reform

What About Health Reform?

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Our habits of eating and drinking show whether we are of the world or among the number whom the Lord by His mighty cleaver of truth has separated from the world.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 372.

“He who cherishes the light which God has given him upon health reform, has an important aid in the work of becoming sanctified through the truth, and fitted for immortality.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 10.

“He who is thoroughly converted will abandon every injurious habit and appetite. By total abstinence he will overcome his desire for health-destroying indulgences.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 113.

Adopting Health Reform

“We want to act like men and women that are to be brought into judgment. And when we adopt the health reform we should adopt it from a sense of duty, not because somebody else has adopted it. I have not changed my course a particle since I adopted the health reform. I have not taken one step back since the light from heaven upon this subject first shone upon my pathway. I broke away from everything at once,—from meat and butter, and from three meals,—and that while engaged in exhaustive brain labor, writing from early morning till sundown. I came down to two meals a day without changing my labor.” Ibid., vol. 2, 371.

“Many do not feel that this [health reform] is a matter of duty, hence they do not try to prepare food properly. This can be done in a simple, healthful, and easy manner, without the use of lard, butter, or flesh meats. Skill must be united with simplicity. To do this, women must read, and then patiently reduce what they read to practice.” Ibid., vol. 1, 681.

“Many take a wrong view of the health reform and adopt too poor a diet. They subsist upon a cheap, poor quality of food, prepared without care or reference to the nourishment of the system. It is important that the food should be prepared with care, that the appetite, when not perverted, can relish it. Because we from principle discard the use of meat, butter, mince pies, spices, lard, and that which irritates the stomach and destroys health, the idea should never be given that it is of but little consequence what we eat.” Ibid., vol. 2, 367.

Avoid These

“We bear positive testimony against tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff, tea, coffee, flesh meats, butter, spices, rich cakes, mince pies, a large amount of salt, and all exciting substances used as articles of food.” Ibid., vol. 3, 21.

“Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. Their effect is produced before there has been time for digestion and assimilation, and what seems to be strength is only nervous excitement. When the influence of the stimulant is gone, the unnatural force abates, and the result is a corresponding degree of languor and debility.

“The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils; for they wear away the life forces. Tired nerves need rest and quiet instead of stimulation and overwork.” The Ministry of Healing, 326, 327.

“No butter or flesh meats of any kind come on my table. Cake is seldom found there. I generally have an ample supply of fruits, good bread, and vegetables.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 487.

“It is impossible for those who make free use of flesh meats to have an unclouded brain and an active intellect.” Ibid., 62

“Flesh meat is not necessary for health or strength. If used it is because a depraved appetite craves it. Its use excites the animal propensities to increased activity and strengthens the animal passions. When the animal propensities are increased, the intellectual and moral powers are decreased. The use of the flesh of animals tends to cause a grossness of body and benumbs the fine sensibilities of the mind.” Ibid., 63.

“Flesh meats will depreciate the blood. Cook meat with spices, and eat it with rich cakes and pies, and you have a bad quality of blood. The system is too heavily taxed in disposing of this kind of food. The mince pies and the pickles, which should never find a place in any human stomach, will give a miserable quality of blood. And a poor quality of food, cooked in an improper manner, and insufficient in quantity, cannot make good blood. Flesh meats and rich food, and an impoverished diet, will produce the same results.” Ibid., 368.

Teach the Children

“You should be teaching your children. You should be instructing them how to shun the vices and corruptions of this age. Instead of this, many are studying how to get something good to eat. You place upon your tables butter, eggs, and meat, and your children partake of them. They are fed with the very things that will excite their animal passions.” Ibid., 362.

“The moral sensibilities of your children cannot be easily aroused, unless you are careful in the selection of their food. Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh-meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood.” Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 46, 47.

“If ever there was a time when the diet should be of the most simple kind, it is now. Meat should not be placed before our children. Its influence is to excite and strengthen the lower passions, and has a tendency to deaden the moral powers.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 352.

Foods to Relish

“Olives may be so prepared as to be eaten with good results at every meal. The advantages sought by the use of butter may be obtained by the eating of properly prepared olives. The oil in the olives relieves constipation; and for consumptives, and for those who have inflamed, irritated stomachs, it is better than any drug. As a food it is better than any oil coming secondhand from animals.” Ibid., vol. 7, 134.

“Grains and fruits prepared free from grease, and in as natural a condition as possible, should be the food for the tables of all who claim to be preparing for translation to heaven. The less feverish the diet, the more easily can the passions be controlled. Gratification of taste should not be consulted irrespective of physical, intellectual, or moral health.” Ibid., vol. 2, 352.

“Advise the people to give up sweet puddings or custards made with eggs and milk and sugar, and to eat the best home-made bread, both graham and white, with dried or green fruits, and let that be the only course for one meal; then let the next meal be of nicely prepared vegetables.” Unpublished Testimonies, October 29, 1894.

“Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains, fruits, and some roots, to make foods that are healthful and nourishing. Care should be taken, however, not to use too large a proportion of nuts.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 363.

“Simple grains, fruits, and vegetables have all the nutrient properties necessary to make good blood. This a flesh diet cannot do.” Healthful Living, 63.

“In grains, fruits, and vegetables, and nuts, are to be found all the food elements that we need. If we will come to the Lord in simplicity of mind, He will teach us how to prepare wholesome food free from the taint of flesh-meat.” Testimony Studies on Diet and Foods, 65.

“How can anyone desire to live on the flesh of dead animals, when he has the privilege of using the fruit, grains, vegetables, and nuts that God has given us in such abundance?” Peter’s Counsel to Parents, 26.

“God has furnished man with abundant means for the gratification of natural appetite. He has spread before him, in the products of the earth, a bountiful variety of food that is palatable to the taste and nutritious to the system. Of these our benevolent heavenly Father says that we may ‘freely eat.’ We may enjoy the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, without doing violence to the laws of our being. These articles, prepared in the most simple and natural manner, will nourish the body, and preserve its natural vigor without the use of flesh meats.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 50.

Restoring the Temple – Why Reform?

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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. We cannot afford to dwarf or cripple any function of body or mind. As surely as we do this, we must suffer the consequences.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 15.

