Daily Devotions

[Berean]

Hi Gene,

thank you for your answer, but I don’t think your answer is the right one and that’s why I told you that you didn’t answer the Millennium question.

Gene, you seem COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN THAT THIS IS A TIME OF JUDGMENT WITH CHRIST ASSISTED BY THE SAINTS (see v.4)

So, my point of view is that the reason for this thousand-year judgment is that the saints,
the elect who will assist Christ as He judges the wicked and fallen angels
👉 understand the reason for the condemnation of those who are lost.👈

For if there were no lost all would be with Jesus in the holy city. And therefore the aim of this judgment is to give the reasons to the elected officials for the absence of all those absent who will be condemned.

Do you understand what I’m telling you?

(It’s French translated into English by Google translate most of the time.)

I hope this makes sense to you, it does to me.

I won’t say more for today.
Think about this.

🙏

 

[Nick]

Hi Berean,

Obsessed with Judgement and Condemnation you miss the joy and order of the Millenium.

[Berean]

Obsessed with Judgement and Condemnation you miss the joy and order of the Millenium.

No Nick

I am not not obsessed with judgement and condamnation …It’s the truth that fascinates me. Neither more nor less.

The order of the millennium?
Yes there will be order because God is a God of order and not of confusion.

the joy, well it will be when God wipes away the tears of those who will inherit salvation and when He makes all things new.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev.21:4

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
(Isaiah 65:17)

🙏

[carmel]

Hi Berean,

You: Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians addresses the Ephesians first, but secondly to all Christians.
Paul addresses neither the Father nor the Son.
But he prays to the Father.

I still don’t see the purpose of your posts…

Try to be simpler.
THANKS

Me: The purpose of my post as I said in the first place, is THE TRUTH!

You: Paul addresses neither the Father nor the Son.

I never used the word “ADDRESSES” I used the words

“ DIRECTING” and “REFERRING”

With my post, I am addressing you but I am also with my words directing God and Jesus Christ who is in you as a Christian!

So Paul by his preaching was addressing the Ephesians but in the same breath, he was directing his speech to both THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!

Precisely what Paul emphatically made clear, right from the very first verse, and which in the above, you simply didn’t see and left out!

Read again please:

Ephesians 3:1For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles;

In the above verse 1 Paul confirmed that he is

“THE” PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST!

Isn’t Paul in the above directing and referring his speech to Jesus Christ Our Lord?

Definitely so. No?

One down more to go!

 

Peace and Love in Jesus Christ

[GeneBalthrop]

To all………What I have said is the true meaning for the thousand year rule of Jesus and the Saint’s, sorry I some are unable to see that.  As far a judgement being given to the Saint’s goes, the Saint’s now have that abiding “IN” THEM , just as the apostle Paul said they had.  That ability is brought about by the Spirit of God , that abides in the “true” Saint’s of God ,even now they have it abiding “IN” THEM.

AS I have said, the millennial reign of Jesus and the Saint’s is “ONLY”  to prove a simple, but, “VERY IMPORTANT POINT.” NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS. 

That point is,  to demonstrate to all human creation, that without the “HOLY SPIRIT” of God abiding “IN” A PERSON FOREVER , NO ONE CAN “MAINTAIN” RIGHTEOUSNESS ,  no matter how “perfect and righteous”, the environment around them is, when evil comes they will fall away,   Just that simple.  Tho only ones who don’t fall away at the end of the thousand year reign  are Jesus and the Saint’s , why?, because the Spirit of God the Father was abiding “IN” THEM for ever and as a result, they have,  never ending life, because of the eternal Spirit of God, dwelling “In” them, given them by, God the Father himself.

To them who have ears to hear let them  hear.

peace and love to you all and yours……….gene

 

[Berean]

Hi to all

THINK OF HEAVENLY THINGS

These are those who come from the great tribulation; they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14)

While in vision, John saw a group of people dressed in white robes… They were in the temple of God. There will be found all those who resort to the merits of Christ and wash their clothes in His blood. Provision has been made that we may sit with Christ on His throne, provided we are in harmony with the law of God…

We cannot afford to lose the sky. We must speak of heavenly things. There will be neither death nor pain up there. Why are we so hesitant to talk about these things? Why do we always talk about earthly things?… Jesus will come very soon to gather with those who are ready to take them to this glorious place. “Christ, who offered himself once to bear the sins of many, will appear sinless a second time to those who wait for him for their salvation” (Heb. 9:28).

Do we not enjoy thinking about this event or do we prefer to ignore it?… The more we talk about Jesus, the more we will reflect on His divine image. It is through contemplation that we are transformed. Christ must be part of our religious experience. When you come together, let Christ and His salvation be the center of your conversations… The more we talk about Jesus, the more we will discover His incomparable charms.

Those who have no pleasure in thinking and talking about God in this life will not enjoy the life to come, where God will always be present, dwelling with His people. But those who find joy in thinking of God will be in their element when they breathe the atmosphere of heaven. Those who, on this earth, love to think of heavenly things, will be happy among holy companies and holy pleasures… “There will be no more anathema. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; His servants will serve Him and see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:3, 4). (In the heavenly places, p. 370).

God bless

[Berean]

Hi to all

Here is one subject to Devotional

Our Greatest Need: To Grow Up and Become Like Jesus

In His last prayer for His disciples Jesus uttered these words, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me..and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” ( John 17:21-22).

This passage is being  used in the most perverse manner to bring all religious groups together in the name of peace and unity. To everyone who answers this call, the admonition is proclaimed, “we must put aside our differences and come together for the common good of humanity”. This refrain is so good-sounding that untold numbers who call themselves ‘Christians’ are deceived, joining this anti-Christian movement, yea, even in the name of Jesus. Our Lord and Savior foresaw exactly such a time when He answered the question of His disciples as to what will be the signs of His second coming. He warned, “Take heed that no man deceive you..for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5). He felt that the issue of deception will be so prevalent and powerful in the closing scenes of earth’s history that he repeated the same admonition three more times (Matthew 24:11, 15 and 24).

The adherents to this call of ecumenism are told that doctrine does not matter…only let’s come together and  love each other is the constant appeal. The problem with this phenomenon, particularly for Christians, is that Jesus Himself reveals to us what is the most  distinctive doctrine of the Christian faith. He teaches, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). How can one cast that aside, join in that movement, and still call themself Christian?

If you would talk to any Christian, he/she would have no problem in telling you that they are ‘born again’. Indeed, many will refer to Jesus’ conversation with the Jewish theologian, Nicodemus, who came secretly to ask of Jesus how he may truly obtain eternal life (John 3:2-7). Of course, Jesus’  answer was, “you must be born again” (John 3:7). To most, and rightfully so, this is certainly what they believe as they come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior from sin.

Unfortunately, however, this is where the overwhelming majority of them stop. They fail to grow up in Christ. When a child is born, if he/she fails to grow up, either cognitively or physically, he/she is diagnosed and considered handicapped, even if referred to by some other politically correct term. When a Christian claims to be born again but fails to grow up in Christ, so is he/she spiritually handicapped. This condition leads to mass deception, the very thing that Jesus warned about some two thousand years ago. It is over masterly prevalent today in Christendom. Deception is simply believing something to be true, when in fact it is a lie.

In joining hearts and voices with his Master, the Apostle Paul also warns, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ…and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Such are the ones to whom many Christians adhere,  trust, follow and parrot their errors. Too many ‘born again’ abandon the standard by which all  teachers and preaches MUST be judged:”To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).

But Jesus counseled through His servant, Paul, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). He continued, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:15-17). It is thus, that  growth, which should be the natural progression from being born again is effected. Without it, stagnation and retardation are inevitable. Deception then claims its easy prey.

Consequently, we hear the ever popular refrain, ‘I am born again, saved by grace and don’t have to keep the law’. Nevertheless, the very Paul  whom they reference in this area  is grossly misunderstood and  misquoted. He declares, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law”, (Romans 3:31). He reiterates, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:1-5). In other words, the counsel is to become more like Jesus, through God’s grace, by obeying His law.

