Episode Transcript
So glad that you've joined us for Countdown Back to the Future. In this presentation, we're looking at secrets of the psychics, from prophets to prophets. The prophets are making big profits, in other words, we're going to see that. You know, it's an amazing thing today that the amount of psychic activity has increased almost exponentially in the last 30 or 40 years. In fact, you know, some very famous people down through time have consulted the psychics. They say that people like President Roosevelt and even Abraham Lincoln consulted the psychics wanting to know what they should do in some of the decision making. One of the most famous of the psychics is Edgar Cayce, known as the Sleeping Prophet. He was a very famous psychic some time back. And then we have, of course, Gene Dixon. This lady is said to have predicted the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the suicide of Marilyn Monroe. Amazing predictions there. We'll come back to her a little later on in our presentation. But you know, the prophets are making very big profits. Take for example, Sylvia Brown. When she was making her predictions, she was worth about $70 million. They say that that's a pretty good business to be in, isn't it? Very big money in the psychic business. But it's not just the psychics, you know, astrologers and so on. New Age type astrology, even many Christians today are making predictions or prophecies, they say, and some very powerful people are making a lot of money out of their predictions and their prophecies and so on. I want you to notice the big money that some of them are making. I notice this book, how to Get Rich as a televangelist or a faith hero. And that's true. You know, there are a lot of these people who are making massive dollars. Have you noticed? Some of them have golf courses, jets that fly around the place and worth a lot of money, some of them millions of dollars worth. As Christian is evangelists, preachers and faith healers. And in the game of prophecies now, Jesus warned about false prophecies. He gave a very strong warning when he was here. Notice what he said is he's on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. Warnings regarding false prophets. The Bible says for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceit if possible. Even the elect, God's closest friends, God's friends who put their trust in him, almost deceive those people. And then in Matthew chapter seven, before this occasion, he gave another warning. It says here, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. They look good on the outside, in other words, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Some of them will be there to make money out of what they do. That's what he's saying. Ravenous wolves destroying the lives of other people in their business. Now, when we think of false prophets, clearly Jesus must have been also indicating that there would be true prophets, at least in the Bible, I should say. No question, there are false prophets and there are true prophets. Jesus talked about John the Baptist as the greatest of the prophets. So he believed in the gift of prophecy, but he also believed in false prophets. Now, genuine prophecy is a gift of God, the Bible says. I want you to notice what Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians. The people living in Ephesus, which had been a city, into big magic and lots of psychic in that sort of business. But he brought the gospel of Jesus to them and many of them burnt all their psychic arts back in his time. Notice what he said, Wherefore he said when he ascended up on high, when Jesus went back to heaven, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men, to people. What were these gifts that Jesus gave to his church? Well, we pick up a few of them here in verse 11. Paul goes on to say, he himself, that's Jesus. He gave some to be apostles and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Pastors who are teachers. So you see, one of the gifts that Paul talked about was the gift of prophecy. It's mentioned in his letter to the Corinthians as well in First Corinthians chapter 12. The gift of prophecy, one of the gifts that God gives to his church, his people. Now, a prophet's work is spelt out very clearly in, in the very word prophet. The word prophet we have here comes from two Greek words put together. The word pro means for or on behalf of the word. Fetes is the word to speak. So put together a prophet who is one who speaks for God, speaking for another person. He's speaking for God, a true prophet, his messenger. We could say it that way. So what is the purpose of the gift of prophecy that God gives to his church? How do we understand its purpose? Well, we keep reading what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4. There we see the very purpose of prophecy number notice what it says for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. In other words, the equipping, helping them to be prepared so they can serve for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. To a perfect. That word means mature, a complete person to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. So let's put all those things up. Let's indicate here, having read the passage, what the purpose of prophecy is. Let's notice number one, it's to bring unity of faith and knowledge concerning Jesus. That's number one. A prophet's going to point people to have faith in Jesus. Bring people to a unity of faith and knowledge of Jesus. Number two, we saw bring us to maturity. Nobody would like to see a 40 year old man running around in baby's nappies. We want that baby to grow up, in other words, right? We want the person to grow up. And so same with the person who comes to Jesus. At first they come like as it were, little children not knowing much. But we want them to grow up in Christ. And that's the work of a prophet. To grow people to be mature Christians. Next one, to bring stability