Article

# The Book of Joel and The Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist Church - Number Twenty-Seven

Number Twenty-Seven

Author

Jeff Pippenger

Published

January 14, 2026

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Key Takeaways

- What’s being unsealed
- Peter as the covenant seal-symbol
- The “third hour / ninth hour” structure
- Pentecost outcome as a numeric witness
- Justification by faith = “vessel broken” message
- Gideon’s two tests (explicit)
- Ezekiel 37: covenant army and sanctuary-in-their-midst

We are recording the truths which the Lion of the tribe of Judah is now unsealing. We are aligning truths in order to address the message of Joel, which Peter identified as the message of the latter rain in the book of Acts. We are approaching the truths that are now in the process of fulfillment, as the truths that accomplish the final separation of the two classes that are always manifested when a testing truth is unsealed. We also are addressing these very same unsealed truths as not only the words of the third angel who separates, but also as the words that accomplish the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The third angel both purges and purifies.

Since July of 2023, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has been progressively unsealing truths associated with the external and internal lines in the history of the remnant people of God. We are now opening the book of Matthew, for the purpose of understanding the role of Peter. Peter is a symbol of Christ’s covenant relationship with His Christian bride—the church that He would build upon the Rock. Peter represents the first and also the last Christian bride. Peter is represented as that very symbol in the middle verse of chapters eleven and twenty-two of Matthew, and those chapters are the middle chapters of Genesis and Revelations’ parallel lines of chapter eleven to twenty-two. Peter is representing the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the latter days, and in the passage, he is at Caesarea Philippi, which is Panium of Daniel 11:13–15.

Peter is at Panium, and He is also located at the day of Pentecost, in the upper room at the third hour, and then in the temple at the ninth hour. The six hours represent the period of time when the one hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed leading up to the arrival of the Sunday law. The crucifixion of Christ also began at the third hour and He died at the ninth hour, which led to the resurrection, that began the Pentecostal season that ended with Peter at Pentecost at the third and ninth hour. When Providence sent the gospel to the Gentiles, Cornelius sent for Peter at the ninth hour. The third hour also represented the morning offering and the ninth hour the evening offering.

The six-hour period was represented by the period of the Exeter Camp meeting and the great disappointment of October 22, 1844. In Acts, Peter is represented as coming into unity with the others who make up the one hundred and forty-four thousand at the end of chapter one, when Judas is replaced with Matthias. The number has then been made up. There is a specific progression identified in the story.

Peter is first in the upper room, and thereafter in the temple. When he is in the upper room it is the third hour, and in the temple, it is the ninth hour. The presentation at the third hour produced the baptism of three thousand souls.

> Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Acts 2:41.

From the numbering at the end of chapter one, until the temple at the ninth hour the period represents the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.

The one hundred and forty-four thousand will present the message of justification by faith, which is the third angel’s message in verity. Justification is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, as Sister White has so aptly noted.

> “What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself. When men see their own nothingness, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. When they begin to praise and exalt God all the day long, then by beholding they are becoming changed into the same image. What is regeneration? It is revealing to man what is his own real nature, that in himself he is worthless. These lessons you have never learned. Oh, that you could realize the value of the human soul.” Manuscript Releases, volume 20, 117.

An example of the message of justification as presented by the one hundred and forty-four thousand is Gideon, who is a covenant man, for his name was changed to Jerubbaal. Gideon’s message consisted of him placing a lit torch inside an earthen vessel, then smashing the vessel, blowing a trumpet and crying out, “the sword of the Lord and Gideon.” The sword of Gideon was also the Lord’s sword, for the sword is God’s Word, which is the combination of Divinity with humanity. That message was represented by the trumpet and his shout, as he broke the vessel. The vessel is humanity, that must be broken, or humbled into the dust, so the glory of God’s light might shine forth.

Before proclaiming the message Gideon gathered 300 men through a testing process. When the process ended, Gideon had three hundred men. 300 is a tithe of the three thousand at Pentecost. They represent the army that is raised up in Ezekiel thirty-seven, who enter into the everlasting covenant.

