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Comments on "Which God?"


Youth's Instructor 1903-09-22.002 (Also in 4BC 1168).
"The image revealed to Nebuchadnezzar, while representing the deterioration of the kingdoms of the earth in power and glory, also fitly represents the deterioration of religion and morality among the people of these kingdoms. As nations forget God, in like proportion they become weak morally."

YI.1903-09-22.003
"Babylon passed away because in her prosperity she forgot God, and ascribed the glory of her prosperity to human achievement."

YI.1903-09-22.004
"The Medo-Persian kingdom was visited by the wrath of heaven because in this kingdom God's law was trampled under foot. The fear of the Lord found no place in the hearts of the people. The prevailing influences in Medo-Persia were wickedness, blasphemy, and corruption."

YI.1903-09-22.005
"The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt. They deteriorated because they cast off their allegiance to God. As they forgot him, they sank lower and still lower in the scale of moral value."

YI.1903-09-22.006
"The vast empire of Rome crumbled to pieces, and from its ruins rose that mighty power, the Roman Catholic Church. This church boasts of her infallibility and her hereditary religion. But this religion is a horror to all who are acquainted with the secrets of the mystery of iniquity. The priests of this church maintain their ascendency by keeping the people in ignorance of God's will, as revealed in the Scriptures."

YI.1903-09-22.007
"It is sin that is ruining nations to-day. Even many leaders in the religious world have not a good conscience toward God. Many of those who claim to be Protestants have not the faith in God's word that Luther had in the early days of the Reformation. They have left the old landmarks, and depend on ceremony and formal display to make up for their lack of the purity and piety, the meekness and lowliness, found in obedience to God."
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PK 623.003
"Ezra's motives were high and holy; in all that he did he was actuated by a deep love for souls. The compassion and tenderness that he revealed toward those who had sinned, either willfully or through ignorance, should be an object lesson to all who seek to bring about reforms. The servants of God are to be as firm as a rock where right principles are involved; and yet, withal, they are to manifest sympathy and forbearance. Like Ezra, they are to teach transgressors the way of life by calculating principles that are the foundation of all rightdoing."

 

RH.1908-02-06.002
"As Ezra strove to promulgate the truths he had learned, his capabilities for labor increased and developed. He became a man of piety and zeal, because the truth was a sanctifying power in his soul. He was the Lord's witness to the world of what Bible truth is when revealed in the daily life of the receiver. His life, like the life of Christ, sowed the seeds of truth, by a revelation of the pure principles that can save the soul. Far happier would professed Christians be to-day if they would in the same way reflect the light of heaven upon the pathway of others, teaching in the life the statutes and judgments that rule in the heavenly courts."

RH.1908-02-06.003 (Also in 3BC 1134).
"Shall we let the example of Ezra teach us the use we should make of our knowledge of the Scriptures? The life of this servant of God should be an inspiration to us to serve the Lord with heart and mind and strength. We each have an appointed work to do, and this can be accomplished only by consecrated effort. We need first to set ourselves to know the requirements of God, and then to practise them. Then we can sow seeds of truth that will bear fruit unto eternal life."
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DA 036.002 (Speaking of the Jews in Christ's day, EGW wrote...)
"The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth had become representatives of Satan. They were doing the work that he desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God, and cause the world to look upon Him as a tyrant. The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away."

DA.036.003
"The deception of sin had reached its height. All the agencies for depraving the souls of men had been put in operation. The Son of God, looking upon the world, beheld suffering and misery. With pity He saw how men had become victims of satanic cruelty. He looked with compassion upon those who were being corrupted, murdered, and lost. They had chosen a ruler who chained them to his car as captives. Bewildered and deceived, they were moving on in gloomy procession toward eternal ruin, -- to death in which is no hope of life, toward night to which comes no morning. Satanic agencies were incorporated with men. The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, had become the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of men, were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men. Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they were possessed. Such was the prospect upon which the world's Redeemer looked. What a spectacle for Infinite Purity to behold!"

DA.037.001
"Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the hostility of man was most violent against heaven. It was demonstrated before the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new element of life and power must be imparted by Him who made the world."

DA.037.002
"With intense interest the unfallen worlds had watched to see Jehovah arise, and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth. And if God should do this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan for securing to himself the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had declared that the principles of God's government make forgiveness impossible. Had the world been destroyed, he would have claimed that his accusations were proved true. He was ready to cast blame upon God, and to spread his rebellion to the worlds above. But instead of destroying the world, God sent His Son to save it. Though corruption and defiance might be seen in every part of the alien province, a way for its recovery was provided. At the very crisis, when Satan seemed about to triumph, the Son of God came with the embassage of divine grace. Through every age, through every hour, the love of God had been exercised toward the fallen race. Notwithstanding the perversity of men, the signals of mercy had been continually exhibited. And when the fullness of the time had come, the Deity was glorified by pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace that was never to be obstructed or withdrawn till the plan of salvation should be fulfilled."
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PK 615.001
"All were now ready to set forth. Before them was a journey that would occupy several months. The men were taking with them their wives and children, and their substance, besides large treasure for the temple and its service. Ezra was aware that enemies lay in wait by the way, ready to plunder and destroy him and his company; yet he had asked from the king no armed force for protection. 'I was ashamed,' he has explained, 'to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him'." Verse 22.

