When is the truth not the truth?

When is a boy not a boy? When he turns into a store.

But, seriously, when is a doctrine a true doctrine and when is it not? When is scripture interpreted correctly? When is it “walking in craftiness, … handling the word of God deceitfully” (2Cor. 4:2), “hold[ing] the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18)? This next quarter in the adult Sabbath School we study the rules for interpreting scripture.

Supposedly, there are 33,000 denominations. Who knows how accurate that allegation is. But, no doubt, there are many non-denominational churches that do not affiliate themselves with the old standard-bearer, mainline denominations. And maybe the non-denominational churches were all counted as “denominations”. But, what does Protestantism stand for? They all claim sola scriptura, “The Bible and the Bible only”. But they are all conflicting with each other, or else there would be one denomination.

So, how could there be such conflict among the children of the great Reformation? How did it get to this point where it seems anything goes? “In those days there was no king in [Protestantism]: every [church does] that which was right in [its] own eyes.” (Jdg. 21:25). Could the confusion come from the interpretation methods they hold of the Bible?

Don’t get me wrong—I love to see people, even Sunday churches, reading and studying the Bible. But, how does the Bible get understood by such a broad spectrum of interpretations, and leave the descendants of the Reformation so divided? The old enemy of the Dark Ages is coming back to life. We need to be united—and not around only a few doctrines. We need to be united around “every word of God” (Luke 4:4).

Maybe you’ve had this problem. I might read a Bible statement and interpret it metaphorically. But another person uses a literal interpretation for the same statement. I saw this happen after an Adventist funeral. I knew the Catholic sister of a deceased Adventist member of our church. This sister had a deep knowledge of Catholic doctrine. As is typical, the Adventist pastor used the funeral for an opportunity to explain the biblical understanding of the state of the dead. I sat next to her because I wanted to ask her, after the service ended, what she thought of the pastor’s explanation of Job 14:12-15 (“till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep”), and Luke 16:19-31 (the rich man and Lazarus). The pastor’s sermon was very well put together and clear that Job understood the true state of the dead, and Christ’s parable of the rich man was just that, a parable of a deeper lesson that the Jews were on the verge of committing the unpardonable sin that would result in a “great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26) between them and the Lord God of Israel.

But, I turned to the Catholic woman to hear her say, “I now understand what the Bible says about the dead! Praise the Lord!” And, she simply said, “Job is a parable. And the rich man and Lazarus is literal.”

We have these statements:

“The track of truth lies close beside the track of error, and both tracks may seem to be one to minds which are not worked by the Holy Spirit, and which, therefore, are not quick to discern the difference between truth and error.” Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 202.

“As truth and error appear so near akin, minds that are not guided by the Holy Spirit will be led to accept the error and, in so doing, place themselves under the power of Satan’s deceptions. In thus leading people to receive error for truth, Satan is working to secure the homage of the Protestant world.” Christ Triumphant, p. 324.

Later on, as I read Job I could see why the Job account could be seen as a parable. There was a lot of repetition of statements that sounds like an Aesop’s fable.

For instance:

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1).

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8).

A little change-up of wording by the writers of Job would have avoided the rote-like, fairy tale effect. It can give the impression of some uncultured, undeveloped narrator’s lines of a skit from medieval times. But, is this necessarily correct conclusion? There are other repetitiveness with a similar effect elsewhere in the Bible.

“Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 

Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 

Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 

That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 

Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” (Dan. 3:2-7).

The repetition of exact phrases gives the impression that Nebuchadnezzar was a character reading a script that had a lot of copy/pasting going on in it. And some other, not so blatant examples, such as,

“And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.” (Dan. 2:1).

“And [Jesus] said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:” (Luke 22:15).

Maybe the repetition made the account of Job sound like a fable with a moral at the end, but, as we can see, repetition was a common practice in Israel. In fact, almost everywhere in scripture you see parallelism poetry spoken.

 “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isa. 46:9,10).

Does our Creator really speak in poetry all the time? I can’t say definitively, but in scripture it happens everywhere. Was it a form of reverence or formalism to make the declarations of God’s word like that? What it Holy Spirit driven? Look at Isaiah 55. Every single verse contains parallel thought, even multiple parallelisms. It is beautiful. It flows so nicely, you can make a song out of it. And the parallelisms make scripture easier to memorize.

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 

Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 

Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee. 

Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: 

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. 

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” (Isa. 55:1-13).

