Pharisees

ISSUES: Adventist Inquisition, Section V

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SECTION FIVE: INQUISITION
Chapter XI – How Shall We Relate To The Great Adventist Inquisition?

by Dr. Ralph Larson

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? Jeremiah 12: 5.

The Jordan is swelling. The horsemen are here. By their publication of the Issues tract and book, the North American Division leaders, no doubt acting in counsel with General Conference leaders, have clearly announced their intention of seeking out those who have been associating with and supporting “certain private organizations” and dealing with them as a cancer in the body of the church, which must be cut out. This will be the historic Adventist’s reward for persistently calling for loyalty to our historic faith and for insistently raising questions about unauthorized changes in our church’s doctrines.

It will be no small task. The Historic Movement is growing very rapidly in North America and has adherents numbering in the thousands. It also has sympathizers in high places who will come forward like Nicodemus when circumstances require such an action. In overseas divisions, excepting Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe, those who hold to our historic faith are the overwhelming majority. Most of the members in mission fields will be astonished beyond measure when they learn that in North America church members are being disciplined for believing the very doctrines that those in the mission fields have been taught and still hold.

As one considers the magnitude of this Inquisition, the question is likely to occur, Would it not be simpler and easier to just repudiate the unauthorized changes in our doctrines and return to the purity of our faith? But it does not appear that this solution to the problem is even being considered.

This is unfortunate. Such an approach would have brought a positive solution to the problem, rather than a negative solution. Surgery would not be necessary. The dissidents would cease to be dissident and would joyfully give full support to the church administration. Tithes and offerings would flow through the regular channels, and the independent ministries would willingly go out of business because they would no longer be needed.

But we must accept the grim reality. Given the choice between reforming our theology or silencing the voices of those who are calling for reform, the North American Division leaders appear to have chosen the latter course. This is a fateful decision. It will touch off such a “witch- hunt” as has never before been seen in Adventism, although it has been seen before in the history of Christianity.

The early Christians were hounded out of the Jewish synagogues; the Protestants were hounded out of the Catholic church; and the Millerite Adventists were hounded out of the Protestant churches, all for the same reason. All were reacting against apostasy in the church and calling for reform. In each case the church authorities refused to consider reform and chose rather to silence the Reformers’ voices.

The Pharisees had just cut one off from the fold because he had acknowledged that Jesus had wrought a wonderful miracle, and had opened his eyes. . . . They were false shepherds indeed, and sought to scatter the sheep. … in no gentle manner they thrust him out of the synagogue. The sheep was cast out of the fold for being a living witness to the power of Christ. Many have been cast out of the church whose names were registered upon the book of life. Wolves in sheep’s clothing were ready to cast out of the fold and devour one who was entitled to the Lord’s pasture; but Jesus, the True Shepherd, sought him, and gave him a place within the fold.— ST 12- 4- 1893. (This does not mean that Jesus went to Caiphas and got the man’s name back on the roll of the synagogue.)

We seem to be witnessing a demonstration of the principle that those who cannot learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Unless God intervenes in a way not presently foreseeable, many of us are going to be called upon to submit to trial in our various home churches. How shall we meet this situation? Let us consider both the words and the example of our Lord.

We observe first that Jesus did not refuse to stand trial, although He could very easily have resisted arrest or concealed Himself from Judas and the mob. Let us follow His example and not refuse to stand trial. Our testimony there may well bring salvation to someone. Then let us study the records of His trial and the inspired commentary in The Desire of Ages, chapters 75 and 77. (Chapter 76 deals with the sad experience of Judas.) From these chapters we glean lines like these: (Emphasis supplied.)

Of all the throng He alone was calm and serene. Page 704.

He spoke no burning words of retaliation. Page 700.

His calm answer came from a heart sinless, patient, and gentle, that would not be provoked. Page 700.

Patiently Jesus listened to the conflicting testimonies. Page 706.

On His face he [Pilate] saw no sign of guilt, no expression of fear, no boldness or defiance. Page 724.

He stood unmoved by the fury of the waves that beat about Him. Page 726.

Pilate was filled with amazement at the uncomplaining patience of the Saviour. Page 736.

The Son of God had taken upon Himself man’s nature. He must do as man must do in like circumstances. Page 729.

Jesus is our example, and to glorify Him by our conduct when we are placed on trial will be our privilege and our honor. If we are faithful, we will be standing in direct line with those of all ages who have been dealt with unjustly by church authorities, including Jesus Himself. We need have no fear. We know it is all going to end in the triumph of truth over error, of right over wrong, of Christ over Satan.

The End

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The Appearance of Defeat

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Many believers around the world are struggling to know how to relate to the apparent shrinking numbers of faithful Seventh-day Adventists. This is a difficult question, but to discover the answers we can look at the example that Christ left for us. For, there was a time in Christ’s ministry, when, to almost everyone, it looked like His work was a failure.

Ellen White speaks of how Christ’s work appeared just three days before the crucifixion.

“At this time Christ’s work bore the appearance of cruel defeat. He had been victor in the controversy with the priests and Pharisees, but it was evident that they would never receive Him as the Messiah. The final separation had come. To His disciples the case seemed hopeless.” The Desire of Ages, 621.

Have you ever been in a situation that seemed hopeless? The last week of Jesus’ life, His cause seemed hopeless. At that time, Christ’s followers, His church, consisted of just eleven men and a few women. It appeared as though the movement Christ had begun was about to fall apart. Yet, at this very time, the work of God was just hours away from its greatest victory. Christ was approaching the consummation of His work. The great event, which concerned not only the Jewish nation but also the whole world, was about to take place.

Why did God allow His work to sink to such a low ebb, especially when the hour of victory was so near at hand? When thinking about this, we may rightly wonder how defeated God’s work may appear before His second coming. Will we, if we are faithful, have to go through a time when to all outward appearances the case seems hopeless?

To answer this we need to go back to the Wednesday before the crucifixion. Christ had faithfully borne the final and last rebuke to Israel’s leaders. He had exposed them in front of the multitude. The disciples, with keen discernment, saw that their last opportunity to make peace with the church leaders was forever gone. All looked hopeless!

Jesus knew that in a few hours His disciples would see Him in a position they had never before dreamed of. They had trusted that no matter how disheartening things might look, Jesus would eventually proclaim Himself king. But to be placed on a cross instead? Would it be more than they could bear?

Jesus had carefully told them, in the kindest way, what was to happen to Him, but they would not listen. Consequently their minds never comprehended it. They never dreamed they would see Jesus hanging on a cross, for they believed Him to be the Messiah.

This Man who came to earth was actually the King of the universe. He looked like a man among men, but He was infinitely more than that. He was God, clothed in the garb of humanity. Yet He came here, and walked among men, living the life of the ones He had created.

When sin first entered the world, Christ made a pledge with His Father that He would redeem man at all costs to Himself. And before He came to this earth, while He was still on the throne in heaven, He watched the events of this world. As He looked at the course of sin for four thousand years, in counsel with His Father, He planned how He was to come into this world and how He was to act while He was here.

Why then, with all the carefully laid plans, were things looking so unpromising? The disciples wondered if He had made a mistake. Why was this Man, who they knew to be altogether lovely, being rejected by the leaders and the people? It did not make any sense to them. To human thinking it is incomprehensible. The God of the universe, looking into the hearts of men, chose to redeem us in a way that is beyond our comprehension. He, who owned everything, chose to come here, not in wealth, but in poverty. Instead of being born into the palace of a king, He was born into the home of a common laborer. Instead of studying the great wisdom of the world, the God of heaven chose for Him to be taught by His own mother out of the Scriptures.

