Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? (Job 38:29)

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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. 1 Straight and Nar row Jan u ary 2014 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? (Job 38:29)

2 The Incarnation Partaking of the Divine Nature, Part 1 In the last six issues of Old Paths, we have been study ing the incar na tion. These stud ies can not even be con sid ered an intro duc tion to a topic the redeemed will study for eter nity: The study of the in car na tion of Christ, His aton ing sac - rifice and mediatorial work, will em ploy the mind of the dil i gent stu dent as long as time shall last. (Christ s Ob ject Lessons, p. 134) Because of the lim i ta tions of time and space, we now con - clude this series with the apex of our study on the incar na tion. In past issues we have seen how the divine Son of God became a par taker of human ity. Now we shall study how human ity becomes a par taker of the divine nature. When nar cotic de tec tives raided a loft apart ment in a de pressed neigh bor hood in New York City, their eyes and hearts were shock ingly opened. The dark cor ri dors and dingy rooms were crowded with twisted, ill-fed, and ill-clothed der e licts. Out of this hu man scrap heap, the po - lice ar rested six men for car ry ing hy po der mic nee dles and her oin. Ap pre hen sive of the host of this heterogenous com pany, the de tec tives charged him with harboring drug addicts. At po lice head quar ters, the meek-look ing and mild-man nered man claimed that he had cho sen to live among these peo ple to pro vide them with food, shel ter, and cloth ing. His door was open to all. He did not re al ize he was break ing the law in ex tend ing com pas sion. In ves ti - ga tion re vealed that the op er a tor of this strange hos tel was nei ther a va grant nor a drug habitué. The ded i cated man turned out to be John Sargent Cram, a mil lion aire, who had been ed u cated at Prince ton and Ox ford. To avoid the rigmarole of or ga nized char ity, he had moved into the un de sir able neigh bor hood and had gone to work. Af ter his trial and ac quit tal, Cram was ad mon ished not to take in drug ad dicts. Later he said to a re porter, I don t know if my work does any good, but I don t think it does any harm. I m quite happy, you know. I am any thing but a de spon dent per son. Call me ec cen tric. Call it my rea son for be ing. I have no other! (G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Il lus tra - tions for Preach ing and Teach ing, p. 45) An inter est ing state ment! Cram went to live among those who needed help. This, in a sense, par al lels the expe ri ence of Jesus Christ who became incar nate to live among sin ners in need of help. Peter says: Ac cord ing as his di vine power hath given unto us all things that per tain unto life and god li ness, through the knowl edge of him that hath called us to glory and vir tue: Whereby are given unto us ex ceed ing great and pre cious prom ises: that by these ye might be par tak ers of the di vine na ture, hav ing es caped the cor rup tion that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:3, 4) Inspi ra tion says that we are to become par tak ers of the divine nature and that Jesus united his divin ity with our human ity.this was so our human ity could be com bined with his divin ity and so we could be a par taker of the divine nature. Ellen White speaks of a divine cul ture which brings per - fec tion that we can only obtain as we are par tak ers of the divine nature: Di vine cul ture brings per fec tion. If in con nec tion with God the work is car ried for ward, the hu man agent, through Christ, will day by day gain vic tory and honor in the bat tle. Through the grace given he will over come, and will be placed on van tage ground. In his re la tion to Christ he will be bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, one with Christ in a pe cu liar re la tion ship, be cause Christ took the hu man ity of man. He be came sub ject to temp ta tion, en dan ger ing as it were, His di vine at trib utes. Sa tan sought, by the con stant and cu ri ous de vices of his cun ning, to make Christ yield to temp ta tion. Man must pass over the ground over which Christ has passed. As Christ over came ev ery temp ta tion which Sa tan brought against Him, so man is to over come. And those who strive ear nestly to over come are brought Old Paths February 2013

3 into a one ness with Christ that the angels in heaven can never know. The di vine cul ture of men and women will be car ried for ward to com ple tion only as they are par tak ers of the di - vine na ture. Thus they may over come as Christ over came in their be half. Through the grace given, fallen man may be placed on van tage ground. Through toil, through pa - tient trust and faith in Je sus Christ, through faith ful con tin u ance in well-do ing, he may rise to spir i tual vic tory. (El len G. White, The Sev enth-day Ad ven tist Bi ble Com - men tary, vol. 7, p. 926; all em pha sis sup plied un less oth er wise noted) There is noth ing wrong with cul ture of itself and cer tainly noth ing wrong with divine cul ture. Some seem too proud of their humil ity to wish for cul ture. We are told, how ever, that divine cul ture brings per fec tion. This divine cul ture we receive by par tak ing of the divine nature. Christ was given the right to bestow immor tal ity. The life which Jesus had laid down in human ity, he again took up and gave to human ity. In John 10:10, Jesus said: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abun - dantly. Jesus is not sim ply speak ing of good health, though that is impor tant and is a part of the abun dant life, but he wants us to have both a qual ity and a quan tity of life that is abun dant and eter nal. Inspi ra tion speaks of this as the sci - ence of life unto eter nal life: All who are one with Christ through faith in Him gain an ex pe ri ence which is life unto eter nal life. (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 302) Jesus spoke of this expe ri ence as recorded by John: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eter nal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat in deed, and my blood is drink in deed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the liv ing Fa ther hath sent me, and I live by the Fa ther: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:54 57) Our life has to be a life infused with the life of Christ from the begin ning to the end and every thing in between. Yet a lit tle while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also (John 14:19). The life we are to live is to be the embodi ment of the life of Christ. Con - tin u ing in Selected Mes sages, Ellen White noted: Christ be came one [in the flesh] with hu man ity, that hu man ity might be come one in spirit and life with Him. By vir tue of this un ion in obe di ence to the Word of God, His life be comes their life. He says to the pen i tent, I am the res ur rec tion, and the life (John 11:25). (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 302) The brack ets in the above text are designed to show that we have added the expres sion in the flesh. Cer tainly the con text must allow some thing to be used to express in what man ner Jesus became one with us, and we shall shortly show that inspi ra tion does indeed state that it is in flesh that Christ became one with human ity. By join ing to Christ, by par tak ing of the divine nature, we have life, real life, even life eter nal. Jesus said, And this is life eter nal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). This life, eter nal life, we may have now and not at some future time. Jesus became one in flesh with us so that we might become one in spirit with him. Paul writes: But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Co rin - thi ans 6:17) Paul also notes that we are to have the mind of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5) and com par ing Paul s quo ta tions of Isa iah 40:13 in 1 Corin thi ans 2:16 and in Romans 11:34 with the text in Isa iah, we find that the term mind and the term spirit are equated with each other. Paul says, We have the mind of Christ (1 Corin thi ans 2:16). Thus, we are to be of one spirit with Christ, and that is the same as being of one mind. He becomes one in flesh with us, and we become one in spirit with him. As noted ear lier inspi ra tion does indeed state that Jesus became one flesh with us, and he did this so we could become one spirit with him and thus begin eter nal life: Christ be came one flesh with us, in or der that we might be come one spirit with Him. It is by vir tue of this un ion that we are to come forth from the grave, not merely as a man i fes ta tion of the power of Christ, but be - cause, through faith, His life has be come ours. Those who see Christ in His true char ac ter, and re ceive Him into the heart, have ev er last ing life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, re ceived into the heart by faith, is the be gin ning of the life eter nal. (The De sire of Ages, p. 388) When does his life become ours? It is not in the future when Jesus comes and raises the dead, but it is now when we yoke up with Christ. It is now that we form a union with him. When we receive Jesus into our hearts at that time we have ever last ing life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the begin ning of the life eter nal. When the dead are called forth from the grave, it is not because of a great mir a - cle per formed at that time. The life of Christ has already been imparted to the believer. Now, as we com pare the prior state ment from Selected Messages with the above state ment from The Desire of Ages, we see a per fect har mony. Christ be came one with hu man ity, that hu man ity might be come one in spirit and life with Him. (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 302) Christ be came one flesh with us, in or der that we might be come one spirit with Him. (The De sire of Ages, p. 388) Break ing down the com par i son we see clearly the valid ity of declar ing that Jesus became one flesh with human ity. Vol. 22, No

4 SM: Christ became one with human ity DA: Christ became one flesh with us, SM: that human ity might DA: in order that we might SM: become one in spirit and life with Him. DA: become one spirit with Him. The Desire of Ages also pro vides us the fol low ing statement: As through Je sus we en ter into rest, heaven be gins here. We re spond to His in vi ta tion, Come, learn of Me, and in thus com ing we be gin the life eter nal. (The De sire of Ages, p. 331) It is the pur pose of God that heaven and eter nal life will begin here. Sadly, in many homes heaven does not begin here, but it should. How many times do cou ples marry think - ing that they will have a heaven on earth, only to have a hell on earth? This hap pens because Christ is lack ing from some, or per haps all, mem bers of the home. Even if you are in a con cen tra tion camp, you can have life eter nal and heaven here on earth, if you have Jesus Christ with you. Heaven is not depend ent upon the cir cum stances around you; it depends upon Christ being within. If you have the life of Jesus now, if you are his now, then heaven has begun for you now! Jesus said, And this is life eter nal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3). John wrote par al lel thoughts in his first epis tle, using slightly dif fer ent words but the same thoughts: And this is the re cord, that God hath given to us eter nal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I writ ten unto you that be lieve on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eter nal life, and that ye may be lieve on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11 13) John records Jesus speak ing of life eter nal, while he, John, uses the expres sion eter nal life. In each case in the orig i nal Greek, life is the noun and eternal is the adjec tive. In both John 17:3 and 1 John 5:11, the word for life (zoe) comes just before the word for eternal (aiônios), but in Greek the syn tax is not very impor tant. In most cases words can eas ily change loca tion within the text, for their pur pose and usage is not deter mined by their loca tions in the text, but by the form of the word. John 17:3 could be trans lated eter nal life, as it is in many Eng lish trans la tions (NKJV, Darby, RSV, CSV, NIV, ESV, etc.). We may begin eter nal life now. If we are faith ful unto the end (Mat thew 10:22), immor tal ity will be given at the com ing of Jesus (1 Corin thi ans 15:51 54). For God to finally trust some one with immor tal ity it must be dem on strated that the believer has yielded his or her life totally to the lead ing of the Holy Spirit and has received the divine nature. A change of char ac ter must pre cede a change of being. When we have Christ we have all the full ness of the God - head. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the God head bodily (Colossians 2:9). The believer has all the full ness of deity in Jesus, and Jesus offers that fullness to us: For this cause I bow my knees unto the Fa ther of our Lord Je sus Christ, Of whom the whole fam ily in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, ac cord ing to the riches of his glory, to be strength ened with might by his Spirit in the in ner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, be ing rooted and grounded in love, May be able to com pre hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowl edge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do ex ceed ing abun dantly above all that we ask or think, ac cord ing to the power that worketh in us. (Ephe - sians 3:14 21) We who are in sin ful flesh may have all the full ness of God. It does not mean that we are omnip o tent (all pow er ful), omni scient (all know ing), or omni pres ent (every where pres - ent), but it does mean that we have Christ, and when we have him, we have the full ness of God. What Christ pos sessed, we are to have and expe ri ence now, even the full ness of the God - head! It is written: In Christ dwelt the full ness of the God head bodily. This is why, al though He was tempted in all points like as we are, He stood be fore the world, from His first en trance into it, un tainted by cor rup tion, though sur rounded by it. Are we not also to be come par tak ers of that full ness, and is it not thus, and thus only, that we can over come as He over - came? (El len G. White, The Sev enth-day Ad ven tist Bi ble Com men tary, vol. 7, p. 907) With what full ness did Christ pos sess the divine nature? Is this the same full ness of which we must par take, if we are to over come as he over came? Accord ing to the above state - ment, it is the same full ness. Christ came to be our ex am ple, and to make known to us that we may be par tak ers of the di vine na ture. How? By hav ing es caped the cor rup tions that are in the world through lust. Sa tan did not gain the vic tory over Christ. He did not put his foot upon the soul of the Re deemer. He did not touch the head though he bruised the heel. Christ, by his own ex am ple, made it ev i dent that man may stand in in teg rity. Men may have a power to re sist evil a power that nei ther earth, nor death, nor hell can mas ter; a power Old Paths February 2013

5 that will place them where they may over come as Christ over came. Di vin ity and hu man ity may be com bined in them. (The Re view and Her ald, February 18, 1890) Christ did not come to sim ply be our sub sti tute, but also to be our exam ple. We may have a power to resist evil, as human ity and divin ity are com bined. In Christ di vin ity and hu man ity were united, and the only way in which man may be an overcomer is through be com ing a par taker of the di vine na ture hav ing es caped the cor rup tion that is in the world through lust. Di vin ity and hu man ity are blended in him who has the spirit of Christ. (The Youth s In struc tor, June 30, 1892) Isn t that beau ti ful! You hear the excuses given: I can t over come. I can t keep the com mand ments and be per fect. Jesus could because he was God. Jesus could because he had a divine nature. But this inspired state ment from The Youth s Instruc tor says that divin ity and human ity are blended in him who has the spirit of Christ. This was his secret of suc - cess his human ity was blended with divin ity, as he par took of the spirit of God. Scarcely can the hu man mind com pre hend what is the breadth and depth and height of the spir i tual at tain ments that can be reached by be com ing par tak ers of the di vine na ture. (Our High Call ing, p. 60) Per haps the human mind can scarcely rec og nize this because we have become so cal loused. We have been so firmly set in the rut of sin. Too many of us have heard ser - mons all of our lives about how good Jesus is to for give us and about how we are going to sin some any way. So to our minds it is hard to com pre hend the spir i tual attain ments that we may reach by par tak ing of the divine nature. Christ gave to hu man ity an ex is tence out of Him self. To bring hu man ity into Christ, to bring the fallen race into one ness with di vin ity, is the work of re demp tion. Christ took hu man na ture that men might be one with Him as He is one with the Fa ther, that God may love man as He loves His only-be got ten Son, that men may be par tak ers of the di vine na ture, and be complete in Him. The Holy Spirit, which pro ceeds from the only-be got - ten Son of God, binds the hu man agent, body, soul, and spirit, to the per fect, di vine-hu man na ture of Christ. This un ion is rep re sented by the un ion of the vine and the branches. Fi nite man is united to the man hood of Christ. Through faith hu man na ture is as sim i lated with Christ s na ture. We are made one with God in Christ. (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 251) Is this pie in the sky? Can this union with Christ be a real - ity? Is this only for oth ers? Let us answer this by exam in ing a ques tion. What makes God, God? Was Michael God before he came to earth? His name means who is like God. The Bible says that he was in the form of God before the incar na tion. Philippians 2:6 says that Jesus was in the form of God. Another trans la tions says, Who, being in very nature God (Philippians 2:6 NIV). This one who is in very nature God is then con trasted with a slave. When Jesus came to earth, he took the form of a ser vant [Greek: slave] (Philippians 2:7 KJV). Though he took this slave nature in the incar na tion, when he was a baby in Beth le hem, he was called God, and all the angels of heaven were com manded to worship him: And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the an gels of God wor ship him. And of the an gels he saith, Who maketh his an gels spir its, and his min is ters a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righ teous ness is the sceptre of thy king dom. (He brews 1:6 8) When the angels sang glory to God in the high est, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14) to the help - less baby, the sov er eign of the uni verse com manded that they wor ship Christ. You do not wor ship crea tures; you only wor - ship deity. The Father, speak ing to the Son, says: Thy throne, O God (Hebrews 1:8), quoting Psalm 45:6. He veiled the dem on stra tions of De ity which had com - manded the hom age, and called forth the ad mi ra tion, of the uni verse of God. He was God while upon earth, but he di vested him self of the form of God, and in its stead took the form and fash ion of a man. He walked the earth as a man. For our sakes he be came poor, that we through his pov erty might be made rich. He laid aside his glory and his maj esty. He was God, but the glo ries of the form of God he for a while re lin quished. (The Re view and Her ald, June 5, 1887) Christ became one flesh with us, in order that we might become one spirit with Him. There are those who, in an effort to uplift and exalt the Father, are fear ful to call Jesus God, but the Father was not fear ful and nei ther was Ellen White. Ellen White also notes that Jesus, for a time, relin quished the glo ries of the form of God. The word relin quished is the past par ti ci ple of relin - quish. Relin quish means: To with draw from to give up; to release; to sur ren der (Noah Web ster s 1828 Dic tio nary). For a time he gave up, or sur ren dered, his omnip o tence, omni science, omni pres ence, and immor tal ity. The Bible says that Jesus increased in wis dom and stat ure, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). He could not have done that if he was already omni scient. Jesus declared, I can of mine own self do noth ing (John 5:30). Jesus did not say he chose to do noth ing, but that he could do noth ing of him self. Jesus was, how ever, no less God with out those pow ers! Ellen White says that the glo ries of the form of God he for a while relin quished. This is evi dent from Christ s prayer, Vol. 22, No

