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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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Location: Kingsland, Georgia, United States

A person God turned around many times.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day of Atonement

D_____,
We see from Daniel 8:14 that an antitypical day of atonement would occur before Jesus returns in order for Him to have His reward with Him when He comes, “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” (Revelation 22:12).

Even though there was atonement at each sacrifice, per Leviticus 4, there needed also to be an atonement for the sanctuary from all the atonements that happened throughout the year, per Leviticus 16:16. Paul used the Leviticus 4 daily atonements when he wrote Romans 5:11, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” But, there also must be the antitype for the annual Day of Atonement. Paul didn’t speak much of it because it wasn’t time to bring it out. But He did allude to it in Hebrews 9. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:27,28). That depicts Aaron coming out of the tabernacle having obtained redemption for the nation’s sins accumulated in the sanctuary.

But, for Christ in the antitypical Day of Atonement it means that He will have blotted out all record of sin among His people who respond to the call of the Holy Spirit and love their Savior like His prophets and apostles did, from the beginning of time. Daniel 8:14 gave us the time that the cleansing of the sanctuary would begin―unto 2,300 years. That time prophecy began at 457 B.C. and ended in 1844. So, in 1844 the time of the end began and also the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, in preparation for the second advent of Christ. That is why the Seventh-day Adventist church exists, to tell others of Jesus’ two atonements, His sacrifice for divine mercy and also His judgment day message of divine justice. The two, grace and truth, the cross of Calvary and Day of Judgment, work together to push us and pull us into salvation, into the firmest, surest salvation possible. There’s nothing like Judgment day to bring the need of a Savior. Just like there are no atheists in the foxholes when the bullets are flying and the order comes to charge ahead, the Judgment day circumstances in which we live today and will find to grow increasingly stressful, will shake to their knees all but the most consummate rebellious toward God. “Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:13). It is in judgment that we find out who really was merciful and who really was looking to Jesus for His grace and acceptance.

Today, as the atheistic world grows more and more oblivious of goodness and mercy, and Protestantism grows more and more Romish, we are seeing the coldness of love and iniquity abound. Jesus is coming soon, and with Him the kingdom of eternal peace and grace and love. As He cleanses His Father’s sanctuary He must necessarily cleanse His church on earth. This is what you’ve been going through the past two decades. Jesus is getting you ready for His return. The same for me and C_____ and many others. The attacks of Satan and his obscuring of the eternal love of God are being used by God to lead us to stretch all of our faith to grasp the vision of God’s love for us.

It’s this bigger struggle and work of preparing our hearts and characters for Jesus’ return, the antitype to afflicting our souls, that causes Adventists to pay little attention to the literal observance to the feast days. You are observing the true meaning of the Day of Atonement for these last days by the affliction of your soul and your hanging on in faith that God’s mercy will shine through the darkness. And it will break through. And when it does, all the struggle will be over; peace will reign even if life remains hard. Full surrender will permit you to say with Paul, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

Life will be brighter and you will be more free and powerful in your body, mind, and soul. You will be tasting “the heavenly gift...and the powers of the world to come.” (Hebrews 6:5,6). You will no longer be wrestling with the Angel/mistaken perpetrator of evil toward you. He will give you the blessing you’ve been wanting all your life. And He will give you a new name, which no one knows except you, because it will define your personal struggle to get to Jesus, and no one but you will know that struggle, in its most infinite meaning, except Jesus who wrestled with you. Your new name will be Isra El―“He who wrestles with God and overcomes.”

Blessings, brother,
David

Sunday, September 16, 2012

7 trumpets and some EGW statements

Hi D____,
It truly has been good to be able to freely talk about Bible subjects. One day I believe the internet will not be ours to use, and we will not be able to talk like this until we are face to face with Christ and all of His redeemed. I think I will search the happy crowds as we all travel with Jesus and His holy angels on our way to God and His New Jerusalem, and I will not rest until I find you and we can cry together for a while.
You have seen this before:

No Time Prophecy Beyond 1844
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).
{LDE 35.3}
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). {LDE 36.1}
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). {LDE 36.2}

I still wrestle about these statements that baffle me. How could Sr. White use her powerful pen to stay further understanding of prophecy? How many SDAs will be lost because she prohibited a pragmatic approach to seeing Bible prophecies? It just stuns me. But, God must have had a purpose in this.

