Presence of God in the Soul.

Why Paul Went Up to Jerusalem

The record in Acts says that it was determined at Antioch that Paul and Barnabas and some others should go up to Jerusalem about this matter. But Paul declares that he went up "by revelation." Gal.2:2. Paul did not go up simply on their recommendation, but the same Spirit moved both him and them. He did not go up to learn the truth of the Gospel, but to maintain it. He went, not to find out what the Gospel really is, but to communicate the Gospel which he had preached among the heathen. Those who were chief in the conference imparted nothing to him. He had not been preaching for seventeen years that of which he stood in doubt. He knew whom he believed. He had not received the Gospel from any man, and he did not need to have any man's testimony that it was genuine. When God has spoken, an indorsement by man is an impertinence. The Lord knew that the brethren in Jerusalem needed his testimony, and the new converts needed to know that those whom God sent spoke the words of God, and, therefore, all spoke the same thing. They needed the assurance that as they had turned from many gods to the one God, the truth is one, and there is but one Gospel for all men. 

The Gospel Not Magic

The great lesson taught by this experience, to which Paul referred the Galatians, is that there is nothing in this world that can confer grace and righteousness upon men, and that there is nothing in the world that any man can do, that will bring salvation. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and not the power of man. Any teaching that leads men to trust in any object, whether it be an image, a picture, or anything else, or to trust for salvation in any work or effort of their own, even though that effort be directed toward the most praiseworthy object, is a perversion of the truth of the Gospel,--a false gospel. There are in the church of Christ no "sacraments" that by some sort of magical working confer special grace on the receiver; but there are things that a man who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is thereby justified and saved, may do as an expression of his faith. The only thing in the world that has any efficacy in the way of salvation, is the life of God in Christ. "By grace are ye saved through 67 faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them." Eph.2:8-10, margin. This is "the truth of the Gospel," and it was for this that Paul stood. It is the Gospel for all time.

 

Galatians and the Gospel

In this chapter the apostle says that he withstood the false teaching which was now misleading the Galatian brethren, in order that "the truth of the Gospel" might remain with them. Compare this with his introduction, in the first chapter, and his vehement assertions concerning the Gospel which he had preached to them, and his astonishment that they were now forsaking it, and it will be self-evident that the epistle must contain nothing else but the Gospel in the most forcible form of expression. Many have misunderstood it, and have derived no personal gain from it, because they have thought that it was but a contribution to the "strivings about the law," against which Paul himself warned the brethren.

No Monopoly of Truth

"Whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me; God accepteth no man's person." There is no man or body of men on earth, that has a monopoly of truth,--a corner, so to speak, so that whoever wishes it must come to him. Truth is independent of men. Truth is of God, for Christ, who is the shining of His glory, and the very impress of His substance (Heb.1:3), is the truth (John 14:6). 

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

68 Whoever gets the truth, must get it from God, and not from any man, just as Paul received the Gospel. God may and does use men as instruments, or channels, but He alone is the Giver. Neither names nor numbers have anything to do with determining what is truth. The truth is no more mighty, nor to be accepted more readily, when it is presented by ten thousand princes than when maintained by a single humble, laboring man. And there is no more presumptive evidence that ten thousand men have the truth than that one has it. Every man on earth may be the possessor of just as much of the truth as he is willing to use, and no more. See John 7:17; 12:35,36.

Joh 7:17  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 

Joh 12:35  Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 

Joh 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

He who would act the pope, thinking to hold a monopoly of the truth, and compel people to come to him for it, dealing it out here, and withholding it there, loses all the truth that he ever had, if he ever really had any. Truth and popery can not exist together; no pope, or man with a popish disposition, has the truth. As soon as a man receives the truth, he ceases to be a pope. If the pope of Rome should get converted, and become a disciple of Christ, that very hour he would vacate the papal seat. 

