Tag / William Earnhardt

by In Light Of The Cross

Truth or Popularity?

And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. Revelation 13:8 NLT

Sadly many put their confidence in popular opinion, while the Bible tells us the vast majority of the world will worship the beast.

Interestingly while Jesus claimed to be God, the majority accused Him of blasphemy and had Him crucified for making such a claim. Later the beast claims to be God, but, instead of accusing him of blasphemy, the majority worships him. Truth is clearly not a popularity contest.

Occasionally, at church or the Adventist school where I teach Bible and evangelism, someone will ask me, “What do we believe about such and such?” My response has always been, “I don’t know what you believe, but here is what I and many Seventh-day Adventists believe,” and I show them in the Bible what I believe and why. I am not going to tell someone what they believe. That is not teaching. That’s brainwashing. Besides truth is not truth just because everyone in the Adventist church believes it. Truth is not a popularity contest in the church or the world. Truth is truth only if the Bible supports it.

During the Dark Ages, when people did not have access to the Bible, people trusted their priests to tell them what they believed, and because of that there was a lot of brainwashing going on.

Even before the Dark Ages, priests abused their authority, and tried to brainwash people into believing whatever they believed. This happened in Jesus’ day when those in “authority” were trying to capture Jesus.

When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

“We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.

“Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? John 7:45-48 NLT

The guards experienced and heard the Word of God speaking to them and believed. Since the Pharisees did not want to believe, they mocked at this. In John 7 the Pharisees misconstrued Scripture to try and prove their point, but amazingly, instead of hanging their hat on Scripture, they hung it on the fact that none of the rulers or leaders believed. Is truth a popularity contest? If everyone else believes something is it right, and if no one else believes it, then is it wrong? Is that how it works?

The number of people who believe something simply because everyone else believes it is staggering. Take the state of the dead for example. Years ago I attended the funeral of a dear Adventist saint. Her family believed in the immortality of the soul and asked the Adventist preacher doing her funeral to “put her in heaven now.” The pastor replied that he could not do that since it simply is not true. However he told them he believed in liberty of conscience and freedom of speech so if one of them wanted to stand up and say she was in heaven, they could. So one of the family members stood up and talked about how her grandmother was now in heaven. I remember she kept saying “we cling to this!” Very emphatically, yet she gave no Scriptural reference other than that is what everyone believes. So I am not sure exactly what it was she was clinging to other than popular belief. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul tells us to “comfort each other with these words” about the resurrection. Sadly instead of comforting each other with the words Paul told us to use to comfort each other, many people use phrases about going straight to heaven when you die that are nowhere in the Bible and Paul nor anyone else ever suggested that we use. Sadly those phrases have been used so often that people believe it because they have heard it so many times.

When it comes to Sabbath keeping, I have heard so many people say that Sunday must be the true day because the whole world can’t be wrong. They forget that at the time of the flood only 8 people were right! Truth is not a popularity contest.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. Acts 17:11 NLT

Like the temple guards, the Bereans were interested in new ideas as long as they were found in Scripture. They didn’t believe something because Paul and Silas believed it or because a ruler did. On their own they searched the Scriptures daily to find truth.

I have heard Seventh-day Adventists telling their Baptist and Methodist friends to search the Bible for themselves because their pastors could be wrong. I have watched some of the same Seventh-day Adventists listening to their own favorite Adventist preachers, without bothering to search the Scriptures, because, after all, their pastor is Adventist, so he is automatically right, right? Wrong! We all make mistakes, as we all continue to learn and grow.

Let’s not be like the foolish Pharisees in John 7, who hung their hats on how many people believed or did not believe something. Truth is not a popularity contest. Let’s search the Scriptures ourselves to find truth.

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

3: Light in the Darkness-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

Prepared by William Earnhardt for Sabbath School class, April 20, 2024.

Main Theme: God’s grace and the Holy Spirit empower us to stay faithful amidst the most difficult situations. 

Read in Class: John 8:44 and John 17:17. Define what these passages are contrasting.

Study: Where do we find truth? Where do lies come from? 

Apply: In what ways has Satan tried to make you doubt God’s Word? How did you overcome these illusions and temptations to doubt God’s Word?

Share: Your friend says her dead husband visited her last night and talked about things only the two of them knew about. She was able to hug and hold him, so she knew it was really him because she both saw him and felt him. What do you tell your friend? See Every Word of God Proves True. 

Read in Class: Acts 20:27-32. Define the main idea of this passage. 

Study: What specific warnings did the apostle Paul give to the church leaders from Ephesus regarding the coming apostasy?

