Character

What makes a defective character?

A defective character is wrong thoughts and feelings that are made into habits. Wrong habits are thoughts that are not in harmony with God’s law and His word.

 

When do you start having a defective character and the process that stops it?

Some of our defective character is inherited form our past and original sin. The other part is from our wrong thoughts in our mind about the law.

 

Describe the process that start the defective character and the process that stops it?

The process that starts our defective characters is our parent’s sins and habits which our then inherited by us from them. This started with Adam. He sinned and his guilt passed on to his children. The process that ends it is our character becoming like Christ’s. We are converted but still have most of our old habits. We then overcome these through progressive conversion until at last we are at the judgment and our characters are judged.

 

How do you go about building your character?

You build your character by having Christ help you uproot the bad habits and tendencies and building new and better ones.

 

Name the workmen that you use to get the job done?

The workmen you use to build your character are your faculties and powers which need to be properly improved. The mind is the garden and the character is the fruit.

 

Is there any aspect of the building contract that you can’t do yourself, and who do you subcontract it out to?

We cannot change our feelings without help so we ask God to put new feelings and desires in our minds.

 

When you get to the judgment, why would you decide you needed to go to the marriage, before entering the time of trouble?

You would need to go to the marriage to clear off of your record all the sinful desires of your past.

 

How could your understanding of character make you a part of those who believe in spiritualistic theories?

Your understanding of character could make you a part of spiritualistic teachings because spiritualistic teachings say that God is essence that is in all nature and you only have to develop the power in you to become holy. Character is done mostly on our own but we do need God’s help because he has to change our hearts and desires.

Dan 9:25

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” Dan.9:25

 

When did the prophecy begin?

There were three kings who issued this decree- Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. It was the third king whose decree went in place and he sent Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem. Artaxerxes’ decree went into effect in the fall of the year 457 B.C.       

“In the seventh chapter of Ezra the decree is found. Verses 12-26. In its completest form it was issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, 457 B.C. But in Ezra 6:14 the house of the Lord at Jerusalem is said to have been built “according to the commandment ["decree," margin] of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” These three kings, in originating, reaffirming, and completing the decree, brought it to the perfection required by the prophecy to mark the beginning of the 2300 years.”  {GC 326.3}

“And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was the seventh year of the king.”  {Ezra 7:8} 

“According to the Jewish reckoning the fifth month of the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign was from July 23 to August 21, 457 B.C. After Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem in the autumn of the year, the decree of the king went into effect.  Appendix note on pages 327, 329.”

The sanctuary was cleansed after 2300 days. This prophecy started in 457 B.C. as well. If you subtract 2300-457=1843.But because the Jewish calendar starts in the spring of our year it would be the fall of 1844.

THE YEAR 1843 WAS, HOWEVER, REGARDED AS EXTENDING TO THE SPRING OF 1844. THE REASON FOR THIS, BRIEFLY STATED, IS AS FOLLOWS: ANCIENTLY THE YEAR DID NOT COMMENCE IN MIDWINTER, AS NOW, BUT AT THE FIRST NEW MOON AFTER THE VERNAL EQUINOX. THEREFORE, AS THE PERIOD OF 2300 DAYS WAS BEGUN IN A YEAR RECKONED BY THE ANCIENT METHOD, IT WAS CONSIDERED NECESSARY TO CONFORM TO THAT METHOD TO ITS CLOSE. HENCE, 1843 WAS COUNTED AS ENDING IN THE SPRING, AND NOT IN THE WINTER.  {GC88 681.4}

 BUT THE 2300 DAYS CANNOT BE RECKONED FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 457 B.C.; FOR THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES–WHICH IS THE STARTING-POINT–DID NOT GO INTO EFFECT UNTIL THE AUTUMN OF THAT YEAR. CONSEQUENTLY THE 2300 DAYS, BEGINNING IN THE AUTUMN OF 457 B.C., MUST EXTEND TO THE AUTUMN OF 1844 A.D. (SEE SMALL DIAGRAM ON PLATE OPPOSITE PAGE 328.)  {GC88 681.5}

The cleansing of the earthly sanctuary in the Jewish calendar fell on the 10^th day of the seventh month. This fell upon October 22 in 1844. So therefore the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary which was to happen at the end of the 2300 days happened on Oct. 22, 1844.

