well our appointed work.” Medical Ministry, 12.

Thomas Jackson is a health evangelist and director of Missionary Education and Evangelistic Training (M.E.E.T.) Ministry in Huntingdon, Tennessee. He may be contacted by e-mail at: godsplan@meetministry.org or by telephone at: 731-0986-3518.

How does God Treat His Children

by

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

How we treat our own sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters and our neighbors is a very important topic to dwell upon, especially in this day and age when the world is filled with darkness—with little understanding of God the Father.

Many Christians misunderstand the character of the Father and actually, by their behavior, educate and rear their children with a wrong understanding. Beholding Him with a right understanding of Who He is and how He treats sinful, corrupted humanity will transform us.

The judgment aspect of God is easy to understand. Yes, He forgives, but there is a limitation to His patience. There is a time when He judges and condemns—there is a judgment day, but this is usually the only concept of God—judgment!

God knows everything from the beginning to the end about each one of us and, for Himself, He does not need to record the actions and words of our lives. So why are there books of record, and why is there a need to investigate? The investigative judgment begins with the dead, for when a person dies his destiny is sealed. Then, God allows the intelligent beings, or the angels, to open the books to see if God’s judgment is correct. God does not investigate to see what this person has done and what kind of words he has spoken and then pass judgment—that is not so. He has already concluded, and judgment has been made for destiny. He knows each heart and the true motivation for all actions from the bottom of each heart, and the records are to convince others that His judgment is righteous.

The investigative judgment deals with both the righteous and the wicked. Sometimes we misunderstand how God really deals with people. If parents would learn of God’s character, they would then know how to deal with their own children and use the methods God uses in treating His own children. Only then will they learn how to become good parents.

We are living in the end of time, and the world is full of darkness and misapprehension of God and His character. We have been called to be the light of the world. The fourth angel’s message in Revelation 18:1 says, “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.” The earth was charmed with his glory, his character. (See Exodus 33 and 34.)

The fourth angel’s message repeats the three previous messages (Revelation 14:6–12) and comes down to shine his glory upon the whole earth. The everlasting gospel is to fear God and give glory to Him. That combination includes knowing God and His love and how He treats His creatures. God never provokes our hearts to anger—He never provokes His children. He asks that children be brought up the Lord’s way, in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” [Ephesians 6:4].

Paul says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” Colossians 3:21. Dealing with children in anger, and in such a way of showing that the parent’s reputation is more important than the child’s own well-being, provokes them to anger and actually discourages them mentally and spiritually.

I made this mistake when my children were very young. Though I was a pastor, it was not until I fully surrendered to Christ that I became a changed man. One day I went to my two children and asked them to forgive me because I was wrong. I was a bad father and a bad pastor. My children threw their arms around my neck and said we forgive you; even though we did not like you at the time we played instruments, we still love you. Children are easy to talk to and willing to forgive, but we adults, when we grow old our heads grow old too, become hard and stiff-necked, making it very difficult to forgive each other.

I expected my children to perform better than all others because they were the pastor’s children. Sometimes we push our children because of our own reputations and pride, and I was certainly in that category. I provoked them even though my intention was good, but my real motivation was something only God knew. Everybody else thought my children had a good father encouraging them. I also pushed them with studies and grades.

If you provoke your children, their spiritual hearts will be hardened and doors will be shut. God does not force anyone into heaven or to study the Bible or pray. God does not force anybody, period. But we, as good intentioned people, tend to use force.

As pastors, as elders, deacons and fathers and mothers, we often misuse our authority to force people. We force our children to study well, to go to church and pray. We force our neighbors, and we force our brothers and sisters in the church. There is a huge difference between appeal and force, and many times force is used due to our own ignorance of the character of God, Who is so patient and longsuffering.

If He so desired, He could send down one glorious angel to earth to tell us that Jesus Christ is coming and everybody is to repent, and they most probably would repent. If the three angels literally came down to earth and went around forcing people to believe, do you think they would believe? With something supernatural like that, everybody would repent, but not out of love; only because they would be scared to death. But that is not how God operates. He allows each one of us the privilege, as His humble servants, to preach the gospel to our neighbors.