My only explanation is that in the context of her statement of “no more time prophecies” that she was referring to many who were still using prophecy to predict future events. EGW was referring to the misuse of prophecy to predict the future. The 5th trumpet would have been a prediction if it had been discovered before 1999. But it was that year that I understood the trumpets, so I wasn’t predicting anything, just looking back at a marvelous fulfillment of a 5 month prophecy.

Then, Mrs. White’s statement that the longest time prophecy of 2,300 years was the final one was based on her misunderstanding of the trumpets from the Millerite preachers who made the 7 trumpets begin at the apostle’s day and stretch out over 2,000 years. Thus the context of Rev. 10 would be 1844, just after the 6th trumpet which they believed was the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1843. So, Rev. 10 appears to be the opening of the book of Daniel and the mandate given to Ellen Harmon to prophecy to the world. This she did, beautifully and powerfully, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, the gift of prophecy was prophesied, not in the 6th trumpet, but in the 1st trumpet by the censor cast to the earth with an extra heaping of Holy Spirit and sanctifying anointing for Ellen Harmon. The giving of the prophetic gift need not be repeated in the 6th trumpet. Rather, the 6th trumpet is for us, the 5 wise but slumbering virgins, to wake up and preach the loud cry of the 4th angel’s message in the power of the Latter Rain, per Rev. 11:11-13. EGW based her authority of no more time prophecies on Rev. 10:4-6, but, that is the forewarning given that there would be no more of God’s waiting for His church to be sealed. Once the sealing and the mark of the beast are accomplished, per Rev. 9:4 and 15, then there is no more time of probation and the 7th angel can sound, and the tribulation can begin, per Rev. 10:7 and 11:15-19.

This should not be called heresy or fanatical, but good news that we see where we are in God’s continuum of prophecy.
David

7 trumpets

Hello A­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____,
Somehow I got your email to B____ that was attached to his. Maybe he did that on purpose. I may be mistaken, but are you the other person who was raising the question of new light at the Sabbath afternoon Bible study with B____? If so, I’m glad we can email each other.

I’ve been somewhat disturbed because I’ve studied the Bible and its prophecies, not to find new light, but just to understand them like I hadn’t in my younger years. I didn’t set out to find something new and startling, but as I studied and tried to make sense of the confusing prophecies, but without Spirit of Prophecy books because at the time I was new in the church and didn’t have them. Actually, I had left the church in my early 20’s and when I came back I was hungry to know the Bible because it was confusing to me back then.

So, after a while of reading the New Testament and then studying the Old Testament prophets, I felt the impression to study Daniel and Revelation. With new eyes I saw in Revelation 4-11 the framework for the Great Controversy as a continuous story line from pre-sin heaven in chapter 4 to the final end of God’s movement on earth to preach Him to the world and the close of probation in chapter 11.

I saw the beginning of the cleansing of the sanctuary and Investigative Judgment in chapter 8-10, that is, in the 7 trumpets. But, what I see is that the cleansing was a process that would take over 150 years to accomplish since it would take until that long to cleanse the characters of God’s people and seal them, “till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made.” (Gal 3:19).

I see that the typical feast of trumpets (1st day of the 7th month) preceded the typical day of atonement (10th day of the 7th month), thus showing that a series of warnings must precede the antitypical day of atonement; hence Revelation’s 7 trumpets—all necessarily after 1844 but before the final cleansing of the sanctuary and Christ’s return.

The clearest connection between the 7 trumpets and the last days is when we lay Rev. 9:4 and 7:3 line upon line, and precept upon precept. Doing so, we find that the 5th trumpet is the centerpiece of the investigative judgment, occurring after the heavenly holy place sanctuary scene in the opening of the 7th seal (Rev. 8:1). And Rev. 9:5 says something that is heresy among many Adventists—that the Investigative Judgment was prophesied to take for more than 150 years.

