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revival sermons

One Taken and the Other Left

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Let us not forget. In the last days it will all be about deception. Jesus said that we must look out

lest we be deceived. In the last days, which is now, things will not be as they appear. Only those

who have a clear understanding of the Word of God will be able to endure what is coming upon

the world.

In the past years in this country there have been some rather spectacular trials. These trials

gained national attention. As you know, in this country a person is considered innocent until

proven guilty by a jury of their peers. In criminal cases the jury must declare the accused to be

innocent or guilty, and that decision must be based on the evidence that has been presented that

convicts the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

Now what does this have to do with anything? Surprisingly it has a lot. I don't need to remind you

that there is a war going on in this planet. It has been going on for about six thousand years. We

weren't there when the war began, we weren't there during much of the course of the war, but

the whole human race will be there for the wind-up.

In this war our first parents, Adam and Eve, went over to the side of the enemy. Not only them,

but everyone who has been born here since then, except one, has exhibited the characteristics of

the enemy of God's government. In fact, the Bible states rather clearly that there is none

righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10). And in another place it says that we have all sinned and

come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

The good news is that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever

believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). This war has inflicted

tremendous casualties. There has been untold misery, death and suffering from the word go. At

one point the Son of God was even murdered in this war.

The enemy of God has fought and will continue to fight until the end. At the last he will finally be

destroyed when he and his army of followers make a desperate suicide attack against the Holy

City . That battle is called the Battle of Armageddon. Friends, the reason that I am telling you all of

this is so that we will realize that this battle is not the Orlando Magic against the Chicago Bulls,

but a life and death struggle against the Holy God, the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, by

that old serpent, the devil, and those who ally themselves with him.

In this war there are some who never give up in their struggle against God. On the other hand,

there are others who, due to conviction brought on by the Holy Spirit, give in to the Lord. There
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are others who, out of shear fear, run up the white flag and declare that they are no longer on the

side of the devil but that now they are on Jesus' side. These people are not sure what the issues

are but one thing for sure, they can imagine what hell will be like and they want to stay out of it.

Not only that, these same people are being told that if they accept Jesus they will be able to have

almost anything that they could want so why not give Him a try?

The great controversy between Christ and Satan is not an "I'll root for my side and you root for

yours" thing. It is a warfare of evil against righteousness, of sin against holiness. Don't forget, it

was the devil that drew first. In heaven it was the devil that set out to destroy God. You see, that

is the way that it is. Holiness is patient and long-suffering; unrighteousness is bigoted, hateful and

violent. God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but the devil would massacre

everything on the planet if he could. And believe me, he has tried more than once.

Our problem is that, from the time that we were born, we have all been infected with sin, and sin

is even worse than AIDS because it not only infects the body but it also infects the soul.

That is what makes it all so complicated. You may not believe it, but if you were to take a person

to heaven who was still infected with sin the whole thing would start all over again (Jeremiah

17:9). This is why the solution to the matter is that God will have to permanently destroy all of

those who persist in being contaminated with evil. There is a cure, of course, but a person has to

take it.

Since practically the beginning of the war, once it spread to this planet, there have been people,

sometimes more and sometimes less, who have declared themselves to be on God's side. Some

are sincere and others are not. For example, when the children of Israel left Egypt there was a

large number of Egyptians who signed on so they could be with the winners. Throughout history

there have been millions who have professed to be followers of God, some sincerely and others

just go along for the ride.

I don't need to tell you that words are cheap. For example, couples are getting married every day

and promising to love, honor, and cherish until death do them part, and yet half of them are

reneging on the commitment. Yes, words are cheap.

There is another problem in this respect, and that is that man looks on the outward appearance

and the problem that we have is in our hearts. So then a person can say anything that they need

to and may still be the same in their hearts. But not to worry because, though we look on the

outward appearance, God looks on the heart

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Though that is wonderful, it also has its problems. This is because the crimes that the unrighteous

have perpetrated against their fellow human beings have been real crimes--misery, grief,

unkindness, cruelty and worse.

Knowing the heart gives God a definite advantage over us, but it also creates a situation in which

it makes the process of salvation somewhat more complicated. God can tell when a person has

really changed and when they haven't. But we can't.

Let me explain, because there have been so many other beings involved in the great controversy

who can't read the heart as He can, God has chosen to have a trial so that everything will be clear

to everyone involved. In the Bible this trial is called the judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10). When this

trial is over those who are saved as well as those who are lost will recognize and admit that God

was right and fair in what He did.

Friends, God uses the same principles in the judgment that we use here when someone is brought

to trial. He uses evidence and witnesses. Of course, heaven is very high tech--much more than

anything that we have here. But because the Bible writers could not have understood the

judgment in terms of CDs, floppy discs or videos, they were shown the judgment process in terms

of record books.

Daniel 7:9,10 says, " I beheld till thrones were places, and one that was Ancient of days did sit. His

raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was like the fiery

flames, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him,

thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him,

the judgment was set and the books were opened."

The Ancient of days in this text is God the Father. David wrote of Him, "Before the mountains were

brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to

everlasting, thou art God" (Psalm 90:2). It is God the Father who presides in the judgment. The

holy angels are there as witnesses and as ministers.

The text goes on to say, "...and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,

and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him

dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his

dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away..." (Daniel 7:13,14).

These texts that I have just referred to are not a reference to the Second Coming of Jesus. These

texts are referring to a scene that took place in 1844. It is the scene that represents Christ's last
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work of mediation for this race and it is called the Investigative Judgment.

The judgment is about two groups of people. There is the part that deals with those who have

claimed to be followers of Christ. The Scripture says, "Judgment must begin at the house of God:

and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Peter

4:17). Of course, it is logical to do this because, when Jesus comes the second time it is to

resurrect the righteous and to take the living along with them to heaven. You remember the text:

"The trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and

remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so

shall we ever be with the Lord" (1Thessalonians 4:16,17).

Then there is the part that has to do with the lost. Those who have refused to be saved will simply

stay in their graves until after the millennium, and those who are not saved--who happen to be

alive when Jesus comes--will try to commit mass suicide. They say to the rocks and the mountains,

"Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne" (Revelation 6:16).

But let me get back to the matter of the great trial in heaven. The text says that the evidence is in

the form of books. It says the judgment was set and the books were opened. In another place it

says, "...another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of

those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12).

We don't really like to talk about these things very much these days. This is because this

generation is not into the concept of responsibility. But, friends, responsibility is exactly the

concept on which the final judgment is based.

You may remember that the Book of Life contains the names of all who have ever given

themselves to Jesus. Jesus Himself once said, "Rejoice, because your names are written in

heaven" (Luke 10:20). Paul spoke of those whose names are in the Book of Life. Daniel in the Old

Testament said that those who God would finally save would be "everyone what shall be found

written in the book." The book of Revelation says that those who at last will enter into the city of

God will be those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 20:12).

The Bible tells us that there is not only a book called the Book of Life: there is also one called the

Book of Remembrance. In the Book of Remembrance the good deeds, believe it or not, are written

of them that feared the Lord, and thought upon His name. Nehemiah refers to this when he says,

"Remember me, O my God, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my

God" (Nehemiah 13:14). In the Book of Remembrance every deed of righteousness is recorded.

Every temptation that was resisted, every evil habit that was overcome, every word of pity and
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compassion, every act of sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow that was endured for Christ's sake

is there. David wrote, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not

in thy book?" (Psalm 56:8).

There is also a record of sins that have been committed. Scripture says, "For God shall bring every

work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." In another

place it says, "Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account in the Day of

Judgment." Jesus himself said, "By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be

condemned." Even the secret thoughts of our hearts are recorded in heaven. "For God will bring to

light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart." (Luke

10:20, Daniel 12:1, Revelation 21:27, Nehemiah. 13:14, Psalms 56:7,8, Ecclesiastes 12:14,

Matthew 12:36, 37, 1 Corinthians 4:5).

I guess by now you may be thinking, "But this can't be true. We were taught that if we confess our

sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How can it be then that He forgives our sins and then later in the judgment brings them back up

again? I thought that the Bible teaches us our sins are cast into the bottom of the sea."

Friends, the issue in the Investigative Judgment is not God's faithfulness, but ours. The issue is not

even were we sinners, but the issue is were we sorry, and after we gave our lives to Jesus and

accepted Him as our Savior, do the facts bear out our commitment in allowing Jesus to work in us

both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Some years ago an expression worked its way into our vocabulary. The expressions is, "Sorry

'bout that." I wouldn't say that it is an insincere expression, but it really doesn't mean very much.

It is kind of like saying, "Whoops," or "Excuse me." It doesn't stop doing anything; it merely

apologizes for you being in my way. So when I say excuse me or sorry 'bout that, what I may well

mean is, "Step back. I'm on a roll."

I am afraid that the whole matter of giving our lives to Jesus is much more serious to Him than it

often is to us. I can understand how this would be, because another problem we have these days

is in making a lasting commitment to anything.

The closest thing that can help us understand what making a commitment to Jesus means is the

matter of marriage. And, unfortunately, you can see that in a time when fifty percent of marriages

end in divorce and a significant number are what we call dysfunctional, the matter of making a

commitment to God is getting either more and more problematic at worst or more and more

shallow at best.
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This is why, inasmuch as salvation is a life and death matter, it can't be based on a simple, "Your

word against mine," or Jesus saying, "Leave them alone; they're my buddies."

Let's not forget that no matter how all of this ends up for you and me, the former covering cherub,

whose name was Lucifer, and all of his crowd, which are a third of the angels, are going to one

day be destroyed, and I am sure they will not go down without a fight.

Lucifer and his angels will not go down without a fight and they will try to take everyone else

down with them. They will do this by trying to capitalize on the justice of God. Let me explain what

I mean. By trying to capitalize on the justice of God, I mean they are continually crying foul or

unfair. Let me tell you why. I am sure that you can appreciate the fact that those who God finally

destroys must be shown to be fundamentally different from those whom He will finally save.

Remember now, we are all sinners. So then if God would save one group of sinners and destroy

another, there must be a difference between the two groups, and the difference must be able to

be demonstrated by hard evidence so that even the devil can see the difference. Remember, God

is the only one who knows the heart.

You see, this is what all the recordkeeping is all about. If the matter of being saved were just

about repeating some kind of canned prayer or signing on some dotted line, guess who would sign

up? I think even the devil would sign up. Do you really think the devil is looking forward to hell?

Hardly! He knows that he is going there and he is making every effort to make sure that he is not

alone.

This is why the Bible calls him the "accuser of the brethren." He is the adversary. When a person

gives their heart to Jesus, that is not the end of the story of salvation for them, but only the

beginning. Of course, when we commit our lives to Jesus, the Bible teaches that He will never be

unfaithful to us or separate Himself from us or divorce us, but do I need to tell you we can and

often do all of the above to Him. That is again why the judgment is a necessity. The Book of Life

and the Book of Remembrance are "the facts, ma'am, and nothing but the facts."

I don't need to tell you that, when a person is brought to trial, they usually claim to be innocent of

all of the charges. I said usually .

I was talking one time with a young man who worked for the district attorney's office in Miami . He

was telling me that on one occasion the authorities apprehended two people who were running

drug operations. The men had no connection with each other, but the case that the state had on

each one was about the same.

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The young man told me that one of the men pleaded guilty, the other pleaded innocent. The one

who pleaded guilty was given a suspended sentence. The one who said that he was innocent was

brought to trial, found guilty and given a twenty-year sentence.

I asked the fellow who was telling me the story if that is the way things go then why don't all of

the crooks just plead guilty. I will never forget what he replied. He said, "It is because of pride.

Pride kills."

So, friends, in the judgment, Satan is our accuser. He accuses us of being sinners, and that we

are. When we give our lives to Jesus, Satan then spends all of his time trying to get us to separate

ourselves from the love of God and to be disobedient to His will. In the judgment he points to the

record of our lives, to our character defects, our unlikeness to Christ. He points to all the sin that

he has tempted us to commit and he says that we are on his side.

Jesus does not excuse our sins, but He points out our repentance and faith. He lifts His wounded

hands before the Father and the holy angels saying, "I know them by name; I have graven them

on the palms of my hands."

My friends, let us not forget a true Christian is a person with a broken spirit and a broken and

humble heart. It is as if the Lord says to the devil, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord

that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee; is not this a brand plucked out of the fires?"

In the judgment Christ covers His faithful followers with His own righteousness, that He may

present them to His Father "a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing." Their

names are written in the Book of Life, and concerning them it is written, "They shall walk with me

for they are worthy." (Micah 4:8, Zechariah 3:2, Ephesians 5:27, Revelation 3:4).

Though Jesus forgives our sins when we ask, there is still a record of them in heaven. This record

is not cleared until the Investigative Judgment. The apostle Peter distinctly states that the sins of

believers will be blotted out "when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the

Lord and He shall send Jesus Christ." When the Investigative Judgment is over, Christ will come

and His reward will be with Him to give to every one as their work shall be.

In the Old Testament the Investigative Judgment was symbolized by the Day of Atonement. These

days the Jews still celebrate it and it is called Yom Kippur. You have probably heard about it. The

Day of Atonement was and is celebrated once a year. In the Old Testament days, when the day

was come to a close, the High Priest came out and blessed the congregation. In the same way at
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the close of the Investigative Judgment, the Scripture says Jesus will appear without sin unto

salvation to bless His people with the gift of eternal life (Hebrews 9:28).

And so beginning in 1844 Jesus began the final part of His work as our mediator. At that time, as I

stated before, those who will be saved are given the final blessing--a blessing based on the grace

of our Lord as it was shown in their daily lives. All of this, of course, is recorded in the books of

heaven.

The sins that have not been repented of and forsaken will not be pardoned and blotted out of the

books of record, but they will stand as a witness against the sinner in the day of God. A person

may have committed their evil deeds out in the open or in secret, but Scripture is clear that every

sin will be open and manifest before Him with whom we have to do. We are told that angels of

God witness each sin that we commit and they register it in the records in the heavenly

computers. A sin may be hidden, denied, or covered up, but it will finally be laid bare before all of

the intelligences of heaven.

A person may have lived a life in which they deceived everyone all the time, and even themselves

part of the time, but the fact is that none of us deceives God anytime. We are always trying to

give a good impression or to develop a good image, but God is interested in our characters. We

may deceive each other, but God knows the truth about each one of us.

You may be saying by now, "But Pastor O'Ffill, what are you saying? They have been telling us

that all we have to do is to have a relationship with Jesus and we are home free." The problem,

ladies and gentlemen, is not shall we or shall we not have a relationship with Jesus, but rather

what kind of a relationship will that be.

Contrary to what some may think, God is not, what we might say, a kind of first among equals.

The talk these days that we ought to have a relationship with Jesus could make a person think

that He is just one of the good old boys.

If we have made some mistakes in the past of not preaching enough about the love of God and

preaching too much about the coming judgment, I believe we have, in the 21st century, to put it

mildly, gone to the other extreme.

My friends, God is first our Creator, then He is our Judge. He is our Savior and our Sustainer. Of

course, He is our Friend, He is our Father, and He is our older Brother, but a person who tries to

relate to God as a Friend, Father and a Brother, but who does not relate to Him as Creator and

Judge, is going to be messed up in the end.

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Scripture calls us to fear God and give glory to Him. Think about it now. This is not how we relate

to our buddies or our neighbors. We are called upon to love the Lord with all our hearts, with all

our souls and with all our might. This kind of commitment is not the kind of commitment that we

have with anyone on this planet, or at least it shouldn't be.

I believe to simply call upon people to have a relationship with Jesus without explaining what that

means can be down-right misleading and could even be ultimately fatal.

It is not a pleasant thought to realize that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to

give account for the way that we have lived this life. The process is complicated by the fact that

the devil is not going down without a fight and the judge of all the earth must do right. He will

both save and He will destroy, and it will be based on the facts, ma'am, and nothing but the facts.

There is, as it were, a heavenly video that records every aspect of our lives. Whether this will

condemn us ultimately or will be used to justify us depends upon whether or not we have let the

Holy Spirit do its work in our lives.

You are probably aware that one of the most controversial doctrines that is held by the Adventist

church is the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment. The reason many people these days resist it

is that it represents not only the plan of God to save us from our sins, but it clearly shows our on-

going responsibility to be faithful to Him.

The intercession of Christ for us in the sanctuary in heaven is as necessary to the plan of salvation

as was His death on the cross. When He died on the cross He began a work which He has gone to

heaven to finish.

Friends, we must by faith enter into the process by which He is saving us. He died on the cross

alone, but He cannot save us alone. The Bible tells us that we must work out our salvation with

fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) looking ever to Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our

faith.

We say that we are Christians--that Jesus is our Savior and our Lord--but for many of us you would

hardly know it! The Scripture says very clearly, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but

whoso confesses and forsakes them shall receive mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).

When we who claim to be Christians refuse to repent, when we hold on to pride, to selfishness, to

lust, to bitterness and to resentment, Satan must laugh himself silly. How he must taunt Christ
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and the holy angels.

We may say, "But I have given up all the big sins in my life. Of course, I recognize that I do some

things that I shouldn't, but then no one is perfect."

Have you ever thought, my friends, that the sins that we call the little sins are really the big ones?

If it is true that we have given up some sins, they must have been the little ones. It must be the

big ones that we are holding on to because they are the ones that we are willing to lose our

eternal life over.

I have a good friend whose wife got cancer. He is a specialist in internal medicine. His wife had all

the surgery that was possible in her case. Once I asked him about the surgeries. He told me that

even if they are able to get the whole tumor, there might be at any one moment a large number

of cancer cells that are simply floating around in the body's circulatory system. Unfortunately,

they were not able to save her.

In the same way, we often are willing to have the Holy Spirit cut out a tumor of sin, but then we

don't follow up, we forget that sin is, as it were, floating around in our very being. Satan knows

that if we knowingly are holding on to any sin, in any amount, we will finally be overcome and lost.

You may say, "Does that mean that I must be perfect at all times? Must I be completely sinless at

all times or I will be lost?" What it means, my friends, is that we must be fighting against sin at all

times. We must, by the power of the Holy Spirit, be continually in a spirit of sorrow and

repentance. This is all that we can bring, as they say, to the table, yet we have the promise that if

we will confess our sins that He is faithful and just, not only to forgive us, but to make us well--to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The cleansing and healing from sin is something

that He does for us and in us.

We are now living in the great Day of Atonement. In the olden days while the high priest was

making the atonement for Israel , everyone was required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin

and humble themselves before the Lord. Those who refused to do this were cut off from among

the people. In the same way, all of us who would have our names retained in the Book of Life

should now, in the few remaining days of our probation, be afflicting our souls before God by

sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful, searching of our hearts.

We must put away the light and frivolous spirit that so many of us have. We are at war. We must

all work with Christ to overcome the evil tendencies that are ruining our lives and carrying us

away from Christ.

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The work of preparation for the judgment is an individual work--a personal work. We are not saved

in groups, though obviously we must encourage each other. You may have a husband or a wife, a

son or a daughter, who is close to the Lord, but that won't fill in for you. Though all nations are to

pass in judgment before God, yet He is going to examine the case of each individual as closely as

if there were not another being on the earth. Everyone must be tested and found without spot or

wrinkle or any such thing. The judgment is now going on in heaven. For many years this work has

been in progress. Soon--none knows how soon--it will pass to the cases of the living. In the awful

presence of God our lives will come up to be reviewed. One day each of us must be on trial.

Jesus Himself warned us of this day when He said, "Watch and pray: for ye know not when the

time is." "If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know

what hour I will come upon thee." (Mark 13:33, Revelations 3:3).

When the work of the Investigative Judgment closes, the destiny of all will have been decided for

life or death. At the end of the Investigative Judgment Jesus says, "He that is unjust, let him be

unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still and he that is righteous, let him be

righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still." Probation ends a short time before the

coming of Jesus in the clouds.

What if what I have been saying is true? Friends, it is true! Just about everyone on this planet,

except those who are in denial, know that some day they are going to have to give an account to

God for the lives that they have lived. The concept of judgment is burned into the very fiber of our

being.

The only thing is most of the people want to bargain their way out of the judgment or they want to

re-cast the judgment in such a way that it will no longer be a big deal. But it is a big deal. The two

greatest events of a person's life are their birth and the time of their judgment before God. The

Scripture says that it is appointed to a person once to die and then the judgment.

Many people try to do with the judgment the same as they do when it comes time to file their

income taxes. I must confess I am one of those who wait until the last day or so to send in my

1040. Mailing your tax forms at midnight on April 15 doesn't have a negative effect upon your

taxes, but using this system to get ready for the judgment may be a fatal error.

The Investigative Judgment is on right now. Soon--and none of us know how soon--the judgment

will pass to those of us that are alive. We have traditionally believed that the Investigative

Judgment will close during the time surrounding the Sunday Law and all that will be happening at
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that time.

I don't know if you have thought of it before, but the Sunday law is the final test. I don't know if

you remember the way that it is in school on the day of the final exam. Only a dummy would go

into the final exam with the idea that somehow he would recall what he had never learned.

The Sunday Law is the final test. A person who has not been particularly religious or who has been

careless before the Sunday Law will simply flunk the test. You might say, "But what about those

who right now may not be keeping the Sabbath? How will the Sunday Law affect them?" The

Sunday Law is the test. That means a person who has not gotten ready for the test is going to fail

it. How will a person get ready for the test? I will tell you how. By total commitment to the Lord

Jesus Christ; By maintaining in the Spirit an attitude of complete repentance, and by submitting to

the Spirit's leading them into a life of holiness and righteousness.

So then, it is not so much a matter of which church you belong to when the final test comes. When

the final test comes and God leads his people into a complete commandment-keeping experience,

it will not be about whether you were a Baptist, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist or whatever.

Remember what Jesus says when the Investigative Judgment is over. He says, "He that is holy let

him be holy still, and then he that is filthy let him be filthy still."

You see, it is not the Sunday Law test that will make a person holy. It is the blood of Jesus and the

working of the Holy Spirit in the life. The Sunday Law though is the final test, which will

demonstrate in a simple and a practical way before everyone on this planet who is who.

In Heaven, it is the Investigative Judgment that shows the rest of the universe who is who. On this

planet it will be the Sunday Law that separates, as they say, the men from the boys. You still

might be thinking, "I was always good at cramming for a test. When I see the Sunday Law about

to happen I will jump back in the boat if I have to or at least I will get more serious than I am right

now."

I believe a person who has this as their salvation strategy is going to be in for a big letdown. You

see, the thing that prepares us for all of this is the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is a process of

allowing the Holy Spirit to work more and more in the life. As we used to sing, "Open up your

heart and let the sun shine in."

A person who right now is resisting the work of the Holy Spirit is taking a huge risk. The Scripture

teaches that we can actually grieve away the Holy Spirit, or at least so cauterize our own

conscience that we no longer are capable of responding to His voice.

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It is the Holy Spirit that calls us to repentance and engrafts within us the mind of Christ and He

does this by invitation only. Over the long haul, a person who has repeatedly refused to yield to

the Spirit becomes less capable of responding to His voice.

Being ready for the judgment and the coming of Jesus is not just about having all of your doctrinal

ducks in a row either. We are told that many of those who formerly knew the truth will become

the greatest enemies of God's people at the end. This means that in spite of the facts and the

figures, those who consistently refuse the Holy Spirit finally become enemies of God and His

people.

This is exactly the significance of what it means when Jesus pronounces those fateful words, "He

that is holy let him be holy still." In another place the Scripture warns those who have known the

truth but who have not lived it. It says, "No man who having put his hand to the plow and looking

back is fit for the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 9:62).

By now some of you might be thinking, "Pastor O'Ffill, from what you have been saying I am afraid

that there is no hope for me. I know that I have not been taking my Christian life seriously. Are

you saying now that I have gone so far that I can't turn back?"

No, I am not saying that. I am saying though that now is the time of salvation. Now our salvation is

nearer than when we first believed. We must repent while there is still time. All of the grace in

heaven, all of the love that Jesus has for sinners, is not enough to save a sinner who hardens their

heart and refuses to repent.

They are telling us all the time that Jesus loves us and that He died to save sinners and that there

is no sin or sinner that He will not forgive. That is true. But let's get real, my friends. The problem

is not the unfaithfulness of our Savior, but our unfaithfulness and disloyalty to Him.

The other day someone was telling me that they know of young husbands and fathers who are

members of the church and who are in church every week, yet who often spend their lunch hours

in topless restaurants, and their wives know about it.

A minister's wife was telling me that her husband was visiting some church members one Sabbath

afternoon--(and I am not talking about people who don't go to church, but who do)--and there in

the afternoon the husband was working around the house just like it was any old day of the week.

I know. When we begin to talk like this someone begins to scream, "But we are not saved by
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works."

People who really have salvation are not trying to see how much they can get away with, but

whether they eat or drink or whatever they do, they do by the power of the indwelling Christ, to

the glory of God.

Unfortunately for us, when our names come into judgment, we will not be there to try to smooth-

talk our way into heaven or to plead temporary insanity. The judgment is set and the books have

been opened. It is the facts, ma'am, it is the facts, sir, and nothing but the facts.

