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“Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange,—the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory.”

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A person God turned around many times.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The call of the 6th trumpet

“And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life.” (Jn. 6:40).

The plagues of the 5th and 6th trumpets torment and finally kill the conscience of Protestant America and of the world under Protestantism’s blessed influence and protection. This came upon the Protestants as the result of the first four trumpets, in which Satan poisoned their consciences by their proliferation of his lies against the Millerite movement prior to 1844 and then the Seventh-day Adventist movement, to destroy the last warning to the world.

Long before this the Protestants had lost the knowledge of unfeigned faith, a conscience of right standing before the Law of God, and charity out of a pure heart. As a group, and by far a great majority in Protestantism, they had not known the things of God, the reality of a brokenness that comes from falling helplessly on Jesus for union with God and the holy life which He came to offer, and the transformation of character accomplished by the entrance of the Holy Spirit.

By the 18th century, the spirit of the Reformation—the laying down of life for the salvation of others—had disappeared except for a minority of the Protestants. At the end of each long day of reaping the land of milk and honey they had no time or strength left for the gospel or for their own salvation. They turned their ear away from the commandments, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1Jn. 2:15;1Tim. 6:9,10). Thus, leaving the commandments of God, even their worship became an abomination. (Prov. 28:9).

Protestantism’s main purpose at its formation was to create a priesthood that would walk among the uncircumcised at heart and lead minds back to God. They were to be a holy, sanctifying influence in the world. They had had the high privilege of restarting the original charter of the apostolic church. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1Pet. 2:9,10).

But, like ancient Israel once in Canaan, they turned from the royal privilege of winning the New World for the truth and blessing from Jehovah to squandering their lives on the visible tokens of Jehovah’s approbation in the gift of a continent safe from persecution. And as the Lord forewarned Israel of desolation and bitterness if they would apostatize from Him (Lev. 26:32;Deut. 32:32,33; 29:16-23), which did come to pass because they turned away from His holy covenant to worship the land flowing with milk and honey, so the same plagues of torment and desolation and ultimate vomiting out of God’s presence were prophesied against the Protestant Americans. This final test and rejection of the Protestant denominations occurred during the 5th trumpet.

Through the specious and subtle workings of Satan, “an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.” (Dan. 8:12). This prophecy was based on Israel’s disobedient history, but was fulfilled by the 2nd century apostolic church accepting paganism wholesale, and again by the Reformation in the 18th century as it lost its original fervor for the Lord and for the Bible.

Israel could not know the cost of leaving God behind; the consequences of denying Jehovah, instead of loving Him with all their heart and walking humbly before His justice and mercy, was not foreseen. Although Jehovah had spelled it out for them through Moses in Leviticus and again in Deuteronomy, He put His warning plagues in writing and expected the people to search those scriptures. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29). But, after a generation, they had no time for Him or for His scriptures. Thus, began their many trysts and entrapments of Baal and Ashtaroth worship.

Jehovah told them that the separation from Him and His wise love would leave them defenseless before their enemies and He would remove His prosperity promised to them. If they didn’t need their God, then they were on their own. They would have no hope of protection except for what they would provide for themselves. Every good and perfect gift that had come from above must come by their own hand and genius, from that time onward. Now they were God, and would discover the office of Creator and Provider to be an overwhelming scourge.

While united to the Lord through the sacrifice of the lamb and obedient to His statutes and laws, their work was filled with joy, as we hear in the following scenes. “And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.” (Ruth 2:4). “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.” (Ps. 104:23,24).

But, gradually the spark of love and joy no longer empowered their bodies, brains, and spirits. All the products they would manufacture, all the strategies they must devise in the marketing of their goods to Egypt, Assyria, the neighboring states, and far off lands, they must force out of themselves with a taskmaster’s lash, overworking their faculties and their inherited strength and health. Without love as their motivation, peace and rest were driven from each soul and body. Likewise did peace and rest leave their families, tribes, and nation. “Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.” (Isa. 47:13). “Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.” (Isa. 57:10).

Local spiritualism and worshiping devils only exacerbated their problem of unrest. “But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves…enflaming yourselves with idols?” (Isa. 57:3-5).

The nervous system, under constant stress, became inervated and confused. “I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart.” “And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.” (Lev. 26:16,36).

“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness.” (Deut. 28:28,29). “And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.” (Isa. 8:21,22).

But they wouldn’t recognize their miserable disillusionment and irritation as divine punishment. “Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.” (Isa. 42:25). They had accepted a counterfeit religion from Jeroboam, their first king. Situated right at the border to Judah, he built a temple to Baal and made a high day of worship on the tenth day of the eighth month, one month following the original which the Lord had given to Moses, and a human copy to imitate the true Lord’s Day of Atonement. Access to the southern kingdom of Judah was free to all the northern Israelites who desired to travel there. The only thing preventing them from worshiping at Jerusalem and being sanctified and saved by the death of the innocent Lamb of God, was a little extra time and effort. But because of the inconvenience, no one from the northern kingdom made the trips to the true place of worship on the true authorized days of worship.

The wilder scenes of Baal, the excitement and scantly clad priestesses of Ashtaroth, the carnival atmosphere led by the priests of Baal, the raucous sacrificing and the strong intoxicating smells and tastes of roasted swine, captivated every sense. The golden calf, gleaming in a translucent shine, never died and never provided for the conviction of sin or a humbled and broken heart. The burnished idol remained a wildly popular object of lust to the eyes and lust to the flesh.

So, the Israelites chose the torment of living apart from loyalty to the God who delivered them from Egyptian bondage, bringing them to His home, and desiring to deliver them from the bondage of self-sufficiency and independence from Him as their source of life. Just as the Israelites could have been spared all of their bitter experience and final expulsion from their land of plenty, so the Protestants could have been spared the same rejection by heaven in the first four trumpets, following 1844.

The present turmoil of Protestant Americans’ hearts and minds today, because of their lost faith in Jesus’ love and humble obedience to God’s Law, is exactly what Jesus suffered in their place as He stumbled disoriented from Gethsemane to Golgotha. Permanent, everlasting estrangement from God and from His Father’s infinite love, that shattered Jesus’ composure, and decimated His perfect hope and constant joy, all was His to experience so that by beholding Him the Spirit of God could lead the Protestants to fall before Him in contrition and lay all their chastisement of peace at Jesus’ trembling feet, and escape His torment. That emptiness of existence apart from the perfect love of God was a wrath so powerful, a loneliness so heavy, that it rattled every nerve in Christ’s body like thunder, turning His body’s every corpuscle into jello, so that blood seeped from His whole body before the first whip cut His flesh. (Num. 19:2;Lk. 22:44). All that the Protestants could have seen in this their holiest tradition, has been forgotten, and has left them to drink that cup of emptiness themselves. Today, the hedonist Protestants are consumed with every form of drug and self-indulgence; and the religious Protestants are no better off, having “trodden under foot the Son of God, and…counted the blood of the covenant…an unholy thing, and…done despite unto the Spirit of grace.” (Heb. 10:29).