6 And now, O Father, glo rify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was (John 17:5). Jesus declared that there was a time when he had a glory that he did not have at the time of the prayer. He asked God to return it to him at some future time. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we be held his glory, the glory as of the only be got ten of the Fa ther,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) There was a glory of grace and truth that the dis ci ples could see, but it was not the full man i fes ta tion of deity for which Jesus prayed. Jesus did not have, as a man, the attrib - utes that we com monly think of as being the exclu sive prop erty of God, yet he was deity upon the earth. We are told: As a mem ber of the hu man fam ily he was mor tal, but as a God he was the foun tain of life to the world. He could, in his di vine per son, ever have with stood the ad vances of death, and re fused to come un der its do min ion; but he vol - un tarily laid down his life, that in so do ing he might give life and bring im mor tal ity to light. He bore the sins of the world, and en dured the pen alty which rolled like a moun - tain upon his di vine soul. (The Re view and Her ald, June 5, 1887) Let us be clear. Jesus is divine; he is God, but he is not the Father. At the Sav iour s bap tism, Sa tan was among the wit - nesses. He saw the Fa ther s glory over shad ow ing His Son. He heard the voice of Je ho vah tes ti fy ing to the di vin ity of Jesus. (The De sire of Ages, p. 116) Christ gave to humanity an existence out of Himself. To bring humanity into Christ, to bring the fallen race into oneness with divinity, is the work of redemption. Jesus was God while liv ing as a man upon the earth, but not because of the pow ers that were within him, but because of his rela tion ship to his Father and because of his char ac ter of pure love. First John 4:8 says that God is love. This is a def i ni tion that no other being can, of itself, claim. Only God is pure love, and Jesus per fectly revealed this love. The pure char ac ter of divine love which Jesus pos sessed was never laid aside or relin quished by Christ. This was the glory that men saw, and Jesus was still God, as much as when he was Michael in heaven, com mand ing the hosts of heaven and fight ing against Satan and the fallen angels. It was not the power of God which Luci fer called into ques tion. No. He wanted that power; he lusted after that power. It was the char ac ter of God which Luci fer ques tioned, and the great con tro versy is about the law of God which is a tran script of the char ac ter of God! The law is not a tran script of the power of God nor of the form of God, but of the char ac - ter of God. 1 Under stand ing this dif fer ence is essen tial to us. The rev e la tion of the char ac ter of God is as much a rev e la - tion of God as is the rev e la tion of the power of God. The char ac ter of God and the char ac ter of Christ are the essence of truth and righ teous ness, and the power of God could only be used for the wel fare of cre ation, if the char ac ter of God is as high as is his power. The revelation of the character of God is as much a revelation of God as is the revelation of the power of God. He brought into his hu man na ture all the life-giv ing en - ergies that hu man be ings will need and must re ceive. (The Re view and Her ald, June 5, 1887) With these life-giv ing ener gies, Jesus proved that fallen human nature had no excuse for sin ning and that God s law can be kept. It is through His in ter ces sion that we, through faith, re - pen tance, and con ver sion, are en abled to be come par tak ers of the di vine na ture, and thus es cape the cor rup - tion that is in the world through lust. (The Sev enth-day Ad ven tist Bi ble Com men tary, vol. 7, pp. 477, 478) So that the divine nature may be imparted to the believer, Jesus has obtained the high est gift that heaven can now bestow: Through the Spirit the be liever be comes a par taker of the di vine na ture. Christ has given His Spirit as a di vine power to over come all he red i tary and cul ti vated ten den - cies to evil, and to im press His own char ac ter upon His church. (The De sire of Ages, p. 671) The Spirit takes the things of Christ, the life-giv ing ener - gies, and imbues them into the life of the believer. As this hap pens, Christ is glo ri fied because in the accep tance of these life-giv ing ener gies, the believ ers are enabled to fully reflect the char ac ter of Jesus Christ and as this is repeated in thou sands of believ ers, the great con tro versy is answered. What then are these life-giv ing ener gies which are solely of heav enly ori gin? What are this life-giv ing ener gies by which man may pos sess the divine nature? To be con tin ued Allen Stump 1. The scope of God s creative power is mentioned in the fourth commandment, but this does not reveal how or why God chose to create. Old Paths February 2013

7 The Law ful Use of the Law A lit tle more than fifty years ago, the world was at the brink of nuclear war, as the United States of Amer ica and the Soviet Union faced off over issues involv ing the tiny island nation of Cuba. The Soviet Union had placed inter con ti nen - tal bal lis tic mis siles in Cuba that had the poten tial to kill over one half of the pop u la tion of the United States. As the cri sis deep ened and as war seemed prob a ble, Pres i dent Ken nedy turned to his most trusted advi sor, his brother, Rob ert Ken - nedy, the United States Attor ney Gen eral, and asked him to deliver a stern mes sage to the Sovi ets. It was the sec ond Sat - ur day night of the cri sis, and Rob ert Ken nedy was given a pro posal to offer the Sovi ets. If they accepted, war would be averted. If they did not accept it, war would begin in less than forty-eight hours. Thank fully, the pro posal was accepted, and war was averted. Had there been nuclear war, it would have been a ter ri ble event, unlike any thing human ity had seen before. Hiro shima and Naga saki would have been con sid ered light to what could have hap pened. The world would have been very dif - fer ent for many years and might still be very dif fer ent today. I might not be here, and you might not be alive either. War is ter ri ble, and we live in a world of war a world that has seen war upon war. War on a phys i cal level is ter ri ble, but war first began on the spir i tual level. War did not begin on earth; it began in heaven! Before there was a bat tle or a con - flict upon this earth, heaven was rocked with rebel lion. And there was war in heaven: Mi chael and his an gels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his an gels, And pre vailed not; nei ther was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old ser pent, called the Devil, and Sa tan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his an gels were cast out with him. (Rev e la tion 12:7 9) This spir i tual war has come to the earth, and we all see it and live within this con flict today. I would like to direct your atten tion to a state ment in the book The Great Con tro versy, where we read about spir i tual war fare and read how this was enacted out among the early Chris tians and the papacy: But there is no un ion be tween the Prince of light and the prince of dark ness, and there can be no un ion be tween their fol low ers. When Chris tians con sented to unite with those who were but half con verted from pa gan ism, they en tered upon a path which led fur ther and fur ther from the truth. Sa tan ex ulted that he had suc ceeded in de ceiv ing so large a num ber of the fol low ers of Christ. He then brought his power to bear more fully upon these, and in spired them to per se cute those who re mained true to God. None un der - stood so well how to op pose the true Chris tian faith as did those who had once been its de fend ers; and these apos tate Chris tians, unit ing with their half-pa gan com pan ions, di - rected their war fare against the most es sen tial fea tures of the doc trines of Christ. (The Great Con tro versy, p. 45) Where did the apos tate Chris tians direct their war fare? It was not in per se cut ing the true Chris tians but, rather, against the most essen tial fea tures of the doc trines of Christ. It re quired a des per ate strug gle for those who would be faith ful to stand firm against the de cep tions and abom i na - tions which were dis guised in sac er do tal gar ments and in tro duced into the church. The Bi ble was not ac cepted as the stan dard of faith. The doc trine of re li gious free dom was termed her esy, and its up hold ers were hated and pro - scribed. Af ter a long and se vere con flict, the faith ful few de - cided to dis solve all un ion with the apos tate church if she still re fused to free her self from false hood and idol a try. They saw that sep a ra tion was an ab so lute ne ces sity if they would obey the word of God. They dared not tol er ate er - rors fa tal to their own souls, and set an ex am ple which would im peril the faith of their chil dren and chil dren s chil dren. To se cure peace and unity they were ready to make any con ces sion con sis tent with fi del ity to God; but they felt that even peace would be too dearly pur chased at the sac ri fice of prin ci ple. If unity could be se cured only by the com pro mise of truth and righ teous ness, then let there be dif fer ence, and even war. (Ibid.) In the effort to have Chris tian unity, some times dif fer - ences arise and if hearts are not yielded to the truth of the Scrip tures, these dif fer ences may even led to spir i tual war. As we noted ear lier in Rev e la tion 12:7 9, war and con flict began in heaven, and Satan has brought phys i cal and spir i - tual war fare to this earth, where we are all involved. God does not want his peo ple igno rant of the issues in this war. He has told us: In the open ing of the great con tro versy, Sa tan had de - clared that the law of God could not be obeyed, that jus tice was in con sis tent with mercy, and that, should the law be bro ken, it would be im pos si ble for the sin ner to be par - doned. (The De sire of Ages, p. 761; all em pha sis in this ar ti cle 2sup plied un less oth er wise noted) The great con tro versy began over the law of God. Could the law be obeyed? This was not a charge that arose after man sinned upon this earth, but this had been the issue from the open ing of the great con tro versy. The charge was that God had a law that could not be obeyed and that if the law was vio lated, the trans gres sor could not be for given. What term does the Bible use when one does not live in har mony with the law of God? What is defined by the trans - gres sion of God s law? That is right sin! Sin is defined as Vol. 22, No

8 break ing the law of God. Who so ever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the trans gres sion of the law (1 John 3:4). This is given in the form of a def i ni tion of a term, and we have been told that this is the only def i ni tion for sin given in the Bible: Now, we want to un der stand what sin is that it is the trans gres sion of God s law. This is the only def i ni tion given in the Scrip tures. (Faith and Works, p. 56) Sim i lar ref er ences to this fact can be found in many of Ellen White s writ ings. (See The Great Con tro versy, page 492; Our High Call ing, page 141; Selected Mes sages, book 1, page 320; Bible Echo, June 11, 1894; Gen eral Con fer ence Daily Bul le tin, March 2, 1897; etc.) It should be noted that 1 John 3:4 is not the only def i ni tion of sin, but it is the only bib li cal def i ni tion of sin. There are theo lo gians who define sin dif fer ently, but those def i ni tions do not square or match with the Bible. The issue of the great con tro versy revolves around the law of God and if it can be obeyed, and this has been true from the begin ning of the con tro versy. The great con tro versy from Adam s day down to our time has been on the point of obe di ence or op po si tion to God s law; and ev ery soul will be found on the side of the obe di ent or the re bel lious. (The Signs of the Times, Decem ber 23, 1886) We are either going to be obe di ent or rebel lious. But to what shall we be obe di ent or rebel lious? How does God define the path way by which we are to walk, so as to please him? Beloved, he does it through his law. This point of obe - di ence was also an issue in the time of Paul, and he wrote to Tim o thy con cern ing this: Paul, an apos tle of Je sus Christ by the com mand ment of God our Sav iour, and Lord Je sus Christ, which is our hope; Unto Tim o thy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Fa ther and Je sus Christ our Lord. As I be sought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Mac e do nia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doc trine, Nei ther give heed to fa bles and end less ge ne al o gies, which min is ter ques - tions, rather than godly ed i fy ing which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the com mand ment is char ity out of a pure heart, and of a good con science, and of faith un feigned: From which some hav ing swerved have turned aside unto vain jan gling; De sir ing to be teach ers of the law; un der - stand ing nei ther what they say, nor whereof they af firm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it law fully; Know ing this, that the law is not made for a righ teous man, but for the law less and dis obe di ent, for the un godly and for sin ners, for un holy and pro fane, for mur der ers of fa - thers and mur der ers of moth ers, for man slay ers, For whoremongers, for them that de file them selves with man - kind, for menstealers, for li ars, for per jured per sons, and if there be any other thing that is con trary to sound doc trine; Ac cord ing to the glo ri ous gos pel of the blessed God, which was com mit ted to my trust. (1 Tim o thy 1:1 11) Here are some very impor tant verses. We will focus on verses 8 11 later, but let us first go back and notice the verses lead ing up to verse 8. In the first two verses of the chapter, Paul gives his usual greet ing or sal u ta tion. Verses 3 and 4 give some of the back ground of Paul s life and min is try, as it related to Tim o thy before he wrote the epis tle. The Eng lish Stan dard Ver sion trans lates these verses as fol lows: As I urged you when I was go ing to Mac e do nia, re main at Ephesus so that you may charge cer tain per sons not to teach any dif fer ent doc trine, nor to de vote them selves to myths and end less ge ne al o gies, which pro mote spec u la - tions rather than the stew ard ship from God that is by faith. (1 Tim o thy 1:3, 4 ESV) There are many things that can be taught which bring about spec u la tion and take us away from the faith as it is in Jesus. Paul warns Tim o thy to avoid these spec u la tions. Verse 5 states that the end of the com mand ment is char - ity. The Greek words trans lated the end are to telos. Telos means end in the sense of the goal or the pur pose of the com - mand ment. 2 It does not mean that the com mand ment has ended or has been abol ished. The spe cific com mand ment Paul is speak ing of is not the Ten Com mand ments but the charge or com mand that he had given Tim o thy. 3 The goal or end of this charge is love, agape. 4 Paul s charge to Timothy was based in love. Paul desired to bring a spirit of love into the hearts of the church mem bers at Ephesus. There had been debates on myths and on end less gene al o gies which need lessly caused con ten tion and did not result in love. Paul desired the believ ers to have a pure heart, for he knew that the pure in heart would see God (Mat thew 5:8). Accom pa ny ing this pure heart would be a good con science and gen u ine faith. Con tin u ing in 1 Tim o thy 1:6, Paul says that some had swerved or turned aside and did not have the pure heart, the good con science, or the gen u ine faith men tioned in verse 5. The Greek lit er ally says that they had missed the mark. Now we come to verse 7. There were (and are) those who claim to be teach ers of the law, both of the Ten 2. Also see Romans 10:4. 3. The Greek word for command here is paraggelia, and it means an instruction or a command. Paraggelia comes from the word paraggello which means to transmit a message or to give an order or charge. Paraggello itself is from the Greek words para, meaning beside, and aggello, meaning message. The latter word is closely related to the word for angel (messenger) and gospel (good message) Corinthians 13:1 Old Paths February 2013

9 Com mand ments and of the law in the broad sense of the whole instruc tion of God the Bible yet they were (and are) void of under stand ing. The very things they claim to teach they mis un der stand. The ESV states it this way: De sir ing to be teach ers of the law, with out un der stand - ing ei ther what they are say ing or the things about which they make con fi dent as ser tions. (1 Tim o thy 1:7 ESV) These peo ple made con fi dent, even very bold, state ments about the law of God. These state ments, on the sur face, may have sounded won der ful, but they were not true state ments. Remem ber that Satan did not tell Eve things that sounded bad. His temp ta tion sounded won der ful and good to her. The words of Satan seemed sweet and har mo ni ous to Eve, and she desired to receive that which the ser pent told her was her right ful possession. The words of a teacher carry sig nif i cant influ ence. But if a teacher, with out ade quate com pre hen sion, uses words indis - crim i nately, the only result that can come is con fu sion! And we are going to see an exam ple of this shortly that may be shock ing, but is sim ply the log i cal con clu sion to build ing upon a wrong foundation. In 1 Tim o thy 1:8 Paul states that the law is good. Accord ing to the con text of verses 8 10, it is clear that the law he is speak ing of now is the Ten Com mand ment law. Paul is not speak ing in a broad way of the sys tem of law, as he does in other places, and he is not speak ing of the cer e mo nial law, but spe cif i cally of the Ten Commandments. Paul says that the law is good, and the Greek word for law is nomos. Nomos is used one hun dred ninety-seven times in the New Tes ta ment and is trans lated law one hun dred ninety-five times and is trans lated laws twice in the book of Hebrews. Paul says that the law (Ten Com mand ments) is good. What does good mean? I might say I have a good dog or thank my mother for a good meal. What does this mean? Good means to be desired or approved of (New Oxford Amer i can Dic tio nary). Inter est ingly the Greek word for good in verse 8 is kalos. Kalos means beau ti ful or that which is excel lent! Paul is say ing that the law is beau ti ful. The law is excel lent. Let us notice how kalos is used in the New Tes ta - ment, so we can see the depth of mean ing that it carries. In Mat thew 13:45 kalos is used to describe the goodly pearls for which the mer chant was search ing. The work of Mary Mag da lene in anoint ing Jesus is described as kalos in Mat thew 26:10. The good shep herd of John 10:11 is kalos. In the LXX kalos is used in Gen e sis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31 and is trans lated good to describe the cre ation work of God. Going back to 1 Tim o thy now, Paul says that the law is good and because these would-be teach ers of verse 7 made a mis use of the law to teach unprof it able fables, he now pres - ents the law in its cor rect per spec tive. How ever, Paul does not want his crit i cism of the teach ers of the law to be mis in - ter preted as antinomianism. Three times in Romans 7 Paul notes that the law is good, using kalos: Romans 7:16, 18, and 21. He also calls the law good in Romans 7:12, using the Greek word agatho. The com mand ments are good because they rep re sent God s holy char ac ter, and any one who tries to remove the law of God with any sub sti tute in the Chris tian s life is not doing a good, beau ti ful, or excel lent thing! In 1 Tim o thy 1:8 Paul writes that the law is good, if it is used law fully. The Holman Chris tian Stan dard Bible trans - lates this verse: But we know that the law is good, pro vided one uses it legit i mately. There is a law ful, or legit i mate, use of the law, and there is an unlaw ful and ille git i mate use of the law. If I were to tell you that you are saved by keep ing the law and that you must now start to keep the law to be saved, would I be using the law law fully? Of course not! The law is not a means of sal va tion. The Bible is very clear on this. Paul also wrote, There fore by the deeds (Greek: ergon works) 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). The text lit er ally says out of works of law. Paul is very strong and very clear on this when he writes Christ is become of no effect unto you, who so ever of you are jus ti fied by the law; ye are fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). Paul is not teach ing that the law is done away with, and he can not mean that the law is no lon ger needed, for he also writes: Do we then make void the law through faith? God for bid: yea, we estab lish the law (Romans 3:31). The we in this verse is not the sin ner or uncon verted per son, but those who are saved by grace through faith. The Chris tian estab - lishes the law! If the law is irrel e vant for the Chris tian, why does Paul say that the Chris tian estab lishes the law? Have you ever met some one who openly claimed that a per son is saved by keep ing the law? I doubt you have met many, if any. In my life I have met two such dis ci ples of error. How ever, there are antinomians who want to live apart from God s law, and they bring a charge against God s peo ple, say ing that the peo ple of God believe in sal va tion by obe di - ence to the law. It may be said some thing like this: You keep the law to be saved or you have a rela tion ship with the law. In doing this they build up a straw man, or false argu ment, and then pro ceed to cut it down with verses like Romans 3:20; Galatians 5:4; etc. Jesus said, For ver ily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tit tle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ful filled (Mat thew 5:18). With this back ground we can better approach what Paul is say ing in 1 Tim o thy 1:9: The law was not made for the righ - teous man. What does Paul mean? He does not mean some thing that can not be har mo nized with the rest of Scrip - tures and with vol umes of ref er ences from the Spirit of Prophecy! It is inter est ing to notice that Paul does not say the law was not made for the righ teous man. Rather, he says that the law is not made for a righ teous man (pres ent tense, as Vol. 22, No