Question of Obedience

“It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles [that will restore in us the divine image], and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul.” Ibid., 16.

“It is as truly a sin to violate the laws of our being as it is to break the ten commandments. To do either is to break God’s laws. Those who transgress the law of God in their physical organism, will be inclined to violate the law of God spoken from Sinai.” Ibid., 17.

“When men and women are truly converted, they will conscientiously regard the laws of life that God has established in their being, thus seeking to avoid physical, mental, and moral feebleness. Obedience to these laws must be made a matter of personal duty.” Ibid., 18.

“[God’s] requirements should be sacredly obeyed. Those who accept and obey one of His precepts because it is convenient to do so, while they reject another because its observance would require a sacrifice, lower the standard of right, and by their example lead others to lightly regard the holy law of God.” Ibid., 30.

“If we weaken these powers of mind or body by wrong habits or indulgence of perverted appetite, it will be impossible for us to honor God as we should.” Ibid., 21.

Why Health Reform?

“Knowledge must be gained in regard to how to eat, and drink, and dress so as to preserve health.” Ibid., 21.

“It is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection. . . .

“Satan is working with great power to lead men to indulge appetite, gratify inclination, and spend their days in heedless folly. He presents attractions in a life of selfish enjoyment and of sensual indulgence. Intemperance saps the energies of both mind and body. He who is thus overcome, has placed himself upon Satan’s ground, where he will be tempted and annoyed, and finally controlled at pleasure by the enemy of all righteousness.” Ibid., 22, 23.

“Our heavenly Father sent the light of health reform to guard against the evils resulting from a debased appetite, that those who love purity and holiness may know how to use with discretion the good things He has provided for them, and that by exercising temperance in daily life, they may be sanctified through the truth.

“Let it ever be kept before the mind that the great object of hygienic reform is to secure the highest possible development of mind and soul and body. All the laws of nature—which are the laws of God—are designed for our good. Obedience to them will promote our happiness in this life, and will aid us in a preparation for the life to come.” Ibid., 23.

“The health reform is a branch of the special work of God for the benefit of His people. . . .” Ibid., 25.

Unready for the Loud Cry

“The health reform, I was shown, is a part of the third angel’s message, and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body. . . . God’s people are not prepared for the loud cry of the third angel. They have a work to do for themselves which they should not leave for God to do for them. He has left this work for them to do. It is an individual work; one cannot do it for another. ‘Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’ Gluttony is the prevailing sin of this age. Lustful appetite makes slaves of men and women, and beclouds their intellects and stupefies their moral sensibilities to such a degree that the sacred, elevated truths of God’s word are not appreciated. The lower propensities have ruled men and women.” Ibid., 32.

All Being Proved

“It is of great importance that individually we act well our part, and have an intelligent understanding of what we should eat and drink, and how we should live to preserve health. All are being proved to see whether they will accept the principles of health reform or follow a course of self-indulgence.” Ibid., 34.

Of Primary Importance

“The question of how to preserve the health is one of primary importance. When we study this question in the fear of God, we shall learn that it is best, for both our physical and our spiritual advancement, to observe simplicity in diet. Let us patiently study this question. We need knowledge and judgment in order to move wisely in this matter. Nature’s laws are not to be resisted, but obeyed. . . .

“God demands that the appetites be cleansed, and that self-denial be practiced in regard to those things which are not good. This is a work that will have to be done before His people can stand before Him a perfected people.” Ibid., 36.

True Worship

“Those who claim to believe in health reform, and yet work counter to its principles in the daily life practice, are hurting their own souls and are leaving wrong impressions upon the minds of believers and unbelievers.

“A solemn responsibility rests upon those who know the truth that all their works shall correspond with their faith, and that their lives shall be refined and sanctified, and they be prepared for the work that must rapidly be done in these closing days of the message. They have no time or strength to spend in the indulgence of appetite. . . .

“The power of Christ alone can work the transformation in heart and mind that all must experience who would partake with Him of the new life in the kingdom of heaven. [John 3:3 quoted.] The religion that comes from God is the only religion that can lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the Divine Spirit. This will lead to watchfulness. It will purify the heart and renew the mind, and give us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship.” Ibid., 37.

United Front

“We have been given the work of advancing health reform. The Lord desires His people to be in harmony with one another. . . . Beware how you place yourself in opposition to the work of health reform. It will go forward; for it is the Lord’s means of lessening the suffering in our world, and of purifying His people. . . .

“The Lord has given His people a message in regard to health reform. This light has been shining upon their pathway . . . and the Lord cannot sustain His servants in a course which will counteract it. He is displeased when His servants act in opposition to the message upon this point, which He has given them to give to others. Can He be pleased when half the workers laboring in a place, teach that the principles of health reform are as closely allied with the third angel’s message as the arm is to the body, while their co-workers, by their practice, teach principles that are entirely opposite? This is regarded as a sin in the sight of God.” Ibid., 38.

Ellen G. White (1827–1915) wrote more than 5,000 periodical articles and 40 books during her lifetime. Today, including compilations from her 50,000 pages of manuscript, more than 100 titles are available in English. She is the most translated woman writer in the entire history of literature, and the most translated American author of either gender. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Mrs. White was appointed by God as a special messenger to draw the world’s attention to the Holy Scriptures and help prepare people for Christ’s second advent.

Food for Life — Sesame Crackers

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June! The official month that summer begins. How beautiful nature is at this time of the year. And how we should remember the Creator, who gave us this array of beauty to delight our senses and constantly remind us of Him.

This month we want to mention dress. “The Bible teaches modesty in dress. ‘In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.’ 1 Timothy 2:9. This forbids display in dress, gaudy colors, profuse ornamentation. Any device designed to attract attention to the wearer or to excite admiration, is excluded from the modest apparel which God’s word enjoins.

“Our dress is to be inexpensive—not with ‘gold, or pearls, or costly array.’ Verse 9.

“Money is a trust from God. It is not ours to expend for the gratification of pride or ambition. In the hands of God’s children it is food for the hungry, and clothing for the naked. It is a defense to the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, a means of preaching the gospel to the poor. You could bring happiness to many hearts by using wisely the means that is now spent for show. Consider the life of Christ. Study His character, and be partakers with Him in His self-denial.