So back to Job. I’m not sure why else it would be taken allegorically. Satan in heaven? That could be hard for some to wrap their mind around. An enlarged understanding of the great controversy would certainly be helpful here. And, folks, I believe we have this great need out there now, and coming in the Latter Rain. There’s a lot of misconceptions and vast holes in the bigger picture that we have the resources to fill. We have a huge blessing to share with a protestant world that still has a lot of ignorance concerning the scriptures. And all the doctrinal holes we can fill, we have a lot to learn about imbedding Jesus and the loving character of God in all the truths and doctrines. It must not be straight facts and figures and proof texts. In that case, the letter killeth unless the Spirit maketh alive. Let’s not be guilty of that heinous crime. We have a Bible study reform to start in Adventism. Jesus must be central, and I think we have lost that reform that began in 1888. Even the preachers of righteousness by faith too often keep Jesus out of it. It seems that, for them, it’s all about Paul. But, Paul would have chastised us for that.

“Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? 

I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; 

Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. 

And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.” (1Cor. 1:13-16).

But, it seems we are back to baptizing in the name of Paul or James or Moses or Ellen White. But every one of them would have had something so say against that.

“ If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.” (Deut. 28:58,59).

What are some other issues in Bible interpretations?

“Many a portion of Scripture which learned men pronounce a mystery, or pass over as unimportant, is full of comfort and instruction to him who has been taught in the school of Christ. One reason why many theologians have no clearer understanding of God’s word is, they close their eyes to truths which they do not wish to practice. As understanding of Bible truth depends not so much on the power of intellect brought to the search as on the singleness of purpose, the earnest longing after righteousness.” The Great Controversy, p. 599.

If we all had singleness of purpose, wouldn’t we all be united around Jesus, the Spirit of truth? Now this is a major obstacle to hurdle. Singleness of purpose, as in, Is our mind fully dedicated to the will of God?

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil [skewed], thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matt. 6:22,23).

This is a big source of confusion. Everyone deciding truth by what is deemed right in their own eyes. That’s why Israel needed a king. But he had to be a godly king, who had a constant love for communion with the heavenly King of kings. Thus the king would have a love of the truth, and escape the lusts of the flesh and the pleasures of unrighteousness.

So, justification and sanctification have a lot to do with understanding the Bible correctly. When people join the church without being born again and being transformed by the renewing of their mind, without renouncing their old conforming to the world, they are bound to misinterpret the word of God.

So, if I refuse to take off my jewelry, what am I going to do with 1 Peter 3:3 “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price”? I’m going to rationalize and call it a metaphor when it is a literal exhortation.

If I couldn’t live plainly in the image God created me to have, what would I do with Genesis 35:1-5? Rationalize again?

“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 

Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 

And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 

And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 

And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.”

But, after so many witnesses of the truth of God’s will, if I don’t conform to God’s instruction in righteousness, then I will have to throw out the Bible altogether. Or, I will find a Bible version that suits me just fine by glazing over my personal idols. There’s a lot of Bibles to choose from these days. It seems a new and improved NIV comes out every several years, 1973, 1978, 1983, 2011. And new version of other Bibles are coming out every year. Will that add to or subtract from the disunity among the supposedly defunct Reformation?

So what’s the harm with a few idols? Are we better off than Rachel?

“And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? 

And Jacob answered and said to Laban,…

With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. 

And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maidservants’ tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. 

Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. 

 And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images.” (Gen. 31:30-35).

If we don’t want to do what the Bible says and warns us away from, yet we want to be counted in the kingdom, then we will not know the whole counsel of God. Idols are devastating to knowing the Bible and the God of the Bible. We want to have certainty of salvation. We want to know that “Thou God seest me.” (Gen. 16:13). We want an experience in the things of God We want to know that He hears our prayers. But, His conditions for all that are made clear. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” (Prov. 28:9). “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33).

Let’s be single-hearted and single-eyed and we will see the salvation of the Lord. The Bible will make sense. It will come together as one great masterpiece of a treatise on how to build the approaching kingdom of God. Let us go to the Spirit of Prophecy, even the testimonies for the church, to see ourselves as God sees us. Let the mighty cleaver of truth square and fit us up. At the first, we will be offended, but after all the “shaking among God’s people” by “the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans”, the “agonizing cries, pleading with God” “with strong faith”, the “pale” “countenances” “marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle”, the “firmness and great earnestness”, the “large drops of perspiration”, the “solemn, earnest, anxious look” that “would settle upon them, the “deep repentance”, “the severe conflict”, “the agonizing struggle”. Early Writings, p. 269, 270. But after that exercising of faith we will have “the peaceable fruit of righteousness”.

“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. 12:11).

“For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psa. 30:5).

If we find truth unwelcome, all is not lost for us. Divine grace has a caveat for that.

“If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” (2Cor. 8:12). Give God what you do have. Choose to be a Christian. Hope thou in God.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” (Psa. 42:11).

