[0:31] Wie geht es euch heute Nachmittag? Seid ihr froh, hier zu sein? Wunderbar, so viele lächelnde Gesichter zu sehen. Schön, dass so viele von euch hergekommen sind und natürlich ein herzliches Willkommen auch allen, die jetzt live zuschauen.
[0:49] Möchte ich noch einmal entschuldigen, dass wir hier im Publikum sind. Wir haben ein paar Fragen. Möchte ich noch einmal daran erinnern, wenn ihr irgendwelche Fragen habt, schreibt sie auf oder sendet sie auch auf E-Mail auf fragen-at-joelmedia.de. Und wir haben bereits einige wenige Fragen auch über die E-Mail bekommen, die wir dann am Ende des zweiten Vortrags.
[1:25] Bevor wir mit dem ersten Teil heute Nachmittag beginnen wollen, möchte ich noch einmal ganz kurz eine Geschichte erzählen, wie sie so als Person gewesen ist. Ellen White war sehr ökonomisch, all her life. But there are a few stories about James and her marriage that show this to us. They were giving all the money that they could to mission work. So it was very important for them to save money wherever they could. And currently as a student I'm going through the same, looking at every little place I can save some money.
[2:30] But there was a time when James and Ellen were riding on a train through the mountains. And James had had a bottle that they had had some food in or some type of bottle. And James was ready to toss it out the window as they were going. And Ellen said, no, no, no, James, I can use that. And he thought, oh, okay. He put the bottle down and a few minutes later he grabbed the bottle and threw it out the window. But she saw it. And she said, oh, James, you could have at least saved the cork. She liked to save things and reuse things that could be reused.
[3:40] There was also a time early on when they were married where Ellen used to get these old rags and make rugs from them. She would weave rugs with these old rag pieces. And James thought, this is no hobby for my wife to have, making rugs out of people's old rags, and such. And she knew that he didn't like it, but she continued because she thought it was a valuable hobby.
[4:25] And then one day he was walking up toward their house with some people with him. And she was there making some rag rugs and she heard him singing a familiar tune. "There will be no more crying when Jesus comes." But instead he changed the words and he sang, "There will be no rag rugs when Jesus comes." And she got the message. And she never made rag rugs again. So she was a woman that appreciated saving money. And she did her best in every aspect to be a good steward of God's money. So that's to give you another little piece into what she was like as a person. Because I believe the more we understand what she was like as a person, the more we will be able to appreciate God's messages to us through her.
[5:47] Before we dive into our message together, let's bow our heads for prayer. Our Father God, we thank you so much for having been with us thus far in this series. Lord, as this is a very important topic, we pray that we would have open hearts with nothing separating us from you. So that this will not just be information but will result in transformation. Open our eyes, Lord, to learn new things, new truths. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
[6:47] Imagine with me that you're studying the Bible with a family. And you've been studying the Bible with them for some time. And one day they come to you and they say, you know, we've learned some life-changing truths. We've learned about what happens after we die. We've learned about God's true Sabbath, the seventh day. We've learned about Jesus' ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Many things. But last week we went home and we googled Seventh-day Adventist church. And there came up many websites that were talking bad about the Adventist church and bad against this woman named Ellen White.
[7:52] Let me ask you, what do you think is the best answer to give them? What do you think? To read for yourself. Yeah, that's a good answer. What else might you say? You'd be speechless? I believe the best answer is to say, praise the Lord. And here's the reason why. Revelation 12, verse 17. It's a very familiar verse to most of us. Familiar verse to most of us. And we constantly look at this verse for the two characteristics of God's remnant church. There the Bible says, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." And the dragon was enraged with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.
[9:23] Revelation 19, verse 10. John falls at the feet of the angel revealing the vision to him and he's compelled to worship him, but like all holy angels of God, he said, "See that you do not do it. Worship God." And he says, "For I am of your fellow servants and your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And John is furious with God's remnant church in part because they keep all of his commandments and because he's angry about the spirit of prophecy because it unmasks his battle plans.
[10:29] But we often overlook the third and really the first characteristic of God's remnant church here. The first characteristic is that the devil is furious with this church. That's why the best answer is, praise the Lord. Because you can say, the Bible says that God's true church will be evil spoken of. Matthew 5, verses 11 and 12 says, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." So here Jesus says that people will revile and persecute and say all kinds of evil against us falsely for Christ's sake. He says that they did this to the prophets who were before us. Isaiah was sawn in half. Jeremiah's messages that God sent through him were rejected. He was known as the weeping prophet. Friends, it should be no surprise that any modern prophet would receive or would be evil spoken of as well.