May our lives be completely hid in Jesus, who is our hope and our help. To Him be glory and honor

in the church, now and forever. Amen.

What Are We Waiting For?

by Richard W. O'Ffill

I guess I was fortunate growing up. I had few accidents aside from the occasional scraped knee or

cut finger. The big one for me came when I was 18 years old. Every summer I worked on a

plastering crew. That particular day, which was about three weeks before I would return to

college, our job was to stucco a house. There were only two of us there that early morning, the

other guys hadn't arrived yet. My buddy and I decided to check out the electric cement mixer. I

connected the heavy-duty extension cord to the temporary power pole, and Willis plugged in the

mixer.

It was turned on, so immediately the mixing paddles begin to slowly go around and around. When

he saw that the machine was up and running, Willis set the cord down on the ground. But when he

did so, the machine became unplugged from the extension cord because the connection was

loose.

Willis picked up the end of the extension cord and began to spread the tines so they would stay

plugged in. While he was doing that, I looked inside the mixer and noticed that there were some

sticks in the bottom of the tub, so I reached my arm down into the mixer to take them out. No

sooner was my hand at the bottom of the mixer than Willis plugged it in again.

The rotating paddles caught my arm, and it immediately snapped like a dry stick across your

knee. I cried out, "Willis!" and I thank God he instantly unplugged the connection. I believe to this

day that in a moment more my arm would have come off at the shoulder.
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X-rays at the hospital revealed that, although I had not suffered a compound fracture, it would be

necessary to do what is called an open reduction. This meant the doctor would put stainless steel

rods through both arm bones and of course my arm would be in a cast for a long while. The

recuperation went well. However, when they finally took out the steel rods, my right arm could no

longer be fully extended.

You see, while my arm was in the plaster cast and I couldn't move or exercise it, the muscles had

shrunk. The only way I could get back full movement of the arm was to submit to physical

therapy. The therapist basically applied physical force to my arm until the muscles were finally

stretched out again. The therapist would have made a good wrestler, because basically he put my

arm into a reverse hammerlock. I don't need to tell you how painful the treatments were.

"So, Pastor O'Ffill, what is the point?" The point is, if you don't use it, you lose it.

I have a friend who is an orthopedic surgeon. He told me that, not only do our muscles suffer from

lack of use, but so do our bones. Our bones are the framework that keeps us from being like

jellyfish. They give us our shape and form, like the frame does to a building; but unlike steel

girders or two-by-four, they are alive. And if they are not exercised or, in this case, stressed, they

actually loose mass.

Perhaps you have learned by personal experience that when a person has to go to the hospital,

the medical personnel try to get the patient up and around as soon as possible, because every

day in bed without movement can result in complications and a slow-down in the healing process.

"So, Pastor O'Ffill, I get it, I get it. I understand that. So, what's the point?" The point is, if you

don't use it, you lose it.

"You said that already."

But what I didn't say is that it is the same in the spiritual life. Jesus told about a man who was

about to go on a trip. The story is found in Matthew 25:14-30.

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants,

and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to

another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

"Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other

five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had
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received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

"After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had

received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me

five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well

done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee

ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents

came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other

talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been

faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy

lord.

"Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an

hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I

was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord

answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I

sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money

to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take

therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

"For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that

hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into

outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This story ups the ante from muscles and bones to all that there is about us, and Jesus wasn't

teaching anatomy and physiology. He was teaching concepts that are not only important in time

but also in eternity.

The title of this discussion is "What Are We Waiting For?". It is based on the premise that many

Christians are somehow convinced that, although they do not have the Christian walk they ought

to have, and although in their everyday lives they are not seeking first the Kingdom of God and

His righteousness, somehow, when the going gets hard and things really begin to look grim in the

world, they will get serious about their commitment to eternal things.

This makes about as much sense as a university student deciding that he will not prepare for the

final exam, thinking that when the test paper is on his desk somehow all the facts he never

learned will somehow come to mind.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are moving on a sure course toward a day in which there will be a huge
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test. This test will not be to gain three credit hours nor even be the comprehensive exam to

receive a Master's or a Doctorate.

This test will be for everyone living at that time; and when it is over Jesus will pronounce the

fateful words, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still:

and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."

This pronouncement will declare the eternal destiny for the entire human race from Adam until

that moment.

Our time can be compared to only one other time in the history of this planet, and that time is "as

it was in the days of Noah".

The conditions will be similar in three ways:

1. A warning message is given.

2. The people are interested only in the good life.

3. When the time is up and the game is called, it is all over for the people on the outside.

Of course, in the time of the flood, when it actually began to rain, some of the people did get

serious, but it was too little, too late. Friends, what are we waiting for?

Many have somehow come to the conclusion that, inasmuch as we are saved by grace through

faith and not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, somehow this means that we can live our lives

business as usual and still qualify for a passing grade in the course even though we didn't attend

the classes.

Being saved by grace through faith doesn't make void the great law of cause and effect which is

based on the truth, Use it or lose it.

Salvation is a process by which, if we are not using it, we will lose it. This has nothing to do with

salvation by works. When we give our hearts to Jesus, He writes our name in the Lamb's Book of

Life, and the Holy Spirit immediately begins a process that will be ongoing and must necessarily

be progressing until Jesus says, "It is finished."

Salvation is not only about where we will live when Jesus comes but how we live as we await His

coming. We may not have thought of it this way before, but salvation ultimately manifests itself in

a lifestyle.
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You may be thinking, "Pastor O'Ffill, I caught you now. You just said that we are saved by works".

No, I didn't say that we are saved by our lifestyle. I said that our salvation necessarily affects the

way we live. It would be a fatal mistake to say that having the Holy Spirit in the life will not affect

how spouses treat each other or how parents treat their children or children their parents.

Just as in the physical realm our bones must move and stretch, so the Christian life must be

maintained and kept viable. We understand that it must be exercised and growing or else we

missed the point of the parable of the talents.

Notice that God didn't make us with a cookie cutter. We are not all the same. One servant had five

talents, one had two, and the other had only one. But the point of the story is that God takes us

where we are; and whoever we are and whether we have a lot of advantage or little, He expects

us to do something about it. The person who begins a life in Christ and doesn't allow the Holy

Spirit to do something with it will end up losing what little they had.

These days, people are into exercise and physical fitness. Perhaps not in every case, but judging

from the fact that the health club walls are often covered with mirrors, it would seem that people

are more often into physical fitness to look healthy than to be healthy.

Living the life in the Spirit is not something we do to look good, rather it has to do with being

good. Speaking of looking good, 1 Samuel 16:7 declares that man looks on the outward

appearance but God looks on the heart.

We often use this text as an excuse to look or dress the way we please. And if anybody dares to

question us, we say, "Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart."

But what does this text really say? Does it give Christians a cart blanche to look or dress like the

world because it's only the heart that matters? Monkeys look like monkeys because they are

monkeys. Birds look like birds because they are birds. Is it asking too much that Christians look

like Christians because they are Christians?

There is a tendency these days which suggests that Christians can dress like non-Christians and

they will still be Christians, or that Christians can go to the same places and listen to the same

music as non-Christians and they will still be Christians.

Perhaps they think they can, but the fact is they can't. A changed heart is a changed life, and a

person who has received the Holy Spirit in the life, whether they eat or drink or whatever they do,
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it will be to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

There is an Old Testament story that makes it clear. It is not exactly a story with high morals, but

it is found in Genesis 38. Judah, one of Jacob's sons, had a son named Er who died. His wife was a

woman named Tamar. The custom of the time was that Judah should have given Tamar another of

his sons to marry and raise a family, but he would not. So Tamar decided to take the matter into

her own hands. One day she dressed up like a prostitute and sat down beside the road where she

knew Judah would pass. Sure enough, Judah passed by and, yielding to her suggestions, he

disgraced himself, which fact she later used to persuade Judah to give her his son. You see, Judah

picked up his own former daughter-in-law Tamar whom he didn't recognize because he was

looking at the outward appearance of a prostitute.

Don't you see that, because as humans we do look on the outward appearance, it is so important

that as daughters of God Christian women not dress like those who aren't? By the way, you notice

that I referred to those who are daughters of God and those who aren't. Although God created

everyone, not everyone is a son or daughter of God. John 1:12 reads, "But as many as received

Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."

Although God is love, this does not imply that everyone on this planet has the same relationship

to Him. There are those the Bible refers to as "the wicked".

I have often thought of those who the Bible says have thoughts that are evil continually. If you

have an e-mail address, you have probably received hundreds of e-mails offering pornography.

Those who are purveyors of this traffic are evil and wicked. We are not all the same. Although God

is not willing that any should perish and that all should come to repentance, there are at any one

time two groups-the children of God and the children of the devil.

The Bible commands those who are followers of Jesus to be separate from the ways of the world.

Although we should, of course, work to save the lost, we must be careful not to catch the disease

they have. Jesus made this relationship clear when He said that we should not love the world. A

person who claims to be a follower of Jesus and essentially follows the lifestyle of the world is not

only in the world, but they are in fact of the world.

The purpose of the Christian life is not so much to try to win unchurched Harry and Mary, but

foremost it is to live a holy life. Holy means separate. Israel could never win the Egyptians while

they still lived in Egypt. Those whom God would sanctify He must first separate.

The Christian life, though progressive, is not a do-it-yourself, or do-it-my-way process. These days

more and more Christians are giving themselves an "A" in the Christian life because they are
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making up the roles for themselves as they go along.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of spirituality in the culture. I suppose we should, on

the surface of it, celebrate this. But this spirituality is home-grown because, although it uses all

the right words, it tends to pick and choose as far as the application to the life is concerned.

But a warning here: It is possible to get bogged down in rules and regulations and miss the spirit

of it all. It is also possible to get so bogged down in the spirit that we become like a dog chasing

its tail.

A few weeks ago I was the house guest in a minister's home. You can imagine we had a nice visit

together sharing stories and concerns. The pastor was telling me that he recently had the

opportunity to be with a group of people who were church planters. If I remember correctly, he

had known one of these people from some years before. He asked his friend what he had been

doing since they last met.

The man confessed that, although he had been in the ministry for a period of time, he had gotten

fed-up with all the doctrines and was out of the church for ten years. Then, he told my friend, he

found Jesus and came back into the ministry.

My friend knew the first elder of the church that this man had most recently pastored, and the

elder later confided that it appeared that the man, although he claims to have found Jesus, was

still fed up with the doctrines.

I really can't figure out why so many these days say they are fed up with the doctrines. The truth

about Jesus is a doctrine; and if a person has a correct concept of the doctrine of Jesus, he won't

have trouble with the other doctrines. Jesus put it this way, "They are they which testify of Me."

Just as bones and muscles will atrophy and lose their strength if they do not obey the laws of

nature and exercise, so it is in the Christian life. And the exercise of the Christian life is obedience.

When we say obedience, we are not talking about obeying rules we make up for ourselves. We are

talking about obeying the rules and regs that God has stipulated for us. Obedience in the Christian

life is not merely having ethics or morals. There are many ideologies and religions that are moral

and ethical. Obedience in the Christian life is not about obeying Buddha or Mohammed but about

obeying Jesus.

The whole problem at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not whether or not our first

parents should obey but rather whom should they obey. The temptation of Satan to our first

grandmother was that, if she would eat from the tree, she basically wouldn't have to obey anyone
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anymore but herself. The issue was and still is whether or not we will or will not do what God tells

us to do.

This is why obedience really is disobedience unless it is obedience to the Word of God.

The exercise of the Christian life-and by "Christian life" we mean the life of a person who

professes to follow Jesus-is something that comes through obedience. Obedience, not just where

we happen to agree or understand, but obedience whether or not we agree or even understand.

There are some who teach that God doesn't expect us to obey unless we understand why. I must

disagree and say that we will never understand why until we begin to obey.

Someone might ask if I believe in blind obedience. I suppose I would answer yes and no. For

instance, I believe it would be the better part of wisdom to obey the law of gravity and not jump

off a ten-story building even though I may never have taken a class in physics.

On the other hand, I am convinced that as we obey we will begin to understand the issues behind

the rules. After all, Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit, who would lead us into all truth.

The Holy Spirit and our conscience are linked together. I believe that the conscience is that special

part of us where it might be said the Holy Spirit works. I believe that the conscience is where the

Holy Spirit meets us. The conscience under the influence of the Holy Spirit gives us a reference

point for our decisions.

You see, there is no decision we make that is neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong. The

Bible says that God will bring every work into judgment. This being the case, our every decision is

either to the glory of God or it isn't. But it is important to remember that God doesn't hold

everyone accountable in the same way. Remember, like in the parable, some have five talents,

some have two and others have only one.

Our life in this world that will pass away is a time to develop Christ-like characters that will last for

eternity. In order to have a Christ-like character, it is necessary to have a highly developed

conscience. Obedience to the Word of God is impossible if our consciences are malfunctioning.

An important aspect of the Christian life, then, includes formatting the conscience so that it will be

super-sensitive. Some people don't like the concept of having a sensitive conscience.

I have read that since 9-11 the customs and immigration agents at the ports of entry carry a little

instrument that is extremely sensitive to radioactive materials. This is very important, because
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now there is the possibility that an enemy might try to bring a small nuclear device into the

country.

On several occasions the inspectors at an airport's x-ray machine have asked me to step aside.

They wipe the handle of my suitcase with a small cloth and then expose the cloth to a machine

that can detect even the smallest amount of residue of explosive materials.

What I am emphasizing is that in these last days it is imperative that a Christian's conscience be

sensitive to anything that is not to the glory of God and so may be used by the enemy to lead us

into danger.

However, a problem that can arise is that, once a person's conscience has been sensitized, it is

extremely dangerous to ignore its warnings. 1 Timothy 4:2 says, ". . . speaking lies in hypocrisy;

having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

In 1984 an Avianca Airlines jet crashed in Spain. One of the first things crash investigators do is

try to locate the "black box" cockpit recorder. In this case they made an eerie discovery. The

recorder revealed that, several minutes before the crash, a computer-synthesized voice from the

plane's automatic warning system repeatedly told the flight crew in English, "Pull up, Pull Up!"

The pilot must have thought the system was malfunctioning. The "black box" recorded him

responding, "Shut up, Gringo," and then he apparently switched the system off. Minutes later the

plane plowed into the side of a mountain. Everyone on board perished. This is a tragic story, yet it

is an apt example of the way people today are treating the warning messages of their

consciences.

Many have the perception that guilt is the cause of our difficulties. As a result they will do

whatever it takes to avoid being put on a guilt trip. However, contrary to the popular thinking,

guilt is not what is causing our most severe problems. Guilt cannot be the culprit, because guilt is

not a cause, rather it is an effect. You see guilt, is something that is detected by the conscience.

Therefore, if we are going to address what to do about guilt, we must first understand what the

conscience is and what role it plays in the Christian life. If our perception of guilt is not accurate

and we address it as a cause rather than as an effect, we could wake up one day to discover that

the steps we took to remedy guilt in fact made it impossible for us to be free from what was

causing the trouble in the first place.

It was God's plan that the conscience warn us of the moral implications of what we do or plan to

do (Isaiah 30:21). The conscience was designed to react to lawlessness and irresponsibility. The

conscience is the place where guilt, shame, and even fear of punishment are registered.
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Contemporary society incorrectly sees the conscience as a defect that is robbing people of their

self-esteem. The conscience doesn't create guilt (Isaiah 59:2), it detects guilt. God placed the

conscience into the very fiber of the human soul to be an automatic warning system that tells us,

"Pull up, Pull up," before we crash and burn. When we understand the function of the conscience,

we can appreciate that it is one of the greatest gifts God has given us.

The conscience is that part of us that separates us from the rest of God's creation on this planet. It

is the ability God has given us to know right and wrong. Unlike the rest of the animal creation, the

conscience is that part of man that reflects the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Animals don't have a

conscience. When a snake bites or a lion kills, they are not violating their consciences. They don't

have the ability to make moral self-evaluations.

The conscience is a human faculty. Though sometimes it may not seem so, everybody has a

conscience. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in

the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves. Which shew the work of the law

written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile

accusing or else excusing one another" (Romans 2:14, 15).

Though a person is born with the faculty of conscience, it is important that we understand it is not

the voice of God nor is it the law of God. The conscience simply judges our actions and thoughts in

the light of the highest standard that we happen to understand at the time.

Furthermore, the conscience is not infallible. It can be tainted. The role of the conscience is not to

teach moral and ethical ideals. The conscience doesn't decide what is right and wrong, it only

reminds us what is right and wrong according to the way it has been programmed. Inasmuch as

our conscience may be programmed by tradition and environment as well as by truth, it may or

may not have been programmed correctly or in harmony with biblical truth.

The conscience may even be sensitized to things that are not biblical issues. For that matter, at

the other extreme it may be totally unresponsive to things that are clearly a moral issue. It is even

possible to have a conscience that has no foundation in the Word of God. When this happens, it

will do a lot of spinning but will not be taking anyone anywhere. For this reason a strong, regular

input of Scripture is necessary to strengthen a weak conscience. Scripture also helps to stabilize a

conscience that is, as it were, spinning because it has no foundation in truth. If the conscience is

going to function as it is supposed to, it must be programmed and continually updated by the

Word of God.

Sometimes we hear, "Just let your conscience be your guide." This is not a safe criterion, because

it takes for granted that a person has a sensitive, developed conscience based on the Word of God
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and that it has not been blunted or rendered inoperative. Like a fine instrument, conscience must

be kept well calibrated with the Word of God.

God did not give us our conscience to condemn us but to protect us. It is wrong actions that

condemn us. God has put the conscience within to alert us and to tell us when we are off the road.

It is possible to dull the conscience or even to make it inoperable (Titus 1:15, Ephesians 4:19). If

we resist the voice of conscience or keep it uninformed or misinformed, it will cease to function

and may even begin to malfunction.

For some years my work occasionally took me to Africa. It was there that I saw the scourge of

leprosy for the first time. Leprosy is a disease that makes it impossible for the one affected to feel

pain. I saw men and women without their feet and hands. Previously, I had thought that the

disease destroys the extremities. This is not so. The disease simply takes away the sensation of

pain, and without pain the victim is not able to distinguish when their hands and feet are being

traumatized and destroyed. This helped me understand how the conscience is the moral organ of

pain. A person who ignores his conscience or seeks to do away with it will sooner or later end up

badly disfigured morally and eventually may lose his soul.

I had often wondered why people who were raised in a Christian environment, but who left it,

could end up worse than those who had lived in the world all their lives. People with primitive or

undeveloped consciences, but who are responsive to what consciences they have, will often not

be nearly as wicked as people who once had sensitive consciences, but who have turned their

backs on their consciences and, in the words of the Scripture, have "crucified the Son of God

afresh" (Hebrews 6:6).

It is dangerous to try to run your conscience backward or pretend that it isn't there. "And Jesus

said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of

God" (Luke 9:62). It is more serious to have known the truth and rejected it than not to have

known it at all. The apostle Paul speaks of this phenomena in Timothy 4:1-2: "Now the Spirit

speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to

seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience

seared with a hot iron."

A person who has defiled or blunted his conscience will end up being like a ship without a

compass. The warning signals that previously made him feel guilty are gone, but the danger

remains. Without a way to detect moral problems, he is in greater danger than ever.

I had an experience that helped me understand the importance of a sensitive conscience. I used

to own a 1985 Ford LTD station wagon. On the dashboard the car had what are called "idiot
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lights," although I am sure the manufacturer doesn't call them that. Idiot lights are different from

gauges. An oil gauge will show you what your oil pressure is as you drive along. An idiot light

doesn't come on until the engine is out of oil, and by then it is probably too late. Two times I

burned the head on my engine because the light came on after the damage had already been

done. The second time it happened I paid to have gauges installed that constantly monitored the

condition of the engine (you could say I was an idiot not to have put the gauges in after the first

time!).

But notice, the gauges on a car are not the problem, rather they are there to tell us what the

condition of the motor is and to help us prevent problems. When problems come, the gauge

indicates that we should stop and do something about it. In the same way our consciences were

meant to alert us when we have wandered into dangerous territory in our lives. I suspect that

much of the pain we suffer in our lives is due to the fact that, either we have not paid attention to

the signals that have come on in our consciences, or that our consciences are not calibrated by

the Word of God and have been blunted.

As Christians, if we are not making the effort by the grace of God to live up to all of the light that

we have, when the time comes for the final test, we will surely fail. Those who are lost will not be

those who didn't have the light, but rather they will be the ones who preferred darkness, those

who, having had the truth, preferred to believe a lie. If we don't implement the truth, we will lose

the ability to discern it.

The Christian life must be growing or it is dying. God has given us the Holy Spirit, His Word, and a

conscience. We must make the choice. Not once in a lifetime, but everyday we are choosing what

it will be. The trials that are ahead of us will only strengthen us if we are in fact committed in our

hearts to the Lord Jesus and only if we have determined that it is our choice to do His will, not only

in the big things of life but the little ones as well.

What will it be like to live in the time of trouble? I am not sure. It will probably be like this, only

more so. I believe that we are now in what has been called the Little Time of Trouble.

Friend, if you know that your life is not consistent with your profession, what are you waiting for?

Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. When the door of the ark was closed, it was

too late to decide to get in. For those of us who have known the truth but not lived up to the light

we have had, when the Sunday law comes it is more than likely we will think of some reason for

not remaining faithful. Those who receive the Mark of the Beast in their hand will be those who

rationalize and say, "God knows my heart, He knows that I have to support my family."

I am worried with what appears to be a growing trend toward a liberal view of Sabbath keeping. If
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this is what we do when we have little to lose by being faithful, what makes us think that, when it

is a matter of survival, we will somehow change our minds and begin to keep it holy? What are we

waiting for?

This is not a time to turn our consciences down, but it is time to turn them up. What are we

waiting for? May God help us to get serious while the getting is good, and He has promised, "Lo I

am with you always, even until the end of the world."

Can We Agree to Disagree

by Richard W. O'Ffill

It has been said that there are some 2,000 different Christian denominations. I doubt that these

would be main-line denominations. But there are at least 2,000 groupings of churches.

The interesting thing is, these Christian churches claim to be just that--Christian. Somewhere in

the mix they may also claim to follow the Bible or at least their own authorized version, as in the

case of Jehovah's Witnesses, or the Bible plus their own supposedly inspired founder and prophet,

as in the case of the Mormons.

Speaking of Jehovah's Witnesses, someone once told me about the day several of them knocked

on the door of the evangelist E. E. Cleveland. They announced that they were Jehovah's

Witnesses. "So am I," said Brother Cleveland, "Come on in."

"Where is your hall?" one of them asked the evangelist.

"It is at the corner of 5th and Popular," he replied.

"I didn't know we had a hall there," said one of his visitors.

"You may not know about it," replied the preacher, "but Jehovah does!"

There is an old song that declares, "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't going there." In the same

way, every church or denomination who says they are Christian are not necessarily so.

One of these organizations is our clean-living, committed friends, the Mormons. However, a

doctrine that teaches that Jesus and Satan are brothers, that Jesus used to be what you are and

one day you will be what he is, and that in the end everyone will be saved, including the Devil,

cannot be considered Christian.

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But we should really not be surprised. Jesus Himself said it would be this way. He said many would

come in His name.

This is why it is very important that we are not mislead when someone claims to be a Christian. I

suppose it could be said that just before the close of probation the Devil finally claims to become

a Christian. Scripture says he becomes, as it were, an angel of light. We understand that one of

his final deceptions before the coming of Jesus is to appear to be Jesus Himself.

Most of us are pretty clear when someone tells us they are a Buddhist, Hindu, or Spiritualist. But

things begin to get a little murky when a person claims that he or she is a Christian. And it can

really be a problem if the person is a member of our own church.

The Bible teaches that in the end time men and women would depart from the faith and would

begin to believe seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that

in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines

of devils" (I Tim. 4:1).

This means that conditions would be such that the evil spirits could access people, and this could

occur in places other than a Hindu temple or during a séance.

The text explicitly says that some shall depart from the faith. But notice, it doesn't say they would

stop coming to church, at least not at first.

If we learn one thing from history, it is that the Devil's number one objective is to corrupt and

finally overthrow the true faith.

On various occasions Jesus warns His listeners to be careful not to be deceived. The point He was

making was that in this battle between good and evil, we are not safe even if we are in the fort.

In the early days of America, the settlers would build a fort around their villages. As long as a

person was inside the fort and the enemy was on the outside, that person was safe. There is an

ancient story of a war between the Greeks and the Trojans. They fought and fought, but the battle

didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Things were pretty much at a standoff until the Greeks built a

huge hollow horse and filled it with soldiers. Then they pretended to sail away.

Seeing the horse, the Trojans figured they had won the war by default and that the horse was

intended to be a souvenir of their victory. So they opened the gates and pulled it into the city.

That night the soldiers who were in the horse jumped out and opened the city gates. End of story.
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The Devil is like a virus insofar as his strategy is concerned. Now you see him, now you don't. He

will make a noise in the east and strike in the west.

