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Vol. 28, No. 4 Straight and Narrow April 2019The intelligence displayed by many dumb animals ap-

proaches so closely to human intelligence that it is a mys-tery. . . . Many animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to them. (E. G. White, The

Ministry of Healing, p. 315.3)

The Unity of the Spiritby Allen Stump

Psalms 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell to-gether in unity!” This is the only place in the King James version of the Bible that the word unity is used in the Old Testament, and the New Testament only uses the word unity twice, both times in Ephesians 4. We will fo-cus on Ephesians 4:1–3, emphasizing verse 3, which states: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here we find the phrase which is the title of this message and which is one of the New Testa-ment’s usages of the word unity.

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I encourage all the readers of this study to read the whole book of Ephesians. This will help give you the big picture of that which we can only give a portion in this study. To give a basis for our study, we want to now read Ephesians 3:13–4:15:

Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to com-prehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto

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him that is able to do exceeding abun-dantly above all that we ask or think, ac-cording to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, be-seech you that ye walk worthy of the voca-tion wherewith ye are called, With all low-liness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavour-ing to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one bap-tism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace ac-cording to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he as-cended up on high, he led captivity cap-tive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that

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he ascended, what is it but that he also de-scended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify-ing of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl-edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti-ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (Ephesians 3:13–4:15)

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In these verses Paul speaks of the unity of the Spirit and later of the unity of the faith. We need to understand what he means by these statements, especially the unity of the Spirit.

The impetus for this study goes back to Ro-mania last summer. I was there at the same time two other brethren were there, with whom I had some theological differences. There was an interest in meeting, and, as we talked, one of the brothers told me, in effect: We are not concerned about doctrine now. We want to find people of the same spirit and then the doctrines will get sorted out. Re-cently, I have heard this repeated: “. . . be-fore the unity of the faith can be accom-plished, there must be a unity of the spirit” (http://otgsolemnassembly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/An-OTG-Solemn-Assembly1.pdf; accessed February 19, 2019).

It is like finding kindred spirits. Have you heard of kindred spirits? They are people

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whose interests and/or attitudes are similar. There are many people who are kindred spir-its. Aldof Hitler was a kindred spirit to Hein-rich Himmler. Did that make them good? Not at all.

These advocates of the unity of the faith are not saying doctrine is not important. What they are saying is that doctrine comes sec-ond, after the unity of the spirit is achieved. According to Paul in Ephesians, this is the re-verse order or putting the cart before the horse.

Let us consider an overview of the book of Ephesians, for a moment. Paul was writing to a church that had both Jews and Gentiles, people from Asia and Europe, in it, all sym-bols of a disrupted world that was to be re-stored to unity in Christ. This would necessi-tate unity of person, family, church, and race.

The apostle has less to say about faith than about grace in Ephesians. In his earlier writ-

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ings he stressed the relation of the individual to salvation, but now Paul stresses the group, the church, and the body. He speaks of being “in Christ” nine times rather than of things accomplished “through Christ”[1] or of Christ living in the believer rather than of Christ crucified.

In his Greek word study book, Kenneth Wuest makes the following observation con-cerning the book of Ephesians:

The first three chapters contain doc-trine, the last three, exhortation. This is the proper order, for only in doctrine can one see the sweet reasonableness of the exhortations, and obtain the necessary power and technique to obey them. In brief, God says in chapters 1–3, “I have made you a saint.” In chapters 4–6, He says, “Now, live a saintly life.” (Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, vol. 4, p. 93)

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According to Wuest, the first three chapters contain the basic doctrine of the epistle, and chapters 4–6 contain the exhortation to fol-low the teachings. Wuest is not alone in this understanding. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary shows this in its outline for the book of Ephesians:

I. Salutation, 1:1, 2.

II. The Doctrinal Section, 1:3 to 3:21.

III. The Practical Section, 4:1 to 6:20. (The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Com-mentary vol. 6, pp. 995, 996)

The Bible Exposition Commentary also notes this:

I. DOCTRINE: OUR RICHES IN CHRIST—chapters 1–3

II. DUTY: OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN CHRIST—chapters 4–6 (The Bible Exposi-tion Commentary vol. 2, p. 7)

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These references help us to see that it is not just a single source claiming this idea on the outline of Ephesians. Almost all biblical students see this flow in this Pauline epistle.

This study is focusing on the unity of the Spirit, so we want to look closely at Eph-esians 4:1–3, with a laser focus on verse 3.

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, be-seech you that ye walk worthy of the voca-tion wherewith ye are called, (Ephesians 4:1)

In the Greek, the word order is “I beseech therefore. . .” When we say the word there-fore, it is because of something that has been noted or said before. What had Paul said be-fore? He noted the doctrine of the first three chapters, then he instructed the believers to walk in a certain manner. To walk here means to put into action that which had been taught. Then Paul writes:

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With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2, 3)

Now we are ready to begin a word-by-word study on verse 3. Greek is a highly inflected language. Word order in not as necessary to understand the structure of the sentence as it is in English. Usually the word order of a verse in the Greek is different than in its Eng-lish translation.[2] However, the word order in the Greek text of Ephesians 4:3 is the same as it is in the English translation. Below we have the Greek text, followed by the English:

Greek: σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης

English: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

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Word by wordEndeavouring is Σπουδάζοντες (spouda-

zontes), from σπουδάζω (spoudazō), which means to be eager, to give diligence. Here spoudazō is the lemma, the basic word from which the manuscript is taken from. The lemma is the form of the word we would see in a dictionary. Spoudazō has been defined as:

. . . to do something with intense effort and motivation—‘to work hard, to do one’s best, to endeavor.’ (Johannes Louw & Eu-gene Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Do-mains, vol. 1, p. 661)

Here we see that spoudazō means some-thing that we are focused upon or something we work very hard to achieve.

“Endeavoring” is spoudazō (σπουδαζω), “to take care, make haste, do one’s best.”

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It speaks of a determined effort. It has the idea of exertion in it. (Wuest, Ibid., p. 95)

So, whatever the understanding concerning the unity of the Spirit is in Ephesians 4:3, Paul is saying that it is something that we are to apply ourselves diligently to. It is not something we can pass over and be indiffer-ent towards.

Examples of Paul’s use of a form of spoudazō in his second epistle to Timothy are:

Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: (2 Timothy 4:9)

Do thy diligence to come before winter. . . . (2 Timothy 4:21)

The word we translate diligence in these verses is from a form of spoudazō. Thus, spoudazō gives a serious and determined tone to Ephesians 4:3.

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The next words in Ephesians 4:3 are to keep. They are translated from τηρεῖν (tērein), which is from τηρέω (tēreō), and means to keep, to guard, or to watch over.

“. . . to keep by guarding, to guard by ex-ercising watchful care.” It speaks of guard-ing something which is in one’s posses-sion. (Wuest, Ibid.))

This verb is used in Revelation 12:17 and in 14:12:

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep (from tēreō) the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Reve-lation 12:17)

The remnant people of God watch, guard over, and keep the commandments of God.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep (from tēreō) the com-

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mandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)

So far, we have seen that in Ephesians 4:3 we are told to endeavor. We are to press for-ward and to apply ourselves to guard, to keep, and to protect something. What is it? It is the unity of the Spirit. Now let us continue in our word-by-word study of Ephesians 4:3.

The word translated unity is ἑνότητα (henotēta), from ἑνότης (henotēs), and it means oneness, unity, unanimity, or agree-ment. Notice that one of the definitions of henotes is unanimity. What does unanimity mean? It means to have an unanimous con-sensus on a subject, to have no dissenting voices or votes on a matter, and to be all to-gether. Unanimity was, in fact, a word used by our pioneers to describe the unity that was held by our people on their doctrine. The preamble to the first statement of fundamen-tal principles of our people, first published in 1872, states:

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We do not put forth this as having any authority with our people, nor is it de-signed to secure uniformity among them, as a system of faith, but is a brief state-ment of what is, and has been, with great unanimity, held by them. (Preamble, A Declaration of the Fundamental Principles Taught and Practiced by the Seventh-day Adventists; 1872)

God is wanting to have a people come to-gether who are laser-focused on guarding and keeping something with unanimity among his people.

We have been looking at word definitions, but now we come to the most interesting and the most vital part of the verse—the stand-point of the original Greek. Many may know or recognize that the basic Greek word for spirit is πνεῦμα (pneuma). The expression of the Spirit in Ephesians 4:3 is from τοῦ πνεύματος (tou pneumatos). Pneumatos is from pneuma. Why is this difference impor-

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tant? In English we have basic words, such as the word run, but we also have different forms of words that are used in specific situa-tions, such as running and ran. While the ba-sic verb concept is the same, the words are not interchangeable but, rather, are used in specific grammatical situations.

The Greek word pneumatos is the genitive, singular form of pneuma. No lexicon or gram-mar book will argue with this, but what does it mean to be the genitive form of the word? The genitive form in the Greek language shows possession. In English we usually use an apostrophe to show possession. I might say, I love God’s word. In the Bible it would be written differently. The Greek form is to use the word of, and this can also be used in English and in other languages to show pos-session. Continuing with our example, we read in Acts 12:24: “But the word of God grew and multiplied.” The Greek for God is Θεοῦ (theon), rather than θεός (theos). Why?

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Because theon is the genitive form of theos, and it is used to show possession. God pos-sesses something in the verse. It is his word. Apostrophes are not used in the Greek lan-guage and, therefore, are not found in the New Testament.[3] The verses are translated using the Greek form of possession. The same is true in Ephesians 3:19, where it speaks about “the love of Christ.” Christ is from Χριστοῦ (Christou) and not Χριστός (Chris-tos), the basic form of the word, because the noun needs to show possession.

Now, returning to Ephesians 4:3, the Greek for of the Spirit is τοῦ πνεύματος. τοῦ is the definite article but not any definite article.[4] It is the definite article in the singular form that is genitive. πνεύματος is also genitive and is translated spirit. There is no Greek word for our English word of in such verses because it is always understood in the Greek, since the words are in the genitive form.

