signs of the times

Price of Peace

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I Thessalonians 5:2 says, “The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” Now, what will the people be saying when they are surprised? “Peace and safety” [verse 3], or as we noted in other translations, “Peace and security.” Does God intend that His people shall be engulfed in this great disaster? No! We are to be saved from this overwhelming surprise.

In order to be saved we must be prepared. We must understand what is leading the world to these disasters and we must be kept, not merely from the end result, but from all the causes along the way. That is the purpose of these studies, to help us understand the basic causes that are leading the world to Armageddon.

We found in Isaiah 8 that because of the fear of war and the fear of want, men are being led to extensive combinations. God plainly states that His people are not to enter into those confederacies. While the people of this world are talking confederacies, where will God’s people be looking?—upward, to Him. That’s the answer. “When we look to man, trouble grows. When we look to God, trouble goes.” And we must learn that day by day in our own personal experience.

In The Review and Herald, November 4, 1965, there is a most interesting report of a statement made by a leading Roman Catholic Cardinal commenting on the Pope’s visit to the United Nations. He says, “It was a striking thing that no responsible voice has been raised in protest against the Pope’s visit. As recently as ten years ago a papal visit to the United Nations would have been considered an onslaught and an invasion, but today, people are simply thrilled at the invitation of the Pope to visit the UN and his willingness to do so. The reason for this is that people are so frightened of war that they’re willing to try anything in desperation.”

The Cardinal spoke more truth than he realized. He put his finger right on the point. It is not a sincere turning toward God or religion in the right sense that is motivating the world to welcome the leadership of the papacy. What is it? Fear! We read in Isaiah 8, verse 13, speaking to God’s people, “Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.” Are we afraid of war? No. Our Father is the King of this universe.

Notice the awful price that the people of this world are paying and will continue to pay, driven by their fear of war and fear of want. They are selling their souls for a mess of pottage, and they won’t even get the mess of pottage. Esau got his lentils, but the people of this world are not even going to get that for which they sell their souls.

What are they selling to get peace? What are they going to lay down in order to accept the leadership of the Pope of Rome? “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” “All the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:8, 3. Verse twelve shows that the United States is the one that leads out in causing all the world to accept this leadership of the papacy. What is the price of all this?

Proverbs 23:23 is right on the point: “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” Can truth be bought and sold? Apparently. In Revelation 3:18, the True Witness says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire … and white raiment … and eyesalve.” The eyesalve is the discernment to know what’s right and what’s wrong. “Buy the truth.” But once you have bought it don’t sell it! This is the terrible mistake the popular churches are making today. In Reformation days men like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, and Wesley bought the truth, and it led them to separation from Rome. Today the Protestant churches are selling that glorious heritage. They are selling the truth which their fathers sacrificed everything to buy. That’s the price they are paying to get back in favor with Rome in order that the Pope may save them from a third world war.

Do you know that some of the creeds of Christendom are being revised in order to say this—watch this little change—no longer “the Bible is the Word of God,” but the revised statement is, “The Bible contains the Word of God.” Which do you believe? John 17:17 says, “Thy word is truth.” The Bible is the Word of God. And there’s an infinite difference between those two things, my friends. The inroads of modernism, of higher criticism, are weakening the faith of Protestants in the Scriptures. These have prepared the way to accept a human court of appeal, in the person of the papacy, to interpret what is truth.

The servant of the Lord tells us that the reason the book, The Great Controversy, deals with the controversies of the past, the apostasy in the early ages, the rise of the papacy, the Dark Ages, and the reformation is simply this: What has been will be again. The last conflict into which we are even now entering is the climax of an age-long controversy. The issues are the same. The unseen forces are the same. And Rome that led the Christian world away from the Bible and set up the Pope as the representative of Christ; Rome which in the Dark Ages slew the saints of God, is the same Rome under whose leadership all the world will be united to war against God’s remnant.

On page 102 of The Great Controversy, we are told about the experience of John Huss, who was burned at the stake because he became a reformer. He had been a papist, but as he studied the Bible, he came to a certain conclusion, and this is the thing I want you to notice. “God speaking in the Bible, and not the church speaking through the priesthood, is the one infallible guide.” Here is the difference between Roman Catholicism on the one hand and true Protestantism on the other. And this is the truth which the Protestant world is selling that they may buy the favor of the papacy. And it is the fear of communism, the fear of atheism, the fear of war; yes, it is fear that is driving them to compromise.

Now notice the attitude of the true believers at the time the papacy was in process of formation. Here are the faithful few who would not go along with the Bishop of Rome and his hierarchy. “To secure peace and unity they were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, and even war.” The Great Controversy, 45. This has been the position of Christ’s followers in all ages: not to make trouble unnecessarily, not to push minor points of difference; but when it comes to a vital principle, no ecumenical idea justifies the selling of truth.

In the seventeenth chapter of John, verse 17, we have the Saviour’s earnest prayer for unity among His believers, but in that same prayer is this text we have already noticed: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” So the great question before Protestantism today is this: Which is more important, truth or unity? And there are thousands, yes millions, who are willing to sell the truth in order to secure unity. May I read this again: “To secure peace and unity they were ready to make any concession consistent with fidelity to God; but they felt that even peace would be too dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. If unity could be secured only by the compromise of truth and righteousness, then let there be difference, and even war.”

Now, the next sentence is meaningful: “Well would it be for the church and the world if the principles that actuated those steadfast souls were revived in the hearts of God’s professed people.” The Great Controversy, 46. The only thing, dear ones, which will keep us from being engulfed in this world movement for security and peace, the ecumenical movement, is a love for truth, so that we would rather have any war than give up truth. Our desire for peace must never degenerate into a willingness to compromise. And this must be manifest in the details of our personal lives. If we get in the habit of sacrificing principle so that we will be well thought of, we are on the road to Rome. No question about it. The remnant will be those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and who love not their lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11).

Speaking of this apostasy in the early ages, we read in The Great Controversy, 49, “Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church.” How did this compromise come about? “Almost imperceptibly,” that is, unnoticed, like the twilight falls. Well, this was the twilight, and as the darkness settled upon the Christian world, it came “almost imperceptibly.” That is the devil’s game, to make the advances toward the world so small that the person who resists one of those advances is looked upon as silly, odd, unreasonable, and stubborn.

And it isn’t always in direct defiance to what God says that this compromise begins. “Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden, and she ended by forbidding what He had explicitly enjoined.” The Great Controversy, 290. Rome began by telling people to do things that God had not plainly said they shouldn’t do. Let me illustrate. Here is Christmas for the birth of Christ; Easter for the resurrection. Is there a verse in the Bible that says, Don’t celebrate the birthday of Christ; don’t celebrate the day of His resurrection? No. So Rome began by introducing things that weren’t expressly forbidden in the Bible. She ended by forbidding what He had definitely told people to do, and the Sabbath is the great outstanding example. When men get in the habit of accepting as religious guides those who tell them to do more than the Bible says, they will inevitably end up following those guides to do what the Bible has forbidden. And this is the path that Protestantism, so-called, has been following for many years.

“As the Protestant churches have been seeking the favor of the world, false charity has blinded their eyes. They do not see but that it is right to believe good of all evil; and as the inevitable result they will finally believe evil of all good.” The Great Controversy, 571. This is what is responsible for their current attitude toward the papacy. The popular thing in the Protestant churches today is to pat everybody on the back, and for the moment even Seventh-day Adventists are riding on the tide of popular favor, the ecumenical spirit. Many in the popular churches are ready to welcome Seventh-day Adventists as a part of the great Christian world. But the same spirit that leads them to welcome us is leading them to welcome Rome. We need to look very carefully at the hand that’s stretched out to us, remembering that it is also offered to the Vatican. Let us not be flattered by the spirit of compromise. That hand which has been extended toward Rome will eventually be used, not to welcome us, but to smite us.

We need to look deep into our own hearts and see if there is anything in our souls that responds to this spirit of compromise. Are we weary of the war? Are we tired of the toil? Do we long for release from the conflict, and will we, in order to buy that release, sell the truth? That’s the question. Will we give up conscientious convictions; will we soft-pedal the Word of the Lord? God forbid!

Now, I mentioned that the world is not going to get the mess of pottage for which it sold out. Oh, my friends, this world that is selling the truth in order to buy peace from the Pope of Rome, see what it’s going to wake up and find! Revelation 19:19, “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war.” This power that has supposedly led the world to peace is going to lead it instead to war! This is the war against God. “I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army.” And so while the nations of this world are following after the phantom of peace, they are led to the greatest war of the ages.

Again, Revelation 16:13, 14, “I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Notice this in Testimonies, vol. 7, 182, “The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses.”

For a short time this world is going to be united. The next sentence says, “This union is cemented by the great apostate.” “Under one head—the papal power”—all the nations will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses. Where will you and I be? On one side or the other. We’ll either be with Jesus and His remnant church conscientiously standing for what the Word of God says, all ten of His commandments, or else we’ll be with the great popular movement which has sold the truth in order to buy peace. They are going to sell the truth, but they are not going to get peace. “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them … and they shall not escape.” I Thessalonians 5:3. [Emphasis supplied.]

Oh, friends, when the voice of God ends the captivity of His people, when His law is seen in the sky, there will be a terrible awakening among all these churches that have combined together in compromise to buy peace. The union which the great apostate has cemented will fall to pieces. The great city will be divided into three parts and every man’s hand will rise up against the hand of his brother. Read the awful picture in Revelation 16, and Jeremiah 25, and in The Great Controversy in the chapter, “The Desolation of the Earth.” See the breakdown of civilization. See the churches in chaos and the members tearing the ministers and the priests limb from limb. The whole world is going to be plunged into the scenes of the French revolution. Peace? Oh, no. Not peace. Sacrifice of the truth can never lead to peace.

