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Sermon: What’s YOUR Temperature

By M. John Allen

Greetings everyone. Hope you’re having a profitable Sabbath.

I’m sure most of you have heard the analogy and story about a frog in water. If you throw a frog into boiling water, it will jump out to save its life. But, if you put a frog in lukewarm, comfortable water, it will stay in the pot. then, you can gradually raise the temperature. Even when the temperature reaches boiling, it won’t notice what is going on when it is heated this way, and so you will cook it with no problem.

Satan works the same way, because that is how Satan’s mind got perverted itself. I don’t think that many people have considered that all of Satan’s ideas are not wrong. He is a mixture of good and evil, just like his tree was in the garden. However, as time goes on, his mind becomes ever more warped and perverted. It’s an ongoing process. I guess someday, he will even out at pure evil…

What then would you define as pure evil? I think it goes without saying that pure evil is the opposite of pure good, with God representing what is good. But WHY is God’s way right, and Satan’s wrong? Is it just because God arbitrarily and capriciously said so?

Here again, the answer is no. God’s way of GOOD is GOOD because it is the only way of life that works! And just WHAT does it mean when a way of life works, and another way of life doesn’t work?

A way of life works when it produces happiness and well being for self without harming others. A way DOESN’T WORK when it harms others or the self. And what is harm?

Harm can take many forms. Harm can either be a physical or spiritual WRONG, or HURTING. And what is the ultimate harm?

The ultimate harm is when a human being fails to attain their incredible human potential. Thus, anything that would impede our progress towards our incredible human potential is WRONG!

And what is our incredible human potential? Our incredible human potential is to become God beings in God’s family! But in order for God to give us the SUPREME POWER of a God being, we must first have God’s character so that we will not become antoher Satan! If we are to have ths power, we must have the very CHARACTER of God!

So that’s the bottom line. We are put here on this earth to attain God’s very character so that we can be literally BORN into His Family and Kingdom. For more on this awesome subject, please read the eye openning book, The Incredible Human Potential, available in our Library section. It’s an incredible eye opener that shows you the VERY PURPOSE FOR HUMAN LIFE! Humanity has a great hope and purpose, and you owe it to yourself to find the details on just what it is.

But, what exaclty defines GOD’S WAY OF LIFE? God’s way of life is the way of GIVE rather than the way of GET, which is Satan’s way. It is the way of outgoing concern for others equal to that one has for himeslf. It is the same LOVE that allowed Christ, the greatest man who ever lived, to kneel down and wash His disciples feet on the night He was betrayed, and to EVEN CLEAN THE FEET OF HIS BETRAYER! Yes, God’s way is the way of love, peace, happiness, outflowing love for others, peace, and contentment no matter what the circumstances. It is the power and way of a sound mind. it is everything good and wholesome and righteous. It is the way of selfLESSness rather than the way of selfishness!

And that Way of Life, that LAW OF GIVE, is summed up in God’s Ten Commandments, as magnified in the Gospels. Christ did not come to do AWAY with the Law, which is God’s way of life, but to show us how to TRULY FOLLOW IT.

The Pharisees had everything all twisted aroudn. They thought the Law was an end in itsef rather than the MEANS TO AN END. They thought it was the destination, rather than the path. That’s what we need to understand. God’s way is a path, shown to our eyes by God’s Law and His Word the Bible. None of this is an end in itself, but rather merely the MEANS TO AN END!

It’s like you have a new pair of glasses. Before conversion, you have the carnal mind, influenced by Satan and the world. This is the natural vision of the natural man. Natural vision allows you to only see NATURAL THINGS -- the material physical things of man and this world. But, when you are converted, it’s like putting on a pair of special lenses. Let’s say they are infrared, night vision lenses. there are plenty of scriptures that talk about the unconverted being blind, and groping int he dark without light.

ON a cloudy, moonless night in the middle of a forest, you will see absolutely nothing without help. Some people may have a flashlight, and God’s Word does indeed act like a light to our path. but when one is cnverted, they are fitted with a pair of glasses as it were that make a whole new spectrum of light visible to us that was not visible with the natural eye! With these new glasses, and ONLY WITH THESE GLASSES, which is represented by God’s Holy Spirit and His Word, the new lenses enable us to see a whole new light spectrum. The night suddenly springs to life and light! This light was actually always there, but we just could not see it!

Now, with our new glasses, we see that there is actually a very narrow PATH in the middle of the woods that we just couldn’t see before. it’s a very narrow path, and goes through many twists and turns. It goes over the hills and down through the valleys. It may even pass an occassional stream. But we know if we follow this path, at the end we will find civilization and rescue.