The Biggest Not Always the Best

Just as there is no man who has a monopoly of truth, so there are no places to which men must necessarily go in order to find it. The brethren in Antioch did not need to go to Jerusalem to learn the truth, or to find out if what they had was the genuine article.

The fact that truth was first proclaimed in a certain place, does not prove that it can be found only there, or that it can be found there 69 at all. In fact, the last places in the world to go to with the expectation of finding or learning truth, are the cities where the Gospel was preached in the first centuries after Christ, as Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, etc. Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before him, but began at once to preach.  The Papacy arose in part in this way: It was assumed that the places where the apostles, or some of them, had preached must have the truth in its purity, and that all men must take it from there. It was also assumed that the people of a city must know more of it than the people in the country or in a village. So, from all bishops being on an equality, as at the beginning, it soon came to pass that the "country bishops" (chorepiscopoi) were rated as secondary to those who officiated in the cities. Then, when that spirit crept in, of course the next step was necessarily a strife among the city bishops to see which one should be greatest; and the unholy struggle went on until Rome gained the coveted place of power.    But Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a place that was "little among the thousands of Judah" (Mic.5:2),

Mic 5:2  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 

 and nearly all His life He lived in Nazareth, a little town of so poor repute that a man in whom there was no guile said, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John 1:45-47.

Joh 1:45  Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 

Joh 1:46  And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 

Joh 1:47  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 

Afterward Jesus took up His abode in the wealthy city of Capernaum, but was always known as "Jesus of Nazareth." It is no farther to heaven from the smallest village or even the smallest lonely cabin on the plain, than it is from the largest city, or bishop's palace. And God, "the 70 high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy," dwells with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. Is.57:15.

 

Appearances Are Nothing

God looks at what a man is, and not at what he seems to be. What he seems to be is what men estimate him to be, and depends largely on the eyes of those who look at him; what he is, is the measure of the power and wisdom of God that is in him. God does not set any store upon official position. It is not position that gives authority, but authority that gives the real position. Many a humble, poor man on earth, with never an official title to his name, has occupied a position really higher and of greater authority than that of all the kings of the earth. Authority is the unfettered presence of God in the soul. 

The Glad Tidings

By E. J. WAGGONER

(Excerpt-  To be continued)

*******

1978 Aug -- THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND  (1)   -- Part 1 -- 

And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. Rev. 14:1

"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. 7:1-4

To what state of the church do these scriptures apply? Evidently to the present.  (2)  But as some doubt this position, we wish briefly to give some of the reasons for believing that the 144,000 are those who are alive, and are changed to immortality at the second advent.

I -- The 144,000 are introduced in prophecy among the preparatory scenes of the second advent. Reader, please take your Bible, and mark carefully the connection between the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Revelation. The thirteenth chapter, and the first five verses of the fourteenth, are a connected chain showing the sad history of the church during the 1260 years of Papal rule, which reached to within fifty years of this present time; also, her last struggle with the image beast, and the saints final and glorious deliverance. They stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb. The divisions of the chapters should be between the fifth and sixth verses of the fourteenth chapter. This anyone may see: for the sixth verse introduces another chain of events, which is not at all connected with the preceding chain. How very natural to suppose that John, after viewing the saints persecuted by the beast, and his image, would follow them but another step farther to Mount Zion with the Lamb.

"And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." Rev. xv, 2.

Rev. vii, 1-3, has been, and is still, held by Adventists, with very few exceptions, to apply to the preparatory scenes of the second advent. In fact it seems impossible to apply it anywhere else.

Mark this: John was shown, not things that were in the past, no, but "things which

p 2 -- must shortly come to pass." It is true that some allusions were made to the past, but it was only to explain the "things which must shortly come to pass," as in the case of the "woman," the "dragon," and the "man child" of chap. 12. This fact seems quite destructive of the view, that the 144,000 were raised at the time of the first advent.  (3)  If the prophecy relative to the 144,000 was fulfilled at the time of the first advent, then the faithful Witness, instead of doing what he said he would do, viz., "shew unto his servant, things which must shortly come to pass," showed John things that were all past, at least sixty years before he had his revelation on the isle of Patmos. The twelve tribes, of which the 144,000 are sealed, are the same as the apostle James addressed, A. D. 60.

