Greetings MOL Family!

Welcome back to class… If the question was asked of you, whether or not you are having family worship, what would your response be?

With All Your Heart

Those who have looked into the matter tell us that there are multitudes of homes among the professed people of God where there’s no family altar. Father or mother, or both, are busy running the rat race trying to keep up with the Jones, and there isn’t time for those moments of prayer with one another and with the children.

Let’s look at Jeremiah 3, to see what’s the matter; why there’s no latter rain. Here God compares His people as He often does to a woman. But here He speaks of the unfaithfulness of this woman. She’s been opening her heart, and her body to strangers. She’s guilty of adultery. Ye adulters and adulteresses no ye not that the friendship of the world in enmity with God?

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, My father, Thou art the guide of my youth? – Jeremiah 3:3-4

I tell you friends, people don’t have to be very old to remember a time when if a woman would appear in the fashions of today, they would have known what district of the city she came from. But God help us, there’s no shame left. This is why. God says this is one of the reasons there’s no latter rain. We may pray and we may plead and we may study. But until we come into line there will be no latter rain. And it’ll take more than some tiny little turning from the world.

What have we read in Joel 2? Therefore now also says the Lord, turn ye even to me with what? – All your heart. When we get good and sick of the world’s diet, we will turn from it in total. When we get good and sick of the world’s dress, we will turn from it entirely. When we get good and sick of the world’s education, we will turn back to the fountains of living water, and receive our training in the original sources that God has given us, and so with every phase of life.

Our difficulty is that we have eaten green apples, and we’re not very sick yet. We’ve eaten of the forbidden fruit, and we feel exhilarated. But the One who knows has come and is seeking us and calling us, and bidding us to repent. “Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn ye even to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.” Will somebody do it? God help us to do it, friends.

Now, this is what is going to bring the reformation. But let me make clear that we’re not to wait for someone else. In the book Selected Messages, Book 1, I read:

Are we awake to the work that is going on in the heavenly sanctuary, or are we waiting for some compelling power to come upon the church before we shall arouse? Are we hoping to see the whole church revived? That time will never come. [What time will never come? – When the whole church is revived].

 

There are persons in the church who are not converted, and who will not unite in earnest, prevailing prayer. We must enter upon the work individually. We must pray more, and talk less. Iniquity abounds. – Selected Messages, Book 1, pg. 122

You remember in our opening text, Jesus said because iniquity shall abound what’ll happen to the love of many? The love of many will what? — wax cold. Isn’t that what’s happening all around us? God wants us to gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason.

Let me tell you, the only way you can get warm with cold water is to develop what our hydro-therapy friends call a reaction. That’s what happens doesn’t it? Rub the body with cold water and it gets what? — Warm. So as we come into contact with the worldliness, the pride, the extravagance, the criticism, the sin all about us in the world and even in the church, God wants us to develop not conformity but what? — Reaction. These are the survivors. All else will go down. Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Oh, God help us to be on our knees to get the preparatory early rain so we’ll be ready for the latter rain. What do you say?

To The Law & To The Testimony

Now, this is the genuine revival and reformation which must come to God’s people to fit them for the latter rain. But I want to ask you a question, and think this through with me: if the devil is willing to counterfeit the Second Coming of Jesus in order to deceive people, and before that he’s willing to counterfeit the glorious Latter Rain and Loud Cry in order to deceive people, don’t you think he would be willing to counterfeit this work of reformation in the church in order to deceive people? That’s exactly what he’s doing friends.

Let’s think about it for a little bit. I want to give you some marks so you can tell what’s true and what’s counterfeit in this matter. Now in the first place, before we see what these counterfeits are let us see what methods they use. What method does a counterfeit always use? It pretends to be what? — The genuine. It’s strange we know that about money, but fail to recognize it many times when it comes to these so-called reform movements.

When the devil comes before Jesus appears, he’s going to claim that he is Jesus. He’s not going to come and say, I’m the devil, who would he fool? He’s going to come claiming to be Christ, and the whole world is going to accept him as Christ. And that’s going to prove that he’s right isn’t it? Not a bit of it. The remnant are going to say, “You’re the devil, we have no time for you. We’ll not accept you. We’re waiting for Jesus, the real Jesus. We know you, and we have no time for you.”

