Stepping up to the Plate

February 2, 2013

“Indeed, all who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).

What do we notice with this word of God? We see a –promise. Notice it doesn’t say “may suffer” it says, “shall  suffer”. I remember when I first became a SDA member I read that verse then I began to ponder. I thought  “Um? That really doesn’t apply to my life. I mean I really don’t have anyone or anything “persecuting” me. My walk is rather pleasant. I am trying to live a good Godly life, yet how come I don’t see any of that in my life, what am I missing?”

I seriously contemplated this. Little did I know I would indeed find out later with full understanding,  just what this truth is and how it works. Let us look into this important aspect of our walk with Christ.

As I pondered this aspect of my walk, I thought, “Well the only thing close to me being persecuted is maybe my online debates with Sunday keepers, as they would deride me and say that I wasn’t right with Christ, etc.” But this was a big stretch.

Our Lord gave some direct words about what He thinks about this subject, and they are very clear. “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Luke 7:23) We’ll explain how this verse ties in with suffering persecution later in this post. Next we see one of the most direct and plain Scriptures on our subject.

“Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22-23)

So after reading so far, we can ask, “Ok this is all plain but how does this really fit in today? How can we who are professing Christ, really suffer much, in our religious free society? Aren’t those days past? And if we aren’t suffering persecution  for Christ in some aspect, are we living Godly, despite what His word says?” There is only one true answer– no we are not. His words must stand as they read, and the truth said must apply.We  must dig deep to ask –What can we do to live Godly?

How does one’s  life  today, within our Seventh Day Adventism  cause our people to want to exclude  us, mock us,  to demote or cast us out from their company? It can only be when we decide to boldly proclaim the Lord’s message of the hour, the straight testimony. Ellen White explains ” Now as in former ages, the presentation of a truth that reproves sins and errors of the times will excite opposition.” ( Great Controversy, p 458).  “We have more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world.” (Review and Herald, March 22,1887).

The different forms of persecution can be mocking, derailment, slander , false accusations, and of course physical abuse. And as we look at the history of our church, the ones who suffered persecution were the ones who “stepped up to the plate”. Each of the prophets suffered as they spoke the straight unpopular truth.

So this brings me back to how I learned what it meant to be persecuted. When I came into our SDA church I learned that our church was indeed the “remnant church of God”. We are the ones professing the Commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus (SOP). But as I was not content to sit on this knowledge, I searched Scripture and EGW writing regularly and prayerfully. Then on one fateful Sabbath around the end of May, 2011, I found an online audio sermon called “The 144,000, who are they?”  This was no accident, for the Spirit of Truth was indeed guiding.

I listened spellbound to the truths said (from Scripture and EGW) and I thought “Wow! Why haven’t I been taught this in our church?” So I undertook a serious study into the new truths I learned and it caused a complete 180% change in my understanding of our Lord’s plans. As I mentioned before,  the Lord’s last prophet expounded on the Old Testament writings and Revelation, so that clear light began to flood my mind and soul.

I had become a semi-regular pre-Sabbath school speaker and went up for maybe 20-25 minutes each time. Each time, I talked on the “straight truth” despite the church custom of the normal “peace and safety” message. Surprisingly I received mostly a heart warm response from several in our church.

Do you remember what our prophetess said above? “..the presentation of a truth that reproves sins and errors of the times will excite opposition.”  That is exactly what happened. Some could not bear the testimony and soon a couple complaints went to the higher-ups. “Many visions have been given to the effect that we must..occupy a position to stir up the people of God, for they are asleep in their sins (Test. for the Church, Vol. 1, p.247).

So let’s fast forward to the last few months.  I was called into the pastors office a few months ago and asked if I was a “Davidian”. I answered affirmatively.  “Blessed is he who is not offended of Me”(Luke 7:23). Then after the 3 against 1 meeting was over, I got demoted from  the deacon position I had. Then a couple of months later the church council held a church meeting to discuss “Davidian” topics. I was there.

As the meeting later progressed the “head elder” came up front and began his monologue on “his take” on Davidians and their beliefs. I silently listened and held my peace as he uttered falsehood after falsehood. Among other things he said “I want you to know that the teachings of the Davidians have been studied by our church, and found to be in  error.” Although another falsehood, I remained silent until he said ‘This brother came into our church and got baptised and didn’t tell us he was a Davidian”. At that point I had to speak up against the lies. I let him and the rest know that this was not true, for I accepted the message about one year after I was baptised.

Anyway to make the story short, I received at least 4 or 5 un-solicited statements from church members  that night,  backing up my character and basically supporting my church contributions. So I went home that night shaking my head in amazement, I thought “I now know what it’s like to be slandered and  derailed.” Church persecution had riled its ugly head and I now look back and understand the words said in (2 Tim. 3:12).

So that brings us to the most important question. In our SDA church today, what message will most likely get you “persecuted” ? Only one really stands out, it’s the Elijah message of the Shepherd’s Rod. If you can take the time, you will find in many of brother Houteff’s writings, the history of many believers in the message being persecuted, and sadly it still happens today. Why is this? The Elijah message is one of revival and reformation, and how to get sealed before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Where’s the evil? Where’s the basis for all the incidents of abuse upon our courageous members who have spoken the truth?

It can only be traced to the king of evil-Satan. He knows beyond doubt that, as brother Houteff said, “..For Satan well knows that if he loses now, he loses forever.”(General Conference Special, p.6).

One thing is so very clear, now is not the time to sit back and say “Oh yes,  the Elijah message is true, but I’ll let others proclaim it, I don’t want to be unpopular or get in trouble with anyone.” Let me ask you, when the approx. 1 million people came out of Egypt, how many made it to the promised land over the age of 20?  TWO.  How many were there that were lukewarm toward the two courageous men, Joshua and Caleb? Don’t you think that there were hundreds if not thousands that QUIETLY supported and respected the courageous actions of those two? I would most definitely say there was indeed-many! Did the Lord spare them for “thinking” about supporting them? No, he did not.

He saved only those two who –stepped up to the plate! Our Lord gave them vocal cords and they used them! And what is the cost of us stepping up to the plate? We shall be persecuted.  But you will find yourself on the most powerful One of the universe’s side. And those who persecute you? ” Those who rise up against warning and reproof..to make no effect the plain words of reproof prompted by the Spirit of God, will find, in the great day of final reckoning, an account against them which they will not wish to meet (Signs of the Times, Oct. 4th, 1883).

In closing my dear brethren, let us not shrink back from our duty today. God is calling each one to do something. Start small and just where you’re at. Then as the Holy Spirit guides you, you’ll find a clear path to guiding and warning your particular sphere of influence. Let’s not fear opposition, for as we have learned, a Godly life will always meet opposition.Do we care enough for our brothers and sisters to warn them of the upcoming church disaster?(Mal.3:1-3)

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot (Rev.3:14-16)…Laodiceans..are neither cold nor hot; they occupy a neutral postition..The True Witness hates lukewarmness. He loathes the indifference of this class of persons (Test.for the Church, Vol. 4, p.87).