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We have noted all of this to make the fol-lowing point: Ephesians 4:3 could accurately be translated endeavouring to keep the Spirit’s unity in the bond of peace. You see, the verse is not speaking of a kind of unity we have which is in the Spirit, but of a unity which the Spirit has. The unity belongs to the Spirit. It is the Spirit’s unity. The unity is pos-sessed by the Spirit! Seeing it this way helps to place the proper emphasis upon the verse. Remember that God’s Spirit guides into all truth, so the Spirit’s unity must be a unity of truth. It is not is a buddy-buddy fellowship outside of truth.

The next part of Ephesians 4:3 speaks of keeping the Spirit’s unity in the bond of peace. The phrase in the bond is ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ (en tō syndesmos). Here the Greek for the word bond is from syndesmos, which means that which ties together, such as a lig-ament. It is also used in Colossians 3:14:

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And above all these things put on char-ity, which is the bond (syndesmos) of per-fectness. (Colossians 3:14)

It is the Spirit’s unity that binds us to-gether. Again, it is a unity of truth, and the result is that it brings peace εἰρήνης (eirēnēs), from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the basic Greek word for peace (Matthew 10:13; Mark 5:34; Luke 24:36; John 14:27; etc.).

This word is also translated rest in Acts 9:31: “Then the churches had rest . . .” It is translated quietness in Acts 24:2: “. . . that by thee we enjoy great quietness . . .” (Tertullus before Felix).

So, the understood sense of Ephesians 4:3 is to do your best to earnestly safeguard the Spirit’s unity in the bond of peace, or in peace’s bond.[5]

Since the unity of Ephesians 4:3 belongs to the Spirit, we need to understand an impor-tant work of the Spirit. Peter notes:

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpreta-tion. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:20, 21)

The Holy Spirit guided and directed in the writing of the Bible and, according to 2 Corinthians 3:17, “The Lord is that Spirit.” Furthermore, when we return to the writings of Peter, we read:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:11)

Peter is saying in his epistles that it was the Holy Spirit, or Christ’s Spirit, that inspired the prophets. So, what we have in the Bible is the work of the Spirit.

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Second Timothy 3:16 says: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The phrase given by inspiration of God is θεόπνευστος (theopneustos), literally God-breathed, from the Greek for God and the Greek root word for pneuma.

The Spirit will never lead and will never bring unity contrary to the word of God. No-tice John 16:13:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatso-ever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The Spirit of truth must guide into truth and not into error, or it could not be the Spirit of truth, and, remember, Jesus said he spoke the words which the Father gave him (John 12:49).

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In 1 Corinthians 1:13, Paul asks, “is Christ divided?” Paul is trying to say that the true body of Christ is not, and cannot be, divided. If we are to be the body of Christ, then there is not to be division, and if there is division, then the is someone is not fully a part of the body of Christ.

J. H. Waggoner was an early Adventist pio-neer who knew Ellen White. He was one of the foremost leaders of the church in his time, and he wrote:

We may not entertain any faith contrary to God’s revelation. Though man has no right to control our faith, God has: for “he that believeth not God hath made him a liar” (1 John 5:10), for which offense he will be held to an account. If this were not so, and if God had given to all the right and privilege to think and believe what they pleased, he would be unjust in punish-ing unbelief, as it would only be the exer-cise of a given right. (J. H. Waggoner,

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Refutation of the Doctrine Called The Age to Come, p. 8.3)

Waggoner states that no man has a right to control our faith, but God certainly does. How does God do this? Does he give an im-pression or even a charismatic experience? Perhaps someone has been speaking in tongues and has a great, warm, and glowing feeling inside and believes God has told him or her something that does not agree with the Bible. Can what is said be accepted?

Just to be clear, Waggoner is not saying you do not have a free will to believe what you want. You certainly do have a free will and can believe what you wish; however, if you wish to be saved and to not be lost, then you have to believe what God has revealed in his word.

Waggoner continues:

As he will punish unbelief, he has a right to guide our faith; and as his word is truth,

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and does not teach yea and nay, he has a right to require that we should all be one—speak the same thing—be of one mind—come to the unity of the faith, and keep the unity of the Spirit. (Ibid.)

Waggoner’s understanding of the unity of the Spirit was a unity of the faith. If we are to have the Spirit’s unity and if the Spirit leads and guides by the word of God, then the unity has to be determined by the word of God alone and not by what I or anyone thinks. The Spirit of truth comes from the God of truth. Ellen White also noted:

. . . . God’s Spirit will never lead one in a course that is contrary to his word, or that leads to separation from that people who are giving the last message of mercy. (Ellen White, The Review and Herald, June 6, 1878, par. 3)

Not only does the Holy Spirit never lead contrary to God’s word, but it also never

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leads to separation from the true people who are giving the last message of mercy to the world. Now, if there is a people who refuse to give that message or even scorn that mes-sage, then separation must come. The pur-pose of separation is to come into the place where the people of God are and not to leave the true people of God.

God wants his people to be one people of one mind. Notice in the following texts this theme of oneness.

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

When you are of one mind, you can live in peace. Why is there such discord and lack of harmony in many homes? It is because they are not of one mind. When there are vastly different ideas, then peace is almost impossi-ble.

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There is a type of unity that the world teaches, which is the same kind of unity that the ecumenical movement preaches. It says it is great to get together, even with differ-ences, and if we will pray and study together, who knows what might happen! But that is not biblical unity. Peter writes:

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: (1 Peter 3:8)

Notice the emphasis Peter also puts on one mind.

Sometimes when we think of doctrine, the unique and fundamental principles of our faith come to mind—teachings of the Sab-bath, the mortality of the soul, the heavenly sanctuary, etc., but we must remember that doctrine is simply teachings, and the Bible teaches a lot about love, mercy, and grace. Are they biblical doctrines? Of course, they

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are. They may not be listed in the fundamen-tal principles, due to the fact that they are so basic to one’s Christian experience, but they are biblical doctrines, or teachings, too.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)

If we are to have the same mind, it should be the mind of Christ. We are to think like Je-sus thinks and to know, believe, and live the truths that Jesus lived. We must have the love that comes from Christ’s mind and the humil-ity that comes from Jesus.

We are often exhorted, “Be ye all of one mind,” which means the same as “Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” All should seek to draw as closely together as possi-ble, by dwelling upon those things in which all can agree, rather than upon those things that seem to create a differ-ence. (Ellen White, Manuscript Releases,

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vol. 8, p. 68.4; all emphasis in this article supplied unless otherwise noted)

Ellen White says that to be of one mind is equal to endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. She is quoting from Ephesians 4:3 and says that being of one mind (being in agreement) is exactly equal to keeping the unity of the Spirit. Here is the right kind of kindred spirits—people who think alike in harmony with the mind of Christ.

We noted a statement from J. H. Waggoner earlier, but most Adventists are more familiar with his son, E. J. Waggoner, of 1888 fame. When writing for the UK edition of the Present Truth, he wrote something so self ev-ident:

It was the Holy Spirit that united “the multitude of them that believed” into “one heart and soul;” for we read that “the unity of the Spirit” is to be kept in the bond of

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peace. It is only by possessing one com-mon Spirit that a multitude of people can be of one heart and soul; and the Holy Spirit of God is the only universal, all-per-vading Spirit. Ps. cxxxix. 7–12. (E. J. Wag-goner, Present Truth, UK ed., January 30, 1902)

I know of a specific Baptist church I could attend, where the people know me and show great love and respect to me. They are friendly without limit and are extremely kind to me. They seem to have a good spirit. They will be gracious and sweet to me, but are we really kindred spirits? They believe in a dif-ferent Spirit and, in reality, a different Jesus, who is the second person of the trinity and not the true Son of God. We can be buddy-buddy, but that does not make us true kin-dred spirits. It does not make us of one mind biblically. I hope we can understand that.

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When we have the mind of Christ, we will be able to see it in others who have the same mind. Ellen White noted:

He in whose heart Christ abides recog-nizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother. Christ never wars against Christ. Christ never exerts an influence against Christ. Christians are to do their work, whatever it may be, in the unity of the Spirit, for the perfecting of the whole body. (Ellen White, The Signs of the Times, February 7, 1900, par. 11)

To understand and appreciate what is quoted above, we have to understand Christ. Who is the Christ? Is he the Christ of the Catholic Church? Is he the Jesus of Islam, who is only a prophet? It cannot be the wrong Christ!

As we consider the context of Ephesians 4, let us remember, as noted earlier:

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The first three chapters contain doc-trine, the last three, exhortation. This is the proper order, for only in doctrine can one see the sweet reasonableness of the exhortations, and obtain the necessary power and technique to obey them. In brief, God says in chapters 1–3, “I have made you a saint.” In chapters 4–6, He says, “Now, live a saintly life.” (Wuest, Ibid.)

According to Ephesians 3, we are to be rooted and grounded in love (verse 17). We are also to have a deep understanding of God’s love (verses 18 and 19), and we are to be filled with all of God’s fullness (verse 19).

Ellen White put all of this together, saying:

I ... beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuf-fering, forbearing one another in love; en-

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deavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1–3.

Paul urges the Ephesians to preserve unity and love.... Divisions in the church dishonor the religion of Christ before the world and give occasion to the enemies of truth to justify their course.

A union of believers with Christ will as a natural result lead to a union with one an-other, which bond of union is the most en-during upon earth. We are one in Christ, as Christ is one with the Father.... It is only by personal union with Christ, by communion with Him daily, hourly, that we can bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.... Our growth in grace, our joy, our usefulness, all depend on our union with Christ and the degree of faith we exercise in Him. (Ellen White, God’s Amazing Grace, p. 211.1–3)

Why are we apart from each other? It is be-cause we are apart from Christ. Christ is that

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central hub, and we are to come closer to him and thus to each other, but we are not closer to each other simply because we are closer physically. I can stand beside the pope, but that does not mean we are in spiritual har-mony with each other. To be close to another in Christ is to have the same mind and thoughts. We have the same purpose, and we are working towards the giving of the same gospel.

