portional to the growing num¬ber of inhabitants is certainly noted when compared to the standard of life.
While the fifth part of hu-manity is living under con-ditions that are superior to those under which kings lived in during the Middle Ages, the other fifth is on the verge of existence, struggling just to survive. It is estimated that 841 million people are suffering from malnutrition and weigh less then the normal healthy requirement, and 1.200 mil¬lion do not have access to drinking water. The difference between the income received by the prosperous social class and those heavily burdened by poverty in the world widens each year. Although economic growth has become standard-ized all over the world since the latter part of the century, some countries have definitely had more success than others with respect to the objective of reaching this goal. This has led to a disparity in revenue by the different social classes that is without precedent.
It is ironic to note, that along with the population growth of the twentieth century, this is also the time period that has seen the greatest demise in the num-
(,(, T urt not the grass of the earth, J_ neither any green thing, neither any tree..." This declaration was written in one of the most ancient books found within Eastern culture: The Holy Scrip-tures, and since that time it seems that each civilization, including our mod-ern one has forgotten that its existence completely depends upon its 'ecologi-cal' foundations, as is clearly written in the creationist account of the aforemen-tioned book.
A growing population marks the be-ginning of a new century and this is a challenge that must be faced. Today the number of human beings is four times greater than in the previous century, and the size of world economy has mul-tiplied by 17%. Right on the border of the growing population is urbanization-the dominant demographic tendency of the year. In 1900 there were 16 cities whose population surpassed one million, and approximately 10% lived in cities. Today, 326 cities have reached the same num-
ber or else surpass that figure and there are 14 mega cities in the world, in other words, urban nucleus' that ex-ceed 10 million inhabitants. If these cities keep on increasing in population as seems to be the case, more then half of the hu¬man race will be living in cities by the year 2010. The number of 3.000 million inhabitants that was reached at the worldwide level in 1960, the 4.000 million in 1977 and the 5.000 million only 12 years later in 1989, in-dicate the growing rate of the changing demography, since world population was already greater than 6 000 million in 1999. If this growth continues according to the mean set by the UN, the number of human beings will increase altogether to another 4.600 million peo-ple in the coming century. A difference that is directly pro-


_______________________________
ber of people throughout history as has clearly been substantiated. In WWI 26 million people lost their lives, while in WWII 53 million were lost, and this is without taking into consideration other war victims since the beginning of the century. In total, this greatly exceeds the number of people that have died on ac-count of warlike encounters since the be¬ginning of civilization until the 1900s.
At the same time, in the last 25 years of the twentieth century, 29 new diseas-es have been identified, amongst them are: the Ebola virus, HIV, etc. HIV, for instance, has reached epidemic heights in Africa and to some extent in Asia, and as a result will not take long in reach-ing undue proportions that will sur-pass the traditional cases of diseases a like malaria and tuberculosis as the i principie death factor in contagiouq diseases.
Besides the loss of biodiversity e of life on earth, globalization in the latter decades has lessened. The un-checked growth of commerce and in-h ternational trips that are constantly e being made have managed to get rid of land barriers that were in fa-i vour of thousands of species: plants, insects, and other living organisms. Furthermore, the invasion of foreign countries has endorsed the extinction of native peoples and altered basic f nat ecological procedures. Recent "bio col invasions" have caused the aban-donment of more then a million/ hectares of working land in South e America and have depleted the fish-ing areas around Lake Victoria in n Eastern Africa.
For this reason, global economy can-not continue expanding indefinitely, since the ecosystems upon which it de-pends are continually deteriorating. In many respects, the defining characteris-tic of this century is the exploitation of combustible fossil energy. In 1900, only a couple thousand barrels of petroleum were used daily. By 1997 that number rose to 72 million barrels per day. An in-crease in the use of natural resources has been noted, such as the growing need for metals ranging from 20 million tons to 1 200 million tons annually. Also, the use of paper has multiplied by a factor of six from 1950 to 1996, and has now reached 281 tons. The production of plastic, that
only began to be noticed around 1900, reached 131 million tons in 1995. In 1900 only a couple thousand cars were in use, today there are 501 million in use.