I have showed this to Adventists and just this past weekend I showed it to Bros. B____ and L______. But as soon as it is seen to contradict Sr. White’s statement of no more time prophecies after 1844, they pay no more attention to the striking connection of Rev. 9:5 to 7:3. And I don’t know what to do. I can’t deny the connection of Rev. 9:5 to 7:3.

When you mentioned the 7 trumpets, I was excited to talk with you to compare notes with you. Can we meet and talk about this subject?

The Lord bless you and I hope to hear from you soon.

David

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

God my Grandfather

“Who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is His name, and what is His Son’s name?” (Prov. 30:4).

I’ve heard the saying that “God has no grandchildren, only children.” But, I feel that I have grounds to disagree with this. I’m happy to have God for a Grandfather.

The children of Israel could have had a good understanding of the Godhead, because the Lord taught it to them through Moses. Through the providences of God with the experiences of Abraham and Isaac, they could have seen God the Father and His Son, and they could have seen that the One they were dealing with was the Son of God.

This would not have changed their monotheistic understanding. Moses preached that “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD,” though I feel certain he knew that the Yahweh He personally dealt with had an Elohim greater than He. (Deut. 6:4). Moses must have seen the wonderful beauty in the Godhead’s mercy toward stubborn, willful man in the story of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Christ, the Word of God, He through whom God’s thoughts were made audible, created a wonderful object lesson of God’s relation to fallen man as the Father of their Lord God that, for 2,000 years, would be taught to a patriarchal organization, which was then to proclaim it to a patriarchal world. But, they chose to live apart from Yahweh and learn of Him, and thus failed this awesome opportunity. They never grasped the message He gave them in Abraham, Isaac, and the prodigal Jacob.

The Son of God chose out a man from the post-flood generations as they degenerated in life-span. While ages could yet be counted to almost two centuries, He found a man, ten generations after Noah, who had been grinded down by a civilization boasting its sin and God-forgetfulness, a man humbled enough by the prevailing selfishness that he could hear Christ’s voice to him.

After testing Abram’s faith and developing his character, Christ made him a promise. “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.” (Gen. 17:4-6). As the Ancient of Days was the one great center of all creation, Abraham would represent Him on Earth through the beautiful character of peace and truth, grace and righteousness, which only God could give. “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” (Rom. 4:13).

In an era when numerals had their specific importance, the Son of God waited while He established, strengthened, and settled the faith and love of this man. Thus, at the end of a century, Abraham could not only correctly represent the infinite God to the son of his own bosom and to the world, but, that significant age of one hundred years left, in the minds of the Israel, a reverence for this great man, which placed him in the ranks of the heavenly holy ones, though later after Babylon, made him a demigod.

“And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” (Gen. 21:5). Now Abraham is standing in God’s place, as the friend of God, and as appearing in His stature. One hundred years old! From our standpoint and the perspective of the people of the nation of Israel, that was impossible to be and still have a promised son. So, through this man Abraham, Christ had performed a living parable to teach His people about His Father, the Ancient of days.

Then, He took the next step and taught them about Himself.

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.…
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” (Gen. 22:1,2,6-10).

“Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.” Does this sound like a world-famous Bible verse? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“…and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” What does this say about Jesus? Was He a burnt offering? Wasn’t He the very one who substituted for Isaac that day, and for Abraham, as well as all of us? Wasn’t He a burnt offering?

Burnt offering? Jesus? Yes, a burnt offering. “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1Cor. 5:7). Jesus burnt? Yes. With what fire? With the wrath of God. As described by the punishment for the mark of the beast, “The wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and 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. 14:10,11).

“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” (Eze. 28:18). “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). Because the whole world, from Adam and Eve to our day have been worshiping the devil the result has been vanity and vexation of spirit. In order to save us from that incurable condition, Jesus had to accept all that wrath of God, and infinitely so much more.

