Cleansed.

1Jn 1:5  And this is the message which we have heard from Him, and we proclaim to you: God is light, and no darkness is in Him, none! 

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we walk in darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth. 

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. 

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. 

Mar_4:22  For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.

Psa 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

Eph 5:26  that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the washing of the water in the Word, 

Eph 5:27  that He might present it to Himself as the glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such things, but that it be holy and without blemish. 

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These, the ones having been clothed in the white robes, who are they, and from where did they come? 

Rev 7:14  And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are those coming out of the great tribulation; and they washed their robes and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb. 

Rev 1:5  even from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the First-born out of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him loving us and washing us from our sins by His blood, 

Isa 1:18  Come now and let us reason together, says Jehovah: Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as the crimson, they shall be like wool. 

Zec 3:3  And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood before the Angel. 

Zec 3:4  And He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to him, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with ceremonial robes. 

Zec 3:5  And I said, Let them set a clean turban on his head. And they set a clean turban on his head and clothed him with clothing. And the Angel of Jehovah stood by. 

1Co 6:11  And some of you were these things, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 

Eph 5:26  that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the washing of the water in the Word, 

Eph 5:27  that He might present it to Himself as the glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such things, but that it be holy and without blemish. 

Heb 9:14  by how much more the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God), will purify your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God! 

Luk_9:23  And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. And let him follow Me.

DAILY we must take up the cross of Jesus. What does it mean to take up the cross of Jesus? It was upon the cross that Jesus died, that Jesus' blood was spilled, that Jesus obtained salvation for us through His sacrifice. When we take up that cross, we are taking up all that it represents. We are choosing to believe in the cleansing blood of our Savior. We are believing His blood washes over us, cleansing us. We believe we are living as new creatures in Christ, accepting all that He calls us to endure. We are taking up truth, we are walking in the light. We are admitting our dependence wholly upon our Savior. That we are sinners and our forgiveness is found only through the cleansing blood of Christ. The cross must be taken up daily, and we must NEVER forget our need, our constant, continuous, forever need of a Savior in all we do.  Satan would have us belong to him, not to Jesus and Satan will do everything he can to rip the cross away from us. Satan will tell us we are not able to be forgiven that our sins go too deep, are too horrific, are unforgivable. Satan is a liar. Jesus will forgive us as we seek forgiveness and cling to the cross that He died upon. Jesus will cleanse us with His own blood, the only blood powerful enough to rid us of our sins.

We must walk in the light of truth, not let Satan keep throwing a covering of lies over us, keeping us in the darkness of his deceptions.

Let us always and forever, through our LORD JESUS CHRIST, seek light, seek truth!

*******

July 1975  -  "Watchman, What of the Night? " Thought Paper.  Adventist Laymen's Foundation.  (Excerpt)

EZEKIEL'S KNOTHOLE!  1  

Ezekiel, chapters eight and nine, constitute one vision, and should be studied together, though an arbitrary chapter division has been made in the translation as found in our King James Version. No doubt there was a current application for the prophet saw      "sins that were practiced in Jerusalem."  2   But we are here concerned with a secondary application to the present time because      "Satan is working that the history of the Jewish nation may be repeated in the experience of those who claim to believe present truth."  3    What lessons can we learn from this vision of Ezekiel?

Eze 8:1  And it was in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, I was sitting in my house. And the elders of Judah were sitting before me. And the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell on me there. 

Eze 8:2  And I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of His loins and downward, like fire, and from His loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, like the color of polished bronze. 

Eze 8:3  And He put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens and brought me to Jerusalem (in the visions of God), to the opening of the inner gate facing north, where there was a seat of the image of jealousy, which causes jealousy. 

Eze 8:4  And, behold! The glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain. 

Eze 8:5  And He said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now to the way of the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way of the north, and, behold, from the north, at the gate of the altar, was this image of jealousy at the entrance. 

