A Let ter from Karina Aston

Transcription

1 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. 23, No. 4 Straight and Nar row April 2014 A Let ter from Karina Aston (Recently Sis ter Karina, wife of Brother Aland Ash ton, wrote us a lit tle his tory of her hus band s his - tory with liver dis ease and the grace that God has been pro vid ing. Sev - eral times we have requested prayer for Brother Aland and we ask that you will con tinue to lift him and his fam ily up to our heav enly Father. Pas tor Allen) Dear Brother Allen The grace and peace of our Heav - enly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be always about you and about the fam ily of Smyrna for ever. I waited until now to write and to med i tate much on your last. Thank you very much. I felt much better as I stopped to pon der all that was hap pen ing at home and how hard it is to see some one you love in delicate health and definitely when this first all started. Already I have Con tin ued on page 21 I was set up from ev er last ing, from the be gin ning, Or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; When there were no foun tains abound ing with wa ter. (Prov erbs 8:23 In this is sue: The Axis of Evil... p. 2 Youth Cor ner....p. 18 From the File Cab i net...p. 22 Are You Pre par ing... p. 23 YouTube Chan nel Up date... p. 24 Book Up date... p. 24 FL and AZ Meet ings.... p. 24 WV Camp Meet ing... p. 24

2 The Axis of Evil Reaches Its Hands Across the Gulf Dur ing World War II the nations of Ger many, Italy, and Japan became known as the Axis pow ers. They were con sid - ered to be fight ing to pro mote evil and to destroy what was good and righ teous. Long before the twen ti eth Cen tury, how ever, there was a three-fold axis of evil work ing to pre - pare the world for the last great bat tle. The book of Rev e la tion por trays a three-fold con fed er a - tion of evil that will attempt in the last days to rule the world, while destroy ing God s peo ple. This three-fold union has as its mem bers the beast of Rev e la tion 13, the false prophet, and the dragon. With out going deeply into the proofs because most of our read ers know their iden ti ties, with out res er va tion we can declare that the dragon is Satan espe cially work ing through the medium of spir i tu al ism (Rev e la tion 12:9). The beast of Rev e la tion 13 is the Papacy, the Roman Cath o lic Church (Dan iel 7, Rev e la tion 13, 2 Thessalonians 2:3). The false prophet is the Protestant churches that have quit pro - test ing and have joined with Rome to help pro mote her impe rial will upon the peo ple of the earth (Rev e la tion 13). The Bible teaches that these three forces unite fully at the end of time. And I saw three un clean spir its like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spir its of dev ils, work ing mir a cles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the bat tle of that great day of God Al mighty. (Rev e la tion 16:13, 14) These pow ers per form mir a cles and deceive the polit i cal rul ers of the world, as well as their sub jects, and gather the inhab it ants of the world for the Bat tle of Arma ged don (Rev e - la tion 16:16). This is hardly a far-dis tant future event, for we now see these pow ers work ing swiftly. Through the false revival of the Pen te cos tal churches, we see a com bi na tion of apos tate Prot es tant ism and a sub tle, yet pow er ful form of spir i tu al - ism. Remem ber that spir i tu al ism, in its most basic form, is com mu ni ca tion with evil spir its and through a false spirit, many of these peo ple are receiv ing mes sages from Satan and his angels, all hap pen ing under the cloak of Chris tian ity. The law of God is a spe cial point of con tro versy in this last great strug gle. Dan iel 7:25 says that the papacy, as sym bol - ized by the lit tle-horn power of Dan iel 7, will speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the divid ing of time (Dan iel 7:25). While claim ing to uphold the Ten Com mand ments and declare that God requires obe di ence to them, the Papacy has dras ti cally altered the Ten Com mand ments. The sec ond com mand ment, for bid ding idol wor ship, has been removed. To keep unity in the num ber of ten, the last com mand ment has been divided into two com mand ments. The first com - mand ment has not been altered, but it has been vio lated with the wor ship of a strange god called the trin ity. The fourth com mand ment has been altered to com mand wor ship on the first day of the week, Sunday, instead of on the sev enth-day Sab bath. Most of these changes have been accepted by Prot - es tants, with out a sin gle Scrip ture to com mand such change and in the face of many texts that con firm the Ten Com mand - ments as given at Sinai as still being valid. Jesus said, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tit tle shall in no wise pass from the law (Mat thew 5:18). The law of God, is a rev e la tion of his will; it is a tran script of his char - ac ter and must for ever endure. Not one of the Ten Old Paths April 2014

3 Com mand ments has been made null and void; not a jot or tit - tle has been changed. David said: For ever, O Lord, Thy word is set tled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). All His com - mand ments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever (Psalm 111:7, 8). We have been told: Romanism in the Old World and apos tate Prot es tant ism in the New will pur sue a sim i lar course [of per se cu tion] to - ward those who honor all the di vine pre cepts. (The Great Con tro versy, p. 615) Com ing events cast their shad ows be fore. (The De sire of Ages, p. 636) This year, shad ows were omi nously cast in Fort Worth, Texas, at Ken neth Cope land Min is tries. While host ing a large group of tele van gel ists and min is try lead ers for a con - fer ence on Jan u ary 21 of this year, Ken neth Cope land intro duced Angli can/epis co pal Bishop Tony Palmer from the Com mu nion of Evan gel i cal Epis co pal Churches (CEEC). Tony Palmer then gave a short per sonal his tory of him self and explained the real pur pose of his visit to encour ag e unity, while claim ing that the ref or ma tion is no lon ger valid. He then deliv ered a per sonal video mes sage from Pope Fran - cis, whom he claims as a spir i tual father and close friend. The pope gave a greet ing, first speak ing in Eng lish and then con tin u ing in Ital ian. Eng lish sub ti tles were pro vided in the video that Palmer presented. In this mes sage the pope claims to greet the peo ple with a mes sage of love to God and love to broth ers and sis ters. He then states that he has been friends with Bishop Palmer for years. After the greet ing, he speaks of his yearn ing to see God work among his peo ple. He laments that they, Chris tians, have been sep a rated by sins. He declares that all share in this blame, but he yearns for the sep a ra tion to come to an end. He speaks of Joseph in Egypt, when his broth ers came to buy bread, and uses it as a sym bol to rep re sent how they must encoun ter one another as broth ers. We must cry together like Joseph did. These tears will unite us, the tears of love. Pope Fran cis declares that he is speak ing to them as a brother and desires that they might embrace one another and together...wor ship Jesus Christ as the only Lord of his tory. The pope then gives thanks that the peo ple have lis tened and asks the favor of their prayers. He pleads that the Lord will unite them all and encour ages those lis ten ing, say ing: Come on, we are broth ers. Let s give each other a spir i tual hug and let God com plete the work he has begun. And this is a mir a cle; the mir a cle of unity has begun. The pope ends his mes sage by quot ing the Ital ian author Manzoni and then asks that whose lis ten ing might bless him after which he then declares a bless ing upon them. After the video Ken neth Cope land led the con gre ga tion in prayer for the pope. His prayer ended with Cope land speak - ing in some unknown tongue or gib ber ish. Cope land then had Bishop Palmer record a video mes sage from him to the pope, assur ing him of his desire to be in unity, and he then pro nounced a repet i tive bless ing upon the pope, backed up in uni son by the con gre ga tion. So how do we under stand the sig nif i cance of this event? Let us first begin with the three main per sons involved. Pope Fran cis is the best known of the three and leader of the world s one bil lion plus Roman Cath o lics. He is the first Jesuit pope and the first pope ever from South Amer ica. Insid ers say he was a lead ing can di date from the prior con - clave that elected Pope Ben e dict XVI. He comes across as sim ple, hum ble, and very friendly. Though his the ol ogy in some respects is strictly ortho dox, he has made calls for unity and spo ken peace ably to and about those of other faiths, includ ing Islam. Ken neth Cope land is one of the lead ing Pen te cos tal tele - van gel ist min is ters in the United States. His min is try is based near Fort Worth, Texas on 33 acres of prop erty that includes the Eagle Moun tain Inter na tional Church, tele vi sion pro duc - tion and audio record ing facil i ties, a ware house and dis tri bu tion facil i ties, res i dence for the Cope land fam ily, and Ken neth Cope land Airport. Min is try assets also include two Cessna jet air planes, one of which has a new cost of over 22 mil lion dol lars. Cope land lives in an 18,000 square foot house val ued at over six mil lion dol lars. The min is try is known as KCM (Ken neth Cope land Min is tries), and it employ ees approx i mately 500 peo ple. Cope land was born in 1936 and was first a music art ist mak ing pop u lar record ings. In Novem ber 1963 he states that he was born again. After that Cope land com mit ted the rest of his life to gos pel min is try work. In the fall of 1967, he enrolled in Oral Rob erts Uni ver sity, where he soon became the pilot and chauf feur for tele van gel ist Oral Rob erts. Today he is seen on tele vi sion and holds meet ings in dif fer ent parts of the world. Tony Palmer was born in the UK and moved to South Africa as a teen ager. His wife, Emiliana, is Ital ian whom he met when she and her fam ily were liv ing in South Africa. Together with their chil dren, Dan iel and Gabriella, they now live in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. While liv ing in South Africa, Tony claims to have been born again (twenty-two years ago). After his con ver sion, he and his wife imme di ately began shar ing what they under - stood to be the gos pel to all the peo ple who lived in their sub urb. Early in their expe ri ence they began watch ing Ken - neth Cope land and his mes sage of evan gel i cal Pentecostalism and it struck a chord in their heart and encour aged them. Shortly after this time Palmer claims to have gone to Rhema Bible Train ing Col lege, founded by Ken neth Hagan, and received train ing for the min is try. He went to work in South Africa and within a short period of time (1998) was the direc tor of KMC in Africa. After two and a half years Palmer claims to have received a call from Rome (though he does not say where within the Vol. 23, No