The spikes, the punches and backhands, the cat-o-nine-tails and crown of thorns crammed down onto His head was bad enough, but the mental torment that began in the Garden of Gethsemane and climaxed at 3 p.m. the next day was infinitely worse. The experience of God’s anger toward sin, and His sorrow and frustration toward hopeless sinners, was a fierce torrent that desolated Christ’s soul, like the fire that fell with such force upon Sodom and Gomorrah that it created the Dead Sea, and fills the deepest hole on the surface of this planet. On the cross, Jesus was dying in the place of a world of sodomy. Maybe some sodomites will yet be in heaven, because of the torrent of God’s fierce wrath which Jesus went through for them 2,000 years later on Calvary. Some prostitutes and thieves will be there too, because of the same Person’s love for them. (Matt. 21:31).

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (Jn. 8:56). This is why we will look upon Jesus as our Father. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn. 1:12,13). “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6).

So, Jesus is our Father, “who is over all, God blessed for ever.Amen.” (Rom. 9:5). And His Father, of whom Jesus said, “My Father is greater than I,” is our Grandfather, august, reverend, “who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (1Tim. 6:15,16;Rom. 11:33-36). Thankfully, the great Father, who, high and lifted up and unapproachable, has given us mealy-mouthed, imperious sinners a bold and brave Advocate who knows our weak, nervous laughs, and His Father’s need for righteousness. Our Intercessor to the everlasting God we will gladly call our everlasting Father.

Then if Abraham represented God, the Father; and if Isaac, the son of promise, represented the Son of God; who should Jacob represent?

“And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.…
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau [Red, hairy one].
And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob [supplanter, cheat, liar, usurper]: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.…
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint...
And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Gen. 25:21-34).

Jacob’s name perfectly suited him. He was a true devil. He seemed to inherit the lion’s share of deceitfulness that plagued humanity. No one else like him could look you straight in the eye with the most honest, friendly face, and stab you in the back at the same time! He really took that ball and ran with it…. that is, until he met his match. One of the outcomes of his polished talent of deceit was the need to run away from his most often victimized person, Esau. Esau was planning to literally murder his brother. Hence, Jacob’s sense of desperation that drove him far from home, never to see his beloved mother again, and into the web of his self-centered, conniving, opportunistic uncle and soon-to-be father-in-law two times over, Laban.

From the start, Uncle Laban reflected back onto Jacob his own mastery of deceit, but with 30 more years of practice and perfection at his game. Soon, Jacob was married to Laban’s daughter, whom Jacob did not have the least interest in. And on and on Laban’s deceit went for 20 years until Jacob had four wives, 12 children, and the final one would cause the death of the wife Jacob had originally loved, and truly, with all his heart. His life caused him total confusion and a need of his fathers’ God. But when Rachel died, his heart broke; and so did his self-will and treachery. Then, it was like scales fell off Jacob’s eyes. Finally, for the first time, he saw himself as God saw him, with his deep-rooted wretchedness. He felt the filth and corruption of his heart. He remembered how staunchly his father and grandfather had maintained their holy characters.

Now he could see holiness and it was all that he could think about. How could he ever obtain it? The God of his fathers seemed so far away. His memories of family worship were so far in the misty past. It had been so long since he had spoken to the God who followed him as he ran from Esau. It would take the rest of his lifetime to convince God to speak to him again. Most assuredly, if God were anything like him, He would be offended at his perfidious life of hypocrisy. But, Jacob really needed to hear from the Lord God. He needed to know if God accepted sinners such as he was. Would God take him back? was the most haunting question. But, little did devious Jacob, the insidious one, know that God was reading his heart that very moment and setting in motion circumstances that would drive Jacob to struggle with the Lord God all night and bring to him the crystallizing decision to give his whole life and heart not just to his fathers’ God, but to the Lord his God.