> So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Ezekiel 37:10, 11.

The house of Israel is cut off for their parts, and Ezekiel is going to illustrate how the parts of Judah and Ephraim that have been cut off will become one nation. That army is made up of two sticks that have been apart, but that are joined into one stick, when they enter into covenant with God.

> Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 37:26–28.

The “heathen shall know that the Lord” sanctifies Israel, when He puts His sanctuary into their midst. The joining of God’s sanctuary to God’s people represents the joining of the human temple with the divine temple, and when that occurs, God’s faithful 300 are sealed, and the world can only be warned by seeing a people who are sanctified during the Sunday law crisis.

> “The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles, showing in a high, elevated sense, the line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God, and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God, and those who keep a spurious rest-day. When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. Those who after having heard the truth, continue to regard this day as holy, bear the signature of the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws.” Bible Training School, December 1, 1903.

God’s sanctuary is joined to His church when the church transforms from the church militant unto the church triumphant. The covenant referred to by Ezekiel, is set forth in connection with the joining of the two sticks, that form one nation.

> Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them,

> Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 37:19–23.

The stick of Ephraim and the stick of Judah are the two 2520 year scatterings against Ephraim and Judah that reached their conclusion on 1798 and October 22, 1844, respectively. They became the single nation of modern spiritual Israel on October 22, 1844, when the work of cleansing His people, or His sanctuary began. That history typifies the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who will be purged and purified (cleansed) by the Messenger of the Covenant who suddenly comes to his temple at the Sunday law. When that purging is fulfilled, just in advance of the Sunday law, the church triumphant will have a king over them, and that king is David, who began his reign at thirty years old. It is the same David that in Matthew chapter one, is the fourteenth generation since Abraham. This identifies a third witness of David at the Sunday law. The mighty army that is raised up from the two sticks is led by king David, when the church is purged of tares.

> And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Ezekiel 37:24, 25.

That army is also the priests of first Peter chapter two, that are thirty years old when they begin their service.

> Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5.

Those priests were also typified by the three hundred Millerite preachers who took the three hundred 1843 charts that were published, and employed the charts to take the message to their generation.

> “After some discussion on the subject, it was voted unanimously to have three hundred similar to this one lithographed, which was soon accomplished. They were called ‘the ‘43 charts.’ This was a very important Conference.” The Autobiography of Joseph Bates, 263.

> “Now our history shows that there were hundreds teaching from the same chronological charts that William Miller was, all of one stamp. Then it was the oneness of the message all on one theme, the coming of the Lord Jesus at a certain time, 1844.” Joseph Bates, Early SDA Pamphlets, 17.

The 300 Millerite preachers accomplished their work during the history of the first angel, and inspiration informs us the first angel typifies the third angel. They were according to Joseph Bates, “all of one stamp.” Gideon instructs his army of three hundred to do as he did. The 300 Millerite preachers, who were typified by Gideon’s army of three hundred, are to be aligned at 9/11, where the first message is empowered and the testing begins.

> Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

> So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. Judges 7:1–6.

Gideon’s name is changed to Jerubbaal, meaning “to contend with Baal.” Gideon means “feller,” and John the Baptist laid the ax at the foot of the tree. John typified William Miller, the messenger of the first angel, which is where Gideon aligns. Gideon is Miller, the alpha Elijah, in the history of the three angels.

The Midianites are the northern enemy, and they pitched by the hill of Moreh, and Gideon by the well of Harod, meaning fear and terror. 9/11 introduced terrorism and the first message is a call to fear God. Gideon is at 9/11, the well of Harod (terrorism), and the northern enemy in the valley by the hill of Moreh, meaning early rain. At 9/11 the sprinkling of the latter rain, which is the early rain, began to fall from the hill of Moreh. After the first of two tests, the twenty-two thousand were sent home from mount Gilead. Gilead means waymark, and the waymark where the twenty-two thousand were sent home is the first disappointment of April 19, 1844 or July 18, 2020. Twenty-two marks the waymark of the first disappointment, just as 22 identifies the day when the great disappointment arrived on October 22, 1844.

