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A Prophet Answers (Part 2 of 2)

May 25, 2013

This week we’ll continue to show some of the questions and answers that brother Houteff addressed. As we’ve mentioned before VTH had a fourth grade education. But when the Spirit of God moves upon someone, especially a prophet of God, then thought, phrases, words, all come into that person’s mind and we behold truly divine knowledge.

As advancers of our walk with God, we are counselled to keep abreast of the advancing light. In (Hosea 4:6) we read, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  What better way to learn of the Lord than to study what His last prophet said. This message, being the Elijah message, prophesied in (Mal. 4:5) and (Test. to Ministers, p.475) has many writings within it, such as Srod volumes, Tracts, Sermon addresses and these Q and A’s. These Q and A’s are one of the best ways to learn the message.  May the Lord grant us wisdom and discernment.  

                                              

                                              Question No. 23:

How can your teaching of the separation of tares from the wheat in the church be harmonized with the statement which says: “The tares and the wheat are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of probationary time….When the work of the gospel is completed, there immediately follows the separation between the good and the evil, and the destiny of each class is forever fixed”?- “Christ’s Object Lessons,” pp. 72, 123.

Answer:

Yes, according to the statement in question, the “harvest” is the end of probationary time, taking place at, not after, the close of probation. And the fact that the Investigative Judgment acts upon one’s case after his life’s career in relation to salvation has ended and while probation still lingers, is another proof that the “harvest” is the last part of probationary time.

This accords with Jeremiah’s statement, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20. It shows that the harvest is a period of time, having a beginning and ending, and that during its time men are saved. And Early Writings, p. 118, reveals that the Third Angel is the one who does the harvesting, while Matthew 13:30 shows also that the angels separate the tares from the wheat “in the time of harvest.”

Hence Christ’s command, “Let both grow together until the harvest,” points down to our day the “time of the end,” the period in which the harvest is to be consummated and the “tares” separated from the “wheat.”

Thus to all practical purposes “the harvest” is indeed “the end of the world”-the end of the wicked.

The only way in which one can otherwise understand Christ’s Object Lessons is by failure to realize that the world is right now at the very “close of time.” Failing to sense what the close of time really means, one is thus unable correctly to connect the related subjects of the harvest.

The Bible teaches that the Lord “will search Jerusalem [the church] with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil” (Zeph. 1:12); that is, He will punish those who by their actions say: “The Lord is not greatly concerned about what we do”; when in solemn warning truth God is declaring: “I will search Jerusalem,” not carelessly and in darkness, but carefully with candles of light.

“I will sift the house of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.” Amos 9:9, 10. “There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord.” Isa. 24:13, 14.

These scriptures show that after the church has been shaken by the Lord’s visitation, then her faithful members who are left will “sing for the majesty of the Lord.” The shaking will have made the church what she ought to be.

“But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope.” Mal. 3:2.

“In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able to measure the strength [number] of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor.”-Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 80.

Thus, both the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy proclaim that He Himself will purify the church, and that when she is thus purified, “the Gentiles shall see” her “righteousness, and all kings” her “glory.” Isa. 62:2.

                            Question No. 39:

The Seventh-day Adventist church has always taught that the number 666 applies to the leopard-like beast (Rev. 13:1-10). But “The Shepherd’s Rod” teaches that it applies to the two-horned beast (Rev. 13:11). Dose not the Spirit of Prophecy plainly tell us that “no line of truth that has made the Seventh-day Adventist people what they are, is to be weakened”?—Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 17. And does it not furthermore warn: “Woe to him who shall move a block or stir a pin of” those messages?—Early Writings,” p. 258.

Answer:

The Spirit of Prophecy does indeed so teach, and to be in harmony one hundred percent with it on this point as on all others, the Rod is carefully stripping from the Truth the rubbish with which men have covered it, and is thus restoring it to its primitive luster. So it has done with the truth concerning the number 666.

Though this number has admittedly long been applied to the leopard-like beast, the application was not originated by the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, neither was it taught by them in the early days of the Movement. Rather, it was brought in from outside and woven into the web of Seventh-day Adventist doctrine despite the fact that the Spirit of Truth declared through the founders of the Denomination that the number applied to the two-horned beast:

The “beast,” says Elder G.W. Holt, writing in the early days of the message, “having seven heads and ten horns is the one referred to, and I think the image, is the beast having ‘two horns like a lamb,’ but ‘spake as a dragon.’ His number is 666.”- The Present Truth, Vol. 1, No. 8, March, l850.

The “last power that treads down the saints,” says Elder White, writing at about the same time “is brought to view in Rev. 13:11-18. His number is 666.”—A Word to the Little Flock, p. 9.

And finally, Sister White in authenticating this position, declared: “I saw all that ‘would not receive the mark of the Beast, and of his Image, in their foreheads or in their hands,’ could not buy or sell. I saw that the number (666) of the Image Beast was made up; and that it was the beast that changed the Sabbath, and the Image Beast had followed on after, and kept the Pope’s, and not God’s Sabbath.” A Word to the Little Flock, p. 19. (Note: The number 666 was placed in parentheses by the editor of A Word to the Little Flock.)

Here we have from the mouth of three witnesses absolute proof that the Denomination’s present teaching concerning the number 666 was neither originated nor sanctioned by its founding fathers, that, in fact, it was not one of the lines of truth, nor even one of the blocks or pins of the message, which God gave to this people. Moreover, the Bible puts the number on the two-horned beast. Note that all the characteristics which pertain to the ten-horned beast are described in Rev. 13:1-10, and that all which pertain to the two-horned beast are described in Rev. 13:11-18. As the number closes the description of the two-horned beast, it cannot logically be applied to the ten-horned beast.

This is just one of the many departures from Truth, which caused Sister White far back (1882) to cry out: “The church has turned back from following Christ her Leader, and is steadily retreating toward Egypt. Yet few are alarmed or astonished at their want of spiritual power. Doubt and even disbelief of the testimonies of the Spirit of God, is leavening our churches everywhere. Satan would have it thus. Ministers who preach self instead of Christ would have it thus. The testimonies are unread and unappreciated. God has spoken to you. Light has been shining from his word and from the testimonies and both have been slighted and disregarded. The result is apparent in the lack of purity and devotion and earnest faith among us.”-Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 217.

“We have wandered away from the old landmarks. Let us return. If the Lord be God, serve him; if Baal, serve him. Which side will you be on?”-Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 137.

                                      Question No. 41:

Will you please explain the difference in the terms, Judah, Ephriam, and Israel?

Answer:

In its original and strictest denotation the term “Israel” designated the children of Israel from the days of Jacob their father, to the end of the reign of King Solomon.

It will be remembered, however, that after Solomon’s death, the kingdom was rent in twain (I Kings 11:11, 12; 12:19, 20, 21). The one division, composed of the two tribes, occupied the southern portion of the Promised Land, while the other division, composed of the ten tribes, occupied the northern portion. The former took the title “Judah” because the tribe of Judah ruled over it, the latter took the title “Israel” because it was comprised of the majority of the tribes. To this ten-tribe kingdom, therefore, the term “Israel” applies when used in its secondary acceptation, excluding the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin.

The term “Ephraim,” in the collective sense, also designates the ten tribes or northern kingdom (Isa. 7:1, 2) because the tribe of Ephraim ruled over it. Thus the eponyms “Israel” (when used exclusively of the ten tribes) and “Ephraim” are applicable to the northern division, and the eponym “Judah” to the southern division, of God’s ancient people.

  Question No. 53:

   Testimonies to Ministers p. 444,  states: John sees the elements of nature —earthquake, tempest, and political strife—represented as being held by four angels.” But Tract No. 8, “Mt. Sion at the Eleventh Hour,”  p. 22, says: “As the nations have always been at war, this twofold work of hurting could not represent political strife.” How are these contradictory statements reconciled?

