Is there any greater example of humility by a sinful man than that of John the Baptist? John was the whose who of preachers in his day. Since religion played such a large role in their society, he was perhaps the most famous and respected figure of his time. And then it all vanished. Within a short time he lost his crowds, his freedom and his head. And the sacred record gives no evidence of any jealousy or envy on his part.

I see two big lessons in this chapter. One is a general lesson and the other is a specific lesson. Issue one: Do not envy what God has given to others. Issue two: Do not idolize a person.

• Do not envy what God has given to others

On page 181 Sister White wrote, "We can recieve of heaven's light only as we are willing to be emptied of self. We cannot discern the charachter of God, or accept Christ by faith, unless we consent to the bringing into captivity of every thought to obedience of Christ. [emphasis added]

Self is our greatest problem. When we envy others we often start rumors or criticise them for their job. In the church, we may be envious of a position someone else holds that we would want for ourselves. Perhaps we wanted to teach a Sabbath school class, lead Pathfinders or be an elder. Since we didn't get our way we criticise those that got the position we hoped for. Sister White comments, "We also, while loyal to truth, should avoid all that may lead to discord and misapprehension."

• Do not idolize a person.

On page 182 it says, "But, like John's disciples, many feel that the success of the work depends on the first laborer"

Many can quickly confess that they, or others they have known, have idolized Ellen White. However many preachers and elders are also idolized. Many of the denomination's well-known have like HMS Richards, George Vandeman, Joe Crews, Doug Batchelor, John Carter, Mark Finely, Morris Venden and others are made into idols.

Had JTB suffered from pride, he would have disqualified himself from introducing the Messiah to Israel. His solitary life in desolate places, unencumbered with the desire for wealth and possessions, offered some protection from the Selfish Beast that lurks within most, if not all, of us.

When someone crosses the line, carelessly or deliberately stepping on our pride, the Beast Within suddenly arises. Fire like blowtorches blasts from our eyes, searing our victims, knocking them against the wall or onto the floor. Then the Beast Within emerges as we open our mouths.

Looking very much like the nasty Alien creatures in the Alien movies, with multiple jaws and slime dripping from its many teeth, the head of the Beast of Selfishness darts out of our mouths and bites the head off of our hapless victim, already nearly burned to a crisp by our fiery glare. If our victim is just a small child, the Beast Within swallows them whole, devouring them in an instant, destroying their tender spirits.

After it's finished with its meal, the Monster of Selfishness returns back inside of us, waiting for the next provocation so it can unleash its slimy jaws and feed on another victim.

The only cure for the Beast Within Us All is to get down on our hands and knees and cry out to God to take it away. We have to follow our plea up with action. We have to actively resist pride and selfishness by becoming humble and selfless. Then, instead of fire blasting from our eyes, people will see a most beautiful light that will draw them to us as friends.

JTB had the seeds of the Beast Within, but it never grew because he was so close to God. I like Nicodemus, even though he was so indecisive for several years, but John the Baptist, I love and respect, and wish I were more like him.

Pride was indeed the original sin, the Love of Self, created by Satan, later morphing into a wide-ranging, highly adaptable, deadly virus, the Virus of Evil. Once infected, we embrace pride and selfishness, diseases and perversions, destruction and death.

"For the Love of Self is the Root of all Evil."

JTB was protected from the Virus by his solitary and austere life. Neither did he sit at the feet of the important religious leaders for his education, trusting to their way of thinking as truth. This also would have disqualified him from his mission. Nature and the Spirit of God were his only teachers.

Neither should we sit at the feet of our religious leaders, trusting their every word as truth. We, like JTB, must study the Bible carefully, learning its truths firsthand, not secondhand in the pews. None of the preachers listed in the first post above will likely be around to help you defend your faith and beliefs in court, if it ever comes to that. They may even value their hides too much to risk them for religion. Trust the Bible and the Spirit of God, be wary of men.

The greatest of those entering the Kingdom of God aren't those whose faces we see in the media. We seldom hear of the true giants of faith because they're among the little people, those who are far away from the spotlight, those who brighten dark places with the beautiful light coming from their eyes.

I like your description of the selfishness beast, AS. I've often thought I should hang a sign around my neck reading, "Please don't tease the demon!" Anyway you are right, the only thing we can do is acknowledge it in ourselves and cry out to God for help, both to recognize when it is rearing its head as well as for strength from Heaven to train our minds in the proper channels to which the Holy Spirit prompts us. Often that takes time, effort and faith, because we don't see clearly in those moments; instead we only see the defensive need of self to protect itself. We must rely in faith upon remembering what is the counsel of God, and obeying it in trust toward Him. Then later, after we have acted in faith, He often grants us the sight we need to see the wisdom in the course He chose for us at that moment -- much like children indeed, who only see the sense in Mom or Dad's guidance after their experience has shown them either the benefit of obedience or the perils of disobedience, depending upon their choice of course. No wonder Jesus says that we must become like little children. It's all about the Trust.

