WOULD JESUS KILL A
LITTLE SPARROW?

Beginning in the summer and fall of 1976 the Lord impressed me to begin a search to understand Him better. I had read my Bible through several times along with many other religious books by many authors. I even began memorizing in the Psalms, which was hard work. Finally, I came to Psalm 5:10 which says, "Destroy thou them O God; let them fall by their counsels." As I repeated that verse over and over so it would stick in my mind a light finally went on. This is how God destroys...He allows the sinner to go his own way and destroy himself by "doing his own thing...going his own way and falling in the ditch." Then the Lord began speaking to me in my mind regarding the fact that He had never hurt or killed anyone in the history of the universe. I was so shocked and surprised. But I wept for joy at first. Then I began to weep in sorrow at the thought that my lovely Savoir's Name had been slandered for so long. He had been blamed for the flood along with all the other disasters and calamities of the Old Testament. I was filled with righteous indignation for my Lord's reputation. Then the Lord began to speak to me about learning more of His true character of love and writing a book. So, on May 11, 1977 I completed my first manuscript entitled, "A CHARACTER LIKE HIS TO SURVIVE THE TIME OF TROUBLE." This was basic level one on God's true character, which is simply the idea that "God Destroys No Man." In later manuscripts I enlarged and expanded this basic idea to encompass the animal sacrifice system as well as "The Two Lords." In our present study we will concentrate on level two, "The Animal Sacrifice System" which will, of necessity include some of level three, "THE TWO LORDS." As we begin today, let us pray:

Our opening text is found in Matt. 10:29, contains the title of this booklet. Jesus is speaking, asking the multitudes a question: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." I want to add that the sparrows are valuable in our Lord's eyes as well, for he says in another place that not one little sparrow falls to the ground, without the Father's notice, even they are cheap...only worth a farthing.

How much is a farthing? According to all the Bible dictionaries I researched a farthing is only worth 1/4 of our U.S. penny. A penny is-1/100 of a dollar, 1/10 of a dime. So, a farthing was only 25% of a penny, one fourth. That's all a sparrow was worth in Christ's day.

Let's go to Luke 12:6 and notice here Jesus' words again: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God." They were so cheap, of so little value, that they threw in an extra one free for a total of five for two farthings or 1/2 of a penny. Yet, Christ tells us that He notices everyone of them. I often say that God attends the funeral of every sparrow. So, this gives us an idea of how much the Lord loves the animals. He doesn't want any of them to suffer. He created every little bird and every beast of the field. Everyone of them is precious to Him.

Desire of Ages, p. 356, "The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy intelligences, all waiting to do His will. Through channels which we cannot discern He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. But it is in this speck of a world, in the souls that He gave His only-begotten Son to save, that His interest and the interest of all heaven is centered. God is bending from His throne to hear the cry of the oppressed. To every sincere prayer He answers, "Here am I." He uplifts the distressed and downtrodden. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. In every temptation and every trial the angel of His presence is near to deliver." (Isa. 63:9)

Now, here is the best part of this quote...the real punch line. "Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father's notice. Satan's hatred against God leads him to hate every object of the Saviour's care. He seeks to mar the handiwork of God, and he delights in destroying even the dumb creatures. It is only through God's protecting care that the birds are preserved to gladden us with their songs of joy." This makes it abundantly clear who the destroyer really is.

In my study of the animal sacrifice system, I came to two very interesting scriptures in the book of Psalms I want to share with you. Ps. 40:6, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required." Notice that God did not desire the killing of animals, nor did He require it. Then in Ps. 50:8, "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine." Just imagine that beloved. God says that everyone of the beasts of the field, all the created creatures upon this planet are His, each one is very special in His eyes and belong to him.

Listen to this:

In Ps. 147:1-2 we read, "Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." Do you feel like an outcast? Well, Jesus wants to draw you close to His heart. He healeth the broken in heart. Is your heart broken today? He wants to mend it...make it like new. Yes, He's telling you of His great love and compassion. He is a God who takes a personal interest in every single thing that He has created.

Friend of mine, if you have an ache, a pain, heartache or sorrow, God wants to hear about it. He loves and cares for you. You can come boldly to His throne of grace and He will hear you and help you. In I Peter 5:7 Peter tells us: "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Oh friend of mine, you don't have to be afraid of God. You can go right into His throne of grace. Right into the Most Holy Place today, right now and Jesus will immediately usher you into the Father and you will see what a wonderful person He is. You don't have to be afraid of Him. Many of the Old Testament prophets were afraid of God. Most of them believed that if they went into the Most Holy Place without one unconfessed sin they would be struck dead by God Himself. This was galvanized into their thinking with the story of Uzzah who was struck dead when he touched the sacred ark of the covenant because he thought it was going to tip over as it was being pulled along the road in an oxen cart. Later on I will explain why I don't believe God was the one who killed Uzzah. Ps. 147:3 "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds." Do you have a wound today? He wants to bind it up, 'He does. Vs. 4 "He telleth the number of the stars: he calleth them all by their names." Hey, look at that. Every star. Can you count the number of stars out there? Everyone one of them has a name, "He calleth them all by their names." Incredible! Why do we say it's incredible? Why? Because, it just sort of blows your mind away doesn't it? God knows every star. Why even the very hairs of our head are numbered the Bible says. And if the hairs of our head are numbered, what isn't numbered? We are dealing with a God who is infinite in power, strength and might, but I want you to know something more. This mighty, infinite God came down in a body of flesh, He manifested Himself down to this earth in the form of a human being, a little baby.

Now friend of mine, Jesus Christ has come. He died on the cross and split that veil from top to bottom. It was ripped wide open. You could see right inside of it and realize you never needed to be afraid. You could go right in there and be with Jesus and find out how much the Father loves you. I want you to read the last chapter of my book, "Beyond the Sacred Veil of the Temple," and read the parable that I wrote about the big boss upstairs. Everyone was afraid of Him. That is the last chapter of my book, "Into The Father's Heart."

Now, I want to reason with you as plainly as I possibly can about this wonderful infinite God that we serve. In one of my newsletters I told the story about this little baby that stopped the fighting in a certain battlefield during WWI. It's a wonderful little story of how this little baby came between two opposing armies and stopped the war for a time. The soldiers stopped firing at each other because of this little baby. And that is why Jesus came to this war torn world...to stop the fighting...the Great Controversy.

Now, why am I going on and on about this...about how much God loves you? Because I have something very special to tell you that the Lord revealed to me in 1977. So, don't stop reading because this information can change your life. I know it certainly changed mine. Beloved, this same God who is infinite in power, who has created the whole universe and knows every star and every animal of the world and each of us and even how many hairs we have on our head; this same infinite God has never hurt nor killed anyone.

Can you believe that? I've had people say, Mike, I wish I could believe in that kind of God, but when I read the Bible it tells me that God destroyed the people in the flood and that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; He does kill and destroy. And so they take the Bible very literally and say they cannot comprehend it. They say they have to take the Bible as it reads. Some people have very strong feelings on this topic to the extent that they have even told me that I am destroying the truth of the Bible by teaching "God Does Not Kill." Beloved, don't believe such a lie because even EGW categorically stated: "God destroys no man." COL 84. And that is just the beginning of the proof that I have in books and videos.