Answer:

  We are confident that if the questioner will carefully restudy Testimonies to Ministers p. 444, he will see that it is endeavoring to show that the Divine object in holding back the winds, is, as the passage plainly says, “the safety of God’s church.” That being the case, then the winds, themselves being figurative of strife, trouble, and war, are, when let loose, to blow against the church. This is very evident because their being held from John’s day until this very hour, has never prevented and is not now preventing the nations’ warring among themselves. Always have they been at war with one another, and today they are engaged in a deadly world-wide conflict unparalleled in all history, although the angels are still holding the winds. Of necessity, therefore, the strife represented by the blowing of the winds, must be essentially religious in aim, and political only in procedure, thus religious-political, as stated in Tract No. 12, The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, pp. 38, 65 and in The Shepherd s Rod Vol. 2, p. 114. This conclusion is borne out in the following passage:

  “The time is coming when we cannot sell at any price. The decree will soon go forth prohibiting men to buy or sell of any man save him that hath the mark of the beast. We came near having this realized in California a short time since; but this was only the threatening of the blowing of the four winds. As yet they are held by the four angels. We are not just ready. There is a work yet to be done, and then the angels will be bidden to let go, that the four winds may blow upon the earth. That will be a decisive time for God’s children,—a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.”—Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 152.

  The tract, in its particular statement in question, is stressing only the religious aspect of the trouble, in the endeavor to show that the trouble is not political in aim,—not to conquer territory, but to build up international religion in order to compel the world to worship the image of the beast.

  In this clear light, we see that both Testimonies to Ministers and The Shepherd’s Rod series are endeavoring to show that the strife is neither purely political nor purely religious, but religious-political. It is the church and state allied in common action.

                                        Question No. 56:

 If the church is to be purified before the close of probation for the world and remain pure thereafter without any sinners in it as “The Shepherd’s Rod” teaches, then how do you harmonize this with “Early Writings,” p. 71, which says Some “will come up to the time of the falling of the plagues, and then see that they needed to be hewed and squared for the building”?

Answer:

  There are other statements from the author of Early Writings which bear even more positive evidence that God will, before that time, have a church pure and true. (See The Great Controversy p. 425, Prophets and Kings, p. 725, Testimonies Vol. 5 p. 80; Isa. 52:1-2.)

   As these several statements with reference to a preliminary purification are just as true as the one in Early Writings which seems to negate a purification, one cannot honestly disregard them and give consideration only to it. Let us remember always to observe the inviolable rule that an interpretation of one inspired statement must harmonize with all other related statements.

  Some who are anxious to risk Present Truth on the weight of what one inspired statement seems to say or imply, are thereby presumptuously or very ignorantly overlooking the “weight of evidence.” Others are doing this through shortsightedness, while still others are doing it to prop up certain cherished ideas of their own.

  The basic foundation for the no-preliminary-purification doctrine is built, not upon solid rock, but upon the same shifting sand as that which underlies such as the erroneous ideas of the conscious state of the dead, the eternal torment of the wicked, baptism by sprinkling, Sunday sacredness, and the millennial age of peace on earth.

  Since, Truth is progressive, and since the purification of the church had not yet been revealed when the statement in Early Writings was written, the danger foretold and the counsel given therein could not possibly have been stated in terms other than those then familiarly comprehended. All were thus plainly forewarned that if they continued sinning, then after the close of probation for the world, the plagues, of which they already had some understanding, would be their recompense. So for the Lord to have explained the matter in Early Writings as He does through the Rod today, He would have had to reveal, out of due time, when Early Writings was being written, the message which is applicable only to the church for today, and which we are now therefore receiving.

  In the last analysis, the unrepentant sinners who are now in the church, may never see the seven last plagues, while others who are now in the world, will in the time of the Loud Cry yet have opportunity to be “squared” for the building, and be treasured with the “living stones,” or else to suffer the consequences of the plagues.

  No one should have difficulty in seeing this now, for all those to whom Early Writings primarily spoke are already dead, though the plagues are yet in the future. Furthermore, there is much more light to come concerning the truth of the seven last plagues, and when it comes, we may again see that we have “many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn.”-Testimonies to Ministers p. 30.

                                              Question No. 57:

 Is not the slaughter of Ezekiel 9 to be fulfilled by the seven last plagues?

Answer:

  The slaughter as described in Ezekiel’s prophecy takes the lives of only those wicked who are in “the house of Israel and Judah” (Ezek. 9:9)—the church; whereas the destruction of the plagues falls upon all who are found in “Babylon” (Rev. 18:4) after the Lord has proclaimed, “Come out of her, My people,” and after they have responded and thus separated themselves from those in Babylon. The destruction of Ezekiel 9, therefore, can apply to her communicants only as an ensample or forerunner of the seven last plagues.

   Moreover, His people, the ones who are marked by the angel according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, are not called out, but rather are left in.

                                        Question No. 59:

  If Daniel 7:8, 25 and Revelation 13:3 both prefigure the same power, and if the Roman church during the Middle Ages is the one there predicted, then why is she, in Daniel’s vision, a combined secular and ecclesiastical power (horn-head), while In The Revelation she Is only an ecclesiastical power (head)?

Answer:

  That the same power is indeed symbolized by both beasts is unmistakably seen from the fact that both “blasphemed” the same length of time: the former, for “a time and times, and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:25): and the latter, for “forty and two months” (Rev. 13:5). This same period is identically stated in Revelation 11:3, and is equivalently represented in Revelation 12:14 as “a time, and times, and half a time,” which according to the rule of interpretation of Ezekiel 4:6, is equated: “time”–1 year; “times”–2 years;  “and  half a time” or “dividing of time”–l/2 year: in the aggregate equaling 3 1/2 years, 42 months, or 1260 days (12 months to a year, and 30 days to a month, Bible reckoning).

  Daniel’s vision foretells only the formation of that church and state union, and for this very reason John’s was given to show its final stage, its dissolution only. Thus the two visions complete the whole-the formation and the dissolution.

                                           Question No. 62:

 I have carefully studied the temple type as found in “The Shepherd’s Rod,” Vol. 2, but I cannot see how Darius can be made the author of the third decree, unless you take the position that he made two decrees. How do you clear this difficulty?

Answer:

  The Bible declares that the temple was finished at the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxterxes, “in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the King. Ezra 6:14, 15. As the Artaxerxes decree of Ezra 7 to beautify the temple, not to build it (verse 27), was made after the three aforementioned, it therefore cannot be the Artaxerxes decree of Ezra 6:14. Hence, there were three decrees to build it, and one to beautify it: (1) one by Cyrus (Ezra 1:2-4); (2) one by Darius (Ezra 6:11, 12), (3) one by Artaxerxes, not recorded (4) one by Artaxerxes, recorded (Ezra 7:21-26).

  Thus it is that Artaxerxes’ decree of chapter 7, being the third on record, has received the classification as such, as though it may in fact be the fourth. Accordingly, there must have been two Artaxerxes’ decrees.

  As the temple building was finished “in the sixth year of the reign of Darius” (Ezra 6:15), not in the reign of Artaxerxes, then if Darius’ decree is not the third and last, it must be concluded that the Darius who reigned when the temple was finished made no decree.

  If our deductions should be incorrect, and if ever further light on this subject becomes necessary, it is certain that the Lord will not keep us in ignorance of it. Since at the present time, however, the point of interest is of no practical concern, suffice the answer given.

                                              Question No. 64:

   Romans 9:27 says that a “remnant” of Israel will be saved, but Romans 11:26 says that “all” Israel will be saved.  I do not understand this.  Can you help me?

Answer:

   Romans 9:27 is speaking of Israel as a nation, of which only a remnant will be saved; whereas Romans 11:26 is revering to the elected Israel as individuals, all of whom will be saved.

                                              Question No. 65:

  “The plan of salvation had been accomplished,” says “Early Writings,” p. 281, “but few had chosen to accept it.”  This statement is used very extensively against the doctrine of the “great Multitude” as taught by the Davidians.  Will you please clear it?

Answer:

  Though during His own ministry on earth Jesus lamented that “many be called, but few chosen” (Matt. 20:16), yet long before, through Isaiah, He had declared in prophetic promise to the church: “Thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought…. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.” Isa. 60:11, 22.

  “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Isa. 2:2-5.

  And through the prophet Zechariah, He again recorded the promise: “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day.” Zech. 2:11.

  “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name,  and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Zech. 13 :8, 9.

