By John Thiel, The People of the Loud Cry Series, Study 2, mp3

Gaining That Nature

The people of the loud cry, we want to be them; and so we have a mission. But it is a mission of a different variety than many churches think it’s going to be. The mission at this present time is to gain a nature that is going to meet with the expectation that God has for the people that will give the loud cry. As we have seen, it is a small and obscure people, and they need to meet the demand of what the loud cry is revealed as in Revelation 18.

Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

That final loud cry in verse 4 is to arouse all the people that are God’s people in Babylon to come out. That is the grand final cry. But you will notice that it is associated with the angel; and the angel of Revelation 18 is also having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. The whole earth was lightened with that glory. So we want to appreciate what this representation is in the living reality, because no one sees this angel. It is the people that proclaim the message. And what about that other voice from heaven? what is all this if we are going to be participant with all this? As you read verses 1 to 3, you can see why Seventh-day Adventists have come up with the idea that they have this enormous work to do to enlighten the whole world with their missionary outreach. There is this push, this urging of everybody doing missionary work. Go and do it, they say, we’ve got to fulfill this statement; this church must move forward with power. There is this mentality where every organisation is labouring to press the members into that kind of activity. And it is easy to understand why people come across with that mentality. The book Great Controversy identifies that it is a movement of people. Just like the first and second and third angels were movements; and the Seventh-day Adventist church was of course the movement which was symbolised by the third angel; we see here another movement:

Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared: “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Revelation 18:5. She has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her. But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and “receive not of her plagues.” Hence the movement symbolized by the angel coming down from heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon. In connection with his message the call is heard: “Come out of her, My people.” These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth. {GC 604.1}

So in giving the final warning to the inhabitants of the earth, there is a movement delineated here. This is not just a loose knit sort of a thing; it is a movement. So this is the question now, we have a movement which has to be big enough or strong enough to equate with the description that is given here.

The question of most vital importance for this time is, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will unite with the angel in giving the message of truth to the world? Who will receive the light that is to fill the whole earth with its glory?” {RH, November 5, 1889 par. 12}

How important is this? It is a question of most vital importance. This is not just some sort of take-it-or-leave-it situation; the destiny of souls hangs upon this. It is of most vital importance as to who is on the Lord’s side, and who will unite with the angel in giving the message to the world.

You must remember that this angel represents the people that have this message to give to the world. Are you among that people? {RH, August 18, 1885 par. 14}

Here is no independent mindedness; it is a people that are all functioning as a movement, a movement that we need to be part of; and it is of most vital importance that we are on the right side. Now we need to understand how this is going to pan out in our experience if we say, Yes, Lord, I want to be among that people. What to do to ensure that I can be among that people?

Have another look at the scope that is suggested here. In Revelation 18:1 we see that this angel has great power and the whole earth is lightened with his glory. This is an enormous task. And the scripture of Habakkuk gives us an enlargement of how the whole earth is to be enlightened with his glory:

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

As we read this we may think, This is too big. The knowledge of the glory of God is going to cover the earth like the sea water covers the earth. But with this scope in mind, notice it says that the earth is going to be covered with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. What is this glory that the whole earth is going to be covered with? How will they come to spread it? We know what the glory of the Lord is. It is His character. How on earth can the knowledge of His character be spread across the world as the waters cover the sea?

Isaiah 59:21 As for me, this [is] my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that [is] upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Who is responsible for all this? It is God’s covenant, His Spirit, His words which He has put in our mouth. Here is an important activity that is the everlasting covenant that He has promised to Abraham, and which has come into fulfillment through the work of Jesus, the planting of Jesus in the heart; and all that gospel message is portrayed in that little statement that God will put into the heart and into the mouth of His people His righteousness. And when He has achieved that, He says: Now,

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Here is the activity by which these people will be operating to cover the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God. It is God working in them so that He can then say, Now that I’ve worked in you, you can now arise and shine, because your light is come. The earth is covered with gross darkness, and now God says, In contrast to the gross darkness the earth is going to be covered with the knowledge of the righteousness and of the glory of God by these people, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light.

