A third comment on the same YouTube website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc8MEoZPl44&t=14s

"He led captivity captive."

We are all under one or the two powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. When Jesus delivered the children of Israel He brought them under another power. He delivered them from Satan and brought them under Himself. If we are not under our Creator, then we are under the god of this world. But being under our Father who made the law of liberty, who treats us as a father who gives some freedom to fall and fail, yet receives us again, picks us up and dusts us off, is not the same as the serving the god of atheism. Agnotheism and the modern "freedom from religion" look freeing, but agnotheism a very subtle bondage that eats away at the soul. There is little happiness and a lot of cancer. The comfort of God does not exist in agnotheism, unless He can still sneak in His peace without abusing our right of choice. His mercy endureth forever.

Alice Cooper came out of it back to Christ saying the same thing. Google his testimony on YouTube. He said he left because he got an overdose of religion! That's funny! He is glad to back in the service of Jesus.

But, you are very correct that bad religion is very damaging and as much bondage as are freedom from religion and agnotheism. "The law" is "the strength of sin" (1Cor. 15:56).

I can appreciate your great concern about the bondage of Christianity. You are spot on. But the answer is to find the true Christianity. Study the Bible without all the constructs and paradigms that Jesus and the whole Bible did not present. Let the Bible talk to you. Learn what it is saying by starting with asking God to deafen your mind to the old understandings of it. Do what it says--but not carelessly, or mindlessly, or heartlessly, or spiritlessly. You will find your new adventure filled with joy and pleasure because Jesus will be working it all in you and out of you. He has been with you on your earnest first journey, and He will be with you till the end.

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, ...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:12,13).

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6).

Another comment to same YouTube maker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsjXjZl6Sc4

The Creator is not the god of this world. The god of this world eclipses the Unknown God perfectly, like our moon does our sun. And our Creator arranged for the solar eclipse to teach us this. Our sun, which is 400 times more distant than our moon, which is 400 times smaller than the sun, is no coincidence, but providential. Here’s an evidence for faith.

It’s not the Creator who from the beginning “smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger” (Isa. 14:6), it’s the god of this world who has loved to do that. Don’t discount the commander of devils in your formula of this life. And he is so sly and wily that he, like the moon, makes himself look just like the only true God. “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isa. 14:14). Israel fell for Baal (“the Lord”) constantly. We are so easily duped! The smarter we get the dumber we get! Forgive me for that outburst. “Who can understand His errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.” (Ps. 19:12). God’s errors are simply Satan’s manipulations of our perceptions and his keeping our big picture very small. But, God says, “Come, let us reason together.”

When we understand that Jesus leaves the tragedies of life to give us opportunities to dump self and everything else we think is most important, and be spent on helping others, then we will thank our Creator for His patient wisdom in letting the bed we made be a place to be taught by Him. And when we finally bow in self-abasement at the realization of our arrogance, then we will repent in dust and ashes at the foot of the cross. And there will be the rejoicing in heaven, “Yes! She’s got it!”

Comment to an ex-Christian

David Burdick1 second ago

Many renowned and even powerful people throughout history have been lost in obscurity. Except for some real archaeologists and historians the names of those hundreds or thousands of those who were renowned in their day have been forgotten and no one cares to make a peep about them. Why is the Bible and the God of the Bible still renowned? This is something to be wrestled with.

But today’s godless descendants of the Reformation are repeating a history that we see many, many times in the Bible. “Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.” (Eze. 9:9). “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Gen. 11:1-4).

One very wise man wrote, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” Jehovah is constantly challenging us to rethink our “covenant with death”, and to see that “cursed is the man that trusteth in man”.

“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1Cor. 1:19-21).

“We preach Christ crucified” means that we must also be crucified. We must be humbled into the dust and repent in utter self-disgust. I didn’t mean that be sound like rap lyrics. The highest a weak and fallen sinner can attain is when he admits to his complete worthlessness and bows to the sentence of damnation, but clings to the hope in the righteous Judge’s mercy. He has learned the greatest wisdom of all, to zip his lip like Job learned. He will be lifted up by the Almighty.

The wisest people, even though they don’t wear a badge of scholarship, or have some title of greatness after their name, all testify that self-sacrificing love will teach the true wisdom. Anyone who exalts a belief system that destroys the One who best exemplified that wisdom will end in utter personal confusion, “the land is full of blood, and the [capital] city full of perverseness”.

As far as all the much bandied-about “scholarship” is concerned, I see that it is all knowledge mixed with great evil, and has enticed millions to join the one most ancient, atheistic, classical, “academic”, religion of Ba ‘al and his Babylonian pedagogy. I am not opposed to education, but we should all fear that dirty knowledge like we fear a dirty nuclear bomb. I judge that you don’t want to go there. You just want the truth, and no one who you sought out knew the answers to your concerns maybe because they had never repented and didn’t themselves know God.