  Moreover, while in Early Writings, p. 281, the author says, “But few have chosen to accept it,” in The Great Controversy, p. 665, she classifies the great multitude of Revelation 7:9 as a company separate from the martyrs and from all others who are to be resurrected, thereby plainly showing that the “great multitude” are not the resurrected but the living translated. This is also borne out by Counsels to Teachers, p. 532.

  Now, if we are to arrive at the truth, we must interpret the statement in Early Writings and the one in Matthew 20:16, in a way as to harmonize with Isaiah 60:11, 22, Zechariah 2:11; 13:8, 9; The Great Controversy, p. 665, and other passages, all of which show that there is to be a great multitude.

  No candid Bible student would build a theory upon an interpretation that would lead him to set aside all other scriptures on the subject. He will seek to make his final analysis in such a way as to be in perfect harmony with all of them, or else confess that he does not have the light on the subject.

  In the clear light of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy passages here cited, the weight of evidence incontestably leads to the conclusion that a great multitude is to be saved. The truth becomes evident, then, that the “few” comprehends those saved at the call of each message during the ages past, the time before the “harvest.” But in the closing of the world’s history, during the harvest time of the gospel, there is to be a great ingathering of redeemed souls, “a great multitude such as no man can number.” The term “harvest” implies just such a reaping.

  Thus in comparison to the aggregate number of the lost through the ages, the aggregate number of the saved are few; but non-comparatively, the aggregate saved of all ages are, in actual count, many. To this fact attest the words of Ezekiel: “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” Ezek. 37:10.

  As the salvation of a great multitude is counter only to the Devil’s plan, let us not work to his interest.

This concludes our  part 2 post of brother Houteff’s answers. We hope that the light shown has brightened your walk and that you are more knowledgable in the Lord than before. For those who wish to see the full Q and A’s in the “Answerer” series, click here. As we mentioned earlier , these are great learning tools. http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/index%20answerer.html 

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A Prophet Answers (Part 1 of 2)

May 18, 2013

victor_houteff_1_As we have pointed out before, in approx. 1928, brother Houteff began to teach the Sabbath school lessons in a Los Angeles area SDA church. His classes drew large crowds but soon trouble arose due to the fact that he began to reveal new interpretations of Scripture that wasn’t previously known within the SDA teachings. But to the humble laity these new revelations were quite exciting, as they searched it out and saw this new light clearly. The leaders were a whole different story.

Soon an uproar  began within the SDA churches and the situation had to be dealt with. Either the leaders had to admit that brother Houteff was revealing “new light” or he was giving his own uninspired interpretations. As was clearly prophesied they chose the “let me tell you how to teach your message” that Ellen White predicted in (Test. to Ministers, p.475). In other words they refused to accept the idea that God had sent another prophet.

So it became clear that brother Houteff and his followers would be expelled and have to go elsewhere to promote the new revelations.  After he was disfellowshipped he went to Texas and started his own “Camp” known as Mt. Carmel. A large land tract consisting of  over 300 acres.  He built several buildings, such as main office, school, etc. There he began to use the printing press to proclaim what he and others  believed was the “Elijah” message. Thousands from around the country (SDA churches) began to write him and follow him, yet most were still members of the SDA churches. This was exactly what brother Houteff counselled. They were to learn the message but stay in the churches to reach others with this “sealing” message.

But as the years rolled on he discovered that many kept writing him asking some good pondering questions concerning many topics. Most were sincere requests to know more of the Elijah message. But some were sent with the purpose to try to trip him up or baffle him, to see if they could expose him in error. They were never able to do that. You see when God is leading someone and most especially if He has called them to be a prophet, no one can take away that person’s divine knowledge and understanding. If you’re a truth seeker, the answers you’ll see here should inspire you as to the depth of them.

After a while brother Houteff  began to put the Q and A’s together in a series of written volumes. They’re  known as “The Answerer” series, which consists of 5 volumes of Q and A. There  were also additional questions and answers in the mailing news updates(sent to the thousands of Shepherd’s Rod believers), called the “Symbolic Code Series”. All together there is about 282 publicly addressed questions that brother Houteff answered. These  can  be really great learning tools because of the diversity of questions asked and answers given. We sincerely hope you enjoy them, and see them as many have within the SDA —  truths which are enlightening.

                                                

                                                 Question No. 9:

“Early Writings,” p. 15, speaks about God’s announcing the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming, and pouring upon the saints the Holy Ghost. Does not all this take place at the time of the seven last plagues, just before the second Advent? If so, then does it not show that the “latter rain” is to be poured out upon God’s people after the close of probation?

Answer:

True, we do understand from the passage in question that toward the close of the seventh plague, God will announce the day and the hour of Christ’s coming, and that He will then pour out His Spirit upon His saints. We do not, however, understand this outpouring to be either the “latter” or the “former rain” of truth, or yet the power prophesied of in Joel 2:23, 28, but rather the final manifestation of God’s Spirit, not to reveal to us any more of Gospel Truth, nor to enable us to proclaim it more fully, but simply to baptize us with a fitness to behold Jesus face to face, “as He is.”

                                               Question No. 16:

I have been told that the Davidians teach that the throne of Isaiah 6 is a train pulled by a locomotive belching forth smoke. Do they so teach?

Answer:

No such idea as this is anywhere to be found set forth in the publications of The Shepherd’s Rod, upon which all the Davidian teachings are based, as a careful reading of the literature will completely verify.

The word “train” is quoted from the Scriptures, and means retinue,” as explained in our Tract No. 1, The Pre-Eleventh-Hour Extra, 1941 Edition, p. 8.

Question No. 17:

“The Shepherd’s Rod,” Vol. 1, p. 44, says that the great multitude having palms in their hands are only the second fruits of the earth’s harvest, whereas “The Great Controversy,” p. 646, speaking of all “overcomers,” says: “In every hand are placed the victor’s palm and the shining harp.” How can these statements be harmonized?

Answer:

The multitude on which the Rod comments and the multitude of which The Great Controversy speaks, are two different companies, in two different locations, and on two different occasions. The former, the multitude of Revelation 7:9, have their palms on earth; the latter, the multitude of The Great Controversy, receive their palms and harps in heaven. These facts may be clearly seen from reading the statements in question.

Question No. 20:

What Biblical proof is there to show that the events of the Seven Seals (Rev. 4-8) span the entire world’s history, which is contrary to the Denomination’s teaching that they cover only the Christian church period? Don’t you know that the book with the seals is symbolical of the books of Daniel and The Revelation?

Answer:

The foundation upon which rests the Denominational position that the seals are prophetic of events in the New Testament period, is their interpretation of the first seal, concerning which John says:

“I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” Rev. 6:2.

This scripture is unauthoritatively interpreted to mean the early Christian church. The facts that the horse in the vision was white and the young church pure, the rider conquering and the church growing, do not in themselves make a rock foundation upon which to build up a theory that the events of the seals began with the Christian church.

John was in vision shown the seals about sixty-five years after the Pentecost, in the period when the church was already declining from her peak purity and steady growth. The Voice said to him: “Come up hither and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” Rev. 4:1. In other words, the events which he was about to be shown were to develop in the future from the time he had the vision. Now let us take notice of what he saw:

“I was in the Spirit,” says John, “and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne….And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals….And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much,…and one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” Rev. 4:2; 5:1, 3-5.

Mark that the events symbolized were to materialize sometime after John had the vision, not before. Furthermore, where in any instance have the Scriptures ever symbolized the church by a man riding on a horse? If the horse symbolizes the church, then what of the man?

Obvious it is, that in this vision John was looking forward to the commencement of some important event that was to take place in the future from the time he had the vision rather than back when the church began. Moreover, it was to be in heaven, not on earth. As thousands upon thousands surrounded the throne upon which sat the Great Judge holding up the book that was sealed with seven seals the event obviously is more like the commencement of the Judgment of Daniel 7:9, 10 than like the commencement of the preaching of the gospel.

Speaking of the book which was sealed with the seven seals, the Spirit of Truth says: “Thus the Jewish leaders made their choice. Their decision was registered in the book which John saw in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, the book which no man could open. In all its vindictiveness this decision will appear before them in the day when this book is unsealed by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.”-Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 294.

In this connection each component part of the entire symbolism dovetails with both sacred and profane history, and also with the Third Angel’s Message itself—thus giving “power and force” to the latter.