Well, we need to talk about this subject. Lets reason together for just a moment. In the Bible, Rev. 14 for example, it says, "The same shall drink of the wine of wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever." Then there are other scriptures that talk about how they will suffer without any recourse, or any let up; without any mercy, throughout all the eternal ages. You can read that in different places.

In Mark 9 there is a passage that tells us "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:" Some people read these verses and they say that isn't what it means. Because the fire will eventually be quenched. They say it means the opposite of what it says. I use this as an illustration of how people will take certain passages and say this is a symbolism, a Hebrew expression and that it means the results of the burning will be forever, not the burning itself. Well, I agree. Forever and ever is from the Greek word "Aion," does not mean "forever and ever" at all. It simply means "age." Therefore, the result of the destruction is forever and the fire itself will not go on or continue to destroy eternally. The fire will eventually go out, as we read in Isa. 47:14.

If we can understand how to interpret the scriptures about the "fire of God," "eternal hellfire" along with "forever and eternal," etc. and make this truth plain to people, why is it we have so much trouble with the character of God, when we have the life of Jesus Himself showing us clearly that God is love and has no desire to hurt anyone? Why is it that terms and phrases such as "wrath" and "wrath of God" are not easily understood when Paul clearly states that God's wrath is simply when He "lets the sinner go or gives them up?" The problem seems axiomatic (obvious) enough to me. I will use myself as an example.

Before I came to understand that God does not hurt, kill or destroy I had been preaching for 22 years, since age 17. I had preached a lot of sermons on God's plan to exterminate sin and sinners in the final days with the seven last plagues and after the 1,000 years when the "fire from God out of heaven" (Rev. 20:9) would consume the dirty sinners once and for all.

Why did I want to believe this doctrine? What was my motive? It took me quite a while but I finally figured it out. I was angry at anyone and everyone who did not agree with my theology. I loved to argue and debate about the doctrines of the Bible...especially about the Sabbath and the state of the dead, which I knew best. And I was very good at showing proof texts to convince people that these doctrines were right. And that was the whole point. I loved "being right!" So, all I was doing was playing a game. Every religion does this. They create theological scenarios with the doctrines and dogmas of their church and then challenge anyone to prove them wrong. Bible studies become debates in which each person attempts to prove "from the Bible" that their doctrine is more correct than another religion's doctrine. "Discussions" often turn into arguments and escalate into shouting matches between preachers and laymen alike. During the dark ages the various factions came to debates with body guards as their very lives were in danger. Beginning about the 2nd and 3rd century a great debate began about the nature of Christ, whether He was a created being or co-equal with God the Father. The two main theologians in this debate were Athanaisus and Arius. These debates arose as the apostasy of the church began. Eventually, the state, under Constantine stepped in about 321 AD and made a final decision as to what the true doctrines of the church would be. He realized these schisms were not healthy for his empire. This is when Sunday worship and many other false doctrines began to appear and the church went into the dark ages. At the time of the reformation God raised up godly men to once again preach the true doctrines Christ taught to His twelve disciples. Luther, Calvin, Wesley and others were used of God to teach the people. But out of the reformation came many different and varied opinions and beliefs about the Word of God. This has continued and we have many religions in the world today, each trying to "win souls" for their denomination.

The goal is to convince a potential convert, who is caught in the middle, that your doctrinal position is more biblically correct than your competition (other denominations) so the candidate will choose to be baptized into your church. The more baptisms a minister is able to get the more praise and honor he receives from his leaders. And the more likely he is to be promoted to a higher position or larger church in a big conference. This is well understood but not so bluntly stated by the leaders, nevertheless this is the motivating factor behind it all. The more involved a person becomes in this religious treadmill for souls the more inflated his ego becomes. The constant strife for supremacy destroys the Spirit of Christ. Under the guise of "a burden for souls" is a quest for the praise and honor of men. Naturally, the scribes and pharisees were not interested in the teachings of Jesus because it would not bring them money, fame position or power. And that is Jesus spoke directly to this problem in Matt. 23:15 when He said: "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, pretenders---hypocrites! for you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a [a proselyte], you make him doubly as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are." Matt. 23:15.

Truth is progressive and ongoing. It is like the sun which arises in the east and finally reaches its zenith at noonday. This is the way God's true character message is going today. We need to realize that many of the prophets who wrote the Bible believed God destroyed. Let's take Elijah for one example. He really believed that God destroyed. And he called for fire to come down and consume the sacrifice. And you know what? The fire came down. In another instance Elijah called for fire to come down and destroy some soldiers. And the fire came down and killed them. We have all probably read that. This is a historical fact recorded in the Scriptures. II Kings 1:9-14. Furthermore, the armies of Israel took a sword and went out and destroyed their enemies on various occasions. These are what we call historical precedents. So when James and John came along and saw the Samaritans treating Jesus very rudely, they thought they had a very good idea and a Bible precedent or example to back up their idea. We read about it in Luke 9:53-54 "And they (Samaritans) did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem." There was enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews. So, the Samaritans would not agree to let Jesus come in to their area and rent a motel for the night. Vs 54 "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" Can you imagine the set jaw and maybe the rasp in their voice and the glint in their eye. Hey, they were very angry and out for blood and felt these people deserved to die.

Lord, they probably said to Jesus, These no good Samaritans have disgraced you. They have slandered your name, let's bring fire down and destroy them. Vs. 55. What was Jesus' response to this suggestion? "But he turned, and rebuked them and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Beloved, we need to think about these things and realize that the prophets of the Old Testament didn't understand the character of God. If you want proof, just go to the book of Jonah and look at Jonah's reaction when God would not destroy the Ninevites. He was not just angry, he was livid with fury. Yet, in spite of himself, he testified that Jehovah is a merciful God. "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed to the Lord, and said, I pray You, O Lord, is not this just what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I fled to Tarshis; for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and [when sinners turn to You and meet Your conditions] You revoke the [sentence of] evil against them." Jonah 4:1, 2. Exodus 34:6. Jonah did not want God to show mercy to those people. He wanted justice. He wanted those people to die to prove that he was right and fulfill his prediction.

Commenting again on Luke 9:54, Ellen White says in Desire of Ages, pg. 487, "James and John, Christ's messengers were greatly annoyed at the insult shown unto their Lord and were filled with great indignation because he had been so rudely treated by the Samaritans that he was honoring by his presence. This manifest dishonor on the part of the Samaritans, should not, be passed over without marked punishment. Coming to Christ they reported the words of the people and telling him that they had refused to even give him a nights lodging. They thought that a grievous wrong had been done Him, and had seeing Mount Carmel in the distance, where Elijah had slain the false prophets, they said, 'Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?' They were surprised to see Jesus was pained by their words, and still more surprised as His rebuke fell upon their ears, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Now here is the God of the universe, the Creator, and His heart is filled with sorrow and pain at the idea that his beloved disciples would want to hurt someone. Does that tell you something about God? It tells me a lot.

