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Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, Nos. 5, 6
THE ONLY PEACE OF MIND
Volume
2
Numbers
5, 6
Copyright,
1954 Reprint
All
rights reserved
V.T.
HOUTEFF
A
Feast That Rolls Away The Veil, Opens The Gates,
And
Causes Death To Flee Away
Lewdness Flees Away — Revival And Reformation Win
Timely
Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
1
TEXT
FOR PRAYER
Turn
From Debate; Present The Truth
I shall read from Christ's Object Lessons, beginning on page 40, the
last paragraph--
"Instead of discussing erroneous theories, or seeking to combat
the opponents of the gospel, follow the example of Christ.
Let fresh truths from God's treasure-house flash into life.
'Preach the word.' 'Sow
beside all waters.' 'Be instant
in season, out of season.' 'He
that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat? saith
the Lord.' 'Every word of God is
pure.... Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found
a liar.'"
We should pray this afternoon for the ability to follow the example of
Christ in teaching. We should
also pray that we shall remember that we are instructed not to engage in
debate with those who disagree with us; that Christ did not debate, and
neither must we if we are to win; that God will supply us with fresh truths to
bring to the people; that if such truths do not convince the opposers of the
"everlasting gospel," nothing will, even if the dead should arise
for a witness against them; that we exalt the Bible above all other books;
that we measure all else with the Bible yardstick, and forever break all other
measuring sticks.
Timely
Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
2
A
FEAST THAT ROLLS AWAY THE VEIL, OPENS THE GATES, AND CAUSES DEATH TO FLEE AWAY
TEXT
OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER
OF D. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
SEPTEMBER 6, 1947
MT.
CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO,
TEXAS
The text of our study this afternoon is Isaiah 25 and 26. In order properly to orientate ourselves to the subject matter, we shall begin with the sixth verse of chapter twenty-five. Afterwards we shall study the first five verses.
Isa.
25:6 -- "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all
people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."
First of all we should find the truth of this figurative mountain.
For this information we must go to the last verse of the twenty-fourth
chapter, because the story of the twenty-fifth chapter begins with the
previous chapter. We shall read
these verses connectedly:
Isa.
24:23; 25:6 -- "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before
His ancients gloriously. And in
this mountain [Mount Zion] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a
feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined."
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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Here you see that "Mount Zion" is the mountain on which the
Lord will prepare a feast for all people, a feast of tempting things.
There will the people gather together.
Isa.
25:7 -- "And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covenant
cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations."
When the covering under which the nations now stand, rolls away, then
shall they find themselves in the open -- vulnerable to "wind" and
"storm." Yes, when the
veil which now hangs over all peoples of earth, is pulled down, then shall
they see that which they cannot now see.
And what then?--
Isa.
25:8-10 -- "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will
wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take
away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited
for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we
will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and Moab shall be
trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill."
To make these great events possible, not only the ones who at that time
rule the land, but Moab, too, we see, shall be trodden down.
And who could Moab be if not the Arabs who now lay heavy claim to the
land of Palestine? Soon the world
will find that God has not forsaken the earth, and that God is master of the
situation.
Isa.
25:11, 12 -- "And he shall spread forth His
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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hands
in the midst of them, as He that swimmeth spreadeth forth His hands to swim:
and He shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall He bring down, lay
low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust."
These verses hold the fact before us that it matters not what kind of
fortification men may devise, such shall nevertheless be brought down as a
straw when the Lord manifests His power.
Having now clearly seen this wonderful Bible Truth, let it be you to
say:
Isa.
25:1 -- "O Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy
name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are
faithfulness and truth."
Here we are shown that as a result of this revealed Truth, some will
truly accept the Lord of the Bible as their God, and will pledge to exalt Him
and ever to praise His wonderful name because they see that He has done
wonderful things. His counsels of
old will they not turn down because they will know from experience that His
counsels are faithfulness and Truth. They
will from personal experience know God's power and say:
Isa.
25:2, 3 -- "For Thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a
ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee, the city of the
terrible nations shall fear Thee."
The city of this verse must be the one first mentioned in Isaiah 24:
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
5
"The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up,
that no man may come in. There is
a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land
is gone. In the city is left
desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there
shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the
vintage is done.