10 opposed to past tense). This cer tainly puts the pres ence of the law in the pres ent and not in the past. Paul does not teach that believ ers are no lon ger obli gated to obey the Ten Com mand - ments or that the Ten Com mand ments serve no func tion to the Chris tian. Notice this clear, scrip tur ally-based statement: There are many who cry, Be lieve, only be lieve. Ask them what you are to be lieve. Are you to be lieve the lies forged by Sa tan against God s holy, just, and good law? God does not use His great and pre cious grace to make of none ef fect His law, but to es tab lish His law. What is the de ci sion of Paul? He says: What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God for bid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.... For I was alive with out the law once: but when the com mand ment came, sin re vived, and [the com mand ment then ended? No.] I [Paul] died.... Where fore the law is [stand ing di rectly in the way of my hav ing lib erty and peace? No.] holy, and the com mand ment holy, and just, and good (Romans 7:7 12). (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 347; brack eted text in serted by El len White) When Paul says that the law is not made for the righ teous man, he is not say ing that the righ teous man does not use the law or that it is not a part of his life, but that there is some - thing about it that is dif fer ent than before he became a Chris tian. Jesus did not come to lib er ate men from obe di ence to the law of God, but to show man the pos si bil ity of obe di ence and to pro vide the nec es sary power for com plete vic tory over sin. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God send ing his own Son in the like ness of sin ful flesh, and for sin, con demned sin in the flesh: That the righ teous ness of the law might be ful filled in us, who walk not af ter the flesh, but af ter the Spirit. (Romans 8:3, 4) Paul says that the righ teous ness of the law is ful filled in all believ ers through faith in Christ. So what Paul is say ing in 1 Tim o thy 1:9? Firstly, noth ing that would be con trary to other scrip tures. Sec ondly, he is say ing that the law no lon ger con demns the Chris tian who is jus ti fied by grace through faith, although the law still remains as his stan dard of con - duct. If we are liv ing in sin, the law con demns us, but if we are not liv ing in sin, the law does not, and can not, con demn us. For sin shall not have domin ion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14). When you are walk ing in obe di ence to the law of God, sin does not have domin ion over you and you are not under the law, con - demned as a sin ner, but you are walk ing in the law through grace by the power of Christ. Paul says that the law was for the law less and dis obe di - ent those opposed to or uncon trolled by law. The law teaches them what sin is and to flee to Christ for the cure. Now some might think that if sanc ti fi ca tion is imme di ate and instan ta neous and if we nevermore sin, then we do not need the law, but we are never to feel we have arrived. The Bible is clear on the atti tude of the Chris tian. John writes, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). Does the Bible make pro vi sion for over com ing all sin? Yes, it does! God declared Job to be per fect and upright (Job 1:1), yet Job said of him self: If I jus tify my self, mine own mouth shall con demn me: if I say, I am per fect, it shall also prove me per verse. (Job 9:20) The very moment that we claim to be with out sin, we have, at that moment, sinned. How could God say Job was per fect and yet, Job felt very much oth er wise? The answer is clearly laid out for us by the Lord s ser vant: None of the apos tles and proph ets ever claimed to be with out sin. Men who have lived the near est to God, men who would sac ri fice life it self rather than know ingly com - mit a wrong act, men whom God has hon ored with di vine light and power, have con fessed the sin ful ness of their na - ture. They have put no con fi dence in the flesh, have claimed no righ teous ness of their own, but have trusted wholly in the righ teous ness of Christ. So will it be with all who be hold Christ. The nearer we come to Je sus, and the more clearly we dis cern the pu rity of His char ac ter, the more clearly shall we see the ex ceed - ing sin ful ness of sin, and the less shall we feel like ex alt ing our selves. There will be a con tin ual reach ing out of the soul af ter God, a con tin ual, ear nest, heart break ing con fes - sion of sin and hum bling of the heart be fore Him. At ev ery ad vance step in our Chris tian ex pe ri ence our re pen tance will deepen. We shall know that our suf fi ciency is in Christ alone and shall make the apos tle s con fes sion our own: I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. God for bid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Je sus Christ, by whom the world is cru ci - fied unto me, and I unto the world. Romans 7:18; Galatians 6:14. Let the re cord ing an gels write the his tory of the holy strug gles and con flicts of the peo ple of God; let them re - cord their prayers and tears; but let not God be dis hon ored by the dec la ra tion from hu man lips, I am sin less; I am holy. Sanc ti fied lips will never give ut ter ance to such pre - sump tu ous words. (The Acts of the Apos tles, pp. 561, 562) Our suf fi ciency is not in the law, but in Christ alone. Return ing to 1 Tim o thy 1:9, Paul says that the law was made for the law less and dis obe di ent. The word dis obe di - ent here means rebel lious. Sin is rebel lion against God s author ity. When a crea ture refuses to live in obe di ence with the law of God, he pre sumes his judg ment to be wiser than God s. Rebel lion against author ity results in the ter ri ble list of self ish sins which fol lows. In verse 9 Paul men tions the ungodly, that is, the irre li - gious per sons. He also speaks of the pro fane. Those who are pro fane fail to make a dis tinc tion between holy and sec u lar things. The Greek word for pro fane lit er ally means to trod Old Paths February 2013

11 upon. These peo ple lose a sense of the liv ing God and totally live on a car nal plane, as did Esau: Lest there be any for ni ca tor, or pro fane per son, as Esau, who for one mor sel of meat sold his birth right. (He brews 12:16) The first part of the list in 1 Tim o thy 1:9 (law less, dis obe - di ent, ungodly, sin ners, unholy, pro fane) espe cially deals with the first table of the Decalogue, but in the lat ter part of verse 9 and then in verse 10, Paul describes man s trans gres - sions against one another the sins addressed by the sec ond table of the Decalogue. Paul says that all of this is con trary to sound doc trine (v. 10). The expres sion sound doc trine lit - erally means healthy teach ing. Paul pres ents a sharp and clear image of those who defy God s law and of the results of that vio la tion in the dete ri o ra tion of body, mind, and soul. Jesus, through David, said: Thy righ teous ness is an ever - last ing righ teous ness, and thy law is the truth (Psalm 119:142). Jesus prayed, Sanc tify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:17). The law is the truth, and to say that the law is irrel e vant to the Chris tian does not make good sense. We can not, and we will not, be sanc ti fied through error. Sanc ti fi ca tion will only come through truth. Join ing any pro gram or group for the sake of unity is wrong, if truth is compromised. Er ror is never harm less. It never sanc ti fies, but al ways brings con fu sion and dis sen sion. It is al ways dan ger ous. (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 292) Error causes con fu sion but as the truth is lived, peace comes to the mind and vital ity to the body. Now we may come to 1 Tim o thy 1:11: Accord ing to the glo ri ous gos pel of the blessed God, which was com mit ted to my trust. To read 1 Tim o thy 1:9, 10 with out verses 8 and 11 cer tainly lifts this por tion from the con text for verses 8 11, and the entire sec tion actu ally forms one sen tence in the English trans la tion and, more impor tantly, in the Greek also. To leave out such an impor tant part of Scrip ture as verse 8, when quot ing verses 9 and 10, is not healthy teaching. The Sev enth-day Adven tist peo ple for over one hun dred sixty years have had a ban ner. It is the ban ner that his peo ple are to have today, and they will have it when Jesus comes. It is Rev e la tion 14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the com mand ments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Two aspects are here the com mand ments of God and the faith of Jesus. To take half of this away crit i cally wounds and kills the third angel s message. God has placed in our hands a ban ner upon which is in - scribed, Here is the pa tience of the saints: here are they that keep the com mand ments of God, and the faith of Je - sus. Rev e la tion 14:12. This is a dis tinct, sep a rat ing mes sage, a mes sage that is to give no un cer tain sound. It is to lead the peo ple away from the bro ken cis terns that con tain no wa ter, to the un fail ing Foun tain of the wa ter of life. (Coun sels to Writ ers and Ed i tors, p. 11) Who has placed this ban ner in our hands? Did Ellen White put it there or James White? No, friends; God placed this ban ner in our hands. Speak ing at the Gen eral Con fer ence in 1891, Ellen White said: As the fourth com mand ment and those who ob serve it are ig nored and de spised, the faith ful feel that it is the time not to hide their faith but to ex alt the law of Je ho vah by un - furl ing the ban ner on which is in scribed the mes sage of the third an gel, the com mand ments of God and the faith of Je sus. (General Conference Daily Bulletin, April 13, 1891) Ellen White said that the com mand ments of God and the faith of Jesus are the third angel s mes sage and when we take out half of this mes sage, we dis em bow el Adventism. It is impor tant that we take time now to dis cuss the dis ci - pline called sys tem atic the ol ogy. Sys tem atic the ol ogy is a dis ci pline of Chris tian the ol ogy that attempts to for mu late an orderly, ratio nal, and coher ent account of the Chris tian faith and beliefs. It is a the ol ogy that brings all the pieces of truth together as inter lock ing parts, build ing upon foun da tional truths, with no doc trine truly standing alone or dis con nected from other truth. If you affect one teach ing, you will by neces sity, if you are true to logic and to prin ci ples from the Bible, affect other teach ings, which will then affect other teach ings and the lower on the pyr a mid of the ol ogy you begin this process, the more the other teach ings will be affected. Let us see how an exam ple of this works. If you believe that the soul is immor tal, then that will affect the way you view death and the reward of the wicked. Since the dead do not die, the wicked dead live for ever. How ever, since the wicked dead can not live in heaven, there must be a place for them, and that place becomes an eter nally burn ing hell. So you can see how one foun da tional doc trine affects other things and the more basic the doc trine, the more other things are affected. Two of the most fun da men tal pil lars of truth that sys tem - atic the ol ogy builds upon are the doc trine of Christ and the doc trine of sin. If you read text books on sys tem atic the ol ogy, you will see this is true, and they are so fun da men tal because so much else builds upon them. This is why if we begin to change these vital truths, we can quickly end up with Bab y - lo nian doc trines. We look with shock and dis be lief that the early church drifted into apos tasy. This drift ing took cen tu - ries to fully develop, but at the end of time now, today Satan is work ing with ten times the ability he had then: I have been shown that Sa tan has not been stu pid and care less these many years, since his fall, but has been learn ing. He has grown more art ful. His plans are laid deeper, and are more cov ered with a re li gious gar ment to hide their de for mity. The power of Sa tan now to tempt and de ceive is ten-fold greater than it was in the days of the apos tles. (Spir i tual Gifts, vol. 2, p. 277) Vol. 22, No

12 This was not Ellen White s opin ion but some thing revealed to her from heaven. Satan s abil ity to deceive you is ten-fold greater today than his abil ity was in the days of the apos tles. What took Satan decades and cen tu ries to accom - plish in the decep tion of the early church, he has been able to accom plish in a few years here at the end of time. For the last eight years among some who claim to believe the truth about God, there has been a new par a digm of thought, begin ning with a new def i ni tion of sin and build ing upon that until the the ol ogy formed is hardly some thing that can fit under that ban ner of the third angel. The next part of this study should be pref aced by not ing that we are going to be quot ing from a cur rent source that has accepted this new par a digm of thought. We do this because hon est souls are becom ing con fused and a clar i fi ca tion is needed so that all who wish to con tinue to stand upon the plat form of truth may do so. We do this with mal ice to none. When an Adven tist stud ies with a Cath o lic, he or she wants to make clear that the issues are truth ver sus error and are not about peo ple or per son al i ties. In the same way, we want to be very clear that we are not speak ing about any per son or per - son al ity. We will ref er ence the quo ta tions for the sake of doc u men ta tion, with out any reference to authors. The Novem ber 2013 issue of Open Face magazine has some of the most shock ing state ments I have ever read from a pub li ca tion that claims to be teach ing the truth of the Advent move ment, espe cially the truth about God. As I was read ing it, I began to notice state ments that did not agree with inspi ra tion and soon found that three key arti - cles were full of con fus ing state ments that con tra dict some of the plain est dec la ra tions of the Bible and of the Spirit of Proph ecy. But you should not accept my thoughts. You will be able to decide for your self. You can decide if this is the unfurl ing of a glo ri ous new and improved Adventism or not. Sev eral dif fer ent points of the ol ogy are addressed, and I will not touch upon all the points. Rather, I want to limit our dis cus sion to the points con cern ing the law of God and the great con tro versy. Inter est ingly, the first arti cle in Open Face is enti tled Log i cal Pro gres sion. The truth is that the state - ments are the log i cal pro gres sion from accept ing a new par a digm of thought. Before I address some of these points, I want to make it clear that the law is not the Chris tian s sav iour. The law is not, nor has ever been, the focal point of my expe ri - ence Christ alone is and has been. The Chris tian does not have a rela tion ship with the law. The Chris tian s rela tion ship is with Christ, but the law is cer tainly a tool that God has given. Accord ing to Paul, it is a beau ti ful and excel lent tool to under stand God s holi ness and our wick ed ness. We will set the most vital state ments in Open Face in con - tra dis tinc tion to those of inspi ra tion. The first state ment we want to look at concerns the issue of the great con tro versy. The Great Controversy over the Law of God Open Face: Every ques tion in the Great Con tro versy stems from the issue which Luci fer raised at the very begin ning. What is this key issue, was it related to the law? Was the ques - tion, can the law of God be kept? It can not be, because heav enly beings had been keep ing the law for ages before the con tro versy began (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, Foun da - tion Prin ci ples, p. 6, par. 1). Inspi ra tion: In the open ing of the great con tro versy, Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed, that jus tice was incon sis tent with mercy, and that, should the law be bro ken, it would be impos si ble for the sin ner to be par doned (The Desire of Ages, p. 761). From the very begin ning of the great con tro versy in heaven it has been Satan s pur pose to over throw the law of God (The Great Con tro versy, p. 582). Is the Law of God Still Vital for the Christian? Open Face: But if God alone is true and every man is a liar, then what the law causes us to do is to believe a lie. In Christ, my rela tion ship with the law has come to an end. The law did its work when I was a sin ner, but now, in Christ, I no lon ger need a school mas ter to bring me to Christ so even though the law is not abol ished, for me, it is irrel e vant (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 4, col. 2, par. 3). Edi tor s Note: You will never, under any con text, find such a teach ing in the Bible or in the Spirit of Proph ecy! Inspi ra tion: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the com mand ments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Rev e la tion 14:12). But this shall be the cov e nant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my peo ple (Jer e miah 31:33; quoted in Hebrews 8:10). The rev er ence of God s peo ple for His law is a con stant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord and are tram pling on His Sab bath (Proph ets and Kings, p. 605). He [Satan] began to insin u ate doubts con cern ing the laws that gov erned heav enly beings, inti mat ing that though laws might be nec es sary for the inhab it ants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their own wis dom was a suf fi cient guide. They were not beings that could bring dis honor to God; all their thoughts were holy; it was no more pos si ble for them than for God Him self to err (Patri archs and Proph ets, p. 37). Open Face:... if we are told that we are no lon ger under the law, then it must be that we really do not need the law in order to ful fill God s will (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 5, col. 1, par. 1). Inspi ra tion: Do we then make void the law through faith? God for bid: yea, we estab lish the law (Romans 3:31). But this shall be the cov e nant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my Old Paths February 2013