World commerce has shown an in-crease from 380.000 million dollars in 1950 to 5, 86 billion in 1997, evidently this has multiplied by 15%. Neverthe-less, this has brought about new changes in the atmosphere such as: the destruc -tion of the ozone layer, and global warm-ing, which have begun to alter natural ecosystems in recent decades. Moreover, the constant growth of global economy has collided with many of the earth's natural limits. These confrontations are characterized by the diminishing forests,
For example, marine fisheries have begun to reach their limits and are ning to trespass them; while the seabed levels of the cold, subterranean waters descend to all continents; pasture land deteriorates because it lies unused; and many of the tropical rainforests that are still standing are on the verge of extinc¬tion. As a result, the principle boundar-ies of the atmosphere that had to be dealt with upon the beginning of the twenty-first century were sweet water, forests, and pastures, fishing areas, biological diversity and global atmosphere.
Since world use of water has tripled since the twentieth century, the excess
use of this resource has led to the de-crease of "freatico" levels at a worldwide level. Seventy percent of the water that is channeled from rivers or is extracted from the bottom of the earth is used to water the earth, 20% is used for industry and 10% is for the public to use.
Since the latter part of the twenti¬eth century, the demand for lumber has doubled and tripled for firewood, meanwhile the use of paper has multi¬plied by almost 6%. Furthermore, forests are destroyed for the purpose of opening up space for agricultural projects such as planting in newly broken ground, or else fi res consume them sometimes as a result of nearby populations that are in-creasing in number; other reasons are the production of commercial-projects ,and the need of land for cattle to graze .on. As demographic pressure rises in •tropical and subtropical regions, the number of forests that are being de¬stroyed for agricultural reasons in-►creases. The surface of the grazing land that is used in the world for livestock to feed on is double the amount of land that is used for farming. Furthermore, this land is used for the production of beef and muttoneef and mutton that is then exported jto countries that have a higher stan¬dard of living.
Of the 242.000 plant species that fcave been counted by the International JJJnion of the Conservation of Nature, 14% of the IUCN in 1997, about 33.000 where in danger of extinction. Some 7.000 where in danger of immediate ex-tinction and another 8.000 are at risk of the same predicament. The main reason for plant extinction is the de-struction of their natural habitat, either by the depletion of land that is used for agricultural and farming purposes; the construction of homes; the drainage of "canals" for agricultural or construction purposes, and finally, industrial sewage areas and their emanations.
The situation the animal species fi nds itself in is a cause for worry. Of the 9 600 bird species that populate the earth, two thirds are in danger of disappear-ing, while 11% is on the verge of extinc¬tion. The main reason responsible for their decline, is the change and destruc -tion of their habitats combined, not to mention the undue amount of hunting that is done around these areas and the
_____________________________

introduction of exotic species to these habitats. Of the 4.400 mammal species of the earth, 11% are in danger of extinc-tion too. Another 14% are vulnerable to extinction if the aforementioned reasons for their demise continue. Of the 24.000 fish species that fill up the sea, rivers, and lakes, a third is already in danger of extinction.
The preservation of the environment is only possible, if all the principles for its survival are kept. These principles have been established by ecological sci-ence, which evidently imply the follow-ing: the constant capture of fi sh does not help fishing areas, the quantity of wa¬ter that is extracted from subterranean "water sources" does not improve the situation, land erosion does not aid the natural growth of new land, planting new trees serves no purpose if forests are continually cut down for wood, and the emanation given off by carbon does not help nature to fix the anhydrous at-mospheric carbon. Preserving the econ-omy of the earth simply means that one does not destroy vegetable and animal species faster then they can be replanted and reproduced.
Once it has become clear that industri¬al development cannot continue in this manner for much longer, the question that should be asked is: "what would an environmentally friendly economy be like?"