“In the professed Christian world enough is expended for jewels and needlessly expensive dress to feed all the hungry and to clothe the naked. Fashion and display absorb the means that might comfort the poor and the suffering. They rob the world of the gospel of the Saviour’s love. Missions languish. Multitudes perish for want of Christian teaching. Beside our own doors and in foreign lands the heathen are untaught and unsaved. While God has laden the earth with His bounties and filled its storehouses with the comforts of life, while He has so freely given to us a saving knowledge of His truth, what excuse can we offer for permitting the cries of the widow and the fatherless, the sick and the suffering, the untaught and the unsaved, to ascend to heaven? In the day of God, when brought face to face with Him who gave His life for these needy ones, what excuse will those offer who are spending their time and money upon indulgences that God has forbidden? To such will not Christ say, ‘I was anhungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink . . . naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not’? Matthew 25:42, 43.

“But our clothing, while modest and simple, should be of good quality, of becoming colors, and suited for service. It should be chosen for durability rather than display. It should provide warmth and proper protection . . .

“Our dress should be cleanly. Uncleanliness in dress is unhealthful, and thus defiling to the body and to the soul. ‘Ye are the temple of God . . . If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.’ 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17 . . .

“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 most beautiful dress He bids us wear upon the soul. No outward adorning can compare in value or loveliness with that ‘meek and quiet spirit’ which in His sight is ‘of great price.’ 1 Peter 3:4.” The Ministry of Healing, 287–289.

Sesame Crackers

Blend together the following:

2 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup cashews

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Then add:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup corn flour

1/2 cup rye flour

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1 t. sea salt

2 T. Fruit Source granules

Mix thoroughly and add enough nut milk (oat, rice or soy) to hold together and form a ball. Roll between wax paper and cut crackers out with a cookie cutter. Bake at 350° for 20–30 minutes.

 

The Health Reform

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I was again shown that the health reform is one branch of the great work which is to fit a people for the coming of the Lord. It is as closely connected with the third angel’s message as the hand is with the body. The law of Ten Commandments has been lightly regarded by man, but the Lord would not come to punish the transgressors of that law without first sending them a message of warning. The third angel proclaims that message. Had men ever been obedient to the law of Ten Commandments, carrying out in their lives the principles of those precepts, the curse of disease now flooding the world would not be. …

Our gracious heavenly Father sees the deplorable condition of men who, some knowingly but many ignorantly, are living in violation of the laws that He has established. And in love and pity to the race, He causes the light to shine upon health reform. He publishes His law and the penalty that will follow the transgression of it, that all may learn and be careful to live in harmony with natural law. He proclaims His law so distinctly and makes it so prominent that it is like a city set on a hill. All accountable beings can understand it if they will. Idiots will not be responsible. To make plain natural law, and urge the obedience of it, is the work that accompanies the third angel’s message to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

Adam and Eve fell through intemperate appetite. Christ came and withstood the fiercest temptation of Satan and, in behalf of the race, overcame appetite, showing that man may overcome. As Adam fell through appetite and lost blissful Eden, the children of Adam may, through Christ, overcome appetite and through temperance in all things regain Eden.

Ignorance is no excuse now for the transgression of law. The light shines clearly, and none need be ignorant, for the great God Himself is man’s instructor. All are bound by the most sacred obligations to God to heed the sound philosophy and genuine experience which He is now giving them in reference to health reform. He designs that the great subject of health reform shall be agitated and the public mind deeply stirred to investigate; for it is impossible for men and women, with all their sinful, health-destroying, brain-enervating habits, to discern sacred truth, through which they are to be sanctified, refined, elevated, and made fit for the society of heavenly angels in the kingdom of glory.

The inhabitants of the Noachian world were destroyed because they were corrupted through the indulgence of perverted appetite. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed through the gratification of unnatural appetite, which so benumbed the intellect that they could not discern the difference between the sacred claims of God and the clamor of appetite. The latter enslaved them, and they became so ferocious and bold in their detestable abominations that God would not tolerate them upon the earth. God ascribes the wickedness of Babylon to her gluttony and drunkenness.

The apostle Paul exhorts the church: “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” [Romans 12:1]. Men, then, can make their bodies unholy by sinful indulgences. If unholy, they are unfitted to be spiritual worshipers and are not worthy of heaven. If man will cherish the light that God in mercy gives him upon health reform, he may be sanctified through the truth and fitted for immortality. But if he disregards that light and lives in violation of natural law he must pay the penalty.

God created man perfect and holy. But man fell from his holy estate because he transgressed God’s law. Since the Fall there has been a rapid increase of disease, suffering, and death. Yet notwithstanding man has insulted his Creator, God’s love is still extended to the race; and He permits light to shine that man may see that in order to live a perfect life he must live in harmony with those natural laws which govern his being. Therefore it is of the greatest importance that he know how to live so that his powers of body and mind may be exercised to the glory of God.

It is impossible for man to present his body a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, while, because it is customary for the world to do so, he is indulging in habits that are lessening physical, mental, and moral vigor. The apostle adds: “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” [verse 2]. Jesus, seated upon the Mount of Olives, gave instruction to His disciples concerning the signs which should precede His coming. He said, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” [Matthew 24:37–39].

The same sins exist in our day which brought the wrath of God upon the world in the days of Noah. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking to gluttony and drunkenness. This prevailing sin, the indulgence of perverted appetite, inflamed the passions of men in the days of Noah and led to general corruption, until their violence and crimes reached to heaven, and God washed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood.

The same sins of gluttony and drunkenness benumbed the moral sensibilities of the inhabitants of Sodom so that crimes seemed to be the delight of the men and women of that wicked city. Christ thus warns the world: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” [Luke 17:28–30].

Christ has here left us a most important lesson. He does not in His teaching encourage indolence. His example was the opposite of this. Christ was an earnest worker. His life was one of self-denial, diligence, perseverance, industry, and economy. He would lay before us the danger of making eating and drinking paramount. He reveals the result of giving up to indulgence of appetite. The moral powers are enfeebled so that sin does not appear sinful. Crimes are winked at, and base passions control the mind until general corruption roots out good principles and impulses, and God is blasphemed. All this is the result of eating and drinking to excess. This is the very condition of things which He declares will exist at His second coming.