The next test was the test of the water, illustrated in Millerite history by the Exeter camp meeting, where there were two tents associated with water, thus representing two classes of worshippers. Exeter means “fortress on the water,” and the other tent was occupied by the foolish virgins from Watertown. Exeter represents the water test of Gideon, but it was not the water so much, as the methodology employed to drink the water. One class was too weary to keep moving as they scooped up the water, and the other class kept moving forward. One class was the weary class, represented by Leah in contrast with Rachel, who was the good traveler.

The ministry of Future for America was Gideon at 9/11, when the first of two tests would purge a large class from Gideon’s band. The terrorism of 9/11 identifies the well of Harod’s fear and terror, and the hill of Moreh identifies the beginning of the latter rain. A separation took place on July 18, 2020 when twenty-two-thousand left, thus marking the arrival of the tarrying time with the number twenty-two. Gideon’s three hundred are those who pass the second test, which is the test of the methodology of the latter rain as identified in Isaiah twenty-eight.

Peter is at Panium as well as Pentecost. Pentecost is the Sunday law, and Daniel eleven verse sixteen is also the Sunday law. Verses thirteen through fifteen of chapter eleven of Daniel are Panium, and those verses represent the external prophetic history that leads to the Sunday law, and Peter in Acts, at the third and ninth hour represent the internal prophetic history that leads to the Sunday law. The external line is identifying the history that leads to the mark of the beast, and the internal identifies the history of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. With Peter being such an important symbol in both the external and internal history that is now in the process of fulfillment, it seemed appropriate to place Peter into the prophetic context which runs below the surface reading of Scripture.

The twelve Messianic prophecies that are marked as fulfilled in the book of Matthew represent the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The “time of the end” marks the beginning of a reformatory movement, and just as the birth of Aaron and Moses marked the “time of the end” in the line of Moses, the alpha of Christ, so too the birth of John, and his cousin Jesus marked the “time of the end” in 1989. Whether it is worthwhile to consider the twelve Messianic prophecies is more intriguing, when placed in context by raising another question. What other biblical book marks as many Messianic fulfillments as found in Matthew?

> “The work of God in the earth presents, from age to age, a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious movement. The principles of God’s dealing with men are ever the same. The important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for our own time.” The Great Controversy, 343.

Every reformatory movement has a starting point, which is labelled as “the time of the end,” in the book of Daniel. The time of the end in the reformatory movement of Christ was His birth, which typified both 1798 and 1989,

## The First Messianic Waymark—1989

> And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Matthew 2:5, 6.

## Prediction

> But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2.

1989 was the time of the end for the movement of the third angel. It arrived 126 years after the rebellion of 1863, and was represented by Ronald Reagan and George Bush the senior. The time of the end in the history of Moses was the birth of Aaron and Moses, as was the time of the end in the history of Christ the birth of John the Baptist and Christ. When the book of Daniel is unsealed, as it was in 1989, there is an increase of knowledge. That increase of knowledge leads to the second waymark, identifying when a testing message is developed from the knowledge that was unsealed.

Every reformatory movement marks a point when the message is formalized and thereafter becomes a testing message. Christ always explains the test, in advance of holding men and women responsible for the test. Adam and Eve were told in advance of the results that would happen if they disobeyed, and God never changes.

> And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:16, 17.

William Miller “formalized” the testing message of the first angel in 1831 through 1833. The message of the one hundred and forty-four thousand was formalized in 1996, with the publication of the Time of the End magazine that covers the last six verses of Daniel eleven, that were unsealed in 1989. In that year the publication titled, Prophetic Time Lines was also published, and set forth the methodology that is twenty-two times more powerful than the rules adopted by William Miller. Those rules are now set forth in the publication Prophetic Keys. The rules which all who proclaim the third angel’s message will employ are Miller’s rules.

