By John Thiel, The People of the Loud Cry Series, Study 3, mp3

The Process of Their Exposure

Scripture reading: Isaiah 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

God wants us to understand Him. He rejoices over those who know Him. This is what the worship of God is about. In the following scripture, there is something regarding God that we need to understand and to know. Here God reveals to us something very deep about Himself:

Isaiah 55:8 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.

What an important thing to appreciate as we worship God. We are coming to someone who is way above us. And we are to worship Him in the consciousness of that; we are to understand that. This is what Jesus was saying to the woman at the well. We often think we have the preeminence over others, and we are worshiping God according to the expectations of where we are. This was the question that the woman at the well from Samaria asked Jesus. She said,

John 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

People are always proud of their place or their system of worship. But how did Jesus answer her?

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

There is something very precious in this statement: the Father seeketh people to worship Him. And who is He seeking? Those who understand Him. He is seeking for people to understand Him. And He says, My thoughts are not your thoughts; you need to understand something that is not natural to yourself. God is a spirit. What is meant with that? You are a spirit, I am a spirit. We have spirits. Some people are very spirited, and others are less spirited; but we are spirits. The Bible talks about the spirit of man. God is a spirit; He is an intelligent being, like you and I are intelligent beings. And God, being an intelligent being, is seeking a people to worship Him intelligently, according to His intelligence, in spirit and in truth. This comes back to the glorifying. To worship God in one mountain or another, or in this church or that church system, is not what we should glory about. This is what we can glory in:

Jeremiah 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

I love it when God communicates the things that He delights in. Are you eager to really tune in to that which God delights in? We want to study God’s understanding of the people of the loud cry; and we have already seen that those people need to become prominent in the world; but what is the process of their exposure? How will these people become prominent in the world? The final loud cry that God gives to this planet, the final warning, is totally different to human expectation, because His thoughts are not our thoughts. His manner of dealing with the needs that this planet has is a manner of work that is different to what we anticipate. Wasn’t that the problem of the disciples and of the Jewish nation? They anticipated the coming of the Messiah completely differently to the reality of it. And do we think it’s any different for us today? We often think we’ve got it clear, but really it’s different.

Contrary to Any Human Planning

When light goes forth to lighten the earth, instead of coming up to the help of the Lord, they will want to bind about His work to meet their narrow ideas. Let me tell you that the Lord will work in this last work in a manner very much out of the common order of things, and in a way that will be contrary to any human planning. {Ev 118.1}

People develop strategies for public ministry. Especially in churches, they feel, Our counsel has concluded a particular ministry, and it’s going to go according to our plans. And the Spirit of Prophecy says, Let me tell you that it’s going to be contrary to any human planning.

There will be those among us who will always want to control the work of God, to dictate even what movements shall be made when the work goes forward under the direction of the angel who joins the third angel in the message to be given to the world. {Ev 118.1}

And as the loud cry of the third angel is developing, there are people in the churches that will want to dictate and control according to the leadership mentality.

God will use ways and means by which it will be seen that He is taking the reins in His own hands. The workers will be surprised by the simple means that He will use to bring about and perfect His work of righteousness. {Ev 118.1}

This is a very important item of revelation that we need to take to heart, so that we actually yield ourselves to God’s thoughts that are not our thoughts, especially on this topic of the loud cry. Let us behold the revelations of God’s thoughts. It is in His word. And we need to be very careful as we read. Remember, we don’t see the angels preaching in heaven, do we? The angels are a symbol of the people that are working in harmony with the universe of heaven. It is the people who preach the message on this planet earth. And the people He will use are written of here:

Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, [and] we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Is the world like Sodom and Gomorrah? Yes, you can see it so vividly. Even the churches who claim to be the churches of Jesus Christ are Babylon, like Sodom and Gomorrah. And if it would not have been that there was a very small remnant, the world would already be destroyed.