"They [those who are not shaken down] shall lift up their voice,
they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the
sea. Wherefore glorify ye the
Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the
sea. From the uttermost part of
the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous [as a result, there
shall be converts from the four corners of the earth].
"But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!
the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous
dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear,
and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth."
Isa. 24:10-17.
The following quotation from the Spirit of Prophecy adds light to these
verses:
"I
saw jets of light shining from cities and villages, and from the high places
and the low places of the earth. God's
word was obeyed, and as a result there were memorials for Him in every city
and village. His truth was
proclaimed throughout the world." -- Testimonies, Vol. 9, pp. 28 and 29.
Isa.
26:1 -- "In that day shall this song be sung
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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in
the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls
and bulwarks."
The song for the majesty of the Lord is therefore to be sung in the
Promised Land, and there will the saints have a city that cannot be shaken
down, for it is to have salvation for walls.
Then it shall be said:
Isa.
26:2 -- "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the
Truth may enter in."
Here is taught that all this takes place in a day of salvation, in a
day that the gates can be opened for a righteous nation to enter in.
Yes, a whole nation, of such as should be saved, not a sinner among
them, shall then respond to the call, "Come out of her My people, that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
Isa.
26:3, 4 -- "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee: because he trusted in Thee. Trust
ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."
Although throughout the years of history nations have developed great
power, yet not one has retained that power forever.
But we are here reassured that those who trust in the Lord Jehovah
shall have eternal peace and everlasting strength.
Isa.
26:5-10 -- "For He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city,
He layeth it low; He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to
the dust. The foot shall tread it
down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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the
needy. The way of the just is
uprightness: Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the
desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee.
With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit
within me will I seek Thee early: for when Thy judgments are in the earth, the
inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not
behold the majesty of the Lord."
These verse plainly tell us that when the judgments of God fall upon
the earth, the righteous minded will learn righteousness; but the unrepentant
sinners will not learn righteousness regardless what is done for them.
And this is why they are to be barred from the congregation of the
righteous. The righteous,
however, even now feel the Lord's mighty hand and painfully they declare:
Isa.
26:11 -- "Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they
shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of Thine
enemies shall devour them."
Indeed, when God's hand is lifted up to deliver His people, the wicked
will not see it. But after the
righteous are delivered, the wicked will clearly see and envy, but it shall be
to their shame and too late to do them any good.
Even now while "the latter rain" is falling, the
self-righteous who imagine that they have need of nothing, are either running
away from it or pulling their raincoats over their heads.
The seekers of righteousness, though, come out in
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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the
open. Thus they learn to say--
Isa.
26:12 -- "Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought
all our works in us."
This can be said only by those who allow the Lord to perform His work
in their hearts, so that they may praise Him:
Isa.
26:13-16 -- "O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion
over us: but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not
rise: therefore hast Thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their
memory to perish. Thou hast
increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation: Thou art
glorified: Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, they poured out a prayer when
Thy chastening was upon them."
These verses declare that Israel of the promises, not the unbelieving
Jew, have increased in number since having been removed from their land, since
having been scattered to the ends of the earth.
While this chastening (being driven away from their land) is still upon
them, they pour out prayer and say:
Isa.
26:17, 18 -- "Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of
her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in Thy
sight, O Lord. We have been with
child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have
not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the
world fallen."
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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Here is shown that the eyes of the penitent are to be opened; they are
to see themselves as God sees them, and confess that they have heretofore
failed in their efforts, that they have travailed, have been in pain, but have
brought forth only "wind," as it were, while the impenitent think
that they themselves are rich and increased with goods, are doing a great
deed, and are in need of nothing.
Yes, the church may now boast of her achievements, or her so-called
large membership, but not long hence will she, too, discover that she has
failed to finish her work, that the world is still destroying the earth, that
her people are unsaved and that rather than having brought forth salvation,
she has brought forth nothing but "wind."
"In the mighty sifting soon to take place, we shall be better able
to measure the strength of Israel. The
signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that his fan is
in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor." -- Testimonies,
Vol. 5, pg. 80.
Isa.
26:19 -- "Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they
arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."
