Signposts.

175 years.  How many generations have lived in that time. Let's make the average person's death at 72-

That would be just over 2 and a 1/2 generations according to the 72 year time for a generation. Biblically there are different time spans used for noting generations. Like the one I used above, the years were 72. In the Bible there has been used 40 years, simply the years passing between parent, child, grandparent, the fact we are told how many generations there are between Adam and Jesus. There truly is NO definitive answer from the Bible.

We make a huge mistake when we try to pinpoint future prophecy because sometimes it becomes conditional upon certain behavior. We know for a fact Jonah was to go tell Ninevah it would be destroyed if it didn't repent. There were conditions.

If God's people are to behave in certain ways at certain times-  Moses leading the children through the wilderness- if they hadn't rebelled they would have all gone through to the land promised. 

Rebellion of God's people is a common theme throughout the Bible. In fact it is hard to find where it wasn't a constant theme. God calls, His people answer, His people go astray, God calls again.  Why is this? Because we have a great adversary who isn't content to sit back and allow God to have His way without a fight.

There have been 175 years since 1844 when the prophecy of Daniel and Revelation was opened to people, the veil removed, the door no longer shut, the seal broken on the book. Throughout those 170 years there have been many disappointments. The generation that was given the enlightenment did not hold fast to the truth entrusted to them. By the next generation it was solidified that God's people chosen to carry that message forward had betrayed the trust fully on a corporate level. God's people were called to step out of that apostasy- to keep the message going as the prophecy scroll continued to unroll.

Every generation desires to believe it is the last generation before our Savior returns, but only ONE of those generations will be right. It would be remiss of me to state I know for a certainty that we are not that generation. It's NOT FOR  ME to know. I must live as if I am living in the last generation, my lamp must be full of oil and I must have extra oil at my side -- at ALL times.

Our Savior has allowed us signposts along the way.  We must follow the signposts until at long last no signposts remain.

The signs of my generation-  1967 the control of Jerusalem was retaken by the Jewish people from the Gentiles-non-Jewish people.  The wresting that control has been fraught with much difficulty. Right now in this moment that I write this, there is still contention over the control of Jerusalem.  Satan is unwilling to give into the signpost and is fighting with all he has to delay the passing of the final signposts. Do you imagine Satan doesn’t see those signposts clearly? He does. He knows, and he doesn't want us to know. He wants us to turn a blind eye to the signposts.  In 1980 the Jewish people moved their capitol to Jerusalem in spite of Satan's quest to keep the 1967 contention from allowing that solidification.  Rather than let people comprehend the truth of the signposts before them Satan has continued to whitewash over that signpost and is trying desperately to forestall the next one from being realized.  As long as he stirs up confusion in the minds of men he wants to believe that God cannot claim fulfilment of a sign.  God doesn't need Satan's permission, and God allows Satan to stir the confusion because it will allow those who wish to remain blind to truth, to stay blind.

175 years from 1844.

53 years from 1967.

39 years from 1980.

These are just dates of passing times as the generations of mankind march on and the signposts stand firm.

One day there will be no more signposts.  Praise God, let that time be soon!

All through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!

*******

(((EXCERPT))))

A LETTER --

Dearly Beloved in the Most Holy Faith,

Usually our monthly thought papers present a documented topic which expresses our convictions for your personal study. But this month, I wish to write a personal letter to you, that is, as personal as a mimeographed letter can be. Many of you I have never met, and so a letter such as this will be even more Impersonal than if I had met you, and we had conversed and prayed together. However, I do hope and pray that as you read, you will sense through the Holy Spirit the deep burden of my own heart in regard to you as a part of the Israel of God.

From the letters that come to my desk from many of you, I am sure that there is one fact that is known to you all - a fact that we dare not over look - we have reached a crisis in the church of God on earth. Not only have we reached a crisis, but this crisis is compounded because of the confusion which the enemy of souls has brought in to blind our understanding of the very basic issues which confront us. As one writes, or talks, he is almost compelled to define each major word, such as "church", for the terms and expressions we use have different meanings to different people. And sadly, too many do not take time to really think through in precise terms just what they do mean by the words they use. Let us, therefore, proceed from the basics that give us a common faith to the issues that perplex us today.

There can be no question that God in the unfolding of the times and seasons established in 1844 a final Movement through which and by which He intended to bring an end to the reign of sin.     "The Scripture which above all others had been both the

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foundation and central pillar of the Advent faith was the declaration, 'Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'"   (Spirit of Prophecy Volume IV, p. 258)       This single text became the "watchword" of the faith of our spiritual fathers. This faith was not in vain, for God shall take this Movement through to the Kingdom. But now over 130 years are past, and we still are not in the Kingdom.

In 1888, God again spoke through human instruments - not men endowed in a special way with the gift of prophecy, but men who had to study and seek for truth even as those to whom they brought their message. Indeed, the servant of the Lord to whom had been entrusted the gift of prophecy, attested to the genuineness of the message Jones and Waggoner brought to the church, even as she had done in the days following the disappointment in 1844. But note, and this we must never forget - God speaks to His people through human instrumentalities in the same manner and ways that those who hear must use to verify the messages given - the study of the Word of God. I do not know what means the Holy Spirit used to prompt Elders A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner to study to obtain the message they brought to the people of God at the General Conference Session in 1888. Some statement from the pen of Sister White may have sparked their study. But one thing is certain -      "God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrine and the basis of all reforms."   (Spirit of Prophecy Volume IV, p. 413)       Our study may be initiated because of a ray of light from Heaven through the ministry of the written word found in the Spirit of Prophecy. But when we pursue the study of the Spirit of Prophecy to the exclusion of the Holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation, we do despite to the Spirit of God who in times past spoke by "holy men of God." In other words, we find ourselves in a crisis of authority.