And so, in these false revivals, as these great preachers of Babylon heal the sick and bring the thousands to the altar, are they going to say “We’re the devil’s agents, we’re conducting an effort to bring souls to his majesty satan? Are they? — No, not one of them friends. It will all be done in whose name? — Jesus’ name.

They are claiming that they’re the fulfillment of some of the very texts we’ve been studying. They believe that these wonderful speaking in tongues and healing the sick is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That’s what they say, and I don’t doubt many of them believe it. But they’re deluded. And the remnant will not be deceived by that because they have Isaiah 8:20:

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it [what?] is because there is no light in them. – Isaiah 8:20

We know that the spirit they receive did not come from the Most Holy Place. If it did, it would lead them into conformity to the law of God — obedience to the Ten Commandments. So, in these counterfeit movements which claim to be the work to prepare the church for the latter rain, there will be –there has been, there is today, there always will be– the claim that this is it.

Now, let me give you a few examples. One of the great words which the Spirit of Prophecy uses in connection with this work that the church must experience is the work of reformation, or reform. During, and shortly after, World War I a movement arose in Germany which eventually developed into a group calling themselves the SDA Reform Church. They have been hammering away at the defects in the church, the sins in the church, the worldliness in the church, and attempting to call God’s people to reform. They have the vocabulary of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. They claim to be the defenders of the truth. They claim to be the remnant of Revelation 12:17.

But how is it we know this is not the movement which will prepare the remnant church for the Latter Rain? How is it? It is not because of their claims. It is because the way they go at the thing is not the way that Heaven said to go at it.

Let’s read a statement from Testimonies to Ministers. Look how clear this is. Sister White makes it simple and easy to understand:

When men arise, claiming to have a message from God, but instead of warring against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, they form a hollow square, and turn the weapons of warfare against the church militant, be afraid of them. They do not bear the divine credentials. God has not given them any such burden of labor. They would tear down that which God would restore by the Laodicean message…. The Lord lays upon no man a message that will discourage and dishearten the church. He reproves, He rebukes, He chastens; but it is only that He may restore and approve at last. – Testimonies to Ministers, pg. 22-23

There you have it my dear friends, this makes it very simple. Whenever men come along claiming to have a message from God, this is one of the tests we should bring them to. Where are they directing their weapons? When they shoot, what direction do they fire? If they’re shooting at the church and its leadership, this says, “Be afraid of them.” I think that means exactly what it says.

There are people who boast of their ability to read anything and it would not affect them. I say to you in simple words, don’t fool yourself. There were some things that even the prophet of God wouldn’t read. When Brother Canright left this movement and wrote a letter explaining his reasons, one of the brethren wanted to read it to Sister White. She said, no. She wrote Elder Canright and said, “If these are the things that have caused you to sell your birthright for a mess of pottage, I don’t want to run the risk of my mind being poisoned.”

My point is this friends: if even the prophet of God was afraid to read some things, I wonder how it is that we’ve come to a time when it’s fashionable to read anything? It’s supposed to be an evidence of broad mindedness. I repeat, don’t fool yourself.

When men arise, claiming to have a message from God, but instead of warring against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, they form a hollow square, and turn the weapons of warfare against the church militant be afraid of them. They do not bear the divine credentials. – Ibid

That movement that I spoke of has been going on. Some years later another movement arose in another part of the world field. It took as its special claim to attention, Righteousness by Faith – The Lord our Righteousness. Now, are those words all right? Yes. And remember, the devil is never going to come into the Seventh-day Adventist church with a message that says, “This is from the devil, and is designed to fool you, and get you off the track.” Oh, no, the devil isn’t going to do that. The devil takes the very words, the very phrases that belong to the true work of preparing the church for the Latter Rain, and he uses those.

May I tell you two purposes he has? Oh, I hope it can be as plain as the noon-day sun, watch this point. The devil has two purposes. One is he knows that thousands of our people are longing for true revival and reformation, longing for true Righteousness by Faith, longing for true reform, longing for a true awakening, and so when something comes along that uses these words and these verses, thousands say, “Maybe this is it”. But that’s only half of the devil’s game, and it’s the smaller half. And it’s the most obvious half.

