THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS

THE SECOND ELIJAH

 ZACHARIAS' DOUBT
The birth of a son to Zacharias, like the birth of the child of
Abraham, and that of Mary, was to teach a great spiritual truth, a
truth that we are slow to learn and ready to forget. In ourselves
we are incapable of doing any good thing; but that which we
cannot do will be wrought by the power of God in every
submissive and believing soul. It was through faith that the child
of promise was given. It is through faith that spiritual life is
begotten, and we are enabled to do the works of righteousness.
{DA 98.3}
FAITH IS THE VICTORY THAT
OVERCOMES THE WORLD
Hebrews 11:6
1 John 4:5
Hebrews 10:38
THE MAKING OF THE LORD’S
FORERUNNER
John was to go forth as Jehovah's messenger, to
bring to men the light of God. He must give a
new direction to their thoughts. He must impress
them with the holiness of God's requirements,
and their need of His perfect righteousness.
Such a messenger must be holy. He must be a
temple for the indwelling Spirit of God.
THE MAKING OF THE LORD’S FORERUNNER
In order to fulfill his mission, he must have a
sound physical constitution, and mental and
spiritual strength. Therefore it would be necessary
for him to control the appetites and passions. He must
be able so to control all his powers that he could stand
among men as unmoved by surrounding
circumstances as the rocks and mountains of the
wilderness. {DA 100.3}
 ALL FACULTIES IMPORTANT
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
 ALL FACULTIES IMPORTANT
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
Mark 12:30
 IN THE DAYS OF JOHN
In the time of John the Baptist, greed for riches, and the love
of luxury and display had become widespread. Sensuous
pleasures, feasting and drinking, were causing physical
disease and degeneracy, benumbing the spiritual
perceptions, and lessening the sensibility to sin. John was to
stand as a reformer. By his abstemious life and plain dress he
was to rebuke the excesses of his time. Hence the directions
given to the parents of John,--a lesson of temperance by an
angel from the throne of heaven. {DA 100.4}
FATHER, MOTHER YOU HAVE THE KEY
In childhood and youth the character is most impressible.
The power of self-control should then be acquired. By the
fireside and at the family board influences are exerted
whose results are as enduring as eternity. More than any
natural endowment, the habits established in early years
decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in
the battle of life. Youth is the sowing time. It determines
the character of the harvest, for this life and for the life to
come. {DA 101.1}
GIVE ME A CHILD THE FIRST SEVEN
YEARS
PICTURE QUOTE HERE
 TRAIN UP A CHILD
Train up a child in the way he
should go, And when he is old
he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
HOW SATAN REALLY WORKS
As a prophet, John was "to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just; to make ready a people
prepared for the Lord." In preparing the way for
Christ's first advent, he was a representative of
those who are to prepare a people for our Lord's
second coming. The world is given to self-
indulgence.
SATAN’S SNARES ARE MANY
Errors and fables abound. Satan's snares for destroying souls
are multiplied. All who would perfect holiness in the fear of
God must learn the lessons of temperance and self-control.
The appetites and passions must be held in subjection to the
higher powers of the mind. This self-discipline is essential to
that mental strength and spiritual insight which will enable us
to understand and to practice the sacred truths of God's
word. For this reason temperance finds its place in the work
of preparation for Christ's second coming. {DA 101.2}
HOLDING APPETITES AND PASSIONS SUBJECT TO
HIGHER POWERS
• Food
• Music
THE STRONG MAN
Mark 3:27
Proverbs 23:7
Psalms 51:10
Romans 12:2
OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES
OF LIFE