13 law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their God, And they shall be my peo ple (Jer e miah 31:33). Edi tor s Note: In the New Cov e nant, after con ver sion, after the old ways, the law is still there as the rul ing direc tion of the heart. The yoke that binds to ser vice is the law of God. The great law of love revealed in Eden, pro claimed upon Sinai, and in the new cov e nant writ ten in the heart, is that which binds the human worker to the will of God (The Desire of Ages, p. 329). Mixing Truth and Error Open Face: One of the major rea sons why Adven tists have insisted that we need a rela tion ship to the law, is the Sab bath (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 5, col. 1, par. 1). Edi tor s Note: Where is the doc u men ta tion for this? If the author con sid ers keep ing the com mand ments to be in a rela - tion ship with them, then dif fer ent and better words should be cho sen. Inspi ra tion: The Sab bath is a sign of the rela tion ship exist ing between God and His peo ple, a sign that they are His obe di ent sub jects, that they keep holy His law (Tes ti mo nies for the Church, vol. 8, p. 198). Our rela tion ship is not with the law, but the keeping of the law, and spe cif i cally that of the Sab bath, is a sign of our rela - tion ship to God. Open Face: The pop u lar under stand ing is that God rested on the Sev enth [sic] day in order to estab lish the day as a memo rial of cre ation. How ever, the Bible does not say this. There fore the sev enth day is not pri mar ily a memo rial of cre ation, but rather, it is a memo rial of God s rest (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 5, col. 2, par. 5; empha sis in orig i - nal)! Inspi ra tion: Remem ber the sab bath day, to keep it holy. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the sev enth day: where - fore the LORD blessed the sab bath day, and hal lowed it (Exo dus 20:8, 11). He hath made his won der ful works to be remem bered: the LORD is gra cious and full of com pas sion (Psalm 111:4). Thy name, O LORD, endureth for ever; and thy memo rial, O LORD, through out all gen er a tions (Psalm 135:13). The sev enth-day Sab bath is a memo rial of the cre ative power of God, and is to be sacredly observed through out all gen er a tions (The Signs of the Times, March 12, 1894). Christ s pur pose in par a ble teach ing was in direct line with the pur pose of the Sab bath. God gave to men the memo - rial of His cre ative power, that they might dis cern Him in the works of His hand. The Sab bath bids us behold in His cre ated works the glory of the Cre ator (Christ s Object Les sons, p. 25). the Sab bath is a memo rial of the work of cre ation, it is a token of the love and power of Christ (The Desire of Ages, p. 281). Open Face: Now that we are righ teous in Christ, we do not need the Sab bath of the law. We return to the Sab bath of Eden, the joy ous fel low ship of pure love, unspoiled by demands or pro hi bi tions. The only demand is that which love impels, the only pro hi bi tion is that which stands in the way of love (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, The Sab bath with out the Law, p. 6, col. 2, 3). Edi tor s Note: Tell that to Eve! Inspi ra tion: In the time of the end every divine insti tu - tion is to be restored. The breach made in the law at the time the Sab bath was changed by man, is to be repaired. God s rem nant peo ple, stand ing before the world as reform ers, are to show that the law of God is the foun da tion of all endur ing reform and that the Sab bath of the fourth com mand ment is to stand as a memo rial of cre ation, a con stant reminder of the power of God. In clear, dis tinct lines they are to pres ent the neces sity of obe di ence to all the pre cepts of the Decalogue. Con strained by the love of Christ, they are to co-oper ate with Him in build ing up the waste places. They are to be repair ers of the breach, restor ers of paths to dwell in. See verse 12 (Proph ets and Kings, p. 678). Open Face: Before Jesus came, God gov erned His peo - ple by the writ ten law. After Pen te cost, He gov erns them by the liv ing law, His spirit within (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, begin ning on p. 2, col. 3, last para graph and con tin u ing to p.3, col. 1). I am under grace, not the law. I am con tin u ally directed by the spirit of the liv ing God, not by a set of rules (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 3, col. 1, par. 1). Inspi ra tion: And take the hel met of sal va tion, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephe sians 6:17). Edi tor s Note: God s Spirit will never lead con trary to the word of God. The fanat i cism was checked for a time; but sev eral years later it broke out with greater vio lence and more ter ri ble results. Said Luther, con cern ing the lead ers in this move - ment: To them the Holy Scrip tures were but a dead let ter, and they all began to cry, The Spirit! the Spirit! But most assur edly I will not fol low where their spirit leads them.... The fanat i cal teach ers gave them selves up to be gov erned by impres sions, regard ing every thought and impulse as the voice of God; con se quently they went to great extremes. Some even burned their Bibles, exclaim ing: The let ter killeth, but the Spirit giv eth life (The Great Con tro versy, pp. 190, 191). Sanctification Edi tor s Note: Sys tem atic the ol ogy tells us that our views of sanc ti fi ca tion are clearly related to our view of the law. It is no won der we see the fol low ing state ments: Open Face: Beloved, in Christ we have been divorced from the flesh, the old man is dead, we are NEW crea tures. We are not sin ners any more! Our sin-jour ney is over, dare Vol. 22, No

14 to believe it! (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 4, col. 3, par. 2; cap i tal ized empha sis in orig i nal). Inspi ra tion: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). If I jus tify myself, mine own mouth shall con demn me: if I say, I am per fect, it shall also prove me per verse (Job 9:20). Let the record ing angels write the his tory of the holy strug gles and con flicts of the peo ple of God; let them record their prayers and tears; but let not God be dis hon ored by the dec la ra tion from human lips, I am sin less; I am holy. Sanc - ti fied lips will never give utter ance to such pre sump tu ous words (The Acts of the Apos tles, p. 561). Open Face: Can we see this won der ful truth? The strug - gle with sin is in the past. Jesus did it for us and con quered sin com pletely. Now it is this vic to ri ous life which He gives to us. Sin is no lon ger a prob lem for God s peo ple, those who pos sess the life of Christ, because in this life, sin is in the past tense (Open Face, Novem ber 2013, p. 4, col. 1, par. 5)! Inspi ra tion: I die daily (1 Corin thi ans 15:31). And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny him self, and take up his cross daily, and fol low me (Luke 9:23). The fol low ers of Christ are to become like Him by the grace of God to form char ac ters in har mony with the prin ci - ples of His holy law. This is Bible sanc ti fi ca tion. This work can be accom plished only through faith in Christ, by the power of the indwell ing Spirit of God. Paul admon ishes believ ers: Work out your own sal va tion with fear and trem bling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good plea sure. Philippians 2:12, 13. The Chris tian will feel the promptings of sin, but he will main tain a con stant war fare against it. Here is where Christ s help is needed. Human weak ness becomes united to divine strength, and faith exclaims: Thanks be to God, which giv eth us the vic tory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corin thi ans 15:57 (The Great Con tro versy, pp. 469, 470). The sanc ti fi ca tion now gain ing prom i nence in the reli - gious world car ries with it a spirit of self-exal ta tion and a dis re gard for the law of God that mark it as for eign to the reli - gion of the Bible. Its advo cates teach that sanc ti fi ca tion is an instan ta neous work, by which, through faith alone, they attain to per fect holi ness. Only believe, say they, and the bless ing is yours. No fur ther effort on the part of the receiver is sup posed to be required. At the same time they deny the author ity of the law of God, urg ing that they are released from obli ga tion to keep the com mand ments (The Great Con tro versy, p. 471). The New Cov e nant expe ri ence does not replace the law of God with a spirit lead ing con trary to that law. No. The New Cov e nant places that same law, first writ ten upon tables of stone, into a heart trans formed from cold stone into warm flesh. Our ban ner is to be the faith of Jesus and the com mand - ments of God. We are told: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of your selves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephe sians 2:8, 9). But right after this Paul notes, For we are his work man ship, cre ated in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (v. 10). While we look to Jesus, may we not for get the stan dard that tells us how much we daily need him and how won der ful he is to his people. Finally, we need to note that the law of God was shown by Ellen G. White to be one of the great land marks of God s peo ple: One of the land marks un der this mes sage was the tem - ple of God, seen by His truth-lov ing peo ple in heaven, and the ark con tain ing the law of God. The light of the Sab bath of the fourth com mand ment flashed its strong rays in the path way of the trans gres sors of God s law. (Coun sels to Writ ers and Ed i tors, p. 30) Beloved, you do not move land marks. Remove not the ancient land mark, which thy fathers have set (Prov erbs 22:28). Jesus said, If ye keep my com mand ments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father s com mand ments, and abide in his love (John 15:10). Obe di ence from the heart is not legal ism; it is love. If we have been dis hon or ing God, we can change now. It is good to admit that we are wiser today than we were yes ter - day. If you have received much, or all, of this new par a digm of belief, do not let pride keep you attached to false teach - ings. Christ loves his peo ple, and he truly wants to direct all of his peo ple. If we have not seen clearly in the past, we have the prom ise of 1 John 1:9 that if we con fess our sins, he is faith ful and just to for give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrigh teous ness. That is a Bible prom ise, and Bible prom ises are what we need. There are real issues and real con flicts, but we can have peace. We can have peace, if unity upon bib li cal truth is really desired. When the law is law fully used and the truth of Jesus reigns in the hearts of believ ers, there will be peace. But to teach for truth that which is so con trary to truth, will only lead to dif fer ences. May our minds be open to truth and not to the sug ges tions of the Prince of Dark ness. We love the breth ren at Open Face, and that has been true since these new par a digms of thought have arisen, and it will con tinue to be true. We pray that all the errors that have swept many off the plat form of truth will be rejected and that Christ and he alone will be the focus of our atten tions and that we will not jump from one extreme to another. May God have mercy upon Israel. Allen Stump Old Paths February 2013

15 The Big Lie (Dr. Michael Pedrin has gra ciously granted us per mis sion to pub lish his book, The Big Lie. This is the third install ment. He may be con tacted through his website, clearbibleanswers.org. Editor) CHAPTER 5 DOES THE MOON REGULATE THE WEEKLY SABBATHS? It is argued by lunar Sabbatarians that the weekly Sab bath is reg u lated by the moon. They com pare a few texts and come to this con clu sion. Let us inves ti gate their view. From Scrip ture we find that the Sab bath is the sev enth day of the Creator s week and that there is a lu mi nary that reg u lates the ap pointed times, in clud ing the Sab bath (Gen e sis 1:14, Psalm 104:19, Le vit i cus 23:1 3). (Troy (Miller, The Moon Reg u lates the Weekly Sab bath, p. 2; em pha sis in orig i nal; ac cessed at abbath-sda.pdf; ar ti cle is in re verse or der so that the first page of the ar ti cle ap pears last) Let us look at these texts and see what con nec tions they are mak ing. And God said, Let there be lights in the fir ma ment of the heaven to di vide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for sea sons, and for days, and years. (Gen e sis 1:14) He ap pointed the moon for sea sons: the sun knoweth his go ing down. (Psalm 104:19) And the LORD spake unto Mo ses, say ing, Speak unto the chil dren of Is rael, and say unto them, Con cern ing the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall pro claim to be holy con vo ca tions, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the sev enth day is the sab bath of rest, an holy con vo ca tion; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sab - bath of the LORD in all your dwell ings. (Le vit i cus 23:1 3) Yes, the word sea sons in Gen e sis 1:14 and in Psalm 104:19 and the word feasts in Levit i cus 23:1 3 are trans la - tions of the same Hebrew word mow ed. And mow ed means an appoint ment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically a fes ti val... an assembly (as con vened for a def i nite pur pose); tech ni cally the con gre ga tion... (James Strong, Strong s Exhaus tive Con cor dance of the Bible, #4150). Their con clu sion is sim ply this: Based on Psalm 104:19, the moon is appointed to reg u late the sea sons (mow ed), and the Sab bath is also a feast (mow ed), so the moon reg u lates the sev enth-day Sab bath. Well, the word mow ed is also used for dif fer ent pur poses and not just for the appointed feasts. In the book of Jer e miah, we see the prophet using the word mow ed in ref er ence to the tim ing of a bird s travel: Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her ap pointed times; and the tur tle and the crane and the swal low ob serve the time of their com ing; but my peo ple know not the judg - ment of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7) The Hebrew word trans lated appointed times is mow ed. It has noth ing to do with God s sacred feasts. Mow ed is her appointed time. In the book of Judges, we see the word mow ed used as a sign or sig nal: Now there was an ap pointed sign be tween the men of Is rael and the liers in wait, that they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city. (Judges 20:38) The Hebrew expres sion trans lated appointed sign is mow ed and has noth ing to do with the moon reg u lat ing it! In the book of Dan iel, the word mow ed is used in pro - phetic lan guage: And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the wa ters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have ac com plished to scat ter the power of the holy peo ple, all these things shall be fin ished. (Dan iel 12:7) The Hebrew expres sion trans lated time, times is mow ed mow adim, (plu ral form of mow ed), and it has noth ing to do with the sacred feasts. The total is three and one half years, and years are not reg u lated by the moon but by the sun! Just because mow ed is used in Gen e sis 1:14, in Psalm 104:19, and in Leviticus 23:1 3, concluding dogmatically that the moon reg u lates the weekly Sab bath because the Sab - bath is also called a feast is not a sound method of inter pre ta tion, unless all other texts should say the same thing. Il lus tra tion: Son of Man Let me illus trate: Jesus is called Son of man more than sev enty-five times in the Bible. Here is an exam ple: And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sab bath. (Luke 6:5) The prophet Ezekiel, too, is addressed son of man more than sev enty-five times. Here is an exam ple: But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou re bel lious like that re bel lious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. (Ezekiel 2:8) Because Jesus, who is called Son of man, is the Lord of the Sab bath, do we con clude that the prophet Ezekiel, who is also referred to as the son of man, is also the Lord of the Sab bath? Just because the same title is used does n t mean it refers to the same per son. The con text has to be checked. Vol. 22, No

16 The son of man in the book of Ezekiel was just human; the Son of man in the gos pels is human and divine. To say both are the same is deny ing the other pas sages of scrip ture and is unsound inter pre ta tion. Two Sets of Feasts Though the sev enth-day Sab bath is called a feast, God clearly dif fer en ti ates, in the same way, between this feast and the other feasts. Notice care fully that there are two lists of feasts in Levit i - cus 23. In the first list only the weekly Sab bath is men tioned: And the LORD spake unto Mo ses, say ing, Speak unto the chil dren of Is rael, and say unto them, Con cern ing the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall pro claim to be holy con vo ca tions, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the sev enth day is the sab bath of rest, an holy con vo ca tion; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sab - bath of the LORD in all your dwell ings. (Le vit i cus 23:1 3) Now under the sec ond list of feasts, the rest of the feasts are given: These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy con vo ca - tions, which ye shall pro claim in their sea sons. In the four teenth day of the first month at even is the LORD S pass over. And on the fif teenth day of the same month is the feast of un leav ened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat un leav ened bread. (Le vit i cus 23:4 6) Why would God give two lists of feasts if all are of the same category? Please notice that the feasts in the sec ond list are con - nected with the month (or moon), but not the feast in the first list! Feasts in the sec ond list: In the four teenth day of the first month at even is the LORD S pass over. (Le vit i cus 23:5) And on the fif teenth day of the same month is the feast of un leav ened bread. (Le vit i cus 23:6) Speak unto the chil dren of Is rael, say ing, In the sev enth month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sab - bath, a me mo rial of blow ing of trum pets (Le vit i cus 23:24) Also on the tenth day of this sev enth month there shall be a day of atone ment (Le vit i cus 23:27) Speak unto the chil dren of Is rael, say ing, The fif teenth day of this sev enth month shall be the feast of ta ber na cles (Le vit i cus 23:34) The feast in the first list: Now notice the only feast in the first list has noth ing to do with months (moons) at all: Six days shall work be done: but the sev enth day is the sab bath of rest, an holy con vo ca tion; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sab bath of the LORD in all your dwell ings. (Le vit i cus 23:3) The six work ing days revolve around the sev enth-day Sab bath. There is no moon involved to reg u late, con trol, or reset it! Though some of the yearly feast days are called Sab baths, just like the sev enth-day Sab baths, there is a huge dif fer ence between them both. It was only on the weekly Sab bath that God per son ally rested! Also the sev enth-day weekly Sab bath is the only Sab - bath that is part of the cre ation record. The other Sab bath feasts came two thou sand five hun dred years later! The sev enth-day weekly Sab bath is also the only Sab bath that is part of the eter nal Ten Com mand ment law. Lest the peo ple did not dif fer en ti ate the two sets of feasts, the two kinds of Sab baths, at the end of the lists of feasts, God emphasizes the difference: These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall pro - claim to be holy con vo ca tions... Be side the sab baths of the LORD. (Le vit i cus 23:37, 38) So mix ing both of the kinds of feasts, both of the kinds of Sab bath, is bluntly reject ing the coun sel of the Lord Him self! God has seen peo ple doing this and has warned us against han dling the word of God deceit fully (2 Corin thi ans 4:2). Hav ing seen how they have mis in ter preted the word mow ed in Levit i cus 23, we will now see what they say about the first Sab bath on planet earth. The First Sab bath From the Gen e sis account of cre ation, we see that the moon was made on the fourth day and that the Sab bath rest began on the sev enth day. Even a child who knows how to read can under stand it plainly. Now accord ing to their the ory, the first Sab bath is on the eighth day of the new moon. Even if God cre ated a new moon on the fourth day, there are only three days between them. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also....and the eve ning and the morn ing were the fourth day. (Gen e sis 1:16, 19) And on the sev enth day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the sev enth day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the sev enth day, and sanc ti fied it: be cause that in it he had rested from all his work which God cre ated and made. (Gen e sis 2:2, 3) To come out of this ter ri ble mess that the lunar Sabbatarians face in the very first chap ter of the Bible and in the very foun da tional Sab bath of the Bible, they have inter - preted scrip ture in the most irra tio nal way. The psalm ist says, If the foun da tions be destroyed, what can the righ teous do (Psalm 11:3)? The lunar Sabbatarians say that the moon was cre ated (along with the sun and the stars), not on the fourth day but a day before the first day count began. That way it fits their the - ory that the Sab bath comes the eighth day from the new moon. Old Paths February 2013

