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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.

Friday, July 31, 2015

A due punishment coming to Protestantism and Adventism


 

“The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken Me….
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish….
The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods [hemorrhoids], and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
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, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee….
Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof….
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.” (Deut. 28:20,22,27-29,30,41).
 
“Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see….
[The enemy] shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail….
And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakednes, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee….
The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy [cattle], or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.” (Deut. 28:32-34,44-46,48,49-51).

The cause of the collapsing world economy will be the corrupting of the world’s morality. The Lord will do as He did to ancient Israel. He will send a strong delusion. He will lift His protection against the spiritualism of the heathen, and let spiritualistic worship enter into His church. He will make them drunken with the delusion of having imaginary salvation while hearing the voice of devils. They have disdained to wrestle with the Law of God. They have hated the Lord’s requirements and covenant of control by His heavenly agencies. They have not wanted to serve their Creator with all their heart and place Him preeminently above all other interests. Through Spiritual Formation they have continued their rebellion against Him and have delved into this religious replacement for His voice until the Lord must give them over to their desire—Spiritual Formation’s possession by the demonic agencies.
 
“Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Jer. 25:27-29). 
“True and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corupt the earth with her fornication.” (Rev. 19:2). “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication..” (Rev. 14:8).

The voices of the demons lead the Protestant peoples to disregard the authority of God’s Law and their characters become as worthless as Jeremiah’s rotten loin cloth. Their hearts and lives reflect the god they serve—cool, self-centered, a subtle habitation of the devils—but, they think themselves free of condemnation from Jehovah and believe they are saved. “They have healed the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” (Jer. 6:14). They become filled with the wine of Babylon. Once thus corrupted beyond all hope, and drowning in drunken perdition, Protestant Americans have no strength to resist the coming enslavement by Babylon’s modern counterpart of Nebuchadnezzar. The entrance of Spiritual Formation into the Advent movement indicates that Protestantism’s final slide into perdition has already begun. There is no other group, through the 3rd angel’s message, to warn the world of this enemy imposter. And we don’t even suspect this scourge to the Protestant, democratic world. It is rampaging across the world. It has already overthrown its counterpart of the ancient Assyrian empire—apostate Protestant America.

The Lord held off the coming destruction from our slide into apostasy, even while we Protestants and Adventists hated the principles of the Spirit of Prophecy. But, now with our indulgence of Spiritual Formation His wrath will finally be seen. Spiritual Formation gives the mark of the Beast. Our Lord’s Babylonian armies will punish us and the world. We will get a bellyfull of heathenism for departing from the Spirit of Prophecy, as ancient Israel also experienced.
 
“Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joel 2:6-11). “For the LORD shall judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants, when He seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted.” (Deut. 32:36,37). “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” (Deut. 32:31). “All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD.” (Jer. 50:7).   His plagues will fall and glean from the careless, sin-loving multitudes all who will repent of their contempt toward His Law and toward the appeal of His everlasting gospel, both given by Ellen White.

“Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah [today’s Adventism], and the great pride of Jerusalem [today’s Conference leaderships].
This evil people, which refuse to hear My words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this [Jeremiah’s loin cloth buried in the Euphrates’ mud for a year], which is good for nothing.
For as the [loin cloth] cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel [today’s Protestant denominations] and the whole house of Judah [the Advent movement], saith the LORD; that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. [This was yet another warning and gracious plea to submit to the righteousness of God.]
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Give glory to the LORD your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.
Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.
The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?” (Jer. 13:9-21).

“For I have set My face against this city [the Seventh-day Adventist church] for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. [Another gracious warning and plea.]
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.” (Jer. 21:10-14). 

“And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.  (Jer. 22:25).
 
“Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.” (Jer. 25:9). 

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar [Pope Francis] king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
And the Chaldeans [Jesuits, “that bitter and hasty nation” (Hab. 1:6)], that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city [SDA church], and burn it with the houses [of worship], [under] whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke Me to anger.
For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before Me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.
For this city hath been to Me as a provocation of Mine anger and of My fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before My face,
Because of all the evil of the children of Israel [the Protestants] and of the children of Judah [the Adventists], which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And they have turned unto Me the back, and not the face [when they turned their back on My testimonies]: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
But they set their abominations [Spiritual Formation] in the house, which is called by My name, to defile it
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” (Jer. 32:27-35).

Another Inquisition is already being developed by the new post-911Protestant America, by which the purest within the nations have always been destroyed, and the same will happen again. Regardless of Satan’s advertised reasons, his purpose for the Inquisition is to remove the righteous from the Earth. Protestant America is already speaking like the Dragon (see Revelation 13:11, cf Revelation 12:9) which gave the first Beast (the Roman Papacy) “its power and seat and great authority” (Rev. 13:2).

“And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 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 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. 8:9-12).

Daniel’s prophecy of the desolation from abomination has been fulfilled many times: 1) at the fall of Jerusalem by Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar because of its Canaanite worship; 2) at the end of Israel as God’s people by Roman Titus because of its Babylonian Judaism; 3) at the falling away of the apostolic church into a papacy because the Christians welcomed all of the pagan influences of Rome to replace everything Christ had originally put into the church doctrines. And, once more the prophecy will be fulfilled by a yet future end of Protestantism and Adventism “because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah.” (Jer. 32:32). Their subjugation by the Vatican and its army of Jesuits will come because they would not hear the instruction from the word of God and they ceased to revere His correction.

Because of “the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (Dan. 9:27). “For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.” (Isa. 10:23). The desolation of the souls of God’s people because of the abomination from heathen worship will find no resistance from God because He will give the last day people over to His enemy. It will practice its deluding intoxication, and prosper in that work of deception. This strong deluding subjugation will precede the final act of subjugation which will be the accession of the pope of Rome to the throne of a one world dominance.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation [the spiritualistic institutions of Rome], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place [the place of God in the conscience, replacing His voice for Satan’s through Spiritual Formation], (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains…”

Then they must flee the cities and towns and live in small hamlets because the voice of “God” from Spiritual Formation will create a global army, “an host” (Dan. 8:12) of fanatical evangelical Protestant and Catholic Christians and people from every religion in the world who will do this “God’s” every desire to track down everyone speaking against the soothing, self-hypnotizing, peace-giving drunkenness of the Mass (and the world religions’ similar Babylonian mantra-style, hypnotic worship) and of Spiritual Formation (or, the world religions’ many forms of mystical communication with the demonic hosts). And the Church of Rome will control all the other Babylonian religions; and her eldest son, Christian America, will control their governments. Through the Church, Satan will control every willing conscience and mind, and he will be in the process of ridding the world of every protesting dissident, accusing them of being terrorists because they are terrorizing his spiritualistic Spiritual Formation kingdom that is overspreading the nations. Through spiritualism he will eventually reign over the Earth uncontested.
 
“Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

Having prepared the world, Satan will accomplish his grand finale. He will preempt the Lord’s coming by impersonating the second advent of Jesus.

“As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: ‘Christ has come! Christ has come!’ The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is ‘the great power of God.’ Acts 8:10….

“As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against commandment keepers shall withdraw the protection of government and abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies, dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. Many will find refuge in the strongholds of the mountains.” Great Contorversy, p. 625,626.

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matt. 24:15-24).

“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 [marvel, have in admiration], 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.” (Rev. 17:8).

But, before Satan’s impersonation of Christ and the close of probation, as some people surrender to the grandeur of the almighty love of their Father’s punishments, they will have faith for the first time. These eleventh hour children of God will be saved. “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: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40). Their misconceptions of His love will be swept away, as Jacob’s were when the Angel touched his thigh. His love and the promise of His blessing will be tangible to them, trustworthy, and true. Through the outpouring of His Spirit, He will again be the Comforter that the disciples had known. “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (Isa. 33:17). “When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.” (Isa. 24:13-16). New bravery will empower them to give the last great message of salvation to the world. They will do in difficulty a work they could have done in times of peace. Thousands will daily be converted.

“And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.” (Isa. 24:22-23).

“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34).

“Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art My servant: I have formed thee; thou art My servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself;
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
That confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
That saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me:
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.” (Isa. 44:21-45:8). 

“The Law of his God is in his [the righteous’] heart; none of his steps shall slide.
The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.” (Ps. 37:31-37).

Friday, July 17, 2015

“Grace, grace”, Satan’s favorite theme

Satan loves to preach grace without Law because sin costs him no pain. The “Grace only” theme means that God must perpetually pay by agonizing at the sight of our sins while probation remains open a little longer for the human race.  Without respite God’s agonizing must continue under the “Grace only” regime because He is never permitted to manifest His judgments in order to awaken His human race to its injustices, its rank rebellion toward Him, and its proud disobedience to His laws.
 
Sin causes God infinite agony—the agony in Christ at Gethsemane. “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44). “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” (Heb. 12:4). Here we see God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. You see Jesus, you see the Father.
 
Satan loves the perverted, lawless environment of “Grace only” because the resulting unbounded sins cost him nothing, and even reward him with tremendous unholy pleasure and the satisfaction of knowing God’s suffering.  It is God who pays for everything in the great Grace give-away. He is the only one who loves righteousness and hates wickedness. While His children live in sin because of “Grace only”, our Father suffers and pays all the costs of the lawless “Grace only” blasphemy. But, why should the Father suffer alone? Why shouldn’t His children suffer with Him because of their sins? Isn’t that the way it works among the closest families on earth?
 
The lawless grace giveaway prevents God from ever giving His beloved race any hatred of and sorrow for sin. God loves His heaven-ordained grace, which flows from His eternal fountain of infinite love, for it brings His special human race redemptive power to overcome sin. He graciously looks down the road of time and all who strive to have victory over sin and self-indulgence He treats as fully victorious. From His grace He gives them His Spirit of consolation and hope, His blessing to Abraham, the father of faith. Victorious redemption means that He will eventually get relief from seeing His redeemed children cease from sin, His children’s sins being that which cause so much terror to family, friends, and strangers around them. “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into My mind.” (Jer. 19:5, cf Jer. 32:35).

It’s the end of sin that gives God rest. In opposition to Satan’s gospel of lawless grace, God’s ending transgression of His Law is His purpose for grace. His great longing is not simply to freely give grace to His children who feel nothing toward His plight of suffering under their breaking His commandments; but to cause the cessation of sin and then to justify us of all our evil past. “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” (Dan. 9:24).
 
Therefore, as a Father, He unabashedly mixes His judgments with His mercy, both His justice and mercy working toward the eventual end of our “iniquity and transgression and sin.” (Ex. 34:7). “The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” (Num. 14:18).
 
But, this doesn’t mean that He enjoys bringing His retribution upon sinners. He doesn’t punish because He loves to punish. His eternal message to the world has been, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” (Eze. 33:11).
 
God doesn’t enjoy bringing His retribution upon sinners; but after He has exhausted the words of His powerful appeals spoken through the prophets, words of reproof, instruction, and warning, words from prophets who a rebellious world finally persecutes and kills, then He follows through with all the tragedy and death that He has promised His erascable children. His words of warning are never idle threats. Aren’t His judgments upon nations and the most grievous of sinners no different from the punishments from the billion desperate fathers in the families around the world? “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath no dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” (Ps. 103:9-11). We aren’t worthy of the least of His mercies. For no other reason does He visit His people with judgment than that His retributive acts can cause sin to cease and their hearts to be free again to love Him and those around them. His visitations of justice (always mixed with mercy) are meant to cleanse and liberate and bring happiness in the earth. And the prospect of judgment strikes the fear of God and conviction into the heart. Therefore, His judgments are a good thingholy and just and good. They lead the sinner to need a Saviour from sin, in order to escape the coming wrath. Therefore, from a heart full of love, God sends warning after warning before He sends His punishments. He knows the mischievous hearts which He is trying to bring to repentance. His strong words and powerful dealings with mankind come from a heart flowing with wise love. Even after the voice of prophets has ceased, His heart appeals of love still echo even to the last seconds before His judgments fall, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” But, by then no one can listen.
 
