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.
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(1)
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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.
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(2)
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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.
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(3)
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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.
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(4)
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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.
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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
