I am very happy to be able to be with you today to study God’s Word together on His Holy Day.  We are very close to the end of the great controversy.  One of the evidences of that is the fact that we see the great controversy raging in the hearts of God’s professed people.  Everywhere I go, people tell me about the temptations and the struggles and the trials and the battles that they are going through.

This is because, Ellen White says, as we draw near the close of the great controversy, the contest will become more fierce.  And this contest takes place in the hearts of men and women, and the devil is trying to make war against your soul.  That is the reason you have all these trials and temptations and troubles and I am here because I want to give you a word of encouragement.

When things were going really, really awful, my brother, Marshall, used to say, “No matter how bad things are, it is going to be temporary, because we are Christians and the Lord is going to bring us out of this.”  John 17, is one of the great prayers of Jesus, one of the few prayers of Jesus, which is recorded in Scripture.

This prayer is for the unity and harmony of His followers and believers.  I want to ask you a question.  Do you believe that the Father is going to answer the prayer of His Son?  Is there going to be a group of people in the world who really will have unity?  I am not talking about an outward unity.  I am talking about what the apostle Paul speaks of when he said in Romans 15 that we are to have a oneness of mind.

We are to be heart to heart with the Lord and we are to have brotherly love for each other.  Is there going to be a group of people who will have that, or not?  You can read about this in the book, The Great Controversy, 464.  Mrs. White says that before the end, there will be a revival of primitive godliness that has not been seen since apostolic times.

In vision, Ellen White saw a group of people who were perfectly united.  We know that it is going to happen.  We do not know how we are going to get there, but we know that it is going to happen and this should be a subject of our prayers every day.  We should be working toward it and saying, Lord, what am I to do today so that this can happen?

The devil knows about this and he is determined that it will not happen in your home, in your family, in your church, or in your Sabbath School class.  He is determined that it will not happen.  Not only this, but before this unity develops, before this primitive godliness develops among God’s people, Ellen White says that the devil is going to try to prevent it by bringing in a counterfeit. (See, The Great Controversy, 464.) 

I want to tell you, friends, the counterfeit is already here!  The counterfeit of the great unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17 is what we call the ecumenical movement today.  The ecumenical movement has attempted even to invade Adventism.  I want to ask you a few questions about the ecumenical movement.

First of all, why can we not be a part of the ecumenical movement?  Some Adventists are asking that question today, and that question needs to be answered.  Why can we not be part of it?  The second question is, Why will it not work?  And the third question is, How do we know that it is of Satan and not the Lord?  How do we know the difference between the false and the true?

The first answer is found in Acts 2:1.  It says, “And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all…”  [The King James Bible says,] “of one accord.”  That is, they were of one mind.  They had one purpose.  They were in unity and harmony, in one place.

Now, I need to tell you, friends, this did not happen automatically.  It was not something that just automatically happened.  It was something that required a great deal of work.  It required a great deal of prayer and fasting.  You might like to see the condition that they were in just seven or eight weeks earlier to that.

In Luke 22:24 you will see that they were not at all of one mind or of one accord.  It says, “There was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, “‘The kings of the nations exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors [or well doers].  But not so among you; he who is greatest [but the one who is greater] among you, let him be as the younger, he who governs [and the one who takes the lead] as he [one] who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits [the one sitting] at the table or he who serves [the one serving]?  Is it not he who sits [the one sitting] at the table?  Yet I am among [But I am in the midst of] you as the one who serves.  But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials [temptations].  And I bestow upon you a kingdom [am committing to you] just as My [the] Father bestowed one upon Me [has committed to me in order], that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Notice here that before there can be honor in God’s kingdom, there must be humility.  Before there can be exaltation, there must be service.  Before there can be greatness, there must be a humble heart and a serving attitude.  Jesus said, Who is the greater, the one that sits at the table or the one that serves?  The one who sits at the table.  And they understood what that meant because they lived in a land where two-thirds of the people were servants, or bond servants, or slaves.  The slaves were the ones who served the table. 

