Escape From Evil

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FRIDAY

November 12

Further Study:

“God has chosen you for a great and solemn work. He has been seeking to discipline, to test, to prove you, to refine and ennoble you, that this sacred work may be done with a single eye to His glory which belongs wholly to God. What a thought that God chooses a man and brings him into close connection with Himself, and gives him a mission to undertake, a work to do, for Him. A weak man is made strong, a timid man is made brave, the irresolute becomes a man of firm and quick decision. What! is it possible that man is of so much consequence as to receive a commission from the King of kings! Shall worldly ambition allure from the sacred trust, the holy commission?”—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, p. 167.

Discussion Questions:

Drawing from other parts of the Bible, dwell on the life of Saul, and the question of how someone who had been given so much could have squandered it all. What lessons can we take from his story for ourselves? What mistakes did he make that started him down a path that led him to the kind of actions we saw this week?     Dwell more on the idea of how Jesus in His humanity is able to sympathize with us in our struggles. Why is the humanity of Christ so important to us?      Drawing on the experience of someone in your class who has faced bereavement, what are ways that you as a class can help? That is, what can you do beyond just speaking consoling words? Are there cases where nothing else can be done other than “just” speaking consoling words?     One of the great questions that has challenged Christian thinkers over the centuries is the idea of God’s foreknowledge and our free will. If God knows our choices beforehand, are we really free in making them? If not, then where is personal freedom, and if we don’t have freedom, how can we justly be judged or punished for our actions? Some, to get around this conundrum, argue that certain of our actions have to be unknown to God, or else those actions couldn’t be free. Others see no problem: God’s knowing what a person will do doesn’t in any way affect that person’s freedom to make the choices. In class discuss these questions, realizing that you might not readily solve the issues. What’s important to know is that we are free beings, and yet, even while respecting our free choices, God is in control.

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		I N S I D E Story
		Escape From Evil Hilario slipped out of the house and walked down the dusty road in southern Angola. He never turned back. Hilario lived with his grandmother after his parents were killed when he was a baby. She taught him to pray and took him to church on Sundays. He wanted to become a priest, but the civil war forced him to flee to southern Angola, where he lived with an uncle. One of his cousins died, and another became seriously ill. Hilario's uncle took the family to a traditional healer who told the family they must take special baths to rid themselves of the curse on them. Something about the woman troubled Hilario, and he didn't want to take her treatments. But his uncle insisted. Hilario began having symptoms of spirit possession. Often he felt as though someone was trying to suffocate him. The healer invited him to live with her and learn how to use his new "gift." When he refused, she told him, "If you don't stay with me, you will die." Hilario's uncle told him he must go, so he obeyed. Hilario realized that this woman's powers were from the devil. He begged God to help him escape. Several times Hilario tried to flee the house, but a force stronger than himself held him, and he couldn't move. The woman reproached him for trying to leave and reminded him that he would die if he left. Hilario prayed for deliverance, and God answered. One morning he set out on an errand and never turned back. He fled to the city where his grandmother lived. There he met a girl and took her for his common-law wife. One day he found a Bible and began reading it, searching for truth about God. When he found a verse that spoke of the Sabbath, Hilario stopped. It was so clear. Why had he never understood this before? He remembered an uncle who was a Seventh-day Adventist. He visited him and asked about the Sabbath. His uncle took him to church. During the worship service Hilario realized that the spirits that had troubled him were gone. He asked Christ into his life. But when he asked to be baptized, his wife left him. Hilario prayed for her as he prepared for baptism, and several months later she returned. She attended church with him and in time asked to be married and baptized. "We are living in God's freedom now," Hilario says. "We are new and transformed. We thank God for delivering us and saving us." Millions still live in spiritual darkness. Your mission offerings help bring light and hope and healing where it's needed the most. HILARO and his wife share their faith in Luarda, Angola.
		Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. email:   info@adventistmission.org  website:  www.adventistmission.org