4 Roman Cath o lic Church he received this call) to work towards and with the Roman Cath o lic Char is matic Renewal. The Roman Cath o lic Char is matic Renewal fea tures, among other things, proph ecy, faith heal ing, and glos so la lia (speak - ing in tongues). Later Palmer went to work for the Cath o lic Church in Argen tina where he met Car di nal Jorge Mario Bergoglio who would later become Pope Fran cis. Dur ing this time Palmer became good friends with the Car di nal and the Car di - nal became a men tor to Palmer as they often vis ited and stud ied together. In 2002, Tony and Emiliana Palmer founded The Ark Com mu nity. This min is try claims it was based on a small group of com mit ted friends from var i ous churches united by a com mon com mit ment to Christ and Christ s pur poses. Dis - ci ple ship and per sonal trans for ma tion are said to be at the heart of the com mu nity. The title of The Ark Com mu nity uses a triquetra for the A in Ark thus strongly pro mot ing and announc ing the trin ity doc trine as one of its foun da tional points. The Com mu nion of Evan gel i cal Epis co pal Churches, to which Palmer belongs, was formed in 1995 as a con cen - trated effort to blend char is matic expe ri ence, bib li cal renewal, litur gi cal renewal, and sac ra men tal wor ship ( Tony Palmer has also com pleted a short course in Bib li cal Archae ol ogy and Bib li cal Stud ies (UNISA Uni ver sity, RSA), has a Mas - ters Degree in Phi los o phy, Col lege of The ol ogy (St. Alcuin s Sem i nary, USA), and has an Eng lish Teach ers Cer - tif i cate from Cam bridge Uni ver sity, UK (CELTA). While some of Palmer s cre den tials do not come from accred ited schools and the CEEC is a rel a tively small group, it can not be denied that within the pope s cir cle and the Pen te cos tal char - is matic cir cles, he is some one nota ble who must be taken seri ous. Palmer s visit to KCM and the mes sage from the pope have lit up the Internet, and there are mul ti ple sites on YouTube where this ser vice and the pope s mes sage have been posted. With this over view and back ground, we now wish to exam ine in more detail the mes sage of Tony Palmer to KCM and the pope s mes sage to KCM. We will pro vide a tran script of the two mes sages now inter spersed with comments. Palmer s Mes sage to KCM As we will see, Palmer makes some very bold state ments but we shall also see that some are sim ply incor rect and oth - ers are only a par tial pic ture of real ity. (All of the fol low ing para graphs that are indented in quote form in this sec tion will be from the tran script of Palmer s mes sage and the non-indented para graphs will be our com ments.) God bless you all. I would like to thank Ken neth and Glo ria for giv ing me this op por tu nity to spend a cou ple of mo ments in tro duc ing to you some thing re ally, re ally spe - cial and his toric. Ken neth asked me if I would give a lit tle bit of back ground to who I am, our con nec tion, and what we are about to show you to night. About twenty-two years ago, I came to faith, a rad i cal con ver sion ex pe ri ence, and it changed ev ery thing about my out look and my life and within a year I found my self in full-time min is try, work ing for the church where I got saved, and I was door-knock ing, giv ing the gos pel to ev ery sin gle fam ily in our sub urb which was about three and one half thou sand homes. It took me and my wife eight months to speak to ev ery sin gle per son in our sub urb about Je sus Christ and that was twenty-one years ago. And I re mem ber (I have never told you this, Brother Ken neth) that be fore we used to go out in the morn ing to do this evangelization, door-knock ing, we used to watch this crazy Texan preach the gos pel, and we had never heard anything like this before. Ken neth Cope land. He used to be our en cour ager ev ery morn ing to go out and preach the gos pel, and that s how I came across the mes sage; the word of faith by pre par ing my self ev ery morn ing to go out and preach the gos pel by watch ing some video VHS tapes. Do you re mem ber those back in the 1930s [sic]? And we used to get cour age, and it was amaz ing the work that we did. That was just the be gin - ning. Then I went into Bi ble school, got trained for the min is try, and even tu ally I got, I went, into the min is try in South Af rica to ask a friend of mine, Steve Kutsia who was your South Af ri can di rec tor at the time, for some build ing ad vice and in stead of build ing ad vice I got a job. I was hired by KCM and within a year, they asked me to be the di rec tor for Af rica. That would have been 1998, and I prom ised John when he in ter viewed me, I told him straight, I said, John, I ll come and work for you guys, but I m leav ing; I m go ing to It aly. I am kind of not tell ing you I am leav ing you be fore join ing you, but you ve got to know I can only stay for awhile. So he asked me for three years, and I said fine, un less the Holy Ghost tells me oth er wise. That was our cov e nant; we made that agree ment. Well, it was about two and one half years later, and the Holy Ghost said oth er wise and we were sent out to It aly, where my wife is from. I have been mar - ried to Emmy now for twenty-two years, and it has been a lot of fun. Ital ian wives are in cred i bly fun. I say that with a big smile. And it was an in cred i ble time for us be cause I was born again, spirit-filled and in an evan gel i cal Pen te - cos tal church. Like I said, I came to rad i cal faith, both me and Emmiliana, my wife, we had rad i cal con ver sion ex pe - ri ences. We had been raised in the word of faith, we d worked for Ken neth and Glo ria in South Af rica, but the call that we got to It aly was the call from Rome. You Old Paths April 2014

5 see, while we were vis it ing It aly, our fam ily, on an an nual ba sis and we would share our faith with our fam ily, it was hard for us be cause when they would get born again there was no where for them to fel low ship be cause the evan gel i - cal churches at that time in It aly were in cred i bly legalistic where women, men and women had to sit sep a rate and women had to wear veils on their heads and you could n t even go to the beach be - cause it was con sid ered nu dity. So as Je sus-lov - ing Chris tians, we did not want to send our fam ily to those kind of churches, but then send - ing them back to the Cath o lic Church which was so tra di tional that was go ing to kill their faith. (All bold em pha sis sup plied un less oth er wise noted.) Comments: Palmer does not spec ify where or from whom the call from Rome orig i nated. Rome is the head quar ters of the Cath o lic Church, but there are many units and divi sions. He does not say it is from the Vat i can or what part, if so. This area is gray. So me and my wife prayed in 1992 in my grand mother s bed room. No body knew about this prayer. We said, Lord if you want us to leave South Af rica, we will leave on one con di tion, that we come to It aly, but it must be through the Cath o lic Church. No body knew about that prayer, Well, in 2003, ten years later, eleven years later, I got a call, an ac tu ally, from Rome, say ing: Tony we ve seen your min is try and we d like you to share your min is - try with the Ro man Cath o lic Char is matic Re newal. Would you be will ing to come to It aly, and (there was a clause) you must be self-funded. Comment: Again Palmer notes that he received an from Rome but does not define who the we are in the sen - tence, Tony we ve seen your min is try... So I thought no prob lem. As Prot es tants, we d been pray ing for the Cath o lic Church for years, so ob vi ously peo ple are go ing to back me and send me. I sent out my let - ters for part ners. I mean I worked for Ken neth and Glo ria for three years. I knew about how part ners worked, and Ken neth and Glo ria were the first and the only who said yes, we ll part ner with you, and he has n t stopped since. So the Lord said what have you got? I said we ve got a house; we ve got a car. So we said that s it. We put our house and our car in the min is try, and we moved to It aly with noth ing, no min is try con nec tion, could n t speak Ital - ian, some crazy evan gel i cal who had been called by the Ro man Cath o lic Church to work with them, and we were Ken neth Cope land lis ten ing to Tony Palmer self-fi nanced ex cept for one part ner. Well, that was ten years ago and if you do get to know me per son ally, you ll find out I am not re ally a good net worker. I don t try to get my self into places. In fact, I pre fer to sit in the back, out of the lights so I can en joy the ser vice, but God or ches - trated so many di vine ap point ments, like Jo seph, and it ex cites me be cause I know what I have n t done to be put in front of the peo - ple I found my self [in front of], and to night is a cul mi - na tion of what s hap pened in the last ten years, and we have a very spe cial mes - sage, and I wanted you to un der stand the con nec tion be tween KCM and the Cath o lic Char is matic Re - newal be cause the Cath o lic Charismatic Renewal is the hope of the church, the Catholic Church. I was at a meet ing at St. Pe ter s, I think it was about a year and a half ago, it was Pen te cost, cel e brat ing the re - mem ber ing of the com ing of the Holy Spirit and Pope Ben e dict. There was 450,000 of us out side of St. Pe ter s sing ing Come Holy Spirit all Cath o lics, ex cept for a cou ple of us who they called us the ec u men i cal del e ga tion. I re mem ber the first time I ac tu ally put on the long teleria, it s a long black cas sock. You ve seen the priests when they wear the cas socks. I had to wear mine, and I did n t know that you had to wear trou sers un der neath. So I re - mem ber and be cause we were hon ored guests, they put us on the first row and the pope was right next to us, and I crossed my legs and my leg came out, and all the bish ops looked at me, and they said he s An gli can; don t worry. Funny. So I was re ally not try ing to work the sys tem. Pope Ben e dict, he said to all the char is matic lead ers, char is - matic Cath o lics, pub licly, he said this in Ital ian to them, he said: You charismatics, you are the hope of the church [ap - plause] stop that is only the an ti pasto). He said, And you need to evan ge lize within be fore you evan ge lize out side. And when I saw that, I re al ized I had given my life to a good cause, cause it was n t just some po lit i cal dip lo matic ma neu ver ing of the Cath o lic Church to try to get us all to be come one big thing. He re ally wanted their peo ple to come to faith. About eight years ago I was work ing for the Cath o lic Church in South Amer ica in Ar gen tina, and it s pro to col when we go into a Cath o lic di o cese, we go visit the Cath o - lic bishop and we ask his per mis sion to work among his peo ple. And when I went to Ar gen tina, the bishop that I had to visit at that time was Fa ther Mario Jorge Bergoglio, and he and I struck up a very in ti mate re la tion ship. I have Vol. 23, No

6 three spir i tual fa thers. The man who or dained me a priest, Arch bishop Rob ert Wise ten years ago and then later con - se crated me four years ago as a bishop. He is my spir i tual fa ther. Ken neth Cope land, with out a doubt. He re ceived me in South Af rica very much so we con nected very quickly, you and I and Emmie and Glo ria, my wife, We had good times on those three vic tory cam paigns in 99, and I re mem - ber the day be fore I was or dained a priest I came to Brigh ton to visit you [Ken neth Cope land] and ask for your per mis sion and your bless ing to be a priest, and you prayed for me be hind the cur tains, be - hind the stage be fore I went off the next morn ing and be came a priest, and the third spir i tual fa ther was Mario Jorge Bergoglio be cause, you see, my wife when she saw she could be Cath o lic and char - is matic and evan gel i cal and Pen te cos tal, and it was ab so lutely ac cepted within the Cath o lic Church, she said that she would like to re con nect her roots with her Cath o - lic cul ture, so she did. And so I was work ing with the Cath o lic Church, my wife was a char is matic Cath o lic; my chil dren were go ing to a Cath o lic school. So we raised our kids Cath o lic, charismatics, Pentecostals, evangelicals. Je sus was all of those, you know. Comment: I cer tainly do not know that! While there is a bib li cal under stand ing of cha risma (Greek: cha risma; trans - lated grace in the New Tes ta ment), while there is an out pour ing of the Holy Spirit (Pen te cost) that Jesus received (Mat thew 3:16), while the Bible speaks of being evan gel i cal (Greek: giv ing the gos pel news), the com mon def i ni tions of these words today and how they are used by Cath o lics and apos tate Prot es tants does not define the Christ of the Scrip - tures. It is blas phemy to so por tray our Redeemer. Palmer s wife re-con verted to Cathol i cism. Why does not Palmer also con vert to Cathol i cism? It is because he is a better tool of Rome work ing from with out than within. Jesus is sacramental. He instituted the sacraments. He did the things that were re quired of him in the syn a gogue. He be lieved in sign and sym bol. He used it all the time in his par a bles, but he was also evan gel i cal be cause he said you have to be born again; it is writ ten. He was also the con tem pla tive; he was also the char is matic. How much of Je sus do you want? Do you only want one de nom i na tion of Jesus? Jump in; get it all. Comment: No, thank you. We shall not jump in and get all that the man of sin and the false prophet offer. So, Pa dre Mario, Fa ther Mario, he took me aside when he heard about my tes ti mony about hav ing this ec u men i - cal fam ily, and he started a friend ship with me. We started study ing to gether, meet ing more of ten, to a point where he be came one of my men tors. And it was very sur pris ing to me when he ed me a week be fore the elec tion of the pope last year, and he said, Tony, will you please pray for me be cause they have called me into the con clave. Now con clave is when they chose the pope be cause conclâve means with key, with key conclâve. That s what it means, with a key. They lit er ally lock the car di nals into the Sis tine Cha pel un til they have made a de ci sion. Conclâve. So I was think ing maybe he had to go in there and be one of the car di nals, cause he was a car di - nal, to pray for the pope, and I was on the train, leav ing Rome, that day when they an nounced the pope, and the pope was Mario Jorge Bergoglio. My friend, my spir i tual fa ther, had be come the pope. [Congregation: loud applause] Tony Palmer ex plain ing about meet ing the fu ture pope. Now you need to be clear. This is not about my story, even though I prom ised, uh, Ken neth asked me if I would just con nect the dots so you would un der stand this is im - por tant for you. It s im por tant for the part ners be cause you sup port the work I do, but this is not about my story. This is about history, His story [point ing up], be cause God is do - ing some thing. Now I walked in af ter,... well I m jump ing the gun. Let me just say this Christ mas time. Be cause my spir i tual fa - ther, one of my spir i tual men tors, had be come pope, I am ma ture enough to know that my re la tion ship is go ing to change now. I mean, he s got a new job de scrip tion. I did - n t ex pect to have a friend ship like I had be fore, but I felt blessed that I had that time with him. He im parted many things to me, like all my spir i tual fa thers have. I got a phone call just af ter Christ mas when I was re lax - ing with my son, watch ing a bit of TV, and I grabbed my Old Paths April 2014