Under force, a person will never understand the Scriptures. Force shuts the heart and eliminates any willingness and ability to learn of God. Those who are not willing to understand the real character of God cannot receive any spiritual benefits even though they may study the Bible.

This attitude of provoking also applies to other fellow human beings either in or out of the church. We can only make appeals and talk about the word of God with His authority, but we have no right to use force. Christians often do much damage in sharing God’s truth, with their wrong attitude using human methods. Truth is important, but how to dispense it is more important. Many people have been turned off from Christianity because of Christians.

I was one of five children—the only boy. I had one older sister and three younger sisters. When I was a young boy of about 10 or 12 years of age, the age where boys can become very naughty and playful, my mother had a hard time rearing me. She did the best she knew how and, though well read in the Spirit of Prophecy books, she needed a lot of patience with me. My mother would crawl up to the roof with me to fly kites. My great joy was to cut the string of another’s kite. I knew it made my mother sad, but she did not get angry; she would just sigh sadly because I hurt somebody’s kite. Her actions made me feel bad, and I quit flying kites because my joy was in being destructive to others.

The biggest punishment I ever got from my mother was not a spanking. She took both of my hands and looked straight into my eyes. When I looked up, I saw tears falling from my mother’s eyes. This was the most fearful chastisement. There was no yelling or anger, just tearful eyes. She knew how to deal with this rebellious kid. She did not provoke me; she loved me and kindly guided me into a spiritual experience. I appreciated that very much. My mother was not the perfect mother, but she was the best mother I could have asked for. She never provoked me. If she had, I could have easily gone into the world and never come back into the church.

Parents have no right to provoke, chastise or force their children. Appeal to them, love them, guide them, educate them and sit down and talk with them with teary eyes; but never provoke. Don’t force your own religion upon your children or they will be turned off. Your duty is to reflect the character of Jesus Christ upon them. I have seen many young children in godly families, in conservative Christian homes, very rebellious and turned off from the present truth simply because they have been forced. This is the best way to lose the souls of your own children. We are to reflect the love of Jesus Christ from our character and our lifestyle. Every individual has his or her own right to choose and to make his or her own commitment.

It is when children are young that we need to teach them and educate them and allow them choices and respect them as individuals. God has given His children, born into your family, to rear. The Bible calls our children His children. We, as stewards of God’s children, give them tender care. When they grow up we give them to God and they are individual entities. We are all brothers and sisters. This is something that I did not understand for many years.

One time when I was about high school age, I was really tempted by my friends to go to the beach for three days. I had no money so was encouraged by my friends to steal some. At first I resisted, but my friends continued to urge me. My family was poor at that time, but I noticed that when my mother needed to buy a sack of rice, she had some golden jewelry or things like that hidden down in the cabinet drawer that she would take to a pawnshop to sell, and then she would return home with a bag of noodles and rice. She sometimes worked as a colporteur selling books. Often, hungry, we would wait for mom to come home to see if she had noodles or rice.

One day I stole from my mother and went to the same pawnshop, never thinking that I would be caught. With the little money I received I hit the beach with my friends. The next time my mother went to the pawnshop, I was with her. The pawnshop lady, a church member, greeted my mother and said, “Mrs. Kang, you sent David alone last time; did I give you the money for that?” I squirmed.

“Pardon, what did you say?” asked my mother.

The shopkeeper repeated and my mother knew immediately what had happened.

She said, “Oh, that one. Yes, thank you.”

Nothing more was said. We finished our shopping and started the 25-minute walk home. Usually I would walk along side my mother, but guilt kept me three steps behind for the length of the journey, I could not walk with my mom. When you have sinned and feel guilt, you cannot walk with Jesus. All the way home I thought about the consequence if my mom told my father, I was dead! At home I just waited for my father to come at me with anger and with a stick in his hand. I waited—one day, two days, three days passed and he did not come.