These days he might seem to be into salvation, but his purpose is to undermine the faith. When

what we thought was true turns out to be a lie, it is in effect building our faith on the sand. And

Jesus said when we do that, and the storms come, we will be certain to collapse.

My state of Florida is what might be called a bull's eye for hurricanes. Any hurricane that is worth

its salt dreams of doing what its role model, Hurricane Andrew, did. Hurricane Andrew was, by the

way, the largest natural disaster to hit our country. Being involved in disaster relief, I immediately

drove down from Orlando to South Florida, arriving a few hours after the storm had left. Until my

dying day I will never forget the devastation I saw in the days and weeks that followed.

Though we know that the Devil's ultimate plan before Jesus comes will be to physically destroy the

people of God, his greatest achievement will be a nearly total success at making truth look like

error and error become nearly universally accepted as truth. Scripture says he goes out to

deceive the kings of the earth.

"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and

of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation

16:14).

The death decree is "cut and dried" as far as I am concerned. It is not complicated or difficult to

believe. However, what we should fear is the deception that comes beforehand that prepares the

world for the decree. Often we are more concerned with saving our bodies than we are with

guarding our souls from those things, which, if we buy into them, will cause us to lose both body

and soul.

Jesus Himself sets our priority when He counsels us "...not to fear him which would kill the body,

but rather him which has the ability to destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matthew 10:28).

History is the story of the struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness. At least

historically that is the way things have been. Something new has come into the picture in recent

years. For lack of a better word, I will describe it as "accommodation." By that I mean it now

seems as though good and evil have somehow decided that they can co-exist. There is no need

for a struggle.

This phenomenon has been made possible by two factors: 1) Good has been convinced that it

must be compassionate, accepting, and non-judgmental, and 2) Evil has decided that it will loose
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nothing if it covers itself with a thin skin of truth.

I have come to believe that in the short term evil is stronger then truth. By that I mean, when

error paints itself with a veneer of truth, it becomes more credible; while truth, when it becomes

contaminated with error, is not truth anymore.

It used to be that our own church was a refuge from error. We referred to ourselves as having

"The Truth." We took comfort from the fact that, if you went to one Adventist church, you had

been to them all.

It wasn't that we were perfect. We didn't even always practice what we preached. By the way, I do

not believe there is anything wrong in preaching and believing the truth as long as we at least try

to practice what we preach.

Someone once defined hypocrisy to me. He said hypocrisy is not "not practicing what we preach,"

but pretending to be what we never intend to be. Did you follow that?

We weren't perfect in the past, but we knew what was right, and even those who were not living

up to the standards admitted it.

Things have changed in the last forty years. We have come to a time in which not only are we not

living up to what was always termed "The Truth," but when seemingly objective truth is seen as

judgmental, not accepting, Pharisaical, or even hypocritical.

Truth is now being seen as something in the eye of the beholder; or in other words, truth for each

individual is seen as a personal preference. As they say, whatever floats your boat.

In the past those who didn't agree with what the church taught or who didn't live up to the

standards kept themselves in what might be called "the closet." Perhaps that was better than

what we have now. Nowadays those who don't believe in the doctrines of the church are

prominent and active.

Maybe this is a result of living in a free country. Our country is a wonderful place because it has a

Constitution, which, by the way, is the oldest constitution in the world. This Constitution

guarantees the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for its citizens.

But in the spiritual realm, the rules are not the same. The Bible is not about man-made human

rights, but about who God is and how He expects us, having been created by Him, to live.

While God guarantees us the freedom of choice, the options are not infinite but only two--obey
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and live or disobey and die. The death of Christ was not to set us free to do as we please, but it

was to break the power of selfishness so that we could once again be free to do as He has

commanded us to do.

All of this means that the church, though established and run using certain democratic principles,

is not a democracy, but a monarchy in which those who are the members agree that they have as

their objective to do the will of the Almighty.

Of course, here is where the plot thickens, because as I said at the beginning, the 2,000 or so

different Christian denominations all claim to represent the will of God. This can't be true, because

their respective teachings are often 180 degrees out of sync with each other.

Christianity as a whole has many ways of interpreting itself. The question for us is: "Shall we, as

Seventh-day Adventists, have 2,000 different ways of interpreting what it means to be an

Adventist?"

Back in the old days, before a person was baptized, they had to stand in front of the church and

take what was then called the "Baptismal Vow."

I haven't seen that done in a long time. Perhaps this is now accomplished one on one. Perhaps

there was some merit about the old way. Standing in front of the entire church body and vowing

before God and the congregation that you believe in the tenants of this Church was important.

It was about accountability. Accountability is something that seems to be missing these days. The

prevailing attitude is "Who cares?" I do what I want; you do what you want. That might have been

OK at Woodstock, but it is not, nor ever was, what the church should be about.

Just as the marriage vow in the presence of God and the witness is about accountability, so the

baptismal vow and baptism by immersion are about accountability. The message is that we have

died to self and selfishness and are now agreeing to be accountable to God and His Word; and,

inasmuch as Christ's bride is the church, we are becoming accountable to the body of Christ.

Some couples these days are changing the marriage vows--if you can call them vows--from " . . .

until death do us part" to " . . . as long as love shall last." To use the word "vow" to describe that

kind of a deal is almost an oxymoron.

For a person who has been taught to love himself first, that vow might not last very long. An

individual who has only so much love to give may discover there is not enough to go around for

anyone but himself. Once, when I was listening to a religious radio station, a singer was singing a
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song about "the greatest love in the world." Now, don't jump to conclusions too fast. The song was

not about God's love for us, or our love for Him, or even about our love for our neighbor. The

greatest love in the world, according to that song, is one's love for himself.

Getting back to the matter of marriage vows, I have heard of marriages that are called "open

marriages." Apparently this means that are no strings attached. By strings, we mean loyalty or the

need to be faithful only to one's mate.

That such marriages exist shouldn't come as a surprise, because Scripture says that the last days

would be dangerous, because men and women would be lovers of themselves. The text continues

with a litany of what might be called the fruit of self love. It says they will be "...covetous,

boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful and unholy" (ll Tim 3:2 f).

But that's not all, it gets even worse. It says they are "without natural affection" (this could be

referring to the homosexual lifestyle), truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers

of those that are good."

It is not over yet. The text continues, "traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than

lovers of God" (sounds like some of the television shows Christians ought not to be watching).

But what you see is not what you get, because the text says that these people will have a form of

godliness, but in fact deny the power thereof.

Speaking of denying the power of God--there was a booth at a large Adventist convocation not

long ago, offering support for parents of gays and lesbians. The folk operating the booth have

great compassion for parents of children who had gone astray in this way. In fact, they

themselves have a son who is gay.

I stopped by the booth and shared with them that I knew first hand the pain of having an erring

child. One of my children was once a drug addict and an alcoholic. I remember the day I took him

to the emergency room. The doctor on duty at the time confessed he had a son who was an addict

and was in prison at that moment. He said he was glad his boy was in jail, because at least he was

safe for the present. Then, bless his heart, turning to my son he called him by name and said,

"Only Jesus can set you free." He was right, of course, and Jesus has set my boy free.

I believe the Bible and the power of God when the Bible says that there is no temptation taken

you but that He can, by His power, break the chains of the habit or tendency and will, in spite of a

weakness or propensity to evil--I say, in spite of a weakness or propensity to evil--provide a way of

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escape.

We may have to bear the burden of our temptation until this mortal puts on immorality, but we

don't have to live under it or be enslaved by it. The cross of Christ guarantees it, "Sin shall not

have dominion over you."

Accommodating sin is a sad commentary of our age, not only in society where you might expect

it, but now even in the church. We are trying to have our cake and eat it, too. In this case, the

cake is sin. Scripture doesn't call sin "cake," but it more aptly describes those who, for whatever

reason, deny the power of God in their lives as a dog returning to his vomit.

So it turns out we don't take vows seriously anymore; and if we do, we either change the wording

to fit any inevitability or we don't take the vows at all, like the couple who live together without

being married. They want to have all the benefits but no accountability.

In the church and in the kingdom of God there are benefits, of course. But the benefits are

contingent on accountability, which is another way of saying responsibility.

Yet, sadly, we have reached the point in many places where what the church is to you is only what

you yourself have declared that it will be; and if anyone dares to disagree, they are either

Pharisees, judgmental, not compassionate, hypocritical, or all of the above.

I do not deny individual liberty of religious morals. The dilemma is, can two walk together except

they be agreed as to where they are going? Even more importantly, shall two walk together if they

are in fact not even on the same road?

If you work for a company, be it a bank or a roofing company, there are policies you must adhere

to. Another word for policy is "rules." I have yet to hear of a serious company that is growing and

making a profit, yet where everyone does as they jolly well please. It may not appear that way,

but even the clowns at the circus are following an organized routine.

Without a doubt, most of us love our church and wish only the best for it and what it represents.

There may be some among us who feel otherwise, but supposing we are all men and women of

good will. Even so, if things continue the way they seem to be going, how long can we endure

united? Our church seems to be becoming a do-it-yourself, have-it-your-way fellowship.

Is it possible for us to be a viable entity when we no longer believe the same 27 doctrinal beliefs?

Or if we say we do believe but then have 10,000 ways of interpreting what they mean?
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Shall we just get used to it, institutionalize our diversity of doctrinal interpretation, and simply

celebrate our differences? If an army fought its battles in a non-united manner, would not their

declared enemy easily win?

Don't we understand? Are we blind to the past as well as to the present? History illustrates that

when unity is lost, the mission is soon forgotten.

Someone may suggest, "But can't we continue to be united and just agree to disagree?" There

would be others who say, "But life is about relationships. Can't we just love each other and forget

about the details?" We might wish it were that easy.

Many a couple that decide to get married say they love each other. No matter that they don't

have the same core goals and values. So after the honeymoon is over and real life sets in, the

lifestyle differences begin to be noticed; and as time goes on and basic disagreements continue,

love begins to wane.

But someone may say, "Unity is not necessary. To keep love alive, all you have to do is

compromise." There can be no doubt that marriage requires compromise and a spirit of "give and

take." Yet in the things that have do with faith and morals, can there be accommodation and

compromise?

While in the areas of faith and morals there should be no compromise, there can be room for

growth. Even in the area of truth, no one can claim that he or she has all the truth or even

completely understands how to consistently apply the truth they may hold dear.

There can be no doubt we all have a blind side. God has not committed truth to one person or

even to two. Truth, to be appreciated in its real beauty, must be seen and appreciated from the

perceptive of many. Yet there is always the danger that the cause of truth, as it is interpreted and

applied by many, may begin to fray at the edges. Instead of our going back to the core to discover

the basic truth, the frayed edge begins to be seen as the core.

Much of the diversity of ideology that has come into the church in the last 30 years is the result of

the loss of confidence in what we call objective truth.

In this case we are talking about the Scriptures. To open the door for this to happen, it was

necessary first to re-interpret the Scriptures as we have known them. As Seventh-day Adventists

we had agreed that, in these last days, God in His providence had intervened on behalf of His

people by sending a prophetic gift.

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The gift of prophecy, which was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White, was never meant to

add to the Bible, be better than the Bible, or in place of the Bible. It was an inspired commentary

or interpretation of the Bible. Remember what I said at the beginning--that there are some 2,000

Christian organizations that claim to have the truth but don't agree with each other. In other

words, it's a jungle out there.

So in His providence, God saw fit to explain what the Bible means and how it is to be applied in

the context of the last days. As a result of this intervention, the Seventh-day Adventist Church

came into being.

Back to the current problem of diversity of beliefs. One of the first beliefs to take a hit had to be

the gift of prophecy. At the beginning, it was the Spirit of Prophecy that gave us our unity. To

allow for a "whatever you believe is true" ambience to arrive, one had to break the influence of

the writings of Mrs. White in the church. To a large extent, in the last 25 years, this has been

accomplished. When the Spirit of Prophecy is relegated to the role of being "your favorite author,"

this then opens the door for yourself or your favorite guru to become your trusted authority.

It may be that any more when we become members of the church by baptism, we are

acknowledging that we have decided to make this our church home, because for the time being,

at least, it meets our needs, and we can live with it as long as it doesn't get too personal.

Being an Adventist should be not only about the way we believe, but it should also convert into

the way we live. But little by little being an Adventist, for many, is becoming less and less about

the way we live, and more and more like the popular culture around us. And inasmuch as our

theology is ultimately a reflection of our personal morality, our theology is being changed to

reflect the reality of our lives.

Hypocrisy is not just the failure to practice what we preach, it is also what happens when we begin

to preach what we practice.

Shall we solve our problem of disagreement by simply agreeing to disagree? I say no. To do so will

spell the end of our church as we know it.

Our unity, in matters having to do with faith and morals, can never be based on compromise or

give and take. A person persuaded against his will is of the same opinion still.

The solution to the problem is found in returning to the Word of God as the only rule of faith and

doctrine. I am sorry to say that we are increasingly, both corporately and individually, abandoning
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the Bible as our standard of faith and lifestyle.

Though I am not sure that it was ever meant to be that Mrs. White's shopping list of things to get

at the store was to be considered divine revelation, or even if she might not have always

practiced in her personal life what she counseled others to do, does this make her ministry invalid

or uninspired?

I respect Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll and Max Lucado. But when it comes to applying Biblical

principles and interpreting last day prophecies, I will cast my lot any day with the inspired writings

of Ellen G. White.

Shall we agree to disagree? Again, I say no. I plead with you, no. We must not. Rather, we must

return to the Word, not only intellectually, but also practically. The Word of God must again be

seen as the only thing that can bring us safely through. As darkness covers the earth and gross

darkness the people, the Word of God must be that which serves as a lamp unto our feet and a

light unto our path.

Shall we continue on the road to diversify of faith and doctrine? No. We cannot. We must not. To

do so is to sign our own death warrant as a people. We must not tarry. Time is running out.

Together as a church we must, in the words of the ancient prophet, "Seek ye the LORD while He

may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the

unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon

him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6,7).

an We Expect a Miracle?

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Our God is a God of miracles, and one of the ways He is being “marketed” these days is to say

that if you want a miracle in your life you should come to God. Speaking of “marketing” God, that

is just what is being done these days. Some may contend that Jesus’ command to preach the

gospel in all the world is a command to “market” the message, but I have a problem with the

connotation of the word "marketing."

In the first place, you see, the vocabulary we use to describe a particular activity indicates the

way we see it. Secondly, the vocabulary we use determines how we intend to approach it. We

live in a consumer-driven society. Everything is about buying and selling. There was a time when

morals and ethics governed buying and selling. Now morals and ethics have practically

disappeared and have been replaced by laws. Back in the day, people could make a deal with a
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handshake or even what was called a verbal contract. Remember the old saying, "His word was

as good as his bond"? You may also remember that there was such a thing as "Breach of

Promise." Anyway, these days there are a lot of laws having to do with marketing but very few

regulating ethics.

I don't know whether you have thought about it or not, but advertising is largely designed to

appeal to the worst in people. It appeals to pride, to greed, to lust, and to selfishness. This is why

we must continually be on guard. Scripture warns us in I John 2:16, "For all that is in the world,

the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is

of the world".

So, here is where I have a problem with using the word “marketing” when referring to how we

should preach the gospel. It’s because, when we think of how we should "market" the gospel,

there is a tendency to use current marketing models. Do I need to say more?

But back to the idea of prayer and miracles. It may be erroneous to believe that we can expect to

experience miracles on the basis of having a relationship with the Lord. Why do I say this? Our

human nature can begin to consider a miracle to be simply getting something we need or think

we had to have. Or maybe we expect special consideration, like everyone else has to stand in line

but me, or everyone else has to work for what they have but me. Do you see what I mean?

Jesus did many miracles when He was here on earth. I don't know exactly how it worked. When

we read the Scriptures, it seems like He did nothing but miracles all day, every day. But I wonder

if that was really the way it was. Though He healed the man lying by the pool of Bethesda,

Scripture doesn't say that He healed all the sick or lame people who were there or, since the pool

was where people came to get healed, that Jesus went there every time He was in Jerusalem in

order to heal all who might have collected around the pool waiting for the magic movement of the

water. Jesus didn’t perform miracles just to be performing miracles. His ministry was greater

than healing the sick or feeding the hungry. Strange as it may seem, all the miracles He

performed were over time undone. The people He healed got sick and died later, and the people

He resurrected died again.

It may even be that His miracles did not make things go easier for Him. It is true that they

attracted attention at the time, but apparently it didn’t make a lasting impression on everyone.

The people who witnessed His miracles were later some of the same ones who cried, "Crucify

Him." On the whole, and by and large, His miracles didn't make everyone accept Him as the Son

of God.
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Though Jesus did many miracles for many people while He was here, there was one person He

never did a miracle for, and that was for Himself. In the book by Philip Yancey entitled, "The Jesus

I Never Knew," there is an interesting chapter about the temptations of Jesus. I had never thought

about it much before, but every one of the temptations that Satan suggested to Jesus were what

we might call legitimate in the sense that they had to do with the very things Jesus had come to

do or that He needed. Satan asked Jesus to turn a stone into bread. He needed bread and He had

the power to do it. Satan urged Him to jump from a high place in order to test God's promise of

physical safety. Jesus could have asked His Father for safety. And Satan offered Him all the

kingdoms of the world. Jesus came to this world in order to take them back from Satan. The

choice that Jesus had to make was, Would He try a shortcut to get what He came for or would He

take the long and painful way? You see, though it can be faster and even save time and money to

take a shortcut when you’re on a trip, the truth is we cannot take a shortcut through this life.

I am going to share with you some of my life story. Each of us has a story to tell. In telling my

story, I am going to share with you some good news and some bad news. I am not going to begin

by telling you that I was born at an early age, although indeed we all were. I am the first born of

four children. I was born when my dad was in his last year at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska,

where he was studying for the ministry.

Therefore, I was raised as what may be called a PK (Preacher's Kid). People say that it is not easy

to be a minister's son. Maybe for some it isn't, but I don't have any bad memories. My dad was

the pastor of the church. That is all I remember. I don't remember being in a fish bowl or living

some kind of unnatural life because of the fact. Of course there was the matter of moving around

from place to place. Back in those days ministers didn't stay very long in the same pastorate, so

we moved every few years. But this lifestyle is not unique to the ministry. Families in the armed

forces have to move around a lot, too.

During his ministry, Dad worked in four conferences. We lived in New Mexico, in Tennessee, in

Kentucky, and in several cities in Ohio. In fact, we were in Ohio when I attended Mount Vernon

Academy and from there to Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland. Later after the

Seminary, I returned to Ohio to begin my own ministry. During my college years, I married Betty

Eldridge. She was one of a family of four girls. Her father was a podiatrist, and they lived in

Orlando, Florida.

After we had been in the ministry for four years and I was ordained, we accepted a call to be

missionaries in Pakistan. So with our three little children we boarded a ship in the Port of New

York, and the day before Christmas 1966 we sailed for the Port of Karachi. It was on that month-

long passage, which included a serious storm, that the words of many of the songs we sing
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equating the Christian life to the experiences of the sea took on real meaning—billows, storm,

pilot, harbor, seaman.

And so the years passed, years of being a pastor, a teacher, and a departmental director, both in

Pakistan and in South America. Then we returned to work at the General Conference in what is

now called ADRA. We eventually had four children--two boys and two girls. And we are happy to

say we have eight grandchildren. After living in Washington, we came to Orlando. I don't mean to

bore you with my story, but here is where this sermon really begins.

In my preaching though the years you may have heard me refer to the fact that we had a prodigal

child. I will not go into detail, but I think you will understand what I mean if I say that this child

made me a grandfather before I became a father in law. Another residual is that for a period of

time I attended Al-Anon.

How do we feel about all of this? I would say that our first reaction as parents was to try to figure

out where we went wrong. Proverbs 22:6 comes back to haunt us: “Train up a child in the way he

should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it." So, the natural conclusion was that

we failed and were to blame for what happened. I suppose that could be true. But then we have

to ask ourselves how it was that our Heavenly Father, who is the perfect parent, lost a third of His

angel children who didn't live in a wicked city but in heaven itself; or how later His earthly children

in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden decided to do it their way and not His?

I do not pretend to understand these things. In many ways, through the years, there have been

certain aspects of my life which have been a nightmare. But when we get to heaven and you ask

me how I feel about what this had been like, I will tell you that, though it was at times a

nightmare, I will praise Jesus forever, because it was through suffering that I came to know Him

Whom to know is life eternal.

I said that there was bad news and good news. I am thankful that through the years so many of

you have been praying for my son. And I beg you to continue your prayers until the lost is found.

But this I know: If my children had all become ministers and Bible workers, I would probably be

out giving seminars right now on how to raise children. But I would have never understood the

meaning of the story of the Prodigal Son or of the Lost Sheep. Though I could have taught people

the secrets of successful parenting, I could never have suffered with the majority of us who in

these last days have seen and experienced the unprecedented attacks of the enemy against our

children.

No, I can't tell you how to raise a perfect family. But it was from my experience that I learned
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about prayer. It has been though my experience that I learned about tears. It is through my

experience that I determine that though He slay me yet will I trust Him. So, this is something

about my experience as a father. Now, let me tell you something about my experience as a son.

You might be asking, “But, Pastor O'Ffill, what do these stories have to do with expecting a

miracle? Stay with me. Before I am done, you will see where I am coming from.

Have you ever read Ecclesiastes 12? I would like to read it to you now from the Clear Word Bible.

It says: "Remember your Creator while you're still young and can enjoy your youth. The years

pass quickly and soon you’ll be old and will say to yourself, ‘I surely don’t enjoy life anymore.’

“The days will come when your eyesight will grow dim and you will see little difference between a

bright sunny day and a moonlit night. The stars will fade from your view and each day the sky will

seem overcast and dark, filled with clouds of rain.

“Your arms that were so strong and quick to protect you will shake and tremble. Your legs will

grow weak. Your teeth will be few and it will be hard for you to chew. Your eyes will be looking

through half-drawn shutters.

“Your ears will not pick up the noise on the streets, and you will barely hear the mill as it treads

out the wheat or the music of young girls. You’ll no longer hear the sound of birds or wake up in

the morning at their singing.

“You’ll be afraid to climb heights and it will be dangerous for you to walk in the streets. Your hair

will turn as white as the blossoms of an almond tree, and you’ll drag yourself along and rest after

each step like an old grasshopper rests after each hop. Your desire for everything in life will fail.

You’ll be heading for your last resting place. People will mourn for you just as they mourned for

others before you, and there will be no turning back.

“The silver chain that holds you to your loved ones will finally break and the golden lamp will go

out. The rope on the pulley of life’s well will finally snap and the pitcher full of water of life will fall

and break. Your body will decay and return to dust and the spark of life which God gave you will

go back to Him.”

My friends, those verses are talking about what are commonly called in this culture “The Golden

Years”! The reason I mention this text is to lead into a new challenge that has come into my life,

and that is old age. Now, I know that you can’t remember when your grandmother was not old.

As far as you and I are concerned, grandma was born old; because there was never a time that we
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knew her when she wasn’t old. But mom and dad weren’t born old. We remember when they

were young and strong. We remember when they were in charge. They took care of us and all

our needs. But then ...

When we were young, we didn’t understand. We thought we would stay young and strong

forever. All young people throughout the ages have thought the same. We all seem to have

forgotten that there is not a single old person who was not at one time young. And we had, or will

have, to learn that there is not a single young person who will not one day be old.

This life begins with our parents feeding, bathing, and diapering us and may very well end with us

doing the same for them. As the old saying goes, “What goes around, comes around.” Isaiah

40:7 puts it this way: ”The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of Jehovah

bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass." And how about Psalm 90:3-6: "Thou turnest man to

destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as

yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood;

they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it

flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth."

There is a time in our lives when we reach what might be called the mountain top. When I say

“reach the mountain top” I don't mean in terms of success; but from the vantage point of middle

age we can look back on where we have come, and at the same time we can look forward to

where we are destined.

One day I was reading an airline magazine that was placed in the seat pocket in front of me on an

airplane. It was an article about watches. It got me to reminiscing. When the digital watches first

came out, if I remember correctly, they might have cost more than $2 hundred dollars each. I

bought one when the price came down to less than a hundred dollars. Nowadays, I have seen

them for sale for a couple dollars each. I wore a digital watch for years. I finally got tired of it and

bought an analog watch. You know, the kind that indicates the time by way of hands that move.

Have you noticed that when you look to see what time it is on a digital watch you have to read it;

but when you look to see what time it is on an analog watch you know what time it is just by

looking at where the hands are. Well, the article in the magazine said that the digital watch tells

you what time it is right at that minute. It pointed out, though, that an analog watch not only tells

you what time it is but what time it was and what time it’s going to be! You can see the

relationship of right now to, say, 15 minutes ago or 20 minutes from now. A digital watch will

simply tell you it’s “6:23”.

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I mention this because it occurs to me that the challenge with being a young person is that you

know what time it is but you don't know what time it was or what time it is going to be. This is

why Scripture tells us that when we are young we must be aware that though we were born young

we will not remain young; and because of that we ought to be careful to remember our Creator

while we are young, because it will save us a whole lot of trouble down the line.