And so it means much to you and to me to answer the question, Do we love the truth enough to die for it, enough to live for it? Or are we willing to compromise?

Dear Lord, write upon our hearts Thy truth. Deep in our souls put a love for it so that we would rather die than sacrifice on principle. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Elder W.D. Frazee’s materials are reprinted with permission from Pioneers Memorial, a ministry he founded to promote the works of pioneer medical missionaries. Permission to reprint copyrighted material [in this publication, organization, or website] does not in any way imply affiliation with or endorsement by either the late W.D. Frazee or Pioneers Memorial. For more information, you may contact them at: Pioneers Memorial, PO Box 102, Wildwood, GA 30757, 706-820-9755.

Signs for Us

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“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Matthew 23:37–24:5

The whole focus of the disciples was on the organization of the time. Even though they had walked year after year with Christ, they really had become somewhat conditioned to the belief that the system could dictate to God, and not that God would direct the system. They were more concerned with the organization than with the mission. As a result, when Jesus spoke about the temple, they had more faith in the temple than in God, and attempted to correct Him. They said, What do you mean that your house is left unto you desolate? And Jesus said, Listen, not one stone is going to be left upon another. This really confused the disciples when Jesus prophesied that the very temple, the center of their worship, would be destroyed. They wanted to know when these things would happen and what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the world.

Jesus began by giving them a universal sign. He gave them the signs in things that existed in heaven and the signs that have existed all throughout creation ever since man was here. He first warned about deception. “Let no man deceive you.” What man can deceive us best? It is self-deception. Deception is what caused the angels to be thrown out of heaven.

In Revelation 12:4 it says, “And his [the devil’s] tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” The devil drew with his tail one-third of the heavenly angels. I praise God that the appeals of Jesus caused some to turn, but still one-third is billions and billions of angels.

The Bible is explicit on what his tail represents: “The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.” Isaiah 9:15. The tail would represent lies or deceit. Here the devil deceived all of these angels into believing him. The prophet of God tells us that at first they did not believe him but sympathized with him. They really got caught up in business that really wasn’t theirs. They felt sorry for him and started listening to him and before they knew it, they were cast out of heaven. Satan would love to go back to heaven.

It was amazing to me what I read in The Story of Redemption. When Satan saw an angel, he would tell him to come and when the angel came, he would ask that angel to go get Jesus for him and the angel went to get Christ. Satan then pleads with Christ to be able to come back to heaven offering to take any position, but Jesus wept at his woe—it broke His heart, because Satan could no longer be trusted. Heaven is based on trust. The Bible says that, “Iniquity will not raise its head again.” Sin is not coming back. In heaven we will not lose our ability to sin; we will just choose not to do it. Our love and appreciation for God will place us where we would never, ever consider doing anything contrary to His word. It will not be a forced thing.

Satan is the great deceiver; he even tried to deceive Jesus. Knowledge of the prophecies in the Word of God are landmarks to let us know where we are in time. At the end of Jesus’ life He knew that the only thing He could trust in was His Father and the Word. While nailed to the cross He knew that Judas would throw down the ransom money he received from the priests and rulers and that it would be used to purchase the potter’s field (Zechariah 11). He knew the prophecies!

We do not know who will stand when severely tested. Each of us needs to be sure that our faith is strong. All through the trial of Jesus, He continued loving his disciples while He watched them look from a distance. Then, while hanging there and in the final moments of His life He experienced what David had prophesied many years before. Psalm 22 says that dogs encompassed him and that He could feel pain all through His body. They took His clothes and cast lots for them. Everybody ran out on Him. Jesus looked and He heard the conversation of the soldiers planning to split up His garments. Jesus knew what the prophecy had said.

The devil tries to manipulate prophecy, but he cannot. If you will notice in Matthew 24:29–31 it says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” These events happen right before the coming of the Lord.

When all of the disciples comment on the same thing, it is something really worth paying attention to. Look at Mark 13:24–27. It says, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”

Again, Jesus said that certain things are going to transpire. These prophecies are landmarks. It first said there would be signs, an earthquake, then a sign in the sun, then a sign in the moon and signs in the stars.

Right now, we are living during the sixth seal, between the signs in the heavens and the coming of the Lord. Revelation 6:12–17 says, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

We know that on November 1, 1755, there was the great Lisbon earthquake. I believe that this fulfilled prophecy. Remember this great earthquake came just before 1798. Something big was going to happen in 1798. God started revealing these prophecies so that His people would understand that He was soon coming. There were three earthquakes, one at 9:00 a.m., one at 10:00 a.m. and one at 12:00 noon. At 9:00 a.m. people became afraid and at 10:00 a.m. they were really scared and by 12:00 noon they ran to the church to pray and thousands died there in church. God is not the author of fear. When these things happen we ought to get excited and exclaim that our redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28). We need to be resting in Christ, understanding what it means to rest in Christ and believe that He will keep us from falling and that He can save us, and not have a deceptive belief, while living in a known sin. This is not resting in Christ.

In Christ there is no sin, because the mind of Christ literally dwells in you. It is to have the faith of Jesus. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. It is literally Christ’s faith activated in my life. I don’t have the faith to believe that God is going to open up a body of water for me to walk across which is contrary to everything my humanity knows. But He has the faith and He is willing to activate that faith in our lives. You will never get that experience unless you go to God and plead for it.

Preachers started preaching that the Lisbon earthquake was a sign of the coming of the Lord and people believed. In 1780 when all of a sudden at noon time the sun went black like a light bulb that went out and the cattle started heading back to the barn, people became afraid. That night the moon became as blood. Preachers were preaching, churches were full and the people believed that it was a sign of the coming of the Lord. The Lord has given us these signs specifically for a reason.

In 1833 when the stars fell there were preachers, including William Miller, preaching all over the world that the Lord was coming. When they saw the stars fall, they looked at Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and Revelation 6 and they said Jesus has to come, because the prophecy said that after these stars would fall, He would come. What happened? 1844 came and Jesus did not come to this earth, but went into the Most Holy Place in heaven. Prophecy was fulfilled, but the people did not understand it until a little later when God revealed more light.

An important Scripture to understand is Ezekiel, chapter 8. Ezekiel was not preaching to the heathen but to God’s people. The church was in sin and God sent an angel who grabbed Ezekiel by the lock of his hair and suspended him between earth and heaven and showed him the people of God. Ezekiel was a true Christian and he did not want to see sin and he tried to turn. He saw all of these abominations and his heart was broken. The angel kept telling him to look further and finally, notice what he saw in verse 16: “And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.”

Ezekiel saw that God’s people were involved with sun worship. That is when he said it was time for the destroying angel to do his work. If you don’t believe that our people have been deceived, and they have bought into this Ecumenical Movement, it is time to open your eyes. I don’t study what the churches are doing because I am too busy working myself. But, I do know that when we have a Catholic cardinal open our General Conference session with prayer, something is wrong. At the last General Conference session, why, at the parade of nations, does the Vatican have a flag? Italy was there. God is trying to show us something but some of us still will not agonize with God. We still refuse to get our lives in order so that the Holy Spirit can use us to be effective workers for God. When this message goes forth, it will go forth by Seventh-day Adventists, the faithful ones, who are really praying and studying and according to Ezekiel 9 are crying and sighing for the abominations being done in the land and are not involved in gossiping or tearing down.

One of the top selling songs is Man in the Mirror. I went on the internet to read the lyrics. It says something like, “Who are you fooling? If you want change, you need to look in the mirror at yourself and change yourself and stop dealing with other people.” I said, Lord, are the rocks crying out? We have to start examining ourselves to make sure that we are on the path that God has placed us. There is no time to get caught up in surface issues; we need to take time to study and know the message; then preach it.

Stop wasting time and start studying. If you do not have a schedule for your time every day, make one. Your time belongs to God. No other gift has He given of which we have to give a more strict account. Study now and you will be prepared and not overwhelmed when the winds of strife are no longer held back and all breaks loose upon the world. Don’t be found with a form of godliness but denying the power thereof (II Timothy 3:5) and be exposed as a fraud.

Now is the time to develop an ear to hear the Holy Spirit saying, this is the way, walk ye in it [Isaiah 30:21] and stop running to man. Every day start your day with worship.

Once, in India, we were riding in a car that stopped because of a cow in the middle of the road. The driver stopped for that cow and did not even try to move it because it was believed that cows were sacred and we were told that if we attempted to move the cow we would be killed because that cow was sacred. Some Christians do not have as much reverence for the true God as those people had for that cow. There is no excuse not to have a personal relationship with God and to be able to go to Him and know that He is answering your prayers. All have squandered time, but we can redeem the time by not wasting any more, by giving God as much time as you possibly can and He will prepare you for the crisis or He will trust you to die. You have to be trusted to die, because you have to die in Christ.

We are in a war. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will find yourself weeping because there are so many people trapped in sin. You will find yourself losing your comfort to cause others to feel comfortable so they can know your God. You will constantly pray and ask God how you can reach somebody. It is Christ allowing you to feel His burden through you. Have the patience of the saints who keep the commandments and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12) and you will be sealed by settling into the truth, both spiritually and intellectually, because you have surrendered to God.

Pastor Stephen Lewis is an international speaker and director of The Present Truth Ministry. This article is from a sermon he preached at the Steps to Life Camp Meeting 2009. He can be contacted at: www.thepresenttruth.org.

Signs – Which Direction are You Turning?

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On November 1, 1755, an earthquake struck in the Atlantic Ocean. It is commonly known as The Great Lisbon Earthquake. The total duration of the shaking lasted ten minutes, comprising three distinct jolts. A devastating fire following the earthquake destroyed a large part of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and a very strong tsunami caused heavy destruction along the coasts of Portugal, south Spain and western Morocco. Geologists today estimate that the earthquake approached magnitude 9. The effects from the earthquake were far reaching, with shaking felt in North Africa.