The word and Spirit of truth, dwelling in our hearts, will separate us from the world. The immutable principles of truth and love will bind heart to heart, and the strength of the union will be according to the measure of grace and truth enjoyed. (White, Ibid., p. 211.4)

Notice we are told that the strength of this union will be according to the measure of grace and TRUTH enjoyed. The more grace and truth, the stronger and sweeter the bond will be. The less truth, the less will be the

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bond. If truth is lacking, the bond will be very frail and unsustainable.

Now let us proceed to Ephesians 4:4–6:

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your call-ing; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The word one is used seven times in these three verses. God is emphatic that we are to be one, to be in unity. If we have the unity of the Spirit, it means we have one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father.

The gifts of the Spirit were given for the equipping of the workers for unity of the faith, to bring God’s people to perfection, and to prevent us from being deceived by winds of doctrine. (See Ephesians 4:11–14.)

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The context that surrounds the unity of the Spirit, or the Spirit’s unity, is sound doctrine and teaching. If we have the unity of the Spirit, we do not accept winds of doctrine. The true believer does not condone or allow winds of doctrine to be taught, when it can be prevented.

There are fundamentals that we all agree are doctrines, but, as we noted earlier, we all need to understand that kindness is a Chris-tian doctrine. Gentleness, humility, love, and faith are all Christian doctrines, or teachings.

In 1888 there was a General Conference session where many came together for dis-cussion, but it did not all go well. There was a lot of dissension and disunity at that confer-ence. Ellen White, commenting on that, stated:

I was confirmed in all I had stated in Minneapolis, that a reformation must go through the churches. Reforms must be

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made, for spiritual weakness and blindness were upon the people who had been blessed with great light and precious op-portunities and privileges. As reformers they had come out of the denominational churches, but they now act a part similar to that which the churches acted. We hoped that there would not be the neces-sity for another coming out. While we will endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, we will not with pen or voice cease to protest against bigotry. . . . (Ellen White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, p. 229.2)

Sister White wrote that some acted a part similar to that which the denominational churches had acted. Notice she did not say that they said what others were saying but that they were acting a certain way. What they did, the way they acted and treated each other, was more important than what they

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were saying. Love, humility, and the other graces were not being demonstrated.

Further, Ellen White said she would not be silent concerning the bigotry that had been displayed, and she is speaking specifically about the treatment that Jones and Waggoner received.

Jesus did not pray for that which was not attainable by us, and if this unity is possi-ble, why do not those who are professed followers of Christ strive more earnestly for this condition of grace? When we are one with Christ, we shall be one with His followers. The great want of the soul is Je-sus, the hope of glory. Through the Holy Spirit this unity may be attained, and love for the brethren will abound, and men will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him. Our life will be a reflection of His holy character. As believers in Him we shall represent His meekness of spirit, His gentleness of de-

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meanor. Individually the church of God must answer the prayer of Christ till we all come into the unity of the Spirit. (Ellen White, The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, p. 1048.2)

This unity of the Spirit, the Spirit’s unity, comes from what the Spirit is teaching. It is all the doctrines of the Bible, and they are not limited to just a certain twenty-eight fun-damentals. It involves every aspect of our lives. Do we show love and respect to others? Do we visit our neighbors, when they are sick and we know they need a visit?

The Bible speaks about the fruit of the Spirit that results from what we believe and live! If our doctrines—the big ones, the small ones, and every one in between—do not change us for the better, then either the doc-trines are wrong or we are not putting them into our lives. We can only be sanctified by the truth if we allow the truth to enter our hearts and if we then we live out that truth.

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Satan knows the Bible backwards and for-wards, but that does not mean he is holy and saved. There are people who will teach the truth to others but not receive the seal of God.

There are many even among those who teach the truth to others who will not re-ceive the seal of God in their foreheads. They had the light of truth, they knew their Master’s will, they understood every point of our faith, but they had not correspond-ing works. These who were so familiar with prophecy and the treasures of divine wisdom should have acted their faith. (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 213.2)

Trying to find the right spirit first and then get to the right doctrines is not the biblical plan. It has matters in reverse. If we were to adopt a plan of joining with those we believe have the right spirit and then try to get the doctrines figured out, where would we stop?

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Where should we stop, if we adapted such a program? Maybe we should go to the General Conference and find Trinitarian Adventists with whom to dialog? Maybe we think that their spirit is right, but their doctrines are wrong. Maybe we should take the program further and get the Baptists involved. Maybe there are a lot of Catholic people who seem to have the same spirit. Should they be then excluded?[6] Perhaps we should not stop until we go to the Vatican and get the pope in-volved. Most of his observers claim he is a wonderful, gentle, and loving person. Tony Palmer and Kenneth Copeland were/are con-vinced that the pope has the right spirit. Maybe we can get the pope to pray with us and for us, but watch out when that happens.

Extra Spirit of Prophecy gemsChrist calls for unity. But He does not

call for us to unify on wrong practices. The God of heaven draws a sharp contrast be-tween pure, elevating, ennobling truth and

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false, misleading doctrines. He calls sin and impenitence by the right name. He does not gloss over wrongdoing with a coat of untempered mortar. I urge our brethren to unify upon a true, scriptural basis.—Manuscript 10, 1905. (Ellen White, Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 175.1)

Our great need is unity. We have not one soul that can be spared. The Lord calls upon us to unify in harmony with Bible truth. This should be repeated over and over in the family and in the church. (Ellen White, Lt172–1907.2)

Unity is wonderful and needed, but, as we noted in Psalm 133:1, it must be upon the ba-sis of truth. It must be in harmony with bibli-cal truth:

If God’s professed people would receive the light as it shines upon them from His word, they would reach that unity for which Christ prayed, that which the apos-

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tle describes, “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” “There is,” he says, “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Ephesians 4:3–5. (Ellen White, The Great Controversy, p. 379.2)

For God’s people to reach the unity for which Christ prayed, they must “receive the light as it shines upon them from His word.” True unity does not come from any other source. Notice the process is to receive the light and then reach unity. It is not the other way around.

Three years ago I spoke to the company at Williamstown. There was in attendance a lady full of worldly pride, who had not at-tended the meetings before. She con-sented to come this time to please her mother who was a most worthy Christian, and who had embraced the truth. I had a solemn and searching testimony to bear in

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reference to the infallibility of the law of God, which was established as firmly as his throne, also in reference to the coming of the Son of God the second time, to be ad-mired in all them that believe and love His appearing. This worldly woman was con-victed. The truth took so firm a hold upon her, and she felt such conviction, that she could scarcely stand upon her feet. She said that she thought her limbs would not sustain her body long enough for her to get to her home. She did not say to the Spirit of God, “Go thy way for this time; and when I have a more convenient sea-son, I will call for thee.” She came out fully and decidedly. Now the mother in her wid-owhood has her daughter to help her. Both are in the faith, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace. (Ellen White, Lt113–1896.5)

What happened to bring out their unity in the bonds of peace? It was the fact that the

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daughter accepted the message and came un-der it.

We have a testing message to give, and I am instructed to say to our people, “giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. With our hearts sweet and kind and true, we are to go forth to proclaim the message, giving no heed to those who lead away from the truth.—Manuscript 31, 1906. (Ellen White, Selected Messages, bk. 3, p. 412.2)

While God’s people are to unify, they are not to be in unity which those who give “heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.”

People who openly reject the Spirit of Prophecy, who openly deny that we are now living in the anti-typical Day of Atonement, or who are laying the groundwork for Sunday-keeping are not the kind of people with whom we can unify.

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Paul speaks strongly about this point in his second epistle to the church at Corinth:

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

The text does not say to yoke up with whomever you wish. The argument might be made: But Brother Allen, this person believes in Jesus. But is this Jesus the true Jesus or a false Christ? Is this Jesus the second person of the trinity or one who took the unfallen na-ture of Adam? Would that be the same Jesus you know?

And what concord hath Christ with Be-lial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in

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them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:15–18)

Because Christ has not concord with Belial, should we all get together and worship and have a wonderful time? No, the text says to come out and be separate and not be joined together!

There is a great promise in verse 8 that God will be our Father, but before we can claim that promise we must meet the conditions of the promise. It is great to claim promises, but we must meet each condition of the promises first!

We must now, by diligent, self-sacrific-ing effort, endeavor to walk in the love of

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Christ, in the unity of the Spirit, through sanctification of the truth. No halfway work will suffice to fulfill the representa-tion given in the prayer of Christ. We are to practice the principles of heaven here below. In heaven there is one grand meet-ing place. (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 197.3)

The reference speaks about heaven being “one grand meeting place.” That is wonder-ful, but, friends, there will not be any dishar-mony in heaven.

An example where unity is not an issueLet all be under the control of the Holy

Spirit. Under the direction of this Spirit, one may use the same words that others have used under similar guidance. He should not make an effort to do this; or not to do it; he should leave his mind to be acted upon by the Holy Spirit. There is one thing all should do. They should endeavor

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to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ellen White, Ms105–1900.4)

When Ellen White says some may use some words and others may not use the same words, she is not speaking about points of doctrine but, rather, how to express the teachings or messages. For example, Uriah Smith wrote a book entitled Daniel and the Revelation. Stephen Haskell wrote two books, one called Daniel the Prophet and the other The Seer of Patmos. Both authors were writ-ing commentaries on Daniel and on Revela-tion. Both were teaching very similar posi-tions on the doctrines, but it was not neces-sary for them to use the same words to ex-press the same teaching. If they used the same words, that was fine but not necessary. During the time that God was especially us-ing Jones and Waggoner near 1888, they might not be together in the same place preaching, but people would hear Jones give a sermon in one place and then later hear

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Waggoner speak on the same subject in an-other place, and they said it was as if each had spoken the same thing. The messages were so identical because the Spirit was di-recting and guiding matters.

Notice this statement on the architecture of churches:

Churches are to be built in many places, but they need not all be built in precisely the same style. Different styles of building may be appropriate to different locations. (Ibid., par. 5)

The unity of the Spirit does not mean that we all have to have the same kind of build-ings to meet in, use the same color of paint on walls, or to always have carpet on the floors, etc.