"James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." James 1:1. This epistle is evidently addressed to the present state of the church; to that state when the people of God are waiting for the Lord, and in their disappointed, waiting, trying state, need much patience. "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Chap. 5:7. "Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Verse 8. From these scattered "tribes" who are exhorted to wait patiently for the Lord, the 144,000 are to be sealed.

II -- The history and description of the 144,000 apply to those who are to be changed at the coming of the Lord, and to no other class.

1 -- "Having his Father's name written in their foreheads." Said the true Witness to the Philadelphia church, "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more go out, and I will write upon him the name of my God." Where? "In their 'foreheads,'" just where John saw the "Father's name." Now just as sure as the Philadelphia church is the true church of the last days, just so sure the 144,000 are sealed, just before the coming of the Lord. (4)

2 -- They sing "as it were a new song," that none in all wide heaven, but the 144, 000 "could learn." "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." Chap. 15:3.

The song of Moses was the history and deliverance of Israel. The new song of the 144,000 will also be of their experience and their deliverance. The reason why none but the 144,000 can learn or sing this song, will be because the history and deliverance of no other class will be like those who pass through the time of trouble, and are changed to immortality "in the twinkling of an eye," at the coming of the Lord.

3 -- "These are they which were not defile with women." A woman is used as a symbol of the church. See Rev. 12:1-6; 17:1-6.

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 

Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 

Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 

Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 

Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 

Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 

The woman arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, on whose "forehead was a name written mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots," is the Catholic church. Her harlot daughters must there fore be the Protestant sects. They are the woman with whom the 144,000 are "not defiled." Why not defiled with them? Because they obey the voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, [be defiled,] and receive not of her plagues." Chap. 18:4.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

4 -- "These were redeemed from among men." Not out of their graves; no, no, - "from

p 3 -- among men." They must, therefore, be the living saints who are changed to immortality at the coming of the Lord. The sleeping saints are not "among men." Those who came out of their graves at the time of the first Advent were not among men. No, they were in the silent grave. Some say that the 144,000 were the infants slain by Herod. Those infants had been slain more than thirty years, and of course had returned to dust again. What folly to say that they were redeemed "from among men!" There is no consistency in such a view.  (3)  The simple truth on this point is this: The 144,000 are on the earth "among men" [the wicked] at the coming of Christ, and at the "voice of the Archangel" they are changed in a moment, and are "caught up" from among men to "meet the Lord."

5 -- "Being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb." The first fruits in this text, do not refer to the type - the "sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest," which the priest waved before the Lord "on the morrow after the Sabbath." Lev. 23:10-12. That was fulfilled in Christ. "Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." I Cor. 15: 23. Paul does not say, Christ and the 144,000 the first fruits, no, no; the 144,000 are a part of the great harvest, in the end of the world, of which the risen Saviour was a sample, or the first fruits. If Paul had said, Christ and 144,000 the first fruits, and there was no other testimony in the way, then we might with safety believe that they were raised at the first advent; but as it reads "Christ the first fruits," we think it safest and best to believe it as it reads.

"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. James 1:18. It will yet be more clearly seen that the living saints will be delivered by the voice of God, and have power over the nations before the second advent. Their captivity will be turned, and the yoke broken from off their neck, and "destroyed because of the anointing." See Isa. 10:27.

Isa 10:27  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. 

The latter rain - the outpouring of the Spirit - prior to the advent, will ripen the 144,000 for the harvest, while the other saints will be still sleeping in the grave. In this sense they will be "the first fruits unto God and the Lamb."

Then they will be "without fault before the throne." They will confess all their faults while Jesus is in the Sanctuary, ready to blot them out, and they will be borne away by the scapegoat, just before our High Priest comes out to bless his waiting people.