Continuing on with this same statement at the bottom paragraph of Pg. 487, "It is no part of Christ's mission to compel men to receive him. It is Satan and men actuated by his spirit that seek to compel the conscience under a pretense of zeal for righteousness... Men who are confederate with evil angels bring suffering upon their fellowmen in order to convert them to their ideas of religion." Beloved, do you see what this is saying? Every organized religion under the face of the sun in this world tries to compel people to obey their dictates and their doctrines. And under pain of death, many of them secure converts. In the USA the law gives protection but in many foreign countries people are killed as was the case during the dark ages. But Jesus does not operate that way. He is ever showing mercy. Oh Thank you Jesus. Listen, isn't that beautiful, "but Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love."

Read it in Romans 2:4. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. Now, it says here, going on in the same quote, "under pretence of zeal of righteousness men who are confederate with evil angels bring suffering upon their fellowmen. But Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul or accept a partial service, but He desires only voluntary service. The willing surrender of the heart under the constraint of love."

This last statement is very important. Listen to it carefully and pray over it beloved. "There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work or who act contrary to our ideas." Now do you realize why Jesus had to say this to his disciples? No doubt with tears in his voice, and with moist eyes. I also believe that was what happened when He declared these sorrowful words in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil," thus revealing to them that Satan was their father not God. This is what He had to do because He could not get to them any other way. So, He finally had to reveal to them the naked truth. "You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, for there was no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, he was a liar and the father of it."

Jesus also taught His disciples never to use any force or compulsion in winning souls. In the book "Testimonies to Ministers," EGW writes paragraph after paragraph, page after page, chapter after chapter, pleading, begging, making every kind of appeal she knew how to make to the brethren in her day to not compel, not dictate, but to love one another as Christ loved us. Beloved, can you see how this competition and desire for position, this desire for power and authority over the minds and consciences of men and women in the ministry and laity in the church is destroying the very church itself? Yes, that is what is happening. I'm not saying that all ministers or laymen are like that. I know some ministers and a few administrators don't do it, but it is a rare one who doesn't. Of course, the excuse many leaders give for using forceful methods is that human nature, being what it is, demands it. But beloved, God does not want it to be done at all.

The whole system is structured today so that force and threats must often be used. And this is why the Jewish religion, Catholicism and the Moslem religion and even Protestantism get so many converts and so much money. Because they teach a harsh, cruel and vindictive, killer God under the guise of teaching the truth about God. Their interpretations of the Bible support their belief in this destructive God. They are blind to the fact that, like the Jews of old, the god they are serving is the devil.

Notice this paragraph on page 487, "He can admit no rival, nor accept a partial service, but He desires only voluntary service." That's why Jesus cannot come and help you unless you voluntarily come to him, unless you say Jesus help me. That's why we have to plead and beg with people to surrender their hearts to God, so they themselves of their own free will can ask God to help them because that is the way it's set up. Satan can harass you and persecute you, inhabit your body and just torture you, until you come to the place where you yourself realize that you have legal rights to say God help me, I rebuke you Satan, in your holy name Jesus. I rebuke Satan and drive him out of my life. Please come and help me Jesus. Christ must have our permission. He has to have that legal authority we alone can give him to intercede in our behalf. I'm not saying that he's not there helping us because he holds the destroyer at bay. But he wants to do a lot more for us and He can't because we have to give him permission. That is what prayer is all about. That is why He tells us to pray so much. The word "Pray" simply means to ask. And we need to keep asking every day. The more you talk to him, the more you will know how wonderful He is. So, that is the importance of praying. In order to do the work I am doing I have to constantly stay in an attitude of prayer so I am always in communication with the Father through Jesus.

Now let's go go back to Lev. 1. I want to show you something that I hope will really wake you up and surprise you, because this is the animal sacrifice system. Lev. 1:1, "And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord." Notice that God is clearly telling Moses the killing of animals to get rid of your sins is purely and strictly a voluntary sacrifice that the individual could choose to make. It was not something that God had commanded as I intend to prove to you from the Bible itself. No, this slaughtering of an animal to get one's sin forgiven was not something they had to do. They could volunteer to do it but if they chose not to, nothing bad would happen to them. In contrast notice in the New Testament worshipping Jesus to be saved an absloute necessity. I want to show you the difference between the Old Testament way of salvation and the New Testament way of salvation. God never changes. Mal. 3:6; Psalm 89:34; Heb. 13:8, James 4:17.

Let's read John 8:21 "Then said Jesus again unto them, (these are the Jewish leaders and the people too) I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself?" (He is speaking of himself in the treasury, vs. 20, so he's talking no doubt to the Scribes and Pharisees and the people are listening too) The Jews immediately begin jumping to conclusions, trying to twist his words around in front of the people to discredit Him, distorting His meaning so as to make Him sound like He is planning to commit suicide. See Jesus was harassed by these satanically controlled people day and night.

In Vs. 23, Jesus lovingly and with respect answers them: "And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath: I AM from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." That was the law of salvation regarding accepting Christ as a saviour. But in Leviticus there is no such command or punishment if they did not offer a burnt offering. There was no death penalty involved, and I am saying the death penalty nor even a warning of death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23. It doesn't say the wages of death is God killing you. It says the wages of sin is death, a natural result of cutting yourself off from God. We cut ourselves off. God does not arbitrarily cut us off, he does not reject us. We do it to ourselves.

In Luke 7:30, the Bible says, "But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." i.e. John the Baptist. Now, let's look at some more information about the animal sacrifices. Before we go to Jere. 7 I want us to look at another scripture. Let's look at Deut. 5:22 "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more." He added no more. God didn't need to add anything else because His complete will for the human race was contained in that decalogue. He spoke it and He wrote it and that's all. That is the only law that He gave. (But Moses wrote a "book of the law." ) This is very important to understand. That is the first point I want to make. Now go to Jeremiah 7:21-22. It's easy to remember these two scriptures, for they go together. Deut. 5:21-22, and Jere. 7:21-22. "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh." He's not saying this sarcastically, but satirically. And there is a big difference. In other words he's saying, I know you are going to do it anyway, so just go ahead and do it all you want.

Now, let's go to the main verse which will make it very clear what God is saying here. Vs. 22 says, "For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:" Did you get that? He said that he never spoke a word or gave any command whatsoever about sacrificing animals. The question we must ask at this point is: If God did not speak this law then who did speak it? Now let's go to Isa. 1:10 and on, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?" The Spanish bible uses the word "demanda" in place of required. Now, notice how God questions them very closely as to why they are doing this. He pointedly asks them who it was who told them to do this? Why are you doing it? I didn't ask you to do it. I didn't tell you to do it.

