John Thiel mp3
Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.
As the storm approaches, we were just singing these words. Let us truly make them a matter of prayer. Give me the Bible, all my steps enlighten. Teach me the danger of these realms below, that that lamp of safety or the gloom shall brighten. I do pray that what we have just been singing is going to be clearly answered to us in the meditation of this hour. Because if you recall what I’m sharing now over the many, many months, subjects that we would understand our preparation for the day of the Lord, the coming day of the Lord. This hour, I wish to continue from the last quote that I shared in the Divine Service last Sabbath.
Amos 8:9–13 “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day, and I will turn your feasts into morning, and all your songs into lamentation, and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head, and I will make it as the morning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.”
Here is a description of the day of the Lord. This is the detail that I want us to pick up on because many times when we talk about the day of the Lord, we’re dealing with terrible things of the plagues.
“Those who had not prized God’s word were hurrying to and fro, wandering from sea to sea and from the north to the east to seek the word of the Lord. Said the angel, they shall not find it. There is a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water, but for hearing the words of the Lord. What would they not give for one word of approval from God. But no, they must hunger and thirst on. Day after day have they slighted salvation, prizing earthly riches and earthly pleasure higher than any heavenly treasure or inducement. They have rejected Jesus and despised his saints. The filthy must remain filthy forever. Many of the wicked are greatly enraged as they suffered the effects of the plagues. It was a scene of fearful agony. Now, in the midst of all that, parents were bitterly reproaching their children and children their parents, brothers their sisters and sisters their brothers. Loud wailing cries were heard in every direction. It was you who kept me from receiving the truth, which would have saved me from this awful hour. The people turned upon their ministers with bitter hate and reproached them, saying, you have not warned us. You told us that all the world was to be converted and cried, peace, peace, to quiet every fear that was aroused. You have not told us of this hour, and those who warned us of it, you declared to be fanatics and evil men who would ruin us.” Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 281
The day of the Lord includes all that. It’s so important that we really pick up on what Sister White has here enlarged for us to understand, that the day of the Lord will be of a nature in which people will recall that they have been taught certain things, but they weren’t really listening. This is why I’m spending a lot of time on these subjects, so that when that day comes, you know that you have been illuminated as to how to prepare for that day. Here we are identifying that there is such a danger here that as the message is being proclaimed to prepare us for that day we are one not listening properly what was it there in that fearful scene of fearful agony they were bitterly reproaching each other because what they influenced each other to pay no attention to the proclamation of these messages that would prepare them and the false ministers would be powerfully attacked by those who believed they were listening to the truth from these ministers.
As we were reading there from Amos, I want us to identify some important markers in the scripture from Amos, which Sister White identified there. And remember the title is, As the Storm Approaches. That storm, that final scene of the storm of the day of the Lord has preliminary important understandings to receive. What are some important markers here that we can identify the day of the Lord and the approaching of that day? As we were reading there in Amos, look at Amos chapter 8 verse 9 again.
Amos 8:9 “It shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day.”
Now remember when we were finishing our Sabbath school lesson this morning, we were reading from Joel.
Joel 2:30–31 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
We’ll enlarge that in the conclusion in verse 32. But notice, before the terrible day of the Lord come, before that day come, what does it say? He will turn, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. There is a sign for us to be able to identify that the coming of the day of the Lord so that we will understand the detail of the approaching storm, the storm that is approaching before it strikes in all its fury.
The Sun Being Darkened During the Day
Here is a direct parallel to what we were reading in Amos and Joel.
Revelation 6:12–13 “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell into the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.”
Now, true Seventh-day Adventists understand exactly what we’re reading here. I just want us to identify with this sixth seal in being in direct harmony with Joel chapter 2 that we just read. That before the terrible day of the Lord come, this is going to happen. The sun shall be darkened and the moon be as blood.