The Jews were looking for a Messiah to come with great outward show, with the pomp of a king, the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Samson. They were looking for one who, with all power, would change the current of men’s thoughts and force men everywhere to believe in Him. (See The Desire of Ages, 700.) This idea was so implanted in their minds that it seemed that the way Jesus planned to come was predestined to fail. And so it seemed to the disciples on that eventful day, the Wednesday before the crucifixion, when things were at their lowest ebb. It looked like there was no hope because they knew how it had to be—and it was not turning out that way.

No Beauty That We Should Desire Him

Had Jesus been willing to establish a temporal dominion He would have gladly been received by all. (See The Desire of Ages, 509.) Why did He not do it? Isaiah 53 tells us how He chose to come. This prophecy, given hundreds of years before Christ came, described how He must come. It says, in verse two, “When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

When Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist said to the crowd, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. The crowd looked all around to see who John was talking about, but they did not see anyone who looked different than themselves. They did not see a man of great stature that was far more beautiful and noble than all the rest. Every face that they searched in the crowd appeared to them as just a common man.

He came like you and me. It was planned to be this way. In Luke 17, Jesus spoke straight to this topic because the Pharisees had such a preconceived idea of how He would come. “And when He (Jesus) was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show.” Luke 17:20.

The kingdom of God was in their midst but they did not discern it. It was powerful and they saw the power, but it was not the power they wanted. They had their minds fixed on how they thought it had to be and so they came to Jesus and demanded of Him when the kingdom of God would come—not realizing that the way to the kingdom of God was in front of them. Jesus said, trying to correct their faulty thinking, “The kingdom of God comes not with outward show.”

The kingdom of God never comes with outward show. Oh, yes, it will be something great when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven. We will be able to see it, but the only ones who will be rejoicing are those who have been changed inside. As Jesus said, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21. The kingdom of God always starts on the inside.

The Cardinal and the Sparrow

How quick we are to look at the outward appearance, as the disciples did. I recently had an experience that brought this lesson home to me in a tangible way. On our back porch we have a bird feeder and we enjoy watching the birds come and go. We have had little juncos, sparrows, cardinals, finches, blue birds, a blue jay and a mocking bird that came to visit our feeder. Early last spring, when it was still cool, there were three kinds of birds that came quite frequently; juncos, sparrows and cardinals. The cardinals came even when it snowed. The white snow made the red of their coats seem iridescent. The red was accented with the sharp black around their beak and the white snow. It was beautiful. I noticed that when the cardinals came, every one stopped to look. People tiptoed around the window because they did not want to frighten them away. Sometimes my children ran back in the bedroom and whispered, “Mother, the cardinals are here.” And everyone stopped for a few moments to enjoy the loveliness of the scene.

I noticed, though, that when the sparrows came, they did not get quite the same attention. People did not run to the window. No one stopped what they were doing; everything went on as usual. We enjoyed the sparrows but it was not the same as the cardinals. What made the difference? We are drawn to the beautiful. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7.)

Typically we judge the heart by the appearance. Jesus knew this, and that is why He did not come in the garb of the cardinal, beautiful above other birds. He came like the sparrow. He chose to come with the appearance of the common man. He knew that if He came with the pomp of royalty, that His beauty would stun men, and He did not want that.

Inside His heart He had something that was far more beautiful, powerful, wise, and worth more> than anything this world could give. It was the beauty of His character. He did not want us to be attracted by outward beauty, so He chose not to come that way. Rather He came with the glory, beauty and the wealth of heaven in His heart. He came with love. He came with kindness for all and salvation to the poorest of humanity as well as to the rich. No one was excluded.

Someday we will see His great beauty when He comes in the clouds of heaven, but by that time everyone will have made a decision one way or the other. When He comes in the glory of His Father and the angels, there will be many that will say, “If only You had come with the pomp of the world, we would have accepted You.”

A System Based on Outward Show

In the last two thousand years, God has let a system develop that is built on outward show, to help us see what the result of Christ’s mission would have been had He come that way. And the results, that following this type of system always bring, can be seen in the history of the Papal system. Following a system based on outward show always leads to breaking God’s Law.

This will be seen most clearly in the final days of this earth’s history. At that time, Paul prophesied that Satan, through his agents, would work “with all power, signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

Men have the desire for something outward that they can look at and fasten their faith on without changing what is on the inside. Men say today, as the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Show us a sign.” And that is why this method will be so deceptive in the last days. Revelation says about this same power: “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;” Revelation 13:13, 14. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10.

If you base your religious decisions on appearance, you will be fooled when this happens. We must learn to be led, not by outward signs, but by the inward guidance of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit working upon our hearts. That is our only safety against deception.

Sometimes we are struck with the outward appearance of men of greatness, men that know how to carry themselves with great poise and nobility. Jesus talked about people like that. He said: “And ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” John 5:43, 44.

If you long for the honor of men and the show of this world, then you will be attracted to people who also have that goal and they will deceive you. The only way to be kept from deception is by having a change of heart. That is why Paul said, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11.

If you have not received the love of the truth in your heart, you are looking for show, and you will find it. The whole world will be deceived by it. Satan has set up his counterfeit knowing that human beings are looking for show. They are looking for something great that they can see. He knows how the human heart works, and he has planned a deception that is a perfect fit.

You might say, “Oh, the Sunday law would never trick me.” But a man who is seeking glory for himself might trick you. The only ones who will withstand his deceptions are those who have had a change of heart, who are not seeking for great things for themselves, those who live for one purpose —the glory of God.

The Victorious Ones

This great power of evil organized in Babylon will be overcome and exposed. “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1.

The 144,000 will overcome the power of the Papacy. And they do it by following the Lamb. They have learned that their Leader is so powerful that when everything around them has the appearance of defeat, they can trust in Him for victory.

There is a report of a vision Ellen White was given on the train platform in Loma Linda. She never wrote it down, but she related it to those who were there and they wrote it for our benefit.

In this vision, Sister White saw the world. She said that as she looked over the world she could not see any Seventh-day Adventists. The angel standing by her side said, “Look again” and one by one God’s true and faithful stood up and their lights were burning. They chose leaders among themselves and they carried forward the work of the Loud Cry that was given to this world.

Is your faith strong enough so when you cannot see any true and faithful, and everywhere you look you see the inroads of sin, you can stand up against it? Often before God does His most signal work for human beings, He allows things to appear hopeless that our faith and vision may be directed to Him.

Pharisaism—The Common Problem of Mankind

There is another problem with men’s attraction to appearance that we have not considered yet. Jesus talked about it in Matthew 23, when he rebuked the Pharisees. He said: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:25, 26.

It is not a big problem to clean up the outside, the big challenge is to clean up the inside and Jesus said, “Do that first.” Before we can be delivered from Satan’s power on the outside, we must first be delivered from his power on the inside. (See Christ’s Object Lessons, 174.) Then Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matthew 23:27, 28.

I earnestly plead with you, ask the Lord to clean the inside of your heart. That is your only hope. Only He has the power to do it. However righteous you appear to men is of no account. It will not make any difference in the Day of Judgment the front you have worn. What makes the difference is what is on the inside of the heart.

Men are so awestruck with strength and riches, and because God knew our tendencies, He left us this warning. “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23, 24.

What are you looking for? What are you glorying in? Jesus said in John 7:24, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” When Jesus said that, how His heart must have been breaking. Here was the One that was altogether lovely. Who the angels of heaven recognized as beautiful beyond any other being in the universe. He is the fairest of ten thousand and He came to this world and all He brought was blessings, but He was rejected. That is why Jesus said and He says to us now, “Do not judge by the outward appearance. I have come among you. I am not beautiful above anyone else, but if you could see what I have brought, you would know that I have the pearl of great price. I have the hidden riches that I can give you. They are infinitely more than anything you have ever had before. Just come to Me that you might have life.”