to our lives so that every time someone comes along with a new idea which is contrary to the Bible, people follow them. No, the work of a prophet is to make them stable so they're not blown about with every new idea that comes floating past. And lastly or second last, I should say, to make us Christ like to grow us up into the fullness of the stature of Jesus. That's one of the great works of the prophet. To make people become more and more like Jesus. And lastly to prepare us to serve others. We saw to equip people for the work of ministry. That means service. We're not here to polish a pew by sitting on it. We're here to serve God and serve him by helping the people in the community, to help people in the church, to help people everywhere. That's what a Christian is for, to help bring the love of God to people. Now here's a question. Why would God send his prophets? What would be the fundamental reason? Well, we could sum it up in one word. Love for his people. Whatever God does, he does out of love. Love for somebody. That's what God operates. He is love. That's what is God. A great loving God. Now let me illustrate that by talking about what one of the people that beautifully illustrates the work of a prophet to bring the love of God. And because God loves them. That's why he gives this gift. You remember the story of King David? The Bible tells us that David's armies were fighting in what we call Amman today, the capital of Jordan. Today they were there in Amman fighting the Ammonites. His soldiers were over there with his general Joab, fighting for king and country. David was back in Jerusalem in his palace, taking it easy. He's looking over one day over Jerusalem and he sees a lady taking a bath. And he thinks, wow, she's nice. So he sends a messenger to find out who he is. And she's the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his good soldiers on the front line. So he invites the wife to come to this palace and he sleeps with her. Little later, she sends a message to David and says, hey, David, I've got a problem here. I'm pregnant. With our one night stand we had. Now David realizes I've got a problem here. I made a lady pregnant, one of my soldier's wife, one of my soldiers. His wife is now pregnant because of my sin stuff. So sometime later he hears that Uriah the Hittite, the husband of this lady Bathsheba, he's come home from the battle for a little bit of rest and relaxation, meaning more to recuperate a bit. But David calls him into the palace and says, hey, Uriah, come see me. I need to talk to you. He says, how's the battle going, Uriah? Going good? Yeah. Going okay? Yeah, we're making headway down there in Amman. David says, well, you need to go home and spend some time with your wife. Meaning go sleep with her. Go cover up my deed that I've done. But Uriah says, I can't do it, King. I can't do it. I mean, my brother soldiers are fighting there for king and country on the front line. No, I can't enjoy the privileges of marital life at this time. It'll have to wait till the battle's finished. And he won't go home to sleep with his wife. Now David's getting into a cold sweat. How am I going to cover this thing up? So he decides to call in Uriah the next day and says, hey, Uriah, come, I've got a party for you. You're one of my soldiers. One of my good men want to make a party for you. So Uriah comes and David makes him drunk from alcoholic wine to get this guy, hoping he'll go now, sleep with his wife. But he won't. He sleeps with the servants outside. He won't go home. David's really anxious now, how am I going to cover up my deed? So he gets a piece of paper and he writes on it. Dear General Joab, General on the front line, I have a little problem that I want you to sort out for me. Can you put Uriah the Hittite right up on the front line? You know, where the arrows fall the thickest. You know where they drop millstones on people's heads to kill them. Can you put him up there at the front for me? Sign. David folds it over and then calls Uriah and says, please Uriah, take this back to the battlefront for me. I mean, what a miserable thing, this guy's death warrant. The guy is going to carry it himself. So he carries it to General Joab up at Amman. Joab reads it and says, ah, see, the king's got a problem here. I need to sort it out for him. Okay, Uriah, you can go up there on the front with the next group of soldiers. We need you to take those people out. And of course he's killed. A messenger comes back from the front lines from Joab the General. And when the messenger arrived, David says, how's the battle going? Oh, wow, we're not quite get there yet, but don't worry too much, King. And sadly, sadly, King Uriah the Hittite died. He was killed. Ah, well, says David. And the arrows fall on one or another. It's just, you know, man, what a miserable guy. He thinks he's covered up everything now, so he asks Bathsheba to come and be his wife. And he thinks everything is sweet. But God knows if this guy does not repent if he goes on in this way, he's going to lose his part in the last Emmy. And God does not want that. God loves even David, miserable though he's been acting. So he sends a prophet, Nathan by name. Nathan comes to the palace one day and he says, king David, he says, we have a problem in our kingdom, in your kingdom. And he tells him the story of a rich guy who's got lots of sheep, but one day hears that he's got some friends coming. And he thinks, man, I don't want to kill one of my sheep to feed them. He looks over the fence at his neighbor, his poor neighbor, who's only got one sheep. He looks over the fence, sees the sheep, he steals it, kills it, cooks it up and gives it to his friends. David jumps off his throne, says, that guy's got to die, that's miserable. And the prophet looks him straight in the Eye and says, David, you are the man. You stole one of your soldiers, you stole his wife, you killed that man by your your act, David, you are the man. King David suddenly was brought to his senses where he was heading in life. The Bible says he repented of his sin in Psalm 51. Have mercy on me, O God. Blot out my transgression, take my sin away. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Oh God heard David's prayer of repentance and forgave him. Oh, he had a hard life after that because, you know, we sow what we reap, we reap, I should say, what we sow in life. But God still forgave him and brought him back into his kingdom, so to speak, still made him, still had him as one of his children. He's going to be in God's forever kingdom because it says so in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. But it was because of the prophet who rescued him. The work of a prophet is to bring the love of God to his people, to correct their ways, to help bring them back on course. So I thank God for the prophets, don't you? Where would King David be? He certainly wouldn't be in the kingdom if it hadn't have been for Nathan the prophet. So how does God communicate his messages to these prophets, these people? Well, he does it two ways. Number one, he gives them dreams or visions. Dreams of what take place at nighttime when they're sleeping. Visions can happen during the day, while they're awake. They can have a vision, suddenly be seeing something that God is showing them. The Bible says if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream, very clearly. Second way, God impresses the prophet with something, puts something on his mind, impresses him with a thought, a word, or whatever it is, he impresses the mind. Peter wrote it this way. He said, for prophecy never came by the will of man, the person himself. The prophet didn't cook this idea up. How did it come to him? But holy men of God spoke as they were moved, as they were inspired, as they were impressed, in other words, by the Holy Spirit. It was the spirit of God that was speaking to the prophet, bringing messages to him. Now, not all prophets wrote scripture. I mean, have you read of the writings of the prophet Enoch in the Bible, in this book? No, but he was a prophet. Have you read about the prophet sees the book of the prophet Abraham? No, there's no such book called Abraham. But he was a Prophet tells us that in the Psalms. Have you read the book of John the Baptist? No, it's not there yet. Jesus said he was the greatest of the prophets. So a prophet doesn't have to write a book in the Bible to be a prophet. Not at all. A prophet doesn't have to write Scripture. And by the way, a prophet doesn't have to be just a guy, a man, a male. No, even women were prophets in the Bible. One powerful prophet, prophetess, I guess we should call them, was Deborah. I mean, she told the men what to do in her time because she was speaking on behalf of God. So the men had to follow what she said because she was talking for God. Who did the prophetesses mention in the Old Testament? Philip the Evangelist. He had. He had four daughters who were prophetesses. So the gift of prophecy is both for males and females. No question. Now, how do we know the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet? That which is counterfeit and that which is genuine. Cause Jesus warned there will be counterfeits. False prophets. Well, let me. Let's put it this way. Imagine you were given. You worked in a bank and you were given the assignment to find out which were the counterfeit notes that showed up. What would you do? Study all the counterfeits down through time so that you could pick one out? No, you don't have to do that. All you need to do is know the genuine note so well that you will be able to easily detect a phony because you know the genuine. That's why God shares with us what a genuine gift of prophecy is like. So that we can have the test for a true prophet or a false prophet. Find out one who's true and one who's notice the first test. That is prophetic accuracy. Does the prophet get his predictions right? Not 60%, 30%, but 100%. Notice what the Bible says. Moses, Sorry, Jeremiah, I should say, is speaking. As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent. In other words, if he makes a prediction and it happens, well, that's a first test, not the only test, but it's one test. Now, Jean Dixon, she had a tremendous batting average as a psychic, somewhere between 30 to 60%, as we said, predicted the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the suicide of Marilyn Monroe. But Gene Dixon predicted that the world would be plunged into World War Three in about 1953 by China. It's never happened, has it? And we've gone past 1953 a long way now. So she's a false prophet. She's not a prophet of God. She's speaking for someone else. That's what the Bible's telling us here. You know, the average leading psychics batting average is just 16%. For every 100 predictions that are made, only 16 happen for the leading. The average of the leading psychics. You know, we even have to do this for people who are Christians and some church leaders and televangelists who make predictions. Let me share with you one, but I think we need to do it. You've probably heard of this man, Kenneth Copeland. Copeland claimed that COVID 19 was finished and over and the US was now healed and well again. Now he said that on television, a televised sermon on March 29, 2020. Well, there was still another year and a half of COVID to come. And let me tell you, according to the statistics, the United States had 1.2 million deaths from COVID It sure wasn't over in 2020. So we have to ask the question, is this man speaking for God or is he speaking for someone else? The tests are not here for fun, my friend. We have to do the test so that we don't get deceived in any way by anyone. What about biblical faithfulness? How do we understand this one? Let's notice. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass of which he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep and obey his voice. You shall serve him and hold fast to him. Do you see what the Bible is saying? Even if he does some great sign or wonder, maybe even a prediction, but he actually speaks and tells you to do something that this book says not to do, then he's a false prophet. He's not speaking for God. He's speaking from someone else. Number three test. Does the prophet exalt Jesus Christ? Because that's what the Bible says. Peter is talking of this salvation, the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. The prophets have inquired and searched carefully. Who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow? Do you see what The Bible is saying the prophets point to Jesus in the Old Testament, pointing to Jesus to come the first time and to die. Even the prophets in the New Testament, they point back to the Savior who has already come and he's soon to come again the second time. Number five, a true prophet will keep the commandments of God, the commandments that he knows about. Notice what the Bible says to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, God's commandments, his word, it's because there's no light in them. So a true prophet will follow God's commandments. He won't be saying God's commandments are done away with. Don't need to worry about them anymore. No way will he be saying that. Number five, spiritual fruitage. What's the life like of the person behind the prophecies? The Bible says it. Jesus says it here. Beware of false prophets. You will know them by their fruits, by their character, by their lifestyle. That's how you'll know them. So there are the tests of a true prophet. Number one, does he have prophetic accuracy? Got a batting average of 100. Or is it just 30 or 60 or 90? It's got to be 100. Number two, biblical faithfulness. Is he faithful to the Bible? Does he agree with what the Bible says and teaches? Number three, does he lift up Jesus as the Savior for the human race? God in human flesh? Does he keep the commandments of God? Does he obey God's commandments that he already understands? Or does he disobey God's commandments? Number five, does he have spiritual fruitage in his life or her life? What's the life? What's the character like? Now you know, Jesus promised the prophetic gift in the end times. He really did. It's astounding when you think about it, but we should expect it. We're going to see. Remember the final battle of global worship or allegiance that we're in right now, you and I, the whole world. It's already started. Revelation 13 and 14. Well, notice how the battle starts or how it's introduced. The Bible says the dragon was wroth. He's hopping mad, in other words, with the woman. And he went to make war with the remnant, God's faithful people in the end time. The remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God. And they have what? They have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Clearly they are Christian people. But what's this testimony of Jesus Christ? What's that all about? Well, we go to the book of Revelation down toward the end. Let's come to Revelation, chapter 19, verse 10. John, let's. Before we read the text, he sees an angel and he. He falls down to worship at the feet of the angel. And the angel says, oh, don't do that. I'm just a created being. He says, I am your fellow servant. I'm not God. And of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus, worship God. Meaning don't worship me, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It's the spirit who inspires the prophets. It's the prophetic, the gift of the spirit. Prophecy. He's saying. Testimony of Jesus, the spirit of prophecy. Now, who were John's brothers that he mentions? I am your fellow servant. And of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Who were his brothers, who would they be? Well, fortunately, again, John goes down to worship at the feet of the angel. And the angel says, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, hold on. I'm just a created being. I am your fellow servant. And of your what? Your brothers or brethren, the prophets. So John's brothers that the angel said, have the spirit of prophecy or the testimony of Jesus? The. They are the prophets. Clearly the prophets have the testimony of Jesus. And why is that? We've already seen. Because the prophets testify of Jesus. They point to Jesus. They have the testimony of Jesus, his prophetic gift. Now, the Bible says we can now understand this text. Now, that begins this great showdown battle between the three beasts, the dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. And the three angels. Here we go. Notice what it says? The dragon was wroth with the woman. He went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Which means the gift of prophecy. The Spirit's gift of prophecy. That's the testimony of Jesus. Now, you know, when you think about it, we should expect God to send the prophetic gift in the end times. Cause all down through the ages, God has sent prophets. When God was about to flood the world with a humongous flood, he sent a prophet, didn't he? Noah by name. He prophesied for 120 years so that people wouldn't be destroyed. When God was about to raise up a movement in the Old Testament time to bring light to the Gentiles, he called a prophet Abraham by name. When God's people wandered away from him and got into terrible sin, worshiping BAAL and Asherah and all those false gods of the Canaanites, God sent prophet after prophet after prophet to Rescue them, to help them. That's what all these people in the Old Testament are. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Joel, they're all prophets sent to help them, sent to bring them back to God. When God was about to send his Son the first time, he sent a prophet, John the Baptist, to prepare the way. Don't you think that when Jesus is about to return the second time to gather his people, he's not going to send the prophetic gift? Well, of course, I love the way the Book of Acts says it. God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. And Amos put it in a beautiful, succinct way. He said, listen, surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret, what he's going to do, in other words, to his servants, the prophets. Because God loves His people and sends the messages through his prophets. So the end time gift of prophecy will be found among the remnant. We just read it. God's remnant. God's prophetic end time movement called the remnant, is going to have the prophetic gift. Now that means three things. Number one, God's prophetic people, this end time remnant, they will have great emphasis on the Bible because this is the greatest testimony of Jesus, the gift of the Scriptures, the Bible, it's the greatest evidence of the testimony of Jesus or the spirit of prophecy. But it also means they will have special attention to the Book of Revelation. Why is that? Because that's what John calls the Book of Revelation. Notice what it says here. John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw, he was showing these visions. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, says John, the Book of Revelation, and keep those things which are written in it. But do you see what the Book of Revelation is called? The testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of prophecy. So the whole Bible, of course, God's remnant people will be grate into the Bible and taking it seriously. And following they will also be people who study the Book of Revelation. Revelation is a vital book. It's the summary of the whole Bible in one book, in a sense. But it also means they will have among them the gift of prophecy in their midst. In the end time remnant. No question, because God predicted that in the Old Testament the prophet Joel wrote these words so long ago about our time. It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. So God indicates this gift is going to be in the end times. That's why he gave us tests to make sure we don't follow a phony. To make sure we only follow that which is true. So God promised the gift of prophecy to the End Time remnant people. His prophetic end time movement that he's been putting together. Remember, we saw how he's been doing it. People of different denominations coming together and deciding, I'm going to follow all of God's word, not just part of it. Going to be faithful to God in everything. Come out of Babylon. That's the remnant, remember? Why does God do that? Why does God have the gift of prophecy in the end time? Because he wants to prepare his children for Christ's return. He's coming again. Let me share with you. A person I believe had the gift of prophecy because of the way they, they lived and what they did. Remember, God is going to give this gift in the end of time. We just read. So here's a person I believe had the gift. It's a young woman. Well, she started off as a young woman called Ellen White. She was only about 17 when she received her first vision. She actually was a Methodist at the beginning of her life. Now this woman in her childhood, she had a very serious accident. She's coming home from school one day with her sister and a girl was chasing her who was very angry with him for some reason. And Ellen turned around at the wrong moment to see how close the girl was getting behind them. As she turned and faced her, the girl just threw a rock and smashed into her face, smashed into her nose. People came around to try to help her. She said, no, I'll be able to get home. But she, she couldn't really. She lay in bed for some time. She couldn't get up. It disfigured her face as well, but more importantly, it was taking her almost to death. She finally recovered, but because of the injury, she was never able to go back to formal school again. So from then on she was self educated at home. Well, at 17 years of age she received her first of some 2000 visions during her lifetime. Now, many supernatural things happened when she was in vision, especially in the early years of her ministry as a messenger for God. For example, sometimes she would take a Bible while she's in vision and she's got the Bible in one hand and she's looking off as if she's seeing something because God is showing her something. And she would be Turning to the scriptures and pointing to the pages that she's quoting from without even looking where she is and right on. Course, sometimes she would hold that Bible in her hand for a long period of time. Try that yourself. I'm not talking about a little Bible like this. I'm talking about a big Bible. You try it. Some of you men, I guarantee you can't do it for more than about five or 10 minutes. It's sometimes like half an hour or so. She's holding this Bible in her hand. Sometimes she didn't breathe when she was given a vision. A doctor heard about this one day. Sometimes she's in vision for a couple of hours, not breathing. He hears that she's in vision one day, so he comes to have a look. He brings his candle, brings his mirror to put in front of her face. You know, you're gonna smudge the mirror with your breath and so on, gonna make the candle blow with your breath. But it's not happening. And he just got petrified. He ran out of the place. This woman's not breathing. He said, how can this be? Now just because a supernatural thing happened doesn't make it of God. Of course, the devil can do this sort of thing too. So we need to apply the test to this woman, of course, and we'll do that in a moment. But this lady, this woman, she wrote over 50 books. That's a lot of writing. In fact, I want you to notice what a person, a historian, a writer, wrote about her. He was not of her faith, but notice what he said. James, Wharton James wrote this remarkable woman, though almost entirely self educated because of the accident that is has written and published more books in more languages which circulate to the greater extent than any other woman in history. That's George Wharton James