Will men and women be warned? Will they cherish the light, or will they become slaves to appetite and base passions? Christ presents to us something higher to toil for than merely what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. Eating, drinking, and dressing are carried to such excess that they become crimes, and are among the marked sins of the last days, and constitute a sign of Christ’s soon coming. Time, money, and strength, which are the Lord’s, but which He has entrusted to us, are wasted in needless superfluities of dress and luxuries for the perverted appetite, which lessen vitality and bring suffering and decay. It is impossible to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God when they are filled with corruption and disease by our own sinful indulgence.

Knowledge must be gained in regard to how to eat and drink and dress so as to preserve health. Sickness is caused by violating the laws of health; it is the result of violating nature’s law. Our first duty, one which we owe to God, to ourselves, and to our fellow men, is to obey the laws of God, which include the laws of health. If we are sick we impose a weary tax upon our friends and unfit ourselves for discharging our duties to our families and to our neighbors. And when premature death is the result of our violation of nature’s law, we bring sorrow and suffering to others; we deprive our neighbors of the help we ought to render them in living; we rob our families of the comfort and help we might render them, and rob God of the service He claims of us to advance His glory. Then, are we not, in the worst sense, transgressors of God’s law?

But God is all-pitiful, gracious, and tender, and when light comes to show who have injured their health by sinful indulgences, and they are convinced of sin, and repent and seek pardon, He accepts the poor offering rendered to Him, and receives them. Oh, what tender mercy that He does not refuse the remnant of the abused life of the suffering, repenting sinner! In His gracious mercy He saves these souls as by fire. But what an inferior, pitiful sacrifice, at best, to offer to a pure and holy God! Noble faculties have been paralyzed by wrong habits of sinful indulgence. The aspirations are perverted, and the soul and body defaced.

Testimonies, vol. 3, 161–165.

Judgment, Weighed In the Balance, part 3

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Do you remember from our earlier studies that we saw that when you come to the end, you are going to come to judgment? You are going to be placed on a scale; and unless your sins are forgiven and you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, unless the Holy Spirit has worked a miraculous change in your heart and your life, you will never have eternal life.

I want to consider the subject of the Judgment. It is a serious subject, much more serious than death. The devil does not want you to study this subject. He wants to give it a bad name. He knows that if you think about it, it might change your whole life and you might get serious about your relationship with the Lord. It is absolutely astounding that in Adventism today people are trying to discredit the whole concept of the Judgment. Theologians begin by saying; “I cannot find the concept of the Investigative Judgment in the Bible.” What in the world are people thinking?

It is Time to Awake

“What shall I say to arouse the remnant people of God? I was shown that dreadful scenes are before us; Satan and his angels are bringing all their powers to bear upon God’s people. He knows if they sleep a little longer, he is sure of them, for their destruction is certain.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 263.

Many of you, at some time in your life, have stood beside a loved one who is dying; and it is a very, very solemn experience. The judgment, however, is a much more serious matter than that. When a person dies, if that person is a Christian, that separation is going to be temporary. But if you come up to the Day of Judgment and you are weighed in the balance and found wanting, it will be an eternal separation.

Self Examination

“I warn all who profess the name of Christ to closely examine themselves and make full and thorough confession of all their wrongs, that they may go beforehand to judgment, and that the recording angel may write pardon opposite their names. My brother, my sister, if these precious moments of mercy are not improved, you are left without excuse. If you will make no special effort to arouse, if you will not manifest zeal in repenting, these golden moments will soon pass, and you will be weighed in the balance and found wanting. Then your agonizing cries will be of no avail. Then will apply the words of the Lord: ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Ibid., 263, 264.

I am a husband and a father; and someday, when I am called to account, God is going to ask me, “What has happened in your family? What has been the affect of your rulership and your influence in your home?” If I am the pastor of a church, God is going to come to me and ask, “Where is your flock?”

Found Wanting

“The church cannot measure herself by the world nor by the opinion of men nor by what she once was. Her faith and her position in the world as they now are must be compared with what they would have been if her course had been continually onward and upward.” Ibid., vol. 5, 83. That is an awesome thought. When each of us is put into the scale, God looks at what we might have been. Friends, there is no way that you can be saved unless the blood of Jesus covers all the sin of omission and poor choices. It is because we do not know when our last day will be that the apostle Paul speaks of the need to be praying always.

Do you believe that Seventh-day Adventists have had greater spiritual privileges than any other group of people in the world? If you believe that, then you believe that Seventh-day Adventists are the most privileged people in the world, as far as spiritual light goes. We are not saying that we are better than anybody else is, but we have received spiritual treasures that many other people do not have. It is according to these privileges and these advantages that we will be judged. Jesus said, “To whom much is given, from him much will be required.” Luke 12:48.

“If her spiritual experience does not correspond to the advantages that Christ, at infinite cost, has bestowed on her, if the blessings conferred have not qualified her to do the work entrusted to her, on her will be pronounced the sentence: ‘Found wanting.’ By the light bestowed, the opportunities given, will she be judged.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 247. Salvation is not something that you just drift into. Jesus said to struggle to enter in through the narrow gate. The Old King James says, “strive” to enter through the straight gate. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14.

“We are exhorted to ‘fight the good fight of faith.’ We are to wrestle with unseen foes, to labor, to watch, to strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many will be content with simple seeking, and will fail of an entrance.” Signs of the Times, July 20, 1888. Heaven and eternal life are something that result from a definite aim and a definite commitment to the Lord of heaven to follow and obey and to take advantage of the light and privileges that He has placed in your pathway.

Unconditional Guarantee

I want to tell you, friends, there is no unconditional, celestial guarantee that what we call the Seventh-day Adventist Church is just going to go through like we think. As a matter of fact, there is a conditional prophecy that if we do not turn around, we are going to be spewed out of God’s mouth. There must actually be a turning around and a following of what God says to do or we are going to reap the consequences, regardless of what we call ourselves. It has happened once to the Jews; how do we think that it cannot happen again? It is not being critical to face spiritual reality.