  Our Lord is near the door, and it’s the church door He’s about to enter, let’s be prepared and go to work!

Posted in Courage, The spirit of predjudice, Warning our brethren | 6 Comments »

The “Sunday Law” Hoodwink

January 26, 2013

 

Image result for picture of death decree

It seems many of our fellow SDA are pulling out all the stops on Facebook, emails, countless books and articles and a host of other ways, to warn the world about the dreaded upcoming Sunday law. Lately I have seen several new Facebook groups sprouting up, with quite a few invitations given to join. It is true that our beloved prophetess warned us years ago that the great test upon mankind will be the acceptance or non-acceptance of the “Sunday law”, thereby receiving or not receiving the “mark of the beast”.

However, the evil one , Satan, has taken full advantage of this upcoming event and has “hoodwinked” many of us into thinking that this is the next big upcoming event to watch out for. Let’s dis-mantle this ploy and expose why it is not something we must focus on now as God’s remnant church.

This is not the first time Satan and the evil angels have known about God’s upcoming plans and put a monkey wrench into it, a true diversion. All we have to do is go back to our Lord’s time  on this earth to see the same thing played out.

The Jews had mis-read the Scriptures (just like many of us SDA today) and as such were looking for a Kingly Messiah to soon come and thus bring  His majestic kingdom to the earth. They did not diligently search the Scriptures. The leaders had basically taught the people what was what in the Scriptures, so few studied for themselves ( as it is today).

So Satan basically had hoodwinked the leaders, thus the people, into looking for a certain event– the King’s arrival. However, as we know He came in a way that was not expected. So the people misread His appearance and it’s significance. And sadly the vast majority failed to believe in God’s plans and were lost. Why? Because they trusted their leaders first and foremost!

So let’s fast forward to today. The Satanic trick is no different. The leaders have got most of the people looking for and preparing to reject the “mark of the beast”. What presumptiousness! By taking this stand we are  claiming we will make it all the way to behold the Sunday law decree! Which means we assume we will be part of the “Loud Cry”, God’s elect who go out to the world and Sunday churches to warn them to “come out” of her. Do we not see great assumptions made here?

Furthermore, just like the Jews of old, we are telling the people to expect an other event than what the Scriptures and SOP clearly tell us. History and it’s mistakes are being repeated all over again.

As we have learned from our present truth studies, our Lord makes no moves upon us, His remnant church, unless He reveals it to His prophets, “Surely the Lord does nothing, unless he reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Has the last prophet, Elijah, told us what to expect in the last days? The events, and how they will play out? Ofcourse. We just have to search it out. Unfortunately we, as SDA remnant believers, are doing exactly what the Jews did–trusting our leaders and not personally investigating the word ourselves. We cannot expect any different results.

Look at what our prophetess has to say about this, ” Only those who have withstood temptation in the strength of the Mighty One, will be permitted to act a part in proclaiming it (the 3 angels message) when it shall have swelled into the Loud Cry.” (Review and Herald, Nov.19.1908)

We as SDA know that the “swelling into the Loud Cry” comes only as the world receives the last and great final call to “come out of her my people” (Babylon)(Rev. 18:4). But as we have just read we must have reformed our lives and “withstood temptation” before we can be part of the last proclamation.

Why is it that Satan and crew want this Sunday law warning the primary focus today? It is because then, the Lord’s final Elijah message will be ignored. It’s what we have called the “great bypass”. They want us to forget about striving to be among the 144,000(Review and Herald, March 9, 1905). Forget about worrying and striving to be part of the “small portion” of the saved.(Test. for the church, vol.1, p.608-609).

Brother Houteff says, “..they are sound asleep, which is shown by the fact that they still think Satan is working terribly hard to fulfill God’s word by trying to pass blue laws and are not aware that he is only playing with them as a cat with a mouse, and the brethren “to whom the Lord has entrusted the spiritual interests of the people” (Test. for the Church, vol.5,p.211) instead of sounding the alarm to arouse the church are determined to even silence the voice of the Rod, and thus rocking her to a more sound sleep!” (Symb. News Code, Vol. 2, no.1, pg.9)

The work that God’s people do in the Loud Cry has not taken place yet, we read “God’s displeasure is upon His people, and He will not manifest His power in the midst of them while sins exist among them and are fostered by those in responsible positions.”(Test. for the Church, vol. 3,p.270) Thus we see that the outpouring of God’s Spirit (Holy Spirit), which gives us the power to declare the Loud Cry, is dependant upon a purification of God’s people. It’s the next event to come!

Again our prophetess explains “ God has not changed toward His faithful servants who are keeping their garments spotless. But many are crying, “Peace and safety,” while sudden destruction is coming upon them…When purification shall take place in our ranks, we shall no longer rest at ease, boasting of being rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing.” (Test. for the Church, vol. 8, p.250).

The Scriptures clearly explain this as well. “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, by the spirit of burning” (Isa.4:3,4).

This is why we have continued to proclaim the message that the Davidian SDA  (Not to be confused with Branch Davidians), are the ones to listen to right now. They are taking up the burden of sounding the trumpet. Their message is not one of peace and safety, it’s one of  –be prepared, clean up your walk, sigh and cry for sins in the midst, for He is about to walk through the church doors, unannounced!

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.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’ soap:cAnd he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” (Mal. 3:1-3)

God’s people have to be purified in order for the Loud Cry to come. Then it is that the proclamation shall be loud and clear saying,  “Watch out for the Sunday law!! Come out of her my people!!”

“And at that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts ‘ The LORD will not do good, nor evil” (Zeph.1:12)

So let us not be hoodwinked any longer. The evil ones got those who profess this “Sunday law” warning right where they want them–in total ignorance. Let that not be our situation dear brethren. Yes, there will indeed be a time when the Loud Cry will go out unto all the world, but that will be at our Lord’s appointed time when He will “search Jerusalem with lamps”, not before.

Posted in Sunday law, Warning our brethren, Witnessing | 6 Comments »

“Surely They are My People”

January 19, 2013

In (Isaiah 63:8) we read “For He said, ‘Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie.’ So He became their Savior”

How many of us men have been quite satisfied to hear someone  say the following about us –“He’s a man of his word.”? I know that would be just about the best compliment I could receive. Or how about, “His word is his bond”? Or “You can take his word to the bank”?

Our words tell a great deal about each and every one of us. On the flip side, it’s quite shameful to be spoken of as “He never keeps his word” or “His word is worthless” and so on. How many of us have had that sinking feeling when we know we are talking to someone we can’t count on, as keeping their word?

