Friday, January 22, 2016
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Routine Wednesday Post: 1/14/2016
Wednesday Food Pantry, Sermon, and a Song
A meeting of all Community Services volunteers from Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church was held last Sunday at the BMOC (Berean Outreach Ministry Center), located at 312 Hamilton E. Holmes Dr., Atlanta. The main church is across the street at 291. It was part of the required training mandated by the Atlanta Community Food Bank (and their overlords, the USDA) for people who will be distributing food to qualified recipients. It began with doughnuts, ran two hours, and was followed by lunch. It mainly consisted of common sense advice regarding nutrition, the safe handling of food, and proper techniques for dealing with the beneficiaries of the government administered, but locally delivered provisions. Volunteers who serve principally in the “Clothes Closet” also help with food distribution, so they were in attendance. Also present were the workers whose primary duty is to make sure that all of the paperwork is in order, both for the government and the Atlanta Food Bank.
The new Community Service Ministry Leader is Allyson Dozier. Heretofore I have misspelled her name, but I now have it right. She opened the meeting by telling the assembly that she has been involved in community service since she was 17, and acted as a public relations officer in NYC. She noted that out of the 600 agencies that “partner” with the Atlanta Food Bank, Berean’s operation is the second largest. She said that she is still getting used to the process of buying food for 500 people a week on a shoestring budget. She told us that her predecessor, David Riley, had been trying to pass the reigns of his leadership on for the last two years, but the church was resistant to this transfer. The combination of new leadership, along with the re-colonization of the former and current distribution facility, has put everybody under a bit of pressure.
The graphic for the new set of USDA nutritional guidelines is no longer a pyramid. The pyramid form is fine for representing a hierarchy of food groups. The new graphic is simply a segmented plate, like the kind jails and schools utilize. The exclusion of “dairy” to a satellite location is a weak recognition that, used indiscriminately, this category can be a cesspool of cholesterol and fat. The tip of the old pyramid was inhabited by “fats, oils, and sweets.” The new program does not even recognize the existence of these malicious offenders. A nostalgic look at the old order can be found at this LINK, as well as a glimpse of a transitional pyramid that, graphically speaking, makes even less sense than the “MyPlate” image seen below. In attempting to describe the latest guidelines, a word is worth a thousand pictures.
Former Community Services Ministry Leader Elder Irene Bowden delivered some friendly advice. She explained that the rules dictated that food distribution stick to a previously announced schedule, so the volunteers themselves needed to be punctual. She stressed the need for us to be identifiable to the public by wearing a uniform shirt (this is a stumbling block for me, as in my role my clothing gets filthy through the handling of dust-covered boxes and fresh produce with clods of dirt still clinging to it). She also emphasized the need for “good customer service,” as we are representing God. We needed to be able to graciously adapt ourselves to any situation. She quoted I Corinthians 9:22: “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
If we found ourselves confronted by someone in a bad humor (I testify that this happens too frequently), Elder Bowden implored us to heed the strategy found in Proverbs 15:1: “A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” When I first started with the food pantry, I witnessed the arrival of a customer whose belligerence was uncontrolled. A huge amount of cajolery and diplomacy was expended on this individual, just to get him his food, and then get him out the door. The episode ended well enough, much to the relief of the staff. After he was gone, one of the male volunteers exclaimed, “I was afraid I was going to have to open up a can of Jesus on him!”
I received the unwelcome news today that there is a possibility that I may be required to work late at the Food Pantry, at least on alternating weeks, requiring me to miss Wednesday night Prayer Meeting. The 7 p.m. starting time has been my excuse, for the last year, to drop whatever I was doing and go to church. I would miss these services, as fellow attendees represent the 2% of the Berean membership that are inveterate church-goers, and that is a group I aspire to belong to. As I complained before, new responsibilities with the Food Pantry are so exhausting that I now have trouble focusing on Wednesday’s sermons, and this is obvious in the slipshod synopsis below.