Amos in 8:9, we said there, in that day that said the Lord, I will cause the sun to go down at noon and I will darken the earth in a clear day. And then I will turn your feast into morning, etc
The Darkening Day
“These signs were witnessed before the opening of the 19th century. In fulfilment of this prophecy, there occurred in the year 1755 the most terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway, in Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of no less than 4 million square miles. In Africa, the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed and a short distance from Morocco, a village containing 8 or 10,000 inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, engulfing cities and causing great destruction.” Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 304
“In 1780, May 19, 1780, stands in history as the Dark Day. Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density, extent and duration has ever been recorded. The description of this event, as given by eyewitnesses, is but an echo of the words of the Lord recorded by Joel. Now notice she quotes Joel. 2,500 years previous to their fulfillment. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” Joel 2:31. Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 308
Here we have the identification point in which we are to recognise, hello, from that time onwards there is the approaching storm. Because there are the identification points in those references that give us the understanding when to expect the approaching storm.
“To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, a great work of reform was to be accomplished. God saw that many of his professed people were not building for eternity. And in his mercy, he was about to send a message of warning to arouse them from their stupor and lead them to make ready for the coming of the Lord.” Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 311
She continues with the three angels’ messages. Because in those three angels’ messages were given a message that was immediately followed by the coming of Jesus. As we carefully think now, what we have just been looking at in scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy, what do we discern? Back there in 1755, and in 1780, and then the falling of the stars after that, these signs were followed by what? The message of preparation. The three angels’ messages. Those three angels’ messages, commencing in the first angels’ message in 1833, through the development of those three angels’ messages in the history of Adventism, to 1914 how long ago were these messages proclaimed?
As the Storm Approaches
Are we in a time that we don’t realise we’re in? Because way back there those signs were given so that we would identify that from the time of those signs, that was just prior to the day of the Lord.
For how many years from 1755 and 1780 and from 1833 onwards? 100 years, 80 years, in fact, from the time of 1833. How long has God been warning the people? Where are we now? Are we not now in the approaching storm right now? Not just before the storm, but it’s now approaching? If you’ve been listening to the recent services I’ve been sharing, I have shown clearly from the Spirit of Prophecy that the plagues were already sprinkling in Sister White’s time.
When we talk about an approaching storm of such a magnitude as is described in the day of the Lord, it’s a bit like the approaching of a cyclone. Here in Australia, you call it a cyclone. In America, you call it a hurricane. In the Asian region, you call it a typhoon. As those storms are approaching, you know about it. There are warning signs. The weather forecast people tell you well in advance, batten down, there’s this storm coming. God is no different. From the time of 1833, He has been saying, batten down, the storm is coming.
So when was it that the day of the Lord, with all its terrible storm, was visibly approaching you could see it with the storm clouds arising in the horizon there? When was it? What happened in 1914? The First World War. What happened in the 1940s? The Second World War.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What happened there?
Joel 2:30 “And I will show you wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.”
If you have a margin, you know what that says? Palm trees of smoke. Palm trees of smoke? What’s that? They called it a mushroom cloud, yes? Here, we are receiving plain warnings of the coming storm in the First and the Second World War.
“I was shown the inhabitants of the earth in the utmost confusion. War, bloodshed, privation, want, famine and pestilence were abroad in the land. As these things surrounded God’s people, they began to press together and to cast aside their little difficulties. Self-dignity no longer controlled them. Deep humility took its place. Suffering, perplexity and probation caused reason to resume its throne and the passionate and unreasonable man became sane and acted with discretion and wisdom. My attention was then called from the scene. There seemed to be a little time of peace. And once more the inhabitants of the earth were presented before me and again everything was in utmost confusion. Strife, war and bloodshed with famine and pestilence raged everywhere. Other nations were engaged in this war and confusion. War caused famine. Want and bloodshed caused pestilence and men’s hearts, and then men’s hearts failed them for fear for the looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 268
Can you see a description of the approaching storm? Before this final storm strikes, there are little sort of storm patterns beforehand. In 1914, that was after all that time that was given to Seventh-day Adventists in the Three Angels’ Messages, there was the beginnings of the looming storm clouds. First World War, Second World War, and after the Second World War not only because after each of those wars, but there was also pestilence. Remember the Spanish flu? That happened after the First World War. Then always associated, not just the Spanish flu, polio, all those were those terrible consequences of the period of war.