If we are willing to be made willing, then Jesus will work with our reticence to obey. But, we must follow through by going to the perfect law of liberty, and stand before it in hope that despite its searing and blinding light upon our idols, yet, the God of love, the Spirit of truth, will not give us more than we can take. Give Him what gifts of obedience you have, and hold it out that there will be more expected in His timing. And He will meet you more than half way. There needs to be a coming together of earnest seeking after God. And if we knock in hope and faith He will open the door, if we ask in all seriousness He will answer, if we seek in total desperation to have Him, then we will find Him. for He has promised,

“And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” (Jer. 29:14).

Only an authentic prophet can correctly handle the word of God. Only they are “holy men [and women] of God…moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2Pet. 1:21). However, in the same breath, the very next verse says, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2Pet. 2:1).

Killed with Jesus

“I am crucified....” (Gal. 2:20).

Not simply a ceremony, baptism means the soul turned white with death, struck dead with the centurion.

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?…

Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;… 

Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. ” (Matt. 27:46,50,51,54).

This goliath hardened by years of warfare, what, in regard to commonplace death, could awaken in him anything noteworthy? Yet, his cry ejected from a mouth framed in abject astonishment and horror. Caught in his own death grip, not a hydraulic plug could have stopped the expressed dying within the centurion. “Aaghhh! My God! Truly this was the SON OF GOD!”

This was no silent knee jerk reaction, but total loss of composure and whole body convulsions.

“These words were said in no whispered tones. All eyes were turned to see whence they came. Who had spoken? It was the centurion, the Roman soldier. The divine patience of the Saviour, and His sudden death, with the cry of victory upon His lips, had impressed this heathen. In the bruised, broken body hanging upon the cross, the centurion recognized the form of the Son of God. He could not refrain from confessing his faith.” Desire of Ages, p. 770.

“What hath God wrought!” (Num. 23:23). Conviction! From the Holy Ghost, the power of the Most High! When He cometh He will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment! The centurion saw through his objective eyes what resistant priestly eyes would feign see. He saw a principled Prince, a well-mannered, merciful Commander. He saw a conquering King in the final throes as a victim of collateral casualty while His loyal soldiers would all take the battle forward without Him, and in honor of Him. The centurion was floored.

Could we be there with the centurion, what would our own death to pride and emptiness of self sound like, look like?! What testimony would eject from our mouths before we could think to keep it in? “If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:40). I’ve been hit by hornets before and my feet took me away without my consent or command. Before I could tell them, “Giddy up, now, pronto, hurry!” (and my brain did catch up with my feet), I was quite a distance from ground zero. But, in a spiritual sense, when the soul is shell-shocked by a long blitz of evidence, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34), heart stony or not. Though sound bytes and bits of stone come hurling out of the mouth, God will be praised.

Could we be there with the centurion, what would our own death sound like, look like? What demolitions of soul and slaughter of pride?! Total devastation, total wreckage. “Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” (Joel 2:30)?

“Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations He hath made in the earth.” (Psa. 46:8).

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3).

Were you ever baptized with death, “baptized with the baptism” (Matt. 20:23)?

Were you ever baptized into Jesus’ death like the centurion was? Have you ever died beside Jesus?Have you been crucified with Christ? Have I been? Lately? And nevertheless live? Is this what drove Paul to the ends of the Mediterranean world and to the height of the Imperial government? Is this what gave the apostles boldness and courage in the face of often deadly situations? The image of the dead, victorious Son of God branded on their minds, just behind the skin of their foreheads? Is this what made the Reformers lay down their lives? Is it what will bring in the Latter Rain? Baptized into dying with the crucified King?

The knife of the Passover was to take the life when the second hand of the hourglass on the 14th of Nisan moved across the singular moment that the last gleam shined forth from the sinking Sun into the shade of Nisan 15. Timing ranked high for this unique sacrifice. It was exactly the very, very, very end of the day, simultaneous with the very, very, very beginning of night.

That requirement must have signified our focus on the very point of death for the Prince of life, slipping under eternal separation from His beloved Daddy. At that moment with all heaven looking on in stunned awe at their High Priest, He still maintaining mercy for all His murderers who potentially could be struck with fear and repentance, and might accept His gift, His greatest pleasure and joy with the holy Father “for ever, even for ever and ever.” (Dan. 7:18). The beginning of a dark, everlasting end for the Son of God would mean the beginning of unending day for His grateful, beloved children.

“The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.

With amazement angels witnessed the Saviour’s despairing agony. The hosts of heaven veiled their faces from the fearful sight. Inanimate nature expressed sympathy with its insulted and dying Author. The sun refused to look upon the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. Complete darkness, like a funeral pall, enveloped the cross.” Desire of Ages, p. 753.