[12:22] Now the good news about the accusations is that they are the same old accusations except in new packaging. Virtually all of the accusations began with one person. The old accusations began with one person and we'll mention him later on. But the good news is that all of the accusations have been answered. The internet is enabling these accusations to be more prevalent than ever and many of the accusations have been translated into German, but not all of the answers have been translated into German. And that is why we're having these two messages.
[13:31] The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 3, verse 15, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." 1 Peter 3, verse 15, "but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." The word defense here is from where we get the word apologetics. It's apologia. In other words, God says we need to be able to explain our faith.
[14:28] I want to challenge you and just say this. I'll put it in the form of a question. If you believe something but you can't explain why you believe it, is it possible to really truly believe that you're correct? We need to be able to explain our faith. Amen? We need to be able to give an answer for the reason of the things we believe. And this includes having an answer for the accusations.
[15:20] Now let me just ask a question. How many people in this room have a friend or a family member or maybe you yourself have run across either a printed form or some of the anti-Ellen White websites on the internet? Anyone? Alright. So the vast majority of us are familiar with some of these things or we know someone who is.
[15:58] So what did Ellen White have to say about the accusations in her day? There's a section of Selected Messages Volume 3 that is called "Attacks on Ellen White and Her Works." And here she says, "Truth will triumph. I expect that the raid will be made against me until Christ comes. Every opposer to our faith makes Mrs. White his text. They begin to oppose the truth and then make a raid against me. What have I done? If evil, then let them bear witness of the evil." This is echoing the words of Christ.
[16:58] So did Ellen White just say, yeah, ignore the accusations? Now sweep them under the rug. Act like they're not there. Listen to what she had to say. Quite the opposite. She said, "On every point the accusers should be called upon to bring their proof. Every charge should be carefully investigated. The people should not be left to think that it may be or it may not be true. The accusers should do all in their power to lift every sign of reproach that cannot be substantiated."
[17:58] So she said they should all be carefully investigated. And when they're proven that they're not supportable, then the Christian thing to do would be to remove those accusations. Now why did she say this? Ellen White knew, as we've been mentioning, the truth loses nothing by investigation. If I were the star player of a sports team and I told you that this was the case and you doubted me, but if I really was, then I'd have no reservations for saying, "Google it, search it yourself." Because if it's true, then you'll discover that it's true, as you said. And Ellen White expressed the same about her prophetic gift. Honest, spirit-led study always leads to a deeper knowledge of Bible truth.
[19:25] Now that we've set that foundation, let's get to the accusations. First of all, that her visions were the result of epilepsy. Secondly, she said some weird things. Number three, plagiarism. Number four, she didn't practice what she preached. She stole her ideas in health. They say she believed in the shut-door theory. And seventh, they claimed that she was involved in Freemasonry. Now, right now in part one, we're going to cover the first three of these accusations. And after this in part two, we'll cover the last four.
[20:31] Now, we mentioned that all of her, the accusations against her started with one person. And that was D.M. Kenwright. Dudley Kenwright was probably the best evangelist that our church has ever had. Thousands of people joined the church because of his preaching of the gospel and the three angels' message. And he was the first to give this charge that her visions were the result of epilepsy. In his book, which is free in English on the internet, Ellen White and Her Critics by F.D. Nichols, he says this charge against Mrs. White was first formulated in 1887 by D.M. Kenwright. Shortly after he left the Adventist ministry. Through the years, he amplified the charge and from him, almost all other critics of Mrs. White have drawn.
[21:59] So, in recent times, this accusation has resurged. In 1981 by a doctor, a pediatrician named Delbert Hodder. He claimed she had partial complex psychomotor seizures. And then four years later, a dermatologist, a retired dermatologist, he claimed the same thing. Now, I want you to notice that neither of these men were specialists of the brain. As you can see, they were a pediatrician and a dermatologist.
[22:49] So, not long after this, a doctor named Donald J. Peterson, whose specialty was neurology, he decided to gather together a panel of qualified specialists. And after this panel came together, after looking at the cases of a number of people who actually had these conditions, they compared their cases with Ellen White's experience and all of them unanimously concluded that they did not match. This panel had specialists that were Adventists and non-Adventists. But all of them said that these accusations cannot hold any weight. Their findings were actually put in book form. It's available on Amazon Kindle and also for free on the White Estate website. So, accusation number one. Medical science is on Ellen White's side. She did not suffer from epilepsy.
