Would you lie to save life? The Rahab Dilemma

[clears throat] It's World War II, and Corey Tamboom and her family have decided that even though her country has been taken over by the Nazis, and that it's against the law to hide Jews, she decides to create a hiding place.

Before they got this location, she tells the story of how they had another location that was underneath of their dining room table, where they could house or place some Jews when their house was about to be raided. And on this fateful day, they knew the Nazis were coming. So they had the Jews that were in their house scramble underneath of the table to this trap door, rearranged the table, put away the extra plates. The Nazis came in and they said, "We know you have the Jews. Where are they?"

And when you read the book, *The Hiding Place*, you can see that there is an ethical dilemma that arises within the narrative of her autobiography, her biography. And that is this question: Is it ever appropriate to lie to save life? What do you do when obedience seems dangerous? What happens when God's commands appear to conflict with survival?

Now, we'll come back to this story. So, stay with me. Don't leave now. And we have this ethical question that arises in the book of Joshua. If you open your Bibles with me to Joshua chapter 2, verses 1-7. For the sake of time, I'll just tell the story and have a reading of verses 4 and 5. But you remember they were going to take Jericho, and Joshua sends two spies into Jericho, and they are housed by the prostitute Rahab, and they do their thing, and then there it's time to leave, and Rahab hides them and then tells them to go into the mountains for a couple days until the people that are pursuing them have stopped. And let's pick it up in verse 4 and 5. Joshua 2:4 and 5.

"But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And so she said, 'Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.' And it happened as the gate was being shut and it was dark that the men went out. Look at this part: 'Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.'"

Now, ethicists have used this verse to say that in certain situations, it is okay to lie in order to save life. And the, the problem that we have is that it seems like the Bible supports Rahab. Seems. Let's look at Hebrews 11:31. By the way, she's in the Hall of Faith. Okay. It says, "By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace." So some Christian ethicists say that in the end of time, in certain situations, it's okay to lie in order to save life. Then we have this other passage in James chapter 2, verse 25. "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them another way?" So ethicists say, "Ah, there you have it."

[clears throat] In some cases, it's okay to break one of God's commandments in order to save life. To top it off, she's even in the genealogy of Jesus. Imagine that.

On the other hand, we have these other passages of scripture that strongly condemn lying. Just as a refresh, let me read some of them to you. Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments, written on stone with God's own finger. [clears throat] "You shall not bear false witness." Proverbs 12:22, "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord." Colossians 3:9, "Do not lie to one another." Revelation 21:8, "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone." Lord have mercy on my soul. And then in Revelation 22:15, "Outside of the New Jerusalem, the Bible says, are those who love and practice a lie."

So how do we deal with this dilemma? On one hand, it seems like the Bible is commending Rahab, putting her in the Hall of Faith and enshrining her in the genealogy of Jesus. And ethicists use this to, to proclaim a certain type of ethical framework to justify the breaking of God's commandment in order to save life. And on the other hand, we have very plain scripture indicating that lying is an abomination to the Lord.

There's an ethical framework called ethical hierarchialism. Don't you love how theologians take something so simple and make it complicated? Basically, it's this idea that when two commands conflict, obey the higher command. It's this idea that in heaven, there's a pecking order of commands, and if two of them happen to conflict because we live in an imperfect world, that we are to go with the higher command. And in this ethical hierarchialism, it's this idea that life is supreme. It's the higher ethic, saving life. Lying is less. So if we have an ethical conflict, these two are in contradistinction to one another. You should go with the higher ethic. And in this case, it's okay to lie to save life. Therefore, Rahab was justified in lying. And many Christians accept this idea of ethical hierarchialism.

I want to point out that the Bible does allude to this notion that there are weightier matters of the law. It's not just an allusion. It's explicit in the words of Jesus, the weightier matters of the law. And just to make it clear, I don't believe that killing somebody should receive the same penalty as lying. Could we all agree with that? Yes. But this does not presuppose the notion that because something is not as weighty as something else, that it justifies the breaking of something that is less.

