John Thiel Mp3

This morning, I felt it was very valuable for us to seek once again to understand what is our present work in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. The work of the present is always something which people find difficult to understand. The Lord wants us to understand His providential dealings now—just now, in the time in which we live. This is a present message. He wants us to understand.

There must be no long discussions presenting new theories in regard to prophecies which God has already made plain. Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, p. 62, par. 2

This is our problem nowadays. Many people look at prophecies and discussions about those prophecies.

The great work from which the mind should not be diverted is the consideration of our personal safety in the sight of God. Are our feet on the Rock of Ages? Are we hiding ourselves in our only refuge? The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it? Are we one with Christ as He is one with the Father? Are we heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? Are we working in co-partnership with Christ? Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, p. 62, par. 3

These are the questions that we need to answer positively. Our mind must not be diverted. Are there not many things that would divert our minds from this? We think of this person, we think of this church, we think of these people there, we think of all these other things, and our mind becomes diverted from the most important work, in harmony with what I read—that they are bringing in theories of prophecies that have already been made clear.

Theories That Undermine Faith

There will always be those who are seeking for something new and who stretch and strain the Word of God to make it appear that they have advanced ideas. What they present as advanced light is not really a new and clearer unfolding of the truth, but the product of erratic and unbalanced minds. It is a theory but is actually error. They will try to prove that these theories are scriptural, whereas they are error, which, if allowed a place, will undermine faith in the truth. An Upward Look, p. 199, par. 7

If we listen to these theories, it will undermine the truth that God has already given. We are not to accept these suppositions and pass them along as truth. That form of truth we are not to spend our time on. Our present work is to make sure that our personal life is within that truth that has been established.

Having just read this, we are directly admonished to take what the brethren have taught in the past for ourselves.

The Lord will not lead minds now to set aside the truth that the Holy Spirit has moved upon His servants in the past to proclaim. Many will be removed from us who have heard and received the light that God has given to His people, because they are not acquainted with the voices they have heard, and they will be led by strange voices. Let all be careful not to make an outcry against the only people who are fulfilling the description given of the remnant people who keep the commandments of God and have faith in Jesus, who are exalting the standard, the law of God, as the test of character, and crying, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.” God has a peculiar people, a church on the earth, second to none, but superior to all in their facilities to teach the truth, to vindicate the law of God. My brother, if you are teaching that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, you are wrong. Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 66-67

The Lord will not lead minds now to set aside the truth that the Holy Spirit has moved upon His servants in the past to proclaim, or to belittle the souls of those who believe on their word who have been led by the Lord in the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 110, par. 3

I have read this statement in the past, and all that we are called upon to do is to make sure that we are still reading and making these doctrines that they taught our own. We must not be turned away from that—our personal safety.

Preparing for the Storm

Are we preparing to meet the storm? Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Here is the great burden to be carried away by every individual. Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, p. 62, par. 3

What is the great burden? That Jesus is coming as a thief. We must be found with our clothes on, the clothes of Christ’s righteousness. We must not be found naked. This is our great burden.

Are my sins forgiven? Has Christ, the burden bearer, taken away my sins by faith? Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, p. 63, par. 1

What is a clean heart? The righteousness of Jesus by faith—that’s a clean heart. In other words, no matter what you’re trying to do to make yourself right, you cannot do it unless your heart is right, and our heart must be dependent upon the righteousness of Christ. Is my heart right?

Woe be to any soul who is not seeking a refuge in Christ and conforming the character to the character of Christ. Woe be to all who shall in any wise divert the mind from this work and cause any soul to be less vigilant now. Manuscript Releases, Volume 21, p. 63, par. 1

We are to permit nothing to turn our mind away. Woe to us if we permit our mind to be taken away from this work. Can you see how the Spirit of God is trying to get a point across here? In a time when people get all sidetracked in their minds to some new ideas, some new teaching that is not in balance with early Adventist messages, prophecies that have already been established, people are still trying to say, “Well, look, you know, this is what is more important here, or that is more important; the pioneers are not so important anymore.” All that kind of thing, together with all the other confusions that Satan places across our mind—these are all diversions. It says woe to us if in any wise we have our mind diverted from this work.

By those diversions, the Lord’s trying to tell us something, and I know very well how my mind is so easily swept into the things I see around me and try to handle them instead of concentrating on the word, on the prophecies. I see this in my brethren and sisters: when certain things happen, all of a sudden everything that we’ve concentrated on is just taken out of the mind, and we start to reason differently to what the Lord has been trying to tell us.