One of the first steps that should to be taken in order to answer this ques¬tion is the recognition of the fact that this present generation is the first one whose actions are responsible for the habitable conditions of future genera-tions. The present condition of the earth is not the result of any deliberate plan-ning; instead it is the consequence of a global economy that overused the envi¬ronment and its resources without tak-ing the time to replenish the ecosystem. Basically, the natural ecosystems of this earth have been altered without think-ing about what the consequences might be or at least taking responsibility for the results that might accompany these actions. Society today is fundamentally focused on the present and for this rea-son it has lost the foresight of taking into consideration the legacy of future generations. Instead, it seems that the inheritance of this earth is a world whose ecosystem is deteriorating, that is on an economical decline and whose society is rapidly falling apart. The truth of the matter is that it is impossible to sepa¬rate the efforts needed to build a better environmental economy with the efforts needed to help sustain the needy people of the world. According to different sur-veys, about 841 million people are suffer-ing from malnutrition, 1.200 million do not have the necessary means to obtain healthy drinking water. 1.600 million people are illiterate and 2.000 million do not have access to electricity.
It is estimated that the 225 richest people in the world are altogether in possession of more then one billion dollars, a number, which approximates the entire annual revenue of the poorest, half of humanity. It is a known fact that the as-sets of the three richest people in the world supersede the en¬tire annual production of the 48 poorest countries in the world. Evidently, the distance between the rich and poor in the world is untenable in a world where resources are shared, and that all have an inalienable right to.
The underlying character-istics of these last years indi-
cate that a new moral course is needed to guide us into the twenty-fi rst century: principles established on fundamental rules that will satisfy and provide for the needs of human beings. The ecosystems of the world have partially survived the attack of 270 million people with this kind of lifestyle that destroys the envi¬ronment in the twentieth century, but it will not survive 8.000 million or more living in the same manner in the twenty-fi rst century.
The following steps that need to be taken to answer the question previously asked is found within the sacred pages of the book of wisdom mentioned at the be-ginning of this article-the Sacred Scrip-tures. In order to become familiarized with this guideline some of the following principles can be put into practice:
This outline briefly introduces an ex-tensive theme that is contained within the Bible, clearly defining the purpose for the existence of this planet as well as including the necessary information that prepares us for the future. "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth and that which came out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it..." and as the Creator and Keeper of this earth, He will also restore it.
Raquel Orce, Spain SW

Many people ask themselves this question after discovering that there are hundreds of churches that pro-fess to be the right one and thousands of dissident groups who state the same thing. Moreover, they all claim to have the truth! And the majority also claim to base their doctrines on the Bible, and to believe in Jesus Christ! Are they all the church of God? If not-how can one fi nd out? In every religion there are sincere people who love God with all their heart, yet their sincerity does not prove that this is the true church or that the doc¬trines it upholds are free from human theories. The word of God, more specifi -cally speaking, the prophecies, reveal the 'keys' that can help one to identify the true church in these last days.
Symbols that represent the church
Both in the Old and in the New Testa-ment, the church of God is compared to a vineyard. "Now I will sing of my
well beloved a song of my
beloved touching his vine¬yard in a very fruitful hill:
And he fenced it, and gath-
ered out the stones there-
of, and planted it with the
choicest vine, and built a
tower in the midst of it,
and also made a winepress
therein: and he looked
that it should bring forth
grapes, and it brought
forth wild grapes.For
the vineyard of the Lord
of hosts is the house of Is¬rael, and the men of Judah
his pleasant plant: and he
looked for judgment but
behold oppression; for
righteousness, but behold
a cry" Isaiah 5:1-2, 7; "Hear
another parable: There
was a certain household-
er, which planted a vine¬yard, and hedged it round
about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country" Matthew 21:33. • The vine represents Jesus. For He said: "I am the vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" John 15: 1-2, 4. Christ is the root and the 'stem’ of the vine. He is ever present. We, on the other hand, are the branches , if we remain in Him we shall bear forth fruit, but if we don't, we shall have to be cut down. And as his-tory tells us, this is exactly what

happened to Israel.
• The hedge: The Lord set up a hedge with the purpose of establishing a boundary line between the Lord's ground and the enemy's. It was there to provide protection and keep the church safe within the boundary line-the law of God.
- The ground that is found without the
law of God is sinful ground. (1 John 3:
4)
- The church that ignores any of the
commandments of God has made a
breach within the hedge.
Throughout the entire Bible the
church is compared to a woman. The fi rst prophecy in the Bible, found in Gen¬esis 3:15 uses this symbol when speaking about the war that was still to come be¬tween the serpent-Satan- and the church. "And I will put enmity between thee and
_______________________________

the woman, and between thy seed and her seed..." This symbol reappears in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 11:2.