The Atlanta Community Food Bank deals with 600 local agencies, but as proudly noted before, Berean Outreach Ministries is the second largest customer. A lot of institutions and homeless shelters do business with the Food Bank, and I suspect one of these is chief recipient. The Food Bank has a fleet of trucks, and will make deliveries to your agency, but Berean is blessed to have a truck dedicated to this service. It holds ten pallets of food, and makes two runs a week to the Food Bank. When David Riley headed the operation, the truck would sometimes be used to fetch leftover food from some of the huge, catered affairs that are held in Atlanta. I don’t know if any current volunteers would be willing to continue to visit these venues, as they often don’t wrap up until after midnight.
Today’s volunteer experience had it’s ups and downs. An up: there was an awful lot of food available to the public, more than some could comfortably carry. A down: there was a serious shortage of bags to put it in. The unusual foodstuff of the day was a few hundred pounds of ground deer meat. There was confusion as to whether Adventists were allowed to consume deer, as it is seldom encountered. I mentioned something from Deuteronomy (12:5, it turns out) about “as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.” I was not sure if a deer was in the same class as these. Nobody else was, either. I have some opinions about folk who kill more than they can personally consume, and then make themselves feel better about it by donating the surplus to charity. I ought not share these opinions, but it seems as if I just did.
Tonight was day 7 of the “Ten Days of Prayer” at Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, Atlanta. Pastor Austin Humphreys tied his remarks into tonight’s theme, “family.” He bookended reflections on Genesis Chapter 22 (the interrupted sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham) with incidents from his own life. Note: Pastor Austin Humphreys is a “PK” (preacher’s kid).
When Pastor Humphreys was young, his father would go out of town to preach. Young Humphreys would implore him to “bring me a toy” when elder Humphreys returned home. The toy would be similar, or even identical to one given to the pastor’s little brother. The little brother would invariably covet Pastor Humphrey’s toy more than his own, and start whining about it. The pastor’s father would relieve the situation by telling him, “son, give the toy to your brother. You are going to get it back!” This reminiscence is akin to the kind of faith Abraham displayed when he was instructed to offer up Isaac. He was confident that his son would not be gone for good.
Pastor Humphreys emphasized how long Abraham and Sarah had waited for the “child of promise” (Paul’s term for Isaac in Galatians 4:28), and how his birth resulted in a “strong family in the Lord.” The pastor noted, however, that “oftentimes a blessing is accompanied by a hardship.” The pastor remarked upon the tendency of some to try to negotiate with God, placing some things that they are reluctant to lose as being “off limits” from the table of sacrifice. But this was not the attitude that Abraham displayed. Abraham had been promised by God that he would “father many nations,” so he had no qualms about possible consequences arising from honoring God’s unusual request concerning his son.
Pastor Humphreys told us that some scholars feel that Abraham believed that, having killed his son, God would then proceed to raise him from the dead. Our Tuesday Sabbath School lesson this week deals with the very episode that Pastor Humphreys was relating. I had a hunch that Ellen G. White might be one of the scholars the pastor referred to. Sure enough, on page 151 of “Patriarchs and Prophets,” in the chapter 13, entitled “The Test of Faith,” E.G. White writes, “Isaac was the child of a miracle, and could not the power that gave him life restore it?” All of this foreshadows Jesus, but this is stating the obvious. (“Breath of Life” ex-spokesman, and ex-Berean Lead Pastor Walter Pearson used to often refer to “a writer I admire.” Even before I was an Adventist, I knew who he meant.)