Now let's go to Micah 6:6-8 "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" The answer of course is an unqualified, unequivocal "no." V. 8 says: "He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Beloved, this goes right along with what the Psalmist said in Ps. 50, which we read part of already. But notice here, He says, "what is it that I want you to do?" Then He asks in v. 13, "will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? What kind of God do you think I am?" Here is what I want, "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me." God wants us to glorify His Name which is the same as His character. He doesn't ask us to kill animals. He didn't ask that at Mt. Sinai. That was man's idea of approaching God, suggested at Sinai by Satan. There are so many different ways to prove this, and friend of mine, I tell you, people have a very difficult time understanding this.

Let's go quickly now to Exodus 19 and Mt. Sinai where the law was given and let's reason together for a moment from Exodus 19:18 "And mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. Vs. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. Vs. 20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount: and Moses went up. Vs. 21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Vs. 22. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. Vs. 23. And Moses said unto the Lord, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargest us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. Vs. 24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people and spake unto them."

Now, friends, many people cannot believe what I'm going to tell you now. They just cannot comprehend that there are two Lords here. Very few have the spiritual eyesight needed to see what the Bible plainly reveals. In Mark 8:18 Jesus asked His disciples: "Having eyes can you not see and having ears can you not hear?" So, I hope you can see it but if you can't I will still love you. It just may take some time, so be patient with yourself and with the Lord as He has a perfect timing for your life.

So, from Exodus 19 I am going to try and prove to you that there were two "Lords" at Mount Sinai with Moses. One is going to help you and save you, if you let Him. His name is Jesus. Matt. 11:28-30. The other is going to hurt and possibly kill you if you listen to him long enough. John 10:10. One is is going to lift you up and the other is going to put you down. Satan is the "lord" who wants to hurt and kill and destroy but Jesus is the One who gives life. Remember also that Satan counterfeits everything God does. Satan is called a "father" in John 8:44. Jesus is also called the "everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace." Isa. 9:6. Satan is called the god of this world, II Cor. 2:4; the prince of the power of the air, Eph. 2:2. Now, Exod. 19, shows us how Satan is trying to upstage Jesus at Mt. Sinai. Why? So, the people will not understand the Ten Commandments. Let's read it again with the two lords in mind beginning with verse 20.

"And the Lord Jesus came down upon the mount Sinai, on the top of the mount." Christ the true Lord is on top of the mount. Satan is further down the mountain so the people can see him. He is enticing them to try and climb up into the mountain to get a better look at him. That's why Jesus warned Moses about this "lord." The people are at the bottom of the mountain, at the base of the mount. So, "the Lord Jesus called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the Lord Jesus said unto Moses, go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the lord (Satan) to gaze and many of them perish." There is where the "killer god" is introduced into this scenario. Let's go on now to v. 22. Jesus is speaking now to Moses. "And let the priests also, which come near to the lord (Satan) sanctify themselves lest the Lord (Satan) break forth upon them." Remember when the ark of the covenant was captured by the Philistines? What happened to them? Many became sick and died of plagues. I Sam. 5. It was the work of "the destroyer." PP 586. Both the Israelites and Philistines treated that Ark of the Covenant as if it were a good luck charm to help them defeat their enemies. Even in the movie, "INDIANA JONES," those who tried to use the ark for selfish, evil purposes were destroyed. The ark of the covenant was only a box made out of wood. But the Lord chose this box as a symbolic instrument to teach these uneducated, superstitious, ignorant slaves about Himself. It became the center of the sanctuary service and a means whereby God revealed His glory to Moses. The Lord gave Moses specific laws governing this ark and the services relating to it in the sanctuary. When those laws were broken people died suddenly and mysteriously. The people thought God was killing them but He wasn't. Once you hear the facts in the case I think you will agree. Remember when the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant and took it home with them? They began to have serious health problems.

I want to reason with you for just a moment, what was it that they died of? When you read I Sam. 5 in you will discover that the people broke out with disease. This is an important clue if you know who brings disease and sickness. There are many quotes to prove that it is Satan who brings disease, not God. Listen: Ministry of Healing, pg. 113 "Sickness, suffering and death are the work of an antagonistic power." What antagonistic power? Satan is the destroyer and Christ is the restorer. Did you get that? Sickness, suffering and death are the work of an antagonistic power.

Satan is the destroyer and God is the restorer. We also find on pages 338-339 that the author talks about how Satan is the destroyer of every soul. "Behind the liquor seller stands the mighty destroyer of souls and every art which earth or hell can devise is employed to draw human beings under his power." MH 338, 339. So that is very, very clear that Satan is the destroyer. He's the one who makes people sick. Now, if that doesn't convince you, listen to this statement. "The Lord did not create the disease and imbecility now seen in the bodies and mind of the human race. The enemy has done this. He desires to enfeeble the body knowing that it is the only medium through which mind and soul can be developed for the upbuilding of a symmetrical character. Habits which are contrary to the laws of nature war constantly against the soul. "Patriarchs and Prophets," pg. 378.

Notice also that when Israel was in the wilderness how they desired flesh food. "God might as easily have provided them with flesh as with manna, but a restriction was placed upon them for their good. It was his purpose to supply them with food better suited to their wants than the feverish diets to which many of them had become accustomed. Their perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state, so they might enjoy the food originally provided for man, the fruits of the earth which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. It was for this reason that the Israelites had been deprived in a great measure of animal food. Satan tempted them to regard this restriction as unjust and cruel. He caused them to lust after forbidden things, because he saw that the unrestrained indulgence of appetite would tend to produce sensuality. And by this means the people could be more easily brought under his control. The author of disease," (who is the author of disease? Who is the one who started it?) "The author of disease and misery will assail men where he can have the greatest success, through temptations addressed to the appetite he has to a large extent led man into sin...It was the same means that he led Israel to murmur against God." So Satan is the one who is continually trying to lead us away from God. And here in the mountain he is spoken of as a "lord."

Remember that in the Old Testament Baal was called "lord." You can also translate Baal as possessor, even as husband. And so Baal was a lord. A false lord, an idol. He was also the fire god, and the god of nature, the chief god of the Canaanites. And here Jesus is warning Moses that this false lord or God has the potential to "break forth upon them." Now, notice how the true Lord, Jesus, speaks about this false "lord" in the third person. V. 24. "And the Lord Jesus said unto him (Moses) Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the lord, lest he break forth upon them." This phrase "break forth" simply means "Baal Perazim." Now, let's notice how Jesus changed from the first person to the third person when He was warning Moses about this killer god. He definitely is not talking about Himself. He is clearly talking about somebody else. For further proof, lets notice how God talks about Himself in the first person when He gave the Ten Commandments. Ex. 20, vs. 1 and on, "And God spake all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'" He doesn't say "thou shalt have no other gods before 'the lord.'" No. Notice here that the Creator is talking about Himself in the first person.

