The Straight Testimony of the True Witness
If you ask the average Christian what this title means, they will probably go, “Huh?” If you ask the average Adventist pastor, he might get a little nervous. Frankly, we should all get nervous, but probably not for the same reason the pastor would.
In my denominational subculture, we expect that “the Straight Testimony of the True Witness will be revived.” This revival we’ve been told, by a certain authoritative little woman, would happen before Christ returns. And Adventist pastors here and there in their travels have run across a very forceful, conservative/fundamentalist type who stood up on a soapbox and accused the pastor of apostasy. It seems endemic in our subculture, even though much of the time our little “prophets” have been shortsighted and unbalanced, and more angry at a personality than at sin. Love was not their motive.
The straight testimony is a remnant of the Protestant Reformation when men stood up with the Bible under their arm, and rebuked the Church for its evil and fraud and error. It took much more courage to do that in those dark ages than it does today, especially in America, land of the freedom of speech. Usually those reformers paid for the freedom of conscience and speech with their life. Though they have been long forgotten, we can thank those brave men and women for the freedoms we enjoy today in this, the greatest nation ever in the history of the world. We have shown them great dishonor by forgetting the sacrifice they endured to secure liberty of conscience and to provide for their children the legacy of truth spelled out in the Holy Bible.
But that straight testimony goes back much further in history than the Reformation. Many prophets in the Old Testament were moved by the Spirit of God to expose the sins of the leaders and to call for accountability. With force of words by the influence of the Holy Spirit they were compelled to rein up evil before the court of Heaven in such a magnitude that the leader was hushed and blushed and convicted. When Jonah preached to the Ninevites, the scriptures says that they didn’t hear Jonah speaking, they heard Yahweh talking to them, the God who destroyed Egypt and Sodom. They “believed God” and hurried to proclaim a fast. But, although Jonah walked away from that preaching, many prophets were executed for their exposing of sin.
The phrase “Straight Testimony of the True Witness” is taken from the Bible. Revelation 3:14 describes Christ as the faithful and true witness. In the following text He points out the hypocritical, yet blatant carelessness, of the church just before His return. There is a rebuking and a chastening, and then an offer for something better. Then it closes with the beautiful imagery of Christ knocking at the door of the heart, not demanding entrance but requesting the door be opened, wooing and understanding and beckoning, through the thick barrier, the disciplined one, and promising a wonderful experience together should His loving avowals be received and the stubborn and proud heart accept Him again. He is not only straight-talking, but also a “faithful” friend.
Straight testimony filled John the Baptist. The fear and love for God drove him to accuse the nation of apostasy. But while he told it like it was, love was in his voice and word, the tender love of a father. Thousands responded. This same fatherliness characterized Paul. It was from concern that he berated the Corinthians and set them straight. And they turned around and loved him for it. It was the balance of mercy and justice that formed an endearing bond of trust that no amount of deception could lure them away from. They saw the fruit of the Holy Spirit and they recognized the good tree. Yet as great as these two men became by their association with Christ, they were but the false summits, only foothills, flanking the great mountain of righteousness and exalted grandeur, Jesus, the faithful and true Witness. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and He shall be called wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.”
If people are afraid of the straight testimony today, it’s only because they have been abused by the devil’s brand of straight talk, which has no mercy in it because he doesn’t know what love is. Listen to him imitate Samuel and “discipline” King Saul. “Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as He spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David; because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee in the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” 1Sam. 28:16-19.
This was not Samuel, who yearned for Saul, and loved him (1Sam. 15:35). And even though he had some harsh rebukes for Saul while he was still living, he communicated a father’s love to Saul in his expressions and in his bearing. This imposter coming up before the spiritualist was Satan, the great deceiver. He loves to angrily load people down with guilt and then never provide a way for repentance.
The Lord of love will rebuke and chasten, but “He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities....Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Ps. 103:9, 10, 13. “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb. 12:6, 11. “Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for the night; but joy cometh in the morning.” Ps. 30:4, 5.
We have some straight talk coming our way. The Lord will raise up servants who will speak boldly for Him. Sin will be pointed out instead of varnished over. Repentance will be called for. Like the preaching of John the Baptist and Elijah, this calling out of sin will again be aimed right at the church. “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird....Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18:2,4,5. And false grace, the kind of “grace” that disdains straight testimony and dismisses God’s Law, the intoxicating “wine of the wrath of her fornication,” (vs. 3) will be the cause of the church’s final and utter downfall, and the sin that is awarded double punishment for its ability to completely enslave and destroy souls.
“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men....for the love of Christ constraineth us.” 2Cor. 5:11, 14. That final message to the world will be full of love, tough love if that’s what it takes.
In my denominational subculture, we expect that “the Straight Testimony of the True Witness will be revived.” This revival we’ve been told, by a certain authoritative little woman, would happen before Christ returns. And Adventist pastors here and there in their travels have run across a very forceful, conservative/fundamentalist type who stood up on a soapbox and accused the pastor of apostasy. It seems endemic in our subculture, even though much of the time our little “prophets” have been shortsighted and unbalanced, and more angry at a personality than at sin. Love was not their motive.