7 mo bile phone and said yes, Tony Palmer speak ing, and he says hello, this is Pope Fran cis. I thought it was one of my friends. They were look ing at me through the win dow. And I said Fa ther Mario. He said yes. So I ran up stairs to my of fice, where there was no noise, and I said what are you phon ing me for? He said when are you go ing to be in Rome next? I said I ll be in Rome next two weeks time. I have to visit one of my con gre ga tions. He said can you come and see me? This no body from South Af rica who gives up his house to fol low some crazy call from the Cath o lics ends up get ting a phone call at home from the pope. So I said to him look, I ll be there on the thir teenth. He said no, I m busy. I am not mak ing this up. This is how it was. Emmie was at the door, lis ten ing to the con ver sa - tion. And I said well I can do the four teenth. I can stay one day ex tra in Rome. He said let me go get my di ary. I heard the phone go on the ta ble; I heard the feet come back. Said, Bishop Tony? I said yes. The four teenth is good for me. I m free. He said to me what time? I said you re the pope and you re ask ing me what time? He said yeah, what time suits you? So I thought well 10 o clock cause I can miss the traf - fic. Rome is bad for traf fic. So I said 10 o clock will suit me fine. See you at 10 o clock. So I said to him Pope Fran cis, I can t be lieve that you re phon ing me. I don t know how to re act to you. I was just be ing hon est. He said what do you mean? I said you re the pope of the uni ver sal church. 1.2 bil lion peo ple? And I m just an ev ery day cler gy man do ing his bit for the king dom. Comment: There is a church with 1.2 bil lion peo ple, but it is not God s church. It is part of the syn a gogue of Satan, and to use such lan guage should make any true Protestant sick to the core. He said Tony we cut co ven [sic; per haps he meant cov e - nant]. We are broth ers. He said noth ing will change our friend ship. I was blessed be cause all of these sto ries you have heard about Fran cis, about pick ing his friends up in his Popemobile and tak ing them and all, and go ing out to visit peo ple. This, he has n t changed his spots. Comment: Notice that the pope claims he and Tony have a coven(ant). They claim to be broth ers. So I went last Tues day. I went to see him. We had the morn ing to gether, just me and him, the whole morn ing in his apart ments, and I asked him, I said, so what s the agenda? Why did you call me? He said I have no agenda. There is noth ing to dis cuss. That s a fa ther; that s a men tor. So, I started to tell him I can t be lieve I m sit ting here. You know how much we can do to gether? Yes, and we made a cov e nant to work for unity for the church. I said lis ten next week I am go ing to Ken neth Cope land Min is tries Min is - ters Conference, and I told him about you. I told him all your crazy sto ries. I said there is go ing to be thou sands of lead ers, and these guys have their jets, they ve got TV shows, and I said they ve got churches of ten thou sand, two thou sand, twenty thou sand. I said these are big fishes! So he said well, what do you want to do? And I said, can you please I told him about Ken neth and Glo ria s part ner - ship from day one. I lost a lot of evan gel i cals be cause they thought I had be trayed the faith cause I was build ing a king dom and not an em pire. Sorry. And so I said to him how s about you give Ken neth a word and give the lead ers a word. He said okay. So I am wait ing for him, and he says you want to take a mes sage next week to Texas for me? I said yes, sir. I said do you want me to write it down? He said, why don t we make a video? Now, I had in the back of my mind (I had my iphone, right? I al ways have my iphone) I had in the back of my mind to ask him, but I did - n t want to be cheeky and break the friend ship. I don t want to abuse a friend ship. Friend ships are sa cred; they are a gift from God. You can t use friend ships, let God use your friend ship, but you don t use it. And so I was wait ing to see if like there was a Holy Spirit op por tu nity to ask him, but he was the one who asked. He asked can I make a video. So we ve had it ed ited; we ve had it sub ti tled cause he speaks in Ital ian. He does n t speak Eng lish. He tries in the be gin ning, but then he switches to Ital ian straight away. So to night, the pope. It s a his toric mo ment be cause I ve never, I ve served three popes be cause I started work ing with them when John Paul was still alive, and then Pope Ben e dict, and now Pope Fran cis. And you know Pope Fran cis (St. Fran cis of Assisi was an open char is matic), this is the first pope in his tory that has took Fran cis s name be cause he is openly char is matic, and this is his tory that we ve got a pope who rec og nizes us as broth ers and sis - ters, speaks to us as broth ers and sisters, and has sent a message to us, and you will see what the message is about. Comment: This first part of Palmer s address to the min is - ters at KCM was not posted on the CEEC s website nor on The Ark Com mu nity website, but the fol low ing por tion is posted, starting after the word because in the first sen tence. This is the most impor tant part of Palmer s talk. And I need you to at least un der stand a lit tle bit of the his tory be hind this be cause we are liv ing in an in cred i bly im por tant gen er a tion. I be lieve that God has brought me here to this min is ters con fer ence in the spirit of Eli jah. Let me ex plain. If you look care fully, the spirit of Eli jah was on John the Bap tist to turn the hearts of the sons to the fa - thers and to turn the hearts of the fa thers to the sons to pre pare the way for the Lord, and we know that proph ecy al ways has a dou ble ful fill ment, and we know that Eli jah will come be fore the sec ond com ing, as well, and I have un der stood that the spirit of Eli jah is the spirit of rec on cil i - a tion to re turn hearts to each other. This is very important. Comment: We cer tainly know the Eli jah mes sage is impor tant, and Malachi does men tion the hearts of the chil - dren and fathers being drawn to each other (Malachi 4:5, 6). How ever, did Eli jah pro mote the uni fi ca tion of Baal wor ship and that of Jeho vah while striv ing for unity or rec on cil i a - tion? No! Eli jah slew the proph ets of Baal! He would have no Vol. 23, No

8 fel low ship or agree ment with them. The truth is, in the New Tes ta ment, Jesus declared that the mes sage of John the Bap - tist was a ful fill ment of the Eli jah proph ecy of Malachi (see Mat thew 11:2 14). But the great and ter ri ble day of the Lord did not come in John s day, and so we look for the com plete ful fill ment of this proph ecy in the end, but not a sec ond ful - fill ment, as Palmer declares all proph ecy to have when he said that we know that proph ecy always has a dou ble ful fill - ment. (This is a Jesuit idea.) The proph ecy of Eli jah that Malachi speaks of is that of draw ing the hearts of the par ents to the chil dren and of the chil dren to the fathers, but in what way? What does it mean in its his tor i cal con text with Eli jah as well as in applied con text in John s day? It is only as we under stand these that can we know how to apply it for today. Dur ing the time of Eli jah, under the influ ence of Jezebel, Israel had fallen deeply into apos tasy and wor shiped Baal. Eli jah came to denounce the wor ship of Baal and to call for a wor ship of Jeho vah. After three and a half years of drought Eli jah called for a meet ing on Mount Car mel. The proph ets of Baal mis er a bly failed to bring rain. Then Eli jah repaired the altar of the LORD and laid the wood and sac ri fice upon the altar. After soak ing it with twelve bar rels of water, he prayed and in the last part of the prayer he said, Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this peo ple may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again (1 Kings 18:37). The call of Eli jah is the call to wor ship the true God dur ing a time when the wor ship of a false God is prevalent. Here is the turn ing of the heart that Malachi pre dicts must hap pen. It is a turn ing away from false gods to the wor ship of the true God. The issue is not sim ply a mat ter that par ents and chil dren can not com mu ni cate due to a gen er a tion gap, it is that there have arisen dif fer ence between them as to who is the true God and the wor ship of that God. Some chil dren and some par ents agree with Jeho vah and some dif fer. God wants them united in their wor ship of him. In the time of John the Bap tist, John was call ing for the peo ple to pre pare their hearts to meet the Mes siah. It was not a spe cific mes sage about nuclear fam ily res to ra tion but of the spir i tual house of God to fear the only true God and accept his Son who was sent to be the sav iour of the world. Today, there is a peo ple who carry an Eli jah mes sage of, behold your God. This mes sage, planted and nur tured in the heart will indeed draw hearts of all kin dred Chris tian spir its towards each other because they have been drawn towards God and this mes sage will pre pare a peo ple to meet the only true God and his son Jesus Christ at his sec ond com ing. We know that the first thou sand years there was one church. It was called the Cath o lic Church, and the word cath o lic means uni ver sal; it does n t mean Ro man. Raise your hand if your born again, you are a cath o lic. Take back, re deem, what be longs to you. We are cath o lics. Then there was a split at the end of the first mil len nium, we had the or tho dox, east and west, two churches. Then five hun - dred years later we have Lu ther and his pro test three churches in fif teen hun dred years. Three de nom i na tions, not three churches, and then from Lu ther s pro test on - wards, thirty-three thousand new denominations. Comment: This is sim ply not true. The church did not go for 1,000 years with out divi sion. Paul could write For the mys tery of iniq uity doth already work (2 Thessalonians 2:7). John spoke of divi sions in his epis tles. There was splin - ter ing among pro fessed believ ers from very early times. Some divi sions are well known by the names of the lead ers of the move ments. For exam ple, Arius raised objec tions to the wor ship of a false god dur ing the fourth cen tury. By the time the papacy was well estab lished, the true church had to go into hid ing into the wil der ness. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he per se cuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wil der ness, into her place, where she is nour ished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the ser pent (Rev - e la tion 12:13, 14). This is the same period of time that was proph e sied by Dan iel: And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the divid ing of time (Dan iel 7:25). In Bible proph ecy a day of proph ecy equals one year of lit eral time. Using the rule of 360 days to the Bible year we have 3 ½ times (3 ½ years) equal ing 1,260 years. This time period from AD 538 till AD 1798 was a time that the church went into hid ing in the wil der ness. I ve come to un der stand that di ver sity is di vine; it s di - vi sion that di a bolic. It s true what you were say ing about the glory; I agree with you; of course it s true. The glory that the Fa ther had he gave to Je sus. The glory was the pres ence of God. What is the char is matic re newal? It is when we ex pe ri ence the pres ence of God. And he said and I give them the glory (prag matic rea son), so that they may be one. It s the glory that glues us to gether, not the doc - trines. It s the glory. If you ac cept that Christ is liv ing in me and the pres ence of God is in me and the pres ence of God is in you, that s all we need be cause God will sort out all our doc trines when we get up stairs. There fore, Chris - tian unity is the ba sis of our cred i bil ity be cause Je sus said un til they are one we ll not be lieve, the world will not be lieve as they should, un til we are one. Di vi sion de stroys our cred i bil ity. It is fear that keeps us sep a rated be cause fear is false ev i dence ap pear ing real an acronym f-e-a-r false ev i dence ap pear ing real. Because most of your fear is based on propaganda. Comment: This para graph is dia bolic! Palmer says divi - sion is dia bolic but unity in error is not blessed. It is God in his word that calls for divi sion and sep a ra tion from evil and even from pro fessed Chris tians who hold to false doc trines. Old Paths April 2014