May 19, 1780, stands in history as The Dark Day. Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density, extent or duration has ever been recorded. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” Joel 2:31. The moon became as red as blood on the night of the Dark Day, May 19, 1780. Milo Bostick in Stone’s History of Massachusetts says, “The moon which was at its full, had the appearance of blood.”

On November 13, 1833, the skies over the eastern United States were lit up by thousands of shooting stars every minute. This display lasted for four hours preceding dawn that day.

These phenomena were the fulfillment of the signs given before the coming of Jesus. At first, the people were afraid and gathered themselves together to pray. However, when nothing happened they soon went back to their former lifestyles.

“We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.

“The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.” Lift Him Up, 356.

Then is described the condition of the world at that time. Ellen White says, “Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails.” Ibid.

“On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify the owners and builders. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: ‘How can we best glorify God?’ The Lord was not in their thoughts.

“I thought: ‘Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man.’

“As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.

“The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: ‘They are perfectly safe.’ But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 12, 13.

The day before 9/11 when the twin towers in New York came down, there was a special documentary aired on the television explaining how the buildings had been erected and how they had withstood the 1993 bombing attempt to bring them down. They were declared to have been built from the most costly material, were fireproof and that nothing could bring them down. Some, since the attack, claim that there had been bombs put inside, and that there was an explosion because of the way the building fell. No, the prophet of God said buildings would come down. Angels touched those buildings. That was our modern day sign, a wake up call. God said, “I am coming.” If you want to know how the people reacted in November of 1755 and how they responded in 1780 and again in 1833, just remember how the people responded after 9/11. All of a sudden, sports were no longer important and churches of all different denominations filled up.

In The Review and Herald, September 10, 1901, Ellen White says, “Satan has devised a multitude of ways in which to keep men from serving God. He has invented sports and games, into which men enter with such intensity that one would suppose a crown of life was to reward the winner.” The purpose of this is to take the minds of God’s people so that they will not think of God. But now, after a tragedy, everybody agrees, no baseball games, no football games; all of the evening talk shows and laugh shows were stopped. All of sudden, people who were not interested before, were interested in talking about God.

When I first moved into my neighborhood, my neighbors invited us over for little housewarming parties and would offer me beer, which I would refuse. I told them I am a minister and they would say, Well, my pastor is cool. My pastor and I are buddies and he knows that he can come to my house and have a beer and no one is going to know. I told him I don’t drink, but you can go ahead and drink. Because I refused to join them we were known as killjoys and are no longer invited to their parties. I would see neighbors run by my house to their parties thinking I did not see them with their wine bottles and beer, etc. When they got so far, often I would call out the door and ask them how they were doing.

But after 9/11, it was different. These same people who had shunned me now wanted me to come and pray in their homes. Everybody in our area would drive by and wave. Everybody was afraid. They became solemn and serious about God. This is the same way people responded in November of 1755 when the great Lisbon earthquake struck, and also how people responded in 1780 when the sun went black and the moon turned red. It is how people responded in 1833 when all the stars were falling. These were all events beyond their control and they were scared.

In the days of Noah, when the animals boarded that ark, directed by an unseen hand, everybody was interested and intrigued. These were intelligent people, some of whom lived to be 950 years old; they were not cave men. You can only imagine what inventions there were and what your computer skills would be like with 900 years of experience. When the people saw this, everybody was frightened, just like now. But, in those next seven days after the door of the ark had been shut, when nothing else happened, they went back to business as usual. Fear will never convict a person to be loyal to God. The prophet of God says that when that angel swirled around in the sky, dropped down and got hold of that massive door of the ark and shut it, everybody was afraid. There was quiet. If the rain had started right then the people would have said, “Lord, if you would only have given me a few more days, I was going to get on board.”

Instead, God allowed that emotion to wear off. The first day, everybody was praying; the second day everybody was praying. You can just imagine Wednesday night prayer meeting—all the churches were filled just like they were after 9/11. But when nothing happened, somebody cracked a little joke and before you knew it, by Thursday, they were all laughing and saying that Noah was a wild fanatic. All of the preachers were preaching on that next Sabbath and planning on doing whatever they do after sunset Saturday.

Out of nowhere on that eighth day, dark hellish clouds came together and with combustion that man had never experienced, from the top and from the bottom. Water came from everywhere but by then it was too late for help. Then, the people wanted God and cried to Noah but the door was shut and the opportunity to be saved was passed.

Some today are trapped in regard to their siblings, children and parents who do not want to know their God. It comes to a point when each needs to ask, Who is my brother; who is my sister; who is my mother—they that do the will of my Father. When Noah entered that ark he had many family members who remained outside. The Bible said his father had more children, so there must have been sisters and brothers and maybe his mother was still alive, screaming for help when the rain started falling. Noah had to keep trusting in God—his name means rest. Salvation is an individual decision and Noah rested in his confidence in God.

“There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 13.

Few understand the time in which we are living. Shortly after these disasters we are being told that the economy is coming back and everything is going to be good. This is not true; we are at the end of time. God did not leave us without a witness. In detail He tells us to listen. We must believe in the prophets. These testimonies were not written for one hundred years ago; they were written for our warning today.

Because nothing more happened right away after 9/11, people have become relaxed again. Now we see the economy is gone and is not coming back. Everybody is crying for the government to support them. Take care of us; take care of us; you are responsible for us! They are going to take care of us with their many schemes, but not without a cost. There is healthcare—at what cost? Save your home—at what cost?

This dear little lady prophetess is trying to tell us, through the Holy Spirit, that we should have our houses in order. There is no time to pretend that you have an experience that you don’t really have. Only you know what goes on when no one else is looking but God. Only you know how interested you really are in His Word. We need to ask God for help now for He will not cast us out, but some will not consistently ask. Are we too busy being occupied with the cares of this world to seek Him with all of our hearts? Do we leave the sanctuary after a seed of truth has dropped into our hearts and then not allow it to take root because of casual talking and neglecting to pray and praise God for what He has done for us? We should be able to go home and spend time in prayer, pleading with God for help, lest we perish. Ask Him for help and then linger to hear His voice. The prophet of God said that when she was 15 years old, she used to wait until her twin sister was asleep and then get out of bed and plead with God and agonize with Him and tell Him that she would not go to bed until He blessed her. She said that sometimes the sun would come up before she slept, but the Lord blessed her because she had prevailed in prayer. You have to search and ask God and the promise says that you will receive it. It is worth asking for.

The world in this condition cannot continue to go on indefinitely. Are you ready for Jesus to come? Have you really embraced eternal life? The Bible says that this is life eternal that you know Jesus (John 17:3). Do you really know Him? Jesus desires to have an intimate, personal relationship with you. The younger you are the easier it will be without having to fight through all of the different things you have conditioned yourself to believe. John the Baptist was a young man, preaching and doing ministry before Jesus came and commenced His ministry. When Jesus approached where he was baptizing, He said, “This is the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). God wants us to know Him, to recognize Him like John did. How angels must weep seeing so many unprepared and not interested in getting ready to go home.

Whatever the enemy of souls offers you, it is only temporary. Life in this world is so short. “Why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.” Ezekiel 18:31, 32. To those who reject the offer of eternal life God asks, Why will you die? Take a look at your life and ask, Are the pleasures of this world worth losing heaven over? The Lord says that He has no pleasure at all in your death, so why will you die?

Isaiah 5:4 says, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” What more could God have done for you? These are pertinent questions. When the world turns their back on you and when nobody else understands, the Lord says, Come; it is going to be alright. Choose life and spend eternity with Jesus, the One who loves you and shed His innocent blood that you might live. Though you have rejected Him and spat in His face in the past, when you are ready, He says, Come. He never mentions the spit. He says, I want to give you My victory. When we walk in the flesh, we crucify Him afresh. Jesus has a personal interest in seeing you in heaven. You were created for His pleasure and for His joy. He wants to save you.

“Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” “What could have been done more to my vineyard?” Make your choice today. Make a decision right now to give your heart to the Lord. He longs to create in you a new heart right now.

“A new heart also will I give you.” Ezekiel 36:26.

Pastor Stephen Lewis is an international speaker and director of The Present Truth. This article is from a sermon he preached at Steps to Life Camp Meeting, 2009. He can be contacted at www.thepresenttruth.org.

Final Signposts

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Most Christians are familiar with Matthew 24 but we are going to re-examine the chapter. To give some background to the events mentioned in Matthew 24 it is good to look at Matthew 23, where Jesus condemned the Jewish church—God’s church, that had been given the truth. They had been blessed with prophecies and prophets had been sent to instruct them. They had the word of God in their midst, yet they had backslidden so much that God could not recognize them or use them as His own church any longer.

They were in much darkness and were about to murder God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. In Matthew 23, we read that Jesus condemned their church, their ministry, and their educational work. He told them that they travel across the continent and the ocean to find a soul, bring him or her into their church but make them worse than they were before (verse 15). With tears in His eyes He said, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Matthew 26:64.

As He left the church, Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matthew 23:37. Jesus said, “You have stoned My prophets and you are about to kill Me. You have denied the voice of the Holy Spirit. What more could I have done?” The apostles had been listening to what Jesus had said, and it made them very nervous. If He had departed the synagogue and was never going to return, what was going to happen to them?

As Jesus rested at the mount of Olives, the last place where the whole scene of Jerusalem was visible, the disciples asked Him the meaning of what He had said: “You are acting as if you will never return to the church. What will be our future? What about Your becoming King for us?” Jesus looked at the church once more. It was very beautiful. No other nation had a temple that was as magnificent. Looking at His church, which God had appointed and raised up, He said, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:2. “The building, which you call the temple of God, will be desecrated, destroyed completely.” The disciples were shocked. Then they asked Jesus if it would be the end of the world if that happened. They just could not think of the destruction of God’s church, and they asked Jesus to tell them what would be the sign of the destruction of God’s temple; what would be the sign of His returning and the sign of the end of the world.

