But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? John 18:39.
The great controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness has not abated one jot or tittle of its influence as time has gone on….
In our behalf Christ met the specious temptations of Satan and left to us an example as to how to overcome Satan in the conflict. He exhorts His followers, saying, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Satan has made masterly efforts to perpetuate sin. He arrayed all his evil agencies to war against Jesus Christ in an active, desperate conflict, in order that he might bruise the heart of infinite Love. He seduced the people to bow to idols, and thus gained supremacy over earthly kingdoms. He considered that to be the god of this world was the next best thing to gaining possession of the throne of God in heaven. In a large measure he has been successful in his plans. When Jesus was on earth Satan led the people to reject the Son of God and to choose Barabbas, who in character represented Satan, the god of this world.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to dispute the usurpation of Satan in the kingdoms of the world. The conflict is not yet ended, and as we draw near the close of time, the battle waxes more intense. As the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ draws near, satanic agencies are moved from beneath. Not only will Satan appear as a human being, but he will personate Jesus Christ, and the world who has rejected the truth will receive him as the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He will exercise his power and work upon human imagination. He will corrupt both the minds and the bodies of people, and will work through the children of disobedience, fascinating and charming, as does a serpent. What a spectacle will the world be for heavenly intelligences! What a spectacle for God, the Creator of the world, to behold!
The form Satan assumed in Eden when leading our first parents to transgress was of a character to bewilder and confuse the mind. He will work in [just] as subtle a manner as we near the end of earth’s history. All his deceiving power will be brought to bear upon human subjects, to complete the work of deluding the human family. So deceptive will be his working that people will do as they did in the days of Christ, and when asked, “Whom shall I release unto you, Christ or Barabbas?” the almost universal cry will be “Barabbas, Barabbas!” And when the question is asked, “What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?” the cry again will be “Crucify Him!”—Manuscript 39, 1894 (The Review and Herald, April 14, 1896).
Christ Triumphant p. 274
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Kim and family. Her mother just died and now her son is accused of a crime we suspect he did not commit. Pray that the truth will come out and also that Kim and her family will find comfort in this trying time. Ron
—-Please pray for Richard who suffered many serious injuries when a car fell on him. Sandra
—-My friend can’t find his passport and he really needs it. Could you pray that it will turn up also pray that he will give his life to the Lord. Rosemary
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Dear Friends,
In the 1940’s, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, three boys were sitting on the porch with nothing to do. It was one of those lazy days of summer, when the temperature put a person in one of those “moods.” As they were sitting there bored and drowsy, Bob suggested that they shake off their feeling by doing something different.
Soon, the ten-year-old boy were walking along looking for something new and exciting to do. First one would suggest something and then the other, but they had done those things a hundred times before.
Before long, they found themselves by the gravel pit that was in their neighborhood. Now they had been warned many times to stay away from those mounds of gravel, but none of them wanted to be called a “sissy.” They climbed first one “hill” of gravel and then another. As they played and pushed and shoved each other, they felt like all the warnings their parents had given them were not needed. It seemed safe and was lots of fun.
Suddenly, the gravel shifted under their feet. Before they could escape, they were sucked down into and buried by the loose stones. Their cries for help as they were being covered were heard by one of the workmen who had not noticed the boys until then. Shouting at the other worker to get help, one worker ran over to where he had seen the boys disappear.
Frantically he started digging. He had to be careful not to become buried himself, but he could not think of that. He had to reach those boys before they smothered. As word got passed from one person to another, men closed their businesses and every available man rushed to the scene. (One of those men was my father who owned a gas station near there.) Soon many men arrived on the scene. But all those men digging their hardest could not save those boys. It was too late.
It is a sad story, but this story is repeated daily in the lives of many people we meet. They are not literally buried in a gravel pit, but they are being smothered by a life of sin. Some cry out for help. Some do not realize their danger and think theirs is a normal life. No matter what their feelings in the matter, they are all in the same condition with their feet anchored nowhere, sliding down to a Christless grave, being crushed by the weight of their sins.
Our Dear Saviour came to this world “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 He asks us to do as He has done. Just before His ascension forty days after His resurrection, Jesus gave His followers His final instructions. Those instructions are for us as well. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8 He asks us to start witnessing to those closest to us before going to others far away.
We have the promise “that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” if we will share the Gospel with those being smothered by a life of sin. James 5:19,20 Paul admonishes us, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Gal 6:1 We are to “save [them] with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Jude 23
May we ask our loving Saviour to open our eyes to notice the perishing ones around us, that we bring them to the foot of the Cross where they will find “grace to help in time of need.” Heb 4:16
Rose

Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him. John 6:70, 71.
