Sabbath Afternoon - December 3
Memory Text:
“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. KJV — 2Corinthians 11:14, 15
“As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power. GC 588.2
“The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium.” GC 588.3
Sunday - December 4
Mysticism
Matthew 7:21-27
What does it mean to build our spiritual house “on the rock” or to build it “on the sand”?
“The truth and the glory of God are inseparable; it is impossible for us, with the Bible within our reach, to honor God by erroneous opinions. Many claim that it matters not what one believes, if his life is only right. But the life is molded by the faith. If light and truth is within our reach, and we neglect to improve the privilege of hearing and seeing it, we virtually reject it; we are choosing darkness rather than light. GC 597.2
“‘There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.’ Proverbs 16:25. Ignorance is no excuse for error or sin, when there is every opportunity to know the will of God. A man is traveling and comes to a place where there are several roads and a guideboard indicating where each one leads. If he disregards the guideboard, and takes whichever road seems to him to be right, he may be ever so sincere, but will in all probability find himself on the wrong road.” GC 597.3
Only those who do God’s commandments, you see [Rev. 22:16, 13, 14; Matt. 5:17-22, 27, 28], are able to enter the Holy City. None others are thus privileged. No, Jesus did not come to bring crime and lawlessness, but rather to bring righteousness and peace by blotting out the sins of all who repent of breaking the law. To be saved involves much more than merely calling Him Lord and Saviour and shouting halleluia.
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” Matt. 27:21-24.
Jesus said: “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me.” John 5:46. To believe in Moses is to believe what he wrote; to believe in Jesus is to believe what He says. If you cannot believe in Moses, then you cannot believe in Jesus. And how much shall we believe? – Jesus answers: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” Lu. 24:25…
Monday - December 5
Near-Death Experiences
1 Kings 17:22–24, 2 Kings 4:34–37, Mark 5:41–43, Luke 7:14–17, and John 11:40-44
How many of those resurrected in Bible times talk about any kind of conscious existence while they were dead, and why is that answer important?
“‘Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.’ Christ represents death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the last trump shall sound those who die will sleep in Him.” DA 527.3
“To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if it were of little moment. “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,” “he shall never taste of death.” To the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ in God, and “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” John 8:51, 52; Colossians 3:4.” DA 787.1
“But none need be deceived by the lying claims of spiritualism. God has given the world sufficient light to enable them to discover the snare. As already shown, the theory which forms the very foundation of spiritualism is at war with the plainest statements of Scripture. The Bible declares that the dead know not anything, that their thoughts have perished; they have no part in anything that is done under the sun; they know nothing of the joys or sorrows of those who were dearest to them on earth.” GC 556.1
Here we see how the dead are to be raised: First the bones are gathered together bone to bone. Next the flesh is added, then covered with skin, and finally breath is given them. In The Genesis we are told that Adam’s body was made from clay, then breath was put into his nostrils and he became a living soul. By combining air with the clay the man became a living soul. So the Scriptures reveal that the resurrection is but a re-creation. Man receives a new body out of the old but in order to be the same man that once lived and died, then made alive again, he necessarily is given the former intellectual knowledge and memory of his life’s experience. Truly the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything all the while they are in their graves. Eccles. 9:5, 6.
Tuesday - December 6
Reincarnation
Hebrews 9:25-28, 1 Peter 3:18
If Jesus died just “once” (Heb. 9:28, 1 Pet. 3:18, NKJV) and likewise all human beings die just “once” (Heb. 9:27, NKJV), why do even some alleged Christians believe in some form of reincarnation?
“The theory of the immortality of the soul was one of those false doctrines that Rome, borrowing from paganism, incorporated into the religion of Christendom. Martin Luther classed it with the “monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decretals.”—E. Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, page 255. Commenting on the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes, that the dead know not anything, the Reformer says: “Another place proving that the dead have no ... feeling. There is, saith he, no duty, no science, no knowledge, no wisdom there. Solomon judgeth that the dead are asleep, and feel nothing at all. For the dead lie there, accounting neither days nor years, but when they are awaked, they shall seem to have slept scarce one minute.”—Martin Luther, Exposition of Solomon's Booke Called Ecclesiastes, page 152.” GC 549.2
“It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. There is no exception from this. All the reputation gained in this life, all the wealth that can be secured by under-current working will not purchase one moment's peace, one ray of joy. All the medical skill you have obtained from the hand of God, you could not use to cure yourself. Unless you repent, the moment must come when the word will be spoken, He is joined to his idols, let him alone. The advantage that Satan holds before you, he held before Christ. But the word, “It is written,” turned back the tempter.” BCL 120.3
However, as the Bible plainly teaches that this special work [cleansing the sanctuary] takes place only once during probationary time (Heb. 9:26), it follows that the records of those who have died throughout the centuries will be the first to pass in review before God, the Great Judge (Dan. 7:9, 10). After these have been examined, then the examination of the records of the living will begin. And as we are told that there are two classes of people in the church ("wheat" and "tares"--Matt. 13:30), it is evident that the Investigative Judgment ("harvest") of the dead affects only the heavenly sanctuary. This is doubly evident when it is remembered that "the dead know not anything" (Eccles. 9:5) but are lying unconscious while waiting in their graves for the resurrection day. But when the Judgment ("harvest") of the living shall begin, then of necessity the sanctuary on earth will be cleansed from the hypocrites, and the sanctuary in heaven from their names in its records. Both sanctuaries are therefore affected. The cleansing of the earthly is further borne out by Malachi's prophecy:
Wednesday - December 7
Necromancy and Ancestor Worship
1 Samuel 28:3-25
What spiritual lessons against any supposed communication with the dead can be drawn from Saul’s experience with the woman medium at Endor?