But as much as most of us value keeping our word and not lying, our Lord values it so much more, as His word reminds us so often throughout the Scriptures. Let’s look at the basic and simple act (speaking and writing) and how we can make or break our life with God and even each other.

In the above quote we noticed that the Lord claims a certain kind of person (people) as “His”. They are non-liars. You see, lying is really so much worse than most of us think. In fact the Lord says it one of the things he “hates”. He says “These six things the LORD hates… A lying tongue.” (Proverbs 6:17)

Many of us think that lying is outright and purposely deceitful, however that’s not what generally constitutes–lying. For example, every time we say we are going to do something for someone, and fail to do it–we have lied. This is so much more plentiful in the world than outright lies. It’s kinda known as the “not so bad” little white lie. But let’s not get fooled, it’s just as bad as those outright lies.

Granted , we are all sinners and imperfect and we all have spoken lies in our lifetime, but knowing this important truth in His word in this regard, we are then made accountable for the truth we know and understand.

As we have learned in studying the present truth of the Elijah message, we are called on to strive “with all the power God has given us to be among the 144,000” (Review and Herald, March 9, 1905). And to be found to be one of those elect,  we must have “no deceit (guile)” in our mouth (Rev. 14:5).We, as present truth believers, are to be reforming our lives to be able to be among God’s elect, the 144,000.

This really cannot be over emphasised. Our promises made must be kept. It’s like anything in life , if we make an effort to get good at something, we’ll get good! So we must make a careful and thoughtful effort to please the Lord in this regard. And most importantly we should ask our Lord for His guidance and strength through the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.

In the 59th chapter of Isaiah, we read specific Scriptures concerning lying. ” For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.” (verse 3) . And later in the chapter,  after explaining why we have become unrighteous, it reads “For our transgressions are multiplied before You…In trangressing and lying against the LORD, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.” (verses 12-13).

“Better that you do not vow, than that you vow  and not fulfill it”(Ecc.5:5)

Being in business most of my life, I can attest to the value of keeping your word and how people so much appreciate it. If I tell a person I’ll do something for them , I sincerely try to do it. If I can’t I at least call them and let them know. I just feel bad if I don’t do what I say I will do, kind of like a bad reflex that wells up inside and says ” Your integrity just got a lot lower”. On the flip side, when I receive a verbal commitment from someone, I expect that which they said they would do, to be done. I shouldn’t have to remind them. Again ,  our word = our bond.

In the “old days” a man would receive one of the best honors among his fellow-men, when someone would say “Oh so and so, when he shakes his hand on a deal, you can take his word to the bank”. Now that was and is, a high compliment, and no doubt cherished from our Lord.

Have you ever felt that good solid inner feeling and confidence when you are speaking to someone whom you can trust, and know that what they say they will do, they will do? This is what we , as God’s image bearers, were intended to be.

With the advent of the computer, todays society revolves around less speaking and more typing. But let us not think that this gets us off the hook for accountability with keeping our word, both to people and to our Lord. Although it’s in writing, we  still make commitments, which should require us to hold true what we promise. It’s just a different avenue of “keeping our word” but with no less accountability.

Let us not think that we can, for example,  go on a Facebook message or send an email to a friend and say ” I’ll send that article to you about —, tomorrow” and then forget all about it and never do it. We may think this is no big deal but the recording angel has recorded it as a lie, a false promise made.If we continue to do this on a regular basis, we’ll be known as liars, not word keepers.  “Every man’s work passes in review before God and is registered for faithfulness or unfaithfulness…all chronicled by the recording angel.” (Great Controversy. p.482)

This truth telling is a basic component of our reformed Christian life. Unfortunately this simple yet needed requirement will be overlooked by the masses. We will get “above it”,  meaning we’ll look at it as  not really needed.  We know all the doctrines, attend church every Sabbath, why worry whether we speak lies?

Ellen White explains, ” In the last vision given me, I was shown the startling fact that but a small portion of those who now profess the truth will be sanctified by it and saved. Many will get above the simplicity of the work…” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol.1, p.608)

Our Lord gave one of the most beautiful Scriptures for us to live by, known as the Golden Rule  — “Do under others as you would want done unto you.” (Matt. 7:12).  Would you like to be lied to? Not able to rely on what other tell you?  Most all of us would shun this like the plaque, and say “definitely not”. Then we must speak truth and keep our word. Both our Lord and fellow-man and woman would be very happy and appreciate it.We just might be fortunate enough to have the reputation, and spoken of as a word keeper, “He’s (or She’s) a person of their word”.

Let us remember that the Lord will be a Savior to the “truth tellers” not liars. In the end of Revelation our Lord puts out the last important warning on those who will not make it to heaven. Included in this list is “all liars” (Rev.21:8).

This elemental quality of truth-telling will lead us to draw closer to Him daily and thus wanting to fulfill even more of His will. We have spoken quite a lot on “present truth” the last year or so, but let us not forget the “basics”. An essential in our Christian walk,  is –keeping our word.

God the Father and  our Lord our King, together with the Holy Spirit be with you all,    Your servant, Rob.

Posted in Christian walk, Truth telling vs. lying | Leave a Comment »

God’s True Biblical Medicine

January 12, 2013

After many years of my prior “worldly” life, shall we say, I have had a mal functioning stomach at times. This along with some other aches and pains popped up now and then, and I typically took the normal over-the counter meds. Yet I found my self talking them over and over with no real relief. Then in early 2012 I met a sister in the faith, ms. Bonnie Henderson. I was thrilled to learn that she had quite a thorough knowledge on what is called ‘Essential Oils”.

Anyway, I soon bought some oils from her such as peppermint, lemon, oregano, and others. I was impressed to say the least. The peppermint just knocks out whatever stomach trouble I have and it appears to be strengthening my whole system as well (sinus, breathing, etc.)  So tonight we are honored to have a guest writer, who can explain this healing system that is both Biblical and current in providing medicinal value to many aches and pains.

God’s Healing Oils

“In the beginning God created… and God said, let there be…” When God created the earth he spoke everything into existence. That means that everything God created was imbued with His power.

The One who sees the beginning from the end created in advance everything that we would need to live and survive on this earth. In Genesis 1:29 we are told that God had given us every herb bearing seed, and every tree yielding seed as our meat (food). So naturally, we have been clearly instructed as to what would be the best food to sustain and keep us healthy. The Spirit of Prophecy enforces this by saying that “Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator.” {(1905) M.H. 296}

But did the all-knowing God when looking forward see that man would disobey his health laws and go his own way? Of course He did. However, we serve an all-powerful and amazing God who provided in advance.

Many people are aware that fresh and dried herbs along with untainted fruits, veggies and nuts in their purest form hold health and healing properties, but sadly many are not aware that the most potent form of the healing properties come from the essential oil within said fruit, plants, tree, etc.

