Now, let's consider the Cause. What causes this shaking? What causes this individual, intense, incisive experience?

First of all we know that there will be persecution. Two studies ago we developed the idea that led to a worldwide religious and political panic. In which the nations have reached such a panic, that for very survival sake, there will be a universal concern: We have got to do something about our world before we destroy ourselves. There will be those religionist that say: "You know, the problem is that we have defected from God." There will be a religious movement having a new and more exhaulted system of religious faith that will get people energized, that will be something to appeal to their senses. With this pseudo-religious revival that really activates our senses, and with political panic, there will be an effort to unify the world, under some kind of a symbol which will have both social, political, and religious significance. This we believe will polarize around allegiance to Sunday.

During that time, there will be some dissidents; those who don’t see it that way, and they will say that this is simply a human invention; we must serve God on His terms, not simply bow down to expedience. And so they say we will not bow the knee to Baal. The reaction will be that these individuals standing in violation to government, they are lawbreakers. They are contributing to social disruption, this is the reason we are having so much chaos and disturbances in the social scene. And further more they are offending God. What could do more to excite the anger the anger of the world against this group to see that they are in violation of the laws of the land, and seeing that they are an affront to society and consider them an anathema to God? Better that these few go, than the Nations be destroyed. So through universal panic, eventually this people will be harassed till finally it will be decreed that they should die.

Now that is going to cause a time of trouble. The idea of persecution is really not a bad idea if you look at it in the terms of long range integrity. Gods' people have never fared very well in times of prosperity. It's too bad that the great lessons of life have to be learned under conditions of hurt, and stress; that is one of the horrendous things about this sin concept; it is very difficult for God to speak to us in a still small voice. But that which really agitates, that which really shakes, is that which really ultimately purifies. Until this people is really developed, God has no other recourse, if He wants a pure people, than to let Satan "do his thing"; and so persecution will be one of the basic causes of this time of trouble.

But there are two other factors; not only will this persecution, this thrust, from society, from government, from religionists, not only will that cause distress and concern for the people of God, but there will also be every wind of false doctrine that you can conceive. We are told that fanaticism will reach a peak, and individuals will not know what to make of this. They will run too and fro, looking for answers; and someone will tell them this and someone will tell them that, and so people who have never been individually grounded will be confused. Some of these doctrines will be hellatious, having to do with the nature of God, the nature of the Holy Spirit. How the Holy Spirit works in people, does the Holy Spirit cause people to get excited, is this going to be a sense experience? There are those charismatic who are teaching that, and yet there is a genuine charismatic movement. In fact thee will be those who see the false and they will react against that, and they will never be receptive to the genuine out pouring of the Holy Spirit.

And there will be deception as to the nature of Sin. There will be deceptions as to the nature and validity of Gods' word. People will be confused; What can we believe, how can we accept the inspired word? There is in now, in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination very many questions being asked about the special blessings that have been given to its people through the ministry of E.G. White. There are many Seventh-day Adventists today who do not really have a very strong interpretation of revelation. There will be many confusing ideas; there will be fanaticism, religious freaks, and people who have never been grounded in their own religious experience with God will be tremendously confused. And this will cause a shaking. What shall we think, when the world is in chaos?