But, if either, hedonistic or religious American, had come to the Bible and been awakened to their true spiritual bankruptcy, the Spirit of God would have led each one to a haven of rest in the Advent movement. From the Spirit of Prophecy they would have received more than ample description of sin that would have led them to a genuine need of a Savior. If studied intently with the three angels’ messages, the prophecy of the trumpets and would have shed greater light on their path to Christ, conviction of sin, and full preparation for Christ’s return.

During the 5th and 6th trumpets, everyone who would not be offended by the hot conviction of sin through the last day prophet and continue to seek God’s approval, would find grace in the eyes of the Lord, and be sealed with “the seal of God on their foreheads.” (Rev. 9:4). But simultaneously, every Protestant who would not seek God with all the heart in the looming potential of endless fun and fortune, would be “tormented,” “and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night” because they “worship the beast and his image, and…[receive] the mark of his name.” (Rev. 9:5;14:11). Concurrently, upon every soul the heavenly court would be decided the Mark of the beast or the Seal of God; thus the heavenly sanctuary will be cleansed of apostatized Protestants.

We are in the 6th trumpet, awaiting the Latter Rain. Tremendous forces are at work around the world and in America to cause the full possession of the human race by satanic power through the United Nations, the Vatican, and apostate Protestant America. Yet, the call still goes out to the Americans and Protestants around the globe, who have an ear to hear, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa. 8:20). “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” (Jn. 12:32). “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:12). “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa. 53:6).

The gospel message still applies, but now under the pressure of eschatological time limitations and combined with apocalyptic warning. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (Jn. 3:36).

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2Cor. 6:17).

“Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4).

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:17).

Monday, April 23, 2012

Another view of Jesus

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” (Jn. 5:39,40).

To have a revelation of Jesus, even just one view, is enough to begin building the kingdom of God in the soul. With that first vision, we know what to look for in the Son of God; from then on to the last day of our life we will follow up that first picture as Abram did. With that vision we also know what’s possible of God’s love because Jesus revealed the Father. He revealed His Father’s mercy and His majesty.

When our mind’s eye once comprehends the blending of mercy and justice in Christ’s character and life, then as we continue reading the Bible, characteristics of Jesus appear to us, and He begins to take shape throughout its pages. As the fire flashing forth from the many aspects of a finely cut diamond, we see Him in many different biblical situations, through many different biblical people, in their actions or words. We see Him in Paul; we see Him in Moses. We see Him in Joshua and Samson and Boaz and David and Solomon. We see His humility and readiness to inform and aptness to teach in Naaman’s servant girl. We see in Ruth His sincere attachment to us, and in Abram His steadfastness and need of love. Every scripture testifies of Him. Even the principles of righteousness delineated for us in Old and New Testaments describe our Lord.

1Timothy 1:5 describes Jesus. Why should He expect of us less than of Himself? Therefore, we can conclude that the Son of God had charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. Is that a new picture of Jesus? But, will we dwell on these pictures of His character? Do we, as it were, chew the cud, dissecting His person, analyzing His core purpose, and relishing each smaller nuance of His impeccable and loving nature? Do we eat and drink His flesh and blood, and thus, live by Him? “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.” (Gal. 2:16).

His heart was always compassionate for the weak, the downtrodden, the poor, and especially for the poor in spirit—those who were suffering under the curse of God’s condemnation without a Pharisee or priest or rabbi to give them assurance of His forgiveness. Their negligence was not like Aaron, who had “compassion on the ignorant, and on them that [were] out of the way.” (Heb. 5:2). Christ sought to relieve each one in their varied necessities, but especially those who had received the conviction of sin, had wrestled long and hard with it, and were humbled and prepared for the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ conscience was in perfect health. Never once had He bruised His conscience, yet often did it smite Him as He witnessed the sights and words from those around Him, even in His closest disciples. This painful intercession provided the Father renewed access to lost humanity. But, Christ’s conscience being unsullied by even a remotest thought of sin, kept His openness to God’s law in perfect strength and thus His communion with His beloved Father in perfect constancy and fullness. This is what so well pleased the Father in His Son.

The combination of Jesus’ pure, selfless grace and His perfect conscience toward God, gave Him a faith empty of all pretence. He was free from the multitudinous human social constructions that conflicted with the Law of God. And to those practices that Moses had originally given them and that still retained some resemblance to God’s will, Jesus freely demonstrated far beyond human expectation. He was a quickening spirit; He brought new life to the ancient statutes of the law. His songs poured forth from a heart full of pathos as if no one else were listening but His Father. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” (Rom. 14:23) and everything Jesus did was in faithperfect communion with His Father. His praise stunned His disciples and shamed the religious leaders, even striking fear in them as they realized the full requirement of God to love Him with all their heart and soul and strength.

Because of this unique Galilean self-made rabbi, the Pharisees found themselves perverse in the eyes of the people, and to the Sadducees His faith was a total embarrassment, which they had no desire to imitate. While Christ’s open faith toward God in all things and at all times appealed to His disciples and drew their hearts to His in ties that could not be broken, even they felt the constant discomfort of conviction because they did not have the ardor toward God and service toward man which their Master displayed every waking moment.

But, so long as they were willing to follow Him, living under the heat of His perfect example and hearing His gentle, but pointed reproofs─ especially those in His closest circle of twelve─His disciples, near and far, would gradually, naturally, adapt His life of liberty. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.… And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (Jn. 8:31,32,35,36).

He would make them free. They had not the power to liberate themselves from the heathen corruptions Satan had woven into the Hebrew laws. The innumerable aspects of life in this world the god of this world had distorted in order to wrap humanity in his wicked net. We are equally powerless to escape the complex system of taboos and rules made to appeal to our natural love of self. Neither do we have the courage to face the barrage of complaints and criticism and ostracism that accompany the breaking free from the devil’s prison house.

