Restoring Old Paths

By John Thiel

The Elijah people are to announce the restoration of old paths. How is the God we worship addressed? What is the description of him in the bible?

Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.

Who is the God we worship? The ancient of days. We want to ask him, what are the paths? What is the way? Teach me thy way O Lord. What is he going to teach us? The old paths, paths to dwell in. He is the ancient of days.

Habakkuk 3:6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are] everlasting.

We are living in the world today where people are very restless. People are looking for change all the time. We go into a shopping centre and we see goods stacked in one way then a month later, it’s all different. People change their household activities as they ever want change. We need to get used to things if we are going to live with him in eternity. His paths to dwell in are always the same. He is a rock but because we who have fallen into sinful ways, especially in these last days, man has deteriorated into lifestyles that are ingrained.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Everyone is addressed. There was a time in my life when I thought I’ve got Gods ways. He is saying to every one of us your ways are not my ways or thoughts. Open your heart to receive my ways. Examine whether you’ve accepted all my ways or not. It is the duty of Gods servants who have recognised that and opened the heart to his ways to make known these ways to the children of men.

Psalm 145:10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

His saints will make known to others his ways. The glory of Gods ways are to be made know by Gods servants. We are to be the Elijah people if we will. We are in need of knowing Gods ways so we can make them known.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Are you prepared to heed the things that God will show us? The things we know not? Some things we may already know. There are some things we may not know. We will only pick up things he shows us.

Isaiah 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

What did Jesus call the Pharisees? Blind leaders of the blind. I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that they have not known. The world is covered in darkness in the last days. Like the Pharisees of old, the ministers of the churches today have been blind leaders of the blind. Gods messengers like Elijah will lead them in the way. The Elijah people are restoring the ways of God. Here are going to be a people on earth comfortable to live the ways of God. If we are not prepared, heaven will be a plague spot for us. We will be very uncomfortable if we are not prepared to live there.

Isaiah 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

The restorer of a lifestyle, what is your lifestyle? Is your lifestyle according to Gods lifestyle? The things you do, the way you live and dress, the way you eat. Whatever you do, do all according to the law of God. Is that my lifestyle today? We are to be restorers of a lifestyle that is of God. The old way. That is what we are to ask for. If we come humbly into the presence of God and ask him, he will show us things we didn’t know.

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].

Have you ever come along a road and come to the spaghetti junctions? What does he say? Stand there in the ways. See all the paths, see and ask what is the good way? Among all the different ways of life and lifestyle. We all claim we have a right way. There are the ways of death. There is only one way, and it’s not the way that seems right to us. Ask the Lord, I don’t know, I’m confused. How am I going to order my life according to your way?

Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they  will tell thee.

Many people say our fathers were wrong. They wouldn’t go mixed bathing, the women wouldn’t wear shear stockings, the women would all have long hair, that’s not important they say! The younger children tell the older people, you’re wrong, this is the right way. What does the bible say? Go ask the fathers and the elders. Where did they get their information from? How is the bible written? Isn’t it from father to son under inspiration. Is God the same today as he was yesterday? Go to the old paths, ask for them. Do you believe that religion today is better than our forefathers?  Is Christianity better today than what is was yesterday? No. Then why are we arguing? Things are not better today, if Christianity was better, then things would be better. Those things that have been established by the ancient of days, the old, not the new. Not these restless souls that change circumstances always. Today adults are undisciplined little children. I’m so bored. Why? I want change. I want to dress differently today than yesterday.  What am I going to preach about? What sort of a preacher am I going to be if I’m going to be an Elijah preacher?

The Old and New Testament Scriptures show us the only way in which this work should be done. Repent, repent, repent, was the message rung out by John the Baptist in the wilderness. Christ’s message to the people was Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:5. And the apostles were commanded to preach everywhere that men should repent. The Lord desires His servant today to preach the old gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and confession. We want old-fashioned sermons, old-fashioned customs, old-fashioned fathers and mothers in Israel. The sinner must be labored for, perseveringly, earnestly, wisely, until he shall see that he is a transgressor of God’s law, and shall exercise repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. When the sinner is conscious of his helpless condition, and feels his need of a Saviour, he may come with hope and faith to the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Christ will accept the soul that comes to Him in true repentance. A broken and contrite heart He will not despise. {3MR 28.1}

The Elijah people in these last days have an old fashioned lifestyle to proclaim headed by the Ancient of days. Let us ask our father, what are these old fashioned ways we are meant to be restoring? What are the paths we should be studying so we can repent of our old ways?

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Jesus is waiting in heaven until his people have restored all the paths.

In the time of the end every divine institution is to be restored. {PK 678.2}

In our question, Lord, what are the hold paths of lifestyle? Where do you think we should turn for the answer? Genesis? It’s the meaning of the beginning. Some of these things you already know. What we are addressing here is for those who also don’t know.

Genesis 1:31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Is that a divine institution? Man comes along and says, one in seven is good enough. What else did he institute back there?

Genesis 2:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. 22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God [is] with thee in all that thou doest: 23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: [but] according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. 24 And Abraham said, I will swear.

What was this institution called? Marriage. Restoration of the marriage institution.

Matthew 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Among the Seventh Day Adventist ministers, 51% have divorced and remarried. Why? What did Jesus say? Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you. In all the arguments of divorce and remarriage that is the strongest argument. In the beginning it was not so.  What are the Elijah people to do? Restore that institution. God created Adam and Eve and what did he institute?

Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

God instituted in Eden the diet for man. It’s an ancient institution. When man sinned he gave him medicine.

Genesis 3:18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

What did God institute in the beginning for food? Foods, grains and nuts. After sin? Vegetables. Your body can handle vegetables when sick better sometimes than fruit. Fruit stirs the poisons.  Can you see the restoration of this institution?

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Adam and Eve were covered in a garment of light as the angels before sin in Eden. God created them in his own image.

Psalms 104:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. 2 Who coverest [thyself] with light as [with] a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

If you’re covered with light, are you clothed? God covers himself with light. That is a divine institution. The nobility, majesty and glory of godly modesty.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

They say their nakedness and began to make fig leaves. Were they still ashamed when they wore aprons of fig leaves? Today people wear clothes that are not even as covering as fig leaves. God’s people cover their shame as God covered them.

Genesis 1:28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

God placed man into the care of this planet to subdue the earth.

Genesis 2:15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

I’m putting you into the garden, but as you multiply, make the garden bigger. They would do exactly as God instituted. To live in nature. That was Gods lifestyle for man. Who was the first city builder? Cain. Who was he? Man of God? No. City living is not an institution of God. The old paths. You wonder why John the Baptist was in the wilderness? Elijah in nature? This is Gods way. He wants us to restore and make changes.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

What God had instituted in the beginning was the good way. What has God man got out of it? Many ways. We are on a spaghetti junction. We are to discover, look at myself, what is my lifestyle? What does repentance mean? It’s not just sorry Lord but forsake your past and change your lifestyle. That is the old fashioned message. I had to change my ways. It’s not my way, its Gods way. I’m still changing because all of Gods ways are not yet my way. As I’m changing, people ridicule me as my actions appear to ridicule others. If you are going to put things into action as God has required, you’ll be ridiculed. We have addressed a foundation here. It’s up to you and me to examine the detail of everything. Why did God cover Adam and Eve in coats of skins? When sin came into the atmosphere, the weather changed. As soon as soon came the air became chilled. Gods form of clothing is there to give you even temperature that existed in Eden. There are many different sources of research that show this. To show us detail, God has sent his spirit already in these last days.

1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may be] blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We might come behind in no gift waiting for the coming of the Lord. We need to be in a position where we will be blameless in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ. What gift did he give? Spirit of Prophecy.

Revelation 19:10. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

That gift is there to illuminate our minds on Gods original way of life. Do we have the testimony of Jesus today? That deals with every detail of lifestyle?

Early in my youth I was asked several times, Are you a prophet? I have ever responded, I am the Lord’s messenger. I know that many have called me a prophet, but I have made no claim to this title. My Saviour declared me to be His messenger. Your work, He instructed me, is to bear My word. Strange things will arise, and in your youth I set you apart to bear the message to the erring ones, to carry the word before unbelievers, and with pen and voice to reprove from the Word actions that are not right. Exhort from the Word. I will make My Word open to you. It shall not be as a strange language. In the true eloquence of simplicity, with voice and pen, the messages that I give shall be heard from one who has never learned in the schools. My Spirit and My power shall be with you. {1SM 32.2}

Be not afraid of man, for My shield shall protect you. It is not you that speaketh: it is the Lord that giveth the messages of warning and reproof. Never deviate from the truth under any circumstances. Give the light I shall give you. The messages for these last days shall be written in books, and shall stand immortalized, to testify against those who have once rejoiced in the light, but who have been led to give it up because of the seductive influences of evil. {1SM 32.3}

Why have I not claimed to be a prophet?–Because in these days many who boldly claim that they are prophets are a reproach to the cause of Christ; and because my work includes much more than the word prophet signifies. {1SM 32.4}

What are we surrounded about today? The seductive influences of evil. Have we beheld with our eyes, that the original ways have been seductively deviated? We are to go to that which God had given in the spirit of prophecy. There is an answer to every detail of lifestyle in those writings. The spirit of Elijah came directly through this person and the people who supported it. That’s what I preach. I praise God for saving my sanity. I was at the spaghetti junction.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see [it] together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

When we take Gods word seriously and expect something of it, we always come up with a big surprise as it’s different than we expected. Are some of the things we have contemplated at this conference already different than we expected? Is there something they have said is different than expected? An item of the path that is different to what I’m used to. The loud cry is not just what you say but what you’re doing. The Elijah people have to stand there like John the Baptist. You think you have given everything to God but you’ve been full of self in what you’ve been doing. When you come to Jesus, give him everything. The things you know and don’t know so that when the truth comes up before you. If you are in that state then you’re in a position if you were to fall into the bottom of the sea, it doesn’t matter, it’s all surrendered to God. John separated himself from his friends and life living on a vegetable diet. The symbol of his dress (camel’s hair) was a rebuke to the people of that day. His diet was a rebuke to the gluttony that everyone. His diet was St John’s bread. The work of John was told of by the prophet Malachi.

Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

He was a representative of those living in the last days, to whom God has intrusted sacred truths to present before the people, to prepare the way for the second appearing of Christ. And the same principles of temperance which John practiced should be observed by those who in our day are to warn the world of the coming of the Son of man. {CTBH 39.1}

Amen