The words of Jeremiah are another appreciation of this. There God is speaking to His people who have become backslidden and have been affected by Babylon. The message of Revelation 18 is, Come out of Babylon, My people. And here is the same message in a slightly different tone:

Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

To understand and know Him, that is the purpose for which the Lord is sending workers that are approved by Him. So we see here the concept of a very small remnant. When we talk of a loud cry, it has been instilled into our mind that we are expecting big public mission outreaches. This is the mentality that I have been brought up with. “We have to convert the world. Come on, let’s get out there! Let’s do some big things, because it’s going to be a loud cry.” So they develop strategies to do that; but remember the following words of 1 Samuel. Here you have the enemy that needed to be dealt with, just like Satan and the host of the evil ones need to be dealt with. They are overwhelming; they have conquered the world very largely. And here the Philistines are a symbol of that.

1 Samuel 14:6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for [there is] no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.

Is God reliant upon a large number for the loud cry? We have the story of Gideon in Judges (Judges 7:2, 4, 7). There God said to Gideon, The army that you’ve got is too many. So the first time He told him to narrow them down, and there they were less now. There was the great multitude of the Midianites in the valley and these few little people, and God said, No; it’s still too many. So He weeded out those who were of feeble heart, those who thought they could bow down and drink deeply of the water at the brook; and only those who were scooping up the water remained. How many were left? 300 soldiers. And so it is today. Through test and trial the Lord has scaled down a people who, like the 300 of Gideon’s time, are astute and watchful; they will not be distracted by any desire for comforts, to drink deeply, symbolically speaking, of the ways of the comforts of life. No; they were watching closely for the true understanding.

The saints then will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics… {SpM 1.5}

This article is in reference to the last moments of earth’s history when God’s people are going to do this complete work. They will be an obscure people, little known to the Catholics. And I always ask the question, Do the Catholics know all the registered organizations today? Absolutely. They know them; they are following closely. But these people are little known to the Catholics, a people that are not well accepted.

Isaiah 66:2 …but to this [man] will I look, [even] to [him that is] poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Now notice how these people whom God looks to, who understand Him, are treated:

Isaiah 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

This is the little remnant, the poor and afflicted people who are very astute, and who tremble at His word. They are watching closely. Whatever God says they are ready to do. And they are hated by their brethren, and their brethren cast them out. Isn’t that the history of God’s faithful church all through history?

The Outcasts

Jesus was the forerunner. He was outcast. And all through history, if you read Desire of Ages, p. 232, you see it has happened in every succeeding generation. And the people that dismissed these ones that trembled at His word, said, This is God’s doing; let the Lord be glorified. It’s always the same. But in the last moments of this earth’s history, when Jesus arrives, they shall be ashamed, while those who trembled will be redeemed.

So what can be done by such a people who are a very small remnant, a poor and afflicted people? This is what you get time and time again if you are in the shoes of those who wish to follow God exactly. They’re so few in number. And I have been told time and time again, “What can you small people do? You must be part of our big organisation to deal with the proclamation just before Jesus comes.” What can a small and feeble number do on a world scale?

All who would be soldiers of the cross of Christ, must gird on the armor and prepare for conflict. They should not be intimidated by threats, or terrified by dangers. They must be cautious in peril, yet firm and brave in facing the foe and doing battle for God. The consecration of Christ’s follower must be complete. {2BC 1003.7}

As was that of these three hundred men.

Father, mother, wife, children, houses, lands, everything, must be held secondary to the work and cause of God. {2BC 1003.7}

That doesn’t mean you ignore your relatives. It means that if the cause of God calls you into action and some of your relatives are saying, “No, no, don’t go; don’t do this;” the cause of God comes first. That’s what it is saying.

He must be willing to bear patiently, cheerfully, joyfully, whatever in God’s providence he may be called to suffer. His final reward will be to share with Christ the throne of immortal glory. {2BC 1003.7}

So whatever the people are suffering, even though they are afflicted and poor, whatever is required, will be done cheerfully.