Some of you are a little bit quiet, but just stay with me. Does ethical hierarchialism work in the end of time? Now follow me. Let's go to Daniel chapter 3. You remember the story? Nebuchadnezzar is doing a little bit of revisionist history. He takes a dream that God has given him, and he, and he tweaks it a little bit. This, this multi-metal image, head of gold, chest and arms of silver, and so on, all the way down. He says, "I'm going to make it all gold." And he sets it up on the plain of Dura. And when the band plays, by the way, music is going to play a role in the end of time. The devil, Lucifer, was a musician in heaven. And he knows how to take something that is intended for good and use it for his purposes. He twists it. And on the plain of Dura, you'll notice music is mentioned many times. This type of music is not frontal lobe enhancing. It's not for reason and conscience. It's to get the body moving, the place and the way it should. I'll stop right there. This is not a music seminar. [snorts] But the music plays. And the Bible says that when the coroners would, would the announcers would say the words, "When the music plays, you know what to do, or else you're going to be a barbecue." And you can imagine on that day, Nebuchadnezzar is watching. Maybe there's a million people there. I don't know what it's like. But when the music plays, bypasses the frontal lobe, everyone knows what to do because they could feel the heat, maybe, from that inferno that's not far away. And it's like dominoes, and Nebuchadnezzar is like, "Yeah, must have been a scene."

Now look, if you are following ethical hierarchialism, this is how it works. What's the supreme ethic? Saving life. My life included. And so you're there, and I could come up with a thousand reasons why it's better to bow. I could be a better witness alive than dead. Think of all the good things that I can do for the Lord. This, or I could say, "Oh, I got a leg cramp right about now." Oh. Or, "Hey, uh, Shadrach, I noticed that your shoe was untied." Oh, or you say, "I'm bowing, but in my heart, you know, Lord, I'm really worshiping you." You see, ethical hierarchialism doesn't work. I guarantee every other person that was bowing, they might as well have been ethical hierarchalists. Saving life number one.

But you know the story. There's three young men. Now, Daniel, just in case you thought that he was bowing, that's clarified in Daniel chapter 6. Okay? Daniel in the lion's den. He wasn't there. Clearly, these men are just standing. Now, here's the thing. There was, there was a show a number of years ago called Candid Camera. You remember that, some of you? Okay. And they did this thing where they had a bunch of people on this elevator. And what's the normal way that people that are in their right mind stand in an elevator? They stand facing the door. So they had all these people that were actors facing away from the door, like this, like this. Okay, elevator's jam-packed. Everyone's facing away from the door, and they got this camera in there, and then they get this poor person that's a social experiment, and they walk in. Everyone else is facing this way. They walk in, and guess what they do? I mean, it's it's insane. Insane. So you can imagine the pressure, not just the social pressure, when everyone else is bowing. These guys just standing tall, erect. [snorts]

Nebuchadnezzar is infuriated. He calls these guys in and he says, "Hey, um, I heard about what happened, and look, I don't mind doing another one. I kind of liked it anyway. So, so we'll have a, we'll, we'll forget about what happened and let's do a redo. Let's do a rerun." And let's take a look at the response of these young men on the plain of Dura. Daniel chapter 3 and verse 17 and 18. Okay, let's pick it up in verse 16. Nebuchadnezzar says, "Look, I know this was all a misunderstanding. I'll give you a second chance." Look in verse 16.

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up.'"

We'll come back to that. Tease out some ethics there. But imagine if you're Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Okay? After this, the Bible says that the king's face became contorted. Okay? Like this guy needs anger management. He's like, "You," he says, "turn up the temperature in that oven. Seven times hotter." Now, if you're Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we've read this story maybe a thousand times. We know how it goes. But from their standpoint, they don't know how it ends. They recognize that God can deliver them, but sometimes he doesn't. So, if it was me, you take the stand, but there's still a level of anxiety, at least if you're human. Okay? They, they bind you up, okay? They bind you up. Just imagine what it's like. All right? And then it's like, one, two, three, and it'll be me. I feel like I, I'm dramatic. [screaming] Right. Right. Right. I don't think they were doing that, but that'd be me. Oh, wait a minute. Right. Hey, it's kind of nice in here, huh? And then Jesus appears. And I wonder what that conversation was like. When I get to heaven, I want to get the transcript of that.

