Old Paths. Vol. 21, No 8 Straight and Nar row Au gust 2012

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1 Old Paths Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. Psalm 25:14 Vol. 21, No 8 Straight and Nar row Au gust 2012 There is no leaf of the for est, or lowly blade of grass, but has its min is try. Ev ery tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that el e ment of life with out which nei ther man nor an i mal could live; and man and an i mal, in turn, min is ter to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. (The De sire of Ages, p. 20)

2 This sum mer Mr. Obama and Mr. Romn ey will receive cheers and applause at their polit i cal con ven tions. Men will be exalt ing and heap ing praise upon men. The Bible, how - ever, never encour ages such praise of men, for man is cre ated from the dust of the earth, and to his hum ble begin nings he will return. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen e sis 3:19). God says that he cre ated man for his (God s) glory: Even every one that is called by my name: for I have cre ated him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him (Isa - iah 43:7). Created is the key word here. Some one is behind all the cre ation, and it is not Bud dha or any other false god! The Bible teaches that, through sin, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). While sin (dis obe - di ence) brings us short of the glory of God, obe di ence, espe cially to the Sab bath truth in light of the mark of the beast issue, gives glory to God. (See Rev e la tion 14:7.) Christ s pur pose in par a ble teach ing was in di rect line with the pur pose of the Sab bath. God gave to men the me - mo rial of His cre ative power, that they might dis cern Him in the works of His hand. The Sab bath bids us be hold in His cre ated works the glory of the Cre ator. And it was be - cause He de sired us to do this that Je sus bound up His pre cious les sons with the beauty of nat u ral things. (Christ s Ob ject Les sons, pp. 25, 26) As the char ac ter of God puts on the as pect of love, be - nev o lence, beauty, and at trac tion, they [chil dren] are drawn to love Him. You can di rect their minds to the lovely birds mak ing the air mu si cal with their happy songs, to the spires of grass and the glo ri ously tinted flow - ers in their per fec tion per fum ing the air. All these pro claim the love and skill of the heav enly Art ist and show forth the glory of God. (Child Guid ance, p. 534) God has cre ated man and all of cre ation to bring glory to him. Since all that God made was good, and even very Created for His Glory By Allen Stump good, it is only through rebel lion that any of God s cre ation fails to ful fill its task. Beloved, I mar vel at God s cre ative power to make bil lions of bil lions of stars and gal ax ies, each ful fill ing its pur pose. Sir John James has writ ten that the num ber of stars in the uni verse is prac ti cally like the num ber of grains of sand on all the sea shores of the world. When we con sider that there are one hun dred to three hundred bil lion stars in a gal axy and that there are some where between one hundred to three hundred bil lion gal ax ies in the known uni verse, our minds stag ger and can not truly fathom such numbers. Yet the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the great designer and maker of all of this, and it is for his glory! The Larger Purpose By doing that for which it is cre ated, an object or being gives glory to its maker. A well-made chair, house, or car brings honor to the maker. In 1958 the Ford Motor Com pany intro duced the Edsel line of auto mo biles. Due to many com plex cir cum stances, includ ing poor work man ship, the Edsel line was a disas ter and has become syn on y mous with fail ure. The Edsel cer - tainly did not bring glory to the Ford Motor Com pany; it, instead, brought shame. The Toy ota Camry, on the other hand, is the best-sell ing car in the United States, due in part, to the fact that it per forms exactly as the designers and engi - neers designed it to per form. The ani mals give glory to their Maker when they per form the roles for which they were cre ated. Earth worms, lowly though they are, help to make the soil better. Dogs are friends of men, and cats enter tain us with their curi os ity and play. All of these ani mals are doing their part to ful fill the pur pose given to them by God and in so doing bring glory to him. In Rev e la tion 4:11, we read: Thou art wor thy, O Lord, to receive glory and hon our and power: for thou hast cre ated all things, and for thy plea sure they are and were cre ated. By his cre ation, God is wor thy to receive not only glory, but the glory. In the Greek, def i nite arti cles are attached to the Old Paths August 2012

3 words glory, honour, and power (th;n dovxan kai th;n timh;n kai th;n duvnamin) in Rev e la tion 4:11. Ellen White presents what she calls the cir cuit of benef i - cence. This embod ies the great prin ci ple which is the law of life for the uni verse. In the be gin ning, God was re vealed in all the works of cre ation. It was Christ that spread the heav ens, and laid the foun da tions of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fash ioned the flow ers of the field. His strength setteth fast the moun tains. The sea is His, and He made it. Psalm 65:6; 95:5. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the mes sage of the Fa ther s love. Now sin has marred God s per fect work, yet that hand - writ ing re mains. Even now all cre ated things de clare the glory of His ex cel lence. There is noth ing, save the self ish heart of man, that lives unto it self. No bird that cleaves the air, no an i mal that moves upon the ground, but min is ters to some other life. There is no leaf of the for est, or lowly blade of grass, but has its min is try. Ev ery tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that el e ment of life with out which nei - ther man nor an i mal could live; and man and an i mal, in turn, min is ter to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The flow ers breathe fra grance and un fold their beauty in bless - ing to the world. The sun sheds its light to glad den a thou sand worlds. The ocean, it self the source of all our springs and foun tains, re ceives the streams from ev ery land, but takes to give. The mists as cend ing from its bosom fall in show ers to wa ter the earth, that it may bring forth and bud. The an gels of glory find their joy in giv ing, giv ing love and tire less watchcare to souls that are fallen and un - holy. Heav enly be ings woo the hearts of men; they bring to this dark world light from the courts above; by gen tle and pa tient min is try they move upon the hu man spirit, to bring the lost into a fel low ship with Christ which is even closer than they them selves can know. But turn ing from all lesser rep re sen ta tions, we be hold God in Je sus. Look ing unto Je sus we see that it is the glory of our God to give. I do noth ing of My self, said Christ; the liv ing Fa ther hath sent Me, and I live by the Fa ther. I seek not Mine own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is set forth the great prin ci ple which is the law of life for the uni verse. All things Christ re ceived from God, but He took to give. So in the heav enly courts, in His min is try for all cre ated be ings: through the be loved Son, the Fa ther s life flows out to all; through the Son it re turns, in praise and joy ous ser vice, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the cir cuit of be nef i cence is com plete, rep - re sent ing the char ac ter of the great Giver, the law of life. (The De sire of Ages, pp. 20, 21) Have you ever heard of the honeyguide bird? This remark - able crea ture knows the loca tion of every bee hive in its ter ri tory; how ever, these birds can not break into the hive to get the honey. Instead, they guide the honey badger to the hive. Since the badger has thick skin, he cannot be hurt by the stings of bees, so he opens the hive, helps him self to a good meal of honey, mak ing sure on his departure to leave some honey for the birds. It is as Ellen White said No bird that cleaves the air, no ani mal that moves upon the ground, but min is ters to some other life. The trees and plants recy cle the needed oxy gen for man and ani mals. Without the rain for ests of the Ama zon and the other veg e ta tion around the world, the life for man and ani - mals would be impos si ble. The sun sheds light to glad den a thou sand worlds. You know that you receive light and heat from the sun, and the rays of the sun cer tainly do feel nice on a cold day, but do you know that it is solar activ ity that causes the beau ti ful and famous aurora bore alis? We are told that the ocean, itself the source of all our springs and foun tains, receives the streams from every land, but takes to give. Through the action of solar energy, the salty water from the oceans evap o rates into the atmo sphere and is car ried over land, where the water falls fresh and pure to refresh the earth and its cov er ing firmament. The grav ity of the earth s moon causes the ocean tides, with out which the beaches of the earth would quickly become a mess. Yes, we see that all is cre ated to serve in some way. Romans 3:23 tells us that sin brings us short of God s glory. This is because sin is a self-cen tered expe ri ence instead of a love (self-giv ing) expe ri ence. In John 3:16, we read that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begot ten Son, that who so ever believ eth in him should not per ish, but have ever last ing life. God s love is the focal point of the verse, and this love was dem on strated in giv ing! Isa iah 40:5 tells us that the glory of the LORD will be revealed: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spo ken it. This glory was revealed in the face of his Son, Jesus Christ (2 Corin thi ans 4:6). This is not the only place, though, that God wants his glory revealed. The great est pur - pose of our lives is to give glory to God. We under stand our pur pose better as we look back at Gen e sis. In the account of cre ation in Gen e sis 1, Moses empha sized that God is a good God. God cre ated the world in a good and orderly fash ion. He pro vided for all life by cre at ing before hand what they needed (ground for plants, plants for ani mals, a gar den for man, etc.). At the end of every cre ation act (day), Moses empha sized it was good (Gen e sis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) and very good in verse 31. The pin na cle of God s cre ation was the cre ation of human - ity. Why? Only human ity was cre ated in God s image Vol. 21, No

4 (Gen e sis 1:26 28). Fur ther more, God com manded man to spread his image through out cre ation, in terms of breadth ( be fruit ful and mul ti ply ) and depth ( sub due the earth ). What does it mean to spread God s image? In Gen e sis 1, God reveals many attrib utes in the cre ation account, and the good ness of God takes cen ter state. God wants us to reflect his good ness back to him in the cir cuit of benef i cence. In Exo dus 33:18 22, we read that God s good ness, his char ac - ter, is his glory. Moses asked God to show him his glory, and God replied: I will cause all my good ness to pass in front of you. A few verses later God said that when his glory passed by, he would cover Moses with his hand. God s good ness is syn on - y mous with his glory. God s glory is his char ac ter of love, and that is expressed in giv ing! So what is our pur pose? God cre ated us to reflect and spread his glory through out cre ation. God s great est pas sion is for the great est good, and there is noth ing better than giv ing and dem on strat ing love by giv ing and serv ing, and this brings glory to God! Thus, when we give food to the hun gry, shel ter to the des - ti tute, time to the lonely, or coun sel to the con fused, we are bring ing glory to God and ful fill ing the pur pose for which we have been cre ated, and at the same time, we are devel op - ing a char ac ter like that of our Maker! This is let ting our light shine forth like Jesus said: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glo rify your Father which is in heaven (Mat thew 5:16). The fol low ing is a tes ti mony that has been of invalu able help to me in my Christian walk, and I am sure it will be a help to you, too! It speaks of a spe cific way to help self ish - ness, and though the appli ca tion may be seen as spe cific, the prin ci ple can be applied in a broad man ner. Con stant, self-de ny ing be nev o lence is God s rem edy for the can ker ing sins of self ish ness and cov et ous ness. God has arranged systematic benevolence to sustain His cause and re lieve the ne ces si ties of the suf fer ing and needy. He has or dained that giv ing should be come a habit, that it may coun ter act the dan ger ous and de ceit ful sin of cov et ous - ness. Con tin ual giv ing starves cov et ous ness to death. Sys tem atic be nev o lence is de signed in the or der of God to tear away trea sures from the cov et ous as fast as they are gained and to con se crate them to the Lord, to whom they be long. (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 548) While we might apply this counsel to finances, it can be applied to our time and tal ents, as well. As we give of our - selves, in what ever man ner, we are starv ing cov et ous ness and self ish ness to death. We have been told: All sin is self ish ness. Sa tan s first sin was self ish ness. He sought to grasp power, to ex alt self. A spe cies of in san - ity led him to seek to su per sede God. And the temp ta tion which led Adam to sin, was the false state ment of Sa tan that it was pos si ble for him to at tain to some thing more than he al ready en joyed pos si ble for him to be as God Him self. Thus seeds of self ish ness were sown in the hu man heart. (The 1888 Ma te ri als, p. 1,763) God s ulti mate act of good ness, there fore, is when he shares his glory with us, i.e., when he allows us to enjoy his glory, his glory of giv ing! This is a com mon theme through - out all of scrip ture. The whole his tory of salvation is a story of God spread ing through out the earth the knowl edge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14). God makes this abun dantly clear in Isa iah 43:7, where he refers to his peo ple as those whom I cre ated for my glory. The Bible says that the whole cre ation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Romans 8:22). Sin has affected, in some degree, the whole of God s cre ation. Paul notes: Giv ing thanks unto the Fa ther, which hath made us meet to be par tak ers of the in her i tance of the saints in light: Who hath de liv ered us from the power of dark ness, and hath trans lated us into the king dom of his dear Son: In whom we have re demp tion through his blood, even the for give ness of sins: Who is the im age of the in vis i ble God, the first born of ev ery crea ture: For by him were all things cre ated, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, vis i ble and in vis i ble, whether they be thrones, or do min ions, or prin ci pal i ties, or pow ers: all things were cre ated by him, and for him: And he is be fore all things, and by him all things con sist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the be gin ning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre em i nence. For it pleased the Fa ther that in him should all fulness dwell; And, hav ing made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to rec on cile all things unto him self; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:12 20) Paul says that there were things even in heaven that were not rec on ciled until the cross, but the blood of the cross and the sprin kled blood in the sanc tu ary above, along with what that blood does for the believer, will vin di cate the char ac ter of God to a groan ing uni verse in such a way that sin will never arise again (Nahum 1:9). The Advent move ment with the true Jesus is the answer not just for the sin prob lem here, but for the whole cre ation! For the ear nest expec ta tion of the crea ture waiteth for the man i fes ta tion of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). The uni verse is watch ing and wait ing for us to come to per fec tion, to bring glory to God. The sac ri fice re quired of Abra ham was not alone for his own good, nor solely for the ben e fit of suc ceed ing gen er a - tions; but it was also for the in struc tion of the sin less intelligences of heaven and of other worlds. The field of the con tro versy be tween Christ and Sa tan the field on which the plan of re demp tion is wrought out is the les - son book of the uni verse. Be cause Abra ham had shown a lack of faith in God s prom ises, Sa tan had ac cused him be - fore the an gels and be fore God of hav ing failed to com ply Old Paths August 2012