In Matthew 24, we see that the time in which we are living is right at the end of the signs that were given. The content of the words of Jesus in this prophecy has already been fulfilled before our eyes. If this is the truth, what will be the fate of God’s church? This is a very solemn theme on which we need to contemplate.

“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things?” Matthew 24:1, 2. One thing must be made clear—the church is not the denomination; it is not the brick and mortar. The church is not the building or organization. The church is the people of God who believe the word of God and keep His commandments. “And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all of these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” This temple will be thrown down completely.

This was such a shock to the disciples that they could not understand. We must apply this to ourselves today. Certainly the temple was beautiful, one of the most beautiful buildings built by human hands, but it was destroyed by the invasion of the Roman armies exactly as Jesus Christ had described, and it became desolate.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus was talking about the destruction of the temple and the disciples put that together with the end of the world. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Verses 3–6.

Up until the present time, all has been fulfilled through the Christian era. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven, these signs were fulfilled. But look at Matthew 24:7 and 8. It says, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Don’t you know that we right now are in the season of sorrows and the season of calamities? As we study and read Matthew 24, many times we miss the points. These are points to which we must pay attention.

Earthquakes and famines and pestilences have been in the world for a long time, so how can they be the sign of Jesus’ coming at the end of the world? Jesus gave a clue for only those Christians who are eagerly searching to find truth. He said, “in diverse places.”

There have been earthquakes all throughout human history. So why do they become a sign of Jesus’ second coming at the end of the world? Because He said that these earthquakes and famines and pestilences—these three things—are going to simultaneously happen in diverse places of the world. There have been pestilences, and illnesses that cannot be cured. There are many pestilences in the world right now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia, United States), reports that at least 240 occur per year. There are famines, pestilences and earthquakes going on at the same time in different/diverse places. Our day is the time about which Jesus was talking, and He said that all of these things are the beginning of sorrows.

“These things [events] are the result of drops from the vials of God’s wrath being sprinkled on the earth, and are but faint representations of what will be in the near future.

“Earthquakes in various places have been felt, but these disturbances have been very limited. … Terrible shocks will come upon the earth, and the lordly palaces erected at great expense will certainly become heaps of ruins.

“The earth’s crust will be rent by the outbursts of the elements concealed in the bowels of the earth. These elements, once broken loose, will sweep away the treasures of those who for years have been adding to their wealth by securing large possessions at starvation prices from those in their employ.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 391.

There is a vast gap between the rich and the poor, and it is getting bigger and wider. God is soon going to release the winds from the four corners of the earth (Revelation 7:1), and tremendous destruction is going to sweep over the land. “The elements of nature are to be placed in the power of angels of God. He holdeth the winds in His fists.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 220.

Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, United States) is sitting on a volcano. This park is very interesting to visit with its beautiful scenery, but under the surface is an active volcano with boiling magma causing it to shoot hot spring water high into the air. This is just part of the Lord’s arsenal that He will use in the last day of destruction, which will be devastating. The destruction on that day will be ten thousand times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. Lands, houses, everything will be gone.

We are living in a time that is close to this destruction—it is very close! Our only protection on that day is to be connected with the God of heaven. How do we get that connection? The first thing is to make a total surrender to the Lord, giving Him all of our faults, confessing all of our sins and forsaking them while Jesus is still ministering in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary. Life is a precious gift from God—do not waste this opportunity. Give your whole heart to Jesus. If you love the things of the world, forsake them. If there are any idols or unforsaken sins, give them to Jesus. Be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ; He is still holding back the close of probation for that last sinner to repent.

The signs pointing to the end are all around us. Look at all of the pestilences, the incurable diseases like the bird flu, the swine flu and mad cow disease. The 1918 flu epidemic went for two years and killed about 25 million people. Any of these kinds of things can happen. We are living in the beginning of sorrows.

During 2010 there were record-breaking snowstorms in the United States of America and also record-breaking rainfalls and tornadoes, many in the same regions. There have been recent earthquakes and tsunamis, and we are told that the earth’s axis was tilted eight inches during one big earthquake. The earthquake in Chili (February 27, 2010) caused the earth’s axis to tilt three inches. The earthquake in Haiti (January 12, 2010) caused floods that destroyed so much, and China also has been devastated with flooding that started during early May 2010. There was a major flood also in Fargo, North Dakota (United States), in March 2010. Poland also suffered flooding—dams were submerged and towns were destroyed (May 2010). A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds devastated many cities in western Europe (February 2010). But Jesus said these are just the beginning of sorrows! These are very strange phenomena we are experiencing, with very different changes in weather patterns in many regions of the world.

Remember the recent volcano erruption in Iceland (April 2010), which resulted in so much volcanic ash in the sky that airline flights were cancelled for seven days? Many companies lost billions of dollars and some went bankrupt because of the problem. Right at that time, the European Parliament had invited Roman Catholic Bishops and other church leaders to start a movement called Work Free Sunday Law Legislation. God is warning the people with signs, and while the talks were being held, the ashes covered the whole sky. A coincidence? I do not think so!

There are many of God’s people still in Babylonian churches who are seeking for the truth and for the true church. There are people in our ranks who have the Spirit of Prophecy books but have not read them. Ellen White says, “There are many souls to come out of the ranks of the world, out of the churches—even the Catholic Church—whose zeal will far exceed that of those who have stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth heretofore.” Selected Messages, Book 3, 386, 387.

There are people in our churches who are just warming the pews. They do not read the Spirit of Prophecy books and apply the precious truths in them to their lives. But God has His hand on His remnant people, even in Roman Catholic churches and many other churches, waiting for the right time to bring them together.

Ellen White refers to the eleventh hour workers. The search for these workers is continuous. They are about to come out to join God’s people and receive the latter rain to enable us to go out and give the loud cry to the world. “For this reason the eleventh hour laborers will receive their penny. These will see the battle coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. When the crisis is upon us, when the season of calamity shall come, they will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt His law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty which reformers defended with toil and for which they sacrificed their lives.” Ibid., 387.

We are in the midst of the season of calamity. Actually we are in the middle of a crisis. The mark of the beast is beginning in the European countries and other nations. The true crisis—the true Sunday law, the true mark of the beast persecution—will begin from the United States of America, according to prophecy of Revelation 13, and then will spread to different regions of the world. Then the eleventh hour workers, who are about to come out of both the Catholic and Protestant churches, will come to the front. They will come out girding themselves with the whole armor of God, exalting His law and adhering to the faith of Jesus. Here is the patience of the saints; they keep God’s commandments and have the faith of Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:12). They will also maintain the cause of religious liberty that the reformers defended with toil and for which they sacrificed their lives. This means they are going to fight the battle of religious freedom in the day of the crisis of the Sunday law. We are in a crisis—the season of calamities has begun.

Jesus Christ is coming soon, and the Sunday law will come so soon that it will be an overwhelming surprise. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9. We need to pray as we have never prayed before. These things are no longer far from us.

“We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.

“The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 11.

The things that are taking place right now are happening rapidly.

Has there been in the past any generation of true Christians, the true church, that has been hated and persecuted by all nations? No. They have been hated by some nations, but not by all nations. God’s true church will be hated by all nations for Jesus’ namesake at the time of the Sunday law. There will be only two groups of people remaining in the world—one who will receive the seal of the living God, and the other group, the vast majority who will receive the mark of the beast. At that time the true remnant church will be hated by all nations, by those who receive the mark of the beast fulfilling the words of Jesus in Matthew 24.

Jesus, talking about the generation living here, right now, says, “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” Verses 10, 11. Some of us will be like Judas Iscariot and sell their Lord and their brothers and their sisters for some worldly benefit. If we want to avoid that kind of treachery, let us keep our hearts in Jesus today. We must wear the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Righteousness is a powerful experience where Jesus sows the seed into our hearts, and we become like Him in our hearts and in our actions. Sanctification is the process of carrying out the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and souls; that is, living a holy life, true righteousness.

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” He that will endure long-suffering in faithfulness and loyalty shall be saved. This is the patience of the saints. This is the time for us to prepare. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Verses 11–14.

Right now we are living in these things. All of the signs are being fulfilled around us; earthquakes, pestilences and famines are taking place in diverse places simultaneously in the world right now. Soon we will be hated by all nations, and then false prophets will arise and the evil angels will appear in the form of dead people such as John the Baptist, Elijah, Enoch or Daniel. Evil angels will thus appear and deceive the people.

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.” Matthew 24:23–25.

After all of this phenomena, Satan will appear and counterfeit Christ, and he will deceive the whole world. This is coming in the very near future. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:9–14. Only by the power of the latter rain, the power from on high, will we be able to finish the work of the gospel of the kingdom, and then the end shall come.

“So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Verses 33, 34. What things will be seen? Earthquakes, pestilences, famines taking place simultaneously in various places in the world. The generation who is watching these happen at the same time in diverse places will be hated of all nations and will be sold and betrayed by their former brothers and sisters. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?” Verse 45. That meat is the present truth for this time—the Three Angels’ Messages—that need to be preached.

“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Verses 48–51.

To “eat and drink with the drunken” means to accept the wine of Babylon. People will be drunk with the error, the wine of Babylon, and smite their good fellows. The Bible says these are evil servants. I am so thankful for the wonderful mercy and grace of my Lord and for the opportunity we have to serve Him. Jesus is coming very soon. May the will of Jesus be done in my life and in your life.