We want to understand our mission, and I am here showing from Scripture what it takes to gain a nature that He can use to say, Arise and shine. What is actually going to happen in your experience? This is what our aim is.

God cannot glorify His name through His people while they are leaning upon man and making flesh their arm. {5T 729.1}

So God cannot cover the earth with His glory while this is going on.

Their present state of weakness will continue until Christ alone shall be exalted; until, with John the Baptist, they shall say from a humble and reverent heart: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Words have been given me to speak to the people of God: “Lift Him up, the Man of Calvary. Let humanity stand back, that all may behold Him in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered. Says the prophet Isaiah: ‘Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Let the church and the world look upon their Redeemer. Let every voice proclaim with John: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.'” {Ibid.}

It is to the thirsting soul that the fountain of living waters is open. God declares: “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” To souls that are earnestly seeking for light and that accept with gladness every ray of divine illumination from His holy word, to such alone light will be given. It is through these souls that God will reveal that light and power which will lighten the whole earth with His glory. {5T 729.2}

Who alone is going to be the agent and the agency through which God can display that glory? The thirsty soul. If people are not thirsty, if people are saying, “I’m rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” how can God use them? As we have demonstrated in the previous study, it is those people that are really conscious of their condition and are craving and thirsting for the mercy of God; it is through them that the glory of God will be covering the whole earth.

Here we see something that introduces us to the mission that you and I have. What is the mission? To be thirsty and to crave for the light and to embrace it, doing exactly what John the Baptist said, Here is the Lamb of God. He was an example of what we need to occupy ourselves by.

What was John the Baptist’s experience and what is ours at such a time as this, as a thirsting people through whom God’s glory is going to be seen? “Arise and shine, because the glory of God has risen upon thee.” It says “will be seen”; not “will be heard.” It will be seen upon thee. These are all very essential words to pick up the picture. So this glory is to be seen, not merely given and addressed as a theory to the world around them by the preaching of the subject matter; it is something beyond that. How are the people of God going to convince the world of the glory of God? What is the strongest argument that can convince even skeptics? Remember, we want to be part of those people, but we must gain such a nature. And this is why this is such an important thing. If we really are those people, then we are thirsting, and we need to know how the Lord is going to satisfy that thirst. Do you want to influence the whole world?

It is our own character and experience that determine our influence upon others. In order to convince others of the power of Christ’s grace, {MH 469.3}

 Remember, this angel had great power. What must we do to convince them of that power?

…we must know its power in our own hearts and lives. {Ibid.}

You can only give to others what you have got. You can never give what you haven’t got. You can give what you know about it; but that’s not good enough. You must have it. The power must be your experience and it must be demonstrable.

The gospel we present for the saving of souls must be the gospel by which our own souls are saved. Only through a living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour is it possible to make our influence felt in a skeptical world. {Ibid.}

What is a skeptical world? “Behold, gross darkness covers the earth.” And only by a living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour is it possible to make the gross darkness feel this power. They’ve heard the descriptions; they’ve watched the film that was put out by Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ. They’ve seen all that. Does it make any difference? Is that a demonstration of the glory of God? It must be seen in a people, and so the whole earth is going to be covered with this.

If we would draw sinners out of the swift-running current, our own feet must be firmly set upon the Rock, Christ Jesus. {Ibid.}

Now comes the real detail of it:

The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, {MH 470.1}

Not a name that this is the church and we have a name for the church, and all that sort of thing. That in itself has no bearing on it. The badge of Christianity is not the outward sign,

…not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man with God. {Ibid.}

So what is my mission? My mission is to get into a proper, deep, intimate union.

By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. {Ibid.}

To convince a world in darkness, you must demonstrate a life of total unselfishness. And they will see it; movements will bring these people forward.

The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian. {Ibid.}

You want to have arguments to convince people? You might use all sorts of arguments, you may argue the gospel really capably, and you’re trying to convince people of something that’s so obvious to you; can you succeed? It’s amazing; and we scratch our heads, Why can’t they see? Because the real power is a demonstration of a people who are loving and lovable Christians. That is the strongest argument that after you have laid all your other arguments in place, then they see that, It is actually realistic, these people are like that. And that is convincing.