Pastor Humphreys informed us that when we are “obedient to God, the answers will arrive like the ram caught in a thicket.” The pastor stated that “you have to be willing to ask and expect the (ostensibly) impossible from God, and concluded his remarks with another anecdote about his own family. Pastor Humphreys was still a child when his father was called to be pastor at Oakwood (this was news to me, and a pretty big deal: the current pastor at Oakwood is former Berean Lead Pastor Carlton P. Byrd). Pastor Humphreys and his family were anxious about relocating, but he said that “when you allow God in your home, nothing should stand in your way!” And, even though his father died a scant two years later, the pastor would not be where he was today without this providential introduction into the spiritually supercharged ambience of Oakwood. The move was one that the widow and children of the late pastor would benefit from. I have to end this summary with Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
I was getting a jump on this week’s Sabbath School lessons last Saturday on the way to church. The Sunday lesson covers Cain and Abel, and how their well-known history reflects the great controversy. I penned a song about them that is without much artistic merit, but at least it includes all of the major episodes of the laconically documented history of the brothers.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Sabbath Sermon, Sabbath School, and a Song
A brief summary of the sermon may be found below some relatively lengthy marginalia concerning the Sabbath School lesson. The sermon served a threefold purpose:
- Lessons in the importance and efficacy of prayer, using Nehemiah’s (and Daniel’s) prayer life as an example for us to emulate. As stated last week, this relates it to the church’s current emphasis on prayer.
- General educational material about the rarely highlighted Book of Nehemiah. A parallel between the restoration of Jerusalem’s defenses, and our own defense against the snares of Satan was mentioned last week, and, tangentially, this week as well.
- The lamentable state of Berean’s physical plant. If this is not applicable to your life, you may mentally substitute “state of my soul” for church repair references, a dual-purpose message akin to the “dual prophecy” discussed in the December 27 Sabbath School lesson, “The Fall in Heaven.”
As I was walking into the main sanctuary, a sincere young Adventist (name not known to me, and not on the video) was making a brief, but very topical speech to the early arrivals. He expressed his support for the “Spirit of Prophecy,” and then told us that his remarks were not intended to advocate any particular political position.
The speaker mentioned some recent, and controversial remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Justice spoke a day or two ago at a Catholic High School, a speech that may be fully scrutinized at this LINK. It emphasizes the relationship between church and state in this country, a relationship that Ellen White expressed concern about. But the main Antonin Scalia reference the speaker brought to our attention were some insensitive, and inaccurate, opinions the Justice uttered early in December regarding the capabilities of minorities to function, scholastically, on a level playing field. This New York Times LINK should refresh your memory. I am not virulently anti-Catholic, but the remarks reminded me of dozens of similar displays of ignorant prejudice by the British author G.K. Chesterton, a convert to Catholicism, like Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene (who were not, however, idiots like Chesterton).
This morning’s speaker referred to Scalia as America’s foremost “conservative intellectual.” I am just perverse enough to call this usage an “oxymoron.” Most progress in this country has been made by “limousine liberals.” The speaker noted that there were currently no Protestants on the Supreme Court. This statement would seem to contradict the speaker’s inferred preference for a Jeffersonian separation of church and state. Justice, like vengeance, is best served cold, without denominational taint, and the dispassionate execution of it is a worthy ideal. I am sure that the reality is quite the opposite of “ideal,” however.
The Adventist agenda regarding these matters is partially displayed in Chapter 21 of “The Great Controversy,” entitled A Warning Rejected (on the deterioration of denominations, not just Catholicism), and in Chapter 35, Liberty of Conscience Threatened (touching on the dangers of church-state fusion). I am getting on in years. Every time I hear of some new calamity, I find myself in reluctant agreement with Ecclesiastes 1:9″ “…there is no new thing under the sun.” What will be new is “a new heaven and a new earth.”
Here is one last Jesuit reference, one that is probably already known to everyone. It is a famous quote from Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus: “We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus” (from Spiritual Exercises, 1548). This is the quintessential example of “blind loyalty.”
This week’s Sabbath School lesson, “Crises in Eden,” is introduced by some observations about the lamentable conditions of our present world. Author Dr. David Tasker, a New Zealander, mentions a period of optimism at the beginning of the twentieth century which is not matched by attitudes now, here at the commencement of the twenty-first century. I imagine early twentieth century optimism evaporated when the world went to war in 1914.