Question No. 21:

What is the seal of God upon the foreheads of the 144,000 (Rev. 7:3)? Is it the Sabbath seal or something else?

Answer:

Being sealed in Christ “with that Holy Spirit of promise,” after having “heard the word of truth” (Eph. 1:13- 4:30), the saints are consequently sealed by Present Truth—the truth preached in their own day.

“The seal of the living God,” the Truth, by which the 144,000 are sealed (Rev. 7:2), is a special seal, being the same as “the mark” of Ezekiel 9. (See Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445; Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 267; Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 211). It demands one’s sighing and crying over the abominations which defile him, and which desecrate both the Sabbath and the house of God, especially against selling literature and raising goals during Sabbath services. As the saints have this seal or mark on their foreheads, the angels will pass over them, not slay them. It is equivalent to the blood on the door post on the night of the Passover in Egypt.

The angel is to place a mark upon the foreheads of all who by sighing over their own sins, and over the sins in the house of God, show fidelity to the Truth. Then the destroying angels will follow, to slay utterly both old and young who have failed to receive the seal. (See Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 505)

So, the former seal enables the receiver to rise from the dead in the resurrection of the just, while the latter seal enables the sighing-crying one to escape death and forever to live for God.

Question No. 27:

In his history of the Advent Movement, Elder Loughborough relates: “In the month of November, 1846, a conference was held in Topsham Maine, at which Elder Bates was present. At that meeting Mrs. White…had a vision which was the cause of Elder Bates’s becoming fully satisfied as to their divine origin….Mrs. White, while in vision, began to talk about the stars giving a glowing description of rosy-tinted belts which she saw across the surface of some planet, and added, ‘I see four moons.’ ‘Oh,’ said Elder Bates, ‘she is viewing Jupiter!’ Then having made motions as though traveling through space, she began giving a description of belts and rings in their ever-varying beauty, and said, ‘I see seven moons.’ Elder Bates exclaimed, ‘She is describing Saturn. Next she said, ‘I see six moons,’ and at once began a description of the ‘opening heavens,’ with its glory….”-The Great Second Advent Movement,” pp. 257, 258.

The more powerful telescopes and stellar photography of today have enabled astronomers to discover that Jupiter has nine moons, and Saturn ten. The five additional moons of Jupiter were discovered between the years of 1892 and 1914. The eighth moon of Saturn was discovered in 1848, the ninth in 1899, and the tenth in 1905. And since her vision, it has been discovered that Uranus has but four instead of six moons.

In the light of these astronomical facts, how can you contend for the inspiration of Mrs. White’s writings?

Answer:

The book, The Great Second Advent Movement, pp. 257, 258, is not saying that Sister White named the planets, but is repeating what was purportedly said by those who were present on the occasion of her having the vision of the planets. It does not, moreover, even intimate that Sister White concurred in the particular designations which Elder Bates (in the light of then current astronomical knowledge) gave to the planets which she then envisaged.

It was but natural for him, however, to identify them as he did, for it all did fit nicely into the astronomical teachings of that day. So, simply because he, in a moment of zealous enthusiasm not according to Divine revelation, presumed to identify and label what God identified or labeled not, does not give even a semblance of integrity to the charges which the question prefers against her.

She evidently knew nothing about the names of those planets; Elder Bates knew less; and we today know very little if any more. If and when God sees fit to make known their names, His identification of them will be correct; that we know.

                                                Question No. 31:

If the Davidians think they have a message, why are they not content to go their way and let others go theirs? Why should they agitate their message in our church?

Answer:

Tracing the church’s history down through the ages, we find that if all had taken the same position as the questioner, the advancing Truth would never have reached the church in any period. Had God’s messengers at sundry times failed to agitate their message in their own churches, how, then, would the various reformatory messages have reached His people? Is He not more interested in them than He is in the heathen? John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles, all sacrificed their lives in order to take their message to their own church. Why, then, should not the Davidians do likewise?

“Against these men [Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Tyndale, Baxter, Wesley], persecution raged with relentless fury; yet they ceased not to declare the truth. Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of God’s people at that time. Every new truth has made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He commands His servants to present the last invitation of mercy to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the peril of their souls.”-The Great Controversy, p. 609.

Consequently, we dare not refuse to publish the special Davidian truth for the church today.

Question No. 34:

Tract No. 10, “The Sign of Jonah,” 1942 Edition, says that the evening is the ending, not the beginning, of the twenty-four-hour day. But Genesis 1:5 says the evening and the morning were the first day. Does not this statement put the evening in the first part of the day?

Answer:

It is agreed that according to Genesis 1:5 the evening truly is the first part of the day. For example, Friday night is the first part of Saturday, and Saturday night the first part of Sunday. This Bible fact was recognized by God’s people all along the way. But from early in Bible time to this very day, the term “at even” has been used to designate the last part of the day-the afternoon (Ex. 12:6; 16:13; Mark 14:12, 13, 15, 17; John 20:19).

Thus this terminology, though in common use, does not in any wise alter the fact that the night which follows the “at even” period and precedes the day, is to be reckoned as the first part of the twenty-four-hour cycle, for “the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Gen. 1:31. It is in this light that the statement on page 17 of Tract No. 10, is to be understood.

Question No. 36:

How can the sealing of the 144,000 (the first fruits) and the great multitude (the second fruits), both take place under the sixth seal, as Revelation 7 indicates from its position between the closing events of the sixth seal and the opening of the seventh seal?

Answer:

Revelation 7, coming as it does between the closing events of the sixth seal and the opening of the seventh, naturally appears to place the sealing of both the 144,000 and the great multitude among the events of the sixth seal. But a careful study of the seven seals, proves that the sixth chapter connects with the eighth chapter in continuity. So the seventh chapter is parenthetical, and does not restrict itself either to the sixth seal or to the seventh.

In other words, though the seventh chapter follows the events of the sixth seal, and precedes the events of the seventh seal, the chapter itself is not to be taken as necessarily chronological any more than are chapters 12 to 22 to be taken as a part of the seventh seal simply because they are recorded immediately following its events. The time of the events of the seventh chapter must be determined relatively, in the same manner as must the events of the twelfth to the twenty-second chapters.

Question No. 37:

If God’s people are in the Kingdom during the Loud Cry, how can they be put in prison or driven to the mountains during that time, as the Spirit of Prophecy asserts they will (“The Great Controversy,” p. 626)?

Answer:

When it is understood that the 144,000 are but first fruits, the forerunners or advanced guard of a great multitude of second fruits, the difficulty in question is immediately resolved. The first fruits stand with the Lamb, safe on Mt. Zion (in the Kingdom). Thus those who shall find refuge in the mountains, and those who shall be put in prison, can only be from among the second fruits—those who shall accept the message during the Loud Cry, but who shall not yet at that time have reached the Kingdom. (See our Tract No. 12, The World Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 1941 Edition, pp. 45-49.)

Question No. 38:

“The Shepherd’s Rod” seems to say that Jesus will leave the Most Holy place at the execution of the slaughter of Ezekiel 9, while “Early Writings,” p. 36, seems to say that He will leave the place after His work in the sanctuary is done, and then will come the seven last plagues. How do you reconcile the two?

Answer:

Though the author of Early Writings says that Christ will not leave the sanctuary before His “work is done,” yet elsewhere she writes: “They will feed upon the errors and mistakes and faults of others, ‘until,’ said the angel, ‘the Lord Jesus shall rise up from his mediatorial work in the heavenly sanctuary, and shall clothe himself with the garments of vengeance, and surprise them at their unholy feast; and they will find themselves unprepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb.”’-Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 690.

Viewing the question in the light of both statements, we see that Christ leaves the sanctuary at a certain time in the “unrolling of the scroll.” Coming to the church, He finds her not spotless and ready to meet Him, but deep in sin, yet self-complacently feeding upon the errors, faults, and mistakes of others.

Now the problem before us is not to harmonize the Rod with Early Writings, but Early Writings with the Testimonies. These are automatically harmonized when it is understood that Christ leaves the sanctuary more than the one time: Once after “the closing work for the church” (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266), and again after the closing work for the world.