But, when we catch a vision of Jesus, who is the living exemplification of the law of liberty, and continue therein, the Holy Spirit imbues us with the divine energy that bursts our bonds to sin and leads us out to a light that grows brighter and brighter. We need Jesus at the beginning and every step of the way to freedom.
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isa. 40:29-31).

The Lord says to His disciples today, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33). Fixating on the world will destroy all faith and hope of escaping this world’s power to prevent our obtaining Jesus’ divine nature, which few ever find. But, looking to Jesus and His victory over the world will allow the transfer of His nature into our fallen, weakened nature, through the mighty working of the Holy Spirit.

We need to see Jesus, not as some Hindu god apparition hovering in nirvana bliss, or as a western religious icon in “heaven”. We need to see Jesus as He was in His life here, among regular people, touching them, advising them, reproving but searching carefully for signs of repentance. We need to see Him supplicating His Father, seeking His Father’s communion and His assurance that He was measuring up to the plan of redemption. We need a real Jesus, but a full Son of God.

“Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” (1Jn. 4:2,3). We need to catch His visions, not as a glorious personage in heaven, but on earth, made in our likeness, walking among men and women and children, breaking to them the bread of life, and developing in them faith in His Father. Then we will be safe with other worldly views of Him walking among the candlesticks.

Then, as we repeatedly see Him in earthly scenarios and in His heavenly work in that far country, we will walk in the light of His love and become like Him. We will follow the Lamb wherever we go and His name will forever be in our forehead.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The sealing

“And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.” (Rev. 9:4-5).

Ellen White’s statement defines the sealing:

(Revelation 7:2.) Seal Is a Settling Into Truth.—Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads—it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved—just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already; the judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know what is coming (MS 173, 1902). 4SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, p. 1161.

She puts no definite time period with this statement about the sealing and shaking, but she sees the judgments of God already working, as the 5th trumpet shows happening after 1849, and her mention of the shaking has its culmination to begin the time of trouble. This parallels the 5th trumpet message, the first woe. Her statement is exactly the message of all that Revelation 9:1-4 describes would occur during the 5th trumpet’s time period, as one can easily interpret from the 5th trumpet in the context of Revelation 7:3. How could Ellen White’s statement and the 5th trumpet not be one and the same? An objective comparison shows that they are.

Likewise, the language of the 5th trumpet refers directly to the 3rd angel’s message later in Revelation 14, “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:11). This message Mrs. White stressed in all of her writing, even including her conclusion to the truth of Righteousness by faith of and in Jesus, that it was the third angel’s message in verity. (The locusts’ torment leads us to need Jesus.)

She wrote of the same test that the 5th trumpet describes, (using biblical typical terminology), the increasing temptations as we neared Christ’s coming. She coined the phrase, Investigative Judgment in the heavenly Most Holy Place, and she also wrote and preached endlessly, speaking and warning much concerning it (which the 5th trumpet on earth assists). Yet, she never once connected the Investigative Judgment with the 5th trumpet. Were her eyes holden from it?

Was she forbidden from making the connection as Paul was forbidden to go to Asia and Bithynia, and John from writing what he heard in the seven thunders?

Or was she without clear understanding on the 5th trumpet? The Lord left Daniel, the wisest man on earth, in confusion of the future perdition of God’s church. Mother White’s stance that without clear understanding, “silence is eloquence,” may have kept her from speculating on the 5th trumpet prophecy. Certainly, in all her writings there is no more silent subject of the Bible or of Bible prophecies than the 7 trumpets prophecy.

Yet, she stressed the continued study of Revelation, because she said more light was to shine from it.

According to her comment that follows the next scripture texts, the Lord knew that a revelation of the 5th trumpet’s 150 year gestation period for the perdition of America would wreak great havoc on the church of God, and that the Advent movement should much rather focus on the much-needed Law of God and gospel of Christ. Only the Law and gospel can help anyone escape the exponentially increasing temptations of Satan and pass the Investigative Judgment.

“That in every thing ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Cor. 1:5-8).

Christ had commanded His church, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 25:13).

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Lk. 21:36).

We are not to know the definite time either for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or for the coming of Christ. . . . Why has not God given us this knowledge?—Because we would not make a right use of it if He did. A condition of things would result from this knowledge among our people that would greatly retard the work of God in preparing a people to stand in the great day that is to come. We are not to live upon time excitement. Last Days Events, p. 33.1.

Many who have called themselves Adventists have been time-setters. Time after time has been set for Christ to come, but repeated failures have been the result. The definite time of our Lord’s coming is declared to be beyond the ken of mortals. Even the angels, who minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation, know not the day nor the hour. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only."—4T 307 (1879)…
You will not be able to say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither are you to put off His coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years.—RH March 22, 1892.
We are nearing the great day of God. The signs are fulfilling. And yet we have no message to tell us of the day and hour of Christ’s appearing. The Lord has wisely concealed this from us that we may always be in a state of expectancy and preparation for the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven.—Letter 28, 1897.
The exact time of the second coming of the Son of man is God’s mystery.—DA 633 (1898).
Last Days Events, p. 32.3-33.4.

On a different note, notice that her above statements all deal with prediction and using the biblical prophecies to calculate events in the future. It was to quell this most probable source of fanaticism that she wrote concerning time prophecies. In light of that thought, read the following three statements from her that there would be no more prophecies based on definite time.

I plainly stated at the Jackson camp meeting to these fanatical parties that they were doing the work of the adversary of souls; they were in darkness. They claimed to have great light that probation would close in October, 1884. I there stated in public that the Lord had been pleased to show me that there would be no definite time in the message given of God since 1844.—2SM 73 (1885).

Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time-proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of our Lord’s coming.—10MR 270 (1888).

The people will not have another message upon definite time. After this period of time [Revelation 10:4-6], reaching from 1842 to 1844, there can be no definite tracing of the prophetic time. The longest reckoning reaches to the autumn of 1844.—7BC 971 (1900).
Last Days Events, p. 35.3-36.2.

In light of the common practice of those days to use time prophecies to predict the future, we see that her statements were aimed at those uses of prophecy. But should this preclude time prophecies that look backward and are already completed? No, it should not. They are in a different category once fulfilled.