17 There is noth ing said in the Bible about this. This is what they imag ine. And they are doing their level best to make a new moon ear lier than God made it! What do they have to say about the scrip ture that clearly says that the sun and the moon were cre ated on day four? And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night... And the eve ning and the morn ing were the fourth day. (Gen e sis 1:16, 19) This word made (Strong s H# 6213) is used sev eral times dur ing the cre ation week. This is the He brew word asah, (ah-saw). While it can mean that some thing was cre - ated from scratch, it can also mean ad vanced upon or ap pointed. (Miller, Ibid., p. 8; em pha sis in orig i nal) Though they state both mean ings are pos si ble, they hold on to only one of the mean ings, as if the other mean ing is impos si ble. In fact, in the cre ation account, the word made has only one mean ing. It is syn on y mous with the word created. And God blessed the sev enth day, and sanc ti fied it: be - cause that in it he had rested from all his work which God cre ated and made. (Gen e sis 2:3) These are the gen er a tions of the heav ens and of the earth when they were cre ated, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heav ens. (Gen e sis 2:4) This is the book of the gen er a tions of Adam. In the day that God cre ated man, in the like ness of God made he him (Gen e sis 5:1) If they stress that the word created always comes before the word made, as in the above texts, then the order of the two words in the for ma tion of man destroys their inter pre ta - tion that made means advance upon and created means to start from scratch. Notice the word make (Hebrew: asah) comes before the word created (Hebrew: bara). Log i cally speak ing, accord - ing to their inter pre ta tions of those words, cre ated should come first and make come sec ond. And God said, Let us make man in our im age, af ter our like ness So God cre ated man in his own im age. (Gen e sis 1:26, 27) Was God advanc ing upon (appoint ing man his work), before creating him? As proved ear lier, the words made and created in the cre - ation account are syn onyms they have the same mean ing, not as the lunar Sabbatarians claim. So God did n t advance upon the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day, but God on the fourth day cre ated them and appointed them their work. Does n t it sound absurd and irra tio nal that God cre at ing them on a par tic u lar day, and then God comes back to them four or five days later and then appoints them their work? Why? Did God for get to tell them their jobs? God cre ated and made man on the sixth day. God cre ated and appointed his work on the same day. Again you see how irra tio nal and unsound they are in their inter pre ta tion of scrip ture. We shall still pro ceed to see what they say about the cre - ation of the moon and when it was. Eight days af ter the ini tial cre ation event (Genesis 1:1) Yah or dained the first Sab bath. Which was in deed the 7th day of the week, but it was the 8th pe riod or cy cle from the ini tial cre ation event in Genesis 1:1, again prov ing that the new moon is not a week day. (Miller, Ibid., p. 10; em pha sis in orig i nal) The ev i dence from Scrip ture re veals that the sun was ig - nited on DAY ONE! Friends, YHVH cre ated the heaven and the earth on this un-num bered cre ation event that took place be fore the first day. Earth was with out form and void. Ev i dently the other heav enly bod ies must not have been in much better shape. On this un-num bered cre ation event Yah put into place all the ma te rial He would need, then He ad vanced upon this ma te rial for six days be fore He rested. (Ibid., p. 7; em pha - sis in orig i nal) What does Gen e sis 1:1, 2 say? In the be gin ning God cre ated the heaven and the earth. And the earth was with out form, and void; and dark ness was upon the face of the deep. (Gen e sis 1:1, 2) For the lunar Sabbatarians, the in the begin ning cre ation of heaven and the earth was the day one of cre ation, when God cre ated every raw mate rial in the dark ness. Since the sun, moon and stars are in the heaven, they say they were cre - ated at that time, but they were not ignited because it was darkness everywhere. Here s the sce nario: YHVH cre ated the earth and other ce les tial bod ies at a cer tain point in time. He does n t call it a day be cause the time piece that reg u lates the day was not yet or dained as such. Then on day one, YHVH lights the sun cre at ing light and, of course, day and night as a re sult. If the earth and sun were cre ated dur ing the ini tial event, it is plau si ble that the plan ets, moons, etc., were cre ated at the same time as well. We are not wrest ing Scrip ture when we make this state ment be cause the un der ly ing He brew could have been (and we are sug gest ing should have been) trans lated in this way. (Miller, Ibid., p. 8) One more state ment from them, before we prove them wrong: So as strange as it sounds, it ap pears that the other heav - enly bod ies were cre ated at the same mo ment that this blob of earth was ini tially cre ated. This is made ev i dent by the phrase: In the be gin ning, Elohim made the heaven and the earth. So YHVH lit the sun on the first day of cre ation there fore cre at ing light (and Day and Night as a re sult). The proof for such an odd state ment is found in the lan - Vol. 22, No

18 guage used in the fourth day cre ation ac count... (Ibid.; em pha sis in orig i nal) It sounds strange not only to us, but also to them! It is an odd state ment by their own con fes sion. Yet they want to believe this odd state ment of theirs and the strange as it sounds doc trine! And sur pris ingly there are many who believe they are right with out exam in ing them prop erly. They place the moon (the dark moon) a day before God said let there be light. Thus they have eight days from the dark ness of the moon until the first Sab bath. Some other group of peo ple say the dark ness in Gen e sis 1:2 was Satan, the prince of dark ness, the prince of the power of the air Ephe sians 2:2. (Air is also referred to as heaven.) These are all mere spec u la tions. The dark ness was nei ther the new moon dark ness nor the devil s pres ence. We don t imag ine what truth is; truth declares itself plainly! Let us assume that God cre ated the sun, moon and stars in the Gen e sis 1:2 period of time. Now look at the con clu sion in Gen e sis 2:1 3: Thus the heav ens and the earth were fin ished, and all the host of them. And on the sev enth day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the sev enth day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the sev - enth day, and sanc ti fied it: be cause that in it he had rested from all his work which God cre ated and made. (Gen e sis 2:1 3) Is Gen e sis 1:1, 2 God s act of cre ation, just like the other accounts of cre ation in that chap ter? Yes, of course. God says every thing He fin ished cre at ing and mak ing in six days and says He rested on the sev enth day, and that includes Gen e sis 1:1, 2, in the six days of the cre ation work week! Look at the dec la ra tion of the law at Sinai and what God says about the cre ation work and rest: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the sev enth day: where fore the LORD blessed the sab bath day, and hal - lowed it. (Ex o dus 20:11) Again, isn t Gen e sis 1:1, 2 a part of God s cre ation act? Then it all hap pened only in six days. There is no extra day for the lunar Sabbatarians to place their new moon in the orbit of heaven; they can only place it in the orbit of their own minds! If there is no gap between Gen e ses 1:1, 2, and the rest of the chap ter, then it all took place in six days, and their hypoth e sis falls apart! If there is a gap between Gen e sis 1:1, 2 and Gen e sis 1:3 onwards, then plac ing the dark moon in that first period means the dark moon was there not eight days before the Sab bath, but for the long period of time called in the begin ning. That means that if there were this so-called gap, there were pos si bly mil lions of dark moon days/peri ods before the first Sab bath was made. It does not fit the lunar cal en dar to have more than one new moon in the begin ning of the month! Also they state that Sab bath comes on the eighth day after the sight ing of the cres cent moon. Bib li cally, the new moon was the first vis i ble cres cent seen in the West ern sky af ter sun set... (Cres cent Moon Sight ing In struc tion, ar ti cle no lon ger avail able, but the quo ta tion is avail able on their Facebook page at &id= ; ac cessed ) First of all, who could sight the moon in that pitch dark - ness? So the first Sab bath itself is faulty! The moon is not a self-gen er at ing source of light; it only reflects the light of the sun. The moon can start its func tion of being a source of light only after the sun is lit and not before. If the sun was lit on day one as they claim, then the moon starts its func tion as a lumi nary in the sky not before day one. And sec ondly, since it was pitch dark ness in Gen e sis 1:2 and if there were a moon hang ing up there, it was def i nitely not a cres cent new moon but the dark moon or astro nom i cal new moon, the new moon at con junc tion with the sun. And that will again blow up their the ory! Their Sab baths are counted from cres cent moon and not from dark moon. They try to say the posi tion of the moon in the orbit was per fectly placed so that the first Sab bath came exactly on the eighth day, based on the cres cent moon. The posi tion of the moon in the sky is imma te rial to the arrival of the new moon. If the posi tion is what mat ters, then the con junc tion of the moon should be taken and not the cres - cent moon, and the posi tion of the cres cent new moon is not uni form. Moon for Signs One more point that they empha size to prove that the moon reg u lates the Sab bath is the word sign in Gen e sis 1:14: And God said, Let there be lights in the fir ma ment of the heaven to di vide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for sea sons, and for days, and years. (Gen e sis 1:14) The He brew word trans lated as signs is ôwth (Strong s H#226) and means sig nal or bea con like the lights of a ra dio tower or a light house. These lights turn on and off just like the moon, which just hap pens to en ter a dif fer ent phase ap prox i mately ev ery 7 days. (Miller, Ibid., p. 9; em - pha sis in orig i nal) Need more ev i dence? Read Ezekiel 20:12 and 20:20. These are two wit nesses. The Sab bath is a sign between YHVH and His peo ple. That word sign [ôwth] is the iden - ti cal He brew word used in Genesis1:14 (signs, sea sons, days and years). (Ibid., p. 10; em pha sis in orig i nal) Old Paths February 2013

19 Because the word sign is used in Gen e sis 1:14 in regard to the moon, to con clude it reg u lates the Sab bath because the same word sign is used for the Sab bath is not the method to inter pret scrip ture. If it were, what would they make of these texts? And ye shall cir cum cise the flesh of your fore skin; and it shall be a to ken of the cov e nant be twixt me and you. (Gen e sis 17:11) The word token is the same Hebrew word ôwth used as sign in Gen e sis 1:14. So is cir cum ci sion also reg u lated by the moon? And I will harden Pha raoh s heart, and mul ti ply my signs and my won ders in the land of Egypt. (Ex o dus 7:3) Were the mir a cles and the plagues which were called signs (ôwth) con trolled by the phases of the moon? There fore the Lord him self shall give you a sign; Be - hold, a vir gin shall con ceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Im man uel. (Isa iah 7:14) Was that great sign (ôwth) of Jesus birth determined by the move ments of the moon? They tried their best to twist what they could in the cre - ation account, but they could not twist every thing. They stand exposed. Lies can appear to be the truth, but upon close exam i na tion will fail the test! The Bible says that the moon rules the night, and not the day: And the lesser light to rule the night (Gen e sis 1:16). The lunar Sabbatarians say that the holy hours of the Sab bath are only from sun rise to sun set and not dur ing the dark hours. How do they say then that the moon rules and reg u lates the Sab bath day if it rules at night and the Sab bath is only day - light part? It sounds very absurd to any one who thinks. Yes, we agree that the yearly feasts and yearly Sab bath which are on fixed dates of the year was reg u lated by the moon, but never the weekly Sab bath! The week count started before the moon was cre ated on the fourth day, and it is inde - pend ent thereof. Only Two Phases of the Moon The lunar Sabbatarians keep empha siz ing that there are four dis tinct phases of the moon, as we see by Vornholt and Vornholt-Jones s inclu sion of a quo ta tion from Emil G. Hirsch s arti cle in the online Jew ish Ency clo pe dia enti tled Week: Con nec tion with Lunar Phases in their arti cle enti - tled Time by Design : di vid ing the in ter val be tween the suc ces sive new moons into four groups of seven days each. (elaine Vornholt, Laura Lee Vornholt-Jones, Time by De sign, p. 5; ti - cles/time_by_de sign.pdf; ac cessed ) Here s another state ment from another source: These lights turn on and off just like the moon, which just hap pens to en ter a dif fer ent phase ap - prox i mately ev ery 7 days. ( Miller, Ibid.) Accord ing to them the moon enters a dif fer ent phase approx i mately every 7 days. The Sab bath is not approx i - mately every seven days it is exactly every seven days! So the phases of the moon can not guide it. If the days from one new moon to next new moon were per fectly divis i ble by seven, then we could prob a bly think about it, but it takes about twenty-nine and one half days to com plete its cycle. So that is one and a half days more than what they would like. I believe God pur posely made it this way so that it would not be very easy to come up with a false the ory, and yet peo ple believe! How true is the state ment of the apos tle in this case: And for this cause God shall send them strong de lu sion, that they should be lieve a lie: That they all might be damned who be lieved not the truth... (2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12) But the Bible only talks about two phases of the moon and not four, as the lunar Sabbatarians would have loved. The two phases are the new moon and the full moon. Blow the trum pet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. (Psalm 81:3 RSV) The gap between the new moon and the full moon is approx i mately fif teen days. These are the only two phases to the moon the Bible men tions. If there are four phases, as they say, then what about the quar ter moon and the three-quar ters moon? We could have many phases, not just four. Every day is a new phase. If the weekly Sab bath was to be reg u lated by the moon phases, where are the four phases men tioned in the sacred scrip tures? Stick to the Bible there are only two phases! The two phases comes approx i mately every fif teen days, and the Sab bath comes every seven days! If the four phases of the moon were to be the cor rect way of iden ti fy ing the weekly Sab bath, then God missed the best oppor tu nity to teach an entire nation this secret for forty years! If that were the case, God should have told them just look up at the sky and watch the phases of the moon, and you will, for sure, know which day is the Sab bath, week after week! God did not use the moon to iden tify the Sab baths, but he used manna! Why? Because with the moon you can t iden - tify the Sab bath! If it were pos si ble, God would have done it. And the manna came dur ing the day, when the moon is hardly ever seen! Ev i dence from Other Sources In close to one hun dred fifty ancient and mod ern world lan - guages, the Gre go rian Sat ur day is called Sab bath. Also the Jews who were dis persed all over the world at var i ous inva sions Assyr ian, Bab y lo nian, Roman, etc. are all keep ing the Gre go rian Sat ur day as the Sab bath. This uni for mity would not pos si ble if it were not the true Sab bath that has come down. Vol. 22, No

20 Even the Mus lims, who fol low an exclu sively lunar cal en - dar, have their feasts based on the phases of the moon, but their wor ship day, the sixth day of the week, is inde pend ent of the moon phases. It is con tin u ous cycle of seven even for them! The pen of inspi ra tion con firms the weeks and the Sab - baths have come down from cre ation to the end of time as successive : Like the Sab bath, the week orig i nated at cre ation, and it has been pre served and brought down to us through Bi ble his tory. God Him self mea sured off the first week as a sam - ple for suc ces sive weeks to the close of time. Like ev ery other, it con sisted of seven lit eral days. Six days were em - ployed in the work of cre ation; upon the sev enth, God rested, and He then blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man. (El len White, Pa tri archs and Proph ets, p. 111) Accord ing to Web ster s 1828 Dic tio nary, suc ces sive means unin ter rupted course. If Ellen White meant, as they say, future weeks, she should have used the phrase succeeding weeks, not suc ces sive weeks. Suc ces sive weeks and Sab baths mean the weeks and Sab - baths have never been inter rupted in their cycle of seven from cre ation week till now! The sev enth-day weekly Sab bath is never reg u lated by the phases of the moon. CHAPTER 6 THE COUNT TO PENTECOST 50, 53, OR 103 DAYS? We believe that the count to Pen te cost that begins on the six - teenth of the first month ends on the fif ti eth day. But some of the lunar Sabbatarians believe it s a fifty-three-day count, and some of them believe it a one hun dred three-day count. Pentecost means fifty. So that set tles the mat ter. But why are they say ing fifty-three days or one hun dred three days? If Pen te cost is exactly fifty days from the first fruits (six - teenth of Abib), then this is the big gest blow to the lunar Sab bath the ory! This will prove that the weeks are con tin u - ous, unbro ken cycles unin ter rupted by the new moon. That is why they had to come up with fig ures other than fifty days. Here is the bib li cal pas sage that says how many days after the first fruits is the feast of Pen te cost. And ye shall count unto you from the mor row af ter the sab bath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave of fer ing; seven sab baths shall be com plete: Even unto the mor row af ter the sev enth sab bath shall ye num ber fifty days; and ye shall of fer a new meat of fer ing unto the LORD. (Le vit i cus 23:15) There is no dis agree ment between us and any of the lunar Sabbatarians as to when it starts. All are in agree ment that it starts on the six teenth of the first month. The dif fer ence is when it ends. One Hun dred Three Day Count? One of the lunar Sabbatarian camps says there are two counts to Pen te cost, while the other lunar Sab bath camp say it is just one count, like we do. Let us first see if the two counts are true. There are two parts or two counts that must be made be fore Pen te cost can be fully come. In ad di tion to the 7 Sab baths com plete, we need to add 50 days, not just add one day for a to tal of 50 days. (Troy Miller, The Scrip tural Count to Feast of Weeks when Pen te cost re - ally is Fully Come, p. 1; ac cessed at rce=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0cdeqfjab&url=http% 3A%2F%2Fwww.creationcalendar.com%2FCalendarIssu e%2f17-feastofweekssda.pdf&ei=pcmluooxi5h8o ASzv4GoCg&usg=AFQjCNG7VBemdK3yQxzOoWFTl Yl9OAIPkw&sig2=Oc_EoMC9yOGHiUQI-uEZbw) Let us look at the pas sage of scrip ture again, where they say we need to add the two counts: And ye shall count unto you from the mor row af ter the sab bath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave of fer ing; seven sab baths shall be com plete: Even unto the mor row af ter the sev enth sab bath shall ye num ber fifty days; and ye shall of fer a new meat of fer ing unto the LORD. (Le vit i cus 23:15) In ad di tion to the 7 Sab baths com plete, we need to add 50 days... (Miller, Ibid.) That will be around one hun dred days! What we are told in Levit i cus 23:15 is that after seven Sab baths com plete (forty-nine days), the next day, the fif ti eth day, is the feast; but what they are say ing is after seven Sab baths com plete, on the next day, add fifty days to arrive at the feast. This two-counts the ory can eas ily be proved wrong by com par ing other pas sages of this same feast. Moses, the author of Levit i cus, also wrote Deu ter on omy. In Deu ter on omy Moses uses the phrase seven weeks instead of the phrase seven Sab baths com plete which he used in Levit i cus, for they are the same length. Seven weeks shalt thou num ber unto thee: be gin to num ber the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God... (Deu ter on - omy 16:9, 10) There is only one count seven weeks then comes the feast the next day which is the fif ti eth day. So the book of Deu ter on omy proves that there is only one count to the feast of weeks which in the New Tes ta ment is called Pen te cost, mean ing fifty days. Look at the illus tra tion given to the two-counts the ory: The most sa lient point here is that a Sab bath com plete is one yard stick to mea sure time, a day is an en tirely dif - Old Paths February 2013