I just acquired a biography of H.L. Mencken, one I don’t really intend to read, as the influential Mr. Mencken does not care for Christians very much. He does not really care for anyone at all, for that matter, but he was an early champion of the realism that novelist and fellow-journalist Theodore Dreiser pioneered. Menken praised Dreiser as being “unafraid of facing the ugliness of modern life,” and approvingly spoke of his book “Sister Carrie” as a “harsh portrayal of lost souls caught in the web of life.” Times were pretty bad at the start of the twentieth century, but few were keeping a record of it. The Author of this quarter’s lesson plan, Dr. Tasker, is from a universe that is far removed from the teeming slums of turn-of-the-last-century America. My sister spent some time in New Zealand, and described it as a kind of paradise, insulated from rest of the world. Note: they are not interested in you immigrating to their island nation! You are a serpent! Stay away from Eden!
Speaking of Eden. events that transpired there shortly after the creation form the substance of this week’s lessons. I had hoped that “The Great Controversy” would prove to be a perfect compliment to this quarter’s theme of “Rebellion and Redemption,” but the current lessons are best illuminated by reading chapter 3 of “Patriarchs and Prophets,” titled “The Temptation and Fall.” It would not be a digression to stop and scrutinize the chapter.
Ellen G. White writes that Adam was crestfallen when he found out what Eve had done, partaking of forbidden fruit. In a description reminiscent of the tragic end of “Romeo and Juliet,” Adam mistakenly felt that it would be better to join his mate in her fallen state than to go on living without her. His bite of fruit initially elated him, but quickly degenerated into a “state of terror.” The pair scrambled to cover their shame, provoking God’s memorable inquiry, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” This LINK describes a giant flap that transpired here in Atlanta when the former Fire Chief, Kelvin Cohran, published a book by this title. He paid a hefty price for stating his heartfelt views. The linked LA Times article describes Atlanta as the “modern capital of the Bible Belt.” As a resident, I can only say that I wish this were the case.
God meted out some justice. The serpent would go from being the most beautiful and admired of creatures to being “the most groveling and detested of them all, feared and hated by both man and beast.” Three possible exceptions might be hogs, mongooses, and secretary-birds, which consider serpent flesh a delicacy. Ellen White makes an observation about Eve’s mandated future subservience to Adam that was ahead of it’s time: “In the creation God made her the equal of Adam.” Subservience may have been a consequence of the primacy of her sin. Still looking out for the fairer sex, Ellen White writes that, though growing out of the result of sin, the woman’s subjection would have proved a blessing to them, but man’s “abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too often rendered the lot of woman very bitter and left her life a burden.” In what may have been meant as a criticism of suffragettes, Ellen White laments women who, “In their desire for a higher sphere, may have sacrificed true womanly dignity and nobility of character. and have left undone the very work that Heaven appointed them” (page 59).
Fifteen minutes invested in reading chapter 3 of “Patriarchs and Prophets” managed to cover 95% of the ground that the weekly lesson covers.
Monday’s lesson, “The Test at the Tree,” is a set of variations on the theme of “separation.” Dr. Tasker is speaking conceptually, but the question at the foot of the page invokes a more literal usage of the word “separation,” as used in the books of the law: “What are some things in your life that you definitely need to separate yourself from?” The answer, from Leviticus and Numbers, is “uncleanness.”
Tuesday and Wednesday lessons focus on “The Fall.” I have already cited Ellen G, White on this occurrence. Dr. Tasker refers to Genesis 3:7, where Adam and Eve’s “eyes of them were both opened.” Ellen White describes this as a kind of elevated, but transient, state of consciousness. I was reminded of Jonathan, enjoying a “taste of honey,” and being enlightened. I bought a book of Medieval Miracle Plays this morning. One produced by the York, England guild of Coopers in 1415, entitled “The Fall of Man.” refers to the serpent as “The Worm.” God curses “The Worm” in the play as follows:
Ah, wicked worm, woe worth thee ay! For thou on this manner Hast made them such affray, My malison have thou here With all the might I may. And on thy womb then shalt thy glide, and be ay full of enmity To all mankind on ilka side; And earth it shall thy sustenance be To eat and drink.