[24:26] Secondly is the claim that she said some weird things. Now, this accusation, we're going to take a look at now, what the critics have to say. They say Ellen White said tall people live on Jupiter. That buying bicycles is wrong. And of course, the classic quote, that Satan has better success with women than men. They claim she said wigs cause insanity. That God doesn't love children who misbehave. And that all girls should learn to harness a horse.
[25:22] So, let's take a look at three of these and maybe in the question and answer time we could answer the other three, if you're curious. First, the accusation that wigs cause insanity. And then the one about horses and bicycles. Now, just to review a little bit, if you weren't here last night, when we study inspiration, whether it's the writings of Ellen White or the Bible, we need to ask the question when instruction is given, if this is a principle or a policy. Policies may change from time and place. Biblical principles do not change. So, I gave the example yesterday of Australia and England. The policy is drive on the left side of the road. Here, the policy is drive on the right side of the road. The principle is drive on the opposite side of oncoming traffic. So, this is something we need to consider.
[26:54] Now, secondly is context. We've mentioned that context comes from the Latin words con and textere. Which means to weave together. So, when we start to take things and separate them from each other, they cease to make sense. So, the question comes, what did she say and how do we determine what she meant by what she said? Well, let's take a look at the context of some of these statements. There is literary context, historical context and as well there is theological context. First, we're going to take a look at historical context together. And we'll take a look at the issue of wearing wigs, the statement about wearing wigs.
[28:07] By the way, she actually did say that wearing wigs would cause insanity. She actually did say that wearing wigs would cause insanity. But why? She actually quoted a local newspaper. There were these wigs that they were making that were dark in color and they were making them out of the bark of trees. And there were many bugs that were in the bark still. And it was burrowing into people's skin. And it was causing them to... The newspaper reported how one lady virtually went crazy. Besides this, they were using an adhesive to stick the wigs to their heads. That was a lead-based powder. So the lead was actually seeping through their skulls into their brains. And it was affecting their thinking. So wigs were causing insanity. But if you're wearing a wig today, don't worry. Because they don't cause insanity anymore. Unless it's made from a tree out there. So when we look at the historical context together, we see that it makes sense.
[29:58] Next, let's take a look at literary context. Did she say girls should learn to harness a horse? Education, page 216. She says, "And if girls, in turn, could learn to harness and drive a horse." And then the critics stop there. They say, ah, you Adventists, do you know how to harness a horse? How many women here know how to harness a horse? How many men? Girls, you better start learning. Now, let's keep reading. She says, "as well as use the rake and hoe, the saw and the hammer, they would be better fitted to meet the emergencies of life." So when we consider the literary context, we know what she was talking about. But what about the policy and principle rule? What's the principle here? Is it learn how to harness a horse? No, what is the principle? Women should be ready to meet the emergencies of life. So if Ellen White were here today, what policy might she suggest for girls so that this principle could be upheld? Have a driver's license. Learn to change a flat tire in emergency, when your tire loses air. That way you're not ending up being a damsel in distress waiting for some nice gentleman to come help. Because some creepy guy might come along. Be ready to meet the emergencies of life.
[32:28] Now, actually right before this, she talks about boys. She says, "Since both men and women have a part in homemaking, boys as well as girls should gain a knowledge of household duties. To make a bed and put a room in order. To wash dishes and prepare a meal. To wash and repair his own clothing. Is training that need not make any boy less manly. It will make him happier and more useful." I see a lot of the ladies smiling. But guys, if we don't know how already, learn to take care of our house, our clothes. How to make a meal, so if our wife goes away for the weekend, we don't starve. The principle and the policies here are the same.
[33:41] Now, what about buying bicycles? Let's look at the literary context of this statement. Now, if you cut it off, it doesn't seem to make sense. But if you watch the video of this presentation and just pause us mid-sentence, then we might not make sense either. She said, "The money expended in bicycles and dress and other needless things must be accounted for. As God's people, you should represent Jesus." And then people stop right there. But continuing on, she says, "of these self-indulgent ones." When we take everything in context, we start to see that she was talking about people who were self-indulgent.