Another reason for denying the binding claim to keep God’s law is that we are under the ‘New Covenant’ and God’s law does not apply.  But, God prophesied and Paul confirms, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:10). Despite the undeniable Biblical  evidence, the born again Christian who fails to grow up will passionately deny his/her obligation to keep God’s law. Sadly this is what we are confronted with throughout a large swat of Christendom.

In addition to the above, perhaps some of the most popular  deceptions resulting from lack of growth, are the truth about God’s Sabbath, the millennium, the true state of the dead, the second coming of Jesus and understanding the book of Revelation among others. The end result is to ignorantly separate God’s righteousness from His truth, His commandments from righteousness, His love from His justice, sin from death, and His grace from His law. As a direct consequence  of of not studying to know what the Scriptures teach on these very vital salvitic issues, the very foundations of the Christian faith is shattered. Hence,the ‘born again’ who chooses not to grow up becomes a willing prey of the enemy of our souls; fervently believing they will be saved in God’s kingdom. But, Jesus Christ Himself lays out the ultimate outcome of growing up in Him versus remaining a perpetual infant: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2). If you fail to grow up, you wither and die.

As we open the Bible we are presented with a picture of perfection (Genesis Ch.1-2). A perfect world is called into existence by a perfect God who created a perfect couple and instructed them to obey His perfect law. The record reveals, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26-27).

Then something terribly happened in chapter 3. It is called sin, going against the the commandments of God (1 John 3:4). The consequences for such an act is death…complete separation from God and His universe; not life in a different sphere as so many ‘born again’ Christians believe. They repeat the doctrine of the enemy of their souls which he taught our first parents: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The wise man Solomon corrects the record. Says he, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6; Psalm 146:4; Job 7:8-9).

The ONLY remedy for this devastation of the human experience is Jesus Christ who was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8) and presented to the first couple, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15, 21). The Apostle Paul presents it very plainly, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). As that Gift was about to be presented in person to fallen sinful humanity the angel announced, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (not in their sins) (Matthew 1:21). Obviously, the reason for which He came is to restore humanity back to the perfection in which He created us.

His transformed follower, Peter, emphasised, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23). By following Jesus’ divine example, the Edenic image of God  in man, marred by sin,will be restored.  But he must not just be born again; but grow up into the full statute of Jesus Christ. This is accomplished by  truly believing that it can happen and subsequently exercising the most powerful endowment God has given to all of us…the power of choice.

God’s thoughts for us is infinitely higher than our thoughts for ourselves. He require godliness, holiness, perfection. Hence His last prayer on our behalf, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent Me” (John 17:21).

The end is at hand; yet too many claiming to be born again, refuse to grow up. Growing up means believing God’s word and cease imbibing in error.  This is what Jesus prayed for on that fateful night as He faced the cross of Calvary. It was not for His people to cast aside their peculiarity so that they can unite with the man of sin; but rather for them to study His word so that they would be  like Him  when He appears ( 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:6; 1 John 3:2).

Dear God, in the name of your Son and my Savior, Jesus Christ, please fulfill my greatest need and your deepest desire: To become more like You.

By Aubrey Duncan

God bless

[Berean]

Hi to all

THIS IS TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY…

I just read it, I’ll forward it to you

God bless you
in Jesus Christ.

THE LAW OF GOD
The Divine Standard of Morality

The spiritual declension which had been manifest in England just before the time of Wesley was in great degree the result of antinomian teaching. Many affirmed that Christ had abolished the moral law and that Christians are therefore under no obligation to observe it; that a believer is freed from the “bondage of good works.” Others, though admitting the perpetuity of the law, declared that it was unnecessary for ministers to exhort the people to obedience of its precepts, since those whom God had elected to salvation would, “by the irresistible impulse of divine grace, be led to the practice of piety and virtue,” while those who were doomed to eternal reprobation “did not have power to obey the divine law.”

Others, also holding that “the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine favor,” arrived at the still more hideous conclusion that “the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, nor to be considered as instances of their violation of the divine law, and that, consequently, they have no occasion either to confess their sins or to break them off by repentance.”—McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, art. “Antinomians.” Therefore, they declared that even one of the vilest of sins, “considered universally an enormous violation of the divine law, is not a sin in the sight of God,” if committed by one of the elect, “because it is one of the essential and distinctive characteristics of the elect, that they cannot do anything that is either displeasing to God or prohibited by the law.”

These monstrous doctrines are essentially the same as the later teaching of popular educators and theologians—that there is no unchangeable divine law as the standard of right, but that the standard of morality is indicated by society itself, and has constantly been subject to change. All these ideas are inspired by the same master spirit—by him who, even among the sinless inhabitants of heaven, began his work of seeking to break down the righteous restraints of the law of God.

The doctrine of the divine decrees, unalterably fixing the character of men, had led many to a virtual rejection of the law of God. Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the antinomian teachers and showed that this doctrine which led to antinomianism was contrary to the Scriptures. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all.” Titus 2:11; 1 Timothy 2:3-6. The Spirit of God is freely bestowed to enable every man to lay hold upon the means of salvation. Thus Christ, “the true Light,” “lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1:9. Men fail of salvation through their own willful refusal of the gift of life.

In answer to the claim that at the death of Christ the precepts of the Decalogue had been abolished with the ceremonial law, Wesley said: “The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which ‘stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.’ … This was from the beginning of the world, being ‘written not on tables of stone,’ but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.

“‘I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.’ … Without question, His meaning in this place is (consistently with all that goes before and follows after),—I am come to establish it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men: I am come to place in a full and clear view whatsoever was dark or obscure therein: I am come to declare the true and full import of every part of it; to show t

he length and breadth, the entire extent, of every commandment contained therein, and the height and depth, the inconceivable purity and spirituality of it in all its branches.”—Wesley, sermon 25.

Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and the gospel. “There is, therefore, the closest connection that can be conceived, between the law and the gospel. On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and points us to, the gospel; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that ‘with man this is impossible;’ but we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us humble, meek, and holy: we lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings; it is done unto us according to our faith; and ‘the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us,’ through faith which is in Christ Jesus….

“In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ,” said Wesley, “are they who openly and explicitly ‘judge the law’ itself, and ‘speak evil of the law;’ who teach men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke…. The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that they who are given up to it, really believe that they honor Christ by overthrowing His law, and that they are magnifying His office while they are destroying His doctrine! Yea, they honor Him just as Judas did when he said, ‘Hail, Master, and kissed Him.’ And He may as justly say to every one of them, ‘Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?’ It is no other than betraying Him with a kiss, to talk of His blood, and take away His crown; to set light by any part of His law, under pretense of advancing His gospel. Nor indeed can anyone escape this charge, who preaches faith in any such a manner as either directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience: who preaches Christ so as to disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the commandments of God.”—Ibid.

To those who urged that “the preaching of the gospel answers all the ends of the law,” Wesley replied: “This we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell.” The apostle Paul declares that “by the law is the knowledge of sin;” “and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel his need of the atoning blood of Christ…. ‘They that be whole,’ as our Lord Himself observes, ‘need not a physician, but they that are sick.’ It is absurd, therefore, to offer a physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine themselves so to be. You are first to convince them that they are sick; otherwise they will not thank you for your labor. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken.”—Ibid., sermon 35.

Thus while preaching the gospel of the grace of God, Wesley, like his Master, sought to “magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Faithfully did he accomplish the work given him of God, and glorious were the results which he was permitted to behold. At the close of his long life of more than fourscore years—above half a century spent in itinerant ministry—his avowed adherents numbered more than half a million souls. But the multitude that through his labors had been lifted from the ruin and degradation of sin to a higher and a purer life, and the number who by his teaching had attained to a deeper and richer experience, will never be known till the whole family of the redeemed shall be gathered into the kingdom of God. His life presents a lesson of priceless worth to every Christian. Would that the faith and humility, the untiring zeal, self-sacrifice, and devotion of this servant of Christ might be reflected in the churches of today!

