The Way

For Such a Time as This
Adairsvillesda.org
February 9, 2019

The Bible and Historians like the Greek Historian Herodotus, and the Jewish Midrash give us details to one of the greatest stories ever told. A story about risk. A story about the power of a woman’s influence. A story about the power of one man’s courage. A story that warns of the dangers of restricting religious freedom and mingling church and state.... A story for such a time as this...

Our story begins on the night of the overthrow of Babylon. King Belshazzar is having a party, everyone is drunk, and in fiery letters written on the wall everyone is terrified to hear from Daniel the prophet that the Kingdom of Babylon has been weighed in the balance...and will be overthrown. It has failed it’s calling, and it is the fault of the king who should have known better and not lowered himself to a drunken festival to the downfall of his empire. At the same time, the Medo-Persian army has diverted the river Euphrates and is marching under the wall to overthrow the metropolis of the greatest empire the world had known. Belshazzar the king is slain. Terror seizes everyone and all are running for their lives. Darius, the future king of this empire, and soon to be a friend of Daniel the prophet, sees something that catches his eye and..........................................that’s the beginning of our story. Fast forward – where we pick up our story in Esther Chapter 1:1

Xerxes the Great

• Ahasueras, also known as Xerxes – the Grandson of King Cyrus the Great – the son of King Darius – Ruled Media and Persia at its apex.
  -He becomes King. Xerxes began to be known as a ruthless, cruel, arrogant man. The multiple assassination attempts show that those closest to him didn’t respect him.

Verses 3-5

There was drinking of wine and reveling. It was similar to that last night in Babylon at Belshazzar’s feast with a thousand of his lords.
Truly Medo-Persia was the daughter of Babylon.

Esther 1:10, 11 - When the heart of the king was drunk with wine, he commanded ... to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look upon.

Vashti
Although the Talmudic rabbis never say explicitly that they read Esther 1:11 as Ahasuerus’ attempt to mock Vashti’s royalty, this may be inferred from the way the rabbinic reading of the command as meaning that Vashti should wear only the diadem (Midrash Abba Gurion 1):
אמר ר’ אבא שלא יהיה עליה כלום אלא הכתר וערומה. R. Abba said: “That she should appear with nothing on her but the crown, that is, naked.”

According to the Midrash – The ancient Jewish commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures – Vashti was the daughter of King Belshazzar. Great granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar. Taken captive by King Darius the night of the overthrow, he took pity on her and eventually had her marry his son – Xerxes/Ahasueras. Vashti’s name means (The Beautiful – The Best)
She was known as a savvy politician. The idea is proposed that the ladies banquet held at the same time as Ahasueras/Xerxes festivities was a strategic political maneuver. With all of the noble wives of the empire present, she would have control of a key group of hostages in the event of a coup d’etat at the King’s feast. She had learned her lesson from her father Belshazzar’s feast.

Harriet Beecher Stowe called Vashti's disobedience the "first stand for woman's rights.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that Vashti "added new glory to [her] day and generation...by her disobedience; for 'Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.'"

Ellen White states - When this command came from the king, Vashti did not carry out his orders, because she knew that wine had been freely used, and that Ahasuerus was under the influence of the intoxicating liquor. For her husband's sake as well as her own, she decided not to leave her position at the head of the women of the court.
She acted in harmony with a pure conscience. -CC 243. 37 The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 3:1139. CC 243.2

Xerxes commanded her to appear before his half-drunken company, wearing only her crown and she refused to be humiliated like that.

The men around Xerxes argued this would set a terrible precedent. She hadn’t just wronged him but this would alter the state of society. It would be a power given to woman that would be to her injury (Manuscript 29, 1911)

So Xerxes banished Queen Vashti (Esther 1:3).

There is no queen in the empire...what now?
Mordecai and Esther – Chapter 2

Hadassah was an orphan – of the royal line of Saul. Her parents had both died when she was a baby. She was raised by her cousin Mordecai as his own child. She was simple-hearted and unassuming, requiring little and demanding nothing. SDP 171.2

Mordecai called her Esther to hide her lineage – and at the age of 16 she went t...