Eze 8:6  And He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, that I should be far from My sanctuary? But you turn back and you shall see greater abominations. 

Eze 8:7  And He brought me to the opening of the court. And I looked, and, behold, a single hole in the wall. 

Eze 8:8  And He said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And I dug in the wall; and, behold, an opening! 

Eze 8:9  And He said to me, Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here. 

Eze 8:10  And I went in and looked. And, behold, every form of creeping thing, and hateful beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel were carved on the wall all around. 

Eze 8:11  And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, were standing among them. These were standing among them, and each man with his censer in his hand, and the odor of the cloud of incense going up. 

Eze 8:12  And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the rooms of his image? For they are saying, Jehovah does not see us, Jehovah has forsaken the earth. 

Eze 8:13  And He said to me, You turn back, you shall see greater abominations which they are doing. 

Eze 8:14  And He brought me to the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah, toward the north. And, behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 

Eze 8:15  And He said to me, Have you seen, son of man? You turn again and you shall see greater abominations than these. 

Eze 8:16  And he brought me into the inner court of the house of Jehovah. And, behold, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty five men with their backs to the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward. And they bowed themselves eastward to the sun. 

Eze 8:17  And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah from doing the abominations which they do here? For they have filled the land with violence and have returned to provoke Me to anger. And, behold, they are putting the branch to their nose! 

Eze 8:18  And I also will deal with fury. My eye shall not spare, and I will not have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. 

Eze 9:1  And He cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Let the overseers of the city draw near, even each with his destroying weapon in his hand. 

Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men were coming from the way of the Upper Gate, which faces north. And each had his shattering weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed in linen, and an ink horn of a scribe at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. 

Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel had gone on, from on the cherub where it was on it, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed in linen with the ink horn of a scribe at his loins. 

Eze 9:4  And Jehovah said to him, Pass through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning over all the abominations that are done in her midst. 

Eze 9:5  And He said to those in my hearing, Pass over in the city after him and strike. Do not let your eye spare, and do not have pity. 

Eze 9:6  Slay the aged men, the young man, and the virgin, even children, and women, all to destruction. But to every man who has the mark on him, do not come near. And begin from My sanctuary. And they began with the aged men who were before the house. 

Eze 9:7  And He said to them, Defile the house and fill the courts with the dying. Go forth! And they went out and killed in the city. 

Eze 9:8  And it happened as they struck, and I remained, even I. Then I fell on my face and I cried out and said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in Your pouring out of Your fury on Jerusalem? 

Eze 9:9  And He said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and of Judah is very great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, Jehovah has forsaken the land; and, Jehovah does not see. 

Eze 9:10  And even I, My eye does not spare, and I will not have pity. I will put their way on their head. 

Eze 9:11  And, behold, the man clothed with linen, with the ink horn at his loins, reported the matter, saying, I have done as You commanded me. 

The prophet was taken from the company of his captured countrymen in Babylon and in the Spirit set down in the temple courts at Jerusalem so that he could see the mercy of Jehovah still exercised toward the obdurate rebels claiming to be the chosen people of God, yet despising His leniency and departing further from His service and worship each day. The God of Justice MUST soon deal according to their misdeeds!

If Ezekiel were living today, the Spirit would have brought him to the vicinity of the General Conference offices in Takoma Park. Such is the import of the analogy. In Jerusalem, the spokesman for Jehovah was invited to look carefully about at the evils within the church, and the prophet did not have to journey far to see too much for his delicate spiritual sensibilities.

At the North Gate was placed an image of a particularly revolting nature. The New English Version calls it the image of Lust; the King James Version names it, Jealousy. Certain it is that it represented personality traits that should be en-

P 2 -- tirely foreign to the loyal followers of Jehovah. And why the North Gate? Satan had said -      "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North."    4   Mount Moriah, the site of Solomon's Temple, was called the Mount of the Congregation. Satan had succeeded very well in Ezekiel's time. Has he now brought about a repetition of Judah's downward trek to perdition in our own church in accordance with his long-laid plans?