But Jesus said to them, I am among you as one who serves.  So they were having a strife about who was the greatest.  They were not at all of one accord.  And for ten days before Pentecost came, do you know what they were doing?  They were fasting and praying all night.

They had to do even more than that.  They had to go to each other and say, You know, brother, I wanted to be above you and I am sorry.  I am not going to try to be above you any more.  I wanted to control you.  I thought that I was the one that should be in charge, and I am not going to do that any more.

And the thing that brought that about was the cross.  The cross smashed their goals to be lifted up, to be in charge, and to be rulers.  Before the cross they used to love it when Jesus said, like He said here, The day is coming when you are going to sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  They loved to hear that.  But they did not realize the character preparation that was required before they could do something like that.

Today, we hear it in all Christian churches around the world.  People want harmony and they want unity.  Are you willing to pay the price?  They had to pay a price.  They not only had to fast and pray, they had to go to each other and say, You know, I wanted to be in charge of the work, but I am not going to try to be in charge of the work any more.

In fact, after the cross, you will never see a time when the disciples tried to lord it over the others and to be in charge of the work.  Now, actually they were in charge of the work.  The Lord placed them in charge of the work, and if you read the book of Acts, you will see that they were in charge of the work.  But before they could be in charge of the work, they had to have a different spirit.

And the problem with ecumenism is this.  People receive the spirit and then that is supposed to result in unity.  But if you read the book of Acts, that is not the way God worked then.  First, they had to not only pray, but they had to also go to each other and confess their sins.  They were in unity and harmony first and then they received the spirit.  Do you see that the two things are exactly opposite?

In God’s program His people fast and pray and they go to each other and they resolve their differences and they come into unity, and after that, they receive the Holy Spirit.  That is what happened in Acts 2.  But the devil’s program is that you receive the spirit and that results in unity.  But the problem is, that kind of unity is a superficial unity.  And Jesus said, When the Spirit comes, He is going to guide you into all truth.

Do you realize, friends, this ecumenical movement has been in full swing for over thirty years?  Over thirty years it has been in full swing and it has not led its adherents to truth!  But the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised, would guide us into all truth.  You can read that in John 16.  So there is something wrong about what is going on in Christendom today.  It is completely opposite from what we see at Pentecost.

At Pentecost, first they came into unity and harmony, and they came into unity and harmony on the truth.  And they stopped trying to control the work.  Now they were in charge of the work, but you will never find any apostles, after the crucifixion of Christ trying to control the others.  First they had unity on the truth and then, after that, the Holy Spirit came. 

They had been confessing their sins.  They had been making things right.  They had been praying for one anther as James says, so that they might be healed.  And I want to tell you, friends, we have a lot of praying to do, because we have a lot of people among us who need to be healed.  There are a lot of wounded soldiers around.  If we want to receive the Holy Spirit, if we want to receive the Latter Rain, if we want to be ready for Jesus to come, we have a work of preparation to do in our hearts.

And if there are things between us and someone else that need to be made right, we need to make those things right.  So a first contrast between what is happening today in the ecumenical movement and what happened at Pentecost is that it is taking a directly opposite course.  Back then they became unified on the truth, first, and in harmony with each other, and then they received the Holy Spirit.

But today, people receive the Holy Spirit who believe totally contradictory things, they are not in unity and harmony on the faith at all.  I mean, there are Catholic priests who claim to have received this charismatic gift and can speak in tongues.  These people believe that you can pray to Mary, to the saints, and to the Pope.  And they believe that they can say to you, I absolve you and you are forgiven of your sins.

Then there are other people who are receiving this spirit who are Protestant ministers, and they do not believe that you can pray to the Pope.  They do not believe they can absolve your sins.  They do not believe that you can pray to the Virgin Mary.  They do not believe that you can pray to saints.  These people have totally opposite beliefs, and yet they are receiving the spirit, and they have received the spirit for years, and it has not brought them into unity on the truth.