“Our health institutions are of value in the Lord’s estimation only when He is allowed to preside in their management. If His plans and devisings are regarded as inferior to plans of men, He looks upon these institutions as of no more value than the institutions established and conducted by worldlings. God cannot endorse any institution, unless it teaches the living principles of His Law and brings its own actions into strict conformity to these precepts. Upon these institutions that are not maintained according to His Law, He pronounces the sentence, ‘Unaccepted. Weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, and found wanting.’” Manuscript Releases, vol. 7, 212.

Oh, I can put the name Seventh-day Adventist on the outside of the building. But God says, “If My plans are considered inferior to your plans, then your institution has no more value to Me than an institution that is run by the world, no matter what you call it.”

Position and Judgment

I would rather be a part of the smallest church or smallest ministry in this world and have the Lord say in the Day of Judgment, “You have allowed Me to preside, and I will endorse what you have done,” than to be the biggest and apparently the most successful Christian institution in this world and be found wanting. Have you ever thought about that? When you start thinking through the Day of Judgment, it changes the way everything looks around you.

I remember some years ago when my brother, Marshall, was going through a very difficult experience. In fact, he was fired for conscientious reasons. He had been the pastor of the largest church in the state of Kansas, which is right in the area where Steps to Life is located. There were all kinds of appeals and pressures to try and get him to change his mind. One of the appeals that were made was the consideration of what kind of a position he would have in another ten years. That was of no concern to him. Why? Because he had a view of the Judgment. He was more concerned about what would happen when God put him in the scale than what men would think of him right now. You see, once your mind really grasps this idea; it changes your whole outlook on life.

One of the most amazing things to me is that some people cannot seem to tell the difference between God’s church and the devil’s church. First, let us read something about the devil’s church. At a devotional meeting where Ellen White spoke, she said, “None are too high to fall. Sin originated with Satan who was next to Christ. Lucifer became the destroyer of those whom heaven had committed to his guardianship.” Australasia Union Conference Record, October 1, 1906. Satan was the highest angel, and he became the destroyer of those whom God had committed to his guardianship. She continues, “Satan has a church today. In his church are all the disaffected ones and the disloyal.” Disloyal to what? Disloyal to God and His Commandments. Many people think that all churches belong to the Lord, but she says that the devil has a church.

“Each one in the day of Investigative Judgment will stand in character as he really is; he will render an individual account to God. Every word uttered; every departure from integrity, every action that sullies the soul, will be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. Memory will be true and vivid in condemnation of the guilty one, who in that day is found wanting. The mind will recall all the thoughts and acts of the past; the whole life will come in review like the scenes in a panorama. Thus everyone will be condemned or acquitted out of his own mouth, and the righteousness of God will be vindicated.” Review and Herald, November 4, 1884.

Confession and the Judgment

I have had people come to me worried about whether or not they should confess something because of the trouble that it might get them into. I have had to say to them, “Well, you are either going to confess it now or you are going to confess it later.” It is just that simple.

“From the light which God has given me, I know that the Lord would do far more for us as a people if we would walk in humility before Him. Every one of God’s people will be tested and proved, and we want you to be in a position where you will bear the proving of God, and not be found wanting when your moral worth is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary.” Review and Herald, June 18, 1889. You see, you are going to be put in the balances whether you are saved or lost. The only question is what the result is going to be.

We must come to the point where we say, “Lord, I am choosing to humble myself before You. Please show me what needs to be changed.” As long as we are not going to acknowledge anything, we are in a position where God cannot get us straightened out. Ellen White said, “If there was ever a place where self needed to die, it is here. Let us see the death struggle. Let us hear the dying groans. Self-exaltation never separates the soul from God; no matter in whom it is found, whether in those in responsible positions or in those who are in some less important place. Whatever has been done to attract the attention to self, has detracted from the glory that should have been rendered to God, and has brought leanness to your souls. It is through this avenue of self-esteem and self-sufficiency that Satan will seek to ensnare the people of God.” Review and Herald, June 18, 1889.

How is it that Satan is going to try to trap Seventh-day Adventists so that they will not be ready for the judgment? It is through self-esteem. By the way, is that a popular subject today? Very popular. The Spirit of God impressed Ellen White to write that self-esteem and self-sufficiency would be the very avenue that Satan would seek to trap the people of God.

The End of Mercy

“Mercy’s sweet call is now sounding; but it will soon die away. Probation’s hour will soon be ended. The seven last plagues will fall, and then those who have chosen the pleasures of the world and rebelled against God, will cry for mercy when there will be none to answer their prayers. But a voice will be heard, — “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.’” Youth’s Instructor, January 1, 1854.

When probation’s hour is ended, it will then be too late to pray for mercy. Was there a time, before Noah entered the ark, when mercy could still be obtained which was no longer available at a later time? Yes, that was the experience in Noah’s day, and is an example, Jesus said, of the way that it will be at the end. Peter says the same thing.

“And as they [the lost] realize that they have no shelter from the dreadful storm of God’s wrath, they will plead for one little hour of probation that they may again hear the sweet voice, inviting ‘every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ It will then fall upon the ear, in that dreadful hour. ‘Too late! Too Late!’ ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh.’” Ibid.

Friends, now is the day of salvation. Soon the day of salvation will be over. There is coming a time when you will not be able to offer the gospel invitation to anybody because the plan of salvation will be over. The handwriting is not yet on the wall. Now is the time to make a decision and say, “Lord, I am willing to surrender anything; I am willing to do anything; I am surrendering all. I am willing to humble myself. Show me anything that You want me to do. Please impart to me Your Holy Spirit so that my life can be changed.”

The Call to the Sleeping Virgins

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There are two statements in the Spirit of Prophecy that motivated me to search the parable of the ten virgins as for hidden treasures. One of them is found in the Review and Herald, September 19, 1890, and it says: “I am often referred to the parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and five foolish. This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter, for it has special application to this time, and like the third angel’s message, has been fulfilled and will continue to be present truth until the close of time. In the parable, the ten virgins had lamps, but only five of them have the saving oil with which to keep their lamps burning. This represents the condition of the Church.”