GC 260.2-264.2

🙏

[Berean]

Hi to all

Spiritual Reflections on the War in Israel

By The Remnant Herald

The ancient territory of the Philistines (Gaza) and the biblical land of Israel are the focus of worldwide attention yet again following the slaughter and kidnapping of many hundreds of Israeli citizens by HAMAS terrorists on Sabbath, October 7, 2023, which frightened the world. Since then, military confrontation on the northern and southern flanks of Israel by opposing sides; global protests either supporting or condemning Israel and Palestine; money, personnel and prayers for the Jewish state and the Palestinian territories by devout adherents — all sides are using their resources in the quest for domination over that area once described by God as “the glory of all lands” (Ezekiel 20:6).

Underpinning most of the wars, uprisings and bloodshed seen in this narrow strip of land for millennia has been the desire for the control of Jerusalem. According to an American archeologist in 2004, Eric Cline, based on his research through the historical records:

“There have been at least 118 separate conflicts in and for Jerusalem during the past four millennia — conflicts that ranged from local religious struggles to strategic military campaigns and that embraced everything in between. Jerusalem has been destroyed completely at least twice, besieged twenty-three times, attacked an additional fifty-two times, and captured and recaptured forty-four times. It has been the scene of twenty revolts and innumerable riots, has had at least five separate periods of violent terrorist attacks during the past century, and has only changed hands completely peacefully twice in the past four thousand years.” Jerusalem Besieged — From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel, p. 2. The University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2004

This extraordinary tally of upheaval and death is all the more astonishing when one reads of “what might have been” had the children of Israel always remained loyal and obedient to the principles of Jehovah:

“Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect metropolis of God.” The Great Controversy, p. 18. 1884 ed.

The city of Jerusalem — and by extension, that land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — could have been spared almost four thousand years of turmoil, ruin, catastrophe, and devastation, and the record of Middle Eastern history and the world would have been vastly different! But the rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation during His ministry — culminating in His trial and crucifixion, with the religious leaders and people crying out in unison, “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (Luke 23:21), “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:25), “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15) — brought a dense spiritual shadow upon the city and land that remains until this day:

“How many there are who feel that it would be a good thing to tread the soil of old Jerusalem, and that their faith would be greatly strengthened by visiting the scenes of the Saviour’s life and death! But old Jerusalem will never be a sacred place until it is cleansed by the refining fire from heaven. The darkest blot of guilt rests upon the city that refused the light of Christ. Do we want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus? We need not seek out the paths in Nazareth, Bethany, and Jerusalem. We shall find the footprints of Jesus by the sick-bed, by the side of suffering humanity, in the hovels of the poverty-stricken and distressed. We may walk in these footsteps, comforting the suffering, speaking words of hope and comfort to the despondent. Doing as Jesus did when He was upon earth, we shall walk in His blessed steps. Jesus said, ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ When the sin-cursed earth is purified from every stain of sin; when the Mount of Olives is rent asunder, and becomes an immense plain; when the holy city of God descends upon it, — the land that is now called the Holy Land will indeed become holy. But God’s cause and work will not be advanced by making pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The curse of God is upon Jerusalem for the rejection and crucifixion of His only begotten Son. But God will cleanse away the vile blot.” Review and Herald, June 9, 1896

When our Saviour departed from Herod’s temple for the last time, with heart-rendering cries He uttered a sentence of judgment that could never be revoked.

“‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ This was the most solemn denunciation ever uttered against Jerusalem. After denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, who, while they worshipped the temple, were working with a hatred inspired by Satan to destroy the only One who made the temple sacred, Christ bade adieu to the once hallowed courts. He quitted the temple forever, declaring, ‘Your house is left unto you desolate.’ Henceforth a cloud blacker than sackcloth hung over the once favoured nation.” Review and Herald, December 13, 1898

In this same article from 1898, Sister White drew a parallel between the events that surrounded the fall of Jerusalem by the Romans and that which is to befall the world — the same assertion that the Jewish nation shall be delivered from the hands of her enemies is to be repeated in the very last days.

“Many false Messiahs will appear, claiming to work miracles, and declaring that the time for the deliverance of the Jewish nation has come. These will mislead many. “These words were fulfilled. Between the death of Christ and the siege of Jerusalem, many false Christs appeared. But this warning is given also to those who live in this age of the world. The same deceptions practiced prior to the destruction of Jerusalem will again be practiced. The same events that took place at the overthrow of Jerusalem will take place again. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.’ Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, men wrestled for the supremacy. Emperors were murdered. Those standing next to the throne were slain. ‘All these things must come to pass but the end (of the Jewish nation as a nation) is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ As the rabbis see these signs, Christ said, they will declare that they are God’s judgments on the nations for holding His chosen people in bondage. They will say that these signs are the tokens of the advent of the Messiah. Be not deceived; they are the beginning of His judgments. The Jewish people have looked to themselves. They have not repented and been converted, that I should heal them. The signs they argue as tokens of their release from bondage are signs of their destruction.” Ibid.

The above lines are all the more telling in light of the current internal and external challenges Israel faces to its national existence. Since the creation of modern Israel in 1948, it has fought a number of military battles upon which its very survival hung in the balance (e,g.: the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The 1967 Six Day War was preempted by Israel, its borders were expanded, all of Jerusalem united under Jewish control). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the memory of the Amalekites this October in his goal to disassemble the military and governmental capabilities of HAMAS (Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement) that has taken control of the Gaza Strip. Many evangelical Christians — including certain Republican politicians in the United States — in keeping with their belief in Jerusalem as the city to which Christ will return to establish His earthly kingdom after “the seven-year tribulation,” have reiterated their support for the State of Israel. In December 2022, John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, stated:

“God is getting ready to defend Israel in such a supernatural way, it’s going to take the breath out of the lungs of the dictators on planet Earth but we are living on the cusp of the greatest most supernatural series of events the world has ever seen, ready or not.” Website of The Guardian (Australia): “This War is Prophetically Significant” — Why U.S. Evangelical Christians Support Israel. October 30, 2023

In this period, while many Jews and “rapture” Christians look forward to the time for the supernatural restoration of the former glory of Israel, a slogan is loudly heralded by countless millions of Arabs around the world, “From the River to the Sea” — a demand for an Islamic Palestine to be set up (eliminating the State of Israel), with Jerusalem as its capital. It is very true that not all Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims endorse terrorism to further their interests, especially for the creation of a Palestinian state. Nevertheless, terrorism has been used as a weapon by militants who claim the Islamic faith for religious, military, political, and strategic purposes, in the name of a holy war (“jihad”) against “infidels.” (Some readers may recall the “Black September Organization” — a small group of Palestinian guerillas who slew 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany.) A Roman Catholic teacher and journalist, in his research into the secret activities of the Vatican, wrote how militant Islamists have been used for broader international purposes:

“The war in Afghanistan [initiated by the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979] delighted State Department officials, including Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski… Brzezinski and fellow members of his ‘over-world’ (the elite group that puppeteers events to bring about a ‘new world order’) realized that the concept of democracy and freedom could never galvanize the scattered tribes and peoples of Central Asia. The people could only be unified by the cause of Allah since they were overwhelmingly Islamic. The holy war in Afghanistan, in the view of American geo-strategists, offered many benefits, including the possible downfall of the Soviet Union and the possibility of gaining access and control over the vast natural gas and oil resources of Eurasia. Months before the Soviet invasion in 1979, the CIA launched Operation Cyclone — an attempt to destabilize the Soviet Union by spreading militant Islam throughout the central Asian republics [America’s Afghanistan War: The Success That Failed, pp. 68, 69. J. Meher. Gyan Books. New Delhi, India. 2004]. Eventually, this operation would serve to create hundreds of Islamic terror organizations, including al-Qaeda, al-Jihad, the Ulema Union of Afghanistan, the Sa-lafi Group for Proselytism and Combat, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Harkat ul-Ansar, Jamiat Ulema-e-Is-lam, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Lashkar e-Taiba, and the al-Jihad Group. It would also give rise to terror attacks that would kill and maim millions of people throughout the world and the dream of a New Islamic World Order, that would be espoused by Fethullah Gülen and his disciples.” Operation Gladio — The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, The CIA and The Mafia, p. 173. Paul Williams. Prometheus Books. Amherst, New York. 2015