Judas was one who exerted a large influence over the disciples. He was of commanding appearance and had excellent qualifications. But these endowments had not been sanctified to God. Judas had opened the chambers of his mind, the door of his heart, to the temptations of Satan. His energies were devoted to self-serving, self-exaltation, and the love of money….
That poor, independent soul, separate from the spirit and life of Christ, had a hard time. He was ever under condemnation, because the lessons of Christ were always cutting him. Yet he did not become transformed and converted into a living branch through connection with the True Vine. Oh, if Judas had only humbled his heart before God under this divine instruction that pointed so plainly to himself in the principles set forth. Then he would no longer have remained a tempter to his brother disciples, sowing the seed of unbelief in their hearts.
Satan sowed in the heart and mind of Judas the seed that he communicated to his brethren. The questioning doubts that were passed from the devil into the mind of Judas, he passed on to the minds of his brethren. He presented so much accusation of his brethren that he was counterworking the lessons of Christ. This is why Jesus called Judas a devil….
There is no such thing as occupying a neutral position. Each will have given to Him his or her work according to his or her ability. And all will, through faith in Christ, have a sense of their privilege in being connected with Him…. The disciple whose religion is a profession only is distinguished from the true….
The hearing of the Word of God is not enough. Unless taught of God, the truth will not be accepted to the saving of the soul. It must be brought into the life practice. The human agent will reveal whether he or she is taught of God. And if not, it is not because God is not willing to teach, but because the person is not willing to receive His teaching and eat of the Bread of Life.
“Every one that doeth evil hateth the light [that God sends], neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” He or she hates reproof…. The self-righteous will not search for light. They love darkness rather than light, because they do not want to see themselves as God sees them. “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”—Manuscript 67, 1897 (see also The Review and Herald, November 2, 1897).
Christ Triumphant p. 265
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Mike as the doctor saw something on a chest x-ray which led to a CT scan and this morning, I got a call that they are setting up an MRI which will take place early Monday morning. They said that it was going to be a long, long appointment. Eileen
—-Please pray for Rosalie who turns 81 in a couple of weeks. When she fell, she broke her nose and loosened her teeth. She is bruised and very lame. Her husband died a few years ago, so she is all alone. Rose
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Dear Friends,
While walking the two and a half blocks to my car one evening after work, I noticed a workman across the street. There was nothing special about the man, but his ladder was rather unusual. At the top, he had put two brightly colored rubber gloves so the ladder’s rails would not scratch the face of the building. It looked so funny!
As I kept walking, I began thinking about the extra effort to which the workman had gone to keep from marring the building’s surface. Oh, that we would take precautions in our dealing with others! Sadly, how seldom we choose our words or actions in such a way that we will not “scratch” the tender heart within them. Instead, we often do that which the Apostle Paul warns against. “Ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” “If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” 1 Cor 3:3; Gal 5:15
James speaks of our “scratching and marring” of one another and it’s inevitable results. “If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 3:14-4:3 Think of it! Before we speak, it would be well for us to remember the words of Jesus, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matt 12:37 Before we judge, may we remember that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matt 7:2 Before we try to change what someone else that we think is wrong, we must make sure we are not doing the same things. “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matt 7:3-5
May we fulfill the desire of our Dear Saviour, Who bids us, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Rose

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2.
I have been thinking about the lesson that Christ gave to His disciples just prior to His entering the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing it would be His last opportunity to instruct His disciples before His crucifixion. He says to them, as He points to a vine—and the vine is something that the Jews greatly prized and respected and considered very beautiful—“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away.”
Now, here is something for us to study…. We have our opportunities now to bear fruit; we can reveal that we are fruit-bearing branches of the vine. And if we go on now in a careless and indifferent manner, then what will be our position? He tells us He will take us away, for we cannot do anything without Christ, and if we are as a dead branch and do not draw sap and nourishment from the living Vine, we shall become withered branches. He says that every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it (pruneth it), that it may bring forth more fruit….
We have the enemy in our world to contend with. We have the powers of darkness to meet. We have to be in this conflict as long as time shall last. Our Saviour was in the conflict with the powers of darkness, and the powers of darkness were in conflict with Him, even after He entered our world. Satan was in conflict with Him. And then just as soon as His reasoning powers were exercised, He was in conflict with the powers of darkness. His very coming—as a babe in Bethlehem—was to set up a standard against the enemy….
