In The Time Of Harvest - The Message for the last day

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. -- MALACHI 3:1. 1. Are you prepared for the Latter Rain? 2. Could it be falling all around you but you cannot see it, because you do not understand what it should look like? 3. How do you know that you have received the former rain so as to be ready for the latter rain? 4. Have you even asked God to give you the former rain, never mind the latter rain? 5. If not, how then do you expect to be saved!? If your answers to the last two questions above are in the negative, and your soul is not disturbed then perhaps the former rain (and even the latter) has already passed you by. If you are not being purified and changed in character by the death of your old-self and un-Christlike traits, then you will not be made white and ready, and will not even understand the message for this time. “Unless we are daily advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.” - Testimonies to Ministers, p. 507. “We must not wait for the latter rain. It is coming upon all who will recognize and appropriate the dew and showers of grace that fall upon us. When we gather up the fragments of light, when we appreciate the sure mercies of God, who loves to have us trust Him, then every promise will be fulfilled. [Isaiah 61:11 quoted.] The whole earth is to be filled with the glory of God.” - The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 7, p. 984. Are you living up to all the truth you have been given? What about the health message, country living, music, wearing of make-up and jewelry, dress reform, reform of your tongue? Are you being "purified, and made white"? Dan 12:10: At that time, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand (Matt 25:1-13).... Do not say that you cannot overcome every inclination or habitual to sin (omissions included), for "Christ gave up His life... [as a] sacrifice... for the  [very] purpose of restoring man to his original perfection. Yea, more, it was offered to give him [man] an entire transformation of character, making him more than a conqueror.  {6BC 1113.3} "If we do not progress, if we do not place ourselves in an attitude to receive both the former and the latter rain, we shall lose our souls, and the responsibility will lie at our own door." {TM 507.2} Dan 12:3: "And they that be wise (Matt 25:1-13) shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Mal 3:1: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts." This passage in Malachi refers to the close of probation for SDAs. What is the message to be given to the SDA Church? What is the message that you need for your soul? It is a message of alarm. "The people are asleep in their sins and need to be alarmed before they can shake off this lethargy. Their ministers [SDA pastors and elders] have preached smooth things; but God’s servants, who bear sacred, vital truths, should cry aloud and spare not, that the truth may tear off the garment of security and find its way to the heart.... With some, evil besetments have flourished, and the heavenly graces have died out. "God’s servants must bear a pointed testimony, which will cut the natural heart and develop character.... Such preaching as [is frequently] given in [our churches] will never do the work that God designs should be accomplished. Ministers of... [our] churches do enough cringing, and wrapping up of the pointed truths which rebuke sin." - Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1, page 249. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isa. 58:1. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh..." - Joel 2:1. Are you giving a pointed testimony? Are you lifting up "your voice like a trumpet, and show[ing] the people their transgression, and the house of Jacob [SDAs] their sins? Or do you close your eyes and ears to the sins in the Church? When you see signs of or hear of fornication [in the church basement in some cases], adultery [in the pastor's vestry], wife beating, improper dressing [even by those from whom we expected better things] in the SDA churches, do you rebuke, admonish and bring these to the attention of the church board for proper resolution? “Now, brethren, God wants us to take our position with the man that carries the lantern… We want to give the trumpet a certain sound…: ‘And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird’ [Revelation 18:1–2].” Sermons and Talks, volume 1, 142. I ask again, do you rebuke and expose flagrant sins that are prevailing in our churches [in your local SDA church]? If not you will not be sealed. See Ezek. 9:4. You must also be an overcomer. There is a lot in store for overcomers:  "Eye hath not seen, nor have ear heard...."      "Those who in the strength of Christ overcome the great enemy of God and man, will occupy a position in the heavenly courts above angels who have never fallen."  {6BC 1113.4} The Elijah Message What is it? If you did not get it in the 10-11 paragraphs immediately above, then, allow me to summarise it here: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me..." - Mal 3:1. This is a message rebuking the prevailing iniquity in the church and eventually in the world. Ellen White says: "that which causes me to tremble is the fact that those who have had the greatest light and privileges have become contaminated by the prevailing iniquity. Influenced by the unrighteous around them, many, even of those who profess the truth, have grown cold and are borne down by the strong current of evil. The universal scorn thrown upon true piety and holiness leads those who do not connect closely with God to lose their reverence for His law. If they were following the light and obeying the truth from the heart, this holy law would seem even more precious to them when thus despised and set aside." "In the time when His wrath shall go forth in judgments... humble, devoted followers of Christ will be distinguished from the rest of the world by their soul anguish, which is expressed in lamentation and weeping, reproofs and warnings. While others try to throw a cloak over the existing evil, and excuse the great wickedness everywhere prevalent, those who have a zeal for God’s honor and a love for souls will not hold their peace to obtain favor of any. Their righteous souls are vexed day by day with the unholy works and conversation of the unrighteous. They are powerless to stop the rushing torrent of iniquity, and hence they are filled with grief and alarm. They mourn before God to see religion despised in the very homes of those who have had great light [for they say, “Times have changed.”]. [But the righteous]... lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the church." “The command is: ‘Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.’ These sighing, crying ones had been holding forth the words of life; they had reproved, counseled, and entreated." - Testimonies, volume 5, pp. 208–211. “When the Saviour pointed out to His followers the signs of His return, He foretold the state of backsliding that would exist just prior to His second advent. There would be, as in the days of Noah, the activity and stir of worldly business and pleasure seeking—buying, selling, planting, building, marrying, and giving in marriage—with forgetfulness of God and the future life. For those living at this time, Christ’s admonition is: ‘Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.’ ‘Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.’ Luke 21:34, 36. “The condition of the church at this time is pointed out in the Saviour’s words in the Revelation: ‘Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.’ And to those who refuse to arouse from their careless security, the solemn warning is addressed: ‘If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.’ Revelation 3:1, 3.” The Great Controversy, pp. 308–309. Kind regards Phil................... Semper vigilans ("Always watchful") "Behold... I will send forth a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. Then shall they wander from sea to sea... from the north to the east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it."!  - Amos 8:11-12.

By Phliton Moore