“At the ninth hour the darkness lifted from the people, but still enveloped the Saviour. It was a symbol of the agony and horror that weighed upon His heart. No eye could pierce the gloom that surrounded the cross, and none could penetrate the deeper gloom that enshrouded the suffering soul of Christ. The angry lightnings seemed to be hurled at Him as He hung upon the cross. Then ‘Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ As the outer gloom settled about the Saviour, many voices exclaimed: The vengeance of heaven is upon Him. The bolts of God’s wrath are hurled at Him, because He claimed to be the Son of God. Many who believed on Him heard His despairing cry. Hope left them. If God had forsaken Jesus, in what could His followers trust?” Desire of Ages, p. 754.

“Christ did not yield up His life till He had accomplished the work which He came to do.” Desire of Ages, p. 758.

In utter insentient hopelessness, but filled with the scripture promises, He cried with a loud voice, “IT IS FINISHED!”, and died.

And so did the centurion’s atheism and unbelief die.

And so will mine and yours.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” (Rom. 6:5).

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom. 6:6).

“For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:7).

“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” (Rom. 6:9,10).

“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” (Rom. 6:8).

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:11).

“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:18).

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (Rom. 6:12,13).

A text to the question, “Do you think this is an end times plague?”

David: I think this is an end time deception. Protestant America is reaping what it has sown. It has sown the wind and is reaping the whirlwind. God has loosed our old enemy from the Dark Ages. Revelation 17:8. Happy Sabbath!

Carroll: Can you explain the deception? What do you mean they reaped the wind?

David: Hosea 8:7. Protestantism is in apostasy. America was the protector (for it) with a U.S. Constitution that was civil and Protestant. It was civil in that it had no state religion blessing its laws or controlling its laws. It was a Protestant document in that it separated religion and state, it gave the people freedom, it gave the power to the people, and it was based on self-government. It was everything opposed to papal despotism. The Bible and Bible Christianity was our religion, which, through conversion and the Spirit’s foundation of self-government, was the only way that so much liberty could be entrusted into the hands of the people. The people had to be new creatures in Christ. They had to be pure. They had to be self-denying. They had to have the God of Abraham and Moses and David and Paul for their God. Only He was all wise and a God of justice and mercy. The love of that God expressed in the damnation of God’s own Son as a shelter for Adam’s precious race would make them love Him, His immutable Law, and all law.

Persecution would cement that covenant and produce strong minds and good consciences. It would produce fidelity to their government’s righteous laws and to one another. Marriage would be strong. Family would be strong. Society would be strong and the nation would be strong. The only Bible Christianity has been Protestantism since the days of the apostle John. 1John 2:18 says that the church’s foe was already in the church. In Acts 20:28-31, Paul gave a similar warning. But America has completely given up its only connection to the Creator, and our protection against Satan.

Now for the deception: “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee…” (Deut. 28:15).

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be [judged] who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thess. 2:11,12).

“Then shall that Wicked [one, the son of total depravity] be revealed…: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (vs.8-10).

“Whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” (vs. 2:8).

But read the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 28 to get a feel for what’s coming to our once peaceful, peace-making nation. It will cause us to get serious about eternal things. All in all it will be good for us. His promise is: “I will make a man [and woman] more precious than fine gold; even a man [and woman more precious] than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:12).

Carroll: I don’t understand…. You think the virus is a deception? It seems more a curse. Thanks for all that. I’ll read it over again tomorrow. Thanks.

David: it is a curse, yet not a plague, as in last plagues. The curse is in the fact that is represents a new and greater manifestation of Satan’s foothold on humanity. That is a bad thing. But remember that god is allowing it for our submission to Him, for those who will accept the punishment for their iniquities. Read Leviticus 26. It was the precursor to Deuteronomy 28. Especially note verses 39-42.

This is the crux of God’s method to save. If we turn away from the good life that He gives in return for our obedience and love, then He turns away from us. But there is only one other spiritual being that we can turn to besides Jesus. And that other power devours his children. But we don’t want self-sacrifice and self-abasement. So we leave the self-effacing, self-forgetting, pure God for the self-satisfying, self-important, self-gratifying, impure god. And the “only true God” (John 17:3) lets us go. He mourns over our separation like Samuel mourned over his permanent separation from King Saul (1Sam. 15:35).