How many churches does God recog-nize as His own? Song of Solomon 6:8-9, 4:7 says: "There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefi led is but one." "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee."
The interpretation that can be given to these queens is that they all represent the great churches. Notwithstanding, the concubines are more in number-these represent the smaller churches, while the virgins are the minority groups who are without number. Yet it is clearly stated: "My dove, my undefi led is but one."
In spite of all this, the Lord has sin¬cere souls in all of these churches; many have not had the opportunity to become acquainted with more light. "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" John 10:16.
What does prophecy say about wom-en-the churches-of our time? "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach" Isaiah 4:1.

Seven women: All the churches (7 represents com-pleteness).
They take hold of one man: All churches speak about Christ.
They eat their own bread: Own doctrine, in-stead of the Word of God.
They wear their own apparel: Own righteousness (Isaiah 64:6) instead of the robe of Christ's righteous¬ness (Matthew 22:11-12).
They want to be called by His name: Christians.
The Church of God repre-sented in Revelation 12
While the apostle John was on the isle of Patmos he had a marvelous vision:
"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon un-der her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" Revelation 12:1.
The woman here represents the true church. The sun with which she is clothed represents Christ, "the Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2). Since the gospel describes His light and teach-
ings, we can consider this light to be the rays of the sun. The moon under her feet, is a symbol of the Old Testa¬ment upon which the New Testament church was founded. Just as the moon receives the light of the sun so the Old Testament received its light from Christ. Furthermore, the 12 stars are symbols of the 12 apostles. When man fell, a prom-ise was made to the church, a promise made in Eden about a seed, which was to be the hoped for Messiah. This seed would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15).
In apocalyptic symbolism Jesus is presented as the hoped for son of the church, in fact, the church waited for this event for a thousand years!
"And she being with child cried, tra-vailing in birth, and pained to be de-livered...And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne" Revelation 12:2, 5 (Psalms 2: 7-9).
The term "caught up" refers to Christ's ascension into heaven (He-brews 10:12).
"And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red drag¬on, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood be-fore the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born" Revelation 12:3-4.
Whom does this dragon represent? "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which de-ceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" Revelation 12:9. We can easily con-clude that this represents Satan-the embodiment of the roman empire, in view of the fact that the 7 heads represent the 7 mountains over which Rome was built (Revelation 17:12). He stood before the woman ready to
___________________________
devour her son, as soon as He was born. Herod's attempt to kill all the children in Bethlehem to get to Jesus is the ful-fi llment of this prophecy. The cruel per-secutions and exile the church of God suffered were foretold.
"And the woman fl ed into the wilder-ness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fl y into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the ser-pent" Revelation 12:6, 13-14.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the faithful had to flee on account of papal persecutions, hiding in caves and dens. It is appalling to remember those sombre days in history. Those who believed oth-er then what the Roman Church taught were sought, tortured and put to death by the "order of the papal inquisition." Today there are houses of torture still in existence. In the centre of the city of Lima (Peru) there is an inquisition mu-seum, which is the same building that was used in colonial days. If they found someone reading the Bible (prohibited in those days) or if they practiced another faith, they were taken, judged, and tor¬tured. If they renounced their way of thinking, they were sometimes able to gain their independence, but if not, they died, usually burned at the stake. More than 50 million people died in this man-ner during the middle ages. The wings that are mentioned, were for the purpose of escaping. This represents the urgen-cy the church felt, which compelled her to take refuge. This persecution lasted 1260 days.
"And the woman fl ed into the wilder¬ness where she hath a place prepared of, God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days" Revelation 12:6.
In verse 14 the same time period is mentioned in another way: "...a time, and times, and a half a time." This means three and a half times. One time is equal to a year of 360 days, which multiplied by 3.5 is 1260 days. According to the pro-phetic key, a day for a year, clearly im-
plies that these are real years. The period of papal suprem-acy lasted from the year 538 until 1798, when during the French Revolution the pope was taken prisoner under Napoleon's orders.
Does the persecuted church receive help? If so, how?