Even then, my mother chose not to provoke me. Of course, she agitated me and asked me to repent. I am sure that if she had ever provoked me or forced religion on me I could have easily gone to the world. But she did not do that and that is one of the reasons I am an evangelist.

Do not force your religion upon your husband or upon your wife. It is you who has learned about the Sabbath truth, not your spouse or your children. Maybe you want to wear long skirts and your children are not convicted. Counsel them, talk to them, discuss it with them, show them the Lord’s way, but never force them.

At a tent meeting a table discussion came up on the education of our children. Many brethren shared their way of educating their children. Some said that they let their children know that as long as they were living under their roof and eating their food they had better follow house rules or get out, and they were proud of their firm stand for principle. I just sat there quiet and did not say anything for about a half an hour listening to the others. Then one asked me why I was quiet, encouraging me to give my opinion.

I said, God, the way I understand it, is different. Jesus once told of a father who had two sons, the second of whom was a very bad boy. One day he came to his father and asked him to give him his inheritance early. He said he was going away to a far country to live on his own. He said, “I am sick and tired of living in your house and abiding under your rules, so let me get out. You are obligated to give me half of your wealth.” I know that this story is not written in detail like this, but obviously that is what happened.

The father said, “Son, it is not your money; it is mine.”

The son said, “Well, when you die, half of your wealth is going to be mine anyway.”

So he told his father, “From now on I am going to treat you like you are dead. When I go, I will never e-mail you; I will not write you a letter; I am not going to telephone you; I am not going to contact you at all. As far as I am concerned, you are already dead. So give me my portion.”

How would you respond to this kind of situation? Would you say, “As long as you are living you will be under my rule?” As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ was introducing to us His own Father in heaven in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). Jesus said that the father gave half of his wealth to his rebellious son and off he went to the far country to use all of his money, but after a while he became poor. One day as he was tending a herd of swine, something clicked in his mind. Even the servants in his father’s house were treated better than this. He decided to return to his father. Not to his good furniture, good food or fancy neighborhood, but as a servant, and he began his journey back home to his father. Why? Because of his father’s method of education and because of his character—the door of hope was always open. As soon as his son left home, the light on the porch was turned on and every night the father waited for the return of his son. Day after day he watched the hill and every night the light was left on, waiting for his wayward son to come home.

Jesus wants us to know the character of His Father in heaven and how He treats His own wayward children, His prodigal sons, you and me. Like the prodigal son, He wants us to have hope. He did not hear his father say, “You naughty boy. I am going to give you a little bit of money and don’t you ever come back! How dare you do this—you have ruined my reputation. You do all of this suffering to me and to your mom. If you want to go out—go out and don’t ever come back! If you do not want to be bound by our rules, then go.”

But that was not his father’s response. With teary eyes, the father gave him his half portion of his wealth, and then let him go. Sometimes it is better for our children, if they persist, to let them go, let them walk in their own ways and reap the consequences. We parents are to wait and pray, even though it hurts us, until they come back.

When our children see that kind of love in our hearts, that love from Jesus Christ, then, when they fall and have no hope in this world, they will remember that love. Then, they will know that when they come home, just as they are, they will be accepted with arms wide open. Our Father in heaven has been waiting for us for many years; God has been so patient and longsuffering waiting for us to willingly come back, and in tears we repent and surrender our heart to Him. But so often we do not show others the same patience.

The darkness that covers the earth is the misapprehension of God. When we truly reflect the love of Jesus Christ, that light will penetrate the darkness and the people will see the real love of God. They will see the true patience and character of Jesus Christ. Only then will people return to the truth.

I read a true story many years ago. Three men gathered in a restaurant discussing a project that they were doing together. One was a building contractor, one a roof builder and one a foundation builder. One of them was a Christian and the other two were non-Christian. Somehow their conversation turned to spiritual things and two began complaining about Christians and against Christianity. One said he had stopped going to church in middle school. When asked why, he replied that he had been in missionary school discussing about Jonah. He raised a question about whales, because in biology class they had learned that whales did not have a big throat and could not swallow a human. Even though the Bible says that the whale swallowed Jonah, he believed that to be wrong—just a myth. The Bible teacher, a pastor, was so angry that he said if this student wanted to ask that kind of a question in his class, to get out! He was so offended that he decided when he grew up he would never return to that church, and he had fulfilled his promise. The Bible teacher was wrong in his knowledge. Blue whales are huge and there was an article about a man falling from his boat and being swallowed by one. But instead, the teacher became angry and provoked one young man, causing him to stop going to church. Sometimes we do not understand the consequences of our attitude in how we deal with others.