While His threats are not idle and they sound determinedly unreversable, and He sends them in abundance and with much graphic description, yet He still holds out His merciful appeals and the possibility of rescinding His decision. Listen to His pathos from the past,
I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Give glory to the LORD your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive….” (Jer. 13:9-21).
 
And, later after many warnings, mercy was still offered if only they could open their ears to hear the love of God.
“For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.” (Jer. 21:10-14).
 
He knows what the devils wants to do to His people when they serve His enemy. He is only thinking of the happiness and welfare of His children. “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me: for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?” (Jer. 7:16-19).
 
The devil makes it look like God wants “Grace only.” However, the idea that God loves “Grace only” can’t be farther from the truth. God and His only begotten Son together agonize over sin. He hates sin and seeks the removal of its existence. But, Satan revels in “Grace only” because it leads to our continuance in sin. So, the devil makes it look like “Grace only” comes from God. And we think, “How can it be otherwise from a God of love?” Yet, the discerning mind will see the demonic deception behind “Grace only”. God loves righteousness, and He understands the failings of those who fear Him and who seek His help for victory over their idolatry.  To them is gracious. To those who have a sense of humbled fear toward God He will forgive not only one sin, but all their past.
 
Jesus is the perfect blend of justice and mercy, and Jesus is the express image of His Father. His divine love is the balanced disposition of Law and grace. He is “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).
 
In vision, David saw Jesus. He beheld the wonderful, gracious ways of Christ. “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.” (Ps. 45:2). 
 
But, then David went on to describe the other disposition of the Son.
 
“Gird thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.
And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” (Ps. 45:3-7).
 
Jesus was the perfect balance of truth and grace. His love made the balance.
 
“Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” (Ps. 85:9-11).
 
Grace wasn’t all that Jesus was about. Like frozen hydrogen destroys tissue as much as does a flame of fire, likewise grace without truth, or mercy without justice, is unbalanced and very destructive. When Jesus gave grace, He also expected justice and a righteous response from the recipients of His blessings. Thus, through His actions, as in His teaching, Jesus was full of grace and truth.
 
“One of [the lepers], when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,… And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?” (Luke 17:15,17). It was right and just for all the healed lepers to repay their Benefactor with gratitude for the new gift of health.
 
At another time “Jesus said, Who touched Me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, Master, the multitude throng Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me?” (Luke 8:45). Then, even though she came forth trembling in terror, He called out the woman who had received His healing virtue. It was just and right for her to testify that God had healed her, lest her blessing turn into a curse. Jesus was justly thinking of God who had healed her, and He was mercifully thinking of her salvation.
 
After delivering Israel from permanent enslavement, Jesus thundered from Mt. Sinai, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” (Ex. 20:2,3). The children of Israel were under permanent obligation to their new Deliverer and Lord. This was only right and just. “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive.” (Ps. 68:18). And Christ, their new Master, would take good care of them and make them the happiest people on earth. But, they must obey Him. They must live under eternal obligation. This was only just; but it also meant only good.
 
When Jesus came to heal and to teach about grace, He also taught the Law, even raising the bar on the Law.
“And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” (Matt. 9:2).
“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 the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:3-7).

He continued, “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven….
Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matt. 5:17-22).
“Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28).
“Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” (Matt. 5:39-42).
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48).
 
Jesus came to exemplify and reveal more than grace. He came to magnify the Law also.
“He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His Law…. The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the Law, and make it honourable.” (Isa. 42:4,21).
 
But, Jesus’ faithfulness to both Law and grace is explosive to Satan’s kingdom of lawlessness. So, from the beginning the evil one has sought to remake the Son of God, just like himself, into a “Grace only” Christ, . But, the true Jesus of the Bible is different from all the goddesses entitled, “Queen of heaven” (Jer. 7:18), “the great [goddess]…whom all Asia and the world worshippeth” (Acts 19:27), the “Great Queen of Heaven …Hail, Full of Grace and Purity…”, whose pornographic fornications that dared to pose as purity were but the corruption of the last vestige of the image of God in humanity. From the most ancient times, and continuing to this day, this personification of the boldest of bald-faced lying doctrines that God wants to give grace to the exclusion of obedience to His Law, has been simply the cunning craftiness and psychological sleight of hand ruse upon the slaves and souls of men. That lawless goddess ruling over the pristine hosts of heaven, who has only so-called “grace” to offer, is but the greatest counterfeit of Christ, the true heavenly sovereign. “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:24). “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.” (Ex. 19:5). The Queen of heaven’s domain is pristine points of light in the cosmos, but Christ’s domain is over filthy hearts and lothesome lives that He came to touch and clean through the uncleanness of His crucifixion; His kingdom is for the untouchables who the Queen of heaven and her priests don’t want cleaned lest the redeemed make the Queen and her ministers look ugly. The stars fill her crown; the cross is His crown. She demurely demands a throne over the highest earthly king; He desires the honest, simple obedience from hearts set on fire by His love.
 
“Grace, grace, only grace!” decries the competing goddess Queen of heaven. But, the true sovereign Jesus goes far beyond that wide road to perdition. He never divides His truth and His grace, and thus He establishes both. “[Does grace] then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, [grace] establish[es] the Law.” (Rom. 3:31). As every kite needs a tail, so every gift of grace needs the Law. Also does every requirement of the Law need the gift of grace; and the grace shines out from the Law. “He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.” (Deut. 32:13). “The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:2). As every tale needs a kite in order to soar high, so does God’s Law use His grace to take us to heaven. Our redemption requires both of God’s Law and grace “[to deliver] us from the power of darkness, and [to translate] us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” (Col. 1:13). Even today, God’s Law and grace “[raise] us up together, and [make] us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6).
 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Spiritual Formation and the mark of the Beast

Dear Pastor ______,
 
I hope you have time to read everything on this email.
 
In case you don’t remember me, we met recently at the close of the Potomac Conference Campmeeting. I wanted to talk with you about the dangers of Spiritual Formation, but you were tied up in closing down the gymnasium. I didn’t think the conversation would be long, but maybe it could have been. I’m not sure what you meant by a good and a bad form of Spiritual Formation, but, I’m glad we postponed the conversation because at that time I didn’t have authoritative sources to quote.
 