You see, something is wrong!  That is a first indication, a first reason why we cannot be part of the ecumenical movement.  We want to receive the Holy Spirit, but we want to be sure that it is the right spirit.  You see, the New Testament points out the fact that you can receive a spirit and can end up being under the wrong spirit.

You might like to read that.  Turn to II Corinthians 11.  We will read verse 4.  Paul says, “For if one comes who preaches another Jesus [By the way, that has happened] whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different [another] gospel which you have not accepted [received]—you may well put up with it.”

Paul points out three dangers in the Christian Church.  First of all, preaching another Jesus; second, receiving a different spirit; and third, receiving a different gospel.  And all those things have happened.  You see, just because you have received the spirit does not mean that you have received the Holy Spirit.  We are living in that time predicted in the book, The Great Controversy, 587–588 where Ellen White says that multitudes will rejoice that God is working marvelously for them when the work is the work of another spirit.

What you and I want to receive is the true outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and if we want that, we have a work to do in our hearts.  We have to go to the Lord in our own closet, or wherever you do your private praying, and say like David said, Lord, search me and know me.  Is there any wicked way in me?  Is there anything about the way I think or about the way I feel that needs to be changed so that I can meet You in peace?

That is what David did.  He went to his closet and he wrote it down, it is in the Bible.  He said, Lord, search me and see if there is some wicked way in me.  Are there thoughts that I have?  Are there feelings that I have?  Are there words that I am speaking?  Are there actions in my life that are wrong that need to be changed?  That is what we must do if we want to be ready to receive the Holy Spirit.

You see, if we receive the Holy Spirit, and if there is sin in my life, do you know the first thing that the Holy Spirit does?  You can read it in John 16:8.  Jesus said, When the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin.  If there is sin in my life and I receive the Holy Spirit, the first thing that the Holy Spirit does is point out that sin.  The first thing!

I am reading a book by a lady who was of English descent, grew up in India, become enamoured with the New Age movement, and become part of it.  She was living with a man who was also involved with the New Age movement.  They were not married, but they were living together and they decided to go to a meeting.  In this meeting there was a Christian giving a presentation of the gospel, and these New Agers were sitting in the congregation .  After his presentation on the gospel, he presented the charms of Jesus.  Now, I want to tell you, friends, there is nobody else in the universe who has the charms of Jesus.  There is nobody else in the universe who could give you the satisfaction of soul and can bring joy into your life like He can.

If you are suffering from disappointment, loneliness, lack of fulfillment or trouble in this life, it is not because of something that Jesus has done.  That is a result of the devil’s work, and of sin.  When you go to heaven, there will not be a single person throughout all eternity that you will ever meet who will tell you that they are not satisfied or not fulfilled.  That will never happen.

There will never more be a dirge of buried affections and crushed and shattered dreams and hopes like you see all over down here.  That is all a result of sin.  Jesus came down to this world, friends, because He could not bear to see you go through that and not make a way to get you out of it.  And all of your troubles, disappointments, struggles, problems, loneliness, fears, and all of these awful things that you go through, if you put your trust in Jesus, all those things will be temporary.  He is going to get you out of all of that.

And this Christian worker presented the charms of Jesus.  Apparently this woman had never, ever heard the gospel before.  At the close of the presentation this gospel worker made an invitation for anybody who wanted to accept Christ as his or her personal Saviour to come forward.

She said, This is what I want.  I am going forward.  So she went forward and she gave her heart to Christ and she experienced the joy of receiving Jesus.  The organization that this gospel worker worked for, gave her a Bible.  She did not even own a Bible, but they gave her a Bible and advised her to read it.  What does the Holy Spirit do if you are living in sin?  What is the first thing the Holy Spirit does, according to John 16?

It says, “It convicts you of sin.”  She had never read the Bible before.  So she went home that night, got into bed, and she thought she would read the Bible before she went to sleep.  So she opened the Bible to a place in the New Testament where the first words she read were words of condemnation on fornication and adultery.  And she slammed the Book shut and said, I am not going to read that any more!