What does this have to do with whether or not we should expect a miracle in our lives? I have

shared with you some of the things that have brought me to where I am and some of the things

that I have in my life now. Has God done miracles in my life? Yes and no. By yes I mean that He

has preserved my life for yea these many years. He has permitted us to participate in a varied

and precious ministry and has given us a measure of health and has provided for our needs.

On the other hand He has not spared me from experiencing in my flesh what life is all about. The

words of Job 14:1 come to mind: "Man, that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of

trouble." I think we would all do well to remind ourselves often that this life is about birth and

death, youth and old age. We need to remind ourselves that, having been born in this sin-filled

world, we are going to have problems. And though we ourselves may have been the cause of

some of the problems, there will always be problems that, as we say, just “go with the turf.”

There will be those whose children die, those whose spouses die and leave them with children.

There will be the disabled and the handicapped. There will be lung cancer in people who have

never smoked. There will be suffering and grief among those who we might term the innocent.

Should we expect a miracle? If by miracle you mean that we should not have to suffer or

experience grief and tears, pain and sorrow, then the answer is No. We need to remember that

when Jesus was here He was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.

Jesus suffered, and He told us that as His followers we would not be exempt. I heard a sermon

some time ago taken from the 23rd Psalm. The speaker read the verse that says, “Yea though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.” The

speaker pointed out that, while in this country the shepherds drive the sheep, in the Middle East

they lead them. The shepherds go first and the sheep follow. Psalm 23 means, then, that here in

this life we must all in one way or another pass though the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus

Himself passed through it, and having done so He is eminently qualified as our shepherd to lead

us.

We often have the expectation that, if we do everything just right and if our commitment to the

Lord is 100%, we will not have to suffer like other people do. I received a phone call one day from

a man I used to work for when I was just 12 and 13 years of age. This person and his wife were
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into healthful living. They were organic gardeners when most of the world still didn’t know that

such a thing existed. During our conversation I asked about his wife. He told me that she had

passed away after a long bout with cancer.

What should we think? What should we expect when our children take drugs or when our parents

become old and lose the ability to care for themselves? What should we expect when we see the

homes of our children break up? when we ourselves become sick or we even have to bury a child

or a spouse? Shall we feel that we are being cheated and that somehow God is favoring some

and for some reason we don’t understand--maybe for some sin we must have committed--the

Lord is punishing us or has abandoned us?

We tend to think that when we are good the Lord will be good to us, and when we are bad He will

punish us. In the same sermon about the Middle Eastern shepherds, I also learned what David

meant when he said, "… Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." In this country the shepherds

use a rod and a staff and even dogs to keep the sheep in line. But David is saying that the rod

and staff of the Lord are not to punish the sheep but to protect them. You see, God not only leads

us but He wants to protect us from harm. This means that when we go through suffering in this

life it is not that the Lord is punishing us, though we are in great danger here in the land of the

enemy and often suffer when we wander away from Him and no longer follow Him.

We have experienced some tremendous disasters in the past few years. We often hear people

say that the Lord must be trying to teach us something. The impression is that God sends

earthquakes and hurricanes. Now don't misunderstand me, God is sovereign over all that

happens. And true enough, this planet is suffering more than ever. But it’s not because He is

beating us with His rod and His staff. We are suffering because we as a whole are more and more

rejecting Him who is to be our leader and are more and more following after the ways of the

enemy. Make no mistake, those who follow the devil are being led to eternal ruin. Those who are

lost don’t just quietly do their own thing but greatly influence for evil the lives of those around

them. The tragedies of this life are not from God but from the devil. They are the result of God

removing His restraining power. His rod and staff that for so long protected us are no longer

doing so because many have chosen to follow someone else.

Shall we expect a miracle? In the big picture, Yes; but along the way I think the answer is often,

No. God created this planet perfect, but it is hardly perfect now. In fact, things seem to be going

from bad to worse. What about the stories in the Bible? God did miracles for those people. What

about Hebrews 11? Yes, what about Hebrews 11? Listen to what it says: “And what shall I more

say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha; of

David also, and Samuel and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
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righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire,

escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned

to flight the armies of the aliens.

“Women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting

deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.”

Now listen to this. I continue: “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,

moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were

tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being

destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts, and

in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report

through faith, received not the promise.”

Shall we expect a miracle? If you mean we won’t have to suffer, if you mean we won’t be

persecuted, if you mean we won’t ever get sick, if you mean we won’t ever get old, then the

answer is, No. We ought not to expect a miracle.

Should we expect that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us? The answer is, Yes. Should we

expect that, though we walk through the valley of death, our Good Shepherd will be leading us,

the answer is, Yes. Should we expect that there is no trial or temptation taken us but that He will

make a way of escape, not so that we will not have to go through it, but that He has promised to

get us through it, the answer is, Yes.

I know there are those who believe that if we follow the health message we will never be sick. I

am sure that when we follow the health message we are doing at least three things. One is we

are recognizing that our bodies are not our own and that whether we eat or drink or whatever we

do we should do all to the glory of God. Another is that we are recognizing that when we abuse

our health we are mortgaging our future to our family members, who will have to take care of us

when we have a stroke at an early age. And the third is that we are recognizing that though

health isn’t everything, without it everything can be nothing. Yet, having followed all the rules, we

are still infected with the incurable disease called old age; and it is one-hundred percent fatal.

What if those who followed the Lord didn’t have to follow the laws of health, of gravity, or any

other of God’s rules for this planet? Everyone would be a Christian for what they would get out of

it. The marvelous thing is that as followers of Jesus you and I are going to follow Him no matter

what. We are not in this for what we get out of it. Listen to the words of the apostle Paul in II

Corinthians 11:24-30: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I
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beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in

the deep; in journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own

countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in

the sea, in perils among false brethren: In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in

hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without,

that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?

Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern

mine infirmities.”

In Romans 8: 35-39 we read, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or

distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake

we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay in all these

things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither

death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities or powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor

height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which

is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Over the short haul, should we expect a miracle? Probably not. Jesus came to this world. He took

no shortcuts. He lived in poverty. To use the modern buzz word, He was abused, physically, and

emotionally. He didn't sue anyone, He never dropped out. He never even demanded His rights.

He simple put His faith in His Heavenly Father; and when it was over, He was victorious.

And so it will we with us. We are here, trapped in our skins. We cannot go over this life, or under

it, or around it. We must go through it. There are no shortcuts. ln spite of the fact that suffering

and grief are to be expected in this life, I am reminded of the words of the song writer:

All the way my Savior leads me; what have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide?

Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell;

For I know whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well

All the way my Savior leads me; cheers each winding path I tread;

Gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread.

Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me, lo, a spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me; O the fullness of His love.

Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father’s house above;

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When I wake to life immortal, wing my flight to realms of day,

This my song through endless ages, Jesus lead me all the way.

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Notice the promise that comes next: “Thou preparest a

table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” Friends, the day will come when our enemies

which are death, sickness, sorrow, and crying will no longer have dominion over us. We will sit

down with Jesus in the earth made new. He will wipe away all tears from our eyes. No more

children taking drugs, no more crippling old age, no more poverty, abuse, violence or hate.

Though the weight of this world is heavy, and the Bible indicates that things will get worse in

fulfillment of the prophecy that darkness would cover the earth and gross darkness the people, we

have the promise that through it all our Lord will never leave us or forsake us.

Can We Make the Gospel Simple?

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Have you ever wondered why a minister preaches a particular sermon? Sometimes the reason

may be obvious, but other times you might think, "I wonder why he decided to talk about that?" I

decided that I would try to tell you why I chose the sermons I preach.

I must tell you right off that the sermons I preach almost always are an attempt to answer a

particular issue that I see or a particular question that has come to my own heart. The sermon

that you are about to read now arose out of what I perceive to be an increasing tendency to

simplify the gospel and, on a whole, the Christian life. Is the gospel simple? Are we making the

Christian life too difficult? This sermon is an attempt to come to grips with that question.

Is living a Christian life simple or complicated? Maybe I shouldn't even ask it that way. Maybe I

should ask if living the Christian life is easy or hard. Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't ask

that question either. Have you noticed that some of our Christian friends put more emphasis on

what is supposed to happen to the Christian after he dies than on what the Christian life is all

about? Maybe they really don't, but it sure sounds like it, because they will often ask you where

you would go if you died tonight. It seems to me the question should be, "If Jesus were to come in

the clouds of heaven today, would you be ready to meet him?"

A local evangelical church had an exhibit at a county fair. One of the things in the exhibit was a

window you looked into, and a sign above it that read, "Where will you be when you look like

this?" When you looked into the window, you saw a casket with a mirror in it. You can see why I
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think that for some people the Christian life is more about what happens when we die than how

we should live. It seems to me that these days the matter of Christian living is getting to be less

and less a hands-on event and more and more a hands-off event.

A hot topic these days is about not judging each other. And it is true, we shouldn't. We should

not judge each other, they say, because being a Christian is a personal matter. You have heard

that, haven't you? A personal matter? I guess I am not sure what they mean by that. If being a

Christian is a personal matter, does that mean that it is left up to each person to make up the

rules as they go along? I guess I shouldn't have said "rules." For many people, rules have no

place in the Christian life.

Some are saying that all that really matters is that we have a relationship with Jesus, and even

add, “Have a relationship with Jesus and let the Holy Spirit lead. I can see why this makes sense

to so many people. It cuts away, as they say, a lot of unnecessary details and peripherals.

Now, if you don't mind, I am going to try to flesh out both of those concepts. It is going to be

challenging. If we can validate that the Christian life is simply to have a relationship with Jesus

and let the Spirit lead, just think how environmentally friendly that is going to be? Instead of

having to cut down all those trees to make paper in order to produce the huge amounts of books

and magazines and other literature on how to get saved, a person could simply write down the

little one-liner on the back of their business card and pass it around when opportunity presented

itself. It would go simply like this: "Have a relationship with Jesus and let the Spirit lead."

I can see it now--the evangelist stands up; and instead of preaching a long sermon with slides and

movies and computers, he just says, "Have a relationship with Jesus and let the Spirit lead," and

then he sits down. We could save radio and TV time and all the rest. In fact, the gospel could be

preached in little sound bites all day long. It could go something like this--"Have you considered

being saved? If you have, remember all you have to do is have a relationship with Jesus and let

the Spirit lead."

By now you are probably thinking, "Pastor O'Ffill, stop it right now! What in the world are you

trying to do? Where are you coming from?" Or, "OK, OK! Get to the point!" Maybe, too, some of

you are thinking, "Who do you think you are? What is wrong with having a relationship with

Jesus? Are you saying that we shouldn't let the Spirit lead?"

Stay with me now, folks; we are on the same side. Of course, I believe in having a relationship

with Jesus, and I want with all my heart for the Holy Spirit to lead in my life. I am just concerned

that in our enthusiasm to simplify what the Christian life is about, we could possibility understate

it to the point of misleading someone, including ourselves. If in the past we were somehow
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overstating the gospel, we could now go to the other extreme if we are not careful. You know

what I mean. To just say, Have a relationship with the Lord and let the Spirit lead would be almost

like saying that in order to drive a car all that you have to do is turn on the key.

Here we go now. Try to stay with me.

As we all know, the dictionary is the official book that tells us the definitions of words. I don't

need to tell you, though, that although the dictionary is a list of words with their usual meanings,

the dictionary is not always up to date. This is because words can take on new meanings at a

particular time. The new meaning may not be reflected until a new edition of the dictionary

comes out. I can remember when the word "cool" meant a lower temperature. Remember? It

could feel cool outside, or a person's forehead could feel cool, or I might say, "Could you turn up

the furnace? I feel cool." But cool is not just cool anymore. Cool is, well ... cool is cool!

You must also be aware that words express concepts. A concept is the transfer of information or

ideas from one person to another. If a concept is to be accurately conveyed from one person to

another, it is necessary not only to use the right words but also to make sure that both parties

understand the words in the same way.

You may have never thought of this before, but if you want to defeat a particular concept, the

best way to do it is to change the meaning of the words that are being used to convey the

concept. Then when the other party tries to explain their point of view, those who hear him are

not able to understand what he is talking about. Even though they think they do, they really

don't.

One of the most effective ways the Devil uses to wash out the gospel is to take over the

vocabulary that used to explain religious truth. He has taken specific words and given them new

meanings, so that a person could actually be thinking they are hearing the gospel preached but

be missing the point entirely. So we are left with the tremendous challenge of communicating the

gospel as it was originally transmitted by God to the prophets.

You can understand, then, that if we are going to agree that the Christian life is about having a

relationship with Jesus and letting the Spirit lead, we had better make sure we understand the

concept as God meant for it to be understood. The word "relationship" must be defined. What do

we mean when we say relationship?

Jesus Himself told us that having a relationship with Him is a life-and-death matter. He told us that

there would be a large group who think they have a relationship with Him. Maybe they used to
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have a relationship with Him, but something went wrong. Remember the text in Matthew 7:21-23:

"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that

doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have

we not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done

many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye

that work iniquity."

Let’s clear up something very important right now. A person will be saved or lost not based on

God's relationship to them but always on their relationship to Him. We must understand that

salvation is not about God's attitude toward sinners but sinners' attitude toward God. God never

changes. He is unitary in His being. He is never more merciful one day than He is the next. Even

before sin came He was merciful, gracious, and forgiving. Sin didn't change what God was and is.

Sin changed what Lucifer was, and it has completely changed our race. Sin is not a problem of

God's bad attitude toward sinners but the persistent sinner's bad attitude toward God.

Because this is true, the plan of salvation simply revealed the way God has always been and

always will be. Not only that, a full revelation and acceptance of the character of God is the way

that the sinner is brought back into a right relationship with Him. When we say that being a

Christian is about having a relationship with Jesus, we are absolutely right provided we

understand that the relationship we are talking about is the one we had before sin came and not

the one that came afterward.

You must have heard by now that the essence of sin is selfishness. We were created to be God-

centered first and then to serve others. Don't ask me how; it is actually a mystery, but sin is just

the opposite. Sin makes me the center of my life and uses everybody else, including God, to

make me happy.

This is why we must not toss the word "relationship" around lightly. The word relationship in

today’s context--where everything is about self--can never be used on its own to describe the

Christian life, because a selfish person will always be into relationships for selfish reasons. I am

not saying that a selfish person can't do anything right, but even the good things that a selfish

person does is done for the wrong reasons. Years ago I heard someone say that if the devil cured

someone of an incurable disease it would be an evil act, because everything that the devil does is

for the wrong reasons. Can you see what I mean?

The way I know that we can't trust ourselves when we say, "All that matters is to have a

relationship with Jesus," is by what is happening to our marriages. Marriage is supposed to be an

example of a committed relationship between a man and a woman, and look what is happening to
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marriage these days. The intimate sexual relationship between a man and a woman is supposed

to represent a committed relationship, because from the union of male and female comes the

procreation of the race and the commitment to raise the children that are produced.

I don't need to tell you that in this selfish generation, sexual relations, most of the time between a

man and a woman, have nothing to do with a committed relationship. Two out of three couples

who get married these days were living together before they were married. After marriage, 75%

will divorce. Adultery and fornication in a selfish society are not even considered moral issues.

I would like to digress here a moment a say something about abortion. The abortion battle, my

friends, is not over babies. It is not a battle about whether we ought to kill babies just for the sake

of killing babies. Nobody is going to vote to legalize killing babies just for the sake of killing

babies. The only reason people are willing to kill babies is because the issue is not babies, the

issue is sex. If abortion had nothing to do with sex, it would never be legalized. Nobody would

legalize murdering babies if storks brought babies. But you see, sex is the issue. People demand

to have sex anytime they want it.

A baby may be seen by some as an unfortunate result of sex, but you will notice that the focus is

not to stop sex but to kill the child. What pro-abortionists are saying is not that they hate babies

or a fetus or that they love murder; they are saying that they want their sex without having to be

responsible for its consequences. They will murder the most innocent and the most defenseless

among us, and they do that in the face of the strongest protection instinct there is, which is

motherhood. Abortion is a stunning success, not for those who hate babies but rather for those

who want sex without any commitment.

The attitude held by many toward sex means that we must accept fornication and adultery. It

means that we must accept homosexuality. Illicit sex is now accepted as an expression of love.

Everything is for sex. It has corrupted our culture to the core--the family, the home, and our

commitment to God. Society today is geared to take whatever it wants with no intention to give

in return. If you don't like the consequences, kill it. Take sexual activities--take from one, then

take from another. It is incredible, but the true meaning of love has almost been totally obscured.

This is why I insist, ladies and gentlemen, that in the present context to say that all that is

necessary for salvation is to have a relationship with Jesus is possibly a booby trap for our

salvation. If we are going to be honest with ourselves and with others, we must recognize that a

selfish person cannot have a right relationship with Jesus no matter what they may pretend.

A relationship with Jesus must be built on the fact that the person has made a commitment to the

Lord Jesus Christ and has actually purposed in their heart to love Him with all their heart, with all
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their strength, and with all their minds, and their neighbor as themselves. When this is the case,

selfishness as a life view is out the window. Then, and only then, will a person be able to safely

trust in the relationship.

Allow me to get more specific. It is no more possible to separate a person's lifestyle from their

relationship with Jesus than it is to separate their relationship with their spouse from the way they

treat other members of the opposite sex. It is impossible to have an open-ended (sometimes

called swinging) relationship with Jesus and be saved. Just as open-ended marriage is no

marriage at all, so a person whose life is not committed to be faithful to Jesus has no right

relationship with Him at all.

Those people who say, "Lord, Lord, we did all kinds of things in your name," and Jesus says to

them, "I never knew you," are really confessing that they had an open-ended relationship with

Him, and all the things they did in His name they did for selfish reasons. For many their so-called

"relationship" with Jesus is really not about Him but about themselves. How can I know that is

true? Because all one hears about Jesus these days is about how He will meet your needs.

I am convinced that the major part of what we are doing these days in the church is for our own

benefit. The center of our worship is us. You can tell, because when we go to church the issue is

all about how to get God involved with us and our problems, our culture, our gender, or our

support group. Now, I recognize we have real needs. We talk a lot about meeting felt needs. But

really, we ought to differentiate between legitimate felt needs and illegitimate felt needs. Selfish

people have selfish felt needs. Of course, trying to meet the needs of selfish people is like a dog

chasing his tail. You can never meet the demands of a selfish heart.

Jesus created us with legitimate needs. Some are felt and others are, what you might say, just

built in. Jesus established the church to meet legitimate felt and unfelt needs. A person who has

a correct relationship with Jesus will come to church and receive. But that person doesn't only

come to receive but also to give. A selfish person, on the other hand, will come to church to take.

This generation is hung up on itself. Scripture says that the last generation would be that way. It

said that the last days would be dangerous because people would love themselves.

It is not inconceivable that the church could gear itself up to minister to selfish people. It would

use all the right vocabulary. It would be, as they say these days, "meeting the felt needs." But

instead of preparing people to be saved, it would actually be setting them up to be lost.

This brings me to the next point, and that is this: Unless we have a relationship with Jesus that is

based on the Word, it is very likely that the relationship will, although well-intentioned, end up
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being on a dead-end street.

Now think along with me. Although Jesus lived and walked as a human on this planet, He doesn't

live here anymore. But you may say, "He sent His Spirit; He still lives in our hearts." That is true

indeed. But I don't need to tell you that there are more spirits around these days than the Holy

Spirit. In fact, in the last days the Scriptures tell us that the evil spirits would imitate the Holy

Spirit, and they would do it so well that just about everybody would fall for it.

The People's Republic of China was brought into existence by a man named Mao. He led the

country for many years. Most of the people of China never saw him in person, but they knew him.

He became a part of almost everyone's life through his writings. I remember reading about Mao's

writings. They were printed in what they called a "little red book." The people knew Mao

intimately through his writings. He actually became an integral part of their lives through that

little red book.

A person cannot have a relationship with Jesus without being into the Bible--not only reading the

Bible but actually letting it affect the way we live. This is why a person who truly has a

relationship with Jesus will be striving to live as He lived and even think like He thought. You

remember the text that says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians

2:5). Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). The Bible also says that

a person who says they love Jesus (a person who says they have a relationship with Jesus) and

doesn't obey Him is lying (1 John 2:4).

Can't you begin to get the picture now? Do you understand what the real issues are?

You know, it is incredible. Almost every one claims to have a relationship with Jesus these days.

A while back the winner of a heavyweight boxing match was seen wearing a cap that had "Jesus"

printed on it. The message was that Jesus helped him punch out his opponent. Jesus is now

sought after on the football fields and basketball courts. Speaking of mixing the sacred with the

profane! I can just see the prizefighter saying to Jesus, "Lord, Lord, I knocked the head off a lot of

guys in Your name," and Jesus might respond, "Are you kidding?" But we should not be surprised.

A selfish generation is capable of anything!

Friends, we are in the last days. The spirits of devils are in the earth deceiving everyone, from the

top to the bottom. Remember, at the beginning of this sermon I told you that people today say all

that matters is to have a relationship with Jesus and let the Holy Spirit lead.

We must always keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is the one in the Trinity who actually--don't ask

me how--keeps our hearts beating. He is the one who makes the birds sing and the flowers
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bloom. It is the Holy Spirit who actually transplants the mind of Christ into our minds. In other

words, it is the Holy Spirit who makes the new birth happen.

Because the Holy Spirit is the one who makes salvation happen in our lives, and because He will

be the One who does something special called the Latter Rain for those alive when Jesus comes,

one of the devil's last deceptions before he actually appears as Jesus on this earth will be to

appear to be doing the work of the Holy Spirit in people's hearts and lives. In other words, the

devil is actually simulating the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is not exactly a new idea with him. He did the same thing when Moses was trying to get

Pharaoh to let Israel go. Remember that Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate three of the

ten plagues, plus turn their own rods into snakes. The devil will make a final push just before God

makes His final push, and I don't need to tell you it is already happening. The Holy Spirit has

almost become a household word. There are huge numbers of Christians who talk more about the

Holy Spirit than they do about Jesus. To them the Holy Spirit means power, and power appeals to

the power hungry.

Have you noticed, by the way, that in recent years more and more people are into the "gifts of the

Spirit?" I am not complaining, but we had better be careful, because gifts are about getting, and

getting can be about taking, and taking is what selfishness is about. I wish we were as anxious to

manifest the fruit of the Spirit as we are to open the spiritual gifts package. The fruit of the Spirit

is what gives us the assurance that we are being saved. The gifts of the Spirit can actually be

“bought on the black market.” Can't you see how that could be?

Jesus said that He would send the Spirit, and the work of the Spirit would be to lead us into all

truth, to convict us of sin and of judgment and of righteousness. I am afraid that what many

people say is the Holy Spirit's leading, or presence, or what have you may not be the Holy Spirit at

all. Jesus said that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. A friend of mine was telling me not long

ago that he was giving Bible studies to a young man, and the young man became convicted on

the Sabbath. He went to his own pastor and told him about it. The pastor listened, and then told

the young man to let the Spirit lead. Now tell me, what if the young man doesn't choose to keep

the Sabbath? Will that mean that the Holy Spirit told the young man not to keep the Sabbath?

These days people all over the place are saying God told me this or God told me that. I wish He

would tell me something! Please don't misunderstand me. I believe in the Spirit's leading, but I

guess the question I am asking myself is, Where does the Word of God figure into all of this? A

former Pentecostal preacher told me that it used to make him wonder how unmarried couples

living together would get the gift of tongues. So many people are claiming to be led of the Spirit
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these days, from a heavy-weight fighter punching out the brains of his opponent to a person

having an adulterous relationship with someone else's spouse and who claims that God wants

them to be happy.

Help me, someone! Where is the Word of God in all of this? “All Scripture is given by inspiration

of God (that is the Holy Spirit, folks), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and

for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Jesus said He would send His Spirit to lead us

into all truth and that the Spirit would convict us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. How

does all this fit together with the little jingle, "All that matters is to have a relationship with Jesus

and let the Holy Spirit lead?" Unless we root and ground ourselves firmly in the written Word of

God, unless we go to the Word with a repentant spirit and a determination to obey its every

precept, we are setting ourselves up to be mugged by the thief of souls.

No matter what they tell us, the Holy Spirit never works outside the context of the revealed Word

of God. We must make no mistake in this matter. When I say that He doesn't work outside the

context of the Word of God, I mean all of the Word, not just someone's favorite text. We are living

in the times that were prophesied, that if possible the very elect would be deceived. It seems like

more and more people are getting religious almost to the place where even the bad guys claim to

have the Holy Spirit. We must not fall for this deception. Our only safety is the written Word of

God. We are talking about the Bible, ladies and gentlemen.

These days it seems that many are finding their support in their support group. Be careful.

Scripture teaches us that our only safety is in the Word. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a

light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). Another text says, "Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy

Word is truth" (John 17:17).