“Under the Mosaic system the cleansing of the sanctuary, or the great Day of Atonement, occurred on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Leviticus 16:29-34)…  The tenth day of the seventh month, the great Day of Atonement, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second of October, was regarded as the time of the Lord’s coming. This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn, and the conclusion seemed irresistible.”  {GC 399.4}

Dan. 8 User notes

      1.      Host-God’s people- Dan 12:3, Rev. 22:6. Prince of the host- Jesus who is the great star.

2.      Stamped- to trample upon the starry host.

3.      Vs.12 is talking about peole who believed the lies about the daily because of sinful desires. The papacy was prepared to quiet these peoples consciences about this.

4.      Vs.13 The vision(2300 days) vision =daily + transgression of desolation

Daily in the sanctuary revolved around the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering.

5.      Transgression of desolation is referring to original sin in Romans 5

6.      Trodden under foot – sanctuary & starry host

7.      Vs. 14 cleansing of sanctuary.

8.   vs.25 broken without hand

      He is the papacy which is broken by a rock withou hands(law) see Dan. 2

 

Dan. 7 User Notes

1. The four beasts represent the four kingdoms- Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
2. The Fourth beast had 10 horns and the little one that came up after these had an eye which represents the conscience.
3. Mouth speaking great things- This is talking about the pope who thinks he can control heaven, earth, and the lower things. He can also modify, explain, or interpret divine laws as well as many other things.
4. The fiery stream is the Holy Spirit
5. The beast was slain at the second coming.
6. After the horn is the end. Horn is destroyed at the second coming and represents the pope.
7. Ten horns- ten kings/kingdoms- Rome broke into the German barbaric tribes.
8. Another Horn- little horn
9. He shall be diverse from the others: little horn is religio-political in nature whereas the previous horns were political kingdoms and the little horn was ruled by a pontiff.
10. He shall subdue three kingdoms: They were an obstacle in his way of expansion. They were supporters of Arianism which was a formidable rival of Catholicism.
11. He has to change the law to exalt himself. He did this by trying to change the fourth commandment.
12. A prophetic year is 360 days but a prophetic day is a year in our solar year.
13. Judgment is going to take away the little horn’s dominion.
14. The dominion is Satan’s dominion.
15. The kingdom referred o here is the kingdom of glory which we receive at the second coming.

The Law

     There are two laws- God’s law and Satan’s law. God’s law is called the circuit of beneficence. This law reveals the true character of God by showing the proper relationship between the Creator and the creatures. In the circuit of beneficence God gives us life and receives our love through joyous praise and worship. Then at the same time we give him our lives and receive his love through the same way. It is through Christ, God’s son that this connection is made. Satan’s law is called the broken circuit because it is all about self worship.

Romans 1 starting in verse 22 talks about what happens when worshipping the Creator is exchanged for worshipping the creature. Basically it starts with the fact that God can’t put up with this and He let them go to their vile passions. In verses 26 and 27 it talks about men being interested in each other and women likewise. Finally in verse 28 it says that because they did not retain any knowledge of God that he gave them over to their debased mind and verse 29-32 tell about all the different traits. Creature worship has this debasing influence because it is all about self and what we want is what we can have.

Christ demonstrates the circuit of beneficence by representing God’s character and His self-sacrificing love.

You see the broken circuit in action in religious services because services in a lot of  mainstream churches and even in some of our own churches is all about bringing in the young people and to do this they are bringing in things that the young people liked when they were in the world. Churches should try to bring in young people but in a way that does not bring creature worship in.

The advantages of the circuit of beneficence are that it draws the mind closer to Christ and not farther away and we will be less likely to sin if we keep connected to Christ through prayer. The broken circuit will just lead you away from Christ and cause you to sin.

The difference between the spiritualistic concept and Christianity is that spiritualism teaches that self is not sinful and that at the judgment there is a standard of perfection which is a God with a desire for self-exaltation. Christianity teaches that we need to put away self which must be done each and every day. The standard of perfection is God at the judgment and it is a God who has no desires for self-exaltation.

The Removal of the Spots, Wrinkles, and Blemishes

     The sanctuary shows the whole salvation plan. It starts in the outside with sinful man who then receives Christ and enters the sanctuary or the way of God. This is called conversion where you receive a change of desires but this change is not complete. The outer court is where this takes place and your sins still remain on the record. Next is progressive conversion which is where you build your character and have victory over sin. Your words and actions help to build your character. Then you have the investigative judgment where your actions are judged and  you are prepared for the marriage in the last step where you have a perfection of character. The marriage comes after the judgment and is the blotting out of your sins.