And when He went away, what did He do? Who is to take up the controversy? Who are the visible ones who are to take up the controversy here in this world and carry it through to the very end? They are those who are Christ’s followers, every soul of them. It is not merely the delegated ministers. There is where our people make a grand mistake. They seem to think that day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute in the conflict, the ministers must take care of them. It belongs to every soul of us.
We do not know what work God has for us to do…. If we have only the one talent and we begin to put that to the exchangers, and then we begin to work with that one talent, and God sees that we are faithful in that which is least, then He will give us another talent…. And thus the talent keeps increasing and growing; and the more we put it to the exchangers, the more talents we have to employ to the glory of God.—Manuscript 56, 1890.
Christ Triumphant p. 257
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Prayer Requests
—–update—Dwight is back in the hospital with kidney failure. Please keep him and his family in prayer. Mike
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Dear Friends,
Although my grandfather had stopped going to church for a time (because in the back of his mind he equated religion with his abusive father who appeared pious at church but was a demon at home), he occasionally went when there was a special speaker. On one such occasion, Ellen White was speaking and my grandfather decided to go and hear her. At the time, Mrs. White was quite old and not feeling well. As she began speaking, she could barely be heard. (This was in the old days when there were no microphones or even electricity.) Suddenly, my grandfather saw a bright light come to Mrs White and immediately her voice became strong and her vigor returned. The congregation listened attentively and were greatly blessed.
After the service as the people were talking in the foyer, some said how thrilled they were to see an angel come and stand by Ellen White. Others, including my grandfather, said that they saw no angel. They only saw a bright light. Others were surprised at this and declared that they had seen no angel nor even a light. They had only noticed that her voice became suddenly stronger and her movements freer. This made a great impression upon my grandfather and eventually he came back to the Lord.
Although we don’t know why some saw an angel, others saw a bright light, and still others saw nothing at all, we can infer that it was their closeness to God that made the difference. Perhaps there were others in the congregation that day who, like my grandfather, needed a boost for their faith.
How often we are overwhelmed by the trials of life that cause us to fall away from the One Who Loves US So. As we look at our troubles, our hearts sink within us. We feel like crying, “Alas! We are doomed!” How much we all need that spiritual eyesight so that we may look beyond those trials and temptations and see angels the excel in strength poised ready to help us just as surely as an angel strengthened Mrs. White so long ago. “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.” “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Ps 103:20, 21; Heb 1:14
May we obtain the Heavenly Eye-salve that we, through the eyes of faith, may see God’s holy angels helping us each day is my prayer.
Rose

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3.
The Lord Jesus said to His disciples when He was with them, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” He could have made disclosures which would have absorbed the attention of the disciples and caused them to lose sight of His former instruction that He wished to be the subject of their most earnest thought. But He withheld those things that they would have been amazed to hear, and that would have afforded them opportunity to cavil, to create misunderstanding and disaffection. He would give no occasion for persons of little faith and piety to mystify and misrepresent the truth, and thus create factions.
Jesus could have presented mysteries that would have given subject for thought and investigation for generations, even to the close of time. Himself the source of all true science, He could have led people to the investigation of mysteries, and age after age their minds would have been so thoroughly absorbed that they would have felt no desire to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God.
Jesus well knew that Satan is constantly working to excite curiosity, and to busy people with conjecture. Thus he seeks to eclipse the grand and momentous truth that Christ wished to be ever prominent before their minds. “For this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
There is a lesson for us in those words of Christ spoken after the feeding of the five thousand. He said, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” These words meant more than that the disciples should gather the broken pieces of bread into baskets. Jesus meant that they should mark His words, should study the Scriptures, and treasure every ray of light. Instead of searching for a knowledge of something that God had not revealed, they were carefully to gather up what He had given them.
Satan had tried to eclipse from human minds the knowledge of God, and to eradicate from their hearts the attributes of God…. That which God had revealed was misconstrued, misapplied, and mingled with satanic delusions. Satan will quote Scripture in order to deceive. He tried to deceive Christ in this way. So he still tries to deceive…. Christ came to adjust truths that had been misplaced and made to serve the cause of error. He recalled them, repeated them, … and bade them stand fast forever.—Manuscript 32, 1896 (Manuscript Releases 17:20, 21).
Christ Triumphant p. 250
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Prayer Requests
—-My long time school friend Linda has Stage 3 lung cancer in her left lung and in the lymph nodes on both sides of her esophagus. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. Sherry
—-Please pray for traveling mercies for my daughter as she travels. Helena
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Dear Friends,

But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. Matthew 9:34.