PK.615.002
"In this matter, Ezra and his companions saw an opportunity to magnify the name of God before the heathen. Faith in the power of the living God would be strengthened if the Israelites themselves should now reveal implicit faith in their divine Leader. They therefore determined to put their trust wholly in Him. They would ask for no guard of soldiers. They would give the heathen no occasion to ascribe to the strength of man the glory that belongs to God alone. They could not afford to arouse in the minds of their heathen friends one doubt as to the sincerity of their dependence on God as His people. Strength would be gained, not through wealth, not through the power and influence of idolatrous men, but through the favor of God. Only by keeping the law of the Lord before them, and striving to obey it, would they be protected."
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Signs of the Times 1894-09-10.011
The Importance of the Work.

"The word of God abounds in precious jewels of truth, and parents should bring them forth from their casket and present them before their children in their true luster. Parents, you think you have no time to do all this work; but if you do not train your family, Satan will supply your deficiency and educate them after his own Satanic order. Better to neglect anything of a temporal nature, to be satisfied to live economically, to bind about your wants, than to neglect the work of training yourselves and your children in the way that God would have you. In the word of God you have a treasure house from which you may draw precious stores, and as Christians you should furnish yourself for every good work. Look upon the family circle as a training school, where you are preparing your children for the performance of their duties at home, in society, and in the church. Seek to cultivate every power of mind and body in order that the whole family may be soldiers for Christ. Teach your children to love truth because it is truth, and because they are to be sanctified through the truth, and fitted to stand in the grand review that shall erelong determine whether they are qualified to enter into higher work, and become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King." Back to "Which God?"


Ms 42, 1890. Quoted in "Our High Calling", page 281
"Every word from the lips of Jesus was precious. It was joy to Him to see Mary appreciate His instruction. The more frequently the words of Christ are heard the more deeply do they influence the mind, the better they are understood, and the more easily and perfectly are they obeyed". Back to "Which God?"


PP.147.001
"The instruction given to Abraham touching the sacredness of the marriage relation was to be a lesson for all ages. It declares that the rights and happiness of this relation are to be carefully guarded, even at a great sacrifice. Sarah was the only true wife of Abraham. Her rights as a wife and mother no other person was entitled to share. She reverenced her husband, and in this she is presented in the New Testament as a worthy example. But she was unwilling that Abraham's affections should be given to another, and the Lord did not reprove her for requiring the banishment of her rival. Both Abraham and Sarah distrusted the power of God, and it was this error that led to the marriage with Hagar."

PP.147.002
"God had called Abraham to be the father of the faithful, and his life was to stand as an example of faith to succeeding generations. But his faith had not been perfect. He had shown distrust of God in concealing the fact that Sarah was his wife, and again in his marriage with Hagar. That he might reach the highest standard, God subjected him to another test, the closest which man was ever called to endure. In a vision of the night he was directed to repair to the land of Moriah, and there offer up his son as a burnt offering upon a mountain that should be shown him."
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James 1:12-17
"Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried
[and overcomes], he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him. [However] let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it bringsh forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death."

"Do not err, my beloved brethren. For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

In these words we have three plain statements.

1. No man may say that he is tempted by God.

2. Neither tempts He [God] any man.

3. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust.

and a fourth, which says that God does not change.

 

Because of these there should be no debate over the question as to whether God tempts any one, but there often is! It seems that most questioners do not distinguish between a "test" and a "temptation". As shown above, temptation has as its end, the action of sin and a separation from the God of life. To say that God attempts to make man or woman sin is ludicrous but this is what is being implied. However, to say that God investigates us is correct, for a test is designed to show the strength or weakness of the person being tested. Not to God, who already knows our weaknesses and strengths, but to ourselves and to those who have a concern about us.

4T.540.003
"It is far better to yield some advantages that might be gained than to cultivate an avaricious spirit and thus make it a law of nature. Petty sharpness is unworthy of a Christian. We have been separated from the world by the great cleaver of truth. Our wrong traits of character are not always visible to ourselves, although they may be very apparent to others. But time and circumstances will surely prove us and bring to light the gold of character or discover the baser metal. Not one of us is known or read of all men, till the crucible of God tests us. Every base thought, every wrong action, reveals some defect in the character. These rugged traits must be brought under the chisel and hammer in God's great workshop, and the grace of God must smooth and polish before we can be fitted for a place in the glorious temple."

RH.1897-12-14.006
"Individually, we are tried as was the young ruler. God tests us to see if, as stewards, we can safely be trusted with the eternal riches. Shall we do as the ruler did, -- fasten our grasp upon the treasures lent us by God, choosing that which appears most agreeable to the natural heart, and refusing to use our possessions as God plainly states he expects us to? or shall we take up our cross, and follow our Saviour in the path of self-denial?"