The Seven Churches, Part III – The Church of Smyrna

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Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea represent the different eras of the Christian church from Jesus’ day until the Second Coming. A study on the first church, the church of Ephesus, was given in the November 2004 issue of LandMarks. By way of review, Ephesus was the church that worked hard. They were faithful, and they had right theology and doctrine. But there was one thing they did not have, or at least they had lost—their first love. The Scripture does not say they did not have any love. Obviously they had some, but they had lost that fervor and that real heartfelt love. As a result, the Lord said that He would remove them from being a church for Him. We might question, in our way of thinking, “Could it be that serious, if they had everything else?” If they had right theology and hard work and all of these things, could the issue of love be that serious? The Bible tells us, in 1 Corinthians 13, just how necessary love is: “Though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” Verse 2. The church is to reflect the image of God, and that image is love [charity]. God is love. If we do not have the love of Jesus in our hearts, we do not have anything, nothing else matters. The only way we can develop this kind of love is through conflict and trial.

Even the heathen people have love for those that love them. That is what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43–48. He said that even the heathen people, the Gentiles, and the unconverted love those who love them, and they are patient and loving when everything is going smoothly and when all things are pleasing them.

Sacrifice Self

It is not difficult to love when everything is pleasing, is it? But what shows whether you are a Christian or not is when you love when things are not going right and when you are not feeling right. That is when the Christian character is revealed. The only way that we can develop this kind of love is to sacrifice self, because as long as self is number one in our lives, we will never have love for others. We will always be watching out for ourselves, and we will always be getting our feelings hurt. We have to sacrifice self.

We must be broken on the Rock, as Jesus said in Matthew 21:44, and He is that Rock. When we come to the cross and see Jesus there, bleeding and lacerated, and know that He suffered abuse, bled, and died for our sins, not for His, because He did not commit any sins, our hearts will be broken. When we hear Jesus say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and we see how Jesus died for those who crucified Him, then we cannot stay offended anymore against those who mistreat us. Self must be put away. (Luke 23:34.)

Look at the story of Jesus in Romans 5:6–8: “For when we were still without strength [before we had any strength physically and, as sinners, before we had any strength spiritually], in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Dear friend, what love! When we were yet in rebellion, when we hated Him, He died for us.

John tells us what that should do for us—what kind of an impression that should make on our minds, what it should do for our characters—in 1 John 4:7–9, 11–13: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. . . . Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him.” There are many people who think they abide in Jesus, but this is how we can know we abide in Him and He in us: “Because He has given us of His Spirit” of love. Verse 13.

Command of God

Verses 20, 21 continue: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God [must] love his brother also.” That, we could say, is the eleventh commandment, but really it applies to all ten.

John 15:9 says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” Verse 12 says, “This is My commandment . . . .” It is not only an invitation; it is the command of God, because it is what we have to become like, if we are going to get to heaven. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Verse 12. That is a lot of love, dear friends, that loved us when we were still in our sins. That is a love that loved us when we did not love Him, when we were unloving. But this is Jesus’ commandment: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” Verses 13, 14. That command was to love one another.

Love to Be Loved

You know, the church will survive only, as the church of Ephesus tells us, as it develops that love of Jesus. The trouble is that everyone wants everyone else to be loving! Everyone wants to belong to a church like that. How many times have I heard it as a pastor? “You know, the church is supposed to be loving, but I do not have any money and no one here has given me any.” I have heard similar words many times. “No one has cared for me, and this is supposed to be God’s loving church.” How unfortunate it is when people are not cared for, but what utter selfishness of the heart such words betray.

The very principle of love is to love when we are not loved. If we have a whole church of people that are just waiting for everyone else to love them and to take care of them and notice them, we would have no love at all, would we? Love is developed when no one shows us any love, but we love in return. It has to start with one person and then two people, and that love will pervade through the whole church just as leaven pervades through a loaf of bread. If we wait to be loved in order to love, we are not yet Christians.

Lost Love

So it was that the church of Ephesus kept the law, and they worked hard, but they ceased to represent Jesus. They were not His representatives. They could not continue to be His church, because they did not represent His character, His love. Do you know what God is waiting for today? It is for that love—His character—to be represented in the church. We are told, in Christ’s Object Lessons, 69, “When the character of Jesus shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”

Ephesus was the very first church. It had the apostles with it for most of its existence. If there was a danger in losing that love with John, Paul, and Peter ministering to them, what do you think the danger is for us? But God had a cure for Ephesus. We find that cure in the church of Smyrna.

Smyrna needs special attention. Although we are not likened to the church of Smyrna, we still need to study it carefully. Ellen White never likens us to Smyrna. In fact, so far are we from the church of Smyrna, she only mentions it in her writings twice, and that is just in quoting the Scriptures.

While the church of Laodicea represents us, she often likens us to the church of Ephesus—not to the whole of the church of Ephesus, but she says we, like Ephesus, have lost our first love. “Those who truly love God must manifest loving-kindness of heart.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 135. And then she says something that makes me so sad: “There is nothing the church lacks so much as a manifestation of Christlike love.” Ibid. Oh, does that not make you sad? That is the very thing that will destroy us. That is what Ephesus lacked. She says there is nothing that we lack so much as that very thing—“the manifestation of Christlike love.” It cannot be something that is just in our hearts; it has to be manifested. So the church is often illustrated by the church of Ephesus but never illustrated by the church of Smyrna.

Contrast Smyrna and Laodicea

Smyrna is almost the exact opposite of Laodicea. Smyrna perfectly represents the 144,000 who will come out of the Laodicean condition. When we study the church of Laodicea, the seventh and last church, which represents us, we will discover that God does not say one good thing about the church of Laodicea. How sad! But do you know, He does not say one bad thing about the church of Smyrna; He says only good things about it. Let us look at the contrast between these two churches.

Regarding the church of Laodicea, Revelation 3:17 says, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor . . . .” They thought they were rich, but they were actually poor. On the other hand, look at what Scripture says about the church of Smyrna: “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) . . . .” Revelation 2:9. You think you are poor, but you are actually rich. Laodicea says, “We are rich,” but God says, “No, you are poor.” Smyrna says, “We are poor,” but God says, “No, you are rich.” God does not quite view things as we view them, does He? Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

Laodicea and Smyrna are contrasted in a parable that Jesus gave, which is recorded in Luke 18:9–14. “He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves [who thought they were rich and increased with goods] that they were righteous [and in need of nothing], and despised others.” Now, you must understand that when Jesus said this, Pharisees were held in great esteem, not like today. Today, we look at Pharisees through Jesus’ eyes, and we, like Him, realize they were not very good. Back then, everyone thought the Pharisees were almost ready for translation. Jesus said, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise [his] eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Likened to Pharisees

The Pharisees fit the description of Laodicea exactly. In fact, it is interesting how often Ellen White likens us to the Pharisees. I hope that we have accepted all the counsel and that we no longer fit this description. Someday God has to have a people that come out. But look carefully, because the Laodiceans did not think that they were Laodiceans, did they? They thought that they were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. Ellen White said that “the spirit that controlled the Pharisees is coming in among this people.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, vol. 1, 165. She also stated: “I entreat you, brethren, be not like the Pharisees, who are blinded with spiritual pride, self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency, and who because of this will be forsaken of God. For years I have been receiving instructions and warnings that this was the danger to our people.” Ibid., 166. “There has been a spirit of Phariseeism, a hard, unsympathetic spirit towards the erring [she does not say toward those that we were misjudging as erring, but toward those who really were erring], a withdrawing from some and leaving them in discouragement, which is leaving the lost sheep to perish in the wilderness. There has been a placing of men where God alone should be.” Ibid., 312. Whenever men are lifted up in pride, they always look with spite on other people whom they perceive to be not as good as they. This spirit of the Pharisees is the most difficult, the most incurable, the most hopeless of all the diseases that man could have. “There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all the sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 154.

