By John Thiel, mp3, pdf

Scripture reading: Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Love Grown Cold

There is something that we need to understand for the time in which we are living, that we may be able to conquer this sad announcement of Jesus. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many grows cold. One of the few books I have read in my years was the story of Hunze, a German lady who was in the Hitler’s Youth, and who was converted into Adventism. The story of her conversion and of her simplicity, the way she and her husband trusted God, is beautiful. When it came to give of their tithe, they were out of a job because of the Sabbath-Sunday question, and they just had enough money for tithe, and after that, no job. But they decided that they would give the Lord their tithe even though they had no work, and they claimed His promise. And the Lord provided them with a job; at the last moment, but they got it. There she was with her long hair and all the simple realities of primitive godliness. Then, after the war she and her husband emigrated to the USA. But what a sad story unfolded as I continued to read. Because of her simplicity and primitive godliness, the church in the United States told her it wasn’t necessary to have these kinds of simplicities. She had beautiful long hair, but now there was a picture on the front with her short cut hair. And as she described in her book, primitive godliness was being made small of in her eyes by the members of the church. This story illustrated to me what Jesus had foreseen and expressed in Matthew 24. Read the rest of this entry →