Now another eighty-seven years have passed, and the message that God intended to produce the ripening of the harvest of earth has still not done its work, and we are still here in this world. It seems the seriousness of this present delay has

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escaped us, and we think that since God has waited this long for His "church" - the vehicle He chose through which the Movement was to triumph - He will continue to wait. This is a fatal delusion. In 1892, just a few short years after 1888, it was revealed to this people, that if there were a delay, "the character of God and His throne will be compromised." And the question we must ask ourselves - Will God permit this? The answer can only be - NO!

There is no doubt - there has been a delay, not because God wanted it that way, but because we have caused it. So the question of this hour - the supreme question upon which our eternal destiny hangs - What has God done about this, and how am I to relate to what God has done?

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II Peter 1: 19) Further, we are told that "the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7) In the unfolding of the scroll of prophecy, every act of God is revealed, and will be revealed to us as to time and purpose. Prior to 1844, God's purposes were tied to specific time prophecies; but since that date, events alone mark the timing of the actions of Heaven. Jesus clearly indicated the purpose of these events - in the upper room to the select eleven He said - "I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it come to pass, ye might believe." (John 14:29)

Now let us come down to some real thinking in regard to the crisis which we have reached. There is foretold a movement by God in heaven, by which He takes the reins into His own hands. And the action, thus initiated has serious consequences to the Church here below. This is described for us in Ezekiel 9:1-4. God arises from the cherub whereupon He was, and orders the sealing to commence in Jerusalem. It is evident that Jesus has not yet left the Most Holy Place, and thus probation's hour has not closed for the inhabitants of earth as individuals. But some decision

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has been made in regard to Jerusalem,-which we are told in Ezekiel represents the church. (Testimonies Vol. 3, p. 267) Neither all the inhabitants of the city, nor the city itself, are sealed. Either this means something, or it does not. And in describing this experience, the servant of the Lord uses two different word pictures - "the true people of God", and "God's professed people".(Testimonies Vol. 3, p. 266) Either these are the same group of people with different labels, or else they are two distinct classes of people. And these terms are used in connection with comments or, the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. Note the language -     "This is forcibly set forth by the prophet's illustration of the last work under the figure of men each having a slaughter weapon in his hand."   (ibid.)

In recent thought papers published this year, I have set before you that in 1967, the prophecy of Jesus as found in Luke 21:24 was fulfilled. I have further projected that this date signaled the fact that God had arisen from the cherub, and had taken the reins into His own hands to finish the work, and to bring a triumph to the Movement He began in 1844. In so doing, I have pointed out that He weighed "Jerusalem" in the balances of the sanctuary, and found it wanting. The actions of the city through its hierarchy had "compromised" His character and His throne. Thus He had to act to vindicate His name. I have further stated that this very fulfillment of prophecy brings us to a reassessment of our individual relationship to the corporate body of the church, the leadership of which has caused this compromise of God's character and throne. This does not mean a reassessment of the faith which was committed to our trust in 1844, and re-affirmed in 1888.

I do not have the gift of prophecy in any special sense. I must obtain truth in the same way in which you must evaluate truth - through the study of the Word. You must know, and I must know, whether these things be truth. My soul has been purchased with the same blood as yours - the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, if these things which I have set before you are not truth, you owe it to

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me to show through the Word of God wherein I have erred, even as I have presented to you by the Word of God the conclusions which I have drawn to warn you to flee from the wrath to come.

My study of these truths of prophecy was sparked by a testimony from the servant of the Lord. She wrote:

"in the twenty-first chapter of Luke Christ foretold what was to come upon Jerusalem, and with it He connected the scenes which were to take place in the history of this world just prior to the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."   (Counsels to Writers & Editors, pp. 23-24)

I found in Matthew 24, and Mark 13, the same line of prophecy was followed as was followed in Luke 21, with one exception - "the times of the Gentiles." The servant of the Lord specified Luke 21, not Matthew 24 or Mark 13, to be our special concern when interpreting events in the history of literal Jerusalem. While the things that happened to Jerusalem in A. D. 70 are typical of what will come upon the earth in its final judgment, the event noted by Luke exclusively was fulfilled in 1967. Sr. White had indicated that these events would take place just prior to coming of the Son of man. What joy filled my heart. God had now indicated without question, we had reached the last generation. Our Lord was coming, and coming soon. Then as I studied the implications of what the finishing of the times of the Gentiles might mean, I found that God was also telling us other things. These I have faithfully set before you in the thought papers thus far this year.

If this is what God is saying to us - to you and me, then you need to do some serious study, and re-evaluation, and unite your voice in giving this message to the professed people of God, for God declares this to be      "the closing work for the church." (Testimonies Vol. 3, p. 266)Your involvement is essential.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed WWN)

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