The week’s lessons conclude with “The Consequence.” For this lesson no booklet is required. We need simply look around us if we wish to know of “The Consequences.” Dr. Tasker mentions Genesis 3:15 as a reference to a solution to “The Fall,” a seed of the woman who shall bruise the head of the serpent. Dr. Tasker cites 3:21 as indicative of an animal sacrifice, foreshadowing the Cross. As I noted, Ellen White did not refer to this foreshadowing in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” but did say that a degenerate climate necessitated protection from the elements. She does tie this wardrobe to Christ, however, in this White Estate LINK.
Pastor Fredrick Russell prefaced today’s sermon, “What God Thinks / What God Does” with some personal reflections on prayer technique. He said that while out west recently, up in the skies, over the mountains, he thought of the prayer life of Daniel. It was so disciplined, God Himself would drop by. He said that a lot of us are so self-centered these days, that God gets excluded from our affairs. God finally gets consulted when it is usually late in the game, sometimes too late. The pastor told of recent difficulties with a slow leak at his house. The wooden basement floor buckled severely due to the moisture. He got in a tizzy about the situation, seeking advice and estimates, but then eventually got God involved in the crises. The pastor reflected that, in retrospect, it would have been a good idea to get God in on the ground floor of the dilemma.
The text for the sermon, from Nehemiah, is from Chapter 2, verses 17,18, & 19. After his secret, moonlight reconnaissance of the broken walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah informs his hitherto rather complacent fellow Jerusalemites of his intention to rebuild. This is what the King of Babylon, current master of the Hebrews, had authorized Nehemiah to do. The locals agree that it would be a good idea. My soon-to-vanish song “Go To the Ant” has a line from Nehemiah 4:6: “…the people had a mind to work.” But opposition existed in the form of three powerful local adversaries. I understood the identity of “Geshem the Arab,” but was educated when Pastor Russell told us that the other two (Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite) were Jewish. My view is that the arrival of Nehemiah in their midst, out of the blue, and bearing authority delegated to him by Babylon, represented a threat to their cushy status quo.
Last week’s sermon highlighted the “travailing prayer” of Nehemiah when first informed of Jerusalem’s sorry plight. This week, the fact that the balance of the Book of Nehemiah documents a continuous prayerful connection of the author with God was noted. Nehemiah’s prayers were, according to the sermon and the handy notes provided us:
- Daring (I was reminded of three times at the end of the book, where Nehemiah cites his virtuous activity to God, asking that the Lord “remember it,” but this kind of presumption is not at all what Pastor Russell was referring to).
- Defiant (against enemies, spiritual and physical; the later would soon come in for scrutiny).
- Disciplined (in the manner of Daniel).
- Bad downstairs bathroom conditions.
- Pews coming apart at the seams.
- A kitchen that is “dark, gritty, and grimy.”
- Cracked asphalt in the parking lot.
- Puddles on the walk in front of the church (more precisely, one mega-puddle)
Prayer concluded the sermon. Pastor Russell spoke a collective desire to commit to praying “morning, noon, and night.” He enjoined us not only to learn how to pray to God, but how to “listen to God” as well.
LAST, AND DEFINATELY LEAST, THE NEW SONG “FIRST JOHN”
This “Christian Rock” song is really just fast “Gospel” with a standard Boogie-Woogie foundation. This description applies to a lot of primitive rock-n-roll. The important admonitions to us found in the First Epistle of John are distilled into two principle categories: Neighborly Love, and Obedience to God’s Commandments. These two points deserve a better presentation that I can provide. As I state elsewhere, neighborly love is a universal theme for Christian denominations. All may profess obedience to God’s commandments, but not that many follow through.
