A Son of Abraham ...

The Messiah must be a Jew.  This was the promise given to Abraham 2000 years before it would be fulfilled.  Abram (the Canaanite) not many years after the flood (Noah was still living), would search for the true God, and would find Him.  He would have his name changed to Abraham.  He would become the father of a nation, in point of fact, of several.  But through the nation of Israel would come the hope of this world, the Messiah.  So the Messiah must be a Jew.  He must trace His bloodline back through David all the way to Abraham.  His lineage must be preserved (or the records of it anyway) through the captivity in Babylon, and the days of slavery in Egypt.  This would require meticulous record keeping.  It would take a forensic accountant to uncover it, to reveal it, to prove it to those who might bring up a question about it.  This is where the skills of a former tax collector for Rome might now come in useful for something far more important.  And so Matthew enters the scene, and he offers a proof to those he will minister to.

In chapter one, verse 1 states … “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Matthew begins with what Jews will want to know most; is He one of us?  Is His bloodline pure?  For upstanding Jews to accept Jesus they must insure He was not part of the Samaritan ilk.  Jesus must share no gentile blood, no mix of Egypt, or Babylon.  He must be of pure blood, like themselves.  This was important to Jews.  But why?  The location of the land given to the Jewish people was central to the largest population base after the flood.  Only small numbers of native peoples migrated to the far ends of the world.  The bulk of peoples migrated much nearer and grew up as neighbors with each other.  To reach the most of them, the location of the people of Israel would play a central role.  The entire pick was designed not to seal the gospel or good news of a God who loves mankind, behind the walls of a pure bloodline religion.  It was picked in order to make sure every traveler from every land could know it.  Purity of blood was not supposed to equate with hoarding the good news of God.

But it did.  And in our day, we erect similar walls of purity for our church to hide behind.  Some erect the walls of doctrinal differences, and claim all those on the outside of what we believe, are simply not right with God.  To maintain purity, we must hide behind our walls, never venturing out to touch our brother, lest the purity of our ideas be tarnished.  In our day, some elect the walls of socio-economic status.  We fellowship only with those of like income, like interests, and like health.  We do not wish to be seen with the sick, the imprisoned or guilty, and those who cannot afford the lifestyles we have been blessed to receive.  We like our Jewish forefathers believe that poverty is a sign of God’s displeasure.  So mankind erects barriers for the gospel to hide behind, to keep it pure.

Matthew continues in verse 2 saying … “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;”  This was the holy beginnings of the Jewish people.  Isaac and Jacob are nearly always mentioned in the same breath as Abraham himself.  And Judah would be one of only two tribes who remained pure after the other ten separated past Solomon the son of David’s rule.  The other ten would become Samaritans.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; [verse 4] And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; [verse 5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;”  From Judah, the generations are tracked through the slavery of Egypt, the Exodus, and the time of the Judges down to David’s father Jesse.  But alas, the bloodline now includes a few women of significantly less pure blood.  The harlot Rachab from the wall of Jericho is listed.  The daughter Ruth a Moabite is also included in the list.  Proof that our God includes those who seek His face, not just those who were supposed to be born to it.  Proof that starting life as a prostitute does mean one must end their life in the same condition.

 Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; [verse 7] And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; [verse 8] And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; [verse 9] And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; [verse 10] And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; [verse 11] And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:”  Matthew calls out again for us that the wife of Urias is included in the bloodline of Jesus.  Great sin does not end our life, if great redemption is sought.  He carries through the names until the time of the captivity in Babylon is reached.

Matthew continues in verse 12 stating … “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; [verse 13] And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; [verse 14] And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; [verse 15] And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; [verse 16] And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”  It is here where the fallacy in Jewish logic is revealed.  The bloodline of Joseph is traced and recorded, but Joseph will have no participation in the bloodline of Jesus, only Mary will do that.  Mary too, was from the house of David, and to be perfectly accurate it is her ancestry that should have been tracked.  But Jews will not accept the dominance of a female in the lineage.  So they accept Jesus based on the lineage of Joseph the husband of Mary, the adopted father.