Even if the way of biblical truth is not clear to you, my dear sister, and the times of heaven’s justice upon sinners seem dark and overkill, remember that all of us fools would do well to fear a belief system that preys on us to reject the words, “When they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” We all need to view God’s justice upon sinners in light of His much severer justice upon Himself.

You have a beautiful spirit and wonderfully inquisitive mind like Jesus had. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace.

Super Heroes and Soap Operas

The super heroes with all their swashbuckling adventures and their licentious soap opera tails was created for propaganda to lay the foundation of a new world order under Nimrod, Cush, and Ham. We may hear again of the coming New World Order the rumblings of this ancient world order in a concluding statement from the article below: “Under his reign humans were created to bear the burdens of life so the gods could be at leisure”. The two world orders bear a resemblance and the comparison should be taken seriously.

No differently than the foolish descendants from the Reformation, today’s freedom from religion generation, the rebellious descendants of Noah sought to throw off their father’s government of righteousness. So, reading between the lines, we hear of Marduk, the king of gods, who was also called Bel, or Baal, making war against Jehovah’s preceding administration under Noah.

“Enûma Elish, a civil war between the gods was growing to a climactic battle. The Anunnaki gods gathered together to find one god who could defeat the gods rising against them. Marduk, a very young god, answered the call and was promised the position of head god.

To prepare for battle, he makes a bow, fletches arrows, grabs a mace, throws lightning before him, fills his body with flame, makes a net to encircle Tiamat within it, gathers the four winds so that no part of her could escape, creates seven nasty new winds such as the whirlwind and tornado, and raises up his mightiest weapon, the rain-flood. Then he sets out for battle, mounting his storm-chariot drawn by four horses with poison in their mouths. In his lips he holds a spell and in one hand he grasps a herb to counter poison.

First, he challenges the leader of the Anunnaki gods, [Tiamat] the dragon of the primordial sea…to single combat, and defeats her by trapping her with his net, blowing her up with his winds, and piercing her belly with an arrow.

Then, he proceeds to defeat Kingu, who Tiamat put in charge of the army and wore the Tablets of Destiny on his breast, and ‘wrested from him the Tablets of Destiny, wrongfully his’ and assumed his new position. Under his reign humans were created to bear the burdens of life so the gods could be at leisure.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk)

So we see that battle-ready super heroes is not a new concept today. And those heroic gods and demigods were woven into a complex, jealous and licentious, drama between them. Those dramas were more graphic than today’s video games, which has, then and today, served to corrode the image of Jehovah in His most precious human creation.

In complicated Greek mythology the ancient R-rated soap operas began with “Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros (Love), the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus. Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her. From that union were born first the Titans—six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. After Cronus was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be born. They were followed by the one-eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires or Hundred-Handed Ones, who were both thrown into Tartarus by Uranus. This made Gaia furious. Cronus (‘the wily, youngest and most terrible of Gaia’s children’, was convinced by Gaia to castrate his father. He did this, and became the ruler of the Titans with his sister-wife Rhea as his consort, and the other Titans became his court.

A motif of father-against-son conflict was repeated when Cronus was confronted by his son, Zeus. Because Cronus had betrayed his father, he feared that his offspring would do the same, and so each time Rhea gave birth, he snatched up the child and ate it. Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding Zeus and wrapping a stone in a baby’s blanket, which Cronus ate. When Zeus was full grown, he fed Cronus a drugged drink which caused him to vomit, throwing up Rhea’s other children and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus’s stomach all along. Zeus then challenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods. At last, with the help of the Cyclopes (whom Zeus freed from Tartarus), Zeus and his siblings were victorious, while Cronus and the Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus.

Zeus was plagued by the same concern, and after a prophecy that the offspring of his first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god ‘greater than he’, Zeus swallowed her. She was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology)

All the excitement and relational license corrupted the sin-prone Gentile world. The fallen heart and mind became captives to the addiction of these erotic accounts. In the end, the Gentile world was overcome by the darkness upon which it fed.

“They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.” (Eph. 4:19, Good News Bible).

“Since they no longer have any sense of shame, they have become promiscuous. They practice every kind of sexual perversion with a constant desire for more.” (Eph. 4:19, God’s Word).

These mythologies Jesus commanded Moses to keep away from His people. And He furiously enforced His commands, for their sakes and the sakes of their children. And Israel remained free of the pagan influences while they had strong spiritual leadership. But again and again they slid into the grip of its attractions.

“Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins even downward, fire; and from His loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

And He put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.” (Eze. 8:2-4).

But, there was more heathenism for Ezekiel to witness.

“Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.

Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

Then said He unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

And He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.” (Eze. 8:12-16).