5 All things Christ received from God, but he took to give. with the con di tions of the cov e nant, and as un wor thy of its bless ings. God de sired to prove the loy alty of His ser vant be fore all heaven, to dem on strate that noth ing less than per fect obe di ence can be ac cepted, and to open more fully be fore them the plan of sal va tion. Heav enly be ings were wit nesses of the scene as the faith of Abra ham and the sub mis sion of Isaac were tested. The trial was far more se vere than that which had been brought upon Adam. Com pli ance with the pro hi bi tion laid upon our first par ents in volved no suf fer ing, but the com mand to Abra ham de manded the most ag o niz ing sac ri fice. All heaven be held with won der and ad mi ra tion Abra ham s un fal ter ing obe di ence. All heaven ap plauded his fi del ity. Sa tan s ac cu sa tions were shown to be false. God de clared to His ser vant, Now I know that thou fearest God [not - with stand ing Sa tan s charges], see ing thou hast not with held thy son, thine only son from Me. God s cov e - nant, con firmed to Abra ham by an oath be fore the intelligences of other worlds, tes ti fied that obe di ence will be re warded. It had been dif fi cult even for the an gels to grasp the mys - tery of re demp tion to com pre hend that the Com mander of heaven, the Son of God, must die for guilty man. When the com mand was given to Abra ham to of fer up his son, the in ter est of all heav enly be ings was en listed. With in tense ear nest ness they watched each step in the ful fill ment of this com mand. When to Isaac s ques tion, Where is the lamb for a burnt of fer ing? Abra ham made an swer, God will pro vide Him self a lamb; and when the fa ther s hand was stayed as he was about to slay his son, and the ram which God had pro vided was of fered in the place of Isaac then light was shed upon the mys tery of re demp tion, and even the an gels un der stood more clearly the won der ful pro vi sion that God had made for man s sal va tion. 1 Pe ter 1:12. (Patriarchs and Proph ets, pp. 154, 155) God says that he will make a man more pre cious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir (Isaiah 13:12). Not just one man will be righ teous, but God says he will have a righ teous nation that will enter his king dom Open ye the gates, that the righ teous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in (Isa iah 26:2). We can be a part of the peo ple who have pur chased gold tried in the fire and who are more pre cious than the golden wedge of Ophir. This pro cess hap pens as we con tin u ally give. Youth s Cor ner The Sab bath a Shield His truth shall be thy shield and buck ler. (Psalm 91:4) (Taken from Providences of the Great War by W. A. Spicer, with slight ed it ing) Dur ing the war [WWI], and indeed for some time fol low ing it, there was much anti-for eign feel ing in Egypt. In the later years Super in ten dent George Keough, work ing under our Brit ish Union Con fer ence, was much of the time among the vil lages along the Nile toward upper Egypt, this side of ancient Thebes. Of expe ri ences with the Bed ou ins, in which the Sab bath was evi dently a shield and pro tec tion, he once told us (to quote from mem ory): In the clos ing days of the war, and fol low ing, the anti-foreign prej u dice was very bit ter. There were few Euro - pe ans in the region where I was work ing among Coptic believ ers. Most of the pop u la tion was Mos lem. I lived in the vil lages, eat ing, sleep ing, and work ing in the vil lage homes, teach ing the gos pel, and help ing the sick in every way the mis sion ary is called upon to do on the fron tiers. When the polit i cal excite ment was at its height, there was an upris ing against Euro pe ans in this region. Nine for eign ers were killed, I believe, and oth ers fled. All the time I kept at my work, going about the vil lages as usual. I was well aware at times of a strong anti-for eign hos - til ity, but the only thing to do was to ignore it and trust God to pro tect me there, alone, amidst the peo ple. When the vil lag - ers saw that I was unafraid and only wanted to go about my min is try, their hos til ity gave way to friend li ness. So appar ent was it that I was treated in an excep tional way, that intel li gence offi cers sus pected that my immu nity from attack, when oth ers were assaulted, was due to a polit i - cal sym pa thy with the Mos lems. My Irish name gave color to the sus pi cion that I might be a Sinn Feiner and that I was in Egypt to sow dis con tent against the gov ern ment. My record was looked up in Cairo, and my home vis ited. Mrs. Keough assured the inves ti ga tors that I was but a mis - sion ary preacher, a loyal sub ject of Brit ain, hav ing noth ing to do with pol i tics. One day I was trav el ing, when down upon me swept an armed band of Bed ou ins, of the same class that had been kill - ing Euro pe ans. Their leader rode in upon me, looked closely in my face, and called out, Oh, you are the Sab bath teacher, and away they all swept with salaams. Our keep ing of the Sab bath, the day that Abra ham and the patri archs observed and the day com manded in The Book as Mos lems call the Holy Scrip tures, seemed to impress the Mos lem peo ple. It was among the Copts, the con tin ued on page 10, col umn 2 Vol. 21, No

6 Created for a Pur pose By Elyssa Sims Sev eral years ago we received a call that a friend of ours was miss ing. It was later dis cov ered that she had com mit ted sui - cide. It was a ter ri ble thing! But did you know that over thirty-six thousand peo ple in the United States die by sui cide every year? In fact, sui cide is the fourth lead ing cause of death in the United States for adults between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five. There are an esti mated eight to twenty-five attempted sui cides for every sui cide death. Peo ple com mit sui cide because they have lost hope and a pur pose of liv ing. There are many dif fer ent things for which peo ple live. I saw a mag a zine once, and one of the arti cles in the mag a zine caught my atten tion. It was enti tled, She Lives to Travel. What a sad thing to live for. What sort of last ing joy, peace, or ful fill ment will trav el ing the world bring? But there are many other rea sons for which peo ple live that have no eter nal pur pose. Some peo ple live for food, some live for work, some live for a cer tain per son, some live to be admired and praised, and some live for riches. When these peo ple lose what they have been liv ing for, then they feel empty and do not believe that there is any thing to live for. Some live for noth ing except their fear of death. But every human being was cre ated and was born for a pur pose. Gen e sis 1:27 tells us some thing about that pur pose: So God cre ated man in his own image, in the image of God cre ated he him; male and female cre ated he them. Our ori gin comes from God. The God of the uni verse cre - ated us in his image! Human beings are the only prod uct of God s cre ation that was made in his own image, and that should give us a pic ture of our impor tance and worth. But God cre ated us for a pur pose. In fact, he cre ated us for more than one pur pose, but we want to focus on two of the rea sons that God made man kind. The first is found in Rev e la - tion 4:11: Thou art wor thy, O Lord, to receive glory and hon our and power: for thou hast cre ated all things, and for thy plea sure they are and were cre ated. God cre ated us for his plea sure. That means that we were not cre ated to serve our selves but were cre ated for God, and in Isa iah 43:7 we read that we were cre ated for his glory. So you see, every human being was born for a pur pose. Every sin gle one of us has a rea son to live and a won der ful pur pose to ful fill. It is true God has given each of us a spe cific call ing in life a specific, individualized work to accomplish and talents to put to use. As Paul says, Now there are diver si ties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are dif fer ences of admin - is tra tions, but the same Lord. And there are diver si ties of oper a tions, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the man i fes ta tion of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal (1 Corin thi ans 12:4 7; see also Ephe sians 4:11). Paul says, Whether there fore ye eat, or drink, or what so - ever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1Corinthians 10:31). So in all that we do, we are to glo rify God. God has given us free choice to chose to make God s pur - pose for our lives our own pur pose for liv ing or to find a life with out a godly foun da tion, a life that is with out mean ing and pur pose and that will not lead us to heaven. So, each per - son must decide what his or her des tiny is to be. What do I want my des tiny to be, and what do you want your des tiny to be? If you want to have an abun dant life and want heaven to be your home, then you must con sider what the Lord says: And now, Is rael, what doth the LORD thy God re quire of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the com mand ments of the LORD, and his stat utes, which I com mand thee this day for thy good? (Deuteronomy10:12 13) We saw ear lier how we were cre ated in the image of God, but after sin that per fect image of God in human ity was lost. God, there fore, sent his only begot ten Son to die for us that we might be restored into the per fect image of God, that we might be restored to com mu nion with God, and that we might, one day, live for ever with him. What a sac ri fice and what love, but because of God s great love, we are worth this sacrifice to him! We can thank God that through Jesus we can live a vic to ri - ous life and that we can give God glory by keep ing his com mand ments and doing his will. Of course, we would never be able to do this except that Jesus came and was vic to - ri ous in his bat tle over sin and the devil. Because he obtained the vic tory and comes to aid us in our tri als and temptations, we may also be vic to ri ous. We have been told: Ev ery act of obe di ence to Christ, ev ery act of self-de nial for His sake, ev ery trial well en dured, ev ery vic tory gained over temp ta tion, is a step in the march to the glory of fi nal vic tory. If we take Christ for our guide, He will lead us safely. The veriest sin ner need not miss his way. Not one trem bling seeker need fail of walk ing in pure and holy light. Though the path is so nar row, so holy that sin can not be tol er ated therein, yet ac cess has been se cured for all, and not one doubt ing, trem bling soul need say, God cares nought for me.... (God s Amaz ing Grace, p. 264) It is only through Christ that his peo ple can re sist temp ta - tion, and be come men and women of high and holy pur pose, of no ble in teg rity, who will not be swayed from truth, right, and jus tice. The Chris tian must be much in prayer. Prayer takes hold upon Om nip o tence, and gains us the vic tory. It was thus that Enoch walked with God. And those who thus make Christ their daily com pan ion and fa mil iar friend will feel that the pow ers of an un seen world are all around them, and by look ing unto Je sus they will be come as sim i lated to his im age. (Bible Echo, Oc to ber 1, 1889) The si lent, fer vent prayer of the soul will rise like holy in cense to the throne of grace and will be as ac cept - able to God as if of fered in the sanc tu ary. To all who thus Old Paths August 2012

7 seek Him, Christ be comes a pres ent help in time of need. They will be strong in the day of trial. (God s Amaz ing Grace, p. 86) And Christ, the Son of God, an swer ing said, It is writ - ten, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by ev ery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Christ had been warned not to en ter into ar gu ment with Sa tan. And though He rec og nized him from the be gin ning, He was not pro - voked to en ter into con tro versy with him. Strength ened with the mem ory of the voice from heaven, He rested in His Fa ther s love. He would not par ley with temp ta tion. (Christ Tri um phant, p. 190) As we study the temp ta tions of Christ, we see that he did not enter into argu ment with Satan or par ley with temp ta tion but that he met the attacks of Satan with a sim ple It is writ ten. Sa tan tempted the first Adam in Eden, and Adam rea - soned with the en emy, thus giv ing him the ad van tage. Sa tan ex er cised his power of hyp no tism over Adam and Eve, and this power he strove to ex er cise over Christ. But af ter the word of Scrip ture was quoted, Sa tan knew that he had no chance of triumphing. Sa tan came to Christ hop ing to gain the vic tory. He thought that he had ev ery ad van tage over Him. But he was con quered by the Sav iour s meek ness and hu mil ity, and by His re li ance on the Word of God. Meek and lowly, and seem ingly help less, Christ was stron ger than the strong man armed. Oh, how Sa tan strove to make Him sin against God! But all his ef forts failed to make Christ swerve from His allegiance. (Ibid.) Ingredients to Victory 1. Draw nigh to God through prayer and the word of God, for here is power. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temp ta tion: the spirit indeed is will ing, but the flesh is weak (Mat thew 26:41). 2. Sub mit to God and resist the devil, for we can resist as Jesus did with the word of God, with an It is writ ten. We are also told, Sub mit your selves there fore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sin ners; and purify your hearts, ye dou ble minded (James 4:7 8). 3. Have faith that God is able and that he will keep his word that says for what so ever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the vic tory that overcometh the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4). As we fol low on step by step to know the Lord, we need not ex pect that the way will be free from hin drances. Just as surely as we strive to serve the Lord, so surely will Sa tan put forth ev ery ef fort in his power to ac com plish our ruin. But help has been laid upon One that is mighty, and to ev ery strug gling child of His who asks Him for grace, be liev ing, He co mes with the needed aid. We have an all-pow er ful Sav iour who was vic to ri ous in His as sumed hu man ity, and we are to press for ward in the work of over com ing in the name of Je sus Christ of Naz a reth. In His strength, which we claim by faith, we are gain ing the vic tory over sin. Manu - script 27, (Christ Triumphant, p. 364) When one is fully emp tied of self, when ev ery false god is cast out of the soul, the vac uum is filled by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ. Such a one has the faith that pu ri fies the soul from de file ment. He is con formed to the Spirit, and he minds the things of the Spirit. He has no con fi dence in self. Christ is all and in all. (God s Amaz ing Grace, p. 212) Blessed is the man that endureth temp ta tion: for when he is tried, he shall re ceive the crown of life, which the Lord hath prom ised to them that love him. (James 1:12) There hath no temp ta tion taken you but such as is com - mon to man: but God is faith ful, who will not suf fer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temp ta - tion also make a way to es cape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1Corinthians 10:13) And the word that was spo ken to Je sus at the Jor dan, This is My be loved Son, in whom I am well pleased, em braces hu man ity. God spoke to Je sus as our rep re sen - ta tive. With all our sins and weak nesses, we are not cast aside as worth less. He hath made us ac cepted in the Be - loved. Ephe sians 1:6. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells us of the power of prayer, how the hu man voice may reach the ear of God, and our pe ti tions find ac cep tance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from heaven, and alien ated from its com mu nion; but Je sus has con nected it again with the sphere of glory. His love has en cir cled man, and reached the high est heaven. The light which fell from the open por tals upon the head of our Sav iour will fall upon us as we pray for help to re sist temp ta tion. The voice which spoke to Je sus says to ev ery be liev ing soul, This is My be loved child, in whom I am well pleased. (The De sire of Ages, p. 113) So, we have seen that God cre ated us and that he cre ated us for a pur pose which is to glo rify God in all we do. We can only glo rify God by liv ing a Christ-like life, by doing his will, by gain ing vic tory after vic tory, and by being renewed in the image of God. May we all make God s pur pose for us our own pur pose for life, and may we go from vic tory to vic tory and keep mov ing for ward in our spir i tual expe ri ence. Let us not be sat - is fied to stay in one place, but to keep press ing on, and at the end of our jour ney here on earth, may it be said of us, Well done, thou good and faith ful ser vant: thou hast been faith ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Mat thew 25:21). (Sis ter Elyssa Sims writes from her home in Look out, Cal i - for nia, where she helps her father, Pas tor David Sims, at the Waldensian Cen ter. This devo tional was pre sented at the 2012 West Vir ginia Camp Meet ing.) Vol. 21, No