The love of Christ, the love of our brethren, will testify to the world that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry, and the whole earth will be lightened with the glory of the Lord. {6T 401.1}

When? When the love of Christ and the love of our brethren will be in place, in activity, in living exercise. “Then will the message of the third angel swell to a loud cry.” So to gain a glory that will be demonstrable by a company of people, a movement of people that amalgamate together, that meet together, that function together, that have the demonstration of a love that only exists in heaven; to have that on earth among themselves – that is where God wants us to be according to these statements. And to gain this, we have already studied in the past that we need to have love among the brethren; and then all sorts of things arise. And we have tackled problems and difficulties, and the people look on and say, Look how they get on with each other! because they know what Christianity is meant to be. But when they see a company of people that are not torn apart, they may say, Oh, you’re like a lot of tin soldiers all doing the same thing; but when they see love, when that which motivates us to do and to think the same way is a love that is not human, that is convincing. The strongest argument is a loving and lovable Christian.

If you think about this, we are going to be tested individually, and we will have to stand for our faith alone. And at the end of this, when I deal with the entirety of what the loud cry really is and the circumstances of it, we will see that, Yes, of course, that’s the only way it can happen. As each individual is standing there for the people to see (in the way that Sister White writes it’s going to be), the whole world will say, Oh, there, there, there. All over the earth are these individuals that are standing in defense of the truth; and the world will say, Wow, they’re everywhere; when they are only a little company. Remember the story of Gideon? The great multitude down in the valley surrounded by Gideon’s army of only three hundred. This is the same scenario. God will bring about a situation where He will have a movement of people, individuals who are faithful all across the world, who will shine out the glory of the Lord all over the earth like water covers the sea. It will be like Gideon’s soldiers with their torches. It’s bright all around; there’s light all over the place! and they will see, Ah, this is what is really true; this is what it’s about. So the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the earth.

We need to gain this glory so that it can be seen. What then is my present task and what is my present experience that I must intelligently engage in to let this happen? And what is going to happen in my circumstances? because this will happen if I harmonise correctly with my circumstances, or, the providence that God surrounds me with.

How to Gain that Experience

As we read, it is God’s Spirit that will do this work upon you. And this is how God’s people in His providence are actually going to be operating:

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 does the margin say for “the former rain moderately”? A teacher of righteousness according to righteousness. This outpouring of the latter rain is that you are under the Teacher of righteousness. But this is not a teacher of righteousness in the way we imagine it to be, someone just telling us, This is what righteousness is about. No; it is the Teacher of righteousness according to righteousness. In other words, here is a message that is actually going to create righteousness. It is 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: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

This is going to be the Holy Spirit’s power.

The third angel’s message must go over the land, and awaken the people, and call their attention to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Another angel unites his voice with the third angel, and the earth is lighted with its glory. The light increases, and it shines out to all the nations of the earth. It is to go forth as a light that burneth. It will be attended with great power, until its golden beams have fallen upon every tongue, every people, and every nation upon the face of the whole earth. Let me ask you, What you are doing to prepare for this work? {RH, August 18, 1885 par. 14}

Here is the lead in our consideration. What’s my mission? Under inspiration we are asked, What are you doing to prepare for this work? Here is our mission: to prepare.

Are you building for eternity? You must remember that this angel represents the people that have this message to give to the world. Are you among that people? Do you really believe that this work in which we are engaged is truly the third angel’s message? If so, then you understand that we have a mighty work to do, and that we ought to be about it. {Ibid.}

You see, it’s not just hearing about it, or doing something to tell other people about it. It is a work of preparing; it is something that has to do with my own inward soul.

We must sanctify ourselves by a strict obedience to the truth, placing ourselves in right relation to God and his work. {Ibid.}

This is the picture of what we must do, but as this is going on, what is the experience?

As the truth goes forth, Satan intensifies his zeal to defeat its progress by presenting pleasing delusions. {Ibid.}

Isn’t that what has been happening?