I hesitate to say anything on this subject because it could sound like I am attacking you or the Potomac Conference for promoting Spiritual Formation. It isn’t attack, but fear for you and many others who are being trained in Spiritual Formation. Jesus said that no man comes to His Father but through Him. Jesus also said that everyone who turns away from hearing the condemning Law of God, that his prayer is an abomination to God (Prov. 28:9). He said that as a father pities his children, so His Father pities those who fear Him. In other words, by evading the condemnation of the Law (or, the “quick, and powerful,” (Heb. 4:12) and sharp testimony of the living prophets), we cannot come to the Father for peace.
 
Not being able to come directly to God is an affront to the fallen human heart. Therefore the sin-loving multitudes of the world seek a god who will permit them to stand before the Father, just as they are. But, this is a great offense to God. He provided for His Son to stand before Him in our place because we are an offense to Him, and He made the provision that we can come before the Son, just as we are. This is what we see demonstrated in Old Testament sanctuary system; and this also is what the the pagan nations didn’t have. They didn’t have a knowledge of God’s will to grind on their conscience; and they then attempted to approach Him anywhere, anyway they chose. But, in order to spend eternity with those who will accept His humbling, the Father gives the needed thunder and lightning against their sinfulness that will cause them to tremble at their sins. Then, when they have been grinded upon long enough, He gives them the knowledge of Jesus who comforts their humbled, trembling souls.
 
They that be whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. But, we cannot know our sinfulness without the Father’s revelation of His offenseHis grinding. Therefore, we cannot need a Saviour from sin without His Father’s grinding. We feel perfectly alive and well without the Law until the commandment comes, but, when it comes we begin the wrestling that leads us to despair of our goodness and to repent of our self-sufficiency. This two phase work alone can result in our humbling and surrender, but only if we continue in the fires of condemnation, seeking to get a clearer view of the mercy of Jesus. When the possibility of His mercy comes to our thoughts, we cry, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” (Mark 10:47). Over time, Jesus makes His way into our trust and the Spirit of truth, the Comforter, leads us to repentance. By our faith we are made whole. We are a brand plucked from the fire and justified by that faith which came through the striving to know Jesus, a knowledge of Him that could only be had under the hot wrath of His Father. 
 
This is the one and only and eternal biblical method and science of salvation. If the Schoolmaster has been grinding our souls to powder, we should be ever so thankful and consider it an immense honor. We are being called! The Most High is giving us His attention! If our striving against Him is the only atmosphere in which He can claim our hearts, He will most assuredly make use of whatever environment we give Him.
 
Whether in the church or out of it, as many as stay in the Schoolmaster’s crucible He will give to Jesus; and Jesus will not cast them away, no matter how much grinding they need. Those who submit to His Father’s grinding are extra special to Him. They are His sheep and they hear His voice. Under the Schoolmaster, they have experienced Jesus’ darkness and depression in Gethsemane. He is touched with the feelings of their infirmities. They remained under divine wrath until God was done boiling away their pride and rebellion. They have wrestled with Jesus; they know Him. Only they have followed the Lamb whithersoever He went. He will duly reward them with eternal life. And He rewards no one else—because they would not endure the wrath of God against sin, which gave them the need for a Saviour from sin. The masses never find this strait gate because they aren’t willing to stay in the crucible until He pulls them out. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1Pet. 5:10).
 
The world seeks peace some other way than staying under the Schoolmaster’s Law. They have bailed out of the crucible which was divinely tailored for their victory over their sinful nature. Satan is behind this, who offers a substitute religion and counterfeit method of salvation, one that dismisses the condemnation of God. This method is made to look perfectly valid and even biblical; all the while it is an abomination to God—the abomination that makes desolate. But, despite its thousands of disguises, the common denominator is that they all deny God His authority to condemn sin. The substitute religion cannot hear His rebuke; it bristles and grinds at correction; therefore it offers a way to God without His rebuke and condemnation of sin; and it is grabbed up by the vast majority.
 
“She hath glorified herself, …for she saith in her heart, I…shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:7). False religion is all about pride and subtle rebellion against God. Her character is the mirror image of her mentor, the Dragon. “Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.” (Job 41:33,34). Because it refuses to hear reproof and instruction in righteousness, the whole world follows after the Beast. “Great is” (Acts 19:28) the whore of Babylon “whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” (vs. 27).
 
Pastor ______, as you know, today the Vatican is on the move. It has returned to life and power and to an ever expanding, all-encompassing Ecumenism. The papacy is ready to be re-established by Evangelical America. The Vatican is the mother of abominations in the earth. She is the cause of tremendous upheaval in the world, in preparation to her grand entrance as the world’s saviour. And the whole ecumenized world will fall in line to serve and to placate the Beast. Should it be a surprise that she is using her deceptive powers within the SDA church?
 
We know that a shaking is coming. Could the worldliness in the Advent Movement, which is causing such a departure from the original fervor after the Great Disappointment, be opening the door for the Great Shaking? Wouldn’t Satan corrupt our hearts with the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches before he conquers us with a strong delusion? His prophets are innumerable and have become the spiritual teachers of the denominations. We must test these spirits to know if they are of God, for many antichrists are gone out into the world. “And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all His prophets. And He said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.” (1Ki. 22:21,22).
 
Maybe you’ve already read the following things, but I feel the need to share them with you. Below are excerpts from History of the Reformation. D’Aubigné’s amazing comparison/contrast between Luther and Loyola sheds great light on the Spiritual Formation that Ignatius (Inigo, his Spanish name) Loyola developed.