Matthew then notices the symmetry of the numbers recounting the generations in verse 17 saying … “ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”  14 times 3 or 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.  42 generations to span around 2000 years of our history.  The work of the forensic account was complete.  The purity of the bloodline of Jesus was enumerated, not just to apply a list of names of father to son; but to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, to Ruth, to David, to Solomon.  Many of the generations that precede the birth of Jesus have been promised to participate in it through their descendants.  This is not just a single generation affair, it spans the millennia.  Fulfillment has already begun.

The Messiah must be a Jew.  The Messiah is.  For any who had a question about His lineage, Matthew has singlehandedly put their fears or doubts to rest.  But why?  Does the fact that I descend from someone great make me great?  We would all like to think so.  But the deeds of David belong to David, not to his son, or to me.  The faith of Abraham belongs to Abraham not to me.  I did not offer my firstborn as a sacrifice to our Lord at His command.  I can barely get out of bed to honor the Lord I serve.  Hardly seems like the faith of Abraham in comparison.  But the comparisons hardly end there.  How many of us look back to our church fathers, the founders of our faith, at the great deeds they have done and take some sort of pride in them, as if we participated in those acts as well?  We didn’t. 

The church founders who accomplished so great deeds of faith and study belong to them not me.  Just because I subscribe to the same set of doctrines they discovered does not make me some sort of pioneer.  At best it makes me a plagiarist.  Because I hold similar beliefs does mean I have had to tread the road of faith and personal discovery with Jesus that they did.  My road is my own.  What I do, what I will be remembered for (if I am remembered at all) will be what I have offered to the world.  The purity of my heritage means nothing without an execution of greatness from me as well.  Our Jewish forefathers, who held to the right religion before we did, who held the right scriptures we still read and base our thinking upon; they had an advantage of birthright, but without action decay into history without so much as an afterthought.

We can call ourselves a son or daughter of God because of what Jesus Christ did for us.  But in so referring to ourselves, do we rightly represent the Father we claim lineage to?  Do we too, burn with a passion for loving others?  Not just the easy folks to love, like family, church members, and co-workers (and I understand easy is relative), but to love strangers, and enemies, and people with different political beliefs that horrifically conflict with our own.  Loving others gets tricky sometimes.  Am I willing to give up everything I have for someone I hardly know, or hardly like, or can’t stand?  Jesus did.  Jesus did not think twice about it.  It is not the bloodline that distinguishes the life of Christ, it is what He did with His own while He was here.  It is that He loved people who called themselves His enemies.  He loved the guy who spit in His face.  He loved the guy who put a nail through His hands and feet.  He loved the religious leader who had ALL the doctrine completely wrong and lived like a complete hypocrite.  And He loves me, even with all the crap that makes up my life.  His life is remembered, because when you think of Him, you cannot hardly stop talking about how much He loved.

When we think of ourselves as a son or daughter of God, is the first description of what that means, a passionate way of loving that takes over how we live.  If so, you are destined to be remembered.  It may be the only measurement of a life worth taking.  Matthew had a lot more to say about that …

 

Raving Lunatics & Ancestry ...

Does anyone else have that “crazy” uncle or aunt, or distant relation, who is certainly the life of the party; at least from the police department’s view as they are often called to keep the noise down?  Many of us have this relation in our family tree, the person who can begin a rant on a moment’s notice.  The person who believes the neighbors, and the nation, have slept long enough.  The relative who thinks we should all “cry out” until the authorities listen.  The family member who is a one-man or one-woman parade, even without the benefit of intoxication, ready to “march” down there and set a few things straight.  The chilling thought is the DNA proximity.  It makes us wonder, if this raving-lunatic-gene could inhabit our DNA, just lurking for age or environment to coax it out of us.  Could we be the raving lunatic in waiting?  And what if this gene exists in our family tree up the line a bit, just beyond our sight.  Could a distant ancestor have passed this characteristic down, maybe repeating it several times, till it reaches the poor family victim we know about today.