I am currently researching the beliefs of the Church of Christ, a committed group of believers if ever there was one, and who would consider it an insult if you called their confederacy a denomination. If it is not in the New Testament. they don’t want a thing to do with it. This turns out to be the reason they don’t approve of musical instruments in their worship services. A weak post on the topic is forthcoming. They are convinced that they are the true “church.” But they seem to be ignoring an awful lot of the Good Book.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Berean Sabbath Sermon 1/2/2016
Sabbath Sermon: “Travailing Prayer”
Our new pastor, Danielle Pilgrim, inaugurated her service at Berean by leading the Pastoral Prayer, which may be viewed at time marker 28:55.
A few hundred people stayed after the New Year’s Eve communion service in order to watch the movie “The War Room.” Pastor Russell has been deeply touched by this film. He said that it was all about “travailing prayer,” and was thus linked to the first four verses of Nehemiah. In these verses Nehemiah, who is doing OK by himself as a highly placed civil servant in Babylon, hears about the sorry plight of his fellow Jews back in wasted Jerusalem. The key scripture for Pastor Russell’s sermon is Nehemiah 1:4: “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,” Nehemiah was all torn up about the situation, and the pastor informed us that his prayer to God was a “travailing prayer.” Pastor Russell defined “travailing” in terms of it’s scriptural meaning, “as in the pangs of childbirth.” My pathetic contribution is this: it is the French word for plain, old-fashioned work.
The other principal musicians visible in the video are Elder Bruce Seawood (directly behind Ms. Ragins) on the Hammond organ, and legendary Luther Washington II, seated at Ms. Ragin’s right, on the big organ. A traditional hymn with organ accompaniment is offered at every service. Luther Washington II follows an unvarying, but very satisfying, pattern for this music. For a three stanza hymn the pattern would be: moderate tempo, moderate tempo, interlude with a key change up, and a final, thunderous finale played at practically a snail’s pace. You may witness this typical performance at time marker 11:33 on the YouTube Video. Note: today Pastor Russell mentioned that the Berean Service is one of the most watched church services in the nation. The YouTube numbers are respectable, usually nearing 1,000 views, but the majority watch on streaming sites such as “churchpond,” an Adventist endeavor.
This quarter’s study topic for all Adventists, everywhere, is entitled “Rebellion and Redemption.” It seems that this would be a good time to take another look at “The Great Controversy.”
Lesson 1, “Crises in Heaven,” is complemented by Chapter 29 of “The Great Controversy,” the story of Satan’s fall to earth called “The Origin of Evil.” A compliment to this compliment would be John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.”
John Bunyan was roughly a contemporary of John Milton, but is much, much easier to read. Chapter 14 of “The Great Controversy,” “Later English Reformers,” skips directly from Bunyan(1628-1688) to Charles Wesley (1707-1788), his big brother John Wesley (1703-1791), and George Whitefield (1714-1770), The last three Englishmen were notable for bringing their brand of Arminianism to the New World. Arminianism is the “free will” rebuttal of Calvinist “predestination,” and is a common denominator to Baptists, Methodists, and Seventh-day Adventists. Ellen G. White mentions Arminius in Vol. 3, pg. 153 of History of Protestantism, mainly in connection with the Dutch Remonstrants.
Chapter 13 of “The Great Controversy,” entitled “The Netherlands and Scandinavia,” describes the difficult lot that Dutch Protestants like Arminius faced while under the authority of Roman Catholic and Habsburg overlords Charles V and Phillip II. This chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive history, but to serve as inspiration. It cites the life of Menno Simons (father of the Mennonites) as being typical of Dutch enthusiasm for truth. He rejected Roman Catholic notions about transubstantiation (is that bread actually Jesus?) and infant baptism. Mennonites can be found anywhere in this country where farmland is still affordable. I have chanced upon them deep in the boondocks of Tennessee.