There we are looking back at the First and the Second World War as the approaching storm. Are we picking up some important preparation, awakening thoughts here? How close to the day of the Lord are we now? With what I read there, that when those two world wars that she identified first the First World War, then a period of peace from 1918 through to late 1930s to 1940, a little time of peace, and then another war. And after that, men’s hearts failing them for fear for the looking after those things which are coming on the earth.
If you’ve been looking at everything that happened after the Cold War, during the Cold War, fear, fear of another atomic warfare, of another terrible onslaught and they were trying to hold back the wars. Fear for the things that were coming. All the terrible things that are happening on the planet with all those terrible events of storms, of, as it was said there, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, wonders in the heavens. We are watching these things happening. Are we waking up or are we still thinking, oh, peace, peace?
We’re still looking for something in the future. Whatever we’re looking for in the future is the day of the Lord finished, full stop. That is what we were reading in Amos. How realistic is it there? What we read in Amos, how realistic is this today?
Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst of water but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro and seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it.”
Think what this is saying the Word of the Lord, not the Word of preaching of the general churches of today, the Word of the Lord, the real word of the Lord. We were discussing that in our Sabbath school lesson this morning that people are promoting different opinions of the different doctrines of the Bible, but they’re not upholding the pure doctrines anymore. If they’re not upholding the pure doctrines anymore, is that the Word of the Lord? People are looking for the pure doctrines. We are already there where people are going, I’m not hearing it. Where is it? Where is it? We’re so close to this statement, so close. as we are so close to the final day of the Lord, which is right so imminent.
“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 by uniting with the world and partaking of its spirit, they have come to view matters in nearly the same light. And when the test is brought, they are prepared to choose the easy popular side. Men of talent and pleasing address, who once rejoiced in the truth, employ their powers to deceive and mislead souls. They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren. When Sabbath keepers are brought before the courts to answer for their faith, these apostates are the most efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse them and by false reports and insinuations to stir up the rulers against them.” Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, p. 608
As the storm approaches, this is what will happen. Do you have any understanding of the reality of this? I mean, I do. I know exactly. I’ve been through it. When it says here that those who have been professing the faith in the third angel’s message but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth abandoned their position and joined the ranks of the opposition. Many people say, well, see, they’ve left the church. That’s not true. That’s not what Sister White’s talking about. They abandoned their position. Their religious beliefs have altered. What did they do? They are joining with the world. They are joining with the ranks of the opposition.
If you have followed closely Seventh-day Adventism since the First World War, which I have, you just have to go to the colleges of Seventh-day Adventism today. And what do you see? Have you followed at all some of the arousings that have taken place in Adventism where the evangelical concepts have been adopted in the Adventist church? They have done precisely what Sister White says, what they teach in their colleges, in the Avondale College. Our brother Simon knows. He was there for three years. Proof text reading, which is the characteristic of Seventh-day Adventism that gives proof from the Bible. This proof text reading has been shunned.
The position of Seventh-day Adventist doctrines of today have been altered from the position of our former brethren I should say, our brethren of original Adventism. You hear today what the brethren of those from 1833 to 1914, what they taught, we are different today. We’re different today. That’s exactly what Sister White is saying here. Can you see the approaching storm?
As the storm approaches, we are seeing these things happening around us. And I have been dealing with this ever since I was 22, 23, ever since that time. Because I was brought up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was there in an institution doing my nurses’ training, and I saw with my own eyes they have abandoned their position as they used to be, abandoned it in their institutions. That’s the reality. All the churches have once been faithful, whether they were the Catholics in the beginning, they came from a faithful apostolic church. The Lutherans or the Protestant churches, they were once faithful, but they have changed. This is no different within the ranks of Seventh-day Adventism today.