> “Those who are engaged in proclaiming the third angel’s message are searching the Scriptures upon the same plan that Father Miller adopted.” Review and Herald, November 25, 1884.

Miller’s rules are the alpha and Prophetic Keys are the omega. The only way to pass a prophetic testing message, is to employ the methodology of study outlined in God’s Word. The true message cannot be separated from the true methodology that establishes the message. In every reform movement the testing message for that generation is set forth, and it includes the correct methodology as an element of the waymark. Miller’s message was based upon the unsealing of the book of Daniel. His message was Gideon’s message, for it also produced an army of three hundred.

> And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. Judges 7:16–18.

Miller’s message was the “trumpet,” and the “sword.” Yet it was the sword of both Gideon and the Lord. The Word of the Lord was published in 1611, and 220 years later Miller published his message of the first angel. The Declaration of Independence was published in 1776, and 220 years later in 1996, the message of the third angel was published. Millers was the first angel’s internal message of God’s people, as represented by the vision of the Ulai River, announcing the opening of judgment. The third angel’s message of Future for America is the external message of God’s people, as represented by the vision of the Hiddekel River, announcing the close of judgment.

The prophetic methodology is represented by one of the Messianic prophecies identified by Matthew as being fulfilled by Christ, and in so doing typifies 1831, with the “father” representing his son in 1996. The two witnesses of methodology are an alpha and omega, and with the human messenger’s involvement, together they establish a father and son relationship, which is the relationship of Malachi’s Elijah message. The hearts of the father are turned to the children, and vice versa. Miller’s rules are to be joined with the rules titled as Prophetic Keys. The new light must be built upon the old light. Those who choose not to employ the methodology of 1831 and 1996 are cursed. One class is cursed, and the other is blessed. The choice is yours?

## The Second Messianic Waymark —1996

> That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13:35.

## Prediction

> I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old. Psalms 78:2.

The dark sayings; the parables that the Lion of the tribe of Judah “utters” represent line upon line presentations of truths that have been sealed up, or kept secret from the foundation of the world. Once the message is formalized, it is thereafter empowered by a fulfillment of prophecy that marks the beginning of a testing time.

When the latter rain began to sprinkle on September 11, 2001, the rebellion of 1888 and of Korah was repeated. At the Minneapolis rebellion of 1888 and with Korah’s rebellion, God’s selected messengers were rejected along with the message they presented. Both the baby and the bath water were thrown out together. They were thrown out under the premise that the whole congregation was as holy, as those God had selected. The rebels were unable to see Divinity with the human messengers. All they could see was themselves, humanity void of Divinity, so they thought everyone was the same.

> Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? Numbers 16:1–3.

The rebellion of Korah, 1888 and 9/11 is represented as a refusal to submit to God’s choice of selected leadership, while placing confidence in a false definition of God’s congregation. Jeremiah identifies the same phenomenon when the rebels claimed the “temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.”

> The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

> Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.

> For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

> Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Jeremiah 7:1–8.

The lying words of the Jews in Jeremiah’s period, are the lying words of Korah and his cohorts, the rebels of 1888 and of course, the rebels of 9/11. They are the lies that the drunkards of Ephraim hide beneath in Isaiah twenty-eight.

> Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Isaiah 28:14, 15.

It is also the lie that represents a lack of love of the Truth, which brings strong delusion in 2 Thessalonians.

> And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12.

The “lying words” represent the foolish idea that the church is where salvation is found, not in chosen messengers and their chosen messages. The connection between God and man is accomplished and maintained only through His Word. He is the Word, and no man cometh to the Father except by the Word. Christ is represented by His chosen messengers and the message they present. To believe otherwise, is to hate the Truth and believe a lie. Jeremiah condemns the Jews who trust in the temple, by reminding them of Shiloh, where God’s Ark had been since the entrance into the Promised Land.

> Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. Jeremiah 7:14–16.

Wicked Eli, and his two wicked sons, Hophni and Phineas parallel and align with Korah, Dathan and Abiram for allowing escalating apostasy to develop until probation closed and all three died on the same day, as did Korah, Dathan and Abiram. They all die at the Sunday law!