The second statement is in an article on the parable of the ten virgins in the Review and Herald, October 31, 1899, and it says: “Every specification of this parable should be carefully studied.”

“As Christ sat looking upon the party that waited for the bridegroom, he told His disciples the story of the ten virgins, by their experience illustrating the experience of the church that shall live just before His second coming. The two classes of watchers represent the two classes who profess to be waiting for the Lord. They are called virgins because they profess a pure faith. By the lamps is represented the Word of God. The Psalmist says, ‘Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’ Ps. 199:105. The oil [we know] is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 406

Remember that there were ten virgins. They all had lamps, and the lamps were all lit. They all initially had oil. They were all anxiously awaiting the bridegroom, but there was a delay. In this delay, they grew very weary. Hour after hour passed, and God’s people began to slumber and sleep. At midnight the call was heard, and all ten arose. They saw a procession going by. The ten virgins seized their lamps and began to trim them, but only five of them had the oil so needed. Those who had the oil made preparation, joined with this procession of people going by and entered into the house with the bridal train.

Let us remember also that every specification of this parable is to be studied and that it has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter.

When the bridal party—remember, the bride is the true church—came along, the call was given, and five of the waiting virgins, representing the professed church, joined with the bridal party and went in to the feast.

For a while the waiting virgins all looked the same, until there was a shaking, a message that startled them from their lethargy.It then became apparent who had made preparation and who had not. To the five who were the foolish virgins the master said: “I know you not.” They were left without in the blackness of night.

“The class represented by the foolish virgins are not hyprocrites. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have not yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit’s working. They have not fallen upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their old nature to be broken up.” Christ Object Lessons, 411. Ellen White also tells us that they are not open sinners. They are professed Christians. “In the time of peril they are found wanting and their cry is peace and safety.” See Review and Herald , October 31, 1899.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 985, 986, Ellen White states three different times that the bride is the Church, the Lamb’s wife. Yet it is stated in Christ’s Object Lessons, 406, that the ten virgins illustrate the church that shall live before the second coming of Christ.

In trying to understand this apparent contradiction, I began to study. How could the bride, who is obviously with the party that is passing by on their way to the wedding, and the waiting ten virgins both represent the church of Christ? I found some very interesting and enlightening statements regarding this parable.

“All the Christian world is represented in this parable. The bride constitutes the church that is waiting for the second appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 16, 268. Did you notice that the church—God’s true church—is represented by the bride? A little further along in this same article, Ellen White, speaking specifically of the ten virgins, says that “They represent the church of professed Christians.” Ibid., 271. Here we have a distinction being made between the true and the professed church.

In Christ’s Object Lessons, 405, we are told: “By torchlight the bridal party proceed from her father’s house to his own, where a feast is provided for the invited guests. In the scene upon which Christ looks, a company [the professed church] are awaiting the appearance of the bridal party, intending to join the procession.”

We are told in the Spirit of Prophecy that the five wise virgins joined with the little company (the true church) that had given them the light. Ellen White also makes another observation. “At midnight the cry is heard, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.’ The sleepers, suddenly awakening, spring to their feet. They see the procession moving on, bright with torches and glad with music.” Ibid., 406

Friends, I was puzzled. I thought, the cry is coming from the bride, but the bride is the church; and yet the ten virgins are the church. As I studied further, everything began to come clear. As Paul preached of two Israels—literal Israel and spiritual Israel—so this parable represents literal, or professed church members, and spiritual, or faithful and true church members.

Wise virgins, please let us wake up. There is a procession going by; I see it in Caleb and Joshua, outside; I see it in camp meetings across the country; I see it in the voice of the independent ministries, speaking loud and clear a distinct message: “Prepare to meet thy Lord.”

I Jeremiah 3:1, the Lord tells Israel: “But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.” He rebukes them because they have polluted the land with their whoredoms and their wickedness, and in verse 3, he tells them: “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” They would not heed the call from the true bride.

Notice what it says in verse 8. Here was the church; here was Israel, His professed people, and the Lord says: “And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce.”

I then looked in Jeremiah 7:30,34. “For the children of Judah have done evil while in My sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it.” “Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”

“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” Jeremiah 6:16,17 [All emphasis added]

As we go further down in time, to the time of John the Baptist, there is again another voice crying, this time in the wilderness. John was independent of the professed church, working for the Lord, calling Israel to repentance.

We read in The Great Controversy, 382: “It was by departure from the Lord, and alliance with the heathen, that the Jewish church became a harlot.” Just as Jeremiah was telling Israel—you have become a harlot; you have become an adulterous wife, and I must give you a bill of divorce—see John the Baptist giving the same message because the Jewish Church became a harlot, and he is trying to call them back to repentance.

Another time in which God raised faithful ministers to call His people from apostasy was in the days of William Miller. It was called the first great Advent Movement and took place in the 1840s. Ellen White makes a comment on this in Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 222. “To Wm. Miller and his colaborers it was given to preach the message in America, and the light kindled by their labors shown out to distant lands.” The procession that God had called—His true bride—with torches shining, glad with music, was giving light to America; this time to the harlot churches. It goes on to say: “The testimony of the Scriptures pointing to the coming of Christ in 1843, awakened widespread interest. Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic periods were correct, and , sacrificing their pride of opinion, they joyfully received the truth. Some ministers laid aside their sectarian views and feelings, left their salaries and their churches, and united in proclaiming the coming of Jesus. There were but few ministers, however, who would accept this message; therefore it was largely committed to humble laymen. Farmers left their fields, mechanics their tools, traders their merchandise, professional men their position; and yet the number of workers was small in comparison to the work to be accomplished. The condition of an ungodly church and a world lying in wickedness burdened the souls of the true watchmen, and they willingly endured toil, privation, and suffering that they might call men to repentance unto salvation.” Ibid., 223

“Under the proclamation of these messages the cry was made, ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh….go ye out to meet Him.’ Many who heard these messages thought they would live to see Christ come; but there was delay in the coming of the Bridegroom, in order that all might have an opportunity to hear the last message of warning to a fallen world.” Review and Herald, October 31, 1899

In the same article it says: “At the call, the sleeping eyes are opened, and everyone is aroused. They see the procession they are to join moving on, bright with torches and glad with music. They hear the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” Who was the bride who was giving the message to those churches? William Miller and his co-laborers, whom God had called to announce it to the world, were fulfilling this. The five wise virgins trimmed their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. You see, they joined the procession that was moving on and left the harlot apostate churches.

