And brothers and sisters, think about this idea of home church, home church movement as illustrated in the story of Gideon. Satan is never idle. He is filled with hatred against God and is constantly enticing men into a wrong course of action. After the armies of the Lord have gained a signal victory, the great adversary is especially busy. He comes disguised as an angel of light and as such he endeavors to overthrow the work of God. Thus, thoughts and plans were suggested to the mind of Gideon by which Israel were led astray. The tribes on the east side of Jordan were quite a distance from the tabernacle at Shiloh to which all the men of Israel were required to repair three times a year to attend the great annual feasts. This of course required a considerable outlay of time and means. The thought was suggested to Gideon that it would be a great advantage to these tribes to have a place at home for sacrifice and worship. Now before we continue on, she told us in the first paragraph that Satan gave Gideon these thoughts and she is speaking about the three times a year that the men were required to go to Shiloh for the annual festivals and you may think well that is a little bit different than weekly Sabbath attendance but follow along and you'll find that Sister White is clearly comparing that obligation with regular Sabbath attendance. Continuing on, without waiting for the divine sanction he determined to provide a suitable place and to institute a system of worship similar to that carried on at the tabernacle at Shiloh. As is natural, even at the present day the people of Israel were more ready to ascribe the honor of the victory to Gideon than to the Lord. They readily complied with the request. Gideon led the people to look upon this ephod and breastplate as possessing special sacredness in themselves and this he erred. All that could make them sacred was the fact that they were employed in the solemn service of God as he had directed. The high priest alone was authorized to wear them when he went in before the Lord. Because he had been commanded to offer a sacrifice upon the rock where the angel appeared to him Gideon concluded that he had been divinely appointed to officiate as a priest and that by instituting a service there he might save the people the trouble and expense of their journeys to Shiloh. Backing out of the passage for a moment, the human logic here was, well, the Lord has used me in the past and this will be a convenience for the people. The trouble that they have to go through by going to Shiloh, the money that they commit to the services of Shiloh.