Not only the living, but the dead also shall be gathered into the
"strong city." We
already hear the Lord pleading with us all, saying:
Isa.
26:20 -- "Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy
doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the
indignation be overpast."
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
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This plea shows that we are approaching the time of trouble and that
God is anxious to have us under cover. The
wise will hear Him and will accept the chambers, the protection He provides
for them.
Isa.
26:21 -- "For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her
blood, and shall no more cover her slain."
All these truths which God is now bringing to our attention, point to
one thing: That the great and terrible day of the Lord is at hand, that He is
soon to manifest His power and shake the earth so that everything that cannot
be shaken may stand. Are you not
glad, Brother, Sister, that God is giving you first opportunity to get ready
for the day of God, to hold fast to His ever-increasing Truth?
Timely
Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 5
11
TEXT
FOR PRAYER
How
To Secure Imperishable Knowledge
I shall read from Christ's Object Lessons, beginning on page 41,
paragraph three--
"In turning from God's word to feed on the writings of uninspired
men, the mind becomes dwarfed and cheapened.... The understanding adapts
itself to the comprehension of the things with which it is familiar, and in
this devotion to finite things it is weakened, its power is contracted, and
after a time it becomes unable to expand.
All this is false education. The
work of every teacher should be to fasten the mind of the youth upon the grand
truths of the word of Inspiration. This
is the education essential for this life and for the life to come.
And let it not be thought that this will prevent the study of the
sciences, or cause a lower standard in education.
The knowledge of God is as high as heaven and as broad as the
universe.... Let the youth seek to grasp these God-given truths, and their
minds will expand and grow strong in the effort.
It will bring every student who is a doer of the word into a broader
field of thought, and secure for him a wealth of knowledge that is
imperishable.... Such an education will restore the image of God in the
soul."
What a lesson not only for the youth but for the adults as well!
Let us pray that we might realize the importance of studying inspired
Truth; that we might realize it does not eliminate the study of true science;
that to devote our lives to the Word of God is to obtain a great treasure of
wisdom; that thus is the image of God restored in the soul.
Timely
Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
12
LEWDNESS
FLEES AWAY AT CHILDREN'S PROTEST!--REVIVAL AND REFORMATION WIN
TEXT
OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER
OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
SEPTEMBER 13, 1947
MT.
CARMEL CHAPEL
WACO,
TEXAS
Our subject is found in the first and second chapters of Hosea.
We shall begin with--
Hos.
1:2 -- "The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said
to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms:
for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord."
We immediately see that this wife and these children symbolize God's
people departing from Him, and that such a wicked act, He calls whoredom.
Hos.
1:3, 4 -- "So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which
conceived, and bare him a son. and
the Lord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I
will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to
cease the kingdom of the house of Israel."
God's reason for thus naming Hosea's first visionary son, was to
signify that in a little while He was to avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the
house of Jehu, who was then the king of Israel.
Then declared the Lord:
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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Hos.
1:5 -- "And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow
of Israel, in the valley of Jezreel."
To break the bow would mean to break the nation's military strength.
The history of this is recorded in 2 Kings 10, 11.
Hos.
1:6 -- "And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.
And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more
have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away."
This child's name was to denote the complete destruction of the house
of Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom. This
destruction, we know, was accomplished by the king of Assyria, who scattered
the people throughout the cities of the Medes.
The history of this is found in 2 Kings 18:11 -- "And the king of
Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor
by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes."
Hos.
1:7 -- "But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them
by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by
battle, by horses, nor by horsemen."
The Lord promised to spare the house of Judah from the invasion of the
king of Assyria. The history of
this incident is recorded in 2 Kings 19:35 -- "And it came to pass that
night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in
the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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Hos.
1:8, 9 -- "Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bare a
son. Then said God, Call his name
Lo-Ammi: for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God."
The name of the third child was to signify that though Israel and Judah
were God's chosen people, the day was fast approaching in which they would no
longer be called His people. The
fulfillment of this phase of the prophecy brings us to the Christian era.
Hos.
1:10 -- "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass,
that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it
shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God."
In spite of the calamities that were to overtake the children of
Israel, they were to become very numerous.