Proverbs 4:23
IT’S A LAW OF SCIENCE
BRAIN
• Self Control
• Worship
• The seat of reasoning
• Filter
• Character formation
• etc
 LIMBIC SYSTEM
Your brain stores and generates emotions in its limbic
system, which is the most primitive portion of the brain. The
limbic system also contains two other structures called the
hypothalamus and the hippocampus. The hippocampus stores
dry, unemotional facts for recall, such as where you live and
your spouse’s work number. The hypothalamus acts as the
commander-in-chief of your hormonal communication
system, deciding which gland should release what amounts
of hormones at what particular time.
FOOD AND
BRAIN

https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00032
SUGAR AND FAT CAUSED MEMORY LOSS
 FOOD AND BRAIN
We do not mark out any precise line to be followed in diet;
but we do say that in countries where there are fruits,
grains, and nuts in abundance, flesh food is not the right
food for God's people. I have been instructed that flesh
food has a tendency to animalize the nature, to rob men
and women of that love and sympathy which they should
feel for everyone, and to give the lower passions control
over the higher powers of the being. If meat eating was
ever healthful, it is not safe now. {CG 382.1}
 FOOD AND BRAIN
God gives man no permission to violate the laws of his being.
But man, through yielding to Satan's temptations to indulge
intemperance, brings the higher faculties in subjection to
the animal appetites and passions, and when these gain the
ascendancy, man, who was created a little lower than the
angels--with faculties susceptible of the highest cultivation--
surrenders to the control of Satan. And he gains easy access
to those who are in bondage to appetite. Through
intemperance, some sacrifice one half, and others two thirds,
of their physical, mental, and moral powers, and become
playthings for the enemy. {Con 57.1}
Those who would have clear minds to discern
Satan's devices must have their physical appetites
under the control of reason and conscience. The
moral and vigorous action of the higher powers
of the mind are essential to the perfection of
Christian character, and the strength or the
weakness of the mind has very much to do with
our usefulness in this world and with our final
salvation.
The ignorance that has prevailed in regard to God's law
in our physical nature is deplorable. Intemperance of any
kind is a violation of the laws of our being. Imbecility is
prevailing to a fearful extent. Sin is made attractive by
the covering of light which Satan throws over it, and he
is well pleased when he can hold the Christian world in
their daily habits under the tyranny of custom, like the
heathen, and allow appetite to govern them. {Con 57.2}
Music is Complex
MUSIC AND THE BRAIN
“I want women and men to
feel empowered by a deeper
and more psychotic part of
themselves. The part they're
always trying desperately to
hide. I want that to become
something that they cherish.”
Lady Gaga
 MUSIC AND THE BRAIN
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is
death; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God: for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.
 KEEP THE BODY UNDER
SUBJECTION
But I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection: lest that
by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway. 1Co 9:27
 WHERE TO STAY
It was a lonely region where he found his home, in
the midst of barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky
caves. But it was his choice to forgo the enjoyments
and luxuries of life for the stern discipline of the
wilderness. Here his surroundings were favorable to
habits of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by
the clamor of the world, he could here study the
lessons of nature, of revelation, and of Providence.
The words of the angel to Zacharias had been often
repeated to John by his God-fearing parents. From
childhood his mission had been kept before him, and he had
accepted the holy trust. To him the solitude of the desert
was a welcome escape from society in which suspicion,
unbelief, and impurity had become well-nigh all-pervading.
He distrusted his own power to withstand temptation, and
shrank from constant contact with sin, lest he should lose
the sense of its exceeding sinfulness. {DA 101.4}
DRESS AND EATING HABITS
And the same John had his raiment
of camel's hair, and a leathern
girdle about his loins; and his
meat was locusts and wild honey
Mathew 3:4
WE CAN’T STEAL OUR WAY TO HEAVEN

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and

Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto
them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned
you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance:
Mathew 3:7,8.
 WE CAN’T STEAL OUR WAY TO
HEAVEN
"And now also," said the prophet, "the ax is laid unto the root
of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Not by its name, but
by its fruit, is the value of a tree determined. If the fruit is
worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction.
John declared to the Jews that their standing before God was
to be decided by their character and life. Profession was
worthless. If their life and character were not in harmony with
God's law, they were not His people. {DA 107.1}
SECOND ELIJAH
Luke 1:17
Mathew 11:11, 14
THIRD ELIJAH
Malachi 4:5
THANK YOU