“Lunacy” is certainly in the eye of the beholder.  And the surest way to get a lunatic to become louder is to attempt to silence them, or ask them to be quiet.  It would seem, that one sign our so far dormant lunatic gene still lurks within us; is if we believe our opinions must not be kept quiet or to ourselves.  If we feel the burning need to share our opinions, with others, even if they did not ask, or do not want them, then perhaps the gene is no longer dormant, and we are the family member others worry about at family gatherings.  But sometimes, what others see as lunacy, might actually be genius in disguise.  Sometimes the delta between lunacy and inspiration is too close to measure.  On those occasions, do we let popular opinion silence the inspiration, or do we cling to what must be said, and what must be heard.  Is it worth the perception of being seen as a lunatic, if it is the Spirit that truly motivates us, and not the random conspiracy theories we invent on the fly?

There was a man in Peter’s recollection of the Gospel who faced just this dilemma.  He was not the life of the party to that point in time.  Rather, he was a beggar who sat quietly outside of Jericho, incapacitated by his blindness.  Through his life, he had never seen, so he wandered in absolute darkness.  The sun would press heat upon his skin at noontime, but this heat came in the darkest of night for him.  It was heat and blackness.  At night the cool breeze pressed cold upon his skin, but it did not come with gentle starlight and the spotlight of the moon.  It was cold and blackness.  He spent his life, where his friends had taken him, along the highway that people must pass to enter and exit the city.  This was his life.  Quietly, humbly, asking for wages he could not earn.  His pride broken, by years of repetition, of asking money from strangers.  His heart broken, by the so often cold response he received in return.  Most of them, wondering out loud, what sin he had committed to reduce him to this state.  This was his life.

But while blindness had stopped his eyes, his hearing still functioned.  As he sat in darkness, he heard the passers by talking about Jesus of Nazareth.  He had heard the stories about his miraculous birth in the city of Bethlehem, his flight to Egypt, his teaching at the temple at 12, his baptism by John.  He had heard about Jesus healing all manner of illness, deformity, and even possession.  So perhaps if it were sin, that kept this blind man blind, with Jesus, this too might be swept away.  Other Israelites debated whether Jesus was the real Messiah.  They reasoned that since Jesus had not taken up the sword against the Romans, perhaps He was not the one.  But the blind man saw in his darkness what others did not see.  Jesus had taken up the sword against evil, against slavery to sin, against the enemy of souls.  Only the Messiah could ever do that.  Temporal victory would never be greater or more needed than spiritual victory.  So he sat, he waited, and he learned.

As the days passed, one after another, the blind man sat, asking less often for money, and listening as attentively as he could … to stories, to miracles, to hope.  This where we find him, as Peter relays his life to John Mark in chapter ten, picking up in verse 46 saying … “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.”  A procession was beginning this was to be the start of something great, of something Israel had not seen since David had moved the ark to its final resting place.  But Bartimaeus did not know this.  He was only in the middle of his day, in the middle of his routine.  He sat begging.  Something was different on this day though, Bartimaeus could feel it.  The chills upon his skin were not from the heat, or from the cold, but from something that transcended them both.

John Mark continues in verse 47 saying … “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”  When Bartimaeus heard his wildest hopes confirmed, he knew the chills upon his skin were from the Spirit’s influence.  Though he sat in darkness he began to proclaim the great Light that had arisen this day.  Bartimaeus the beggar had for the moment become Bartimaeus the prophet.  The words he spoke to Jesus were not just a plea for healing, they were a recognition of His lineage from the house of David.  This tie to David was the biggest link to revealing that Jesus was indeed the true Messiah.  Israel must hear him.  Jesus must hear him.  But he did not know how far away Jesus might be, so his words must be clear, and loud.

Mark continues in verse 48 saying … “And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”  His friends and family began trying to shut him up.  They did not want to be embarrassed by this obviously destitute man screaming in the streets.  They had never heard him behave like this.  His words were clear, confident, assertive, and loud.  He was not just speaking, he was testifying.  What is more, his words are worth further examination.  His cry was now beyond a request to heal his infirmed body, but to wipe away his sins, from the Mercy only “thou Son of David” could do.  He wanted to see, but wanted to see himself forgiven and set free as well.  Instead of complying with his family and friends to quiet down, the Spirit had moved him to speak louder, and to ask for more.