And when they are thus greatly multiplied, they are again to be called
the sons of God. And so here we
see a prophecy of the rebellion of God's people and God's rejection of them,
as well as their repentance and re-acceptance by Him.
Let us here for a moment discuss the titles "Judah" and
"Israel." When
superficially read these titles are as a rule misconstrued and made to mean
the identified Jews. But we must
not be superficial readers and thinkers.
Let us be deep Bible students. Now,
everyone knows that the identified Jews of today are but a handful --
certainly not as the sands of the sea. The
innumerable children of Israel, therefore, cannot be the unbelieving Jews of
today. Besides, the
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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identified
Jews of today are not the descendants of the ten-tribe kingdom, but of the
two-tribe kingdom. Who, then, is
this multitude of people referred to in Hosea's prophecy?
We must not overlook the fact that the Gospel of Christ divided the
house of Judah into two sects -- Jewish and Christian, that the Christian
church for about four years after the resurrection of Christ consisted
practically only of Jews. Plainly,
then, the original Christians were full-blooded Jews, -- the Christian church
is only a branch of the Jewish church, but they and their descendants have,
through the years, lost their racial identity.
Then, too, the descendants of both Israel and Judah who through the
years of captivity lost their identity as did the Jews who embraced
Christianity, according to prophecy must also have greatly multiplied.
Plainly, then, many who are taken as Gentiles, are but unidentified
descendants of ancient Judah, Israel, and the Jewish Christians.
The Christian church herself is, as we have seen, a Jewish-Christian
church.
These descendants of Jacob, who were assimilated by the Gentile
nations, therefore, were to multiply as the sand of the sea.
They are the ones who, after becoming Christians, are again called the
sons of the living God.
Of those who first embraced the Christian faith, the Apostle Peter
speaks thus: "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy." 1 Pet. 2:10.
And the Apostle John says: "But as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.
Now we see that the prophecy of Hosea 1 begins with the house of Israel
and Judah, and brings us down through the stream of time to the Christian era.
For light on the church in the Christian period, we turn to--
Hos.
1:11 -- "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be
gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out
of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel."
The Word of God, therefore, definitely declares that the subjects of
the torn-down kingdoms -- Judah and Israel -- as Christians, along with the
Gentiles that have joined them, will gather together and appoint themselves a
king.
In a similar symbolism, the prophet was told that after many days of
obscurity and wandering, "shall the children of Israel return, and seek
the Lord their God, and David their king [evidently David is the "one
head" whom they appoint], and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the
latter days." Hos. 3:5.
Continuing with the same family illustration, and pointing to the
Christian era, the Lord commands:
Hos.
2:1 -- "Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters,
Ruhamah."
Here we see that the names of the two children of chapter 1 are again
mentioned, but the first two letters of each name have been dropped:
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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Lo-ruhamah
has become Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi has become Ammi.
Now the fact that these are the brother and sister of Jezreel, bears
out the truth that the one whom the Lord commands to speak to them, is
Jezreel, the first-born of the three. He
is to deliver the message to his brethren, Ammi and Ruhamah.
Now, what is it all about? -- It is not too difficult to see.
The one to whom God speaks, Jezreel, represents a prophet.
His brother and sister, Ammi and Ruhamah, can only represent the church
membership, both male and female. In
actuality Jezreel must deliver God's message to them.
And here is the message:
Hos.
2:2 -- "Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not My wife, neither am
I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and
her adulteries from between her breasts."
The fact that God Himself calls the prophet Hosea's visionary wife His
own wife, reveals that she represents the church, that Hosea represents God,
and that while Jezreel represents the mouthpiece of God, Ammi and Ruhamah
represent the church membership. In
childhood (Hosea 1), they represent the Old Testament church, the Hebrews, but
in their youth, having their names altered, (Hosea 2), they represent the New
Testament church, the Christians.
Now that the laity, at the command of God are through a prophet to
plead with the church, therefore, the reformation here called forth is
sponsored by Inspiration and carried out by the laity.
It is the long expected revival and reformation to the Laodiceans, and
hence a layman's
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Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 6
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movement
called forth by the revived Spirit of Prophecy.
From this prophecy, you see, the Denomination is by God Himself charged
with "whoredom," with having illicit connections with the world.
This lewdness she must give up if she is to obtain favor with God.