The Purpose of Prophecy

The prophecy that the early Adventists taught—why did they teach that? Why was the prophecy necessary? Why do we not need to come up with new ideas of prophecy? It’s already all proven. We mustn’t alter it, as I read here. What is prophecy meant to achieve?

2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

Here it says very simply: We have a more sure word of prophecy. It’s more sure than any person’s testimony. How dark a place do you think we’re in right now? If we are in a dark place, if we don’t quite know how to deal with our situation, then it is prophecy that can help us until the day star may arise in our hearts.

So prophecy is meant to produce the day star in our hearts. The prophecy is meant for us to be assured as to what we need to be doing at a present given time. It’s a light that shines in a dark place. So while people are still discussing different ideas, let’s read how important prophecy is that once we’ve established it, it’s meant to achieve something for us.

Revelation 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Here it says: the revelation, the prophecies of the book Revelation, is the revelation of Jesus Christ. What is written here about prophecy? Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein. It is God who is speaking in that prophecy. You want to know God’s voice speaking to you—it’s there in the prophecy. This is one of the most exciting things of my life: when I as a youth was looking for absolute truth, it was prophecy that settled it in my mind. This is where my stability comes from, my assurance, the light in the darkness.

Hosea 12:9-10, 13 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but Me: for there is no saviour beside Me. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

I have also spoken by the prophets. Who is speaking here? God. I have multiplied visions and used similitudes, prophetic symbols, by the ministry of the prophets.

You want to be brought out of your darkness, you want to be brought out of captivity, you want to be brought into the assurance and preservation of your eternal life—God has spoken through the prophets. And that’s where our security lies. And when Sister White wrote that we are not to bring new ideas on prophecy, we are to get on with the benefit that comes from those prophecies.

Our Personal Safety

We are not to argue this way and that and get into long discussions. We are to take what has already been revealed by God by those who’ve gone before us and exercise ourselves with those prophecies with the most important work that we are to be getting on with. What was that? The great work from which the mind should not be diverted is the consideration of our personal safety in the sight of God.

Our personal safety is affected by how we take hold of those prophecies. Jesus said it so plainly. Prophecy shows us our present duty so that we may be ready for when the thief comes.

Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

If He’s coming as a thief, what must you do? What did Jesus say? Watch. Follow the light of the prophecy so that as the prophecy which has been revealed is there for us to know what we should do, well then, let’s read it, let’s pursue it, let’s make it our own personal clear understanding in our own mind to know, “Lord, it’s You speaking. What must I do?” So that we do not become distracted.

Matthew 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

We have already established this in past experiences and the very thing I have just shared here. The faithful and wise servant are those faithful Adventist pioneers. That faithful and wise servant that gave them meat in due season pointed the people to the prophecies and its application for that time.

The Beast and His Image

Some prophecies are very broad, wide-ranging. We already know a lot of the prophecies that have been taught by early Adventists in reference to, for instance, the beast and his image. The beast and the image of the beast.

Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

We know, with the head wounded and the other beast being America—but what is so important here? It says that the whole world wanders after the beast. The image of the other beast coming up out of the earth, he causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast. We studied the whole world worshiping the beast and the Sunday law.  

1 John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we are going to be born-again people, we must overcome that world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

It is absolutely essential that I do not become distracted with anything from my personal safety? I must stand on the rock. What does that mean? Prophecy tells me, while the whole world is being moulded and fashioned—there are many statements I could read here—if it were possible, the very elect could be deceived. I have some important work to do in consequence of the prophecies. I must never be taken away from that.

The Laodicean Message

The period of Laodicea, which is the period of the Three Angels’ Messages, there is a special message given there, in prophecy.

Revelation 3:20-22 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Can you see the life-and-death challenge that’s lying here for us? Jesus is saying to the Laodicean people, “I need to come into you.” Prophecy is showing you that you are in a Laodicean condition. It’s not the concept of Sunday—it is Satan’s subtleties that we must conquer, and it’s all there in prophecy. How subtly—we went through it in the Sabbath school lesson—the subtle deceptions. Unless we are watching, we will be led along by the nose in the wrong direction, and that’s unfortunately what so many are doing.

In Revelation 14, there is a people who get the victory under the Third Angel’s Message. What is required in this prophecy? What must I be concentrating on? My own safety.

Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Question: what is my present duty? It can be answered by knowing the prophecies as they actually apply so that we do not become caught out by the thief. And that’s Revelation 16. This is how important prophecy is, so that we will be able to be safe in the sight of God.

Revelation 16:13-15 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Here is a prophecy that describes these scenes of these last days. For they are spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world. They are such powerful descriptions of the spirit of things that is affecting the world, the spirit of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world. “Be careful,” He says. “As they work, you will be caught out. Behold, I come as a thief. Deal with your garments. Make sure that you are covered in Christ’s righteousness. Make sure that you’ve got a right heart, the righteousness of Christ by faith.”

Can you see what this has been telling us? If we get sidetracked into other material, we will not be ready for the thief. We are to concentrate on what it’s about, not to be found naked.

The Warfare Is Not Physical

I mentioned this in the recent past: how that if we don’t go to war—we don’t go to war in the army—then how can we be caught out when the final battle takes place? How will we get caught out if we don’t even believe in going to war? This is why it is so important to understand what is our duty before the Lord, because look out: you can get caught out without even taking one step into the army. Follow very carefully.

Galatians 5:13-15 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

So even though you may not go to war, do you think in that final battle you’ll be consumed? If ye bite and devour one another. What does it mean to bite and devour one another? It’s in conjunction with what He said before.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

If there is somebody amongst God’s people that is troubling you, that’s what he is saying. Instead of loving, instead of praying, instead of having the Spirit of God to ask for praying that he would be cut off—because what is the troubling of God’s people? If somebody upsets you and you go around at them for what they’re saying to you, what’s that? That’s biting. As people do this, you know, it goes on back and forth, back and forth, until finally they have devoured each other from the beautiful truth, because these things have occupied the mind, conflict has overtaken, and as a consequence, they have devoured each other.

As trials thickened around us, both separation and unity will be seen in our ranks. Some who are now ready to take up weapons of warfare will in times of real peril make it manifest that they have not built upon the solid rock. Testimonies, Volume 6, p. 400

Remember, that was the question: are you built on the rock, Christ Jesus?

In the time of real peril, those who are now taking up weapons of warfare will find themselves in strife at the end. They will yield to temptation. Those who have had great light and precious privileges but have not improved them will under one pretext or another go out from us, not having received the love of the truth. They will be taken in the delusions of the enemy. They will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and will depart from the faith. Testimonies, Volume 6, p. 400

This quote is used by reformers. “You see, that’s what happened in the First World War.” But they say that they have taken up weapons of warfare. Well, the fact is that this quote is not applied in reference to warfare using physical guns and things like this. In the context, notice what is written in the context of taking up weapons of warfare—that when the real time of trouble comes, they’re going to give in to temptation.  

The truth should be presented with divine tact, gentleness, and tenderness. It should come from a heart that has been softened and made sympathetic. We need to have close communion with God, lest self rise up, as it did in Jehu, and we pour forth a torrent of words that are unbefitting, that are not as dew or as the still showers that revive the withering plants. Let our words be gentle as we seek to win souls. God will be wisdom to him who seeks for wisdom from a divine source. Testimonies, Volume 6, p. 400, par. 1

Remember it says the wisdom from above is first what? Pure, then peaceable. Those who are now ready to pick up weapons of warfare—if they’re going to have the battle of fighting others who oppose them, when the real time comes, they will fall for the temptation. They will take up weapons of warfare because they’ve got the attitude of war, of biting, of fighting.

The truth is not on that level. The truth is not something that works on combating people. It is—we have to put on the armour. We are not fighting against flesh and blood. We’re fighting against Satan. If we are going to take up weapons of warfare, biting others who are not on the same—what we should be doing. But if this is being done, if people are doing this work, taking the opponents and tackling them and making fuss of people who are not preaching what we are preaching, this is going to create an atmosphere in our mind that is going to produce the consequence of devouring each other.

That will be the distraction – Armageddon. Anybody that does not agree with one party fights the other, and they will fight each other and destroy each other. You don’t have to go to war to destroy each other. You don’t have to go to war to destroy each other in that period of Armageddon.

Conclusion

Are we hiding ourselves in our only refuge? The storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it? Are we one with Christ as He is one with the Father? Are we heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? Are we working in co-partnership with Christ?

Brethren, sisters, in this war—may God help us to understand.