Answers to Questions

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 27.

Answers to Questions

“Enquire, and make search, and ask diligently.”

No. 370. “Prince of the Power of the Air.”

WHAT is the meaning of “the prince of the power of the air”? How does Satan poison the elements of the atmosphere and pervert its laws? F. F.

When Adam was created, he was given dominion over all the earth and all that pertained to it. Gen. 1: 26–28. He was therefore king of the world and prince of the power of the air, ruling according to God’s perfect laws. When Adam yielded to Satan, he yielded all under him, and the dominion, given Adam in trust for God, passed to Satan, who is now “the god of this world,” “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” See Eph. 2: 2; 2 Cor. 4: 4; Luke 4: 6. Every law of God Satan has perverted, and hence the discord, disease, pain, quakes, and all other disturbances of nature, earth’s groaning for the coming and rule of her rightful Lord. Rom. 8: 22.

No. 371. Perfection of Character.

(1) WILL the righteous living at Christ’s coming have attained to the perfect character of God? (2) How do those attain to that character that have died in Christ, with defects yet in their character?

1. Yes; the righteous living are at that time “without fault before the throne of God.” Rev. 14: 5. The righteousness of God through Christ is wrought into every fiber of their character. Their trials—meeting the “all power” of the enemy and “all deceivableness of unrighteousness”—and the all sufficiency of the perfect word of Christ’s grace, by which the trials are met, perfect their characters so that they may stand without a mediator.

2. The defects of those who have died in Christ are covered by the righteousness of Christ.

By the trials they have borne they have shown that they would have borne all trials. By walking in the light which was revealed to them they have shown that they would have walked in all light. Those who are saved will have had perfect purpose of heart to do God’s will; and the perfect consecration of will is completed by the fulness of Christ’s righteousness. See 2 Chron. 16: 9; Matt. 22: 37. Love may not always have been perfected in deed, but it has been in purpose, doing every known commandment, and counting it “not grievous.” 1 John 5: 3. And God accepts the will, the perfect heart, for the deed.

No. 372. A Generation.

How long is a generation?

J. H. COX.

That depends on the time in the earth’s history where the generation is placed. Practically, it means those living on the earth at one time, and has varied all the way from nearly a thousand years before the flood to seventy or less at the present time. The expression is in its very nature indefinite.

No. 373. Questions on Tithing.

ARE we required by the Lord to pay tithes on things that are given us? Should tithes be paid on eggs, garden vegetables, etc.? Or is it paid on the produce we sell and on all the money we get? L. E.

There are sometimes different and various questions concerning the tithe that can not be dogmatically answered; we must each decide them with God, according to the general instruction of his word. In Lev. 27: 30–33 we have the law of the tithe stated. In Mal. 3: 8–12 we are warned in a prophecy of the Christian dispensation, of the curse that will follow the neglect of this duty, and are told of the blessings which God will bestow upon the faithful. We have also our Saviour’s comments in Matt. 23: 23 and Luke 11: 42, in which it is said that the tithe of the mint and rue ought not to be left undone.

If we are given a thing of no value to us, which we can not turn into money, and which we would not have purchased if it had not been given to us, it would be difficult to see why we should pay tithes on it. If worth anything at all, hold it in trust for God.

Farmers many times do not sell certain kinds of produce, because they have so little, or for lack of market. Only one thing among many is turned into money, and they do not get money enough for the one thing to pay tithe on the many and meet other cash payments necessary in other directions, such as rent, interest, taxes, etc. Let us suggest: If we have but ten bushels of potatoes, let us take one bushel of the best, sell it for the most we can get, and give it to the Lord. When we have taken his tithe of the best, lay it before him, and let him be responsible for the price. So with eggs; let the first dozen of good eggs, or the third dozen, or some other, be set apart and sold as the Lord’s, and make him responsible for the cash sale, whatever it is. It is a partnership arrangement, in which the Lord leaves much in our hands, yet is always ready to co-operate if we will let him. Plan all these things with perfect heart, so that the responsibility of cash sales will rest upon the Lord after we have done our part.

The faithful servant of God who is earning wages, tithes what he gets from week to week. If he receives $15 a week, he takes from that $1.50, and uses the balance in other offerings to the Lord, in house rent, in purchasing all that his family have, from green peas to a barrel of flour or a suit of clothing. The difficulty on farms is that but little cash is received and only cash is tithed. We believe that by careful planning for God our farming brethren could do much better, the tithe would be greatly increased, and they would be greatly blessed in every way. We never lose anything by doing duty. Let us tithe everything that is worth tithing if possible; if we want it for our own use, let us be willing to pay a tithe on it equal to what it would be if we should sell it for ourselves alone. In all things let us seek God’s glory, and deal honestly with him.