So what exactly are essential oils? Essential oils, known as nature’s living energy or the life force, are the natural, aromatic volatile liquids found in shrub, flowers, trees, roots, bushes, and seeds that are usually extracted through steam distillation. Essential oils can be hundreds to thousands times more potent than fresh and dried herbs, carry the highest level of oxygenating molecules known to man (cancer cells cannot grow in an oxygen rich environment), have much higher frequencies than fresh or dried herbs, and hold some of the highest antioxidant levels as reported on the ORAC Score. For example, if you think blueberries have a high ORAC Score at 2,400, let’s look at the essential oil of clove that has an ORAC Score of 1,078,700. Essential oils in short are our most powerful form of nutrition and most potent form of natural medicine.

Essential oils are nothing new and are nothing to be scared of, as some seem to think, but their healing power and many uses is something that everyone should take time to study and understand. If they were not important, I don’t believe they would be in the Bible and/or would have been used by our LORD.

All throughout the Bible there are references to aromatic plants and/or essential oils for healing and anointing. In fact, do you realize that in all the gifts the three wise men could bring to the baby Jesus they chose Myrrh and Frankincense? And according to Exodus 30:22-25, what did the LORD tell Moses to use to anoint the sanctuary, which protected His people from sickness and disease? Yes, the LORD commanded that Moses make holy anointing oil using pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia and olive oil (fatty oil). And in John 12:3 what did Mary Magdalene anoint Jesus’ feet with before his crucifixion? Yes, the very precious and expensive oil of spikenard.

The Spirit of Prophecy even tells us that “Light was given that there is health in the fragrance of the pine, the cedar, and the fir. And there are several other kinds of trees that have medicinal properties that are health programming.”–Letter 95, 1902 (Written June 26, 1902)

So if God provided us with the perfect food and perfect protection, why is it that we are so sick? And why is it that instead of seeing that we are sick because of our own rebellion that we make it worse by turning to man’s concoctions that only destroy the fine machinery that God gave us? And what makes it worse is that we have been clearly instructed that “the drugs administered to the sick do not restore, but destroy. Drugs never cure.” {2SM 288.3}

The LORD is pleading with us to “return, ye backsliding children” saying “I will heal your backslidings.” {Jeremiah 3:22} Our creator wants nothing more than for us to live the abundant life He created us to live, but we must do our part. We must “cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils” {Isaiah 2:22} and return to God and His ways.

If we truly want to serve our LORD, we cannot do it with sick and enfeebled bodies and minds. Sister White exclaims that “The Lord has given me light that when the Israel of today humble themselves before Him, and cleanse the soul-temple from all defilement, He will hear their prayers in behalf of the sick and will bless in the use of His remedies for disease.” {9T 164.1} Will we hear or will we forbear?

Health is one of the many blessings that come from obedience. If we want to truly walk with and follow Jesus we must follow His commands, and that includes the health laws and examples He has given us to follow. As you strive to either maintain and or regain your health, I encourage you to learn more about God’s Healing Oils at www.essential-oils-4-healing.com and start incorporating them into your life. My life has been forever changed, and I pray yours will be too!

Health & Blessings,

Bonnie Henderson
http://www.essential-oils-4-healing.com

Posted in Healing and health | 5 Comments »

Is the SDA Church –Babylon?

January 5, 2013

babylon

One of the promoted teachings that has been among the splinter groups among us Seventh Day Adventists, is the view that according to some,   the SDA church has become “Babylon”. This arose as far back as Ellen White’s day.  We’ll term those who have that belief as  “Outers”.  They believe that the church has become corrupt (this we do not dispute) and as such we should be “clean” and come out of her. Let’s look at a comprehensive view of this belief.  As always, we’ll go to God’s three sources, the Scriptures, Ellen White “The Spirit of Prophecy”, and Bro. Houteff  “The Elijah to come”.

The outers hold that since the early days of the church, we have steadily retreated towards Egypt and have allowed much sin and corruption to enter our church. Again this premise is solid and truthful. However these people assume the position that we as members must make a move, ie. get out of the SDA church. They often use these quotes (2 Cor.6:17) “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” (Isaiah 52:11) “Depart! Depart!, Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.’

The above assumption in effect says that “we” are to do the separating of God’s house (temple-sanctuary-church). This assumption, as we will see,  throws in dis-array many other inspired writings on this subject.  Scripture that contradicts this idea that man is to separate himself from sinners in the church,  is Ezekiel 9. As we have learned from our present truth studies, this solemn chapter details what our Lord will do about HIS separating of those in the church, in the beginning phase of the judgment for the living.   (For more on this see our post here-  https://godsloveandlaw.com/2012/10/27/ezekiel-9-part-1-of-2/ )

We notice that He orders His angels to separate the sealed ones from the unsealed ones from among His church. The work of separation is not with man and his separating, but only with the Lord and His angels. Ellen White solidly confirms this. In the Review and Herald, Sept. 1893, under the title called “The Remnant Church Not Babylon” she emphatically points out that the SDA church is not Babylon and further that we are not to take upon ourselves the act of “separting” ourselves and coming out of the church.

She says “..the Master says, “Let both grow together until the harvest”, then the angels will gather out the tares, which will be appointed for destruction.” … “The church of Christ on earth will be imperfect, but God does not destroy His church because of it’s imperfection. There have been those and will be those who are filled with zeal not according to knowledge, who would purify the church, and uproot the tares from the midst of the wheat”… “the work of separation is given to the angels of God, and not committed into the hands of any man.”

“There is but one church in the world who are at the present time standing in the breach, and making up the hedge, building up the old waste places; and for any man to call the attention of the world and other churches to this church, denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is an accuser of the brethren.” (Review and Herald, Sept 5, 1893)

So from the above we see clearly that our Lord will give the work of separation to His angels at the appointed time. And that those who work to call the SDA church -Babylon are doing Satan’s work. The church is to have sinners and righteous co-mingle  (wheat and the tares). The outers think that they must form a new group or church and to “clean up” God’s people , and abandon the church. This we see is not God’s intent for His church right now, despite it’s current failings.

Some may ask, “Why not get out and become clean with other brethren, and not be a part of their worldly and unGodly ways and acts?” It is simply because our Lord has always had ONE church body that has been His regard. EGW explains ” The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned and counseled, is the only object upon earth which Christ bestows His supreme regard.”(Same article above).

As with any important subject we  must go to the Lord’s  “restorer” or “re-constitutioner” of all things, His Elijah messenger(Matt.17:11). The one who was to clear up any such confusions, like this Babylon thinking. Let’s look at what the final word says about this.

In brother Houteff’s Symbolic Code News, Vol. 1 , No. 14, page 9, we read “It matters not what they may do to us, we would rather die than to disobey the commandment of the Lord. The SDA church is not Babylon. If it were we would have been duty bound to come out, but since it is not, we have no place to go. Consequently, we shall stay in “Jerusalem” though it may be filled with thieves..”