"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a fl ood af-ter the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth" Revelation 12: 15-16
Waters equal multitudes in Biblical language (Revelation 17:15), which were hurled against the faithful. The earth helped the woman. Throughout the reformation of the 16th century, many kingdoms throughout Europe protected the lives of the persecuted. The discov-ery of America was also pertinent, since many of those who were persecuted for their faith in Europe, found refuge and freedom here.
The church of today
Near the end of the chapter the prophecy fi nishes describing the rest of the woman (people of God in these last days). What characteristics must the true church of God have?
"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" Revela¬tion 12:17.
1. It is a persecuted church. "The drag¬
ón. .. went to make war with.."
2. It is a few that remain -a remnant-
not many. (Zephaniah 3:12)
3. They keep the Commandments of
God.
4. They have the testimony of Jesus
Christ, in other words, the Spirit of
Prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

Dear friend: Before you are the keys to distinguish the true church in our times. Once again, we can see that the standard that must be applied, to see if they are fulfi lling the Lord's requirements are the 10 commandments. Open your Bible to Exodus 20, and carefully read each com-mandment and then apply it to the doc¬trine you want to analyze and compare it. Does it pay homage to idols? (2nd commandment), does it participate in war? (6th commandment), does it keep another day not ordained by God? (4th commandment). If the teachings you are comparing coincide with the command¬ments and they are of prophetic origin you can rest assured and should stay in that church, but if it fails in any of these points, then look for the remnant people because the place where you are is not the church of God.
Have you found any anti biblical teachings in this discourse? Of course you have not! Our desire as the Inter-national Missionary Society of the Sev-enth-Day Adventist Church Reform Movement is to live according to the light that God has given to us, and to be in harmony with His holy law. We are aware that salvation is obtained by grace, and that obedience is simply the fruit of faith and the demonstration of our love towards God. Yet, if we reject His law, then obviously we will not have the characteristics of the true church.
_____________________________
The Harlot of Revelation 17
In contrast to the pure woman of chapter 12 which represents the true church, an-other woman who is corrupt is presented to symbolize the group of false churches. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. With whom the kids of the earth have committed fornication, and the in-habitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was ar-rayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her fore-head was a name written, MYSTEREY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration" Revelation 17:1-6.
The term Babylon, means confusion. This woman is called a harlot because she fl irts with the kings of the earth- she makes agreements with them-instead of only belonging to Christ. She is also un-faithful (James 4:4). Israel was also seen in this same light (Isaiah 1:21-22).
Her dominion is universal since "she is sitting upon many waters" which means multitudes of people. "And he said unto me, the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" Revelation 17:15.
She is sitting upon a beast that has 7 heads. What do these heads mean? Rev¬elation 17:9 clarifies this: "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The sev¬en heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth." In other words the place of her government is a city with 7 hills. The city of Rome was built upon seven hills.
She is dressed in purple and is decked with gold (verse 4). Her teachings are not
pure, instead they are mixed with false doctrines (cup of abomination) and by looking back in history it is evident that she was instrumental in the p persecu-tion of the saints (verse 6). All of these characteristics suggest to us and tell us who she is, this deals with the church whose seat is in Rome. Often we hear invitations that are directed to the prot-estant churches asking them to return to the mother church. She herself consid-ers herself like this, just as the prophecy points out. But Babylon is not only the church of Rome but an entire religious system, if a mother church exists, there will obviously be daughter churches. Who are these daughters of Babylon? Those which imitate the Roman Church in whatever it may be. For example: The observance of Sunday, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, taking part in war, etc.
A Pure Church
How does the apostle Paul describe the church whose head is Jesus Christ? "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" Ephesians 5:23, 26-27.
This does not mean that its members are perfect. Don't seek a church of saints! We are still in this world; we are still in the process of sanctifi cation. Yet, the doc¬trine that the true church upholds cannot have a spot or wrinkle. It must be a pil¬lar and stronghold of faith. "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house

of God, which is the church of the living God, that pillar and ground of truth" I Timothy 3:15.
The call of God
To all of the sincere people that are found in Babylon-the religious erroneous sys-tem-God makes the following call: "And I heard another voice from heaven, say¬ing, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revela¬tion 18:4.