(Next week we’ll bring more Q and A in part 2)

Posted in Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, Victor T. Houteff | 3 Comments »

History of the Enemy’s Work

April 13, 2013

Free Bible illustrations at Free Bible images of Noah building the Ark and the great flood. (Genesis 6:9 - 9:17): Slide 11

Since that tragic day in Eden when he introduced sin into the world and caused the fall of man, Satan has cast in the way of each redemptive movement, a different stumbling block upon which multitudes have tripped and fallen.  Most assuredly, therefore, he must be expected to have some such distinctive danger planted in our way today.  We, though, having in this age the tremendous advantage of knowing the respective pitfalls which have proved fatal to the multitudes in past movements, shall suffer a proportionately greater condemnation and punishment if we fail to recognize ours.

  And what is more, if we fail, we shall witness thereby to the universe that we are the weakest of the weak. We must stand–stand against the most ingenious special trap ever set by the Evil One!  But how shall we do this if we know not what it is or where it is?

To find the danger where it really lurks, let us briefly view in retrospect previous snares, by periods in which they occurred, beginning with the first recorded church movement:

THE NOATIC MOVEMENT was ordained to build the ark both as a warning of the impending deluge and as a refuge from it.  The special block of stumbling which Satan cast in the way of the multitudes at that time, he devised from the fact that never in all nature had man seen anything that lent the remotest evidence to the possibility of there ever materializing such a phenomenon as rain.  Accordingly, leaning upon their finite knowledge of nature and its potentialities, they scoffed and scorned Noah’s science and his warning of doom, and continued their “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.”  Matt. 24: 38, 39.

Their exalting human science and disregarding divine science, therefore, was the special snare which took the antediluvians.  Their fate solemnly warns us carefully to avoid their mistake.

IN THE ABRAHAMIC MOVEMENT, the father of the faithful was called to depart from the cities of the ancient world, in the hope that someday the movement would triumphantly possess the promised land.  Fully aware of this fact, Satan worked mightily to sidetrack the movement into the cities of the nations along the way.  On this block of stumbling Lot fell, with the result that when the Lord finally snatched him from the destruction of Sodom, as a brand plucked from the burning, he came out the poorest of the poor.

Thus the worldly cities were the quicksands to the first postdiluvians.  May we not lose all therein, as did Lot.

THE MOSAIC MOVEMENT was led out of Egypt to possess the land of promise, and there to become a kingdom.  Cunningly suiting his temptations to their predispositions, Satan inspired those who were of age when they left the land of Pharoah, to continuous murmuring, complaining, office-seeking and rebelling, and finally to fearing the giant inhabitants of the promised land.  Failing to see that their strength was the strong hand of the Lord, they were consequently forced to wander forty long years in the desert, and there to leave parching the bones of all but two of their members who were of age when they left Egypt.

Unbelief, stiffneckedness, distrust of divine leadership, and office seeking, therefore, were the four-headed monster that devoured the people of the Exodus.  And these will devour every Present Truth believer who strays into their lair.

THE CANAAN MOVEMENT UNDER JOSHUA was ridded of all sinners and commissioned to possess the land, drive out the heathen, and set up an everlasting kingdom.  Knowing that its continuance was contingent on their obedience to the Lord’s instructions through His prophets, Satan moved upon the people to mock the messengers of God, despise His words, and misuse His prophets, “until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16), and He gave them back to captivity.

Hence to the subjects of the kingdom, the prophets were the great rock of offense–a rock upon which no age before or since has been free from stumbling.  The wise today, therefore, will “despise not prophesyings.” 1 Thess. 5:20.

THE APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT was brought forth to proclaim the transferring of the earthly sanctuary service to the heavenly “tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:2), and to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19) all who should repent of their sins.  But to frustrate its purpose, Satan set to work to fashion another deception, and with the departure of the Apostles he quickly succeeded in causing the church completely to lose sight both of the truth of the priesthood of Christ and the truth of baptism, and to establish in their stead an earthly priestcraft and infant baptism.

Thus being led to disbelieve and disregard the sanctuary services and baptism, their very salvation, the Christian church fell through Satan’s trapdoor into error.  And that door is still set to take the feet of the unwary–all who disregard or lightly esteem the ever advancing truth unfolded in the special sealing message for today.

THE PROTESTANT MOVEMENTS were raised up to declare and to exploit the primacy of the Bible, because thepre-reformation world was bound in darkness by uninspired man’s religious rule, disallowing the common people the right to possess a Bible, and making them dependent upon his private interpretation of it.  Hence came the Protestant churches in their succession, to restore the down-trodden Truth, each protesting against these abuses and usurpations of human rights, each being called forth to make the Christian world realize the need of true Inspiration and of freedom of religion, the right to own a Bible and to study for themselves, and the duty to make the Bible and the Bible only, the rule of their faith.

Being determined, though, to bring the Reformation to naught, Satan has from its beginning constantly worked to cause every church member to revel in private interpretation of the Scriptures and in extra-Biblical theories.  Consequently, Protestantism today finds itself following not merely in the way of the uninspired Bible interpretations of one man but in the ways of the uninspired interpretations of thousands of men!  And the result is that Christendom teems with schism and confusion unrivaled in history–evidence that the great work of the founding fathers of the Protestant Reformation has been perverted and turned into an undermining force for the frustration of God’s special design for the church today.

Thus we see that the Reformation, which, originally under the direction of inspired men, lifted the church out of one morass, later under the direction of uninspired men, plunged her into another, wherein she has been floundering ever since.  And unless we let the truth extricate us from this fatal bog of confusion, we cannot defeat the enemy of Inspiration in his tireless and powerful efforts to pervert the implements of our salvation into weapons for our destruction.

THE S.D.A. MOVEMENT was appointed to declare the sanctuary message: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment [the harvest] is come” (Rev. 14:7) upon all the dead who, from Adam’s time on, failed to get the extra oil (truth) in their vessels (Matt. 25:4), double their talents (verses 15 through 30), or put on “the wedding garment.”  Matt. 22:11.  These shall have their names blotted from the Lamb’s Book of Life.

This proclamation concerning the dead was to prepare the living for their impending judgment.  For this reason, Satan has employed his every device to lull Adventists into being merely hearers and preachers but not doers of the Word; into tithing mint and anise and cummin, as it were, but omitting the weightier matters of the law. 

In short, he has made them to become wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked by failing on the one hand to be faithful themselves in doing what they teach others to do, and by failing on the other hand to keep themselves free from doing what they teach others not to do.  And to prevent them from awakening to this “terrible deception” (Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 254), he keeps them lukewarm, complacently dreaming of being rich in truth and of having need of nothing, though in fact they are in misery and in need of everything.

Clearly, then, lukewarmness and the hallucination of being rich are the faults peculiar to the Laodiceans, and are the dangers which if not recognized and removed are finally to result in God’s spuing them out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16).  Thus again the Lord mercifully pleads with Present Truth believers to walk in the light and shun lukewarmness, lest they fall back into thinking themselves rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing, and again become poor and in need of everything.

THE ELEVENTH-HOUR MOVEMENT affects us today most immediately and intimately.  Being the last gospel effort, it must “give power and force” to the Third Angel’s Message and “lighten the earth with his glory” (Rev. 18:1); it must triumph, though every movement before it has failed.  It is destined, not to “prophesy again to many nations” (Rev. 10:11), but to “all.”  And as it is to go to those who have not heard of His fame, and to bring to the house of the Lord all the saints “out of all nations” (Isa. 66:19, 20), it is consequently foreordained to endure. 

To effect this predetermined purpose, God is now taking the reins in His own Hands (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 300), to purify the church by removing from it the tares, and to preserve it free from them henceforth, so that it may stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb (Rev. 14:1).

Indeed, in the very nature of the case, the Eleventh-Hour movement must triumph, for, being the last, the one to garner in the harvest, then should it fail, everyone in the world today would forever remain lost.  Double, therefore, are the reasons that the Lord purposes it to stand.  Thus the Davidians have been called to “the Kingdom for such a time as this.”

“For,” declares the Word, “by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many….And I will send them that escape of them unto the nations….And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.  And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations.”  Isa. 66:16-20.

“And they [the Gentiles] shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord.”  Isa 62:12.

“But who may abide the day…?  Who shall stand when He appeareth?  for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.”  Mal. 3:2.