These are not man's words, you understand, but God's.
And should we not be grateful that He is doing everything He can to
save us? The church must repent,
says the Lord:
Hos.
2:3 -- "Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was
born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her
with thirst."
The Denomination often boasts of gain in membership (children), but God
charges that those whom she brings in are illegitimate children!
And how could it be otherwise if the church herself is corrupted with
the world? What else could her
converts be? What would free them
from the worldly influences, if she (the ministry), is herself tainted with
the practices of the world? Indeed
her converts cannot be lawful children.
Hos.
2:5 -- "For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them
hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my
bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."
The church has gone after the world because she mistakenly thinks that
her support comes from worldlings, from her "lovers."
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Hos.
2:6 -- "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make
a wall, that she shall not find her paths."
Here we see that the church proposes, but that God disposes; her plans
do not work out as expected -- she loses her way as does a ship without chart
or compass drifting at sea.
Hos.
2:7 -- "And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake
them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I
will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than
now."
Again we see that trials and adverse circumstances are for our good,
for thus is the church brought to her right senses.
Hos.
2:8-12 -- "For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Therefore will I return, and take away My corn in the time thereof, and
My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool and My flax given to
cover her nakedness. And now will
I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her
out of Mine hand. I will also
cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths,
and all her solemn feasts. And I
will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my
rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the
beasts of the field shall eat them."
From these verses we see that it was just such a departure from God
that caused the church in her early Christian era to lose her path and all
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her
possessions, including her feast days, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all
her solemn feasts.
This is exactly what happened when the "Dark Ages" of
religion began. The Pagans in
whose clutches the church fell were no more to blame for the church's going
into darkness than were the Chaldeans of destroying Judah and her temple.
The real blame falls on the church herself.
And this should be a lasting lesson to each of us, that we should never
again have illicit connection with the world, should never depart from the
Lord.
Now, let us read what other experiences the church was to go through:
Hos.
2:13, 14 -- "And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she
burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her
jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the Lord.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her."
Notice that the Lord visits the church not when she is in good
spiritual standing with Him, but when she is in her greatest idolatry.
Indeed, He could not visit her at a more opportune time, because only
when she is in greatest darkness can she possibly discern light.
And her condition, you know, can never improve unless He should call on
her. Thus it was in John the
Baptist's day, also when the Protestant reformation came, and thus it is
today. God knows how to save.
Saving is His chief concern.
"God requires certain things of His people;
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if
they say, I will not give up my heart to do this thing, the Lord lets them go
on in their supposed wise judgment without heavenly wisdom, until this
scripture [Isa. 28:13] is fulfilled. You
are not to say, I will follow the Lord's guidance up to a certain point that
is in harmony with my judgment, and then hold fast to your own ideas, refusing
to be molded after the Lord's similitude.
Let the question be asked, Is this the will of the Lord?
if not, Is this the opinion or judgment of __________?" --
Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 419.
And what is God's promise now to His church?
Hos.
2:15 -- "And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of
Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her
youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt."
As a result of her vineyards' being restored, and also of her being
given the valley of Achor for a door of hope, the church is to sing as in the
days of her youth, as when she came up out of Egypt and lodged in the Promised
Land. What could her vineyard be
but her own land? And if the
valley of Achor is for a door of hope to her, what can it be but what it was
in Joshua's time -- removal of the Achans of today from her midst (Hos. 2:15)?
Indeed, this is her only hope -- in fact, even more so than it was in
the day of Israel's defeat at Ai, the gate to the Promised Land.
"The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual
declension, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal
of God. The Lord commissions His
messengers, the men with
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slaughtering
weapons in their hands: 'Go ye after him through the city, and smite; let not
your eye spare, neither have ye pity; slay utterly old and young, both maids
and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the
mark; and begin at My sanctuary. Then
they began at the ancient men which were before the house.'
"Here we see that the church -- the Lord's sanctuary -- was the
first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God.
The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light, and who had
stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed
their trust. They had taken the
position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of
God's power as in former days. Times
have changed. These words
strengthen their unbelief, and they say, The Lord will not do good, neither
will He do evil. He is too
merciful to visit His people in judgment.