Spiritual Pride

There is nothing as difficult to cure as spiritual pride. Spiritual pride causes you to think that you are humble—because of all the hard work that you are doing for the Lord—like the Ephesians. Many may say, “Lord, if I did not love you, I would not be doing all of these good works.” But, you know, you can work and still not have that love.

When we become spiritual without love for others or for God, it makes us critical toward others. “Whoever trusts in himself that he is righteous will despise others.” Ibid., 151. Do you ever find yourself despising others? Do you find yourself critical of others? That is the spirit of Laodicea. That is the spirit of the Pharisees. The good news is that if we realize it, God can heal and cure that disease just as completely as any other. The only reason He cannot cure it is because most of us do not see it. The Pharisee disease is the disease you do not see. It is like someone who has cancer and does not know it. He thinks he is healthy when he is filled with a deadly disease.

Publican like Smyrna

The publican was like the people in Smyrna. They knew they were sinners, but they were forgiven. They thought they were poor, but they were rich. I want to have the experience of the Smyrnans, do you? My prayer to God is, “If you need to make me poor, in order to make me rich, make me poor. If you need to make me weak, in order to make me strong, make me weak. If, like Paul, you need to take away my eyesight so that I can see, take it away.”

Paul’s experience is given in 11 Corinthians 12:7–10. “Lest I should be exalted above measure,” like the Pharisees and the Laodiceans, “by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Smyrna had the experience of Paul. They considered themselves poor and sinful, but Jesus said they were rich and righteous.

Represents Christians

The church of Smyrna represents the Christians in the post-apostolic era after the apostles died. It is interesting that when the apostles died, the church then became purified. When the apostles were living, they lost their love. After the apostles died, however, the church began to be persecuted by the Romans, and they were persecuted by the Jewish church. Most were poor in this world’s goods, and they had no prophets among them, no apostles—they all had died. The church was scattered, beaten, and cast to the lions, but they remained true and faithful. Most of them died a martyr’s death.

“Paganism foresaw that should the gospel triumph, her temples and altars would be swept away; therefore she summoned her forces to destroy Christianity. The fires of persecution were kindled. Christians were stripped of their possessions and driven from their homes. . . .

“Christians were falsely accused of the most dreadful crimes and declared to be the cause of great calamities—famine, pestilence, and earthquake.” The Great Controversy, 39, 40. By the way, does that remind you of something that is going to happen in the last days?

During the time of trouble, soon to break upon us, “the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils.” Ibid., 590. They will turn to the Christians who are keeping the Sabbath, and they will say that it is because of them that they are receiving these judgments.

That was the experience of the church of Smyrna, and the church of Smyrna represents the 144,000 who come out of the Laodicean experience. The church of Smyrna came out of the Ephesus experience, and they were blamed for all these terrible calamities. “As they became the objects of popular hatred and suspicion, informers stood ready, for the sake of gain, to betray the innocent. They were condemned as rebels against the empire, as foes of religion, and pests to society. Great numbers were thrown to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters.” Ibid., 40. How terrible that must have been! “Some were crucified; others were covered with the skins of wild animals and thrust into the arena to be torn by dogs. Their punishment was often made the chief entertainment at public fetes. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy the sight and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and applause.” Ibid. They represent those who will come out of a Laodicean experience as they came out of an Ephesus experience of no love.

Result of Persecution

Did this persecution destroy the Christians? Did it make them weaker? Revelation 2:10, 11 answers those questions: “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” The church before this time had lost their love, but persecution had revived it. You had to love God to be a Christian in those days. You had to love your neighbor to go witness to him, because he might turn you in to the authorities.

The fires of persecution, rather than destroy the church, purifies it. How sad that we have to have persecution to be purified. It would be wonderful if we could be purified without it! In the last days, we are going to find that all of God’s counsels are going to go for naught until the persecutions come, and then the church will be purified. We are told we will be so sad that we did not do in times of ease and prosperity the things we could have done, because now we will have to do them with persecutions. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 456, 457.)

Malachi 3:3, 4 says that in the last days, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” The church is not going to remain in a Laodicean condition. It is going to be purged and purified, “that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in former days.” Daniel 12:10, speaking of the last days, says, “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined.” They will be purified and made white through trial. The more the church is persecuted, the stronger the church becomes.

Satan Plants Banner

Satan saw that he was losing the battle, so he had a council and came up with a new tactic, which brought about the end of the church of Smyrna. The Bible then goes into a different church, Pergamos, which we will study next month, but here is the tactic that Satan came up with to destroy the church, or Smyrna: “In vain were Satan’s efforts to destroy the church of Christ by violence. . . . The gospel continued to spread and the number of its adherents to increase. . . .

“Satan therefore laid his plans to war more successfully against the government of God by planting his banner in the Christian church. . . .

“The great adversary now endeavored to gain by artifice what he had failed to secure by force. Persecution ceased, and in its stead were substituted the dangerous allurements of temporal prosperity and worldly honor.” The Great Controversy, 41, 42. Satan’s representatives enticed the Christians, telling them that they would not call them a cult anymore, if they would just modify some of their theological understandings. If the Christians would give a little and Satan’s representatives would give a little, they could become one happy family.

It was during this time that Constantine decided that he was not gaining anything with the Christians, and he needed a united army. He marched his whole army through the river and then declared they were all baptized Christians—even the pagans! He permitted them to continue meeting on Sunday as the pagans always had, figuring that Sunday, instead of being the day of the sun, S-U-N, would now become the day of the Son, S-O-N, commemorating His resurrection. The idols that the pagans had been worshipping, representing Venus and Mars and Jupiter, now represented Peter and Mary and Jesus.

It became popular to be a Christian. Everyone could be a Christian in peace, but the church was in fearful peril. Prison, torture, fire and sword were blessings in comparison with this. As long as persecution continued, the church remained comparatively pure, but as persecution ceased, converts were added who were less sincere and devoted. The way was opened for Satan to obtain a foothold.

Dear friend, do not fear persecution. There is something much worse than persecution. It is Laodiceanism. That is what we need to fear—Phariseeism, legalism, work without love, Nicolaitanism. Smyrna was the opposite of Laodicea. Smyrna was persecuted but pure. Laodicea was at ease, but it was not pure. Smyrna was stripped of worldly goods, but they were rich. Laodicea was invested with worldly goods, but they were poor. Smyrna was perishing, but God said, “You will live.” Laodicea was living, but God said, “I will spew you out of My mouth.” Thus Smyrna is the opposite of Laodicea, but not only is it the opposite, it is also the cure for Laodicea.

Purge Unconverted

In Testimonies, vol. 4, 89, we read that, “Prosperity multiplies a mass of professors. Adversity purges them out of the church.” I want you to notice something, however, lest anyone should misinterpret the Scriptures. Adversity and persecution do not convert the unconverted; they merely purge them out of the church. Anyone who is waiting for a time of trouble and persecution to be converted is going to be sadly disappointed.

“Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway, let persecution be kindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will” not be converted. The Great Controversy, 602. Now, I added those last few words, but let me paraphrase what Mrs. White says. Those who are already converted will become more converted, but those who were not converted will find themselves, like the five foolish virgins, outside the door. They will say, “Oh, Lord.” He will say, “I am sorry; I never knew you.” (Matthew 25:11, 12.)

Dear friend, the time of trouble is coming. We find, in Daniel 12:1, that a time of trouble is coming on this world before Jesus comes such as has never been since there was a nation. That time of trouble is going to include persecution such as happened with Smyrna. It is nothing to fear, unless we are not ready today. In fact, we are told that whenever we live godly, there will be persecution. (See The Acts of the Apostles, 576.) Evidently, the only reason there is not persecution today is because we are not living godly. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 11 Timothy 3:12.