in his book. In other words, she's the most prolific writer of women in all of human history. So what do we make of this woman, her work? Well, we need to do the biblical tests and let's do some of those tests and then you can do them yourself as well. But let's go through a few of them. Let's have a look at these biblical tests and apply them to this lady. Did she have prophetic accuracy? Remember, that's one of the tests of a true prophet. Did her predictions come true? Well, like most Bible prophets, she didn't make a whole lot of predictions. For example, if you go to the writings of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, most of it's not predictions, it's instruction to God's people. But there are some predictions there. You go to the Psalms. Most of it's not predictions. It's God's messages to his people. Bible prophets did make predictions, and when they made them, they're supposed to come true, remember? So did she make predictions? Yes, she did. Notice this one here, she's talking of two cities in America, Oakland and San Francisco, which were twin cities. They were pretty corrupt back in her day. So she wrote these words not long hence, not long from now, these cities will suffer under the judgments of God. San Francisco and Oakland are becoming as Sodom and Gomorrah. They're becoming very immoral. And the Lord will visit them in wrath. Now, she wrote those words in 1902. Just a short few years later, those twin cities suffered a horrific earthquake and fire. Some 3,000 people were killed and 200,000 people homeless. No question her prediction came true. But she also wrote at a time when she lived late 1800s, people thought, wow, we're entering an age of peace, you know, I mean, we've got the industrial revolution, right? Started in the late 1700s. Now we are going to solve our problems. That was the euphoria as we come to the end of the 1800s or the 19th century. Notice what she wrote at a time when everybody thought we're going to be entering a new age of peace. She said, the tempest is coming. We shall see trouble on all sides. Thousands of ships will be hurled into the depths of the sea. Navies will go down and human lives will be sacrificed by the millions. She wrote that you'll notice in 1890. Then a few years later, she wrote these words in 1906. Soon great trouble will rise among nations, trouble that will not cease until Jesus comes. And then in 1914, First World War, 1939, Second World War, 180 million people killed alone by war that century, the last century, navies did go down big time. Scores of ships went to the bottom of the ocean. Millions of lives were lost. I think it's estimated somewhere between around 40 million in the Second World War alone. She sure got it right. She wrote about things that in her day were thought to be, you know, not too bad sometimes. Doctors were prescribing cigarette peoples to help them medically back in her time. But notice what she wrote about cigarettes at a time when some doctors were prescribing them for their patients. Notice what she wrote. Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poisoned. That's an interesting word, malignant in her day, Right. She wrote that in whatever form it is used, it tells upon the Constitution. It is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible. You hardly realize what's going on. Do you know, it wasn't till the 1950s that the US Surgeon General finally announced smoking causes lung cancer. Yet she had written this many decades before. You see, when she made statements, she got them right. Why? Not because she was clever, but because God was guiding her, guiding her mind, giving her insights. How about this test, Biblical faithfulness? Was she a student of the Bible? Did she follow what the Bible says? I want you to notice what she wrote some years before she died. In our time, there is a wide departure from their doctrines. That's the teachings of the Bible and its precepts, its teachings, its instructions. And there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle. She wrote the Bible and the Bible only as the rule of faith and duty. She sure believed in the Bible, let me tell you, big time. In fact, when she compared her writings with the Bible, this is what she wrote about her own writings, her own work. She said, little heed is given to the Bible, she says, and the Lord has given a lesser light. I'm a lesser light, she's saying, to lead men and women where to the greater light. Her work was to call people back to the Bible. Not to herself, not to her own writings. Go back to the Bible. Do you know, because of the French Revolution, around that time we have the age of enlightenment and rationalism. People believe that human reason was enough to get us by. And as a result of that, soon this crept into Christianity. And in her time, already evolution had come into the Christian church. Even many people in the church were believing, well, maybe the Bible's not quite true about this idea of creation in six days. And then, of course, not only that, but how can you have a virgin birth? You need to tear that bit out of the Bible. And this idea of a resurrection from the dead, who's heard such a thing? That's just a myth and a legend in the Bible too. Creation myth, revolution, resurrection myth, myth of a virgin birth. And so before you end, you just got two covers. By the time you end, I should say you got two covers and nothing in the middle. Because you're criticizing the Bible. We call it higher criticism. Well, it was happening in her day. And I want you to know what. Notice what she wrote about it. Look what she said. Cling to your Bible as it reads and stop your criticisms in regard to its validity and obey the Word. And not one of you Will be lost. That's good advice, isn't it? The last time she spoke publicly, she went to sit down, but she turned back and she picked up the Bible and she said publicly in her last message, follow this book. I commend to you