At 9/11 Korah’s rebellion, and the rebellion of Eli, the rebellion of the Jews in Jeremiah’s testimony and the rebels of 1888 reject and rebel against the message and messengers of that period. That period concludes at the Sunday law after two tests. The first test is from 9/11 unto July 18, 2020, and the second test is the purging and sealing represented by the message of the Midnight Cry. Out of that purification process Gideon and His three hundred are prepared to blow their trumpets, and they do so when Samuel is raised up at the Sunday law, which is when the Ark is captured by the Philistines. Then the church triumphant is lifted up as an ensign.

That church has a king, David by name, and a prophet represented by Ezekiel, and Samuel, at the overthrow of Shiloh. The church will also have the priesthood represented by Joseph. The Sunday law testing time is where the fire of the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure, as represented by the seventh seal. That fire destroys the men of renown who rebelled with Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Eli, Hophni, Phineas and the rebels of 1888.

That very fire of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is the backdrop of the drama of the church triumphant. The church is represented by king David, the prophet Ezekiel and Joseph the priest. Those three are standing in the fire that destroys the 250 men of renown, as did Nebuchadnezzar’s fire destroy the men who threw the three worthies into the furnace. As the church triumphant, the whole world watches as they are thrown into the fiery furnace, and suddenly, the Son of God appears with the churches’ prophet, priest and king—represented by Shadrach, Meshak and Abednego. Four thirty-year old’s in the fiery furnace representing the truth that Divinity combined with humanity does not sin!

Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who are also Eli, Hophni and Phineas are the counterfeit of the church triumphant that is made up with a prophet, priest and king. Those three are Gideon’s 300, the three thousand souls at Pentecost, the 300 Millerite preachers, the three-hundred 1843 charts, who are thirty years old when the Sunday law arrives and fire comes down out of heaven. With Elijah the fire was to distinguish between the true and false prophets. The fire that comes down in Leviticus on the “eighth” day, when Aaron begins to serve, consumes Aaron’s offering, which is the offering of Malachi three, that is pleasant as in former years. That same fire destroys those who offer strange or common fire, as represented by Hophni and Phineas, the sons of Aaron.

When God is confirming the true prophet with Elijah, or the true priest with Aaron the fire leads to the death of the false prophets of Baal, who are also Hophni and Phineas. Hophni and Phineas are the sons of Aaron, they are the last generation of a covenant people who are spewed out of the mouth of the Lord at the Sunday law.

> “These are not the words of Sister White, but the words of the Lord, and His messenger has given them to me to give to you. God calls upon you to no longer work at cross purposes with Him. Much instruction was given in regard to men claiming to be Christian when they are revealing the attributes of Satan, counteracting in spirit, word, and action the advancement of truth, and are surely following the path where Satan is leading them. In their hardness of heart they have grasped authority which in no way belongs to them, and which they should not exercise. Saith the great Teacher, ‘I will overturn, overturn, overturn.’ Men say in Battle Creek, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we’ but they are using common fire. Their hearts are not softened and subdued by the grace of God.” Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 222.

The “common fire” is what Aaron’s son used when the priesthood began. The number “81” is a symbol of the priesthood, and in Leviticus eight, verse one, the seven days of purification and consecration of the priest is illustrated. Their clothes are removed and replaced with the garments of the Heavenly High Priest’s, as illustrated in Zechariah’s vision of Joshua and the angel in chapter three. The 300 in Zechariah are represented as “men wondered at,” for they represented in the history when God removes the iniquities of His people, which is the Sunday law, when the church is transformed from militant to triumphant. After seven days of consecration, the began to serve on day eight.

> And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you. Leviticus 8:33.

Day eight, is a symbol of the eighth that is of the seven, of Laodicea turning into Philadelphia, of the eight souls on Noah’s ark, of the eighth day of circumcision, and the eighth day of resurrection. That day is the Sunday law, when the papacy’s deadly wound is healed, and therefore resurrected it becomes the eighth, that is of the seven.