Both were seeking for reconciliation with God, and longed to have the assurance in their hearts.”
“Inigo, instead of feeling that his remorse was sent to drive him to the foot of the cross, persuaded himself that these inward reproaches proceeded not from God, but from the devil; and he resolved never more to think of his sins, to erase them from him memory, and bury them in eternal oblivion. Luther turned towards Christ, Loyola only fell back upon himself. HRSCV3 354.4
Visions came erelong to confirm Inigo in the conviction at which he had arrived. His own resolves had become a substitute for the grace of the Lord; his own imaginings supplied the place of God’s Word. He had looked upon the voice of God in his conscience as the voice of the devil; and accordingly the remainder of his history represents him as given up to the inspirations of the spirit of darkness. HRSCV3 354.5
One day Loyola met an old woman, as Luther in the hour of his trial was visited by an old man. But the Spanish woman, instead of proclaiming remission of sins to the penitent of Manresa, predicted visitations from Jesus. Such was the Christianity to which Loyola, like the prophet of Zwickau, had recourse. Inigo did not seek truth in the Holy Scriptures; but imagined in their place immediate communication with the world of spirits. He soon lived entirely in ecstasies and contemplation. HRSCV3 354.6”
 
Pastor ______, please see the vast differences between the foundations of both champions’ world renowned works, and recognize the similarities to the new Adventist style Spiritual Formation in contrast with our old “To the Law and to the testimony”. The second has the righteous curse of the Law against our sins; and the first evades the Law’s curse against sin. The second brings us under the condemning Law for our reconciliation with God through Jesus, and the other avoids condemnation at all cost, leading away from Jesus and to eventual damnation.
 
“Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven…. And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.” (Deut. 29:18-20, 23).
 
This is the Old Testament third angel’s message against those who receive the mark of the Beast. The smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever because they worshiped the gods and received the mark of the Beast. Their salvation was only emotion; their knowledge of Jesus was only imagined. They never stayed under the Law as Moses gave it until Jesus could come into full focus, and then He could redeem them from the constant curse of the Law. They failed out of salvation when they bailed out of the Father’s crucible. They never received faith in Jesus because they left the Father’s purifying process until faith could come forth. They fled from the curse of the Law straight into the arms of Lucifer, who cuddled and pitied them. But, their comforter turned out to be their destroyer.“The kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Prov. 27:6). “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” (Jer. 6:14).
 
“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.” (John 3:36). Trust in the Son comes only to those who stay under the powerful conviction of God. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1Pet. 5:6).
 
David

Monday, July 13, 2015

Jesus, mother of all living

“And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.” (Gen. 3:20). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4).

“The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associatea co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could share His joy in giving happiness to created beings.... Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Fatherone in nature, in character, in purposethe only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34.

Adam was made in the image of God, “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:9). Adam and Eve were made in the image of the Godhead. “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” (Gen. 5:1,2). “Let Us make man [H120, “adam”] in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion....” (Gen. 1:26).The first parents were the progenitors of the human race, as the Father and Son Godhead were the progenitors of the universe.
The sinless man, kingly, strong, calm and settled, not easily disturbed, all perfectly represented the great God, the beloved Father. Like God, Adam’s was the final say; and, at first, the only say. Adam went about his work, mastering and organizing the garden, as God had done His universe of suns and galaxies and super-clusters. The glory of the garden filled Adam’s being. But, like the Father had once been, Adam was alone, and he had an unrest about it. The garden was full of wonder and goodness; but it wasn’t yet perfect.
So, as the Lord God had done earlier outside the garden, He quickly made every specie of the animal kingdom, right there before Adam’s eyes. Now, animals lowed, insects creeped, and fish swam. Birds of all sizes and colors soared, wafted, and flitted around him. They cawed and sang millions of melodies to the bold ruler over the powerful animal kingdom, as the hosts of heaven had done for God. Still Adam felt alone.
The Lord God knew it wasn’t right for Adam to live without another in whom he could share his deepest companionship. But, He wanted Adam to come to that realization himself, and to ask for her. He wanted Adam to have ownership  for the new arrangement and commitment for his new counterpart. So, He gave Adam a task that would raise the Lord’s desire in Adam’s mind, the Lord’s plans “being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1:11).
Back in the dateless ages, a long period of singleness without perfect companionship had been the Father’s experience before begetting His only beloved Son, the Prince of heaven, the Lord God. Then the Counsel of peace was between Them both.