In Christ’s mighty works there was sufficient evidence for faith. But these people did not want truth. They could not but acknowledge the reality of the works of Christ, but they cast condemnation upon them all. They must acknowledge that supernatural power attended His work, but this power, they declared, was derived from Satan. Did they really believe this? No; but they were so determined that the truth should not affect their hearts and they be converted that they charged the work of the Spirit of God to the devil….
All-compassionate Redeemer! What love, what matchless love, was Thine! Charged by the great men of Israel with doing His works of mercy through the prince of devils, scorned and maligned, He was yet as one who saw and heard not. The work He came from heaven to do must not be left undone. He saw that truth must be unfolded to the people. The Light of the world must flash His beams into the darkness of sin and superstition and reveal error in contrast with truth….
Christ does not use force or compulsion in drawing people to Him. But while truth was being proclaimed, the hearts of those who professed to be children of God were barricaded against it, and those who had not been so highly privileged, those who were not clothed with the garment of self-righteousness, were drawn to Christ. Their minds were convinced and quickened into activity, and light and truth vibrated through the universe….
Satan endeavored to keep hidden from the world the great atoning sacrifice, which reveals the law in all its sacred dignity and impresses hearts with the force of its binding claims. He was warring against the work of Christ and united all his evil angels with human instrumentalities in opposition to that work. But while he was carrying on this work, heavenly intelligences were combining with human instrumentalities in the work of restoration….
Here are the two great powers, the power of truth and righteousness and the working of Satan to make of none effect the law of God. The human agent, magnetized by the power of Satan, works in the lines of the enemy; the Saviour employs His human instrumentalities to be laborers together with God…. Those who expect to be children of God are not to expect an easy time in this life…. We are not left alone to engage in this conflict. Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation.—Manuscript 61, 1899.
Christ Triumphant p. 245
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for the L family in the loss of Bob. Rose
—-I’m asking for prayers for my arm and shoulder.im in so much pain I can hardly stand it. Heather
—-Please pray for my son David who needs some special help from God right now for many needs. Louise
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Dear Friends,
When I was a little girl, I spent most of my time in a “fog.” My grandmother had never heard of allergies and thought that all of my sniffling and sneezing was because I had a cold. Whenever she heard me sneeze, she gave me cold medicine. Sometimes, my mother, not knowing that my grandmother had given me an antihistamine would give me another pill a short time later. Worse still, my aunt, who lived at home until I was five, would sometimes do the same. Of course, that made me sleepy and sluggish most of the time. It’s a wonder I survived.
The older I got, the worse my allergies became. My list of allergens continued to grow until nearly everything caused a reaction. When Ron finally got a job that offered health insurance, I was able to afford to be tested and found that I was literally allergic to everything except pigweed and poplar trees. The doctor assured me that by taking allergy shots he could cure me of my allergies. I, who have always hated shots, was actually looking forward to the four shots twice a week that he prescribed. Unfortunately, the shots caused a worse reaction each time I took them. When my joints began to ache and I began to swell, I knew that if I didn’t stop, the next set of shots might be fatal. That was very disappointing.
When I moved to Kansas a short time later, I was miserable. Everything that I was allergic to was abundant here. After only three months, I was so sick that we thought that we were going to have to move again. Then someone at church suggested that I stop using all dairy products and see if that would help. I was willing to try anything, but I knew that it would be difficult. Dairy products were a staple in my diet, but I was so miserable that I was willing to give it a try. My allergies began to lessen, but I found that if I ate anything that even had a component of milk in it, I would get an allergy attack, so I had to read labels carefully to see if casein, lactic acid, or whey was listed. Soon my allergies were so much better that I lost my desire for the food I had formerly loved.
I found that just a little bit of dairy acts as a catalyst to trigger a reaction to everything else that I am allergic to. Just so allowing just a little sin to dwell within our life effects our entire being. Toying with sin affects our judgment. Moreover, clinging to sin affects the lives of those around us. Paul tells us, “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Cor 5:6-8 Just as yeast makes the dough to rise, so the leaven of sin permeates the entire being until “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 1:5, 6
Praise God! There is a Remedy for sin! He has promised, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” verse 18 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 John assures us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. . . . My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 1:9-2:1
May we avoid sin even more diligently than I avoid dairy. May we “refuse the evil, and choose the good.” Isa 7:15 May we “give diligence to make [our] calling and election sure” that we may someday soon dwell with our Great Redeemer.
Rose