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

The Opportunity of a Lifetime

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We live in a day of technology such as was not even imagined just a few years ago. Years ago we never dreamed that we would have so much access to so much information that is available today. Study methods were so different; copies were made of things we wanted to remember. My grade school teacher had a whole box full of cards that she studied.

My parents copied important statements in notebooks, and in the last few months, while going through my mother’s things, I found a whole book of quotations about heaven that my father recorded from his devotional reading, many of them while a soldier in Burma and India during World War 11. We are just pilgrims and strangers in this world, and if you lose your vision of heaven, you are lost and will just start living for this world and whatever is down here.

There are some things, especially about future events, that are important enough that, even if they are studied out before, are beneficial to review. What is referred to as “the little time of trouble,” is bigger trouble than that of which you have ever seen or heard. It is called “the little time of trouble” because it is not nearly as bad as the big time of trouble that is coming right after it. We often study about the great time of trouble described in Daniel 12:1, which occurs after the close of probation. The progression of events and life do not go just from peace and safety to the great time of trouble in one great leap.

If you had just learned to swim and could swim across the pool, it would not mean you could swim the English Channel. Before that could be possible, there would have to be a period of training. Just so, the great time of trouble! To be equipped and able to endure this time, it would be necessary to first go through a little time of trouble.

In many places in the New Testament, it talks about the trouble that is coming upon this world. Jesus talked about it. Paul talked about it. Peter talked about it. James talked about it. John talked about it. Over and over again the Bible talks about the fact that in the last days there are going to be troublous times. Ellen White was shown in vision, in 1847, about this little time of trouble that was going to come. This is recorded in the book Early Writings, 32, 33.

It is a wonderful privilege we have as Seventh-day Adventists to have access to the Spirit of Prophecy. In the vision given to Ellen White in Topsham, Maine, while she was in a prayer meeting with a group of believers, she describes what she saw. In vision she was taken to heaven. This was the same experience as Ezekiel and John. Though their bodies remained on the earth, while in vision, their minds are taken to anywhere in the universe.

Mrs. White had been taken to heaven many times in vision, but this time she was taken to where God’s sanctuary is; the veil was lifted, and she was taken into the Holy Place. She describes what she saw there. She saw a table of showbread, seven golden candlesticks, and an altar of incense, but then she says the veil was lifted, and she was allowed to go into the Most Holy Place. This is very interesting, because in the Old Covenant, women were not even allowed in the sanctuary, and Ellen White was a woman and allowed to go into the Most Holy Place. She was a prophet.

In the Most Holy Place in the sanctuary in heaven she saw the ark. In the earthly sanctuary there were two cherubs made from pure gold placed above the mercy seat. However, in heaven real cherubs, real angels, stand at either end of the ark facing each other just like it was in the earthly sanctuary. While still in vision, the Lord lifted the lid on the ark, and she was allowed to look inside and see the Ten Commandments written on tables of stone. (See Early Writings, 32, 33.)

She was astonished when she saw the tables of commandments. On one table were the first four and on the second table were the last six. The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God, and the other six deal with our relationship to our fellow man. She noticed that the commandments on the first table were brighter than the last six, but then she was most astonished that the Sabbath commandment had a halo of light over it more than all of the rest. The Sabbath commandment is the most important commandment of the law. We are not depreciating any other commandment; breaking any commandment will keep a person out of heaven, but the Sabbath is the most important commandment of the law. The reason the devil wants to change the Sabbath is to cause men to forget God. The Sabbath causes men to remember Him. The very first word in the fourth commandment is “remember” [Exodus 20:8].

“Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.”

In the book Early Writings, 33, she says, “I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God’s dear, waiting saints.

“I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath.” Ibid. How many children does God have who do not see and keep the Sabbath? There could easily be many millions. What is going to happen to these children of God who do not see and keep the Sabbath? When probation closes, there is no more a Mediator in the heavenly sanctuary. As long as Jesus is presenting Himself as our High Priest, our sins of ignorance are covered and forgiven. Sins of ignorance are those of which we are unaware. But what about those children He says are His who do not see and keep the Sabbath?

Some people have a very simplistic view of the Ten Commandments, but they cover the entire moral duty of man and involve the thoughts and the feelings and the affections of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). In the beginning of The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, it says that before probation closes, all of these things must be revealed to us, and then we must change so that our life is in perfect harmony with God’s law. But right now God has children out there in the world who are His children; they are breaking the Sabbath every week, and they don’t know about it.

Well, what is going to happen to them? Every command of God is a promise (see Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 76). It is fair to say then that when God commands something, you accept that command as a promise. The Holy Spirit will enable you to start keeping the Sabbath. So what is going to happen to those children that God has in the world who are not keeping the Sabbath now because of ignorance? Mrs. White says, “I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” Early Writings, 33. Before probation closes, those whom God claims as His will be made aware of the Sabbath, as it will be proclaimed more fully at the commencement of the time of trouble.

Now, when Ellen White wrote this statement, some Adventist people were confused, thinking that “the time of trouble” refers to when Michael stands up, the close of probation when the plagues begin to fall and there is no Mediator. So what good would it do to proclaim the Sabbath more fully after that?

What did the statement mean: “At the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully”? Ellen White had to write an explanation, and it is recorded in “An Explanation,” Early Writings, 85.

“This view was given in 1847 when there were but very few of the Advent brethren observing the Sabbath, and of these but few supposed that its observance was of sufficient importance to draw a line between the people of God and unbelievers. Now the fulfillment of that view is beginning to be seen. ‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.” Ibid., 85, 86.

The time of trouble that she referred to is just before probation closes, when the latter rain and the loud cry of the third angel are given. During that period of time, everybody in the whole world will learn about the commandments of God, the law of God, and the Sabbath, and everybody in the world will make a decision and be on one side or the other.

What is going to happen during this little time of trouble that takes place just before probation closes and how do we get ready for it? Many people have made the whole focus of their life a physical preparation for a time like this. However, while physical preparation is all right, it is the spiritual preparation that is most important. If you have the spiritual preparation, the Lord can get you through whatever kind of situation in which you find yourself. But if you do not have the spiritual preparation, all the physical preparation in the world is not going to help you.

During the little time of trouble that is coming, God’s children are going to be scattered to many countries as a result of persecution. There are a lot of people who think the way to get ready for it is to get a place that is way out in the country where there is an independent water supply, independent electricity, and to be totally self-sufficient and able to grow your own garden. I am not saying that God has not sent somebody to do something like that. But what are you going to do in a situation like that if, after you have all this in place, you have to flee to Mexico, or Canada or South America or somewhere else because of persecution? It has been predicted that God’s children will be scattered into many countries.

It is most important to prepare spiritually for the times that are coming on this earth before Jesus comes. “When the reasoning of philosophy has banished the fear of God’s judgments; when religious teachers are pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity, and the world are absorbed in their rounds of business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merrymaking, rejecting God’s warnings and mocking His messengers—then it is that sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 104.

I remember so well in 1989 when the Iron Curtain fell. Articles appeared in the national magazines and people were just rejoicing and adoring Ronald Reagan [40th president of the United States] and Pope John Paul 11, giving them the credit for bringing the barrier down. The national magazines even claimed there was no longer need of a military; now there will be peace! Paul said, “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Only a few short years later, in 1991, we were in war again. The peace did not last very long, and we found out right away that we were still in need of the military, and it has been evident more and more since that time.

We have been warned that the people are not going to fear; they are going to believe that they have nothing to worry about with God’s judgments and that the religious teachers will be pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity. For this reason, the little time of trouble is going to take most of the world by surprise, except those who believe the prophecies and are aware of what is happening. They will think they are getting together for a millennium of peace. They will think they are going to get together for a great celebration, a great rejoicing. (See Maranatha, 317.) People will be urged to join the millennium of peace that has already started. All that is needed is to be in harmony with the Sunday Law and all will be harmonious.

“The people are dreaming of prosperity and peace. ‘Escape for thy life,’ is the warning from the angels of God; but other voices are heard saying, ‘Be not excited; there is no cause for alarm.’ The multitudes cry, ‘Peace and safety,’ while Heaven declares that swift destruction is about to come upon the transgressor. On the night prior to their destruction [the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah], the cities of the plain rioted in pleasure and derided the fears and warnings of the messenger of God; but those scoffers perished in the flames; that very night the door of mercy was forever closed to the wicked, careless inhabitants of Sodom. God will not always be mocked; He will not long be trifled with. ‘Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.’ Isaiah 13:9. The great mass of the world will reject God’s mercy, and will be overwhelmed in swift and irretrievable ruin. But those who heed the warning shall dwell ‘in the secret place of the most High,’ and ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ His truth shall be their shield and buckler [Psalm 91:1, 4].” Ibid., 167.

At the beginning of the time of trouble, God’s people will proclaim the Sabbath more fully, and it is going to everybody in the world in a very, very short time. We do not know exactly how long it will be. With our telecommunications today, very soon it will be possible to communicate to every person in the world in about 24 hours. God is making the necessary preparations, so it is going to close down very, very fast.

While God’s people are proclaiming the Sabbath more fully to the world, the religious teachers are going to be telling the people not to listen to the Adventists, because there will be a long period of peace and prosperity. The devil will make sure that happens for a period of time and the world will be convinced and will scoff at the warnings of God. You have to be willing to have some opposition if you are going to be on God’s side of the great controversy as we approach the end, because people will scoff.

At the end of the world, whole nations will be destroyed, but first, just cities or local regions will be affected. “Calamities will come—calamities most awful, most unexpected, and these destructions will follow one after another. If there will be a heeding of the warnings God has given, and if churches will repent, returning to their allegiance, then other cities may be spared for a time. But if men who have been deceived continue in the same way in which they have been walking, disregarding the law of God and presenting falsehoods before the people, God allows them to suffer calamity, that their senses may be awakened.