21 fer ent yard stick. I am five feet, nine inches tall. Two sep a rate units of mea sure are used. You don t mea sure the five feet from my heels then turn around and mea sure the nine inches from my heels too. You add the nine inches af - ter the 12 inch of the fifth foot. Pen te cost also has two sep a rate units of mea sure. Seven weeks are counted or com pleted and then the 50 days are counted. If I am 5'9", this count is 7 feet, 50 inches (so to speak). There is no com mand in Le vit i cus 23 to be gin the 50 day count at the same time as the seven week count be gins, it says to num - ber 50 days from the mor row AF TER the sev enth Sab bath com plete. (Miller, Ibid., pp. 1, 2; em pha sis in original) That is an irra tio nal illus tra tion. No one says he is 7 feet 50 inches. A foot is twelve inches. If some one is 7 feet 13 inches, we don t say it that way at all. We say he is 8 feet 1 inch. That mea sure ment (of 7 feet 50 inches) would be told as 11 feet 2 inches and not as 7 feet 50 inches (50 inches is 4 feet 2 inches). Only some one who intends to trick us uses such meth ods of mea sure ment. And God is not in the busi ness of trick ing any one! An addi tional proof from the New Tes ta ment that Pen te - cost could never be close to one hun dred days is that we know Jesus res ur rec tion was the ful fill ment of the firstfruit, and the out pour ing of the Holy Spirit was the ful fill ment of the feast of weeks or Pen te cost. In the book of Acts, we are told that Jesus spent forty days with His dis ci ples after His res ur rec tion and then ascended to heaven. To whom also he shewed him self alive af ter his pas sion by many in fal li ble proofs, be ing seen of them forty days, and speak ing of the things per tain ing to the king dom of God: (Acts 1:3) The same author, a few chap ters later, calls the period of forty days many days : But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Gal i lee to Je ru sa lem, who are his wit nesses unto the peo ple. (Acts 13:30, 31) Now let s see when Jesus prom ised to send the Holy Spirit. For John truly bap tized with wa ter; but ye shall be bap - tized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Acts 1:5) If forty days is many days, then not many days should be less than forty days, right? This cal cu la tion again proves that Pen te cost comes a lit tle time after forty days (i.e., fif ti eth day) but def i nitely not close to hun dred days! Fifty-three Or a Fifty Day Count? Now we are left with only one chal lenge is Pen te cost fifty days or fifty-three days? Dif fer ent parts of scrip ture use dif fer ent yard sticks to count the same feast. The account of Levit i cus uses the yard - stick of the Sab baths, the account of Deu ter on omy uses the yard stick of the weeks, and the account of Acts uses the yard - stick of the days. The Levit i cus nar ra tion: Seven sab baths shall be com plete: Even unto the mor - row af ter the sev enth sab bath shall ye num ber fifty days... (Le vit i cus 23:15, 16) The day after seven Sab baths are com plete (7x7=49 days, plus 1 more) is the feast that is the fif ti eth day. The Deu ter on omy nar ra tion: Seven weeks shalt thou num ber unto thee... And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God... (Deu ter on omy 16:9, 10) That is, after seven weeks (7x7=49 days) is the feast, the fif ti eth day. The Acts nar ra tion: And when the day of Pen te cost was fully come, they were all with one ac cord in one place. (Acts 2:1) How do we know that the word pentecost is fifty? When we com pare other words where fifty is recorded, it becomes clear from the Bible itself. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty [pentekonta] years old, and hast thou seen Abra ham? (John 8:57) The word trans lated fifty in John 8:57 is pentekonta. And the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1 is pentekostes. The lunar Sabbatarians agree that Pen te cost is the fif ti eth day. Luke men tions in the book of Acts two peri ods after the res ur rec tion of Jesus to the com ing of the Holy Spirit. The first is the forty days Christ spent with the dis ci ples after his res ur rec tion (Acts 1:3), and the sec ond is from the res ur rec tion of Jesus to the com ing of the Holy Spirit, Pen te - cost (Acts 2:1). When a fig ure is given in days every day in the month is included work days, Sab bath days and new moon days, etc. In the flood of Noah, we have this clearly dem on strated. The Bible states that it took one hun dred fifty days for the waters to decrease. And the wa ters re turned from off the earth con tin u ally: and af ter the end of the hun dred and fifty days the wa ters were abated. (Gen e sis 8:3) Now Moses gives the start ing point and the end ing point of the one hun dred fifty days. Start ing date: In the six hun dredth year of Noah s life, in the sec ond month, the sev en teenth day of the month, the same day were all the foun tains of the great deep bro ken up, and the win dows of heaven were opened. (Gen e sis 7:11) End ing date: And the ark rested in the sev enth month, on the sev en - teenth day of the month, upon the moun tains of Ara rat. (Gen e sis 8:4) That is exactly five months the sev en teenth of sec ond month to the sev en teenth of sev enth month. Vol. 22, No

22 So the one hun dred fifty days included all the days in those five months the work days, Sab bath days, new moon days, etc. The lunar Sabbatarians also say that when a fig ure is given in days, the new moon or the trans la tion day of the new moon is included in it. They say that only when a fig ure is given in the mea sure ments of weeks or of Sab baths are the new moon days or trans la tion days not to be counted, since the new moon days or trans la tion days are not a part of the week, accord ing to them. By count ing 40 days and nights, we must count even the new moon days, be cause they ARE a day, just not week days. How ever, when count ing Sab baths com plete we only count a six work day/sab bath se quence, not the days of the re build ing of the moon. (un known au thor at creationcalendar.com, ac cessed at neachesonrebuttal.pdf, p. 59; em pha sis in orig i nal) Now in the book of Acts, this feast is mea sured purely in days. Week or Sab bath mea sure ments are not involved in this cal cu la tion. So fifty days (Pen te cost) is fifty con tin u ous days. All the days are counted in this work days, Sab bath days, new moon days, and trans la tion days. Remem ber this is not a new feast in the New Tes ta ment. This feast is an Old Tes ta ment feast called the Feast of Weeks, so the feast of Pen te cost should per fectly syn chro - nize with the cal cu la tion given in the Old Tes ta ment. From any of the three books of the Bible Levit i cus, Deu ter on - omy, or Acts we should be able to count the length of the feast, and it should agree with the other two accounts. Let us look again at this feast of Pen te cost, as given in the Old Testament: And ye shall count unto you from the mor row af ter the sab bath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave of fer ing; seven sab baths shall be com plete: Even unto the mor row af ter the sev enth sab bath shall ye num ber fifty days; and ye shall of fer a new meat of fer ing unto the LORD. (Le vit i cus 23:15) In the account in Deu ter on omy, this feast is not given as seven Sab baths com plete but is given in the mea sure ment of seven weeks : Seven weeks shalt thou num ber unto thee: be gin to num ber the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God. (Deu ter on omy 16:9, 10) Seven Sab baths com plete are seven weeks, so both of the Old Tes ta ment mea sure ments match. The lunar adher ents quickly add three extra days to accom mo date the two new moon days and the one trans la tion day. If they don t do that, then it will mean that they are agree ing that the weeks and Sabbaths are con tin u ous even beyond the bound aries of a month. So they come up with the fig ure of fifty-three days and not fifty days. They have man aged to syn chro nize the two Old Tes ta ment accounts with their new method of inter - pre ta tion, but they are totally silent in com par ing it with the New Testament text! They do not use the New Tes ta ment cal cu la tion (inter pre - ta tion) to this feast. Why? It will blow up their fal lacy and unmask their lies! That would be the end of all argu ments! Com par ing the New Tes ta ment and the Old Tes ta ment count ing of this feast, they are in big-time trou ble! All the three accounts should syn chro nize, but it does n t fit with their newly-found the ory! The New Tes ta ment count will fit only if the weeks and Sab baths are con tin u ous, with out the new moon inter rupt ing it! Accord ing to the lunar Sabbatarians, the weeks and the Sab baths are not a con tin u ous, unbro ken cycle. The cycle is con tin u ous only for four weeks within a month because at the end of the month (trans la tion day if there is 30th day) and at the begin ning of the month (the first of the month the new moon), it is inter rupted and reset. Accord ing to their inter pre ta tion Seven Sab baths com - plete or seven weeks can not be con tin u ous because the new moon inter rupts it at the end/begin ning of the months. Since this count begins on the six teenth of the first month, there are three new moon days the thir ti eth day of first month (trans la tion day), the first day of sec ond month (new moon day), and first day of third month (new moon day). So for them, seven Sab baths com plete or seven weeks (plus one day to be added accord ing to Levit i cus) is not 7x7=49+1 day, but 7x7+3 new moon days=52 days+1 day which=53 days. Now, the New Tes ta ment sup ports only a fifty day count Pen te cost which should include all the cat e go ries of days. Here is their state ment on this: It is es sen tial to un der stand Sab bath s com plete and how they af fect the count to Pen te cost. Six work days plus one 7th day Sab bath equals one Sab bath com plete. This was the tem plate that Yahuwah or dained at Cre ation. These will never in clude New Moon days or trans la tion days, be cause these are not the days spec i fied in the equa - tion.... New Moon days and trans la tion days are never counted. (Ker rie L. French, The Sa cred Count to Pen te - cost, p. 4; em pha sis in orig i nal; ac cessed at ti cles/sa - cred_count/04_sa cred_count.html on ) Here s another state ment from another lunar camp: You, like most (and like me un til three years ago) prob - a bly see seven Sab baths com plete (seven weeks) and im me di ately think 49 days. But there are not 49 days in this seg ment of time. These are Scrip tural weeks six work days end ing with a Sab bath. New moon days are a third cat e gory of day, they do not count against the week. There are three new moon days in this seven week count for a to tal of 52 days... (Miller, Ibid.) Old Paths February 2013

23 Dear lunar Sab bath breth ren, the inspired writer of the book of Acts does not sup port your the ory that the weeks are not con tin u ous! Seven Sab baths Com plete What is seven Sab baths shall be com plete in Levit i cus 23:15? And ye shall count unto you from the mor row af ter the sab bath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave of fer ing; seven sab baths shall be com plete: Even unto the mor row af ter the sev enth sab bath shall ye num ber fifty days... (Le vit i cus 23:15, 16) It is impor tant to note that Moses did not just say to count seven Sab baths, but seven Sab baths shall be com plete he wrote (Levit i cus 23:15, 16). Seven Sab baths complete means seven full weeks. Seven weeks shalt thou num ber unto thee (Deu ter on omy 16:9). The word weeks is from the Hebrew word shabuwa, a count of seven. In the Bible we see the word week is inter changed with the word Sab bath because both have the root mean ing of seven. A week is seven days, and the Sab bath is the seventh day. In the end of the sab bath, as it be gan to dawn to ward the first day of the week. (Mat thew 28:1) The Greek word for Sab bath and for week is sabbaton; there fore, the phrase seven sab baths shall be com plete also means seven weeks to be com pleted. And the phrase at the mor row after the sev enth Sab bath just means the next day after the sev enth week com ple tion. Their twist to the Pen te cost cal cu la tion is exposed. We could end the book here. But we shall pro ceed to uncover every lie of theirs! The Pen te cost of the Land Based on the same prin ci ples of weekly Sab bath count ing, God gave the chil dren of Israel the Sab bath for the land to rest. This reck on ing again proves their cal cu la tion is error. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vine yard, and gather in the fruit thereof; But in the sev enth year shall be a sab bath of rest unto the land. (Le vit i cus 25:3) That is exactly based on the weekly Sab bath prin ci ple of six days labor and sev enth-day rest. Just like we had in Levit i cus chap ter 23, the feast of Pen te - cost count seven Sab baths com plete plus one day is the fif ti eth day two chap ters later God gives a sim i lar prin ci ple of count ing the Jubi lee feast: And thou shalt num ber seven sab baths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sab baths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. A ju bi lee shall that fif ti eth year be unto you: (Leviticus 25:8, 11) If for them the seven Sab baths com plete of Levit i cus 23 is not forty-nine days but fifty-two days, then how much would seven times seven years be? Fifty-two years? But the Bible says it is forty-nine years. In Levit i cus 23, the next day was the day of the Pen te cost. In Levit i cus 25, the next year is the year of the Jubi lee. The Pro phetic Weeks Here is a third wit ness against their absurd cal cu la tions. One of the great est proph e cies of the Bible is the 2300 days proph ecy of Dan iel 8 and the 70 weeks proph ecy of Dan iel 9. And he said unto me, Unto two thou sand and three hun - dred days; then shall the sanc tu ary be cleansed. (Dan iel 8:14) Sev enty weeks are de ter mined upon thy peo ple and upon thy holy city... (Dan iel 9:24) Even the lunar Sabbatarians agree the 70 weeks proph ecy is part of the 2300 days proph ecy. You have one given in days and the other given in weeks. Remem ber when any thing is given in days, every cat e gory of days (work days, Sab bath days, new moon days, trans la - tion days) is embraced in it. For a lunar Sabbatarian, there can never ever be more than four weeks in suc ces sion. Accord ing to their prin ci ple of inter pre ta tion of weeks, let us see how many days are 70 weeks. For us it is straight 70 weeks is 490 days because the weeks run con tin u ously but they add new moon days and trans la tion days to the 490 days. That is around twenty-six days extra. For them, 70 weeks=490 days+26 days=516 days. Since they also believe that one day is one year in proph - ecy, this would be 516 pro phetic years and like us, they too believe the start ing point of this proph ecy is 457 BC. So the 70 weeks proph ecy, accord ing to their method of insert ing the new moon days and trans la tion days, would end in AD 60 (AD 34 plus twenty-six years extra). Based on their method of cal cu lat ing weeks, this proph ecy of weeks would put the death of Jesus in the year AD 57! There is no church on earth that puts the death of Jesus in AD 57. All churches and schol ars and his to ri ans agree it should be some where between AD 26 and AD 36, but not beyond. In fact most, if not all, lunar Sabbatarians believe as we do, that Jesus died in AD 31 and that the 70 weeks of Dan iel chap - ter 9 ended in AD 34. How could that be? It means they did not add the new moon days and trans la tion days. Let us see what they have to say: The first 70 weeks (Dan 9:24 27) of this proph ecy, cut off or al lot ted to the Jews, equals 490 years. The walls of Je ru sa lem were re built in 1 week [sic ty po graph i cal er - ror, should be 7 weeks] or 49 years (408 B.C.). An other 62 weeks brings us to the anoint ing of Christ for His mis sion in 27 A.D. 483 years are now past; only 1 week re mains of the 70. In the midst of this week (Dan 9:26 27), 31 A.D., Mes siah is cut off or cru ci fied. A sec ond half-week of 3 1/2 years brings us to 34 A.D., when at the ston ing of Ste - phen the gos pel is taken to the Gen tiles. In 34 A.D. the 70 weeks, or 490 years, is com pleted. Vol. 22, No

24 ( ac cessed at ble-proph e - cies/proph e cies-of-dan iel-cleans ing-the-heav enly-sanc tu ary.html) For the seven weeks count to Pen te cost, they add three extra days and make the feast of Pen te cost to fall on the ninth of that third month, instead of the sixth of that month, but for the sev enty weeks they add noth ing, even though this proph ecy is given in weeks! That is being incon sis tent. Why aren t they add ing the extra days into the 70 weeks? Because if they do add those twenty-six years (accord ing to their own prin ci ples of inter - pre ta tion of weeks counts), they don t have any his tor i cal sup port to show that those events ended twenty-six years later! Lis ten to them again, and see that they are con tra dict ing: The proph esy [sic] of the com ing Mes siah be gins: Sev enty weeks are de ter mined upon thy peo ple (Dan. 9:24.) If that is taken as lit eral time be fore the days are changed into years, there would be 25.5 ex tra years due to the New Moons and trans la tion days that would oc cur in 70 weeks. Cal cu la tion of time by weeks did not in clude new moons and trans la tion days. In stead, mul ti ply 7 days in a week X 70 years = 490 years. This reached ex - actly from the third de cree to re store and build Je ru sa lem to the ston ing of Ste phen in A. D. 34. ( The Count to Pen te cost; ar - ti cle no lon ger avail able at this site, but can be ac cessed at ti cle/pen te cost-the-sa - cred-count.html; em pha sis in orig i nal; ac cessed ) The lunar Sabbatarians state that the cal cu la tion of time by weeks did not include new moons and trans la tion days, yet they have included them in other places. They do not, how ever, include the extra days (25.5 days/years) in the 70 week proph ecy and are, thus, incon sis tent. They con tinue: This time proph esy [sic] re veals how to count to Pen te - cost. Seven weeks com plete are 49 days, then the next day, the 50th day, is Pen te cost. The very def i ni tion of Pen te cost is fifty. The He brew name for Pen te cost was Feast of Weeks. The New Moon day and the trans la tion day, if pres ent, are not counted, just as they were not counted in the larger pro phetic-time mea sure ment. These days are not part of a week, or a Sab bath perfect. (Ibid.; em pha sis in orig i nal) The lunar Sabbatarians are incon sis tent, and they don t know what they are say ing. They say the same thing about the count to Pen te cost and add three extra days to arrive at the ninth of the third month: Be gin count ing seven Sab baths com plete, and then add a day. Your an swer should be the 9th day of Sivan... (French, Ibid.) You don t get the ninth day of Sivan if you don t add three extra days! If they have added three extra days to arrive at Pen te cost because new moon days and trans la tion days are not included in the count of weeks, why aren t they add ing twenty-five or twenty-six days to the larger pro phetic-time measurement? As noted ear lier, the two proph e cies of Dan iel 8:14 and Dan iel 9:24 are start ing together and are linked to each other. For God to give one count in days and the other count in weeks proves that the weeks run con tin u ously, just like the days do. The ful fill ment of those proph e cies proves that! Com par ing the New Tes ta ment count of Pen te cost to the Old Tes ta ment count of Pen te cost, we have seen that the weeks are a con tin u ous, unbro ken cycle that is unin ter rupted by the new moon days. Also, look ing at feast of Jubi lee (fif ti eth year) which is sim i lar to the count to Pen te cost (fif ti eth day), we have seen again that the weeks are a con tin u ous, unbro ken cycle. If there can t be more than four con tin u ous weeks, then God was ask ing them to count wrongly! Some of them try to use the Jubi lee cycle to prove that the weeks can be bro ken by the com ing of the Jubi lee and reset again. Why, then, can t it be bro ken by the com ing of the new moon? If they are tak ing that as an evi dence to break the week, then they should break the con tin u ous weekly cycle at the end of seven weeks and not four weeks! Doing that would need them to come up with a totally dif fer ent cal en dar! The Jubi lee deals with weeks of years and not weeks of days. If they are try ing to use this as a proof that the weekly Sab - bath can be bro ken, then what about the Sab bath being for just twelve hours? Does this pas sage of Jubi lee say that the sev enth year Sab bath is just six months? Accord ing to their param e ters the Sab bath year should be a half year because the Sab bath day is only a half day the day light part not twenty-four hours! And finally, the grand proph ecy, given in the param e ter of weeks that talk about the cru ci fix ion of the Mes siah, destroys their hypoth e sis that the week does n t run con tin u ously beyond four weeks. Here it runs con tin u ously for sev enty weeks! And within that proph ecy are two other peri ods that are given in weeks again that run beyond four weeks con tin u - ously seven weeks and sixty two weeks (Dan iel 9:25). How many more proofs do they need to show that the weeks are con tin u ous in the Bible? The lit eral weeks, the yearly weeks, and the pro phetic weeks all prove them wrong! con tin ued on p. 26, col. 2 Old Paths February 2013