But to all who have desired to know God He promises that the separation isn’t forever (Leviticus 26:44). Yet they still must endure a long service to the devourer and separation from the life-giver. We see this many times in sacred history. Adam spent 130 years without enjoying the blessing of raising an heir of righteousness by faith and reconciliation with the God of peace. He was so stunned by the results of his sin and its punishment. Finally he resolved the change of relations with the God who he learned he needed more than life; and he submitted to the consequences. He trusted God to help him do better in raising his family. So he knew Eve again. Their child Seth grew up in a strict, godly home, and married a godly wife. He had a son who he raised in strict godliness. 235 years after being expelled from God, Adam, and Eve and their righteous community in the mountains could finally, fully reconnect with the God of heaven (Gen. 4:25,26; cf Gen. 5:3,6).

It was a high day. And Adam literally lived happily ever after because he learned the great lesson in life—obedience to the “only wise God” (Jude 25) is the only way to real happiness. In the back of his mind Adam could never forget the loss of his first two sons and his world going awry, but the God of love was his again and that helped his painful losses. God wrote His Law into Adam’s heart, He gave Adam a new heart and put His Spirit into Adam. (Eze. 36:25-31).

Redemption is messy business. It involves a lot of pain and self-loathing. For a long time it’s a lose-lose situation, but in the end it’s a win-win situation. “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to [your name], and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:1,2).

That is the gospel that Jesus preached when He begin His ministry (Mark 1:15). After 600 years of punishment under foreign rule, some of the Jews were humbled and hungry for the God of Abraham. They came to God’s Son and got Adam’s reconciliation and joy like Adam got when he came to God’s Son.

If we can be corrected and humbled, then in the middle of all the horrific troubles, we will be able to exclaim, “It’s our God!”

An excellent podcast on the subject of health

Happy Sabbath!

I want to recommend a beautiful podcast on health. I know Sersie personally and have heard many of her health speeches over the years during the worship service. She articulates her messages perfectly, with instant rapport, interest and being interesting, in tone, vocabulary, intelligence, and level of knowledge on the subject of health. And her personal appearance shows the benefits of living well (she isn't a hypocrite on the subject!). Her podcast name is, Eat Your Best Life. The address is below:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3C0MikhJOaNRNBbDtG6bO9

Eat more for less (weight)

Jesus cried before He died

“The rocks rent” (Matt. 27:51).

“Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.” (Matt. 27:50).

Why did Jesus scream at this point? Maybe I’m slow to understand things, but for a long time I have wondered about this. Why did he not scream at the beginning of the crucifixion, but He screamed at the end of it? It would seem most natural the other way around.

It was significant that it happened like it did, and was annotated forever.

“Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the Law of the LORD.” (Isa. 30:8,9).

This was written in a book for the time to come forever and ever, but not because Jesus was rebellious, and not that He was a transgressor of the Law of the Lord. But He was “He was numbered with the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:12).

Regarding His cry at the end, the context gives some pointers. Let’s look at the things that happened right afterward.

“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” (Matt. 27:51-52).

Everything rent. The huge three inch thick rug, the earth, the rocks, the graves. Everything ripped apart. Why?

It was the Father’s response to another ripping, a huge ripping. It was a ripping apart bigger than if everything on earth was ripped to shreds.

The Father and Son were ripped apart. The long planned for, long looked for, separation took place. From the age of 12 Jesus, in His human flesh, knew that this moment would come. Over the years His Father filled in the events to take place, to the finest details.

Every provision of salvation hinged on this moment. The point of death would be the last of infinite self-sacrifice, after 33 years of continuous sacrificing of self. The burden, the temptation, the difficulty involved in self-sacrifice had grown greater as He constantly grew in grace and developed in perfection. At any time He could tell His Father, “I’ve had enough.”

But, no. He kept accepting more and more, as His Father laid it before Him to choose or reject, both knowing that any rejection meant the end of the work of saving not only Adam’s family, but also restoring the kingdom to a sure, original kingdom of infinite selfless love.

Jesus must accept every challenge His Father required of Him. The extent of self-denial and self-sacrificing love must satisfy the Father. He alone knew the perfection of self-sacrifice would more than undo the claims of Lucifer against Him and His performance. All the Son knew was that He must go the full length of His Father’s program. And it would all be accomplished through the infinitely tight bond between them.

“God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” (John 3:34).

The covalent bonds within the atom holds a strength that is measureless. That bond the Father put into every atom. It would represent the covalent bond between Him and His Son. When that bond is overcome and broken, when the atom is ripped apart, rent, the atom separating nucleus and electrons, then a tremendous release of power and force occurs.

At the final moment of the separation process that had continued 33 years, and which had ramped up exponentially over the last 15 hours, the worst pangs, the worst fears of the unknown, eternal death, eternal separation from His Father, the trial and full evidence of a perfect offering, the utmost self-sacrifice, came upon Jesus. And He “cried^G2896”.