Apply: Read 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12. How does the apostle Paul describe the coming apostasy? What characteristics should believers look for? See also Pray to Have a Love for the Truth. 

Share: Your friend asks, “What kind of compromises do we see entering the church today? More importantly, what compromises might you be making? Is it sometimes by blending truth and error?” What do you tell your friend?  

Read in Class: John 17:15-17 and Acts 20:32. Define the common thread in these passages. 

Study: What insights do Jesus and the apostle Paul give us regarding protection from the deceptions of Satan?

Apply: Read Psalms 119:105; Psalms 119:116; Psalms 119:130; Psalms 119:133, and Psalms 119:160. What insights does the psalmist give us regarding the significance of God’s Word in the plan of salvation?

Share:  Your friend argues that” the Bible is just the writings of kings, shepherds, fishermen, priests, poets, and others who shared their understandings and conceptions of God, of nature, and of reality the best that they, in their time and place, understood them. So why should we, living today in the twenty-first century, really care about what these people thought, much less make what they thought the foundation for our hope of eternity?” What do you tell your friend? 

Read in Class: Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 16:25, and 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: How do these passages warn us against Satan’s schemes and our own human reasoning? 

Apply: Why is the human mind without the aid of the Holy Spirit incapable of discovering divine truth? Discuss the relationship between human reason and divine revelation. How does reason actually help us understand divine revelation? For example, look at Daniel 2:1-49, a prophecy that covers world history from the time of Babylon to the Second Coming. How does a prophecy like this powerfully appeal to human reason?

Share: Do you know someone who has questions about the authenticity of the Bible? Can you give them a Bible study on how to know if God’s Word is true or not? See The Scriptures in Light of the Cross. 

by In Light Of The Cross

Winning the Great Controversy in Everyday Life

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Back in my literature evangelism days, I was sitting in the Oklahoma Adventist conference president’s office along with 4 or 5 other literature evangelists. We were discussing what one book, in addition to the Bible, we should be promoting for these last days. One person said we should be promoting books warning people about the mark of the beast. I suggested if we promoted books like The Desire of Ages, and encouraged people to fall in love with Jesus, then when the mark of the beast becomes an issue, people will make the obvious choice and follow Jesus. A few of them agreed.

Several years later I was in a vespers service at my church, where the group doing the presentations were telling us that instead of preaching the three angels’ message, we should be preaching the gospel. Apparently they did not understand the three angels message is the gospel. The first angel has the everlasting gospel which prepares us for judgment. The second angel warns us against choosing man-made religions instead of God. The third angel warns us against trusting in our own works to save us instead of resting on God’s Sabbath and letting Him save us. 

Over the years I have heard people say Seventh-day Adventists should not be preaching about every-day living but should be warning people about last day events. I hope those of you who have been following my my ministry over the last 30 years have found it to be balanced. I have done my best to stay Jesus-focused, and present our Bible teachings and crucial themes like the great controversy and the three angels’ message in the light of the cross. Here is why I believe we need to have a balanced blend of the cross in all our teachings, especially about last day events.

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Romans 2:4 NKJV

Notice first, our repentance does not lead to God’s goodness. God’s goodness leads us to repentance. Therefore, if we want the world to repent and prepare for the judgment, shouldn’t we be preaching about God’s grace and goodness? The Conflict of the Ages series, which covers the great controversy from start to finish, begins Volume 1 (Patriarchs and Prophets) of that series with one sentence. That same sentence is the very last sentence in the last book of the series. That one sentence is not “Sunday is the false Sabbath.”  The author of this series well knew Sunday was not the Sabbath, but that is not the main focus of her Conflict of the Ages series. That one sentence is not, “The Ten Commandments can be obeyed.” Again she well knew that, by God’s grace, we can live in harmony with God’s law. These are important aspects to consider in the great controversy, but the opening and closing sentences in the entire Conflict of the Ages series is, “God is love.”  The  number one reason the Seventh-day Adventist church was brought into existence is to proclaim the unadulterated truth about Jesus. Jesus came to show us the true character of the Father.

God is love! 