25 We Need to Re think Statin Drugs (Recently Amer i cans have been advised to con sider statins as being indis pens able and need ful for almost every one. But do the facts agree? We cer tainly need to rethink the use of statin drugs, but in a dif fer ent way. Edi tor) On Novem ber 12, 2013, the Amer i can Heart Asso ci a tion (AHA) and the Amer i can Col lege of Car di ol ogy (ACC) released new treat ment guide lines which could more than dou ble the num ber of peo ple in the United States tak ing statin drugs in an effort to lower the risk of heart dis ease. Cur rently there are about 35 mil lion peo ple in the United States tak ing statin drugs. That is 11% of the total pop u la - tion! If this num ber were to approach the esti mated 74 mil lion who might be on statins under these new guidelines, we would have almost one fourth of the pop u la tion on them, and if we fac tor out peo ple under the age of 35, there would be a sig nif i cantly higher per cent age of the pop u la tion who could be on statins. But what are statins? Statins are any of a class of lipid-low er ing drugs that reduce serum cho les terol lev els by inhib it ing a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of cho - les terol ( accessed ). Some of the most pop u lar statins are Lipitor, Zocor, and Pravachol. Statins work by by inhib it ing the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a cen tral role in the pro duc tion of cho les terol in the liver ( accessed ). Statins were very expen sive when first intro - duced, but today most of the drugs are in generic forms, with a three-month sup ply [cost ing]... $10 ( les terol-guide - lines/index.html?hpt=he_c2, accessed ). What are the new guide lines rec om mended by the AHA and ACC? There are four fac tors which are to be con sid ered. They are: Do you have pre ex ist ing heart dis ease? Do you have dia be tes (type 1 or 2)? Is your LDL Cho les terol over 190? Is your ten-year risk of heart dis ease over 7.5%? Accord ing to the new guide lines, if you answered yes to any of those four ques tions, you should be on a statin. Period (Ibid.). Cur rently there are over 25 mil lion Amer i - cans who are dia betic, so this risk fac tor alone would account for 8% of the cur rent pop u la tion to be in need of statins. Last year it was noted: If in ci dence rates re main the same, the num ber of youth with type 2 di a be tes in the U.S. is pro jected to in crease by a stag ger ing 49 per cent over the next 40 years, while the num ber with type 1 is ex pected to climb 23 per cent, ac - cord ing to a study by the Cen ters for Dis ease Con trol and Pre ven tion, pub lished in the De cem ber is sue of Di a be tes Care. How ever, if in ci dence in creases, the num ber of youth with type 2 could qua dru ple and the num ber with type 1 could tri ple, the re search ers con cluded, with an in - creas ing pro por tion of youth with di a be tes from mi nor ity pop u la tions. ( a be tes.org/for-me - dia/2012/num ber-of-youth-with-di a be tes-pro jected-to-ri se-by-2050.html; accessed ) With the Lou i si ana Pur chase in 1803, Amer ica greatly expanded its land ter ri tory but in the last gen er a tion, Amer i - cans waist lines have grown at an alarm ing rate! Today, two out of three Amer i cans are over weight, and nearly half of those who are over weight are now clin i cally obese! The West ern diet of high fat, pro cessed foods has turned a once healthy peo ple into one of the sick est in the world. This obe - sity greatly con trib utes to dia be tes, as well as heart dis ease and a great host of other dis eases. God did not make man to be sick, but rather to be healthy and happy. Dis ease was not a part of God s plan; it is not from God but is the nat u ral result of dis obe di ence to God s laws. We are instructed that the curse cause less shall not come (Prov erbs 26:2). Dis ease is an ef fort of na ture to free the sys tem from con di tions that re sult from a vi o la tion of the laws of health. In case of sick ness, the cause should be as cer - tained. Un health ful con di tions should be changed, wrong hab its cor rected. Then na ture is to be as sisted in her ef fort to ex pel im pu ri ties and to re-es tab lish right con di tions in the sys tem. (The Min is try of Heal ing, p. 127) While some causes of dis ease are linked to genet ics, most of the dis ease in human ity is caused by a life style which makes void God s laws of health. Even many of the genet i - cally-based ill nesses can be treated with a healthy life style. Dis ease never co mes with out a cause. The way is pre - pared, and dis ease in vited, by dis re gard of the laws of health. Many suf fer in con se quence of the trans gres sion of their par - ents. While they are not re spon si ble for what their par ents have done, it is nev er the less their duty to as cer tain what are and what are not vi o la tions of the laws of health. They should avoid the wrong hab its of their par ents and, by cor rect liv ing, place them selves in better con di tions. (Ibid., p. 234) Amer ica today is fac ing a health cri sis, and many, per haps most, health care giv ers know it is caused by life style, but they make lit tle effort to deal with dis ease from a cause and effect basis. Many doc tors apply the Laodicean method of heal ing by only deal ing with the symp toms of dis ease, with - out deal ing with the cau sa tion of the dis ease. Today in the United States, the aver age per son con sumes far more fat and pro tein than needed. In addi tion to eat ing too much fat, both sat u rated and unsat u rated, and too much pro - tein, the car bo hy drates con sumed are refined, as opposed to unre fined. Guide lines given by most health orga ni za tions fail to restrict the fat cal o rie intake sub stan tially enough to Vol. 22, No

26 help reduce dis ease. Many rec om mended fat con sump tion esti mates are given in the range of 25% to 30% of total cal o - ries. But this num ber is far too high. A value of 10% to 12% fat, as mea sured by the per cent age of total cal o ries, is a far better goal to have. When your total fat con sump tion is low ered through a life - style man age ment pro gram, the risk for heart dis ease is dra mat i cally reduced, as your cho les terol lev els drop. By reduc ing fat intake, obe sity is cured and with it, dia be tes either is elim i nated or is reduced in sever ity. Some stud ies and clin i cal work have shown a low fat, plant-based diet helps type 1 dia be tes to be more man age able. Please fol low these two easy ways to be sure your fat con sump tion is low: 1. Avoid all ani mal prod ucts. Eat noth ing with a face or mother. 2. Avoid eat ing pro cessed foods, includ ing pro cessed oil, such as olive oil and canola oil (not a drop). Though I had been a vegan for sev eral years, when I stopped con sum ing pro cessed oil, my cho les terol level dropped from, what would have been con sid ered a healthy, 150 mg/dl to 100 mg/dl in just a year. With a diet that is com - posed of fresh fruit and veg e ta bles, grains, nuts, and seeds, health will be improved. A plant-based, whole-food life style is the plan designed by our Cre ator and can not be improved upon. It helped me, and it can help you, too! Are statins in your future? If you are will ing to fol low a heart-healthy life style, statins need not be a part of your daily agenda. For some peo ple they have proven to be help ful in quickly low er ing cho les terol lev els. After a short time on the med i ca tion, the patient, if he or she has adopted a healthy life style, may be able to dis con tinue the med i cine. But let it be clear that the statins alone do not help like a change in life - style can help. Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., in his book Pre vent and Reverse Heart Dis ease, noted: The New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine re ported on a study in which mas sive doses of cho les terol-low er ing drugs were used to re duce to tal cho les terol well be low 150 mg/dl. Three out of four of the heart pa tients in volved seem to do very well un der this reg i men. But it was not a com plete suc cess. Even with their cho les terol lev els sat is - fac to rily re duced, one out of ev ery four of the pa tients in the study sus tained a new car dio vas cu lar event or died within two and a half years of start ing this treat ment. (p. 40; ref er enc ing Chris to pher P. Can non, et al., New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine, April 8, 2004: In ten sive ver sus Mod er ate Lipid Low er ing with Statins Af ter Acute Coronary Syndromes ) As with all drugs, statins have side effects. The most com - mon are inflam ma tion of the mus cles (myositis) and var i ous other mus cle issues (myopathy), includ ing the poten tial for rhabdomyolysis (the patho log i cal break down of skel e tal mus cle), lead ing to acute renal fail ure. This prov erb is cer - tainly true: How much better to exer cise an ounce of pre ven tion than to pay a pound of cure. Pure air, sun light, abstemiousness, rest, ex er cise, proper diet, the use of wa ter, trust in di vine power these are the true rem e dies. Ev ery per son should have a knowl - edge of na ture s re me dial agen cies and how to ap ply them. It is es sen tial both to un der stand the prin ci ples in volved in the treat ment of the sick and to have a prac ti cal train ing that will en able one rightly to use this knowl edge. The use of nat u ral rem e dies re quires an amount of care and ef fort that many are not will ing to give. Na ture s pro - cess of heal ing and upbuilding is grad ual, and to the im pa tient it seems slow. The sur ren der of hurt ful in dul - gences re quires sac ri fice. But in the end it will be found that na ture, un tram meled, does her work wisely and well. Those who per se vere in obe di ence to her laws will reap the re ward in health of body and health of mind. Too lit tle at ten tion is gen er ally given to the pres er va tion of health. It is far better to pre vent dis ease than to know how to treat it when con tracted. It is the duty of ev ery per - son, for his own sake, and for the sake of hu man ity, to in form him self in re gard to the laws of life and con sci en - tiously to obey them. All need to be come ac quainted with that most won der ful of all or gan isms, the hu man body. They should un der stand the func tions of the var i ous or - gans and the de pend ence of one upon an other for the healthy ac tion of all. They should study the in flu ence of the mind upon the body, and of the body upon the mind, and the laws by which they are gov erned. (The Min is try of Heal ing, pp, 127, 128) Allen Stump The Big Lie con tin ued from p. 24 If the weeks, as proved, are con tin u ous, unbro ken cycles, then the Sab baths are a con tin u ous, unbro ken cycle com ing to us every sev enth day, with out inter rup tion. The Gre go rian cal en dar of 1582 is more hon est and truth - ful in this mat ter of weeks and Sab baths com ing con tin u ously undis turbed than the so-called bib li cal cal en - dar that the lunar Sabbatarians have invented of late! If the weeks, as proved, are con tin u ous, unbro ken cycles, then the deceptive eighth, fif teenth, twenty-sec ond, and twenty-ninth pro pa ganda of being fixed Sab baths is a fake, a fraud, and a coun ter feit. It s a Big Lie from the father of lies the devil! To be con tin ued Old Paths February 2013

27 From the File Cabinet of History Vol. 22, No

28 Youth s Cor ner Young Pioneer Missionaries of the American Colonial Frontiers (This month we con tinue a series based upon the book Youth ful Wit nesses by W. A. Spicer, pub lished in This month s story is Chap ter 15.) JOHN ELIOT THE fron tiers were close to the coast line when John Eliot, the young Puri tan pas tor, began his work, about the year His first mis sion was in the wilds five miles west of Boston. Con cord and Pawtucket were out posts, deep in the for ests. There were not many who gave their lives to Indian evangelization in those early days, but a few mis sion ary names stand out con spic u ously in the his tory of the colo nial fron tiers. Eliot was the first, and his Indian ver sion was the first Bible ever printed in the New World. He was a worker. The key note of his life was writ ten at the end of his Indian gram mar: Prayer and pains, through Jesus Christ, will do any thing. HORTON AND BRAINERD A cen tury after John Eliot began, Azariah Hor ton was sent to the Indi ans at the east ern end of Long Island, and about the same time David Brainerd began his work six teen miles east of Albany. Young Brainerd toiled in the wil der ness between Albany and the lower Del a ware, only wish ing that he had more than one life to devote to ser vice. This was his prayer: Here I am, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the sav age pagans of the wil der - ness ; send me from all that is called com fort in the earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in thy ser vice and to pro mote thy king dom. Results fol lowed these early efforts. But as the set tler s ax pushed back the wil der ness, and wars des o lated the fron tiers, the very peo ple for whom labor was put forth all but van - ished, and the fruitage in later times is dif fi cult to trace. CHRISTIAN RAUCH Chris tian Rauch was the pio neer of Moravian mis sions to the Indi ans. He had heard at Herrnhut, in Ger many, of the sad need, and to hear the call was to go. The young man landed in New York in 1740, deter mined to find some way to bring the gos pel to the Indi ans. He met two Mohicans, who could speak a lit tle Dutch, and pro posed to return with them to their vil lage as a teacher. They were under the influ ence of drink when they accepted his offer, and when they became sobered on the jour ney, they dodged into the for est and left their com - pan ion. Rauch pushed on and man aged at last to reach Shekomeko, their vil lage, on the bound ary between New York and Con nect i cut. Two years after Rauch began work, Count Zinzendorf vis - ited his sta tion and bap tized the first Indian con verts. The count s guide on this, as on all three of Zinzendorf s vis its to the Indian coun try, was Conrad Weiser, the colo nial inter preter. Those were no easy mis sion ary trails to fol low. In 1744 John Mack and Chris tian Froelich, young colo nials, were sent from Beth le hem, the Moravian head quar ters in Penn syl - va nia, to the Wyo ming Val ley, where Zinzendorf had arranged for a mis sion. It is a three-hour jour ney now. The young men clam bered over the rocks and forded streams for a week in fol low ing the wind ing Lehigh [River]. The daily text of the Moravian cal en dar after the man ner of the Morn ing Watch Cal en dar was a strength and com fort to them on their jour ney. The day they started, the watch word was: I will make with them a cov e nant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wil der ness, and sleep in the woods. Eze. 34: 25. On their return jour ney they had an expe ri ence thus related in John Mack s jour nal: The woods were on fire all around us.... Af ter din ner we came be tween two great moun tains.... Be fore us there was sent such a great flame that we were a lit tle afraid to go through it, and we could find no other way to es cape it. Brother Chris tian went through first. The flame Went quite over his head ; it looked a lit tle dis mal. He got through, but I did not know it, be cause I could not see him for the smoke. I called to him; he an swered me im me di - ately. I thought I would wait, but the fire grew fiercer. He called me again and prayed me to come through, say ing our dear Sav iour prom ised, When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Mack plunged safely through, and then they thanked God that he had kept them through per ils by water and fire. When we came to Beth le hem, the jour nal says, we found that the watch word for that day had been Isa iah 43:2. DAVID ZEISBERGER Fore most of all the Moravian mis sion ar ies among the Amer - i can Indi ans was David Zeisberger. He had had dis ci pline in the school of hard ship from child hood. He was five years old when his par ents fled from Moravia to Herrnhut, in Sax ony, where Count Zinzendorf wel comed the ref u gees on his estate? At seventeen Zeisberger was in the New World, study ing and learn ing the ways of fron tier life. He was no mean stu - dent. Before leav ing Herrnhut, at the age of fif teen, he was skil ful in Latin, and in Hol land he mas tered the Dutch. But his life was unset tled. The turn ing point came when he was Old Paths February 2013