(1)	This article appeared in the Review and Herald, May 9, 1854. At the end of the article a notation reads - "the above article we wrote four years since. - Ed. Review." Elder James White was the editor, and the publishing committee was composed of Joseph Bates, J. N. Andrews, and Joseph Baker. We have received in recent months several letters asking about the 144,000, and commenting that they have heard little if anything concerning this subject in recent years from Adventist pulpits. We believe that it will be not only of interest, but also profitable to note what our spiritual forefathers taught and believed on this subject, hence our reproducing this article from the 1854 Review.
(2)	1n 1850, the time when this article was written (See footnote - above), Ellen G. White had written - ''in a view given June 27, 1850, my accompanying angel said, 'Time is almost finished.'" (Early Writings, p. 64) It is not the burden of this footnote to explain why the long delay, but merely to point out that in the mind of the editor the prophecy concerning the 144,000 applied specifically to the living saints at  -- page 4 --     the end of time. This exegesis is still valid, in spite of the delay, as proven in the points made by Elder James White in the article.
(3)	In this article, Elder White answers certain theories and speculations current in his day regarding who the 144,000 were. The internal evidence in the article indicates that some connected the antitypical "first fruits" of the wave offering with the 144,000 as first fruits, and concluded the saints who arose at the time of Christ's resurrection were the 144,000. (See Lev. 23:10-11; Matt. 27:52-53; Rev. 14:4) Some evidently went so far as to identify them as the children slain by Herod at the time of Christ's birth. These positions Elder White ably refutes.
(4)	The position taken by White in regard to the ''true church'' being the Philadelphian was the common belief of our spiritual forefathers. Elder Joseph Bates in the very first issue of the Review (November, 1850), wrote on "The Laodicean Church." He divided the then religious world into three parts in his final paragraph, writing:     First part, Sardis, the nominal church or Babylon. Second part, Laodicea, the nominal Adventist. Third part, Philadelphia, the only true church of God on earth, for they ask to be translated to the city of God. Rev. 3:12; Heb. 12:22-24. Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.  Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,  Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.  In the name of Jesus, I exhort you again to flee from the Laodiceans, as from Sodom and Gomorrah. Their teachings are false and delusive; and lead to utter destruction. Death! DEATH! eternal DEATH! is on their track. Remember Lot's wife. Ellen G. White in her very first vision connected the 144,000 with the Philadelphian church period. She wrote -       "The 144,000 were all sealed and perfectly united. On their foreheads was written, God, New Jerusalem, and a glorious star containing Jesus' new name." (Early Writings, p. 15. See Rev. 3:12) Our problem today is really simple. Since Adventists in name have grown in numbers far beyond the number, 144,000, some accommodation must be found, so theories concerning who will constitute the 144,000 have arisen in recent decades. Since we have sought to convince the laity that Laodicea is the true church and is going through, we have virtually denied the original position of the spiritual forefathers of this Movement and have allowed for a "great multitude" to enter the gates with the 144,000 out of the last generation. This not only supposedly solves the 144,000 problem, but it also massages our "ego''. Whether we like the implications or not, in the final countdown, the warning and admonition of Joseph Bates will be found to have been very apropos.

THE FALLACIES OF SATAN ARE NOW BEING MULTIPLIED,

AND THOSE WHO SWERVE FROM THE PATH OF TRUTH WILL LOOSE THEIR BEARINGS. HAVING NOTHING TO WHICH TO ANCHOR,

THEY WILL DRIFT FROM ONE DELUSION TO ANOTHER,

BLOWN ABOUT BY THE WINDS OF STRANGE DOCTRINES.