These abominations have multitudinous undertones of the same lawlessness, debasing license, and debauchery of the pagan nations that always caused Jehovah to harshly punish His people. Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian captivities, the many during the period of the Judges, the golden calves, Baal-peor, the long bi-millennial Dark Ages captivity, all show that Satan’s concealed religions of lust and pride are the cause of God’s tremendous wrath upon the people who called themselves after His holy, righteous, and pure name.

Today these ancient super heroes and soap operas still persist, even in our Protestant nation, even in our Adventist homes. Have we burned all of our magical books?

The beauty of the converted family

“The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.” (Jer. 16:1,2).

There were no more holy women in Israel to be faithful helpmeets and holy mothers.

“For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;

They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away My peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.” (Jer. 16:3-5).

“Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing [childrearing], if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1Tim. 2:15).

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1Tim. 2:12-14).

Usurping authority over the man is exactly what Satan loves to do. Destroying the creation that most fully represents God is Satan’s plan, “forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.” (1Cor. 11:7).

Man came from the earth; woman came from man. The intelligence gene may equally be distributed between both genders, but the emotion hormones are not. Women have a wider range of emotional expression than men. Therefore they have less self-control. Their minds are by nature under the control of their bodies more so than men because estrogen is greater in women than in men and testosterone is greater in men than in women. That inescapable, unalterable physical reality leaves men in authority over women.

“If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth;

And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.

But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;

And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.

But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.

But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath;

And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.

But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.

Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.

But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.

These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.” (Num. 30:2-16).

But the woman, with all of her unasked for and inescapable physical-mental makeup, is a precious creation. So what if she cannot be the final say in decisions, her gentle and diffident voice of counsel is the balance for her man’s decisions for the good outcome of every determination. Powerful influencers in husband’s mind, which she brings to the table with other perspectives and a second opinion and thus increased wisdom, are her looking up to him and submitting to him.

“Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.” (Dan. 4:27).

Every tail needs a kite in order to get off the ground. But, every kite needs a tail; or it will crash and burn. Likewise, every man needs a converted wife to quicken him in his weighty duties. And every woman needs a converted husband to strengthen and stabilize her in childrearing. She deals primarily with the important issues inside the home; he deals primarily with the greater issues outside the home. Man was made to support and defend the family and nation. Woman was made to use his support for the raising up of the future generation.

“[Their] delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law [do they] meditate day and night.

And [they] shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth [their] fruit in [their] season; [their] leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever [they do] shall prosper.” (Ps. 1:2,3).

Thus, “man” is in the whole image of the Godhead. “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).

All that girls and women live for is the day they can have infants and children and husband to surround them with acceptance and joy. They dream of mutual love, which alone makes life worth living. Yet, this wonderful arrangement can fail and too often does fail to bring success.

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget.” (Isa. 49:15).

And men can lose love for their wife and close their ears to her counsel, which would offer so much prosperity.

“Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.” (Mal. 2:14).

Why does this happen? Why does the beautiful thing God created in Eden too often fail to bring the powerful joy that could lighten the earth with the glory of God?

I believe the marital troubles start with the lack of love for the Bible. There exists no other resource to uplift the conscience in every aspect of the human being. But, in order to receive a love of the Bible, with Satan’s influence surrounding this planet so pervasively, God’s appointed Saviour for fallen man must convert the conscience to trust the Bible as the word of God. Once receiving a new trust in the Bible, then the Spirit of God, the mind of God, the voice intoning His will and character, begins to persuade the conscience that the Bible’s guidelines are best. With the converted person—husband or wife (unless one hates God and His word)—who trusts in the Saviour as a friend puts forth the will and effort to keep the first precept of the Bible’s guidelines, then the automatic good result is realized. When both husband and wife are converted and both are realizing good effects from obedience to their Saviour’s guidelines, they both grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Saviour’s character. They both continue to naturally develop into the image of God and the design that they were made to satisfy, and God glorifies their Designer, the Lord God. Both husband and wife take their place in the beautiful arrangement that Jesus gave their first parents in Eden. The wife allows the word of the husband to stand in every decision for the family unit, and the wife’s godly wisdom is heeded by her husband. Both respect the other. Both love the other. The love is mutual between them, and their children with them who have grown up in only the knowledge of good. Father and mother and children are one in everything. They happily go everywhere together and do everything together. They live life joyfully. They imitate the greater Father and His submissive Son, and Their creation. The human reflects the divine in the fulfillment of the Godhead’s plan for the earthly family’s creation, “which things the angels desire to look into.” (1Pet. 1:12).

The human race becomes the text book for infinite illustrations of object lessons to the angelic hosts and unfallen worlds.

A case against a cold treatment of sin

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Rom. 6:6).

The old man, why does Paul sound so hard-hearted concerning victory over our self, the flesh?