Could it be that Jesus has kept His hand over the trumpets until their fulfillment? Could it be that He kept Mother White from seeing their real import, thus, mitigating our tendency to say, “My Lord delayeth His coming”? (Matt. 24:48). Yet, later on unfolding its meaning—after the fact—that it was to take 150 years to develop the grand finale of the subtle Man of sin. So, here we are, just as God planned and just as the 5th and 6th trumpets foretold, being inundated by a quiet, serene, satanic seduction of Spiritual Formation, which is straight out of eastern mysticism, welcomed with open arms by the old Papacy and now by the modern Vatican, and spreading far and near within Protestantism through the amazing success of Ecumenism.

Spiritual Formation, the western version of ancient pagan spiritism, was the gift of Satan to Ignatius Loyola, the father of the Catholic Jesuit order, the most inhuman order, the most treacherous, brutal, cultured, organized, and regimented of all the Vatican secret societies. This self-styled Society of Jesus has been so unconscionable throughout every minute of its existence for almost 500 years in all of its assassinations and torture chambers, because it leads its members to exercise the mind to enter into silence and there speak with “God”. No repentance is expected for such an audience with “God”. Thus, the conscience can be calmed of its accusings; and thus the conscience is seared by the devils, through this quiet time spent with “God”. Christ’s authority and His written word, even natural law, are all discarded, deposed, and denied any hearing in the soul. Such a person, man, woman, and child, sold to Spiritual Formation is damned.

And this new form of peace is now making its way into the Seventh-day Adventist church. This was inevitable since few ever find the strait gate or want to hear the straight testimony of the true witness to Laodicea. They don’t like the wrestling of the Holy Spirit.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal. 5:17). Those who will not engage the Spirit’s convictions can never be overcomers. Israel is the new name given to everyone who will wrestle with the one, true God. But the Lord says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.” (Gen. 6:3). There exists a determined rebellion in the human heart, a hold and claim of victory by Satan, past which the Lord will no longer suffer any more of heaven’s effort to save.

So, God has provided an escape route from His conviction of sin for all who desire it. The Jesuit Spiritual Formation will dissolve the torment of the 5th trumpet locusts as the utmost seductive of spiritual drugs. With exception of a very small remnant, the whole world will take the bait and be drunken with it. “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thess. 2:11,12).

This will cause the beast and entire world to go into perdition and become a gigantic army—billions strong—of lying, ruthless, destructive people sunken in vice—and all the while believing God sanctions their grossest sin. This will be a devil-possession of the world, Satan going out in a blaze of glory.

Be not deceived; many will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. We have now before us the alpha of this danger. The omega will be of a most startling nature. Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p. 197.4.

We are in the 6th trumpet awaiting the Latter Rain and then the 7th trumpet’s sound.

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.
And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” (Rev. 11:15-18).

The herd

“The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (Is. 40:6-8).

It seems there is always a handful of leaders, but multitudes of followers. Most people are a follower. Of course, if the whole mind and heart are not focused on the venture at hand, then there must be reliance on a neighbor to know which way to go. Hope is in the next person who appears to know where he is going. But, this method leads to “blind leaders of the blind” and ends up that “both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matt. 12:39). “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” (Jer. 17:5).

“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Nevertheless, “many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14; Lk. 16:16).

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:13,14).

Why is this? Why is it that few ever even find the path to eternal life? Why are the multitudes so easily influenced away from the path to life, true peace and prosperity?
“And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord : I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.…
But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” (1Sam. 13:11,12,14).

“And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (1Sam. 17:32). How is it that one distrusts God and fears for his temporal life and another trusts God?

Why are some so easily influenced as “children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness” (Eph. 4:14); even the very best of us? “The other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” (Gal. 2:13). Even Barnabas, a great leader in the early church; even the holy couple in very best of circumstances. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Gen. 3:6).

There must be a cause to this. “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.” (Prov. 26:2). What circumstances created a David and a Moses, a Daniel or an Enoch? We hear that it’s the choices they have made. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7). But, what is the mechanism to choose damnation? And what is the science of salvation?

Our opening text says much concerning this, especially its final verse. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (Is. 40:8). Those who stand strong in temptation have a tool, a crutch that is strong in assisting them against life’s temptations. That tool is the word of God, God’s word, God’s voice to the soul, that extension of the heavenly throne that reaches down to us which we can appropriate, that means by which His nature may be planted in us, His divine perfection of righteousness transferred to the weak human supplicant.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.” (Acts 17:11,12). The power of the Holy Scriptures ennobled these and led to exceptional faith, regardless of heritage, class, culture, or gender. Their Old Testament Bible made them ready to receive new, greater light that aligned perfectly with the old, lesser light; the Bereans heard from Paul sentiments that agreed with the sentiments created by the prophets of old.

But here we see that it was more than simply acquainting themselves the words and stories of men. It was far different than worshipping the Bible, spending much time dissecting it and theologizing on it, arguing about it amongst themselves, “standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” (Matt. 6:5). Christ tells us the abiding principle, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” (Jn. 5:39,40).

That which uplifted the Bereans above other churches was that they came to the scriptures to meet with God, to learn His truth for their lives. They wanted Him, but only the “Him” of whom the Bible spoke. They loved to sit at Jesus’ feet by faith before His open Book, as Mary of Magdala literally did with Jesus. This Jesus declared was of upmost importance in the great controversy over Satan, and our only hope to escape the confusion of damnation. While tempered with grace toward Martha whom He was drawing to Himself, yet with the strongest emphasis, He defended Mary’s responding to Him. “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Lk. 10:42).

Through meeting with God by faith in His word, in His creation, in our experiences from life, and through manual labor, the mind of man connects with the mind of God. From this originates the character that measures with the character of God’s Son. By this we obtain “the mind of the Lord,…the mind of Christ.” (1Cor. 2:16).

By the presence of God’s wisdom He transforms us. “I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.…
I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find me.
Riches and honour are with Me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.…
For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord .
But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.” (Prov. 8:12,17,18,35,36).

This speaks of not just “wisdom” but also of God Himself—both together—God’s, wisdom. Wisdom, by itself, is Satan’s effective tool of damnation. Spiritualism is rife with invitations to such deeper wisdom; the occult is built upon simply wisdom. The words of Satan himself, “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.” (Gen. 3:5).

God-less wisdom, knowledge, and science are Satan’s manifesto. In that same vein, so is the God-less, person-less, mercy-less law. “The strength of sin is the law.” (1Cor. 15:56). But, the Law and its Author together, God’s law, His merciful Law of God is the strength of righteousness and of God’s kingdom the personal Law is the one true law. “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” (Ps. 119:97,11).