this book, the Bible. Yeah, she certainly believed in the Bible and following what it said. What about exalting Jesus? Did she exalt Jesus? Did she lift him up? She surely did. Just look at this one statement here. I love it. Lift up Jesus, you that teach the people. Lift him up in sermon, lift him up in song, Lift him up in prayer. Let all your powers be directed to pointing souls who are confused, bewildered and lost to the Lamb of God. Lift him up the risen Savior and say to all who hear, come to him who has loved us and has given himself for us. Good words. I remember one passage that she wrote, really helped me personally. She said, the moment a sinner comes to Christ, that moment they're pardoned. It was like music to me. And that's how she lifted Jesus up big time. In fact, she wrote a number of books concerning Jesus. One of the most beautiful books you'll ever read on the life of Jesus is called the Desire of Ages, written by this woman. The Desire of Ages on the life of Jesus. It'll be. You will just love that book if you take time to read it. She wrote Christ's Object Lessons, which is about the parables that Jesus gave. Then there was another book called Steps to Christ, a beautiful little book on how we can walk the journey with Jesus. She wrote a book on Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing which is about the Sermon on the Mount. So she loved Jesus and wrote a lot about him. No question. Was she a commandment keeping person? Well, first of all, she was a Methodist, remember? And so she kept Sunday. But when she found out eventually that the Bible day of worship was the Sabbath, she changed. She said, I gotta follow the commandments if that's what God says. Once she saw it, she followed what it says, kept the commandments of God. What about the spiritual fruitage in her life? Did her life exemplify a good character and was the fruit of her work very good? Was it helpful? Well, let me tell you, this woman became one of the leaders, the pioneers of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. And this is one reason why the Seventh Day Adventist Church operates some 785 or more now. Hospitals and healthcare centers around the world. Why? Because of the influence of this lady. She said, God has shown me we need to be like Jesus. Remember, Jesus didn't just preach. Jesus healed broken lives. Jesus mended people's health. He helped fix people up, the blind could see. So she encouraged the church. We must help people in medical ways, health ways. She also, because of her influence, pushed the church, encouraged the church. Come on, you need to get out into all the countries of the world because the third angels, the three angels message says go to the whole planet, not just to America, not just to Australia or Europe. It's the whole world that needs these messages. Right, we saw that. So it's her influence that kept them moving. Come on, let's go. We've got work to do. We've got people to save. Because of her influence that the Seventh Day Adventist Church operates some nearly 8,000 schools and universities because she said, you know, we could train young people, give them Christian education so they can go out and be a blessing to the world and help men and women be ready for the soon return of Jesus. She certainly had a good character. She actually lived in Australia, up in Newcastle for some time near Newcastle. And she was loved by the people who were not of her faith. A lot of the people in her community had been the descendants of some convicts in her time and some of them used to steal her stuff where she lived. But she just loved them. If they had a baby, she was around them, their home to give them a gift for the new baby, for the mother. If someone was sick, she was out there trying to help. What can I do to help someone who's sick? They love to there in fact, you know, the first New Zealand politician, so Maui Pamawi had been helped by Ellen White to educate him. She paid for him to be educated as a medical doctor in America. She paid his way, helped him and when he came back as after he'd been a doctor, he then became a politician. Because of her love for young people, she helped people notice what the New York Independent newspaper said of this woman at the time of her death. She showed no spiritual pride and she sought no filthy lucre. She wasn't in this for money. In fact, she had to borrow money to publish some of her books. She lived the life and did the work of a worthy prophetess, the most admirable of the American succession. You know, surveys have actually been done among Seventh Day Adventists who have access to her writings, her books. Sadly, not all Seventh Day Adventists read her books. So surveys were done between those who read her books and those who don't. Did it make a difference? I want you to notice just four questions on this survey. Number One question. I have an intimate relationship with Jesus. Notice the difference between the readers and the non readers who could read it if they wanted to? 82% for the regular readers. Yes, Jesus is my friend. I love Jesus. But only 56% for the non readers. That's a massive difference. Of what? 26%. What about the assurance of being right with God? If I die tonight or Jesus comes, I'm ready. I have the assurance of salvation. Notice the difference. The difference was 82% for the readers and regular readers. 59% for the non readers. Our message, 23% difference. It makes a difference, you see, Right. How about this one? Involvement in Christian outreach and service. Actively trying to help the people in the community. Notice the difference. 24% difference. The readers were 24% more involved than the non readers. That's because when you read her book, she says, come on, let's get out there. People need Jesus. People need our help in practical ways. No wonder. What about this last one? Daily Personal Bible study. Maybe you would think, oh, they wouldn't have time to study the Bible. Cause they're reading her writings wrong. Look at the difference here. It's massive. Incredible. 