9 Read care fully the fol low ing verses: Where fore come out from among them, and be ye sep a rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you (2 Corin - thi ans 6:17). And I heard another voice from heaven, say ing, Come out of her, my peo ple, That ye be not par tak ers of her sins, And that ye receive not of her plagues (Rev e la - tion 18:4). If we do not come out of Bab y lon we will be a par taker or have fel low ship (Greek) with her sins. John could write, Who so ever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doc - trine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doc trine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc trine, receive him not into your house, nei ther bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is par taker of his evil deeds (2 John 9 11). (See also Isa iah 52:11; 48:2; Jer e miah 50:8; 51:6.) Palmer says that the char is matic renewal is expe ri enc ing the pres ence of God. But the god that he is expe ri enc ing in his renewal is a false holy spirit. Rev e la tion 16:14 and 13:13, 14 speak of the spir its of dev ils that work mir a cles. This mir - a cle-work ing power is attrib uted to the work ing of the Holy Spirit, but these pro fessed Chris tians wor ship the trin ity and are con fused on the iden tity and role of the Holy Spirit. Palmer is teach ing that since God lives in all of us, we are all broth ers and sis ters and are not to allow doc trines to stand in the way of fel low ship. He says that the doc trines are not the glue; it is the glory or this char is matic expe ri ence of the Holy Spirit in the life that makes the peo ple one. But there are two big prob lems with this idea. Firstly, this spirit in the mod ern emerg ing church, this spirit in the Pen te cos tal move - ment, this spirit in the cel e bra tion church is not from God, but from the devil. Sec ondly, what Palmer says is not what the Bible says about unity. Paul in Ephe sians 4 plainly states that we are to all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl edge of the Son of God, unto a per fect man, unto the mea sure of the stat ure of the fulness of Christ (Ephe sians 4:13). We have been also told to unify, but it must be done upon a Scrip tural basis (Selected Mes sages, bk. 1, p. 175). Any thing less is not true unity. Romanism is now regarded by Prot es tants with far greater favor than in for mer years. In those coun tries where Cathol i cism is not in the ascen dancy, and the papists are tak - ing a con cil ia tory course in order to gain influ ence, there is an increas ing indif fer ence con cern ing the doc trines that sep - a rate the reformed churches from the papal hier ar chy; the opin ion is gain ing ground that, after all, we do not dif fer so widely upon vital points as has been sup posed, and that a lit - tle con ces sion on our part will bring us into a better under stand ing with Rome (The Great Con tro versy, p. 563) Palmer declares that our Chris tian unity is the basis of the believer s cred i bil ity in the world. He claims that the world will sit up and take notice of Chris tian ity when we have this unity of which he speaks. Palmer does not quote a text, but the ref er ence must be from John 17:21, where Jesus says: That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. But notice that the issue is not cred i bil ity with the world so that the world might believe in Jesus, but rather that he was sent of the Father. Fur ther more, this unity is based upon being sanc ti fied by the truth! Sanc - tify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanc tify myself, that they also might be sanc ti fied through the truth. Nei ther pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:17 21). Palmer says that it is fear that keeps us sep a rated, but we should be fear ful to be joined unto the har lot and her daugh - ters! This is not based upon pro pa ganda, but upon the Bible! We should be fear ful to sanc tion sin and be fear ful to let go of the sin ner and make no effort to restore him. Now why is it his toric? Be cause in 1999 the Ro man Cath o lic Church and the protestant Lu theran Church signed an agree ment that brought an end to the pro test. Lu - ther be lieved that we were saved by grace through faith alone. Amen. But that s not it. The Cath o lic Church be - lieved that we were saved by works. And that was the pro test. In 1999 they wrote this to gether be cause in the Protestant Church we ve got a lot of cheap salvations. Peo ple were get ting born again but no fruit what so ever and be cause we did n t even look for fruit, it was n t the is - sue be cause it was n t nec es sary for sal va tion, and no, it s not, but it s a good judge if you are saved. So what these two churches did, they put the two def i ni tions to gether. Lis ten to it. I m read ing ver ba tim from the Cath o lic Vat i - can website. Jus ti fi ca tion means that Christ him self is our righ teous ness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in ac cord with the will of the Fa ther. To gether we Cath o - lics and Prot es tants, Lu ther ans, be lieve and con fess that by grace alone, in faith in Christ s sav ing works and not be cause of any merit on our part we are ac cepted by God and re ceive the Holy Spirit who re news our hearts while equip ping and call ing us to good works (un der lin ing sup - plied). Comment: This is where the facts begin to become even more gar bled and fuzzy. There was an agree ment signed in 1999 between the Vat i can and a group of Luther ans called the Lutheran World Fed er a tion (LWF). The LWF is a global com mu nion of 142 churches in the Lutheran tra di tion, rep re - sent ing over 70 mil lion Chris tians in 79 coun tries ( tent/about-lwf, accessed March 19, 2014). The LWF has been in study with the Roman Cath o lic Church since Vat i can II and has more plans for Within Amer ica, the larg est branch of Luther ans and the larg est that belong to the LWF is the Evan gel i cal Lutheran Church in Amer ica (ELCA). This is a very lib eral branch of Luther ans which ordain women and homo sex u als Vol. 23, No

10 to be priests. While the major ity of Luther ans world wide fall under the LWF, they cer tainly do not rep re sent all Lutheran. The LWF did sign a joint state ment of faith on jus ti fi ca tion in 1999, but it is not as sim ple as Tony Palmer makes it sound. Palmer s read ing of a ver ba tim quote is not an exact ver ba tim quote. He says, Together we Cath o lics and Prot es - tants, Luther ans, believe and con fess..., but the text does not say Cath o lics and Prot es tants, Luther ans. While the agree ment was between Cath o lics and Luther ans, it does not say Prot es tants, and I for one Protestant object to being included in this verbatim state ment. Part of the Joint Dec la - ra tion states: In faith we together hold the con vic tion that jus ti fi ca tion is the work of the tri une God. The Father sent his Son into the world to save sin ners. The foun da tion and pre sup po si tion of jus ti fi ca tion is the incar na tion, death, and res ur rec tion of Christ. Jus ti fi ca tion thus means that Christ him self is our righ teous ness, in which we share through the Holy Spirit in accord with the will of the Father. Together we con fess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ s sav ing work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equip ping and call ing us to good works. Remem ber that it is a part of her pol icy to assume the char ac ter which will best accom plish her pur pose; but beneath the vari able appear ance of the cha - me leon she con ceals the invari able venom of the ser pent (The Great Con tro versy, p. 571). Yes, the joint doc u ment uses the expres sion by grace alone, but they do not define how this grace is achieved. It is a long-held belief in Cathol i - cism that we are pre pared for grace through our works. Fur ther more, when the doc u ment uses the expres sion faith alone, it is in ref er ence to the Lutheran s posi tion and not to the joint posi tion. In the appen dix to the doc u ment, we read: Where, how ever, Lutheran teach ing con strues the rela - tion of God to his human crea tures in jus ti fi ca tion with such empha sis on the divine monergism or the sole effi cacy of Christ in such a way, that the per sons will ing accep tance of God s grace - which is itself a gift of God - has no essen tial role in jus ti fi ca tion, then the Tridentine can ons 4, 5, 6 and 9 still con sti tute a nota ble doc trinal dif fer ence on jus ti fi ca - tion (APPENDIX, Resources for the Joint Dec la ra tion on the Doc trine of Jus ti fi ca tion). The scope of this arti cle in Old Paths is not able to include all the sub tle dif fer ences, but rest assured that Rome has not changed; the Coun cil of Trent has not been repu di ated. Notice these state ments from the Coun cil: CANON IX.-If any one saith, that by faith alone the impi ous is jus ti fied; in such wise as to mean, that noth ing else is required to co-oper ate in order to the obtain ing the grace of Jus ti fi ca tion, and that it is not in any way nec es sary, that he be pre pared and dis posed by the move ment of his own will; let him be anath ema. CANON XIV.-If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and jus ti fied, because that he assur edly believed him self absolved and jus ti fied; or, that no one is truly jus ti fied but he who believes him self jus ti fied; and that, by this faith alone, abso lu tion and jus ti fi ca tion are effected; let him be anath ema. CANON XXIX.-If any one saith, that he, who has fallen after bap tism, is not able by the grace of God to rise again; or, that he is able indeed to recover the jus tice which he has lost, but by faith alone with out the sac ra ment of Pen ance, con - trary to what the holy Roman and uni ver sal Church-instructed by Christ and his Apos tles-has hith erto pro fessed, observed, and taugh; let him be anath ema (Coun - cil of Trent, Sixth Ses sion). But what does the Bible say? There fore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be jus ti fied in his sight: for by the law is the knowl edge of sin. (Romans 3:20). Being jus ti - fied freely by his grace through the redemp tion that is in Christ Jesus, (Romans 3:24). There fore we con clude that a man is jus ti fied by faith with out the deeds of the law (Romnans 3:28). For what saith the scrip ture? Abra ham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righ teous - ness (Romnans 4:3). There fore being jus ti fied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romnans 5:1). For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of your selves: it is the gift of God (Ephe sians 2:8). Not by works of righ teous ness which we have done, but accord ing to his mercy he saved us, by the wash ing of regen er a tion, and renew ing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5). The Coun cil of Trent also declares: CANON XXXIII. If any one saith, that, by the Cath o lic doc trine touch ing Jus ti fi ca tion, by this holy Synod inset forth in this pres ent decree, the glory of God, or the mer its of our Lord Jesus Christ are in any way der o gated from, and not rather that the truth of our faith, and the glory in fine of God and of Jesus Christ are ren dered (more) illus tri ous; let him be anath - ema. This coun cil declares that if any one dis agrees with it, that per son is anath ema or damned. Palmer con tin ues: This brought an end to the pro test of Lu ther. Broth ers and sis ters, Lu ther s pro test is over. Is yours? In 1999 this was signed by the Lu theran Church, the fed er a tion world - wide. Later, about five years later, the world wide Meth od ist signed the same agree ment but as of to day, we still have had no protestant evan gel i cal that will stand up and sign this agree ment, to agree with our broth ers and sis - ters that we are saved by grace through faith to good works, and I be lieve that s some thing that needs to be fixed. There s a challenge for you. Comment: Beloved, the Lutheran s pro test may be over, but mine is not. To clar ify about the Meth od ists sign ing on to the state ment, the facts are that on July 18, 2006, mem bers of the World Meth od ist Coun cil (WMC), meet ing in Seoul, South Korea, voted unan i mously to adopt the dec la ra tion on the doc trine of jus ti fi ca tion. The WMC is a con sul ta tive body and asso ci a tion of churches in the Meth od ist tra di tion. It com prises 76 mem ber denom i na tions in 132 coun tries and Old Paths April 2014