But there will be one other factor, which causes this shaking; that has been referred to as the "straight testimony that calls forth the true witness to the Laodocean Church." You remember what this message is to the people who are lukewarm, who are neither hot nor cold? Buy of Me Gold; pure love, this real integrity. White Raiment; the Righteousness of Christ, that does not depend on any human effort, depends centrally upon a dedication, and loyalty, and trust to Jesus Christ; His righteousness, His worth. We don't even look within to see how good we are; we trust our security to His regard for us even when we don't like ourselves. Eye Salve; spiritual discernment which comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. But people aren't going to like this. That's going to call them away from their idols of selfishness; that is going to call for a dedication and trust and a commitment that will rebuff many people. I don't know what form it will take for you or for me, but it will take what ever that form that stands between you and God. God in this time will cost you something, and if you are not prepared to pay a price, the investment of yourself, I would have to say from the study of these revelations that have been given to us that we will not be able to bear it, It will seem to be too costly, it will seem that we have to give up too much. Of-course the tragedy of this is that we forget what we would get in return. And we would forget, and our perspective will become blurred and we wouldn't see that the only thing God ever asks us to give up is selfishness. That's a poison that’s the basis for all our anxiety, the basis of our depressions, the basis of our distrust of each other. But when it seems nice, when it seems comfortable, it will seem like some great sacrifice that we have to make. All that God asks of us is that we be loving; but in this day and age, that is everything. That will agitate people, they would rather have some kind of religion that does not strike at the quality of their being. They will not take the straight testimony; the message to the Laodeceans will cause many to drift, to be shaken. * * * * * - - - P U R P O S E - - - What is the purpose of all this? Christians believe that nothing is trivial. In God's scheme of things everything has purpose; "all things work together for good." So this cannot be simply some anachronism, some historical excrescent that is sort of tacked on trivially to the structure of things, but has meaning. What's the purpose of this? Even though God isn't sending some kind of darts to attack us, yet never-the- less God has a responsibility to control the movements of history, to keep things in some kind of meaningful order, so that if we want to know, we can find purpose. Why must we go through this? First of all I think God wants to awaken us. So often we see God as some kind of a jealous tyrant that has caught us napping, and wants to weed us out; but that's false. I think the whole concept of weeding comes from a distortion of our concept of the Investigative Judgement, that God is looking for flaws. That's not God. But human nature being what it is, God has to awaken us; to make us alert, to agitate us, so that even those of us who are luke-warm can be jostled from our luke-warmness. It will require of us to make decisions, require us to investigate, and through this awakening process people will begin to ask questions. This ios the time for Gods' people to be seen, during this great awakening people will be asking all over the world; "what do these things mean?" God wants His people to wake up. Symbolically, if we could realize this, we don't have to wait until we get jostled, to wake up. We can set our own alarm clock if we want to do it. But ultimately we are all going to be awakened. Why don't we set our alarm clocks a little bit early, so that we can be ready. Secondly, not only does God want us to be ready, but He wants to establish us. God does not close Probation, He does not arbitrarily drop a curtain. He allows history to be brought to some kind of focus, where people have to make critical decisions. And under stress, under provocation, we know psychologically that character is stabilized very quickly. Individuals who have to repeatable make vital dec- isions, will either get wiped out, or grow up fast. Now, if Gods' people are awakened at the most auspicious moment in history, at a time when God decides that He can have the most who will make the right kind of decisions. If God doesn't do that, then people don't really have the greatest options. God will allow this to be brought to a head, at that moment of history when the most people will be able to react most favorably if they want to. Under the repeated choices that are required to make because of the political movements requiring us to make decisions; character will be confirmed in a very short time. And after individuals have repeatedly had to make certain choices, it becomes so indeliblized in their nature that God will look over the scene and be able to say; "O.K. him that is let him be." We close our own probat- ion. We either stabilize ourselves, through the choices we make and thus having repeatably made choices in the favor of God, we become sealed, settled into the truth; it becomes part of our habit structure. You could not do anything else. It would be foreign to the very nature of our being at that point. So secondly, it is to establish and confirm, to settle us into the truth. To require us to make those kinds of decisions that will last through eternity. Having awakened and confirmed His people, there is a third purpose for this time of trouble. That is to show them off to the world, to reveal them. God stands proud at that time. God has never looked better, and with a smile on His face He can look out over the world, and say to the rest of the universe; "You have wondered where they have been all these centuries, here they are, they keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." This Gods' finest hour. God is vindicated in the lives of Hid people, all of the arguments will be answered at this point. The weat will be separated from the chaff; people’s real motives will be laid bare. These questions we've had. What about so-and-so, he seemed like such a good person, and he doesn't give a rip about Christ? During this time we find out what the answer is. We will find that there will be many people, under the revelat- ion of this spotlight, of this shaking, that it will appear that they have done right things for very base reasons. But, the people of God who maybe