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Worship: For Heaven’s Sake A bit of church history is helpful in extracting the full impact of this message. With that in mind, Pastor Flemons delivered enough church history to lay a firm foundation. It is highly recommended you listen to the recording. However, one thing he said is to never believe the majority of Christians will be saved. The story of Ahaz reveals that fact. (Read more below.)
Wellness: For Health’s Sake Pastor Flemons, a doctor of biblical wellness discussed drugs from a biblical wellness perspective. The chronic use of drug medication is not God’s plan,” he says. Education is. (Read more below.)
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Worship: What to Do When the Whole Church Goes Crazy (Ahaz)
Wellness: Why Drugs Will Never Cure Disease
TOPICS THIS WEEK – April 9 – 15
Worship Sunday – The Assyrian Captivity; Monday – Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge; Tuesday – The Call of Isaiah; Wednesday – “Behold Your God!”; Thursday – Ahaz; Friday – Hezekiah; Saturday, the Sabbath – The Ambassador From Babylon
[All topics per Prophets and Kings by Ellen G. White.]
Wellness Sunday – Saturday, the Sabbath – Diseases of the Skeletal System from a Biblical Wellness Perspective: Sunday – Arthritis; Monday – Osteopenia and Osteoporosis; Tuesday – Rheumatoid Arthritis; Wednesday – Bone Cancer; Thursday – Why Drugs Will Never Cure Disease
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Words of Encouragement
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
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For Heaven’s Sake…
“The accession of Ahaz to the throne brought Isaiah and his associates face to face with conditions more appalling than any that had hitherto existed in the realm of Judah. Many who had formerly withstood the seductive influence of idolatrous practices were now being persuaded to take part in the worship of heathen deities. Princes in Israel were proving untrue to their trust; false prophets were arising with messages to lead astray; even some of the priests were teaching for hire. Yet the leaders in apostasy still kept up the forms of divine worship and claimed to be numbered among the people of God.PK 322.1
“Inspiration declares, ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?’ Proverbs 21:27. The God of heaven is ‘of purer eyes than to behold evil,’ and cannot ‘look on iniquity.’ Habakkuk 1:13. It is not because He is unwilling to forgive that He turns from the transgressor; it is because the sinner refuses to make use of the abundant provisions of grace, that God is unable to deliver from sin. ‘The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.’ Isaiah 59:1, 2.PK 323.1
“This was indeed a time of great peril for the chosen nation. Only a few short years, and the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel were to be scattered among the nations of heathendom. And in the kingdom of Judah also the outlook was dark. The forces for good were rapidly diminishing, the forces for evil multiplying. The prophet Micah, viewing the situation, was constrained to exclaim: ‘The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men.’ ‘The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.’ Micah 7:2, 4. ‘Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,’ declared Isaiah, ‘we should have been as Sodom, and … Gomorrah.’ Isaiah 1:9.PK 324.2
“In every age, for the sake of those who have remained true, as well as because of His infinite love for the erring, God has borne long with the rebellious, and has urged them to forsake their course of evil and return to Him. ‘Precept upon precept; line upon line, … here a little, and there a little,’ through men of His appointment, He has taught transgressors the way of righteousness. Isaiah 28:10.PK 324.3
“And thus it was during the reign of Ahaz. Invitation upon invitation was sent to erring Israel to return to their allegiance to Jehovah. Tender were the pleadings of the prophets; and as they stood before the people, earnestly exhorting to repentance and reformation, their words bore fruit to the glory of God.PK 325.1
“The God whom we serve is long-suffering; ‘His compassions fail not.’ Lamentations 3:22. Throughout the period of probationary time His Spirit is entreating men to accept the gift of life. ‘As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?’ Ezekiel 33:11. It is Satan’s special device to lead man into sin and then leave him there, helpless and hopeless, fearing to seek for pardon. But God invites, ‘Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.’ Isaiah 27:5. In Christ every provision has been made, every encouragement offered.PK 325.5
“As the apostate king [Ahaz] neared the end of his reign, he caused the doors of the temple to be closed. The sacred services were interrupted. No longer were the candlesticks kept burning before the altar. No longer were offerings made for the sins of the people. No longer did sweet incense ascend on high at the time of the morning and the evening sacrifice. Deserting the courts of the house of God and locking fast its doors, the inhabitants of the godless city boldly set up altars for the worship of heathen deities on the street corners throughout Jerusalem. Heathenism had seemingly triumphed; the powers of darkness had well-nigh prevailed.PK 330.2
But in Judah there dwelt some who maintained their allegiance to Jehovah, steadfastly refusing to be led into idolatry. It was to these that Isaiah and Micah and their associates looked in hope as they surveyed the ruin wrought during the last years of Ahaz. Their sanctuary was closed, but the faithful ones were assured: ‘God is with us.’ ‘Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary.’ Isaiah 8:10, 13, 14.PK 330.3
So what do you do when the whole church goes crazy? Pastor Flemons says, “Don’t sit as a coward in the church! Be faithful” [to GOD no matter what!
(This study is based on chapter 27, “Ahaz” in Prophets and Kings (PK), by Ellen G. White.)
For Health’s Sake…
“Education in health principles was never more needed than now. Notwithstanding the wonderful progress in so many lines relating to the comforts and conveniences of life, even to sanitary matters and to the treatment of disease, the decline in physical vigor and power of endurance is alarming. It demands the attention of all who have at heart the well-being of their fellow men.MH 125.2
“Many transgress the laws of health through ignorance, and they need instruction. But the greater number know better than they do. They need to be impressed with the importance of making their knowledge a guide of life. The physician has many opportunities both of imparting a knowledge of health principles and of showing the importance of putting them in practice. By right instruction he can do much to correct evils that are working untold harm.MH 126.1
“A practice that is laying the foundation of a vast amount of disease and of even more serious evils is the free use of poisonous drugs. When attacked by disease, many will not take the trouble to search out the cause of their illness. Their chief anxiety is to rid themselves of pain and inconvenience. So they resort to patent nostrums, of whose real properties they know little, or they apply to a physician for some remedy to counteract the result of their misdoing, but with no thought of making a change in their unhealthful habits. If immediate benefit is not realized, another medicine is tried, and then another. Thus the evil continues.MH 126.2
Pastor Flemons typically asks this question, “What would happen to me if I took your medication?” The obvious answer is that it would make him sick. This always begs his next question: “How can something that makes a well man sick, make a sick man well?”
“People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease. It is true that they sometimes afford present relief, and the patient appears to recover as the result of their use; this is because nature has sufficient vital force to expel the poison and to correct the conditions that caused the disease. Health is recovered in spite of the drug. But in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system and work great harm at some later period. MH 126.3
“The only hope of better things is in the education of the people in right principles. Let physicians teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs, but in nature. Disease is an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the laws of health. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to re-establish right conditions in the system. MH 127.1″
With this in mind, Pastor Flemons says, “Lets’s stop medicating and start educating!”