Some might be thinking, "But we are following the Word." Be careful. Many who claim to be

following the Word are simply following their own words. They have interpreted the Bible to their

own liking or they have taken a little here and a little there. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit

will lead us into all truth, and I guess the point I am trying to make is that the Bible must never be

left out of the loop in the search for truth. The Bible in this world of sin is the ultimate revelation

of truth. Have we forgotten that without the Bible we wouldn't have known who Jesus is and that

He is coming again?

This thing about having a relationship with Jesus and letting the Spirit lead can be absolutely

misleading. It can take us off the track rather than put us on the right track. I seem to be saying

this over and over again. I feel like the minister who preached his first sermon in his new church

one day. The people congratulated him on it. He preached it again the following week. They told
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him that it was even better the second time. He preached it again the next week. The people

were beginning to wonder; and when he preached it the fourth time, the head elder said, "Pastor,

we really love that sermon, but we are beginning to wonder if it is the only one you know." The

pastor responded that he intended to keep preaching it until the people put it into practice!

So here I go again. What we need is not a relationship with Jesus but a commitment to Jesus. Life

is about relationships. We have relationships with our friends, and we even have relationships

with people we don't care for so much. I don't mean to sound nit-picky, and I don't think I am.

We would be much safer if, instead of saying that all that is important is to have a relationship

with Jesus and let the Spirit lead, we would say what is important is to have a commitment to

Jesus as our Lord and Savior and then let the Spirit lead through the written Word. Can't you see

the difference?

I started out with the challenge of trying to make the Christian life simple. If we didn't live in this

world of sin, it would be simple. Truth is simple; it is error that is complicated, and the enemy

these days, contrary to the opinion of some, is not truth but error. It is error that has us all

confused. It is error that is messing up our lives. Our problem is not that we have too much of

the old time religion; the problem is that we have too much love for the things of this world. Many

are trying to throw out everything that is religious and keep just enough of what they think is

sufficient to get by on.

No, I don't believe we can make the gospel simple; clear, yes, but not simple. You might say, "But

Pastor O'Ffill, Jesus said that we needed to be like little children." True. Have you tried it? For us,

who are selfish and trust in ourselves, becoming a trusting little child again is far from easy. I am

sure that you know what I am talking about.

This is why Jesus calls on us to repent and to be born again.

Is It Ever Alright to Lie?

by Richard W. O'Ffill

In one study, it was discovered that people tell as many as fifty lies a day. One of the most

common lies is, “The check is in the mail.” Another is, “I was only kidding.” Another common lie is,

“I'll get on it right away.” Believe it or not, another lie is, “I'm sorry,” as is “I didn't mean to hurt

your feelings.” Probably one that is common to many is, “Oh no, you didn't wake me up.”

Nowadays we don't use the word lie, at least not as often as we used to. There are other words we

use, such as “cover up,” “misleading,” or a word heard most often in political circles,
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“disinformation.” Lies affect our everyday life. We are not only being lied to, but many times we

ourselves are guilty of lying. A Christian repairman, who worked for a national repair franchise,

told a friend that the bosses in this repair franchise gave him the order that, when someone called

in requesting service, he was to say that they would have a man out in two days whether he knew

it was possible or not.

A young friend of mine who worked in America 's largest retail store told me that he had been

instructed never to say, “I don't know,” but rather say something—anything! When he told me

this, I was terribly disappointed, because I could think of times when I would go to one of the

stores in that chain, looking for a part or a tool, and I would say to the salesman, “Which one of

these should I get?” It was comforting when the salesman would say, “This one is the best one.”

But now I know this is not necessarily true. The employees are told to say something, so they just

say anything.

Even Christians have become somewhat confused in this matter of telling the truth. Consider the

person who was trying to explain the Commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against

they neighbor.” He lamely suggested that the key word in that Commandment is “against.”

Supposedly it doesn't mean that you shouldn't tell an untruth if it is for the person's good or for

the greater good; rather, what the Commandment is saying is, “Don't be against your neighbor.”

The apostle John said that Jesus was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). If we as followers of

Jesus are full of grace and under His grace, should we not also be full of truth? And this does not

mean only doctrinal truth.

The Bible tells us that Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44). We could paraphrase that text to

say that lies are the Devil's native language; and when we lie, we are in effect allowing ourselves

to become puppets of the Devil and he becomes the ventriloquist.

How does God feel about lying? Listen to Revelation 22:15: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers,

and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” You

notice that you don't have to be a liar to miss heaven—you only have to like to hear lies. How

many of us might be in that category? Here are a few other references:

Proverbs 12:22 says: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are His

delight.”

Proverbs 13:5 says: “A righteous man hateth lying; but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh

to shame.”
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Isaiah 30:9 says: “That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the

law of the Lord.”

Ephesians 4:25 says: “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor:

for we are members one of another.

Psalm 31:18 says: “Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and

contemptuously against the righteous.”

Psalm 12:2, 3 says: “They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with

a double heart do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lisp, and the tongue that

speaketh proud things.”

Beloved, perhaps some of us are in a dilemma. We may have fallen into the pit of lying for what

we consider to be “good” reasons. Have you ever heard of the “little white lie”? Most of us would

agree that a bold-face lie is in the big league category and unacceptable for Christians. But many

have accepted the “white lie,” or another word for it might be “fib.” Sometimes we even say that

we were “just kidding.” But is there such a thing as a “white lie”?

It has been said that white lies are silken threads that bind us to the enemy, invisible webs that

are woven in hell. What are some of the white lies that we might be tempted to tell? What about

when the phone rings and we say, “Tell them I'm not home”? What about calling in sick when we

really want the day off?

Another way we can fall into the trap of telling lies is the matter of empty promises. When a

person says Yes and really means No, he is a liar. But what about the person who says Yes but

what he really means is Maybe? He has a good intention, but he seldom follows through. He says,

“I'll give you a call.” Have you heard that one? Or, “I'll take care of that.”

I have had experiences with this one. For instance, my wife and I were looking for my wife's sister

and her husband, and we found them visiting Grandma. As we pulled up in front of Grandma's

house, they were just leaving, and we said to them, “Oh, there you are. We have been looking for

you.”

They responded, “We are just going home. Come over to our house and we'll visit a while.” In the

meantime, Grandma saw us and said, “Come on in and see me.”

I wanted to talk with my brother-in-law, so I said, “Grandma, we'll come and see you later.”
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But Grandma was not to be put off. She came back with, “When?”

So I responded, “Next week for sure.”

The next week as I was in my study working on this very sermon, I remembered my promise to

Grandma. I had promised that I would come to see her this week. And so I was obliged to make

good on my promise. Now, Grandma would have understood if I hadn't gone to see her that week.

She would have thought I was very busy and would have forgiven me. But what effect would it

have had on me to disappoint her?

As I thought about this incident, so minor in comparison to the other struggles in my life, I realized

that I don't want to become the kind of person who throws out empty promises. When I say I will

take care of something, I want to follow through. When I say I'll call someone later, they should be

sure that I will do it.

Another promise I want to keep is the one I say so often: “I'll pray for you.” Many people will come

to me and ask that I pray for them. You have no doubt had the same experience. We may assure

the person that we will, but then it may never enter our minds again. One thing I try to do to help

me with this promise is to ask the person for their name, which I write down on a card. Then I look

at this card during my devotional time and pray for them by name. Sometimes I don't remember

to ask for their name. So when I pray I will say, “God, You remember those people who asked me

to pray for them, and You know who they are and the burden of their hearts. Won't You please

remember them at this time?” However you handle it, why not make it a habit that, when

someone asks you to pray for them, you actually do it.

Another way we fall into the web of lying is in the matter of flattery. One of the texts mentioned

previously says that the Lord will cut off the flattering lips. Think about this a minute. Do you know

what flattery is? Flattery is counterfeit caring. In other words, it's telling other people what they

want to hear so that we can get from them what we want. Or maybe we do it so people will accept

us, or think well of us, or give us preferential treatment. And so the little white lies, empty

promises, flattery—all ways in which a Christian can be drawn into the habit of lying.

Now let's talk a minute about the other side of lying—telling the truth. Have you ever heard of the

term, “honesty in combat boots”? Naked truth, without Christlike compassion, is honesty in

combat boots. Do you know what combat boots are? Combat boots are thick and tough. They

protect the wearer, but they can devastate and crush what they step on. Allow me to paraphrase

1 Corinthians 13: “However factual I may be, or however many scriptural passages I may quote in

my defense, if my speech is at heart unloving, I am just a noisy nothing.”

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There are some people who say, “I always tell the truth; I let the chips fall where they may.” Jesus

is our example. Listen to Him talking with Nicodemus. He said plainly, “You must be born again.”

Listen to Him talking with the woman at the well. He said plainly, “You have had five husbands.”

Listen to Him talking to Peter. He said plainly, “You are going to deny Me three times.” Jesus was

honest, He was straightforward, and He was frank. But He never said things only to put Himself in

a better light or to inflict needless pain and suffering.

Before we use the combat-boot type of honesty, let's ask ourselves the following questions: (1)

Are our words honest? (2) Are we telling something honestly and frankly to put someone down, to

exalt ourselves? (3) Are we more concerned with our honor than with the other person's? (4) Do

we have our facts straight?

There is a truth in context which, if taken out of context, becomes untruth. This is done with the

Scriptures, isn't it? and with the Spirit of Prophecy. Before we involve ourselves in an issue, we

should be prepared to hear the other side of the story. There may be such a thing as a half truth

involved there, and a half truth becomes no truth at all when it is taken out of context. There are

two sides to every story. This matter of lying is so easy that it is possible to lie by telling the truth

but from a bias. Telling only one side, especially with our particular twist so that it will go our way,

is trying to keep the other point of view down.

If we have something to share, we should determine first if the truth needs to be told at this time.

Listen to the words of the wise man in Proverbs 17:27: “He that has knowledge spares his words.”

In other words, if the truth has no constructive value, it does not need to be said. I like what

Ephesians 4:15 says: “But speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up into Him in all things,

which is the head, even Christ.”

I had never preached a sermon devoted entirely to lying, so I made up my mind that on a

particular Sabbath I would do so. I thought to myself, “What in the world am I going to say?” Now,

it was just about the time of year for paying income taxes. I had heard on a Christian radio talk

show that many Christians, who are very honest all year long, when income tax time comes will

sometimes fall away. So, I thought to myself, this is a good time to prepare a sermon on lying.

To stand in the pulpit and merely say that we shouldn't lie isn't enough. People know that already.

How could I make the subject real and unforgettable? About this time I had to make a trip, and I

checked into the motel my first night. My host was to pick me up around 9:15 a.m., so I was up

early and had my breakfast. With a little time on my hands, I sat down at the desk and worked on

my new sermon on lying. There was a company pen lying on the table, along with a notepad. If

you travel much, you recall these are standard items left for use by their patrons. As I sat and
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thought, I began to write down thoughts that came to my mind about lying, but not much was

coming that was interesting—to me, at least.

As I was scribbling away, there was a knock on the door. It was the cleaning lady with her cart of

cleaning supplies. She was a tall girl probably between 28 and 32 years old. Her name plate read,

“Patricia.” She asked if I would mind if she came in and made up the room. I tried to put her at

east by saying something like, “Not at all, Pat; come on into the house.” Then I turned around and

walked back to the table where I was working on my sermon. In the meantime, she got her things

from the cart. The first thing she did was to go into the bathroom and exchanged the towels.

Meanwhile, I sat at the table trying to write down ideas but getting nowhere.

By now, Pat had come out into the bedroom area and started changing the sheets on the bed. An

idea came to me. We live in an age of surveys, so I decided to interview her about lying and see if

I could get any ideas. And so I said, “Excuse me, Pat; I'm a pastor, and I'm here working on a

sermon on the subject of lying. Would you mind if I asked you a question?”

She said, “Not at all.”

“I asked, “When is it all right to lie?”

She thought a minute and said, “Never.”

“Oh, brother,” I thought. “Here I am, telling her I'm a pastor and I'm working on a sermon on lying,

and that's all she has to say. She could have said, “Sometimes,”, or “Every day,” or “Always.”

She's just telling me what she thinks I want to hear. And it's such a short answer; I can't make a

sermon out of that. So I expanded on the question: “Well, when are you tempted to lie?”

Patricia responded, “I used to be tempted when I thought that if I didn't lie, I would get in trouble.”

I asked, “What do you mean, get in trouble?”

“She responded, “Well, like if I didn't lie I would get fired, or if I didn't lie somebody would get mad

at me, or something bad would happen”

This began to make sense to me. I continued, “You used to lie. What do you mean by that?”

“Oh,” she said, “that was before I found out what the Word has to say about lying.” She

continued, “Now, I want to be like Jesus.”

Very interesting, I thought. Then she turned to me and asked, “Do you know why we lie?” By now
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I was taking notes on what she was saying.

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, she explained, “we lie because we don't trust God.” I had never thought of lying in that

light before. But she was right. She was absolutely right. She had said a few minutes ago that she

used to lie when she thought that if she didn't lie she would get in trouble, maybe even fired, or

someone would get mad. Now she was saying that the reason we lie is because we believe that if

we don't lie, God is not going to take care of us. If we tell the truth, we can't believe that He has

our interest and the interest of His kingdom in mind.

By now I was writing like crazy. And I thought to myself, “Listen to this woman. She is giving me

the true, spiritual reason for telling the truth. A Christian can always tell the truth because the

Christian trusts God no matter what.”

But Pat wasn't finished yet. She continued, “You know, we are more than conquerors” (I was

beginning to wonder just who this was talking with me) through Him who loved us.” Then she said,

“Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. A drunk says if he doesn't have booze he's

not going to make it. An addict says if he doesn't have his drugs he's not going to make it. I want

my life to be the kind of life that if I don't have Jesus I can't make it.”

I was speechless, and my heart was touched. I'm still not sure that she was really a maid making

the bed in my room. I think she might have been an angel. I'll have to wait until Jesus comes to

find out, because that woman was telling me truth. She was explaining to me spiritual concepts

that I had never considered before.

We know that someday there is going to be a Sabbath test. But, brethren, the fact of the matter is

that the test is on now. The test is not in some future time, it is now, and it is every day. Many

have fallen into the custom of telling lies--little white lies, little fibs, broken promises, flatteries,

and even now and then the hard-core, big-league lies. Those of us who may not tell lies have the

custom of enjoying being lied to. In fact, much of what we watch on television (perhaps the

majority) is a lie. And we spend hours and hours with it and enjoy it.

I believe that it is necessary, even imperative, that we as God's children ask ourselves the

question, “Am I sensitive about telling the truth?” I told you a few minutes ago that I am well

aware that at least I myself have a tendency to exaggerate, to present a bias, or even if pushed

into a corner to try to get out by not telling the truth. Ministers are not exempt from being

tempted to tell lies. I believe the time has come to stand for the truth—not someday, but now.

When we talk about the truth, we tend to think of doctrinal truth. But doctrinal truth is not the
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issue here. The issue is the truth is the truth is the truth.

Pray that we will look into our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I a person who always tells the truth?

Or do I need to confess to God that I have not been honest with Him or with my fellow men.” I am

thankful that, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). I want the

Lord to help me in this matter of telling the truth. I want to be the kind of man that God can trust.

I want to be the kind of man that trusts God. But let's not go from being a liar to the combat-boots

honesty that destroys people. That's not what God is calling us to do. He calls us today to have

the spirit of Christ, the spirit of compassion, the spirit of gentleness, and the spirit of truth. It is the

love of Christ that constrains us (2 Corinthians 5:14). It is truth in God that keeps us.

Bibical Rules for Dance

by Richard W. O'Ffill

The following is an excerpt from a scholarly work posted here for study and discussion and not

intended to be an original sermon.

Claims and counter-claims for the place of dance in the Old Testament may well leave us

bewildered. One popular writer maintains that, “In the Old Testament, examples of song and

dance in worship abound” 1 , while one authority diminishes everything to the simple statement

that “In the Old Testament dancing in connection with divine service is mentioned only in 2

Samuel 6:14” 2 ! Faced with two such opposite views, how can we decide who or what is right?

Unfortunately, as with so many problems in life, there is no short cut to avoid some hard work.

The only way we can resolve the issue is to look at all the words used in the Old Testament that

could possibly refer to dance. But even here the answers are not clear!

The Jewish Encyclopedia lists eleven Hebrew verb roots that are “employed to describe dancing

activity and to highlight the nuances of dance movements” 3 . That may look hopeful, but a

careful study brings us to the conclusion that “nuances of dance movements” is an overstatement

for some words that literally mean nothing more than to skip, jump, leap, or gyrate. Children

engage in this type of movement often throughout the day, and we would not claim that they are

experts in dancing. If these eleven words are nuances (delicate differences in meaning), then we

should be able to construct a simple dancing manual from the Bible. In fact the Jewish

Encyclopedia claims that this rich store of words “points to an advanced stage of choreography

among the Jews.” Unfortunately that is a quite impossible claim. No one, even in the modern rush

to bring dance into worship, has attempted to restore Jewish dances from the Old Testament. The
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Handbook of Hebrew Dance Movement in the Old Testament has not yet been published (or

written, or thought of!). In fact, not all scholars would agree that there are as many as eleven

Hebrew words for dance in the Old Testament. The Encyclopedia Biblica 4 reduces it to four, and

some would not allow more than one, as we shall see shortly.

David's Dance . The best hunting ground for dance in the Old Testament is usually the passage in

2 Samuel 6 when David and Israel accompanied the Ark of the Covenant on its journey to

Jerusalem. The key verses are 5, 14, and 16, although three months separate verses 5 and 14.

One word is used in verse 5; in Hebrew it is sahek (also in 1 Chronicles 13:8), and the Jewish

Encyclopedia claims that David danced “in the ordinary sense of the word sahek. ” But we are not

told what the “ordinary sense” is. In fact, the word means “to laugh” or “make sport”; it has no

necessary reference to dance at all. The same word is employed a few chapters earlier in 2

Samuel 2:14, and there it refers to single combat; that was some dance when twenty-four young

men lay dead at the end of it! Here the New International Version has “fight hand to hand.” Back

in 2 Samuel 6:5 the NIV translates sahek by “celebrating,” and in Jeremiah 31:4, where the same

word is used, we find “dance.” In Judges 16:25 the Philistine crowds called for Samson “to

entertain us.” It is hardly likely that Samson, blind and in chains, danced before the pagan

audience. They simply wanted to laugh at him and make sport of his tragedy. What, then, is the

“ordinary sense”? In fact, the word is never used in the Old Testament plainly meaning dance, and

generally the word “celebrate” is sufficient. The word itself gives us no clue as to what form the

celebration takes. The accompaniment of the musical instruments in 2 Samuel 6 and Jeremiah 31

does not automatically mean that dancing is taking place; in fact, the orchestral playing itself

might well be the sahek , the celebration.

Significantly, even J.H. Eaton in his contribution to Worship and Dance , claims that the word

sahek in 2 Samuel 6 is best translated “making merry;” and John Eaton is eager to find dance

wherever he can in the Old Testament. 5 Others take the same approach. 6

The Ark of the Covenant remained at the home of Obed-Edom for three months before David

brought it into Jerusalem. This time three new words are introduced to describe David's activity.

We will have to use the Hebrew words, because their meaning can overlap in English and this is

the only way we can keep a clear distinction.

In 2 Samuel 6:14 the word karar is used. It can mean “rotate” ( Jewish Encyclopedia ), “advance or

spring” ( Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge ), “whirl about” (Oesterley), or simply “move

around” (Young). One thing is clear: the idea behind the word is swift action; the noun for a

dromedary comes from the same word because of its agility. David obviously gyrated with joy.
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In 2 Samuel 6:16 the word pazaz is introduced, and karar is repeated. Pazaz means simply “to

jump.” David gyrated and jumped with joy. One modern lexicon allows “leap” (from a root

meaning “to be startled”) as the only translation, with no necessary reference to dance. 7

In 1 Chronicles 15:29, a fourth word describes David's physical activity before the ark, rakad . The

word means “to skip.” It is used in Isaiah 13:21 of wild goats leaping about, in Psalm 29:6 of the

calf skipping, and in Job 21:11 of little children playing and skipping with delight. Even in

Ecclesiastes 3:4, where the list of opposites is exact, the opposite of “mourn” is not “dance” but

rejoice. “Skip with joy” would be more accurate.

David, then, was celebrating ( sakek , 2 Samuel 6:5) with the orchestra as the ark made its first

journey to Jerusalem. After three months at the home of Obed-Edom, it continued on its journey;

and David, ecstatic with joy, sprang about ( karar , 2 Samuel 6:14) like an excited child; he

jumped ( pazaz , v. 16) and skipped ( rakad , 1 Chronicles 15:29). None of this necessarily means

dancing. Clearly what David did was exceptional; it was not his customary way to worship. This is

why Scripture draws attention to it and Michal, his wife, was offended by it. To speak of “nuances

of dance movements” in these words is greatly overstated. It was the spontaneous overflow of an

excited worshiper, and it was unusual enough to be recorded in Scripture. Never again are these

words used of David's worship, and none of them refers to a formal dance.

Every hop, skip, and jump of excitement and exuberant joy is not dance. Let me illustrate this. In

Acts 3:8 the lame man healed at the word of Peter by the gate Beautiful “jumped to his feet ¼ ”

Similarly, in Acts 14:10 the man healed at Lystra “jumped up ¼ ” The same root word is used in

both cases, and it means “to leap or spring up.” The men did not stagger to their feet; they leapt

up with joy. The man healed by the gate Beautiful was found in the temple, “walking and jumping

and praising God.” To my knowledge no one has tried to suggest the man was “dancing.” The

word does not carry that meaning. There is another word in Greek for the formal dance, it is

orcheomai , from which our word orchestra is derived. If we insist upon calling a hop, skip, or jump

a “dance,” then we have devalued the word. David the king was doing no more than the men

healed in Jerusalem and Lystra nearly a thousand years later. He was jumping with joy. It may be

hard to accept the conclusion, but to use David as an example of dance in worship is to read far

more into the words employed by the Holy Spirit to describe his activity. A matter of particular

significance is the fact that there is only one Hebrew word that clearly refers to dancing, and that

word, which we will come to in a moment, is never used with reference to David! If someone still

insists, in spite of the evidence, that David's activity before the ark was dance, then they must

concede that it was his first and last recorded excursion into dance in worship and that none of

the later kings copied him, nor the priests, nor the prophets.
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Far too much is being claimed today for the activity of David before the ark. J.H. Eaton encourages

us to study David's dance alongside Psalm 132 and 1 Kings 8: “And we may then conclude with

Mowinckel and others that the cult-founding working of David was annually re-enacted in

Jerusalem's autumn festival. Thus his successors also will have led the ark with dancing and

sacrifice into the sanctuary”! 8 However, Psalm 132 nowhere uses any of the words associated

with dance, and the only physical activities of Solomon described in 1 Kings 8 are that he

assembled with the priests and elders, turned around to face the people, stood before the altar,

knelt down and lifted up his hands in prayer and offered sacrifices. It is unreasonable to assume

that he danced. The fact that Egyptian kings danced tells us nothing about what the Israelite kings

did and still less about what they ought to have done.

Other Words for Dance . While we're at it, let's consider one or two other words that are

sometimes dragged into the dancing discussion. The word pasah means to “pass over,” “pass by,”

or “spare.” But it can also carry the meaning of “to leap;” the word is used in just this way in 1

Kings 18:26 of the frantic antics of the prophets of Baal. 9 Now the word pasah lies at the root of

the word for the Passover, and this fact has led many to assume that dancing accompanied the

Passover which, they claim, was a festival of dancing. Such a claim violates all sensible

understanding of words. The Passover Feast commemorated the night in which the angel of death

“passed over” or spared the first-born of the Israelites (Exodus 12:27). It was a terrible night of

death and sorrow in Egypt. The angel of death was hardly dancing through the land. There is

absolutely no association of the Passover with dancing any more than a “leap year” in our

calendar implies a year of national festivity and dancing! Oesterley supports the view of

Robertson-Smith that this word pasah really has a dancing word at its root. But the evidence is so

slight that Oesterley concludes only that “the option is worth hazarding”. 10 We must not make a

case based on an “opinion worth hazarding.” This is surely clutching at Egyptian straws!

Another word is hagag , which basically means to move in a circle. I t happens also to be the

common Old Testament word for a religious festival. It is used of the Passover festival in Exodus

12:14, for example, and in many other places in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 118:27). Certainly

the word originally carried the meaning of some form of celebratory procession. It is used of a

drunken orgy in 1 Samuel 30:16 (“reveling”) and is descriptive of the progress of the drunkard in

Psalm 107:27. The problem, for our purpose, is that we have no evidence that when the Jews used

the word to refer to their religious festivals they had any association with dancing in their mind. At

the most the word can refer to the Jewish procession, led by the priests, to the tabernacle (and

later to the temple). But a procession is not a dance unless we can prove that it involved a

specified choreography. And on this, the Scriptures are totally silent. The Lord Mayor's procession

in London each year, with all its ceremony and regalia, is not a dance.
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Prof. S. R. Driver, one-time Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford, was unwilling to admit that the

word hagag , when used of Jewish festivals or not, has any necessary connection with dance. 11

The evidence for this word having any association with a formal dance is so remote that it is

surprising to find Oesterley making the claim that it is the “chief original Hebrew term for a

religious dance.” 12

This may all be very depressing for those who expect to find a lot of examples of dance in Old

Testament worship! 13 However, we did warn that Schaff-Herzog concluded, “Dancing in

connection with divine service is mentioned only in 2 Sam. 6:14,” 14 and the present writer has

not even allowed that reference!