Do we think that Satan does not have enough control of the world today that he could bring persecution if he so desired? He does not want to bring persecution right now. He does not want to wake up anyone. He is doing just fine the way things are. Let them sleep on in peace and prosperity and riches. We have not excited the wrath of Satan. He is happy with the way we are.

Fidelity Under Trial

Smyrna is an example of fidelity under trial. They were the purified remnant that came out of the church of Ephesus. They were a type of the 144,000 who will be a purified remnant that come out of the Laodicean condition. The people of Smyrna still had to overcome. Persecution did not do the overcoming; it merely showed what was inside and helped refine and polish them. They still had to overcome.

At the beginning of this article we read, in 1 Corinthians 13:3, that even if we give our bodies to be burned, and give all our goods to feed the poor, if we do not overcome selfishness and develop the love of Jesus, none of that will do us any good. In Revelation 2:11, we read the words spoken to the people of Smyrna in whom God found no fault, as far as was recorded. Nevertheless, He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” They still had to overcome. Persecution does not make the lukewarm righteous. It did not make the people of Ephesus have love, but it did polish those who were living up to all the light they had, and that is what the time of trouble will do for the Christians in the last days.

In Maranatha, 273, we are told that “the time of trouble is the crucible that is to bring out Christ-like characters.” A crucible is a boiling pot where silver is refined, for example, and where the impurities come to the top and are strained out of the silver. So it is when troubles come, when those things that should not be in our characters are revealed, we can then take them out of our characters, and God can purify us. Those that go through to the end and are translated must go through the experience of Smyrna, because there is coming another time like that which existed on the earth in the days of Smyrna.

Preparation Time

Today, God is getting us ready for that time of trouble. How does He do it? By giving us little troubles today with which we can practice. The Ministry of Healing, 481, says, “The faithful discharge of today’s duties is the best preparation for tomorrow’s trials.” How do we prepare for tomorrow? If we keep up with the trials today, we will probably have plenty to do. But that is all we have to do, because if we do that, we will be ready for tomorrow. This is why we are told, in James 1:2–4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have [its] perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Verse 12 says, “Blessed [is] the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” God is faithful. He will never permit anything to come to us for which He has not at least tried to prepare us and for which He has prepared us, if we will endure the trials of today. That is all we have to do.

We look at the trials today and at times they get us down, but if we realize that all we have to do to make it through the time of trouble and get to heaven is to survive cheerfully the trials that come today, with God’s help, we can do that. God has promised to give us strength for today. Dear friend, if we will just keep up with the trials and troubles of today, we will have strength to handle the ones tomorrow. If we will conquer the temptations of today, we will be ready to master the troubles of tomorrow. But if we do not conquer the troubles of today, we will not be ready for the trials of tomorrow.

Jeremiah 12:5 says, “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And [if] in the land of peace, [in which] you trusted, [they wearied you,] then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” It is to us God speaks these closing words. It is to us, those who are going to make up the 144,000, those that come out of their Laodicean condition, that God speaks. “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw [some] of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” Revelation 2:10, 11.

Dear friends, our privilege is even greater than was the privilege of the Smyrnans, for they who endure the trials of the last days will not even suffer the first death. They will be translated. They will not even be hurt by the first death, for we are told, in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them”—those from Smyrna and all the other righteous people who have ever lived—“in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

The message to the church of Smyrna is, “Be thou faithful even in trial.”

To be continued . . .

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board.

The Black and White Christian, Part II

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Is the work you are doing authorized by God? If you do not know whether or not God has been leading you in the past, then there is no point in looking at the present. To become more than black and white in your thinking, to be able to reason through things that are a little more difficult than two plus two, you must learn to understand the providence of God and how it has led in certain movements up to this present time.

Do you understand how the providence of God has been working in the last 150 years to finish the mystery of godliness in this world? Have you studied it? At one time, Ellen White said, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 162.

How is it with you today? Have you forgotten how God has led you in the past? If you have forgotten, you will be all mixed up about the present. You will not know what is what. If you have forgotten, I appeal to you to go to your own closet or wherever you do your studying, and say, “Lord, help me to understand what Your providence from past history shows me about where I am today and how I reached this point. Help me to understand where I should be and what I should be doing.”

Cornered

Throughout His ministry, the Pharisees attempted to trick Jesus by asking Him impossible questions that no one could answer and about which they argued all the time. On one occasion, they were certain they had cornered Him. They were going to ask Him a question, and they figured that no matter how He answered it, they would have Him. They were going to get Him into trouble either with the Jewish people or with the Roman people.

The story is recorded in Matthew 22: “Then the Pharisees go into counsel how they might trap Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples, the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that You are true, and the way of God You teach in truth, and it is not a concern to You concerning anyone, for You see not the face of man. Therefore, tell us, what do You think? Is it permitted to give tribute [pay taxes] to Caesar or not?’ ” Verses 15–17.

If Jesus answered, “Yes,” to this question, they immediately could discredit Him to the Jews, because Caesar was an idolater. In fact, the Roman Caesar was the personification of the sun god and was worshipped as the sun god. The rabbis believed that if you were supporting Caesar with your taxes, you were supporting idolatry. Surely, they reasoned with Jesus, “You know what happened to the Jews because of idolatry throughout the Old Testament. Are you not aware of all the warnings in the Scriptures against idolatry? Do you not know the second commandment? If you support this system, you are supporting idolatry.”

By the way, this was true. The pagan Roman government was a union of church and state. The church, of course, was an idolatrous, pagan church, so some of the taxes supported idolatrous worship. If you have studied the worship of idolatry, you know the awful things that were involved in such worship; more than the second commandment was broken.

The Pharisees believed that the Jews should not support a government that participated in idolatry. They reasoned that the head of the government was practicing and teaching idolatry; thus some of their taxes were supporting this idolatrous worship.

Many, many Christians were later martyred, on this account. The authorities would force the people to come into the town square where an altar had been placed. A fire would be burning on the altar, and beside it there would be a box of incense. The people were required to take just a pinch of incense, throw it on the fire, and say, “Caesar is Lord.” A Christian would not say this. We will never know until the Day of Judgment how many Christians lost their lives because they would not say, “Caesar is Lord.” They said, “Christ is Lord.”

If Jesus answered, “No, you should not support this idolatrous government by paying taxes,” immediately the Pharisees would report Him to the Romans, and He would be in trouble with the government. This is one of those black and white questions by people who are black and white in their thinking.

Peace and Harmony

The story continues, “And Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, ‘Why do you tempt Me, hypocrites? Show Me the tribute money.’ And they brought to Him a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose is this image and this superscription?’ They say to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.’ And hearing, they were astonished and left Him; they went away.” Verses 18–22.

How interesting! The question which none of the rabbis could answer, about which they were constantly arguing, Jesus answered in one sentence. He also gave to the world a profound truth, which has changed it entirely. It is one of the reasons for a country today that we call the United States of America.

Jesus taught, in this brief response, that people with diverse persuasions, who worshipped different gods in different temples, could still get along together in the marketplace. They could still live together in peace and harmony.

The early Christian evangelists did not go out and try to force the people in the various countries in which they lived to stop worshipping idols and begin worshipping the true God. This is not the way it happened. The Christian religion was introduced as leaven into society, and it worked to influence society, not to control society. The Christian religion is not a religion of control but rather a religion of influence, so people have a choice of whom they will worship and of what they will do.

Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” He drew a sharp line of distinction between that which is civil and that which is religious. Paul drew the line even sharper in Romans 13 and 14, showing that the state (he is speaking of the pagan state) has the authority from God to enforce the last six commandments in the law. He shows, in Romans 14, that the state does not have authority to enforce the first four commandments of the law, which is man’s relationship between himself and God.

Where do you suppose you would have been if you had been living back in that time? This black and white thinking, which the Pharisees repeatedly displayed, is not uncommon to the human race.