The other man said he had a similar experience. His father and mother had come down on him so strongly enforcing their religion on him that he decided never to follow their religion. The Christian then asked if he could tell his story to which they both agreed.

The Christian began, “When I was in Romania, my father and mother worked very hard to send my brother and me to a Christian school. Our parents worked very hard to keep sending us money for school fees and meals. One day we were walking to the church and we heard loud music from a big tent pitched on the side and there was a circus going on.” As he was tossing a coin as an offering to the church, he wondered how much the entrance fee was for the circus, and it was exactly the amount of the coin. He said he would go in and see it. His little brother said he could not do that. But he said to the little brother to go to church and not to tell their parents about this. It was a secret. He went in to the circus and was enjoying it. After about 30 minutes he thought he heard somebody calling his name, and looking around he saw his mother’s face at the entrance, waving her hand trying to get his attention. He acted like he did not hear and turned around and kept on watching the circus. His mother did not stop calling his name. So he stood up and ran out angry and shouted that he was in the middle of having fun. “Why did you have to come and bother me so much?” He was angry because he was guilty, but then there were his father and mother with smiles on their faces. They said they came all the way on their wagon to see him and his brother. “We spent many hours to travel to see you, and we are so glad to see you. We have done our best; do you need any more money? We wish we could send you more money. Are your shoes okay? Do you have enough clothes? We went to the church and could not find you. That is why we came, because we wanted to see your face.” He could not do anything—he just stood frozen. Then as his parents began to depart on the wagon and as they were turning at the corner, they kept waving at their son as long as they could see him, yelling that they loved him.

As they went around the corner, he said he stood on the ground and said, “God, if you are that kind of loving person like my parents, I am willing to follow You.” He became a true Christian from that day on.

Jesus Christ is coming very soon and we need to be reflecting His true character. If you have ever forced your religion upon others, not by discussing or appealing but forcing, because of your lack of Christ-like character, you need to repent.

We thank God for His loving character and His longsuffering toward us and His willingness to wait for us.

Pastor David Kang is Director of Light for Life Ministry operating out of Georgia, U.S.A. His sermons are broadcast weekly on New York and Virginia Korean television stations. Pastor Kang also frequently travels to Asia where he trains pastors. Pastor Kang may be contacted by telephone at: 706-377-1004.

Editorial – The Last Resort

by

The last resort of every false religion is the use of force and you may be certain that any religion that uses force is not the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him.” The Desire of Ages, 22.

“Trial and persecution will come to all who, in obedience to the word of God, refuse to worship this false sabbath. Force is the last resort of every false religion. At first it tries attraction, as the king of Babylon tried the power of music and outward show. If these attractions, invented by men inspired by Satan, failed to make men worship the image, the hungry flames of the furnace were ready to consume them. So it will be now. The papacy has exercised her power to compel men to obey her, and she will continue to do so. We need the same spirit that was manifested by God’s servants in the conflict with paganism.” The Signs of the Times, May 6, 1897.

“God does not force the conscience of any man, but the powers of darkness have been trying to compel the consciences of men ever since Abel fell under the murderous blow from the hand of pitiless Cain … .” The Review and Herald, April 15, 1890.

“All persecution, all force employed to compel conscience, is after Satan’s own order; and those who carry out these designs are his agents … .” Ibid., January 10, 1893.

“ ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up’ (Daniel 3:16–18). The sentence of death did not change their decision. The martyrs knew what would lessen the fierceness of the fire kindling upon nerve and muscle. In beholding Christ, in the manifestation of His presence, the most cruel death was made bearable.” The Signs of the Times, September 2, 1897.