So as we approach these last hours of probation, we must be so on guard for any and all the Satanic traps. One group will say you must do this, go there, and so forth. Another will say “Ah, we have interpreted Scripture this way, or that.” But to be safe and “remain standing” (see Mal. 3:2) we must read and study our Lord’s inspired words (Scripture, EGW, VTH).

Yes, our church is not right in many ways, and as true “sighers and criers” we feel quite sad at times about it. Brother Houteff explains “Many of our people are getting their eyes open, and as they do, their confidence becomes shaken in poor frail humanity in whom they have long trusted their salvation, not authoritatively, but traditonally, yet honestly. They have been led to believe that our human organization, which the Lord gave us for the prosecution of the work, is some sort of sacred institution where consciences of His people are to be surrendered in the hand of men to the extent that they dare not investigate for themselves even the doctrines of the Bible. Nevertheless, the poor sheep are beginning to awake to the situation.” (Same Sym. Code news, p.13)

In the above we see that, though our church has serious failings, the honest seekers of truth are being awaken. And as we have seen we remain in the church, and continue our best to keep ourselves unspotted despite failings all around.

Yes, we do indeed feel sometimes as one who is trapped in Babylon (unclean church). We see the worldliness in our churches but let’s not forget that the Lord knows all about it and will do something about it very soon. “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left..He will set up a banner  for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:11).

In closing, the outers may mean well but they make a big mistake. They take upon themselves a work of separation that belongs to the Lord and is part of His plan, not theirs,  for the church.

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31).

Posted in Proper teachings | 6 Comments »

2012 in review

January 4, 2013

 Once again –Thank you for reading this blog and we hope you’ve been blessed by our reports.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,200 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Traveling on the Sabbath

December 29, 2012

In today’s hustle and bustle world, many of us  are often found traveling. As Sabbath keepers we should always be prepared at home and away. Let’s look at ways which we can guard the Sabbath, to help us keep it “holy” while on the road.

In the fourth Commandment, it begins, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… (Exodus 20:8). This keeping it holy applies each and every Sabbath, whether we are at home or traveling. In (Isaiah 58:13) we read, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Also, “Thus says the Lord: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.”(Jer.17: 21-22)

 The above is packed with nuggets of gold (Truth). We see that our focus should be to guard against the ever tempting carnal nature of doing “our pleasure” on His holy day. This can be a big problem in situations where one is traveling and away from their routine and customs of the home life. However, as always the Lord has made a way out for us. It’s called preparation.

As  many of us Adventists know , we regard Friday as our “preparation day”. And rightly so. This day is obviously the day before His holy day, so we basically have this day to get things prepared and ready. So let’s look at some areas where we can prepare in traveling.

1) Meals.

This probably is one of the most troubling areas of trying to keep the Sabbath holy when we travel. Obviously we can’t cook most of the time, so we cut corners and eat out. But there again the preparations should be made. Almost every area we travel in, there is a market where we can buy food and snacks. So we can load up on the goodies to eat and drink on the next day -the holy Sabbath.

Sadly some fall into the devil’s trap and succumb to eating in a restaurant. This is  a real  “breaking” of the Sabbath. The most obvious reason is the buying and selling on the Sabbath. We are also encouraging and helping others to break it as well, though they may not be aware of it. In the 13th chapter of Nehemiah we can find specific warnings against buying and selling on the Sabbath.

We need only look back to the story in (Numbers 15:32-41). There you’ll recall the Lord ordered a man stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. How do you think our Lord looks upon us, as we are profaning  His holy Sabbath much more? We should not dare trespass in this way.

2) Planned travel.

Here is another area where we must put the Lord first. When we are to plan our travel, we should be most careful to arrange our flights, so as to not travel on the Sabbath. Long car traveling, which can be laborious should also be avoided also . Yes,  this could cause a delay or interruption, but are we going to risk breaking and trampling His Sabbath in this way? Again our planning and preparation is a must, in order to keep His holy day–holy.

A while back I was in church, in the restroom, and I overheard a conversation. One man was explaining how he was going out-of-town next “Saturday” and flying out. I was amazed!  This I’m afraid, is much more common than we want to believe. The lazy and careless approach to Sabbath keeping will one day cost us if we keep it up. If the Lord stoned that man in the Numbers story, and saves us, as we do much greater  willful transgressions on the Sabbath, will He not have to apologize to that man and his family? Let’s think that through. What makes  us think we now have more rights and liberty to transgress today?

Our two great duties are —Fear God, and keep His Commandments. ( Ecc.  12:13-14).

3) Buying and selling.

Here again is a great temptation. We find ourselves wanting to buy gas, food, general necessities. We rationalize,  “We’re on the road, the Lord understands the circumstances.” Again, Friday is the preparation day when we should get the gas and buy the goodies, etc. With careful planning and thought, we can load all we need by Friday sunset and be good to go for the Sabbath.

4) Places of worship

Sometimes  in our travels there are no close Sabbath churches around. What to do? In the book of Acts there is the example of Paul finding a “riverside” to go to, to pray and have fellowship (Acts 16:13). He was apparently not near a temple and found a quiet place by a river.  So we can also go to a quiet mountain area, beach, or other remote quiet area to pray and read the Scriptures and fellowship. Contemplate the beauty of our Lord’s  creation. We shouldn’t watch worldly TV in our hotel room, or be part of any other worldly endeavor that might keep us from keeping the Sabbath holy.If we know we’ll be staying in the room for the Sabbath, we can take those long overdue naps, or pray, study, or listen to beautiful Christian music. When we indulge in knowing and listening to the things of the Lord, time goes by much too fast!

Our Lord and His word will not change.  “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4). The continual willful sinning in transgressing His Sabbath will, according to His word, cost us a price–our life.

In closing let us be good preparers and planners, thinking of honoring our Lord on His holy Sabbath even while traveling. Traveling will bring us challenges, but we can view them as stepping-stones, to exercise our devotion to the Lord.  Our Lord said the following  “Whoever is faithful in very little, is faithful also in much..” (Luke 16:10).

Posted in Christian walk, Sabbath | 8 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 »

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

December 15, 2012

 Many of us have been sport fans during our lives. And often we have heard the interviews of the winning team’s members. One of the most relied statements has always been something like this,  “Well we won because we are very united, we stick together as a close team. Our teamwork is superb”. It’s no different in the Lord’s work, let us explain.

A while back we did a post called “Sowing Unity or Discord”, where we pointed out that a brother let his idea of the way another brother should proclaim the Elijah message, offend him and bring him to post against the other brother in public. We showed that such selfish actions really did nothing but hinder the message, and unfortunately sowed discord instead of unity.