In this next statement we have a wonderful illustration from the garments of the high priest:

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In the breastplate of the high priest there were many stones, but each stone had its special light, adding to the beauty of the whole. Each stone had its special significance, bearing its important mes-sage from God. There were many stones, but one breastplate. So there are many minds, but one Mind. In the church there are many members, each having his pecu-liar characteristics, but they form one fam-ily. (Ibid., par. 6)

God lays the burden upon some to empha-size health reform, while others may empha-size prophecy or the sanctuary truth, but combined they form a perfect whole.

Disunity not over doctrineI have been greatly distressed—it has

nearly taken my life—to see how little ef-fort is made to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What is the matter? It is because this one and that one and the

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other one all want their own way. Perhaps they always had their own way when they were children, and they have never learned to yield. (Ellen White, Ms56–1904.4)

Have you ever met anyone as described here—an adult who is like a spoiled child? Here Ellen White speaks about a type of dis-unity. It is not over doctrine but over how the church should be run. Some people are un-movable that things must be run in a certain way and others are convinced that they must be run in the opposite way. Let us remember that grace, love, and courtesy are part of the Bible’s doctrine. We are to have compassion in putting others ahead of ourselves:

Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory; but in lowliness of mind let each es-teem other better than themselves. (Philippi-ans 2:3)

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If we can come closer to Christ and have his mind, then we will be in the Spirit’s unity.

The scriptures are very clear that we are to come to the doctrine first and then we can come to unity in spirit. Some people may feel that this order must be wrong, for it has been tried in the past and has not worked. Sup-pose we were to study with ten different peo-ple about the Sabbath, and, sadly, none of them accepted the truth. Someone has said that a definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Does that mean we should abandon the effort to teach the Sabbath? Of course not. We have to continue. Those who have re-jected the message will not be the ones who will accept the truth and become a part of God’s people, if they do so willfully and if they are staying in ignorance and in rebellion to God.

There are some who are wistfully looking to heaven, and they want to go forward, and I

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want to go forward with them, too. Don’t you? So, if there are some who will not move forward into the truth or who have decided to move backward from the truth they once knew, then they are not a part of those who are holding to the truth once delivered unto the saints.

It might be said that there is disunity in the truth-about- God movement, or the OTG movement, or whatever you wish to call it, but we are really not in any more disunity than we are with the Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Catholics, and Jehovah’s Wit-nesses. Of course, I am in disunity with all of these groups because they do not fully, 100%, believe in the Bible. They have their own teachings, and we are not a part of it.

The key element of both the modern-day ec-umenical movement and the emerging church is the one common denominator of their belief in God, specifically their belief in the trinity. If they all believe the same about

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God, then they can all get together, and noth-ing else is important enough to separate their fellowship. Today we might be tempted to have our own ecumenical movement, based upon the common denominator of our belief in the one true God, but this is not enough glue to bring and hold the people together. We must bring all the vital truths into the pic-ture.

My appeal, brothers and sisters, is that we unify on a truly scriptural basis. It is my ap-peal that we follow what the Bible says and that we remember the Spirit’s unity is always a unity in truth and never in unrighteousness.

Claiming to have the unity of the Spirit without the doctrines taught by the Spirit will never bring people together, unless they are willing to give up on some of those doctrines in which they believe that are different.

We are not to be unequally yoked with be-lievers and when we try to be, we will cer-

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tainly cripple the church. We will dilute the church by bringing error within the flock which has been trying to be faithful. By doing so we put the sheep in harm’s way and take the chance of them being deceived and lost! Woe to the professed shepherd who would risk the sheep in such manner!

May God bless us to follow truth, to live the truth, to love the truth, and to do what is right for everybody. I want Pope Francis saved. I want each false teacher to be saved, but we will not be saved outside of the truth. That will not happen. ?[1]. One time, Ephesians 2:7[2]. You can see this in a Greek-English interlinear

translation It will give the Greek text with the English word(s) under the Greek. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, the English states, “Quench not the Spirit.” The Greek text reads το πνευμα μη σβεννυτε, which literally means the Spirit not quench.

[3]. They are also not found in the Old Testament.

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[4]. There are twenty-four definite articles in Greek!

[5]. Peace’s bond is also genitive in form in Eph-esians 4:3.

[6]. Let me be clear. I am all for witnessing to these groups of people; however, witnessing to a group is different than having a confederacy with the group.

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God’s WaysAre you starting a new work for God? Are

you living in an area where you are the only one who knows about the three angels’ mes-sages and are not sure how to proceed?

F. B. Armitage started a new work in what is now Zimbabwe, and he prayed for local vil-lagers to come to the mission who had open hearts to learn about God. Listen, as he tells how God prepared the way:

We had been on the new station about two months, endeavoring to get a start and praying the Lord to send to us hearts open to receive instruction in the way of salva-tion. With us we had some Matabele or-phan children, brought from our first Rhodesian station, near Bulawayo, where we had formerly labored.

One Sabbath day, as we were gathering in our little meeting, in came four young

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people, three men and one woman. As the meeting closed, the eldest of the young men arose.

“Teacher,” he said, “I should like to speak some words to you.”

“Speak on,” I said.

“Night before last,” he went on, “I had a dream. In my dream I came here to this lit-tle room, and as I put my head in the door, I saw one of the boys sitting by the door reading from a book. I listened to the words and became interested. I sat down by the boy, and at last I said to him, in my dream, ‘What are you reading?’ ‘This is God’s Word,’ he told me. It was the first time I had ever heard of God’s Word. I had never heard before that God had spoken words. Then my dream ended.”

To make the story short, he told us that in the morning when he rose up he went to his father, and told him how he had visited

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the new mission school in his dream, and now he wanted to go and visit the place in person. “They have God’s Word there,” he said to his father. “I saw it in my dream. Now I want to go and hear God’s Word.”

“So, we have come today,” the young man continued, “and I have seen and heard it all just as it was in the dream. This little boy,” pointing to one of the or-phan children, “is the same one that I saw sitting by the door, in my dream.” And pointing to another boy and a girl, he said, “I saw these also, and the teacher there is the same, I should have known him if I had met him many miles from here.”

That was our introduction to the work in Somabula, and we felt that truly our heav-enly Father was verifying the promise: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: . . . yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isa. 41:10.

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It was this promise that had been of spe-cial strength and assurance in the starting of the new station. (W. A. Spicer, The Hand That Intervenes, pp. 250, 251)

What about the young man who had the dream? Did he accept the gospel?

“Ah, yes,” said Missionary Armitage, “he became one of the teachers in the mis-sion.” (Ibid., p. 251) ?

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Spiritual Giftsby Allen Stump

Have you ever seen an Amish barn-raising? Instead of a single person or a family working together, all the men from the community will come out and work in a unified way to construct the barn. Each person works with the whole, with men swarming over the build-ing as it goes up, like ants working on their nest.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do a similar work when constructing their meeting places, known as Kingdom Halls. Men will come to-gether to work. Some may be specialists in foundations, some in framing, others in elec-trical work, etc. Within forty-eight hours they will have a completed the building because each was able to use his or her talents to maximum efficiency.

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God has planned for his church to work in specialized, united groups for the building up of his kingdom, and he has given spiritual gifts for this work.

The spiritual gifts God has given to his church should not be confused with the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22, 23. These fruits are character traits that have been developed by God’s grace in the Chris-tian’s life. Spiritual gifts, however, deal with the development of the Christian church, which is the body of Christ with all the people combined.

There is a prerequisite for receiving spiri-tual gifts because these gifts are given by the Holy Spirit. That requirement is found in Acts 5:32: “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”

You cannot get the gifts of the Spirit with-out receiving the Holy Spirit, and you cannot

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receive the Holy Spirit without walking in obedience to God’s commandments.

There are four direct references to the term spiritual gift or spiritual gifts in the Bible. We will begin by looking at each reference. The first is found in Romans 1:

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. (Romans 1:11, 12)

Paul wanted to impart a spiritual gift to the believers so that, according to verse 12, they could be all comforted together.

The second direct reference for spiritual gift(s) is found in 1 Corinthians 12:1:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

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God does not wish for his people to be igno-rant about these gifts. He wants his people to be well informed.

If you are using a King James Bible, you will see that the word gifts is in italic type, mean-ing that it is a supplied word and is not in the original text. However, the text demands that a word be supplied. The Greek word trans-lated spiritual is πνευματικῶν (pneumatikōn), from πνεῦμα (pneuma). Pneumatikōn is an adjective form of pneuma and requires a sup-plied word that meets the context of the text. Gifts is the correctly supplied word here.

The next place we find spiritual gifts is in 1 Corinthians 14:1:

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

Gifts is a supplied word here, as in chapter 12, and as also in chapter 12, spiritual is the translated adjective form of pneuma.

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The last place we find spiritual gifts is in 1 Corinthians 14:12:

Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

Again, gifts is supplied, but in this verse it is the context, rather than the grammar, which requires it.

There is an indirect reference that we should notice in Hebrews:

God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, ac-cording to his own will? (Hebrews 2:4)

Here we find the expression gifts of the Holy Ghost, which is an equivalent to spiri-tual gifts.

While the word gifts is supplied in the texts in Corinthians, it is not supplied in Romans 1:11; rather, it comes from the Greek word

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χάρισμα (charisma), which goes back to the word χάρις (charis), which we translate grace. Charisma means a free gift or gift of grace, a gift graciously given or a gracious bestowment. The word charismatic comes from charis.

In 1 Corinthians 12:5–7, Paul employs three other terms to refer to spiritual gifts:

5 And there are differences of adminis-trations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

In verse 5, we read about differences in ad-ministrations; in verse 6, we have diversities of operations; and in verse 7, manifestation of the Spirit is mentioned.

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In verse 5, administrations comes from the Greek word διάκονος (diakonos), meaning ministries or acts of service. We obtain our English word deacon from diakonos.

In verse 6, operations comes from the Greek word ἔργον (ergon), meaning opera-tions, activities, or workings. Our English word energy comes from ergon.