The storm has commenced in its approaching threatening’s ever since the First World War. We know what happened in the First World War. Seventh-day Adventists that were faithful, who stood by the original principles of Seventh-day Adventism, were disfellowshipped during the First World War from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. If you’ve followed through the history, you will know what I’m talking about.
What are we studying here? Where are we today? The approaching storm has been going on for over 100 years. To hear the pure word of God is very rare today, very rare. It hasn’t yet come to its final shutdown situation, but it’s so close. Can you see? Can you see the approaching storm?
Before this terrible storm will fully break, what is God’s promise now? I want to leave us with a secure understanding of how to meet this approaching storm. What’s God’s promise there? What did we read in Joel?
Joel 2:31–32 “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
To be delivered from the storm. People who will call upon the Lord, they will be delivered. Where is deliverance? For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. To be delivered from this terrible final storm. Here is where deliverance is to come. From where? From Mount Zion. From Jerusalem. Do you remember something from our Sabbath school lessons? What church is this talking about? Remember Hebrews chapter 12? From where will salvation and deliverance come?
Hebrews 12:22–23 “But you are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn.”
From where will be deliverance? From the heavenly Jerusalem. From the church that Jesus said, your names are written in heaven. There is the church of the firstborn. There is the one from where deliverance will come. But from where else? And in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. That remnant. That little company that we have been studying and are studying in our Sabbath school lesson. That little company that you can trace down from the apostles who came. That little company of 120 that were presenting the pure truth and the people that were taught by them, they continued in the apostles’ doctrine. That’s where the pure doctrines come from.
Matthew 28:18–20 “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Where is deliverance to come from? From the apostolic church that is written in heaven. We now live all these centuries from that time on. What did Jesus just say? You are to teach everything that I have taught. The deliverance that is for God’s people in the last days comes exactly from the same line of communication. What does he say? I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. The ones that Jesus is within the very last days, this little company as the apostles were.
As we go through the history, our Sabbath school lessons will continue to do that. We go and observe from these scriptures that it is the company that is faithfully presenting what Jesus presented to the disciples. There is where deliverance comes from. And from the remnant in the last days. That little remnant that is mentioned all through scriptures.
Song of Solomon 6:8–10 “There are three score queens and four score concubines and virgins without number. But my dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her that bear her. The daughters saw her and blessed her, yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
Help From the Remnant
I get excited when I read these things. It’s a tremendous clear line of communication. Where will I receive help? From the remnant. There we see that those faithful Seventh-day Adventists that proclaimed the message that were a little remnant that came out of Sardis, that was Philadelphia, that led into the period of Laodicea, there were that company. As I see Jesus, I am with them into the very end of the world. I’m following closely that beautiful teaching that was given to the apostles, that was revived into all its beauty over those fifty years within Adventism. There is where deliverance is.
That is where I have got my deliverance from in the terrible storm. Surrounded with that terrible approaching storm that I’ve had to go through myself, I’ve been able to find my way through all the morass, the confusion that modern Christianity and modern Adventism has brought to our minds. That beautiful primitive godliness that was established by Jesus in the apostles’ time, and lo, I am with you always.
What did we see in our study so far? That it was before the storm approaches that God was giving the people the messages. When the storm was beginning to approach, what did we read from Great Controversy? Those who were once faithful and were beautiful preachers have turned away from that which they have been taught. They are teaching new what’s it called today? New theology. You’ve got it today. They have removed themselves from their position that they once held and brought in a new position. When they have come to see things nearly in the same light as the other churches – nearly, when the test comes to them, they will crumble.
Where are you and I? How important is it that we receive the pure deliverance that comes from Zion, Jerusalem, from the early apostles through to Seventh-day Adventism given the three angels’ messages through to our time now. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
In this time, when the Word of God, as it is truly meant to be communicated, is nearly so camouflaged that you can hardly recognise it, but it’s still there, there is still hope. What comfort do we find, as what we were reading there in Song of Solomon, my dove, my undefiled, clear as a sun, terrible as an army with banners, in this time?