“The Lord will not suddenly cast off all transgressors or destroy entire nations; but He will punish cities and places where men have given themselves up to the possession of Satanic agencies.” Evangelism, 27. Recently, there have been many cities destroyed by floods and earthquakes. Daily you can read of disasters taking place all over the world.

“Strictly will the cities of the nations be dealt with, and yet they will not be visited in the extreme of God’s indignation, because some souls will yet break away from the delusions of the enemy, and will repent and be converted, while the mass will be treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.” Ibid.

So, there are going to be calamities or, what we call today, natural disasters. Tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, all manner of great fires, all manner of natural disasters are going to occur, and at the same time that there are these natural disasters, there’s going to be what we call “political trouble” that will be developing.

“The world is stirred with the spirit of war. The prophecies of the eleventh of Daniel have almost reached their final fulfillment.

“Soon strife among the nations will break out with an intensity that we do not now anticipate.” Maranatha, 174.

There had already been a tremendous slaughter in Russia in 1905, but for several decades before World War I in 1914, leading statesmen in Europe were very concerned about a general war breaking out in the last part of the nineteenth century. When World War I broke out, the world was changed forever.

World War I was the most awful war the world had ever seen up until that time. As a result, the entire army was almost totally destroyed. Before the war, the Czar of Russia had an army of about two and a half million soldiers, but since his army was practically destroyed, the Czar was left almost powerless. A revolution erupted; the Czar and his family were all killed in cold blood, which led to a communist takeover of over half of the world and lasted until the 1970s. World War I destabilized the whole world and World War II destabilized it even further.

Ellen White said that, “Soon grievous troubles will arise among the nations—trouble that will not cease until Jesus comes. As never before we need to press together, serving Him who has prepared His throne in the heavens and whose kingdom ruleth over all. God has not forsaken His people, and our strength lies in not forsaking Him.” Maranatha, 25.

Concerning this period just before the war broke out, Ellen White wrote, “The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they realize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.” Maranatha, 174. That stupendous crisis has started and will not cease until Jesus comes; it will never again be stable like it has been in the past. Now, during this period of time while there are grievous troubles among the nations, natural disasters and calamities, and strife among the nations, the Three Angels’ Messages and the Sabbath message must go to the whole world. It may be that this will not be fully understood until the time comes when the Lord gives us the message. We know from a number of statements that God is going to give His people special messages and truth that we have not understood before, right at this period of time, right at the end of time.

At the right time, if we are ready, she says, “… we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully.” The Review and Herald, July 21, 1851. Being in a condition to receive the Holy Spirit is of paramount importance to us as we approach the end of time, for without it, it will be impossible to go out with power and spread the final message.

In The Great Controversy, 589, 590, it says that God is going to allow the devil to bring disasters upon the people of this world, because they are disobedient to this law. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and other terrible disasters will be blamed on Sabbath-keepers for refusing to reverence Sunday worship and honoring the resurrection of Christ. Those who stand true to God at that time will be brought before rulers and interrogated before courts.

Jesus said, “You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you shall speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” Matthew 10:18–20.

Being brought before a court today, with the technology now available, may give opportunity to bear witness to more people in one day than in a whole previous lifetime. At that time we are told that “when brought into trial the Holy spirit will bring to their remembrance the very truths that will reach the hearts of those who shall come to hear.” Maranatha, 45. In order for that to happen, there must have been some prior studying. “The servants of Christ are to prepare no set speech to present when brought to trial for their faith. Their preparation is to be made day by day, in treasuring up in their hearts the precious truths of God’s word, in feeding upon the teaching of Christ.” Ibid.

“The time will come, when we shall be brought before councils and before thousands for His name’s sake, and each one will have to give the reason of his faith.” Ibid., 252. Men and women will be standing alone to answer for their faith.

Are you ready to give an answer as to why you believe what you believe? “Every position of truth taken by our people will bear the criticism of the greatest minds; the highest of the world’s great men will be brought in contact with truth, and therefore every position we take should be critically examined and tested by the Scriptures.” Ibid.

The Scriptures are explicit. Our faith is not built on implicit evidence. It is built on explicit evidence. Explicit evidence is what the Bible actually says and not what you think it means. “Now we seem to be unnoticed, but this will not always be. Movements are at work to bring us to the front, and if our theories of truth can be picked to pieces by historians or the world’s greatest men, it will be done.” Ibid.

The most difficult speech to give is one that you have to give to a hostile audience, to those who do not like what you believe and would love to prove you wrong. Though the audience at that time will be hostile, it will be a marvelous opportunity for those who are ready to witness for Jesus. “The Lord Jesus will give the disciples a tongue and wisdom that their adversaries can neither gainsay nor resist. Those who could not by reasoning overcome satanic delusions, will bear an affirmative testimony that will baffle supposedly learned men. Words will come from the lips of the unlearned with such convincing power and wisdom that conversions will be made to the truth. Thousands will be converted under their testimony.” Ibid. Isn’t that exciting?

Thousands of people will hear the message for the first time, and though the majority will reject it, there will be someone listening who responds to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

“The time is not far off when the people of God will be called upon to give their testimony before the rulers of the earth. Not one in twenty has a realization of what rapid strides we are making toward the great crisis in our history. … There is no time for vanity, for trifling, for engaging the mind in unimportant matters.

“Kings, governors, and great men will hear of you through the reports of those who are at enmity with you, and your faith and character will be misrepresented before them. But those who are falsely accused will have an opportunity to appear in the presence of their accusers to answer for themselves.

“They will have the privilege of bringing the light before those who are called the great men of the earth, and if you have studied the Bible, if you are ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, your enemies will not be able to gainsay your wisdom.

“You now have an opportunity to attain to the greatest intellectual power through the study of the word of God. But if you are indolent, and fail to dig deep in the mines of truth, you will not be ready for the crisis that is soon to come upon us. O that you would realize that each moment is golden. If you live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, you will not be found unprepared.

“You know not where you may be called upon to give your witness of truth. Many will have to stand in the legislative courts … .” Ibid., 253.

A legislative court is different than a judicial court. A judicial court is the court in which we usually stand. A legislative court is either a court in the capitol of the state or the country where the laws are made. A legislative court of the United States is its Congress, its House of Representatives, and its Senate. However, there are legislative courts in each state that make laws for that state. Mrs. White goes on to say, “Many will have to stand in the legislative courts; some will have to stand before kings and before the learned of the earth, to answer for their faith.

“Those who have only a superficial understanding of truth will not be able tclearly to expound the Scriptures, and give definite reasons for their faith. They will become confused, and will not be workmen that need not to be ashamed. Let no one imagine that he has no need to study, because he is not to preach in the sacred desk. You know not what God may require of you.” Ibid.

Are you getting ready? This is going to be the greatest opportunity of your life. If that promise is going to be fulfilled, you will need to know what the Bible says.

If your argument is established on the word of God, no matter how wise the opposition is, truth will still stand and if you have faith, if you have been a student of the Bible, it will be the greatest opportunity of your life.

[Bible texts quoted are NKJV translation.]

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

Current Events – Fire and Flood

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“In the last scenes of this earth’s history, … The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. We should be preparing for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him. There is a rest from earth’s conflict. … As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood.” Maranatha, 174, 176.

For those in the western United States hoping for a respite from the raging wildfires that have plagued several states, the outlook isn’t good: Much of the West is at high risk for continued wildfires due to unusually dry and hot conditions. www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27

Firefighters struggled on Wednesday [June 27, 2012] to beat back a wildfire raging at the edge of Colorado Springs, Colorado, that doubled in size overnight, forced more than 32,000 people from their homes and was nipping at the edges of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Wildfires also were burning in other parts of Colorado and in Utah and Montana.

A wildfire in Montana that has scorched 19,000 acres (7,690 ha) in the eastern part of the state has forced 600 residents to leave their homes. An unknown number of houses were destroyed in Montana.

In Utah, authorities found a body in the ashes of the fast-moving Wood Hollow Fire about 100 miles (160 km) south of Salt Lake City on Tuesday, marking the first fatality in a blaze that has scorched more than 46,190 acres (18,692 ha) of rolling hills covered by parched cheatgrass and sagebrush.

Colorado accounts for several of the 29 large active wildfires being fought across the country. The bulk of them were in seven western states—Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and California—according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. www.Newsmax.com, June 27, 2012.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby moved out into the open Atlantic on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, and rains finally eased over Florida, but the state was struggling to clean up the soggy mess left behind.

The storm deluged parts of central and northern Florida with more than two feet of rain as it hovered in the Gulf of Mexico and cut across the peninsula. news.yahoo.com/tropical-storm-debby-rains-misery-flooded-florida

Many in Debby’s path were still recovering from flooding that damaged homes, washed out roads, opened up sinkholes and closed a section of Interstate 10 – the state’s main east-west highway. Water was up to the roofs at some homes in low lying areas of Live Oak, Florida, on Wednesday. Several feet of water remained around businesses in downtown near the courthouse and many roads were impassable. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0627

Wakulla County, Florida, meanwhile, has seen more than 26 inches of rain. Authorities there advised people to stay in their homes due to washed out and flooded roads. Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia as Debby moved eastward. Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted, many having to leave flooded homes in Florida’s Panhandle. www.msnbc.msn.com

Current Events – Natural Disasters

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“Signs of a most startling character appear in floods, in hurricanes, in tornadoes, in earthquakes, in casualties by sea and land. The judgments of God are falling on the world, that men may be awakened to the fact that Christ will come speedily.”

The Watchman, March 1, 1909.

Disasters

The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, disasters by sea and by land, follow one another in quick succession. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. . . .

Maranatha, 175

Earthquakes

A 7.6-magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines late today [August 31], killing at least one person in a house collapse, and a second temblor struck about half an hour later, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. www. CBC.ca, August 31, 2012.