All the more reason, then, that its adherents must be tested and proved worthy.  What, therefore, is the first and gravest danger con-fronting Present Truth believers today?

With the end of the long journey in view, the work was never so great, the time in which to do it never so short, and the laborers never so few, as now.  Self-evident, therefore, is the fact that Satan’s supreme effort at this hour must be to cause the time to be wasted and the work to go undone.

Rouse, then, O Present Truth believer!  Rise speedily to the task set, and “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”  Eccles. 9:10.  No longer let a moment be wasted, for every precious one is vital to the salvation of your own soul and to the souls of others.

Thus with the day already at hand, finding “the last movements rapid ones” (Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 11), to no avail now will be one’s zeal, efficiency, and speed unless they match that held up to view in the following warning to

Redeem The Time.

“The day is at hand.  For the lessons to be learned, the work to be done, the transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining is but too brief a span.”–Education, p. 184.

“Every year millions upon millions of human souls are passing into eternity unwarned and unsaved.  From hour to hour in our varied life, opportunities to reach and save souls are opened to us.  These opportunities are continually coming and going.  God desires us to make the most of them.  Days, weeks, and months are passing; we have one day, one week, one month, less in which to do our work.  A few more years at the longest, and the Voice which we cannot refuse to answer will be heard, saying, ‘Give an account of thy stewardship.'”–Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 373, 374.

“The life of Christ from His earliest years was a life of earnest activity.”– Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 345.

“Our time belongs to God.  Every moment is His, and we are under the most solemn obligation to improve it to His glory.  Of no talent He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time.

“The value of time is beyond computation.  Christ regarded every moment as precious, and it is thus that we should regard it.  Life is too short to be trifled away.  We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity.  We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin.  It is now that we are to form characters for the future, immortal life.  It is now that we are to prepare for the searching Judgment.”

Scarcely begun to live when they begin to die, and the world’s incessant labor ends in nothingness unless a true knowledge in regard to eternal life is gained.  The man who appreciates time as his working day will fit himself for a mansion and for a life that is immortal.  It is well that he was born.”

“We are admonished to redeem the time.  But time squandered can never be recovered.  We can not call back even one moment.  The only way in which we can redeem our time is by making the most of that which remains, by being co-workers with God in His great plan of redemption.”

“In him who does this, a transformation of character takes place.  He becomes a son of God, a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King.  He is fitted to be the companion of the angels.”

“Now is our time to labor for the salvation of our fellowmen.  There are some who think that if they give money to the cause of Christ, this is all they are required to do; the precious time in which they might do personal service for Him passes unimproved.  But it is the privilege and duty of all who have health and strength to render to God active service.  All are to labor in winning souls to Christ.  Donations of money can not take the place of this.”

“Every moment is freighted with eternal consequences.  We are to stand as minute men, ready for service at a moment’s notice.  The opportunity that is now ours to speak to some needy soul the word of life may never offer again.  God may say to that one, ‘This night thy soul shall be required of thee,’ and through our neglect he may not be ready.  In the great Judgment-day, how shall we render our account to God?”

“Life is too solemn to be absorbed in temporal and earthly matters, in a treadmill of care and anxiety for the things that are but an atom in comparison with the things of eternal interest.  Yet God has called us to serve Him in the temporal affairs of life.  Diligence in this work is as much a part of true religion as is devotion.  The Bible gives no endorsement to idleness.  It is the greatest curse that afflicts our world.  Every man and woman who is truly converted will be a diligent worker.”

“Upon the right improvement of our time depends our success in acquiring knowledge and mental culture.  The cultivation of the intellect need not be prevented by poverty, humble origin, or unfavorable surroundings.  Only let the moments be treasured.” 

“A few moments here and a few there, that might be frittered away in aimless talk; the morning hours so often wasted in bed; the time spent in traveling on trains or railway cars, or waiting at the station; the moments of waiting for meals, waiting for those who are tardy in keeping an appointment,–if a book were kept at hand, and these fragments of time were improved in study, reading, or careful thought, what might not be accomplished.  A resolute purpose, persistent industry, and careful economy of time, will enable men to acquire knowledge and mental discipline which will qualify them for almost any position of influence and usefulness.”

“It is the duty of every Christian to acquire habits of order, thoroughness, and dispatch.  There is no excuse for slow bungling at work of any character.  When one is always at work, and the work is never done, it is because mind and heart are not put into the labor.  The one who is slow, and who works at a disadvantage, should realize that these are faults to be corrected.  He needs to exercise his mind in planning how to use the time so as to secure the best results.  By tact and method, some will accomplish as much work in five hours as another does in ten. 

“Some who are engaged in domestic labor are always at work, not because they have so much to do, but because they do not plan so as to save time.  By their slow, dilatory ways, they make much work out of very little.  But all who will, may overcome these fussy, lingering habits.  In their work let them have a definite aim.  Decide how long a time is required for a given task, and then bend every effort toward accomplishing the work in the given time.  The exercise of the will power will make the hands move deftly.”

“Through lack of determination to take themselves in hand and reform, persons can become stereotyped in a wrong course of action; or by cultivating their powers they may acquire ability to do the very best of service.  Then they will find themselves in demand anywhere and everywhere.  They will be appreciated for all that they are worth.

“By many children and youth, time is wasted that might be spent in carrying home-burdens, and thus showing a loving interest in father and mother.  The youth might take upon their strong young shoulders many responsibilities which some one must bear.”– Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 342-345.

“It is the very essence of all right faith to do the right thing at the right time.”–Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 24.

WHICH WAY WILL IT BE?

Setting before His followers the “two ways” for life’s “travelers,” the Saviour early in His ministry warned: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”  Matt. 7:13, 14.

While viewing their own steps with complacency and perhaps even thinking themselves securely on the royal road to the Kingdom, the masses in the broad way view with scorn the handful in the narrow way, regarding them as apostates, fanatically on the way to perdition. 

But being thus sadly mistaken, the majority fail to see that the broad way which begins at the wide gate, leads not to “life” but “to destruction,” and that the narrow way which begins at the strait gate, and which they scorn, leads instead “unto life.”  By this great error, they give full evidence that they are yet carnal–wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and know it not.

“The enemy,” says the Spirit of Truth, “is preparing for his last campaign against the church.  He has so concealed himself from view that many can hardly believe that he exists, much less can they be convinced of his amazing activity and power.  They have to a great extent forgotten his past record, and when he makes another advance move, they will not recognize him as their enemy, that old serpent, but they will consider him a friend, one who is doing a good work.(Testimonies, vol.5, p.294)

 (We hope you’ve been blessed by this report. The above was written by brother Victor T. Houteff in 1942, found in the Symbolic Code, Vol.8, no.1-12, p.6-9. For the full article, click this link  http://shepherdsroddavidian.org/symbolic%20Code/8sc_01_12.html )

Posted in Satan, Victor T. Houteff | 6 Comments »

Equipping the Saints for the Spiritual Battle

March 2, 2013

There can be no doubt that right here, right now, we are in a gigantic spiritual battle. The forces of evil are at every side and in every corner of the world. The two sides are colliding in a “pre” armegedon  battle. Let  us look into this current battle.

Our brother Apostle Paul states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm” (Eph. 6:12). How true that is! Unseen powers are behind the scenes, lest they be exposed, to thwart the work of God.

And how does the evil ones use their cunning and power? Through human agents. And what would be the most deceptive way to deceive the people? Through  religious people. For they are the ones the masses look to for guidance and help are they not? So once the devils have the religious  ones walking an unholy walk before the Lord, meaning not paying attention to their sins and ignoring them, then that’s the perfect person they can use.  Subversion at its Satanic best!

Once the devils, led by the master planning deceiver, Satan, take hold of the leaders in our churches they have an effective blockcade as it were, to stop the real light from the Lord from reaching the people! Let’s read spot on words from brother Houteff concerning this. Speaking of the folly of consulting a mininster, elder, or any other, before taking up a study into purported truths from the Lord, he says

   “And if we had consulted the ministers of our respective former denominations and accepted their counsel, how many of us would have become Seventh-day Adventists?  The overall answer is, “Not one of us.”  Such has been the fate of all who have followed the decisions of uninspired men against inspired men of God.  Men of piety, men deeply rooted in their religion, as were the priests and rabbis in Christ’s day, have been the most successful in keeping away the light of God from the people.  This is a fact that no one should ever forget or neglect to give consideration to.

