Understanding Judgment Day

"Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." (Psa. 49:20).

Psalm 49 is full of good ol' fashion common sense. 

But first, let's understand the way the Bible uses "understand". "Man that ... understandeth not...." What does "understandeth" mean? Today the way we use the verb "to understand" has a specific object. We understand something specific. I understand astronomy. I understand prophecy. But the Bible's use of "understand" is open ended.  In Psalm 49:20, what exactly should the wealthy man have understood? David doesn't say.

The same happens in Proverbs 14:6, "A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth."

And Daniel 12:10, "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

What will the wise understand? I can see why people get frustrated when they need God's help and get a Bible, but find it incomprehensible. I have gotten frustrated myself many times. But I've also been greatly benefited many times too. So, I keep coming back to it. And to its Author. The Bible is the most challenging book in the world because its Author is very wise.

Maybe the principle is to go by the context. So, in Daniel the wicked will not understand the prophecies that Daniel saw, while the righteous will understand them. Or, the oppressive wicked at the end won't understand that Judgment Day is right upon them, but the oppressed righteous will be encouraged to know that deliverance is on the way.

Judgment Day is what I see in the verse we began with in Psalm 49. Understanding the reality of Judgment Day. 

Psalm 49 is all about the powerful and wealthy who boast their status in life. Nowadays, among the elite it seems to be a growing sentiment that they are the only ones that deserve to live. Everybody else are useless eaters, cockroaches to be exterminated. They  name bridges and skyscrapers and other great landmarks after their name. And their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren perpetuate their policies and praise their place in world history. They even get the commoners to drule over their lives of riches and fame. This world, this life, is all that matters. To them there will be no Judgment Day or eternal reward.

But they die, just like brute beasts. They might be buried in a costly coffin and sepulchre or mausoleum. They might even be mummified. But they are still dead, just like everyone else and the animals  that die.

They never had the power to keep themselves alive forever, or to keep anyone else alive. Death takes away their breath and their breath leaves them forever. Not a priest, or even a pope, can stop death from laying its claims. No matter what trickery or doctrinal slight of hand the devil uses on people, rich or poor, when God says, "Thou shalt surely die", you are going to die. There aren't enough masses said, or preachers at funerals looking up at the ceiling crying, "Verle, we know you are looking down at us!", to change God's mind. Their soul ceases forever.

But, the rich and famous often die without the hope that the Spirit of God wanted to put, and could have put, in their heart.

"He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." (Psa. 49:19,20).

"While he lived he blessed his soul." (Vs. 18). Selfishness ruled his character, which is the basis of lawlessness.  Anomos "iniquity", "lawlessness" is the opposite of nomos "the law of mercy". "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." (Jas. 2:13).

They lived their three score years and ten or more, with no reference to eternity. Life was good. But Judgment Day is going to be bad. Real bad. 

There's not much more time to turn around.

5G, RNA vaccine, sterilization, genecide

We've heard a lot about covid19-related issues. 5G 60Ghzv oxygen deprivation, untested RNA gene therapy rewriting genetics in a whole world that is forced to take a vaccine for an imaginary pandemic, flawed testing for covid that makes everyone test positive, a forced vaccine administered by the military (at gun-point?), depopulation, a different but related issue of California being burned in order to forcibly remove people for the purpose of returning the land to the wild.

Who is behind all this wickedness? Who could be so sinister?

I keep hearing that certain individuals, an oligarchy, a 1 one percent elite, a deep state, the Illuminati, etc. is behind all this. But the Bible says differently.

There is one group on which Jesus pins the source of all abominations in the world. As Adventists we have a great advantage over the rest of Protestant Americans. When Protestant America rejected the Lord's message of His cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, they cut themselves off from the light of Christ. That rejection of truth has left them in the dark concerning the final work of the great deceiver and murderer. This fulfilled the first trumpet of Revelation's seven trumpets.

Having rejected William Miller's message of Christ coming to lay the land desolate, the Reformation descendants would likely fail the next test from above. The Sabbath test came and they rejected that truth also. The explanation given was that the Law was done away with at the cross. This fulfilled the second trumpet. The  burning mountain thrown into the sea was mt Sinai, the representation of the Law. 

That acceptance of Satan's lie opened the churches to all of Satan's manipulations of God's word, as the third trumpet indicates. Their hearts were now made bitter like wormwood is very bitter. They could no longer discern the truths of the Bible, although they would continue to keep up their high professional. The third trumpet was fulfilled. 