In verse 7, manifestation of the Spirit is from the Greek expression φανέρωσις τοῦ πνεύματος (phanerōsis tou pneumatos), meaning manifestation of the Spirit.

This is different from the gift of the Holy Spirit, where the Spirit, as a whole, is given as a gift of God to the believer.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38)

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And they of the circumcision which be-lieved were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 10:45)[1]

Notice that the believers were to receive the gift, not gifts, of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual gifts are the God-granted empow-erments for ministry on the part of believers in behalf of the work of the church, which is the body of Christ.

The work of the Spirit was spoken of in the Old Testament.

The work of the Spirit is not confined to the New Testament. In the Old Testament we see examples of the gifts of the Spirit bestowed upon individuals, such as Bezaleel:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of

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Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, (Exodus 31:1–3)

Bezaleel had a special gift of workmanship. He had wisdom and understanding in how to produce many items for the tabernacle ex-actly as God wanted them. He had skill to make them so they properly represented what God had given Moses in the blueprint.

There were many in the Old Testament with the gift of prophecy, from Enoch (Jude 14) to Malachi (Malachi 1:1), and many in between (Joel 2:28, 29; Zechariah 12:10).

The work of the Spirit is seen in many other places of the Old Testament, as well as in the Gospels and in Acts.

Space limits us to focus upon the texts that speak more directly of spiritual gifts, or gifts given by the Holy Spirit. There are three

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main lists in the New Testament. The first list is in 1 Corinthians 12:7–10, 28:

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wis-dom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to an-other discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the in-terpretation of tongues...And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secon-darily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, gov-ernments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:7–10, 28)

Here we see the following list given:

• Word of wisdom• Word of knowledge

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• Faith• Gifts of healing• Miracles• Prophecy and prophets• Discernment — to judge or decide• Tongues – languages• Interpretation of tongues• Apostles• Teachers• Helps (forms of assistance)• Governments (forms of leadership)

Let us consider a few of these gifts before we continue to the next list.

Wisdom and knowledge are special gifts im-parted by the Spirit to individuals on levels above natural abilities. Some gospel workers have the ability to know how to carry the gospel work forward in greatly effective and efficient ways.

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Faith is mentioned as a gift of the Spirit, but Romans 12:3 says that “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” and “so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Our faith can increase, but, apparently, some people have a very special gift of faith to be able to believe and trust in a way that edifies the church, for, as we shall see, these gifts are given for the edification of the church.

The list mentions gifts, plural, of healing. We shall see more on this soon, and there are miracles, also plural, because there are dif-ferent kinds of miracles.

Prophets and prophecy are listed. When you have a prophet, you would assume that there is a prophecy, and when there is a prophecy, it must be because of a prophet.

Discernment is the ability to judge or to de-cide a matter, including the understanding of a doctrine.

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The next list of spiritual gifts is in Romans 12:6–8:

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhorta-tion: he that giveth, let him do it with sim-plicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

Here we see the following gifts listed:

• Prophecy• Ministry• Teaching• Exhortation (encouraging, appealing)• Giving• Ruleth: leads or gives aid• Showing mercy

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Some gifts listed in Romans overlap with the list from 1 Corinthians 12.

Let us look at a few of the gifts in this list from Romans.

When we think of exhortation, we usually think of giving an address or a communica-tion in which we are urging someone to do something, but the Greek word used in Ro-mans 12:8 for exhorteth is from παρακαλέω (parakaleō), which means to give encourage-ment and comfort. The chart below shows some of the different ways parakaleō is trans-lated in the King James version of the Bible (KJV).

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The four main ways parakaleō is translated are beseech, besought, exhort, and comfort or similar forms of those words. For example, after Eutychus fell out of an upper window and was revived, we read:

And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted. (Acts 20:12)

In speaking of the second coming and of be-ing reunited with our loved ones who have died, Paul noted:

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Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

Parakaleō also is used in the following verses as a form of beseech:

And there came a leper to him, beseech-ing him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (Mark 1:40)

And when Jesus was entered into Caper-naum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, (Matthew 8:5)

Another gift on Paul’s list in Romans 12 is giving. There are some who are able to give, not simply money, though that is certainly in-cluded, but also to give of their time, their talents, and their energy. In short, they give whatever the cause needs, if they have it to give. What they have is not theirs, but the Lord’s. The widow who gave her two mites certainly had this gift. Paul, who gave his life

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in so many ways for the Lord, also had this gift.

Another gift is ruleth, but this means one who leads or gives aid. It does not involve the concept of being a dictator.

Paul then speaks about a special gift some have of being able to show mercy, perhaps in ways other cannot.

Our third list of spiritual gifts is found in Ephesians 4:11:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

These gifts are:

• Apostles• Prophets• Evangelists• Pastors and teachers

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Notice in the list that pastors and teachers are together. If we examine the grammar of the verse in English, but even more so in the Greek, we see that these two are together. Pastors are called to preach, but they must be teachers in their work. Pastors and teach-ers are a package unit.

The gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11 are more than gifts, for they are callings of responsibil-ity, as well. These are not offices in the church that one can choose to take or be elected to, though that is done all the time. These are callings of God to do a special work. Not everyone is an apostle, and in the days of Jesus, not everyone was an apostle. In fact, Jesus only chose eleven apostles. Judas chose himself. Later Paul and others were called of God to be apostles.

There are people today who do the same thing. God has not called them to be a pastor, but they choose to be a minister or an evan-

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gelist or even a prophet, but it is God who makes these choices and gives the callings.

Someone was discussing the call to the min-istry with the famous English preacher, Charles Spurgeon. This man suggested to Spurgeon that he knew himself to be called to the ministry. Spurgeon asked the man how he knew this. The man replied because he had tried everything else and had failed! Con-cerning this man’s supposed calling, Spur-geon said, I don’t think so. Spurgeon said that generally someone who is called to preach would be successful at anything else they do, but they have been called to a spe-cific thing.

While all are not apostles, prophets, evan-gelists, or pastors and teachers, every Chris-tian receives at least one gift. Notice the fol-lowing verses.

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But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man sev-erally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:11)

But now hath God set the members ev-ery one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10)

The language here is hard to miss: every man, every one.

Some, perhaps many, people receive more than one gift. Think of the apostle Paul. It is easy to see he had many of the gifts on the lists. He was certainly an apostle, but he was also a prophet. He was an evangelist and, at times, served as a pastor, and he certainly

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was a teacher. Paul had faith, healings, lead-ership, and much more. He is a star witness to demonstrate that it is possible to receive more than one gift.

In 1 Corinthians 14:13, we read: “Where-fore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.” Tongues, or languages, is a gift, but interpretation is also a gift, and Paul says that if one has the gift of tongues, he should pray for the gift to interpret.

We do not, however, all have the same gifts. Paul also notes:

Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. (1 Corinthi-ans 12:29–31)

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The implied answer to each of Paul’s ques-tions in these verses is no. This is why we need each other. No one person has been given all the spiritual gifts. Paul uses the analogy of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:12–26 to illustrate:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all bap-tized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But

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now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for an-other. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member

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be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:12–26)

Every part of the body is not a finger or an eye. Every part does not have the ability to hear. All of the parts are important, and Paul notes that some which seem to be uncomely are the most vital. Have you heard the ex-pression unity in diversity? That expression is used in the ecumenical movement to say it has unity through all kinds of different be-liefs, but the analogy Paul uses is an example of true unity in diversity! The diversity is not different beliefs, but, rather, different gifts of the Spirit, all working towards the “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).

The vine has many branches, but though all the branches are different, they do not quarrel. In diversity there is unity. All the branches obtain their nourishment from one source. This is an illustration of the unity that is to exist among Christ’s follow-ers. In their different lines of work they all

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have but one Head. The same Spirit, in different ways, works through them. There is harmonious action, though the gifts dif-fer. Study this chapter. You will see from it that the man who is truly united with Christ will never act as though he were a complete whole in himself. (Ellen White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, p. 276.3)

No one should think that they have every-thing needed to do God’s work or to run his church. God wants each member involved.

This diversity should never be allowed to result in schisms and quarrels, since all are gifted by the same Holy Spirit, which also in-dwells them:

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

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But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:9–11)

We are to be controlled by the Spirit of God, and that Spirit will not tell one person to speak and work contrary to another person who is being led by the Spirit.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1 Corinthians 12:4–7)

Again, there is one Spirit but a diversity of gifts.

God dispenses His gifts as it pleases Him. He bestows one gift upon one, and

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another gift upon another, but all for the good of the whole body. It is in God’s order that some shall be of service in one line of work, and others in other lines—all work-ing under the selfsame Spirit. The recogni-tion of this plan will be a safeguard against emulation, pride, envy, or contempt of one another. It will strengthen unity and mu-tual love. (Ellen White, Counsels to Par-ents, Teachers, and Students, p. 314.3)

“God dispenses His gifts as it pleases Him.” The dispensing of gifts is God’s choice. It is to be in his way, not ours. Maybe I want to be a prophet, but that is not for me to decide. It is God’s decision. Maybe I want the gift of heal-ing, but that, again, is not for me to decide. It is up God to determine.

All men do not receive the same gifts, but to every servant of the Master some gift of the Spirit is promised. (Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 327.1)

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Paul’s experience shows that likely some of the specific gifts actually encapsulate or over-lap several others. For example, the gift of apostleship probably encapsulates the gifts of teaching and leadership.

Further consideration on some of the gifts

Now let us further consider some of the gifts.The gift of miracles shows that Christ is not

restricted by what we consider the reality of the physical world but, rather, is Lord over his creation. Let us consider the miracle of turning the water into wine, for example (John 2:1–11). How does that happen accord-ing to the normal laws of biology? It doesn’t! How does a person walk on plain water? They can’t walk on water by the laws of physics. Not only do the laws of science say these things are not possible, but our senses, as well, tell us of the impossibility. These mira-cles demonstrate that the Lord is over his

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creation and that he is not restricted or bound by it.