[34:57] Taking a look at history also opens our eyes to the fact of the matter, that this was at a time where, well, yeah, this is another statement she made when writing from Australia. Said, "How is it with my brethren and sisters in America? How much do you practice self-denial in order that you may show liberality to the needy cause of God at this time? Many of the members of our churches are expending upon their own fancies. In pleasing and gratifying themselves." So here Ellen White was writing from Australia, where they were in a new mission field. There was a desperate need for money to pay ministers and Bible workers and call porters. But people were in the US wasting money on bikes.
[36:12] Reader's Digest 1951 explains. The bicycle began as a rich man's toy. The best early bicycle cost $150. An investment comparable to the cost of an automobile today. Every member of the family wanted a wheel. An entire family's savings were often used up on supplying the demand. Now, in 1894, bicycles were a little more practical than this, but just a few years before, this is what they looked like. They were large and impractical. There was a need for the mission work around the world. And in 1894, when Ellen White wrote this, the average American income was $127 a year. It had dropped from $323 a year prior. So people were buying bicycles, and their children and wives were starving. All because it was popular. Because it was something they felt like they had to have.
[37:52] And, you know, marketers know that the human nature constantly buys into the lie that if we just had that new thing, then we'd be happy. If we just had that new phone, that nicer car, that new computer, that brand new watch. They realize, and marketers are intelligent, they appeal to this natural human desire of covetousness. But we should learn to say like Paul in Philippians 4, verse 11, he said, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
[39:08] Ellen White wrote in response to accusations against her, one time, one major response. And we're going to take a deeper look at that in part two of this message. Addressing the shut door. But she said, "It is in hope of helping the minds of the honest that I make the statements I do. I do not expect to reach those who, having seen the light of truth, refuse to heed it. Those who have given themselves up to prejudice and entrenched their souls in unbelief."
[40:02] Ellen White was writing this response to the accusation for the sake of people who were honestly wondering and seeking answers. And as long as you want to believe something that is not true, you'll find a way to believe. But if you really want to know the truth, there's more than adequate answers to all of the accusations. She pointed out that all of the arguments that were used against Christ were founded in falsehood. So was it in the case of Stephen and Paul. But the weakest and most unreliable statements that were made on the wrong side had an influence because there were so many whose hearts were unsanctified and who desired those statements to be true. Such are ever eager to fasten upon any supposed error or mistake in those who speak to them the unpalatable truth.
[41:34] And friends, when we see that statements of Ellen White have been taken out of context and twisted, it makes sense that it's people whose hearts have been pricked by the messages of truth. She said, "No amount of evidence will convince men of the truth so long as they are unwilling to yield their pride. To subdue their carnal nature and become learners in the school of Christ." Friends, if our hearts are not humble and desiring to learn from God, then we'll constantly find things in our hearts that we don't want to learn from God. And we'll constantly find things in Scripture and the writings of Ellen White upon which to hang our doubts. But if we want to know the truth, then God has provided more than enough answers for those who seek them.
[42:49] So we've seen that the accusation that her visions were of epilepsy and that she said some weird things were not founded. This accusation of epilepsy and this weird thing is groundless. Third, the last part of this presentation is the accusation that she plagiarized her writing.
[43:16] One of my professors once said, to take from one person is called plagiarism. But to take from many people is called research. And this is often how research papers go. We study and we gather as much material as we can and this is not plagiarism, but they say research. So what is plagiarism? A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work. Now, we need to specify in the beginning now that this is different from literary borrowing. Literary borrowing is an ethical and normal practice in writing. Where we utilize the words and ideas of others but they are constructed in a way that makes them uniquely our own. This is, as mentioned, both ethical and normal.
[44:43] For example, how many of you have written a research paper before? Now, when you were studying, did you ever read something that someone else wrote on the topic? And you thought, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to take this but put it in my own words and form it into the idea and direction of my paper. Has anyone done this before? Yeah, good, this is healthy writing. This is literary borrowing. It's ethical, it's healthy.
[45:29] One of my professors, Dr. Jerry Moon, gave this illustration. Plagiarism is like taking apples from someone else's tree. Plagiarism? No, no, it's plagiarism. And selling them and saying they were from your tree. But literary borrowing is like picking those apples from someone else's tree and making your own apple pie. And then giving that to people. It's a completely different substance. You guys have really good apples here in Germany. And you have some good apple pie that I've had too. But this is to help us understand the difference between plagiarism and literary borrowing.