Ellen White described Phariseeism as the religion of human nature: “Christ ever rebuked the Pharisees for their self-righteousness. They extolled themselves. They came forth from their religious services, not humbled with a sense of their own weakness, not feeling gratitude for the great privileges that God had given them. They were exalted to heaven in point of opportunity, in having the Scriptures, in knowing the true God, but their hearts were not filled with thankfulness to God for his great goodness toward them. They came forth filled with spiritual pride, and their theme was self—‘myself, my feelings, my knowledge, my ways.’ Their own attainments became the standard by which they measured others. Putting on the robes of self-dignity, they mounted the judgment seat to criticise and to condemn. But no human being has been authorized of God to do this work. It is the very essence of Phariseeism. It is gathering about the soul the very shadows of darkness so that the light of life cannot penetrate the darkness. Satan deluded the Jews with a natural or legal religion, which was full of selfishness and hypocrisy, and thus were light and knowledge perverted; but this exalting of self, this self-righteousness, is nothing short of deception and self-destruction.” The Signs of the Times, December 17, 1894.

We could look at several more examples in the Bible of attempts to entrap Jesus. There is the question, in Matthew 22:23–33, about the resurrection that the Sadducees posed. Then, in John 8, is the story of a woman who was taken in the very act of adultery. This, again, was a trick case; the trick was simply this: When the scribes and Pharisees brought this woman in, they planned to defend what they thought Jesus would answer by appealing to Moses. They said, “Moses taught that such a person should be stoned; what do you say about it?” Verse 5. This was a trick.

If Jesus would say, “This woman should be stoned,” immediately they could get Him into trouble with the Romans, because the Romans had made a very strict law that people of other nations, such as the Jewish nation, were not allowed to practice capital punishment. The Jewish leaders were not going to bribe the Romans to keep Jesus out of trouble. They were going to have Him arrested by the Romans.

But if Jesus should say, “This woman should not be stoned,” if He was going to exercise mercy upon her, then they were going to say to the Jews, “This man does not believe in the law of Moses.” They were going to discredit Him in front of all the Jews.

This was a black and white situation. Either way Jesus answered the question could get Him into trouble. He responded, “The one that is without sin among you, let him first pick up a stone and cast it.” Verse 7. Then He began to write on the ground, and when they looked at what He was writing, they left, which was what He had in mind.

God’s Writings

There are only three recorded events in the Bible when God wrote something. The first was the Ten Commandments; He wrote it on tables of stone. The second is given in Daniel 5, when a bloodless hand appeared and wrote Hebrew characters—mene, mene, tekel, upharsin—on the wall. Any time God writes something, it is very significant.

This situation is the third time that God wrote. The difference between this time and the others is that we do not know specifically what He wrote. We know from the writings of Ellen White that the people who brought this woman to Jesus were the ones responsible for getting her into the situation so they could trap her and, ultimately, trick Jesus. It was a setup from beginning to end. (See The Ministry of Healing, 86–89.)

Someday you are going to see the verdict that God has written by your name through the recording angel. When you see the secrets of your life revealed, are you going to want to stand there before the Lord, or will you want to slink away? These men left.

Continuing in John 8:11, we read, “Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, no longer sin.’ ” This was the beginning of one of the most vehement controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees that is recorded in the gospels.

Who is Your Father?

Let us look at one last example of the Pharisees’ black and white thinking as this controversy proceeded. The controversy is over who is the father of the Jews, and in verse 37, the situation really becomes heated. The Jews say, “Abraham is our father.” This is equivalent to saying, “I am a Seventh-day Adventist, and I belong to a conference church.” If you could say that Abraham was your father, that was equivalent to having all the qualifications of God’s people.

In the conversation with Jesus, the Jews declared, in verse 33, “We are Abraham’s descendants.” Jesus denied this. He told them that they were Abraham’s descendants according to the flesh, but, He continued, “If Abraham was your father, then you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard from God. Abraham did not do anything like this.” Verses 39, 40. Jesus denied that Abraham was their spiritual father.

It would be amusing, if it were not so serious. Have you ever heard people argue about whether or not an individual is a Seventh-day Adventist? Yes, he or she is a Seventh-day Adventist; no, he or she is not, because if they were, they would not be doing . . . . God has a book up in heaven in which He keeps records. In God’s record book in heaven, are you a Seventh-day Adventist, or what are you?

These people could not stand being told that Abraham was not their father, just as people today cannot stand it if they are told, “If you truly were a Seventh-day Adventist, you would not be doing this and this and this.” They cannot stand it if you tell them that! This is what Jesus was saying.

The people said, “We are the children of Abraham. We are the true church.” But Jesus said, “No, you are not. If you were, you would be doing the works of Abraham; you would have a character like Abraham.” This, more than anything else, reveals their black and white thinking. They said, “We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” What they were saying was, “We know how You came into the world. We know that Your mother was not married until a short time before You were born. We know how babies come into the world. You do not have to tell us. We know how that works.”

Character, not Profession

This is what happens when you have black and white thinking. Because of your knowledge base, you know how something has to be. Black and white thinking is dangerous, friends, and when you read this story, you will come to understand that we are all guilty of it. We will never escape it except through the Holy Spirit.

The Jews thought that, from a human point of view, there was no other way a baby could come into the world. So they said, “We are not born of fornication ourselves; we have one Father, even God.” Jesus’ reply to this was: “If God was your Father, you would love Me. You would not be trying to kill Me, if God was your Father. If God was your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded forth and came from God.” Verses 41, 42, first part. Notice that He again denies that God is their Father. He tells them from where He came; He did not come from fornication. “Neither did I come for Myself, but He sent Me. Why can you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to endure My word. You are of your father, the devil.” Verses 42–44.

These were the leaders of God’s professed people. Jesus said, “Not only are you not God’s people, not only are you not the true church, but you are of your father, the devil. The devil is your father. You belong to the synagogue of Satan.”

If you want to do an interesting study, and if you have access to an Ellen G. White CD-ROM, search on the phrase, “synagogue of Satan.” You will find some very interesting statements. This was not the last generation in which there were people who thought that God was their Father, that they were the children of God, and that they were the true church when, actually, they were part of the synagogue of Satan.

How did Jesus prove that these leaders were children of the devil? In verse 44, we read, “Because the lusts of your father you wish to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not remain in the truth. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, because he is a liar and the father of it.” He is the father of lies, and he is also the father of murder.

In other words, it is your character and not your profession that determines whether or not you are a genuine Seventh-day Adventist. It is your character and not your profession that determines whether God is your Father or whether the devil is your father. In the great controversy, it is your character and not your profession that determines on whose side you are.

Black and White Conclusions

  1. A black and white thinker interprets Scripture in the context of his own culture, and this becomes for him absolute truth. This is dangerous, friend. Be careful that you do not read your own culture into what the Scripture says, and then say that it says a certain thing, when it actually does not say that at all. You are just putting your own cultural meaning into it.
  2. A black and white thinker interprets Scripture in the context of his own feelings and attitudes, and this becomes for him absolute truth. This is what the Pharisees did with the divorce issue. (Matthew 19:3, discussed in Part 1.) They were interpreting the Scripture in the context of their own emotions, attitudes, and feelings, and that became, for them, absolute truth, but it was wrong.
  3. A black and white thinker interprets Scripture according to his own knowledge base, and, for him, this becomes absolute truth. This is why the Pharisees said to Jesus, “We are not born according to fornication.” They interpreted events according to their total knowledge base, and they said, “It cannot be any other way but this.” Be careful, friend. This is why the Scripture says that the “natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him,” because they are outside his knowledge base. 1 Corinthians 2:14. There is more involved than just your knowledge base. This is where faith should be applied.
  4. A black and white thinker uses the words of Scripture to support his preconceived opinions or ideas. Here is an issue over which Adventists have repeatedly stumbled. It is not the words of Scripture that were inspired, but the men who wrote the Scripture were inspired. Their thoughts were inspired, and they used the best human language at their command to convey these thoughts. For this very reason, if a person is going to understand Scripture, he must study it sufficiently, so he grasps the thought being conveyed that the prophet or apostle had in mind, and is not just depending on the interpretation, which he may be wresting from the words. It is for this very reason that it becomes essential to study how the words of Scripture were used by the people of that time. We need to know what the words meant to those people in the culture to which the apostle or prophet was speaking or writing and not simply read into them our own cultural meanings, which may make them say something completely opposite from what the apostle or prophet had in mind.