“And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, [Snake in the grass].
And He said, Thy name shall be called no more 'Snake in the grass', but Israel [he who wrestles with God and overcomes]: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name? And He blessed him there.” (Gen. 32:27-29). A few years later, the Lord wasn’t renaming him, but only reminding him of his new name and commanding him to accept that new name and privilege and not to let Satan usurp him again. “And God said unto him,… Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name.” (Gen. 35:10). This why Jesus told us, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Jn. 3:3;Rev. 2:17).

Thus, in the Old Testament account of Jacob we see the work of Christ and the Spirit of God in birthing His wayward children through the second birth of conversion. We are Jacob, the sinner, whom Jesus is turning into Israel, the overcomer from sin. In Jacob and Israel we see our hypocrisy, our incorrigible rebelliousness, our need for a helper in God. In Isaac we see our Father, Jesus, our rock, our deliverer. And in Abraham we see Jesus’ Father, the great and holy, but distant, Grandfather God.

And in the children of Israel we see those for whom we labor until they are born again in Jesus. As Paul put it, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” (Gal 4:19).

Monday, September 03, 2012

The Investigative Judgment still stands

I don’t see the scapegoat as Christ, because it never knew sacrifice. Ps. 50:5 says, “Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” “Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Psa. 44:22). “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” (Rev. 6:9). Psalm 73 is all about the wicked who never suffer, which disturbed the psalmist until he went into the sanctuary, “then understood I their end.” (Ps. 73:17). The judgment scene on the little horn in Dan. 7 equates with the cleansing of the sanctuary because of the same little horn in Dan. 8. The little horn is judged for treading down the whole earth.

“I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.” (Dan 7:21-24). He treaded down the earth by throwing down the gospel power of the Messiah.

“Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.” “And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan 8:11,24,25). “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.”( Dan 11:21,22).

Azazel, the scapegoat, did not represent Christ in type; Azazel represented Satan, who stood up against Christ and assumed His place here on earth. He never suffered; rather he made everyone else suffer. Azazel is Satan who is apprehended when Jesus returns and is cast into the bottomless pit which is the earth in shambles and without humans to tempt for the millennium, just as Azazel, the typical scapegoat, was sent to a land not inhabited. Azazel is the beast power of Revelation and every other earthly power Satan has used to tempt God’s people.

In other words, the Old Testament’s symbolic system that Paul said was “glorious” (2Cor 3:7) included more than just the atoning for the sins of the people, but also avenging for the scapegoat’s menacing God. And, likewise, the gospel’s good news isn’t just about Jesus. Its also about Satan, what Jesus is going to do to him. So, the bad news about Jesus is that He let Satan win the battle, but the good news about Satan is that he will not win the war, but be dealt with justly by God whom he tried to destroy.

Azazel perfectly misrepresented God’s character to turn everyone against Him, and Jesus perfectly revealed the true character of God to turn everyone back to Him. Both Satan and Christ have a part in the atonement; one, through showing us what God is, and the other through showing what God isn’t. Christ is forever made higher than the heavens, and Satan is found guilty and destroyed forever. In both cases God is justified. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:10-12). “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” (Eze. 28:18-19).

This explains the great controversy vision that Jesus gave Ellen White in 1858. So, the great controversy theme, which we received from EGW indirectly proves the validity of the cleansing of the sanctuary, even though she did not make the connection between the little horn and its judgment fulfilling that part in the typical day of atonement ceremony. I haven’t studied deeply into her books to know for sure that she didn’t make that connection, but, it seems that if she had made that connection, then the Desmond Ford issue would never have arisen, or pastors would have known how to quickly put it down.

In the sanctuary doctrine, we have not followed cunningly devised fables.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Women's ordination

I see some real flaws in woman ordination. Beside the one mentioned in 1Tim. 2 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1Tim. 2:9-15). “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (1Cor. 14:33-35).

The apostle Paul is clear that Christ, our Creator, did not give the woman the place of leadership over the man. And her sin only added to the permanence of that condition. Adam sinned as well as Eve, but, in accordance with the character of God, law and order must prevail in this world which must survive until Christ could restore the sinless paradise. He chose Adam and the male gender in this role, from top to bottom of the chain of command, and woman as the counselor by his side.
For women to fight this arrangement is to fight against God.

