IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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Preparing for the End of Time | |
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in
IAUA
(ee-ah-oo-ah) our Father,
Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly sabbath. I hope this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of the Lord. I am continuing with the subject of doctrine I introduced in my last newsletter. There was a strange event a couple of weeks ago. The pastor read a quote, during a devotional, from an adventist author. I would love to look this up to verify the context. The context of the devotional was the need for a revival in the church. The church is planning a two week prayer seminar as a motivation to produce a revival in the church. The focus of the prayer seminar is to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The quote was not from Ellen White but was presented as being influenced by what she said about the 1888 fiasco and the state of the church at that time. What I understood from the quote was that the failure of the church to advance in the full power of the Holy Spirit was caused by an emphasis on doctrines. This statement was shocking to me but actually not surprising. Here are two quotes from Ellen White that sound like they might support that idea. The second is a rewrite of the first which was later published in the Review and Herald.
The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials
Brethren, do we carry our loads there and leave them? Let us do it. Let us roll it right on the Burden-bearer; and when we have a part to act we will act it. And when you go from this place, Oh be so full of the message that it is like fire shut up in your bones, that you cannot hold your peace. It is true men will say, "You are too excited; you are making too much of this matter, and you do not think enough of the law; now, you must think more of the law; don't be all the time reaching for this righteousness of Christ, but build up the law." {1888 557.1} Let the law take care of itself. We have been at work on the law until we get as dry as the hills of Gilboa, without dew or rain. Let us trust in the merits of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. May God help us that our eyes may be anointed with eyesalve, that we may see. God helping us, we will draw nigh to Him, and He says he will draw nigh to us. Do we believe? Will we come in God's appointed way? May the Lord help us and enlighten us, that we may go forth from this place as they went forth to proclaim the truth after the day of Pentecost; and there were souls converted; they could not resist the testimony.
The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials
Brethren, shall we not all of us leave our loads there? and when we leave this meeting, may it be with the truth burning in our souls like fire shut up in our bones. You will meet with those who will say, "You are too much excited over this matter. You are too much in earnest. You should not be reaching for the righteousness of Christ, and making so much of that. You should preach the law." As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain. We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God. We must not trust in our own merits at all, but in the merits of Jesus of Nazareth. Our eyes must be anointed with eye-salve. We must draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to us, if we come in his own appointed way. O that you may go forth as the disciples did after the day of Pentecost, and then your testimony will have a living ring, and souls will be converted to God. {1888 560.4} I believe that these quotes are emphasizing a critical balance of the love of God and the law of God through the righteousness of Christ. You cannot emphasize either one over the other. The love of God must not degenerate into superficial emotionalism and the law of God must not degenerate into formality. I have been reading some books lately about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and in general they concentrate on the importance of prayer leading up to a relationship with God. I have an uneasy sense that the focus of the relationship being taught is an emotional one based on a person's feelings. There is something missing which does not balance the importance of obedience and doctrine. John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Everyone is looking for the signs and wonders of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: Notice the key word "afterward". What is it that comes before the visible outpouring? It is the "rain". Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. What is this "rain"? It is "doctrine". Deuteronomy 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: The restoration of all God's law is the doctrine of the old paths. Many in the church are currently refusing to walk in it. Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. What is the old path we need to seek? The final Elijah message tells us to remember the law of God and the statutes. Malachi 4:4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Many do not even know what the statutes are. Most think it is just another word for the Ten Commandments. Some who have a little understanding think the statutes were all created after Sinai. Abraham lived 400 years before Sinai but what did God say? Genesis 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The Messiah gave a very clear description of the coming of the Holy Spirit. John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. The truth of the spirit is the knowledge of God's law. Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Does the power of the Holy Spirit fill your heart with a love for others and for the truth or will you be deceived? 2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Is the Holy Spirit at work in your life? Are you seeking and finding truth and knowledge? When the Holy Spirit reveals truth, will you walk in it? May we strive for peace and unity in truth preparing for the soon coming of IAUShUO (Ee-uh-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the Son of God. Shabbat Shalom,
Frank T. Clark
Next: 2007-02-02 Doctrinal Backlash |
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Revised 2007-02-02 |