I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.
After Evangelist Steve Wohlberg held some meetings at our church, we had several baptisms. One of those was “Wayne.” Wayne and I started hanging out as he loved to talk to me about prophecy. More specifically he liked talking about the mark of the beast. Okay, all he wanted to talk about was the mark of the beast. Even more specifically he just wanted to talk about how it would be distributed. Would it be a computer chip? An ID card? Would it be injected like a vaccine? These questions went on for weeks as we hung out at our favorite hang-outs.
It finally started sinking in that Wayne was not really interested in Jesus. He was interested in conspiracy theories. Finally one day, while Wayne was rehashing his usual questions again about exactly how the mark would be administered, I stopped him, and asked, “Wayne suppose you knew exactly how the mark would be administered. How would that knowledge make you more like Jesus?” Wayne looked at me like I had four heads and four wings! While we preach Jesus every Sabbath at our church, Wayne soon left in search of conspiracy theories that were not being preached at our church.
Sometimes people get so wrapped up in prophecy they forget it’s all about Jesus! To them, Daniel and Revelation is nothing more than a science fiction novel. So when they hear Jesus preached instead of conspiracy theories, they think that preaching Jesus instead of conspiracy theories is part of the conspiracy! They forget that the mark of the beast has a counterpart which is the seal of God. The seal of God is the character of God. We learn about the character of God and the seal of God by studying the life of Jesus.
Some complain the church preaches too much about day-to-day living instead of the Three Angels’ message and prophecy. But it is the day-to-day living that reflects the character of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit that seals Christ’s people to Him. The Sabbath is only the outward sign of the inward faithfulness.
I have been in homes where there was domestic abuse, but everyone in the home was satisfied that they were good Christians because they all knew the Taco Bell logo was satanic, and a sign that the Illuminati were taking over the world and bringing in Sunday laws. I have talked to men who were addicted to pornography but were sure they had the seal of God because they no longer ate cheese. These folk need to be instructed on day-to-day practical Christian living first, before they start getting all wrapped up in prophecy and last day events.
When people ask why we are no longer preaching the Three Angels’ message, I am baffled because we are preaching the Three Angels message of Revelation 14:6-12. I just preached it as a guest speaker last Sabbath. The first angel has the everlasting gospel. According to 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 the gospel is the cross. So whenever we preach the cross, we preach the message of the first angel. The second angel tells us Babylon is falling. The king of Babylon thought he had earned his dominion while Daniel 4:32 tells us it was given to him. Babylon represents trusting ourselves and our own system of worship to save us, instead of keeping our eyes on Jesus who will save us. So when we preach salvation by grace instead of works we are preaching the message of the second angel. The third angel warns us against trusting in our own works to save us, and gives us the Sabbath as a sign that we rest our faith in Jesus and not in man or the works of man. Ellen White says this about the third angel,
Several have written to me, inquiring if the message of justification by faith is the third angel’s message, and I have answered, “It is the third angel’s message in verity.” –Ellen White, Review and Herald, 1890.
So when we preach justification by faith we are preaching the message of the third angel.
So when I hear Adventists say we are not preaching the third angel’s message, I wonder what exactly are they expecting. Fire and brimstone? Turn or burn? Keep the Sabbath or you go to hell? If so, they won’t find that in the Three Angels’ message. Yes the third angel mentions fire and brimstone, but only for those who rejected the cross. They show they have rejected the cross when they trust in their own works to save them instead of resting on the Sabbath, as a sign that God’s grace will sustain them, and not the mark of the beast. They end up drinking the cup that Jesus drank for them in Gethsemane. By rejecting the Sabbath rest and God’s grace they choose to drink that cup themselves. It is their own choice!
As Seventh-day Adventists, let us proclaim the everlasting gospel of the three angels. Let’s let the world know about God’s amazing grace that turns abusive homes into heaven on earth. Let’s let everyone know there is a love that not only conquers your desire for cheese but also takes away your desire for porn. The three angels message will change our day to day lives and fit us for His soon coming.