It’s only by meeting with God through His law seen in Christ, by becoming His Son’s disciple and letting Him seal His law in our foreheads, that the precepts of righteousness free us from sin. Only the Law of God will pour a deluge into our hearts of need for a Savior from sin; then, when we yield ourselves to Jesus and His love, we yield to the righteousness of God in Him and we have peace with God. “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” (Rom. 6:13). Otherwise, social taboos, traditions passed down from human religions, the law without God becomes the tool cunningly used by the devil against us, subjugate us and destroy us, just as science without faith or without communion with God leads into a thousand philosophies and strong atheism.

The relationship with Jesus, and surrendering to Him and to His guiding Spirit puts us on solid footing. Through connection with the Redeemer moment by moment, we can say, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” (Ps. 40:2,3). Through His saving grace we can confidently say with Elijah and Elisha,

“As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand.” (1Ki. 17:1). “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand.” (2Ki. 3:14).

We can be trees of righteousness like Elijah and Moses who were constantly like “two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth,” because His grace showered upon them. (Rev. 11:4). We can have the experience David had. “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” (Ps. 52:8).

“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,” “and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” (Eph. 4:14;1Jn. 2:28).

Thus, we avoid the final judgment on sinners. “For their rock is not as our Rock.” (Deut. 32:31). Our Rock keeps us from falling into sin; their belief system cannot save a single soul. “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” (Vs. 32,33). Their belief system is the God-less, Christ-less law, devoid of God’s presence, and leaves them angry and hateful, having drunken from Satan’s bitter, loveless presence.

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” (Heb. 12:15). “With every truly converted soul the relation to God and to eternal things will be the great topic of life.” Great Controversy, p. 463.

Why do most people never find the narrow gate that leads to life? Because they don’t want the self-sacrifice of “Thy” Law, “His” Law, “The law of Thy mouth,” (Ps. 119:72). Satan leads half of the multitudes to despise law and righteousness; the other half he leads to hate the goodness of God in giving the sinner a Mediator for the righteousness of the Law. The devil keeps his captives in the fraternal twin camps of rebellious lawlessness and stubborn legalism. But, everyone who has ever come to the Savior of sin for victory over it “He opened His mouth, and taught them.” (Matt. 5:2). “The isles shall wait for His law.” (Is. 42:4).

Christ’s gracious presence will necessarily lead them to repentance, which Satan’s delusion upon them causes them to despise and evade; and the beauty that characterizes Christ’s Law of holiness Satan inspires them to see as ugliness and undesirable, or obsolete and old-fashioned, and to fear as detrimental to their earthly interest.

So they turn away from their Creator and spurn the Spirit of God. Strange infatuation and delusion! Starting from early age, choice after choice, the demons move each lost soul further and further down the slope that leads to destruction. And “many there be that go in thereat.”

But, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matt. 5:3,4,6).

Friday, April 06, 2012

Mercy is built up forever


____________________Mt. Rainier_____________________

“She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” (Prov. 31:26).

“In this time of special danger for the young, temptations surround them on every hand; and while it is easy to drift, the strongest effort is required in order to press against the current. Every school should be a “city of refuge” for the tempted youth, a place where their follies shall be dealt with patiently and wisely. Teachers who understand their responsibilities will separate from their own hearts and lives everything that would prevent them from dealing successfully with the willful and disobedient. Love and tenderness, patience and self-control, will at all times be the law of their speech. Mercy and compassion will be blended with justice. When it is necessary to give reproof, their language will not be exaggerated, but humble. In gentleness they will set before the wrongdoer his errors and help him to recover himself. Every true teacher will feel that should he err at all, it is better to err on the side of mercy than on the side of severity
Many youth who are thought incorrigible are not at heart so hard as they appear. Many who are regarded as hopeless may be reclaimed by wise discipline. These are often the ones who most readily melt under kindness. Let the teacher gain the confidence of the tempted one, and by recognizing and developing the good in his character, he can, in many cases, correct the evil without calling attention to it.” Education, p. 293.


“No rules for all [baby] children can be given as to the progressive steps in these changes. Parents must view the wants of their children by the best light they have. When all act upon the best light they can obtain, it can hardly be expected that all mistakes will be avoided, but it is safest and best for the cause of reform, to err, if err we must, on the side of custom, rather than on the side of extreme change.” Review and Herald, April 14, 1868 par. 6.

“We don’t make the health reform an iron bedstead, cutting people off or stretching them out to fit it. One person cannot be a standard for everybody else. What we want is a little sprinkling of good common sense. Don’t be extremists. If you err, it would be better to err on the side of the people than on the side where you cannot reach them. Do not be peculiar for the sake of being peculiar. Away with cake. Persons may kill themselves with sweets. More harm is done to children by sweets than by anything else. The best food that I have obtained is the rolls.” Sermons and Talks, Vol. 1, No. 12.

“If you err, let it not be in getting as far from the people as possible, for then you cut the thread of your influence and can do them no good. Better err on the side of the people than altogether away from them, for there is hope in that case that you can carry the people with you, but there is no need of error on either side.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 211.


“Keep back that disposition to crowd out a brother, even if you think him unworthy, even if he has hindered your work by manifesting a spirit of independence and willfulness. Remember that he is God’s property. Err always on the side of mercy and tenderness. Treat with respect and deference even your most bitter enemies, who would injure you if they could. Let not a word escape your lips that would give them opportunity to justify their course in the least degree. Give no occasion to any man to blaspheme the name of God or speak disrespectfully of our faith for anything you have done. We need to be wise as the serpent, and harmless as the dove.” Review and Herald, December 16, 1884 par. 10.


“There is more meant by “being on the Lord’s side” than merely saying so in meeting. The Lord’s side is ever the side of mercy, pity, and sympathy for the suffering, as will be seen by the example given us in the life of Jesus. We are required to imitate His example. But there are some who are not on the Lord’s side in regard to these things; they are on the side of the enemy.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 518.


“‘As the work advances,’ she said June 6, 1914, ‘our brethren are to see and understand that they are to advance and increase in liberality. Every man is to be judged according to his works. Tell the brethren that if they err at all, let it be on the side of liberality, and not on the side of restraint. Because, as they restrict, they are developing traits of character not favorable to religious growth. Our work should be more generous, broad, and favorable as it advances.’” Pamphlet 116, p. 30.