11 rep re sent ing about 75 mil lion peo ple, among them the United Meth od ist Church, the Free Meth od ist Church, the United Church of Christ in the Phil ip pines, the Afri can Meth od ist Epis co pal Zion Church, the United Church of Can ada, the Brit ish Meth od ist Church, the Unit ing Church of Aus tra lia, the Wes leyan Church, and the Church of the Nazarene ( od - ist_coun cil). So when Tony Palmer says that nobody else agrees or stands up, he is not totally accu rate, for it is not just the Meth - od ists but sev eral groups, includ ing the Church of the Nazarene. 1 So, the pro - test has been over for fif teen years. And I get a bit cheeky here cause I chal - lenge my protestant pas - tor friends if there is no more pro test, how can there be a protestant church? Maybe we now are all cath o lics again, but we are re formed. We are cath o lic in the uni ver sal sense. We are not pro test ing the doc trine of sal va tion by the Cath o lic Church any more. We now preach the same gos pel. We now preach you are saved by grace through faith alone. The word alone was the ar gu ment for five hun dred years. The word alone is there. You can read it your self. The pro test is over. The protest is over. Comment: Notice the steps that Palmer now takes. He falsely states that the pro test is over because there is noth ing to pro test any lon ger. There fore there should be no Protestant Church. There is a thread of truth in what he says that if we have noth ing to pro test, we should return to Rome. The dis - tance between most Protestant churches and Rome is far less than it once was, but it is not because Rome has moved; it is because the Prot es tants have moved towards Rome. But for those who have not and will not move, we con tinue to pro test in the stron gest terms! We refuse to be cat e go rized as Cath o - lic in any man ner. We state clearly that there is much that pre vents our unity, includ ing a proper under stand ing of jus ti - fi ca tion but not lim it ing it to that. We can not and will not accept papal infal li bil ity, Mariology, tran sub stan ti a tion, prayers to the saints, pur ga tory, limbo, Deuterocanonical books, the doc trine of eter nal tor ment, and many other mon - stros i ties that the man of sin teaches. What about sola scriptura? The Roman Cath o lic Church does not even pre - tend that Scrip ture is the sole author ity for its faith and prac tice. For this essen tial fact to be ignored shows the duplic ity or the igno rance of the unity move ment. The pro test is not over! The word alone is in the doc u ment but look ing under the sur face of the doc u ment, it is clear that the mean ing is not what all Prot es - tants think. Palmer now says: So let me pray, and then we ll start the video. I be lieve we will be gin to see more and more peo ple called out to go into the world and work among the churches in the spirit of Eli jah, to turn the hearts of the fa thers to the chil dren and the hearts of the chil dren to the fa thers, to make ready a peo ple pre pared for the Lord. Min is tries of rec on cil i a tion. We need to throw as much re - sources and en ergy into the min is try of rec on cil i a tion as we do to the min is try of evangelization, or are we build ing walls with out foun da tions? I chal lenge you to find a bridge-builder and back him or her, and I d like to pray this prayer and if you agree, you can say amen. This was a dy ing man s prayer and when you know you are about to die you cer tainly pray the most important prayers. Palmer informing the congregation, We are Catholic. Comment: One of the titles of the Roman emper ors that the pope uses is Pontifex Maximus. It lit er ally means great bridge builder. The pope is the bridge builder that Tony Palmer wants every one to find. He said I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will be lieve in me through their word that they all may be one as you fa ther are in me and I in you that they also be one in us so that the world may be lieve that you sent me and the glory which you have given me I have given them that they may be one as we are one [John 17:20 23 NKJV]. Glory to the Fa ther. Amen. 1. This is a devel op ment that may not be fully under stood on the local level of these churches. I con tacted an ordained min is ter of the Church of the Nazarene, whom I per son ally know, and asked if he was aware that the Church of the Nazarene was asso ci ated with the WMC and about the joint state ment of faith. He replied that he did not know of any such asso ci a tion or dec la ra tion of faith. I then called the Church of the Nazarene s inter na tional head quar ters in Kan sas City, Mis souri, and it was con firmed that the denom i na tion is indeed a mem ber of the WMC. Vol. 23, No

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14 Comment: The prayer of Christ included that his fol low - ers be sanc ti fied by the truth (John 17:17), for he knew that noth ing but the truth could, in real ity, set his fol low ers free (John 8:32). Pope Fran cis s Address After this intro duc tion, Palmer played the video of the pope. We do not have an unedited ver sion, but there appears to be very lit tle edit ing done, as there are no notice able cut edits in the video. Below, in quote for mat, is a tran scrip tion of the pope s address to Ken neth Cope land and the big fishes Pope Fran cis speak ing on video (ministers at Copeland s conference). Bracketed insertions are in the orig i nal. Dear Broth ers and Sis ters, Ex cuse me be cause I speak in Ital ian, but I am not speak ing Eng lish. I will speak no Ital ian, no Eng lish, but heartfully. It s a lan guage, more sim ple and more au then - tic, and this lan guage of the heart has a spe cial [par tic u lar] lan guage and gram mar. A sim ple gram mar. Two rules: Love God above all and love the other [neigh bor] be cause he is your brother and sis ter. With these two rules, we can go ahead. I am here with my brother, my bishop brother, Tony Palmer. We ve been friends for years. to gether to wor ship Je sus Christ the only Lord and to pray to the Fa ther and to re ceive the Holy Spirit. This brings me joy be cause we can see that God is work ing all over the world. Nos tal gic [yearn ing] be cause, but it hap pens, as within our sub urbs, in the sub urbs, there are fam i lies that love each other and fam i lies that don t love each other, fam i lies that come to gether and fam i lies who sep a rate them selves. We are kind of, per mit me to say, sep a rated. Sep a rated be cause it s sin that has sep a rated us, all our sins, the mis un der stand ings through out his tory. It has been a long road of sins that we all shared in. Who is to blame? We all share the blame. We have all sinned. There is only one blame less, the Lord. I am nos - tal gic [yearn ing], that this sep a ra tion co mes to an end and gives us com mu nion. I am nos tal gic [yearn ing] of that em brace that the Holy Scrip ture speaks of when Jo - seph s broth ers be gan to starve from hun ger. They went to Egypt to buy so that they could eat. They went to buy. They had money, but they could n t eat the money. But there they found some thing more than food; they found their brother. All of us have cur rency the cur rency of our cul ture, the cur rency of our his tory. We have a lot of cul tural riches and re li gious riches, and we have di verse tra di tions, but we have to en coun ter one an other as broth - ers. We must cry to gether, like Jo seph did. These tears will unite us. The tears of love. He told me about your con fer ence, about your meet - ing, and it s my plea sure to greet you, a greet ing both joy ful and nos tal gic [yearn - ing]. Joy ful be cause it gives me joy that you have come The Pope reach ing out to en cour age the Prot es tants to be brother Old Paths April 2014

15 I am speak ing to you as a brother. I speak to you in a sim ple way, with joy and nos tal gia [yearn ing]. Let us al - low our nos tal gia [yearn ing] to grow be cause this will pro pel us to find each other, to em brace one an other, and to gether to wor ship Je sus Christ as the only Lord of his - tory. I thank you pro foundly for lis ten ing to me. I thank you pro foundly for al low ing me to speak the lan guage of the heart, and I also ask you a fa vor. Please pray for me be - cause I need your prayers, and I will pray for you. I will do it, but I need your prayers, and let us pray to the Lord that He unites us all. Come on, we are broth ers. Let s give each other a spir i tual hug and let God com plete the work that he has be gun. And this is a mir a cle; the mir a cle of unity has be gun. A fa mous Ital ian au thor named Manzoni once wrote in his novel of a sim ple man amongst the peo ple who once said this: I ve never seen God be gin a mir a cle with out Him fin ish ing it well. He will com plete this mir a cle of unity. I ask you to bless me, and I bless you. From brother to brother, I em brace you. Thank you. Com ment: Clearly Tony Palmer has a close rela tion ship with the pope. Pope Fran cis declares that they have been friends for years. The pope calls Palmer his brother and addresses those lis ten ing to the video as broth ers. He speaks of the separation that they have had and says it has been because of sin. But does Fran - cis accept the blame because of the dam na ble doc trines and mon stros i ties of Rome, such as the Inqui si tion which neces si - tated the ref or ma tion? No, he says all are to blame and states we have all sinned and only Christ is blame less. But this is ignor ing the issues and cast ing blame where it does not rest. The pope then speaks of the broth ers of Joseph who went to Egypt to buy corn and found their brother. He tries to imply a mod ern-day par al lel. Joseph s broth ers are the Prot - es tants, and the papacy is Joseph in this par a ble. But notice that Joseph did not go out to meet his broth ers half way, but rather they came all the way to him. In the Bible, Egypt is sym bolic of sin, and in real ity the Prot es tants are going to meet the man of sin. The pope says that we are to embrace one another, and together to wor ship Jesus Christ as the only Lord of his tory. But it is not the pope who will move in doc trine and wor ship to the Prot es tants, but the Prot es tants to the pope. Again the pope empha sizes that he and his lis ten ers are broth ers and that he wants to give them a spir i tual hug. He says, Let God com plete the work that he has begun. And this is a mir a cle; the mir a cle of unity has begun. Clearly a work of unity has begun but it is not a work of God but of the god of the papacy, Satan. The pope then declares that God will com plete this mir a cle of unity. Finally, the pope asks Ken neth Cope land to bless him, and he declares a bless ing to those at KCM with one last ref er - ence to being broth ers and giv ing thanks. The response at KCM was over whelm ing. The peo ple gave the pope a loud, stand ing ova tion with raised hands. Ken neth Cope land then prayed for the pope and agreed with the pope and with his quest for the unity in the body of Christ. Cope land then said that he would pray for the pope in spirit with words that are not his own and then goes off into speak ing in tongues. After that he asks for Tony Palmer to take a video of him in front of the con gre ga tion to take back a mes sage to the pope. He said: My dear sir, thank you so from the bot tom of our hearts. All of these lead ers rep re sent lit er ally tens of thou sands of peo - ple that love you, that be lieve God with you, and in an swer to your re - quest we have just prayed for you and with you and we did so in the spirit and we be lieve we re ceive ac cord ing to the words of Je - sus in Mark 11:24, That what so ever thing you de sire, when you pray, be - lieve you re ceive them, and you shall have them. Our de sire sir, along with you, is in the fourth chap ter of the book of Ephe sians, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowl edge of the son of God, unto a ma - ture man, unto the mea sure of the stat ure of the full ness of Christ. Thank you sir, we do bless you. We re ceive your bless ing, it is very very im por tant to us and we bless you with all of our hearts. We bless you with all of our souls. We bless you with all of our might, and we thank you sir, we thank God for you. And so, all of us de clare to gether [Cope land turns to con gre ga tion], be blessed. Once again, all to gether, be blessed! Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Cope land pre par ing to re cord a mes sage to the pope. Vol. 23, No