The spirit of Ishmael still lives in the hearts of too many who claim to be his descendants:

“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him: and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Genesis 16:12

Despite innumerable attempts to secure peace in the Middle East — such as the 1978 Camp David Accords that led to the signing of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in March 1979, ending 30 years of a state of war between the two nations; the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, that established the goal of a “two-state” co-existence between Israel and Palestine — the complexities of the problems and grievances that have bedeviled this region for so many years reveal that they cannot be resolved by human means alone. The areas of Israel and Palestine need the ministry of the gospel as it was proclaimed there in former times:

“Christ worked as He desired His disciples and all other laborers to work. The towns and cities of Palestine resounded with the truths that fell from His lips.

“Today the truth is to be proclaimed in the same way. The world is our field. Everywhere the light of truth is to shine forth, that hearts now in the sleep of ignorance may be awakened and converted. In all lands the gospel is to be proclaimed. God’s servants are to labor in places nigh and afar off, going to the regions beyond, ever preparing to embrace a wider circumference. They are to work while the day lasts; for the night cometh, in which no man can work. They are to point to a Saviour uplifted on the cross. From many voices are to be heard the words, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’” Pacific Union Recorder, Dec. 4, 1902

(Historical Note: The Jewish Christian “Missionary to the World,” Joseph Wolff [1795-1862], preached the tidings of the Second Coming of Christ in Palestine — to both Jews and Arabs, over several visits from 1821 to 1838. His ardor and zeal was typified by the number of instances in which he sat up all night to read and expound the Scriptures concerning Christ and His soon coming to the Jews living in Jerusalem [The Jewish Expositor, December 1823. London, United Kingdom]).

Public Christian evangelism is prohibited across the Middle East, including Israel. Arabs and Jews generally resist all efforts to win them over to the Christian faith. Islam denies the divinity of Christ, and claims that Jesus did not die on the cross and thus was not resurrected from the dead, but that God took Him to heaven — He was a human prophet, one of the greatest (The Christian Century, June 7, 2017. “Who Is Jesus For Muslims?” Chicago, Illinois). Rabbinical commentary placed in the Babylonian Talmud during the third and fourth centuries of the Christian Era has influenced millions of Jews over the years to not only deny the divinity of Christ but to consider our Redeemer and Saviour as born –

“…out of wedlock, the son of a whore and her lover; therefore He could not be the Messiah of Davidic descent, let alone the Son of God.” Jesus in the Talmud, p. 10. Peter Schafer. Princeton University Press. New Jersey. 2009

It was these and other offensive sayings in the Babylonian Talmud (including that Christ deserved to die as He did, as a blasphemer and idolater, that He is burning in hell right now with all His followers, never to be released from their doom — Jesus in the Talmud, p. 9) that prompted Martin Luther to call for the expulsion of all Jews from Germany, for all their dwellings to be demolished and synagogues to be burned (The Jewish Encyclopedia, volume 8, p. 214. Funk and Wagnalls Company. New York City, New York. 1906 ed.). History tells us that Nazi Germany took complete advantage of Luther’s deprecations (post-1536) against the Jews, as revealed in a poster from 1933 shown on this page — “Hitler’s War and Luther’s Teachings Are the Best Defense of the German People.”

“Kristallnacht” (“The Night of the Broken Glass”) — Wednesday, November 9, 1938 — when over fifteen hundred synagogues were destroyed by arson attacks across Germany — fulfilled Luther’s desire expressed almost 400 years previously. That night was emblematic of the evil forces that had total sway over the Nazi regime. The inexcusable, horrific, barbaric, vindictive, and satanic cruelty visited upon the Jews during the Holocaust tragically revealed how grievous was the sin of their forefathers in pronouncing the words — “His blood be upon us, and on our children.”

“Their prayer was heard. The blood of the Son of God was upon their children and their children’s children in a living, perpetual curse. The children of Israel who chose Barabbas instead of Christ will feel the cruelty of Barabbas as long as time shall last.” Website of EGW Writings: Manuscript 112, 1897

The series of edicts inflicted upon the Jews in Nazi Germany were wrought on a policy that was borrowed from the Roman Catholic Church. As Vice Chancellor of Germany, Franz von Papen announced in the official newspaper of the Nazi Party:

“The Third Reich is the first world power, which not only recognizes, but puts into practice the high principles of the papacy.” Der Voelkischer Beobachter, January 14, 1934. Munich, Germany

In remarks that have been verified as expressed by Adolf Hitler, on April 26, 1933, the German Chancellor stated to Bishop Wilhelm Berning of Osnabruck:

“I have been attacked because of my handling of the Jewish question. The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc., because it recognized the Jews for what they were. In the epoch of liberalism the danger was no longer recognized. I am moving back toward the time in which a fifteen-hundred-year-long tradition was implemented. I do not set race over religion, but I recognize the representatives of this race as pestilent for the state and for the Church, and perhaps I am thereby doing Christianity a great service by pushing them out of schools and public functions.” The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, p. 26. J.S. Conway. Wiedenfeld & Nicholson. London, United Kingdom. 1968

It should be noted that the SS troops who herded millions of Jews to the death camps were a military force that was set up after the Jesuit Order:

“The SS organization had been constituted, by Himmler, according to the principles of the Jesuits’ Order… The ‘Reichfuhrer SS’ — Himmler’s title as Supreme Chief of the SS — was to be the equivalent of the Jesuits’ ‘General’ and the whole structure of the direction was a close imitation of the Catholic Church’s hierarchical order.” Le Chef Du Counter-Espionage Nazi Parle 1933-1945, pp. 23, 24. Walter Schellenberg (chief of counter-espionage for the Third Reich). Editions Julliard. Paris, France. 1957

Before we leave this history, we should never forget that the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland — as well as others — were run as production plants of the largest chemical cartel in the world, which forged business links with John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil from the 1920s up to the 1940s:

“When I.G. [Farben] took its place in the industrial labor complex of Auschwitz and accepted Himmler’s offer of concentration camp labor, it embarked on a road that led ultimately to participation in the most extraordinary crime in civilized history, what Winston Churchill called the crime, for which there is no name, ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question.’” The Crime and Punishment of I.G. Farben, p. 121. Joseph Borkin. The Free Press (Macmillan Publishing Company). New York City, New York. 1978

Both Jews and Arabs bear the marks of the papacy’s intervention in their affairs for its own personal advantage. Lingering questions over Rome’s past persecution of the Jews in the name of removing all “Judaising” influences — notably the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath; the knowledge and conduct of the wartime pontiff, Pius XII, as documented in the book, Hitler’s Pope (John Cornwall. Penguin Books. London, United Kingdom. 1999); and the Crusades that were activated by a series of popes during the Middle Ages to seize control of Jerusalem for the Catholic Church, resulting in the massacre of many Arabs living in Palestine (even Ignatius de Loyola, eleven years before he founded the Jesuit Order, visited Jerusalem to perform his work [The Secret History of the Jesuits, p. 20. Edmond Paris. Chick Publications. Chino, Cali. 1981]) — these and many other examples that could be cited, remind us that only God can bring healing to the wounds of sin (Isaiah 53:5), and right the wrongs of the past (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

The following remarks by Sister White, while she applied them to the Islamic faith, also have relevance to the whole world who need to hear this message:

“Mohammedanism has its converts in many lands, and its advocates deny the divinity of Christ. Shall this faith be propagated, and the advocates of truth fail to manifest intense zeal to overthrow the error, and teach men of the pre-existence of the only Saviour of the world? O how we need men who will search and believe the word of God, who will present Jesus to the world in His divine and human nature, declaring with power and in demonstration of the Spirit, that ‘there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ O how we need believers who will now present Christ in life and character, who will hold Him up before the world as the brightness of the Father’s glory, proclaiming that God is love!” Home Missionary, September 1, 1892

That love is exemplified in the law of God — which is the foundation of His government, the transcript of His character, the royal charter of liberty! Obedience is the condition of salvation (John 14:15) — and it is free for all — Jew, Arab, and all Gentiles:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Romans 1:16; Galatians 3:28 (see vs. 29)

History teaches one irrefutable lesson — that disobedience to the law of God always brings heavy consequences — please consider Deuteronomy 28:15-68. When the Israelites wanted a king so that “we may be like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:20), the Lord told Samuel to grant their request, for “they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

“…they now insulted God to His face in throwing off His wise rule…Satan’s mind was imbuing the hearts of men that Israel should follow his satanic counsel.” Website of EGW Writings: Manuscript 40, 1890

In the period leading up to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans, we are told that “Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his sway” (The Great Controversy, p. 30. 1884 edition). The “prince of this world” is intensifying the war-cry to ready the world for his masterpiece of deception. But our hope for the future is in the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven; to our home, the New Jerusalem. “Affliction shall not rise up the second time” (Nahum 1:9).

God bless

 

[Berean]

ADVENT MESSENGER

News and commentary from a Biblical world view on current events, top stories, social trends and political and religious events.

The Vatican Representative to the UN tells World Leaders Gathered in Geneva that Laudato Si’ is the “Loud Call” for the Earth

December 13, 2023

The United Nations hosted a “high-level event” in Geneva to “commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to present Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the climate crisis, Laudate Deum.” [1] Roman Catholic Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, representing the Holy See at the UN, not only moderated the meeting but also delivered the Pope’s message to world leaders who gathered to call for new measures to protect rights amid a surge of conflicts and other challenges.

Vatican News announced the following on December 11, 2023:

• “Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, moderated the meeting and delivered the opening speech. He began by recognizing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the ‘cornerstone of the life and work of the United Nations,’ that acknowledges the ‘intrinsic dignity of the human person and formally protecting and promoting the human rights that derive from it’.” [1]

• “Furthermore, Archbishop Balestrero described Laudato Si’as a ‘loud call’ to respond to the ‘attacks on our common home that have consequences for human lives’.” [1]

• “The Permanent Observer of the Holy See reiterated Pope Francis’s warning regarding the international community’s response to the climate crisis, which ‘has not been adequate, while the world we live in is collapsing and may be close to the breaking point’.” [1]
God’s genuine “loud cry” in Revelation 18 is being replaced with a fake “loud call” by Pope Francis. Counterfeits are dangerous because they prevent people from hearing the real, important messages that can help them in times of crisis. The purpose of presenting the counterfeit is to sway public opinion away from God’s message of salvation. God has given the last message of mercy in His word, one that will equip people to be ready in the day of Jesus’ second coming. Nevertheless, in an effort to undermine this work and compromise the efficacy of the Third Angel’s Message, a false message is being spread.

The world is being reshaped. Powerful forces are at work dictating, imposing, and attempting to create a false narrative about the end times that aligns with the Pope’s views on global climate policy for all the world. There is a power described in Bible prophecy that is influencing politicians, the commercial sector, social organizations, religious groups, and ordinary individuals on a grass-roots level. Who is this power? Rome. Only the Vatican, through Pope Francis, is calling for the complete transformation of the world’s systems. When this is done, Rome’s influence and dominance will expand over nations and will bring us to the mark of the beast under the Sunday law crisis.

Regardless of what the world has planned, the true Loud Cry of the Third Angel still says:

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.” Revelation 14:9, 10.
Sources

[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-12/holy-see-un-geneva-balestrero-smerilli-laudate-deum-human-rights.html

God bless

[Berean]

Hi to all

Landmark Ruling: The Vatican Officially Authorizes Priests to Begin Blessing Same-Sex Couples

The movement to force immorality upon the entire world and the church has begun. We are witnessing the complete cancellation of the moral law. The man of sin is doing what he does best—pressuring everyone to live in lawlessness. Pope Francis is leading the way to systematically destroy biblical truth by trying to legitimize same-sex relationships, even though this is completely contrary to the Christian faith and the history of the church.

Francis claims he is not altering the church’s moral teachings, but since his election in 2013, he has worked to make the church more accepting of the LGBT+ community. Furthermore, it was recently reported that the Vatican has authorized priests to begin blessing same-sex couples, with Pope Francis’s approval. The following was released by Reuters News on December 18, 2023:

• “The Vatican said on Monday in a landmark ruling approved by Pope Francis that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples.” [1]

Monday’s eight-page document, whose subtitle is ‘On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings’, spelled out specific situations. An 11-point section was titled ‘Blessings of Couples in Irregular Situations and of Couples of the Same sex’.” [1]

• “It said priests should decide on a case-by-case basis and should not prevent or prohibit the Church’s closeness to people in every situation in which they might seek God’s help through a simple blessing.” [1]

• “Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God,” it said, adding that it “must be nurtured, not hindered”. [1]

• “It was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the head of the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by the pope in a private audience with Fernandez and another doctrinal office official on Monday morning.” [1]

Once again, the Vatican has just approved that sin can be sanctioned and blessed. The arrogance of man that is attempting to force social change upon the general public has reached a breaking point. LGBT+ advocates do not think that state-recognized civil unions are sufficient. They have also been seeking the approval and blessing of the churches for their plans. It’s clear that the generation we live in disregards what the Bible says.

“The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality.” (1 Timothy 1:9, 10, English Standard Version).

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality.” (1 Corinthians 6:9, English Standard Version).

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” (Romans 1:26-28).

Pope Francis is not God, and no one’s opinion should matter when it contradicts God’s will. We don’t need men to redefine for us what it means to love others.

“Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10.

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15.

“It is not from love for their neighbor that they smooth down the message entrusted to them, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. True love seeks first the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, God’s ministers will not consider self, but will speak the word given them to speak, refusing to excuse or palliate evil” (Prophets and Kings, p. 141).

“God does not send messengers to flatter the sinner. He delivers no message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer, and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need, and prompt the cry, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Then the hand that has humbled in the dust, lifts up the penitent. The voice that has rebuked sin, and put to shame pride and ambition, inquires with tenderest sympathy, ‘What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?’ (Desire of Ages, p. 104).

Obviously, the churches of today don’t care about the Bible; they only care about power. They have made it clear that historical biblical truths will not apply to the future world they wish to build. But regardless of what men say, the word of God can’t be changed. Sin is still sin, just as it was in the beginning. It is unfortunate that the entire world wants to follow a Pope who has been wrong on so many issues. It is past time that we stop looking to man and turn to God for spiritual guidance.