Next I am going to show you more proof for the concept of the two lords. I am sure you have heard of the LIVING BIBLE. Some of the passages in this paraphrase (not a translation) are basically the theological spin (opinion) of the author, Ken Taylor. Let us see what he did in Exodus 19. "But the Lord told Moses, go back down and warn the people not to cross the boundaries. They must not come up here to try to see God for they will die. Even the priests on duty must sanctify themselves lest Jehovah destroy them." Notice that Taylor paraphrased the title Lord as Jehovah which is ok, but Satan was still allowed to imitate this title. Strong's concordance has three Hebrew words for the title "Lord." Adon-Strong's 113. Adonai-Strong's 136 and Jehovah-Strong's 3068. Also remember that the punctuation of the bible is no more inspired than some translations, let alone paraphrases. "But the people won't come up into the mountain Moses protested, you told them not to, you told me to set boundaries against the mountain to declare it off limits because it is reserved for God. Vs. 24, But Jehovah said go on down and bring Aaron back with you and don't let the priests and the people break across the boundaries to try to come up here or I will destroy them." Isn't that amazing. You see Kenneth Taylor realized that if God is talking about Himself as the one who is going to destroy, he would naturally and grammatically have to be talking in the first person. So that is why he changed it from "lest he destroy them," to "lest I will destroy them." So he realizes that it was incorrect to say that the "Lord, he," because God doesn't talk like that. No. When God talks about himself He says I or me.

For more proof let's go to Exod. 24:1-11 which is a fascinating account of how Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the 70 elders went up the mountain and worshipped afar off. Doesn't it seem strange that they are worshipping afar off? Why? Because the Bible tells us that they saw and ate and drank with this "Lord." But notice what else the bible says. It says that he did not lay his hand upon them. In other words he wasn't able to hurt them. The LB says, "Yet, even though the elders saw God, he did not destroy them; and they had a meal together before the Lord." V. 11.

So, who is this "Lord" that Moses and the elders saw and had a banquet with? Well, it could not have been the true God, my friend, because the Bible categorically declares that no man has ever seen God. I John 4:12. But it is possible to see Satan impersonating or counterfeiting God, which we know he will do just before the end. GC 624, 625. We also know that Satan can appear as an angel of light. 2 Cor. In the light of all this why should we think it strange that Satan would appear on Mt. Sinai as an angel of light, claiming to be "the Lord." And Jesus was warning Moses to not let the priests and the curious people go up and gaze at this Lord and get hurt. They could even get killed. We also find in Exod. 24 that it says that there is a book in which Moses recorded all the laws regarding the killing of animals. If the true God did not speak this law, then who was talking to Moses? The people even vowed: "All that the Lord hath said we will do and be obedient." And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." This was the blood of animals, of course. It was written in what they called the "Book of the Covenant." And is the same book which Moses put on the outside of the Ark.

Deut. 31:26 also speaks of this. "Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." Beloved, I looked up on a computer Bible, the word "against," and I found out something very interesting. The Bible says God is for us, as Paul says, "If God be for us who can be against us?" Anything that was ever given that is said to be against God's people was not given by Jesus. It may have been allowed/permitted and He may have taken the responsibility and blame for it, which he does all through the Bible, He always says, It's my fault and responsibility. Put all the blame on Me. Even when His only son died on the cross He took the blame, as it was predicted. "It grieved the Lord to bruise Him, He hath put Him to grief." Isa. 53:10.

Even in the creation of Lucifer as a perfect angel, who went bad, He has taken the blame for it. He says He has taken the responsibility because he created Lucifer. Jesus created Lucifer a beautiful angel. But iniquity was found in him. Ezek. 28:15. So God, as Creator, in order to maintain His sovereign authority over all creation has to be responsible for everything that happens. And He only allows things to happen which are according to His will, that is His permissive will. But eventually God's perfect will shall come to pass in the ages to come at which time He will become "All in all." This is also His ultimate will. I'd say most of the time it's not his perfect will, but it is his permissive will, and his ultimate desire will be accomplished after the 1,000 years. But many things are not according to his perfect will at this time. But He allows them for reasons we cannot know at this time, part of which is because of man's free moral choice. Now, let's go to the New Testament and see how God abolished this law when Jesus died on the cross.

These "permitted" laws, which were against God's people, were abolished at the cross. Col. 2:14, 15. Ezek. 20:23-26. Some people protest that this line of reasoning leads to the conclusion that Satan gave the sanctuary service. But that is just as erroneous as to say that Satan gave the laws regarding marriage and divorce or the monarchy or eating flesh food. God allowed these things. The people wanted a king because Satan tempted the people to clamor for a king. Then God stepped in and gave the laws to govern the king and his kingdom. God gave Moses all the instructions for what was to go into the furnishing of the sanctuary itself. He allowed this to be set up and then gave the dimensions and specifications regarding its furnishings, which all gave purpose and meaning to the otherwise, meaningless ceremonies and senseless daily killing and slaughter of innocent animals. The reason this gave meaning to it was because it pointed to the terrible crime that was perpetrated against the Son of God when he came, i.e. the crucifixion of Christ. So, all this shedding of blood of animals typified what they would do to Jesus, a one time only sacrifice which would complete and fulfill all the types. No matter what was done in the Old Testament, God somehow took each crime and/or event and made it point to man's salvation through Christ. That's why Romans 8:28 says that he can make all things come out right as Paul says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." As you read, study and pray about this I believe the Lord will help you. See also DA 224, 225.

You see everything that happens is not God's will, but nothing can happen to defeat his will. I don't care what you do to God or to your fellow man, He can take it and make it meaningful, not only in your own life but in the lives of all you hurt or help. He can take it and make it turn out to be a blessing in the final analysis. He takes lemons and makes lemonade. He cures the incurable and reverses the worst curse. Jesus proved Himself to be God by revealing His power over all sickness, disease and demon infestation of the worst sort. He cured the lepers, healed the blind and even raised the dead. And He can still do the same today for you, for me, for anyone who puts their trust in Him. He can take the years of your life that the locust has eaten and restore them to you...if you are willing to be made to do His will. What an incredible God we have!

This is precisely how He took this animal slaughter system which started right back there with Adam, who dealt treacherously with his Creator, as Hosea. 6:6-7 tells us and devised symbols from it to point to His own sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. So, this animal slaughter system was passed down through Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, his twelve sons to Moses and on to Sinai.

Notice in Exod. 24:1 "And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord (I believe this is the lord Satan). It says here that they saw God, vs. 10. "They saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand:" (He didn't destroy them because God wouldn't let him). "Also they saw God, and did eat and drink." Now, which god did they see beloved? Did they see the true God, Jesus Christ in the Old Testament? No they didn't. What they saw was a representation of the deity, with God's permission, and it was Satan who was representing Him or misrepresenting Him. But that didn't matter because that's where Israel was (at the time) in their understanding. God knew the full truth about Him would be revealed in the ages to come when His final Remnant would fully understand and restore all things, Acts 3:21 "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

In Exod. 24:12, we read, "And the Lord (Jesus) said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount. Notice the difference between vs. 12 and vs. 1. In vs. 1 he says Come up unto the Lord, but here he said, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I (first person) will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." Moses had just finished writing all these laws in this book, but this was not God's law. This was not His covenant. This law, which was written in the book, was written because man had a hard heart. He wanted to blame someone else for his sins. He didn't really want to repent. He just wanted to put the blame on someone else. And so God allowed that system to be put into force (law) as part of the Jewish economy. God had a very special reason and purpose for it as He does for everything He allows.