 “Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

I guess my contention really is, Where is sorrow for all the abuse the old man has caused? Where is the mercy of God upon the one who has suffered under sin? Paul used the similitude of a bad marriage as an object lesson for a bad condition in the soul because of sin. But, the solution to the bad marriage is to wait for the abusive spouse to die, rather than to try to win the spouse to Christ.

I know that spiritually speaking, self is non-redeemable. Self is fully tainted with sin and Satan, weakened after 6,000 years of exercising self-indulgence, self-exaltation, and unbelief in God. Even when we receive redemption through a new spirit, our sinful flesh remains contaminated, corruptible, and our continuous battleground until Jesus returns. “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:23).

But, thankfully we can have the Spirit for a power to beat back the fallen nature from poisoning the world around us. Thus, the Spirit acts as an effective cloak that neutralizes the tainted tissue of every organ, including the organ of our epidermis. The Spirit of Christ works within us as well as on our surface to hold back every evil tendency urged upon us by sin and the tempter.

Nevertheless, even though the old man must go, even though there can be no self-pity on self, even though Jesus says to our flesh nature, “Get thee behind Me, Satan!”, there must be God’s commutation of love involved in the process of watching the old man die. He has mercy on the soul while it engages its self. Death to self must take place, yes; nevertheless, that death is a terrible ordeal. It means cutting off a hand or arm or foot like a family member.

“Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

“The sinners in Zion will be sifted out—the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place.” 2SM 380. Death to self must involve hatred of sin, but also sorrow—sorrow for what it has done to the Father and Son. But that sorrow is a joint sorrow with the Father and the Son as we know that They have felt every bit of the pain. They know our pain because the way They went about rescuing us from sin’s dominion was death to Them both.

In the big scheme of things, what I mean is that from reading Romans 7:2,3 we mustn’t have a lingering sense that a cold treatment of our old man is the way it dies. I hear Paul coolly, matter-of-factly, explainig his science of salvation. He calmly goes for the jugular when he needs to slay the enemy of souls. Paul had a type-A personality and he was excited to tell his secret of success in sanctification. But Jesus didn’t have a type-A personality. Our perfectly balanced High Priest, the Prince of peace and mercy, under His Father’s full authority says of His children, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:41). Isn’t Jesus less cold and matter-of-fact about the old man dying than we often are with ourselves and with others? Wouldn’t He have been more understanding and patient with our sin problem than we? We must love ourselves as having the precious image of God.

“Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.” (Ps. 22:20).

“Lord, how long wilt Thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.” (Ps. 35:17).

The wife in the allegory was not permitted to heartlessly murder her old man. But that may be what many Christians try to do spiritually to their flesh natures because they didn’t have, didn’t catch, or lost sight of, the love that Jesus has for our fallen race. Wasn’t the crucified Christ the picture Paul had previously painted for the Roman church? “Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” (Rom. 6:17). It’s by the love of our Wonderful Counselor whose word and whose heavenly agencies empower our spirit in the battle with self so that we can end up with “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Col. 3:12). Like a wife weeping for her barbarian old man to soften his mannerisms and curb his mouth, we must look upon Jesus who our sins have pierced through and through with many sorrows. Our tears of repentance must be mingled with His.

“Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him.

Rom 6:10  For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

“Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Eph 4:19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Eph 4:20  But ye have not so learned Christ;

Eph 4:21  If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Eph 4:25  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.”

“Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Col 3:8  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him:

Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

On occasion the deliverance from sin will leave the child of God feeling half dead, as in the case of the devil-possessed boy (Mark 9:26). But this will only be God’s strange work instead of His norm and His preferred. Rather peace will be the norm; by the light of God’s love will the mighty and humbled people conquer self. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1Thess. 5:23,24).

“If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?” (2Cor. 3:7,8). Not by a constant, internal clash of arms will sin leave, but by the silent, still, small word of God that liveth and abideth forever.

“Heb 2:11  For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee.

Heb 2:13  And again, I will put My trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me.

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Heb 2:16  For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.

Heb 2:17  Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Heb 2:18  For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.”

Although decidedly firm, the battle for victory over sin can be a gracious work. That’s what we see with Jesus, who inherited His Father’s sinless nature and His mother’s fallen nature.