Sources

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/vatican-approves-blessings-same-sex-couples-under-certain-conditions-2023-12-18/
Advent Messenger provides news and commentary on current events, top stories, social trends, and political and religious issues. For more news visit www.adventmessenger.org

God bless

[Berean]

Hi to all

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom. (Matthew 4:23)

“And he opened his mouth and taught them, and said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. » Matthew 5:2,3. These words ring in the ears of the astonished crowd like a strange and new doctrine. Such teaching is distinctly opposed to that which they received from the priests and rabbis; it contains nothing that flatters their pride, nothing that fuels their ambitions. And yet, a power radiates from this new master that subjugates them…

From his presence emanates like the perfume of a flower, the sweetness of divine love… In the crowd which surrounded Jesus, there were people who were aware of their spiritual deprivation… There were also priests who, in the presence of the purity of Jesus, discovering themselves “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked” Revelation 3:17, longed for “the grace of God, source of salvation for all men”. Titus 2:11. The words of Jesus, reviving the hope dormant in these souls, made them understand that God offered them happiness…

Speaking of the poor in spirit, Jesus declares that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. This reign is not temporal and earthly as his listeners hoped; the Son of Man wanted to make them understand what this spiritual kingdom of love, of grace, of justice consists of, of which he was the living symbol, a kingdom intended for the poor in spirit, for the meek, for the persecuted, who are the subjects and to which it belongs…

All those who are aware of their profound spiritual deprivation will find justification and strength by looking to Jesus… He invites us to exchange our misery for the riches of his grace. We are not worthy of God’s love, but Jesus Christ, our Advocate, takes it upon himself to perfectly save all who come to Him. However dark our past may have been, however discouraging the present, if we come to Jesus just as we are—weak, unsupported, or desperate—the compassionate Savior will come to meet us. He will surround us with his arms with love, to present us to the Father, clothed in his own character like a bright garment.

(E. G. White – Power of Grace)

God bless and happy New year

 

Collection of meditations

[Berean]

Hi to all

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GOD’S FINAL WARNING:

SATAN IS NOT AN UGLY, GROTESQUE, BAT-WINGED CREATURE WEARING A RED LEOTARD, HE’S AN ANGEL- A BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL FALLEN ANGEL ⚠️⏰‼️.

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Evil originated with Lucifer, who rebelled against the government of God. Before his fall he was a covering cherub, distinguished by his excellence. God made him good and beautiful, as near as possible like Himself( Ezekiel 28:12-15).

All should understand that Satan was once an exalted angel. His rebellion shut him out of heaven, but did not destroy his powers and make him a beast.1T 342.1

Many believe he’s merely a mythical figure, but the Bible says that he is very real and that he is determined to deceive you and destroy your life( 1 peter 5:8).. Indeed, this brilliant but cruel mastermind is so much more than what you have been told. He’s entrapping individuals, families, churches, and even entire nations to increase sorrow and pain in this world.

He is going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. he is not off his watch for a single moment, through fear of losing an opportunity to destroy souls. it is important that god’s people understand this, that they may escape his snares. satan is preparing his deceptions, that in his last campaign against the people of god they may not understand that it is he. 2 corinthians 11:14: “and no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” while some deceived souls are advocating that he does not exist, he is taking them captive, and is working through them to a great extent.

In the near future, Satan will attempt to personate Jesus and counterfeit His return to earth. But God’s people need not be deceived. When the disciples asked Jesus for the sign of His coming and the end of the world, the very first thing He told them was to be on guard against impostors. He said, “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4, 5).

Christ then proceeded to give His followers a wealth of information about His second coming so there would be no doubt as to how He would return. Jesus wants us not only to know that He is coming and that He’s coming soon, but also to understand the manner of His coming.

The reason this is so important is that Satan will soon attempt to personate Jesus and counterfeit His return. To pave the way, Satan has introduced a strong delusion to the Christian world that has been almost universally accepted in mainline churches. I am referring to the popular teaching regarding a “secret rapture.” The secret rapture theory was designed to lull God’s people into a false sense of security and to prepare them for this final master deception.

The devil knows that Jesus is coming back and that his remaining time is short (Revelation 12:12). He has been sharpening his skills of deception for 6,000 years, and his last masquerade will be his masterpiece.

In fact, God warned that Satan will do such a convincing job that, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. Jesus said to His disciples, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matthew 24:23, 24).

Satan is not an ugly, grotesque, bat-winged creature wearing a red leotard. He’s an angel – a beautiful, powerful angel. And the Bible makes it clear that he is able to transform himself and appear in different forms. “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13, 14). We must not underestimate how convincing and overpowering Satan’s final deception will be. I’m sure he will even quote Scripture, as he did while tempting Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-6). The devil also has the ability to create the illusion of miracles. You will remember that when Moses went in before Pharaoh to plead for the children of Israel, the magicians of Egypt were able to duplicate the first few signs from God (Exodus Chapters 7, 8). Satan is in the business of deception, and we know that he is saving his greatest deception of all for the last days. We need to know how Jesus is coming, or we will be deceived.

The Bible is very clear that when Jesus comes back, His feet never touch the ground. It says the righteous will be caught up to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). This is why Jesus emphatically warns us, “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the desert!’ do not go out: or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:26, 27 NKJV).

Satan cannot replicate a worldwide, cataclysmic event

the magnitude of the real second coming. However, if he can seduce Christians into believing the secret rapture theory, he won’t need to. He can simply show up around the world in various places, perform great miracles, make television appearances, and thereby deceive the entire world.

Every general knows that the key to victory in battle is to maintain an element of surprise. Many battles have been won because of a clever diversionary tactic. While one army was distracted and looking at the diversion, the enemy came up from behind to conquer them. In the devil’s final assault, he will do the same thing. The archdeceiver has always wanted to be God. Now he knows that he is doomed, but his last taunting gesture against heaven will be to personate Jesus and receive the worship of a lost world.

Satan’s deceptions will be strong and convincing, but Christ has given us ample information in order to help us discern truth from error.

⚠️YOU ARE BEEN WARNED!

📢📢📢WAKE UP CHILDREN OF GOD OPEN YOUR BIBLES 📖 AND STUDY IT SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FACEBOOK PAGES AND GROUPS GIVE YOUR HEART ❤️ TO JESUS REPENT WORSHIP GOD ALONE AND KEEP HIS HOLY LAW AND HIS HOLY SABBATH JESUS IS COMING BACK 🔜 THERE IS NOT MUCH TIME 🔚.

[Danny Dabbs]

AMEN Berean!

[Berean]

@ Danny Dabb

It IS from SDA(EARTH’S FINAL WARNING ON  EARTH)

Discussion and posts on bible prophecies and scripture about the soon coming of Christ.

God bless

[Danny Dabbs]

Hi Berean,

I want to add something to the article.
It’s also about the end-time deception:
The lying freemasons are even in our christian circles.
What are they doing?
Well, 1 John 2:23 explains it very well:
Whoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father.
Of course, this works both ways:
Whoever denies the Father, the same has not the Son.
That’s what it’s all about.

God bless

[Berean]

Hi to all

 

DIFFERENT FROM EARTHLY REALM

And he said, To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we represent it? (Mark 4:30)

Christ found the kingdoms of this world corrupt. After his expulsion from heaven, Satan raised the standard of rebellion on earth, and sought by all means to rally men under his flag. His aim was to establish a kingdom which would be governed by its own laws, supported by its own forces, independent of God; he did so well that he succeeded, and when Christ came to earth to establish his kingdom he said, seeing human governments: “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God? » Nothing in society could provide a point of comparison…

The contrast was striking between universal wickedness and oppression, and the mission and work of Christ… He was preparing a government that would not use violence; his subjects would not be oppressed… He did not come as a tyrant, but as the Son of man; not to conquer the nations by his power, but “to bring good news to the needy,… to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and deliverance to the prisoners;… to comfort all the afflicted.” Isaiah 61:1, 2. He came as divine Restorer to bring to tyrannized humanity his abundant grace so that by the power of his justice, man, however fallen and degraded he was, became a partaker of the divine nature. ..

Jesus taught that his Church is a spiritual kingdom. He himself, the “Prince of Peace”, is the head of his Church. In his person, humanity, inhabited by divinity, was represented before the world. The supreme aim of his mission was to be offered for the sins of the world, so that through his shed blood reparation might be made for all human races. With a heart always moved by the thought of our illnesses, an ear always outstretched towards our cries of suffering men, a hand always ready to save the discouraged and the desperate, Jesus, our Savior, “went from place to place doing good “. Acts 10:38…And all the members of Christ’s kingdom shall represent his character and nature.