Here's the thing. If you follow ethical hierarchialism, you rob God of an opportunity. [snorts] You rob God of an opportunity to manifest himself. Amen. Because of this miracle, the whole conversation changed on the plain of Dura. Cuz Nebuchadnezzar is like, "One, two, three, four." He's like, "No, one, two, three, four, four, four. Whole conversation changed." Yeah. What if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego bowed and compromised? We don't have this story.

End time ethics assumes number one, that God exists. Did you hear me? Sometimes we operate like God does not exist. We say, "Oh, we go to church, we praise the Lord, go to Sabbath school and everything, and then we open our checkbook, and then we become atheists." God doesn't exist. But end time ethics, biblical ethics, assumes that God exists. Hebrews chapter 11, "Believe that God is." He exists. So when we act, we act in a world not in a theistic world, not in an atheistic world, not in an agnostic world, but in a theistic world where God exists. But not only that, number two, God can intervene. Amen. A lot of Christian theology, their ethics is on the assumption that God only manifests himself in certain platonic, Aristotelian, well, I was going to say something, but I better stop. Foolishness. Not in everyday life. But here, the God of Daniel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac intervenes in life. He can intervene.

Go back to that story. Corey Tamboo, the Nazis come in. Where are the Jews? Remember, they're hidden in a trap door under the table. And there was a family member of Corey Tamboo that drove her nuts because she believed not in ethical hierarchialism. She believed that it's never an excuse to break any of God's commandments. And you know what she said? She said, "They're under the table. Under the table." Corey Tamboo about had a heart attack. And the Nazis said, "Yeah, right."

There's another story in that book where this same family member, or I think it was the mother. The memory escapes me, but the same family member was escorting a Jew through the streets, and a German soldier stopped her and said, "Is this a Jew?" His family members said, "Yes, they are." And so they took that Jew to a convoy to take him from concentration camp. This other person was going to be held in prison. And Corey was livid. "How can you say that? You, you're supposed to lie." And this family member said, "No, I believe that God is going to deliver us." And you know what happened? Through a miraculous series of events, this Jew that was sent on this convoy somehow escaped, and she sent word back and said, "Please tell everyone that the Lord intervened. God is able to intervene." Just like in Daniel chapter 3. You need to let God be God. Don't take his place. He's just fine up there.

And in Daniel chapter 3, you see these men are not participating in ethical hierarchialism. They believe in principled ethics, biblical ethics, that there's never an excuse to break any of God's Ten Commandments. So what about Rahab? The Bible is not always prescriptive. Many times it's descriptive. Let me give you examples. Noah got drunk. [snorts] Lot committed incest. David murdered Uriah. Solomon had 1,000 wives. Are those prescriptive? No, they are not. The Bible records these actions. The Bible does not endorse them. Amen.

Hebrews praises Rahab's faith. James praises Rahab's faith. Neither of them praises her lie. The Bible says, "In times of ignorance, God winked at." Look, she's a prostitute. Does that mean, come on now? She was doing the best she could. And the Lord has grace. But this is not to take a situation where you have a prostitute that is doing the best she could with her limited knowledge and understanding. God has grace on her in times of ignorance. He winks at. But we're not to take that situation and make an ethic that is to be prescribed universally to all of us, especially in the end of time. This is not an endorsement of ethical hierarchialism. It's about grace.

The hero of the story is not Rahab's lie. The hero is Rahab's faith. And the Lord understood her shortcomings. *Great Controversy*, page 460. "We should choose the right because it is right, and leave the consequences with God." Do you hear that? Let me read that again. "We should choose the right because it is right, and leave the consequences with God."

You see, so many times, [clears throat] we operate in a world where we say, "Oh, if I do this, this is going to be the consequences." And we make a projection and say, "If I do this, this is going to happen." But in a world where God exists, in a world where God can intervene, in a world where we believe that God is able to change situations, God says, "Look, your responsibility is to do what is right. I'll take care of the consequences." That's end time ethics. It's radical. And people say it doesn't make any sense. Well, let me tell you something else that doesn't make sense. Marching around a city. Can you imagine being an Israelite? All right, day one, that was a nice walk. About day three, you're like, "This don't make no sense." And then day seven, you do seven times more. People are thinking, "You lost your mind."