The Lord is willing to do great things for us. We shall not gain the victory through numbers, but through the full surrender of the soul to Jesus. We are to go forward in His strength, trusting in the mighty God of Israel. {2BC 1003.8} 

There is a lesson for us in the story of Gideon’s army. {2BC 1003.9} 

The Lord is just as willing to work through human efforts now, and to accomplish great things through weak instrumentalities. {2BC 1003.10}

How weak do you feel? These feeble little people, a very small remnant.

It is a dangerous thing for men to resist the Spirit of truth and grace and righteousness, because its manifestations are not according to their ideas, and have not come in the line of their methodical plans. {2BC 1004.2}

It’s a dangerous thing. How many people have fallen for that danger?

The Lord works in His own way, and according to His own devising. {2BC 1003.7}

My thoughts are not your thoughts, remember?

Let men pray that they may be divested of self, and may be in harmony with heaven. Let them pray, “Not my will, but thine, O God, be done.” Let men bear in mind that God’s ways are not their ways, nor His thoughts their thoughts; for He says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” In the instruction that the Lord gave Gideon when he was about to fight with the Midianites,–that he should go out against his foes with an army of three hundred blowing trumpets, and carrying empty pitchers in their hands, and shouting, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon,”–these precise, methodical, formal men would see nothing but inconsistency and confusion. {2BC 1003.7}

“That is a ridiculous strategy. How can you win a whole world’s attention by something like that?”

They would start back with determined protest and resistance. They would have held long controversies to show the inconsistency and the dangers that would accompany the carrying on of the warfare in such an extreme way, and in their finite judgment they would pronounce all such movements as utterly ridiculous and unreasonable. How unscientific, how inconsistent, would they have thought the movements of Joshua and his army at the taking of Jericho! {2BC 1003.7}

There is a lesson for us in the story of Gideon. This is what we want to explore. What is the lesson?

Ten members, who were walking in all humbleness of mind, would have a far greater power upon the world than has the entire church, with its present numbers and lack of unity. The more there is of the divided, inharmonious element, the less power will the church have for good in the world. {5T 119.1}

How is Seventh-day Adventism today? Is it perfectly united? If you are under the umbrella of the major organisation, even there there are vast differences. And then you have the independents with all their differences, and they all think they’re going to do a great work. How many does God need? Ten members. Three hundred / ten. And they would have a far greater power than the entire church with its public outreach. That is something to learn. And this is now a puzzle. Ten members have power to move the world? How? Recall the three hundred men and the method. How did they conquer the multitude in the valley? When did they attack? At night. What was the strategy? Scatter them around the army from three sides. One hundred men from each side; there were three mountains there around the valley of Jezreel, the valley of Megiddo. And in the middle of the night down they came with a shout, with torches ablaze. What does a torch look like in midnight darkness? “They’re all around us! Oh, no!” And away it went. This is Isaiah 60:1-2. You see, the light that is to cover the whole earth is not that everyone on the earth has the light. No; it is Gideon’s army that is covering the whole world, only a little remnant. What are these people called to do?

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.

The kings will come to the brightness of your rising. We will look into this later on. How does that happen to this little company? When God has developed a people who tremble at His word, He will say to them, You are trembling at My word, you understand Me, I have given you My answers, you have surrendered to that; now, rise and shine! My glory will be revealed.

The appearance of Christ to John should be to all, believers and unbelievers, an evidence that we have a risen Christ. It should give living power to the church. At times dark clouds surround God’s people. It seems as though oppression and persecution would extinguish them. {CTr 311.6} 

It’s black, dark.

But at such times the most instructive lessons are given. {2BC 1003.7}

In the darkness.

As in the darkest night the stars shine the brightest, so the most brilliant beams of God’s glory are revealed in the deepest gloom. The darker the sky, the more clear and impressive are the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, the risen Saviour. {2BC 1003.7}

God’s glory upon those who tremble at His word will become manifest in the darkest times. Ponder this.