And now, the Lord God, acting in His Father’s behalf, designed this circumstance with Adam and the animals in order for Adam to see his need for fellowship with like-minded company, an eternal life-mate and a “like”-mate, as the divine Lord God had been to His Father God. In accordance with the Lord God’s plan, Adam noticed over and over that all the various male animals had their mates. His conclusion: “Lord, may I have a mate also? My fellow creatures are beautiful and intelligent in many ways, but, none of them are just like me; and therefore can none satisfy this strong need I have for a creature like me.”
The Lord’s answer was already prepared. As He would later describe the paradise made new after the great controversy of sin: “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isa. 65:24). Adam was so submissive to the Lord God, their thinking was so alike, that it was the Lord’s joy to give all that Adam could ask or think.
So, the Lord sedated Adam and did same-day, outpatient surgery on him. With one of his bones, (why should it not have been the rib next to Adam’s heart?), the Lord God “made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen. 2:22,23). She had his similar shape and similar skin—no fur or feathers, no scales or exoskeletal armor; and no walking on all fours! What a wonderful thing, the solution to all of Adam’s longing, this person who had come out of the womb of the man made in God’s image. She did not feel it a robbery because man was greater than she. She did not take her husband’s place as ruler of the world; but he exceedingly loved her and exalted her, nonetheless. He happily put her by his side, and made them equal.
Like a father of the bride, the Son of God personally introduced Eve to Adam. At first He let them court one another and made them betrothed groom and bride. Later, when they would know each other better, and when they had both passed a big test, then He would unite them in an even closer bond and relationship.
Eve was a little smaller than Adam. She was gentler and more deferential than he; she was quieter, but more expressive of her thoughts and emotions. She had as much energy as her betrothed Adam, but not the power; and she happily looked up to him for advice in everything. Their counsel together was perfect peace.
Her body came with all the machinery and tools for accomplishing many miracles in the reproduction and maintenance of the original human creation. In this way, she represented the Lord God, the Son of God, by whom everything was created. Later, Eve would be the spokesperson for Adam to the children, naturally imitating the work of her Creator, the Word of God. Like the Prince of the Godhead, her voice naturally was more comfortably within the children’s hearing frequency range, while Adam spoke more like the sound of a roaring, tumultuous surf, and sometimes even thunder. The woman, for her children’s sake and without even trying, had the softer body and skin, the softer disposition, the softer heart than Adam. The man had a tenderness for his animal kingdom, but not to the peculiar degree that the Lord God had put into the woman for them and, more so, for her later children. Thus, in many ways did Eve resemble God’s dear Son, our soft-hearted Intercessor, the “tender plant” (Isa. 53:2) of God.
The man and his betrothed wife both had a love for each other’s society, but, like the Lord God to His Father and to the peoples of His vast universe, especially so did the mother of all living, more than the man, love to get and keep her spouse and her later children close by her. “Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me” (Heb. 2:13), says the Lord Jesus. And as Rebekah slowly died because she lost the love and presence of her precious Jacob, so did the Son die in His heart when He lost from His most precious children the communion He had with them in the garden. Thus, when they fell into sin, it was only right for God to choose the Lord God to die for the salvation of Adam’s race, since dying had already been the Lord God’s constitution after losing the especially close embrace and fellowship of His special Earth-born children.
So, temptation came, and with it entered sin into their garden home. When sin comes in, so does pain and sorrow, lamentations and mourning and woe. All the pleasantness of the world was now jeopardized. Eve must endure torment when producing her children, and Adam must treat her more controllably than before sin came. His new unbalanced, fallen nature would be more impatient, more forceful, more demanding. “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).
Likewise, the Father required more of His Son because of sin. He would become more controlling than before, for the sake of His eternal kingdom. And, understanding the mind of His Father, the Lord God would dutifully fulfill all of His God’s demands. A special revelation of Themselves in the holy pair, now, due to sin, the first humans’ special representation of the Godhead as much misrepresented Them and wreaked havoc in Their kingdom. God the Father must make it an urgent matter to stop and destroy sin, and to work to salvage Their human children without jeopardizing the rest of the kingdom with rebellion.
When the Son of God designed the Earth without sin, He joyfully birthed Adam and Eve. He Himself had formed the bodies, even as Eve would produce non-generative eggs; and the Father had provided life through His Son, as Adam would provide the power to transform Eve’s eggs into living, multiplying zygotes.
The humans failing in temptation was anticipated by the Son of God because He knew the overwhelming lust in Lucifer to destroy God’s new children. But, being the one who bare them in their first birth, they were so precious to the Son of God that He could not help but risk His eternal life to regain their original love and devotion, and their eternal safety. He would fight like a she-bear for His people if necessary to save them from the abduction of Satan.
And now that sin entered the world, Eve’s first joy and pleasure in conception would later turn into pain that would wrack her whole body, mind, and soul, but would afterward give her a care and worry and an undying devotion for her newborns. After that much agony, she would never forget them for a moment. And the mixed blessing of agony and her compulsion for supporting and childrearing would legitimize her Edenic justification. “She shall be saved in childbearing.” (1 Tim. 2:15).
In every way the same for the Son of God. Delivering His children from Satan in their second birth would “greatly multiply” His sorrow, under the tremendous wrath of His Father toward mankind’s lost nature. “He is...a Man of sorrows.... Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” (Isa. 53:4).

From Gethsemane to Golgotha, His Spirit would be without form and void while His body would be bloated and exuding blood from every pore,  and then hung up for all to see. The divine wrath would press out of Him all that the Father’s eternal Spirit had impressed into Him. There would be no beauty in the Beloved that we should desire Him as He would be reborn in us. After that infinite agony, never in a million eternities could He forget His born-again children of God as their Mediator before His Father’s throne.
The only legal redemption for Adam and his race must be the Father’s infinite severity upon His only begotten Son, hardening and bringing to new life His Son’s already never-ending tenderness and infinite intercession for them. Our redemption came out of the Father’s infinite accountability upon Christ before the Law, thus creating His infinite advocacy for us to the Father before the Law. In order to ratify the Father’s original provision for our salvation, infinite mercy was birthed out of infinite justice, delivered through Their infinite desperation to love us and to woo us back from destruction. Captured in the agony of His Father’s infinite wrath against our sin, Himself in need of deliverance, Christ’s infinite yearning to have and to hold us ‘til death do us part, satisfied His Father. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” (2Cor. 5:19). “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” (Isa. 53:11).
“And therefore” our redemption “was imputed” to the Son “for righteousness” (Rom. 4:22) before God. “To declare, I say, at this time [the Father’s] righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:26).

Friday, July 10, 2015

Drying up the Euphrates

“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, and He that formed Thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself; that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish… That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers.” (Isa. 44:24,25,27). “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” (Rev. 16:12).

Both of these prophecies looked forward to the destruction of Babylon. The first from Isaiah spoke primarily of the literal Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar. The second primarily spoke of the final spiritual Babylon that existed as the “holy” Church of Rome throughout the Dark Ages and was slain by the Reformation’s sword of the Spirit. Both would see their occultic, counterfeit river of life on fire, and their deluded rejoicing and foolish minds dried up. In both cases, Babylon would receive perpetual war from heaven until it would finally succumb to their complete death by the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev. 19:16).

“And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: for he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Ex. 17:13-16). Likewise would the Lord have perpetual warfare against Satan and his earthly organization to corrupt the earth with its abominations.

But, Israel didn’t bring an end to those proponents of wicked spiritualism in the holy land.

“Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.
Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:
But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.
Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them.
And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.
And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you.
And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed My voice: why have ye done this?
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.” (Jdg. 1:27-2:3).

Accordingly, today we see that the papacy has recently risen up from its deathbed. Obviously, as the ancient children of Israel ceased from destroying the Canaanites from God’s earthly sanctuary after Joshua died, likewise did the Protestants, after the Reformers died, cease to expose all the wickedness and evil errors of the papacy, instead of continuing to remove those errors from Protestantism. And as a result of not finishing the work of destroying the Canaanites and the Lord’s warning of the ultimate corruption of Israel by the Canaanites, so has Protestantism been corrupted by the revival of Babylonian Catholicism.

“And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed….
And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He said, Because that this people hath transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto My voice;
I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:
That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua.” (Jdg. 2:10-15,20-23).

“Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;
Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.
And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.” (Jdg. 3:1-7).

Babylon is alive again, and is about to subjugate America and the world that America has protected from the absolute despotism of Rome. And the subjugation must be our due punishment because we have ceased to represent the God who gave us our high place in the world. “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.” (Jer. 1:14-16).