SATAN HAS COME DOWN WITH GREAT POWER. (Evangelism,p. 362) 

p 5 -- A PSYCHIATRIC ANALYSIS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS -- Concerning Lucifer, it is written:       How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. (Isa. 14:12-14)

These verses tell us that he who was highest among the angelic host became an ego maniac, possessed with delusions of grandeur. For a created being (Eze. 25:15) to believe that he could be God - like the Most High - was sheer insanity. His mental powers became warped. "Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness" is the Divine diagnosis. (Eze. 28:17)

Our adversary, the devil and Satan, is brilliantly insane. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but. . . against wicked spirits in heavenly places." (Eph. 6:12 margin) And "though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.)" (II Cor. 10:3-4) God has not provided human munitions guns, grenades, and rockets. We have not been given the power to cope with the physical aspects of the devil's activities - God holds that intervention in His own hands - but we have been provided a spiritual arsenal. (Eph. 6:11, 13-18)

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

1 am amazed that so many sincere saints become enamored with sensational presentations of the material workings of Satan in the children of disobedience, and yet continue to be deceived by the spiritual sophistry under the guise of "present truth", or even so-called "righteousness by faith."

Another aspect of Satan's insanity is that he is a schizophrenic in the basic meaning of the word - a split personality influencing and encouraging sadistic responses in humanity and at the same time voicing through others lofty ideals of peace. A case in point - while the instruments of Communistic infiltration in Africa are committing acts of murder, the one whom the Scriptures declare to be the embodiment of "all iniquity" calls for peace in Africa. Of this mental derangement in Satan we have been informed. We are told while Satan will appear as "a benefactor of the race" and "present a new and more exalted system of religious faith" he will "at the same time" work "as a destroyer." (Great Controversy, p. 589) He delights in "war" and incites "the nations to war against one another." He has studied "the secrets of the laboratories of nature" and unleashes the elements in sadistic destruction of life and property. "While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and destruction." (Ibid.) Yet when he will come personating Christ, his voice will be "soft and subdued, yet full of melody," and "in gentle, compassionate tones," he will present "gracious, heavenly truths." (Great Controversy, p. 624)

Since Satan himself will be transformed into an angel of light, it is now "no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness." (II Cor.

p 6 -- 11:15) Herein is the great deception which is being practiced on the world, and even in the Church. It is not some future delusion when Satan appears as Christ that should cause us the greatest concern, but the present for "many" are standing "in our pulpits, with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan." (Testimonies to Ministers, pp. 409-410)

The cause for the insanity of Lucifer is given by Christ Himself. Jesus stated clearly to the Jewish hierarchy concerning the devil - "He ... abode not in the truth." (John 8:44). The only cure for insanity is truth, and the only prevention of deception is truth. We need to recognize that to the degree we are deceived to that degree we become likewise insane. Delusions of grandeur are not limited alone to him who first rebelled, but to those who conceive of "the true church" being exalted in this world where Satan will ultimately hold universal sway are likewise lipping the same delusion. Furthermore, the real diagnosis of the spiritual malady afflicting Laodicea is that of insanity. What would you think of a person going down the main street of town completely naked, yet telling the authorities when being arrested for indecent exposure that he was fully clothed? Yet this is the description of Laodicea:- "Thou sayest, I ... have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art ... naked." (Rev. 3:17)

To Laodicea is offered "white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." (Rev. 3:18) This "white raiment" - the righteousness of Christ - is declared to be "pure, unadulterated truth." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 65) But this we refused to accept in 1888, and still refuse to heed. Is it any wonder then, that the servant of the Lord wrote in 1890 - "Since the Minneapolis meeting, I have seen the state of the Laodicean Church as never before." (Review & Herald, Aug. 26, 1890) And whether we like it or not, this state of spiritual insanity has only increased as we have gone from one delusion to another.

The only solution to our desperate mental illness is "the mind of Christ." Paul wrote, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 2:5) This "mind of Christ" is more than mere lip service to "righteousness by faith" - it is Truth - the revealed will and purposes of God! And no where in all the Scriptures is the truth of God revealed in relationship to our adversary the devil and Satan, than in the book of Revelation - which is the very message of God through Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:1) The book of Revelation unveils for us the "true church" of these last days: the real meaning of the "beast" which wars against the saints, and opens his mouth in blasphemy against the tabernacle of God in heaven.