But let us look at how the real culprit, pride, can cause us to lose track of the ultimate goal–win souls for Christ as we proclaim His last sealing message to His church. We’ll look at 4  important areas in relating to our brethren. 1) Respecting other views on non-salvational issues 2) Respecting different approaches and ideas in going about the Lord’s work  3) Reviewing how pride can cause us to be blinded and possibility a sower of discord 4) How humility and respect brings unity.

In Tract 10 called  “The Sign of Jonah”  http://www.shepherds-rod.org/Tracts/trac010.html, brother Houteff dealt with the mysterious 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth issue. Many have diverse views on it. Did Jesus die on Weds. night, Thurs. night, Fri. night, or what? How could He have been in “the heart of the earth” for 3 days and nights if He died on Friday afternoon? And so on. Anyway,  as only he could do, he cleared the issue and explained the final days of Jesus’ life and how he fulfilled His promise to give the Jews the “sign of Jonah” and what “in the heart of the earth” really meant. (Matt. 12:39-41).

But I caught a real jewel of truth in this tract. In page 20  bro. Houteff writes,  “After one acquires all the knowledge necessary pertaining to the sign of Jonah, he is neither better nor worse off so far as his Christianity is concerned, without taking into effect the time wasted if his conclusions on the subject be wrong.

But what is still worse, should a group of people who are rightly proclaiming all the revealed doctrines, disagree with these zealous preachers of the sign of Jonah, as to what “the heart of the earth” may mean, the latter will in most instances not only forsake fellowshipping with their brethren, and cease helping to proclaim more important doctrines, but will also become so obsessed with their pet idea that their minds cannot comprehend much else.” (Tract 10, p. 20-21)

That is one packed statement! Let’s recap this. First we see that bro. Houteff is counselling us that certain non-salvational issues are just that -non-salvational issues. But when we differ  with someone else concerning these issues, we should let it go for the sake of unity. But as we read, the most often  case is that our pride of knowledge gets in the way and we cloud our true perspective and purpose! The unity fails due to the pride of one or both of the brothers, or sisters.

A while back we did the 2 part post on the “Special Resurrection” and I was careful to point out that there are many diverse views on this issue. But I also pointed out that this is what is termed “extra” knowledge, and specifically a non-salvational issue. But unfortunately, in times past,  even that issue has caused some to argue and break away from the fellowship and pridefully hold on to a “pet idea”.

In (1 Peter 5:5) we read”..God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  One of the prime reasons for a unrepetant heart is pride. We just don’t like to admit we are wrong many times. But this is where the “rubber meets the road” as they say. The essence of our Christian life is to show humility and love and understanding to our brothers and sisters. But that is hard to do in many cases if we have pride and  a uncompromising spirit. A “real” man or woman is one that can say ” Sorry bro (or sis) I was wrong about this, thanks for pointing that out to me”.

“If you listen to constructive criticism, you will abide among the wise, if you reject instruction, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom, humility precedes honor.” (Proverbs 15:31-33).

Ellen White explains “There were others who had received the truth from Christ’s teachings…but who had lost their first love, and were without spiritual strength..they quibbled about matters of no special importance which were not given by the Lord as tests, and dwelt upon their differences of opinion, these differences became mountains, separating them from Christ and from one another, destroying unity and love.” (1888 Materials, p.1795)

The fact that a brother or sister sees things somewhat different from what we do on non-salvational issues should never cause us to abandon that person.

We need to point out that some may ask–How do we know what is salvational and what is not? The questions has many variables but it all comes down to this. If we have converted our lives to Christ and walking daily in His Commandments and obeying His last message and will  in order so we can be sealed and to stand when His church judgment comes – we will have the Spirit of Truth within us and He will guide us into ALL truth (John 16:13).

Ellen White expounds on this beautifully “God never honors unbelief and questioning and doubt. When He speaks, His word is to be recognized, and carried out in the daily actions. And if the heart of man is in living connection with God, the voice that cometh from above will be recognized….Those that do the will of God shall know of what doctrine whether it be of God, for no deception will cloud their minds.” (Test. on Sabbath School Work, p. 64,65).

So the short answer is that we will know if a doctrine is vital for our salvation or is extra learning (as in the case of the Jonah example). And the ONLY place we can safely go –is to His word as said by HIS prophets. And we are counselled by bro. Houteff to “Hold not to what fabricated ideas seem to make Scriptures say, but grip tenaciously to what the Word, in simplicity, plainly says.” (Tract 10, p.13)

As we pointed out in our post on sowing unity or discord, a brother accused another of posting brother Houteff’s writings and hiding the author’s name. But let us look at what transpired back in bro. Houteff’s day, and which was published by bro. Houteff.

In Symbolic Code News, January 15, 1935, a Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Wessel wrote “After hearing the tirade against the SRod at the Carolina Camp meeting last June, we returned home determined to fight it, and a little while later were glad to have the opportunity of voting to have 13 members disfellowshipped from the Charleston church. But now we can better appreciate their position, as we ourselves with another were cast out Dec. 19.

A short time ago we received from one of the SRod believers a letter containing many quotations from the Spirit of Prophecy which we never dreamed were there. They put us to studying and we soon clearly saw how unfair the denomination has dealt with the SRod teachings.

We thank God that He mercifully gave us willingness and courage to read and investigate for ourselves after we had set our hearts against the message. Praises be to Him for His goodness and for present truth. We expect to put ourselves and our all into this work.”   Signed– Mr. & Mrs. C.E. Wessel, Charleston, S. Carolina

In the above we notice how that certain brother reached out to the objectors, yet with tact and wisdom (they emphasised that which would not prejudice them -Ellen White writings). Look at the results. They won them to the Lord’s cause! Truth was revealed to them on  a basis of which they could relate to.  As bro. Houteff has pointed out, the Elijah message is largely based on Scripture and EGW.

So we see  two important areas that we should take close heed in relating to our brothers and sisters. Watch that we don’t get hung up on our “pet idea”, a doctrine or teaching that is non-salvational. And be careful and tactful in approaching a fellow bro or sis, that has a different, yet possibly successful way of  reaching out to the brethren. Unity should always be a foremost thought in our minds.

Ofcourse we can’t be so accommodating with salvational issues, such as keeping and waking daily in His Commandments (ie. compromise with Sunday keepers doctrine. Or debating whether the Lord’s last message of Elijah is important and needed (ie. SDA who claim no Elijah message is needed)

The  ultimate important focus should be that we want to stay united and that we want to win souls for Christ. With Satan and his devils fighting our Lord’s last message and messengers, can we afford to bicker and fight amongst ourselves?

If we take the counsel given from Paul we would solve many of our disagreements over the non essential issues. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Phil. 2:3).

“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.” (2 Thes. 5:11-13)

What work would that be? It cannot be the worldly work, so it is those who are active in the Lord’s work. Teaching, admonishing, spreading the Lord’s word and plans. So we must think very highly of each of our co-workers, minor disagreements and all.