The next day or two she opened the Book, she looked at it again.  Every time she opened the Book, she would fall on something that condemned what she was doing.  It finally got to bothering her conscience so much that she told the man she was living with, “I cannot take this any more.  We have got to split up.”  So they did.

You see, if there is sin in your life, friends, and you give yourself to the Lord and you receive the Holy Spirit, the first thing the Holy Spirit will do is to put His finger on that sin and say, Pastor John, what about this?  I have noticed something very interesting about the way God works.  In my experience I have learned this.  God is much more patient and longsuffering with you and me than we are with each other.

I have found that if you have five or six, or eight, big problems in your life, did you know that God does not even point them out all at once?  You know, when the woman was taken in adultery, the Holy Spirit put His finger right on the problem.  Jesus said, Do not do that any more.  She said, Okay.  But that does not mean that the Holy Spirit never came and told her about some other problem.

You say, Okay, Lord, I will not do that any more.  I am going to change.  And the Holy Spirit starts to work in your life and you start to have an experience that is different than you had before.  Your thoughts are changed; your feelings are changed; your words are changed, and your actions are changed.  And that sinful behavior whether it was thoughts or feelings or words or actions, becomes something that is in the past.  You start having victory on that point.

And then, do you know what happens after you start having victory on that point?  If you are asking to be baptized by the Holy Spirit every day, the Holy Spirit then puts His finger on something else.  What about this?  Now you have to deal with that.  And some people, of course, will not deal with it.  Have you ever been giving Bible studies to somebody and they will accept this and this and this and this and then they come up to a point and they just will not accept it?  Have you ever had that happen?  Most Bible workers have had that happen over and over again.  So then you stop right there. 

Even though the Holy Spirit has put His finger on something four or six or eight times before and those things are not a part of the person’s life anymore, now the Holy Spirit puts His finger on something, and the person says, No, I cannot do that!

Do you know what happens then?  That is when you start to travel in circles in your Christian life.  The Holy Spirit does not force you to go on, but you stop right there.  So you go around.  You keep going to church, you keep praying, that sin is still in the back of your mind.  When the time comes that the Holy Spirit puts His finger on that again, What about this?  Lord, I cannot do that.

We have had people accept the Sabbath.  I think of one young couple we were studying with.  In fact, they asked to be baptized.  They had been going to church with the antichrist.  They belonged to that power.  When they accepted the Sabbath, they wanted to be baptized, until we studied what the Bible said about tithing.  When they found that out, they decided they could not afford to be Christians.

They kept the Sabbath, but decided they could not afford to do that.  Then, you start going in circles.  Finally the Lord said, How about this?  And sometimes, friends, I find that a person is going around in circles in their life for years.  And every once in a while the Holy Spirit puts His finger on that sore point again and says, How about this?  How about this?  No, Lord, I cannot afford to do that.  I cannot do that right now.

We have had a number of people that we have studied with in our area.  They have accepted the seventh day Sabbath, they have accepted the law of God, they know that Jesus is coming soon.  They have studied it out and they know that Ellen White is a prophet.  They can prove all that to you.  They believe the Spirit of Prophecy.  They believe everything, until you start studying about what the Bible says about dress, adornment and jewelry.

Then they say, Pastor John, I cannot accept that.  I have had them say it to me just about like that.  I cannot accept that.  So then they start going around in circles.  We have some people in our area going in that circle right now.  We are studying with them.  We hope that we can get them past that circle.  We will either have to get them past it, or eventually we will have to just let them be.

I have always been persuaded that it is good to think when you are in church.  It is a good place to think, and I do want you to think.  I want you to think about your own life.  Is there some area in your life where you are going in circles? The Holy Spirit says, What about this?  And in effect what you have said is, Lord, not that.  I can do this and this and this and this.  I can follow You in all those things, but not this one.  This is too much.  I cannot make it.