As we urge the truth, he urges his errors. He will stir up his agents, in view of the coming of the Lord, to go out and cry, “Lo! here is Christ, and lo! there is Christ.” And here arises this superstition, and there arises that heresy. {Ibid.}

Can you see it’s all been happening? “Here, this is the church.” Remember, “here is Christ” means “here is the body of Christ.” Everybody claims to be the body of Christ. And as everybody is claiming to be the body of Christ, while these pleasing delusions are taking place, there arises a superstition amongst a certain company, and then there arises a heresy somewhere else, and everyone is saying, Here is Christ, and there is Christ.

And tell me, what are we to do about it? I will tell you: we can become familiar, with the Bible, and read what saith the Lord. Not only the ministers but all who love and fear God are to do the Master’s work; and that is to let the light that he has given you shine before all. Here are two companies; one of them is being bound in bundles to burn, {Ibid.}

Bundles, companies? There are bundles all over the place, can’t we see it? What bundle are we of? We are also a bundle. Which company am I in? Remember, it is of vital importance whose side we are on. This is the seriousness of the time. The people of the first company are bound in bundles to burn;

…the other [company] is being bound by the cords of truth and love. {Ibid.}

What are they bound by? By truth and love.

Satan is binding his followers with the work of iniquity; Christ is binding together his people in love and faith in the keeping of his commandments. And this work will increase more and more, and Satan will work to divide and separate God’s people one from the other. {Ibid.}

You can see it all around you. It is directly what is written here, and it was written a long time ago. And now it’s happening and people are all in a different world of expectations, and yet it’s all a fulfilment of what is written here. There is division and separation wherever you look.

And while he is doing this kind of work, be careful that none of you are found helping him. {Ibid.}

Helping him as he is trying to tear and to cause division.

We want to put away our cold-heartedness, and let love, tender compassion, true courtesy, and the spirit of tenderness come into our midst. Here we are in the waiting time, in the day of God’s preparation. {Ibid.}

When I read these statements in the past, I used to think, “Oh, but we’re supposed to be doing missionary work – No, we’re supposed to be preparing – No, we’re doing… What’s going on?” We are to be so preparing that then we can be a light. The first and foremost priority is preparation so that we can do the missionary work right; because the loud cry is doing it right, not just missionary work.

Here in this world we are to fit up for these great trials that are soon coming upon us. {Ibid.}

That was written years ago and now we are in the trials. And people need to be fitted up very quickly now.

And yet some of us act as though we had a whole millennium before us in which to accomplish the work. But, says the text, “Watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is.” And what Christ said to his disciples, I say unto you, “Take ye heed, watch and pray,” that when the Master comes to reckon with his servants, you may receive from him the crown of life laid up for the overcomer, and rejoice with him in his kingdom. {Ibid.}

“Are you among that people? Are you doing a work while at the same time Satan is doing his work?” and there is a bundling together in bundles under some heresy or some superstition here or there, and as you are coming through this in your own experience, you are thinking, Where am I? Which bundle am I of? and you wonder, What am I supposed to do? It is the Holy Spirit that I have to yield to, because He is trying to put the gospel in reality into my heart and lips. And what is this whole thing of the latter rain? What is the latter rain in all reality? The Teacher of righteousness according to righteousness. In the midst of all the false doctrines and the superstitions and errors here and there, Deuteronomy 32 identifies it for us:

Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 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: 3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 [He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.

As the rain falls and is absorbed into the plants, so is the doctrine of the Teacher of righteousness according to righteousness to sink into our soul, and then the character, the glory, of God will be inside, and it will shine among God’s people. Let us explore this in living activity. As we sense the truth that the Holy Spirit has imparted, and that was given under the three angels’ messages ever since 1844, we are living today at a time where those beautiful truths have been twisted here and there – a little error here and a little error there – and people are bundling around those errors. So here is the Teacher of righteousness according to righteousness, and what are we to do under that outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Explore it here in the following statement. Here is the work. She is writing here to a people who had the foundational principles of true Adventism; and that is where we must go.

