Come Aside and Unify

January 22, 2011

By Ernie Knoll

In my dream, I am standing in a very large office that looks like a college. There are two desks, one each for the president and vice president/treasurer. I now hear a conversation between the two men. The treasurer tells the president that they are in grave financial distress and soon they will need to close the doors. The president discusses how God has led them in so many ways through the years. He speaks of how so many times it was as if Jesus was standing with His arms open, waiting to be with him and guide him on his path. “But now,” the president says, “it is as if Jesus and I no longer walk side by side. It is as if I walk alone.”

The treasurer has been sitting at his desk going through papers. He now remarks about the many bills, outstanding loans, and creditors who are requesting their money. He mentions that there is no way to provide the funds that are needed, because they owe so much.

Suddenly, the treasurer stands up with a letter in one hand and a check in the other. He excitedly reads the letter, which explains that the enclosed check is from a government assistance fund to help with financial affairs. The letter explains that with the assistance, the receiver agrees with any and all decisions put forth from the government. The treasurer states that this is enough to pay all the bills and to get things back to where they can continue on. The president states that they should prayerfully consider the letter associated with the check and that death is imminent with or without the check. He explains to the treasurer that the stipulations given in the letter will be the utter destruction of what they have believed. The president states again that death is imminent.

Yet instead of praying about the situation, the treasurer calls many connected with the school to assemble in the office for some news. He has now gotten under his desk as if he is searching for something, but I realize it is so he can bring attention to himself when he comes up from under his desk to speak. Soon the office is filled with mostly students and a few teachers.

The president begins speaking first. He explains how important it is that we daily walk closely with Jesus. He mentions the importance of finding peace and safety with Jesus as our refuge, even when we retire for the night. Our heart’s song should be that we will abide with Him. He says that Jesus waits with open arms for us to come to Him where we can abide in His arms—a safe haven and a refuge.[1]

I notice that angels now encircle the assembled group, and I begin humming the hymn, “Abide With Me.”[2] The angels now join in by singing the words to the song. The group does not see or hear them. The angels sing slowly, almost as if to contemplate the meaning of each word.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me!

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me!

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness:
Where is death’s sting? where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou abide with me![*]

The treasurer now reappears from under his desk to make his “grand entrance.” He interrupts the president’s recommitment talk by saying, “Yes, it is important that we live every day by pondering each decision we make and which path we take. Each day we should come aside to quietly meditate and contemplate the importance of self-preservation and self-decisions. We should spend every waking moment in unity of thought. We each need to equally determine to unite our thoughts. We need to come aside and unify as one.” As he continues speaking, one angel at a time stops singing, lowers his head, and walks away. The words they hear do not glorify their Lord and Master but rather bring disgrace to His name.[3]

The treasurer now states that they need a song to rejoice with. Suddenly, an obnoxious sound comes from under his desk. It has a beat with a swaying music pattern. He begins to sing, “We all got to come aside, come aside. We all got to unify, unify.” At the end of each repetition, I hear the sound of “oomph,” “oomph,” “oomph.” I notice that each person in the group starts to sway from side to side and then begins dancing to the rhythmic music. The treasurer is able to get each person excited over the same words spoken repeatedly.

The president is now taking things out of his desk drawers and quickly dumping them into a large empty box. He next grabs the items from the top of his desk and throws them into the box. He then pulls things from his bookcase and quickly tosses them into the box. I hear him saying, “All we needed to do was abide with Jesus. We are at the end, and the doors are about to close. Instead there is a desire to come aside and unify, when what we need to do is to abide with Jesus.” The president quickly picks up his box and leaves, knowing where he must go for safety.

[*]Abide With Me lyrics written by Henry F. Lyte

[1]    Psalm 91:2-11
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

[2]    Review and Herald, December 19, 1893
The apostle says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” O what a representation is this of the security, the peace, the rest, the confidence, we may have in the love of God. No man, no power, can force us from our refuge. Jesus says, “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. I am the vine, and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.” Thank God with heart and soul and voice for a safe abiding-place. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then [if you have hid your life with Christ in God] shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

[3]    Selected Messages, Book 1, p. 175
Our church members see that there are differences of opinion among the leading men, and they themselves enter into controversy regarding the subjects under dispute. Christ calls for unity. But He does not call for us to unify on wrong practices. The God of heaven draws a sharp contrast between pure, elevating, ennobling truth and false, misleading doctrines. He calls sin and impenitence by the right name. He does not gloss over wrongdoing with a coat of untempered mortar. I urge our brethren to unify upon a true, scriptural basis.

Ibid., Book 3, p. 412
We have a testing message to give, and I am instructed to say to our people, “Unify, unify.” But we are not to unify with those who are departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. With our hearts sweet and kind and true, we are to go forth to proclaim the message, giving no heed to those who lead away from the truth.