haven't been that noticed, who have done just little things that haven't stood out, their true metal will show through, they will come into their own. This is a time to be seen, not a time to hide. And God will say; "Here they are, take a good look at them! They are My people. They have My character, they are just like ME. Made in My image they now truly reflect that image. Wouldn't you like to live next door to them?" There will be some people who have never really seen this before, they have been deceived. At this time, when the world is falling apart, they will come to you and say; "How is it that you can smile? How is it that you seem so rad- iant? Don't you realize that you're getting wiped out? One of these days you're going to get it in the neck. Either you're an idiot, or you know something that I don't know. What is it?" At a time when they see these kinds of lives, people start asking questions. And then we will not be preaching to them in any kind of formal doctrine, But the word will be made flesh, and all of the doctrines that we believe in will be to us a living reality. We will clarify, if we are a part of Gods' kingdom, what all these things mean. And to those who really want to serve God, to love Him; this kind of testimony, this kind of witness, will be just the thing for that hour. What a tremendous opportunity to be a part of that group, to be seen; not to be hiding. * * * * * - - P R E P A R A T I O N - - How can we prepare? It would be really great if we could come up with something dramatic, if there was something special that we could do for this time; something that could have a bit of glitter to it. There aren't any secrets for this preparation. There is nothing very exciting about this except in the common place of religious experience. But if you think about, you'll see that it has been right under our noses all along. They are found in Steps To Christ, and that's why we have been looking at that little book; three basic things that are required for preparation. They are very simply and none of you will be shocked when I say them. But I want you to think about them. The first thing is PRAYER. It would be interesting to do a study, and find out among Seventh-day Adventists how much time during the day that they spend talking to God, and enjoy it. And you can’t count any of these quickies. We have our own little Rosaries, our `now I lay me down to sleepies'. These are rituals, kind of Seventh-day Adventist fire insur- ance. They are designed to reduce guilt, a psychological tranquilizer. We have all these little gospel goodies, and they don't mean a hill of beans. But take only those times during the day in which we enjoy visiting with Him. Maybe people don't know that much about prayer. We have our little cliché’s, we talk to God like he is some great computer in the sky, recording all of this nonsense that we tell Him; and when you think about it, He knows all of this anyway, so quite obviously that isn't the reason for telling Him. What is the reason for prayer? So you can get something. If the only time a person approached me was when they wanted something, I'd be offended; and so would you. There are people at work who I dread to see come around, because I know that the only reason they are being friendly is they want something, and when they get it they complain to someone else about what they got! What an affront we must be to God, we're always asking for things. When was the last time you talked to Him, just to enjoy Him? Now, if you take that amount of time, it might be rather frightening; maybe we squeeze 5 to 10 minutes out of our day. I would suggest that you get some books and study together, and find out what prayer is all about, because if what I have been studying and learning about this time, it is only those who can contend with God, who know Him so well, that when it comes to a clutch situation, you know Him so well that if they hang in there with Him, He cannot let them go. "I will not let Thee go except Thee bless me!" And God says; "Do you really want Me for My sake, or just for the goodies?" Now Jacob didn't want a goodie. He even had a hip dislocated, God convinced him right there on there spot that He wasn't just giving him goodies, things could get kind of rough. "You really want Me for My own sake?" "I will not let Thee go lest Ye bless me!" Jacob must have known some- thing very central about God, to be that audacious; but that apparently is what God wants. Don't go to God for goodies. How much time do you spend in talking things over with God? And, does God ever talk to you? You don't have to hear voices and you don't have to see things on the chalk board. But God will speak through the recesses of your mind, and you will get thoughts in prayer, and as a result of prayer, that you would have not gotten had you not prayed. Most of our prayer doesn't cost us anything, which means we are really not investing anything. It's a well known fact, even in the business community, that if you don't invest very much, you're not going to get much in return. It's not that God is being reluctant, but that only when you really want Him can He really give Himself to you. If He blesses us for all of these quickies, He's cheating you. One of the reasons God waits and lets us agonize is not because He wants us to suffer, but because he wants us to be so receptive that He can give us the very best Himself. But we don't have enough time. I like the concept of giving God prime time. We usually give Him the residual time. Prime Time. We usually talk to Him just before we go to sleep, we're kind of groggy, and if we kneel down we might wake up a couple of hours later, still on our knees. Mrs. White says to `consecrate yourselves to Him the very first thing in the morning.' I would find it difficult to consecrate myself to anyone in five minutes. You take the young man who is about to propose to a young lady. He has probably sweat for many days about just how he is going to go about this; and has probably spent the better part of an evening before he really gets around to it. It really costs him something. He may never forget that evening and the answer. That's Prime Time! It wasn't just an after thought; but when is the most auspicious moment when I can give myself to her, and get her answer that she'll give herself to me? To give God Prime Time? We cheat Him. And what we really need is not, "God do something for me." Because if we have a relationship with Him, He is going to do things for us that we would never dream to ask. I don't think that we need to ask for that many things of