Quarterly Commentaries
Dear Christian Friend: Have you ever attended a church Bible Study class, only to be frustrated that the lesson is reviewing the 27, now 28 fundamental beliefs? Have you desired more out of the Bible than elementary principles of our faith? Have you wanted to learn the prophecies from Isaiah through Malachi, and especially have a clear knowledge of the message contained in the so-called “minor prophets”? If your answer is, “yes” and that’s what our church is studying right now through the Adult Sabbath School Lessons, then you might be in for a disappointment. I believe in general, the authors of the lessons have done a great job, given their knowledge, but that aside, some of their commentaries beg the question, Can YHWH be trusted to keep all his covenant promises? Take for example the lesson’s handling of the prophecy of Hosea’s marriage; it teaches: “Thus, the chapter ends with a portrayal of a future time beyond the judgment when God will woo Israel to love Him as before…In addition, all the children will be renamed, revealing again God’s willingness to heal and forgive the past transgressions of His people.” Adult Sabbath School Study Guide Tuesday’s Lesson (April2), http://ssnet.org/lessons/13b/less01.html . How can anyone, worst of all an Adventist theologian, knowing the nature of the pre-Advent judgment, and with a knowledge of the close of human probation prior to Christ’s return, advocate that the just YHWH will “woo” (court, entice, reach out to save, redeem) a people to Himself after the close of human probation—“beyond the judgment?” Further, in the same quote, the theologians suggested that “all the children will be renamed.” This is not consistent with the Scriptures, only two of the three children have been renamed (Lo-Ruhamah to Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi to Ammi, Jezreel’s name remains unchanged). When we get these details wrong, then our conclusions are fundamentally flawed, and do not generate the present truth lesson contained. Based on the above citation, and many other inconsistencies present throughout the lesson, I have rearranged my bible teaching calendar to accommodate a study of the Minor Prophets, and invite you to come and study with us from the privacy of your home; the contact information will be provided below. Friend, there is a spiritual famine in the land, and even church leaders are not exempt from this drought. What the flock needs today is “meat in due season”—Present Truth. Did you know the Minor Prophets, like Daniel’s prophecies, were written specifically for the latter days? Did you know they explain, among other things, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the current political climate of our world, the religious declension among the churches, the Latter Rain and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power, the coming of the Elijah’s Message after the passing of Ellen G. White, and the restoration of God’s covenant with His commandment-keeping people? Did you know they prophesied of Egypt, Gaza, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Ethiopia in the latter days, and the purification of God’s remnant church through the removal of sinners from the camp of the righteous as our only “door of hope” (Hos. 2: 15)? These prophets speak of the actions of Rome against the holy covenant, against the divinely appointed times of our Heavenly Father, and general apostasy within the “remnant” church. You would never get this depth by reading the Sabbath School Quarterly. It is high time for us to get off the impoverished diet of “skim milk” so we may all grow up in Christ to eat the “meat” of the Word that we may grow thereby. Christ (Y’shuah) wants us to get to the place where, in Him, we advance unto perfection. 1: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2: Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3: And this will we do, if God permit.” Heb. 6: 1-3. We are here invited to seek the path of perfection and holiness in Christ, not continually traversing the grounds of fundamental doctrines, such as baptism, repentance, salvation by works, etc., but that Christ may be formed within—the hope of glory. Last quarter we spent all of 13 weeks discussing the first three chapters of Genesis—Origins. These chapters amounted to 80 verses which formed the core of the lesson. Now in the second quarter we are taking on all the Minor Prophets–67 chapters inclusive, in thirteen weeks! Does this leave you wondering as to the depth we will reach in these prophecies, written primarily for our times—the latter days? This clearly presents to me a case of spiritual inadequacy on our part, for the gross oversight in our lack of exploring depths of their messages. This quarter finds us racing over 67 chapters without regard for their content, cruising at jet speed, so to speak, that we may say, “we have studied the minor prophets.” This is not being like the wise virgins. Imagine taking 13 weeks to study 3 chapters and then turn around to use the same amount of time to study 67 chapters! Would you consider your professor or college program to be fair with such an imbalanced program comparison? The 3 chapters of Genesis took all of 13 weeks, and we could have still used another 13 weeks to “do justice” to the topics. Why then are we attempting to cover 67 chapters in 13 weeks? The comparison becomes more stark when one realized that 67/3 = 22.333. This means that there is a 22:1 ratio (22 chapters from the minor prophets for each of the first 3 chapters in Genesis), from a purely numerical basis. In the first 3 chapters of Genesis there are 80 verses, whereas in the 12 “Minor Prophets” there are 1,165 verses. Do you now realize the utter impossibility of gaining any depth of understanding of their messages through the Quarterly? We do not need “chicken soup for the soul” Bible studies, the hour is too late, what we need is Present Truth—“meat in due season” (Matt. 24:45). Being “the church founded on prophecy,” that we are, and seeing us now literally skirting the prophecies, should give clear warning that somehow we have lost our “first love,” and have gone “blind” while ignorantly praising ourselves as being “rich and increased with goods.” (Rev. 3: 14-17). Think alone of Joel 2 which chapter speaks of, among other things, “the former rain and latter rain.” What does the latter rain mean? What does it represent? The quarterly hastily teaches that this is the “great outpouring of God’s Spirit” (Adult Quarterly, April-June, p. 25), all the while completely ignoring the broader and more immediate connotation that the Latter Rain is “a teacher of righteousness” and thus a message of truth, taught by God’s Elijah message (Mal. 3:1; 4: 5), dictated by the Holy Spirit, which will sanctify the believers and prepare a people to receive the Spirit’s power to make them invincible for His service. Here is what “rain” means in the Scriptures: “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.” Deut. 32: 1. The word for “doctrine” is teaching, thus His message of truth, will fall like the rain to germinate the tender grass. Hence the “grass” must be representative of God’s people (Isa. 40: 5, 6). The prophet Zechariah declares that YHWH will give showers of rain to “every one grass in the field,” in the “time of the latter rain.” Zech. 10: 1. This is something we are to pray for, longingly desiring to receive this baptism of sanctifying truth to seal us for the greatest evangelistic work the world will witness under the ministry of the 144,000 during the time of the Loud Cry of the Third Angel’s Message. Without this latter rain of truth, we will be unprepared for the divinely appointed Revival and Reformation of the Holy Spirit’s unction—our greatest and most urgent need. Rather, the work of apostasy will continue, until the church is no longer identifiable by her message or practice. Please clear your calendars over the next six months, to join my Sabbath afternoon Bible Study where we will take a deep dive into these prophecies, and hear God’s message of Revival and Reformation through the Minor Prophets. Please join us for our Friday night Sabbath School weekly conference call. 8:00 PM EST (641) 715- 3580 Pin 944823# Please join us for the weekly conference call. Sabbath afternoons 5:30 EST Summer 4:30 EDT Winter Dial: (641) 715-3580 Access Code: 944823#