Of all the gifts that we could bring to Christ, the most important gift is ourselves. In the whole universe, we are the most important of all things, to Him. That boggles my mind! You may feel the same way, as you look at your life. I wonder how He could love us so much that He was willing to go through what He went through for us, so we can spend eternity together and one day can walk and talk with Him. It is an awesome thought. How much do we love Him, today?
No Surprises
Even today, as we go about our busy lives, people are still talking about 9/11. [The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, NY, and on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001.] That was certainly something very awesome that took place in the United States! I have often thought about it and wondered if that was the beginning of sorrows. (See Matthew 24:8.) Some of the big disasters, the big things that happen, lead us back to God’s Word. I am interested about what is going to take place in our land—present and future, and I believe that God’s last day people will be interested in the future to the point that they will want to get into God’s Word and study it like never before.
We know Who holds the future, and it is good that we understand what is going to take place, because God wants us to go out and warn others. What took place in New York devastated the world, yet although we could not have predicted that exact incident, we knew things like that were going to happen. Many of us Adventists know things that will be taking place in the future, yet we are not preparing for them. We talk about moving out of the cities and getting into the country, yet we stay right where we are. We are looking for something bigger to happen, so we will know for sure when the time is right. We really do not want to be put out; we do not want to make a time of trouble, so we are riding the fence.
I’m thankful today that God’s Word tells us, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. Friends, I stand on that promise today. I am assured, because God’s Word has told me that God is not going to do anything that He does not reveal. He does not want anything to be a surprise to any of His people. He wants to reveal it so that we can be prepared for such a time as this.
An Active Prophet
Sometimes people say that the pulpit is not the place to read the Spirit of Prophecy. I disagree! If there was ever a time that we needed the Spirit of Prophecy, it is now. More than ever before we need these counsels. It is not a time to put it away, throw it away, or disregard it. Just open the pages and surely God will speak to you as He has to me. He is going to reveal things so that we can be ready.
Do you believe that God has prophets in the world today? There are a lot of people who claim to be. I believe that Seventh-day Adventists have a true prophet of God. We can read the inspired writings and compare them with God’s Word. We can see these things are coming to pass, and we can know it is the truth. Then why are we not farther advanced than we are today? We have all of this information. Some people say we have to be careful about a church that says they have a prophet, but the Bible says, “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12:28. The Bible is clear that God’s last day remnant church will be identifiable by an active prophet in the church.
God also says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man . . .” Genesis 6:3. How many of you sense, today, that the Spirit of God is being withdrawn? If you do not, you need to get on your knees and ask the Lord to help you see the things that are going on in this world. There are scandalous things happening in this world, things that shock us. Yet some things that would have given us heart failure ten years ago, today we only shrug off and say, “Isn’t that sad?” We have become accustomed to disaster. God said that His Spirit would not always strive with man. God’s Spirit is being withdrawn, and when His Spirit is withdrawn, be assured that the enemy is going to run more rampant in the hearts of men than ever before.
Tell Me a Lie
There are people today who are asking questions they never asked before. People are ripe for the gospel harvest at different times, and we need to have an answer for every man that asks. God is speaking to His children, and He says, “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: [God is saying it is time to get our tennis shoes on and get out and get in circulation. Write it, publish it, and get the message out in any way possible.] That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the Lord: [We all fit in that class, not just the young.] Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” Isaiah 30:8–10. How many say that today? Don’t tell me the truth; tell me a lie, because it is more pleasing. I can accept the lie more than I can accept the truth. The rebellious words continue: “Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Verse 11. How many of us would have the audacity to say we do not need God any more? We don’t want Him in our homes anymore; we don’t want Him in the church anymore; we don’t want Him in this world anymore. The people are saying, “We don’t want God. Don’t prophesy about God; don’t talk about Him.” When we do talk about Him, we lose so many “friends.”
“Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not. But ye said,No . . . .” Verses 12–16. God is calling us back to a right relationship with Him. He is giving us instructions, yet we say, No, we do not want to hear. How many of us are heeding this warning today?
Devil Taking Over
In 1901, Ellen White wrote the following: “Men possessed by demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children.” Maranatha, 175. Do you see that happening today? No one can figure out what is wrong with these crazy people. I can tell you right now—they have a devil in them! The devil has taken over, but in modern society we cannot talk like that; people don’t believe it. Crime, murders—”All these things testify that the Lord’s coming is near.” Ibid. These are signs in the air. We are overwhelmed by the kidnap-pings in broad open daylight, in the schools and in the homes. We can’t understand how these things can be taking place. These all testify that the coming of the Lord is near. “The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. . . . Even before the last great destruction comes upon the world, the flattering monuments of man’s greatness will be crumbled in the dust.” Ibid. Can you relate to these things? Some of the monuments that men have built, these tall, fireproof buildings, stand as if to say, Look what man has done! Ellen White says they are going to crumble to dust. “Costly buildings, supposed to be fireproof, are erected. But as Sodom perished in the flames of God’s vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes.” Ibid. Are we seeing it happen today? Yes, we are; it is taking place all around us. God says there is a reason for it.
“The time is near when large cities will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgments.” Evangelism, 29. So you say, I understand it; I know it. Now, what is our duty? What is our responsibility? All should be warned of the coming judgments. If the judgments are falling in the land today, it tells us that Jesus is coming soon, that His Spirit is being withdrawn from the earth and the enemy is trying to take possession. What a time! All should be warned.