God. Any parent that loves their children are constantly figuring out new ways to do nice things for them, constantly surprising them with things they like to do. Why? Because they can't help themselves. God's that way too. God isn't going to say; "I'm not going to give you any thing if you don't ask." "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness", and what about all these things? Do you have to ask for every one of them? Oh, no, they'll be added. Take some prime time out of your day, and give it to God. Fantastic things will happen. It isn't going to do any good to get up to the time of trouble if you don't know God. It will be rough to get acquainted in just a few minutes. Relax with Him now, make His day, let Him pick your brain. Talk things over with Him each day. Give Him Prime Time and enjoy Him, and let Him enjoy you. That's pro- bably the only pleasure God gets out of life you know; Gods' got a lot of problems. Did you know that He really enjoys visiting with someone? Can you think of any other joy that God gets? Do God a favor, give him Prime Time, Pray. The second thing is STUDY. Study. Seventh-day Advent- ists, as I have alluded to before, are really not a group of students. You study the history of our pioneers, they didn't have Commentaries, they didn't have Sabbath-School Lessons. No one prepared Morning Watches for them. They had to get in and scrap on their own. They didn't have any degrees, many of them never got out of grade school. But did they scrap! They really went after the word of God. They floundered and made lots of mistakes; you look back in our church history, you'll see many mistakes that were made. But they developed a moral integrity in the fact that they really went after the word of God in a way that we don't today. We have our gospel pabulum that is dished out to us. You know I wonder, how many have taken the time to even read the suggested material, for any of the Sabbath-School programs? And not just read them, but wrestle with them. I wish there was some way of really reading you; and your Pastors have the same concern. If we prepare too much, are we just consolidating your passivity? That could destroy you. If you are not firmly grounded in the Truths, not just a set of theological ideas, but truth as it is centered in Jesus Christ, "I am the Truth," our Lord tells us; you are groping to get up to that time, and people are going to be penetrating your mind and say to you; "What do you believe this for?" Many are going to find that their ill-defined notions of what constitutes truth, that they will become very confused and remorseful. It kind of scares me; it is not going to do any good to start memorizing everything because the Holy Spirit is going to bring to mind... We need to understand. If once you have understood something, that will become cemented into your nervous system; even if you forget it because of the distractions around you, we are promised that the Holy Spirit will flash those things into you memory, and put them into a combination that you can use, just when you need it. It would be a denial of our freedom if God were to come crashing through and giving us ideas that we had never really come up with ourselves, that we'd never really thought about. That would be cheating; Satan would say, `you're staking the deck, this isn't them, this is you, you are winning by your intellect.' And so you see that the Holy Spirits' hands are tied if you don't study, and you don't think. Mrs. White makes an interesting statement in Messages to Writers and Editors, that if other means fail, God will allow heresy to come in to make us think, and to shake us up. One good heretical thought might be worth more than ten botches of pious orthodoxy. Orthodoxy, straight truth. God wants us to be students of His word now. And it is- n't how much you know; you don't develop moral integrity just by accumulating a bunch of facts. Anyone who has a sincere desire to understand the word of God, , will be led by the Holy Spirit into the reality, to fit their personality for what they need to know. God is stuck if we don't give Him our minds and our faculties, and let other people do the thinking for us. We need to start thinking; someone said, "use your head, it's the little things that count." STUDY! One last thing that I think is vital, in preparing for the impact of this little time of trouble that Satan is sifting and rattling around. I think we would recognize that God isn't just interested in us doing something for our- selves. He wants us to give something away; we refer to this as witness. P R A Y E R , S T U D Y , & W I T N E S I think it was Dr. Hamerstein who said: A bell is not a bell until you ring it. A song is not a song until you sing it. Love is not put in your heart to stay; Love is not love, until you give it away. People get frightened of witnessing. To many Seventh-day Adventist notions, witnessing means you have to run out and give a Bible study. Not everyone should be giving Bible studies, some us are going to have to witness in some other way. God has enough problems without some of us giving Bible studies, because we'll botch it up. Some of you can witness to young people, some older people, others through the various facets of your Christianity. It something you need to discover on your knees, between you and God, and then God will turn the spotlight of His Spirit on you and help you to know yourself, and give you an idea of what it is that you can do; but then you have to launch out and say: O.K. God here's my contribution. It might seem dumb to someone else, but if it is your contribution, God likes it. I think it is tragic that we think of witness just in traditional Bible study ways. Some of the greatest truths do not simply come through the statement of ideas, they come through the leading of our lives. Many people who think they cannot get up and speak in front of people, who a very difficult time of expressing themselves. But there is some way that you can witness, if you really want to take a chance with the Holy Spirit. Can you serve God just because you love Him when it seems like you are forsaken? No meaning around you, at least it seems like that, except that all the universe is watching; would you love him anyway? God has a multitude of opportunities, if you'll just give yourself away. And He'll help you with your own ingenuity in giving love away, of ringing the bell and singing your song. You don't have to be afraid of the little time of trouble. It's a great time to be alive and if you really hurry up and get ready, you can speed things along.