We are told:       ''By a variety of images the Lord Jesus represented to John the wicked character and seductive influence of those who have been distinguished for their persecution of God's people. All need wisdom carefully to search out the mystery of iniquity that figures so largely in the winding up of this earth's history." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 118)

Satan in his insanity manifests himself in various ways and "has different delusions prepared to affect different minds." (Early Writings, p. 261) With every wind of doctrine blowing, whatever "sensational" revelations are projected as truth which do not include the "mystery of iniquity which figures so largely in the winding up of this world's

p 7 -- history" need to be taken with the proverbial "grain of salt." And when within the Church, the man of sin, the mystery of iniquity, is hailed by an official representative of the Church as "Holy Father", we need to take alarm. The truth of the Word of God alone can keep us mentally in balance; and that Truth and that Word is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who prevailed as the Lamb to open the book of prophecy.

UPDATE -- The Reader's Digest (July, 1978) -- published excerpts from the Diary of Dr. Billy Graham telling of his visit to Hungary last September. The first notation reads:    Saturday, September 3. A delegation of church leaders met us at the Budapest airport, led by Rev. Sandor Palotay, President of the Council of Free Churches. (p. 110)

Spotlight, a weekly newspaper from Washington D C, in its July 3 issue, also commented on the Graham Crusade in Hungary. It noted:    In Hungary the recent Billy Graham Crusade was the apparent victim of extortion. The agent who arranged both sites and audiences for the crusade was Sandor Palatoy, a communist whose only allegiances are to money and state - in that order. (p. 6)

Previous to this, we reported to you in the December, 1977 issue of "Watchman, What of the Night?" about the news item in The Voice of Prophecy News (Vol. 35, #11, p. 5) which showed a picture of "an Hungarian national treasure," a painting presented to Graham by Sandor Palotay. The news item read - "Himself a Seventh-day Adventist, Palotay is president of the Council of Free Churches in Hungary." A similar news item appeared in the Southern Tidings (September, 1977, p. 9), the official organ of the Southern Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It read:        Evangelist Billy Graham has accepted an invitation to hold a crusade in Hungary. Graham's acceptance was announced jointly by the evangelist and Sandor Polatai chairman of the Council of Free Church in Hungary. Polatai extended the invitation to Graham while in the United States for a General Council meeting of the Baptist World Alliance. Himself a Seventh-day Adventist, Polatai represents the eight evangelical churches in Hungary.

Religious News Service in its "Week in Religion" (Oct. 14, 1977) observed that "Mr. Graham's visit ... was sponsored by the Council of Free Churches, an alliance of Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, and other denominations." "The Voice of the Martyrs" a publication of Jesus to the Communist to the World, Inc., told of repression in Hungary. It stated - "Those harassed by the Communists denounce a certain Palyotai as on the traitors who gave them into the hands of the police; this is the man who invited Billy Graham to preach in Hungary." (Jan. 78, p2)

p 8 -- In the latest Seventh-day Adventist Year Book (1976) available to me as I write, Sandor Polatai (Palatoy, Palyotai) is not listed as a minister of the Church. Billy Graham in his diary calls him - "Rev." - indicating that for Graham he is a minister. Our own publications refer to him as a "Seventh-day Adventist." Other news releases are not so flattering in describing his connections and his work. It is interesting that a Seventh-day Adventist minister represent the Baptist Church at its General Council. Further, how is the Seventh-day Adventist Church associated together with the Pentecostals, and other "evangelical" religious groups in the Council of Free Churches in Hungary? These are questions that should be answered by the Editor of the Adventist Review. But so far, only a strange silence. If the Editor is running true to form, he will tell any who write to him that WWN sees something "sinister" in what is taking place, but really there is nothing to be concerned about, because I have not obtained "reliable" sources upon which to base my concerns. Again, you, the reader, can judge the sources quoted in this Update. Whatever the explanation is, it needs the light of day. If any do write to Editor Wood, and he sends you an explanation, please send us a copy for our information. Thank you.         