Men of science claim that there can be no real answer to prayer; that this would be a violation of law, a miracle, and that miracles have no existence. The universe, say they, is governed by fixed laws, and God Himself does nothing contrary to these laws. Thus they represent God as bound by His own laws—as if the operation of divine laws could exclude divine free-dom. Such teaching is opposed to the testi-mony of the Scriptures. Were not miracles wrought by Christ and His apostles? (Ellen White The Great Controversy, p. 525.5)

The word of wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8) has to do with the ability to speak a word of wise counsel in any difficult situation. Many have experienced in church situations when someone has had the ability to know the mind of the Spirit at just the right time and to say the right thing.

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Paul spoke about the gifts (plural) of heal-ing, and we want to also consider this for a moment. The New Testament has many ac-counts of healing. Gifts of healing were among “the signs of an apostle”:

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. (2 Corinthians 12:12)

The Greek word translated signs is σημεῖον (sēmeion). Sēmeion is translated as sign, signs, miracle, miracles, wonder, wonders, and token. In twenty-two of its seventy-seven usages, sēmeion is translated miracle or mir-acles.

Two examples where sēmeion is translated miracle or miracles are found in the following texts:

And when Herod saw Jesus, he was ex-ceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had

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heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. (Luke 23:8)

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:11)

Though many healings were recorded in the New Testament, some who were sick were not healed. Paul left Trophimus sick at Mile-tus:

Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. (2 Timothy 4:20)

Though Paul had a gift to heal (Acts 14:6–10), it is clear that he could only heal those whom God willed to be healed in such a man-ner. Some may have a gift of healing, but it is not always active at the will and whim of the individual. Timothy had some kind of stomach

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illness. Interestingly, Paul urged Timothy to use a natural remedy.

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine of-ten infirmities. (1 Timothy 5:23)

Paul was saying, Get some grape juice, and this will help your stomach to heal. This was the counsel of the apostle Paul. If anyone could have healed Timothy, it would have been Paul, but God did not then, nor does he always now, choose to heal someone. Only when God willed in the matter was there a healing.

We noted earlier that it was gifts of healing (1 Corinthians 12:8, 28). The plural indicates, as we have seen, that such a gift can be man-ifested in more than one way—miraculous healing may be one of the forms in which healing takes place. Other forms might be found in natural treatments, as we saw when Paul instructed Timothy to use some grape

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juice. Second Kings 20 tells how Hezekiah was sick unto death (verse 1). “And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered” (v. 8). Of course, God brought about the healing, but he used the figs as a natural means.

Yet, despite the gifts of healings, given time, all die, including every believing Chris-tian. As believers, we wait for the full and fi-nal redemption of our bodies. Certainly these gifts points to the fact that God will ulti-mately bring the complete healing of the body and mind when Jesus comes:

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the re-demption of our body. (Romans 8:23)

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incor-ruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised

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in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42–44)

The fact that Paul did not heal all the time brings us to an important consideration. Cer-tain spiritual gifts should be understand as events, activities, or functions within the church and only secondarily as abilities or empowerments within the church. For exam-ple, the gift of tongues is a gift of languages. We first read about it in Acts 2:1–8:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak

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with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of ev-ery nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came to-gether, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Be-hold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? (Acts 2:1–8)

Notice that to speak with other tongues was to speak in a language. This was a spe-cific gift given for a specific need. I have been to many countries where I did not know the language of the people, but God has never left me without a translator. The mira-cle of tongues was not needed, for God had supplied communication in a different way. As we study the Bible, we find that God does

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not usually perform miracles, when there is a human solution which he is glad to bless.

In every place in the Bible where we read “unknown tongue,” the word unknown is sup-plied.[2] Ellen White writes about a misunder-standing on the gift on tongues in her day:

Some of these persons have exercises which they call gifts and say that the Lord has placed them in the church. They have an unmeaning gibberish which they call the unknown tongue, which is unknown not only by man but by the Lord and all heaven. Such gifts are manufactured by men and women, aided by the great de-ceiver. Fanaticism, false excitement, false talking in tongues, and noisy exercises have been considered gifts which God has placed in the church. Some have been de-ceived here. The fruits of all this have not been good. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Fanaticism and noise have been considered special evidences of faith.

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Some are not satisfied with a meeting un-less they have a powerful and happy time. They work for this and get up an excite-ment of feeling. But the influence of such meetings is not beneficial. When the happy flight of feeling is gone, they sink lower than before the meeting because their hap-piness did not come from the right source. The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are charac-terized with solemnity and deep searching of heart; each seeking to know himself, and earnestly, and in deep humility, seek-ing to learn of Christ. (Ellen White, Testi-monies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 412)

We will cover the gift of prophecy in detail next month, but remember that certain spir-itual gifts should be primarily as under-stood events (such as a healing), as activi-ties, or as functions (such as the act of teaching) in the church and understood only secondarily as the ability or the empower-

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ment to perform them. This understanding explains the unqualified inclusion of both functions, such as prophecy and teaching, and events, such as prophets and teachers, being listed among the various gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. In every key passage of Paul, it is the act of ministry itself, rather than the ability to perform it, that is of cen-tral concern.

Prophecy is a very important gift. Paul speaks of desiring the best gifts at the end of 1 Corinthians 12 (1 Corinthians 12:31), then Paul speaks of love in chapter 13, followed by the discussion of prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:1.

All of the gifts are important.Paul makes it clear in his analogy of the

body that the “less honorable” are valuable.

And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our

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uncomely parts have more abundant come-liness. (1 Corinthians 12:23)

The less noticeable gifts are just as impor-tant as the more visible and frequently hon-ored gifts. No church could function if every-one wanted to have only the role of pastor, teacher, or evangelist. The less honourable gifts are just as charismatic (grace-given) gifts as are gifts of prophecy or miracles. There are people who want to be pastors. Most do not realize for what they are wish-ing.

Are these the only gifts?It is safe to say that the gifts given the early

church were, in principle, the representative gifts in the church that cover a broad range of needs of the church. Since people function-ally and fundamentally are the same in all ages, what was needful for the early church is most likely needful for the church in all ages. Perhaps some of these gifts have differ-

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ent ways of working and of being manifested. We also read:

In our efforts in behalf of the multitudes dwelling in cities, we must try to do thor-ough service. The work in a large center of population is greater than one man can successfully handle. God has different ways of working, and He has different workmen to whom He entrusts varied gifts. (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 144)

One worker may be a ready speaker; an-other a ready writer; another may have the gift of sincere, earnest, fervent prayer; another the gift of singing; another may have special power to explain the word of God with clearness. And each gift is to be-come a power for God because He works with the laborer. To one God gives the word of wisdom, to another knowledge, to another faith; but all are to work under the same Head. The diversity of gifts leads to a

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diversity of operations, but “it is the same God which worketh all in all.” 1 Corinthi-ans 12:6. (Ibid., pp. 144, 145)

Here we are told that some “have the gift of sincere, earnest, fervent prayer.” These peo-ple are able to reach the throne of God in be-half of others in ways that are special. Some have the gift of singing and can do the work of an evangelist in this way. Some have the gift of comfort, but how is comfort given? It can be given in many ways—perhaps knowing how to sit quietly with someone in grief or in the ability to make a good loaf of bread, which can encourage someone.

Will the gifts be present till the end?Will the gifts be present till the end of time?

According to the Bible, they certainly must:

Even as the testimony of Christ was con-firmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you

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unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:6–8)

Paul did not want the believers to come be-hind in any gift, until the coming of the Lord. In Ephesians 4:11–13, we read:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the per-fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Among other things, spiritual gifts are given for the perfecting of the saints, or to bring us to perfection. Perhaps you are per-fect, but some are still striving. Some, like Paul once noted concerning himself, are still pressing “toward the mark” (Philippians

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3:14). We are progressing in sanctification to the point when we will be able to say:

I have fought a good fight, I have fin-ished my course, I have kept the faith: (2 Timothy 4:7)

There is no biblical support which teaches that spiritual gifts were to be subordinated to or to be overtaken by institutionalized offices in the church; however, it seems that they will cease at the end, when they will no longer be needed:

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall van-ish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a

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man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:8–12)

The purpose of the giftsThe great purpose of spiritual gifts is the

building up of the church, or for the edifying of the body of Christ, in order to equip it for the ministry. They are to be used, without ex-ception, in the service of one another for the benefit of all.

These gifts are never given to believers that they might profit by them or that they might somehow use the gifts for themselves. They are given, as the apostle says, “to produce what is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 12:7, The Holman Christian Standard Bible).

Gifts are for ministry, and, since each re-ceives a gift or gifts, all are to be ministers of

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some type. All Christians have duties to exe-cute in the service of the Master.

When we broadcast our services from the Smyrna Chapel, we have moderators, partici-pants, and observers. Smyrna functions as the moderator, and many who listen are par-ticipants because they have a chance to tes-tify, share, ask questions, etc., but some are merely observers, who only watch and listen and never say anything. Concerning spiritual gifts and the work of the gospel, though, no one is ever meant only to be a receiver of a ministry or an observer. All of God’s people both give and receive ministry.

Perhaps you are thinking, I could never have a spiritual gift. What you think, how-ever, never trumps or nullifies the word of God! It is true that if you walk in disobedi-ence, God cannot share his Spirit with you, but if your heart is to serve God and to love him, he has given to you at least one gift. You may, sadly, choose to bury and hide that tal-

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ent. God forbid. At times the church will rec-ognize gifts within the body. Listen to the lo-cal church and consider their counsel, for God may be speaking through them to help you understand your gift or gifts better. Let us be good stewards of the gifts of God!

Churches will never achieve the level of maturity that Christ desires for them until all members are actively demonstrating their gifts by engaging in the ministries which their gifts entail (Ephesians 4:12–16). When churches discover the importance of an ev-ery-member ministry, they will truly experi-ence the growth of the body, for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16).

Next month: The Gift 11of Prophecy ?[1]. It should be noted that Holy Ghost and Holy

Spirit are equivalent expressions in the New Testament, being translated from the same Greek words.