Now I want to talk to you about how it was abolished and what Paul says about it in Hebrews. First of all let's look at what God's covenant really is. Deut. 4:13 "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded unto you to perform, even ten commandments: and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." That was God's original Ten Commandment covenant which He gave to Abraham and his seed. But when they came to Mt. Sinai, this Ten Commandment covenant was broken. They broke the law by worshipping the golden calf and rejected God's wonderful plan for them. At that point Satan was permitted to give them extra laws, rules and regulations that were more in keeping with their carnal nature.

In the book of Hebrews, Paul talks about the Melchizedek priesthood as opposed to the Aaronic priesthood. Heb. 7:15 "And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest (referring to Christ). Who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, (friend of mind, did you hear that, the law of killing animals, the law of all this ceremony that was abolished by Christ when he died on the cross was a carnal commandment) but after the power of an endless life." The Bible says that the carnal mind is enmity against God. And we know that God has nothing to do with anything that is carnal, He never gives anything that is carnal because God is spiritual, He is a holy perfect God, and He never gives us anything that is carnal, because the carnal mind is imperfect. God doesn't have anything to do with anything that is imperfect, except he always tries to correct it and make it perfect. Heb. 7:17 "For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof." Notice that it says that this commandment is weak, it is unprofitable, and vs. 19 says, "For the law made nothing perfect" because it could never bring anybody to perfection. However, "the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God." This law of killing animals made us afraid of God, it kept us away from Him and made us have a negative, bitter attitude toward Him. And so we see that this law of killing animals was not according to God's perfect will.

Heb. 8:6 "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them he said, Behold the days come says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah." What was wrong with the old covenant? It was based on the promises of a false god and his animal sacrifice system. The people were frightened and confused and did not realize that the covenant they entered into was based on works, the killing of animals. This was the "old covenant" that they made there with Satan, thinking he was God. So, of course, God told them that was not His covenant. But I'm going to give you a better covenant, the one that you should have had in the first place which will be based on better promises, even My own Word and not on the promises of a false god who is the father of lies. That's why Paul explained and said that the first covenant had a faults in it. The law of killing animals was not from God, therefore it was faulty.

You can go through these things and see how they apply once you understand what we are talking about. And it will give a much, much greater force to the idea that the Ten Commandments were never abolished. This other law of killing of animals was not from the true God. Our Creator never gave those laws even though He allowed them to be given and He was there in the mountain regulating them, overseeing and editing them at every step of the way. I am going to give you a little more detail about that in a minute to avoid any possible confusion. Let's look at Heb. 7, vs. 25-26, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." God is harmless.

Have you ever heard any preacher tell you from the pulpit that God is harmless? I never have and I doubt that you have either. Why? Because our carnal minds have been deceived all throughout the ages. We thought God would hurt and kill us for the least little infraction. That He would strike us dead at any moment he chose for any mistake, however minor...even for a sin of ignorance. That is what we thought and it struck terror in our hearts...in everyone's hearts all through the ages. And it still does today in most religions around the world from the Catholics to the Muslims. They all worship this angry, killer god. But this is a lie because the Bible categorically says that Jesus is holy, harmless, and undefiled. And it says we are to be the same. "Be ye perfect, as My Father in heaven is perfect. Matt. 5:48. GC. 636, says we will go to heaven "holy, harmless and undefiled." Harmful people will not go to heaven.

Eph. 2:13 "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Why? Because the blood shows us that God is harmless and it takes the fear out of our mind and reveals God's love. He allowed us to put Him on that cross so we would realize His true character. He allowed us to kill him, shed his blood so we would know that He will never hurt us. That is the power of the blood. Heb. 7:26.

Thus we see His perfect love (I John 4:18) which casts out all of our fears. It is our fear that He will hurt or kill us that keeps us afar off. But now the blood has made us come closer to him. It has drawn us to him. "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me," Jesus said. John 12. "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Eph. 2:14 says, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments" Remember, beloved, our carnal mind is the enemy. And He says this law of commandments contained in ordinances; this book of the law that Moses wrote down there in the Old Testament that we read about being placed in the side of the Ark, this law of killing animals is what caused the fear and anger and the enmity that Jesus abolished in his flesh. Then Paul defines it further, "even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." If we go over to Col. he says the same thing, Col. 2:11 "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands," which is the true circumcision. By the way I can show you where God did not give the rite (circumcision) because God abolished that through the Holy Spirit. Sister White clearly says that the Holy Spirit moved upon the apostles in Acts 15 to abolish it. Circumcision was removed, it was abolished in the early church by the Jerusalem council, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Remember, God never abolishes anything that he gave. Because if He gave it in the first place it would be perfect. So he didn't give it, can you accept that? It seems like a simple thing to understand. At least it is simple to my mind. I just don't understand why people can't understand and believe it.

Col. 2:11 "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the,circumcision of Christ." In other words we are to cut off the sin which defiles our souls. Mutilating our bodies with a knife with the rite of circumcision is not going to perfect our characters. That won't get rid of sin. God says He wants to circumcise us from the sin that binds us through Satan. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us," that was the book of law that Moses wrote, Ex. 24:1-11, the book of law that he wrote sealed with the blood of animals. Vs. 14

We know God never gave this because He never gives anthing that is carnal, weak, unprofitable and imperfect, Heb. 7:18, nor that is against us, Rom. 8:31. And this law "was contrary to us." He never gives us anything that is contrary to us, "and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Who are the principalities and powers we are battling against? Eph. 6:12 tells us, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Friend of mine, when this law of the covenant was given there in Exod 24, Moses wrote it all down in the "book of the covenant" and put it in the side of the ark. But this law which was carnal, unprofitable, weak, no good, could never bring us to perfection. That law that God did not give, he did not speak or write was not even His will at all, although he allowed it. But it was not his perfect will by any stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, this was the same law that Paul tells us in Col. 2:14 was abolished. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Do you see what that means? It was the "principalities and powers" that masterminded the terrible system of killing helpless animals. Christ never, ever wanted any of his innocent creatures to be killed. Not even one of them.

Now lets go to page 157 of Desire of Ages because the Lord just flashed in my mind this very important statement. "As Jesus came to the temple he took in the whole scene. He saw the unfair transactions, he saw the distress of the poor who thought that without the shedding of the blood there would be no forgiveness of their sins. He saw the outer court of his temple converted into a place of unholy traffic. The sacred enclosure had became one vast exchange." Please notice that she said the people "thought" that they could not be forgiven without a blood sacrifice. They were very worried that God would never forgive their sins without a blood sacrifice of animals.