Jesus invites us to come within the ark, to be part of His body, which is the church. The true people of God can eas-ily be distinguished because they teach and keep all of the commandments. Let us be faithful to Jesus, this is our trial of faith. Let us remain in the vine, that has no breach in its hedge, let us remain unit-ed to the true vine which is Jesus Christ, so that we may bear much fruit.
Gerhard Hunger, Argentina SW
_____________________________
Spanish Field Conference
On the 8, 9, and 10 of November the re-organization conference of the Spanish fi eld was held in Parets del Valles, Bar¬celona. The motto of the conference was "Christ our Righteousness."
Br. Jose V. Giner opened the confer¬ence on Friday the 8 in the afternoon, his message from the word of God was the trials the Christian goes through. The Christian is often exposed to trials; this is the crucible that God places us in with the purpose of burning away all the impurities and rough spots from our character, just as the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy state: "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affl iction." (Isaiah 48:10); "Thou hast proved mine heart" (Psalms 17:3). "Trials in life are the instruments God uses to eliminate all impurities and roughness from our character"(D.A). To illustrate the point, the disciples of Christ were mentioned. Although they had spent time with the greatest teacher history has ever seen there were faults in their characters that needed to be re¬moved in order to accomplish the work they had been called to do. That is why the Lord permitted them to be tried in the "crucible of affl iction", that is to say that He permitted them to go through trials.
Also, Matthew 26 was mentioned, where suffering and death of Christ are narrated. In this terrible situation, each disciple was tried to the uttermost. These fi ery trials melted away from their char¬acter the dross that made them unlike Christ. They saw how Jesus was im-prisoned, yet He never fought to de-fend himself or showed resistance to His accusers, they learned about His unjust trial and about the sufferings He endured all the way to Mount Calvary. One denied Him, another one betrayed Him, and the rest fled from Him. The grave faults of their character were made evident in such a vivid manner when contrasted with the divine model. Those

who humbly submitted to the purifica-tion process came out prepared to fi nish the great work of bringing souls to Jesus' feet. We can only be a fount of blessing to others in proportion to our entire con-secration to the Lord.
After the trial of John, who had for-merly been the son of thunder, he could exclaim when he wrote his gospel: "Be-loved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God...Be-loved, if God so loved us, we ought al¬so to love one another." (1 John 4:7, 11). Peter, selfish and proud, became a self-denying and encouraging disciple. The other disciples also experienced a radical change in their lives. This theme ended with the thoughts of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:28.
On Sabbath, the 9, the Sabbath school was held in the morning by brother Jose Luis from Madrid. Pastor Antonino Di Franca, a representative of the General Conference, held the divine service and presented the theme of "Christ our Righteousness." Man is a sinner by na-ture. The sentence of God is death for the sinner; but God, in His great love and mercy made the plan of salvation so that all who believe in His son as a substitute and guarantee for man may be saved (Rom 4:5-7; 3:21-26). This pro-
cess is called "justification by faith" in the Bible. The Spirit of Prophecy defi nes righteousness by faith in the following manner: "When the repented sinner, stands contrite before the throne of God, and discerns that atonement is his only hope in this life and in the life to come, his sins are forgiven. This is justifica¬tion by faith...Pardon and justification are one and the same thing." (MS, 21, 189, 1891; 6CB 1070)
The brother explained the concepts of "imputed righteousness" and "imparted righteousness". Imputed righteousness is the work of forgiveness. The Father forgives our sins because Christ bore up-on Himself our guilt and shame thereby imputing to us His own righteousness. He imputes it to us because it is not ours; it comes from the Son as a result of hav-ing lived a perfect life in agreement with the law of God. An example of this is the thief that was crucified alongside Christ and who repented of his sins, confessing his faith in the Messiah. In that same mo-ment he received the surety of pardon (imputed righteousness). Of course, if he had been able to get down from the cross and live a couple more years he would have had to make a couple of re-forms in his life.
"No repentance that does not bring about a reform is genuine. The righ-
_______________________________
teousness of Christ is not a garment to cover sins that have not been confessed nor abandoned, it is a principle of life that transforms the sinner and corrects the behavior. Holiness is uprightness towards God: it is the complete sur-render of the heart and life for which the principles of heaven have been re-vealed. (DA).