So you are going in a circle.  From time to time the Holy Spirit puts His finger on that.  What about this?  Do not keep going in circles until Jesus comes, friends.  We have to over come and get past those things and be in harmony.  You know, Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.  And that is not some arbitrary requirement.

That is because, unless we meet that standard, if we keep going in circles, it will be impossible for God to do for you what He wants to do for you.  I have three more things I want to cover very quickly.

Why we know the ecumenical movement is a false movement and why we cannot be part of it.  Turn in your Bible to II Timothy 3:1.  It says, “Know this, that in the last days perilous times are coming [or perilous times will come].”  In the last days perilous times will come and then he begins to list certain serious social conditions that we see all around us in the world today, such as the fact that children will disobey their parents.

We are living in these last times that he talks about here, but I just want to show you and review with you one of these signs of the last days of the perilous times that we are living in. Look at verse 5.  In the last days, it says, that people will have a form of godliness but they will deny the power of it.  And it says, “From such people, turn away.”

Now some people say, We should all get together.  But the Bible says that there are some people that have a form of godliness and deny the power and you are not to congregate with them.  You are to turn away, you are to get away from these people, because if you do not, you will end up being deceived and having a form of godliness without the power, too.

Now I want to discuss with you very briefly, what it means to have a form of godliness and deny the power.  Now to have a form of godliness is not too hard to figure out.  Those are the people who go to church and they make a profession of religion.  They are Christians by profession.  They have a form of godliness.  They go to church.  They call themselves Christians.

But what does it mean to deny the power of godliness?  What is the power of godliness?  Well, let us just look at a few texts and let the New Testament tell us what it is.  Look, first of all, in II Corinthians 10:3.  It says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not [make] war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [fleshly] but mighty [are powerful] in God for pulling [the casting] down [of] strongholds.”  Now this is the power of godliness.  It is not fleshly weapons.  It is not bullets, or missiles, or planes, or bombs, or any of those things.  They are not fleshly weapons, but they are powerful spiritual weapons, and the apostle Paul says these weapons of our warfare can cast down strongholds.  They are powerful.

In fact, look at verse 5.  The weapons of the warfare, Paul says, that we use are so powerful that they can bring every thought of a person’s mind into captivity to Christ.  Every thought will be in submission to Jesus Christ.  That is powerful.  There is no earthly spirit; no weapons in this world that can do anything like that, let me tell you.

The devil has none at his disposal.  Man has none at his disposal.  Now you can put people in prison, you can kill them, but you cannot control what a man or woman thinks.  That you cannot do.  And for sure, love cannot be forced.  But Paul says that the weapons that we are working with are so powerful that they can cast down strongholds and they can bring every thought into submission to Jesus Christ.

Paul talks about that again in several places.  He talks about it in Romans 8:3, 4, how that through the power of the spirit the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.  Paul taught a gospel that was powerful.  It was so powerful; it would bring every thought into submission. 

If you bring every thought of a person’s mind into captivity to Christ, Christ has total control of that person.  Everything is surrendered to Christ.  But in the last days there are going to be people who have a form of godliness and deny the power.  What does it mean to deny the power?  It means that you teach a gospel that does not involve bringing a person to that condition where they are fully surrendered to Christ in every thought, word and action.

Or in other words, to put it in very simple language, you teach a gospel which does not involve victory over sin in the life.  And this is one of the principal characteristics of the ecumenical movement.  It just claims to bring people into unity and harmony from all different religious backgrounds, but it does not teach them how to have victory over sin in their lives.  That is not on the agenda.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:20, “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.”  Oh, my dear friends, are you experiencing the power of godliness in your life?  Or are you part of the group, the great majority in the world today who have a profession of godliness but the power you are not experiencing?  Now think this through, friends.  If you have a profession of godliness, but you are not experiencing the power of godliness, your religion really is not worth anything.