“Unfaithful watchmen hindered the progress of the work of God. As the people were roused, and began to inquired the way of salvation, these leaders stepped in between them and the truth, seeking to quiet their fears by falsely interpreting the Word of God. In this work, Satan and unconsecrated ministers united, crying, Peace, peace, when God had not spoken peace. Like the Pharisees in Christ’s day, many refused to enter the kingdom of Heaven themselves, and those who were entering in, they hindered. The blood of these souls will be required at their hand….

“Many were persecuted by their unbelieving brethren….Not a few were cut off from the fellowship of the church for no other reason than expressing their belief in the coming of Christ….

“Angels of God were watching with deepest interest the result of the warning. When the churches as a body rejected the message, angels turned away from them in sadness….many were deceived by husbands, wives, parents, or children, and were made to believe it a sin even to listen to such heresies as were taught by the Adventists.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 226,227

Do you see a parallel today? Every letter of this prophecy will be fulfilled.

I see today that the true church is calling the professed church to wake up. The voice of the bride—the true church—is once again sounding to the apostate structure.

“Many who went forth to meet the Bridegroom under the messages, of the first and second angels, refused the third, the last testing message to be given to the world, and a similar position will be taken when the last call is made.” Review and Herald, October 31, 1899

I believe we are seeing history being repeated one more time.

“The state of the Church represented by the foolish virgins, is also spoken of as the Laodicean state.” Review and Herald, September 19, 1890. You see, the foolish virgins equal the Laodicean state.

“Since the time of the Minneapolis meeting, I have seen the state of the Laocicean Church as never before.” Ibid., September 26, 1890. The people of God have rejected the message of 1888. They have rejected the call of the Holy Spirit and the righteousness by faith message—victory over all sin. They bolted the door shut and drove the Spirit of God away.

Eight years later, Ellen White said: “The Church is in the Laodicean state. The presence of God is not in her midst.” Notebook Leaflets, 99. She likens the church to the foolish virgins. These are those who call Him by His name, and they say: “Didn’t we go to church every Sabbath. Wasn’t I an elder and a deacon. Didn’t I serve and put my tithe faithfully in the collection plate.” But he looks and says, “But you did not do the will of My Father. You sat by and preached a peace and safety message while millions around you were perishing for the truth.”

Today, God’s faithful are being disfellowhsipped and many are again hearing the call from the Bridegroom and the bride. Jesus is ready to come and the procession is moving on again.

“Some will not receive the testimony that God has given us to bear, flattering themselves that we may be deceived and that they may be right. They think that the people of God are not in need of plain dealing and of reproof, but that God is with them.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 259. They think that God is with them, but she said in 1898, that he is not. “These tempted ones, whose souls have ever been at war with the faithful reproving of sin, would cry: Speak unto us smooth things….There can be no deception here. This message must be borne to a lukewarm church by God’s servants.” Ibid. You see, the true bride is giving the cry to the professed bride. “It must arouse His people from their security and dangerous deception in regard to their real standing before God.” Ibid.

Why do you have the right to speak and rebuke open sin publicly? Because open sin is to be publicly rebuked. I am pleading within my heart for a church to come to repentance, because the door of probation is closing fast; God is withdrawing. And when the professed believers persecute God’s faithful servants, they are silencing the voice of the bride.

“The Lord here shows us that the message to be borne to His people by the ministers whom he has called to warn the people is not a peace-and-safety message….The people of God are represented in the message to the Laodiceans as in a position of carnal security. They are at ease, believing themselves to be in an exalted condition of spiritual attainments.” Ibid., 252. But they are not.

“The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation will consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result?” Special Testimonies Series B, no. 2, 54,55
I want you to see the identifying marks of a new organization. You tell me if it is the one that the independent ministries are preaching, or is it one that you see taking place in the structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

“The principles of truth that God in his wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced….Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice,….they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure.” Ibid.., 55

How long can you sit within an apostate structure, a false bride that is receiving a bill of divorce from God, and think you are in the remnant church of Bible prophecy? Who has conditioned your mind?

“One thing it is certain is soon to be realized,—the great apostasy, which is developing and increasing and waxing stronger, will continue to do so until the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout. We are to hold fast the first principles of our denominated faith, and go forward from strength to increased faith.” Ibid., 57

Do not apostatize. Do not accept this new movement. Hold firm to the first denominated faith. Hold to the old paths—the landmarks of Adventism. Jesus Christ is ready to come.

The church structure became a harlot in Jeremiah’s day. It rejected Christ and His truth in John the Baptist’s day, and in William Miller’s day it again did the same. Today modern Israel is following in the footsteps of ancient Israel. I believe that God’s last call to the professed Seventh-day Adventist structure is now being sounded by His bride. Soon it will end, and when it does, of which group will you be a part?

The End

Bible Study Guides – Working for Reform

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January 15, 2017 – January 21, 2017

Key Text

“If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Study Help: The Review and Herald, August 21, 1913.

Introduction

“Never was the kingdom of Israel to be left without noble witnesses to the mighty power of God to save from sin. Even in the darkest hours some would remain true to their divine Ruler and in the midst of idolatry would live blameless in the sight of a holy God.” Prophets and Kings, 108.

Sunday

1 A FAITHFUL REMNANT

  • Was there a faithful remnant in the time of Elijah, as the judgments of God were falling upon apostate Israel? I Kings 18:13; 19:18.
  • Does God always have a faithful remnant? Romans 11:5; Revelation 12:17.
  • How does God promise to care for His people as His judgments fall upon the earth? Psalm 27:5; Isaiah 33:15, 16.

Note: “That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants. To him that ‘walketh righteously’ is the promise: [Isaiah 33:15, 16; 41:17 quoted].” The Great Controversy, 629.