John Mark continues in verse 49 saying … “And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.”  His cries had been heard, but the significance of what was occurring was lost on him.  Jesus had stood still.  The procession had been halted.  This procession as we will later read and find out, was the great procession of the Messiah into Jerusalem, where the praise of an entire nation would greet our Lord.  It was the one time, He would accept our praise openly, and not ask for quiet.  It would fulfill prophecy.  Yet for the moment, it had been halted.  Because the cries of Bartimaeus and his needs had been heard.  Our God is the God of the Universe.  He has important work to do.  He has prophecies to fulfill.  But He will stand still to hear what you have to say, and meet your needs even if it delays His for the moment.

Peter continues his recollection in verse 50 saying … “And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.”  In full cold chills running from head to toe now, Bartimaeus emulates king David before him, and casts off his garment.  He will meet His Lord in absolute humility as David did and danced before the ark so many years before.  It was Israel who did not comprehend this significance on this day, but Jesus did, for it was He who sat on the Mercy seat of that same ark and witnessed David’s dance all those years ago.

John Mark continues in verse 51 saying … “And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.”  Again the words of Jesus should give us pause.  Our God asks Bartimaeus, just as He asks us in every prayer we pray, and every church service we attend … what will you have me do unto you?  This is not constricted to our pressing physical needs.  And our request could be so much bigger than that.  But Bartimaeus has been blind forever, and he wished more than anything to see His Lord.  Even if only short lived that sight would be one for the ages.  So Bartimaeus asks only for his sight.

Mark continues in verse 52 saying … “And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”  Jesus heals him.  Then Jesus offers him a test.  His faith has made him whole, he will see immediately.  He has waited a lifetime for this.  Perhaps he has many things he needs to do.  Perhaps he wants to see his parents or other family members to celebrate what Christ has done for him.  Perhaps he has money to earn, or people to feed.  You know, all the excuses we make, when Christ has done something for us, and we rush away to do … those things we believe we need to do.  Not him.  Not Bartimaeus.  He joins the procession.  Whatever else he may believe he has to do, or wants to celebrate.  Bartimaeus will wait until he is done following His Lord.

If instead of leaving our Lord, after He works miracles on our behalf, we stayed with Him – perhaps we too could become part of the procession.  Perhaps we could become part of something historic, if we were willing to postpone our plans, and seek to follow Him becoming part of His plans.  Our celebrations can wait.  Our responsibilities can wait.  Our loved ones can wait.  Our opportunities to follow are often the things that cannot wait or be delayed, they are time sensitive from Jesus’ perspective.  We are not lost because we do not pursue them, but we lose the privilege of helping save others because we miss out, we are not there, we are too busy doing our thing, instead of following to do His thing.

Bartimaeus spoke out like a crazy man.  He was prophesying even though he was not a prophet up to then.  But he allowed the Spirit to use him, and through him was the formal identification of the Son of David.  Through the symbolism he employed, he reminded Israel of David’s humility before the Mercy seat on the ark.  The same Mercy seat on which Christ sat invisible to our eyes, He was now fully visible to all eyes.  Bartimaeus reminded us of petition in humility casting away his pride in his garment, and revealing who he was to all who could see.  David had done that too.  There was not erotic intentions or thoughts in these gestures, only to be vulnerable to God in front of all of Israel.  Bartimaeus could have been “put away” for his behavior, but instead he became part of the greatest procession in the history of Israel.  What might we witness, if we put away our pride, and cried out as the Spirit leads, even if we look like a lunatic in the process?

 

Modern Prophets ...

How do you sort out the nuts?  In the last days your young men will dream dreams, and your old men will prophesy.  Scripture foretells that the supernatural will increase before the Lord returns.  Many believe that a “latter rain” will fall before time ends, where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will combat the forces of Satan in attempt to turn the hearts of men to the true God.  All of these beliefs predict that there will be forces of the supernatural at work in our world, both for good, and for evil.  Even using the Bible as the basis for truth, there are those who claim the Bible and yet still prophesy of things and events that seem bent on destruction or greed.  So how do you sort out those who are “touched” by God from those who are simply “touched”?