Nevertheless, there is unquestionably dance in the Old Testament, and this brings us to the only

Hebrew word that appears to have dance as its primary meaning. It is the word hul . At its root the

word means to writhe or whirl, or twist. It is used of the labor pains of a woman giving birth (Isaiah

54:1), the whirlwind “swirling down” (Jeremiah 23:19), and even to be in great distress (Esther

4:4). Other words from the same root refer to strength, might, valor, soldiers, armies and fear. But

the noun mahol , without question, means “dance.” In this sense, it is used in Scripture. Miriam

danced with the women after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20); Jepthah's daughter met

her father with dancing (Judges 11:34); the girls of Shiloh were dancing when the men of

Bethlehem chose wives from among them (Judges 21:21-23); and Saul and David were met by

dancing women as they returned victoriously from battle with the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:6 cf.

21:11; 29:5). Jeremiah spoke of Israel “dancing with the joyful” (Jeremiah 31:4, 13) and of

“dancing turned to mourning” (Lamentations 5:15). However, examples of dancing in any sense of

the word hardly “abound” in the Old Testament. The Authorized Version is probably more

generous than most translations in using the word “dance' for the various Hebrew words we have

discussed and even then it only employs the word ‘dance' twenty-six times in the entire Old

Testament.

Only in three places in the Old Testament is the word mahol used in association with worship. The

dancing of the maidens in Judges 21 was possibly at the autumn festival, but J.H. Eaton suggests

that this dance had associations with marriage and fertility both in the family and field. 15 He is

probably right, and if so it is hardly a model for the worship of Jehovah!

The other two references where mahol is understood to be in the context of worship are found in

Psalms 149:3 and 150:4. They refer to the joy of God's people overflowing into music-making and

dancing. However, these two verses alone provide no evidence that dancing did form, still less

that it should form, an essential part of worship. The context of both psalms is that everything

that has breath should praise the Lord (150:6). The psalmist works out his theme that everything
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the people of God do should honor God. This includes their worship in the assembly (149:1,

150:1), their dancing (149:3, 150:4), their music (149:4, 150: 3,4) and even their wars (149:6-9)!

These two psalms do not set out to discuss the content of Jewish worship in the temple; they

simply claim that everything in the life of God's people, from dancing to war, should be to the

honor of God. 16

The modern, formal, well-planned and rehearsed dancing movements were unknown to the

religious life of the Jew, and there is no evidence in the Old Testament that they were known to his

social life either. The complete absence of choreographers in the Old Testament is surely

significant. We read of choir leaders and orchestral conductors (e.g., Nehemiah 12:42-45), but

never of choreographers. When J.H. Eaton refers to “the specialists of temple music and dancing,”

17 he does so without authority. We never read of the specialists in temple dancing, and it is

claiming too much to assume that music-making always meant dancing also. Dance, therefore, as

it is generally understood and defined today, is nowhere found in the Old Testament directly in the

context of worship. We cannot allow the formal religious procession to be called dance; neither

can we allow every hop, skip, and jump of holy joy to be called dance. It would be absurd to

suggest that the worshiper who raised his hands in prayer leaping with joy demonstrated an

artistic form of religious dance. The only Hebrew word that refers clearly to dance ( mahol ) is not

used of David's joy before the ark or of any activity in worship. The two psalms that are so

frequently quoted do not obviously refer to dance in the service of worship but as an expression of

holy joy in God. It may be inferred that this permits it in worship. But an inference is not an

authority; at best it is a suggestion.

Dancing among the Jews was an entirely single-sex activity. As a matter of fact, we never read in

the Old Testament of men dancing. It was always only the women with women. Not men with

men, and least of all men with women. Also, dancing was never a spectator entertainment. It was

never a performance. It was always a spontaneous response to a particular situation. Rehearsal

and planned movements seem to be unknown in the Old Testament. At the most, dance was an

unusual, spontaneous, and enthusiastic response to the goodness and kindness of God. The norm

of Old Testament worship was the restrained and awesome approach towards a holy God. The

high priest did not dance through the temple into the Holy of Holies; he approached with fear and

trembling. Isaiah was not dancing in the sanctuary when he saw the Lord “high and lifted up.”

A book published in 1951 shows the influence of Jewish thought and culture in all areas of life. It is

called The Hebrew Impact on Western Civilization (published by the Philosophical Society, New

York ), and the editor, Dagobert D. Runes, devotes a chapter to “ Israel and the Dance.” Without

difficulty he can demonstrate the significant contribution of Jews in contemporary dance and

ballet, and even as far back as the great Italian Jew, Guglielmo Ebreo, two hundred years ago; but
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can put together only two pages to deal with the Old Testament. Admitting that there is no

provision for dance in the Mosaic code, “which scrupulously regulates all other ritual matters,”

Runes falls back on the support of King David. David's “dance” before the ark is described as

“followed and probably greatly imitated by others. It was probably a rotary dance rich in gesture,

accentuated by violent steps.” Notice the repetition of that word “probably”! We are even more

suspicious when Runes assures us that the Jewish and early Christian prophets “found the spirit of

God in the ecstasy of the dance” and then supports his claim solely by a vague reference to

Jeremiah 1:9, which has nothing whatever to do with dance.

In the New Testament there is a total absence of any reference to dance in the context of worship.

For the Christian this ought to imply, at the very last, that dance formed no part of the

worshipping activity of first-century Christians. There are only three occasions of dancing

mentioned in the entire New Testament. The Greek word orcheomai (‘orchestra') refers to

Herodias' daughter (Matthew 14:6; Mark 6:22) and to children playing in the street (Matthew

11:17; Luke 7:32). A different word is used in Luke 15:25 for the celebration over the returned

prodigal; it is choros (“chorus”) and can refer to singing or dancing, or both. None of these

instances forms a model for Christian worship!

A discussion of W. O. E. Oesterley's The Sacred Dance . The following discussion of Oesterley's

book, The Sacred Dance , A Study in Comparative Folklore 18 is not an essential part of the

argument of this chapter. So, if you are short of time or incentive you can move on to the next

chapter. However, if you are still with me, I have included this review of Oesterley's work for three

reasons. First, he was writing in the 1920s, long before our subject became an emotive issue

among evangelical Christians (though Oesterley was not an evangelical, anyway). Second,

because his work is moderately thorough and certainly has not been replaced by a more up-to-

date study; this is shown by the fact that he is frequently quoted with approval by those

supporting dance in worship. Third, because Oesterley reveals the presuppositions and

assumptions that have to be made to defend dance in worship.

As a matter of fact, Oesterley admits a lack of solid evidence in the Old Testament itself yet still

includes the Old Testament in his list of “abundant” source material! His purpose in writing the

book was to show the extent and significance of dance in ancient religion and particularly Judaism,

Oesterley has no doubt that dance played a major role in Jewish worship, and he sets out to prove

his case. In the light of this, it will prove helpful to take an extended quotation from the early part

of his book.

“In some important instances the Old Testament is silent. . . When a particular type of the sacred

dance is not mentioned in the Old Testament, it must not be supposed that it did not exist;
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indirectly, evidence is forthcoming which makes it highly probable that the reverse in the case.

For this reason we shall often refer to post-biblical Jewish custom and practice. Such a thing as the

sacred dance is not likely, from the very nature of things, to have been an innovation of later

ages; so that its existence in post-biblical times may well be regarded as the continuance of

traditional custom; and if so, its existence among the Israelites of Old Testament times may be

taken for granted.” 19

Look carefully at some of Oesterleys statements here: “In some important instances silent ¼

indirectly ¼ highly probable ¼ not likely ¼ may well be regarded ¼ may be taken for granted ¼ ”

These admissions are most revealing from one who sets out to show the widespread importance

of religious dance to the Jew! Oesterley admits that the Old Testament is silent “in some

important instances.” In fact, nowhere in the Old Testament is there one verse of instructive detail

on the use of dance either for social, recreation, or religious dance to the Jew! Oesterley admits

that the Old Testament is silent “in some important instances.” In fact, nowhere in the Old

Testament is there one verse of instructive detail on the use of dance either for social, recreation,

or religious worship. If dance is so intrinsically part of Jewish worship, this is most strange in the

light of the incredible detail given to cover every other aspect of their religious life. The fabric,

color, and embroidery of priestly garments, the design and materials of every item connected with

the sacrifices, the quality and type of animals to be used, are all covered in great detail. The

actions of the officiating priests are also finely spelled out. Yet nothing, not one word of

instruction, is given regarding the so-called sacred dance. It would be more accurate for Oesterley

to admit that in all important instances the Old Testament is silent. He does at least concede to

“the comparatively rare mention, therefore, of the sacred dance in the Old Testament.” 20 It is a

lame response of Oesterley to claim there was no need of instructions on dance because in

worship “dance” had been in vogue from time immemorial. So had sacrifices and priests and

altars, but God provided great detail for their use.

“Post-biblical Jewish custom and practice” is, unfortunately, little evidence for Old Testament

practices. During the four hundred years from the close of Malachi to the birth of Christ, Jewish life

changed drastically, and many beliefs and practices crept into the religion of the Jew that had no

foundation in the Old Testament and which Christ had to tear away. The Jewish ideas concerning

the world of angels and spirits were a far cry from anything found in the Old Testament. We may

ask why “from the very nature of things” the sacred dance could not have been an innovation of

later ages? The Jews were constantly, throughout their history, adding pagan bits and pieces to

their religion, and the prophets spent much of their time trying to prune out the additions. That

was one of the great weaknesses of Jewish history. We cannot “take for granted” that a post-

biblical custom was “a continuance of traditional custom.” We must either prove it or the case

falls. It is hard enough to show that choreography existed in the Old Testament worship; it is
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impossible to conclude that God commanded it.

The particular weakness of Oesterley's case is revealed when he offers us examples of the types

of sacred dance in the Old Testament. 21 He speaks of the processional dance and offers only 2

Samuel 6 as evidence, claiming that the common Hebrew word for dancing is found here! It is not.

Oesterley then refers to the encircling a sacred object and having admitted it is “nowhere

specifically mentioned in the Old Testament” nevertheless concludes, “We can scarcely doubt its

having existed among the Israelites.” That is merely wishful thinking; we want evidence!

The ecstatic dance is supposedly proved by the “well-known example' of Saul in 1 Samuel 10. But

no word relating to dance or even physical activity is found in this passage. The emphasis of the

prophet's ministry is his utterance, not his activity. The word translated “procession” in verse 5 is

literally a “band or group” of prophets. The only other ecstatic dance referred to by Oesterley is

that of the prophets of Baal on Carmel. We have no need to answer for the frantic leaping of the

pagan prophets! Eaton does not clarify the position either by referring to this case of Saul among

the prophets and concluding, “In such passages dancing as such is not expressly described, the

phenomenon being too well known to be detailed.” 22 A statement like this concedes the

weakness of the whole case. Where, in the Old Testament, is it so well known? We are not told.

Are we to assume that Elijah on Carmel began a frantic jig before calling on the name of the Lord?

The only point at which Oesterley seems sure-footed is when he refers to dance in celebration of

victory . Here we do have a few passages to support us (e.g., Exodus 15:20). Evidence for dancing

at the vintage and harvest festivals Oesterley admits is “from the scanty references,” and the only

reference he does give, without any mention of dance in it, is Amos' condemnation of the Jews'

“irreverent worship”! This would prove to be a counter-productive argument if the “irreverent

worship” included dance, because God says, “Away with it” (Amos 5:23). Oesterley's reference to

dance at the rite of circumcision, the wedding ceremony and at the burial, he does not even try to

support from the Old Testament, only by the “evidence of late Jewish literature and the analogous

practice among other people.”

One of the chief exponents of the sacred dance in the Old Testament has destroyed the case for

want of reliable evidence. We are still waiting for a more convincing exposition than that of

Oesterley.

What then is our conclusion? This study of the scriptural roots of dance is not intended to be a

case for the abolition of dance! We only appeal that people should not try to prove too much from

too little. Whatever our personal preferences, the evidence hardly bears out the conclusion of John

Eaton that “The advocates of dance in worship have a weighty ally in the Old Testament, and in
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particular in the Psalms.” 23 If dance is legitimate at all, and particularly if it is legitimate in

worship, we must admit that the New Testament evidence is nil and the Old Testament evidence

is sparse. If a congregation wishes to dance in worship, then on the biblical basis alone (and there

are other considerations) the most we can conclude is that it is their own affair. Let them not

ransack or manipulate the Bible to support their cause, and thus let them not conclude that it is

evidence either of scriptural obedience or spiritual life. If the Word of God does not specifically

condemn dance in worship, it certainly does not command or encourage it either.

____________________________________________

References:

Chapter 4, Biblical Roots for Dance

Martha Keys Barker and the Fisherfolk, Building Worship Together , 1981, p.15.

Encyclopedia for Religious Knowledge , Schaff-Herzog, 1891, vol. 1, p. 601.

The Jewish Encyclopedia , p. 1262. W.O. E. Oesterley also lists eleven words in The Sacred Dance,

A Study in Comparative Folklore, Cambridge U.P., 1923, p. 44.

Enclyclopedia Biblica , 1899, vol I, pp. 998-9, “Dance.”

Prof. J.G. Davies, ed., Worship and Dance , Institute for the Study of Worship and Religious

Architecture, University of Birmingham, 1975, p. 9.

Brown, Driver and Briggs in A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament , 1907, translate

it as “merry making” in 2 Samuel 6:5 and “making sport and play” at 1 Chronicles 15:29.

Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros , Koehler/Baumgartner, 1958.

Worship and Dance , p. 9.

The NIV is misleading by the translation: “They danced around the altar.” Literally they simply

“leapt about.”

W.O.E. Oesterley, quoting from Robertson-Smith in Encyclopedia Britannica , vol. 18, p. 343 (9 th

ed.).

Koehler/Baumgartner (see note 7) make no reference to dance as a meaning of pasah, but admit

the origin and meaning of the word are not yet fully understood.

S.R. Driver D.D., Notes on the Hebrew Text ¼ of the Book of Samuel , Oxford at Clarendon Press,

1913, p. 223: “Whether, however, the sense of dancing is really expressed by the word is very

doubtful. Modern lexicographers only defend it by means of a questionable assumption ¼ ” Driver

concludes that the meaning of 1 Samuel 30:16 is that the Amalekites were “behaving as at a

gathering of pilgrims; i.e., enjoying themselves merrily.” In fact in A Hebrew and English Lexicon

of the Old Testament (Gesenius, hagag at Psalm 107:27, the drunken sailor!)

The Sacred Dance , p. 50, quoting from Encyclopedia Biblica , vol. I, p. 999.
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See note 1.

See note 2.

Worship and Dance , p. 8.

Psalm 87:7 is often used to support dance in worship, but this is an uncertain claim. Certainly the

RSV reads, “Singers and dancers alike say, ‘All my springs are in you,'” and this follows Keil and

Delitzsch in taking the noun used here to be from the word mahol . However, Bagster believes

that it comes from halal , “to play the pipe or flute.” Thus the NIV translates, “As they make music

they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you.'”

Worship and Dance , p. 11.

See footnote 3.

The Sacred Dance, p. 9. Interestingly, J.H. Eaton in Worship and Dance speaks highly of

Oesterley's work and yet is at variance with him in this important respect. A more popular

presentation by John Eaton of dance in Jewish worship will be found in his book The Psalms Come

Alive, Mowbray 1984, ch. 5.

The Sacred Dance , pp. 35-43.

Worship and Dance , p.12. This statement comes in the section headed: “Situations in which

dancing is attested.” But how can it be attested if it is admitted dancing “is not expressly

described”? Again, we expect evidence, not wishful imagination. Similarly, on page 4 of his study

Eaton maintains, “In many Old Testament passages alluding to cultic rejoicing, but without explicit

mention of dancing, we can safely assume that dancing is implied.” Assumptions are not

evidence.

The Psalms Come Alive , p. 102.

Stop the Music

by Richard W. O'Ffill

If it can be said that religion is a personal thing, it cannot be said that corporate worship is a

personal thing. Corporate worship is just that-something we do together. In recent years there has

been a movement at every level of the church from the top down and from the bottom up to try to

bring vitality to the worship that we do together. We are talking about what we usually do when

we go to church on Sabbath morning. Not only has this movement been in our own denomination

but it has pretty well spread over the Christian world. But particularly in North America, Australia

and Western Europe.

This revolution in worship style was largely initiated by the segment we call the Charismatics. I

use the word revolution because it is overthrowing of the existing forms of worship and replacing

them with other forms. It would have been appropriate to have a reform of our worship in as much
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as a reform is not the same as a revolution, but as one young minister told me, "We are in charge

now."

I have entitled this sermon. "Stop the Music". I am not saying that we should stop the music

permanently, but only until we have sat down together and found answers to some questions

which must be addressed. Remember, corporate worship is just that. It is something that we do

together. It is unimaginable that we have come to the state of affairs in some places and in more

and more places in which worship is something that is dividing us rather than uniting us. We

should not be surprised. There is after all the old saying, "divide and conquer."

It seems to me that we should see what is happening and say, "Wait a minute, something is

wrong here. Whatever we are doing must not be the right thing to do because what is going on is

causing divisions and confusion in the very place where Jesus prayed that there would be unity."

I know that something is fundamentally wrong. When the young minister told me, "We are in

charge now," his words illustrated that what is going on is a true revolution in every sense of the

word. Friends, this must not be. The Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is the head of the church. An

attitude that sees the church as being dominated by one race, culture, gender, or generation is

not the church that Jesus established when He was here on earth. This is why I think there is a

basic fallacy in the argument that worship is a cultural phenomena. If that were true, it would

mean that you and I ought to be able to worship God any way that our particular culture is

inclined to do.

If Christ is really the head of the church then it would seem to me that instead of debating among

ourselves as to whether we should worship according to my culture or yours, we might do well to

set down together and discover what are the Biblical principles of worship.

In Jeremiah 9 we read: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let

the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth

glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving

kindness, judgment and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight."

In the context of what is presently going on in some places that text might say: "Thus saith the

Lord, Let not the young people demand a change for change sake, let not the older people defend

the status quo, let not anyone think that you can worship God any old way you please, but let the

young and the old, let those from your culture and those from my culture, let all cultures sit down

together and study to understand and know me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness,

judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight. "
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I am increasingly convinced that as things seem to be going now, that we are not gathering

together to worship God, rather we are increasingly gathering together to please ourselves. This is

why we are insisting on doing it your way or my way. What this seems to be saying is that as far

as God is concerned anything goes.

The aspect of worship that is the focus of our problem is music. Of all the arts as we understand

them the Bible tells us that music is the only one that will continue into heaven. Music began in

heaven as a vehicle of praise to the Holy God and it will continue throughout eternity in the same

role. The angels sing, the elect saints sing, and someday, we will hear the Lord Jesus Himself sing

praise in the midst of the assembly. Heb. 2:12: "Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,

in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."

In Rev. 15: 3-4 "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,

saying great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God almighty; just and true are thy ways thou

King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name: for thou only art holy: for all

nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest." On the other

hand the Bible tells us that one day the music of the world will cease. Rev. 18:22 says that the

sound of the harpist, musicians, flutists and trumpeters, shall not be heard in you anymore.

Inasmuch as music was provided by God to his creation to be used to be something to praise and

worship Him then it would seem to me that the music that we use to worship Him should be based

on what we might call his culture not our own. Do you see what I mean? I cannot help but think

that the problem that is manifesting itself in music these days is due to what I hope is a

misunderstanding.

If worship is something that we are doing that is directed to us, to ours and to theirs, then surely

we must give a little here and take a little there. But if music is about God, then it would see to

me that we must as I mentioned earlier sit down, put aside our differences and discover together

who God is. I don't need to tell you that our worship and therefore our music reveals who we think

that God is. Unless we discover from the Scripture who God is, we could actually be worshiping

another God or just, as they say, "whistling in the dark". In this case it would be the darkness of

our own misunderstanding. God talks to us in Ps. 50:21. He says, "These things hast thou done,

and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove

thee and set them in order before thine eyes."

Just because we are not being struck by lightening, or the ground is not opening to swallow us up

we must not necessarily come to the conclusion that whatever we choose to offer the Lord in

worship is pleasing to Him. He tells us not to see Him as one of the boys. -" thou thoughtest that I
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was altogether such an one as thyself". In Heb. 11:6, 6 we read," But without faith it is impossible

to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of

them that diligently seek Him."

A number of years ago I read that we can rise no higher than our concept of God. This is why it is

imperative, not only for his glory but for our salvation, that we understand who has made us and

how He expects to be worshiped. All of our worship, both in music and in the spoken word, must

produce a high view of God. Our chief aim must be to glorify God and worship Him forever. Ps.

29:1,2, "Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the

LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness." Ps 96:9 ," O

worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth."

Worship is not about us. It is about God. If worship is to be acceptable it must be consistent with

who God is. Worship is not about us. It is about God. More and more we are hearing that worship

is to meet our needs. Though it is true that we have a need to worship God, it is unthinkable that

we can worship Him as we see fit. Even in God's redemptive plan for man salvation never begins

with man and his need but with God and His glory. We seem to be trying to make worship

attractive to more and more people. I have already said that this is not valid unless we are in fact

not directing our worship to God but to each other. God is not pleased when just anyone pretends

to worship him. It is even possible to worship God in vain. That means under certain

circumstances that worship can even be a waste of time. In one place it says: Matt 15 7-9 "Ye

hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their

mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do

worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

The point is God cannot be worshiped and glorified where sin is accepted and entertained. This

plainly means that a person who is living in known and open sin, a person who is resisting the

sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in their lives cannot worship inasmuch as the Scripture is clear

that true worship must be from the heart. You may disagree with me 100% but this means that

worship is not for everyone. Excuse me if I use a plain illustration, but just as physical intimacy

between a man and a woman is only legitimate in the context of the marriage covenant, so

worshiping a holy God is only for those who have made a covenant to serve Him as their maker

and Lord.

Some have decided that they would craft the worship service for the unconverted, but in doing so

they run the risk of profaning the name of our Holy God. In our worship we must obey God, rather

than seek to please each other and especially the lost. Paul wrote in Gal 1:9 ff. "As we said before,

so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
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him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet

pleased men, I should not be servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which

was preached of me is not after man."

You remember when Elijah challenged the children of Israel? He said, " If God be God worship

Him, if Baal be god then worship him. We cannot serve both God and the world. These days some

are trying to create an environment where the sinner feels as comfortable as the person who is

committed to Jesus. When we do this we run the risk of three things. 1. Insulting the Holy One. 2.

Misrepresenting God to the lost 3. Deeply grieving those who have made a commitment to Jesus

and whose consciences are defiled by forms of worship that are closely patterned after the things

of the world.

The unchurched or unbelieving person comes to us with ideologies that Scripture calls "darkness."

Jesus makes it clear in John 3:19 that the world "loved darkness" (NIV). The biblical way to deal

with darkness is to confront it lovingly with light. Creating a church environment that makes

ideologies of darkness feel comfortable is to confront, as it were, darkness with darkness. There is

a real danger that, in trying to reach the "lost," we find ourselves incorporating into the church

concepts and perspectives incompatible with the truth and purity that the gospel represents.

We often hear that the church is a hospital for sinners, but it must be borne in mind that a hospital

is where the sick go to get well. According to the metaphor, the church is a place where one goes

as part of the getting-well process. Persons satisfied with themselves the way they are may nor

feel comfortable with the gospel call to repent (to change, to get well). Also, much is said these

days about the church being an accepting place, but there is a real danger that the word

"accepting" may be confused with "status quo." A person who loves "the world" and "the things

that are in the world" (1 John 2:15) may not feel comfortable in the church. It is even likely that

many of the unconverted's felt needs are diametrically opposed to what salvation is all about.

I am impressed that the Old Testament fundamentally teaches two basic concepts. One is that

God is Holy. The word is Hebrew for Holy means separate. That means that He is not like us. This

means that the more we try to make him like us the further away from the truth we find

ourselves.

Another concept that is clear from the Old Testament is that the Holiness of God and the

corruption of the world are incompatible. You will remember when God told Moses to take off his

shoes because where God was the ground was holy. In the sanctuary service there were a host of

ceremonies that had to do with purification. The point is clear. We are not to bring the profane

into the presence of the Holy: to do so is to blaspheme our Holy God.

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There were occasions in the Old Testament where when this was done the result was the death of

those who did it. But because this did not happen every time and because it doesn't seem to be

happening now we have come to believe that good and evil can co-exist and that light and

darkness, truth and error can somehow be harmonized. This concept that truth and error, light

and darkness can exist together has been institutionalized in the Asian concept of the "ying" and

the "yang". You may have seen the symbol. It is a circle with black and white flowing together side

by side inside.