(E G. White – Power of Grace)

God bless

[Berean]

Hi all,

By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

A Call that Cannot be Ignored

Recently, the Washington Post joined the universal symphony calling for Sabbath rest. Newspapers large and small from Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, here in the United States, and other parts of the planet are increasingly addressing the need for a day of rest. Documentaries and internet posts are joining the fray, extolling the benefits of Sabbath rest. NGOs are being organized and collaborating with religious organizations to extol the spiritual underpinnings and physical and mental benefits of Sabbath rest. On the surface, this seems quite inoffensive and indeed a noble cause to pursue.

These initiatives are primarily driven by the perceived climate crisis, which some claim will destroy civilization as we know it. International conferences featuring experts from many disciplines are conducted to explore the issue. The participants concoct and issue voluminous reports, which engender more discussions, suggestions, and propositions to save the world from the ravages of climate change. Not infrequently, the proposed panacea is Sunday sacredness. Pope Francis is the main proponent of this narrative. He states: “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day that heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God” (“Laudato Si’, Sec. 237).

However, from the Creator’s perspective, Sabbath rest entails a much broader and deeper significance than the popular calls for Sabbath rest, deceptively calling Sunday the sabbath. Therefore, as we consider Sabbath rest, our first duty is to determine its origin. There is but one place where we can make that discovery; that place is in God’s word, the Holy Bible. The apostle Paul, in writing to the young minister and fellow worker in the cause of Jesus Christ, admonishes Timothy: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). In the same letter, He continues: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness … that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:17).

It is by God’s word, and God’s word alone, that we can arrive at the right conclusions in our human experience. This is where we begin our study of God’s Sabbath. From the very beginning of the Holy Scriptures, we are confronted with the subject of faith. Moses declares: “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). He gives no preamble. No philosophical dissertation is presented. No theological exegesis is entered into. He simply gives us an unambiguous declaration of who God is—our Creator.

To be continued

[Berean]

Following….

If, by faith, you believe this assertion, then you must also believe everything else that follows. This declaration, like all of Scripture, demands our unyielding faith. The Genesis narrative continues in a profoundly systematic way. It unfolds the acts and deeds of an omniscient, all-powerful God as He creates everything out of nothing. God is unapologetically self-assertive in His revelation to us about His creation. He declares not only who He is but also what He does.

The record reveals that, out of that nothingness, our God first created the night and the day. The night, being the first part, followed by the illuminated part called the day.

Together, He pronounced them the first day. As of the time you are reading this book, nothing has changed. The night still exists, followed by the day. The God who created it still exists. Unless you are an atheist who does not believe in God, your faith demands that He (God) still exists, even as the day that He created also exists.

God revealed to Moses His creation of the second day. He continued with the work of creation. He called into existence the heavens and the waters of the oceans. Moses recorded that the evening (the dark part of the day) and the morning (the light part) were the second day (Genesis 1:6–8). As of the writing of this post, we still have the night and the day. The heavens and the oceans still remain.

The Supreme Master Builder proceeded to enhance His work of creation. He revealed to Moses what He did on the third day. He called forth the earth out of the waters. He created not just the earth, but God dressed and beautified it with luscious green grass, lilies, roses, and other flowers, innumerable in number and unspeakable in beauty. The vegetation and the foliage He also called forth. He declared them perfect and good. Moses recorded that this was the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13). But God was not quite done. He proceeded to illuminate the heavens with the moon, the stars, and the sun. Not only were these heavenly bodies for beautification, but inspiration revealed that God ordained them to be for times and seasons. God delegated the moon and stars to the night and assigned the sun to the day. He thus provided man with a means of measuring the days, seasons, and years. This was God’s doing, not man’s. We are utterly incapable of creating time. Therefore, it is impossible for man to change time.

Moses declared that this was the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19). God’s plan moved on. He then created the animals of the earth, the fish of the seas (waters), and the birds of the air (the firmament). He created them as they are, to procreate after their own kind (Genesis 1:20–25). This was the fifth day. Notice that God, in His infinite wisdom, provided a dwelling place and sustenance for His creatures before He created them. The record does not indicate that any species evolved one from the other, but rather that each came forth as God created them.

The process of creation revealed that God is a God of order and specificity. Everything not only fits where it is supposed to, but when it is supposed to. The heavens, the earth, and all that is in them were completed except for His greatest creation of all, man. This is what God did on the sixth day. But what is man? The Psalmist David answers, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visited him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor … Thou made him to have dominion over the works of thine hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:4-6).

The glory and honor with which man was crowned at creation are God’s. The record reveals that God created man in God’s own image. (Genesis 1:27) Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, had the virtues and characteristics of God. They were loving, truthful, honest, meek, peaceful, gentle, temperate, obedient, and faithful. They were perfect in their ways before God. Man was given authority over all that was created before him. (Genesis 1:28). All were created for man’s benefit. All of God’s creations were gifts from God and were good and beneficial to man (Genesis 1:26-31).

Of all of God’s creations, only the creation of man provides some detail as to how God created him. Of the other creations, the record simply declares, “God created.” But of man, Moses writes: “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Please notice that man became a living soul. He was not gifted with an immortal soul. God also provided (for man) one to complement him and be a helper to him.

Moses again writes: “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an help meet for him … And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept. And He (God) took one of his (Adam’s) ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:18, 21, 22).

The work of creation is now completed in six days, and God bequeaths to man an inestimable gift: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them … And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made and rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had made … And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1–3).

As one reviews the record of creation, it is inescapable that God provided all things He created for man’s enjoyment, wellness, and nourishment. With your faith, hopefully still intact, let us take a closer look at the Sabbath in creation, the seventh day of the creation record. Of the seven days, God chose one, the seventh, as His day of rest. God did not choose any one of the seven, nor did He designate the first; rather, most specifically, the Scripture states that God chose the seventh.

This rest was not for God’s benefit. God does not need rest like we do. The record simply expresses the thought that God’s work of creation was completed in six days. The seventh day He has set apart from the other days as holy, blessed, and sanctified. It is esteemed in a way the other six are not. Had it been faithfully observed as He desires, there would be no climate crisis and the increasing calls to honor Sunday in order to solve the problem.

To be continued

God bless

 

[Berean]

ADVENT MESSENGER

The Sabbath in Creation

By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

A Call that Cannot be Ignored

Recently, the Washington Post joined the universal symphony calling for Sabbath rest. Newspapers large and small from Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, here in the United States, and other parts of the planet are increasingly addressing the need for a day of rest. Documentaries and internet posts are joining the fray, extolling the benefits of Sabbath rest. NGOs are being organized and collaborating with religious organizations to extol the spiritual underpinnings and physical and mental benefits of Sabbath rest. On the surface, this seems quite inoffensive and indeed a noble cause to pursue.

These initiatives are primarily driven by the perceived climate crisis, which some claim will destroy civilization as we know it. International conferences featuring experts from many disciplines are conducted to explore the issue. The participants concoct and issue voluminous reports, which engender more discussions, suggestions, and propositions to save the world from the ravages of climate change. Not infrequently, the proposed panacea is Sunday sacredness. Pope Francis is the main proponent of this narrative. He states: “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day that heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God” (“Laudato Si’, Sec. 237).

However, from the Creator’s perspective, Sabbath rest entails a much broader and deeper significance than the popular calls for Sabbath rest, deceptively calling Sunday the sabbath. Therefore, as we consider Sabbath rest, our first duty is to determine its origin. There is but one place where we can make that discovery; that place is in God’s word, the Holy Bible. The apostle Paul, in writing to the young minister and fellow worker in the cause of Jesus Christ, admonishes Timothy: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). In the same letter, He continues: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness … that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:17).

It is by God’s word, and God’s word alone, that we can arrive at the right conclusions in our human experience. This is where we begin our study of God’s Sabbath. From the very beginning of the Holy Scriptures, we are confronted with the subject of faith. Moses declares: “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). He gives no preamble. No philosophical dissertation is presented. No theological exegesis is entered into. He simply gives us an unambiguous declaration of who God is—our Creator.