It says here in 1 Corinthians 4:20, the kingdom of God is not in word.  It is not just in profession.  It is in power.  And if you are not experiencing the power, you are not experiencing the kingdom.  In fact, the question could be asked, Are you even part of the kingdom?  The kingdom is not in words, not in profession.  It is in power, Paul says. 

I want to give you an invitation.  You do not need to raise your hand.  You do not need to change the expression on your face.  I am not interested in outward things.  I just want you to be saved.  I want to be with you in the kingdom of heaven.  I need you to pray that I will be there.  We need to be praying for each other, that we will be faithful.

And, oh, friend, are you experiencing the power of godliness in your life?  If you are not, I want to invite you again to go to your closet and say, Lord, I do not want to have as pretend religion.

I started praying this prayer nearly twenty years ago when I started to realize the scary situation that we were all in, how that there would be multitudes of people, even Seventh-day Adventists in the last days, who would not be saved.

Ellen White said that she saw in vision that the majority of Seventh-day Adventists would not be saved.  And I started to come to grips with that and I said, Lord, I do not want a pretend religion.  You see, a pretend religion is where you have a form of godliness and you are going through all the motions and people look at you as maybe a Christian leader.  I was an elder in the church.  I was a teacher in an Adventist College.  I was supposed to be a leader, and I realized that all of that was nothing unless I was experiencing the power of God in my life.

I said, Lord, I do not want a pretend religion.  Please, whatever has to happen, I want the real thing.  Do you want the real thing?  God wants to reveal His power in your life.  His power will bring to you the ability to live a holy life in the midst of this world.

God wants to demonstrate something through you.  He wants to show the world that somebody with your heredity and your background and your environment and all of the problems that you have, that by His grace, you can keep His law.  And not only can you keep His law, but also you can be happy doing it.

I want to tell you, friends, that in spite of what the devil is telling everybody, the people who are breaking God’s law are not happy over it.  They think they are getting a thrill. The Bible talks about the temporary pleasures of sin, but they do not get happiness.  I have been a pastor long enough to know that for sure.  I have dealt with people who have been involved in every kind of sin for many years, until they are bound as slaves in sin,  and they would give their life to get set free.

We pray for them, and I have seen God set some free.  And, oh, friend, if there is somebody here today and you are bound in sin, maybe have been bound for many years, Jesus said He came to this world to set the captives free.  And He wants to set you free.  He wants you, not to just experience a form of going to church and making a profession of being a Christian, He wants you to experience the power of godliness in your life.

The third reason that we cannot be part of the ecumenical movement. 

Turn to II Corinthians 6:14.  “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  [That is, with the unfaithful.]  For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion [fellowship] has righteousness with lawlessness [light with darkness]?  And what agreement is there between Christ and Belial?  Or what part has the faithful with the unfaithful?  Or what unity is there between the temple of God and idols?  For you are the temple of God, of the living God as it is written.  For God has said, I will dwell among them and walk among them and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.  Wherefore, come out from the midst of them and be separate, says the Lord and do not touch the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be to you a father and you shall be to me sons and daughters, says the Lord, the Almighty one.”

Notice, people are saying today, Well, we can all get together.  We can get together with all the people of all the different Christian faiths in the world.  We can even get together with the Buddhists and the Hindus and the people who are not of Christian faith.  We can all get together, and by the way, that is going to happen, because the book of Revelation teaches that the whole world is going to be of one mind for a little while.

They are all going to be united, but the Bible says, “Come out and do not touch the unclean thing.”  Now this word unclean has a very long biblical history.  It goes clear back to the writings of Moses, and if you read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, you will find that there is a great deal of space used to show what is clean and what is unclean; what is pure and what is defiled.

That is a major subject all of its own in the writings of Moses.  What is clean and what is unclean?  What is pure and what is defiled?  And you know, if you read Psalm 24, only those who have clean hands and a pure heart are going to heaven.  Those are the only ones.  Now the good news, of course, is that whatever is defiled, can be cleansed by Christ, because the thing that defiles is sin.