We should point out that a good and in-depth discussion of certain non-salvational issues can be rewarding and be part of our “studying to show yourselves approved” (2 Tim. 2:15). However we must guard the ever tempting behavior to start lambasting the other one’s views as wrong or inferior to ours.

What I have found as a good way to gently leave the issue, if I  find that my view is not understood or coming across as I  intended, and is at odds with their different view,   is to say something like, “That’s an interesting view you have, we’ll just have to agree to disagree brother” (or sister). This way you let them know that their view is not “wrong” per se, but “interesting”. Who knows, they may have done lots of research to come to that view.

Conversely, there will definitely be times when the salvational issues come into discussion and we must hold firm (yet respectful) and give them our best viewpoints. But after trying to show the points and they mock or deride us about the issue, we must move on and at that point it is most likely left to the Holy Spirit to work on their hearts. Or there may be a situation that another brother or sister can reach them more effectively than we can.

Another example of all of the above, is concerning a well-known brother who teaches present truth. Recently I got his report on “The 144,000 and those with”,   again it’s another non-salvational issue. I studied it and then got an opposing report from another brother. I compared them both, with the Spirit of Truth guiding me on the latter’s report as truth. But the first brother was basically saying in his report that if one doesn’t believe in this issue exactly like he says–they are lost!  What a  selfish travesty of the work for the Lord! We see a selfish view is promulgated on a point,  that as brother Houteff says ” he is neither better nor worse off as far as his Christianity is concerned.”

We read counsel from James ” Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” (James 5:9). Is not what the brother , in the above example doing worse than grumbling? For he has mounted the judgment seat.

 Bro. Houteff  taught much about humility and that we should not seek to take credit for things we do for Christ. Speaking of those who desire the true Christian principles he states ” He is unselfish, he rejoices in the good fortune of others, and loves to have others receive credit for something he himself may have accomplished. He expects credit from the Lord only.”(Bro. Houteff’s Letter “To Any Seeking to be DSDA)

In closing, just as we made mention of what constitutes a winning team ,let us as team members of the Lord’s final team, also strive to be united. Let us not think of ways to divide but to unite. Yes, we must and will hold firm to the salvational issues, but the less important areas should not cause us to be a divided team.

In the 1970’s I remember a song that was famous around the country called “United We Stand”,  it had these words–  “For united we stand, divided we fall, and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together, together, you and I”.(The Brotherhood of Man, 1970)

Questions and Answers:

I understand how the doctrine of the 10 Commandments can be a salvation issue, but how does the Elijah message fit into that catagory?

That really is a great and timely question. We as SDA and DSDA, certainly understand that one of the main doctrines we believe is that in 1844, Christ went into the most holy part of the sanctuary to begin the judgment of the dead. But soon this will pass unto the existing living. The prophesised Elijah to come (Mal.4:5), many believe is he who is to forewarn the next coming of the Lord. Just as John the Baptist warned his “own” people of the coming of the Lord, so too this anti-type Elijah is to warn our own people, in the church,  of the coming of the Lord( not to warn the world).

However this coming, as one truly studies Scripture, Spirit of Prophecy, and the Rod message, shows that it is the beginning judgment for the living and is to be in God’s house (His church–sanctuaries). (See Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p.209-220.  Same book, vol.3, p.266-267, 1 Peter 4:17, Mal 3:1-5, and our post “Ezekiel 9”) Consequently, the soon to come solemn judgment and execution of judgment starts first among us,upon our Lord’s next “invisable” coming. This is more fully explained in the above references.

So the Elijah message is the last message to us to reform our lives and do right before the Lord, and gives us instructions on how we can escape the dreadful judgment that will soon come upon us, his church. It warns us to reform, in our work, dress, diet, worship and so forth.It asks us to truly care about the sins in our lives and in the church, so much so that we “sigh and cry” for these abominations. For those who have taken our Lord’s counsel in Rev. 3:18, and searched Scripture and anointed their eyes with eyesalve, they have been led to understand this last message clearly. So obviously this is a very real salvational issue. And as such we cannot compromise the teaching/spreading of this truth.

Posted in Brotherly love, Humility, Proper teachings, Warning our brethren, Witnessing | 4 Comments »

A New Sanctuary Experience

December 8, 2012

Have you dreamed of walking into the sanctuary on the Sabbath and becoming a part of a new service? One that is alive and has the Lord’s Spirit upon it. The holy Presence is felt all around. Let us pretend for now what our service would be like if we went back to the basics of the early Christian church.

In (Jeremiah 51:1) we read ” We are ashamed because we have heard reproach. Shame has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’s house.”  Here we see that from way back, our church (sanctuary) has had a  problem. We have allowed the unconverted (strangers) into the LORD’S SANCTUARY. Let me repeat whose sanctuary it is –the LORD’s SANCTUARY. That’s right, we’ve lost site of this fact. Our behavior and service has mostly become self satisfying.

As we’ve mentioned many times before, we are now called on to validate our walk with Him, by signing and crying. Here in the sanctuary, is where, if we are showing the Lord we truly care, we are sighing and crying. The things we see EVERY Sabbath, should make us shake our head and cry out to the Lord “When  will we clean His sanctuary from the worldly customs, pagan customs, irreverent behavior, cold formalism, and so forth.

Isaiah also cries out about the defiling of His sanctuary,  “..Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary…Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That you would come down! That the mountains might shake at your presence.” (Isaiah 63:18, 64:1).

 How many of us today view the church sanctuary as –holy? Let’s think about that. When you walk into our Lord’s sanctuary, do you feel this holiness? If we are truly upfront and honest, we must say–no. Why is that? It can only be that we’ve stopped doing things that are pleasing to Him, both inside the sanctuary and out.

In many places throughout God’s word he makes references to the “shepherds”. We are well aware that this means God’s leaders, those who are in charge of the flock (church). The majority of the blame is placed upon them!”His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant;they are all dumb dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand;They all look to their own way, everyone for his own gain, from his own territory”(Isaiah 56:10).

“….Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?” (Ezek.34:1)

It is indeed a solemn thing to be placed in the position of leadership, and of which being God’s watchmen for the people, is the most solemn. Let’s now look at a service that would be a changed one or new one, one that would be very conscientious of doing right within His house, careful in each and every matter.

It is early in the morning. The doors to the sanctuary have not yet opened. The first of the people to open up the building are arriving. The few people who open it up step into the foyer. Preparations are made. An Elder walks into the sanctuary to check that all is well and in order for the service (temperature, lighting etc.)

Just a few weeks ago the pastor had an epiphany at his home. He utterly broke down and prayed to our God, an all night session. He had seen that the Lord’s true plans are centered around the soon to come church purification among his own people, his church. He was convicted. He knew that his endless peace and safety messages from the pulpit was not the Lord’s will for him  today. His purpose was now changed. The seriousness of “sighing and crying” was upon him, and he knew much of these abominations were right in the church. And worse yet, he was the shepherd leading the people into it!