The prophet was permitted to consider only briefly the image to selfish desires. Brought next to the wall of the temple (General Conference office at Jerusalem), he discovered a knothole and was invited to look within. The narrow hole was enlarged at the angel's insistence so that the prophet might observe clearly all he should see and report. What a sight! Surrounded by the odor of sanctity - the cloud of incense from their censers - were the seventy elders engaged in secret adoration of the most hateful and disgusting of the idols of Judah's neighbors. Why the seventy? Moses had chosen seventy as counselors and administrators in his day.  5    In Ezekiel's day, this was none other than the entire General Conference Committee!! 

The vile objects of worship portrayed around the walls were well known objects of adoration among the Baal worshipping neighbors of Judah. Observe that the Seventy had set these up "in the chambers of their imagery" - evidently not for public display - but nevertheless secretly adored. Do we have any modern idols secretly set up among us? Surely WE wouldn't do THAT! Let us look about in the chambers of OUR imagery and see what we see. We read: No outward shrines may be visible, there may be no image for the eye to rest upon, yet WE may be practicing idolatry. It is as easy to make an idol of cherished ideas or objects as to fashion gods of wood or stone. Thousands have a false conception of God and His attributes. They are as verily serving a false god as were the servants of Baal.   6 

Could we see in this day as Ezekiel saw in his day, and with God-given insight see OUR idols as heaven sees them, would we be able to consider ourselves superior in

P 3 -- spirituality to the seventy elders of Judah? Have WE renounced the idol of worldly possessions, the worship of academic degrees, the desire for public acclaim, the quest for admiring subordinates -possible sycophants?

From the contemplation of the secret sins of Judah's spiritual leaders, Ezekiel was directed to greater offenses to Jehovah. At the door of the temple on the side looking toward the image of unregenerate Self were a group of women "weeping for Tammuz". Just who was Tammuz? The perfect lover-boy, Adonis of Phoenician mythology, whose day of worship was marked by sexual excess. Particularly distasteful to the loyal followers of Jehovah. Does history have a repeat performance in our midst? Do any sisters in following modern fashions expose too much of the anatomy thus calling attention to the parts having to do with sexual gratification? - and are they surprised by the natural reaction to such exposure! "Obedience to fashion is pervading our Seventh-day Adventist churches, and is doing more than any other power to separate our people from God."  7    Evidently in the eyes of Jehovah this sin was more abhorrent than the secret sins of the leaders.

In the ascending scale of abominations divulged to the horrified prophet there remained yet another of a nature particularly repugnant to Jehovah. Israel had been instructed according to the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple to pray toward that place.   8    Daniel was careful to do so.  9    Hence, the position of the worshippers as was shown to Ezekiel was indicative of the very greatest insult that they could render to their God. In the area between the porch and the altar, sacred in the performance of the ministerial duties, were twenty-five men worshipping the sun toward the East. Consider the import of this. Here were priest-ministers consecrated by the most solemn of dedicatory rites to the service of Jehovah, yet they bowed in the Oriental manner - not a mere inclination of the head, not by resting upon both knees only - but by resting on both hands and knees with the forehead to

P 4 -- the earth. In doing so they presented not only the back, but the backside to the temple and altar of Jehovah in open defiance of Divine instructions, even as any other Baal (Evangelical) worshiper would do. Why will our leaders - at least some - urge that we join Baal devotees insofar as possible? Why will our local pastors - an ever growing number - join with, and hold office in, the local ministerial associations? And why will modern priests of Baal be invited into the pulpit to conduct worship for the people on the Sabbath? Such practices, whether joining in worship with or permitting such to officiate at the Alter, were plainly forbidden by Jehovah.

Now look back. From the insight end of our knothole, can we find in the chambers of OUR IMAGERY any of the offensive idols found among the Baal worshippers?