Scripture gives us several criterion to use when evaluating the counsel of those who believe they commune with something larger than themselves.  First … “to the law, and to the testimonies, if they speak not according to these, there is no light in them.”  Those who would claim that a divine Spirit has revealed truth outside of the Bible, or to disregard scripture in favor of the supernatural, are in error.  God does not contradict Himself.  God could not logically claim to be both the inspiration and protector of the Bible, and also claim that He has revealed the “real” truth only to another individual.  The logical exclusion would prevent Him from being God.  This is not about how one interprets scriptures, this is about disregarding them entirely.  Those who would reject the Bible in favor of the supernatural forsake truth and follow only the ways of deceit.  Their conclusions can only be based in error and we should take care to disregard them accordingly.

Scripture also declare who God is; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Those who would claim parity or equality with God, or would claim that the “true” Messiah is themselves, are also in error.  It is rumored that Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Reverend Moon all claimed parity with God or Christ.  It is possible these claims are exaggerations of the media; however all seem to demand total servitude in order that enlightenment be achieved.  Christ Himself stated false Christ’s would appear in the deserts or in the secret places.  He warned us to avoid them, as when He returns every eye would see Him.  Those charismatic individuals who take their spiritual zeal and morph it into cult like allegiance do themselves and their followers a disservice.  Though He worked many miracles beyond explanation during His ministry, Christ always pointed His followers to His Father.  He was a constant servant, not looking to be served, but to serve others in all things.  Most of the spiritual guru’s of today are all too happy to garner attention and devotion, pointing to no other but themselves as the way of salvation.  In this they blaspheme the ministry of Christ, and point out the error in their teachings.

Scripture tells us to examine their “works” or their “fruits” to see what they yield.  If the results of their counsel increases love, peace, hope, faith, and service to others – it is far more likely to be from God, than if it results in greed, ambition, fame, or destruction.  God does not spend His supernatural energies in the destruction of mankind, but rather in its salvation.  The devil predicts doom and destruction.  The Lord always predicts a way of escape with any impending doom.  Noah preached for 120 years before the flood.  Sodom and Gomorrah were visited in person before their destruction, and Lot was spared.  Israel was warned repeatedly that destruction would follow disobedience, these warnings reached fulfillment when they forsook following God in favor of temple orgies and casting male babies into the fires of Moloch.  At that point invasion always followed until repentance was sought.  When a “prophet” preaches only of doom, and never of salvation, their inspiration is from the one who deals only in doom and never in salvation.

Scripture also tells us … “that God is no respecter of persons”.  This means while we tend to make distinctions between ourselves, God sees us all as His children; each of equal value and equal importance.  We make false distinctions between rich and poor, male and female, young and old, royal and common.  God sees none of these.  He has used Samuel at age 7, and Christ and age 12.  He has used Noah at age 400, and Abraham at 100.  He has used Miriam to prophesy along with her brothers Moses and Aaron.  He revealed His plans for the world to Pharaoh, and to Nebuchadnezzar despite that neither of these people were servants of the Most High.  Servants of God have only humility in common.  They have only willingness to serve in common.  They come from every walk of life, from every background; from the Messiah born in a stable, to Solomon born to a King; from a slave girl called Miriam, to a Hebrew raised in Egyptian royalty.  Truly the Lord does not draw the distinctions that so often prejudice our willingness to listen.  We prefer to listen to Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, than to listen to the six year old in Kindergarten, or the homeless man on the corner.

Scripture also gives us countless examples of the imperfections of our Lord’s servants.  None of the Biblical authors were perfect, or led perfect lives.  Christ alone was without blemish.  God does not demand or expect perfection from those who speak His truths.  Instead He asks for willingness to serve and humility to speak His truths and not our own.  Often the messages are unpopular and put the very lives and wellbeing of His servants in jeopardy.  He does not make them speak unpopular truths for the sake of being different or unpopular, but only to reveal error, and redeem unto salvation.  Elijah’s prophecies of drought for 3 years made him public enemy number one to the wicked king Ahab.  But it was not the Lord’s intent to simply stop the rain, but rather to turn the hearts of the people back to the source of all blessings.  Daniels interpretations of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams that foretold the end of his kingdom no matter how glorious did not sit well with the monarch, who sent him away and built a 90 foot statue of solid gold in defiance of the words of God.  Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams of feast and famine could well have resulted in his head on a pike, particularly since he would not bow to the “son of Ra” on earth.  But all spoke in an effort to save, despite their own character flaws, sins, and imperfections.  We must learn from the Bible to separate the truth of the message from the expectation of perfection in the instrument of delivery.