Now imagine in your journeys you pass people. Most of them are groping around in the dark, unable to see. They run into trees, trip over roots, etc. And you notice that they are all headed for a BIG CLIFF, which will plunge them down to their deaths. You call out from the path to warn them, but they either ignore you, laugh at you, or swear at you. Some may even rush towards you with a sword drawn.

These people are primitives people. They don’t understand civilization, and so think that you are crazy or influenced by something evil. some are suspicious. Others are hateful, angry, or jealous, because YOU HAVE SOMETHING THEY DON’T. But, because these people are blinded by the darkness, as long as you keep your glasses on you can generally avoid them and remain safely on your path. You finally have to give up on them and proceed on your journey. You had a couple of extra pairs of glasses to give them, but almost no one has ever taken you up on your offer, because they think that wandering around in the woods is the natural thing to do.

Occasionally, you pass some really pitiful people. these are people who, like you, used to have a pair of glasses, but somehow one of the savages snatched the glasses away or broke them, or they fell off their faces. Others simply decided it was not worth the effort to follow this path, because it didn’t really seem to be leading anywhere anyway. Besides, the surrounding people kept on saying that THEY had found an alternative route, one that was easier and wider and now so narrow, twisting, and bumpy, going up so many hills.

And so, some tossed off their glasses, lost them, or had them ripped from their faces. They believed that their new guides could show them a new path simply by a sense of feel. Some were now so hopelessly lost in the woods that even if they found their glasses again, or got new ones, the chances of finding the narrow path to civilization were quite slim.

Brethren, this analogy so fits oour lives today that it is frightening. the glasses are like the Holy Spirit, which opens our minds to SEE for the first time. It allows us to SEE THE PATH TO LIFE! what a blessing. it’s bad enough for those who never had a pair of glasses, but WHAT OF THOSE WHO LOST THEM BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T CARE, HAD THEM RIPPED OFF, OR JUST TOSSED THEM AWAY? It’s terrible indeed.

Well, the Bible is the path, and the glasses are God’s Holy Spirit. We need them both to find the path to life.

Now, there are certain parts of the Bible, just like certain parts of the path, that it is possible for those without the Holy “Spirit to find. but without the Spirit, it is impossible to follow the path fully.

Man’s civilizations have been built on many different premises. Some have become so far removed from God and His Way and His Word, that they could never find the path on their own no matter what. others, such as ours, have had a piece of the path, and as long as they kept on that part, they were blessed as far as they followed it.

For example, a strict, Pharisaical obedience to the Ten Commandments will have benefits for soceity. After all, it’s better when people don’t lie, cheat, steal, or commit adultery. As far as it goes, it is beneficial, even if the unaided mind can’t follow the path any further.

But, as our society has wandered further and further from the path, they have becme now so lost in the woods that very few can find their way back to it. Taht’s why we have the ever escalating problems in our society today. The further society wanders off of God’s path, the further it gets into the woods, and the more trouble can arise. people forget about the path completely, and then they simply do whatever feels right or good at the moment, without seeing the traps, pitfalls, and cliffs in the woods to destroy them.

The most disturbing thing about the recent problems of Bill Clinton are not the actual acts of the President himself. The real problem is what it shows about our society. A once law abiding society that understood right and wrong from God’s path, or His word, is now so lost int he woods that they can’t see the danger of an immoral man in a position of power. They can’t understand this because they are IMMORAL THEMSELVES, which causes them to be blind to reality.

I am afraid to say that this has also happened in many of God’s churches. Many people in the churches have thrown away thier glasses, and are now almost as bad as those int he world who never had glasses. This is because they are blind and do not know it. They follow what seems right to themselves, but without proper glasses, it is impossible to do or think what is right. That’s how some church leaders have thought to get away with all manner of evil, such as lying, cheating, staling, and possibly even murder! Sometimes, sad to say, it is impossible to distinguish the church from another patch of woods, except that some parts might lie close to the path. but, by and large, you have the blind wandering arund in many places, and in other places you have people standing still on the path, and their glasses are either slipping down their faces, or someone is yanking them off their face, or they are taking them off themselves and tossing them into the bushes, thinking they have relieved themselves of some kind of terrible burden. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

So, we now have a bad state of affairs both in God’s church and in the world at large. The church seems to be going through a dry run for the prophecies predicted for the world at large. it is now in a period like the Great Tribulation, with a Man of Sin sitting in God’s Temple, spiritually speaking, speaking great swelling words and abominations. But God will RETURN TO HIS CHURCH, and restore it, much like Christ will return to the world and bring abut as millennium. so God will soon intervene in His Church to set it back on His track, or path, and then we will have an unprecedented millennial like period when we will get a lot done. A dream I had seems to indicate this period may last for about seven years, before things in the world will make it impossible to do the Work anymore, at which time it will be pretty much shut down. We will see if this is an accurate understanding of this dream. Another dream I had recently shows that I have now put my foot on a Golden Gate Bridge, at the end of which this period will begin. Satan is furious and desperately trying to stop the progress, but nothing he can do will stop it.