We must not allow ourselves to deceive ourselves. God's Spirit will not always strive with men.

There will come a day in which all that is profane will be purged away and only that which is holy

will remain. The problem is that for the time being it seems that we can make an accommodation

with evil. It seems that evil and good can co-exist. But when good and evil are mixed together it is

the evil that washes out the good, or should I say that corrupts the good. Remember the Scripture

tells us that a little yeast affects the whole lump of dough and so it is in worship.

It seems more and more clear that in our enthusiasm to call the sinners out of the world, the

effect seems more and more to be that we are bringing the world and evil into the church. This

would not be the first time that this has happened and if you wonder what the result will be, find a

good history book. In 1 Kings 12:28, 29 we discover that Jeroboam was only trying to make

worship more relevant and accessible to the people when he set up the golden calves in Dan and

Bethel. The consequence of this sin ultimately brought about the destruction of Israel as a nation.

In the Christian Era Constantine took the lead in making Christian worship relevant to the people

of the Roman Empire, Christians and non-Christians alike. Of course, he had to change the day of

worship to do it.

This is why I insist that what we are doing is not making history but repeating it. I think if this is

the course that we are bent on, we should sit down and study history to see if the results of the

past are what we want for our present, and if they are not we must do a serious mid course

correction. I greatly fear that our change in worship styles are largely only a reflection of our

change in lifestyles. In the past the call to the young people was to come out of the world and live

a holy life. That call now seems to be, "Hey we don't care what you do, just come to church and

we will do our best to make you feel comfortable."

Often I hear quoted as a justification for the new music and ways of playing it, that the scripture

calls us to sing a new song and that the new music is just doing what the Bible is telling us to do.

But what we are calling new songs in many places are simply trying to fit new words into old

music. New and old in this respect are not about time. They are about lifestyles. God is surely not

telling us to do new music as compared to old music or that would mean that we couldn't put the
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Psalms to music. The Psalms are the oldest religious songs that there are.

When the Scripture calls on us to sing a new song, it is calling us to a new and different life. A new

song is to be about a new life. Not a blending of the old and the new or a recycled old life but a life

in which forgetting the things which are behind we are pressing forward toward the mark of the

high-calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The Psalms call on us to sing unto him a new song. It is to be a song of a redeemed people of God.

This new song is to be different and distinctive. It is to be a more glorious song, a purer, truer and

more beautiful song than the world can ever sing. " Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new

song, and his praise in the congregation of saints" Ps 149:1. In the book of Revelation it speaks of

the saved: Rev 5:9,10."And they sung a new song, saying , thou art worthy to take the book, and

to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of

every kindred, and tongue and people and nation." A new song, by the way is not just new words.

When Scripture is calling on us to sing a new song in the first place it is calling on us to reject the

world and to abandon it's sinful ways and then our song will not be just a song of new experience

but it will be sung to a new melody and played in a different way that the way of the world.

Christian music must be just that, Christ centered in its every aspect. Even the style and the

melody must be to the glory of God. By the way there are those who say that style and melody

are neutral and all that matters are the words. This is simply not so. First, why do platinum-selling

secular artists not believe that? Paul McCartney, originally of the Beatles and a solo artist since

the 1970s, told the Washington Post: "The message is not in the lyrics, but in the music." Few

people have had the kind of influence that McCartney has had on contemporary music, and if he is

right, then music is hardly amoral. It's little wonder, then, that philosopher Allan Bloom, in his

best-seller The Closing of the American Mind, wrote that rock is characterized by "antinomianism"

(without law) and that "young people know that rock is the beat of sexual intercourse." To be fair,

the kind of raucous music that McCartney and Bloom are describing isn't yet being advocated in

most Adventist churches, but there are disturbing trends in that direction. Promoting the gospel

message of our holy God through an unholy medium can only be called profanity.

Second, should music that reminds the listener and participator of the secular songs of the day be

introduced into the church? It's time to put to rest the tired apocryphal story that Martin Luther

used the "tavern tunes" of his day. Of the melodies in Luther's 37 chorales, 15 were composed by

him, 13 came from Latin hymns, four were from German religious folk songs, two had originally

been religious pilgrim songs, two were from unknown origin, and only one came directly from a

secular folk song) This one song appeared in Luther's first hymnal in 1535, but was replaced by an

original tune in his 1539 hymnal. Historians believe that Luther discarded the secular tune
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because people associated it with its previous lyrics). Luther's goal was to replace the world's

music, not duplicate it. He used four-part harmony because he wanted to attract the worshiper

away from secular songs.

If we are going to use music to honor God then the music must honor him in every way. We

cannot justify taking styles and rhythms that are used create an atmosphere of sex, drug abuse,

violence and the like and by changing the words think that we now have something that is to the

glory of God. If we are to be honest we must admit that music without words is used to create

atmosphere. I don't need to prove that to you. In the world of business and entertainment music is

carefully chosen so that it will create just the atmosphere that is desired.

I greatly fear that when Christian artists take an old song of the world, dress it up, modify it and

say it now represents the person of Jesus Christ, a Christian message or describes the character of

God, they are assaulting the gospel and diminishing the gift that has been entrusted to them. This

is inappropriate at best and sacrilegious at worst. We cannot pour new wine into old wineskins.

Jesus himself said in Mark 2:22: "And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine

doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred, but new wine must

be put into new bottles."

Friends, I think you can see that what is involved in worship is not simply a matter of personal

preferences, age or cultural background. I am more and more persuaded that worship is merely

an indication of the different concepts of God among the membership. There is a Latin saying that

goes, " Lex orandi, lex credendi," it means "As the man worship, that is how he believes." Yes it is

true, how we worship God is how we see Him and how we see God dictates the way we live.

You may be thinking to yourself, Pastor O'Ffill, you are trying to divide us. What you are saying is

divisive. No, friend, what I am doing is merely describing what is happening and as I mentioned

earlier this is not something that is just happening in our own denomination. The issue of worship

is causing concern in many quarters outside our own church.

What shall we do then? Personally I think one thing that we could resolve this at least for the

moment would be to simply use Christian courtesy. The apostle Paul is clear that we must not do

something that knowingly offends the conscience of a weaker brother. In 1 Cor 8:12,13 it says,

"But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I

make my brother to offend." Though this is talking specifically about eating meat offered to idols

the principle is the same. We are not to intentionally offend each other.

In the matter of the contemporary worship styles I definitely consider myself among the weak. We
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who are weak in this respect not only have a sensitive conscience about rock rhythms in worship

but we have the same standard for our lives when we are not in church.

In the same respect those of us who have a sensitive conscience about doing theater in the

worship service don't go to the theater and a growing number are deep sixing the TV. Betty and I

don't have a TV. We raised our children without one. Somehow we have survived. We are up-to

date on the news without having to watch the evening news. So to answer the question is it

possible to live without TV the answer is "yes". In fact life without the TV is a fuller, richer, cleaner

and more peaceful life. It is difficult if not impossible for the Holy Spirit to put into us the mind of

Christ when we are needlessly exposing ourselves to the things that are watched by the average

Christian.

I believe we can make our worship services meaningful to those who are serious about worshiping

a holy God and pleasing to Him without having the congregation go to sleep. I must warn you

though that inasmuch as spiritual things are spiritually discerned, a person who is used to the life

of the world could find church at times uninteresting and even boring. I think that is something

that a person must solve between them and God and bringing a band or a puppet show to church

is not the way to go about it.

Let me speak for a moment about puppet shows and drama. Our life in the nineties tends to be

largely fantasy, from sports to videos and virtual reality. I am sad to tell you on one hand but

happy to tell you on the other, that the Christian life and its worship of a Holy God is not a fantasy,

we don't need to simulate it in some kind of drama, we can actually share with each other what

God is doing in our lives and we can do that without having a rap rhythm in the background.

God is calling his people everywhere to separate themselves from the pleasures of the world. Job

14:4 "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. "and in 2Cor 6:17," Wherefore

come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;

and I will receive you."

I visit churches in many places. I often see worship services that are vibrant and alive. They are

full enthusiasm and spirit and yet there is nothing there that would offend the weak. On the other

hand, I was in one church not long ago and for the children's story they had a hand puppet show.

It was done by the children themselves. The children provided the arms and the voices but the

ones that were acting out the story of Daniel were grotesque Sesame street characters. You may

not find any problem with that. I do. In the first place it was more fantasy. My wife was reading to

me from an article in which it was saying that our children in this generation have a hard time

distinguishing between reality and fantasy. It is no wonder that when they grow up they will treat
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a basketball game as reality and their marriages as fantasy.

I cannot see how we are honoring our holy God in whose presence angels view their faces when

we represent his workings in the life of the men and women of scripture through the medium of

lesser life forms. For many young people Lion King has more meaning than Jesus who will come to

this world one day soon as King of kings and Lord of lords. My brother, My sister, we must not

simply sit back and think that whatever gets a good laugh must be to the glory of God. Isaiah saw

God and he didn't laugh or give Him a round of applause.

Listen to this from Isaiah the sixth chapter. " In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord

sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the

seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his

feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD

of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him

that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because

I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have

seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

Just in case you may think, but Pastor O'Ffill that is just an Old Testament concept. Listen to this

from Heb. 12.28, 29, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have

grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a

consuming fire."

I greatly fear that our trend in the nineties to mix the sacred with the profane is indeed playing

with fire. We sing that our God is an awesome God, and indeed He is, but that word is now used to

describe most anything from a touchdown to a horse race. It is no wonder we worship a cheap

god. God have mercy on this generation we have mixed the sacred with the profane until we are

often no longer able to discern the holiness of God from a clown in a polka-dotted suit with frizzy

green hair and a red ball for a nose who is telling us that Jesus loves us.

I have not told you anything new. I have merely described what is going on. I plead, before it is

too late. let us as individuals and as congregations seek the Lord while he still may be found. Let

us call upon Him while he is nigh. Let us forsake our wicked ways and let us return unto the Lord.

And the promise that gives us hope that when we do, he will abundantly pardon.
What Happened to the Caring Church?
by Richard W. O'Ffill

Not long ago during a chat with my brother, I mentioned I had just finished writing a sermon
entitled, "Coloring Outside the Lines" and I told him a little of what it was about. I knew he
would be interested because he also studied for the ministry. Because my brother is six years
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younger than I, we did not spend much time together while growing up. When I was in
college, he was in high school. When he was in the seminary, I was in the mission field. As
the years have passed we have not seen each other more than once or twice a year. But we do
talk regularly by phone.

My brother generally agrees with the concerns that my preaching suggests, but in this
conversation he made some comments and asked me some questions that really made me
think. I am glad we talked together. In fact, I believe it was providential. You see, we can all
learn from one another, and I want to find the middle of the right road.

Many have pointed out that until recently our church has been works-centered, and they may
be right. At least some were works-centered. Through the years great emphasis was indeed
given to lifestyle issues.

But it doesn't appear we are works-centered these days. Perhaps we are even going to the
other extreme. Many are now falling into the ditch on the other side of the road.

If you drive out to Cape Kennedy here in Central Florida you will most likely take a road a
stretch of which has a swamp on both sides. It is not unusual to see alligators floating in these
swamps, hoping someone will stop and throw them something to eat. The point is, in the area
of faith and morals there are alligators on both sides of the road.

Some would say much of my preaching tends to be based on projections. I admit I often
preach to what I see as trends. I recognize that, if the conditions change, the trend will
change. But I believe that, if we are going to have some idea of where we are going, it is
necessary for us to see not only where we are but also from whence we have come.

I preach not only to projections; my preaching also tends to be theology based. That is, I am
sensitive to the state of theology and the aberrations that may be influencing it at one
particular time or the other. Someone once asked me if I was sensitive to the changes that are
coming into theology and if I had ever asked myself why these changes may be happening. In
other words, I was being asked to go deeper and wider, and not only address the changes and
the attacks on our faith and morals, but to try to consider what some of the conditions are that
may be contributing to the current dynamics in the church.

For instance, no one dies of AIDS; they die of something else. AIDS is simply an attack on
the immune system. When the immune system is not functioning, the person dies of TB,
pneumonia, or even a type of cancer that the system might otherwise have been able to resist.

There is no doubt that something is going on in the community of the church. There are
definite diseases, so to speak. The challenge is to address not only the disease but to explore
what might be, in fact, a breakdown of the immune system in the community of faith that has
somehow allowed this disease to proliferate when it otherwise could have been easily
resisted.

This sermon is a companion to the one entitled, "Coloring Outside the Lines." You should
read that one first, if possible. I hope that when this sermon is over, or, better still, when you
have heard both sermons, together they will be a fair treatment of some of the fundamental
challenges we face and will serve to help steer this ship of faith in a straight line. I suppose I
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could have entitled this sermon, "Coloring Outside the Lines II" so that you would know you
hadn't gotten the whole picture until you had heard them both.

This sermon may sound somewhat negative to begin with, like "Coloring Outside the Lines."
By the way, it is hard to preach a sermon that is really positive unless it also has some
negative components. The negative components of a sermon help us see our need. We have
needs that we know and we have needs that we don't know or that are less obvious. We
know, for example, when we need to keep warm or to keep cool, but we may not know when
we are not getting sufficient vitamin C in our diet.

I hope you are not opposed to hearing negative things. The Bible presents the negative side of
many things. Otherwise, how could an intelligent choice be made? Unfortunately, these days
many people don't like to hear negative preaching, especially if it happens to be about things
they don't like to think about. Telling me how to get rich is much more pleasant than telling
me what to do about bad breath. So this sermon is going to challenge the way some of us
think and maybe even the way many of us behave.

It would not come as a surprise to me if someone labeled me a conservative preacher. I guess

if you must designate someone as either conservative or liberal, I would not be given a high
score by those who call themselves liberals. But we all have to start somewhere to get
anywhere, and I suppose I start as a conservative. Jesus was condemned by both the liberals
and the conservatives. The liberals thought He was conservative and the conservatives
thought He was liberal. I should expect no better reception than He had.

If you thought the sermon about coloring outside the lines was against a liberal point of view,
you may feel this one is against a conservative point of view. No matter where we are coming
from, it's not my mother, nor my father, nor them, nor theirs, but it's me, O Lord, standing in
the need of prayer.

The text for this sermon is Matthew 14:14: "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude,
and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick." In this sermon we
will compare some of our prevalent attitudes with the attitudes of Jesus. It goes without
saying that whenever we compare ourselves with Jesus, it makes us realize we are not as far
along in the process of growing in grace as we might have imagined.

Have you ever heard someone remark how thankful they were that their church has so many
professional members or so many doctors? We are indeed glad to have doctors and other
professionals in the body of Christ, but what about the rest who aren't professionals or
doctors? Our Lord Jesus was a journeyman carpenter. But have you ever heard anyone say
they were thankful there were three carpenters and four electricians in their church? In the
book of Acts it said that the Lord added to the church those that were being saved, without
regard to their titles or professions. Once in a while the New Testament does mention what
someone did for a living, but it was because in those days what you did for a living helped to
identify who you were. How many of us these days have the last name of Smith or Carpenter
or Hooper?

Remember, we are being challenged to try to figure out the root causes for the troubles
apparent in some places these days. Some might say it is because we do not treat people the
same and that we are not sensitive to people as people and so we often hurt each other. The
church is supposed to be like a hospital where a person can come to get over their hurts, but
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often it is just the opposite. When we exalt one group of members as being more valuable
than another, how does that make the rest feel?

We may be very close to greatly displeasing the Lord by the way we carry our social
preferences into the Body of Christ. Listen to this text in James 2:1-5:

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of
persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and
there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the
gay clothing, and say unto him, 'Sit thou here in a good place'; and say to the poor, 'Stand
thou there', or 'sit here under my footstool': Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are
become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the
poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them
that love Him?"

While that text simmers in our consciences for a while, let's think about other challenges we
face. Before I mention one specifically, let me say that whenever two people get together at
any particular time, one of the two emerges to be the leader. The point is that churches must
have leaders. The Bible is clear about that. So the issue is not if we will or will not have
leaders, but what the Bible expects the leaders in the church to be.

Studies have been done in the smaller churches. They have shown that churches with a
membership of around 100 members or less will usually have what might be called a
patriarch or a matriarch. This is a man or a woman who is more or less in charge of what goes
on in the church. We are not talking about a leader in the absence of a pastor but in spite of
whether there is a pastor or not. A pastor of one of those typical little churches told me that
sometimes when the church would have a board meeting, one particular matriarch would vote
in favor of something or other if it were obvious things were going that way; but then when
the board meeting was over she would get word out that no matter what the vote had been,
nothing had changed, and so it was.

This same pastor told me that one year the church decided they would pray for 25 new
members, and God answered their prayer and they got 25 new members. Some of the new
members became deacons and others became Sabbath School teachers, but it wasn't long
before they had all left the church. You see, this church didn't mind having new members but
the old guard was not about to sit still for new leaders. A new member could be part of the
congregation, but they should forget about being a leader. All the leadership slots were filled
by people who had tenure!

There may be reasons other than theological reasons for the many changes that are going on
in the church today. These reasons may be like the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
They are attitudes that wear away at the spiritual health of the church until all kinds of
strange things come in to scatter the flock, including tinkering with the doctrines and changes
in lifestyle. Lifestyle includes attitudes, and attitudes account for the way we treat other
people, and the way we treat other people is included in our lifestyle. It's a circle of cause and
effect.

It is possible that people like me, who emphasize doctrinal orthodoxy and are sensitive to
what could even be considered heresy, to not have sensitivity in relating to other people and
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their feelings. Jesus was always sensitive to the feelings of people, and if we are going to
have the power of the gospel take hold in our lives, we must be sensitive, too.

Many times people who are into theology are mean, whereas people who don't seem to care
about theology are nice. As a result, people can easily be down on theology and up on what
are called these days "relationships".

The bottom line of the gospel is that we must sooner or later learn to love the Lord our God
with all that we are, and then having put Him first, next we must love everyone else with the
same regard we have for ourselves. Inasmuch as our tendency is to put ourselves first in
everything, if we are going to love our neighbor as ourself, then we will put everyone else
first.

It has been said that the church is not to be a rest home for saints, but a hospital for sinners.
Of course, it is not to be a rest home for sinners either. The church is a society of practicing
sinners who have come together in Christ to learn what it means to be practicing saints.

We must not forget that though we come to the church with all kinds of baggage and
dysfunctions, we have not come to perpetuate our weaknesses and to hone our pride and
selfish skills in the context of the body of Christ. Rather, we come as we are. But now born
again and sorry for the way we have been, we are determined by God's grace and the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit we will be made whole.

The church is not the place to come to if you are into, "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the
fairest of them all?" The church is not for people who consider themselves to be the fairest.
People who consider themselves to be the fairest don't need what the church has to offer. The
church is not for people who see themselves as rich or smart or beautiful or powerful either.
The church is for people who feel that all they have or are is nothing and that Jesus is
everything.

One of my responsibilities is to work with Men's Ministries. I suppose a person could argue
about why the need to have men's ministries, or for that matter women's ministries, or
whatever special interest group that has decided it needs a ministry. There are definitely some
negatives in special interest groups, but there are some positives, too. One positive is that
when women have problems, they ought to go to godly women for advice. The same could be
said for men going to godly men. And there is no doubt the singles feel lonely and neglected.
Perhaps the fragmenting going on in the church these days could be summed up with the
plea, Doesn't anybody care about me?

When Men's Ministry conventions are held in our area, I invite men from all over the country
to come and speak. The advertisements give the name of the speaker and where he is from
but not what he does for a living. The purpose is to fellowship at the same level.
Unfortunately, all men are equal until it comes to what they do for a living. The proverbial
pecking order seems to be determined by what we do for a living and how much money we
have. If you were to attend a Men's Ministry convention in Florida you could be yourself,
because for all you know the guy up front is just like you.

I am not suggesting that we should not have doctors or lawyers or even people with money in
the church, but we should not hold that either for them or against them. Here is where,
according to the prevailing notion, Jesus made His first mistake when He was here on the
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earth. It signed His death warrant very early on, and that was that Jesus was no respecter of
persons. This was a direct attack on the status quo. In those days who you were was who you
were; and if you were a nobody, you had no possibility of rising above that status.

Jesus treated all the supposed nobodies as somebodies. Now, we must be careful with this.
This is where we can get all tangled up and flunk the gospel's final exam. In the body of
Christ everybody is treated as somebody, but if you ask them who they think they are they
will tell you they are a nobody. This is where we are starting off right and ending up wrong in
our approach these days. We start off by saying that everybody is a somebody, and then we
institutionalize pride and selfishness, which is the opposite of all that the gospel stands for.
Jesus treats us as a somebody, but in the next breath He tell us to get down and wash each
other's feet. In the context of modern life, those two approaches are a contradiction of terms.

In the body of Christ, which is the church, a person who considers himself a somebody is in
the eyes of God a nobody, and a person who considers himself a nobody in the eyes of God is
a somebody.

Listen to Luke 14:11: "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." And James 4:10: "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He shall lift you up." And there are even more texts that could be quoted.

The point is we are wrong in comparing ourselves among ourselves. We may do it now, but
before this life is over we must stop it, because it is an attitude incompatible with the
kingdom of heaven.

How does one put the right principles into practice? Put down the professional people and put
up the blue-collar people? That would only create another problem. In plain language, it
could be said that Jesus wants us to treat everybody as though they were doctors and
engineers.

Returning for a moment to the church that prayed for 25 new members and got them, I don't
know if they will ever pray for new members again, because the new members were seen as a
threat to the established leadership and were rebuffed until they left. Some would be quick to
counter that if the 25 had really been converted they wouldn't have left. I will not speak to
that here. The fact is, they are gone from us and we would have to talk with them about their
reason for leaving. This kind of thing has happened before and will no doubt continue to
happen.

You will recall that at the beginning of this discussion I suggested that there are churches that
are, we might say, ruled over by resident patriarchs or matriarchs. I also submitted that there
must be leadership when there is more than one person involved in an organization of any
kind. So the dilemma is not whether or not a church should have leadership, but what kind of
leader that person will be.

When Jesus was here on this earth they called Him "Rabbi". Rabbi means teacher. Here was
Jesus, the Creator of heaven and earth. If anyone was ever a leader in the true sense of the
word it was Him. But notice His leadership style. They called Him "teacher". A teacher
leader is the opposite of a dictator leader, because a dictator leader tries to keep other people
from becoming leaders and a teacher leader is constantly seeking to create leaders. A church
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that is lead by dictator leaders cannot grow, because to grow would mean to share leadership,
and a dictator leader sees every new person as a potential threat to his or her position.

A teacher leader is not threatened by new people or the thought that this might mean more
leaders. After all, they see their leadership role as making new leaders and they will actually
be happy to see new people come in and move into leadership positions. A teacher leader has
nothing to fear for his style of leadership because teacher leaders will always be in demand.
On the other hand, a dictator leader is insecure of his leadership role and wakes up every day
with the fear that someone is going to take his place.

Where is all this leading? We began with the challenge to look deeper than the obvious
theological issues in order to discover what may be behind some of the destructive things
happening today in the body of Christ.

It could be that some of the tumult in theology is being enabled, or should we say facilitated,
in part at least, by the way we are treating each other. It could be that some of the youth feel
justified in creating a youth church because there is no room for them in what might be called
"the establishment." It could be that the congregations that emphasize being nice to each
other are more attractive than the congregations that may be theologically sound but
fundamentally unfriendly and have a closed leadership loop that is impossible to break into.

A friend of mine went on a ski trip to Utah. While he and his wife were there, they went
down to Salt Lake City to see what was going on in the world of the Mormons. He told me he
took the tour, which was lead by young people. You are no doubt aware of the prominent role
that young people play in the Mormon Church. They are the cutting edge of the church. They
are the ones who beat the streets and are the evangelistic outreach of the church.

We need to learn something from our Mormon friends. The Mormon youth do not try to
represent a new Mormon theology, but they are, believe it or not, carriers of the orthodox
faith. Mormon young people are required to come up to the level of orthodoxy in all that has
to do with Mormon theology and lifestyle. And having done that, they are then passed the
torch of responsibility.

It may not be universal in our church, but it seems in some places at least there are those who
seem to feel that if we are going to involve Adventist young people in the workings of the
church we must re-tool our theology and lifestyle to a level that the young people are
comfortable with. This approach may well do two things. First, it dumbs down the theology
and lifestyle that was given by Inspiration to this church, and secondly, to accommodate this
phenomenon we are in some places seeing the development of a new church. I hesitate to say
it is splitting the church, but it could come to that unless this situation is addressed fast.

The challenge to us as leaders is to become teacher leaders. This will make us less susceptible
to the temptation to create a parallel church in order to involve our youth. But I would say to
the young people, or for that matter to anyone who wants to get into the action, we must not
forget that we must agree among ourselves to play by the same rules. The body of Christ is
not about everyone for himself or doing it our way. There is an old saying, "Too many cooks
spoil the broth," and the same applies when it comes to how we regard faith and morals. It
must be the Bible and the Bible only that determines the rules of the game.
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I hope you are following along with some of the things I have said. To put it simply, we must
not think that all the challenges that have come into our church are purely theological. I am
afraid much of our problem has to do with the way we have been treating each other.