Monday

2 PREPARING THE WAY OF THE LORD

  • What specific request did Elijah make to challenge the national apostasy? I Kings 18:19, 20.

Note: “Elijah demands a convocation at Carmel of all Israel and also of all the prophets of Baal. The awful solemnity in the looks of the prophet gives him the appearance of one standing in the presence of the Lord God of Israel. The condition of Israel in their apostasy demands a firm demeanor, stern speech, and commanding authority. God prepares the message to fit the time and occasion. … God will have a fitting message to meet His people in their varied conditions.” Testimonies, vol. 3, 279.

  • Who else made a firm stand for God in carrying forward a work of reform? Nehemiah 5:9.

Note: “The Lord will use in His work men who are as true as steel to principle, who will not be swayed by the sophistries of those who have lost their spiritual eyesight.

“Nehemiah was chosen by God because he was willing to co-operate with the Lord as a restorer. … When he saw wrong principles being acted upon, he did not stand by as an onlooker, and by his silence give consent. He did not leave the people to conclude that he was standing on the wrong side. He took a firm, unyielding stand for the right. He would not lend one jot of influence to the perversion of the principles that God has established.” The Review and Herald, May 2, 1899.

“When Nehemiah moved out as a reformer and deliverer in Israel, he was actuated by love to God and anxiety for the prosperity of His people. His heart was in the work he had undertaken; his hope, his energy, his enthusiasm, his determination of character, were contagious, and inspired others with the same courage and lofty purpose. Each man became a Nehemiah in his own sphere, and helped to make stronger the hand and heart of his neighbor; and soon feebleness was succeeded by strength and courage.” Ibid., March 18, 1884.

“The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” Education, 57.

Tuesday

3 A CALL TO REPENTANCE

  • What was the purpose of the judgments sent upon Israel? Isaiah 1:16–18; Luke 11:32. What effect did they have on Ahab? I Kings 18:17.

Note: “The object of this affliction [neither dew nor rain] was to arouse Israel to a realization of their sin, to bring them to repentance, and turn them to God, that they might honor Jehovah as the only true and living God. After three years and a half of drought, the Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.’ ‘And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim’ (I Kings 18:1, 17, 18).” The Review and Herald, May 26, 1891.

“Confession will not be acceptable to God without sincere repentance and reformation. There must be decided changes in the life; everything offensive to God must be put away. This will be the result of genuine sorrow for sin.” Steps to Christ, 39.

  • What is the difference between true repentance and a false repentance? 2 Corinthians 7:9–11.

Note: “Multitudes sorrow that they have sinned and even make an outward reformation because they fear that their wrongdoing will bring suffering upon themselves. But this is not repentance in the Bible sense. They lament the suffering rather than the sin. Such was the grief of Esau when he saw that the birthright was lost to him forever. Balaam, terrified by the angel standing in his pathway with drawn sword, acknowledged his guilt lest he should lose his life; but there was no genuine repentance for sin, no conversion of purpose, no abhorrence of evil. Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, exclaimed, ‘I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood’ (Matthew 27:4).” Steps to Christ, 23, 24.

“In this chief of the publicans was awakened a longing for a better life. … Zacchaeus had heard of the call to repentance. … He knew the Scriptures, and was convicted that his practice was wrong. … He felt that he was a sinner in the sight of God. … Zacchaeus began at once to follow the conviction that had taken hold upon him, and to make restitution to those whom he had wronged.” The Desire of Ages, 553.

Wednesday

4 A CALL TO OBEDIENCE

  • Upon what does our happiness and salvation depend? Psalm 106:3; Job 36:11; Jeremiah 7:23.

Note: “Our happiness and salvation depend upon eating the bread of life; that is, obeying the words and doing the works of Christ, advancing righteousness and restraining unrighteousness. Nothing can give such self-reliance, such courage, such an increase of talents and ability, as a true estimate of the requirements of God’s law. … Love for Jesus Christ leads us to obey God’s commandments, which are a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, securing for us the illuminating, purifying, blissful presence of both the Father and the Son. He who is obedient can commune with God even as did Enoch.” Sons and Daughters of God, 194.

  • What attitude is revealed by those who resist obedience to God? Acts 7:51–53; 2 Timothy 3:8. How will they regard God’s people in the last days? Matthew 24:9.

Note: “The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God’s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established: ‘And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim’ (1 Kings 18:17, 18). As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges, they will pursue a course toward God’s ambassadors very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah.” The Great Controversy, 590.

“All the temptations of Satan, Christ met with the word of God. By trusting in God’s promises, He received power to obey God’s commandments, and the tempter could gain no advantage.” The Ministry of Healing, 181.

Thursday

5 A WORK OF RESTORATION

  • What are the “old paths” that require restoration? Jeremiah 6:16; Isaiah 58:12–14.

Note: “Jeremiah called [the] attention [of the nation] repeatedly to the counsels given in Deuteronomy. More than any other of the prophets, he emphasized the teachings of the Mosaic law and showed how these might bring the highest spiritual blessing to the nation and to every individual heart. ‘Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,’ he pleaded, ‘and ye shall find rest for your souls’ (Jeremiah 6:16).” Prophets and Kings, 411.

  • What is included in the work of restoration, and who is called to do this work? Isaiah 62:6; 58:1.

Note: “It is an alarming fact that indifference, sleepiness, and apathy have characterized men in responsible positions, and that there is a steady increase of pride and an alarming disregard of the warnings of the Spirit of God. The barriers which God’s word places about His people are being broken down. Men who are acquainted with the way in which God has led His people in the past, instead of inquiring for the old paths and defending our position as a peculiar people, have linked hands with the world. The most alarming feature in the case is that warning voices have not been heard in remonstrance, entreaties, and warnings. The eyes of God’s people seem to be blinded, while the church is fast drifting into the channel of worldliness.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 513.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 How did God’s faithful remnant live, even though they were at times surrounded by idolatry? How does this apply to us today?

2 What did Nehemiah do to inspire others to work with him?

3 What kinds of changes are necessary in our lives if we are truly repentant?

4 Where does true happiness come from and why?

5 Instead of seeking the “old paths,” what have some done instead, and how has this affected the church?

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