One more point. there was a time in this nation when the people by and large were clinging to parts of the true path. Not by the sight of the glasses, but by a sense of feel. Over a period of time, they have lost touch with the path, and are now wandering around in the woods, hopelessly lost and unable to find it, or even remember that there is something to find. To those with at least some understanding of God’s Truth, it is obvious that if the leaders of the nation are morally, sound, then the fate of the nation is in good hands. But if the morality of the leadership is unsound, then bad things will happen. The future is unpredictable, and the actions of the leader are unpredictable, except that he can be expected to do whatever benefits himself and gratifies himself the most. One thing is sure, that such a leader will have an unbridled lust for power, and will do whatever he can to enhance it. He will lie, cheat, steal, cause wars, in other words, he will do anything to enhance his own power.

That is why our leaders must be of the top moral character, because only such men would keep freedom alive for all. Liars in high places are the most dangerous people, because they will say and do anything to stay in power and to look good to people. Such people have no conscience.

Men of morality and character themselves, understand this truth. Men who have no morality cannot understand this is a problem, because they would do the same thing themselves if given the chance.

That’s why, as revelations of Clinton’s wrongdoing have increased, rather than seeing a traditional fall in his popularity and a call for impeachment, his popularity has risen! Immoral people JUST CANNOT SEE THE PROBLEMS THAT CAN ARISE FRO AN IMMORAL LEADERSHIP! And in the church we have seen similar things, where various leaders commit adultery, lie, steal, cheat, or do anything to hold onto power. And, sad to say, many in the church haven’t seen a problem either for similar reasons people in the world see no problem with Clinton.

When society itself is like Sodom and Gomorra, people see nothing wrong with having a Sodomite as their leader! After all, they’re just like him! Rather than put people off, such a leader INSTEAD MAKES THEM FEEL JUSTIFIED AND COMFORTABLE IN THEIR OWN EVIL! This is a sign of the end of the age, and we had better wake up to that fact, and see what the temperature is around us.

How many of us, like the frog, are beginnig to boil in the pot and see nothing wrong? It is sad to say that many of God’s own people have themselves lost touch with His path, and RESENT anyone who tells them to look around and see that there is something wrong. They are quite comfortable in their pots of warming water, not able to see that it’s about to reach boiling, at which point they will be dead. These are very serious warnings to us as a church and to us as a nation. It is my job to CRY ALOUD, AND SPARE NOT, AND SHOW MY PEOPLE THEIR SINS! But, MINE IS LIKE A VOICE CRYING OUT IN A SPIRITUAL WILDERNESS! People have become so used to the sins around them, that they aren’t listening anymore to SOUND DOCTRINE, but instead, want to heap to themsleves teachers who tell them NOT TO WORRY, THE WATER’S JUST FINE!

Well the water is not fine! The temperature of sin in the world and in the church are close to boiling! It can’t get too much worse than it is today before God becmes sick of it and then intervenes! AND MANKIND WILL RUE THE DAY THAT GOD CHOOSES TO INTERVENE! It is called the DAY OF THE LORD, and is the most terrible day this world will ever have!

God calls all of His people to hear His voice, and this call for repentance. This is a voice crying out in the wilderness of religious and social and moral confusion! It is the voice POINTING BACK TO GOD’S PATH AND HIS TRACK! Will you heed God’s voice, or will you ignore it, and suffer accordingly? The choice, as always, is yours. God will not force you to do what is right, but HE WILL FORCE YOU TO CHOOSE! He says to choose life. I hope you hear and respond!

Please read the following scriptures that will now be clearer to you after having read this message.

Ps. 27; 43; 118; 119:105-176; Is. 2:5-3:26; Mtt. 5:13-20; Jn. 1:1-23; 3:16-21; 8:12; 12:16, 46-50; Eph. 5:1-21; I Thess. 5; I Pet. 2:9-12; I Tim. 4:1-2; II Tim. 3.

Please ready these scriptures, and ponder their meaning for your life today. Let God’s light shine in your life, and guide you in the way that He would have you go. Have a wonderful Sabbath.