8 True Repentance Thomas Akens Intro duc tion And God said, Let there be lights in the fir - ma ment of heaven to divide the day from the night (Genesis 1:14). Here we are told that the pur pose of God in cre at ing these two lights was to divide or make a dis tinc tion between two things, namely light and dark ness, or day and night. They are two ele ments, or prin ci ples, which, by their very nature, stand opposed. God is the author of light, as it is writ - ten that God is light, and in him is no dark ness at all (1 John 1:5). To reflect that light is the great pur pose of man s creation. Adam was cre ated for God s glory; he was cre ated to reflect the image and like ness of God. Yet, not only Adam but all who should spring from him were to express, or reflect, God s glory. For you and me, how ever, our first par - ents cre ation is not enough; we must be recreated for his glory, for there is an ele ment which was brought into man and which alters the face of cre ation, and that ele ment is sin. Sin marred, or defaced, the glory of God in his cre ation. Because of our first par ents choice, sin has been min gled with righ teous ness in man kind. Man no lon ger reflects the glory of his Maker, not only in his phys i cal form but more espe cially in his mind, so that the image and glory of God is now marred by sin and its reflec tion blurred. In Gen e sis 1:16, God cre ated two great lights, and the greater of the two lights was to rule the day, while the lesser of them was to rule the night. What is the dif fer ence between these two lights, and what makes the one greater and the other lesser? Answer the greater light is the source of light, while the lesser light has no light of its own but sim ply reflects the light of the greater. Thus, in the sim ple words which tell us of the rela tionship between the sun and moon, is revealed the spir i tual truth of the rela tionship of all God s cre ation to its Maker: As the moon sheds its bor rowed light upon this world dark ened by sin and divides night from day (light from dark ness), so also are we to reflect the light of truth in a world benighted by sin and by our lives set forth the dis tinc tion or sep a ra tion of truth from error. The light which we are to reflect is that of the Sun of righ teous ness, for he was the true Light, which lighteth every man that com eth into the world (John 1:9). Now, the chief medium through which the light of Christ is reflected in man kind is the mind. The func tion and pur pose of our minds are fitly rep re sented in the pur pose and func tion of the moon, for as the moon reflects the light which shines upon it, so also the human mind reflects in the life that which it beholds. And this leads us to our sub ject mat ter true repentance. True Repen tance The Eng lish word repen tance comes to us from the Latin poena and sig ni fies pain, i.e., when we have sinned and God brings the knowl edge of our sin to mind, the result is a pang of sor row that we feel and that is what is expressed by the word repen tance. Pain or sor row for sin, how ever, is only one aspect of true repen tance. There is another side to gen u ine repen tance which is expressed by the word metanoia (metavnoia) which the New Tes ta ment writ - ers used for the con cept of repen tance. Metanoia is the noun form of the verb metanoeo and is trans lated repent. This word lit er ally means to change the mind, to rethink, or to think again, and with out this aspect there can be no such thing as true repen tance. When the New Tes ta ment writ ers said repent, what they meant was change your mind, change how you think, change your per spec tive, and change your per cep tion of things. This cru cial work of repen tance, thor - ough repen tance, is required if we are to have the mind of Christ. We must truly repent. The Pow ers of the Mind The mind of man pos sesses two pow ers and was cre ated for the proper exer cise of these two pow ers. They are the active and the pas sive pow ers. These pow ers are rep re sented by two words in the New Tes - ta ment, the active pow ers of the mind being expressed by the verb phroneo (fronevw) and the noun phren (frhvn) which denote the power of perspective, view point, or mindset; and the pas sive power of the mind being expressed by the verb noeo (noevw) and the noun nous (nou:v) which denote the power of per cep tion, com pre hen sion, or under stand ing. Our view point, or per spec tive, (the active power of the mind) is shaped by the com pre hen sion, or the per cep tive pow ers, (the pas sive power of the mind). Thus, the power of per cep tion, or com pre hen sion, deter mines our per spec tive, or how we look at the world. To state it sim ply, what we allow into our mind (pas sive) is reflected in our view or per spec tive of real - ity (active); hence, the word repen tance (metanoia) prop erly com pre hends the com plete change or renew ing of the pas - sive power of the mind, the noeo or under stand ing. There fore, when the apos tle Paul exhorted us to let this mind (phroneo) be in us which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5), it was with the under stand ing that before that mind, or mindset, (phronema) can be in us, we must first be trans formed by the renew ing of our minds (nous) (Romans 12:2). This truth is expressed in Paul s words in Titus 1:15: Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbe liev ing is noth ing pure; but even their mind (nous) and con science is defiled. If the mind, or under stand ing, be pure, our per cep tion becomes pure and we are pure; like wise, if we be defiled or unbe liev ing, it is because our mind, or under stand ing, was first defiled. There - fore, when Paul says we have all sinned [past tense], and come short [pres ent tense] of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), he is tell ing us that the result of our hav ing once com - mit ted sin (defiled our mind) is that we pres ently keep fall ing short of God s glory. Why? He is tell ing us it is because our minds are defiled, or cor rupted, with sin, so that we can not reflect the divine glory. The Imag i na tion The mind, once cor rupted, becomes inca pa ble of view ing any thing with a right, or righ teous, Old Paths August 2012

9 mindset, or per spec tive. This truth is taught in the words of Gen e sis 6:5: And GOD saw that the wick ed ness of man was great in the earth, and that every imag i na tion of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con tin u ally. The word trans lated imag i na tion is the Hebrew word yetser which means for ma - tion, or shape, i.e., that which is formed in the mind (the active power of the mind). The imaginations of the antediluvians were defiled; hence, they viewed the world with defiled minds and thus made them selves rep ro bates. This same truth is expressed in the words of the prophet, Can the Ethi o pian change his skin, or the leop ard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accus tomed [Hebrew learned] to do evil (Jer e miah 13:23). Sin, once learned, sets in motion a course of life from which it is impos si ble for the unaided man to turn. An Anal ogy One way to help us under stand, in a lim ited way, how our mind works is to com pare it to a pair of eye - glasses. For instance, eye glasses allow us to per ceive our sur round ings by focus ing the light (truth) into our eyes and, depend ing on the qual ity and/or pre scrip tion of the lenses, either cor rect or dis tort our vision. Even so the mind, like lenses, fil ters all that comes into it through its senses, and depend ing upon its health (i.e., its bend or bias), it will either cor rect or dis tort that which comes in. Because the mind is the medium of both per spec tive and per cep tion, the vehi cle of thought and all that can be known or believed, it is imper a - tive that its lens be prop erly focused, or truth will be dis torted and blurred to the mind s eye. The Two Per spec tives There are two per spec tives brought to view in the Bible: (1) the nat u ral per spec tive and (2) the spir i tual per spec tive. The nat u ral per spec tive is gov - erned by the nat u ral, or car nal, mind, or spirit, of man, and the spir i tual per spec tive is gov erned by the mind, or spirit, of God. The nat u ral per spec tive sees only sub stance and form, i.e., its view point is based upon the out ward appear ance of a thing. The spir i tual per spec tive sees what the nat u ral can not, i.e., it sees the super nat u ral, the unseen, and the pur pose, or func tion, of things. The nat u ral man is inca pa ble of know ing the things of God, as it is writ ten, But the nat u ral man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are fool - ish ness unto him: nei ther can he know them, because they are spir i tu ally dis cerned (1 Corin thi ans 2:14). The nat u ral mind is the result of our being con formed to this world; the spir i - tual mind is the result of true repen tance, i.e., the renew ing of the mind by the spirit of God, as the apos tle to the Gen tiles tells us, Be not con formed to this world: but be ye trans - formed by the renew ing of your mind (nous)..., and the rea son he gives for this renewal of the mind is that ye may prove what is that good, and accept able, and per fect, will of God (Romans 12:2). This prin ci ple was expressed to Sam - uel by the Lord when he said, Look not on his coun te nance, or on the height of his stat ure; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the out - ward appear ance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and as Job expressed in his com plaint to the Lord, Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? (Job 10:4). There is a way which seemeth right unto a man [the nat u ral per spec tive], but the end thereof are the ways of death (Prov erbs 14:12). And this brings me to my next point. Two men went up into the tem ple to pray; the one a Phar i see, and the other a pub li can. The Phar i see stood and prayed thus with him self, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, un just, adul ter ers, or even as this pub li can. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I pos sess. And the pub li can, stand ing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, say ing, God be mer ci ful to me a sin ner. I tell you, this man went down to his house jus ti fied rather than the other: for ev ery one that exalteth him self shall be abased; and he that humbleth him self shall be ex alted. (Luke 18:10 14) Our Need for Repen tance In the above par a ble Christ reveals that which sep a rates the just, or jus ti fied, from the unjust, or unjus ti fied, or sin ner. The Phar i see acknowl edged no need in him self of for give ness, no need of purity of life, and no acknowl edg ment of wrong, or sin, passed his lips, only thank ful ness to him self (for that was the one to whom he prayed) that he was not as other men. The pub li can, on the other hand, knew his true con di tion and his need of a Sav ior, and in agony of soul he besought God for mercy. In this par a - ble is por trayed the two classes of men on this earth: they that feel no need and are sat is fied with their own righ teous ness and they whose hearts are bro ken with a sense of their true con di tion and whose faith reaches out to God for mercy and for give ness. In Prov erbs 18:2 we are told that a fool hath no delight in under stand ing, but that his heart may dis cover itself. As the Pharisee in the par a ble, the fool has no delight in under stand - ing his true con di tion but in glo ry ing in his own merit and in dis cov er ing or jus ti fy ing his own per verse heart. Seest thou a man wise in his own con ceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him (Prov erbs 26:12). Dear read ers, we must repent and change our minds. Let us not be con tent until we have expunged every last ves tige of this world from our minds, until all our imag i na tions have been cast down, and until every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowl edge of God, and every thought is brought into cap tiv ity... to the obe di ence of Christ (2 Corin thi ans 10:5). Let the wicked for sake his way, and the unrigh teous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abun dantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nei ther are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heav ens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa iah 55:7 9). What we learn (our edu ca tion) is either a bless ing or a curse. The ques tion is asked, Can the Ethi o pian change his skin, or Vol. 21, No