This part, or process, is called "impart-ed righteousness" or sanctifi cation and it lasts an entire lifetime, which means that forgiveness is not only a judicial action but it goes even further than this, it frees man from sin, it is redemption from sin. The result of the righteousness of God in us will be that we will be made new creatures. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
In the afternoon the youth presented their program, full of wonderful experi-ences, testimonies, and songs of praise. Brother Giner had a chance to speak again, his topic for the afternoon was: "A brand plucked out of the fire". The work of Satan has been apparent since he rebelled in his heavenly home. Many characteristics exist that characterize him and his work: a) Homicide (John 8:44), b) Liar (John 8:44), and c) Accuser (Revela-tion 12:10). After explaining the meaning of homicide, he showed how the devil throughout mankind's history has very noticeably wielded this weapon so ef-fectively - in particular when he killed Christ by instigating the Jewish priests and the roman authorities -, he also con¬tinues wielding it today, against those who wish to do the will of God (and also against those who serve Him to secure their souls). He also emphasized the fact that we can harbour this characteristic by giving shelter to negative thoughts against our brother (Matthew. 5:21-22); it was also mentioned that in the last stages of this earth's history, Satan will want to kill the children of God (Revelation. 13: 16-18), but according to the Bible they will be kept safe.
Lying is another characteristic that Sa¬tan possesses. The beginning of the sin
and fall of the human being had its ini-tiation in a lie. Lying has caused a lot of suffering in this world and it is with this weapon that the devil will base his line of attack during the latter rain. There-fore, the speech of a Christian should always be truthful (Matthew 5:37).
During the second part of the after¬noon meeting, the subject spoken about was "accusation." Perhaps this is the most outstanding characteristic of the devil. He accuses those whom he has tempted in the past and has caused to fall into his snares. The brother spoke about the parable of the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8) with the purpose of showing the church the need to ask with-out giving up and completely trusting in the mercy of the Lord. The prayer of the widow represents the prayers the chil¬dren of God, who are always "accosted" by the adversary of souls, who accuses them day and night.
Our attention was directed to the prophecy of Zechariah in chapter three, a prophecy that deals with the children of God and who are personifi ed in the high priest Joshua pleading for his people who find themselves in great affliction. But while He is interceding, Satan is at his right hand and accuses him: "And he shewed me Joshua the high priest stand¬ing before the angel of the Lord, and Sa¬tan standing at his right hand to resist him." (Zechariah 3:1) The true nature of man's enemy is shown to us here: "He presents before the Lord their evil doing and their defects. He shows their faults and failures, hoping they will appear of such a character in the eyes of Christ that He will render them no help in their great need (COL, 167). Joshua, who rep¬resents the people of God, is under con-demnation, dressed in filthy rags: "Now Joshua was clothed with fi lthy garments, and stood before the angel." (Zechariah 3:3). "Satan is pressing upon his soul a sense of guiltiness that makes him feel almost hopeless" (COL, 167). The vision of Zechariah presents the same morals
and principles as the parable of the widow and the judge: The "adversary" seeks for the children of God to destroy them; and it is true that once they take a look at themselves it seems that in total discouragement they are on the verge of losing all hope. In contrast, despite the terrible opposition of the unjust judge, the widow continued with her petitions. Joshua also continues pleading. Other examples are, Jacob who takes hold of the angel and says to Him: "I will no let thee go until thou bless me." David who exclaims: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow...hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities." (Psalms 51:7, 9). And, Dan¬iel who lifted up his soul unto the Lord in fervent prayer for his people: "Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctu-ary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." (Daniel 9:17)
Before this terrible situation, what answer does God give: "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fi re" (Zechariah 3:1). "A brand plucked out of the fi re," in oth¬er words a piece of half burned wood, on the verge of becoming charcoal. It is true, that Joshua (the people of God) is a burn-ing piece of wood, practically useless. But Christ reproves Satan and assures him that he has plucked His people from the burning, that there is hope for each one of the children of Israel, that those who believe and trust in the powerful name of Jesus are not to be consumed, that those who have placed their hope in the Lord and have made the most High their habitation are not going to turn into charcoal dust (Psalms 91:9). Christ has plucked us out of the furnace in the past, and perhaps some are being plucked out today, He also promises to free us from eternal damnation and each time that