[2]. 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 13, 14, 19, 27

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Healthful Aging(Taken from an interview with Dr. Donald

Abrams, oncologist and integrative medicine specialist at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California San Fran-cisco.)[1]

What is the most difficult thing for peo-ple to accept about aging?

The hardest thing to accept is loss. As we age, we lose both physical and mental func-tion. We lose speed. We lose some of the flex-ibility, agility, and comfort we once had in our bodies. And, of course, the loss extends beyond our bodies. As you age, your friends age right along with you. So, the older you get, the more likely you are to experience the death of close friends.

How do you approach aging?

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For me the keys are nutrition, exercise, and state of mind. By state of mind, I mean con-trolling stress, keeping the mind active, learning new things, staying socially en-gaged, and being flexible in mind and body.

What’s the most important thing a per-son can do to age well?

Eat an anti-inflammatory diet, meaning lots of fruit and vegetables. Get most of your nu-trients from food, not vitamins or supple-ments. Of course, there are a few exceptions to that rule especially for aging adults. For instance, after age 50 the skin and kidneys can’t make all the vitamin D you need from the sun, so a supplement is a good idea. Other nutrients worth supplementing as you age are calcium and magnesium because the bones tend to thin a bit. Of course, resistance exercise is also important for maintaining strong bones. The last supplement I recom-mend is omega-3 fatty acids because most

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people don’t eat enough cold water fish to keep the body in balance.[2]

[1]. https://www.ucsfhealth.org/doctors_and_clin-ics/features/abrams_donald/index.html

[2]. Vegan sources of omega-3-fatty acids are available. Good amounts are found in flax and chia seeds and in walnuts. Seaweed, some beans, winter squash, spinach, collards, kale, and foods from the cabbage family, as well as blueberries, mangoes, and honeydew melons also contain omega-3s, in addition to other sources.

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Youth’s Corner — Among the Big Nambus

People(The following is the first part of Chapter

17 of Cannibals and Head-Hunters of the South Seas by Charles H. Watson, published in 1926 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association.)

Come with me in the story of this chapter and learn the life and habits of the people of Malekula. One who has traveled extensively among the South Sea Islands accompanied Mr. Stewart on this occasion, and the story will be told as it impressed him:

“The morning following our arrival at Atchin we sailed out from the anchorage at eight o’clock for Matanavat and the Big Nam-bus country. Thirty minutes later we were at the beach of the Matanavat people. A dis-

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carded rowboat lay upon the beach, and the site of the mission house in the heart of a dense forest sadly recalled the courageous toil of our late esteemed Brother Norman Wiles and his devoted wife.

“The only path from the house was a trail through the woods, which, followed for half a mile, led to a filthy village occupied by a vile and dirty people. The flies are as a plague at all times. It was here that Norman Wiles and his wife lived and labored for a year and a half before they penetrated farther into can-nibalism among the Big Nambus tribe. The people are degraded beyond description, liv-ing in huts as mean as can be imagined, and are as forbidding as can be found in any sav-age land.

“When we arrived, a pig festival was being held, at which some two hundred hogs were sacrificed, some with curled tusks and others of all sizes down to sucklings. A big tusker is valued at as much as $250, according to the

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curl of his tusk. If they have grown till the tusk curls in two full circles, nothing less than $250 will purchase them. At this feast no less than fifty of these big tuskers were sacrificed. A family, or perhaps a village, will work for many years to accumulate pigs for such an affair.

“Women are sold for pigs, and other traffic is reckoned in pig’s flesh. At such a feast the killing is done by men and boys, and the indi-vidual advances in the scale of human exis-tence in accordance with the number of pigs that he has sacrificed.

“After a festival of this kind, those who have taken part are required to remain in the seclusion of their own village for forty days, and during this time must not go to the salt water. During this period the women cook their food for them. At all other times it is for-bidden that women should cook for the men or men for the women. At this village we met the native who so wonderfully befriended

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Mrs. Wiles after her husband’s death. After photographing him and his wife, we left for the shores of the Big Nambus savages some thirty miles away.

“At two o’clock we landed on the coast, and immediately started for the Big Nambus terri-tory about three miles inland. A small cutter swung at anchor off the shore. Of the crew of this boat we were to hear more later.

“Scarcely had we started up the hillside when we overtook a fierce-looking savage carrying on one shoulder a long green bam-boo filled with fresh water, and on the other a supply of yams and his rifle. He permitted us to pass, and continued after us with sullen mien. Several other fierce, bushy-headed, heavily bearded but nude savages were passed as we continued to climb the hill, each carrying a load of yam or a pig or fresh water in bamboo poles. All were heavily armed, and each carried a rifle.

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“After fifteen minutes’ climb from the beach we reached the little house where Norman Wiles had died. He had built it with great ex-ertion only some two years before, and now it was almost in ruins.

“Soon after Sister Wiles had buried her husband and left the place, the savages broke in the door, and stole the blankets and what-ever food there was. Later they came again, and carried off everything that could be read-ily moved, then they stood off and hurled rocks through the windows and doors till they were smashed to pieces. Next they tore off the boards from a partition inside and carried them away. A young chief, Vil Vil, the son of Nikambat, had come to the rulership of the tribe, and he had taken the cow that had given the missionaries milk, and, together with the bull, had her shot and eaten.

“Thus for the great sacrifice that these two noble young people had made for the re-demption of this cannibal tribe, they had

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been-repaid by the basest ingratitude. Such were the Big Nambus cannibals.

“For some time after these depredations Mr. Stewart was unable to approach them. At sight of him they would flee into the jungle. But only a few weeks before our visit he had succeeded in again establishing friendly rela-tions with them.

“We visited the grave on the hillside at a distance of about a hundred yards from the house. In the friendly shade of an overhang-ing tree Mrs. Wiles had chosen to lay her loved one, and this was the only spot that had escaped the vandalism of the savages. Mr. Stewart had cemented the grave, and built around it a picket fence, placing at the head of his sleeping comrade a polished stone in which lie had graven the simple inscription:

NORMAN WILESMISSIONARY

Born August 25, 1892 Died May 5, 1920

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“Greater love hath no man than this:that a man should lay dozen

his life for another.”

“The death of this noble missionary has de-termined the future of the wild cannibal tribes of Malekula. As long as the tropical sun continues to look down on the wickedness of those savages, and the tropical storms send their fury through the overshadowing branches of that vigil tree, the heroism of our departed brother who sleeps on that rugged hillside will call with undying earnestness to the devoted and the brave among us. Some have already heard its call and have re-sponded with earnest purpose. Thus it will be till cannibalism has been banished from sav-age old Malekula, and the people who now sit in darkness have seen a great light. There where the fierce yells of the savage are now heard, the praises of God will one day waken the echoes near and far. It must be so, for the blood of God’s martyrs and missionaries has

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always been and still is the seed of His king-dom.

“After leaving the scene of the grave on the hillside, we began the ascent up the steep trail toward the village of Tonmara, where the old chief, Nikambat, lives with his people. As we made our way along the narrow trail through the long grass, we thought sorrow-fully of that last Sabbath journey that our beloved Brother Wiles in his labor of love had made in behalf of those cannibal people.

“When we were about half way up the hill, we met old Nikambat walking aimlessly about. He seemed pleased to see us and led the way up the hill. Twice he anxiously in-quired about our boat’s crew and where they were. We had occasion to recall this later.

“It required an hour and a quarter to reach the village of Tonmara, which is about three and a half miles from the sea, and is fifteen hundred feet above sea level.

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“About half way up we met Vil Vil, who has superseded his father, Nikambat, as high chief. He is a wily young man, I should judge, both from his appearance and from what I have heard. He also accompanied us back to the village.

“Tonmara is set on the crest of a high hill, and is somewhat widely spread. We walked through its many alleyways till we came to the huts where Nikambat lives with his seven wives. We spent half an hour with him and Vil Vil, and then Vil Vil took us to his garden and introduced us to five of his young wives, who were working there. He has eight wives, and will in all probability soon have more. He is nineteen years of age.

“After sitting down on the ground with eight men and hoys, we sang a couple of hymns, and then prayed that God in His mercy would lead them from their great dark-ness into His light and glory.

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“During the prayer we noticed that they all closed their eves and were very reverential. They remembered the hymns that Brother Wiles had taught them, and sang them quite well.

“As night drew on we prepared to return to the boat, and the way leading downhill, it took less than an hour to bring us to the beach. On the way we had heard several shots fired on the beach, but gave no special heed to the affair, as they often shoot pigeons in the woods. Scarcely had we reached the beach when two of our boys began to shout in great excitement some kind of warning to us, and we could see that something was wrong. Soon Mr. Stewart called out, ‘Take care, take care, the savages are shooting.’ So we picked up our cooking utensils, with the food for the evening meal, and hurried out of view behind some large rocks, a hundred yards or more from the place where the shooting had oc-curred. Unfortunately, in our scramble to

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safety we overlooked the lantern, which was hanging on a near-by tree, and so were with-out light during the night.

“When darkness fell, our faithful boys brought the small boat in among the rocks, and thus we were able to put off to the launch.

“It would not have been difficult for the na-tives to shoot us all had they desired to do so, and it may be they would have done it had we reached the beach a few minutes earlier. It appears that just as we were nearing the shore a canoe from the recruiter’s cutter had come to the beach to get a supply of fire-wood. The crew suspected no treachery on the part of the Bushmen, and so came un-armed. Scarcely had they left their canoe, however, when they were fired upon from the woods. Two of them fell, while the others fled to the sea. One of the fallen men had been struck in the head above the left ear, and the

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other in the thigh and arm. Neither was killed.

“In the meantime two boats had been sent off from the cutter, one to rescue the wounded and the other to protect the rescu-ing party. They sent men ashore to pick up the wounded, and the party in the boat dis-charged their rifles into the woods as a warn-ing to the savages to keep off. Had we been a few minutes earlier, they would have had us entirely at their mercy.