  • The first angel has the everlasting gospel. Jesus is the everlasting Gospel. John 3:14-17. John 19:17-36. 
  • The first angel reminds us about the creation Sabbath. Jesus came to give us rest and gave us an example of Sabbath-keeping, demonstrating God’s love and mercy. Matthew 11:28-30. Matthew 12:1-8. 
  • The first angel also tells us about the judgment.  Jesus showed us how to prepare for the judgment by loving God first and others second. Matthew 5:17-19, Matthew 22:34-40, Matthew 25:34-40, 1 John 4:17. 
  • The second angel warns us not to follow man-made religions instead of God.  Jesus showed us how to trust God instead of man-made systems of worship. Matthew 4:8-10, Matthew 15:3-9. John 3:14-17. 
  • The third angel assures us that only God’s grace can save us. If we trust our own works and ability to do work, – doing business buying and selling in order to put bread on our family’s table – then we have rejected what Jesus did for us on the cross, and we will thus have to drink the bitter cup ourselves that Jesus already drank for us in Gethsemane. (See Luke 22:41-44.) Jesus teaches us that we can trust God’s grace instead of our own work to put bread on our family’s table. Matthew 6:25-33

When we properly  share the three angels’ message and great controversy themes with our friends and neighbors, we are sharing the gospel. The seventh-day Adventist Church was brought into existence to help others see the gospel more clearly. Our Bible teachings about the Sabbath, judgment, the great controversy and the three angels’ messages help us to see God’s love more clearly in a world full of deceptions and lies about God’s loving character. 

This is why I believe that, if people see the love of God in all His glory, they will be so in love with Jesus that when the test of the mark of the beast comes, they will not take that mark. Maybe they knew it was coming, maybe they didn’t, but either way, they will love Jesus so much they will not fall for it. After all, throughout earth’s history, people have been tested in various ways. The Sabbath is not always the test that is given. Perhaps on the Titanic people passed the test by putting others first and giving up their place on a lifeboat for someone else. Isn’t that what the gospel is all about? 

Knowing that it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), how important it must be to show God’s goodness in everyday life. After all, consider this, 

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:31-40 NKJV

Consider that in the judgment Jesus did not reward people for what they preached but by what they did to show His love for others. The most crucial theme in the great controversy is if God is love or not. While Satan is busy telling all kinds of lies about God’s character, the Seventh-day Adventist church is to be showing the mercy and goodness of God with those in need. This goodness will lead people to repent from believing Satan’s lies about God’s character. This goodness will also keep people from believing Satan’s lies about Seventh-day Adventists themselves. The great controversy won’t be won by preaching behind the pulpit. It will be won by everyday Adventists  loving their neighbors in everyday life. 

You may study this week’s Sabbath School lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

2: The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?-Sabbath School Lesson Teaching Plan

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Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, April 13, 2024. 

Main Theme: By patiently sharing the love of Christ even amidst persecution, we help God win the great controversy between good and evil. 

Read in Class: Luke 19:41-44, Matthew 23:37-38, John 5:40. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these verses tell you about Jesus’ attitude toward His people and their response to His loving invitation of grace and mercy? What revelation of God’s character do you see?

Apply:Read Matthew 24:15-20. What instruction did Jesus give to His people to save them from the coming destruction of Jerusalem? 

Share: Your friend says, “There is so much persecution of Christians in the early church, and today there is so much persecution, needless bloodshed, heartache, and sorrow. How can you possibly see God’s love in all this pain and suffering?” What do you tell your friend? 

Read in Class: Hebrews 11:35-38, Revelation 2:10 and Acts 2:41, and Acts 5:42. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these passages tell us about the reality of the challenges facing the early church, and how it continued to grow despite those challenges? 

Apply: What can we learn from the early church that could help us, the end-time church?

Share: Your friend asks why God allows the church to be persecuted? What value does it serve? What does it accomplish? What do you tell your friend? 

Read in Class: Read Acts 2:44-47; Acts 3:6-9; Acts 6:1-7. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: Although circumstances vary, what principles can we learn from these passages about authentic Christianity?

Apply: How do the ways your church serves the community help prove that Satan’s accusations about God and His church are wrong? In other words, how does your church let the community see the love of God in practical day to day living? 

Share: Your friend says that the pathfinders in her church are helping to care for the lawns of widows in the neighborhood, and that some of the deacons helped a farmer build a new barn after his old one burned down. However your friend thinks in these times of earth’s history we should just be spending our time warning people about the mark of the beast instead of just helping people with their daily living.  What do you tell your friend? In what ways might the pathfinders and deacons be preparing the community for the mark of the beast or the seal of God? See Winning the Great Controversy in Every-day Life.

Read in Class: John 13:35 and 1 John 4:21. Define the common thread of these passages. 

Study:  What do these passages reveal about Satan’s challenge against the government of God in the great controversy? What do they tell us about the essence of genuine Christianity?

Apply: What is the obvious message for us here? How do we learn to die to self so that we, too, can manifest this same selfless spirit? It’s not easy, is it? 

Share: What are some practical ways your Sabbath School class and/or family can reach out to your community this week to let them know God is love?