   Moreover, since our personal rights of  investigating truths purported to be sent from God, without the interference of our former ministers, took us out of the churches which are mindful only of past truths, and brought us into the Advent present Truth some years ago, should we now surrender these rights and become spiritually dependent on others to tell us what is Truth and what is error? 

Why judge ourselves spiritual invalids rather than full grown Christians?  And why take the ministers’ word now against advanced purported inspired present Truth, if such a step previously  taken would have been disastrous, would have cheated us from accepting the Advent Truth?  Is it not true that if we would let others think for us, we might be cheated as badly as were the Jewish  common people cheated by the priests and rabbis in Christ’s day? (Tract no.15, p. 1-2)

When I was a youngster, I had the privilege of being a bat boy for the San Diego Padres professional baseball team(age 16-18). This I did for about 3 years, then at the age of 19 I was promoted to assistant equipment manager. The job involved me helping to have all the equipment ready for the players. The shoes, the gloves, the bats, the uniforms, the food, the drinks, and many other necessities.

So I had a hands on experience in equipping our team to go to ‘battle” to beat the enemy. And once they had all the equipment ready and useful, then they could fight the battle against the opposition (the opposing team). The same applies to us today. We need useful equipment to fight the enemy (Satan and his devils). 

So what I would like to do this week is give you some good solid “equipment” to help you win this battle for souls today. Maybe even your own soul, if you may be stuck in the prevalent Laodicean , self satisfied, contentment of being “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev.3:17).

Here’s some very useful sites and links.

1) Esword. This is a great Hebrew/Greek Bible site.  It’s free and a must for all serious Bible students. http://www.e-sword.net/

2) Elijah message site. It has much present truth that our Lord has for us today. It behooves us to seriously study this message, as it’s message, if obeyed,  will enable us to stand in the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” and be sealed. www.sighandcry777.wordpress.com

I would highly  suggest these present truth videos. Sometimes people would rather listen and watch studies as opposed to reading them. Here’s your answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rfa4MhzqwxI   (there are 32 videos to watch and learn. The speaker is Jimmy Kakouri, a gifted Elijah messenger.

3) The Answerer book. This is a series of volumes that contains about 165 questions and answers on the Elijah message. Brother Houteff was asked many, many hard and thought provoking questions from both friend and foe. In fact many tried to stump him or confuse him, yet as you’ll read, the answers are nothing short of divine.  Just like sister Ellen White, he only had a minimal grade school education (4th grade).

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/answerer1.html

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/answerer2.html

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/answerer3.htm

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/answerer4.htm

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/answerers/answerer5.htm

4) Free Cd’s and DVD’s of present truth and the Elijah message.

http://www.11th-hourministries.org/audio/cd_request.html

rene_reyes@sbcglobal.net   Free Cd’s and DVD’s of same in spanish.

5) The whole Shepherd”s Rod message with one click. You can read it all here. The “Timely Greetings” sermon addresses by brother Houteff. The “Jezreel Letters”. The “Symbolic News codes”, which were mostly reports during the early days of the Elijah message and the progress and some Q & A (very interesting reports). The 15 “Tracts”, which were small booklets of different areas of prophecy. And more.

So this is the place for any who would like to read about the Elijah message in total. If you are a doubter or skeptic, by all means look them over and try to find error and bring it to our attention. Believe me, thousands have tried over the years, and as EGW said “sit down as Christians and investigate the position presented in the light of God’s word, which will reveal truth and unmask error.” (Test. to Min. p.106-107). Truth will stand close scrutiny, it shall not be afraid.

http://www.shepherds-rod.org/srinx.html

6) The Davidian vs. Branch Davidian confusion. This is so misunderstood. Because of the Waco disaster many people still falsely believe that “any” Davidian is a Branch Davidian. In other words, they all subscribe to the fanatic beliefs of the likes of David Koresh and gang. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here is the link that will help clear the confusion. http://shepherdsroddavidian.org/Downloads/True%20Davidians%20Versus%20Branch%20Davidians.pdf

7) God’s storehouses. As we are well aware our Lord made a  promise to us. We’d be blessed if we’d “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse” (Mal.3:10) That being said, we must be certain that we give our tithes to His “storehouse”. Which we explained in a prior post is where His present truth is dispersed (meat in due season). Here are some storehouses today you may consider, to receive that blessing.

http://www.shepherds-rod-message.org/

http://shepherdsroddavidian.org/branch.html

http://www.thenightcometh.org/

http://sighandcry777.wordpress.com/

In closing, we must know for certain that there is only one message that shakes the devils to their core, the Lord’s last–The Elijah message. Let us now quote a  message from brother Houteff.

 “However, I would remind you, Brethren, that no prophet of God has ever been welcomed by the church.  On the contrary, each in his time was rejected, abused, and most of them were martyred by the ones to whom they were sent — the very ones who were supposed to be serving God!  Indeed, the Lord Himself paid the same price.  For this very reason we must remember that when the last prophet comes he will have the greatest opposition to meet, for Satan well knows that if he loses now, he loses forever.  What makes Elijah’s work especially hard is that Christendom has long been drilled in the idea that no prophet is to come, that there is no necessity for one, that it has enough revealed Truth to carry it inside the Pearly Gates.

   “It is therefore only to be expected that the predicted Elijah will be denounced as a false prophet, perhaps even as the anti-Christ, offshoot, or what not.

   Moreover, the old Devil has already put all his forces to work, piping pleasing tunes to lure Truth seekers to climb aboard his golden bandwagon.   Its glittering tinsel of truth is already beguiling many with his wares while his captains and generals are to the top of their voices shouting their “Hallelujahs,” “Holy Ghost,” “gift of healing,” “gift of tongues,” “gift of miracles,” and all the rest, although the entire fanfare is devoid even of a spark of life.  Every wind of doctrine will be blowing, false revivals and reformations will be at their peak.  Everything that can be done will be done to distort the Truth and thus distract and dishearten believers and draw their attention to something other than the message of Elijah.

   Thus will be the Devil’s deal while the day of God is approaching, and while Elijah is making the announcement of it as the scroll unrolls and while the prophecies concerning the day of God are being unsealed.   His work and his interpretation of the prophecies for the great day will identify him as the promised Elijah the prophet (“Testimonies to Ministers,” p. 475), and this will enrage the Devil as never before.  Nevertheless, one’s only safety will be in the teaching of Elijah, for there will be no other voice of timely Truth and authority to whom one may turn.  Any others will lead their victims blind-folded into perdition.” (General Conference Special, p.6-8)

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Mal.4:5-6)

Posted in Elijah, Present Truth, Proper teachings, Victor T. Houteff, Witnessing | 6 Comments »

An Inspiring Life

December 22, 2012

We are often inspired when reading of a man or woman who has lived a Godly life. Examples such as Apostle Paul and his complete turnaround. Job’s perseverance. Noah’s steadfastness and faith amid scorn and mocking.  In this post I would like to introduce a man who I have come to know and received true inspiration. Hopefully after reading about his life, you will as well.

Born in Bulgaria on March 2, 1885,  he and his brothers migrated to the US in 1907.  Arriving penniless, he sound found work as hotelier and grocer in the state of Illinois . While in the hotel business in 1919, he became “intensely interested in religion”.This led him to become a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church.

The church that he had become affiliated with was,  as he put it  “not too attractive for a church”. It was a rented hall that they had used for a church. He was , like many of us in those roaring youthful twenties, aspiring to become wealthy instead of poor. But  as time went on the Truth became dearer and dearer to his heart, steadily replacing those “get rich” aspirations, all too common among us mortals.

Soon he left for California but when he got there he became sick, an illness which required medical attention. His savings was not well either. The stay at the local sanitarium drained his account even more, so much so that the thought of “going broke and staying poor grew larger and larger.” But thankfully he did recover his health.