So for the last couple of weeks, he has told the straight testimony. He has warned the people to straighten up before God, honor Him truly, inside the sanctuary and out. So the people have been abuzz the last couple weeks. Had the pastor done a 180? This is not the same man as before they thought. They had now been counselled on how to behave in the sanctuary and how the service was changing.

The pastor knew well that his new-found faith and knowledge could very well head him into opposition from the luke warm head leaders, yet he knew that Christ was the one he must follow. As the shepherd of his flock, he was no longer to be “ignorant” or a “dumb dog”. He must be bold and not afraid to do the “right thing” before the Lord.

The people soon begin to file in and an elder greets them at the sanctuary door, and politely opens it for them. They begin to find their seats. As more and more come into the sanctuary, there is a quietness all around. No one is talking. You see one of the points that the pastor has made is that the sanctuary shall be a “house of prayer”.  “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matt.21:13). There has been clear instructions that prior to the service, the people may pray, meditate,or contemplate their past week with the Lord. But there is to be an honorable silence in His house, until the service starts.

The “Sabbath school lesson” has been moved to an adjacent building. Gone is the back and forth conversations of the people in His sanctuary.Also gone is the custom of swinging the sanctuary doors wide open to let all the foyer noise and distractions into the sanctuary, after the sanctuary Sabbath school class. Instead a beautiful silence is experienced, the Holy Spirit roams the place as silent thoughts and prayers go up before the Lord, who is in His sanctuary now.  “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” (Matt.18:20).

Also gone is all the cellphone ringing, handhelds on and being used. All the people have been instructed to dress as they would if they were going to have a private one on one meeting with the president of the USA. But in this case there is One much greater who they will stand before today. The women are counselled in modesty.

It is now close to the time of the church service, many have taken their seats. Yes amazingly there is a church wide silence. Gone is the laughter, loud speaking, and the standing in the isles idly chatting.  The Spirit of the Lord seems to be growing among the people. Some have been kneeling for quite a while, deep in thought and prayer, those prayers are indeed heard by the One who is in the sanctuary now.

The pastor enters the sanctuary and comes to the pulpit, he breaks the silence and says ” Greetings my beloved church members. Let us begin this service by kneeling and praying for the Lord’s guidance and Spirit to be upon us today.” So the whole congregation kneels in prayer, and it lasts a good 5 minutes. After prayer, he invites the congregation to sing a couple of songs of praise to the Lord. The people are joyous and the sound of all the voices is helped by some unseen Spirit, for it is now almost heavenly. The Lord has been pleased with the service so far and is blessing the people with the uncanny harmony and sounds.

After the singing, the head elder comes up and speaks a few words on the different church activities and prayer requests. The custom of the children’s story is next. However, the custom of having the little ones go around and take money is gone. You see  the pastor has decided to go back to the original early Christian and SDA church custom of collecting the tithes and money for the church on the “first day”  not Sabbath(1 Cor.16:2). He also is keenly aware that to handle money within the Lord’s sanctuary is truly an abomination. This custom was not practiced in the early SDA church. It crept in from the pagan church customs. (See our post https://godsloveandlaw.com/category/tithes-and-offerings/ )

So the children gather up front to hear a story of Jesus or some inspired Biblical story. After the story they head back to their seats but are counselled by their parents to keep quiet.

Now comes the part where the people become interactive in the service. The pastor announces that it is now time for the “personal testimonies” . He asks for the people to raise their hands if they have a personal testimony of what the Lord has done for them the past week. An elderly man raise his hand and tells of his dream he received of meeting an old school friend, and sure enough, he ran into him 2 days later in the supermarket! The people yell  ” Hallelujah!”  One man stands up and says “Praise the Lord!”

Next a young woman raises her hand and tells of  how her reading the Scriptures this week has brought her closer to God. And some yell  out–amen. You see in this part of the service the people enjoy listening to what the Lord and His Holy Spirit have done. For they have come to praise Him for not only what He has done do but what He is “doing”.The people see  that they are serving an alive and working Lord!  Many others tell of   “signs” they received of the Lord. This continues on for at least 15 to 20 minutes. It has become many of the church goers favorite part of the service. The testimonies speak volumes for the faith and confidence of the members.

Now it has come time for a couple more songs of praise. The people are loving it as they are inspired after hearing what the Lord has done this week among the members.

After the singing, the pastor is ready for the sermon. He has prepared a sermon concerning Revelation. He wants to enlighten his flock of some of the mysteries therein. The people are rapt in attention as  he devotes time about Rev. chapter 3, about his own Laodicean church. No more are the ones who are silently napping  or being distracted some way. The Spirit has awoken the church!  He speaks about how we are not to be lukewarm in our walk with the Lord, and if we do on a continual  basis, our Lord promises that He will “sprue us out”.

As the sermon goes on, a man stands up and says ” I have just received a vision!”  The pastor calms the congregation down and tells the man “Speak my brother, speak”. The man begins to tell it. ‘The Lord has shown me that some in our church are buying and selling on this , His holy Sabbath day. This is not right before the Lord, please stop it!” and then he sits down. The pastor immediately goes to Nehemiah chapter 13 and reads the whole chapter. For he knows that this was a direct sign from the Lord, and that some are in need of hearing this today.

So the people are witnessing the direct hand of God in moving the hearts of the people through the sermon. Our Lord has been pleased because He has witnessed the people’s honor and reverence to Him. The sermon finishes strongly as the people yell out “amen” after he is done. He reminds them that the church building will be open tomorrow for tithe donations, or if they prefer they can get an mailing envelope in the foyer and mail it in.

As he closes the service He once again asks the congregation to kneel and pray. He requests that the Lord watch over each and every member. He asks that the ones who are buying and selling come to repentance this week. The prayer finishes and he walks out of the sanctuary. The people silently get up and leave as well.

Outside there are people glowing with an inner contentment because they have just been a part of a holy affair. The Lord was in His sanctuary! It has affected them. They discuss how the pastor has really guided the church in the right way. They shake their heads as they talk about the prior days where nothing of the sort was experienced at all! This experience has motivated them to walk closer to the Lord this coming week.

My beloved brothers and sisters, what we have read here will very soon come, something very similar, after the Lord’s time for revival and reformation has come. This experience is not my idea  rather it is  guidance from the Lord to show that His sanctuary will indeed  once again  be  –holy. Let us get a jump-start by spreading this post to  your friends and relatives if you have been blessed. That they may see that there is indeed a better way to honor Him on His Sabbath. And it will lead to —  A New Sanctuary Experience.  Praise the Lord!

Note- For more reading on the “Behavior in the House of God” see Testimonies for the Church, Vol.5, p.491-501

Posted in Church, Loving the Lord, Sabbath | 6 Comments »

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