The straight testimony is a remnant of the Protestant Reformation when men stood up with the Bible under their arm, and rebuked the Church for its evil and fraud and error. It took much more courage to do that in those dark ages than it does today, especially in America, land of the freedom of speech. Usually those reformers paid for the freedom of conscience and speech with their life. Though they have been long forgotten, we can thank those brave men and women for the freedoms we enjoy today in this, the greatest nation ever in the history of the world. We have shown them great dishonor by forgetting the sacrifice they endured to secure liberty of conscience and to provide for their children the legacy of truth spelled out in the Holy Bible.
But that straight testimony goes back much further in history than the Reformation. Many prophets in the Old Testament were moved by the Spirit of God to expose the sins of the leaders and to call for accountability. With force of words by the influence of the Holy Spirit they were compelled to rein up evil before the court of Heaven in such a magnitude that the leader was hushed and blushed and convicted. When Jonah preached to the Ninevites, the scriptures says that they didn’t hear Jonah speaking, they heard Yahweh talking to them, the God who destroyed Egypt and Sodom. They “believed God” and hurried to proclaim a fast. But, although Jonah walked away from that preaching, many prophets were executed for their exposing of sin.
The phrase “Straight Testimony of the True Witness” is taken from the Bible. Revelation 3:14 describes Christ as the faithful and true witness. In the following text He points out the hypocritical, yet blatant carelessness, of the church just before His return. There is a rebuking and a chastening, and then an offer for something better. Then it closes with the beautiful imagery of Christ knocking at the door of the heart, not demanding entrance but requesting the door be opened, wooing and understanding and beckoning, through the thick barrier, the disciplined one, and promising a wonderful experience together should His loving avowals be received and the stubborn and proud heart accept Him again. He is not only straight-talking, but also a “faithful” friend.
Straight testimony filled John the Baptist. The fear and love for God drove him to accuse the nation of apostasy. But while he told it like it was, love was in his voice and word, the tender love of a father. Thousands responded. This same fatherliness characterized Paul. It was from concern that he berated the Corinthians and set them straight. And they turned around and loved him for it. It was the balance of mercy and justice that formed an endearing bond of trust that no amount of deception could lure them away from. They saw the fruit of the Holy Spirit and they recognized the good tree. Yet as great as these two men became by their association with Christ, they were but the false summits, only foothills, flanking the great mountain of righteousness and exalted grandeur, Jesus, the faithful and true Witness. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and He shall be called wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.”
If people are afraid of the straight testimony today, it’s only because they have been abused by the devil’s brand of straight talk, which has no mercy in it because he doesn’t know what love is. Listen to him imitate Samuel and “discipline” King Saul. “Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as He spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David; because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee in the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” 1Sam. 28:16-19.
This was not Samuel, who yearned for Saul, and loved him (1Sam. 15:35). And even though he had some harsh rebukes for Saul while he was still living, he communicated a father’s love to Saul in his expressions and in his bearing. This imposter coming up before the spiritualist was Satan, the great deceiver. He loves to angrily load people down with guilt and then never provide a way for repentance.
The Lord of love will rebuke and chasten, but “He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities....Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Ps. 103:9, 10, 13. “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb. 12:6, 11. “Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for the night; but joy cometh in the morning.” Ps. 30:4, 5.
We have some straight talk coming our way. The Lord will raise up servants who will speak boldly for Him. Sin will be pointed out instead of varnished over. Repentance will be called for. Like the preaching of John the Baptist and Elijah, this calling out of sin will again be aimed right at the church. “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird....Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Rev. 18:2,4,5. And false grace, the kind of “grace” that disdains straight testimony and dismisses God’s Law, the intoxicating “wine of the wrath of her fornication,” (vs. 3) will be the cause of the church’s final and utter downfall, and the sin that is awarded double punishment for its ability to completely enslave and destroy souls.
“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men....for the love of Christ constraineth us.” 2Cor. 5:11, 14. That final message to the world will be full of love, tough love if that’s what it takes.
posted by David | 7:57 PM
2 Comments:
I've run in to a few people lately that were more concerned about personality than sin. It is hard to deal with at times.
Straight testimony isn't always easy to take, it's true. However, as you so aptly put it, there are many self proclaimed prophets out there that don't really know what they are saying and doing.
Lord help us all!
Amen, without God's help, there is none who will be saved.
Attended ASI 2 years and never ceases to amaze me how many self-proclaimed prophets are out there. Each hoping to build up a following and have their face on the front cover of a book. EGW referred to them as 'One Idea Men' who build their entire theology on one verse or concept.
Anyway, I'm still not sure what the straight testimony is. Most of my life, I've heard so many different opinions. However, as I bow before my God and ask for Him to lead me, I trust that I will come into better understanding as time passes.
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