“Our boys told us that they were ashore cooking our supper when three men with firearms came up and talked with them. They asked where we had gone, and were told that we were visiting Nikambat. They wanted to know where our boys were from, and if they were with the missionary. Altogether they were with them some considerable time, and once went into the woods up the trail that we had taken. Just after the recruiter’s boat came, they returned almost breathless, and

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asked our boys whose vessel it was. On learn-ing its name, they disappeared in the jungle, and a few minutes later the shots rang out. Our boys immediately rushed to their boat, and rowed back to the launch much excited and afraid.

“Well, we slept on the launch that night in-stead of on the beach, and next morning were up early from our beds on the hard deck. At eight o’clock we sailed away homeward, much mystified by the whole affair. This is the same spot where only seven months be-fore another boat’s crew were fired upon, one then being killed and two severely wounded.

“On this west coast of Malekula, in and near the Big Nambus territory, such happen-ings are common enough, and there our mis-sionaries live and move in constant peril.”

On one occasion Mr. Stewart and Mr. Wiles had reached an inland village a few miles south of the Big Nambus territory. To this

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place white men had never before gone. They sat with the chief a few moments conversing through an interpreter. They noticed, how-ever, that the chief was restless, and the glances of the people were decidedly un-friendly. Warned by their guide that the time had come to leave, they took their departure, but not before they had learned by the evi-dence of a man’s body wrapped in leaves ready for roasting that their visit was not timely. Indeed, they had interrupted plans for a cannibal feast, and had been in extreme peril.

At Espiegle Bay, three miles distant from the landing near our mission house, a French recruiter was shot and killed while he was at-tempting to land on the beach. Soon after-ward the French government dispatched a punitive expedition to punish the murderers. Three of the natives were killed, and among them was the man who had murdered the Frenchman. The murderer was the brother of

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the chief, who, on his brother’s death, cast off his belt (which action is an emblem of re-venge) and declared that he would eat no yam till he had shed the blood of a white man in revenge for his brother’s death.

Mr. Wiles was the only white man on the is-land, and he was wholly unarmed and unpro-tected. Soon it became evident that this chief and his men were prowling around the local-ity of the mission house. One day warnings from three different quarters reached Mr. Wiles to the effect that his life was sought and a plot had been laid by this vengeful chief. The day passed without incident, but later Mr. Wiles learned that the attempt had actually been made, but the murderous fel-lows believed that they saw a number of men in the way near the mission house, and with-drew in fear.

The following incident, related by Mr. Nicholson, shows that more often than we have known, death has lurked in the steps of

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the missionary, but the Lord’s care has been constantly over him:

“Tonmiel people still continue to make good progress, and the influence of the mission is beneficial. They have finished their church. It is a substantial building, neatly finished with a lime cement floor, and is quite a credit to them. A number of savages attended the ser-vice, and the chief of the tribe at the rear of Tonmiel told me that he is arranging to con-nect with the mission. I had a long talk with him. He spoke of his joy in hearing the gospel, though so late in life. He wants to spend the remainder of his days at the mis-sion and be buried there.

“You will remember that I told of some men who came down and fired on the Tonmiel sta-tion. It was the intention of these men to kill the teacher. A Bush tribe had paid three pigs to this chief, or rather to his men, for this purpose, and if it had not been for the Lord’s protecting care, the teacher would be dead

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today. He actually walked within a few yards of the muzzles of the rifles, but the men seemed unable to fire. A few minutes later they fired at random, and ran.

“Well, these men came down and confessed (a most unusual thing), and the chief placed a taboo on his territory to prevent the wild tribes from buying his men again. It is this chief who now comes and rejoices in the news of the gospel. He is a kind old man, and as we sat on the grass and talked of the re-turn of Jesus and the earth made new, I no-ticed the tears trickle down his face. When we see a man touched like this, a cannibal and a leader of fighting men, the power of God is seen to be a very real thing. The Lord can do wonders in the dark places of the earth if we walk prayerfully before Him.”

Surrounded by such conditions of savagery, our missionaries who labor in the New He-brides are engaged in difficult and dangerous work, but they rely upon the unfailing protec-

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tion and care of God, who has commanded that the gospel shall be preached to every creature. Though men of commerce, attempt-ing to follow them, lose their lives, not one of our men has till now fallen by the hand of the savage. God has ever been with them, and to the end His presence is assured. In his assur-ance they toil on till the crowning day, and then they will come before His visible pres-ence with great joy, bringing with them many of these men, reformed by their efforts, as sheaves of the harvest from these places of terrible savagery.

To be continued

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2019 WV Camp Meeting June 11–15

Talk of the wondrous love that he has manifested toward fallen man. Dwell upon the theme of salvation. (Ellen White, The Review and Herald, August 7, 1888, par. 14)

The West Virginia camp meeting is soon to come and while this is not the last call, we do not want you to miss this great event. The theme is “Dimensions of Salvation.”

In the contemplation of this great theme of salvation we see Christ’s work. Not only the promised gift of the Spirit, but also the nature and character of this sacrifice and intervention are subjects which should cre-ate in our hearts elevated, sacred, high ideas of the law of God, which holds its claims upon every human agency. The vio-lation of that law in the small act of eating

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of the forbidden fruit, brought upon man and upon the earth the consequence of dis-obedience to the holy law of God. The na-ture of the intervention should ever make man afraid to do the smallest action in dis-obedience to God’s requirement. (Ellen White, Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 234.1)

Further, we are told that there is still much to understand:

Although great and talented authors have made known wonderful truths, and have presented increased light to the peo-ple, still in our day we shall find new ideas, and ample fields in which to work, for the theme of salvation is inexhaustible. The work has gone forward from century to century, setting forth the life and charac-ter of Christ, and the love of God as mani-fested in the atoning sacrifice. The theme of redemption will employ the minds of the redeemed through all eternity. There will be new and rich developments made mani-

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fest in the plan of salvation throughout eternal ages. (Ibid., p. 403.2)

Plenty of camping space is available at Smyrna, and we have showers and toilet fa-cilities, as well. A fellowship meal will be pro-vided on Sabbath afternoon. While open fires are not allowed in the camping area, camp stoves are permitted.

Please bring your Bibles and all the tempo-ral things you will need. We have a limited supply of sleeping bags and camping supplies for those who lack them and cannot acquire them. If you need some of these things, please contact us early to reserve them.

Almost each year we have from five to fif-teen people who come early to help us set up camp and to experience an extra weekend of spiritual blessing. If you would like to come and help, please let us know, and we will do all we can to make your stay as nice as possi-ble.

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For more information please call (304) 732-9204 or email at [email protected].

Allen Stump

Tentative Camp Meeting Schedule

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The Mantis ShrimpIn English, the word shrimp is sometimes

used as a description for someone who is weak or small, but the shrimp of the oceans are small free-swimming crustaceans with an elongated body. There are thousands of dif-ferent varieties of shrimp, but we want to tell you about a special variety called the mantis shrimp.

Mantis shrimp, so called because they resemble a praying mantis, make up the order Stomatopoda. They grow up to 38 cm (15 in) long, and can be vividly coloured. Some have powerful spiked claws which they punch into their prey, stunning, spearing and dismembering them. They have been called “thumb split-ters” because of the severe gashes they can inflict if handled carelessly. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp)

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The mantis shrimp is ounce for ounce, or gram for gram, one of the most feared preda-tors in its environment. The mantis shrimp has one of the fastest and most powerful punches in nature. The shrimp is able to store energy in its club arm and with a spring-like mechanism, it can unleash stag-gering power.

Mantis shrimp (Photo courtesy of Roy L. Caldwell)

In less than 3/1000 of a second, they can strike a crab or a snail, accelerating faster than a .22 caliber bullet, with more than two hundred pounds of force and reaching speeds of 45–50/mph underwater.

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The punch packs a double wallop. By accel-erating so quickly, the animal’s club actually boils the water surrounding it, creating bub-bles that implode upon prey, landing a sec-ond strike.

Also amazing is the club’s ability to with-stand the force of its kick without deteriorat-ing. Laboratories are researching how to cre-ate armor for humans to use in war, based on the composition of the club. Prototypes have been made one foot square and less than one inch thick. These prototypes have been taken into the desert and fired at with high velocity rounds. The squares cracked a bit but sur-vived, while the bullets were flattened.

In order to punch that hard without break-ing their clubs, mantis shrimp have a special shock absorbent core that has a molecular structure different from that found in any other animal we know. This structure keeps small cracks from becoming a full break and allows the shrimp to punch repeatedly with-

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out breaking their clubs. The club may con-tain many micro-cracks, but it never breaks.

If we could hit as hard as the mantis shrimp hits, we could break steel. These shrimp are usually not kept in aquariums, for they can break glass, and when they are in a public aquarium, they are kept in plastic.

To be able to see their prey, mantis shrimp have hexagonal vision, with three focal points in each eye. While humans can see three ba-sic colors—red, green, and blue—the shrimp can see these and thirteen others, enabling them to see in infrared and in ultraviolet light spectrums!

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Peacock mantis shrimp (Photo courtesy of Silke Baron)

The mantis shrimp possess the animal king-dom’s most complicated eyes, capable of dis-tinguishing between 100,000 colors—ten times as many as humans—and capable of seeing circular polarized light, which cannot be detected by any other creature.

The mantis shrimp reminds us of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:23: “And those

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members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.” We might think that we are, like the shrimp, small and not important in God’s work, but if we will al-low him to use us, we can be mighty and even honored of God in doing his work!

Editors

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Publisher InformationOld Paths is a free monthly newsletter/study-paper published monthly by Smyrna Gospel Ministries, 750 Smyrna Road, Welch WV 24801-9606. U.S.A. It is sent free upon re-quest. The paper is dedicated to the propaga-tion and restoration of the principles of truth that God gave to the early Seventh-day Ad-ventist pioneers. Duplication is not only per-mitted, but strongly encouraged. This issue, with other gospel literature we publish, can be found at our web site. The url is: http://www.smyrna.org. Phone: (304) 732-9204. Fax: (304) 732-7322.

Editor: ...................................... Allen Stump

Associate Editor: ...................... Onycha Holt

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http://www.smyrna.org/

http://www.smyrna.org/

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