Magical Books

Signs of the Times, May 18, 1882

Burning of the Magical Books, by Mrs. E. G. White

(My emphasis in blue and my thoughts in red)

     In the days of the apostles, the city of Ephesus was famed for the worship of the goddess Diana and the practice of magic. The temple of Diana was considered, for its size and splendor, one of the wonders of the world. Its surpassing magnificence made it the pride of both the city and the nation. The idol itself was but an uncouth wooden image, on which were inscribed mystic characters and symbols. These were supposed to possess great power. When pronounced, they were said to accomplish wonders. When written, they were treasured as a potent charm to guard their possessor from robbers, from disease, and even from death. Numerous and costly books were written by the Ephesians to explain the meaning and use of these mysterious symbols.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 1} 

     In this city, the very stronghold of superstition and sorcery, the apostle Paul labored for several years. Here the power of God was mightily displayed through his servant. The sick were healed, and evil spirits were cast out.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 2} 

     The miracles wrought by Paul in the name of Jesus, created great excitement in Ephesus. Among those who practiced magic arts were certain Jewish exorcists, who claimed to possess the same power exercised by Paul. Believing that the name of Jesus acted as a charm, they determined to cast out evil spirits by the same means which the apostle had employed.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 3} 

     An attempt was made by seven brothers, the sons of Sceva, a chief priest of the Jews. Finding a man who was possessed with an evil spirit, they addressed him, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” But the evil spirit answered with scorn, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” and the man who was possessed attacked them with such violence that they fled out of the house, naked and wounded.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 4} 

     The discomfiture and humiliation of those who had profaned the name of Jesus soon became known throughout Ephesus, by Jews and Gentiles. It furnished unmistakable proof of the sacredness of that name, and the peril which they incurred who should invoke it, while they had no faith in Christ’s divine mission.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 5}

     Many dared not breathe aloud the name, on which they had hitherto heaped reproach and blasphemy. A large number were convinced that Christ was all that Paul claimed him to be, and they determined to receive the gospel. These openly renounced the practice of sorcery, and acknowledged their secret arts to be deceptive and Satanic. They brought together the manuals of enchantment, the costly books containing the mystic symbols of Diana, and the secrets of their art, and burned them in the presence of all the people. The sacrifice thus made was estimated at fifty thousand pieces of silver, equal to about ten thousand dollars [of 1882 money, a $Million today?].  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 6} 

     The conversion of these Ephesians was attended with the results that always follow genuine conversion. When convinced that their magical books were false and pernicious, they were unwilling to sell them and thus place temptation in the way of others. They promptly burned the records of divination, at a great personal sacrifice. The power of truth triumphed over men’s prejudices, favorite pursuits, and love of money.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 7}

     Those magical books contained rules and forms of communication with evil spirits. They were, in fact, the regulations of the worship of Satan; directions for soliciting his help, and obtaining information from him. The system of magic or sorcery then extant was in reality the same as that which is now known as modern Spiritualism. Many were deceived in Paul’s day by this Satanic delusion, and many are deceived today by the same power. “Magical books” were not confined to the apostolic age, or to nations that are called heathen. The sorcerers of our time are taking advantage of the freedom of the press to spread abroad their baleful literature. Could all the productions of modern Spiritualism be treated as were the magical books of the Ephesians, one of Satan’s most successful avenues to destroy the souls of men would be cut off.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 8}

     Witchcraft and sorcery are practiced in this Christian age and Christian nation, even more boldly than by the old-time magicians. Satan is finding access to thousands of minds by presenting himself under the guise of departed friends. The Scriptures of truth declare that “the dead know not anything.” Their thoughts, their love, their hatred, have perished. The dead do not hold communion with the living. But Satan--true to his early cunning, when in the form of a serpent he deceived the mother of our race--employs this device to gain control of the minds of men.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 9}

     Paul warns his Corinthian brethren of the deceptive power of their great adversary. He declares, “I fear that by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 10} 

     He writes to his son Timothy, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.”  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 11} 

     In his second epistle to the Thessalonians, he warns them that the second advent of our Lord will be preceded by the working of Satan,” with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 12} 

     Because the children of men reject the plainest teachings of his word, and trample upon his law, God leaves them to choose that which they desire. They spurn the truth, and he permits them to believe a lie. They refuse to yield to the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, leads them captive at his will. If men were but conversant with the word of God, and obedient to its teachings, they could not be thus deceived; but they neglect the great detector of fraud, and the mind becomes confused and corrupted by the deceptive arts of men, and the secret power of the father of lies.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 13} 

     Men of intelligence are infatuated with Satanic sorcery as verily today as in the days of Paul. Thousands accept the opinion of the minister or obey the injunctions of the pope or priest, and neglect God’s word and despise his truth. God would have his people learn their duty for themselves. The Bible declares his will to men, and it is as much our privilege and our duty to learn that will as it is that of ministers and popes and priests to learn it. What they can read from God’s word, we can all read.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 14}

     When the Ephesian converts burned their books on magic, they showed that they hated what they had once loved, and loved what they had once hated. The light of truth, shinning [shining] into their minds, had convinced them of the unlawfulness of their arts, and had stirred their souls with abhorrence of their unholy deeds. Such a change is the best evidence of true conversion.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 15} 