Harlot or Hero? - 7
January 12, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
"Jesus immediately ascended to Heaven and presented himself before the throne of
God, showing the marks of shame and cruelty upon his brow, his hands and feet. But he
refused to receive the coronet of glory, and the royal robe, and he also refused the
adoration of the angels
"Jesus refused to receive the homage of his people until he knew that his sacrifice had
been accepted by the Father, and until he had received the assurance from God himself
that his atonement for the sins of his people had been full and ample, that through his
blood they might gain eternal life." -Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 3, p. 202
The Father embraces Jesus - Yes it is enough!
——————————————
There is John, one of Jesus closest friends, looking off into the sunset of
the Mediterranean. He feels the warm rays of the setting sun under the
azure blue sky. He’s remembering the past 50 or so years of life. He
watches the slowly crashing waves. He hears the birds down by the shore.
Jesus is in heaven. The church is on earth.
Jesus had promised he would send the Holy Spirit to help the believers
and boy did he! John hears the echo of the words of Jesus in his mind -
John 14:1-3 - “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
The disciples, John’s friends, his brother James, they had all acted upon
Jesus last words - Matthew 28 and Mark 16 - Go into all the world, make
disciples, baptize and teach them all that I have taught you. I will be
with you and signs will follow you. (Matthew 28:19-20)(Mark 16:15-18)
The church as we read in the book of Acts starts off with gusto.
Thousands are baptized in a day. Even with the persecution of Saul, the
church kept spreading. Then Saul has an encounter with Jesus in a vision
!2 of !10
and becomes Paul. The gospel is now turning enemies into evangelists.
Finally as Jesus had foretold - Jerusalem once thought to be the eternal
city was destroyed by the Romans.
How long until He would return? John, on this island, is shown scenes all
the way to our day and something is strange. He sees two churches
represented by two women:- Scripture uses a woman to describe a
religious movement. Jeremiah 6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
Revelation 19:7,8
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it
was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine
linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Revelation 14:4

• Church is described as pure and faithful vs.
  Pure Woman- The Hero in our story - is described as dressed in white,
  pure, faithful, ready to marry Christ and be with him forever.
  Revelation 17:1-4 -
  “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on
  many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed
  fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the
  wine of her fornication.”
  3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a
  woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of
  blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was
  arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
  stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of
  abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
  Mystery - Babylon the Great - The Mother of Harlots
  Revelation 18
  !3 of !10
  Babylon the Great is Fallen, is Fallen and has become a dwelling place
  of demons...
  1 Peter 5:13 - Peter calls Rome - Babylon
  Ellicotts Commentary: St. Peter has just personified the church of the place from which he writes, which seems quite as unprosaic a use of language
  as to call Rome “Babylon.” And it seems pretty clear that the name was quite intelligible to Jewish readers, for whom it was intended. The
  Apocalypse (Revelation 17:18) is not the only place where Rome is found spoken of under this title. One of the first of living Hebraists (who will not
  allow his name to be mentioned) told the present writer that no Hebrew of St. Peter’s day would have had need to think twice what city was meant
  when “Babylon” was mentioned. And on the mention of the name, all the prophecies of the vengeance to be taken on the city which had desolated
  the Holy Land would rush with consolation into the mind of the readers, and they would feel that St. Peter, though supporting St. Paul, was still in full
  sym...

Escape to Paradise - 9
January 26, 2019
adairsvillesda.org

The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis. - Education p. 179.

All eyes are on America...

With the revelations of Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange -along with the willing surrender of our private lives to social media companies - Could it be that America could remove the freedoms of its own citizens?

The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental.

Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.’ The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized - (called anyone a heretic who believed that) those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ and also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’ GC 564.5

“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O'Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’

All eyes are on America...

In light of these long foretold events, the Bible describes a change that is coming - Daniel 12:1
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Protestant America, it’s courts, its legal system, the church, capitalism, its social fabric, the economy, the family unit, morality, - all are compromised.

What conditions could lead this very country and then the whole world to turn on its principles?

All eyes are on America

The United States currently has nearly 1000 military bases and/or military installations in 80 countries around the world. The rest of the countries of the world who have foreign military bases are 11 and the combined of all of those is 70. Any talk of China or Russia as a threat to the United States is laughable. This nation is the sole superpower on planet earth and the Bible says it will be that way until the very end. Either through the military industrial complex or the dollar industrial complex - America is calling the shots.