Suppose we try daily to have our hearts united in the bonds of Christian love. “I have somewhat against thee,” says the True Witness, “because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4). And He says, “Except thou repent,” “I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place” (Revelation 2:5). Why?–Because in our separation from one another we are separated from Christ. We want to press together. Oh, how many times, when I have seemed to be in the presence of God and holy angels, I have heard the angel voice saying,

Press Together

“Press together, press together, press together. Do not let Satan cast his hellish shadow between brethren. Press together; in unity there is strength.” {2SM 374.2}

We have a foundation to unite on, and that is the truth. But it was truth and love. And as we press together you will see little things that niggle. Little things here and there. And if you feed the niggle, if you feed the negativity, Satan will be able to keep you cool and separate from one another, and we just come together because we know we have to. But to come together and to press together because we love the truth and we love one another as Jesus loved us, then Satan can’t get in there, and that is what God wants us to do.

Do not let Satan cast his hellish shadow between brethren. Press together; in unity there is strength.” {Ibid.}

You want to study in the Spirit of Prophecy what is the hellish shadow. There is much written about that. You search the EGW Database for “hellish shadow” and see how much you discover there. Don’t let that happen.

I repeat the message to you. As you go to your homes, be determined that you will press together; seek God with all the heart, and you will find Him, and the love of Christ, that passeth understanding, will come into your hearts and lives. {2SM 374.3}

Because God will respond to that pressing together; He will make it happen. With regards to this principle of pressing together, explore these means now:

Sanctification is to come through the truth; {UL 31.6}

How important is the truth we preach? It is absolutely imperative that we have the truth. Why? Because we can’t be sanctified without the truth. So we must get the exact truth; otherwise, if you have an error here or there, with just one weak link in the chain, the chain doesn’t succeed.

Sanctification is to come through the truth; oneness with Christ–this is God’s purpose for us. By their sanctification and their unity, Christians are to give evidence to the world that a perfect work has been done for them, in and through Christ. Thus they are to bear witness that God sent His Son to save sinners. {Ibid.}

That is the final loud cry to call God’s people out of Babylon.

Will you not let Christ carry on this work of sanctification in your hearts? You may all be complete in Him. You have the assurance that through the sanctification of the truth you may be made perfect in one. {Ibid.}

You have that assurance.

The Saviour is acquainted with the mental suffering of His children. He knows how at times their hearts are wounded and bleeding. He would have the afflicted soothed and helped. He says to us, “Bear ye one another’s burdens” {UL 31.7}

So if you see someone wounded, what are you to do? Bear the burden with them; instead of saying, “Well, what did you that for? That’s why you’re in the trouble now.” Is that soothing? “I told you so! I warned you, and you still went along and did it!” I could have said that to quite a few people in the last few years. I told them, I warned them, and they went straight into it. And what do I do? “Serves you right”? Is that love? No. You help them back up again. And if you have to do it many times, this is what is portrayed here. Bear ye one another’s burdens.

“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1). {Ibid.}

This is the beauty of Christ.

We are to relate ourselves rightly to one another, even though to do this demands sacrifice. {Ibid.}

We want an easy religion. “I’ll just get on doing what I have to do and they can do what they want to do.” This is how the sinful flesh that is even in me is many times affecting me. “I’ve done my business, I’ve told them what to do, and if they don’t want to do it, pff… too bad. Leave me alone everybody.” This is the sinful flesh; that is not the love of Christ. And I have to battle with my sinful flesh like that all the time. For me to come to the assistance of someone is a sacrifice of my flesh. I am a recluse by nature. I say to people, Leave me alone; that is my nature. But this is no excuse. It is a sacrifice to relate correctly to one another. Not to go along and tell them, Look, you know, you’re wrong; but if I see a problem, I go and see how I can actually support that person to bring them back into the right thing, not by telling them, You’re wrong; but by helping them to see the better.