[46:37] Now, there's actually literary borrowing in the Bible. But the question is asked, is originality of composition a valid test of a true prophet? What do you think? If a prophet is a true prophet, must everything that they say be original from them? Or can prophets use the words of others? Or do they recognize God's truth in something someone else has said? Well, we see that originality of composition is not a valid test of a true prophet. We actually see that it's not a test of a true prophet.
[47:34] The biblical writers didn't just borrow from each other. They even borrowed from non-inspired writers when they prepared their books. For example, in Judas 14. In Titus 1, verse 12. Where Jesus gave the golden rule. Which was actually something that had been taught similarly by a previous rabbi. But Christ expounded upon it. And he took it deeper. In Titus 1, verse 12, Paul quoted from a 6th century BC Greek poet. And in Jude, verse 14, we see that Jude quoted from the non-canonical book of Enoch. An important principle to keep in mind is that all truth is God's truth. All truth is God's truth.
[48:57] So, what are examples of literary borrowing in the Bible? Luke, chapter 1, verses 1-4. Luke actually reveals to us that he compiled his gospel from other accounts. Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John 3 were a reflection of Ecclesiastes, chapter 11. But Jesus took those words and put them in a different thought. Who wrote the book of Proverbs? Who was it? Solomon, right? Are you sure he wrote it? The Bible actually says in Ecclesiastes 12, verse 9 that he searched out and set in order many Proverbs. In German, it's kind of, he wrote. He didn't actually write, author all of them. But he recognized the truth in these different sayings and compiled them. The Bible also tells us in 1 Kings 4, verse 32 that he had 3,000 Proverbs. 1,005 songs. So, there were Proverbs of Solomon that did not make it into the book of Proverbs. This compilation, if you will, of biblical truths that Solomon searched out, recognized and wrote down.
[51:02] So, now that we've set the foundation to understand the answer against this accusation, let's take a look at the most recent allegation of plagiarism. The first was with Dudley Kenwright, D.M. Kenwright. But most recently, it has been from Walter Ray. Walter Ray was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor from Los Angeles, California. Yes, good things do come out of California. Amazing facts, GYC, secrets unsealed, many, many good things. But unfortunately, there is good and bad everywhere. In 1981, he wrote a newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times, a very big paper. And there he said that Ellen White plagiarized in her famous book, The Desire of Ages.
[52:20] Now, this article actually spread across the country. It was picked up and published by different newspapers. It even made it to New York City in their newspapers. So, the Adventist church wondered what they should do. And they decided to hire a specialist in copyright infringement. Warren Johns contacted a specialist from a law firm. And he asked the man if he had ever heard of Seventh-day Adventists or Ellen White. He wanted to make sure that this man didn't have bias. The man said, well, not really so much. Why do you ask? So, he explains what they would like him to do. His name was Vince Ramek. He studied a total of 300 hours in researching. And the Adventist church said, we want you to tell us two things. They gave him everything she ever wrote. They gave him access to all of the accusations that had ever been made against her. And then all of the Adventist authored defenses in favor of Ellen White. And they said, tell us two things. First, if she could be convicted of a crime, if she did something illegal, did she plagiarize? Secondly, did she do anything unethical and just find a loophole, some way to get away with it?
[54:43] So, Vince Ramek, as mentioned, studied for 300 hours. And he examined law cases in plagiarism of Ellen White's day. He studied her writings. And when he had finished and made his conclusion, which you can actually read on the Internet, the Adventist Review interviewed him. We want to share with you just a bit of the conversation. The interview. The review asked, "What was your reaction after digesting all this material?" Ramek said, "I started out, I think, basically neutral on the literary charges. But somehow, as I read one particular Adventist authored defense of Mrs. White, it left me with the feeling that she was not, in fact, very well defended." Then they said, "Well, what do you mean by that?" And he said, "I actually became biased against her in the sense that I thought she was what some people, like her latest critic Walter Ray, had alleged. Guilty of plagiarism."
[56:35] So, the review said, "Once you got into her writings themselves, was this negative impression reinforced or altered in any way?" By the way, for the sake of time, we're just taking the highlights of this interview. We'll put a website up at the end, where you can read the whole interview. So, they asked, "Was your opinion altered once you started reading her messages?" Vince Ramek said, "I gradually turned 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I found that the charges simply were not true. But I had to get that from her writings. I did not get that from either the people who said she was a plagiarist, or the people who said that she was not."