Remember, he came to Jesus and asked the question. "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Matthew 19:16.

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Youth's Instructor 1894-07-26.001 ....... Love God Practically
"'Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.' How sad it is that Jesus has to stretch out his hands pleading with his people to come unto him, and they refuse to hear, refuse to believe, refuse to receive the comfort of the fulness that God designed should be theirs. Jesus wept over the impenitent city of Jerusalem, and cried with brokenness of heart, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!'"

YI.1894-07-26.002
"What a work might have been done for us as individuals, if our proud and stubborn wills had been wholly submerged in the will of God, and our souls lifted up from earthliness to a higher, purer atmosphere! O that those who claim to be children of God, would invest every talent that God has intrusted to them for his glory! All should educate themselves to exercise faith in the promises of God, in order that faith may grow into perfect trust. Have you human love for the few with whom you are associated? You must have a deeper love than this. You must have the love of Jesus, which is an abiding, increasing love, that can be cultivated by bestowing it upon those for whom Christ died."
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DA 331.003
"As through Jesus we enter into
[Sabbath] rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here." Back to "Which God?"


PP 318.002
"'Let Me alone, . . . that I may consume them,' were the words of God. If God had purposed to destroy Israel, who could plead for them? How few but would have left the sinners to their fate!
[How many leave the church when they think God has turned against it!] How few but would have gladly exchanged a lot of toil and burden and sacrifice, repaid with ingratitude and murmuring, for a position of ease and honor, when it was God Himself that offered the release."

PP.318.003
"
But Moses discerned ground for hope where there appeared only discouragement and wrath. The words of God, 'Let Me alone,' he understood not to forbid but to encourage intercession, implying that nothing but the prayers of Moses could save Israel, but that if thus entreated, God would spare His people. [Comment]. He 'besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?' "

PP.318.004
"God had signified that He disowned His people. He had spoken of them to Moses as 'thy people, which thou broughtest out of Egypt.' But Moses humbly disclaimed the leadership of Israel. They were not his, but God's-- 'Thy people, which Thou has brought forth . . . with great power, and with a mighty hand. Wherefore,' he urged, 'should the Egyptians speak, and say,
For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?' "

PP.319.001
"During the few months since Israel left Egypt, the report of their wonderful deliverance had spread to all the surrounding nations. Fear and terrible foreboding rested upon the heathen. All were watching to see what the God of Israel would do for His people. Should they now be destroyed, their enemies would triumph, and God would be dishonored. The Egyptians would claim that their accusations were true -- instead of leading His people into the wilderness to sacrifice, He had caused them to be sacrificed. They would not consider the sins of Israel; the destruction of the people whom He had so signally honored, would bring reproach upon His name. How great the responsibility resting upon those whom God has highly honored, to make His name a praise in the earth! With what care should they guard against committing sin, to call down His judgments and cause His name to be reproached by the ungodly!"

PP.319.002
"As Moses interceded for Israel
[like his LORD], his timidity was lost in his deep interest and love for those for whom he had, in the hands of God, been the means of doing so much. The Lord listened to his pleadings, and granted his unselfish prayer. God had proved His servant; He had tested his faithfulness and his love for that erring, ungrateful people, and nobly had Moses endured the trial. His interest in Israel sprang from no selfish motive. The prosperity of God's chosen people was dearer to him than personal honor, dearer than the privilege of becoming the father of a mighty nation. God was pleased with his faithfulness, his simplicity of heart, and his integrity, and He committed to him, as a faithful shepherd, the great charge of leading Israel to the Promised Land." Back to "Which God?"


DA 353.001
" 'Behold,' said Jesus, 'I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' Christ Himself did not suppress one word of truth, but He spoke it always in love. He exercised the greatest tact, and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness. He fearlessly denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity, but tears were in His voice as He uttered His scathing rebukes. He wept over Jerusalem, the city He loved, that refused to receive Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They rejected Him, the Saviour, but He regarded them with pitying tenderness, and sorrow so deep that it broke His heart. Every soul was precious in His eyes. While He always bore Himself with divine dignity, He bowed with tenderest regard to every member of the family of God. In all men He saw fallen souls whom it was His mission to save."
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DA 340.003
"In causing the destruction of the swine, it was Satan's purpose to turn the people away from the Saviour, and prevent the preaching of the gospel in that region. But this very occurrence roused the whole country as nothing else could have done, and directed attention to Christ. Though the Saviour Himself departed, the men whom He had healed remained as witnesses to His power. Those who had been mediums of the prince of darkness became channels of light, messengers of the Son of God. Men marveled as they listened to the wondrous news. A door was opened to the gospel throughout that region. When Jesus returned to Decapolis, the people flocked about Him, and for three days, not merely the inhabitants of one town, but thousands from all the surrounding region, heard the message of salvation. Even the power of demons is under the control of our Saviour, and the working of evil is overruled
[nicely - without force] for good." Back to "Which God?"


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