| We Are On the Borders of the Promised Land |
Today's Text:
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. Numbers 13:32
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The Message:
The time when the work goes hardest is the very time to test the spiritual strength and the wisdom of every worker. Are they true to principle or will they prove themselves traitors? When difficulties arise in any branch of the cause-as they surely will, for the church militant is not the church triumphant-all heaven is watching to see what will be the course of those who are entrusted with sacred responsibilities. Some will stumble, some will give heed to seducing spirits; some will choose darkness rather than light because they are not true to God. Like their Master, those who are abiding in Christ will not fall nor be discouraged. See Isaiah 42:4-6. God knows all who are true and faithful. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and those things that cannot be shaken will remain.
The Lord requires our undivided affections. If men are not wholehearted, they will fail in the day of test and proving and trial. When the enemy shall put his forces in array against them, and the battle seems to go hard, at the very time when all the strength of intellect and capability, all the tact of wise generalship, is needed to repulse the enemy, those who are half-hearted will turn their weapons against their own soldiers; they weaken the hands that should be strong for warfare.
God is testing all who have a knowledge of the truth to see if they can be depended on to fight the battles of the Lord when hard pressed by principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and wicked spirits in high places. Perilous times are before us, and our only safety is in having the converting power of God every day, yielding ourselves fully to Him to do His will, and walk in the light of His countenance. See 1 Peter 2:9.
Now when we are just on the borders of the Promised Land, let none repeat the sin of the unfaithful spies. They acknowledged that the land they went up to see was a good land, but they declared that the inhabitants were strong, the giants were there, and that they themselves were in comparison as grasshoppers in the sight of the people and in their own sight. All the difficulties were magnified into insurmountable obstacles. They made it appear as folly and presumption to think of going up to possess the land. Thus they leavened the whole congregation with their unbelief. The people broke forth into lamentations and loud outcries. But Caleb stilled them before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."
This was the language of faith; but the spies who had spoken discouragingly were not to be baffled in their attempts to prevent the people from going forward in doing the word of the Lord. They tried to cry down the voice of Caleb, saying, "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we." [Verse 31.] And they exaggerated the difficulties until all the congregation was crazed with discouragement and fear. The people wept all night, and murmured against the very men in whom they should have had confidence. Then in their exasperation they cast reflections upon God, wishing that they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness; they planned rebellion, proposing to thrust aside their God-appointed leaders. "Let us make a captain," they said, "and let us return into Egypt." [Numbers 14:4.]
What sorrow can be brought upon the ones whose hearts are in the work by those who are unconsecrated, stubborn, and rebellious. Amid all the lamentations and bitterness of feeling, Caleb and Joshua spoke to the congregation, "The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land." But the people wished to believe the worst, and while the ringing voice of Caleb was heard above the tumult, they stood with stones in their hands to batter down the men who bore the right testimony. Then "the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel." See Numbers 14:11, 12.
While the people were cherishing doubts, and believing the unfaithful spies, the golden opportunity for Israel passed by. The inhabitants of the land were aroused to make a determined resistance, and the work which the Lord had prepared to do for them to manifest His greatness and His favor to His people, could not be done because of their wicked unbelief and rebellion. Shall it be, in these last days just before we enter into the heavenly Canaan, that God's people shall indulge the spirit that was revealed by ancient Israel? People full of doubts and criticisms and complaints can sow seeds of unbelief and distrust that will yield an abundant harvest. The history of Israel was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.-Manuscript 6, 1892.
*Note: I have added in the parts that were left out by the compilers for what ever reason, that the true sentiment of the author may be seen. These parts are underlined.
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Commentary:
My friend, we are on the borders of the promised land, and just as it was in the time of Moses, so too is it today. On the first attempt, the people were discouraged by the false reports of a few men and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. On the second attempt the were successful, but not before apostacy came among the people. In 1888 the Lord sent a message to brothers A.T. Jones and E.J. Wagner that if heeded would bring about the closing events of earths history, but the leadership resisted the message and we have been wandering in the world up until today.
That message attested by the prophet of God as a precious message, was the message of Christ as our righteousness. The church had begun to loose its way. It was becoming more and more hierarchical, legalistic, and under the control of men rather than of God. The message to the leaders of that time was that Christ was our righteousness and that He was to lead the church.
Though the leaders on the outside appeared to accept the message, in their hearts they rejected it. They continued to rely upon the wisdom of man over the wisdom of God. Men aspired to rule over the congregation and direct the work as they saw fit. As such the apostacies that had plagued the children of Israel on the borders of the promised land plague us today.
As the prophet of God and the other church pioneers were laid to rest, men under the influence of the arch deceiver crept into the church unawares. [See Jude 3, 4]. They appeared to be good and faithful Seventh-day Adventists, and through this guise, they began to introduce error for truth. The seeds of the trinity were planted in the minds of the people, and over time the opposition to the trinity grew less and less, until it was accepted as one of the foundational teachings of the church in 1980. Since then the abominations that have plagued the fallen churches of Protestantism have come into our church as well.
The mission of the church has been so controlled and perverted that unless there is a shaking that purifies the church, the last message of hope cannot go to the world. The message to us in these last days is "...and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:17). The message of the Faithful and True Witness of God is that the condition of the church is sickening to Him, and that unless they are zealous in their repentance, He will spew them from His mouth. What has made the condition of the church so sickening to Him? It is the worship of God as a trinity. They church is worshiping the false god of Babylon.
My friend, we are on the borders of the promised land, and like Israel of old, we have apostatized by the worshiping the false god of the heathens, and unless we make a decided stand for Christ, we cannot enter into the promised land.
My prayer to you today is that you look at who is leading your life today. Christ is knocking at the door of your heart, and if He is knocking on the door then He is on the outside and not on the inside. Won't you let Him into your heart today?
God bless,
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
The Trinity is the foundational teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, by it comes all of her doctrines, to include Sunday sacredness. While the Seventh-Day Adventist Church states that their trinity is different from the Catholic trinity, why does the Catholic Trinity look the same as the Seventh-day Adventist trinity?
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Video of the Week
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| Does God Change? - Pastor Allen Stump |
Does God Change? The question seems simple enough to answer when God says in Malachi 3:6, "I change not." However many people believe that God does change when it comes to the way he views the professed remnant. This message sustains God's position that he does not change!
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