What would happen if a couple of years before 9/11 someone had published a notice in the paper that said, After reading about some of these cities, I believe something terrible is going to happen in New York City; I believe there is going to be some devastation there. The police would have been on that person’s doorstep the very next morning after 9/11, wanting to know how they knew about it, asking with what groups they are associated. The authorities might even want to know what church this person attends and what they believe. They would certainly want some information.
You see, it takes courage to believe in God’s Word and strength to move out and say something before it happens, not necessarily after it happens. Do you dare to stand out, dare to be different? Ellen White said we are to “warn the inhabitants of our great centers of population of the judgments that will fall upon the transgressors of God’s law.” Medical Ministry, 300. How many of us are warning the world? How many are doing what we can in our area? Do we realize that we are just touching upon the edges of the coming disasters, sad as it might be?
Under inspiration, Ellen White wrote, “When God’s restraining hand is removed, the destroyer begins his work. Then in our cities the greatest calamities will come.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 314. If you know this, do you have family and friends who live in some of these places? What have you done to warn them? Or will they count you as some strange parent, aunt, uncle, or friend, because you plead with them to move out of these places, to get into a secluded place. “Why should we do that? We’re making a good living here, and we’ve worked here all of our lives.” They will think you are strange, but we should still warn them that these things are coming. That is our job! We can show them from God’s Word that these disasters are occurring one right after the other.
We see things happening even in smaller towns that we did not see before. Twenty years ago we did not worry about things that we worry about now; and ten years ago those in small towns did not worry about the things that they worry about now. I was at a Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York City several years ago and there were bars on every window and on the doors. You could not leave your equipment inside the sanctuary while you went for fellowship lunch. This was inside a four-story building! I just put my Bible down and I was told, “Oh, don’t leave that lying there.”
“Why not?”
“Because you won’t have it when you come back.”
“You mean here in the church?”
“Yes, people come in whom we do not know, and it will be gone.”
I got there early and could not get in because the doors were barred. I had to wait for somebody to get a key so I could get in. It was like opening a cell. Then they had to have someone standing outside to watch for problems. That is not what we are use to experiencing when we go to church, but we are seeing the crime coming our direction.
Several years ago we thought we did not have to worry about locking our doors and closing our windows. But a dear sister of ours in her 80s, lived just a few blocks from our church. She was our church organist, and she loved the message of Jesus. She was murdered. A young man broke into her house, thinking that she might have some money. The reports told us that she awoke when the intruder entered, and he grabbed a pillow and smothered her. That is a horrible way to have a faithful life end.
Why in the cities? There is a good reason for it, and God’s servant tells us what it is. “O that God’s people had a sense of the impending destruction of thousands of cities, now almost given to idolatry.” Evangelism, 29. One of the first things God told His people was that they were not to have other gods before Him. (See Exodus 20:3.) Anything you have or do can become an idol. Now God is saying that the cities will be destroyed, because they are almost wholly given over to idolatry. Everything imaginable is going on.
What is our job?
Our job is to warn the people. God sent us the warnings, yet we don’t say anything for fear we might get in trouble. Ellen White said, “In the night I was, I thought, in a room but not in my own house. I was in a city, where I knew not, and I heard expression [explosion] after expression [explosion]. I rose up quickly in bed, and saw from my window large balls of fire. Jetting out were sparks, in the form of arrows, and buildings were being consumed, and in a very few minutes the entire block of buildings was falling and the screeching and mournful groans came distinctly to my ears. I cried out, in my raised position, to learn what was happening: Where am I? And where [is] our family circle? Then I awoke. But I could not tell where I was for I was in another place than home. I said, Oh Lord, where am I and what shall I do? It was a voice that spoke, ‘Be not afraid. Nothing shall harm you.’
“I was instructed that destruction hath gone forth upon cities. The word of the Lord will be fulfilled. Isaiah 29:19–24 was repeated. I dared not move, not knowing where I was. I cried unto the Lord, What does it mean? These representations of destruction were repeated. Where am I? ‘In these scenes I have represented that which will be; but warn My people to cease from putting their trust in men who are not obedient to my warnings and who despise My reproof, for the day of the Lord is right upon the world when evidence shall be made sure. Those who have followed the voices that would turn things upside down will themselves be turned where they cannot see, but will be as blind men.’ ” Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, 361.
What was that? “Those who have followed the voices that would turn things upside down will themselves be turned where they cannot see, but will be as blind men”? Do you believe that God has a true prophet in His church in the last days and that you can share these warnings with confidence?
How do we approach such a situation? How do we deal with this when we are commissioned that this is our job? Do you doubt that the Sunday law will happen? Do not doubt it; it is going to happen. Why? Because God’s servant has told us so. (See Testimonies, vol. 5, 450, 451, 711, 712.) We can boldly step forward and say, “This is what is going to happen, and we know this because God’s servant told us that it would happen.” The people are going to be curious, and they will want to know how we know such things. Then we can open up prophecy to them. Oh the golden opportunities we missed, even at 9/11, to warn the people.
Pastor Kenny Shelton is speaker for the television ministry of Behold the Lamb in Heron, Illinois. He may be contacted by e-mail at BTLM@GTE.net or by telephone at 1-800-238-2856.