Now, don't misunderstand me. God expects us to use our minds, our brains, reason. But reason has limits. Reason is finite. Our reason is faulty. And look, how does an ant understand the internet? You can't. How do we understand the mind of God? We're limited. So even though God wants us to use our intellect, we need to recognize that there are times that we reach the limitations of logic and reason. And God says, "Look, I want you to obey because I said so." I love saying that as a parent. [laughter] Hudson's like, "Why?" "Because I said so." Now, that doesn't always work. That's not parenting advice, by the way. [snorts] But my point is this. Why do we keep the Sabbath? Because God says so. Why the seventh day? Cuz [snorts] God said so. Why don't you eat of that tree? Because God said so. See? See? There's certain things like this where we say, "I don't understand, but I'm going to do it because God said so." Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. And there's going to be people in the end of time that say, "Look, I'm going to do this because God said so." Because ethical hierarchialism does not work in the end of time.

Remember Daniel chapter 3? Well, that's mirrored in Revelation chapter 13. King sets an image in the end of time. There's going to be another image. And by the way, I think that image is being set up right now. Universal worship. False worship. And there's going to be teeth in it. Saying, "Look, in the beginning, that Costco card, it won't work. Right? Sam's Club won't take your card. Imagine. Swipe. Sorry, invalid." What? And an ethical hierarchalist says, "Oh, the highest ethic, I got to eat. What's a day anyway? Hey. Ah. Potato, potato, tomato, tomato, Sunday, Sabbath. Oh, the Lord knows. He understands. The highest ethic. I need to feed my family." All of this rational reasoning. And there's going to be crazy people in the end of time. At least the world aren't going to be looking like that. "You lost your mind. You're going to do this." And in the end, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 13, you're going to be killed if you don't. You see, if your supreme ethic is this pecking order that is unbiblical, by the way, of saying life is the supreme ethic, you're going to receive the mark of the beast. Amen. That's right. That's what's going to happen. Because in the end of time, it's a matter of life and death. And it's just over something because God said so. Ethical hierarchialism doesn't work.

Nobody stands in Daniel chapter 3 by accident. Nobody becomes faithful all of a sudden. Character is only revealed in a crisis. So what's the secret? How were these three young men able to stand in the midst of conflict? I'm glad you asked. Let's go to Daniel chapter 6 and take a look at a mirror image of what has happened because remember, Daniel wasn't there in Daniel chapter 3. And so you have the same thing that happens in Daniel chapter 6. These are parallel chapters, by the way, because there's a decree that goes out about worship. And if you don't worship, you're going to be killed. In this case, your food for the lions.

Now, I, I remember there was a gentleman, this is Siegfried Roy, part of a circus act. Remember that? And he had these young tigers that he had raised. And on this fateful day, he somehow tripped while he was doing a show, and this huge cat lunged at him and just, can you imagine? I'm sorry, just they go for the jugular and shook him like a rag doll. He survived. It was a miracle. It was a miracle. I saw an interview years later. He looked the shell of himself. But the decree goes out, if you don't bow, or in this case, if you don't worship the king for 30 days, you're food for the lions.

Now, I used to live in Alaska. There was a little zoo that we went to. And, uh, they had this huge tiger that was in there. And I don't know what it is about my imagination, but I was standing there and I said, "I wonder what it'd be like to fall in there." And, and, and just that experience, I, you got to pray for me because, uh, I was like, that would be so surreal, terrible. And, and Daniel at this time is a senior citizen. Okay. And there, there was something that he would do regularly, and everyone knew it. You know the story. He would open his doors toward Jerusalem because that was the admonition of Solomon in his prayer of the dedication of the temple. He prayed toward this place. So every day, three times a day, he would open the doors and pray toward Jerusalem. Everyone knew. And you could just imagine the SWAT teams out. Okay, imagine. Oh, let's modernize a little bit. They're like, "All right, Daniel, it's that time of the day. Let's watch them. They got their scopes." Okay.