1967 AGAIN -- In Newsweek (June 19, 1978, p. 21) appeared this comment:      Since 1967, the value of the dollar has declined 47.6 per cent. ...

When we recognize that the word for "Gentiles" in Luke 21:24, and the word for 11 nations" in Luke 21:25 are identical in the Greek, we can understand that the year 1967 not only marks the date when the "times of the Gentiles" was fulfilled, but also the date for the beginning of the "distress of nations with perplexity."

The word translated, "distress" gives the picture of nations imprisoned, in the straits, or narrows, and the nature of these forces are described in the phrase, it with perplexity" (Greek), or in financial difficulties. Moulton and Milligan in their Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (pp. 67-68) quote from the papyri and other nonliterary sources that this word both in its verb and noun forms signifies poverty, bankruptcy, a state where even though one has financial resources, they are insufficient to meet the expenditures of living, thus qualifying the individual for "Poor relief." Today, and since 1967, the nations of earth faced with the ever increasing demands to supply the requirements ' for a higher standard of living, have permitted inflation with the resulting devaluation of the currency. C. V. Myers, the Canadian financial expert, stated back in 1974:       It has now been established over the course of the last seven years - since 1967 - that there is nothing in this world the international monetary authorities can do ... to avoid the enormous deflation - the global liquidity crunch - and the resulting depressions ...

For seven years things have gone from bad to worse; the US$ has been devalued; inflation has undermined world confidence in money; and now the bankruptcies come.(Myers' Finance and Energy, July 4, 1974, pp. 2-3)

Isn't it time that we did some real thinking on the prophecy of Jesus in Luke 21?

p 9 -- IN THE UNION PAPERS -- A couple of readers in Canada sent us an article appearing in the Canadian Adventist Messenger (May 18, 1978, p. 4). It was written by M. Carol Hetzell of the General Conference Communications Department. (We have also seen the same article in the Central Union Reaper.) This article told of the appointment of a 115 member special Commission on Maintaining Church Unity. This commission studied the nominating committee process for the election of the officers of the General Conference and recommended that at all future sessions an "electronic computer voting" procedure be implemented. Four discussion groups devoted their time to the part the layman, the pastor, and the Holy Spirit was to play in a finished work. Then a significant sentence was written by Miss Hetzell. It reads:      There was no discussion on doctrines, for those on which the church has its foundation stand firmly on the Word of God.

Do not the leaders of the Church know that it was in the area of doctrine that disunity and dissension entered the Church about 1950, and that it has continued unabated since then? Are they unaware that some of the basic truths upon which the Church did stand have been altered, and heretical concepts have been substituted? Has Elder Pierson forgotten that he placed his imprimatur on the book Movement of Destiny with its error and heresy? To merely dress up the machinery of the Church so that it will function more rapidly and smoothly, and not address the real issues of disunity is to continue to keep the laity of the Church in a fatal security until it will be too late!

Vatican City -- U. S. News and World Report (May 22, 1978) carried a report on the "ministates" of Europe. Among these was Vatican City. Concerning its government and territory, the article noted:      This is the temporal estate of the Pope, who is also the spiritual leader of the world's Roman Catholics. Nobody owns property here except the Pope, and nobody pays taxes, not even Paul, himself.

Only the Pope is a citizen of the Vatican for life. There are 370 temporary citizens; they perform official duties and carry Vatican passports. (p. 68)

"WE KNOW FALSEHOODS

ARE COMING IN LIKE A SWIFT CURRENT,

AND THAT IS JUST THE REASON WHY WE WANT EVERY RAY OF LIGHT THAT GOD HAS FOR US,

THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO STAND AMID THE PERILS OF THE LAST DAYS." Review & Herald, March 4, 1890

---(1978 Aug) -

"Watchman, What of the Night? " Thought Paper.  Adventist Laymen's Foundation.  (Excerpt) AUG 1978