16 Palmer tells Cope land: You re going to have to come to the Vat i can. To this Cope land says, I will. I m avail able. Praise God. God s will be done. Amen. Maybe you had not heard of Tony Palmer before this. I knew noth ing about him until this was reported. Most Chris - Af ter his mes sage to the pope Cope land de - clared that, Heaven is thrilled over this. tians, how ever, know that Ken neth Cope land is a big-time, Protestant, Pen te cos tal tele van gel ist; and every one knows that Pope Fran cis is a big-time player. Regard less of the means, we see hands reach ing across the gulf and unity among for mer ene mies. I am reminded of what the ser vant of the Lord wrote: The time was when Prot es tants placed a high value upon the lib erty of con science which had been so dearly pur chased. They taught their chil dren to ab hor pop ery and held that to seek har mony with Rome would be dis loy alty to God. But how widely dif fer ent are the sen ti ments now expressed! (The Great Con tro versy, p. 563) The Prot es tants of the United States will be fore most in stretch ing their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spir i tu al ism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Ro man power; and un der the in flu ence of this three fold un ion, this coun try will fol low in the steps of Rome in tram pling on the rights of con science. (Ibid., p. 588) Two of the great errors that both the papists and the vast major ity of Prot es tants agree with are the Trin ity and Sunday sacred ness. Adventism has fully embraced the first and is flirt ing with the sec ond in many ways. When pres sure is brought forth, it will be declared that we all wor ship the same God (the trin ity); there fore, we should wor ship the trin ity on the day ded i cated to the trin ity (Sunday). When pres sure is brought to bear or favors need to be repaid, we are told: The time is not far dis tant when the test will come to ev - ery soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly de mands and con formed to worldly cus toms will not find it a hard mat ter to yield to the pow ers that be, rather than sub ject them selves to de ri sion, in sult, threat ened im pris on ment, and death. (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 81) A pro to type of such yield ing could be seen in the exam ple of Dr. Ben Car son, the most famous Sev enth-day Adven tist in Amer ica and per haps the world. This year, as well as last year, Car son spoke at a large con ser va tive polit i cal rally on the Sab bath about sec u lar themes. Many believe that Car son is going to run for pres i dent of the United States and is try ing to maneu ver him self into a favor able posi tion in the eye of the pub lic. Inter est ingly, these speeches have received lit tle neg a tive com ment within Adven tist cir cles. Another exam - ple was shared with me by a worker at an Adventist ele men tary school who said that the gov ern ment came with cer tain require ments for the school to meet that the school did not wish, nor felt obli gated to per form. How ever, they were reminded that the school served milk each morn ing at its break fast pro gram and that the milk was sup plied by the gov ern ment. They were then told it was time for pay back and the gov ern ment got what they wanted. Accep tance by the other churches and con tin u a tion of 501(c)(3) sta tus will not be given up by the Sev enth-day Adven tist Church. Com pro - mise, instead, will be made. It was by sa tanic aid that Pha raoh s ma gi cians were en - abled to coun ter feit the work of God. Paul tes ti fies that be fore the sec ond ad vent of Christ there will be sim i lar man i fes ta tions of sa tanic power. The com ing of the Lord is to be pre ceded by the work ing of Sa tan with all power and signs and ly ing won ders, and with all deceivableness of un righ teous ness. 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10 (The Great Con tro versy, p. 553) The Pentecostal, charismatic, ecumenical movement is exactly on tar get for the cel e bra tion style emerg ing church which seeks to min i mize doc trine and empha size fel low ship and spirit. How do you think the peo ple who reject this Pen - te cos tal, emerg ing church will be received? Jesus said, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name s sake (Mat thew 24:9) We have also been told: The mir a cle-work ing power man i fested through spir i - tu al ism will ex ert its in flu ence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Com mu ni ca tions from the spir its will de clare that God has sent them to con vince the re ject ers of Sunday of their er ror, af firm ing that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will la - ment the great wick ed ness in the world and sec ond the tes ti mony of re li gious teach ers that the de graded state of mor als is caused by the des e cra tion of Sunday. Great will be the in dig na tion ex cited against all who re fuse to ac cept their tes ti mony. (The Great Con tro versy, pp. 590, 591) Beloved, we may not be at the end of the end yet, but we cer tainly are very near it. We know that accord ing to Bible proph ecy there are more things to soon hap pen, but we can see the stage is being set. Com ing events have been cast ing shad ows and the real ity is now upon us. USA Today reported that on March 13th, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, extended a for mal and open invi ta tion Thurs day to Pope Old Paths April 2014

17 House Speaker John Boehner Fran cis to address a joint meet ing of Con gress ( m/story/news/pol i - tics/2014/03/13/boehner -pope-fran cis/ /; accessed March 16, 2014). No pope or any reli gious leader that serves as a head of state has ever addressed Con - gress. Boehner, a Roman Cath o lic, stated: His ad dress as a vis it - ing head of state be fore a joint meet ing of the House and Sen ate would honor our na tion in keep ing with the best tra di tions of our dem o cratic in sti tu tions.... It would also of fer an ex cel lent op por tu nity for the Amer i can peo ple as well as the na tions of the world to hear his mes sage in full. (Ibid.) In other words, the pope is being invited to use the United States Capitol build ing as his pul pit! USA Today also reported that House Minor ity Leader Nancy Pelosi, also a Roman Cath o lic and nor mally a bit ter polit i cal enemy of Boehner, has joined Boehner in wel com - ing Pope Fran cis to address Con gress. The arti cle also reported: Pelosi at tended his in au gu ra tion at the Vat i can and praised him as a moral force. (Ibid.) If the Pope speaks from the United States Cap i tal build ing with the full sup port of Con gress it would cer tainly con sti - tute a repu di a tion of our Con sti tu tion. We have been told: When Prot es tant ism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Ro man power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spir i tu al ism, when, un der the in flu ence of this three fold un ion, our coun try shall re pu di ate ev ery prin ci ple of its Con sti tu tion as a Protestant and re pub li can gov ern ment, and shall make pro vi sion for the prop a ga tion of pa pal false hoods and de - lu sions, then we may know that the time has come for the mar vel ous work ing of Sa tan and that the end is near. (Tes - ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 451) Sim ply know ing the last-day event sched ule is not enough to be ready for the return of Jesus. While Hosea says, My peo ple are destroyed for lack of knowl edge (Hosea 4:6), knowl edge itself will not save us. The devil knows more than we do, but he will not be saved. Even if we know every detail of last-day events we shall not be saved unless we know the hand that con trols the last-day events and says thus far, and no fur ther. Our only hope and ref uge is in Christ; he alone can save (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We cer tainly need to be on guard. We cer tainly should be watch ing the signs of the times, but above all we must trust in Jesus and cling to him and like Jacob say, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me (Exo dus 32:26). Finally: The time is upon us when the mir a - cle-work ing power of the arch de ceiver will be more de cid edly re - vealed. And his de cep tions will in - crease in their de lu sive at trac tion, so that they will per plex, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and if pos si ble, de ceive, the very elect. The prince of dark - ness with his evil an gels is work ing upon the Chris tian world, in duc ing those who pro fess the name of Christ to stand un der the ban ner of dark ness, to make war with those who keep the com mand ments of God, and have the faith of Je sus. An apos tate church will unite with the pow - ers of earth and hell to place upon the fore head or in the hand, the mark of the beast, and pre vail upon the chil dren of God to wor ship the beast and his im age. They will seek to com pel them to re nounce their al le giance to God s law, and yield hom age to the pa pacy. Then will come the times which will try men s souls; for the con fed er acy of apos - tasy will de mand that the loyal sub jects of God shall re nounce the law of Je ho vah, and re pu di ate the truth of his word. Then will the gold be sep a rated from the dross, and it will be made ap par ent who are the godly, who are loyal and true, and who are the dis loyal, the dross and the tin sel. What clouds of chaff will then be borne away by the fan of God! Where now our eyes can dis cover only rich floors of wheat, will be chaff blown away with the fan of God. Ev - ery one who is not cen tered in Christ will fail to stand the test and or deal of that day. While those who are clothed with Christ s righ teous ness will stand firm to truth and duty, those who have trusted in their own righ teous ness will be ranged un der the black ban ner of the prince of dark ness. Then it will be seen whether the choice is for Christ or Belial. Those who have been self-dis trust ful, who have been so cir cum stanced that they have not dared to face stigma and re proach, will at last openly de clare them selves for Christ and his law; while many who have ap peared to be flour ish ing trees, but who have borne no fruit, will go with the mul ti tude to do evil, and will re ceive the mark of apos tasy in the fore head or in the hand. (El len White, The Re view and Her ald, No vem ber 8, 1892) Vol. 23, No

18 Youth s Corner The Welsh Girl, and the Beginning of Modern Bible Distribution The story begins with a lit tle Welsh girl s ques tion, Why have n t we a Bible of our own, mother? Because Bibles are scarce, child, and we re too poor to pay the price of one. Two miles from Mary Jones s home lived a farmer who owned a Bible. She secured per mis sion to call and read its pages now and then. The story of the first visit we must repeat: The good farmer s wife went away, leav ing Mary alone with a Bi ble for the first time in her life. Pres ently the child raised the nap kin, and, fold ing it neatly, laid it to one side. Then with trem bling hands she opened the Book, opened it at the fifth chap ter of John, and her eyes caught these words, Search the Scrip tures; for in them ye think ye have eter nal life: and they are they which tes tify of Me. I will! I will! she cried, feel ing as if the words were spo ken di rectly to her by some di vine voice. I will search and learn all I can. O, if I had but a Bi ble of my own! And this wish, this sigh for the rare and cov eted trea - sure, was the key note to a grand and glo ri ous har mony which, years af ter, spread in vol ume un til it rolled in waves of sound over the whole earth. Yes, that yearn ing in a poor child s heart was des tined to be a means of light and knowl edge to mil lions of souls in the fu ture. (Mary Jones and Her Bi ble, pp. 58, 59) Now the girl began to work untir ingly to gather money to buy a Welsh Bible of her own. It was in the year 1800, after six years of sav ing, that she made the bare foot jour ney of over twenty-five miles to the town of Bala, with the price of the book in her pocket. How her hun ger for the liv ing word was used to start an agency for feed ing the hun ger of the nations is told briefly by one of the Brit ish Bible Soci ety s sec re tar ies: She was told she had better go to Mr. Charles at Bala, and per haps he would be able to pro cure her a Bi ble. Bala was a great way off twenty-five miles or more among the hills; but she set out very gladly on her jour ney. Now you must think of her go ing on that long and lonely way; walk ing bare foot on the moun tain track or the hard high - road, for like a thrifty coun try maid, she car ried her shoes and stock ings to save them; sing ing to her self, I have no doubt; rest ing a lit tle some times on the green turf or un der the shadow of a tree, and eat ing a lit tle from her store; but al ways busy in her thoughts with her Bi ble, and her meet - ing with Mr. Charles, and her joy ful journey home again. As she drew near Bala, she stopped to wash in a brook and to put on her shoes; but it was al ready late when she reached Mr. Charles s house, and she could not see him, fot it was his cus tom to go early to rest and to rise at cock - crow. So she stayed that night at the house of the wor thy el der, Da vid Ed ward, and next morn ing, be tween five and six o clock, he took her to Mr. Charles s. Yes, there was a light in his study win dow, and he was al ready hard at work. They knocked and were ad mit ted, and Da vid told Mr. Charles her story. Re ally, said the good min is ter, I am very sorry that she should have come from such a dis tance, for I fear, in - deed, that I can not spare her a copy; Bi bles are so very scarce. For thir teen years Mr. Charles and other de vout min is - ters of the gos pel had been try ing to ob tain a plen ti ful sup ply of the Scrip tures in Welsh for their fel low coun try - men, but they had met with lit tle suc cess. At last the So ci ety for Pro mot ing Chris tian Knowl edge had con - sented to print ten thou sand Bi bles and two thou sand Tes ta ments. It was a large num ber, you think; but as soon as the books were ready, they were ea gerly bought up, and by April in that very year ev ery copy had gone, and the peo ple were ask ing for more. The only cop ies that Mr. Charles had be longed to friends for whom he had ob tained them. Poor Mary! When she heard his an swer, her dis ap point - ment was so great that she burst into tears, and sobbed as if her heart would break. Mr. Charles was deeply moved, and tears filled his eyes, partly in sor row for his coun try, where the word of God was so scarce, and partly in pity for Mary. He could not bear that she should re turn home in grief and dis ap point ment. You shall have a Bi ble, he said, and he gave her one of the re served cop ies. Mary s tears were now tears of joy as she paid for her trea sure. Well, Da vid Ed ward, said Mr. Charles, turn ing to the el der, who had been weep ing too, is not this very sad that there should be such a scar city of Bi bles in the coun - try, and that this poor child should have walked some twenty-eight or thirty miles to get a copy? If some thing can be done to al ter this state of things, I will not rest till it is accomplished. (Lit tle Hands and God s Book, by W. Can ton, p. 22) And he did not rest. He told the story of Mary Jones at a meet ing in Lon don. The idea of a soci ety to mul ti ply and dis - trib ute the Scrip tures in all lan guages, began to form. In 1804, at a meet ing held in the com mer cial ware house of Old Old Paths April 2014