     A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the chain of circumstances in the process of conversion; yet this does not prove him to be unconverted. Said Christ to Nicodemus, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Though the work of grace is silent and almost imperceptible, it may be fully as effective as when its operations are more apparent. But if the heart has been renewed by the Holy Spirit, the life will bear witness to the fact. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Light and darkness are not more distinct than are the state of the converted and the unconverted. A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they are.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 16} 

     The world and the church have a right to expect such proof of true conversion as was given by the Ephesians,--proof that a new moral taste has been created. You may not have practiced sorcery, you may not have tampered with Spiritualism; but remember that “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” If you indulge in any practice forbidden in God’s word, you have yielded obedience to Satan; you are his servant.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 17} 

     Every unconverted man is fascinated, bewildered, by the bewitching power of the great deceiver. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?” Every person who cherishes a known error, in faith or practice, is under the power of sorcery, and is practicing sorcery upon others. Satan employs him to mislead other souls.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 18} 

     If we would indeed become children of God, we must renounce at once and forever, every sinful indulgence. We must close every avenue through which Satan may gain control of our thoughts or our affections. Many persons manifest determined hatred of some sins denounced in the word of God, while they at the same time indulge their favorite sin. Not so did the Ephesian converts. Their particular sin was magic. By this means Satan held them in his power. They might have been earnest and vigilant to correct other evils, but had they spared this one sin, they would erelong have yielded their faith. But they laid the axe to the root of the tree; they renounced the hidden things of darkness and destroyed that which had led them into sin.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 19} 

     This incident, was placed on record as an important lesson for every age. The Ephesians directed their efforts against the very sin of which they were guilty. Have the people of God in this age acted in like manner? There are many who manifest supreme devotion to their money, their business or their houses and lands. The ambitious man worships fame or honor as his idol. The covetous man fosters covetousness. The sensualist is wedded to his lust. These love their cherished objects of pursuit more than they love God. They are idolaters.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 20} 

     Those who venture to cherish the sin which they love best, are tampering with Satan’s sorcery. The enchanting power of temptation has paralyzed conscience and blinded reason, so that they do not perceive their danger [sorcery by cherishing a sin and its temptations]. The magical books have not been destroyed.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 21} 

     When the truth, presented to the understanding, exerts its sanctifying power upon the heart, the sins which were once cherished will be put away, that Jesus may occupy the soul-temple. If covetousness has been indulged, it will be given up. If the love of the world has captivated the senses, a higher attraction will break its power. Deceit, falsehood, impurity, will be cleansed from the heart. He who maintains his allegiance to Christ, can render no service to Christ’s bitterest foe.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 22} 

     Many place themselves on the enchanted ground by frequenting scenes of amusement where fallen spirits congregate [the movie theater or cable/DVD or YouTube or amusement park]. Professing Christian, when you resort to the theater, remember that Satan is there, conducting the play as the master-actor. He is there to excite passion and glorify vice. The very atmosphere is permeated with licentiousness. Satan presides, also, at the masquerade and the dance; he throws around the card-table its bewitching power. Wherever an influence is exerted to cause men to forget their Creator, there Satan is at work, it matters not how innocent the guise under which he conceals his purpose.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 23} 

     Many who cannot be attracted by the allurements of pleasure, are ensnared by the teachings of “science falsely so-called.” These are led to extol human reason, above divine revelation; to exalt nature, and forget the God of nature. Is there no magic, no sorcery, going on around us?  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 24} 

     The press is now sending out books in great numbers, that teach the ignorant and unsuspecting how they may serve Satan [“When they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (2Pet. 2:18,19)]. There are works breathing the poison of skepticism and infidelity. There are treatises on money-making, that fill thousands of minds with fancies and follies, that fire thousands with an insane desire to amass wealth. There are fascinating volumes, that portray with all the power of human eloquence the lives of those who have made fame their god. And outnumbering all other productions of the press, like the swarms of locusts that darkened the whole land, comes the flood of novels and romances, to cultivate in the youth a love-sick sentimentalism, to teach them that courtship and marriage are the great object of their existence, and to unfit them for the practical duties of a useful life.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 25} 

     Satan is seeking by every means he can devise, to suggest doubts concerning the truth of God’s word. Those who are naturally inclined to skepticism should, above all others, avoid everything that would strengthen this dangerous tendency. On the contrary, many read with avidity skeptical writings which exert such a deceptive, bewitching power that the reader seeks in vain to free the mind or purify the heart from the unholy spell. Evil angels, having once gained access, suggest doubts that human reasoning is powerless to remove. When God speaks to the soul, those who would be free will cut every tie that holds them under Satan’s power. They will destroy that which so nearly proved their ruin, lest it prove the ruin of others.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 26} 