“Paradise Lost.” like James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” is a famous and highly influential work that nobody seems to have actually read. Scriptural citations that John Milton used for those sections of “Paradise Lost” that deal with Satan’s rebellion and ejection from Heaven are familiar ones. Today’s Sabbath School lesson includes several, among which are Isaiah 14:12-15, which commences “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” The lesson mentions Isaiah 14:4, which introduces the following admonitions by Isaiah as being directed to the “King of Babylon,” but Sunday’s lesson, “The Fall In Heaven,” refers to it’s application to Satan as being an example of a “dual prophecy.”
It tells us that Jesus uses a similar approach in His proclamations about the fall of Jerusalem, statements that are also applicable to the end of the age. In last week’s lesson, Ellen G. White spoke of an analogy between the remnant of Israel that Babylon “left behind,” and the remnant referred to in Revelation 12:17: those end-time folk who “keep the commandments of God.” Revelation 12:7-16 is referenced in connection with the Tuesday lesson, “War in Heaven.” Sunday’s lesson also mentions Ezekiel’s depiction of Satan, and gives this as an example of scripture’s use of “simile” and “metaphor” in order to couch, in layman’s familiar terms, complicated or abstract ideas. Jesus did a lot of this with His agricultural analogies.
Tuesday’s lesson, “War in Heaven,” and it’s citation from Revelation 12, has already been mentioned. The author of the lessons, New Zealander David Tasker, points out that the Bible says little about the heavenly conflict that preceded Satan’s expulsion. Revelation 12:7-8 briefly notes that there was a war between Michael and the loyal angels against “that old serpent” and his defecting angelic host. Verse 8 tersely notes that Satan and his minions “prevailed not.” Ellen G. White offers some supplementary insight about Satan’s insurrection in Chapter 29 of “The Great Controversy,” entitled “The Origin of Evil.”
Wednesday’s lesson, “Satan Evicted,” utilizes Luke 10:1-21 (Christ sending the “Seventy” out into the countryside to promulgate good works) in order to illustrate that God’s people are not left defenseless against the enemy. His disciples exclaimed, upon their return, “even the devils are subject to us through thy name.” I once took a shortcut through a cow pasture in Florida. A gigantic Brahma bull spotted me from an adjacent field. He jumped a six-foot fence in order to get into the field I was in, and then madly rushed straight toward me, angry that I was on his turf. I could not outrun him, so I just stood my ground. He stopped his charge about ten feet away from me, snorted, and then turned around and walked away. Preachers love anecdotes like this. I deserved to die that day, as do we all, yet I live.
Elijah, like Enoch, was directly taken to Heaven without tasting death, but Paul does not include Elijah in his “hall of fame.” This leaves Enoch, who is undoubtedly in Heaven at this instant, along with Elijah. We can be sure of the presence of the Trinity, and, in addition, an innumerable “Heavenly Host” of angels, among these the five named in the Bible. Thirteen of the “cloud,” along with the sundry “prophets,” are inadmissible as potential witnesses. They would all make excellent “post-game analysts” however. Some people who speak Greek are in agreement with Paul’s assertion. I was hoping they would allow me to cop out of this conundrum through some subtle linguistic hair-splitting. I had better just drop the subject for now!
The conclusion of this week’s lesson quotes from Ellen G. White’s book “Patriarchs and Prophets.” This link features miniscule text, but I just happen to own a non-digital copy of this book. The lesson tells us that Ellen White writes on page 35 that “little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation.” This statement is found on page 3 of my 1970 Pacific Press addition, with brackets displaying [34-35] just to the left of the page number. “What is on the missing 31 or so pages?” I had to stop and ask. The teensy print of the online edition begins at page 17. Pages 17 and 18 are a generic preface, wishing the reader well. Pages 19-28 are an introduction by “U. Smith” defending the “Spirit of Prophecy,” and must have been part of an older edition, placed there in order to answer some criticism that is no longer a big issue.
So now my curiosity gets redirected. “What was on pages 1-16 of the original edition of “Patriarchs and Prophets?” That question will remain unanswered for now. It may turn out to be just a lengthy Table of Contents.
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