But after this episode, with no job prospects looming, he became worried for his financial future, yet remained upbeat about his faith in God. But during his California stay, he remembered that he had not paid his tithes or offerings to his church in the mid west, which he was still a part of. The amount  he reasoned was 75.00 due in back tithes. He was quoted as saying  “I thought then that if I should fail to pay this debt now while I had enough to pay it, I could never again get that much money together and it would have to stay unpaid forever. Better get broke now, and be free of debt, than to get broke later and be a debtor forever.”

” My account, I figured, was just a little over my debt. When I wrote a check for the whole balance, and sent it to the church in the middle west, I was left with 3.50 in my pocket.”

So we see from this example that this man went out on a limp, as they say, and gave nearly all he had, to get square with God. That leap of faithfulness got quickly rewarded. Shortly after paying almost all he had, he received a check from his bank that he had ordered closed. To his amazement a check for 350.00 was made out to him, as his final balance!

Things started to rebound, he found a good paying  job at a young fledgling company called Maytag. An old stock investment, that he thought was worthless, doubled in price from his purchase price. So the Lord was fulfilling His part of the promise –Mal. 3:10.

All the while during this time he faithfully did not work on the Sabbath. His manager at Maytag told him one day ” it must be wonderful to believe as you do, but you know I could never be a Seventh Day Adventist.” He responded back why not? “Because if I begin to keep the Sabbath as you do, I will lose my job.”

The man responded “Better to lose your job than to lose your life.” The sales manager should have taken the advice, he died very shortly after this conversation. Around that same time,  the bookkeeper discussed religion with the man, and also said that he could not keep the Sabbath and keep his job also. The man again said “Better to lose your job than to lose your life.” unbelievably, the bookkeeper died very shortly thereafter also.

Later on a Wednesday afternoon, he was walking in a business section of Los Angeles and happened to be in the middle of the road, when all of a sudden a woman came straight at him and hit him square on. Did he get run over? Splattered on the front end? No he didn’t , he explains ” No, this did not happen because something greater took place. An unseen hand carried me on ahead of the car, lightly sliding my feet on the pavement with my right side ahead, and my left side against the car’s radiator! After having made about half the distance before the car stopped, something seated me on the bumper of the car, and I put my left arm around the car’s left headlight….when she stopped, I put my feet on the ground and stepped away from the car.”

“.. by that time the car and I were surrounded by people, and three policemen looking for the man who got run over. But as they found no one lying on the street, or pinned under the car, I told them it was I who had been run over! They wanted to take me to the hospital, and when I told them I wasn’t hurt, I heard one say, “He must be hurt but is too excited and does not know his condition.”

Then they made me raise my legs and arms up and down, several times, after which one shouted , “He is made out of rubber!”

So miraculously the “rubber” man walked away from the head on impact,  3 blocks to his car that day, and proceeded to drive to a prayer  meeting and spoke about the incident to the amazement of the crowd.

In 1923 the man became a member of a Los Angeles area SDA church, and then later became one of the Sabbath school teachers in 1928-29. He became popular and his classes were growing larger and larger as word spread that his teachings were quite different from some of the standard taught teachings yet revealing to many. As the classes left many wanting more, he was requested to have afternoon classes as well.

However, soon the church leaders weren’t accommodating on the afternoon church classes. One of the members, who lived across the street, offered her home as a place for the studies. They remained popular  with some standing outside listening through the windows. But as the classes became the talk of the church, the leaders began to degrade both the teacher and the teachings.

He explained “Next, they forbade us to attend their church services, and they began to ex-communicate those who still wanted to attend our meetings. They tried to deport me too, but failed. Then they endeavoured to get a court order against any of us going to church on Sabbath, but lost out. Once they called the police to have me arrested on false charges that I was disturbing the meetings, but after the officers in the police station heard my story and the deacon’s charge against me, he commanded the two policeman who brought us to the station to put us in their car again, and to take us right back to the church where they picked me up.”

Despite the actions against him, he remained a member of the church. However the later actions were more abusive. He was to get “savagely kicked, knocked down in the rain and mud, jerked, bodily dragged, plumped in a heap on the outer sidewalk.” One thing we should note is that at no time did the man ever file charges against the abuse, he turned the other cheek.

Soon, the uproar came to a head, with the church disfellowshipping him. In a nutshell, the case against him was in effect-insubordination. In other words, who are you to teach the people new truths? There is no one to come after our prophetess Ellen White. The leaders would have nothing to do with this “new light” the man promoted. Many of the members were a different story.

In 1935, he moved to Waco, Texas and started a “training center” from which to publish and send to the SDA members around the world, his findings of some new prophetic interpretations. Most dealing with last day events.

On the large grounds, he oversaw a growing ministry worldwide. Soon up to 125 people resided on the roughly 389 acres. It published and dispensed millions of pieces of literature. While there,  some divine occurences worth sharing we share. The following  is told by an older woman who is still alive and was a member of the ministry and witness of them.

Miracle of the Kitchen

The Lord preserved this shack by a miracle one early morning.  Some dish towels that had been left hanging over the stove the night before to dry caught fire when the wood stove was started for the cook to prepare breakfast.   

The roof had been repaired many times with tar so it quickly became one big blaze. (The camp had just bought a 6 door refrigerator and a Holbert bread mixer, they had saved for years to be able to buy these.)  A bucket brigade was begun but it was quickly realized that there was nothing that man could do to stop the fire from burning.  So he* (Name removed for now) said, “Let us kneel down on these rocks and ask God to save our kitchen.”  When we open our eye after the prayer the fire was out, there was nothing left but smoke.  That was just one of our miracles.

Miracle of the dam

In April of 1943 the dam almost broke.  The City of Waco sent out 300 CC men to sandbag the breaking area.  They would not go out on the dam because of the danger.  So we fed them and sent them back.  

After they were gone, he* called all the heads of families to gather by the dam. They knelt in the mud to ask God’s protection while they sandbagged the breaking area. 

When the prayer was over he* said the  
dam would not break, that it was safe to sandbag the area.  They did so for about 36 hours without stopping. Our Miracle!! 

The Hill that Answered Their PrayersThey were looking at three sites in the state of Texas, the last one they went to was Waco. Brother Houteff, Elder E.T. Wilson, and M.L. Deiter were looking for the property.  When they got to Waco and were looking at the property they did not like it. It was much to rocky.

When they saw the woman who was selling the property she did not want to sell this particular hill, she wanted it to build her own home on. This was not acceptable because that would mean breaking up the property.  So they went back to the motel to petition the Lord for guidance, it was decided that if the woman would sell, without them asking her, the entire property for $8 dollars per acre, the amount she had originally asked for, that the Lord wanted them to buy this piece of land.

They met with her the next morning, before they were able to say anything she said, “Oh, I decided to sell the hill for the same price as the rest of the property.”  So they new that hill was their answer, that they should buy the Waco property.

The man we’re discussing is likened to a male version of Ellen White. He had a 4th grade education (EGW had a third grade). He published consistently for about 25 years up until he died, Feb. 5, 1955. At one time it was estimated that close 100,000 SDA people around the world were receiving his literature. This was at a time when the membership numbered about 800,000.

The man was known for his unique ability to interpret Scripture, with many believing it was a gift of God. However only those who have read his works can attest to it. For the SDA church leaders have figuratively condemned this man to this day, with nearly each and every one never reading his works.

Either God brought a most gifted man to fulfill a purpose,  to live with us for about 70 years, or he brought a deceived “offshoot” of a man, to cause trouble and confusion among the SDA church. Only you can decide. And that decision you make, will either lead you to study his message, or ignore it.

His name, as no doubt many of you guessed, was Victor T. Houteff.

“Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.” ( 1 Selected Messages. p.412)

Victor Houteff lived up to the revival and health, diet,dress, and life reform he taught. He practiced what he preached. Each of the 10 Commandments were his golden rules to live by. He was indeed — sold out to the Lord.

Notes- The older woman’s name is Bonnie Smith (approx. 84 yrs), who currently lives in South Carolina. Much of the brother Houteff’s history is in the Timely Greetings writings he did. Also here is a short description of his life as well  http://shepherdsroddavidian.org/history.html

Photo Album  (At bottom of page, click right arrow to see more photo’s) http://www.shepherds-rod.org/photo/index.html

Posted in Davidian Seventh Day Adventists, Victor T. Houteff | 1 Comment »

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