My favorite Scottish poet wrote:

" O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us 

To see oursels as others see us. "  10 

Are there not on Sunday morning, excellent sermons by prophets of Baal we would hate to miss? To what extent do we enter into their services? Do we not love Billy Graham? Could there be other idols?

Re-think ---

No outward shrine may be visible, there may be no image for the eye to rest upon, yet we may be practicing idolatry. It is as easy to make an idol of cherished ideas or objects as to fashion gods of wood or stone. Thousands have a false conception of God and His attributes. They are as verily serving a false god as were the servants of Baal. Are we worshipping the true God as He is revealed in His word, in Christ, in nature, or are we adoring some philosophical idol enshrined in His place?   6

"Let a man examine himself"'.   11 

That this vision is vital to us is shown by the fact that these disclosures lead directly and at once to the sealing work, the cleansing of the church preparatory to the Latter Rain, the Loud Cry, and the Second

Advent of our Lord. The time is NOW!

P 5 -- 

1. Ward P. Hill, author of our guest thought paper is a layman residing in Lodi, California.

2. Ellen G. White, Prophets &Kings, p. 448

3. Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, bk. ii, p. 11

4. Isaiah 14:13

Isa 14:13  For you have said In your heart, I will go up to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the sides of the north. 

5. Numbers 11:16

Num 11:16  And Jehovah said to Moses, Assemble to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you have known that they are elders of the people, and its officers. And you shall take them to the tabernacle of the congregation; and they shall station themselves there with you. 

6. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 173

7. Ibid., Vol. 4, p. 647

8. II Chronicles 6:21

2Ch 6:21  And You shall listen to the supplications of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, that they pray toward this place; and You shall hear from Your place of dwelling, from Heaven, and shall hear and forgive. 

9. Daniel 6:10

Dan 6:10  And when he had learned that the document was signed, Daniel went to his house. And his windows were open in his roof room toward Jerusalem. He knelt on his knees three times in the day, and prayed and praised before his God, as he did before. 

10. Robert Burns, "To a Louse" (seen on a lady's bonnet in the kirk.)

11. II Corinthians 11:28

2Co 11:28  besides the things outside conspiring against me day by day, the care of all the assemblies. 

Brother Hill Takes Us on a Single Volume Safari for IDOLS -- 

Why go on a safari? Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5.p. 164, par. 2

Identification of our game. c., p. 250, par. 2

Difficult game. Ibid., p. 23I, par. 2

A trophy buck. Ibid., p. 337, par. 2

A sneaky creature, Ibid., p. 75, par. 2

Safari could be short. Ibid., p. 205, par. 1

Where game once abounded, Ibid., p. 190. par. 4. Could be again. Let's go hunting!

"ADVENTIST INNOVATION" -- This is the title that the editor of Christianity Today (April 11, 1975, p. 21) gave his book review of God Is With Us. This book written by Jack W. Provonsha was published by the Review & Herald. Commenting on Provonsha's assertion -"Rational certainty is an impossibility" - Lindsell remarked, "Except this proposition itself, which must be a certainty." In other words, the only certainty to life is uncertainty, according to Provonsha. The editor further notes that "in his effort to lead men to God through men, Provonsha, who speaks constantly of the unity of God, does make mention of Jesus Christ, but nowhere gives the reader any reason to suppose that the Holy Spirit has any real part in the salvatory process or even that He exists." The final paragraph of the Review reads: -"This is the first Review & Herald book I have seen that departs from normative Adventist theology. Whether this was an accident or represents a decided trend in the denominational stance remains to be seen." The Book Committee of the Review & Herald owes an explanation to the laity of the church whether this was an accident or not. When one realizes that Dr. Provonsha teaches our medical students at Loma Linda University, there is little left to explain why so many depart from the fundamental faith of the Advent Movement which has been the heritage of many from the family altar at home.

July 1975  -  "Watchman, What of the Night? " Thought Paper.  Adventist Laymen's Foundation.  (Excerpt)