A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck today [August 31] off the east coast of Greenland, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The USGS, which initially reported the quake as a magnitude-7.0, says it was followed eight minutes later by a magnitude-5.2 quake in the region. www.USAToday.com, August 31, 2012.

A major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit in the Pacific Ocean about 78 miles off the coast of El Salvador late Sunday night [August 26], the U.S. Geological Survey said. www.newsorganizer.com, August 31, 2012.

More than 400 earthquakes greater than magnitude 1.0 have been recorded in Imperial County [California] since Saturday evening, said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Elizabeth Cochran. The largest were a 5.3 and a 5.5 about midday Sunday. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com, August 31, 2012.

Hurricanes and Floods

As New Orleans [Louisiana] breathed a sigh of relief over the $14.5 billion in levee defenses that now ring the city, other parts of the state without such protections were not so lucky. The storm’s surge [Hurricane Isaac] caused water to rise nine feet on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, flooding towns like Slidell; west of the lake, the waters inundated LaPlace and the surrounding area. Emergency crews tried to take dangerous pressure off a weakened dam on Lake Tangipahoa in Mississippi and to release penned-up water in the drenched communities of Plaquemines Parish southeast of New Orleans. The torrential rains will now move into Arkansas and parts of the Midwest that have suffered through the summer with far too little water, not too much of it. www.nytimes.com, August 31, 2012.

Tornadoes descended from dark skies and hundreds of people had to be rescued from rising waters today as Jackson County [Mississippi] struggled under relentless rains generated by Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall more than 100 miles to the west in Louisiana. http://blog.gulflive.com, August 31, 2012.

Twin typhoons are renewing fears of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, where poor drainage, widespread deforestation and crumbling infrastructure can turn even a routine rainstorm into a catastrophic flood.

Typhoon Bolaven struck North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday [August 28, 29], submerging houses and roads, ruining thousands of acres of crops and triggering landslides that buried train tracks. A second major storm, Typhoon Tembin, hit the Korean peninsula with more rains on Thursday [August 30]. The storms come as North Korea is still recovering from earlier floods that killed more than 170 people and destroyed thousands of homes. That in turn followed a springtime drought that was the worst in a century in some areas. www.guardian.co.uk/world, August 30, 2012.

Around 60 per cent of the Philippines were flooded after 11 consecutive days of heavy rain. At least 66 people have been killed and around a million people affected by the deluge. www.christiantoday.com, August 11, 2012.

Editorial – Times of Terror

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In A.D. 31 Jesus said concerning the last days just before His second coming, “And there will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity [or without resources], the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear, and for the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.” Luke 21:25, 26.

In 1904 Ellen White published this statement: “Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 28.

The twentieth century fulfilled the prediction about a great terror coming upon human beings. There were the communist revolts and revolutions starting shortly after 1900. World War I broke out and, twenty years later, World War II with a depression between. Between the late 1940’s until 1989 we experienced the rise of totalitarism that covered more than half the world. The number of people violently killed by the two world wars totaled around 80 million and more than 100 million have been violently killed by totalitarian revolutions.

But as frightening as the twentieth century was, the twenty-first century is starting out to be worse. Without going into the details of the global troubles in the natural world, the economic world, the religious world, and the military world, that you probably already know about, let us look at what God has counseled us in regard to the time in which we are living:

“Every hand should be outstretched to help the hand that is doing something for the Master. The time may come when the hands that have upheld the feeble hands of another may, in turn, be upheld by the hands to whom they ministered. God has so ordered matters that no man is absolutely independent of his fellowmen.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 496.

“Faith is the clasping of the hand of Christ in every emergency.” Gospel Workers, 262.

“The hand of Christ can reach the veriest sinner, and bring him back from transgression to obedience; but no Christianity is so lofty that it can soar above the requirements of God’s holy law.” The Signs of the Times, March 31, 1890.

“God says to His people, ‘Press together, press together; that you may not be destroyed as were the inhabitants of Jerusalem.’ ” Ibid., October 31, 1900.

“We are to unify, but not on a platform of error.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 259.

When it is too Late to Recover

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One of the first things that you are taught when you learn to fly an airplane is how to recover from a stall. If you are flying level and your airspeed gets to be too low, the airplane will stop flying and just drop. That is not serious generally, for in a small plane like a Cessna 150 or 152, you can recover in two or three hundred feet, but the larger the airplane, the more distance it takes to recover. To practice this maneuver you must have sufficient altitude. Stalling without sufficient altitude can be very dangerous and even deadly. The standard procedure to follow when going too slow and stalling is to give it fuel, push in the throttle and gain speed and you will come right out of it.

It is customary when purchasing a plane to take it up with an instructor, or someone that has experience with that particular plane, for a test run before taking delivery. A personal friend and Seventh-day Adventist minister was taking delivery of an airplane he had purchased and took it on the test flight. It was flying fairly low and stalled. Unfortunately, the plane was flying too low and it slammed into the ground instantly killing both occupants. In 1991 that very same thing happened to a 737. A sports team was coming in for a landing in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The winds were very gusty that day which makes it one of the most dangerous times to land, because you are flying into the wind and you have to have your flight speed up high enough so if the wind drops, you are still above stalling speed. The wind was gusting anywhere from 15 to 40 miles per hour, and the pilot failed to keep the correct airspeed. While the airplane was coming in for a landing, the wind pulled back and all of a sudden the plane just went straight down and instantly killed everybody. A stall is not dangerous when there is plenty of altitude, but coming in for a landing when the plane is low, there is not enough time or distance to recover.

We are headed toward the Holy City. We are almost home and ready to make a heavenly landing. Care must be taken to not stall, for soon it will be too late to recover.

The warning of the third angel is found in Revelation 14:9–12; it says, “Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’ Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

The reason for this warning given by the third angel is because of what the powers of this earth are going to do in the end of this world’s history. It is described in Revelation 13:14–17: “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

Now, for over 150 years, Seventh-day Adventists have been preaching the three angels’ messages to the world. Some Seventh-day Adventists have heard it so much that it no longer affects them. It is in the back of their mind; they believe it, but think it probably won’t happen in their lifetime. The messenger of the Lord has something to say about this way of thinking.

“The day is at hand when the destiny of every soul will be fixed forever. This day of the Lord hastens on apace. The false watchmen are raising the cry, ‘All is well’; but the day of God is rapidly approaching. Its footsteps are so muffled that it does not arouse the world from the deathlike slumber into which it has fallen. While the watchmen cry, ‘Peace and safety,’ ‘sudden destruction cometh upon them,’ ‘and they shall not escape’; ‘for as a snare [a trap] shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.’ It overtakes the pleasure-lover and the sinful man as a thief in the night. When all is apparently secure, and men retire to contented rest, then the prowling, stealthy, midnight thief steals upon his prey. When it is too late to prevent the evil, it is discovered that some door or window was not secured. ‘Be ye also ready: for in an such hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ People are now settling to rest, imagining themselves secure under the popular churches; but let all beware, lest there is a place left open for the enemy to gain an entrance. Great pains should be taken to keep this subject before the people. The solemn fact is to be kept not only before the people of the world, but before our own churches also, that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly. The fearful warning of the prophecy is addressed to every soul. Let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised. Let no one’s interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 335, 336.

Our only safety is to be ready at all times. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His time because they were not able to read the signs of the times.

About forty years ago I was first informed of a development that could bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy of being unable to buy or sell. Recently, I have become aware that this development is happening much more rapidly than most people realize. It is not happening in the United States, but all around the world and is developing secretly so that most people do not even know that it is happening. However, many of the relatively few who do know about it are scared to death about what it portends for the future, and these people don’t even know the three angels’ messages.

Most do know that the United States money supply has been increased by trillions of dollars in the last three or four years. But what many do not realize is that dozens of central banks, including the United States Federal Reserve Bank, are starting to abandon the paper money system and force us to a new traceable digital currency. The New York Times has reported that the United States government is shredding and burying billions of dollars in landfills, enough to fill 1,750 dump trucks per year. This shredding program has been going on for years to rid the system of worn out dollar bills. Recently they are destroying currency faster than they are replacing it, and are shredding so much cash, that they have been forced to outsource this to private companies. Landfill fees have been getting so high that they have been forced to find new and unusual ways to dispose of all this unwanted paper. ABC News reported that the dollars are piling up so quickly that the Federal Reserve will need to spend $650,000 to build a new vault in Dallas, Texas, to hold them.

What is this endless destruction of paper money all about? It appears that the plans are to flip us into an age of digital, traceable currency and bring to an end the use of cash. In 2011, the United States Treasury printed fewer $5 bills than it had in over 30 years, and no $10 bills were printed at all. In regard to coins, it costs the government about 9 cents to make a nickel, and about 2 cents to make a penny.

There is no legal requirement for businesses to accept dollars as payment, and businesses are starting to refuse cash. Many airlines no longer accept cash for food and drink during flights. Apple stores won’t accept it for an iPad or an iPhone. The State of Louisiana has made it illegal to buy many things with cash.

The Economist magazine said recently, “Cash, after millennia, as one of mankind’s most versatile and enduring technologies, looks set to melt away.” This same thing is happening overseas. In Mexico, there is a bill before the legislature to make it illegal to pay cash for real estate. In Greece, all cash transactions worth 1,500 Euros or more are against the law as of January 1, 2012. In Italy, all cash transactions over 5,000 Euros will be banned.

What does this mean to you? It means you will not be able to transfer a large sum of money anonymously, and every financial transaction that you make will be easily monitored and controlled by the government. Now, we have been on this road for over 50 years, but the pace has become much faster in recent months. Over 90 percent of our money supply is digital. The government is not printing more money but transactions are being made through computers.