     Many a work is highly prized for its wealth and beauty of language, when these are but a fair garment to conceal principles that in their native deformity would shock the reader. Those principles have led the author step by step away from God, from hope, and Heaven. Will they not exert the same influence upon the reader? The course of the Ephesians was the only safe course for them; it is the only safe course for you. Destroy these agencies of Satan. Put beyond your reach that which has power to seduce you.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 27} 

     The authors of no small share of current literature are men who have lived in the atmosphere of vice, and who are slaves of passion. Poets of brilliant talents have perverted their powers to the service of Satan. Over all that is good, and pure, and noble, they have cast the darkness of their own base thoughts. They encourage dissipation and sanction vice.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 28} 

     The bewildering brilliancy, the deceptive pathos, of many a gifted author, are Satan’s bait to allure and destroy the souls of men. Many who are in no danger from the productions of the gross and sensual, are deceived by writers who virtually clothe Satan in angel’s garments and make him a benefactor of the race. Such works are legion.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 29} 

     Have the disciples of Christ burned the magical books? Have they made a decided change in their principles and habits of life? Have they separated themselves from the enchantments of the world? Those who, knowing their danger, will yet venture into places of worldly, demoralizing amusement, or who will poison the mind with the literary productions of the skeptic, or the sensualist, are guilty of presumption. God does not give his angels charge to keep those who choose to walk in forbidden paths.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 30} 

     When in the way of duty we are brought into trial, as was Daniel in the king’s court, we may be assured that God will preserve us. But if, through stubbornness, hardihood, or bravado, we place ourselves under the power of temptation, we shall fall, sooner or later.  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 31} 

     We are living at a time when Satan’s power is great. “As a roaring lion, he walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Anon, he will quell his roar to the faintest whisper, that he may deceive the unsuspecting by his hellish arts. The glories of the world are presented in glowing colors to fascinate the senses, to beguile unstable souls. What have professed Christians done to close every avenue whereby Satan can approach them? Have they given proof of the work wrought in them by the Holy Spirit? Have they erected barriers, firm and strong, between their soul and every earthly idol?  {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 32} 

     The infidel, when converted, will abhor the books that led him to doubt the word of God. The dissolute man who has purified his soul by obedience to the truth, will not venture into the haunts of dissipation, from curiosity or habit. Neither will he permit his mind to dwell upon such scenes, portrayed in the pages of the sensualist. He will be awake to his danger, shunning temptation himself, and earnestly warning others of its bewitching power. Whatever the idol previously cherished, the converted man will not only resist evil, but will, so far as possible, place himself beyond the power of Satan. Again we would ask the followers of Christ, “Have you burned the magical books?” {ST, May 18, 1882 par. 33}

Repent now and undo all the damage done

“Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

And prayed unto Him: and He was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD He was God.

Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.

And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.” (2Chron. 33:11-16).

In the second resurrection, the lost will awaken like the woman of whom I once heard. She had attempted suicide by overdosing on pills. Her loved ones found her unconscious and she was sped to the emergency room. There the doctors saved her life. But after coming out of her drug induced coma, she looked around and found that her suicide had been interfered with, her hopes and plans for eternal silence intercepted, and she went into a blind rage. She had wanted death and she was forced to live on. Her desire to die and forever to forget her miserable life left her enraged for having to face another day of misery.

In the second resurrection, all the past rejection of God’s offer of pardon and power to overcome vices and to confess mistakes, must be dealt with. We might have hoped that we would never face the consequences of our sinfulness, yet all who would not repent before God and seek the Saviour’s face will awaken one last time and will face their consequences in full awareness of them, all at once, and in full regrets. The tempter will no longer be ever-present to aggressively distract the conscience from its all-important duty to make wrongs right. All that they will experience is the sober wrath of God toward all treason against His eternal, holy, upright kingdom. Every ill done to the children of men they should have found it their happy burden to undo until the end of life. But, such opportunities are all long gone, never again to pass them by.

If we find that we awaken in that second resurrection, we will want the mountains to fall on us. We will want to commit suicide, but not be able. All that we didn’t overcome overcame us. We didn’t care about the second resurrection issues during the temporal life, but we will care about it all on the Day of Judgment. Damages done to friends, family, strangers, and thus damages done to God who made them, could have received forgiveness from people and from their Maker. “He that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope” (1Cor. 9:10); likewise, restoration and reimbursement could have been joyfully offered in the hope and the possible fulfillment of their future peace on earth and later entrance into the eternal kingdom of God. But, those sins were marginalized during temporal life, and must now receive the rightful justice that it could have come through years of sorrow and shame and fear and guilt, and paid for in humiliation and toil. On that second resurrection day, the years of side-lined internal reproaches will be paid up in unutterable heartache that will have no hope for making them right or its accompanying joy.