“It is not yet too late to redeem the neglects of the past. Let there be a revival of the first love, the first ardor. Search out the ones you have driven away, bind up by confession the wounds you have made. Come close to the great Heart of pitying love, and let the current of that divine compassion flow into your heart and from you to the hearts of others. Let the tenderness and mercy that Jesus has revealed in His own precious life be an example to us of the manner in which we should treat our fellow beings, especially those who are our brethren in Christ. Many have fainted and become discouraged in the great struggle of life, whom one word of kindly cheer and courage would have strengthened to overcome. Never, never become heartless, cold, unsympathetic, and censorious. Never lose an opportunity to say a word to encourage and inspire hope. We cannot tell how far-reaching may be our tender words of kindness, our Christlike efforts to lighten some burden. The erring can be restored in no other way than in the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and tender love.

Wouldst thou an erring soul redeem,
And lead a lost one back to God?
Wouldst thou a guardian angel seem
To one who long in guilt has trod?
Go kindly to him, take his hand,
With gentle words, within thine own,
And by his side a brother stand,
Till thou the demon sin dethrone.

Scorn not the guilty then, but plead
With him in kindest, gentlest mood,
And back the lost one thou mayst lead
To God, humanity, and good.
Thou art thyself but man, and thou
Art weak, perchance to fall as he;
Then mercy to the fallen show,
That mercy may be shown to thee.”


“While we were yet unloving and unlovely in character, “hateful, and hating one another,” our heavenly Father had mercy on us. “After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Titus 3:3-5. His love received, will make us, in like manner, kind and tender, not merely toward those who please us, but to the most faulty and erring and sinful.” Thought from the Mount of Blessing, p. 75.

“Who can understand His errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.” (Ps. 19:12).

“That He [Christ] might sanctify and cleanse it [us, His church] with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph 5:26). As we hear and behold the Lamb of God, His mercy and love, and hear of the law of kindness in the lives of those who have been sanctified and washed, we are cleansed and washed by the word.

In Daniel’s patience with Nebuchadnezzar’s abrasive harsh temper, in Abel’s fatal work to woo Cain away from worshiping his own works, in David’s longsuffering for his revered king and beloved father-in-law, in Abigail’s mediation for Nabal before the retribution of David, in Moses’ and Paul’s undying care for the people of God’s movement to change and bless the world, exemplified the principle of mercy, and there were so many others.

But, especially, and infinitely more so, towering above all these champions of faith and love like Mt. Rainier over the peaks of its surrounding mountains, Christ has shown us mercy. His longsuffering for His disciples of the New Testament, as well as for His erring people of the Old Testament, far exceeds all of His starry hosts of His great cloud of witnesses who He had sanctified and made fit representatives of Himself.

Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.
How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
For with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.
O continue Thy lovingkindness unto them that know Thee; and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.” (Ps. 36:5-12).

“Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” (Ps. 31:9,10).

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” (Ps. 52:8).

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds.
Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let Thy glory be above all the earth.” (Ps. 57:7-11).

“But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” (Ps. 86:15).

“For I have said, mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens….
Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face….
But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name shall his horn be exalted….
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him.” (Ps. 89:2,14,24,28).

“O satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Ps. 90:14).

“Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matt. 7:22,23).

“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.” (Ps. 94:16-19).

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy….
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.…
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children.” (Ps. 103:8,11,17).

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.” (Ps. 107:1).

“The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.” (Ps. 119:64).

“Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.” (Ps. 130:7).

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks unto the God of gods: for His mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him who alone doeth great wonders: for His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him that by wisdom made the heavens: for His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for His mercy endureth for ever.
To Him that made great lights: for His mercy endureth for ever:
The sun to rule by day: for His mercy endureth for ever:
The moon and stars to rule by night: for His mercy endureth for ever.…
Who remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy endureth for ever:
And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for His mercy endureth for ever.
Who giveth food to all flesh: for His mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for His mercy endureth for ever.” (Ps. 136:1-9,23-26).

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” (Ps. 150:6).

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Perpetual law, undying love, eternal salvation

“What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a Stumblingstone and Rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” (Rom. 9:30-33).

When restoring the image of God in man, throughout the Old Testament, Jesus has used a method that alone can reclaim a sinner from sin. First, He gave Israel structure; then, He showed His undying love for them. Then He came personally and saved them.

He gave them structure; He laid out the rules of the covenant. His law was His words, His doctrine in the Torah. “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine:
And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5,6). If they would join themselves to Him and obey His laws, then He would provide and protect then. Inherent in this arrangement would come His punishment toward their erring ways.

“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction:
For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Prov. 3:11,12).

“For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” (Jer. 30:11).

“Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.” (Jer. 46:28).

Jesus took on a massive project in assuming the role as our surety. As surety, He swore to God that, to His dying day, He would salvage the Human race. He would reconcile them to God and then develop His character in them—His selflessness and grace. Christ would take everyone from the gutter—the worst of the worst—and perfectly restore them to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God and without rebuke.

The work of reclaiming humanity would take 6,000 years, many generations of children learning from the mistakes of their fathers and forefathers. There would be ups and downs. There would be revivals and apostasies, reformations and great periods of apathy and backsliding. Faith in God would spring up with new life, and then be lost in the next generation, accompanied by sorrow, bitterness, disease, and death. Victories would be crowned with defeat. Satan would get a foothold into the precious work of God; and then there would follow misery and heavy divine discipline. And Satan would laugh at man and blaspheme God for His laughable hope to save hopeless mankind.

And the Son of God knew all that would take place. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them.
Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” (Deut. 31:16-18). Yet, in light of their present murmuring and future apostasies, He still commanded His blessing on His people! What grace!

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” (Num. 6:22-27).
“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” (Num. 23:21).

Its amazing that He still commanded His blessing on His people; but that is how grace works. Grace takes the initiative and nurtures faith back to health.

Through all of Israel’s ups and downs, their victories and their punishments, God has been love. He forgave when repentance and humiliation was reborn in His people. Sorrow for sinners, hatred of sin, and humility are His core traits of character. As soon as He would see these traits in them, He immediately moved to forgive, and send His Holy Spirit and His deliverance. King Hezekiah wasn’t perfect, but in his lethal disease, he “turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,…and…wept sore.” (Isa. 38:2,3).

“The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.” “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” (Isa. 38:20,17).

All Hezekiah needed in order to be healed was genuine repentance, which itself is the gift of God freely given to all who will go to Him in faith to get it. “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13). If they wait to create repentance before they go to Jesus, their repentance will be rejected by God. Just as they are, in all their filthiness, they must go to Jesus, the sinner’s friend, and His goodness will give them true repentance, which alone God will accept.