Now go to Patriarchs and Prophets, and you will see that God did not depose, demote or kick Satan out of heaven (Lucifer at that time) out of his position in heaven as covering cherub. Jude 6 documents the fact that Lucifer "left" his position. Yes, he left the immediate presence of the father. Lucifer left, beloved, God did not cast him down or kick him out of heaven. But that is what everyone teaches isn't it? Oh, what a slander that's been made against our God! What a terrible slander. The Bible uses the expression "cast out," or "cast down." or that he was expelled. Even Ellen White uses these phrases. But notice on page 435 of Desire of Ages...please watch this carefully. It is a very important statement. I really treasure this because it makes it very clear. It says:

"Had Lucifer really desired to be like the most high he would have never deserted his appointed place in heaven..." Did you catch that? Lucifer was not kicked out. No. EGW clearly says that He "Deserted his appointed place in heaven." So, that is very clear. Going on with the quote. "for the spirit of the most high is manifested in unselfish ministry. Lucifer desired God's power but not his character. He sought for himself the highest place. And every being that is actuated by his spirit will do the same. Thus alienation, discord and strife will be inevitable. Dominion becomes the prize of the strongest. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of force. Every individual regards every other as an obstacle in the way of his own advancement, just a stepping stone on which he himself can climb to a higher place." DA 435, 436.

Lucifer counted it a thing to be grasped to be equal with God. Christ, the exalted one, made of Himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form of a servant. Phil. 2. Moses was called a "servant or slave." We are to be his servants, his slaves. We are to be his messengers. Ellen White says she was a messenger, a servant, a slave. God wants us all to have this great honor and privilege. It wasn't just for certain people He wants all of us to be his servants, and to speak for him, and to prophecy for him. To even be his prophet, if we could grasp such a high honor. All prophets didn't have visions and dreams either. Joel 2:28 and on tells us that "it shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy and your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days I will pour out my spirit." So God wants to pour out his Spirit upon everyone who will receive this wonderful privilege. Moses said, "I would to God that all God's people were prophets." So, He wants all of us to have this honor of speaking for him.

Now let's go back to Leviticus 1:1 "And the Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord," not unto me, because God did not require this, nor did he delight in it. He asked His own people, why are you doing this? Isa. 1:10. Furthermore, in the New testament he abolished it, by nailing it to His cross. It was carnal, unprofitable and weak. After reading all of these scriptures we can begin to see how this all fits together. We can see now that it was lord Satan who put it in Adam's mind right from the start, there in the beginning, when he left the garden of Eden. Satan programmed Adam's mind to think that His Creator was this kind of a God who required the shedding of the blood of his creatures to get back into his good graces. What a terrible slander against our God! But God had to allow us to slaughter his own son like a helpless animal in order for us to see the terribleness of sin. And then our blind eyes were finally opened, our hearts broken. Finally the scales fell from our eyes, thank God. Through the blood of Jesus we can see the truth that god is harmless and really loves us and doesn't require anything of us but to trust and love Him and praise Him and be thankful and come to Him and give him a big hug and know that He is our God. He is our father, and our very best friend whom we don't have to be afraid of. That is what he wants us to know.

Notice here that the true Lord is speaking to Moses. "If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord (Satan). And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord (Satan) and the priests," and it goes on giving all the specifications of how he is supposed to slaughter this animal and have his sins forgiven. And when Jesus went into the temple he cleansed it twice to show how abhorrent this whole slaughter system was to Him. Furthermore, never once did He ever tell anyone to go to the temple and slaughter an animal to get his sins forgiven.

Now, I want to ask the same question which we started with, which is the title of this article, WOULD JESUS KILL A LITTLE SPARROW? So, what do you think by now? Would God Himself kill a little sparrow when he's the Creator?

Would this same God tell Adam and Eve to kill a little bird, or an innocent sheep, a bullock or any animal? I want you to notice this and picture it in your mind... God instructing His people to do this. Lev. 1:14, "And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord (Satan) be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar. And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof," and it goes on and details all the terrible things they had to do to that innocent animal. Kill it, then just take it apart piece by piece. What kind of a God do you think would require this?

I am going to tell you that I reject the idea that Jesus Christ and his Father ever instigated such a thing. However, I will say that at Mt. Sinai, He knew the people would accept this, and so he was in the mountain and he regulated it. He was there and he was in on the writing up of the law of Moses. Don't get me wrong. God did not write it up Himself. Nor did He speak it. But He was there to make sure that this law was as fair as it could be. An eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth. I am sure that Satan wouldn't even want it to be that fair, but God was there to regulate it and oversee it and to edit it. I am going to tell you, that is a lot different than instigating it and putting it in man's mind to do it in the first place.

In Feb. 1983, God's Last Call Newspaper, Vol. 10,#2, I printed a letter I had written to a person explaining the animal sacrifice system. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Christian Friend, The sanctuary service was not Satan's idea. But the killing of animals was Satan's idea from the beginning. God made it mean something by telling Adam and his descendants which animals to kill, how to do it with as little pain as possible to the little innocent animals. God instructed Moses how to build the sanctuary so that each detail of the animal slaughter would take on a deep significance because this was going to represent what they would do to God's own son. Was it God's idea to kill Jesus or Satan's? Go from there and you can answer most of your own questions. Col. 1:21 tells us that the enmity was in our mind toward God, not God toward us. Heb.10:1-8, Isa.66:3-4. Look these scriptures up. The sanctuary in heaven is for the universe and the unfallen worlds, just as much as it is for planet earth. The universe has also been confused about God's character due to Lucifer's lies.

Before Lucifer went too far he could have been reinstated without a blood sacrifice. Now that is the point I wanted to make from-Patriarchs and Prophets, that God could have reinstated Lucifer without a blood sacrifice. So the shedding of blood is not for the purpose of paying a debt or getting us back into the good graces of God, for God never changes, He always loves us, He always looks at this. It is a barrier in our mind, it is an enmity and it is only the blood of Christ that will remove this barrier. Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins. Unless Jesus was willing to allow us to shed His blood, we could have never understood that He's harmless, that is the price He had to pay, and we made Him pay it, we demanded it.

After Lucifer went too far and took man with him, he and humankind could no longer understand God's love. For Satan it was forever too late, because he had sealed his doom in his mind. But God can't stop loving, the mystery of Godliness. So God knew that eventually they would slaughter His own Son and he let them work toward this step-by-step and developed a plan of salvation, even through Satan's perversions of truth, the killing of animals, the cross of Tammuz, etc.

Let's talk a little more about the power of His blood. We sing songs, read articles and hear sermons about the power of Christ's shed blood. But precisely what is the power of His blood? And how does it impact my life? To be totally honest most people don't have a clue even though they may talk about the blood quite often. In essence, the way the "blood of Jesus" is presented in song and sermon is no different than a good luck charm or some kind of slogan to make one feel good about his/her Christian experience. "There's power, power, wonder working power...in the blood of the Lamb...yes, there is power, power, wonder working in the precious blood of the lamb." Without an understanding of God's true character, that He does not destroy (level l) and that He did not command the animal sacrifice system, (level 2) it is impossible to understand what the "power of His blood" really is and how and why it does have such a tremendous "wonder working power" in people's lives. First of all, it is possible for people to experience a conversion experience just on the basis of accepting Jesus' life and death. It is truly amazing and miraculous to watch how the Holy Spirit is able to come in and change and cleanse a person's life in such a dramatic manner with a very basic amount of information.