That is why we find over and over again in our evangelistic work that when a person decides to follow the Lord all the way, very often they lose their friends and they have to get new friends.  Do you know why that is?  It is because they will not touch the unclean anymore.

I remember one couple to whom we gave Bible studies, they were baptized and their friends wanted them to go with them to the movies.  No, we do not do that any more.  They wanted to have a drinking party.  No, we do not do that any more.  They wanted to have a gambling party, too.  No, we do not do that any more.

They said, Well, what do you do for a good time?  You do not eat like you used to eat,  you do not drink like you used to drink, you do not go to where you used to go, you do not do anything we used to do to have fun.  Now these people were having fun, but it was a different kind of fun.  The Bible says, “Come out from among them and do not touch the unclean,” and God says, When you do that, I will receive you.

Oh, sometimes I feel so helpless to impress it upon people’s minds. If you are received by the God of heaven, even if you should lose everything in this world, every friend you have, all your money, anything that could make life dear in this world you would have it all.  If you lost it all, and you got Jesus, you would still get everything.

I have become so frustrated in trying to help people understand this that I have developed very, very crude illustrations to help them understand.  And one of my very crude illustrations to help people understand, is this:  If you have a chicken that lays eggs, tell me, who is more valuable to you, the chicken or the egg.  You know that there are a lot of Christians who have their eyes on the eggs and forgot the One that gave them the eggs.

It is true.  If you lost everything in this world, if you lost every gift of God in this world like Job did, and you gained Jesus, you would have gained everything, because He can give you everything.  You see, that was Adam’s problem.  You know, Ellen White says that when Eve tempted Adam, what Adam did not realize was that the same God who had made for him a companion, could make him another companion.

Somebody says, What would have happened to Eve.  Well, the Spirit of Prophecy is very clear that Jesus Christ would have put the plan of salvation into existence to save one, and Eve was one.  We do not know how things would have worked out in that case.  But, oh, friend, do not let the devil trip you up thinking you are going to lose everything if you accept Jesus, and maybe lose some things in this world.  When you gain Him, you have gained everything.  He can supply every need that you have and He keep the supply going forever. 

The fourth point that we know the ecumenical movement is false, is because the ecumenical movement is predicted in prophecy.  It is predicted to have the following characteristics:

1.  It is predicted that the United States will be one of the great leaders in the ecumenical movement.  (See Revelation 13.)

2.  It is predicted that the United States will give great honor to the papacy, to the antichrist power of Bible prophecy.

3.  It is predicted that in the United States an image of the beast power of the middle ages will be developed.  In other words, that the religious power would gain control of the civil power.

4.  It is predicted in Revelation 13 that this ecumenical movement will involve a false manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit in the Bible, by the way, is only promised to those who keep the commandments.  (See John 14.)

5.  It is predicted that this ecumenical movement will involve communication with evil spirits claiming to be angels from heaven and the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself.

6.  Finally, it is predicted.in the book of Revelation that the whole world will be deceived by these evil spirits.  It says in Revelation 18:23 “All nations were deceived by her sorceries.”  By the way, does that include the nation in which you are living?  If it says “all,” that is all.  And we see it happening today, we are very close to the end

But they will still be destroyed, and the book of Revelation tell us the way to tell the difference between the false and the true is that the true people of God, in the last days, are not described as a worldwide conglomerate.  They are described as a remnant, just a few in comparison with the rest of the world population.  And they are described over and over again as that remnant that keeps God’s commandments.  (See Revelation 12:17; Revelation 14:12; Revelation 22:14.)  It says, “Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have a right to the tree of life and that they might enter in through the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs, sorcerers, and all those lawbreakers.”  (See verse 15.)

You see, numbers did not count in Noah’s day.  Numbers did not count in Jesus’ day.  Numbers did not count in Martin Luther’s day, and numbers do not count today.  The only thing that counts is, is your life in harmony with God’s Word and with His law?