G2896

κράζω

krazō

krad’-zo

A primary verb; properly to “croak” (as a raven) or scream, that is, (generally) to call aloud (shriek, exclaim, intreat): - cry (out).

That cry was a horror-filled wail, a helpless scream, a loud shriek coming from deep within. It was the exclamation of complete lack of enjoyment, a final entreaty and eternal farewell to His Father. It was the utter facing of entering death. It was the going into, with full knowledge of, the sheer joy and peace of trusting in the God of His life. Through death He must achieve a victory over Satan’s accusations against His Father. In order to overcome the devil’s machinations, He must reveal His Father’s true self by the accomplishment of a death that He could never know would be acceptable to meet all the stipulations of Lucifer’s agenda, for “the dead know not anything” (Ecc. 9:5). He must die completely by faith, in perfectly submitting to His eternal end.

In all the pain and pummeling by Satan, the Spirit of the Son in human flesh had lost the ability to see past His surroundings. Every nerve of His body wracked with pain, and drinking full damnation for every man, depressed His powerful mind beyond human comprehension. His almighty, unending geyser of love was dampened and well-nigh stanched, yet never completely ceasing. In all the terrors that came from above, below, and around Him, the plan for a resurrection ceased to appear possible.

Satan concocted all that he could to stop Jesus from giving the perfect sacrifice of self. And His Father designed such a battle against the arch deceiver. At this crux of Their plan to reveal the truth of the eternal kingdom, God provided greatly limited protection for His Son, so that His sacrifice would be totally selfless—revealing “THE UNKOWN GOD” (Acts 17:23), “THE LORD THY GOD” (Deut. 28:58), the KING of the King of kings and LORD of the Lord of lords. The King must offer to never see His eternal KING again, His beloved LORD. He must lose His greater Ancient of days, forever and ever. The Father would reveal the Son; and the Son would reveal the Father.

And all of the gargantuan trials and difficulties encountered during the Son’s whole lifetime would afford the Father the freedom to ensure that Satan never would go beyond what was his due for his arguments against the government of heaven.

All the gospel writers said the same thing about that last cry to heaven.

“Jesus, when He had cried^G2896 again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Matt. 27:50).

“And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.” (Mark 15:37).

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46).

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30).

“He hath poured out His soul unto death.” (Isa. 53:12).

“He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:12).

Then His final, loud cry was, “It is finished!”

Surely, permanently lost from His Daddy, a last hopeless plea to have Their original eternal relation, which could not be had. “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit”. And the Prince of life gave up, and died.

Back of everything Jesus did, behind every just reproof, behind every gracious mercy, was the incomparable pleasure every moment, awake or sleeping, Jesus had with the Spirit of His Father. “When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” (Prov. 6:22).

When Jesus gave up the ghost, everything in heaven rent at the death of Father and Son.

Therefore, heaven must bequeath some of its own ripping pangs of death for fallen mankind to behold. “And the rocks rent.” (Matt. 27:51).

Were the Pharisees under the Law?

“But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” (Gal. 3:23).

The first question to ask is, “What does it mean to be under the Law?” I believe that there is a big misconception about this.

The answer comes from the context. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (Gal. 3:13).

Being under the Law is a shortened version of being under the curse of the law. But what does it mean to be under the curse of the Law?

The curse of the Law was the consequence for transgressing the Law. Moses in a long warning itemized all that would come to the nation if they grew tired of obeying the Lord, and after all that He would do to remind them of its high standard and blessings, they would continue their flirting with the other nations and the god of the nations, and the god’s religion. When they would ultimately break their covenant with the only true God, then down would come the hammer and the sentence upon them. This is found in Deuteronomy 28, and its prototype in Leviticus 26. Just to know that the Lord was serious when He warned the children of Israel in no uncertain terms, we have more warnings from the prophets, Isaiah 28 and Jeremiah 4 and his book of Lamentations.

Paul used hanging on a tree to describe the curse of the Law. “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” (Deut. 21:22,23). From this Paul may have given the rule, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” (1Tim. 5:20).

Hanging on the tree did not constitute the curse. Hanging on the tree was a representation of Jehovah’s and the judge’s sentence of capital punishment against the transgression of the Law. The curse was firstly) the law’s warning, and secondly) the sentence from the judge. But, for everyone to know the results of transgression, and to drive home to them the seriousness of the Law, the carcass was hung up for all to witness and fear.

Striking fear of the curse of the Law was simply to prepare the transgressors and weed out the most determined rebels from those who kept their heart and mind open to the Spirit of God, so that “thy land be not defiled”. It was to preclude total anarchy that this provision was given. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Ecc. 8:11).