Perhaps we have been openly and in an on-going way, disobeying Scripture that says not to
treat rich people better than poor people or educated people better than those who have less
education. In many places we have locked the door of church growth by adopting a
leadership style that does not encourage personal growth, but may actually keep it from
happening.

I intend to continue preaching against what I feel are the dangers of false doctrines and
worldliness coming into the church and into our homes. And I now feel convicted that we
must also include the way we treat each other as an important part of our theology and
lifestyle.

One of the challenges we have when our eyes are opened to the importance of treating each
other nicer is suddenly we may see the story of the woman caught in adultery as being the last
word in dealing with all adultery. The net result can be that adultery and fornication may
actually become, though not preferred, an acceptable behavior.

We must continually remind ourselves that, as the Lord leads us into a greater understanding
and experience with truth, there is no time in which we must throw out old truth to make
room for the new. A new understanding of eternal principles establishes timeless principles
and never diminishes them.

The church is to be not just a place where we come to get correct theology and to get away
from the world; it must also be a kind of haven, if you please, from the storms that rage
around us. The world is a dog-eat-dog place, but the church must never be. The church must
be where we come away from the world. It is to be an environment where the rich and poor,
the young and old, the men and women, no matter the race, come to grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a memory verse I learned in elementary school. It is found in Luke 2:52:

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." I believe this is
essentially what the church is to be about.

None of us is alike. When God made you He threw away the mold. You are one of a kind.
For me to compete with you or to try to put you down makes no sense, because we are in
some ways as different as apples and oranges. None of us is self-sufficient either, although
we may sometimes think we are or would like to be. The human race was meant to be a
family. Sin has messed that up badly, but the church was established here in this world to be a
shelter where the original plan of God in this regard could be seen and experienced.

If we are to address some of these problems of the church, we are going to have to take them
on at home, too. Surely we must recognize that the church is looking more and more like our
homes. The theology and lifestyles we practice during the week are more and more in
evidence in the church on Sabbath.

I don't mind the challenge we have before us in this respect, because when we really get
down to basics and begin to address the way we treat each other in the context of the church
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it will mean we will also have to address the way we treat each other at home and on the job.
This means that, by the grace of God, we will, as they say, be able to get two birds with one
stone.

My brother recently shared a little song with me. He heard it sung once but couldn't
remember all the words, so he called a music store and asked them to read the words to him.
The title of the song is, "Don't Laugh at Me." The words go something like this:

I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call the geek,

The little girl that never smiles, because I have braces on my teeth,

And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep.

Refrain

Don't laugh at me; don't call me names,

Don't you get your pleasure from my pain.

In God's eyes we are all the same.

Someday we'll all have perfect wings.

Don't laugh at me.

I'm that kid on every playground who is always chosen last.

A single teenage mother trying to overcome my past.

You don't have to be my friend, but is it too much to ask,

Don't laugh at me.

I'm a cripple on the corner. You pass me on the street,

And I wouldn't be out here begging if I had enough to eat,

And don't think I don't notice that our eyes never meet.

Don't laugh at me.

I lost my wife and little boy when someone crossed a yellow line.

The day we laid them in the ground is the day I lost my mind.

And I'm down to holding this little cardboard sign.

Don't laugh at me.

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I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm short, I'm tall.

I'm deaf, I'm blind,

Hey, aren't we all?

Don't laugh at me.

My brother, my sister, why didn't we think of it before? Friendly, compassionate people make
friendly, compassionate churches. Friendly, compassionate people make friendly,
compassionate homes.

The establishment hated Jesus because of the way He treated people. We must not forget that
the truth must manifest itself in two ways and in this order. When we are living the truth we
will (1) Love the Lord our God with all our souls, with all our strength, and with all our
minds; and when we do that we will (2) Love each other.

Unless we get this all together, all the rest won't matter. Someone once said that health is not
everything but without it everything is nothing. That could be paraphrased to say the way we
treat each other is not everything, but unless we treat each other like Jesus did, everything
else is a waste of time.

One Sabbath Jesus was visiting the church where He was raised. He was invited to come up
front and read the Scripture. He did this, and what He read sent them into a rage. The account
is in Luke 4:18,19. He read, quoting from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because
He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

This is what we are supposed to be doing in the church and in our homes. We try our best to
do those things but often it doesn't seem to stick. For a number of years we made a big thing
about calling ourselves The Caring Church. What happened? We don't hear about that
anymore. What does this mean? Does it mean we don't care anymore? Or did we just wish we
were a caring church? Jesus said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him. If we are going to
treat people the way Jesus did, we must have the Spirit of the Lord rest on us, too. When the
Spirit of the Lord rests on us, the first thing we will do is to confess to God that the way we
have been playing church in many respects has been almost completely out of phase with
what the church is supposed to be about. We must not forget that all change must be preceded
by repentance. This is so because, if we don't stop doing what we have been doing, that
which we try to add on won't stick.

But this is no cause for alarm. Repentance is a gift of God and is the key that unlocks the
salvation process in our lives. God is gracious; He is merciful, forgiving, and abundant in
goodness and truth. If we will but come to Him and confess the way we have been respecters
of persons and that we have even been holding the doors of the church shut, keeping people
from growing in grace, He will forgive us and He will abundantly pardon.

Then we must pray that the Holy Spirit will engraft into our lives the attitudes of Jesus. This
change will not facilitate worldliness, it will not bring in a new theology, but it will bring just
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the opposite. It will make us completely different from the world and establish in our lives, in
our homes, and in the church the truth of the gospel that is from everlasting to everlasting.

Thank God that, although our mistakes have been great, His power to heal and restore us is
greater. Now unto Him who is able to give us a new start and heal our personal lives, our
homes, and our churches, and who will one day present us faultless before the glory of His
presence with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Father, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, now and forever more. Amen and Amen.

Q: How do you know when you have the Holy Spirit?

A: Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. We know we have the Holy Spirit if our

lives are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,

peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against

such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22,23.

The gifts of the Spirit can be counterfeited. The fruit of the Spirit can’t.

: Why is the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the Bible? A friend of mine believes

this is to show us there is a hell. I don't believe that. How can I explain it to him?

A: Invite your friend to read Malachi 4:1: "Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an

oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day

that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them

neither root nor branch."

Also invite him to read Revelation 20: 1-10 and Revelation 21:8. It is obvious that

hell is in the future and one thing is certain and that is when a person is in hell they

won't be asking for a drink of water.

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus Jesus was teaching another lesson. Have

your friend read Luke 16:25-31.

A Good Example

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Based on Matthew 26:6-13

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MEMORY TEXT: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Pride is one of the hardest sins to kill. Just when we think it’s dead and we turn toward

the crowd to accept their congratulations, it rises and stabs us in the back. It is said

that God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither pat our own backs nor

kick ourselves too easily.

Pride had taken hold in Simon the Leper’s heart. He was wealthy, influential, and,

thanks to a miracle of healing, he was healthy. But his heart was still sick with the

leprosy of sin. He had just misjudged Mary his niece in front of the guests that are

attending his feast in Christ’s honor. And Jesus had told a short parable which helped

him to see himself as he was.

Simon and Mary were represented by the two debtors of the parable. And Simon's sin

was shown to be tenfold greater than that of Mary’s. He saw that Jesus had read not

only his heart but Mary’s as well, and Simon was ashamed. He knew that he was in the

presence of a being superior to himself.

"I came into your house," Christ continued, "but you didn’t give Me water to wash My

feet: but Mary has washed My feet and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet Me

with a kiss, but Mary, who you despise, hasn’t stopped kissing My feet."

And then Christ made a promise that has brought comfort and encouragement to all

those who quietly but devotedly minister to others in His name. He said, “I tell you the

truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will

also be told, in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13 NIV).

The memorial of what Mary did was to be preserved, not by dedicating a church to her,

or keeping an annual feast in honor of her, or preserving a piece of her broken box for a

sacred relic; but by mentioning her faith and piety in the preaching of the gospel as an

example to others (Hebrews 6:12). We’ve all been Mary the sinner, Mary the frivolous,

Mary the impulsive. But, by God’s grace, we can now be Mary the generous, Mary the

thoughtful, Mary the thankful.

A Matter of Life or Death

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by Richard W. O'Ffill

Based on Luke 18:1-8

MEMORY TEXT: “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out,

and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).

Everybody loves babies—well, almost everybody. Babies are born helpless. Someone

must provide for their every need. But, then, that’s part of their appeal.

And yet, in spite of all that someone must do to keep a baby alive and healthy, there are

certain things that a baby must do for itself. One of those things is to breathe. A

machine may be able to pump oxygen into the tiny lungs for a short time, but sooner or

later the baby must begin to breathe on its own.

“Prayer is the breath of the soul. It is the secret of spiritual power. No other means of

grace can be substituted, and the health of the soul be preserved. Prayer brings the

heart into immediate contact with the Well-spring of life, and strengthens the sinew and

muscle of the religious experience. Neglect the exercise of prayer, or engage in prayer

spasmodically, now and then, as seems convenient, and you lose your hold on God. The

spiritual faculties lose their vitality, the religious experience lacks health and vigor”

(Gospel Workers, p. 254).

Our spiritual life is like a baby. The pastor can encourage us, other family members can

pray for us, a friend can cheer us; but there is one thing we must do for ourselves if we

would keep our spiritual life alive, and that is to breathe—in other words, to pray.

A healthy Christian is always a praying Christian. To neglect prayer will result in an

inevitable spiritual slide downward. It may be hardly noticeable at first, but eventually

the symptoms will be unmistakable:

> Heartfelt prayer soon becomes only empty words and a form.

> The person's values become like those of the world.

> They began to talk less and less about God and about spiritual things.

> Private time alone with God becomes less and less frequent, until at last it

disappears altogether.

> Resisting sin becomes less and less important, until it is resisted only when it would

have the most serious consequences.

Prayer is a life and death matter. Don’t hold your breath!

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A Peacemaker or a Troublemaker?

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Based on Matthew 5:9

MEMORY TEXT: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men”

(Romans 12:18).

Once when I was a youngster, I came upon two dogs fighting. I decided I would try to

break them up, so I reached my hand into their fight, hoping to separate them. The

next thing I knew, one of them closed his teeth on my finger; and when I pulled my

finger out of the fight, the dog was still hanging on to me! By the way, I have a scar on

that finger to this day.

My wife and I have four children. When our eldest daughter Cindy was just a toddler, we

had a small pet poodle whose name was MiMi. One day Cindy began to tease MiMi. The

little dog ran under the sofa, where she thought she could find peace and quiet.

But Cindy didn’t give up. She reached under the sofa and stuck her arm right into the

dog’s face. MiMi, usually a tolerant animal, was tired of the game and bit Cindy on the

hand. The next thing we heard was Cindy crying, “MiMi bit me, MiMi bit me.” My

sympathies were with both of them, but Cindy was my daughter, so Mimi was banished

to the basement.

A peacemaker is not a trouble maker. Mimi was wrong to bite Cindy, but Cindy was also

wrong to have teased the dog.

Peacemakers don’t look for trouble, they don’t make trouble, and they will do all in their

power to stay out of trouble. People who make trouble are selfish and think only of their

own interests. Peacemakers think of the good of others.

Someone might say, “Pastor O’Ffill, I know what you are trying to tell me, but you don’t

understand my situation. Members of my family are always stirring up trouble. I have

prayed about it and tried my very best to improve the situation. What should I do?”

The apostle Paul answers the question: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live

peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18).

I have come to learn from experience that, although I am not responsible for what
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others do to me, yet I am responsible for how I react. Paul has this to say to all would-

be peacemakers: “Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and

the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11).

A Reason to be Sad

by Richard W. O'Ffill

Based on Matthew 5:1-12

MEMORY TEXT: “For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping

may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

It is almost unbelievable that Jesus would say, “Blessed are they that mourn.” To most

people mourning is something to be avoided. Some people are so sad they try to drown

their troubles, and in the process they become alcoholics.

We don’t live far from the Disneyland, Epcot and Universal theme parks. People come

from all over the world to vacation here. At the airport it is interesting to see the

families as they arrive. The children are so happy and excited. It is very expensive to

visit the parks, but the parents want their children to be happy.

Jesus said that those who are really happy are those who mourn. He wasn’t teaching

that we should never smile or laugh. And He wasn't talking about the mourning that

comes when there is a death in the family or some other tragedy. He was talking about

being sad because of sin. But we must first recognize that we are sinners. How can we

be saved unless we admit that we are lost? How can we be filled with the fruit of the

Spirit unless we admit that our lives are empty without Him?

Remember the song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”? Jesus said we worry about too much of

the wrong things. He also said there are some things that we ought to be concerned

and sad about, and that is our sins--our pride, selfishness, bitterness and lack of self

control. When we see God and His holiness, and then when we see ourselves as utterly

helpless and hopeless in our own power, we will morn for our sins. The apostle Paul

cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this

death” (Romans 7:24)? And he admits, “I know that in me dwelled no good thing”

(Romans 7:13).

When I was a little boy, I would sometimes fall down and hurt myself. Then I would run

crying to my mother, who would comfort me. After a little while I would feel better and
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go out and play again. If you are mourning over sin in your life, I invite you to go to

Jesus. He will comfort and forgive you.

By John Thiel

Jesus had just given the parable of the wheat and the tares and the disciples asked a
question:

Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the
tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good
seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the
children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; 39
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world;
and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and
burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace
of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears
to hear, let him hear.
Here is a challenging call. Who hath ears to hear let him hear. When is the harvest?
Jesus said the harvest is the end of the world. What is he talking about? The
majority of Seventh Day Adventists believe the harvest is when Jesus comes but
true Adventist doctrine highlights something else. Daniel 8 identifies the end of the
world:
Daniel 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that
certain [saint] which spake, How long [shall be] the vision [concerning] the
daily [sacrifice], and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14 And he said unto me,
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed. 15 And it came to pass, when I, [even] I Daniel, had seen the vision,
and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the
appearance of a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice between [the banks of]
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Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the
vision. 17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and
fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the
time of the end [shall be] the vision. 18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was
in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me
upright. 19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the
last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end [shall be].

When Jesus said the harvest is the end of the world, it is a time appointed which
Daniel qualifies as the angel qualified it for him. He said unto 2300 days the
sanctuary will be cleansed. The angel said I will explain to you that this vision is
for the end of the world, the last end of the indignation. The end of the world
commences according from 1844 onwards. The time of the end and the experience
is explained again;

Daniel 11:35 And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and
to purge, and to make [them] white, [even] to the time of the end: because [it
is] yet for a time appointed.

The word even is supplied. It says to make them white to the time of the end.

Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up
and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white,
and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall
understand; but the wise shall understand.

The time of the end, 1844 onwards is addressed and it is a period in which people
are going to be sorted out.

Daniel 11:35 And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and
to purge, and to make [them] white

When people fall it doesn’t mean they won’t make it but they are being purified
and purged. Here we see the time of the end, the time of the harvest. In the time of
the end the reapers are the angels. The angels are the reapers or the ones that bind
for the heavenly garner.
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Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should
not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. 2 And I saw another
angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth
and the sea,

Note it says we plural. The angel that has the seal is identified in the book Early
Writings. He is the one that says we so there are others besides him at work.

I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, “Fearful is his work.
Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares,
and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should
engross the whole mind, the whole attention.” {EW 118.1}

The angel that is to seal, the one that says to the four angels, ‘hold the winds of
strife until we have sealed the servants of God’ is the angel that binds for the
heavenly garner. The sealing is equated with the harvest. Here are the messages of
the three angels. The time of the end is from 1844 onwards. The angels who are the
reapers and the wheat and the tares need to be differentiated.

Matthew 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him,
Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him,
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while
ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow
together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers,
Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but
gather the wheat into my barn.

Did you notice both the wheat and tares grow together until the harvest? They are
so close together that if you pull one up you pull the other up with it. Don’t
separate. Let them grow together. The harvest is since 1844, since the angels
started their work. Both grow together. What does it mean for the children of the
wicked one and the children of the kingdom to grow together so they both come to
the harvest time and reveal fruits so separation can take place? Sr White could
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hardly sleep when she wrote this to Elder Haskell. She was praying earnestly and
said;

During the night season I devoted some time to prayer for it seemed to me
that if there was ever a time when we needed to watch and pray continually, it
is now. The Lord is soon to come, and the end of all things is at hand. The
watchmen should be wide awake now and see eye to eye. Solemnity should be
upon us all. There are to be but two classes in our world, the obedient and the
disobedient. {1888 994.4}

In 1888 the end of all things was at hand.

I see perplexities on every side. As character develops man and woman will
take their position, for varied circumstances brought to bear upon them will
cause them to reveal the spirit which prompts them to action. Every one will
reveal the character of the bundle with which he is binding himself. The wheat
is being bound up for the heavenly garner. The true people of God are now
bound up for the heavenly garner. The true people of God are now pulling
apart, and the tares are being bound in bundles ready to burn. Decided
positions will be taken. Satan will move upon minds that have been indulged,
upon men who have always had their own way, and anything presented to
them in counsel or reproof to change their objectionable traits of character is
considered faultfinding, binding them, restraining them, that they cannot
have liberty to act themselves. The Lord in great mercy has sent messages of
warning to them, but they would not listen to reproof. Like the enemy who
rebelled in heaven, they do not like to hear, do not correct the wrong they
have done but become accusers, declaring themselves misused and
unappreciated. {1888 995.2}

To distinguish between the wheat and tares and not to separate them until the
harvest, character develops and people will take their position. The harvest is
varied circumstances that will bring forth the ripening of the grain or the drying of
the tears. They will grow up together under circumstances. As they grow up
together as the circumstances become hotter and hotter like summertime, each one
will reveal their character. Are we aware of what Sr White wrote back in 1892 over
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100 years ago? Where are we now if that is what was happening back then? Can
you see character development? Can you see where we are living in today?

The Harvest
Circumstances open up the character decision of every human being. Decided
positions will be taken. People who have indulged their minds when reproof and
counsel is presented, these minds consider it fault finding. They consider it taking
away their freedom, binding and estranging them. They react to the messages of
the angels correcting them and they turn around like the enemy in heaven and do
not like to hear but declaring them accusers and that they are misused. If we are
wheat, the fruit of the wheat will become manifest. If we are tears, the fruit is
something little. Have you ever picked wild oats growing among the wheat? The
latter rain doesn’t swell that grain. They are small. They look so similar as they are
growing but the character growth becomes revealed in the harvest. It has to do with
growth that varied circumstances come upon them revealing if they are tares or not.
We are living in that time. Fearful is this angels work, awful is his mission. We are
living in awful times. When Sr White wrote the following it was already present
truth. We are living in the grand culmination.

We as a people profess to have truth in advance of every other people upon

the earth. Then our life and character should be in harmony with such a faith.
The day is just upon us when the righteous shall be bound like precious grain
in bundles for the heavenly garner, while the wicked are, like the tares,
gathered for the fires of the last great day. But the wheat and tares “grow
together until the harvest.” In the discharge of life’s duties the righteous will
to the last be brought in contact with the unGodly. The children of light are
scattered among the children of darkness, that the contrast may be seen by all.
Thus are the children of God to “show forth the praises of Him who hath
called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” The divine love glowing
in the heart, the Christ like harmony manifested in the life, will be as a
glimpse of heaven granted to men of the world that they may see and
appreciate its excellence. {5T 100.2}
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Sr White wrote this around 1850 or onwards. She said the day is just upon us.
Many people read this (the harvest) as the future when in reality we have to read it
where she applied it. Did you notice she separates the binding time from the last
great day? In the harvest the contrast will be seen by all.

Like will attract like. Those who are drinking from the same fountain of
blessing will draw nearer together. Truth dwelling in the hearts of believers
will lead to blessed and happy assimilation. Thus will be answered the prayer
of Christ that His disciples might be one even as He is one with the Father.
For this oneness every truly converted heart will be striving. {5T 100.3}
With the ungodly there will be a deceptive harmony that but partially
conceals a perpetual discord. In their opposition to the will and the truth of
God they are united, while on every other point they are rent with hatred,
emulation, jealousy, and deadly strife. {5T 101.1}

What we are reading has actually has transpired before our eyes ever since the
world war. In 1888 when the message was given, the people accepted and rejected
the message. From 1844 this harvesting has been taking place. This must sink in
deep into our appreciation.

The world is leagued against the truth, because it does not desire to obey the
truth. Shall I, who perceive the truth, close my eyes and heart to its saving
power because the world chooses darkness rather than light? Shall I bind
myself up with the bundles of tares because my neighbors refuse to be bound
up with the wheat? Shall I refuse light, the evidence of truth which leads to
obedience, because my relatives and friends choose to follow in the paths of
disobedience which lead away from God? {TMK 116.4}

The tares don’t desire. Can you see the tug of war and the roots interconnected?
But now that it is summertime and its heating up, although we have been entwined,
now comes the call. As proof and correction comes to both parties, one is gritting
its teeth with anger and accusing their brethren for being so serious and so extreme
and showing them up. What these people are doing is showing up the tares. The
tares don’t like it so they will accuse. It is a strange phenomenon. The very friends
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and family are actually applying the faithfulness of Gods people as something bad.
‘You are misusing me, you are not appreciating me’ and so on.

Shall I close my mind against the knowledge of truth because my neighbors

and friends will not open their understanding to discern the truth as it is in
Jesus? Shall I refuse to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ because my neighbors consent to remain dwarfs? . . .
{TMK 116.4}

They consent to remain tares. Seed shrivelled up. Can you see the reality of this? I
have come to the conclusion over a long period of time that what was written in Sr
Whites time that which was upon us is right now when the reality is already well
onward, we are just the gleanings, the little bits of grain that are still lying around
that are bundled together. Are we going to become afraid to be bound together by
the truth? Or are we going to run for it? Are we going to stand faithful? Recall the
circumstances of the time of the end when the 2300 days commenced. What was
our high priest doing ever since that time?

Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand
when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: 3
And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the
sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
LORD an offering in righteousness.

A harvest of pure grain. How does that happen as we are growing and developing?
Everyone is in his own place taking positions. Early Writings describes it. God
gives people a bitter cup to drink, a trial. In this time of the harvest we are in the
heat of the summer sun. As the wheat and tares are cut they are left in the heat to
dry out completely. As the heat increases there are terrible trials and that is how
this statement continues.

Now is the time of trial, of test, of proving. Those who, like Saul, will persist in
having their own way will suffer, as he did, loss of honor and finally the loss of
the soul. God has a people, and they will be a tried people, but the people will
be humble. They are under the guidance of the Holy One in thought, in word,
indeed. {1888 996.1}
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In this trial, in this heat of the summer the wheat and the tares are being obviously
revealed. Do you like it? No one seems to like or enjoy it that we can look up and
rejoice as our redemption draweth nigh as we are looking around at the trials. I
rejoice the more I see this as my heart swells up that has made Seventh Day
Adventists what they are. If in Gods church there is still this thing of the wheat and
tares about us, should we feel miserable? We have to expect being accused and
torn asunder by people. What ties us together? We all love the same truth and we
are not going to be separated. If we are going to be pushed we should not be
surprised. We should rejoice in tribulation. This experience of trial includes
purging.

Daniel 11:35 And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and
to purge, and to make [them] white, [even] to the time of the end: because [it
is] yet for a time appointed.

The wise will understand and they will be washing their robes in the blood of the
lamb. Those that are of understanding shall fall to try them. They will fall to purge
them. A just man shall fall seven times. Fall? But he will not utterly fall. Through
the fall and the shocking sins that would obliterate him, he rises and takes hold.
Have you not sometimes fallen and you say what hope have I got? But if you are
wheat you will not utterly fall. It is for my purging, it is for the character. That is
the only thing that is going to be taken to heaven. If my character is wrapped up in
my love for Jesus, then in these last moments my character will have to consolidate
very fast.

The day is at hand. For the lessons to be learned, the work to be done, the
transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining is but too brief
a span. {Ed 184.2}

The wheat and tares are together in that, the wheat and the tares are nearly
separating. Prepare to meet our God. We have to bear up under the preparation
experience.

Revelation 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a
loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the
time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
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The wheat grain fully dry will be taken into the garner. That is when Jesus
physically comes but before that time we are being bundled. The tares have no
grain inside of them, there is no value there, there is no fruit, it is just fodder for the
fire. No character to the glory of God, just accusers of the brethren. The
perplexities of people who claim that Gods beautiful word brings up wheat is fault
finding and restraining. I’m not free to do what I want to do and these people are
really blocking my path and making me feel miserable. The tares will recognise
these people are representing Gods truth but they just don’t like the effect on their
life. Let us rally and take courage in this time. As hard as it is, let the beautiful fruit
that has produced wheat in us continue and complete. They grow up together and
they will be harvested and separated. We are living in it right now. I thank God
that takes away the sense of misery and hopelessness and that we can conquer it all
by understanding truth.

Amen.