Stars in the Night

The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. {PK 188.1}

Ellen White wrote this in 1882.

The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. {2BC 1003.7}

All that is pretty black. And at that time, which was not far distant from E. G. White’s time,

At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. {2BC 1003.7}

What do we usually say? The dross will be separated from the gold. But what do we read here? “The gold will be separated from the dross.” As it says in another statement, the faithful ministers will be removed from those who thought they knew so much (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 409). It’s not that the people who are the dross will be separated. The faithful ones are the ones will be separated at the time not far distant.

True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. {2BC 1003.7}

When? In the darkness.

Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness. {2BC 1003.7}

Among earth’s inhabitants, scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven, which appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine forth when darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people. In heathen Africa, in the Catholic lands of Europe and of South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the dark corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. Even now [Sister White says] they are appearing in every nation, among every tongue and people; and in the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan’s supreme effort is made to cause “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,” to receive, under penalty of death, the sign of allegiance to a false rest day, these faithful ones, “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,” will “shine as lights in the world. ” Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15. The darker the night, the more brilliantly will they shine. {PK 188.2}

Gideon’s army was visible all around, but it was a little company. It will only be ten men in one place, ten men in another, and maybe two or three in another. All around the world they will be exposed in the darkness. This is the manner and the process of their exposure – the darkness.

Now we seem to be unnoticed, but this will not always be. Movements are at work to bring us to the front, {Ev 69.1}

What are these movements of darkness that will expose God’s people? The followings words describe the condition that is equated with darkness. Is this true in our time today?

Movements of Darkness

Isaiah 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

If you go to court today and you want to defend heterosexuality, what is going to happen to you? You will become a prey. Laws are afoot that demand that you do not stand up and make people feel bad. And to meet the situation today, to defend the pure holy ways of God, is something that only God can help us to do.

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded…

This is the condition of society today. And the one that makes it worse is that they are

2 Timothy 3:4 …lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The darkness is perilous. The darkness that this is talking about is a lifestyle that surrounds us today that is impossible to change. And the laws of the land demand respect for those perilous situations. Let your mind roam and discover this. And in that darkness those who are little known to the Catholics, have turned away and have been separated from the churches that have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Is there homosexuality permitted within the Seventh-day Adventist organization? Do you know that there are actual church groups like this that are accepted under the umbrella of the Seventh-day Adventist church? let alone in the other churches. And that being the case, they all claim to be Christians; and how dare you and I say anything about it. It is dark. And under such conditions, there is a movement.

As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold and decided, the law will be invoked against commandment keepers. They will be threatened with fines and imprisonment, and some will be offered positions of influence, and other rewards and advantages, as inducements to renounce their faith. But their steadfast answer is: “Show us from the word of God our error”–the same plea that was made by Luther under similar circumstances. Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, {GC 607.1}

Conscientious obedience to the word of God will be treated as rebellion. Blinded by Satan, the parent will exercise harshness and severity toward the believing child; the master or mistress will oppress the commandment-keeping servant. Affection will be alienated; {GC 608.1}

because 2 Timothy 3 is rampant.

…children will be disinherited and driven from home. … as the restraining Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who hates the divine precepts, there will be strange developments. The heart can be very cruel when God’s fear and love are removed. {GC 608.1}

And then it describes what happens in the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists:

As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel’s message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition. {GC 608.2}

What did Jesus say when He was launching out His church? A man’s foes shall be they of his own household. In this darkness of these last days, the words of Jesus become realistic. Remember, we expect that we are going to be proclaiming this message in this grandiose way, and all of a sudden we discover here that it’s not going to be quite as grandiose as we thought it was. What is actually going to happen for those who are going to be faithful and conscientious? What are their parents going to do? What are their peers going to do?