Christ made an infinite sacrifice for us, and should we not be willing to sacrifice for others? We are to guard carefully against wounding or bruising the hearts of God’s children, for when we do this, we wound and bruise the heart of Christ. {Ibid.}

And we do that even when we wound and bruise a sinner, because didn’t Jesus become sin for us? And when a sinner is there, Jesus is at one with that sinner, and we are wounding and bruising that sinner because he sinned. This is the same problem. We are bruising Christ too. It is a totally different scenario than we often think. So as we prepare ourselves to be truly the people of the loud cry, to expose to the world the love that God has to the world (for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son), there is a bewildering exercise that strikes us, and we need to understand and we need to prepare ourselves to pursue that, no matter what happens. It happens within God’s church as a preparation so that ultimately we will be able to stand there at the end and be well versed with the experience of bearing one another in love.

Preparation

What is the kind of experience that is involved as we prepare like this? As we go through the ropes of preparing for that loud cry, to be a people who have that love; in this preparation,

Your feelings, your impressions, your emotions, are not to be trusted, for they are not reliable, {MYP 151.3}

We rely very much on how we feel about things. That’s our nature. If I don’t feel right, I don’t do it. Well, I’ll tell you something, I do a whole lot of things that I don’t feel right about, and they are the things that God wants me to do. And in your exercises of preparation, as you go through this,

You are often discouraged at finding yourself weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits and customs of your old life in sin. {MYP 151.2}

This will keep on playing havoc with you.

You find your emotional nature untrue to yourself, to your best resolutions, and to your most solemn pledges. {Ibid.}

So here we are, we are under this beautiful message and we say, Yes, yes! I want to really pursue it; and the next minute we go down, and we wonder, What’s going on? And then, as you go through that experience, it comes to the point where it strikes you:

Nothing seems real. Your own instability leads you to doubt the sincerity of those who would do you good. {Ibid.}

This is all part of the experience.

The more you struggle in doubt, the more unreal everything looks to you, until it seems that there is no solid ground for you anywhere. {Ibid.}

We are living in such a time.

Your promises are like ropes of sand, and you regard in the same unreal light the words and works of those in whom you should trust. {Ibid.}

Everything is bewildering in this madness because Satan has come in there trying to tear God’s people apart; and that is how it all happens. So don’t rely upon your impressions, your emotions, your feelings; they cannot be trusted.

It is for you to yield up your will to the will of Jesus Christ; and as you do this, God will immediately take possession, and work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. {MYP 152.1}

When does God come in? When I place my will on the will of Christ; then God will immediately work, and that is how He will prepare His people.

Your whole nature will then be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; and even your thoughts will be subject to Him. {Ibid.}

What a beautiful position that will be.

You cannot control your impulses, your emotions, as you may desire, but you can control the will, and you can make an entire change in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, your life will be hid with Christ in God, and allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers. {MYP 152.2}

Remember, that angel had great power. That is the power. Adventists have always thought the power is, Wow, we’re going to have some big public missions, and it’s going to be a powerful ministry! Sorry. A poor, afflicted people; an obscure people little known to the Catholics. But what is the power? The individual led together with other individuals who lay their will on the side of God’s will; and God will immediately come there to help them. And allied to the power which is above all principalities and powers,

You will have strength from God that will hold you fast to His strength; and a new light, even the light of living faith, will be possible to you. {Ibid.}

That’s the light.

By steadfastly keeping the will on the Lord’s side, every emotion will be brought into captivity to the will of Jesus. You will then find your feet on solid rock. It will take, at times, every particle of will-power that you possess, but it is God that is working for you, and you will come forth from the molding process a vessel unto honor. {MYP 153.1}

Everything will seem unreal to you, but you don’t even pursue what it seems. There is the reality of what you can rely on, and that is God’s pure word. That is what you hold onto.

There will be in you a power, an earnestness, and a simplicity that will make you a polished instrument in the hands of God. {MYP 153.2}

Your feelings don’t come into this.

It is not your feelings, your emotions, that make you a child of God, but the doing of God’s will. {MYP 154.2}

Oh, how many people rely on those feelings and emotions; and when they’re not there we think we’re failing. No; you do God’s will, feeling or no feeling, Sister White writes.

Then you may stand in your God-given manhood, an example of good works. You will then help to maintain rules of discipline, instead of helping to break them down. {Ibid.}

Have you ever found that? There is God’s word, we have to discipline ourselves, and we say, Oh, come on, don’t go far; that’s a little bit too hard; you’re only making a burden for yourself. That is breaking down the rules of discipline that God has placed upon us through His word. And this is what we see people doing around us.