But as we grow in His grace a correct understanding of His character will greatly enhance our daily walk with Christ when we can see the vital connection between His willingness to let His blood be shed and His harmless character of love. Most theologians explain this in terms of the blood paying a debt...the debt being the sin of the world. They see the blood of Jesus as being the "pound of flesh" that God the Father requires and demands...the payment that is due for mankind's sin which has accumulated since the days of Adam and Eve.

The key here is to under stand that the "enmity" between God and the sinner is totally in the sinner mind. God's loving arms have always been open. But it is our blindness and fear that have kept us away from our Creator...fearful of His wrath and punishment. We have already touched on that regarding the blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way and nailed it to His cross. Col 2:14. Rom. 8:31 tells us that God is for us and He is never against us, he is never against us and he never does anything or gives anything that is against us. He only gives us good gifts, James 1:17, Ps. 84:11. He is against the wickedness of the wicked, their sin, but not against them per se, just their wrong doing. The point is (the true) God never gives us anything that is against us and this law of ceremonies and sacrifices was against us, is it not logical that God never gave these laws in the first place? He only allowed them because man's carnal mind under Satan's influence thought God wanted him to kill animals and go through endless ceremonies and rituals before he could be forgiven. Christ's death spoiled the principalities and powers, (Col. 2:15) they had originally set up the whole unprofitable weak and carnal system which could never help anyone to be well or perfect. Heb. 7:16,19. And why? Because it would never allow the sinner to come into the presence of his creator and Saviour. Man was filled with fear, anger and resentment toward God for allowing Satan to lead him into sin and be cast out of paradise.

It is God's fault because God created Lucifer who turned into Satan, and why did God create me in the first place. How did I get into this mess anyway? If Satan is the cause of all our miseries, why doesn't God kill him and get it over with? And on it goes, endless questions doubts and perplexities. But the final message of God's eternal love is going to answer everyone of those questions. GC 652 tells us that every question that this great controversy has was answered on the cross. If not now, these questions will at least be answered in the future when we go to heaven, certainly during that time of the thousand years when we are up there together with Jesus. The Bible declares that God is love, I John 4: 8-16, and says that perfect love casts out fear. Therefore when we go into the Most Holy place, into the very presence of God we have all fear cast out, but what was it that gave us the courage to go in? It was the blood of Jesus.

But what is there about the blood that gives us this boldness? Paul tells us in Heb. 7:26, "For such an high priest became us who was holy and harmless and undefiled." There is the key word, "Harmless," God is harmless, he will not hurt you in anyway, shape or form. Jesus' entire ministry demonstrated how kind, gentle and loving God the Father really is and when we see him slaughtered like an innocent lamb with no anger or retaliation, with total forgiveness toward his enemies, the Holy Spirit whispers to us see God is harmless, he won't hurt you even though you kill him. You can go to him in confidence, boldness and reassurance that He will only love you and forgive you no matter what you've done. That is the power of the blood. That is the great lesson of calvary.

The prophet Daniel predicted that the Messiah would make an end of sin, Dan. 9:24. Paul says Christ fulfilled this prophecy, "but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Heb. 9:26. It was not until 1844 that God's people began to see that the way was truly opened to go into the very presence of God without being struck dead. This was one of the great truths of the Adventist movement and there were others given to the early pioneers such as the sabbath, the state of the dead and the sanctuary truths. It is mainly the sabbath that proves that God is a life giving creator and sustainer. He only gives life, He never takes it. The sabbath proves that He is a life God. God's perfect love gives us perfect faith. "If we have perfect love we know that God is not seeking to injure us, but that in the midst of trials and grief and pains he is seeking to make us perfect, and to test the quality of our faith." 11 Sons and Daughters of God, pg. 193. How is sin expelled from the heart? "With untold love our God has loved us and our love awakens toward him as we comprehend something of the length and breadth, depth and height of His love that passes knowledge. By the revelation of the attractive loveliness of Christ and by the knowledge of His love expressed to us while we were yet sinners the stubborn heart is melted and subdued. The sinner is transformed and becomes a child of heaven. And God does not employ compulsory measures. Love is the agent by which he uses to expel sin from the heart." What is it? Love is the agent that he uses to expel sin from the heart. "By it, by love, he changes pride into humility and enmity and unbelief into love and faith." Love Unlimited,p.207,which is Mount of Blessings. page 77. "So the power of his love is that it draws us to him because it convinces us that he is truly a loving God that will never hurt us but only help us. His very life is the out flow of unselfish love." 11 Mount of Blessings, pg. 77. "I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am." John 17:24. "Again a voice, musical and triumphant is heard saying, they come, they come, holy harmless and undefiled." Great Controversy, p. 636.

I am sure that this has only served as an introduction. And some people may not believe or understand it and I want you to know that I love you whether you agree or not. It took me a long time to understand it myself and I am understanding more all the time. Some people say, Mike, don't God's angels kill? And I say no, because the Psalmist tell us, Ps. 103:20 that God's angels keep his commandments and the 10 commandments says thou shalt not kill.

People like to say, you know, God doesn't have to keep his law, but that is not true, God does keep his law, God is not a law breaker. "Angels are sent from the heavenly courts not to destroy but to watch over and guard imperiled souls to save the lost and to bring the straying ones back to the fold. Review and Herald," May 10, 1906, by EGW. In my paper, November issue, I did an article on the "Wrath of God," and I dealt with the issue of quotes from Ellen White that seem to say that God does destroy. Throughout her writings Ellen White does indicate in some places that. God does destroy. She speaks of God killing just like the Bible does. And the problem one faces in this situation is trying to understand why EGW does contradict herself and is that the right way to explain it. I said it surely seems like a contradiction, but what if we were to express it as progressive revelation? If we go to Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 92, you will find Ellen White clearly quoting Gen. 6:7, where Moses quotes God saying he will clearly destroy man whom he has created, etc. That was written in 1858, and that was her understanding at that time of how God dealt with sin and sinners. That was also Moses understanding. Did the prophets of the Bible perfectly understand God's character? Did they understand and always obey perfectly and the answer is NO. So the only conclusion we can come to is that Ellen White wrote like a Hebrew prophet and she never did come to a complete understanding of God's character.

Here is my final answer on this. Although Ellen White understood more than any prophet before her, she still did not know everything. She also stated that more light would be given to God's people in the final remnant of time. Her writings reflect a partial understanding of the character of God. Ellen White's statements that say that God does not kill are in harmony with the life and death of Christ. These reflect her correct understanding of God's character which was progressive. But it never developed into a complete understanding of God's true character of love. Those EGW statements that say that God does kill, no matter when they were written, reflect her misunderstanding especially in her early writings. Her later writings reflect a more complete, yet still imperfect and partial understanding of the character of God. It is now given to this final generation to only completely and perfectly understand the character of God, but to actually live it as Christ did. This is what God has been waiting for. That is as clear as I can make it at this point and I would like to offer you the book, "Into the Father's Heart" and I have an entire chapter on this question of the animal sacrifice system.