The heavenly record could have been blotted out and a wonderful welcome heard to enter into the gates of the city of God. But, now in the second resurrection all those repressed acts, with their shame and guilt, must be given answer for in judgment. They must be confessed and wept over, and suffered shame and guilt for, all at once. It will feel like the weight that destroyed Christ in Gethsemane to Golgotha, but without the Father rewarding with the praise He gave His Son. With the Lamb of God and all His redeemed, they will not have this said of them, “It pleased the LORD to bruise [them]; He hath put [them] to grief.… He [saw] of the travail of [their] soul, and [was] satisfied: by [their] knowledge [did] My righteous servant[s] justify many…. Therefore will I divide [them] a portion with the great, and [they] shall divide the spoil with the strong; because [they] poured out [their] soul unto death: and [they were] numbered with the transgressor[s].” (Isa. 53:10-12).

Rather, on that day all the confessions of faults against others, of all the robberies of church, society, and nation, will be confessed before the hosts of heaven and earth, family and acquaintances. But the worst of the awful, unending shame and contempt will come from the convicting God, whose inescapable, unavoidable gaze sees the wicked motives of each of these individuals who had spent their short temporal life disgracing and dishonoring Him. This time, they will be captives to unutterable shame and guilt.

They could have averted Judgment Day during their 70, 80, 90 years of existence. The investigative judgment was the solution, with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy counsels pointing out all of their sins, and giving sufficient evidence for conviction and abundant hope in God’s mercy. Those convicting gifts from God were perfectly suited to allow sinners to avoid this awful day of Judgment before the Most High. The investigative judgment happened while there was still a Mediator between sinner and Most High God. During an open probationary time for humanity Christ’s provision for mercy was still available to buffer the criminals of every crime from the later overpowering convictions of the highest court of heaven.

But, now in Judgment Day the great Judge of all the earth must satisfy the justice of His eternal kingdom, the standard of which is higher than the highest human thought can reach. The Judge has to do this; He must. Even toward His beloved Begotten He is no respecter of persons. Had His only Begotten fallen to a single temptation He would not have spared Him eternal destruction. The Prince of heaven would have remained in Earth’s tomb to molder and His Spirit, as a reminder of the lost battle between the issues of the adversary and the issues of God, would have forever remained in the tomb also. And the Son knew that that was only right. But, with His victory over Satan His Father is vindicated before the whole court of the holy angelic hosts. The Day of Judgment can sit.

“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire.

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” (Dan. 7:9-11).

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him.

And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:13,14).

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.

And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.” (Rev. 11:15-17).

“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” (Rev. 19:20,21).

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.…

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” (Rev. 20:1 ,2,5,6).

The dangers against the eternal kingdom from the poisonous lusts that Satan has deeply implanted into their hearts, but which they, by personal choices, had not given opportunity for Jesus to permanently remove, preclude their destruction rather than allow them to enter and infect the eternal kingdom. Humanity was given a lifetime to have sins expunged from the soul. In order to keep the eternal kingdom safe from the dangers that Satan had inculcated for the kingdom’s eventual, ultimate destruction, every human, old and young, were given abundant opportunities to repent and to undo the misery they caused.

God had granted each member of the human race a long life of exposure to the evil results of his evasions of truth that spared his soul from these sudden and full regrets. Over and over again they saw the misery and desolation that resulted from selfishness and self-centeredness. Children damaged beyond repair, parents neglected in their sunset years, spouses’ emotionally wasted, employers robbed, employees abused, families brought to ruin by the sellers of narcotics, alcohol, nicotine, hemp, whether from the pharmacy or from off the street, all will be weighed in the balances of a God who respects no person of rich or poor, free or bond, old or young. They are all but creatures in His sight, regardless of their imagined greatness. None are above His position as Creator and Judge of all.

No sinner is ever extolled by God. No one will He looked up to for his cleverness. On that day, all will see themselves as fools before the great omniscient One, whose righteousness is perfect wisdom, and whose love teaches the deepest knowledge. Because the deceiver will no longer be present to whisper his lies they will finally see His love for what it has always been. These souls will be excluded from the unutterable gift of an eternity in complete freedom from sin. The beautiful existence that God had originally given in the Garden of Eden will go to others who allowed their Creator the right to wash away in His blood all their putrid self-sufficiency, and the stench of their propensity to in-grown sins. They will see it, but it will be withheld from their entrance. The decades of their temporal life will appear lavished with providential opportunities to prepare for this day, opportunities that they squandered in exchange for some of their own self-made, miserable peace of mind. Now, in view of the perfect joy of the redeemed who took advantage of the investigative judgment, what a mistake was their wasted life of irresponsibility before God’s accurate, loving, necessary reproofs and convictions!

“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:

And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth His sheep from the goats.…

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.…

Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.…

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” (Matt. 25:31,32,34,41,46).