82% for the regular readers. Why? Because she keeps on saying, get back to the Bible. Come on, read the Bible. Go back to Scripture. That's the number one book for us. Only 40%. 7% for the non readers. They were much less inclined to read the Bible. Those who didn't read her writings, who could read them, had access to them. A massive 35% difference. You know, my friends, that's why the Bible says in gives us instruction on this business of prophets. Notice what it says there we have it in Second Chronicles 20:20. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. God's given the gift of prophecy to help us. Now that doesn't mean we should swallow a hoot line and sinker. Cause we may be taking on board a false prophet's work, right? So we need to test them. And that's what Paul says. Paul says as he writes to his friends in Thessalonica, despise not prophesying. In other words, don't just call it rubbish right out offhand. But neither do you accept it hook, line and sinker. Before you do some tests, test all things. Hold fast what is good. So don't despise it. I want to close with a fascinating story of a man who belonged to Ellen White's church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church. He was Stephen Smith Now Stephen was about as bitter as you could get for a person you met. People, even Christians, they haven't got a good word to say about anybody. Critical, bitter all the time, just knocking everything. Well, Stephen was one of those people. And one day God showed Ellen White and gave her a message to say, you need to write this letter to Stephen Smith. She showed Ellen White what Stephen Smith was going to happen to him. She wrote it out because that's what she had to do. Write out the letter to him telling him what God said. She sent it to Stephen in the mail. And what did Stephen do when he got the letter? What all of us do when we get a letter, right? We turn it over and see who wrote the letter. When he saw it came from Alan White, he said, I don't really need any letter from any blankety blank, so called prophet. He went to his home, went upstairs, found a big trunk, opened it up and pushed that letter down there in the middle of it somewhere, closed the lid and he never looked at it. Years went by and Stephen Smith became more and more bitter and grumpy and critical. But you know where sin abounds, God's grace much more abounds. Stephen Smith is an old man. He's getting very old. And the spirit of God started to speak to him because he wasn't going to church anymore. And God started to speak to him. Stephen, your life is nearly finished. Why don't you come back? Why don't you come back to me? I want you in my forever kingdom. Why don't you come back? So Stephen Smith started to go back to church. One day he's in church and he's reading an article. You know how in a pew in a church there's sometimes they put books and magazines. Well, he picks up it and he's reading an article in this church magazine, this church paper. And he said, well, that's a pretty good article. I like that. And he looked to see who wrote it, and it was Ellen White. And suddenly he remembered the letter that he'd been sent years ago. So he goes home from church, goes upstairs, sits on the trunk, opens the trunk, I should say, opens it up, pulls out the letter, Fossicks around, found it, pulls it out, sits down and begins to read it. And as he read it, he began to weep, he began to sob. Because everything that he had become was written in that letter of what would happen unless he turned back to God exactly as things had happened. That's what had happened to Stephen Smith. God had sent a message to Help him. He repented. He changed even as an old man. God loves us all, no matter what age of life, no matter how far we wander. And his prophets are sent to bring us back to our senses, to help us be ready for the last empire. Let's pray together. Thank you Father, for the Bible. This is the greatest part of what we call the spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus. Thank you especially for the book of Revelation too. And thank you that you're giving gifts to people, even the gift of prophecy. And you show us how to detect true from error. Lord, may you help us to follow that which is truthful, to hold on to what is good. May we be open to the Spirit's leading, to direct us to listen to the prophets. May we follow their advice. Bless us now in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we're glad you were with us in this presentation. By the way, if you wanted to know whether the Bible is true, what would you do? Would you go to the Internet and you know, Google, is the Bible true? Well, I don't think you should do that because you'll find a whole bunch of people out there who are knocking the Bible. What's the best way to find out if this is true? Read it. When you read it, God will show you, you will see clearly this is true. Same applies to someone like Ellen White. Would you go to the Internet and see what people say? Well, you'll find a bunch of people for her and for her and against her. So that's not a smart idea. What would you do? Well, get one of her books and compare it with the Bible. So if you'd like to get a copy of one of her books, make contact with us and we'll see if we can put you in touch with someone who can get you one of her books. God will help you with this tremendous gift. Thank you for being with us in this presentation. Whatever you do, don't miss our next one cause it's a vital one in our series. We're going to be looking at Showdown of the Gods. What's all that about? Showdown of the Gods, the return of Elijah the Prophet. What's that about? Well, invite a friend to watch it with you. Send them a link to 3 ABN. They'll be glad that you invited them. May God bless you. We look forward to seeing you in our next Countdown Back to the Future presentation.