You may study this week’s Sabbath school lesson here.
In Light of The Cross 
This is a fantastic blog!
I am so sad at what you have seen in “Christian” homes. We Christians are not better than anyone else.
I love the descriptions of the 3 Angel’s Message and I am going to copy this for teaching Sabbath school or for a sermon. Thanks so much for writing this post!
amen! can’t wait for you to come speak for us brother
May I share some thoughts, given in the charity (love) of Christ?
“When the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience. They will be given such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart. The Lord will bless all who will seek humbly and meekly to understand that which is revealed in the Revelation. This book contains so much that is large with immortality and full of glory that all who read and search it earnestly receive the blessing to those ‘that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.’ One thing will certainly be understood from the study of Revelation–that the connection between God and His people is close and decided.
Let us give more time to the study of the Bible. We do not understand the Word as we should. The book of Revelation opens with an injunction to us to understand the instruction that it contains. . . . When we . . . understand what this book means to us, there will be seen among us a great revival.”
-The Faith I Live By, by Ellen G. White, p. 345 {FLB 345.4}
“The perils of the last days are upon us, and in our work we are to warn the people of the danger they are in. Let not the solemn scenes which prophecy has revealed be left untouched. If our people were half awake, if they realized the nearness of the events portrayed in the Revelation, a reformation would be wrought in our churches, and many more would believe the message. We have no time to lose; God calls upon us to watch for souls as they that must give an account.
-Maranatha, p. 140 {Mar 140.4}
It is unfortunate that some who seem to love prophecy are unbalanced. But hardly are we to give up the study of prophecy because those few leave a sour taste in our mouth. I have experienced a revival by studying prophecy deeply, and by God’s grace I do not consider myself unbalanced. And I can see the character of Christ written all over the pages of the Bible, especially in prophecy. It is Christ who is the beginning and the end, the infinite, loving One who has guided the entire history of this world, of which the prophecies delineate. May you prayerfully consider these thoughts.
Also, if you study the three angel’s messages as they entered into history during the time of the early Advent believers, you will find that they are rich with meaning and encompass ALL of the fundamental principles of our faith and beliefs.
I agree that Christ and His love is always to be central in our message, however we must be careful not to preach His love only from one aspect of the plan of salvation (the cross), to the neglect of the sobering truths for our time which are found in other parts of the Bible.
“The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained in the third angel’s message. That must be a terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be given to the world before the visitation of God’s judgments, that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have opportunity to escape them. Prophecy declares that the first angel would make his announcement to ‘every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’ The warning of the third angel, which forms a part of the same threefold message, is to be no less widespread. It is represented in the prophecy as being proclaimed with a loud voice, by an angel flying in the midst of heaven; and it will command the attention of the world.”
-The Great Controversy, p. 449
I share this in kindness. May God bless you as you open His Word to others. Preach Christ, but I pray that you will rejoice to preach Him from ALL the Word, including prophecy.
“Those who with humility of heart search the Scriptures with a sincere desire to know and obey the truth, will not be left to walk in darkness. Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The whole Bible is a revelation of Christ.”
– Manuscript Releases Volume 2, p. 90 par. 1 {2MR 90.1}
God bless.
I like the way historyprophecy has put together the faith of jesus and the commandments of God-
“The third angel’s message calls for the presentation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and this truth must be brought before the world; but the great Centre of attraction, Jesus Christ, must not be left out of the third angel’s message…. “EV 184
The faith of Jesus is the cornerstone of the third angel’ message
“Christ and His righteousness – let this be our platform, the very life of our faith.” RH AUG.31,1905 (EV 190)- but the commandments is another piller:
Revelation 12:17 “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the COMMANDMENTS OF GOD and the TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST”;
these two messages must move together otherwise it is worse than not preaching the three angels messages.
It is also important to note that it is from the piller of commandments were the so called conspiracy theories are based. However people must have the faith of jesus before being overzealous with preaching the mark of the beast.
The message in this article is over simplified truth which is dangerous.