[57:47] And friends, really, the same goes for us that went for Vince Ramek. The way that we will actually be convinced of truth is if we for ourselves read what she has written. You can read and listen to what people have said about her all day long. And it may be helpful, but it may not be. The real answer will be found when you yourself read her writings. God invites us, he says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." He said, "I simply had to read her writings, and then rid my mind of the bias I had already built into it, the prejudice. And by the end, she came out quite favorably. But it took more than 300 hours of reading. That's a long time." But friends, this man did this because he was paid to do it. He searched for an honest answer because he had been hired to do something. We may not be paid for 300 hours of reading in Ellen White's writings. We may not be paid here on this earth. But friends, the rewards are out of this world. We'll receive a blessing greater than any money could buy.
[59:33] They asked, "What did you find in her messages, Mr. Remick? How did they affect you?" Now, here's where it gets powerful. Mrs. White moved me. In all candor, she moved me. I'm a Roman Catholic, but Catholic, Protestant, whatever, she moved me. And I think that her writings should move anyone unless he is permanently biased and is unswayable. By the way, the one book of hers that he read from cover to cover was The Great Controversy. Powerful book. But you would think that being a Roman Catholic he might not appreciate some things in there. But it's simply history. And there's powerful truth in that book. And here he answers the question. Ellen White used the writings of others, but in the way she used them she made them uniquely her own ethically as well as legally. And interestingly, she invariably improved that which she selected.
[1:01:07] He then goes on in the interview to explain how words and sentences, phrases are the building blocks for communicating ideas. What Ellen White did was like buying a door and a window and constructing her own house. Which is totally different than taking a house and putting your name on it and saying you built it. He said the bottom line is what really counts is the message of Mrs. White. Not merely the mechanical writing, words, clauses and sentences of Mrs. White. Too many of the critics have missed the boat altogether. And it's too bad, too. And he says, "I personally have been moved deeply moved by those writings. I have been changed by them. I think I am a better man today because of them. And I wish that the critics could discover that."
[1:02:33] In closing they asked Attorney Remick, "How would you sum up the legal case against Ellen White as far as charges of plagiarism, piracy and copyright infringement are concerned?" He said this, "If I had to be involved in such a legal case, I would much rather appear as defense counsel than as prosecutor. There simply is no case." There we have it. Was she a plagiarist? Absolutely not. And even in consideration of his religious background, this man who searched and studied this out says, "I've come away from this project with much more than I've put into it. I'm a better man than when I started." And with an open heart and mind if we read as well, we will find the same.
[1:03:58] And the reason that we are studying these things is to provide answers for those who are honestly seeking answers to questions. The gift of prophecy, the spirit of prophecy is called the testimony of Jesus. Just in closing, Jesus spoke to his disciples in Luke 10. It says that he turned to them and said, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it and to hear what you hear and have not heard it."
[1:05:01] Dear friends, I believe that now where we live in the end times, then this applies to us as disciples more than ever before. Of all the times that you and I could have lived in earth's history, God has given us the privilege of living now at the end of time. We see how fulfilled before our eyes and friends we are privileged to live in these times. We have the accumulated knowledge of all of the people that have gone before us and we are incredibly blessed to have the wonderful gift of the spirit of prophecy. So remember, questions are a good thing when we seek out the answers because if we have questions here but we don't seek out answers to the question, they can slowly but surely become doubt in our minds. But God promises in Jeremiah 33 verse 1, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things that thou knowest not." Praise the Lord that we serve a God who answers our questions. Amen.
[1:06:39] So we've seen that the first three accusations are false. Join us as we take a look at the last four accusations on this board once we come back after our break. Let's close for a word of prayer together with the word.
[1:07:12] Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you are not a God who says, "Just do it and don't ask any questions," but for those who are earnestly seeking answers to questions, that you promise to answer these questions. Lord, we have such limited vision. We can't see the end from the beginning. Sometimes we don't receive answers to the question of why certain things happen in life. We thank you that we know one day soon by your grace, while you are asking questions, while you take us by the hand and walk by the river of life, that the mysteries of your grace will unfold before us and we'll receive the answers to the questions that we didn't find answers to here. Thank you Lord for the gift of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, not only about Jesus, but it's Jesus' words to us. Thank you for answering our questions thus far and bring us back soon for part two of this presentation. We pray that you would answer our questions. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