Many do not believe that cash will ever disappear, however there is a bill in the United States Congress right now that would remove legal tender status from United States Treasury coins and Federal Reserve Notes. If that bill should pass, paper money would not be money anymore. The United States Treasurer has announced plans to switch to digital payments that will save, they say, nearly three hundred million dollars a year by eliminating millions of paper checks.

The Social Security administration recently switched from paper check to a new digital currency system to distribute billions of dollars in monthly benefit payments. Here is what one analyst said: “There’s not much time left, before the United States government prints their last dollar bill.” Dozens of central banks, including the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, are about to force us into a traceable currency. And when that happens, it will be the simplest, easiest thing in the world to enforce the mark of the beast so you cannot buy or sell, as it is predicted in Revelation 13:15 and 17.

These things have been developing slowly over the last 50 years. But, like a lot of things, it is just going slowly and then all of sudden it happens. Ellen White said this about the rapidity of these things being fulfilled at the end: “The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, 74.

Blinding force is something that happens so fast you can’t see it; it blinds you to even try to see what is happening. Ellen White, when writing the book The Great Controversy, said, “I was moved by the Spirit of the Lord to write that book, and while working upon it, I felt a great burden upon my soul. I knew that time was short, that the scenes which are soon to crowd upon us would at the last come very suddenly and swiftly, as represented in the words of Scripture: ‘The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night’ (I Thessalonians 5:2).” Selected Messages, Book 3, 113.

Peter also tells us that the last events of this earth would come very suddenly and swiftly. He says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” II Peter 3:10.

The ability to buy and sell is a test over the law of God. The mark of the beast is the change in the law of God, specifically the change in the time of the law of God as mentioned in Daniel 7:25. And the change of the Sabbath is the sign or mark of authority of the anti-christ. We are told in Evangelism, 234, 235. “No one has yet received the mark of the beast. The testing time has not yet come. There are true Christians in every church, not excepting the Roman Catholic communion. None are condemned until they have had the light and have seen the obligation of the fourth commandment. But when the decree shall go forth enforcing the counterfeit sabbath, and the loud cry of the third angel shall warn men against the worship of the beast and his image, the line will be clearly drawn between the false and the true. Then those who still continue in transgression will receive the mark of the beast.

“With rapid steps we are approaching this period.”

The great test of loyalty will be over the fourth commandment and this test is going to occur before probation closes, before the work closes up. Ellen White says, “The Lord has shown me clearly that the image of the beast will be formed before probation closes; for it is to be the great test for the people of God, by which their eternal destiny will be decided.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 80.

Think about what you would do tonight if you could not buy or sell. Only the Lord will be able to sustain His people through that period. The just shall live by faith. Though the 144,000 live until the Lord comes, it will look like they are going to be killed. They would rather be killed than disobey God. This is the mindset necessary to go through to the end and be part of the people who are ready to meet Jesus when He comes.

“This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. All who prove their loyalty to God by observing His law, and refusing to accept a spurious sabbath, will rank under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and will receive the seal of the living God. Those who yield the truth of heavenly origin, and accept the Sunday sabbath, will receive the mark of the beast.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 15, 15.

If you receive the mark of the beast, it is too late to recover, just like an airplane that stalls when it’s coming in for a landing—it’s too late!

“The substitution of the laws of men for the law of God, the exaltation, by merely human authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath, is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain (Isaiah 26:21).” Testimonies, vol. 7, 141. Things are being put in place so that central governments can control every financial transaction that occurs. When that happens, it will be very easy on a central computer, if you don’t have proper ID, to block the code so that your card won’t work. Instantly, you will not be able to buy and sell. What will you do then?

“In the last vision given me, I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and be saved.” Ibid., vol. 1, 608. This means that the majority now professing the faith will turn away from it for their temporal needs.

“I was pointed back to ancient Israel. But two of the adults of the vast army that left Egypt entered the land of Canaan. Their dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness because of their transgressions. Modern Israel are in greater danger of forgetting God and being led into idolatry than were His ancient people. Many idols are worshiped, even by professed Sabbathkeepers.” Ibid., 609.

“To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.” Ibid., vol. 5, 136.

We are rapidly approaching the test that will come to each of us individually. It is one thing to stand and preach about it, or sit and listen to it, but it will be another thing when hungry and thirsty and you can’t buy and sell.

The survivors will, like the three worthies on the plain of Dura, say, Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us but if He does not, let it be known that we will not bow even if we lose our lives. (See Daniel 3:17, 18.)

This is how Ellen White described it: “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat. All who assume the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will appear in the shame of their own nakedness.” Ibid., 81.

Time is running out. At this final test the wheat will be separated from the tares. “Said my [Ellen White] accompanying angel, ‘Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner.’ ” Early Writings, 118.

We are preparing to come in to land at our heavenly home. The landing strip is in sight and there is still time to throttle up and make a safe landing by choosing to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and make the commitment, “Lord, I am committing my life to You, and whether I live or die, I am going to follow You and obey You.” Divine power will be given to you and you will be amazed that now you can overcome habits that you never thought possible.

Everyone is to receive a mark, some will have a mark of deliverance—the seal of God. Others will have a mark of destruction—the mark of the beast. At the close of probation one group is going to be saved and there is no way they can be destroyed. The other group of people that have the other mark are going to be destroyed, and there is no way they can be saved.

After receiving the marks, it is too late to change. “Our own course of action will determine whether we shall receive the seal of the living God or be cut down by the destroying weapons. Already a few drops of God’s wrath have fallen upon the earth; but when the seven last plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent and find shelter.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 212.

This is going to come suddenly, at a time when least expected. The signs of the times show that we are almost there, and it will be too late to pick up speed, just as the 737 stalled as it was coming in for landing and went straight down because it was too late! Spectators watched as it hit the ground. If the plane had stalled while still high enough in the air, it could have recovered but you don’t dare stall on the approach, for it is then too late to recover.

Soon there will be no more atoning blood to wash away the stains of sin. Jesus is about to leave the most holy place. Just being a Sabbath-keeper is not enough. “Not all who profess to keep the Sabbath will be sealed. There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not receive the seal of God in their foreheads.” Ibid., 214. That is scary!

If Paul said he had to keep his body under or he could be rejected (1 Corinthians 9:27), that would apply to me and it would also apply to you. “They had the light of truth, they knew their Master’s will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not corresponding works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith.” Ibid. Pray earnestly that you are not in that class.

The spiritual condition of those who receive the seal of God is seen in Revelation 7:1–3 and Revelation 14:1–5. Compare this condition with Revelation 7:1–3. Plead for righteousness while there is still time: “Not one of us will ever receive the seal of God while our characters have one spot or stain upon them.” Ibid., 215.

When God has a people in this world whose souls are cleansed from every defilement, they will receive the “latter rain.” James 5:7.

Do not despair; your case is not hopeless if you come to Jesus. All things are possible, if you can believe that Jesus can remove all the spots and stains out of your character if you are willing to let go of those bad habits no matter what they are. But, He will never force anyone to let them go and take away their free will. Victory is available to all of those who cooperate with the heavenly agencies. Before we can be ready to receive the latter rain and to give the loud cry, these stains have to come out. This is impossible for us; it is the Lord’s work, but we must cooperate with the divine agencies and be willing to let go.

“There are sinners in Zion who need to repent of sins that have been cherished as precious treasures. Until these sins are seen, and thrust from the soul, until every faulty, unlovely trait of character is transformed by the Spirit’s influence, God cannot manifest Himself in power.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 1, 366.

Imagine the family and church where each person had the unlovely traits of character removed. “Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.” The Great Controversy, 464.

Ellen White wrote in The Signs of the Times, August 19, 1886, “If we have become the disciples of Christ, we shall be learning of Him—every day learning how to overcome some unlovely trait of character.”

We are approaching the time when it will be too late to stall and then recover. Every moment is precious, and we need to seek God day and night that every unlovely trait of character may be removed from our characters that we might become a perfect reflection of the character of our precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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

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

Current Events – The Lord is Coming Soon

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“Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour’s prophecy of the events to precede His coming.” Maranatha, 68.

“The signs of the times give evidence that the judgments of heaven are being poured out, that the day of the Lord is at hand. The daily papers are full of indications of an intense conflict in the future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed by demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. All these things testify that the Lord’s coming is near.” Ibid., 175.

Seventy-four Chinese fishermen were missing on Monday, September 30, 2013, after a typhoon sunk three fishing boats in the South China Sea as Thailand and Vietnam braced for torrential rain and flooding. www.reuters.com

Seven people were confirmed dead and at least 1,500 homes destroyed in Colorado after a week of rare, torrential rains along the eastern slopes of the Rockies, and helicopter search-and-rescue flights resumed on Monday, September 16, 2013, in flood-stricken areas. www.reuters.com

With its Muslim-style minarets topped by a large black cross, the All Saints Church in Peshawar has for more than a century offered a daring architectural expression of Muslim-Christian harmony and cohabitation. This is how the Taliban destroyed it: two suicide bombers rushed the church doors as worshipers streamed out on Sunday, September 22, 2013. One attacker exploded his vest inside, the other just outside.

The death toll had risen to 85 by Monday evening, when Christians across the country protested the worst atrocity their community has suffered in Pakistan’s history. www.nytimes.com

September 25, 2013, Members of Christian community here burnt Pakistan flag and held a demonstration on the Jalandhar-Delhi national highway to protest the deadly twin suicide bombings on a historic church in Peshawar. Eighty three people were killed in the attack on All Saints Church at Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, which was the deadliest ever on the country’s Christian minority. Bombers had set off their suicide vests as people were emerging from Sunday mass. www.dnaindia.com/india

Gunmen stormed a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Saturday, September 21, 2013, killing at least 39 people including close relatives of Kenya’s president and children, in an attack claimed by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab. www.reuters.com