God’s love is a strong love and shows itself in power. The echoes from Mt. Sinai still resound throughout the earth, though much fainter than in bygone years. And likewise, His whispered words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” also resound throughout heaven and are soon to be thundered to the whole world in the Latter Rains. Many physical and spirit paralytics―spiritual paraplegics―will hear the good word, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” (Matt. 9:2).

“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men:…and whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him.” (Matt. 12:31,32).

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” (Matt. 18:10,11).

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matt. 18:12-14).

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” (Lk. 15:7).

“For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:34).

“Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” (Isa. 60:5).

Until that glorious day, the Lord will permit Satan to ravage the world; until the children of God finish their lusting after the flesh, God’s adversary will have the perfect right to spread misery around the globe. And the devil will take full advantage of this right. We have yet to see the worst of what’s coming. It will be another Egyptian slavery. Satan will inspire the worst passions against all who retain even an iota of the image of God. The devil will try to beat the grace of God’s character out of those who love Him and His law.

Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads, —it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved, —just as soon as God’s people are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun already; the judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that we may know what is coming. Ms 173, 1902, pp. 3-6. ("Medical Missionary Work in Southern California," November 20, 1911.) Manuscript Release, Vol. 1, p. 249.

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” (Dan. 12:10).

“For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.
But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.” (Isa. 32:6-8).

“Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear My voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto My speech.
Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.…
Upon the land of My people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.” (Isa. 32:9-11,13-15).

“Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” (Isa. 32:16-18).

“He [Satan’s earthly agency] shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.”
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. 11:42-44;12:1).

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:” (Matt. 24:15,16).

“Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee: be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.” (Isa. 33:1,2).

“Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” (Jer. 30:16,17).

“He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” (Rev. 13:10).

“Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” (Isa. 10:12).

“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” (Isa. 13:11).

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.” (Isa. 24:21).

“For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” (Isa. 26:21).

“I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it.…
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.” (Jer. 25:12-15).

“Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.” (Jer. 50:18).

“A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.” (Ps. 91:7-14).

One day soon God’s people will have settled into the truth. They will settle it in their hearts to obey the privileged light sent down from the Son of God in His heavenly sanctuary. They will be fully settled as His law is sealed in them through faith in His grace.

Righteousness will be the Son’s righteousness, the righteousness of faith, the only kind of righteousness. We will be His workmanship, that He might be glorified. Rather than boasting in ourselves we will be like David, “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.” (Ps. 34:2). Thus He will blot out our wretched past.

“I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isa. 43:25). “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” (Isa. 44:22). And heaven and earth will sing again.

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” (Rev. 14:1-3).

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” (1Jn. 3:1-3).

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Email to a friend

Thank you D____,

I don’t know where I’d be today without the Spirit of Prophecy. Mrs. White’s counsel and high standard and insight on the Bible have had a strong effect on me. Even my perspective on the scripture is molded by Jesus through her. So much of what she wrote of the past lays over situations today.

Lately, as I drive around, more and more the impression hits me that we Americans believe we deserve all this nice living. I was talking with a friend Sunday and repeated it to a church member today that the ten tribes had completely forgotten that they were Israelites and indebted to Jehovah for the abundant life they had. They had served Baal for so long that they believed that life was just on auto-pilot and that they had no one to be accountable to. Baal worship was a religion of atheism. Nature just functioned on its own and there was no need to be thankful for anything.

Protestant Americans are in exactly the same situation. The vast majority of Americans have no idea that they are Protestants. Half of our population are openly atheist, secular, hedonist, or homosexual. The other half go to church, but unbelief runs rampant, even as they go through the motions at church. But unbelief is only a sanctified version of atheism. The knowledge of the true God and the true Jesus, and a deep knowledge of the Bible is nowhere to be seen.

Yet, these people are Protestants, living in the land that God gave Protestantism for a refuge from persecution. He delivered their forefathers, and now no one has the slightest idea that He did that for them, and established a land flowing with milk and honey for the obedience of their forefathers.

After about 200 years of the northern tribes living apart from Jehovah, He finally raised up a violent and vicious empire, which swooped down and conquered the Israelites. Judah barely escaped under King Hezekiah, who would not have been able to handle the fearfulness of it all except that Isaiah was present and God was able to give the king strength and courage.

So, today Jehovah is raising up a vicious and vengeful Roman papacy that is just about to bring Protestant America to its knees. All the good life is going to go away. Our country’s economy is being systematically drained. 9/11 created an ongoing war that was designed to bankrupt our government. 9/11 is central in the destruction of the one Protestant empire today. And all the Protestants are deluded into thinking 9/11 is about Islamic terrorism. They lost their protest with Rome because she cajoled them and giggled with them. All the while she was working to destroy them. How true it is that history is being repeated.

“And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken;
yea, also the Prince of the covenant.
And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.” (Dan. 11:21-24).

We can’t have much more time left on this world. But, before the first vile king of the north came to power, i.e. the papacy, the Roman Empire stood in the way. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” (2Thess. 2:6,7). But, before Imperial Rome could be moved out of the way, the gospel was given to the pagan world by the apostles and the Early Rain of the Holy Spirit. And before that happened, Jesus was manifested in the flesh to them. And before He came to show Himself to the apostles, John the Baptist began preaching and preparing the way for the Jews to receive the Messiah.

This must happen all over again. Before the Papacy can be reinstated and the world unites under the Vatican, the Latter Rain must use Adventists to preach the 4th angel’s message to the secular, atheistic, hedonistic world. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14).

But, before the Latter Rain, “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” “and he shall send Jesus,” through His Spirit being poured upon us (Acts 3:19,20), the Lord must raise up a John the Baptist to get the Adventists prepared to receive Jesus in the Latter Rain when that time comes. Most Adventists are woefully sunken in unbelief. They have lost the purpose and mission we had in 1844. Myself included.

Most of us live like Jesus’ coming is a fairy tale. Most live like He will never return. We must be woken up. It reminds me of EGW’s statement in Desire of Ages concerning John.

He saw his people deceived, self-satisfied, and asleep in their sins. He longed to rouse them to a holier life. The message that God had given him to bear was designed to startle them from their lethargy, and cause them to tremble because of their great wickedness. Before the seed of the gospel could find lodgment, the soil of the heart must be broken up. Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin.

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?”