All eyes are on America

Trend Forecaster and American, Ellen White wrote “By the decree of enforcing the institution of the Papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. ... our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, ... then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:451. ChS 160.4

With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution, then will the papal sabbath be enforced by the combined authority of church and state. There will be a national apostasy, which will end only in national ruin.—Manuscript 51, 1899. Ev 235

How could this happen?
As we sit here today, there is a fact, the majority of the people of God, the majority of this planet have not yet even heard this story...but something will soon occur where a change will take place.

Remember the conditions we talked about last week when Jesus told his disciples what life would be like just before He would return a second time.

Famine, Disease, Natural Disasters... Matthew 24

What about the promise that the gospel would go to the whole world?

Isaiah 26:9 -...When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

From the book commenting on this moment - The Great Controversy - “Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered or allowed to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children,...

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America the Beautiful?
January 19, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
Where we are at in this series...
Bible is a book about how the world and civilization interacts with God
and His friends or followers - Sodom, Egypt, Ninevah, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome, Papacy, .... Today we are going to talk about America
and the purpose for which it was founded...
The Old World...is ending - Why?
To those who were looking to go back to the primitive church - the
apostolic church - the King of England is quoted as saying “conform,
or ....harry them out of the land, or else worse” - George Bancroft,
History of the United States of America pt. 1, ch12
-J.G. Palfrey writes “Hunted, persecuted and imprisoned many could
see only dark days ahead. For those who wanted to serve God
according to the dictates of their conscience “England was ceasing
forever to be a habitable place” -J.G. Palfrey - History of New England -
They fled to Holland, left their homes and lands because of religious
persecution.
They became known as the Puritans, a Protestant group where their
motto was “to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made
known to them.” - J. Brown , The Pilgrim Fathers p. 74
This was the true spirit of Protestantism and the Reformation.
Men like their pastor - John Robinson were teaching that Luther,
Calvin, Knox and others would have kept the reformation progressing.
He said “were they now living, [they] would be as willing to embrace
further light as that which they first received.” - D Neal, History of the
Puritans vol. 1, p. 269
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He goes on “Remember your promise and covenant with God...to
receive whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from His
written word.....for it is not possible the Christian world should come so
lately out of such thick antichristian darkness and that full perfection of
knowledge should break forth at once.” Martyn , vol 5, pp. 70-71
It was with this creed that they set sail for the shores of the new world
and a new life.
They had seen the evils of religion seeking to define and punish heresy
and saw the value of keeping church and state separate.
But sadly not long after they arrive, many begin to mandate that only
church members can serve in government and it was not long before
persecution arose...in the new world.
Before they left the shores of Holland Robinson said to them “I am very
confident the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of His
holy word.” - Martyn, vol. 5 p. 70
Roger Williams
Another man of faith arrives to the shores of the new world.
He agreed with John Robinson that “it was impossible that all the light
from God’s word had been received.”
He is known as “the first person in modern Christendom to establish
civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the
equality of opinions before the law.” -Bancroft, pt. 1, ch 15
When Williams arrived in America - he found church attendance was
mandated by law. This disgusted him.
He was respected and loved as a faithful leader and minister, a man of
rare gifts, integrity and kindness shown to everyone he met. But as he
kept teaching and preaching tolerance and freedom of speech and
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freedom of conscience he was accused of “subverting the government
and society” - Bancroft pt. Ch 15
He was sentenced for a crime - as an enemy of the state - and to
escape arrest - he was forced to flee in the cold stormy winds of winter
into the deep forest.
He wrote later “For fourteen weeks, I was sorely tossed in a bitter
season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean - but the ravens fed
me in the wilderness and a hollow tree served as a shelter.” -Martyn Vol.
5, pp 349-350
He continued through the snow and the forest until he found refuge
with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he won while
teaching them the truths of the gospel.
Finally he made it to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he laid the
foundation for the first state in the new world that would recognize
religious freedom - “that every man should have liberty to worship God
according to the light of his own conscience.” Martyn vol 5, p 354. That
state would become known as Rhode Island and became the asylum
for civil and religious liberty - the cornerstones of the American
Republic.
The Declaration of Independence would eventually state: “all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit
terms, the inviolability of conscience: “No religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification to any office or public trust un...