This principle is eternal.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1Jn. 2:15).

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (Jas. 4:4).

Only through a new heart and mind and spirit can we break from the world’s overwhelming influence and the power of the god of this world.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 

That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:2-4).

And it was proper to make the transgressor’s body public because the hanging was balanced by only remaining on the tree while the view of it was possible. After the sun would set, leaving the body up would represent a totalitarian government of abusive laws of the land, such as the other nations had because Satan was their god, and Baal (Moloch) was his representative.

Baal was Zeus and Jupiter and Osiris, and every other chief god of the nations’ pantheons. They all represented Satan, who was using them to keep the nations captive under his abusive thumb. But, even in Jehovah’s punishments His justice was always mixed with mercy. He would have been contradictory to His Law if He had, without mercy, executed punishments for its transgression.

“What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Isa. 3:15). Such appeals to His people who were copying the other nations were renewed presentations of His Law. The widows, the fatherless, the poor, the strangers, etc., i.e., the helpless and needy, were ever on His heart, as they were the ones most likely to enter the kingdom of God. The last should be seen as first, but His people were not thinking like Him because His Law had ceased from being in their hearts. The law of the flesh, Satan’s almost universal law of sin in the world, was in their hearts.

“For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. 

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 

Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.” (Isa. 28:26-28).

“People grind grain to make flour, but they don't grind it forever. As God does in punishing people, a worker might drive his wagon over the grain to remove the hulls, but he does not allow the horses to crush it.” (Isa 28:28) ERV

“Wheat and barley are pounded, but not beaten to pulp; they are run over with a wagon, but not ground to dust.” (Isa 28:28) CEV

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made.” (Isa. 57:15,16).

Truly, “this also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (Isa. 28:29).

“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. 

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. 

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. 

Like as a father pitieth His children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. 

For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” (Psa. 103:9-14).

But, being under the curse of the Law is even a bigger picture.

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us.”

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12), because then  “we were … sinners” (Rom. 5:8). Ever since, “we were enemies” (Rom. 5:10) to God and He was our enemy, alienated from us. We were “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12).

“But God commendeth His love toward us” (Rom. 5:8), and “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Finally, Adam’s curse of God’s Law, the “wrath of God” (John 3:36) was lifted from humanity, because “we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son”, and “shall be saved by His life.” (Rom. 5:10). 

In a bigger picture the whole human race is a transgressor, which is why Jesus came to take our place in damnation. And mortal death has remained the public visual to remind us of the Day of Judgment and represents the damnation that will attend that terrible tribunal.

“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 

And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” (2Cor. 5:11-15).

“Wherefore the law was our Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24).

So, is Galatians simply a history lesson for us today? Was the situation of the first generation church, initially largely composed of Jews, only what Galatians 3:24 speaks of? Many denominations interpret it that way because they don’t believe anyone sitting in a pew is under the condemnation of the Law of God. They love to quote, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1). But, have they gone through what Paul did in Romans 7, which enabled him to have the Romans 8:1 experience? Have they been convicted by the Law, and humbled into the dust? No, they haven’t because their doctrine says that the Law was nailed to the cross. But, that is a wresting of the Paul’s statements, as Peter attested was going on in his day.

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2Pet. 3:15-17).

Without the Law’s condemnation, there can never be and exceeding conviction of exceeding sinfulness, and an exceeding need for an exceedingly great Saviour. There can be no “ God be merciful to me a sinner”, while we “[stand] afar off”, and “not lift up so much as [our] eyes unto heaven, but [smite] upon [our] breast” (Luk 18:13). Only by being powerfully convictged of sin by the strong word of God, and having our pride totally demolished, do we hear Jesus say of our repentance, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14).

Who exalts himself? Everyone who refused to accept Paul’s opening salvo on the issue of salvation.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Rom. 3:19).

Everyone who rejects the justice of God.

“yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Rom. 3:4).

Paul never abrogated the Law of God. This verse he quoted from the Old Testament, as he was so apt to do since it was the only “scripture” (2 Tim. 3:16) of the day. Paul’s quote in Romans 3:4 came from Psalm 51.

“For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psa. 51:3,4).

Paul had considered himself free from condemnation until the Law started a sequence of events that led to his conversion.

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” (Rom. 7:9-13).

Paul couldn’t deny the authority of God’s Law. Therefore, he was caught in the grip of the wrath of God against him and his great sinfulness. Nothing would exorcise the guilt and power of sin over him. Finally the Schoolmaster put him in the dust with the cry as Paul went into the grave. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).

Now he was ready for an exceeding great Saviour.

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24).

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37).

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 7:25).

“And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (1Tim. 1:14).