Thus peace and safety is the cry from men who will never again lift up
their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the
house of Jacob their sins. These
dumb dogs, that would not bark, are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an
offended God. Men, maidens, and
little children, all perish together." -- Testimonies, Vol. 5, pg. 211.
Hos.
2:16 -- "And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt
call Me Ishi; and shalt call Me no more Baali."
So it is that after the hypocrites and sinners are taken out of the
way, the church shall no longer call the Saviour Baali (Lord), but she shall
call him Ishi (Husband). The
significance is that then He will truly be her husband, whereas now He is to
her as it were only some great personality.
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Hos.
2:18 -- "And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts
of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the
ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the
earth, and will make them to lie down safely."
Here is peace, the only peace that one can have today if he so desires.
This is peace overflowing with safety.
The saints, after the sinners have been removed from among them, need
not fear beasts, fowls or creeping things of the ground, neither gun nor
sword; they shall lie down in confidence and assurance that nothing shall hurt
them, for He "Whose fan is in His hand,...will throughly purge His floor,
and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12.
Hos.
2:19-21 -- "And I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth
thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee
unto Me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I
will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth."
In saying that the Lord will hear the heavens, and the heavens the
earth, Inspiration actually says that when these things take place on earth,
the Lord is to be in the midst of His people, that He is to speak from earth
and His subjects in heaven shall hear Him.
Hos.
2:22 -- "And the earth shall hear the corn, and
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the
wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel."
To hear the corn, the wine, and the oil is to hear them speak, and
since real corn, wine, and oil cannot speak, they must be figurative of
spiritual food and drink -- figurative of the mighty message in the great and
dreadful day of the Lord. And by
the fact that the people of the earth shall hear Jezreel, the mouthpiece of
God, it is made clear that the call, "Come out of her, My people, that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues"
(Rev. 18:4), will accomplish its appointed work.
Those who come out, go into the aforementioned place of safety.
And those who do not hear Jezreel shall perish as did the Jews who
rejected the prophets in their day.
Let us now review our study of today by following this graphic
illustration:
PICTURE
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Here we see Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi as little children
pictorially representing the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in their calamities,
a complete but brief history of the Old Testament church and her people.
Then we see that the letters "Lo" are dropped from the names
Ruhamah and Ammi, denoting a change of names -- Jews called Christians, --
meaning "mercy" and "My people" instead of "no
mercy" and "not My people."
Jezreel's name, though, remains the same, and as he represents the
prophets of God in all times, this shows that they are the descendants of
Jacob and therefore we must hear and obey them.
The family as little children representing the people of the Old
Testament church, and as youth representing the New Testament church, show
that spiritual growth has been made through the stream of time, that they are
now grown, able to take "strong meat," and truly to be the reformers
to the church, and the missionaries to the world.
We also see that the same mother and the same father, along with the
same children, represent both the Old and New Testament churches; that the
descendants of Jacob in reality are the old olive tree (Rom. 11:24), that the
only way the Gentiles can get into the kingdom is for them to be grafted into
the old olive tree. Jew or
Gentile, all must join it if they are to be in the kingdom.
This can be done only by our own consent and action now while the
Spirit is pleading with us, and while the Lord stands ready to do the work.
No one need be excluded. No
one need remain a lukewarm Laodicean unless he so chooses.
My hope is that all will choose life
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rather
than death.
Next we see that the church as a whole, as a family, is composed of a
father, a mother, and of sons and a daughter, that the father is God; that the
wife is the ministry (those who bring in converts); that the children are the
laity. We see also that the
church (woman) was married to the Lord in her youth, in the day she came out
of Egypt; that although the ministry as a whole never advanced from one truth
to another, the church (wife) continued by being replaced by new and
successive ministers time and again. And
now that she is deep in whoredom, obviously she is again to be replaced by a
new ministry, and thus will she become faithful to our Father; that this will
be accomplished by taking away the sinners from her midst.
Then will she be given her vineyards, and then will she and all her
children live in peace and safety.
Clearly, then, lewdness shall actually flee away, and this revival and
reformation brought forth by this layman's movement shall accomplish its given
work. And so, you see that as a
result of the childrens' protest, the whole family of God shall live happily
in peace and safety forevermore.
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