If, by faith, you believe this assertion, then you must also believe everything else that follows. This declaration, like all of Scripture, demands our unyielding faith. The Genesis narrative continues in a profoundly systematic way. It unfolds the acts and deeds of an omniscient, all-powerful God as He creates everything out of nothing. God is unapologetically self-assertive in His revelation to us about His creation. He declares not only who He is but also what He does.

The record reveals that, out of that nothingness, our God first created the night and the day. The night, being the first part, followed by the illuminated part called the day.

Together, He pronounced them the first day. As of the time you are reading this book, nothing has changed. The night still exists, followed by the day. The God who created it still exists. Unless you are an atheist who does not believe in God, your faith demands that He (God) still exists, even as the day that He created also exists.

God revealed to Moses His creation of the second day. He continued with the work of creation. He called into existence the heavens and the waters of the oceans. Moses recorded that the evening (the dark part of the day) and the morning (the light part) were the second day (Genesis 1:6–8). As of the writing of this post, we still have the night and the day. The heavens and the oceans still remain.

 

The Supreme Master Builder proceeded to enhance His work of creation. He revealed to Moses what He did on the third day. He called forth the earth out of the waters. He created not just the earth, but God dressed and beautified it with luscious green grass, lilies, roses, and other flowers, innumerable in number and unspeakable in beauty. The vegetation and the foliage He also called forth. He declared them perfect and good. Moses recorded that this was the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13). But God was not quite done. He proceeded to illuminate the heavens with the moon, the stars, and the sun. Not only were these heavenly bodies for beautification, but inspiration revealed that God ordained them to be for times and seasons. God delegated the moon and stars to the night and assigned the sun to the day. He thus provided man with a means of measuring the days, seasons, and years. This was God’s doing, not man’s. We are utterly incapable of creating time. Therefore, it is impossible for man to change time.

Moses declared that this was the fourth day. (Genesis 1:14-19). God’s plan moved on. He then created the animals of the earth, the fish of the seas (waters), and the birds of the air (the firmament). He created them as they are, to procreate after their own kind (Genesis 1:20–25). This was the fifth day. Notice that God, in His infinite wisdom, provided a dwelling place and sustenance for His creatures before He created them. The record does not indicate that any species evolved one from the other, but rather that each came forth as God created them.

The process of creation revealed that God is a God of order and specificity. Everything not only fits where it is supposed to, but when it is supposed to. The heavens, the earth, and all that is in them were completed except for His greatest creation of all, man. This is what God did on the sixth day. But what is man? The Psalmist David answers, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visited him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor … Thou made him to have dominion over the works of thine hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:4-6).

The glory and honor with which man was crowned at creation are God’s. The record reveals that God created man in God’s own image. (Genesis 1:27) Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman, had the virtues and characteristics of God. They were loving, truthful, honest, meek, peaceful, gentle, temperate, obedient, and faithful. They were perfect in their ways before God. Man was given authority over all that was created before him. (Genesis 1:28). All were created for man’s benefit. All of God’s creations were gifts from God and were good and beneficial to man (Genesis 1:26-31).

Of all of God’s creations, only the creation of man provides some detail as to how God created him. Of the other creations, the record simply declares, “God created.” But of man, Moses writes: “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Please notice that man became a living soul. He was not gifted with an immortal soul. God also provided (for man) one to complement him and be a helper to him.

Moses again writes: “And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an help meet for him … And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept. And He (God) took one of his (Adam’s) ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:18, 21, 22).

The work of creation is now completed in six days, and God bequeaths to man an inestimable gift: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them … And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made and rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had made … And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:1–3).

As one reviews the record of creation, it is inescapable that God provided all things He created for man’s enjoyment, wellness, and nourishment. With your faith, hopefully still intact, let us take a closer look at the Sabbath in creation, the seventh day of the creation record. Of the seven days, God chose one, the seventh, as His day of rest. God did not choose any one of the seven, nor did He designate the first; rather, most specifically, the Scripture states that God chose the seventh.

This rest was not for God’s benefit. God does not need rest like we do. The record simply expresses the thought that God’s work of creation was completed in six days. The seventh day He has set apart from the other days as holy, blessed, and sanctified. It is esteemed in a way the other six are not. Had it been faithfully observed as He desires, there would be no climate crisis and the increasing calls to honor Sunday in order to solve the problem.

God’s creation lasts forever. Today, there is no denying that we have day and night. No one says that there is no heaven, earth, or seas. It is impossible to say that the trees, flowers, and vegetation are nonexistent. And what of the animals—the birds and fish? They are still here with us. The moon, the stars, and the sun still bless us with their radiance and life-giving power and provide the only reliable measure of times, seasons, and years. And man, what about him? We are still here.

The apostate prophet Balaam certainly understood the concept of God’s immutable, irreversible acts. He declared: “how shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I defile whom the Lord hath not defiled … Behold, I have received commandment to bless and He had blessed, and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers 23:8, 20).

So it is with all of God’s creation. He has created, and no man can change or uncreate. The seventh-day Sabbath, as part of that creation, cannot be undone by anyone. No man, no ecclesiastical council, and no human judicial process can unbless, uncreate, or alter that which God has created, blessed, and sanctified. The sacred Scriptures declare: “Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee forever. For thou blessed, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:27).

A Contest for Truth

There is no record of God removing his blessing from His seventh-day Sabbath or doing away with it from His creation. Some may attempt to deny it, but God’s Sabbath will exist eternally. Men may trample upon it, but it is still holy. Some may attempt to change it, but His seventh-day Sabbath remains hallowed and sanctified by the God who created it. Others deceptively declare that God’s Sabbath day is for the Jews only, but, according to the record, there were no Jews at creation. Our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ, declares: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). The seventh-day Sabbath is, like all of God’s other creations, a gift from Creator God to all mankind.

To reject His Sabbath is to refuse one of the most precious gifts from God. To disregard His gift is to abandon Him who gave it. Regardless of what pretext one uses to cast aside or change God’s seventh-day Sabbath, it is tantamount to denying the God of creation. He has given us His Sabbath as an eternal sign of His creative power. He pleads: ”Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

As the call for Sunday sacredness escalates, Creator God, in His mercy and pity for us, sends out a love message to all mankind in these times in which we live: “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev. 14:7). This is a love message from our creator calling men back to honor Him by choosing His Sabbath day, thereby rejecting the call for Sunday sacredness, the tradition of men.

Jehovah God is announcing to the world that we are in the final moments of earth’s history and that His final judgment has begun. He is calling all humanity to worship Him as Creator. And how do we show the world that we worship the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth? By accepting His gift of rest given at creation—His seventh-day Sabbath. We must recognize and uplift the sign of His creatorship. It is not only for the Jews, but for all mankind.

If, by faith, we accept the works of creation, then by faith, we must also accept the ‘rest’ of creation. A life of work without rest is a life of pain, heartache, and misery. Such is a life of no peace. It is a life constantly seeking to find that which God has already given us from creation—the peace and rest of His blessed Sabbath day. It is what the world is yearning for. Why would you want to deny, reject, and cast aside such peace and rest while trying in vain to find it in Francis’ call for Sunday sacredness? The Sabbath, from God’s perspective, is not so much about what we do or do not do on the seventh day. It is not about an endless set of rules, rites, and rituals.

Rather, God’s Sabbath is a time for us to reflect upon and recognize the manifold blessings He has provided for us during the previous six days. It is a place in time made holy by the One who blesses us abundantly. His Sabbath is a time in which we may rest from our toils and secular labors to contemplate and appreciate all that God has done for us. God’s Sabbath, ultimately, is an eternal footnote to the unbounded goodness of our Creator. It is a time of reflection during which we focus on His matchless blessings towards us. It is the seventh day of the week; today called Saturday.

This is the first in a series that focuses on the real issue behind the climate change agenda and its appeal for Sunday sacredness, referring to it as Sabbath rest. In my next post, I will take an inspired look at how God’s prophets regarded and related to His holy Sabbath day.

About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page.

God bless

[Author]

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