19 Swan Stairs, still stand ing near Lon don Bridge, the Bible Soci ety was launched. It was fully orga nized at a meet ing called later. One who was there entered that day in his diary: March 7, Mem o ra ble day! The Brit ish and For - eign Bi ble So ci ety founded. I and oth ers be long ing to the tract so ci ety had long had it in view; and af ter much prep a - ra tion, in which we did not pub licly ap pear, a meet ing was called in the Lon don Tav ern, and the so ci ety be gan with a very few.... Na tions un born will have cause to bless God for the meet ing of this day. (Af ter a Hun dred Years, p. 2) It was a true utter ance. The soci et ies for Bible dis tri bu tion mul ti plied, and the word of God speaks today, in whole or in trans lated por tions, in more than six hun dred tongues. God, who uses the weak things of this world so often in His work, used the jour ney of the young Welsh girl to start His word jour ney ing to and fro through this world in these lat ter days. Stir ring scenes have been wit nessed again and again as the first Bibles have reached a peo ple or tribe. It was the joy of Mary Jones over her first Bible, re-enacted over and over again. The first issue of the Brit ish Bible Soci ety, appro pri ately enough, was the Welsh New Tes ta ment. The first ship ment of five hun dred was ordered sent to Mr. Charles, of Bala, the place where Mary Jones had wept her tears of grief and then of joy. The news that the books were com ing spread through the val leys. By the Thurs day week, the whole coun try was wild with ex cite ment, and peo ple be gan to pour into Bala from the neigh bor ing vil lages and hill slopes at an early hour. When the time came for the car rier to be at no great dis - tance from the town, the peo ple went out in crowds to meet him; the old mare, which had ever be fore been obliged to strug gle with her load as best she could, was now re lieved of it, and mus cu lar farm ser vants pushed them selves into the shafts. Ropes were ad justed and manned and maidened, and the cart was lit er ally swarmed on all sides; then the joy ful pro ces sion pro ceeded to ward the town, where they were hailed by crowds which blocked up the streets. (Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles, Vol. Ill, p. 68) In 1810 the Moravian mis sion ary, Benjamin Kohlmeister, returned to the bleak coast of Lab ra dor with the first Scrip - ture por tion, the Gos pel of John. The lit tle kay aks, or canoes, filled with men, women, and chil dren, crowded about the ship, and with tears and shouts of joy the mis sion ary and his Book were wel comed home. Mr. Can ton says: Where withal shall a young man cleanse his way? By tak ing heed thereto ac cord ing to thy word. Psalm 119:9) The books were dis trib uted in the win ter, when all had come home from their hunt ing ex cur sions; and as they were given only to those who could read, con sid er able prog ress was made by schol ars of all ages. The peo ple took St. John with them to the is lands when they went out in search of fish or game, seals, wild geese, or ber ries; and in their tents or snow houses they spent the eve nings read ing by the glim mer of the moss in their lamps of soap - stone. But most they liked to gather in some large dwell ing at night fall, when they re turned from the sea or the hunt ing ground, and hear the word of God read by some one, child or adult, who had been taught in the schools of the mis - sion. (Lit tle Hands and God s Book, p. 44) Again, one of the sec re tar ies of the Bible Soci ety tells of the arrival of a ship in the Soci - ety Islands in 1816, bring ing the paper from the soci ety for the print ing of the Gos pel of Luke in Tahi tian. The island - ers had been turned from can ni bal ism within a few years, and the stones which had been used in human sac ri - fices, the mis sion ary employed for his print ing press. Mr. Can ton says: Now was not this a mar vel - ous thing, that in 1800 a lit tle bare foot girl went fifty miles over the Welsh hills for a Bi - ble, and that in 1816 some por tion, if not the whole, of that Sa cred Book had reached the ends of the earth that the Es kimo read it un der the glow of the north ern lights, and the Hot ten tot child spelled it un der the pear tree in the Clough of Ba boons, and the Ne gro learned it by heart on the sugar plan ta tions, and the Red In dian car ried it in his breast as he threaded the for est or pad dled on the Great Lakes, and that the so ci ety had sent it to the sea ports of South Amer ica and the Aus tra lian set tle ments, and was hav ing it trans lated into the lan - guages of In dia and China and the Ma lay Ar chi pel ago? (Ibid., p. 49) In 1852 the mis sion ary, Mr. Buzacott, returned to Raro - tonga with the printed Bible for which the peo ple had waited. Mr. Can ton describes the scene: A rush was made for the boat when it ap proached the shore; the crew jumped out, and the boat, with all on board, was lifted onto the shoul ders of the peo ple, and car - ried up the beach to ward the house, the men shout ing, the women weep ing, for joy.... The heavy pack ages were brought through the surf over the reef, and the happy sons of the Word light ened their la bor with a song in their own tongue: Vol. 23, No

20 The Word has come! One vol ume com plete! Let us learn the good Word! Our joy is great! The whole Word has come! It is enough, said Papehia, when the books were dis - trib uted, Papehia, the old na tive teacher, who first landed on Raro tonga thirty years be fore, when the peo ple were sav ages and can ni bals, my eyes have seen what my heart has so long de sired. 1 say with Simiona, Now, Lord, let Thy ser vant de part in peace! (Ibid., p. 105) Space fails to tell of long jour neys made through wil der - nesses to secure the pre cious Book. In the West Indies an old grayheaded slave trudged fifty miles to obtain a Bible in order that it might be read to many of his friends; and at the end of three months he returned, as he had prom ised, with the price of it, which had been col lected among the slaves. Thus to hearts in dark ness in all parts of the world has come the blessed day spring from on high. One of the trea sures of the Bible House Library in Lon don is the bur ied Bible, in the Mal a - gasy tongue, from Mad a gas car. The wicked Queen Ranavalona I had turned against the Chris tians. It was in the year To be found with a Bible was pun ish able with death. Search was made for the books. How this copy, now in Lon don, was saved by the Chris tians of one vil - lages told by the organ of the society, The Bible in All the World: A lit tle to the north east of their vil lage was a hill, near the foot of which stood a clus ter of large bowlders. In side that clus ter, from ten to thirty of the con verts used to hold a ser vice each Sunday. Un der neath one of the larg est of the bowlders at the foot of the hill, the peo ple had dug out a cave to serve as a small pox hos pi tal for the vil lage; in a dark cor ner of this cave their Bi ble was hid den be tween two slabs of granite. The queen s of fi cers ar rived at the vil lage to search for the Bi ble and other Chris tian books which the queen and gov ern ment be lieved, from the re ports of spies, were to be found there. A search was made in vain in the huts of the sus pected and in the rice fields; and then the of fi cers made straight for the clus ter of bowlders on the hill side. When they were ac tu ally on the point of en ter ing the cave where the Bi ble lay, a vil lager said, I sup pose you know that this is the small pox hos pi tal. We did not, they said, start ing back in hor ror. Wretch! Why did you not tell us sooner? Why did you let us come so near? The of fi cers beat a hasty re treat, and the Bi ble was safe. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11) It is not the words of man about the Book, but the inspired words them selves, that have the power to let the light into our dark hearts. Of the plant ing of one Bible in the heart of the Dark Con ti nent, the late Henry M. Stan ley, the Afri can explorer, told the fol low ing story: Janet Living stone, the sis ter of Da vid Living stone, made me a pres ent of a richly bound Bi ble. Not lik ing to risk it on the voy age round the Vic to ria Nyanza, I asked Frank Pocock, my com pan ion, to lend me his some what torn and stained copy; and I sailed on my way to Uganda, lit tle think ing what a rev o lu tion in Cen tral Af rica that book would make. We stayed in Uganda some time, and one day dur ing a morn ing levee, the sub ject of re li gion was broached, and I hap pened to strike an emo tional chord in the king s heart by mak ing a ca sual ref er ence to an gels. Kings and chiefs were moved as one man to hear more about an gels. My ver bal de scrip tions of them were not suf - fi cient. But, said I, I have a book with me which will tell you far better, not only what an gels are, but what God and His blessed Son are like, to whom the angels are but ministering servants. Fetch it, they ea gerly cried, fetch it now; we will wait. The book was brought, opened, and I read the tenth chap ter or Ezekiel, and the sev enth chap ter of the Rev e la tion from the ninth verse to the end; and as I read the elev enth and twelfth verses, you could have heard a pin drop; and when they heard the con clud ing verses, They shall hun ger no more, nei ther thirst any more; nei ther shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, I had a pre - sen ti ment that Uganda would even tu ally be won for Christ. I was not per mit ted to carry that Bi ble away. Mtesa never for got the won der ful words, nor the star tling ef fect they had on him and on his chiefs. As I was turn ing away from his coun try, his mes sen ger came, and cried: The Book! Mtesa wants the Book! It was given to him. To day the Chris tians num ber many thou sands in Uganda. They have proved their faith at the stake, un der the knobstick, and un der tor ture till death. (The Mod ern Mis sion Cen tury, Ar thur T. Pierson, pp. pp. 95, 96) The psalm ist said: He sendeth forth his com mand ment upon earth: His word runneth very swiftly (Psalm 147:15). In this time of the end the printed word has been run ning to and fro through all lands. And God, who is ever bring ing great results from small begin nings, used the Bible-lov ing Welsh girl s plea as the call to Chris ten dom to spread the word of light through out the world. Old Paths April 2014