Do you know what the greatest purpose of the devil is in every one of these off-shoot movements? It is to so prejudice our people against that which bears the name of reform or against that which bears the name, of Righteousness by Faith, or against that which bears the name of the Sanctuary message, anything that he can do to get our people to the place where they’re afraid of the real thing, the true thing.

Ah that suits him oh, so much. Do you see my point friends? Do not be misled by his devices in either direction. If some movement chooses to call itself the SDA Reform Church, God help them. Let’s pray for them. And let’s go right ahead with our work of true reform within the framework of the organization that God has established. If some other movement in some other area chooses to take the name, The Lord Our Righteousness, and begins to champion that but in a way to draw away from the church, let us not spend time arguing over that. But let us not be diverted one moment from our work of making ready a people prepared for the Lord, with true righteousness by faith within the framework of the organization that God has established. What do you say?

Need I add, or is it obvious? If there are those who choose to use the terms, ‘The Awakening’, or ‘the sanctuary message’, or ‘coming to the open door of the Most Holy Place’; if there are those who choose to use these terms in a way to criticize the church and its leadership, to draw away disciples after them let us pray for them, but let us not be diverted by them. Let us not for one moment miss the work God has given us to do. Let us come to the Sanctuary in Heaven, let us come to that open door of the Most Holy Place, and let us get our inspiration on that not from mimeograph sheets. Not from printed documents that stir up criticism of the church.

Let us get it from the Bible, from the book Great Controversy, from the book Early Writings, and let our hearts be stirred with a genuine love for the true Sanctuary service of Jesus, our great High Priest. Let us not for one moment be afraid of these words of reform, even though the enemy uses them: Righteousness by Faith that the enemy might use in some diverting movement; or the Sanctuary, the work in the Most Holy Place. Let us not let the devil pull us off on one side into some off-shoot, or pull us on the other side into some complacent, lackadaisical Laodiceanism which says, “Don’t talk to us about reform, that’s fanaticism. Don’t talk to me about righteousness by faith; some people got clear out of the church by studying righteous by faith. Don’t talk to me about awakening. Let’s sleep on. Don’t talk to me about the Sanctuary, people get extreme doing that.”

Do you see friends? Do you see the dangers in both directions? And do you see that we must be willing to go through the time when the false Christ appears, and wait for the true Christ. We must go through the time of the false revival in the world and in Babylon, and wait for the true latter rain; so we must be willing to wait for God’s time to purify the church. We must not take things into our hands and begin to push and criticize. Before some man or set of men assumes the work of Elijah, let them terry with the prophet in the mountains of Gilead until they get a love for the church such as Elijah had.

Vol. 8 – Oh read carefully, these wonderful words:

The time has come for a thorough reformation to take place. When this reformation begins, the spirit of prayer will actuate every believer and will banish from the church the spirit of discord and strife. Those who have not been living in Christian fellowship will draw close to one another. One member working in right lines will lead other members to unite with him in making intercession for the revelation of the Holy Spirit. There will be no confusion, because all will be in harmony with the mind of the Spirit. The barriers separating believer from believer will be broken down, and God’s servants will speak the same things. – Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, pg. 251

Do you see my dear friends that the burden of the true reformers, the true awakeners, the true heralds of the Sanctuary message, the true exponents of righteousness by faith, their great burden will be the unity of the church – not the division of the church, not the scattering of the flock? By this sign you will know them. And I pray that God will anoint our eyes that we may see, our ears that we may hear, our hearts that we may understand – for we are in the most solemn hour of the history of the church.

Next week, we will continue on with our class rotation – Invite a friend, and we’ll see you then… 

-Continue on to the next study-

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“There will soon be an awakening that will surprise many. Those who do not realize the necessity of what is to be done will be passed by, and the heavenly messengers will work with those who are called the common people, fitting them to carry the truth to many places. Now is the time for us to awake and do what we can.” {15MR 312.5}  >> Learn More

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* This study has been adapted from classes taken by Elder W.D. Frazee.