“Says the prophet Isaiah: “When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19, 20. If men had been willing to receive the truth so plainly stated in the Scriptures concerning the nature of man and the state of the dead, they would see in the claims and manifestations of spiritualism the working of Satan with power and signs and lying wonders. But rather than yield the liberty so agreeable to the carnal heart, and renounce the sins which they love, multitudes close their eyes to the light and walk straight on, regardless of warnings, while Satan weaves his snares about them, and they become his prey. “Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,” therefore “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11. GC 559.1
“Those who oppose the teachings of spiritualism are assailing, not men alone, but Satan and his angels. They have entered upon a contest against principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places. Satan will not yield one inch of ground except as he is driven back by the power of heavenly messengers. The people of God should be able to meet him, as did our Saviour, with the words: “It is written.” Satan can quote Scripture now as in the days of Christ, and he will pervert its teachings to sustain his delusions. Those who would stand in this time of peril must understand for themselves the testimony of the Scriptures. GC 559.2
“Many will be confronted by the spirits of devils personating beloved relatives or friends and declaring the most dangerous heresies. These visitants will appeal to our tenderest sympathies and will work miracles to sustain their pretensions. We must be prepared to withstand them with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything and that they who thus appear are the spirits of devils.” GC 560.1
Take for example the Revelator’s statement: “…I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God,…and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood?” Rev. 6:9, 10.
The literalist on the one hand, would interpret this scripture to mean that the souls were conscious and actually crying out, though the Bible is very explicit that “the dead know not anything.” Eccles. 9:5...
Thursday - December 8
Personations and other Appearances
2 Corinthians 11: 14, 15; Ephesians 6:10-18
What should be our safeguards against such demonic deceptions?
“The belief in communion with the dead is still held, even in professedly Christian lands. Under the name of spiritualism the practice of communicating with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed has become widespread. It is calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Spiritual beings sometimes appear to persons in the form of their deceased friends, and relate incidents connected with their lives and perform acts which they performed while living. In this way they lead men to believe that their dead friends are angels, hovering over them and communicating with them. Those who thus assume to be the spirits of the departed are regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater weight than the word of God.” PP 684.4
“Modern spiritualism and the forms of ancient witchcraft and idol worship—all having communion with the dead as their vital principle—are founded upon that first lie by which Satan beguiled Eve in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, ... ye shall be as gods.” Genesis 3:4, 5. Alike based upon falsehood and perpetuating the same, they are alike from the father of lies.” PP 685.2
“Nearly all forms of ancient sorcery and witchcraft were founded upon a belief in communion with the dead. Those who practiced the arts of necromancy claimed to have intercourse with departed spirits, and to obtain through them a knowledge of future events. This custom of consulting the dead is referred to in the prophecy of Isaiah: “When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?” Isaiah 8:19.” PP 684.1
Inspiration you see, first tells us how man was created and what he is like, then It asks point-blank: “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” – The only answer that can be given is that no one knows but God. And since He has told us that the body and soul together, not apart, make the soul, then it is plain that a dead man has no soul, that the body returns to dust, and the breath returns to breath, to wind. Moreover, whatever befalls the beast the same befalls the man. They both have one breath, declares Inspiration, and the one has no preeminence above the other.
Friday - December 9
Further Study
The doctrine of consciousness after death, of the spirits of the dead being in communion with the living, has no foundation in the Scriptures, and yet these theories are affirmed as truth. Through this false doctrine the way has been opened for the spirits of devils to deceive the people in representing themselves as the dead. Satanic agencies personate the dead and thus bring souls into captivity. Satan has a religion, he has a synagogue and devout worshipers. To swell the ranks of his devotees, he uses all manner of deception.—Manuscript 92, 1894. Ev 603.1
“He [Satan] sometimes comes in the form of a lovely young person, or of a beautiful shadow. He works cures, and is worshiped by deceived mortals as a benefactor of our race.... Thousands are conversing with, and receiving instructions from, this demon-god, and acting according to his teachings. The world, which is supposed to be benefited so much by phrenology and animal magnetism, never was so corrupt. Satan uses these very things to destroy virtue and lay the foundation of Spiritualism.”—Testimonies For The Church 1:296, 297