Prepared by William Earnhardt, for Sabbath School class, April 6,2024.

Main Theme: Love cannot be forced. Only by love can love be awakened. Love will overcome all evil and reign forever.

Read in Class: Revelation 12:4, Revelation 12:7-9, Isaiah 14:12-14, and Ezekiel 28:12-15. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What do these passage reveal about the freedom existing in heaven and the origin of evil? When Lucifer rebelled, in what ways could God have responded? What went on in the mind of this angelic being called Lucifer that led to his rebellion?

Apply: What tactics and weapons do you think Lucifer used in his “war of the minds” in heaven? What methods of gaslighting, narcissism or maybe even flattery have people tried to use with you that Lucifer may have used in heaven?

Share: Your friend says, “God could have allowed Lucifer to have free choice but then just destroyed him the minute he rebelled before things got so bad?  Or, He since God knows the end from the beginning, He could have not created Lucifer at all. God can give free choice and  then only create people who will choose to serve Him” Do you agree with your friend? What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:1-8, Genesis 3:16-19,Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What tactics did Lucifer use to get Adam and Eve to disobey God, and what were the results of their disobedience?

Apply: What tactics do you see the serpent using with Adam and Eve that Lucifer may have used with the angels in heaven?

Share: Your friend asks, “why such a harsh penalty for such a small sin?” What do you tell your friend?

Read in Class: Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:21, John 1:29, and John 3:16. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: What was God’s solution for the sin problem?

Apply: How does Jesus’ death on the cross not only pay the penalty for your sins, but also expose all of Satan’s lies about God in the war between good and evil? How does the cross keep you from falling for Satan’s lies and temptations now?

Share: Your friend asks you to share the plan of salvation. What do you tell your friend? Need help? See Salvation in Light of the Cross.

Read in Class: Hebrews 4:15-16 and Hebrews 7:25. Define the common thread of these passages.

Study: How do these verses give us assurance in a world of temptation, suffering, disease, and death?

Apply: According to John 17:24-26, what is Christ’s longing desire in the great controversy between good and evil?

Share: Your friend asks, “Why did Christ have to sacrifice Himself in order to save us?” What do you tell your friend?

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Inside Story for Friday 5th of April 2024

By Andrew McChesney

Cuban missionary Misael Delgado Rodríguez faced a major challenge on his first Sabbath in the Canary Islands. Only five people came to worship.

Misael dove into mission outreach work, visiting former church members and others on La Palma island. A month later, he rejoiced with a first baptism. But then COVID-19 suspended outreach efforts, and his problems seemed to multiply. A fire broke out in the north of the island, leaving some members without homes. Then a fire broke out in the south. Then a volcano erupted for 85 days, leaving islanders grappling with earthquakes, toxic gas, and ashes. Two church families lost everything.

Amid the storms, something amazing happened. Faith blossomed. Three years after Misael’s arrival, 45 people were regularly worshipping on Sabbath. In addition, seven people had been baptized, five were preparing for baptism, and 15 were taking Bible studies. What happened?

Misael said intercessory prayer was key. “We pray every day at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 9 p.m.,” he said. “Each member prays for five people.”

Each church department also embraced practical evangelism. One project, an initiative of the Spanish Union of Churches Conference, saw church members calling contacts over the phone and offering Ellen White’s Steps to Christ and related Bible studies. Other projects included educational courses on the church’s Facebook page aimed at the needs of families, young people, and little children; musical evangelism in which Adventist young people held mini-concerts on the street or while visiting the sick and needy; a program with ADRA in which members handed out cards that could be presented for food in supermarkets; health presentations; Bible studies; and the distribution of The Desire of Ages and other books. On holidays, such as Mother’s Day, church members placed a special card inside each book.

The church also opened a discipleship school where laypeople could learn how to evangelize, and four small groups were meeting regularly in homes.

Friendship evangelism has proven very successful, Misael said. While the volcano was erupting, church members spent two months passing out masks and literature with health information related to volcanoes. “That way the church became well known,” Misael said. Indeed, many of the 15 people taking Bible studies lost everything in the volcano, and they have acknowledged that the crisis led them to God, he said. “Otherwise, they would not have been interested in learning about God,” he said.

Misael looks back at his experience in the Canary Islands with joy. “The beginning was very difficult,” he said. “We have been through a lot. But the results are very satisfying. We have seen how God has blessed us.”

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the gospel in the Canary Islands and around the world.

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Daily Lesson for Friday 5th of April 2024

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“In the banishment of Satan from heaven, God declared His justice and maintained the honor of His throne. But when man had sinned through yielding to the deceptions of this apostate spirit, God gave an evidence of His love by yielding up His only-begotten Son to die for the fallen race. In the atonement the character of God is revealed. The mighty argument of the cross demonstrates to the whole universe that the course of sin which Lucifer had chosen was in no wise chargeable upon the government of God.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 500, 501.

“The cross of Calvary, while it declares the law immutable, proclaims to the universe that the wages of sin is death. In the Saviour’s expiring cry, ‘It is finished,’ the death knell of Satan was rung. The great controversy which had been so long in progress was then decided, and the final eradication of evil was made certain. The Son of God passed through the portals of the tomb, that ‘through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.’ Hebrews 2:14.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 503.