“For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb. 5:1-4). “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen. 3:16).

The principle I see in this is that the priesthood was not a male contrived arrangement. It was divine. No man took that honor to himself, but it was God’s call and His doing. I can’t see anyone except Satan working to force God to change His most ancient arrangement, and anyone who should try is guilty of the 1Cor. 3:17 curse, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” The temple includes the order of the serving priests.

There is only one known true biblical change to the priesthood, and that was for Christ’s heavenly ministry. “And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest,
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
For He testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.” (Heb. 7:15-18).

Yet, this didn’t change the male oriented ministry, for Christ certainly was the Son, and He chose 12 men. Certainly there have always been women in the leadership, but not as officiating ministers in the leadership role. Theirs has been a supporting role, just as the military staff officers support the line officers. “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God….
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.…
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.” (1Cor. 11:2-3,8-9,11). A beautiful balance is struck here that keeps men from overlording the women. Nevertheless, her God-given role is to support man, to be “an help meet for him”.

“Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.” (1Tim. 5:9,10). “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” (Tit. 2:3-5). “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” (1Pet. 3:5,6). But, some would add to Paul's list of services of the woman that of pastor, conference leader, and even president of the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.

The scriptures cite a large number of females laboring in the gospel. “And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Phil. 4:3). “And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (Acts 17:4). “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women , and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.” (Act 1:13,14).“ And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with Him,
And certain women , which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance.” (Luk. 8:1-3). “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” (1Cor. 16:19). “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.” (Rom. 16:6).

Any leadership that women had in the past was for counseling other women. But, Deborah was an exception, in her place as wise judge between the matters of the people; yet, she never overstepped her supporting role to take from Barak the reigns of leadership over men. “And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.” (Jdg. 4:4-9).

We can hear her Spirit-powered strong character and rebuke to Barak for his weak faith in God to give him success in the necessary military campaign. She was in essence saying that he shouldn’t have needed the help of women. He should have stood on his own two feet. She took the leadership role, as a courageous counselor, in mercy to Barak’s fearfulness. But, she in no way usurped his God-given male office as leader of men and protector of the nation.

But, we do have instances of that usurpation of government leadership in Jezebel and in Herodias. They both had weak king husbands and they both harnessed the powers of state. And we’ve had a modern counterpart in the 1990’s—Hillary Clinton. Soon, she will be the first female president of the United States. Something of concern, because she follows the unconsecrated patterns of the other two female usurpers and agents of Satan against God’s apostatized people.

Jezebel, came from Zidon, the city-state whose revered god was Milcom, or Moloch. I understand that Moloch was just another name for Baal. Both were fierce, ruthless, murderers and taught the nations of the world to be ugly.

So, Jezebel, immediately upon marriage to Ahab, set up a papacy in Israel, where the church and state were intertwined. “The prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1Ki. 18:19). These priests were paid by the state coffers, not the worshippers' donations.

Such a brutal god as Baal cannot keep the loyalty of the subjects long without an alter-ego goddess. Satan knows this and has always used this two god system, one of pure justice, and the other of pure mercy, Baal and Ashtoreth (Ashtaroth). Ashtoreth’s duty was to aswage the terrible anger and discomfort in the devotees. This was nothing different from the modern Catholic Christ as dispenser of pure justice, and Mary, as his redemptrix and intercessor, the dispenser of pure mercy. The true Christ of the Bible had justice always mixed with mercy and mercy always mixed with justice. Not that the two dispositions of God cancelled out each other; but that the one wonderfully complimented the other in all of His works of love.