Hopefully that makes some sense?

Hopefully learning to trust Him ...

I like that.

Maybe suppressing pride is like de-activating our fight-or-flight reflex. When our high opinion of ourselves is challenged, we feel threatened and instinctively respond in the fof mode.

We can't live in harmony with anyone as long as we entertain our delusions of grandeur and power and intelligence and the need to make others smaller or stupid in comparison to ourselves.

Unfortunately, children can be little tyrant dictators, unhappy when their demands, unreasonable or not, are not met immediately. Maybe it's the willing obedience to authority and the acceptance of knowledge that is so important for humans to enter the Kingdom as children.

Here, in the smallest of chapters, lies one of the most important concepts of all Christianity.

We cannot understand God or even really accept Christ unless we bring every thought under control in obedience to Him. Unless we discard our selfish, polluted little selves, becoming instead servants of God to humanity, we're living a lie, a religious sham, and we dishonor Him by our failures. Only those who work at changing and purifying themselves can receive the Holy Spirit. Only those who exert a 100% effort will qualify for entrance into the Kingdom of the Future.

We can stand up in church in front of a microphone and say that We Love Jesus and Praise the Lord, but it's a lie if we causing harm to anyone by our self-centeredness or greed or anger, or pride, etc. We may fool some people into thinking we're good Christians, but there are others out there who are not fooled, because they have seen the real, polluted us.

We can redirect our thoughts from time-wasting earthly activities and things by carefully reading the Bible. The Spirit of God will open our minds and give us understanding of what we should do.

Like Elijah (Elee-Yah'), John's mission was to turn the people of Israel (Yiss-raw-ale') back to God. If we look at Elijah's unexpected departure, we might guess that John the Baptist (Yo-annace Baptistace) would also leave after accomplishing his mission.

JTB's mission was, of course, to prepare a people for the Messiah (Maw-shee'-akh). His parents often repeated the words of the angel Gabriel (Gahbree-El') to him when he was young. They kept his mission before him, and he willingly accepted it.

His mission was to turn the people away from evil thoughts and practices, and once that was done, they could understand and receive the teachings of Jesus (Yah-Zeus')(Yeshua) much more easily.

There's no room for a half-hearted commitment. We must repent of everything we've done wrong. We must control our selfish desires, our lusts, our appetite, etc. in order to find a place in the Kingdom. We can't afford to fall short, but when we do, we must pick ourselves up, ask forgiveness, and continue on the path.

Like JTB, we will need to close the doors to temptation. Maybe that will mean stop going to movies or throwing a brick through the TV or getting rid of explicit novels, any number of things that distract us from our mission. And we do have a mission, no less important than any prophet's. We must first work to purify ourselves so we can receive the Spirit of God. Then we must show/teach/encourage others to do the same. That was Elijah's, mission, JTB's mission, Jesus' mission, and so it is our mission.

Getting baptized and going to church is worthless unless we can fulfill our mission in doing so.

By calling attention to the sins of the people, prophets tend to have shorter than average life spans. JTB was no exception. It makes me cry that people can be so mean to each other. Decapitation, I suppose, is better than rotting in a stinking dungeon for many, many years.

John, I'm sure, was encouraged that his mission was successful. He knew Jesus would have to become the leader of the new movement. John had the privilege of being one of founding fathers of this movement. In the life-cycle of churches, the Jewish System was in its death-throes and had to be replaced.

So too, someday the SDA church will grow old and gasp its last breath and be replaced by something new and exciting, unencumbered by bureaucracy and the same old stuff, week after week after week. The members of this new movement will have the same power and mission of both Elijah and JTB. They will prepare the way, making a people ready to meet Jesus in all his splendor.

I look forward to the day when our young people will turn away from our corrupt institutional religion and begin something new and more powerful. The old seat-warmers may shake their heads or complain when they see their churches shrinking, much like the synagogues emptied when JTB and Jesus began their new, grass-roots movement, bypassing the rigid, self-important bureaucracy.

That day will be the re-birth of Adventism, an adventure no less exciting than when the SDA Church was first founded by the pioneers.

I'm ashamed of myself for sitting around so long that heavy metals have collected in my backside. I can barely walk, much less run, figuratively speaking. It is less of a problem since I've begun Bible study and carefully reading DA. At least I can pick myself now up when I land on my backside. For many years I just laid there, unable to get up.

The Scriptures can suck out the toxins we have poisoned ourselves with, but we have to read and remember them so we can help others get de-toxified.