Today we see a group of insurgents that commit the most grisly, barbaric, extreme murders. They are wild; they are uncontrollable; they are unstoppable. They were al-Qaeda; now they are ISIS. They look Muslim, but the Muslims don’t claim them. Just who are they? Who is inspiring them? Who do they work for? They are the resurrected Beast of the Dark Ages. Why are they knocking at our door? Because we have failed make perpetual war against this modern Amalek, and to be sober and vigilant against our own individual decline into moral depravity.

Studying the Spirit of Prophecy and searching our hearts for sin was to be our work during this investigative judgment. We were to watch for the signs of Christ’s coming, but that shouldn’t have superseded the afflicting of our souls. For, even watching the movements of terrorism can become our chief focus instead of this heart-work of searching our souls and crying to the Lord for more conviction of sin.

If we would not search our souls for a true, valid, genuine union with Christ in light of the laws and statutes of Jehovah (which was the requirement of ancient Israel on the Day of Atonement, lest the Lord should cut them off), then we would be cut off from God during this investigative judgment. And being cut off is exactly what explains the sudden emergence of danger all around the world.

“Ah Lord GOD! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee:
Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is His name,
Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to His ways, and according to the fruit of His doings:
Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made Thee a name, as at this day;
And hast brought forth Thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;
And hast given them this land, which Thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not Thy voice, neither walked in Thy Law; they have done nothing of all that Thou commandedst them to do: therefore Thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them:
Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what Thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, Thou seest it.” (Jer. 32:17-24).

Protestantism was given isolation in this New Continent for a refuge apart from the populated, polluted, pagan, and persecuting Old World. This land of milk and honey was a most wonderful gift from God. But, what have we done in America? We have served the god of this world in the Lord’s land of promise. We have not loved the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and strength. Therefore Providence has “caused all this evil to come upon [us].”

“Behold the mounts, they are come unto the [Protestantism] to take it; and the [United States] is given into the hand of the [Jesuit CIA], that fight against it.” Like the Hebrews of the Old Testament for their disregard of the laws of God and uniting in pagan worship, the Protestants are soon to be taken away for the exact same reason. Long have they been corrupted by the errors of Rome, which they never reliquished.

“And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance [H2706 “set times”], broken [H6565 “disannulled”] the everlasting covenant.” (Isa. 24:2-5).

“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). The church of God would change His times and laws. The very church of God did the work of Antichrist for so long that the church became Antichrist. Haven’t we done the same today? Hasn’t Protestantism abrogated and disannulled the Reformation? Haven’t they returned to Rome, the Antichrist? Isn’t Protestant America speaking like the dragon (Rev. 13:11)? Are we not repeating the history of the church’s falling away of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD?

“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 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.” (Dan. 8:10,11). Finally, the apostolic church completely apostatized. “And 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 so faithfully articulated the failings of Israel because the multitudes of the church would do the same as Israel. The church departed so widely from the first love and principles of the apostles that they cut themselves off from heaven. (Revelation 2:4,5). They became a beast as Satan increasingly entered into their thinking. Hasn’t Protestantism done the same? Is their brother, Adventism, doing the same? Hasn’t the first beast from the Dark Ages returned to life and power? Isn’t it parading its powers and re-speaking its former boasts against God and its threats against His people?

Protestantism has abandoned its original laws given to the Reformers—the statutes and doctrines of righteousness by faith and God’s Law. Haven’t we Protestants done as the parable described? “His citizens hated Him, and sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this Man to reign over us.” (Luke 19:14). We have abrogated His authority to condemn our sins and us. We claim to be all holy. And we are the holy people, but only by the unmerited mercy of God. Yet, without the slightest conscience for disclaiming loyalty to the Law of God, we presumptuously hold onto His gracious promises: “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Thess. 5:9); “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1). How dare we claim these precious promises while refusing His condemnation for our sins, His loving threatenings, His fatherly hot wrath against us?

It’s true of Jehovah: “Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands….” (Jer. 32:18). But Protestants exclude the rest of the verse, “… and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is His name.” (Jer. 32:18). “And the LORD passed by before [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Ex. 34:6,7). Jehovah is a gracious God, but He will only accept genuine, heart-service from those who accept His precious convictions of sin along with His wonderful provisions and protection. As He continued, “…and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:7).

The most heinous crime before Christ is to pretend to serve Him while really following Satan in his rebellion against reproof and correction, and serving this destroyer of Christ’s Father and His Father’s kingdom of purity and righteousness. Everyone in His church who fails His tests of loyalty to Him, He will jealously punish for their deceit and then give them to the master they have really loved. “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.” (Ex. 20:5,6). Grace and Law. We hear it coming out of His mouth again and again. Grace and Law. No Law, no grace; hearing our Father’s Law is the condition for His grace. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him.” (Ps. 103:13).

We didn’t like the conditional grace of the Lord that was contingent upon our submitting to His righteousness. Repeating the song ad nauseam, “Grace, grace, God’s grace….”, we deceived ourselves and each other into believing that grace was all that the Lord wanted in His covenant. We quoted a misunderstood verse, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” (Matt 9:13). Jesus didn’t mean “not sacrifice” as in no self-sacrifice, no self-denial, no abstinence and crucifixion of self. If that had been His definition of “not sacrifice”, then He would have contradicted His own words and example when He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24), and “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). No, when Jesus said, “I will not have sacrifice”, He meant that He would refuse the great, ostentatious formality into which the animal sacrifices had degraded. By the word “sacrifice” He spoke against righteousness by their great works and sacraments; He spoke of no more service with great hypocrisy; He meant no more pretense in serving God. False worship is all about substituting our own great acts in order to evade God’s conviction and repentance. It’s a work of replacing the Spirit’s sharp, pointed wounds to my conscience, with my shallow, surface self-affliction. And that kind of ceremonious worship and service all sprung from heathen worship. The pagan world never humbled itself before the God of Israel because Satan would not let them submit themselves to the truths God gave to His people.

We need to be humiliated. But we cannot humble ourselves. Only God can humble us; and He will humble us through trouble. That trouble can come through the bright light of His truth enlightening our sinfulness. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…. The God of all grace...hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while.” (1Pet. 5:6,10). “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” (Jas. 4:10). “And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” (Isa. 30:18).