Discussion Questions

1. If God knew that Lucifer was going to rebel, why did He give him the power of choice in the first place? Or when Lucifer rebelled, why didn’t God just annihilate him immediately? What kind of reaction might the unfallen universe have had if God had immediately wiped Lucifer out? Why is the concept of the universe’s interest in the plan of salvation (1 Peter 1:12, Revelation 5:13, Revelation 16:7) so important to understanding the great controversy?
2. What reason or reasons can you think of for Christ’s death on the cross? Was it only to reveal the character of God? Was it to pay the ransom price for sin? If so, to whom was the ransom paid? Share your thoughts and give biblical reasons for them.
3. When we use the term “the great controversy,” what do we mean? Discuss the various aspects of the great controversy and how this week’s lesson applies to your own life.
4. What Bible texts talk about the reality of the great controversy? (See, for instance, Job 1:1-22; Job 2:1-13; Ephesians 6:12.)
5. How is the Seventh-day Adventist understanding unique among other Christian denominations? What is it in this great controversy theme that sets Adventists apart?

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Join us as we begin a new quarter of studies on The Great Controversy with Lesson 1 – The War Behind All Wars.

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Monday’s section of this week’s lesson asks how we can keep from being deceived by Satan? Satan is a narcissist. Narcissists gaslight their victims by creating illusions that appear to defy what is true. Satan tempts us by creating illusions that appear to defy what is true. He has to make us doubt Bible truth before he can deceive. There is no need to fear or be deceived if we trust the Bible even when Satan’s illusions contradict it. Let’s look at how the serpent deceived Eve. 

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:2-5 NKJV

The serpent  subtly and casually called God a liar when he said, “You will not surely die.” In order to deceive Eve, Satan had to make her doubt God’s Word.

If we believe God’s Word we will not be tricked into sin. We barely left Psalms, but if we can go back again for another quick visit we will see,

Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Psalm 119:11 NKJV

The Bible, which is God’s Word, protects us from deception. It concerns me when people will say that science or archeology has proven the Bible to be true. Why does this concern me? First of all please don’t misunderstand me. The Psalmist says nature testifies of God’s greatness and love. True science goes right along with the Bible, but when we make the Bible appear to rely on science or archeology for validation, we are giving science and archeology authority over and above the Bible. If I am in traffic court, and the police officer is assuring the judge that my testimony is true, then that must mean the police officer has more authority and merit than I do, because I am relying on his or her validation. The Word of God does not seek to be validated by man. Mankind, human philosophy, science and archeology hold no authority over the Bible and are not qualified to declare God’s Word valid or invalid. The Bible stands on its own merit and gives but does not receive validation. 

Photo by William Earnhardt

A few years ago I was grading some 7th-grade math papers, when a 7th-grade math whiz came up to me to ask me if I had graded his paper yet. He wanted to know if he had missed any answers. This 7th-grade math whiz was so good, I told him, “Are you kidding me? I use your paper to see if the answer book is right or not!” Of course I was using a little humor in telling this student how great he was at math. If I am letting the student decide if the answer book is right or not, it must mean I think more of the student than the answer book.

If I let an archeologist or human philosopher tell me if the Bible is right or not, it must mean I think more of the archeologist or philosopher  than  I do the Bible. Science and even certain philosophers may present great tools, however, I do not let philosophers and archeologists tell me if the Bible is right. I let the Bible tell me if they are right.

Some people think they are smart to question God’s Word. However the Psalmist says,

Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord From this time forth and forever. Psalm 131:1-3 NKJV

When the Bible presents ideas too great for us to understand, Satan suggests the ideas are actually foolish, when in reality they are just beyond our human comprehension. Human pride loves to cast aside as foolish the things it can’t explain or comprehend.

Instead of becoming skeptics of God’s Word when we find something we don’t understand, it is wiser to be like David and trust God’s Word like a small child trusts its mother. After all, we will never be able to explain everything about God. If we could understand and explain everything about God, He would cease to be God and would be just like us.

When I was a child, my parents did a lot of things I could not understand until I became older and grew up to be like them. While I can grow up like my parents did, I can never grow up to understand and explain everything about God and His Word. If I could be like God, He would not be much of a God. The fact that we  cannot explain everything or even validate everything in God’s word demonstrates that it is greater than we are. If human evidence and philosophy could validate the Bible, then the Bible wouldn’t be any more inspired than the humans validating it. As Paul exclaims regarding the greatness of God,

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! Romans 11:33 NKJV 

Peter tells us some people think they are being smart when trying to bring the Bible down to their own level when in reality they are twisting it to their own destruction. 

…….which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:16 NKJV

While we cannot explain everything about God, He gives us plenty of evidence to believe His Word. As you well know, Adam and Eve did die because of their disobedience. God’s Word, in time, proved to be true. Daniel 2 contains a prophecy spanning well over a thousand years and so far every detail of that prophecy has proven true. Even the part that says, 

As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. Daniel 2:43 NKJV

In this prophecy the Bible says Europe will never be united into another one-world empire. During World War II many thought Hitler would form another one-world empire, but they were wrong, and God’s Word proved true. As I have illustrated in a previous article, “Every Word of God Proves True.” If what we see, hear or feel contradicts what God’s Word says, we can be sure what we see, hear or feel is wrong. This is why we cannot afford to give more merit to skeptics, philosophers, scientists or archeologists than we do the Word of God. Instead we must,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

In order for me to make you believe 1+1=3 I must make you doubt the math answer book. If  I can make you doubt your math textbook, I may be able to deceive you. Narcissists all know that in order to make you believe their lies, they have to first gaslight you, causing you to doubt what is actually true. Narcissists gaslight their victims by creating illusions that appear to defy what is true. Satan tempts us by creating illusions that appear to defy what is true. He has to make us doubt Bible truth before he can deceive. There is no need to fear or be deceived if we believe the Bible even when Satan’s illusions contradict it. 

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