10 the leop ard his spots? (Jer e miah 13:23); the answer to which is no. We can not change our skin, nei ther, saith the Lord, can we change our mind once evil is learned. Herein lies the true nature of man kind s ill ness: our minds have been irrep a ra bly cor rupted by our past sins. There is no hope for us, save our rec re ation, or rebirth. This was the prayer of David. When the nature of his sin was brought to his atten tion, he cried out in anguish of soul, Wash me thor oughly from mine iniq uity, and cleanse me from my sin. Cre ate in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:2, 10). This, dear reader, is true repen tance! Such a ref or ma tion or trans for - ma tion is needed in all of us, where there is no attempt to hide, or con ceal, sin, nor to lessen its sin ful ness or jus tify our actions before men. All will be con tri tion of heart and a deep, sin cere seek ing for purity of heart and mind before God. Thus it shall be said of us, You hath he quick ened, who were dead in tres passes and sins; wherein in time past ye walked accord - ing to the course of this world, accord ing to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the chil dren of dis obe di ence: Among whom also we all had our con ver sa tion in times past in the lusts of our flesh, ful fill ing the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the chil dren of wrath, even as oth ers (Ephe sians 2:1 3). Receiv ing the Spir i tual Mind Spir i tual dis cern ment, or the power to dis cern between day and night, light and dark ness, truth and error, is the first step in true ref or ma tion and free dom from sin. How ever, this power is not given to all men; it is given only to a cer tain class of men. Said Christ, If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself (John 7:17). Here Christ sets forth the true chan nel through which spir i tual dis cern ment comes, i.e., obe di ence. If any man will do his will, if he will sub mit to the author ity of God and do that which he hath spo ken in his word, then, and only then, shall he know and dis cern the voice of God and know of the doc trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself, for he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his com mand - ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him ver ily is the love of God per fected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought him self also so to walk, even as he walked (1 John 2:4 6). Obe di ence to the Word of God is the only way of receiv ing the mind of Christ, for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begot ten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The word of God was made flesh, or repro duced in the flesh of Christ, by a life of obe di ence and sub mis sion to his Father s will; hence, we are told, We have also a more sure word of proph ecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed [Greek: hold to], as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19). We must first take heed, or obey, the light of God s sure word if we desire the light of truth to dawn upon our minds and the day star to arise in our hearts. Con clu sion We have all sinned [past tense] and, as a result, come short [pres ent tense] of the glory of God. It is in this con di tion that God accepts us, dirty, cor rupt, and defiled as we are; yet, it is not his will that we remain so. He has exhorted us, say ing, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high call ing of God in Christ Jesus. Let us there - fore, as many as be per fect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be oth er wise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you (Philippians 3:14, 15). God has prom ised to reveal to us what so ever in our minds and lives misses the mark of the prize... in Christ Jesus. God is not to be blamed for the sin that has cor rupted our minds, nei ther ought we to point the fin ger at our par ents or curse the day of our birth. Rather, let us repent, truly repent, of the evil and sin in our minds and hearts, for it is we that have sinned and it is our sins that bring us short of the glory of God and that so dims the glo ri ous reflec tion of Christ in our lives. O that God shall put in us the spirit of true repen tance to change our minds. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). (Brother Akens teaches at the Waldensian Cen ter. This study was given at the 2012 West Vir ginia Camp Meet ing.) Youth s Cor ner, con tin ued from page 5 descen dants of the ancient Chris tian church of Egypt, that most of my work was done, how ever, while in every way seek ing to wit ness to the Moham med ans as well. Again and again in our short story of mis sion work in Mos lem lands, the Sab bath, the seal of the liv ing God, has appeared as a shield and defense, even as sug gested in the proph ecy of Rev e la tion 9:4, describ ing the rise of the Moham medan power. Once when Elder H. P. Holser was vis it ing Tur key, in the ear lier days of our work, his party was rudely han dled by the offi cials. Their Bibles and papers were con fis cated. Then the higher offi cials learned that the mis sion ar ies were Sab bath keepers. Elder Holser wrote: The offi cials in charge changed at once, and were as gra - cious as they were harsh before; all our books and papers were returned imme di ately. It was the Sab bath that saved us. This is the sign by which we are known. Thus the Sab bath is the same to us now in Tur key as it was to Sabbatarians under the fifth trum pet. Rev. 9:4. Years later still, in the upris ings and tumults that brought Turk ish ven geance upon Arme nian and other Chris tians in the times before the Great War, our church in Con stan ti no ple passed through the storm; and again they found the Sab bath a shield. The story, as our Arme nian leader, the late Z. G. Bahanan, told it, was to this effect: There was a ter ri ble time in Con stan ti no ple. The Turks and Kurds had risen against the Chris tians, par tic u larly the con tin ued on page 23, col umn 2 Old Paths August 2012

11 Attack on the Plan of Salvation The big gest news this last 4th of July was not the Inde pend - ence Day cel e bra tions held through out the United States for its 236th birth day. Rather, the big news was an announce - ment of some thing so deep that only an elite few could fully com pre hend its mean ing. The head of the Eu ro pean Cen ter for Nu clear Re search says its teams have dis cov ered a new par ti cle that is con - sis tent with the Higgs boson a sub atomic par ti cle con sid ered so sig nif i cant to the un der stand ing of the uni - verse that it has been called the God par ti cle. We have a dis cov ery [that is] con sis tent with a Higgs boson, Rolf Heuer, di rec tor of CERN, the Eu ro pean re - search cen ter, said Wednes day. Two in de pend ent teams at CERN, the phys ics lab in the Alps on the French-Swiss bor der, have now said that they have ob served the new boson, or sub atomic par ti cle. The CERN teams did not out right say that they have dis - cov ered the Higgs boson it self, which has been the fo cus of a 40-plus year pur suit. The Higgs boson, which was first pro posed in the 1960s by the Eng lish phys i cist Pe ter Higgs, is be lieved to give all mat ter in the uni verse size and shape. ( nol ogy/god-par ti cle-dis - covered-european-researchers-claim-discovery-higgs/sto ry?id= #.t_x1hnjbcfd) This dis cov ery of the God par ti cle, if time were to con - tinue, would be eval u ated on the same level as Ein stein s the ory of rel a tiv ity (E=MC 2 ) or Max Plank s quan tum mechanics. Not much more than a cen tury ago the atom was con sid ered the fun da men tal par ti cle, or the par ti cle of which all things con sisted. Sci en tist began to see that this could not account for all the observ able sci ence and real ized there must be particles more fundamental. In 1894 Joseph John Thomas hypoth e sized the exis tence of the elec tron. In 1917 Ernest Rutherford real ized that hydro gen was the light est ele ment. It was the o rized that hydro gen was the build ing block of all ele ments and that the hydro gen nucleus is pres ent in all other nuclei as an ele men tary par ti cle. Rutherford gave the hydro gen nucleus a unique name as a par - ti cle because he believed that hydro gen, the light est ele ment, con tained only one of these par ti cles. This new fun da men tal par ti cle of the nucleus was called the pro ton (after the neu ter sin gu lar of the Greek word for first, (prwton). In 1920 Rutherford hypoth e sized the exis tence of the neu tron, and in 1932 James Chadwick proved its exis tence. For a gen er a tion we believed that man kind now had the three fun da men tal par ti cles, but in 1964 quarks were pro - posed to exist. Today it is acknowl edged that quarks are the build ing blocks of both pro tons and neu trons. Quarks come in what are described as six fla vors: up, down, strange, charm, bot tom, and top. Pro tons haves two up and one down quark, and neutrons have two down and one up quark. (Another kind of known par ti cle is the lep ton which, inter est - ingly, also comes in six fla vors but not the same fla vors as found in quarks.) Had rons (Greek: ajdrovs, hadrós, stout, thick) are com pos - ite par ti cles made from quarks held together by the strong force (as atoms and mol e cules are held together by the elec - tromagnetic force). Had rons are grouped in two fam i lies. The first family is baryons. The mem bers of this fam ily are com posed of three quarks, pro tons and neu trons, for exam - ple. The sec ond group is called mesons and are made of one quark and one antiquark. The dis cov ery of the Higgs boson (named after Peter Higgs, who first pos tu lated its exis tence) came about due to study at the LHC, or the Large Had ron Collider, which is under the ground at the bor der of France and Switzerland. How impor tant is the Higgs boson? Theoretical physicist Garrett Lisi stated, The Higgs boson has been the holy grail of par ti cle phys i cists for the past many decades. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist and co-inven tor of string the ory, has said: We think that orig i nally the uni verse was a gas of par ti - cles with no mass at all. Think of a crys tal, beau ti ful crys tal to tally sym met ri cal but use less. It ex ploded and the shat ter ing of this crys tal gave us all the masses of the par ti - cles to day: the elec tron, the pro ton, the neu tron, the atom. Realize that the higgs boson takes us to the in stant of cre ation it self and we can run the video tape be fore the big bang. We can talk about the uni verse be fore the cre ation of the uni verse it self.... We re go ing into ar eas that take us be fore the in stant of Gen e sis chap ter one, verse one. We re talk ing about go ing be fore the be gin ning it self. I tell you, this is deep, this is re - ally deep! It has philo soph i cal and theo log i cal im pli ca tions as we talk about a uni verse, a par al lel uni verse, other uni verses out there, co-ex ist ing with ours. (CNN In ter view: nr-intv-michio-kaku-higgs-boson.cnn?iref=allsearch) What are these theo log i cal impli ca tions? Law rence Krauss, author of A Uni verse from Noth ing, has stated: Our un der stand ing of phys i cal re al ity of ev ery thing and noth ing has changed for ever. We don t yet know where we are head ing, but noth ing will ever be the same. The Higgslike par ti cle takes us a step closer to solv ing the mys tery of the uni verse, which is in ex tri ca bly con - nected to the mys tery of our own or i gin. ( ion/krauss-higgs-par ti cle/in dex.html?hpt=hp_c2) If we can truly look back before the time of the so-called big bang, then the sci en tists claim that they can see before Vol. 21, No

12 cre ation and there can not be a God of cre ation. Peter Adkins, pro fes sor at Cam bridge Uni ver sity, said in a BBC inter view, The Higgs boson is another nail in the cof fin of reli gion. Per haps we are now see ing why this sci ence les son is impor tant. As Ken Ham, from Answers in Gen e sis, has noted, if peo ple can under stand the Gen e sis account to be true, then there is good rea son to accept the gos pels to be true. Satan knows this and has reversed the issue. Satan says that if Gen e sis is wrong, then the gos pels and sal va tion must also be wrong! Remember that Kaku said, We re going into areas that take us before the instant of Gen e sis chap ter one, verse one. The thrust of Satan s attack using sci ence falsely so called (1 Tim o thy 6:20) is against the very foun da tion of the uni - verse, the very being of God. Gen e sis 1:1 is per haps the most pro found state ment in the Bible! It begins in the begin ning God! God is first and above all else. His exis tence is declared in the first words of Holy Writ, but the verse con tin - ues to say in the begin ning God cre ated. Not only does God exist, but he cre ates! He is the God of cre ation pro - tons, quarks, dark mat ter, light mat ter, light all of it! The Bible gives the true account of cre ation. It tells us that all things that were made were made by the cre ative energy of the voice of God. By the word of the LORD were the heav - ens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.... For he spake, and it was done; he com manded, and it stood fast (Psalm 33:6, 9). This com pares with the Gen e sis account, where the Bible tells us that each day God spoke and instantly there appeared that which he spoke. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen e sis 1:3). (See also Gen e sis 1:6, 9, 14, 20, 24.) Beloved, a proper under stand ing of cre ation is so impor - tant that God gave man kind the Sab bath as a memo rial of it. Re mem ber the sab bath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou la bour, and do all thy work: But the sev enth day is the sab bath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh ter, thy man ser - vant, nor thy maid ser vant, nor thy cat tle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the sev enth day: where fore the LORD blessed the sab bath day, and hal lowed it. (Ex o dus 20:8 11) In Gen e sis 2:1 3 we read that the Cre ator rested. Since God cre ated all things through Christ (Hebrews 1:2; John 1:1, 3), it was Christ that rested that first Sab bath with God, and this day is the spe cial day that we wor ship God and Christ. Jesus says that he is Lord... of the Sab bath day (Mat thew 12:8), and in Isa iah 58:13, God calls the Sab bath my holy day. The Sab bath, being a sign of cre ation, helps man to remem ber that he is a crea ture and that he owes his exis tence to God. Keep ing this fact in mind is a safe guard against many false the o ries. You see, there is a lot of dif fer ence between fact and the ory. Some times we may have many facts but fail to under stand the real ity of the sit u a tion. For exam ple, sup - pose men A and B are in a room, and A has a gun and shoots B with the gun he is hold ing in his gloved hand. He quickly drops the gun and leaves. You hear the shot and imme di ately pro ceed into the room by another door and see B on the floor, dead. You stoop down beside him in won der and pick up the gun to exam ine it. Now also sup pose that it was a well-known fact that you had been feud ing with B and that sev eral other peo ple who heard the shot come into the room just after you arrived and picked up the gun. What do they now see and think? They see you stand ing over your known enemy, hold ing the mur der weapon. Bal lis tics will link the deadly bul let to the gun. Your fin ger prints are upon the gun. You did have a motive. You must have killed B! Those are all facts, but we have used facts to draw a seem ingly plau si ble, but very wrong, con clu sion! Con cern ing this prin ci ple, Ellen White has stated: In fer ences er ro ne ously drawn from facts ob served in na ture have, how ever, led to sup posed con flict be tween sci ence and rev e la tion; and in the ef fort to re store har - mony, in ter pre ta tions of Scrip ture have been adopted that un der mine and de stroy the force of the word of God. Ge ol - ogy has been thought to con tra dict the lit eral in ter pre ta tion of the Mo saic re cord of the cre ation. Mil - lions of years, it is claimed, were re quired for the evo lu tion of the earth from chaos; and in or der to ac com - mo date the Bi ble to this sup posed rev e la tion of sci ence, the days of cre ation are as sumed to have been vast, in def i - nite pe ri ods, cov er ing thou sands or even mil lions of years. Such a con clu sion is wholly un called for. The Bi ble re - cord is in har mony with it self and with the teach ing of na ture. Of the first day em ployed in the work of cre ation is given the re cord, The eve ning and the morn ing were the first day. Gen e sis 1:5. And the same in sub stance is said of each of the first six days of cre ation week. Each of these pe ri ods In spi ra tion de clares to have been a day con sist ing of eve ning and morn ing, like ev ery other day since that time. In re gard to the work of cre ation it self the di vine tes - ti mony is, He spake, and it was done; He com manded, and it stood fast. Psalm 33:9. With Him who could thus call into ex is tence un num bered worlds, how long a time would be re quired for the evo lu tion of the earth from chaos? In or der to ac count for His works, must we do vi o - lence to His word? (Ed u ca tion, pp. 128, 129) The truth is that true sci ence and the Scrip tures will always agree. Our prob lem is that we do not have all the cor rect sci - ence, and because of wrong assump tions (and evo lu tion is built upon many, many assump tions), we come to wrong con clu sions. The seri ous ness of how we should view evo lu tion is seen in the com pany it keeps. Notice the com pan ions of evo lu tion which inspi ra tion declares it keeps: The warn ings of the word of God re gard ing the per ils sur round ing the Chris tian church be long to us to day. As in Old Paths August 2012