What’s the promise for us who want to find our way in this looming storm that has already been unleashed in small segments upon the planet First World War, Second World War, and all the other wars that have been taking place, all these threatenings and loomings of a great storm about to burst? Where can we find our deliverance today? Hear the beautiful promises of God, our scripture reading.
Isaiah 30:20–21 “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way. Walk ye in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.”
Isn’t that a comfort? God says the adversity is already there. People are already running from one end of the earth to the other. We do it today through technology. This preacher and that preacher and the other preacher and we’re trying to hear the word of the Lord and everyone just leaves you with a dryness somewhere. Something is not quite right. This has been my experience. I’m always looking for others who are preaching the beautiful message of what the pioneers taught and, oh, yes, yes, yes. Another hunger there. Something wrong there. Something not quite…
It’s no longer very rampant today. Pure Seventh-day Adventism has nearly been obliterated, but there is still there in the remnant. So you will, although you are suffering adversity, although you are suffering shortfall of your nourishment that you need, you will see your teachers and you will hear a word behind thee saying, here it is, this is it, you know it is, this is truth, isn’t it?
Jeremiah 3:14 “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you, how many? I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
I praise God for the pioneer messages. God has given us pastors according to his heart, the early Adventists. They are my pastors. I have decided to follow Jesus through their ministry. And I am one of the few today that still uphold every detail of those pioneer doctrines. See if you can find others and show me where they are because I want to have others that are on the same platform. So, they shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. They are pastors according to my heart. I love that statement. Pastors that are communicating God’s thoughts, not their own opinions, not their own theologies, not the modern Christianity, not the new theology. God’s thoughts, God’s ways. That’s what I’m after and I think that’s what you’re after, aren’t you?
Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered…and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
What was that? Deliverance shall come in that time from the little remnant whom God, the Lord shall call. Deliverance from Mount Zion. See how the scripture makes it very, very clear to you? If you’re really hungering and thirsting for the pure truth, here it is.
As the storm approaches, they leave their position and they join the ranks of the opposition and they do something to those who are standing on the pure platform. What do they do? What is written in Matthew 24, verse 48, 49, 50? The servant that gives meat in due season. What does the other servant who says, my Lord delayeth his coming, what does he do? He attacks his fellow servant. And as we are living in this time, the storm is approaching, the storm is already looming and has already been affected certain people already on this planet.
“Then I saw Jesus lay off his priestly attire and clothe himself with kingly robes. Upon his head were many crowns. A crown within a crown, surrounded by the angelic host, he left heaven. The plagues were falling upon the inhabitants of the earth. Some were denouncing God and cursing him. Others rushed to the people of God and begged to be taught how they might escape his judgments. But the saints had nothing for them. Their work was completely done. The last tear for sinners had been shed. The last agonizing prayer offered, the last burden born, the last warning given, the sweet voice of mercy was no more to invite them. When the saints in all heaven were interested for their salvation, they had no interest for themselves. Life and death had been set before them. Many desired life, but made no effort to obtain it. They did not choose life. And now there was no atoning blood to cleanse the guilty, no compassionate Savior to plead for them and cry, spare the sinner a little longer. All heaven had united with Jesus as they heard the fearful words, it is done, it is finished. The plan of salvation has been accomplished, but few had chosen to accept it. And as mercy’s sweet voice died away, fear and horror seized the wicked. With terrible distinctness, they heard the words, too late, too late.” Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 281
What I read in the beginning continues there, they’ll be running to and fro and will not have it anymore. There was nobody to help them. And what was that? Too late? Too late? What’s that scripture? The harvest has passed, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.
May God help us to recognise where we stand at this time. As I’ve shared it with you, this is what the Lord has shown me, and I know exactly what he was telling me to do. And I’m still here proclaiming the day is coming when I won’t be there anymore. Because Jesus will have closed probation. The Lord delayeth his coming? No. For many, probation has already closed. There is only a few more left.
May God make sure in our lives that we hear the word and as it says there, you will know your teachers and you will hear a word saying, this is the way. Follow it. Walk in it. Don’t follow any false theology of today. I do pray God help us to do this. Amen.