Those who are arraigned before the courts make a strong vindication of the truth, and some who hear them are led to take their stand to keep all the commandments of God. Thus light will be brought before thousands who otherwise would know nothing of these truths. {GC 607.1}

This is the loud cry. Where will the loud cry come from? The courts. And today we can understand it. The media will spread across the world the court session. God will have one believer there, another believer in another part of the world, and another company of believers in another part of the world. Today, that which happens in an isolated spot is beamed across the world by the media, and the people learn of things there right across the world. The news media does it where ever the people live. And God’s people are going to be in court. What took them to court? Is it the Sunday law that took them to court? Remember, God says to these people, Arise, shine, and the kings shall come to your light. How will this happen?

How Will It Happen?

Kings, governors, and great men will hear of you through the reports of those who are at enmity with you, {Mar 253.3} 

Who were they? Parents, relatives, church.

…and your faith and character will be misrepresented before them. {Mar 253.3} 

They will take you to court and misrepresent you. And there you are in court, before not only judges, but also, before kings, governors, and great men.

But those who are falsely accused will have an opportunity to appear in the presence of their accusers to answer for themselves. {Mar 253.3} 

This is what a court session is all about.

They will have the privilege of bringing the light before those who are called the great men of the earth, and if you have studied the Bible, if you are ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, your enemies will not be able to gainsay your wisdom. {Mar 253.3} 

That’s what will happen in the courts. So why will we be in courts? Because we have been misrepresented… If we are faithful we will be misrepresented by our own friends and relatives. And because there are laws out there that they know would get you, they will put you to court. And in this way, God’s people are going to give the loud cry. Thousands will hear through this procedure. And our primary focus in being the people who will give such a loud cry, must be a life of such entire submission to all of God’s ways, which are not man’s ways, that we can actually be brought in silence to the attention of God’s people in Babylon. Think about it. I can actually become prominent in silence?

Because justice is fallen in the street, those who will stand true will become a prey. In such a time when you become a prey, what should you be doing? If you are a prudent and wise person who knows God’s way, what is written?

Keep Silence

Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. 12 For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate [from their right]. 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time. 14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”

He will be gracious to the remnant. Why? Because they follow the correct procedure. They are silent and at the same time they are rebuking. How can you do that? What is meant by this being silent in that evil time? Today we have many Christians, many people thinking they must arouse the people, so they become very vocal; they place on the internet their attack upon the Catholic Church; they place on the internet all sorts of details. They are activists. But here it says, if you are an activist doing that in this evil time, you will become more than a prey; you will draw attention of persecution against yourself. In our effort to proclaim the message we fall into this danger, and God is angry with it.

God is angry with those who pursue a course to make the world hate them. If a Christian is hated because of his good works, and for following Christ, he will have a reward. But if he is hated because he does not take a course to be loved, hated because of his uncultivated manners, and because he makes the truth a matter of quarrel with his neighbors, and because he has taken a course to make the Sabbath as annoying as possible to them, he is a stumbling-block to sinners, a reproach to the sacred truth, and unless he repents it were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck, and he cast into the sea. {Mar 157.5}

To be an activist, to arouse people’s antagonism against you by your personal thrusts, God is angry with that. God is angry with doctrinal argument and discussion that ends in debates and tears people’s gentle feelings to shreds. God is angry with that. If we are persecuted because we are showing love and gentleness and care and all these kinds of characteristics of God, then, we will be persecuted, yes.

2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

But what is the source of the persecution? It says: those that live godly in Christ Jesus. It is the life of purity and submission to God and a practice of preaching the Word in very careful, attractive manner. To worship God as we do this day means in spirit and in truth – His spirit and His truth. To make a big noise in terms of what we say and how we tell people, “The Sabbath is this and the Sabbath is that; you are wrong there and you are wrong there; and we are right here and we are God’s true representatives, etc., etc.;” this is what God is angry with; but He will protect and care for those who become a prey while they are silent. A silent witness is far more powerful than that one who mouths off all the time.

May God help us to understand that His thoughts are not our thoughts and that He will work very much out of the common order of things.

Amen.