13 the days of the apos tles men tried by tra di tion and phi los o - phy to de stroy faith in the Scrip tures, so to day, by the pleas ing sen ti ments of higher crit i cism, evo lu tion, spir i tu - al ism, the os o phy, and pan the ism, the en emy of righ teous ness is seek ing to lead souls into for bid den paths. (The Acts of the Apos tles, p. 474) It is creation that dis tin guishes the true God from the false gods. Jer e miah noted: But the LORD is the true God, he is the liv ing God, and an ev er last ing king: at his wrath the earth shall trem ble, and the na tions shall not be able to abide his in dig na tion. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heav ens and the earth, even they shall per ish from the earth, and from un der these heav ens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath es tab lished the world by his wis dom, and hath stretched out the heav ens by his dis cre - tion. (Jer e miah 10:10 12) It is God s power to cre ate that sets him apart from all oth - ers. (See also Jer e miah 14:22 and Rev e la tion 16:6 10.) The Sab bath, being a memo rial of his cre ation, is, there fore, the sign of God s author ity and cre ative abil ity. Today sci ence claims to under stand cre ation, but sci en tist are sim ply sub sti - tut ing a false god in the place of the true God. We noted ear lier that Satan wants to dis rupt the Chris tian s under stand ing of Gen e sis, for it will affect his con fi dence in the gos pels of Mat thew, Mark, Luke, and John, but there is another impor tant point that Satan under stands well sal va - tion is insep a ra bly linked to cre ation. Paul, writ ing to the Colossians, speaks of sal va tion through Christ, then seem - ingly stops, changes thought, and speaks about cre ation, only to then change back to dis cuss ing the plan of sal va tion. Who hath de liv ered us from the power of dark ness, and hath trans lated us into the king dom of his dear Son: In whom we have re demp tion through his blood, even the for give ness of sins: Who is the im age of the in vis i ble God, the first born of ev ery crea ture: For by him were all things cre ated, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, vis i ble and in vis i ble, whether they be thrones, or do min ions, or prin - ci pal i ties, or pow ers: all things were cre ated by him, and for him: And he is be fore all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:13 17) Since sal va tion is tied to cre ation, Paul is actu ally not shift ing gears but is con tin u ing on the exact same theme, for sal va tion is a cre ation pro cess. When David came to repen - tance, he said, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). For we are his work man ship, created in Christ Je sus unto good works, which God hath be fore or dained that we should walk in them. (Ephe sians 2:10) But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Je sus: That ye put off con cern ing the for mer con ver sa tion the old man, which is cor rupt ac cord ing to the de ceit ful lusts; And be re newed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which af ter God is cre ated in righ - teous ness and true ho li ness. (Ephe sians 4:20 24) There fore if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea ture: old things are passed away; be hold, all things are be come new. (2 Co rin thi ans 5:17) The only way to have a new crea ture is to have a new cre - ation. Because God can cre ate some thing from noth ing, he is able to help the weary sin ner who is lost and with out strength. He says: Lift up your eyes on high, and be hold who hath cre ated these things, that bringeth out their host by num ber: he calleth them all by names by the great ness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Ja cob, and speakest, O Is rael, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judg ment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the ev er - last ing God, the LORD, the Cre ator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, nei ther is weary? there is no search ing of his un der stand ing. He giv eth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall ut terly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall re new their strength; they shall mount up with wings as ea gles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isa iah 40:26 31) Since the Sab bath is the sign of cre ation, it is also the sign of redemp tion. In fact, God says, More over also I gave them my sab baths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanc tify them (Ezekiel 20:12). The Sab bath is not sim ply a sign of jus ti fi ca tion, but of sanc ti fi ca tion, or total holi ness. Satan knows well the truth of cre ation and redemp tion, and he knows that if he can destroy our con fi dence in cre - ation, he can rob us of our sal va tion, includ ing our sanc ti fi ca tion. One of the ways that Satan attacks cre ation is to attack the sign of cre ation, the Sab bath, but sanc ti fi ca tion and holy liv ing is God s will for his children: This is the will of God, even your sanc ti fi ca tion. (1 Thessalonians 4:3) And the very God of peace sanc tify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be pre - served blame less unto the com ing of our Lord Je sus Christ. Faith ful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24) Beloved, God s bid dings are his enablings. He declares he is able to keep you from fall ing, and to pres ent you fault less before the pres ence of his glory with exceed ing joy (Jude 1:24). We need not fall into a black hole, a worm hole, or any hole, for God is able to keep us from fall ing into any sin or error, even if that error seems to be grounded and founded in solid sci ence. Solid sci ence, how ever, will always be in per - fect har mony with the word of God. Vol. 21, No

14 Has sci ence really found the God par ti cle? Is the recent data really indi cat ing that the Higgs boson exists and has been found? The sci en tists say there is only a 1 in 3.5 mil lion chance that they are wrong. But even if they are cor rect in what they think they have found, we can not expect them to Health Testimony By Allen Stump As our read ers know, we have been encour ag ing believ ers who have not been on a plant-based, whole foods diet to adopt this healthy life style. I am very happy to share my per - sonal tes ti mony about how it has helped my car diac health. Though I had been a veg e tar ian for many years and a vegan for the last seven years, I fur ther altered my diet in May 2011 to include more leafy green veg e ta bles and to exclude any added oil to my diet, eat ing only the oil as it nat u rally exists in the foods. I recently had a health screen ing and want to share with you some of the results. Since adopt ing this plant-based, whole foods approach, my blood lipids have fallen quite dra - mat i cally. My total cho les terol level has dropped over 50 points, to a cur rent level of 100, and my tri glyc er ides level is 62, about one third of the rec om mended min i mum! When these num bers and other data, such as a father with a his tory of early heart dis ease, were taken into con sid er ation, I am cal cu lated to have less than a 3% chance of hav ing heart dis - ease within the next ten years! Had it not been for the fam ily his tory being fac tored into the equa tion, my risk of heart dis - ease would be even less, closer to the 1% mark! I am happy to also report to you about my friend Rich ard. Rich ard installs TV and Internet sat el lite. When I met him, he men tioned his heart, at times, skipped beats. I was also con - cerned that Rich ard s diet needed atten tion. I gave him a copy of Pre vent and Reverse Heart Dis ease by Dr. Esselstyn, and treated him to a heart-healthy meal, sharing sound diet advice with him. I had a chance to talk to Rich ard recently, and he told me that he was now eat ing col lards and kale. In fact, he said he is eat ing three times the veg e ta bles he ate before talk ing to me. Though he is still eat ing some ven i son, he has cut back on other meats. After hav ing some blood work done very recently, he was happy to learn that his cho - les terol level is now within an accept able level and that his heart is no lon ger skip ping beats! His doc tor told him that what ever he was doing, to keep it up! A heart-healthy diet should attempt to keep the num ber of fat cal o ries con sumed to 10 12% of the total cal o ries. If you are eat ing a plant-based, whole foods diet, this is not dif fi cult if you eat with mod er a tion con cen trated foods, such as nuts and seeds. Care must be taken when eat ing pro cessed foods or using cer tain rec i pes. You need to real ize that what the world con sid ers healthy is not nec es sar ily truly healthy, but rather, is, per haps less dam ag ing than com mon meals. A case in point: inter pret the data prop erly when they leave the Bible out of the equa tion, for the Bible, God s word, is truth and the final arbi tra tor of all truth. You can trust the word of God. Over and over it has been shown to be true and faith ful. Allen Stump When I had my health screen ing done, I was given a mag a - zine pro duced by the cor po ra tion that did the health screen ing. Within this health mag a zine was a Heart-Healthy Rec ipe, but let us look at this rec ipe and see if it really is heart healthy. This meal, chicken breasts with mush room cream sauce, was said to be easy to pre pare. With out going through the list of ingredients and the preparation method, let us move straight to the Nutri tion Facts as given in the rec ipe. As you can see from the repro duced chart, this Heart-Healthy Meal con - tained just 275 cal o ries. That cer tainly will not make a per son obese, but now notice that a serv ing has 15 grams of fat. It is not the total grams of fat but the per cent age of fat by cal o ries that is con sid - ered impor tant to mon i tor. Remem ber that the level we are aim ing for is 10 12%. On most foods the per cent - age of fat cal o ries is listed, but not here. So how can we fig ure this num ber? Well, thankfully the mathematics is not too hard. Know ing the con stant of nine cal o ries per Nu tri tion la bel for the sup pos edly Heart-Healthy Rec ipe gram of fat, we can know that there is a total of 135 fat cal o ries in this rec ipe per serving by simply multiplying 9 times 15. Next we sim ply divide this num ber (135) into the total num ber of cal o ries, con vert the dec i mal answer into per cent age by mov ing the dec i mal point place ment two places to the right, and add a per cent sym bol. The answer is an aston - ish ing 49%! Almost one half of the cal o ries in this Heart-Healthy Meal is fat! Fur ther more, the meal has too much pro tein (25 g) and far too lit tle car bo hy drate (5g) for the num ber of cal o ries within the meal. Addi tion ally, going by the basic rule of thumb that the num ber of mil li grams of sodium per serv ing should not exceed cal o ries per serv ing, this rec ipe has about 1/3 too much sodium, and it also has only 1 g of fiber. What is the moral of this story? Read your labels and rec i pes care fully, for not every thing that claims to be healthy is healthy! Old Paths August 2012

15 Philadelphia All About Jesus This study is obvi ously about Jesus and his mes sage to Phil a - del phia, but before we dis cuss this, let us think about the Laodiceans for a min ute. Are they rich, and increased with goods? Do they have any needs? The Lord Jesus does not say that they are rich and increased with goods or that they are in need noth ing. The Laodiceans are the ones who make this false pro fes sion. Of a truth, broth ers and sis ters, we will not, and can not, bring glory to God when we are wretched, mis - er a ble, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev e la tion 3:17). That can never be! God has a dif fer ent expe ri ence for those who flee Laodicea. Will some be overcomers in Laodicea? Jesus has prom ised that there will be overcomers, but care fully note that the mes sages to the seven churches are sent to the angels, or the lead er ship, of the churches. They will be damned if they hold [back] the truth in unrigh teous ness (Romans 1:18). To the angel (the cor po rate lead er ship), Jesus said: I will spue thee out of my mouth (Rev e la tion 3:16). It is re mark able that the Greek ad jec tives are in the mas - cu line, agree ing with the an gel, not fem i nine, agree ing with the Church. The Lord ad dresses the an gel as the em - bodi ment and rep re sen ta tive of the Church. The chief min is ter is an swer able for his flock if he has not faith fully warned the mem bers of it. (Jamie son, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Com men tary Crit i cal and Ex plan a tory on the Whole Bi ble (Re 3:16). Oak Har bor, WA: Lo gos Re - search Sys tems, Inc.) The mes sage is first addressed to the lead ers of the church, and the judg ment of being spued out is given to the angel, but the final call goes to the indi vid ual. In Rev e la tion 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. The call now is to any man, or per son. Beloved, God has some thing spe cial for those liv ing in the last days, and it is some thing that will develop their char ac ters and bring honor and glory to him (God). Let us now read the mes sage to the church at Phil a del phia: And to the an gel of the church in Phil a del phia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of Da vid, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: be hold, I have set be fore thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a lit tle strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not de nied my name. be hold, I will make them of the syn a gogue of Sa tan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; be hold, I will make them to come and wor ship be fore thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Be cause thou hast kept the word of my pa tience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temp - ta tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Be hold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pil lar in the tem ple 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 Je ru sa lem, which com eth down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Rev e la tion 3:7 13) City Background and History Vol ca noes and Earth quakes: Not much remains today of ancient Phil a del phia, the city of broth erly love. The city was sit u ated near a group of active vol ca noes, now extinct, and earth quakes occurred fre quently in the area. In AD 17, an unusu ally severe earth quake destroyed much of Phil a - del phia (and Sardis also, twenty-eight miles away), and fre quent after shocks were expe ri enced long after wards, so much so that many inhab it ants remained out side the city liv ing in huts and booths over the vale and those who were fool hardy enough (as the sober-minded thought) to remain in the city, prac ticed var i ous devices to sup port and strengthen the walls and houses against the recur ring shocks (W. M. Ramsay, The Let ters to the Seven Churches, p. 291). Stra te gic Place ment: Ancient Phil a del phia is some - times called the Gate way to the East. It lay on a gen tle hill at the upper end of a long val ley which opens from the sea. Arche o log i cal Finds: Not many sites of ancient Phil a - del phia have been exca vated because the cur rent city of Alasehir sits over the old city. An amphi the ater with its under ground pas sage ways, how ever, has been unearthed, along with a smaller the ater and a tem ple to Her cu les. Names of the City: A note wor thy fea ture of Phil a del phia is the names the city has used over time. The orig i nal name of Phil a del phia comes from Attalus Philadelphus, the founder of the city, and was cho sen because of the broth erly love and loy alty he dem on strated. After the earth quake of AD 17, the city became a new city with a new name. It had to be rebuilt, and Rome helped to accom plish this by remit ting for a few years the city of its required trib ute. The peo ple expressed their grat i tude for this relief by tak ing the name Neocaesarea for its city: It was prob a bly in com mem o ra tion of the kind ness shown by the em peror on this oc ca sion that Phil a del phia as sumed the name Neocaesarea... The name Neocaesarea is known both from coins and epig ra phy dur ing the en su - ing pe riod. At first the old name was dis used and the new name em ployed alone; then the old name re curred along - side of or al ter nately with the new, and fi nally about AD the new name dis ap peared from use. Phil a del phia Vol. 21, No