Mercy without truth is irresponsible, and anyone who desires that is not honest with himself. We, the sinners of the world, need mercy always combined with truth. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” (Prov. 16:6). “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psa. 85:10). “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” (Psa. 89:14). “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth .” (Psa. 86:15). “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God.” (Rom. 11:22). Praise the Lord for His mercy and truth. It’s the goodness of God mixed with His enduring mercy which leads to true repentance. And it was His mercy and truth that led the Lord to replace the Edenic arrangement, of Eve at Adam’s side adding to her king’s greatness, with a similar, less attractive one of service, that would lead to her eventual sanctification from sin and ultimate restoration of Edenic godliness if she would submit to it and surrender to the Lord God. But, whoever among her daughters should rebel against this discipline and chafe at the humbling of God, would be swept into the ranks of Satan, along with her children.

When those two polar dispositions of God, His grace and truth, are split apart and separated into two gods, then Satan can destroy God's creatures. Both gods, with either trait, destroys.

“The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted.”( Isa. 14:5,6). “What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Isa. 3:15). “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,” “because the law worketh wrath.” (2Cor. 3:6;Rom. 4:15). “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10).

But, pure mercy is equally destructive. “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan. 8:23-25). Thus, through this false religion, that looks like the true one of justice and mercy, Satan eclipses God’s true redemptive religion that mingles the two aspects of God’s fatherly character in a beautiful combination, and which alone a creature can trust in. “He magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.” (Dan. 8:11).

Justice without mercy is not justice, it is tyrannical rage. Mercy without truth or justice enables a sinner until death takes him away forever; and thus, in a seductive way Mercy without truth is equally tyrannical. It is tyrannical peace; it grinds us to powder.

Without studying the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus, we cannot have the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit that gives us faith to approach God, we can never have peace. Thus they never fall on the Stone and are broken, so the stone continues to fall on them and grind them to powder until they finally admit their service to false religion and their proud attempt to propitiate God without His authorized Intercessor. Then they surrender their heart to God in repentance and His Spirit fills them with the peace they longed for all their life.

But, Satan’s one false religion is laying right around us all over the world and is an easy substitution for striving to see the God of truth and grace and to believe in His acceptance. His once false religion the world round, was Baal and Ashtoreth; and they always worked together.

“And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.” (1Ki. 16:31). “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.” (2Ki. 23:13). “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.” (1Sam. 7:3,4). “And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” (Jdg. 2:13). “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.” (Eze. 8:14).

And rather than being redemptive from heaven, the one false religion in the world only compels human emotion, which Satan convinces the people is coming from heaven. They might call it “the renewal of the Holy Spirit,” but, its only the age-old righteousness by human works, worship by avoiding God and relying on human resources in His place. “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of Mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isa. 50:11).

The peace Ashoreth offered was empty. “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” (Jer. 6:14-16).

So, the Catholic Christs, the Baalim, the Zeus’s, Jupiters, Molochs, Nimrods,and Osiris’s of the world drive the world’s masses wailing into the arms of the Marys, Ashtoreths, Dianas, Venus’s, Semiremas’s, and Isis’s where they can pour out their poor souls, weeping their poor tears. With all the human imagination that the people could drum up, they had wished her peace, the peace of God, upon themselves. But, wishing is not faith, and faith only comes when we find the true God.

This is why churches are so full of women, and most men stay away. Modern Christianity is designed for women, being modeled after the ancient false religions, and devoid of reproof and chastisement and pain. “The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.” (Jer. 6:29,30).

This false Christianity of self-pity is the reason we hear preachers teach their congregations from their pulpits the unbiblical question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is where the doctrine of pre-trib rapture comes from, which tells weak people, trained in a religion of self-pity, what they want to hear, and allows them to think they can miss the furious storm of trouble that is soon to hit the world, even though the scripture is plain, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” (Isa. 48:10). “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
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.
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:9-12).

But, before Jesus returns, the true gospel of mercy and truth will be preached to the whole world, for a witness to all nations, and then droves of men will flock to it. The men will come, as they came to the preaching of Jesus, who was full of grace and truth, and to His strong forerunner, John the Baptist. Neither one of them beat around the bush.

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” (Matt. 3:7-10). “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Luk. 16:16).

“As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” (Isa. 3:12). “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.” (Rom. 1:26).

“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.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:3,4).