A powerful text, if you understand what it means, is 1 John 2:21: “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” Ellen White also wrote a comment on this idea: “All truth, whether in nature or in revelation, is consistent with itself in all its manifestations.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 114. The truth, whether in nature or revelation, is always consistent with itself. The truth never contradicts itself. If we think we know something, but there is even one text in Scripture that seems to say something different, we had better be careful. The truth is consistent with itself in all its manifestations. This is why we need to ask, whenever there are any new teachings, Do all the texts of Scripture and do all the Spirit of Prophecy statements point clearly, explicitly in this direction? If we do not do this, friend, we are liable to get into the same trap that the Pharisees got into.

I hope you will pray about what we have studied and say, “Lord, help me to study and search to find the weight of evidence and not just be a black and white thinker, as is so common today.”

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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

The Black and White Christian, Part I

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Included in the category of black and white Christians is a very large percentage of people who profess the Christian religion. It includes an even higher percentage of those who are historic Seventh-day Adventists. There are also, in this category, a very large number of Roman Catholics and people of other religions.

Expectations

The Pharisees had terrible trouble when they got into discussions with Jesus. They would ask questions, expecting certain answers, but when they would ask Question A, expecting either Answer B or Answer C, they were given Answer R. The reason they were expecting certain answers was because they were black and white in their thinking. They considered an issue to be either black, of the devil, or white, of the Lord. Only these two alternatives were possible. When Jesus answered the question, He showed that there were other possibilities of which they had never even thought.

This is a very common problem, not just with the Pharisees, but with Christians as well. It has been a common problem all through Christian history, and it is a problem today.

An Example

Let us look at an example from Matthew 19:3: “And they came to Him, the Pharisees, testing him, and saying, ‘Is it allowed, or is it permitted, for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?’ ” If you have studied the nature of this question and that about which they were speaking, you know that this question caused endless disputes among the Jews, because their rabbis taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason. They defended this view from the Bible.

Biblical Defense

This is always one of the biggest problems in dealing with black and white Christians; they defend their positions from the Bible. They are so sure that they are right; it is difficult to even talk to them or reason with them. They know they are right, because they read it in the Bible.

The Pharisees read their answer right out of the Bible. Deuteronomy 24 is the Scripture they used to defend their beliefs. It says, “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she does not find favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her . . . .” Verse 1. What has he found in her? The Hebrew word is `ervah. The translators have had great difficulty trying to decipher the meaning of this word.

The linguists have given us five different possibilities for translation of the word, ‘ervah. Following are the various definitions of this Hebrew word from those who specialize in the study of languages:

  1. a situation or condition of nakedness;
  2. the pudenda—the secret parts or the sexual parts of a person, especially when naked;
  3. something that is shameful or something that is filthy;
  4. any physical defect; or
  5. ignominy or something that is dishonorable.

The Pharisees knew this word, and they argued about its meaning. Some of the rabbis held the position that if, after his marriage, a man found any defect in the woman whom he married—anything in her body, anything physically that he thought was defective, anything that he did not like—he could divorce her. In this case, the man was able to write a bill of divorcement, put it in his wife’s hand, and send her out of his house. This was the position of many of the Pharisees, based on their understanding of this word, ‘ervah.

The Pharisees were involved in endless arguments over this condition. There were some Pharisees who said, “No, this is an extreme position. You are making this text say something very extreme. It does not mean that just because the person does something you do not like, you can get rid of them.” But other Pharisees said, “Oh, no, this is what the word means. It means you can divorce the woman for anything you find to be defective.” They were involved in endless controversy over this.

Perfect Test Question

Of course, this was a perfect test question to present to Jesus. Either way He answered would involve Him in instant controversy with the opposition, because there were two sides to this issue, as there are in most controversies, and there were a number of opinions in between, as there are in most controversies. The Pharisees thought that they would instantly entangle Jesus in their religious controversies, because they thought in black and white. “Lord, which is it? Is it this way, or is it that way? Is it black, or is it white? Which is it?”

“In answering, Jesus said, ‘Have you not read that the One who created them from the beginning made them male and female,’ and, He said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be the two unto one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has yoked [or joined] together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4–6. This, friends, is a clear, simple, unequivocal explanation of the question.

What is the answer to their question? Can a man divorce his wife for any cause? Jesus answered the question with more than, “No.” A man is not to divorce his wife, period. Is that what you see in Jesus’ response? Is there an exception? Yes, there is an exception. The one exception is if she commits adultery against her husband. But the rule given is not to divorce at all.

Objections

The Pharisees thought for certain that Jesus was a false teacher, because He was contradicting what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 24:1. They thought they had Him! They could show to all the people that Jesus did not agree with Moses, and everyone knew that Moses was from God. They thought they had Him, and they were going to pin Him to the wall! They were going to quote the Scripture to prove that He was wrong.

Continuing in Matthew 19:7, the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why, therefore, did Moses give commandment to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away?” Notice Jesus’ answer to them: “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this. And I say to you that whoever shall divorce his wife, except for the cause of fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery.” Verses 8, 9.

Jesus is here teaching that some things are in the Bible because of the hardness of hearts. God allows us to do some things, not because it is His will, but because of the hardness of our hearts. If we really want to find the answer to what God’s plan is for our lives, we need to go back to the beginning of this world when God revealed His plan for humanity.

In the Beginning

Let us review a few of the things that happened at the beginning. Later, we will look at a few more things from the Book of Genesis. By way of introduction, think about these few facts.

In our world today, people are so confused that in Protestant churches there are those who cannot decide whether or not there should be clergy who are homosexuals. Now, think this through. When we look back to the beginning, how many people did God create? He created two, a man and a woman. He did not create two men, nor did He create two women, so there was no provision made at the beginning for homosexuality. (See Genesis 1:27; 2:20–22.) By looking back to the beginning, we can reason out what God’s will is and what His plan is. He did not make two men; He did not make two women; He did not provide for homosexuality.

Not only that, but as a result of sin, there have been men who have had more than one wife. We call that polygamy. There have also been, even in America, women who have had more than one husband. We call that polyandry. Did God make provision for either polygamy or polyandry when He created the world? God did not make two wives for Adam—or three or four or six; He made just one.

It is not essential to have all of the rest of the Bible to figure out what God’s plan is. God made for Adam one wife. Did God provide for divorce at the beginning? Did the Lord say, “Well, Adam is going to get tired of this one wife after a few hundred years, so We need to create two or three?” No, He made no provision for divorce. God created for Adam only one wife. He created for Eve only one husband. He made no provision for polygamy, polyandry, homosexuality, or divorce at the creation of the world. Those were not part of the divine plan.

Jesus reminded the Pharisees, “If you want to find out what God’s will is, you have to go back to the beginning. Moses allowed you to do some things that were wrong because of the hardness of your hearts.”

Ezekiel 20:25 records the words God spoke: “Also I gave to them statutes that were not good, and judgments where they should not live in them.” Why? Jesus explained that it was because of the hardness of their hearts. You see, there are a lot of things recorded in the Bible which men did that were not right. Even godly men made mistakes and did things that were not right.