You will then help to maintain rules of discipline, instead of helping to break them down. You will then help to maintain order, instead of despising it, and inciting to irregularity of life by your own course of action. {Ibid.}

Do you see the lack of order in the companies of today? God’s true movement is functioning as an army, a movement of people that are disciplined and who submit to the discipline of God’s kingdom.

As we are going through this preparatory activity that helps us to have that kind of nature that will constitute the people who give the loud cry, the following statement helps us to understand something.

Day after day is passing into eternity, bringing us nearer to the close of probation. As never before we must pray for the Holy Spirit to be more abundantly bestowed upon us, and we must look for its sanctifying influence to come upon the workers, that those for whom they labor may know that they have been with Jesus and have learned of Him. {RC 216.3}

So this is the work of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we are to pray for. And as the Spirit of God is doing His work, as we have seen in our study till now, what will those that are under that Spirit do?

Those who are under the influence of the Spirit of God will not be fanatical, but calm and steadfast, free from extravagance in thought, word, or deed. {RC 216.5}

You see, you have so many people today that are very fanatical. They go along and pump certain subjects to the neglect of others, and they push this and that. That is not the work of the Holy Spirit. Everything is well-balanced in this work. There is no extravagance in thought, word, or deed.

Amid the confusion of delusive doctrines [which we know we are surrounded by], the Spirit of God will be a guide and a shield to those who have not resisted the evidences of truth, silencing every other voice but that which comes from Him who is the truth. {Ibid.}

We are living in the last days, when error of a most deceptive character is accepted and believed, while truth is discarded. {RC 216.6}

This is what we are protesting against – the old Adventist message that has been systemically pulled apart bit by bit.

The Lord will hold both ministers and people responsible for the light shining upon them. He calls upon us to work diligently in gathering up the jewels of truth, and placing them in the framework of the gospel. In all their divine beauty they are to shine forth in the moral darkness of the world. This cannot be accomplished without the aid of the Holy Spirit, but with this aid we can do all things. When we are endowed with the Spirit, we take hold by faith of infinite power. {Ibid.}

That is the movement, a movement of infinite power that is going to reveal the power of a loving and lovable people whom the world will look upon and say, That’s supernatural. We have to demonstrate to the world a supernatural love and power. And it can only be done as we go through these ropes of experience that I have laid out for you. And you need to go home and study over this and open your heart to the Lord so that you will actually engage in it.

In her vision (Testimonies Vol. 1, p. 181-183) Sr. White saw the people come who had been praying and earnestly going through these experiences. Some were praying and agonising and were in anguish; and the others who didn’t do that, she lost sight of them. Then she saw them as an army, and they had finally gained the victory. And when they had gained the victory, they then went forth and proclaimed the truth with power. So she asked what had made this change, and the angel said, This is the latter rain and the loud cry; because they had now gained the victory after all the battles they had been through. And they were now giving the message with power, because they had gained the victory. This is the path that is laid out for us to be the people.

As we find ourselves where we are at this present time, and there are many people around us that say, You’re going to extremes; and they have pushed us out, and they have done this and that… we are to focus on that which the Lord is calling us to do, and leave everything else alone. Shut out every other voice; concentrate on what the Lord has shown us we must do. Because it’s not an organisation that claims to be God’s church that is going to do the work; it is going to be the movement of people that are doing what the Lord is saying; and we need to be among them if we choose. This is what Sr. White says, “You must remember that these angels are the people; are you among that people?” Let’s do it. This is my burden. And I’m very glad that the Lord has brought us where we are right now, because throughout all my experience in the Adventist faith through the different movements I’ve been in, these things are left high and dry. It just continues to be a constant conflict of disagreement on that which has once been delivered to the saints, on one point or another. But we have the old truths. Every pillar is there, and we must not even remove a single line of truth, not one of that which has been established. May God help us to do that and go willingly through the experience that comes as a consequence of that.

Amen.