When the ministry of John began, the nation was in a state of excitement and discontent verging on revolution. At the removal of Archelaus, Judea had been brought directly under the control of Rome. The tyranny and extortion of the Roman governors, and their determined efforts to introduce the heathen symbols and customs, kindled revolt, which had been quenched in the blood of thousands of the bravest of Israel. All this intensified the national hatred against Rome, and increased the longing to be freed from her power.

Amid discord and strife, a voice was heard from the wilderness, a voice startling and stern, yet full of hope: “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” With a new, strange power it moved the people. Prophets had foretold the coming of Christ as an event far in the future; but here was an announcement that it was at hand.
Desire of Ages, p. 103, 104.

Here we are again looking at Rome’s violent revenge on us. The Protestants who have come to view the good life as their entitlement are going to be just as ready to revolt as were the Jews and every other nation within the empire’s power. I see many Adventists in the future, joining with other Protestants in trying to fight against the storm that’s coming.

But, it’s God’s will that the world gets punished and restricted from its life of ease and convenience. He needs to separate people from their ties to this world, because this world is going away. Heaven and eternity stretches out before them. The Lord must give one last opportunity for the whole world to give up their idolatry and love of this world. Only those who will cede their loss of everything and look to God for His acceptance will hear the final message of mercy to the world.

What we need is a John the Baptist message to wake up the Adventists.

David

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Perdition and the bottomless pit

“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2Pet. 3:7).

Hezekiah had had an illustrious reign in his first ten years as king. “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart.” (2Chron. 32:31).

Hezekiah had witnessed the attack of Assyria against Jerusalem with 185,000 troops and their miraculous overnight destruction. Then he escaped a sure death by a slow, torturous cancer when God’s prophet had spoken God’s work and then applied an unlikely cure.

Yet, he still grew lukewarm. Success and prestige did to him what it has done to the whole world before that day and since. He fed on himself, on his accomplishments, his righteousness. This resulted in the painful cancer. Yet, even his miraculous healing by the grace of God toward the king’s repentance did not fully eradicate pride from his heart. So, after he recuperated he continued to depart from his relationship and communion with Jehovah. He fell prey to his own first great prayer at the cleansing of the sanctuary, “For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.” (2Chron. 29:6).

One sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel. Every sinful indulgence strengthens the soul’s aversion to God. The man who manifests an infidel hardihood, or a stolid indifference to divine truth, is but reaping the harvest of that which he has himself sown. In all the Bible there is not a more fearful warning against trifling with evil than the words of the wise man that the sinner “shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Proverbs 5:22. Steps to Christ, p. 34.

Elohim must act; a test must come to Hezekiah. He must be forced to express his inner intents and real character; he must voice his loyalty for heaven or hell. So, God left him; the Holy Spirit stopped establishing Hezekiah with His grace, and that’s when Hezekiah was driven to speaking foolishly and to God’s expressed curse of certain desolation upon Hezekiah’s kingdom. “Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.” (Isa. 39:6). “And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.” (Isa. 8:21,22).

After all that the Lord had done for king Hezekiah; after all that he had seen God do for him, he never returned to God’s ideal for him. And this failure manifested itself in his son, Manasseh, the most sadistic and bloodiest king of David’s lineage. In similar fashion, God had delivered the church from Jewish and Roman oppression and their pagan philosophies―subtle trees of knowledge of good and evil. Satan had set up his spirit armies of occult wisdom and had brought ruin to God’s people, as the Lord had prophesied to Hezekiah. But out of that furnace of affliction He brought forth His church.

Christianity had seen an amazing deliverance through the Messiah Son of God and through His apostles. But, the apostolic church still let its original ardor cool. Christ’s warning threat to the apostolic church was: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:4,5).

But, the church would not bow their pride of apostolic accomplishments, and descended into Satan’s occultic apostasy until it reached its predicted curse. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” (Dan. 7:8). “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” (Dan. 7:25).

Thus, 200 years passed, and they were led further and further from the Holy Spirit. So Christ must act. If His people have been distracted and remain so throughout God’s long-suffering grace, then they must finally be put to the test. Then, having failed the threat, they must be cut off, and given to Satan just as God had done the Jews and the ten northern tribes prior to the Jews. (Dan. 9:24;Rom. 1:18,28-32;Rom. 11:22).

The church was driven to darkness as we see in Revelation. “When He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” (Rev. 6:5-8).

God providentially permitted Satan to have his way with them to the end of his prescribed “time, times and a half”, and no further. Thus, He was able to deliver again His people from the papal furnace of affliction, and Protestantism was born.

But the Great Controversy was coming to an end and within 350 years the Reformation would find even itself apostatized and rejecting the word of God. Faith had fallen in love with this world and their service to the only true God was a sham. Now He must take their candle out of its place, as He had done the ailing apostolic church, and give them the way they had chosen. So a providentially ordained test came to them—the very last days’ message of judgment day and Christ’s personal, literal, visible, audible return in power.

God had left them because they had left Him. Their own scriptures in which they boasted convicted them. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” (Isa. 59:1,2). The test of the three angels proved their departure from Christ as they rejected the angels’plain Bible truth. God brought them to the test; and they failed. (Rev. 6:12-17;8:7-12).

Now, another separation took place and would continue to do so until Jesus would return. The time had come to judge the whole world. The final test would be given the world as Satan would be loosed to perpetrate his last and greatest of delusion of all time. “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” (Rev. 9:1-3).

Now, one final test is being given the world as the Holy Spirit of God recedes from the consciences of mankind. The truths of God’s word and a true knowledge of God’s character in the lackadaisical religious world are falling easily before Satan’s unbridled forces of deception. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thess. 2:8-12).

9/11, its Patriot Act and War on Terror, is quickly closing up Satan’s last moves to unify the world’s religions and governments behind the Vatican and her right-hand man, Protestant America. This secular arm of the Church is becoming increasingly imbued with the voice of the dragon and in its repudiation of its forefathers’ Constitution and separation of church and state.

They have left God and He has left them to their devices and let them go in the direction of their own will—a Satan-possessed will. The Lord will permit this to continue until He has manifested to His enemies, to the on-looking universe, and to His saints, all that is in their heart, and has brought out His elect from the four corners of the world, and condemned everyone else who follows the beast. “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Rev. 13:3,4). “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” (Rev. 13:11,12).

All who will not come out of her will be driven to a darkness worse than that experienced by Hitler’s SS troops. It will be a full demonic possession—perdition. When the 7th trumpet sounds this world’s probation will be closed, and “the beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. … And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (Rev. 17:8,11).

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” (Heb. 10:35-39).