21 Let ter con tin ued from page 1 spent five long years since then, and I still believe in the prom ises of the Lord: But in all these things we are more than con quer ors through him who loved us Romans 8:37. Many sad mem o ries are stored in my head and in my heart. Only the love of God gives me the strength, every moment tell ing me not to let go of his hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father s hand John 10:29, and it is at this time that God knew it was time to have this great tes ti mony of faith: It was Sunday I remem ber, almost 10 p.m. and my ideal, Brother Aland, he was passed out in the bath room of the house in a pool of blood. I was des per ate and not know ing what to do to, going into shock, and I thanked the Lord that my chil dren were sleep ing: Yovel (6), Levmach er (5), Brakhot (2), Yerushalayim (14), but it was my daugh ter who helped me lift her dad, who then weighed 120 Kg and in a fainted state seemed much heavier. The Lord allowed him to rise, and I left for the hos pi tal in a taxi, leav ing my chil dren alone by her sis ter and tak ing care of my lit tle Brakhot then even breast-feed ing. They could do noth ing at the hos pi tal twenty-five min utes from the house, so we were sent to Lima, one hour thirty min utes away, with gas tro in tes ti nal bleed ing and uncon scious. We cried out to God for Aland, brother, hold ing his hand tightly heard that said : LORD IN SEOL I LL PRAISE? filled me with his forces I also cry and cry out to God: Though I walk through val leys of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. After a long jour ney with emer gen cies, out walked a doc tor who told me You must be pre pared that this one today does not die, as he has lost a lot of blood. And I replied that God will do the work and that I will be tak ing my hus band out of here, walk ing and eat ing, and that it was God who came before us. They sent me to buy many med i cines, and it was almost 2 a.m. The hos pi tal where we were is sit u ated in a very dan ger ous area of Lima and when I wanted to go out and buy the med i cines, the young secu rity guard at the door asked me not to leave because it was very dan ger ous. I closed my eyes and I cried to heaven and said: Jeho vah s angels encamp around those who fear him and deliver them Psalm 34:7, and I went to a phar macy but not find what I wanted. Sud denly came inside another ven dor and offered to buy the med i cine for me and for me to wait, and he did! Then I return to the hos pi tal, thank ing God for his strength and knew at the time, and the Lord con firmed to me, that he would be with me. I will lift up mine eyes the hills, from whence com eth my help. My help com eth from the Lord which made heaven and earth Psalm 121:1,2. There were thirty-one days sleep - ing on the floor of the hos pi tal in the emer gency ward, no wait ing rooms, cry ing to the Lord and tell ing me of strength to go on, and of his angels encamped at my house around my chil dren. Sud denly received a call from my daugh ter, Yerushalayim. Brakhot is des per ate because my baby, Brakhot, did not want to take the bot tle and me in the hos pi tal with my breasts full of milk and sup port ing the most inde scrib able, untouch able pain com pletely by just rub bing my arms, my tears fell alone for the pain I felt. I asked the Lord for many forces to sup port and to allow my baby to take a bot tle and remove his dis tress of hun ger, as it was more than being sad and ask ing your mom for help, only the forces of the Lord could help, and it was you have exalted my horn like that of uni corn, you will be anointed with fresh oil. Psalm 92:10. The next day I called and Yerushalayim was happy and told me that the baby had already accepted the bot tle and I was more than sur prised that I no lon ger felt the pain in my breasts and there was no milk in them. I told the Lord that if it was his will, it will be. I looked after my ideal, some times took his hand and told him that through this test we will be together because from our heav enly Father and his only begot ten son Jesus Christ we have from his hand. But his bleed ing did not stop because they dis cov ered that gas tro in - tes ti nal bleed ing was because seven varices in the esoph a gus that had col lapsed and would not stop bleed ing and had to leak. Two weeks in the hos pi tal and I was extremely exhausted and went to stand and sleep in the hos pi tal fur ni - ture at office. It was 3 in the morn ing and I fell asleep, and a lady woke me up and told me the doc tors would soon come to care for their patients, con cerned for what she said was the time. It was almost 4 a.m. I ran to see Brother Aland and found him cov ered and drawn to the morgue because he had no pulse. God sent a doc tor who said he passed the patient who was under pres sure too low and he admin is tered med i - cine to its pres sure level and put in blood and plasma, Blessed be the Lord. I am sure and I feel in my heart that God sent an angel to give me notice and run to see what hap pened to Brother Aland, and the next day when I went to thank the secu rity guard lady who woke me, they told me in there all the secu rity per son nel were males. I lift my eyes to heaven and said, Thank you Lord. There were days and nights of anguish, but I told myself that suf fer ing pro duces per se ver - ance, AND PATIENCE TEST, AND TEST HOPE (Romans 5:3,4), and it is that hope that focused my faith. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Isa iah 40:31. Pas tor Allen, there were so many things I expe ri enced in those thirty-one days, includ ing a call tell ing me that my baby Brakhot fell off the bed and hit one of the four lit tle teeth that had root. His sis ter took him imme di ately to the den tal sur geon and said he would have to use pros thet - ics for life for hav ing left his tooth and root, rip ping all the gum. He now almost turns 7 years old and you know Pas tor Allen, his lit tle tooth is sprout ing. It is the Lord because for him there is noth ing impos si ble. If a tooth is noth ing to the Lord, imag ine a liver. Blessed be his holy name; Blessed be Jesus Christ his only begot ten son. It will be five years that Brother Aland was told it was hope less and that he only had three years of life. If it has been five, it can be fif teen, twenty, twenty-five; God knows; he is the mas ter of life. And so con tin ued on page 24, col umn 1 Vol. 23, No

22 From the File Cab i net of His tory (Pages 7 and 8 of 9) Old Paths April 2014

23 From the File Cabinet of History (Page 9 of 9) Are You Preparing? Olym pic swim mer Mark Spitz once said, If you fail to pre - pare, you re pre pared to fail. At the end of this month, if the Lord wills, I will be hik ing from one side of the Grand Can yon to the other side and back. Within a day. Maybe. I have hiked into the can yon and out sev eral times but have never done this kind of a hike. Actu ally I have wanted to attempt this hike for the last twenty years and it seems that one thing or another comes up and the attempt has not hap pened. Recently my ambi tious daugh ter Heidi said, Dad, if we don t at least try it soon, it may get too late to try (mean ing that the old man is get ting older!). I had to agree, so I have been train ing for this hike, preparing physically, mentally, and even spiritually. I know that forty-six miles and 11,000 feet ele va tion gain may be a bit much for me now but I know that if I fail to pre pare, I have pre pared to fail. I want to get to the other side of that majes tic can yon and back so badly I can taste it. But what about our Chris tian lives? Do we really want to get to the other side as we so often hear it described? Are we pre par ing for the return of Jesus? Are we so anx ious for it that we can taste it? I am so thank ful that the theme of our camp meet ing this year is per fec tion of char ac ter. I real ize that most peo ple, even Chris tians, feel this is impos si ble and there fore they make no effect to see it accom plished in their lives. But here too, fail ing to pre pare is to pre pare to fail. Jesus tells us to be Look ing across to the north rim of the Grand Can yon from the south rim ye there fore ready (Luke 12:40). Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high call ing of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). Beloved we do as Chris tians have the goal to be Christ like. But that does not mean we have hair exactly like Jesus or look like him. He is never described in the Bible any way. But what it does mean is to have a char ac - ter like Jesus. It means that we will live like he did. The life of Jesus was one of con stant vic tory over sin and one that refused to all self to rule and always glo ri fied God. Can we be that way too? If we believe the Bible we not only can be that way, we must be that way. Jesus said, Be ye Vol. 23, No

24 YouTube Chan nel: YouTube Chan nel: We are pleased to announce that we have posted sev eral new vid eos on our YouTube chan nel this month. To see more vid eos, includ ing char ac ter-build ing sci ence dem on stra tions, we invite you to visit our Youtube chan nel at: - ture=results_main. You may see this sci ence dem on stra tion at: &list=uuvsrgjg5fm2ux0aewvuovaw&fea - ture=share&index=3 Are You Preparing con tin ued from p. 23. there fore per fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is per fect (Mat thew 5:48). That is pretty per fect isn t it! Ellen White understood that Christians will obtain no high than that at which they aimed. She said. The Lord requires per fec tion from His redeemed fam ily. He expects from us the per fec tion which Christ revealed in His human ity (Child Guid ance, p. 477). I hope you are pre par ing for eter nity. I hope you are pre - par ing to go to the other side. I also hope you will come to the West Vir ginia camp meet ing where we will be dis cuss ing this won der ful theme. Satan will try to block the way but God will help pro vide a way if you cry to him in faith. Worldly attrac tions will be pre sented to draw his atten tion from the Sav iour, but he is to press on toward the goal, show - ing to the world, to angels, and to men that the hope of see ing the face of God is worth all the effort and sac ri fice that the Let ter con tin ued from p. 21. Pas tor Allen Brother Aland was dis charged Sep tem ber 13, 2009, and until now still fight ing the good fight of faith, but has the symp toms still. Cry in faith for heal ing for Brother Aland. And all those who were await ing Brother Aland, and you will always be in our prayers. Thank you for agree ing to be a chan nel of bless ing for Brother Aland. Here are a worldly say ing goes thus: lie in bed and see who loves you, but I think so, LIE TO BED AND SEE HOW YOU LOVE GOD AND JESUS. Meet ings in Florida and Ar i zona We wanted to announce that Pas tor Stump will be hav ing meet ings in Florida and in Ari zona soon. Florida: Sab bath, April 26, 2014, at SW 5th Pl, Dunnellon, FL, Florida. You may con tact Dee-Dee at for more infor ma tion. Ari zona: Sab bath, May 3, 2014, at 5141 East Forge Cir cle Mesa Ari zona. You may con tact Sally at for more infor ma tion. WV Camp Meet ing We are pleased to announce that the West Vir ginia camp meeting will be June this year. The theme of the camp meet ing will be the per fec tion of char ac ter. Sev eral speak ers are being arranged, and we hope to have some new speak ers from over seas that we know you will not want to miss. We cer tainly encour age you to come and share the bless ing with us. Camp ing is free to all, but each camper will be respon si - ble for his or her own meals, except on Sab bath when a fel low ship meal will be pro vided. We will have full details next month, but please check your cal en dars now and block off the time. A new, updated ver sion of Bible Stud ies To Do at Home by David Sims is now avail - able at Smyrna Gos pel Min is tries. We encour age you to obtain a copy and com plete the les sons Brother Sims has writ ten on This Is Life Eter nal, The Per son al ity of God, That They Might Know Thee, The Father & The Son, The Only True God, And Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, A Day With God, and God s Love on Trial. Please con tact the Smyrna office at if you are inter - ested in obtain ing a copy or cop ies to share. Old Paths is a free monthly news let ter/study-pa per pub lished by Smyrna Gospel Ministries, HC 64 Box 128 B, Welch, WV U. S. A. The pa per is ded i cated to the prop a ga tion and res to ra tion of the prin ci ples of truth that God gave to the early Sev enth-day Ad ven tist pi o neers. Du pli ca tion is not only per mit - ted, but strongly en cour aged. This is sue, with other gos pel lit er a ture we pub lish, can be found at our web site. The url is: Phone: (304) Fax: (304) Editor...Allen Stump ed i tor@smyrna.org Associate Editor...Onycha Holt onycha@smyrna.org Old Paths April 2014