Our tendency when presented with truths from God that we do not relish is to find a way to disregard them.  In this we are no different than any of the kings, or peoples of the past, that also tried to find a way to ignore unpopular truths.  We tend to focus first on the person delivering the message.  Can we criticize them for some sort of hypocrisy?  Can we catch them in public sin?  Is there something in their past we can use against them, claiming perhaps it is still a part of their present.  We may not like their age, their gender, their socio-economic standing, their lack of education, their sexual preference – any imperfection we can find to use to disregard the message they are willing to bring.  But to eliminate all messages that do not come from people who we believe are imperfect, is to eliminate all truth and scripture itself.  God has only sinners available to Him to speak His truths.  There are none of us perfect instruments for him to use.  We are ALL broken and dysfunctional.

It is a testament to the love and grace of God, that He uses us in His service in spite of our weaknesses and failures.  Out of the mouth of a murderer came the blessed words of the Torah.  Out of the mouth of an adulterer, serial womanizer, and murderer came the Psalms of praise to our God.  Out of the mouth of a man controlled by his baser sexual passions came the wisest proverbs ever penned by man.  Out of the mouth of a traiter who betrayed his nation for the sake of greed came the account of the gospel of Christ.  Out of the mouth of a religious zealot who used his zeal to kill those who followed our Savior came the most wonderful letters of the love and salvation of the Christ he used to condemn.  Out God is able to use imperfect people to work wonders that live well beyond the scope of their lives.  How many have read the letters of Paul and come to know the Christ of our salvation in the perfect love he describes for the last 2000+ years?  How many have read the words of Moses in the Torah and have learned of the great miracles of salvation God did for His people even before the Messiah entered the world?  How many have read David and Solomon and learned wisdom in the study of our God?  All these men are long dead, but their work of redemption lives on.

One should not disregard truth because it is misused by others.  People seeking greed and control over others have long used the Bible in an effort to gain control over the lives of those they wish to dominate.  It does not make the Bible less true, because someone misuses it.  It only means the devil seeks to exert control by misusing the very love letter God penned to the world to show them redemption.  A young woman named Ellen White has also been misused by those within the Seventh Day Adventist church as a tool of condemnation rather than a tool of redemption.  Counsel given to provide context, or to avoid pain, has been turned into ruthless condemnation by those seeking only to exalt themselves above others.  They do not use her works to redeem only to beat into submission those with opposing ideas, generally when those ideas are steeped in love and liberality.  It makes her counsel of no less value, it is only a repeat of how the devil attacks anything that might lead man to redemption or discovery of the one true God.  The devil seeks to turn words of love and hope into a tools of condemnation  and reproach.  It is an old technique that he will continue to use.  But it does not diminish the truth of the love of God as revealed by His servants willing to serve.

Atheists demand prove they will never choose to accept.  Yet scripture foretells that the incidents of the supernatural are to increase as time grows short.  Things that cannot be explained in normal or scientific terms are destined to become more prevalent in our world.  Perhaps God waits for a people who will not seek the fame of these miracles, but like Christ seek to steadfastly avoid it.  But in any case as time grows short, the nut-balls will be crawling out of the woodwork.  The devil will counter truth with a plethora of mixed lies, and alternate explanations.  He will try to drown the truth in the noise of the day, supplanting the plain truth of God, with the convoluted lies that feed the egos of men.  His attacks will be relentless, but God will not have his truth or His words drowned out.  The world is destined to hear the final warnings and calls to redemption.  God would not have us ignorant of His plans or His love.  Miracles will happen.  They will occur on a wider and wider scale.  Let us be judicious in sorting the nuts, but also humble to accept truth without demanding perfection in the person who delivers it.  Let us not let our prejudices deny our ears.  But rather let us absorb His truths and integrate them into our lives, as we did with Moses, David, Matthew, and Paul.  There is much God may yet have to say to our world as its time grows short.