But, if we won’t go to His truth just as we are, then He can still humble us and save us through the much greater trouble that His enemy will bring to us. Thus, through the warfare of God, which is His strange act, the new master we have chosen gives us double the trouble that we would have received under our gracious Father if we had chosen to walk in His light. Jehovah takes no delight in seeing the suffering of His children, but He does delight when He sees them admit that they chose the suffering and then they seek Him with their whole heart. He sings over them and  rejoices like the Father did when He received His humbled, prodigal son.

At the tail end of His threats to Israel’s disobedience, He said that if they confess “that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity….” (Lev. 26:41). Jesus made these requirements very clear to the children of Israel; and He changeth not, as we love to sing. Once again, His people today have lusted for grace without Law and condemnation. Protestantism and Adventism have not surrendered to His justice and His offense toward our sinfulness. If we have, then we would love the Spirit of Prophecy.

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Rom. 10:3). Our focus has been on this world, and we didn’t allow Him to correct us. We, Protestant America, didn’t love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Our highest priority was making a living, getting ahead in this world, getting a good job, “making it big”, accumulating wealth and the American dream. And now Protestantism is busy grabbing all the left-over easy oil and natural resources in the world. We have not used the blessing of God and His land flowing with milk and honey to distribute His wealth to the world, and thus be exalted in the earth because we exalted the world. What we have done in terms of God’s command to distribute our wealth to the world has been only eye-service and half-hearted. All of our efforts in that enterprise have been done by the life-work of a few outspoken people, not by a unified nation, rejoicing to give from our hearts.

So, if we won’t of ourselves distribute to the world the Lord’s wealth then He knows someone who will force us to distribute—Babylon. And it will be very deflating of our ego. We would not police our own morality, so the Lord will raise up the kings of the earth to police us and to redistribute our wealth.

Shouldn’t we have expected this?

“For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” (1Cor. 11:31).
“For they [Israel, Christianity, Protestantism, Adventism] are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” (Deut. 32:28-31). If His last days people had remained repentant before His Law, the Lord would have sent His convicting Comforter to correct and instruct them.

But instead He must send a whip and a rod. Because Israel wouldn’t judge themselves and self-correct, the Lord took the work of judgment and correction and gave it to a powerful enemy.

“But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.” (Jer. 39:5

The Jews wouldn’t examine themselves in the light of the Law, and afflict their souls before the Lord for repentance and renunciation of sin. They preferred to do the pagan celebration worship; that is, to dance and sing, “Grace, grace, God’s grace….” They preferred the devil’s cheap emotional religion instead of the Saviour’s convicting, redemptive religion. They preferred to be in and out of faith and up and down in victory over their sins. Surrender to the mighty hand of God and His righteousness would have fixed all these problems. But, they would not suffer the humiliation before the Law of God, the Bible, and the voice of prophets. Therefore, the Lord would humble them. Will we, the modern day Jews, humble ourselves before the Spirit of Prophecy? Or, must we be humbled by the enemy?

Remember that the new master we have chosen who will judge us in the Lord’s place will do so without any mercy, because we would not grant the Lord to judge us through His Law and Spirit. “All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.” (Jer. 50:7). The apostate Jews’ lives were made “for a prey.” (Jer. 21:9). In the end, it would be said that they received “received of the LORD’s hand double for all [their] sins.” (Isa. 40:2). It took 600 years, but they finally surrendered to Christ’s warfare against their disobedience to His Father’s will. The nation knew what it meant to “have suffered a while.” (1Pet. 5:10). Then His Father sent Him. The Jews would be humbled and enabled to send the message to the world of the Messiah who had loved them and had died to save not only them, but the whole world.

This is the essence of sacred history. God has a people who He had gotten to know. He needs them to go out into the world to find the rest of His children sprinkled everywhere. He purifies them with His laws and makes them holy, happy, and the example of everyone “whom the King delighteth to honour.” (Est. 6:9). But, their love for Him cools, they flock to the immorality and wickedness of His enemy, and He rightfully shows them the insults with which they repaid Him. Generations later, their children’s children see the error of their ways and return their honor and reverence to the Lord their God.

Will Protestant America learn from this? Surely, the Protestants know their Bibles. Every man his own priest, right?! Sola Scriptura, right? No. Most Protestants haven’t learned from sacred history because they haven’t known the essence of Bible sacred history. “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.” (Isa. 29:11). They don’t understand the main theme of the Bible, that God has children―whoever will obey Him. “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?” (Heb. 12:7). If they don’t want to obey Him as their God and Master, it is because they are serving another god and master. That is the common theme. If they refuse to obey, they reap His punishment and He hands them over to their real master. If they then turn and choose to obey their Creator, they reap His blessing and His everlasting Spirit of life. Will they choose death or life? Simple decision, isn’t it? If it is so simple, then why do we keep choosing death? Because we keep refusing to look at His Law, His scriptures, and the plan for His new kingdom.

“What is written in the law? how readest thou?” (Luke 10:26).
“For what saith the scripture?” (Rom. 4:3).
“Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?” (Mark 12:24). The Bible, our only safeguard against the great adversary, has once again been discredited by his men, and we are believing his every word. Therefore, the unavoidable punishment must come. Isis, the Jesuits, the Inquisitions of the Dark Ages, another Hitler Germany, must bear sway in America and reign over the earth.

“Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction….
From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
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.
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison.” (Isa. 24:6-12,16-22).

“Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.
Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.” (Isa. 28:17-22).

“Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto Me as Ariel.
And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath
He covered.
And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?” (Isa. 29:1-17).

Our exceeding national debt and exceeding gluttony must cause our economy to collapse. We must be punished. We must be visited with the judgments of the Lord.

“Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.” (Isa. 29:6) “Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.” (Isa. 29:5).

“Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.” (Deut. 28:59). In the tribulation, and in the magnificence of the extremity from the Lord, many will see the mighty hand of God. They will believe and humble themselves before their God. “They shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity” (Lev. 26:40,41), then He will mollify their hearts with His Spirit and heal their lives with His truth.