29 twenty-two. The elders at Beth le hem had cho sen him to be one of an escort to accom pany Count Zinzendorf back to Europe. He was in the boat, dis con so late at the thought of leav ing. Bishop Nitschmann was there, say ing good-by to Zinzendorf, and noticed the young man s dejected look. David, said he, do you not return to Europe will ingly? No, indeed, was David s reply, I would much rather be in Amer ica. For what rea son? I long to be truly con verted to God, and to serve him in this coun try. If this be so, said the sur prised and delighted bishop, and I were in your place, I would at once return to Bethlehem. David got out of that boat quickly and went back to Beth - le hem. But he longed for the expe ri ence of con ver sion. It came sim ply, bless edly. While at the table, as the Moravian hymn of grace was being sung before eat ing, the thought of the love of Jesus for him, David, a sin ner, came into his heart. He left the table, and in prayer gave his heart to God, and found the joy and peace of for give ness. It always comes by the ask ing and the tak ing. Never since Adam left Par a dise has the Lord ever refused one who came to him. Now but one thought was his to carry the good news to the Indi ans. On the first record of stu dents in the school at Beth le hem is writ ten: David Zeisberger, destinirter, Heidenbote [pur pose, mes sen ger to the hea then]. He took charge of the Wyo ming Val ley work. He lived in the wig wams, and learned the Indian lan guages. The great - est Indian power in those times was the Iro quois con fed er acy, the Six Nations. These were the Onon da gas (who headed the league), Mohawks, Onei das, Cayu gas, Sen - ecas, and Tuscaroras. The capital of the confederacy was Onon daga, in west ern New York Zeisberger was adopted into the Onon daga tribe of the Tur tle clan. This adop tion saved him more than once in the fierce bor der war fare that fol lowed, first between the Eng lish and the French, and later between Eng land and the col o nies. Rum had worked havoc among the Indi ans. Young Zeisberger found vice ram pant in the vil lages. But hun dreds of Indi ans found the Lord, and hard ened, sto i cal hearts were made ten der. One old war rior said: When ever I saw a man shed tears, I used to doubt his being a man. I would not have wept if my ene mies had even cut the flesh from my bones, so hard was my heart at that time; that I now weep is of God, who has soft ened the hard - ness of my heart. Zeisberger bore wit ness to many a deliv er ance when in per ils in the wil der ness. Once he was trav el ing with sev eral Chris tian Indi ans, when they stopped at a trader s post for the night. They were per mit ted to sleep on the straw in a store - room where gun pow der was stored, some of it in open casks with grains of pow der scat tered all over the straw-strewn floor where the trader had mea sured out sales for his cus tom ers. On this account Zeisberger pre ferred to retire with out a light. But a stranger came in, who insisted on hav ing a tal low can dle, prom is ing to be care ful. Zeisberger fell asleep quickly with wea ri ness. The stranger was still using his light. But he too fell asleep, leav ing the can dle burn ing. In the morn ing Zeisberger called the trader aside, and tak ing a lit tle piece of can dle from his pocket, said: My brother, had we not had the eye of him upon us who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, we would all this night have been sent into eter nity, and no one would have known how it hap pened. I slept soundly, be ing fa tigued, and was in my first sleep, when I felt as if some one roused me. I sat up and saw the wick of the can dle hang ing down on one side in a flame, and on the point of fall ing into the straw, which I was just in time to pre vent. I could not fall asleep again; but lay awake, si lently thank ing the Lord for the ex traor di nary pres er va tion we had experienced. Another inci dent of prov i den tial deliv er ance told in Zeisberger s Life (by Dr. Schweinitz), we may also repeat, as it shows how rig or ous were these mis sion ary jour neys in the wilds in sea sons when food was scarce. Bishop Spangenberg, Zeisberger, Conrad Weiser (colo - nial guide and Indian inter preter, of whom we must tell later), and two Chris tian Indi ans, Chief Shikellimy and his son, had vis ited the Onon da gas. Weiser was called to take a dif fer ent route home ward, leav ing the oth ers to return by the way they had come. Their food gave out, and the coun try was suf fer ing fam ine. On the banks of the Susquehanna they sank exhausted. The his tory says: Faint and si lent, the bishop and his young com pan ions waited to see what God would do; while Shikellimy and his son, with the sto icism of their race, re signed them - selves to their fate. Pres ently an aged In dian emerged from the for est, sat down, among them, of fered his pouch, and gave them a smoked tur key. They could not but rec og nize in this meet ing a di rect in ter po si tion of their heavenly Father. Endur ing hard ness as a good sol dier, Zeisberger and oth - ers built up a sub stan tial work. Then came the wars the French and Indian and the Rev o lu tion ary in which the Chris tian Indi ans were sus pected and attacked by both sides, French and Eng lish, and by their pagan tribes men. In later, years Zeisberger moved with the Chris tian con - verts into north west ern Penn syl va nia, and then into Ohio. At last he was driven with a lit tle rem nant into Can ada, where he founded Fairfield, as a Chris tian Indian vil lage. After the Rev o lu tion he returned to the scenes of his for mer labors south of Lake Erie. He had estab lished thir teen Chris tian vil - lages, but at the close of his sixty years of mis sion ary ser vice, only a rem nant was left. His Onon daga and Del a ware gram - mars and lex i con, chiefly the labors of his youth, and other books in manu script were never pub lished. Accord ing to his wish, Zeisberger, at death, was bur ied in the Indian Vol. 22, No

30 grave yard of his last mis sion (Tuscarawas County, Ohio), that he might await the res ur rec tion among his faith ful Indi ans. Those early colo nial mis sions came to an end along with the Indian s van ish ing hunt ing ground. But the men who labored in them, and the Chris tian con verts who found the way of life through them, left a bright tes ti mony to the power of divine grace; and here and there, among the scat tered rem - nants of the Indian peo ples, the seed sow ing of the young pio neer mis sion ar ies of colo nial times may still be bring ing forth fruit. CONRAD WEISER: HELPER TO THE MISSIONARIES, COLONIAL INDIAN AGENT, AND INTERPRETER The man who first inter ested the Moravians in mis sion work among the Indi ans of the great Iro quois league, or Six Nations, and who accom pa nied Zinzendorf in his three mis - sion ary jour neys in the Amer i can wilds, was Conrad Weiser, Indian agent and inter preter of colo nial times. Conrad Weiser was a Sab bath-keeper. The part he played in the his tory of the col o nies is of inter est. It was not as a sol - dier though he did serve later as a col o nel in the French and Indian War but as a peace ful ambas sa dor, that he did his great work. His reli gious ear nest ness, and the con fi dence the Indi ans had in his ster ling char ac ter, enabled him to accom - plish much more than some whose names are writ ten larger across the his tory of those times. In those days it was being decided whether Cath o lic influ ence from France or Protestant influ ence from Eng land, should pre dom i nate in shap ing the Amer i can col o nies. Harper s Encyclopedia of United States His tory sums up Weiser s part in colo nial his - tory as fol lows: Through his in flu ence with the Six Na tions on the one hand, and the co lo nial gov ern ments of Penn syl va nia, New York, Mary land, Vir ginia, and Carolina on the other, he suc ceeded in de fer ring the al li ance be tween the French and the In di ans un til the Amer i can col o nists had grown strong enough to suc cess fully defend themselves. We may count him in with the young pio neers of mis sions, for it was in his youth that he found the Lord on the colo nial fron tiers, and he was only in his thir ties when he found the Sab bath truth, hav ing already gained the lan guages and the influ ence with the Indi ans which made him one of the his - toric char ac ters of colo nial times. Conrad Weiser was born in Ger many in His father landed in New York in 1710, a wid ower with eight chil dren. They first set tled near Schenectady, where young Conrad pleased a Mohawk chief, who was allowed to take the lad to live with his tribe for a time. He suf fered tor ture from the cold in the Indian camp that win ter, but says he for got the cold with hun ger. He learned the Mohawk lan guage, how ever, which was a prep a ra tion for his work as Indian agent in later years. The fam ily removed with other Ger man col o nists to Penn - syl va nia, where a step mother made home a very unpleas ant place for Conrad. His trou bles cast him upon the Lord. I fre - quently did not know where to turn, he said, and learned to pray to God, and his word became my most agree able read ing. When he grew up and was mar ried, he secured a farm at Tulpehocken, in the wilds three or four days jour ney west of Phil a del phia. The study of that Bible which had been his com fort in boy hood, pre pared him to receive the Sab bath truth in He learned of this through Beissel, of the Ger - man Bap tist Sab bath-keep ing set tle ment at Ephrata, who also bap tized him. His tal ents soon attracted the atten tion.of the gov ern - ment, says Dr. J. J. Mombert, in his His tory of Lan cas ter County. He attended all the prin ci pal Indian trea ties held for a period of more than twenty-five years. The same author ity says that he was a man of unbounded benev o lence, and dis - posed to hope all things. This gave him his influ ence with the Indi ans. In 1737 the gov ern ment sent him to treat with the Iro quois. Their cap i tal was at Onon daga, N. Y., and the jour ney of five hun dred miles was beset with hard ship and peril. One day, exhausted, Weiser fell to the ground under a tree and expected to die. The three Indi ans lead ing on the trail before him, pagans of the for est, turned back, and one exhorted him to be of good cour age; for good days cause men to sin, and God can not extend mercy to them; but con trari wise, when it goeth evil with us, God hath com pas sion upon us. Ashamed of his dis cour age ment, Weiser rose up and pushed on. It was after the return from this trip that he met the Moravian Bishop Spangenberg, and urged the cause of mis - sions to the Iro quois. Spangenberg drew the atten tion of Zinzendorf to the infor ma tion given him, and one day, in 1742, Zinzendorf felt a def i nite impres sion that he should go and see Weiser, a jour ney of sev eral days. He arrived just in time to meet an embassy of Iro quois chiefs who were return - ing from Phil a del phia, and had stopped at Tulpehocken to visit Weiser s home. Count Zinzendorf addressed the chiefs, ask ing per mis sion to estab lish mis sions among the Six Nations. Weiser inter preted the speech, and added: This is the man whom God hath sent, both to the Indi ans and to the white peo ple, to make known his will unto them. Zinzendorf con firmed his words, after the Indian cus tom, by pre sent ing the chief with a piece of red cloth. The chief made a stately reply: Brother, you have jour neyed a long way from be yond the sea, in or der to preach to the white peo ple and the In di - ans. You did not know that we were here; we had no knowl edge of your com ing. The Great Spirit has brought us to gether. Come to our peo ple, you shall be wel come. Take this fathom of wam pum; it is a to ken that our words are true. (Conrad Weiser, and the In dian Pol icy of Co lo - nial Penn syl va nia by J. S. Walton) Old Paths February 2013

31 Shortly after ward, Weiser guided Zinzendorf to the Wyo - ming Val ley, which had never before been entered by the white man. The inter preter here left the party to go on with - out him to the Shawanese vil lage (now Plym outh), under the guid ance of Andrew Montour, a half-french Indian. Weiser returned to engage in busi ness else where. But he was seized with the con vic tion that Zinzendorf was in dan ger. Has ten ing back, he arrived just in time to thwart a plan to mas sa cre the mis sion ar ies. He served with the gov er nor and Benjamin Frank lin and sev eral oth ers on edu ca tional work in York, Lan cas ter, and Read ing, and alto gether seems to have been a busy man in the affairs of his time. The only hint we have of the per sonal appear ance of this colo nial fron tiers man at this time is in the pleas ant remark of the gov er nor, at a treaty coun cil, that inas - much as the Indi ans had cut off one part of Conrad Weiser s beard, because he fright ened their chil dren the Indi ans being beard less he would see to hav ing the rest removed. It is evi dent that Weiser loved the Indi ans, and he won an influ ence over them that saved much trou ble and blood shed in the fric tions and con flicts of the time. The Moravian mis - sions to the Indi ans, which he aided Zinzendorf in estab lish ing, devel oped Indian con verts who were true even to the mar tyr s death. But that work, as we have seen, was almost com pletely wrecked by the cruel scenes of the French and Indian War, as well as by the strife between Eng lish and colo nials in the Amer i can Rev o lu tion that soon fol lowed. Weiser died in Ger many in 1760, a few weeks after the death of Zinzendorf. PETER MILLER S INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON While we are in these times of the early Amer i can fron tier, one story ought to be told, of a wit ness borne to George Wash ing ton by a colo nial Sab bath-keeper named Peter Miller. Young Peter had come from Ger many with oth ers to seek free dom of faith and a field of use ful ness in the New World. He was a grad u ate of Hei del berg and an excep tional lin guist, hav ing gained fair mas tery of the lead ing lan guages of Europe. At twenty-one he was pas tor of a Reformed church in Penn syl va nia. He found the Sab bath truth four years later through the Ger man Bap tist Sabbatarians of the Penn syl va - nia set tle ment at Ephrata, near Lan cas ter. On account of his well-known lin guis tic gifts, he was called upon years after - ward to trans late the Dec la ra tion of Inde pend ence into var i ous lan guages, and to assist the Con ti nen tal Con gress in the dip lo matic cor re spon dence with the gov ern ments of Europe. How George Wash ing ton was moved to grant Peter Miller s plea for the life of an enemy is the story repeated here, even though it is not a story of mis sions and though Miller was now no lon ger young. The Amer i can army was in camp at Val ley Forge. Their pros pect was dark, with the Brit ish in pos ses sion of Phil a del phia. One Widman, who kept a tav ern near Ephrata, had been a trusted friend of the colo nial cause, and was in pos ses sion of secrets regard ing sup plies and plans. He decided to betray these secrets to Gen eral Howe, and went to Phil a del phia for the pur pose. The Brit ish gen eral, how ever, scorned the spirit of the man in offer ing to betray his friends, and refused to have any deal ings with him. He was sent back to the Amer i can lines, where he was arrested and con demned to death as a trai tor. Peter Miller knew Widman. They had once belonged to the same Ger man church. But ever since Miller had left his for mer church to join the Sabbatarians, Widman had let pass no oppor tu nity to per se cute and insult him. He used even to spit in Miller s face. On hear ing of the sen tence passed on his enemy, Miller set out at once for Val ley Forge to see Gen eral Wash ing ton. Wash ing ton was well acquainted with the Ephrata set tle - ment, which had received and cared for the wounded after the bat tle of the Brandy-wine. So Peter Miller needed no intro duc tion. The fol low ing story of the inter view, from an orig i nal manu script account, is quoted by Dr. Sachse in his Ger man Sec tar i ans of Penn syl va nia: Wash ing ton re quested him to be seated, but Miller re - plied that his busi ness with him would not ad mit of a mo ment s de lay that it re quired im me di ate dis - patch and in stantly pro ceeded to plead for mercy to ward Widman, most forc ibly, most eloquently. It was a ma jes tic tab leau to look upon, the com mander in chief, Gen eral Lee, and sev eral other staff of fi cers, and Pe ter Miller, in his mo nas tic robe, stand ing in front, form - ing a most im pos ing group. Rev. Pe ter Miller was a tall man, of much grace. All be gan to re gard the com mander in chief as dis posed to ex er cise his pre rog a tive of mercy, but ral ly ing to the re spon - si bil i ties of his sta tion, he replied: Friend Miller, there is scarcely any thing in this world that I would deny to you, but such is the state of pub lic af - fairs that it would be fa - tal to our cause not to be strin gent, in ex o ra ble in such mat - Wash ing ton was moved by the ap peal of Pe ter Miller. Vol. 22, No

32 ters, and make ex am ples of ren e gades to the cause of lib erty; oth er wise I should most cheer fully re lease your friend. Friend! ex claimed Miller, in ter rupt ing Gen eral Wash ing ton, and at the same time throw ing up both his hands, as if in at tes ta tion to the Searcher of hearts, He is my worst en emy my in ces sant re viler. For a friend I might not im por tune you; but Widman be ing, and hav ing been for years, my worst foe, my ma lig nant, per se cut ing en emy, my re li gion teaches me to pray for those who de - spite fully use me. The tears coursed down the brave old com mander s cheek, and tak ing Miller by the hand, he re plied: My dear friend, I thank you for this les son of Chris tian char ity. I can not re sist such a man i fes ta tion of our di vine re li gion; the par don shall be granted on one con di tion, and that is, that you be the bearer of it your self, and hand it to the com - mand ing of fi cer at Turk s Head in Widman s pres ence. To make the story short, Miller has tened away on foot that night to Turk s Head, or Westchester, about twenty miles dis - tant. Early next morn ing he went to the grounds where the troops had formed in a hol low square about the gib bet pre - pared for the exe cu tion. Widman, on the scaf fold, had acknowl edged his guilt, and was ask ing mercy from Heaven, as Miller stepped for ward and handed the com mand ing offi - cer the mes sage from Gen eral Wash ing ton. Widman thought the man whom he had per se cuted had come merely to wit ness the fate of his enemy. Con science smit ten, he sum moned cour age to address Miller, say ing: Peter Miller, what ever has prompted your pres ence at this place, I avail myself of the occa sion to acknowl edge my great and mul ti plied abuse and per se cu tion with which I have fol lowed you, and to crave your for give ness. At this point the offi cer inter rupted Widman by announc - ing that the com mander in chief had granted him a par don, and, pre sent ing Peter Miller, he added, Here is your deliverer. Thus Peter Miller fol lowed the instruc tion, Love your ene mies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite fully use you, and per - secute you. W. A. Spicer Adult Sab bath School Les sons Com ments For the past few years, we have been pub lish ing com ments on the Adult Sab bath School les sons, but we will not be pub - lish ing any com ments for the first quar ter of 2014, in order to have more room to fin ish pub lish ing The Big Lie. Thank you for your patience with us on this pro ject. Ed i tor YouTube Chan nel: The pre sen ta tion: The Suf fi - ciency of Christ to be a Total Sav iour Part 1, has been posted on our YouTube chan nel. You may access this mes sage at: - ture=share&list=uuvsrgjg5fm2ux0aewvuovaw. Check out our chan nel soon for Part 2 of this vital sub ject. Our chan nel includes ser mons, chil dren s sto ries, and youth Sab bath school events, includ ing sci ence dem on stra tions. The URL is: - ture=results_main. Old Paths is avail able for the ipad in the ibook store and on our website! 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 website. The url is: Phone: (304) Fax: (304) Editor...Allen Stump ed i tor@smyrna.org Associate Editor...Onycha Holt onycha@smyrna.org Old Paths February 2013

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