God’s Plan

How can you find out what is right? You look first of all, Jesus said, at the beginning. What was God’s plan, which He revealed in the beginning? This is one escape for us, one way to keep away from this black and white thinking which is so common in our society and among Christians today. One way to escape is to go back to the beginning and say, “How did God plan for me to live my life? When He created the world, what did He reveal as His plan?”

Steps to Life is currently recording a series of studies on the subject of health for its television broadcast. In this series, I have returned, over and over again, to the theme of God’s original plan. When you are trying to figure out how God wants you to live, so you will have good health, the quickest way to find out is to go back to the beginning of the world and study how God planned then for man and woman to live.

Have you ever heard someone say, “God wanted us to eat meat; that is why he created cattle”? Oh, really? Do you know that, in the very first chapter of the Bible, God considered your diet important enough to put down what He wanted the human race to eat? In Genesis 1:29, God specified this diet in detail. The fact that, later, people ate all other kinds of things does not change what Genesis 1:29 says, and it does not change what the ideal diet is. Just so no one will be confused, we need to be sure to include the fact that, after sin entered the world, God did change man’s diet.

I have studied nutrition, and there are many things that are of great interest to me regarding the diet God gave to Adam and Eve. One of the things I have learned is that the first diet in Eden was a very low sodium diet. After sin entered, God added foods to their diet whereby they would get more salt, because they were going to have to earn their bread by the sweat of their face. (Genesis 3:19.)

If you want to understand what God’s original plan was for exercise, for diet, for health, for living, for social structure, and for family structure, it is all right there in the first few chapters of the Bible. Those chapters are loaded with information that we need to study on how to live.

Another Lesson

Another lesson from God’s plan, when studying the Garden of Eden, is where God placed the man and the woman. Did He place them inside a building, or did He place them outside a building? He placed them outside. We should learn from that! One of the biggest causes of all kinds of health problems we have today is that we are so much indoors; we are rarely outdoors. Even invalids in wheelchairs should be taken outside for a brief period of time each day.

In lands where women have been taught the custom of purdah—the wearing of the berka robe, hood, and veil common in Muslim countries, whereby the body is covered except for a slit for the eyes—those women suffer terrible health problems, especially during childbirth, as a result of maldevelopment of their skeletons. Their bodies were never exposed to the sunlight all the time they were growing and maturing. As a result, they have terrible, terrible problems.

We need to study the original condition in which God placed man and woman, and we need to learn from it. In fact, Ellen White instructed men and women to, “Get outside; get outdoors every day.” (See Medical Ministry, 225, 232.)

There are a lot of things that we can learn from going back to the beginning. This is how Jesus directed the people who asked, “Can we divorce our wives for any cause?” He said, “Go back to the beginning.” God made no provision for Adam to divorce his wife. He made no provision for polygamy, polyandry, homosexuality, or any of those things. Jesus said, “If you want to find out what God’s plan is, go back to the beginning.” Going back to the beginning can save us from a lot of black and white thinking.

By What Authority

The cleansing of the temple is described in Matthew 21:12–17. After the temple was cleansed, verse 23 says, “And He, coming into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, saying, ‘By what authority do You do these things, and who gave You this authority?’ ” They wanted to know what He was doing, chasing people out of the temple. They wanted Him to prove that He had lawful authority to do this.

This was a question that caused endless dispute then and, for some interesting reason, is causing endless dispute today. People frequently want to know, “Do you have a right to preach?” As you are no doubt aware, there are many Seventh-day Adventist churches in which I cannot preach, because I do not have any right, authority, or invitation to preach in them. Of course, I am not forcing myself into places where I am not invited.

Jesus was in a very similar dilemma. He had been shut out of the synagogue. In fact, the leadership had already decided that if anyone chose to follow Him, they would be disfellowshipped from the Jewish commonwealth or synagogue. It is very clear in the Gospel of John that they had made this decision a few months before this event. They hoped that they would be able to prove that Jesus had no authority to do what He was doing; therefore, He was a false teacher. They were going to discredit Him among the people.

The same thing happens today. People come to us at Steps to Life, saying, “What authority do you have to do what you are doing? You do not have any authority to build a church. You do not have any authority to organize a church. You do not have any authority to ordain a deacon or an elder or a minister. You do not have any authority to baptize.” All of those questions and statements are based on the same kind of thinking.

Look at Jesus’ answer. When, as a teenager, I first studied this text, I thought Jesus was playing a trick on them. But as I studied more, I found He was not playing a trick at all. He was giving them a very straightforward answer to their question, and there, actually, was nothing tricky about it.

In verses 24–27, we read what was happening and what Jesus was doing. It says, “And Jesus, answering, said to them, ‘I will ask you also one thing, which if you tell Me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? Was it of heaven or of men?’ They reasoned with themselves saying, If we shall say, ‘Of heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why, therefore, did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of men,’ we fear the multitude, for they all hold John as a prophet. And answering Jesus they said, ‘We do not know.’ He said to them also, ‘Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.’ ”

Providence of God

What was Jesus doing? He was taking them back in the providence of God. Do you believe the providence of God has worked in the second advent movement? Do you believe the providence of God has worked in your church? Do you believe that the providence of God has worked in your family? Do you believe that the providence of God has worked in your life? Can you look back and see that God has led you? I hope you can.

If you cannot look back and see that God has been leading in your life, you had better surrender your life to Him right now. Pray, “Lord, I want you to lead and guide and direct me on a plain path, so I can see that You are directing the way I should go.” This is what God wants to do for you. He wants to lead you on a path that is plain enough for you to see that He is guiding and directing you. When you look back, if you have surrendered your life to Him every day, you should be able to see that God has been directing and guiding in your life. You should be able to see that God has been leading and guiding and directing in what has been happening in the second advent movement.

So Jesus took them back a few years in the providence of God.

Self-supporting Work

I developed a sermon, about 15 years ago, based on this passage of Scripture, entitled, “Has God Authorized Self-supporting Work?” Has God authorized people who are working for Him but who are not working with the organized conference? Some people cannot understand that. The way to figure it out is to go back in the providence of God and see how God has been leading in the second advent movement. Has God directed that this should happen or not?

Jesus took them back in the providence of God to the baptism of John the Baptist. He said, “John the Baptist was baptizing thousands of people in the Jordan River.” “They came,” it says in Matthew 3:5, “from Jerusalem, and they came from beyond the Jordan”—that is, on the east side where the two and one-half tribes settled—and were baptized by John the Baptist. So, Jesus said to them, “John the Baptist was baptizing these people. Was God leading in this or was it just the leadership of men?”

Think through the answer for a moment. If you believe that the ministry and the baptism of John the Baptist was merely human, that God was not leading, would you believe that Jesus was the Messiah? Absolutely not! But if you believe the ministry and the baptism of John the Baptist was something inspired of heaven, would you believe that Jesus was the Messiah? Yes, you would, because John the Baptist testified publicly that he was. He said, “I have seen the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on this Person. I did not know Him, but the One that sent me to baptize, He told me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit of God descending, and remaining upon Him, that is the One that baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and I am bearing testimony that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32–34.

So, if you believe that the baptism of John the Baptist was inspired by heaven, what would you believe about Jesus? You would believe that He was the Son of God, and that was the authority by which He was doing these things. The evidence was overwhelming, even to these people.

The whole multitude believed that John the Baptist was a prophet. They could not deny it, but they did not like John the Baptist, because he was an independent worker. He was not under their authority. He was not credentialed by them. He was not educated by them. He did not have permission from them, so they did not like him.

They could not deny the work of John the Baptist, but they did not want to acknowledge it either, so they said, “We cannot tell.” Jesus said, “Then I do not tell you either by what authority I do these things, if you do not know.” That is the answer we have to give to some people too.

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

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