Now, if you're following ethical hierarchialism, I would be like, uh, I, I kind of treasure, uh, not being torn limb from limb by these angry cats. Uh, I'm going to pray inside my home today. The Lord understands. I'm not going to open my windows today. He knows. He knows. This is all the rationalization and process that goes on. But what about the witness? Because for 70 years, Daniel's been having the same thing. Opened the windows. Everyone knew what time of day it was. You didn't need a clock. You just look up. Windows. It was like clockwork. "Oh, there's Daniel praying." But if on this day that the decree goes out, the windows are closed, everyone in that kingdom would say, "Ah, Daniel, [gasps] he's not who we thought he was." [snorts] Imagine these guys are there. Kevlar, I'd be like, "Just, yeah."

But you know the story. He kneels. They go in there, bust down the doors, cuff him, read him his Miranda rights. [clears throat] There's a book I have in my library by Ethan Cross. It's entitled *Chatter*. And he says that there's something that happens in our brains, this [snorts] this noise that we have, a conversation taking place. Okay? Even during a sermon. Many of you are here, but you're not here, going all over the place. And, and he gives this account of [clears throat] Rafael Nadal. He's a tennis player, won multiple Grand Slams. And it's interesting because this guy, he has a certain ritual. He always walks onto the court carrying a single racket in his hand. He crosses the lines with his right foot only. He places his bag on the bench the same way. He turns his tournament ID card face up. I watched a video of this. He's very meticulous. Okay. His energy gel, he sips the same way. Rips the top off, folds over the side, and coaxes the gel upward with four, not three, four gentle squeezes. One, two, three, four. He jumps at the net during coin toss. He drinks the recovery drink and then the water in the same order. He places his bottles in exactly the same position. These actions may seem strange, but psychologists have studied this. And you'll notice that many athletes, the best ones, have what they call a pregame ritual. Now, some people say, "Hey, this sounds like OCD." [laughter] And, and the difference is, OCD is incapacitating and pervasive to every other area of life. This is a very, uh, intentional ritual because what happens in these high-pressure moments when you're about to go on center court and you're going to play Roger Federer or Djokovic, and it's hours before the match. What's going on in your head? Chatter. The chatter may go something like this: "Oh, maybe he'll beat you today. Maybe that burrito that you ate is going to mess up your serve." You know, all this stuff is coming in, and it's, it's debilitating, debilitating. And so what these athletes do to get rid of the chatter is that they have a pregame ritual. And this is from Ethan Cross, who's a professor at the University of Michigan, in his book on chatter. He says, and I quote, "By always placing his ID face up, carefully arranging his water bottles so they are perfectly aligned in front of his bench, and making sure that his hair is just right before the serve, Nadal is engaging in a process called compensatory control. He is creating order in his physical environment to provide him with the order he seeks internally." He goes on, "The reason rituals are so effective at helping us manage our inner voices is that they're a chatter-reducing cocktail that influences us through several avenues. For one, they direct our attention away from what's bothering us. The demands they place on working memory to carry out the task of the ritual leave little room for anxiety and negative manifestations of the inner voice. This might explain why pregame rituals abound in sports, providing a distraction at the most anxiety-filled moments."