So, back to the question we started with. “Were the Pharisees under the Law?”

Did they end up with what Paul ended up with? Salvation? No. paul explains this because they believed that their works could buy them salvation.

“But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.” (Rom. 9:31,32).

But, it goes deeper than a simple use of good works to gain God’s acceptance, to propitiate (appease) His wrath.

We see something happening in the gospels. We hear a young man very confident in his goodness. He was convicted for a moment of his tremendous sinfulness, but he still had too many stones in his rocky heart. And he couldn’t take the heat of the Spirit’s trying of his faith through the quick and powerful word of God.

“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).

“” ().

“ Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.” (Luke 18:20).

his answer was so telling of his disposition toward the Law.

“And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.” (Luke 18:21). But, had he? Had he ever gotten a view of himself as God sees him? Isn’t that the starting point, the main purpose of the Law? God’s petrifaction of man’s pride. “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

No, this proud Jew had never gone there. He had never seen himself as a publican.

But, what had been seen by the Judge and the Judge’s Son? “Isa 3:15  What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts. 

” (). The Hebrews had inculcated the standards of the heathen. Babylon had been their teachers for 1,000 years. They had lost David’s first love. They had been in and out of captivity and harassment by the servants of Satan. Their spiritual eyesight had gone dark.

What could the Law do for them now? Only what it could do to Satan—create continual self-justification. Rather than being condemned by the Law, there was a blinded response to the rebukes of sin, “That’s not me. I don’t do that. And the rebuke is for somebody else.” And to the sparse, but concentrated, promises to repentance, “I do that. I deserve the promises.” They didn’t have ears to hear or eyes to see. It wouldn’t even dawn on them that they had a problem, so long as they measured themselves by themselves and compared themselves among themselves.

“All these have I kept from my youth up”, was all that they could see.

Why haven’t the Testimonies for the churches had the effect that Jesus purposed them to have among the group preparing to be sealed? Isn’t the Spirit of Prophecy our Law? Don’t we have an authorized commentator on the Law and her authorized commentary on it? Why aren’t we sealed by now? Why were we never sealed by it?

The Spirit of Prophecy counsels were designed to give us the sealing. The sealing and preparation for Jesus’ return hung on the reception of the writings of our prophet. “…the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans” “upon which the destiny of the church hangs….” Early Writings, p. 270.3.

She wrote,

“The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded.” Early Writings, p. 270.3.

“I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded.” Early Writings, p. 270.3.

“This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it and be purified.” Early Writings, p. 270.3.

“I asked the meaning of the shaking [of those who wrestled with it like Paul did in Romans 7] I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God’s people.” Early Writings, p. 270.2

So, why did the rich, young, ruler turn away from his best Friend? Because he could never believe that he was guilty of Isaiah 3:15. If he had seen himself there, then the Spirit of God would have helped him see other scripture that applied to his character. This would have continued in the atmosphere of peace and glory, captured in the look of Jesus. “ Then Jesus beholding him loved him.” (Mark 10:21).

Jesus wasn’t setting the man up for a crushing defeat, knowing his heart. He wasn’t preparing them to be slammed. Jesus saw a potential disciple, and His ominpotent expression was typical of almighty divinity. But, as Messiah the Prince, He was trying, in all justice and mercy, to encourage of God but also trust in Him as all sufficient Mediator between God and man, the Search of hearts, who knows the mind of men and the mind of His Father.

This is what Jesus did to everyone, even to the Pharisees and all the religious leaders. But, for this potential disciple, he had to know himself, his infinite weakness, his infinite unworthiness before God, before he could be sent as a representative of heaven.

And this was the case with all the Jews, especially the leadership. They had a national pride that destroyed the eternal truth of a holy God and salvation of sinners. “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles.” (Gal. 2:15).

Therefore, the Jews were not under the Law. They never would put themselves under the curse of the Law. In their minds they had never been punished by captivity. Therefore the Law could never be their “schoolmaster to bring [them] unto Christ, that [they] might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24).

They needed to resign. Just like King Saul should have resigned after his impeachment from Samuel. The Jews needed to put in their resignation papers as God’s most important representatives of Himself in the earth. They needed to lay down their high status of righteousness. They needed to exclaim, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18). But they wouldn’t. They repeated history.

“For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” (Isa. 30:15).

But, John 6:37 was never for them, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me”; and, Proverbs 28:9 was forever upon them. “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”

and “him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37) couldn’t be their wonderful claim until they would go to the Schoolmaster and bring themselves to admit their failure in law-keeping, obedience. But, their doctrinal traditions forbade such a confession.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

And John 3:36 is the third angel’s message in brief.