16 was the only one of the seven cit ies that had vol un tarily sub sti tuted a new name for its orig i nal name... Sub se quently, dur ing the reign of Vespasian (AD 69 79), Phil a del phia as sumed an other im pe rial ti tle and called it self Flavia, and the dou ble name re mained in use oc ca sion ally on coins through out the sec ond and third centuries. (Ibid., pp. 291, 291) We see that Phil a del phia has had three names Phil a del - phia, Neocaesarea, and Flavia and, inter est ingly, the mes sage to the angel of the church at Phil a del phia con tains a ref er ence to three names also the name of the Father, the name of the city of the Father, and the new name of Jesus. A Message about Jesus and His People The mes sage to the angel of the church of Phil a del phia is espe - cially per ti nent to God s peo ple who face con flict over spir i tual mat ters. Under inspi ra tion, Ellen White tells us that for:... those who in the midst of con flict [who] should main tain their faith in God, the prophet was given the words of com men da tion and prom ise: I know thy works: be hold, I have set be fore thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a lit tle strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not de nied My name. Be cause thou hast kept the word of My pa tience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temp ta tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (The Acts of the Apos tles, p. 588) If you are fac ing con flict and seem to have only a lit tle strength in the bat tle, be patient and main tain your faith in God. God will keep you through the con flict, for Jesus has told us, Fear not, lit tle flock; for it is your Father s good plea sure to give you the king dom (Luke 12:32). Jesus says that his peo ple are a lit tle flock. The mes sage of Jesus to Phil a del phia also con tains a par - tic u larly beau ti ful descrip tion of him self the most com pre hen sive to be found in all the mes sages sent to the seven churches. Jesus states that he is holy and true, that he has the key of David, and that what he opens no man can shut and what he shuts no man can open. He also declares that he knows the hearts of those who claim to be Jews, that he knows the future (reveal ing that an hour of temp ta tion is com ing), that he is return ing soon, and that the overcomers will be pil lars in the tem ple of God, hav ing the name of his God, the name of the city of his God, and his own new name writ ten upon them. In addi tion, Jesus por trays him self as pow er ful by mak ing the false-hearted Jews wor ship at the feet of the saints and by pro tect ing his peo ple dur ing the over whelm ing hour of temp ta tion. This is the body of the mes sage for Phil a del phia, save for one impor tant admo ni - tion given to the leader to hold fast that which he had. Why? So that no man would take his crown! One of Author ity Speaks: The impor tance of the mes - sages given to the seven churches of Rev e la tion 2 and 3 is seen in the fol low ing quo ta tion, con densed from a let ter writ ten by Ellen White on Sep tem ber 22, 1903, to the teach ers at Emman uel Mis sion ary Col lege (known today as Andrews Uni ver sity), in response to the new book The Liv ing Tem ple. Before read ing from this tes ti mony, we want to tes tify how blessed the Advent peo ple are to have the Spirit of Proph ecy. we have many theo log i cal books, both soft and hard cop ies, and a dozen com men tar ies. Some are help ful at times, and some, in many cases, are worse than use less. Some of these books know noth ing of the theme of the great con tro versy or of the truth about God and his Son. How ever, when we read the Spirit of Proph ecy, we find truth that will guide and direct God s peo ple in these last days, if they will sim ply use it! To the Teach ers in Em man uel Mis sion ary Col lege: I have some things to say to our teach ers in ref er ence to the new book, The Liv ing Tem ple. Be care ful how you sus tain the sen ti ments of this book re gard ing the per son al - ity of God. As the Lord rep re sents mat ters to me, these sen ti ments do not bear the en dorse ment of God. They are a snare that the en emy has pre pared for these last days. I thought that this would surely be dis cerned, and that it would not be nec es sary for me to say any thing about it. But since the claim has been made that the teach ings of this book can be sus tained by state ments from my writ - ings, I am com pelled to speak in de nial of this claim. There may be in this book ex pres sions and sen ti ments that are in har mony with my writ ings. And there may be in my writ - ings many state ments which when taken from their con nec tion, and in ter preted ac cord ing to the mind of the writer of Liv ing Tem ple would seem to be in har mony with the teach ings of this book. This may give ap par ent sup port to the as ser tion that the sen ti ments in Liv ing Tem ple are in har mony with my writ ings. But God for bid that this opin ion should pre vail. (The Spalding and Magan Col lec tion, p. 320) Ellen White said that she hoped that she would not need to speak out against The Liv ing Tem ple. She thought that the error in it would cer tainly be dis cerned, but it was not! How sad that the breth ren did not have the spir i tual dis cern ment needed at that time. Beloved, we are now liv ing in an even more per il ous time than the time of the writ ing of The Liv ing Temple. If there was ever a time that hav ing spir i tual dis cern - ment was nec es sary, it is today, yet at times at the lack of dis cern ment is amaz ing. I (PA) have heard preach ing that, at min i mum, bor dered on her esy and after ward have heard those who lis tened to it praise the ser mon for teach ing such won der fully spir i tual things! I can only won der at the lack of dis cern ment, but why is this so? The only answer is that we have failed to be stu dents of the word as it is our priv i lege to be. To pro mote his claims, Kellogg appealed to cer tain sec - tions within the Spirit of Proph ecy to sus tain his posi tions. For exam ple, writ ing to W. W. Prescott in a let ter of Octo ber Old Paths August 2012

17 25, 1903, Kellogg quoted from The Desire of Ages, page 161, Tes ti mo nies for the Church, volume 1, page 205, Spe cial Tes - ti mo nies on Edu ca tion, page 33, and Chris tian Tem per ance, pages 52, 161 to show that Ellen G. White was in agree ment with his posi tion. But Ellen White stated that though Kellogg quoted from her writ ings to sus tain his posi tion, she was not in agree ment with him. Today Adven tists will quote from Ellen White to sup port posi tions, such as the keep ing of feasts, the trin ity, or that God does not destroy; however, all state ments must be cor - rectly under stood in their con text, and they may not teach what the per son quot ing them states. For exam ple, a per son may advo cate Sunday sacred ness and then quote from Rev e - la tion 1:10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord s day. The text is true, but it does not teach Sunday sacred ness. Ellen White con tin ues writ ing to the teach ers at the college: We need not the mys ti cism that is in this book. Those who en ter tain these soph ist ries will soon find them selves in a po si tion where the en emy can talk with them, and lead them away from God. It is rep re sented to me that the writer of this book is on a false track. He has lost sight of the dis - tin guish ing truths for this time. He knows not whither his steps are tend ing. The track of truth lies close be side the track of er ror, and both minds may seem to be one to minds which are not worked by the Holy Spirit, and which, there - fore, are not quick to dis cern the dif fer ence be tween truth and er ror. In re gard to the faith to be cher ished and pre served in these last day, very lit tle light is given in Liv ing Tem ple, and this light is so un cer tain that it would not help God s peo ple at this stage of their work. In the vi sions of the night this mat ter was clearly pre - sented to me, be fore a large num ber. One of au thor ity was speak ing, and He said, If the sup po si tions and state ments found in this book were es sen tial, if these state ments were pure prov en der, thor oughly win nowed from the chaff, there would be some de cided men tion of them in the rev e - la tion given by Christ to John to give to the churches. To John the Lord Je sus opened the sub jects that He saw would be needed by his peo ple in the last days. The in - struc tion that He gave is found in the book of Rev e la tion. Those who would be co-work ers with our Lord and Sav - iour Je sus Christ will show a deep in ter est in the truths found in the book of Rev e la tion. With pen and voice they will strive to make plain the won der ful things that Christ came from heaven to re veal. The first chap ter of the book of Rev e la tion was then read, with great so lem nity. The Rev e la tion of Je sus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His ser vants things which must shortly come to past; and he sent and sig ni fied it by his an gel unto his ser vant John, who bare re cord of the word of God, and of the tes ti mony of Je sus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this proph ecy, and keep these things which are writ ten therein; for the time is at hand. Our In struc tor pre sented the sol emn mes sages that have been given in their or der in Rev e la tion, and that are to oc - cupy the first place in the minds of God s peo ple. All through the book, The Liv ing Tem ple, pas sages of scrip ture are used, but in many in stances these pas sages are used in such a way that the right in ter pre ta tion is not given them. The mes sage for this time is not, The tem ple of the Lord, the tem ple of the Lord, the tem ple of the Lord are we. Whom does the Lord re ceive as ves sels unto honor? Those who co op er ate with Christ, those who be - lieve the truth, who live the truth, who pro claim the truth in all its bear ings. There are those whose minds will be taken up with smooth words and fair speeches, put into lan guage that they can not un der stand or in ter pret. Pre cious time is rap - idly pass ing, and many will be robbed of the time that should be given to the proc la ma tion of the mes sages that God has sent to a fallen world. Sa tan is pleased to see the di ver sion of minds that should be en gaged in the study of the truths that have to do with eter nal re al i ties. The tes ti mony of Christ, a tes ti mony of the most sol emn char ac ter, is to be borne to the world. All through the book of Rev e la tion there are the most pre cious, el e vat ing prom - ises, and there are also warn ings of most fear fully sol emn im port. Will not those who pro fess to have a knowl edge of the truth read the tes ti mony given to John by Christ? Here is no guess-work, no sci en tific de cep tion. Here are the truths that con cern our pres ent and fu ture wel fare. What is the chaff to the wheat? Our In struc tor passed on to the third chap ter of Rev e la - tion, and read the fol low ing: Unto the an gel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith He that hath the seven Spir its of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watch ful, and strengthen the things which re main, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works per fect be fore God. Re mem ber there fore how thou hast re ceived, and heard, and hold fast, and re - pent. If there fore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. These words were spo ken with such strength and force that those pres ent seemed to be afraid, and hid their faces in their hands, as if they were ar raigned be fore the Judge of all the earth. Some seemed about to faint. Then the sub ject changed. The Speaker read: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not de filed their gar ments; and they shall walk with Me in white; for they are wor thy. He that overcometh, the same Vol. 21, No