Now, with that in mind, let me read to you Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10. Look at this. Look at this. "Now when Daniel had learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before." The implication of this is, how long had Daniel been doing this ritual? Over 70 years. You want to know the secret of Daniel and his three friends' success? It was their private life. Their private life was not a mess. There was structure. There was order. And it was structured around the most important appointment of their day. You cannot find a more consistent figure than Daniel. It's hard to find. Now look, David, uh, Lord bless his heart. The brother's all over the place. Solomon, Lord have mercy on my soul. Lord have mercy. But look at Daniel. Steady. And then you take a peek into his private life, and you see that the same man that says, "Look, I don't care if I'm eaten by lions." You, you take a peek into his private life because over 70 years he had a ritual. Do you think this brother had the temptation to be anxious? Absolutely. Do you think that there was chatter going on in his brain during captivity? Absolutely. Do you think there were stressful moments during 70 years? Yes. But it didn't matter what happened to him. Didn't matter how hot the pressure cooker got. He had this inner sanctum. Clockwork rhythm routine ritual. Same way, same place, same time, same way. Morning, noon, and night. Sounds something like our meals, right? How many of you panic when you miss a meal? Lord have mercy on our souls. But Daniel arranged his day around the source of power, routine, ritual, rhythm, to get plugged in, to get connected. And it didn't matter what kind of circus was going around outside, or no matter what the insanity was going on in the world. Are we living in an insane world right now? I don't even like watching the news. I'm like, it, it is, I get anxiety. I need counseling. [laughter] I need therapy. And praise the Lord, there's a therapist that's available 24/7. Amen. Amen. And you can get plugged in. But you need to structure your time because otherwise the phone, Lord have mercy on our phone, will suck and drain all of that time with cat videos and nonsense and foolishness. There's good things on there. Watch 3ABN. Amen. Praise God. 3ABN Plus app. Great. Okay. But, but the, the lion's share of what's being filtered down through the internet is sucking. It's a vortex. It's a black hole that you never get out of once you click it. So we need to manage our devices. Amen. Amen. And some of us need to take drastic measures because it's taking over our life. Get a dumb phone. Cancel the internet. Bible says if your right arm offends you, cut it off. Amputation is the analogy. So if you're going to stand in the end of time, doesn't happen overnight. Mhm. Private victory precedes public victory. So make an appointment with God every single day. He's going to take care of the end. But every day, if you're like Daniel, you're intentional in getting plugged into God. When the final crisis comes, you're plugged in. Amen. You've got the juice. Heavenly juice.

Now, here's a practical tip. Before you go to bed at night, take your phone, if you're not on call and it's not a life and death issue, and put it in another room. I'll tell you why. The night before. Because here's what happens. The most important appointment of your morning is with God. It's with God. How do you stand with courage in the end of time? Starts every day getting plugged into God because we can't do this by ourselves. We can't have courage in the conflict. It's not something that we manifest intrinsically. It's extrinsic. In other words, we need it from the outside. We don't got it. But you got to get it. Okay? He's not going to come down, throw cold water on you, get you out of your bed. That's not how it works. He gives you the power to do so. So the night before, take that phone and put it in a suitcase and put a lock on it with a combination that you suddenly forgot. Put it in another room. Because here's what happens. If you wake up in the morning and you click on that phone, it's over. Amen. And don't kid yourselves. You can't have devotions on your phone. The phone is not your Bible. Get a, get one of these. Amen. [applause]

And then the night before, ask God for the heavenly alarm clock. Bible says, "Morning by morning, he awakens me." So this is what I pray. I said, "Lord, when you want to talk to me, wake me up." I had one brother do that. He said, "Dr. Shin, I did that. The Lord got me up at a crazy hour, 4:00 a.m." [clears throat] And he said, "I hit the snooze button. I rolled over." But here's the thing. The Lord is merciful. I guarantee if tonight you go to bed and you say, "Lord, I never sleep with an alarm clock." By the way, I said, "Lord, when you want to get me up, get me up." And he always gets me up. But now you got to get up. The angel of the Lord comes and says, "Time to get up." And you get on your knees and you say, "Lord, I need you today. Give me courage in the conflict. I can't do this by myself. I need heavenly power." Amen. And you do that every day. Get plugged in. Put your phone somewhere else. And look, one of the things I've been doing, the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. I've been listening to the Bible on my phone. It's amazing. I used to carry around a whole case of CDs to listen to the Bible. But now it's on my phone. See, phone's not all bad thing. All right. I have it on my phone. I've been listening through the book of Genesis. And as I read about Genesis and about God creating something from nothing, and I read about the Exodus and the Red Sea, I hear that, and then when I come to an issue in my life, I've heard these stories about God intervening, God existing, and I'm like, "God's got that." That's right. Because I've been hearing the word of God. Infuse your mind with the word of God. Private victory precedes public victory. You do not rise to the level of your crisis. You fall back on the level of your preparation.

Ellen White says, "The greatest want of the world is the want of men. Men who will not be bought or sold. Men who in their inmost souls are true and honest. Men who do not fear to call sin by its right name. Men whose conscience is as true to duty as the compass needle is to the North Pole. Men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall." There will be a generation who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. Is that your desire today? To say, "Lord, help me to do right because it is right, and leave the consequences with God." May God help us to [snorts] that end.

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