> And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel. Leviticus 9:1.

On day eight, the priests began to serve, but Aaron’s sons offered “common fire.” Adventism claim that they are the temple of the Lord, and Sister White identified that claim as common fire. Not only is it a lie, but it is common fire, as contrasted with holy fire. The holy fire is the message of the Midnight Cry, and the common fire is the counterfeit peace and safety message, that will be the last message proclaimed by the dumb dogs that refused to bark, and give a warning message. In chapter nine, Aaron presents the offering, and fire comes down out of heaven and consumes the offering. Then his two wicked sons, offer common fire and God’s fire consumes them.

> And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Leviticus 9:22–10:2.

The men of Battle Creek are the modern Sanhedrin who trust in their church structure above the message of the True Witness to Laodicea. The True Witness to Laodicea is Christ, and He never changes, and he has always used men of His own choosing to present the message to a people who were manifesting the characteristics of Laodicea. There is nothing new under the sun.

He selected Moses, who had been trained by God alone for forty years, just as Jesus and his cousin John had been trained. He selected Moses, Christ and John as examples of those trained outside of the formal educational system. Nazareth represents a symbol of a person who has been chosen, as were the new upstarts; Jones and Waggoner in the 1888 Minneapolis rebellion. Nazareth represents the calling and consecration of a chosen man, but the chosen man is a citizen of a city that is disrespected.

> And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. John 1:46.

The stammering tongues of Isaiah 28, represent those who came from Nazareth. After the formalization of Miller’s message in 1831, the message was empowered by the fulfillment of the prophecy of the second woe, typifying the fulfillment of a prophecy of the third woe at 9/11. We will take up the third Messianic prophecy in the next article.

> “Three nights before the Review office burned, I was in an agony that words cannot describe. I could not sleep. I walked the room, praying to God to have mercy upon His people. Then I seemed to be in the Review office with the men who have the management of the institution. I was trying to speak to them and thus to help them. One of authority arose and said, ‘You say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we; therefore, we have authority to do this thing and that thing and the other thing. But the word of God forbids many of the things that you propose to do.’ At His first advent, Christ cleansed the Temple. Prior to His second advent He will again cleanse the temple. He was there cleansing the temple. Why? Because commercial work had been brought in, and God had been forgotten. With hurry here and hurry there and hurry somewhere else, there was no time to think of heaven. The principles of God’s law were presented, and I heard the question asked, ‘How much of the law have you obeyed?’ Then the word was spoken, ‘God will cleanse and purify His temple in His displeasure.’

> “In the visions of the night I saw a sword of fire hung out over Battle Creek.

> “Brethren, God is in earnest with us. I want to tell you that if after the warnings given in these burnings the leaders of our people go right on, just as they have done in the past, exalting themselves, God will take the bodies next. Just as surely as He lives, He will speak to them in language that they cannot fail to understand.

> “God is watching us to see if we will humble ourselves before Him as little children. I speak these words now that we may come to Him in humility and contrition and find out what He requires of us.’ Publishing Ministry, 170, 171.

> “The message for this time is not, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.’ Whom does the Lord receive as vessels unto honor?—Those who co-operate with Christ; those who believe the truth, who live the truth, who proclaim the truth in all its bearings.” Review and Herald, October 22, 1903.

> “These are not the words of Sister White, but the words of the Lord, and His messenger has given them to me to give to you. God calls upon you to no longer work at cross purposes with Him. Much instruction was given in regard to men claiming to be Christian when they are revealing the attributes of Satan, counteracting in spirit, word, and action the advancement of truth, and are surely following the path where Satan is leading them. In their hardness of heart they have grasped authority which in no way belongs to them, and which they should not exercise. Saith the great Teacher, ‘I will overturn, overturn, overturn.’ Men say in Battle Creek, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we’ but they are using common fire. Their hearts are not softened and subdued by the grace of God.” Manuscript Releases, volume 13, 222.

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