18 shall be clothed with white rai ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will con fess his name be fore my fa ther, and be fore his an gels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And unto the an gel of the church in Phil a del phia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of Da vid, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth: I know thy works; be hold, I have set be fore thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a lit tle strength, and hast kept my word; and hast not de nied my name. Be hold, I will make them of the syn a gogue of Sa tan, which say they are Jews, and are not; be hold, I will make them to come and wor ship be fore thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Be cause thou hast kept the word of my pa tience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temp ta tion, which will come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Be hold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pil lar in the tem ple 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 Je - ru sa lem, which com eth down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. In these words there is no smooth say ing. The Speaker held up Liv ing Tem ple, say ing, In this book there are state ments that the writer him self does not com pre hend. Many things are stated in a vague, un de fined way. State ments are made in such a way that noth ing is sure. And this is not the only pro duc tion of the kind that will be urged upon the peo ple. Fan ci ful views will be pre - sented by many minds. What we need to know at this time is, What is the truth that will en able us to win the sal va - tion of our souls? The soph ist ries re gard ing God and na ture that are flood - ing the world with skep ti cism, are the in spi ra tion of the fallen foe, who is him self a Bi ble stu dent, who knows the truth that it is es sen tial for the peo ple to re ceive, and whose study it is to di vert minds from these great truths re lat ing to the things that are soon com ing upon the world. Let our teach ers be ware lest they echo the sooth say ing of the en - emy of God and man. Point ing to some pres ent, our In struc tor said, You are mak ing a mis take. The word, the word re vealed by God, this is to be the foun da tion of your faith. Study the com - mand ments of God and the tes ti mony that Je sus has borne to the truth. He is the faith ful and true Wit ness. Then was re peated the mes sage to the Laodicean church. The whole of the third chap ter of Rev e la tion, from first to last, was read. Unto the an gel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faith ful and true wit ness, the be gin ning of the cre ation of God. I know thy works, that thou art nei ther cold or hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then be cause thou are luke warm, and nei ther cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Be cause thou sayest, I am rich, and in creased with goods, and have need of noth ing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and mis er a ble, and poor, and blind, and na ked; I coun sel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white rai ment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy na ked ness do not ap pear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I re buke and chas ten; be zeal ous there fore, and re pent. Be hold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over came, and am sat down with my Fa ther in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. The Lord is soon com ing. The watch man on the walls of Zion are called upon to awake to their God-given re spon - si bil ity. Many of them are in the stu por of in sen si bil ity. God calls for watch men who in the power of the Spirit will give to the world a warn ing mes sage; who will pro claim the time of night. He calls for watch men who will arouse men and women from their leth argy, lest they sleep the sleep of death. (El len G. White, The Spalding and Magan Col lec tion, pp ; also pub lished in The Re view & Herald, Oc to ber 22, 1903) The let ter closed with an appeal for the watch men on the walls of Zion to awaken, but the words of the one of author ity are reveal ing. He (not Ellen White) stated that if the state - ments in The Liv ing Tem ple were essen tial, were pure prov en der, and were thor oughly win nowed from chaff, there would be some decided men tion of them in the rev e la - tion given by Christ to John to give to the churches. It cer tainly behooves us to under stand these mes sages. Not only did they come from our heav enly Father and Jesus, but in 1903 they were re-affirmed, in state ment and quo ta tion, by the one of author ity who came to Ellen White in vision. In her vision the only mes sages the one of author ity quotes are por - tions of the mes sages given to the seven churches. The mes sages in Rev e la tion 14, for exam ple, as impor tant as they are, are not referred to. This should give us a greater appre ci - a tion for how essen tial, pure, and thor oughly win nowed they are to meet the great need of God s peo ple at the end of time. So, let us turn our atten tion to some of the impor tant aspects of the mes sage to the church in Phil a del phia. The Key of David: The word key is used only twice in the Old Tes ta ment (Judges 3:25 and Isa iah 22:22) and comes from the Hebrew word maphteach and means just what the Eng lish word con notes an instru ment that locks or unlocks Old Paths August 2012

19 some thing. (The verb form of the word is used 135 times, though, mean ing to open.) In the New Tes ta ment the word key is used only six times (four of which are found in the book of Rev e la tion Rev e la tion 1:18; 3:7; 9:1; 20:1), and each of the six times the Greek word kleis is used. Kleis sim - ply means some thing that con trols the open ing or the clos ing, the bind ing or the loos en ing, of some thing else. It rep re sents power. What, then, is the key of David? The only bib li cal ref er ence to the key of David, other than that found in Rev e la tion 3:7, is found in Isa iah 22:22: And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoul der; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. The lat ter part of Isa iah 22 is speak ing about Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, but Isa iah is speak ing sym bol i cally of Christ in this pas sage, espe cially in verse 22, which is repeated by Jesus in Rev e la tion 3:7: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth. Other parts of Isa iah 22:20 25 speak of the gov ern ment being com mit ted into his (Eliakim s) hand, of him being a father to the inhab it ants of Jeru sa lem and to the house of Judah, and of him being a glo ri ous throne to his father s house. James White states that: The term, key of Da vid, in this text [Rev e la tion 3:7], has di rect ref er ence to Christ s re cep tion of the throne of Da vid, which is his right ful throne, the throne of the im - mor tal king dom. (The Sec ond Com ing of Christ, p. 79) Names: Three names are men tioned in this prom ise to the Phil a del phian church the name of Jesus God, the name of the city of Jesus God, and the new name of Jesus him self. E. J. Waggoner explains the use of the word name in Rev e la tion 3:12 in this way: God puts his name upon his peo ple, that all may know to whom they be long. Men put their names upon their places of busi ness for a sign. Christ says, Be hold, I and the chil - dren whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for won ders. Wher ever the men of the world come into con - tact with the peo ple of God, they are to see the name of God, and rec og nize at a glance that God dwells within, and does busi ness there. (General Conference Bulletin, April 9, 1901) Is this talk ing about get ting a plac ard, writ ing Jeho vah upon it, and hang ing it about our neck? No, of course not; it is speak ing of God s char ac ter. Behold! An Open Door: Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it (Rev e la tion 3:8). The use of the word behold means notice what comes next. Some thing impor tant fol lows, and Jesus wants us to pay atten tion to it. The Greek word for have set is didomi and means to give. Jesus has given us an open door. (Didomi is also used in John 3:16.) Now, why would any man want to shut a door that Christ has opened for him, know ing that Christ only gives good gifts to his chil dren? It does not make sense, and it prob a bly made no sense to the lit tle flock in 1844 either, but for us, liv ing at a time when we can look back almost 168 years to 1844, we can see that what Jesus implied in his mes sage has been, and con tin ues to be, attempted. The min is tra tion of Jesus in the most holy place has been dimin ished and well-nigh oblit er ated in the eyes of most peo ple today, but Jesus cau tions us to let no man take our crowns! Let us read Ellen White s expla na tion of the open door: The sub ject of the sanc tu ary was the key which un - locked the mys tery of the dis ap point ment... Af ter the pass ing of the time of ex pec ta tion, in 1844, Ad ven tists still be lieved the Sav iour s com ing to be very near; they held that they had reached an im por tant cri sis, and that the work of Christ as man s in ter ces sor be fore God, had ceased.... But clearer light came with the in ves ti ga tion of the sanc tu ary ques tion. Now was seen the ap pli ca tion of those words of Christ in the Rev e la tion, ad dressed to the church at this very time [1844]: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of Da vid, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth; I know thy works; be hold, I have set be fore thee an open door, and no man can shut it. [Rev e la tion 3:7, 8.] Here an open as well as a shut door is brought to view. At the ter mi na tion of the 2300 pro phetic days in 1844, Christ changed his min is tra tion from the holy to the most holy place. When, in the min is tra tion of the earthly sanc tu ary, the high priest on the day of atone ment en tered the most holy place, the door of the holy place was closed, and the door of the most holy was opened. So, when Christ passed from the holy to the most holy of the heav enly sanc tu ary, the door, or min is tra tion, of the for mer apart ment was closed, and the door, or min is tra tion, of the lat ter was opened. Christ had ended one part of his work as our in ter ces sor, to en ter upon an other por tion of the work; and he still pre - sented his blood be fore the Fa ther in be half of sin ners. Be hold, he de clares, I have set be fore thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Those who by faith fol low Je sus in the great work of the atone ment, re ceive the ben e - fits of his me di a tion in their be half; but those who re ject the light that brings to view this work of min is tra tion, are not benefited thereby. The Jews who re jected the light given at Christ s first ad vent, and re fused to be lieve in him as the Sav iour of the world, could not re ceive par don through him. When Je sus at his as cen sion en tered by his own blood into the heav enly sanc tu ary to shed upon his dis ci ples the bless ings of his me di a tion, the Jews were left in to tal dark ness, to con tinue their use less sac ri fices and of fer ings. The min is tra tion of types and shad ows [feast days, for ex am ple] had ceased. That door by which men had for merly found ac cess to God, was no lon ger open. Vol. 21, No

20 The Jews had re fused to seek him in the only way whereby he could then be found, through the min is tra tion in the sanc tu ary in Heaven. There fore they found no com mu - nion with God. To them the door was shut. They had no knowl edge of Christ as the true sac ri fice and the only me - di a tor be fore God; hence they could not re ceive the ben e fits of his me di a tion. (The Spirit of Proph ecy, vol. 4, pp. 268, 269) In the last para graph, Ellen White stated that those who by faith fol low Jesus in the great work of the atone ment, receive the ben e fits of his medi a tion in their behalf. This is lan guage sim i lar to that of the book Ques tions on Doc trine (QOD), but this book wrongly teaches the fol low ing: When, there fore, one hears an Ad ven tist say, or reads in Ad ven tist lit er a ture even in the writ ings of El len G. White that Christ is mak ing atone ment now, it should be un der stood that we mean sim ply that Christ is now mak ing ap pli ca tion of the ben e fits of the sac ri fi cial atone ment He made on the cross. (Ques tions on Doc trine, pp. 354, 355; em pha sis in the orig i nal) The apos tate lan guage of QOD is not to be con sid ered what Ellen White wrote, regard less of the author s claim. The prophet is speak ing of the ben e fits of his medi a tion which began in QOD is speak ing of the ben e fits from the cross only. These are not the same! QOD was teach ing a jus ti fi ca tion only the ol ogy, while the prophet was teach ing the Bible truth of jus ti fi ca tion and sanc ti fi ca tion. Ellen White states that the Jews were left in total dark ness because they did not accept Christ and fol low him at his ascen sion into the heav enly sanc tu ary. The door was shut for them! God is no respecter of per sons (Acts 10:34), and if the Jews were shut out because they failed to fol low Jesus, any peo ple who have had light and fail to fol low Jesus in that light will also be shut out, includ ing Adven tists who were given light on the most holy place min is try of Jesus, but who deny that truth today. Fur ther more, she says that the Jews had no knowl edge of Christ as the true sac ri fice and the only medi a tor before God. They rejected him as the Son of God who could die and be their medi a tor, and those who reject this truth also find the door of sal va tion shut. Ellen White was shown that her hus band s rela tion to the peo ple of God was sim i lar, in some respects, to that of Moses to Israel (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 3, p.85), so his under stand ing of the open and shut doors is of value to us today. These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of Da vid, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. That Christ is here de scribed, no one will deny. He is the right ful heir to Da vid s throne, hence has the key of Da vid, which may rep re sent power. The throne of Da vid, or Christ, on which he is to reign, is in the cap i tal of his king dom, the New Je ru sa lem now above. The open ing and shut ting can re fer only to the change of min is tra tion from the Holy to the most Holy of the heav enly Sanc tu ary, at the end of the 2300 days, in It was then that the min is tra tion in the Holy Place closed, and the min is tra tion in the most Holy for the for - give ness of sins, and to cleanse the Sanc tu ary, was opened by him that hath the key of Da vid. Be hold, I set be fore thee an open door. And the tem ple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his tem ple the ark of his tes - ta ment. Rev.xi,19. We can ap ply texts of this class to no other events than Christ s en ter ing the most Holy, in 1844, and open ing his min is tra tion there, where the ark of ten com mand ments is, hence, since that time the Sab bath, with the whole law of God, has been pres ent truth in a spe - cial sense. (James White, The Re view & Her ald, Oc to ber 16, 1856) As Sev enth-day Adven tists, we know that the Sab bath com mand ment has been shin ing more fully since 1844, but, we are sorry to say, Sev enth-day Adventism today com - pletely denies the cleans ing min is try of Jesus in the most holy place. Fun da men tal Belief #24, Christ s Min is try in the Heav enly Sanc tu ary, only affirms a min is try of inves ti - ga tion and not one, also, of cleans ing; and Fun da men tal Belief #9, Life, Death, and Res ur rec tion of Christ, only pro claims an atone ment of for give ness (jus ti fi ca tion) and not one of for give ness and cleans ing (sanc ti fi ca tion). An inves ti ga tive pro cess is occur ring in the most holy place, but a cleans ing min is try is also occur ring! Notice what Ellen White says in The Great Con tro versy: Those who are liv ing upon the earth when the in ter ces - sion of Christ shall cease in the sanc tu ary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God with out a me di a tor.[we can not keep sin ning till Je sus co mes.] Their robes must be spot less, their char ac ters must be pu ri fied from sin by the blood of sprin kling. Through the grace of God and their own dil i gent ef fort they must be con quer ors in the bat tle with evil. While the in ves ti ga tive judg ment is go ing for - ward in heaven, while the sins of pen i tent be liev ers are be ing re moved from the sanc tu ary, there is to be a spe cial work of pu ri fi ca tion [fi nal atone ment], of putt ing away of sin, among God s peo ple upon earth. This work is more clearly pre sented in the mes sages of Rev e la tion 14. (The Great Con tro versy, p. 425) We intro duced the term final atone ment in the above state ment. Some are not aware that Ellen White used this term. It is found at least ten times in her writ ings, and at least five of those occur rences are orig i nal state ments. She con tin ues: When this work shall have been ac com plished, the fol - low ers of Christ will be ready for His ap pear ing. Then shall the of fer ing of Ju dah and Je ru sa lem be pleas ant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in for mer years. Old Paths August 2012

