Ezekiel's Appeal

[Guest]

Ezekiel lived in a time of apostasy and backsliding, and God gave a special message to him for Israel. "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me." (33:7) "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (33:11)

This is not just God's appeal to His rebellious chosen people in Ezekiel's time; it is His appeal to His rebellious chosen people today. God is saying, "Please turn back before it is forever too late. why do you insist on dying, O house of Adventism?" Can we really be faithful Adventists and ignore this question? Part of our responsibility as church members is to help heal our church so that it can fulfill both its primary and secondary missions. Sometimes the surgeon's knife is painful and the healing process is difficult, but our gracious God is the Master Physician.

Right now there are some carefully laid traps by which Satan is trying to subvert this process of healing. One trap is a compromised gospel, a gospel which says that since

Jesus did everything that was necessary, all we need to do is believe and the rest is taken care of. Then we have the absolute assurance of salvation. This gospel has been coming into Adventism for the past thirty years and has been gaining great strength in the past ten years. It is a gospel which gives false assurance of salvation, because it promises that we can be saved while still sinning. It teaches that we can ignore our little sins--our besetting sins--because Jesus loves us unconditionally. As long as we continue to believe in Him as our Saviour, we continue to be in a saving relationship with Him, regardless of our continued sinning. This trap may cause the loss of more sincere Adventists than any of Satan's other traps.

Another trap laid by Satan is the trap of humanism and cultural priorities. Here we determine what is right and wrong by the best human thinking available. We take surveys and determine what should be done based on these surveys. We ask for the best scholarly research and the best logic, while we set aside inspired counsel as outdated, in need of cultural reinterpretation.

Another trap is having a critical spirit. Some see clearly the problems in the church and spend their entire time exposing and delineating the sins of the church. Satan leads these individuals to become negative about everything they see.

Then there is the most subtle of all Satan's traps--the moderate trap. We all want to be balanced; we want to avoid the extremes on both sides. We realize that there are some problems in the church, but we hear about all the souls being won, and we conclude that things must probably be headed in the right way. With all our progress and growth, things can't be too bad, can they? The problems must be someone else's problems, so we can safely ignore them. Even though our schools and hospitals are having difficulties, we'll just keep our mouths shut--it's safer that way. When strange music and worship styles come into our churches, we will make the best of it. Yes, it is very tempting to stay out of the fire so that we will not get burned.

But is this silence in harmony with Ezekiel's appeal? Are we faithful watchmen if we remain silent while the enemy climbs over the walls? Or will we do what we can to save and heal our church? We cannot have a unique Adventist witness without a unique Adventist message. The gospel of Adventism is different from the gospel of contemporary Christianity. Will we let that gospel die? Our understanding of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is totally unique. Will we let it die by our silence? Our understanding of the relationship between law and grace is unique. Even our understanding of health reform is unique, because we do not live healthfully to avoid disease or to live longer, but to allow God to fully sanctify the soul.

We need to uphold the highest lifestyle standards, so that God has a chance to win the battle for our minds.

We have a unique understanding of a modern-day prophet, in which God speaks with just as much authority as He did in Paul's day.

Are we willing to be Seventh-day Adventists today? Are we willing to prepare the way for the final vindication of the character of God? Are we willing to live in the house behind the picket fence? The price is high, but the reward is beyond anything we can imagine.

"If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" (Jeremiah 12:5)

Today we are in the land of peace and we are running with the footmen. Ahead of us are the horses and the swelling Jordan.

This is our preparation time, the time to strengthen our characters. If the church militant is ever going to be the church triumphant, then we must get serious about the name Seventh-day Adventist. We must know who we are and why we exist. We must get our primary mission and our secondary mission straight, so that our efforts can be blessed by God.

Let us pray together that the hard ground of our hearts may be broken up, so that the refreshing early rain may lead to the powerful latter rain. And above all, let us pray that this generation of Seventh-day Adventists will be the last generation to live on a sin-cursed earth.

Dennis Priebe

http://www.dennispriebe.com/new/node/7

[Gibs]

Dennis Priebe is one of the best of which in the corporate SDA church today there is but a very few.

What I'm wondering is, how many in todays SDA church are with men like D.Priebe, Kenny Shelton, D. Batchelor, W. Veith?

Is it not the very few who are standing with them?

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

1Jo 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

1Jo 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

[Naomi]

Amen & Amen!!!

Thank you Richard for sharing this; it definitely tells us what time it is!

[Guest]

My pleasure Naomi.

[Guest]

Another trap is having a critical spirit. Some see clearly the problems in the church and spend their entire time exposing and delineating the sins of the church. Satan leads these individuals to become negative about everything they see.

I have fallen into this trap before.

[Gail]

Who hasn't been guilty of it? And yet we are instructed to live in the light, not surround ourselves with negative, or even reinforce negative with the words we utter.

[Gail]

This may apply to the topic of conspiracy theories, too. Why should we spend our energy focusing on evil instead of good?

[Gerr]

Originally Posted By: Dennis Priebe

Another trap is having a critical spirit. Some see clearly the problems in the church and spend their entire time exposing and delineating the sins of the church. Satan leads these individuals to become negative about everything they see.

I have fallen into this trap before.

We may have fallen into the other side of the trap as well. How many of us have the courage to confront evil in the church these days? I don't. I can't recall a single Bible prophet who had smooth things to say about his contemporary society. Nathan had to confront David with - "You are the man!" John the Baptist told Herod it was not lawfaul for him to take his brother's wife. Jesus had to say, "Woe to you Scribes & Pharisees...." It seems like those who point out sin these days are labeled as critical and judgmental, or fruit inspectors. So nobody speaks out so and anything goes!

[Guest]

That sounds like it could be this one:

Then there is the most subtle of all Satan's traps--the moderate trap. We all want to be balanced; we want to avoid the extremes on both sides. We realize that there are some problems in the church, but we hear about all the souls being won, and we conclude that things must probably be headed in the right way. With all our progress and growth, things can't be too bad, can they? The problems must be someone else's problems, so we can safely ignore them. Even though our schools and hospitals are having difficulties, we'll just keep our mouths shut--it's safer that way. When strange music and worship styles come into our churches, we will make the best of it. Yes, it is very tempting to stay out of the fire so that we will not get burned.