21 Malachi 3:4. Then the church which our Lord at His com - ing is to re ceive to Him self will be a glo ri ous church, not hav ing spot, or wrin kle, or any such thing. Ephe sians 5:27. Then she will look forth as the morn ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter ri ble as an army with ban - ners. Song of Sol o mon 6:10. (Ibid.) Let us hold fast to our knowl edge of the open door set before us and to the com plete min is try of Jesus in the most holy place, so that no doc trine of man will take our crowns! We are sanc ti fied by the truth (John 17:17). Error is never harm less. It never sanc ti fies, but always brings con fu sion and dis sen sion. It is always dan ger ous (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 292). Do not ever for get this! The mes sages to the churches are life-chang ing mes sages that we either accept or reject, and then, in turn, we are either accepted or rejected! The Hour of Temp ta tion: Ellen White has noted: Be cause thou hast kept the word of my pa tience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temp ta tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. In this scrip ture is brought to view the hour of temp ta tion that is to try them that dwell upon the earth. We are now liv ing in this try ing hour. There is no es cape for any from this con flict. If in your life there are de fec - tive traits of char ac ter that you are not striv ing to over come, you may be as sured that the en emy will en - deavor to take ad van tage of them; for he is watch ing vig i lantly, seek ing to spoil the faith of ev ery one. In or der to gain the vic tory over ev ery besetment of the en emy, we must lay hold on a power that is out of and be yond our - selves. We must main tain a con stant, liv ing con nec tion with Christ, who has power to give vic tory to ev ery soul that will main tain an at ti tude of faith and hu mil ity. If we are self-suf fi cient, and think that we may go on just as we please, and yet hope to come out on the right side fi nally, we shall find that we have made a ter ri ble mis take. As those who hope to re ceive the overcomer s re ward, we must press for ward in the Chris tian war fare, though at ev ery ad vance we meet with op po si tion. (The Re view & Her ald, July 9, 1908) What do we know about this hour of temp ta tion? When Jesus spoke these words, they referred to a future event, but in 1908, when the above words were recorded, it had become a cur rent event, so this hour of temp ta tion can not refer to the Chris tian strug gle that all of God s peo ple have faced since the fall of Adam and Eve, and it can not be a national Sunday law or impris on ment. It has to be some thing else. The con - text of the above quo ta tion is the con flict we have with our defec tive traits of char ac ter all God s peo ple have dealt with this issue but there is more. It involves over com ing and vic tory over every besetment of the enemy. It is a work of puri fi ca tion, a work of per fec tion. Don t let any one tell you that those who are trans lated will be sin ning until Jesus comes. It just can t be. We were sit ting in the cha pel at the sem i nary build ing at Andrews Uni ver sity a few years ago, and a well-known Adven tist preacher stated that he was so glad that Jesus would be medi at ing for us until the sec ond com ing! Why would Jesus medi ate for his peo ple at that point? Because the pop u lar the ol ogy says that the peo - ple will be sin ning until Jesus comes. False Chris tians: In the mes sage to Phil a del phia, Jesus warns about those who claim to be true Chris tians, but really are not: A bat tle is con tin u ally go ing on be tween the forces for good and the forces for evil, be tween the an gels of God and the fallen an gels. We are be set be fore and be hind, on the right hand and on the left. The con flict that we are pass - ing through is the last we shall have in this world. We are now in the midst of it. Two par ties are striv ing for the su - prem acy. In this con flict we can not be neu tral. (El len White, The Re view & Her ald, July 9, 1908) May we remind you of how God views the sever ity of the issue of being neu tral? We have been told: If God ab hors one sin above an other, of which His peo - ple are guilty, it is do ing noth ing in case of an emer gency. In dif fer ence and neu tral ity in a re li gious cri sis is re garded of God as a griev ous crime and equal to the very worst type of hos til ity against God. (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 280) God declares neu tral ity to be a griev ous crime and equal to the very worst type of hos til ity against him. We must take a stand, beloved. We must be will ing to take a decided stand for Jesus. There is no such thing as a closet Chris tian. Con tin u ing in the prior state ment from the Review, we read: We must stand ei ther on one side or on the other. If we take our po si tion on the side of Christ, if we ac knowl edge him be fore the world in word and work, we are bear ing a liv ing tes ti mony as to whom we have cho sen to serve and honor. In this im por tant pe riod of earth s his tory [from 1908 on ward], we can not af ford to leave any one in un cer - tainty as to whose side we are on. (El len White, The Re view & Her ald, July 9, 1908) Broth ers and sis ters, on whose side are you? Is your posi - tion clear? There is no nat u ral en mity be tween fallen men and fallen an gels; both are par tak ers of the same spirit through in dul gence in evil. It is ac cord ing to the law of the syn a - gogue of Sa tan that in the con tro versy of the evil against the good, fallen men and fallen an gels shall unite in a des - per ate com pan ion ship. From the be gin ning Sa tan has worked con tin u ally to de throne the Cre ator, and what ever may be the di vi sions among evil men and evil an gels, there is no di vi sion in their op po si tion to God. They are banded to gether as with iron cords to op pose the Cre ator and Re deemer of man. Sa tan is de ter mined to ut terly de prave hu man na ture through mak ing of none ef - Vol. 21, No

22 fect the com mand ments of God. He orig i nates tra di tions, and through his max ims he suc ceeds in as sim i lat ing to his own na ture the na ture of those who do not yield al le giance to the law of God. (El len White, The Signs of the Times, June 11, 1894) In the next issue of The Signs of the Times, we read: The church of God, de spised and per se cuted by the world, are ed u cated and dis ci plined in the school of Christ. They walk in nar row paths on earth; they are pu ri - fied in the fur nace of af flic tions. For Je sus sake they en dure op po si tion, ha tred, cal umny. They fol low Christ through sore con flicts; they en dure self-de nial, and ex pe - ri ence bit ter dis ap point ments; but their pain ful ex pe ri ence teaches them the guilt and woe of sin, and they look upon it with ab hor rence. Be ing par tak ers of Christ s suf fer ings, they are des tined to be par tak ers of his glory. (El len White, The Signs of the Times, June 18, 1894) We have dis cussed the syn a gogue of Satan in ear lier stud ies, but one thing to note in this mes sage is that the wor ship that occurs here has to be at the end of this earth s time as we know it now. It will never hap pen before then. It can not, for we have just read that evil men and evil angels are banded together as with iron cords to oppose the Cre ator and Redeemer of man, and we know this oppo si tion will never end until Jesus comes and deliv ers his peo ple. Another impor tant com ment Jesus makes is that the syn - a gogue of Satan will know that Jesus has loved the church of Phil a del phia. Why would he say that? Because just before Jesus comes, his peo ple will be appear des ti tute, rag - ged, and worn; thread bare, lean, and home less, and the SS (syn a gogue of Satan) will hurl epi thets and derog a tory com ments at them, such as You think you are God s peo ple; you think he loves you and that you are the apple of his eye?! Just look at your selves! In the wil der ness Satan tried to get Jesus to doubt, and he will try the same with us, but we must keep the word of his patience and take heart. In so doing, we give glory to God. Behold! Jesus is com ing soon! We also must be pre pared that some of our clos est friends in the faith may even tu ally become part of the syn a gogue of Satan, for Ellen White tells us that this syn a gogue is com - posed of pro fessed Sev enth-day Adven tists. Speak ing to Eli Curtis, she stated: You think, that those who wor ship be fore the saint s feet, (Rev e la tion 3:9), will at last be saved. Here I must dif fer with you; for God shew me that this class were pro fessed Ad ven tists, who had fallen away, and cru ci - fied to them selves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (A Word to the Lit tle Flock, p. 12) Per haps you are think ing this is talk ing about the old first-day Adven tists who did not accept the Sab bath when the Sab bath truth became known, but, may we ask, where are they today and how much influ ence, in any sphere, do they now have? No, this not a ref er ence to first-day Adven - tists but, rather, to the pro fessed Adven tists who have given up the Sab bath for the con ve nient Sunday. Let No Man Take Thy Crown: Jesus tells us, Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. We are told to hold fast. To what shall we hold fast? Shall we hold fast to the truth about God and Christ or adopt the pagan/papal model of God called the trin ity which almost all of apos tate Prot es tant ism and Cathol i cism accepts? Shall we hold fast to per fec tion and sanc ti fi ca tion or adopt a jus ti fi ca tion-only model? Here again we are ad mon ished to faith ful ness, in view of the con flict. We must not yield any point that we have al ready gained [such as the fi nal atone ment, Fa ther and Son, full vic tory over sin]. From now on till Je sus co mes, the bat tle will wax fiercer and still fiercer. We shall have to meet and re sist men who are re garded as very wise and learned, but who are not spir i tu ally wise unto sal va tion. Our only hope of sav ing our own souls and of help ing oth ers to be saved, is to re ceive the righ teous - ness of Je sus Christ. We are seek ing for a crown, a crown of glory that fadeth not away. As overcomers we are to reign with Christ in the heav enly courts; and we are to over come through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our tes ti mony. (El len White, The Re view & Her ald, July 9, 1908) Some of the peo ple we will encoun ter are regarded as very wise and learned, but who are not spir i tu ally wise unto sal va tion. This helps to explain many things. Here we see the learned men of the church, men who think that they are spir i tu ally rich and increased with goods and have need of noth ing! Here we see the great theo lo gians por trayed who think that they know much but are actu ally des ti tute of all need ful things. Con clu sion: We have cov ered a few of the main points of the mes sage to the leader of the church at Phil a del phia the key of David, the syn a gogue of Satan, the open and shut door, etc. but if you just under stand the con cepts fol low ing the four beholds in this mes sage the open door... the syn - a gogue of Satan... I have loved thee... and I come quickly you will be blessed. Behold, I have set before thee an open door... Behold, I will make them of the syn a gogue of Satan... Behold, I will make them to come and wor ship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Behold, I come quickly... Yes, Jesus is com ing quickly, and he is call ing us to take our stand. We can not afford to leave any one in uncer tainty as to whose side we are on. When Eli jah called for Israel to appear on Mt Car mel, he demanded of them: How long con tin ued on page 24 Old Paths August 2012

23 2012 WV Camp Meet ing At least no one will ever be able to for get this camp meet - ing, said one camper to me on Sab bath morn ing. On Fri day eve ning a vio lent storm burst through the east ern part of the United States, leav ing a trail of dam age in its wake. Trees were blown over onto power and phone lines, and ser vices for mil lions of peo ple, includ ing us at Smyrna, were dis - rupted, but the camp meet ing con tin ued, any way. Since God has blessed us with spring water, we were able to carry water for the needs of the camp ers. Chairs were taken out side for the Sab bath wor ship meet ing, since the main meet ing room had become too hot to meet inside in the 100 degree plus heat. A shady area near the Stump home pro - vided shel ter from the sun and its heat to the approx i mately one hundred believ ers who had gath ered to seek God. The theme of the camp meet ing was Cre ated for His Glory. Most of the mes sages in some way addressed this theme and were a great bless ing to those who attended. The first activ ity of the camp meet ing was a visit to the McDowell County Aging Pro gram for a health dem on stra tion by some of the sis ters. This visit was very well received by the pre - cious older folks who were at the pro gram. Pas tor Paul Agyeman from Ghana, Africa, was to be our fea - tured speaker, but he con - Precious mo ment at camp meeting tacted us the day before camp meet ing to let us know he was in New York and that his wife had expe ri enced a sud den ill ness w h i c h required emer - g e n c y sur gery! She was in sur gery as he was writ - ing the ! Many prayers went up to our Father in behalf of Sis ter Mar ga ret, and she recov ered so rap - idly that she and Paul were able to travel on Fri day, so that they could be with us on Sab bath! There were meet ings through out the day, with breaks in between for rest, food, reflec tion, and fel low ship. Due to the lack of power, we were not able to broad cast or record all the meet ings, but we were able to record most of the meet ings, and we hope to have them post ed soon and an avail able list of pre sen ta tions printed in the next issue of Old Paths. On Sab bath after noon Brother Beachy con ducted a bap - tism in the Guyandotte River for two young peo ple with whom he he had been study ing, who wanted to publically pro fess their faith in Jesus Christ. Pas tor Paul and Sis ter Mar ga ret Agyeman Youth s Cor ner, con tin ued from page 10 Arme ni ans. Mos lem mobs were loose in the streets, loot ing Chris tian homes and slay ing. Our con gre ga tion of Adven tists was gath ered that night in their meet ing place, an upper room. We were Arme ni ans and Greeks. Out side the cry of the mobs was heard, with the cries of those who were attacked. In the upper room our lit tle com pany of believ ers were pray ing to God. Nearer and nearer came the mob, bat ter ing at doors and drag ging out the peo ple. The lit tle Sab bath-keep - ing com pany prayed to God for deliv er ance. The mob came to the houses on our square. They crowded about the entrance to our meet ing place, and began to bat ter at the door. Then above the cry of the mob sounded out a shrill call: These peo ple are Sabbatas [Sab bath keep - ers]; let them alone! They are all right! And the mob swept on and left the pray ing com pany unmo lested. Many of these believ ers had suf fered per se cu tion for the Sab bath at the hands of friends and for mer church asso ci ates. Many had suf fered scoffs and scorn for the truth. They had sac ri ficed posi tion for the Lord s Sab bath. But that night they were not ashamed of the truth of God. The Sab bath of Jeho - vah was their shield and pro tec tion in that night of trou ble. Before us is a time of trou ble, such as never was since there was a nation. In that com ing time of trou ble, God s Sab bath, his seal and the sign of his power, will be the shield and defense of the chil dren of God. Vol. 21, No