The fourth trumpet would show that their light had gone out. The Lord had rejected them as His light bearers and holy reprepresentatives. 

"Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make My people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and He that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against Him.

6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them." (Mic. 3:5,6). The fourth trumpet shows the sun, moon, and stars going dark. The third part means that not all would be affected. The third part being the worst part, such as the angels that fell, and the third son of Noah who regenerated the abominations that caused the Lord's destruction of the antediluvians. 

The third part is not a mathematical fraction. It reveals the mercy of God toward some who had at least a mustard seed grain of faith and need for Him.

The point I am making is that now that the Protestants have gone back to mother Rome because they refused to give up Rome's Sunday, that essentially gave Satan his green light to finalize destroying the Protestants, boths spiritually, and temporally. Destroyed spiritually, meaning faith in God and His word, union with Him; and destroyed temporally, meaning our righteous US Constitution, our rights of person and property, our economic might, our blessed protection for the world against the despotic plans of our old enemy from the Dark Ages. Satan's plan has always been to make humanity his slaves. He got that plan off to a strong start with Nimrod. Then, by the time of the totalitarian Roman Empire Satan had an empire, but not a global empire. This he would grow by subjugating Christ's growing kingdom throughout the next two millennia.

But just as he was about to consumate his dream come true, Jesus raised up His Protestant people by the Great Reformation and gave them state protection through the new nation, the united states of America. Since that day Providence has given power to His Protestant America to fend off Satan's despotic Vatican.

But Revelation 17:8,11 show that the Vatican will be restored to world power and take back her power of persecution. In her preparations for that time, which is just before us, she installed Naziism and Communism to keep her proficiency on subjugations and Inquisitions.

That is the biblical context and the Bible's perspective on all the chaos and destruction of Rights, person and property that we see occurring today. So, while it could be said that the enemy is the Deep State, or the Illuminati, or the 1 percent, or an oligarchical kabal, the regime on the rise that is already ushering in the new world order, is the Vatican and its unconquerable, indomitable army of Jesuits. Read about them in Joel chapter 2. 

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong  people set in battle array.

6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

7 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:

8 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.

9 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.

10 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:

11 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 2:1-11).

Why did Jesus say that they were His army? Because Judah had played around with Babylonian customs and worship practices. They had left God's Law and His redemptive sacrifices. They wanted to live just like the Babylonians.

 "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." (Hab. 1:2-4).

So He gave them what they craved, Babylon and a nation completely devoid of love and mercy.

"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.

7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it." (Hab. 1:6-10).

Here we are once again, with the armies of Babylon knocking at our door. We have left the Spirit of Prophecy counsels. We are not doing what the Lord gave us through His prophet, Ellen G. White. She called for avspecial work of purification. 

"Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters must be purified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins ofpenitent believers are being removed from the sanctuary, there is to be a  work ofpurification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon earth.   GC p. 425.

How are we doing at that?

"12 Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction." (Hab. 1:12).

So it's bad and good news. It will be horrendous. But it will be judgment, meaning the hand of an attentive Father. It's our God! It's His spanking! We have been so long without His visible presence. So, in His punishment we have Him.

" And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." (Rev. 17:11). The Beast, the Christian dispensation's primary nemisis, had seven extra heads or kingdoms that it used to stay alive underground. But now it looks like the final kingdom, the eighth head is rising. It will go into perdition, which according to Strong's means total loss of moral worth, damnation, pernicious. That means to me that Satan will accomplish him dream of a world completely under his totalitarian control. His wicked will live in licentiousness and violent treatment of its slaves and enemies. Protestants will learn to never again speak out against their wickedness. 

This will last for "one hour" (Rev. 17:12; 18:10, 18, 19), however long that is. But we can be assured that it won't last forever even though it will seem like forever.

Why will God allow this? The answer is the same for Acts 8:3,4. 

"As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word."

"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem." (Acts 9:2,3).

Why did God allow the persecution of His beloved early church? Because they were supposed to spread the gospel, and they had stopped.

So, what kind of guidance does God's word give us? Today we have the threat of covid fraud and rewilding civilized nations that are under the old world order of Noah, and protected by Protestant freedoms and power.

But Bible prophecy will be fulfilled. 

"12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet..." ( Matt. 24:12-15).

The last appeal and revelation of God's character must go out before He comes in power. The latter rain must happen. Regardless what Satan threatens. Our only safeguard in those days will be in working with God. Either He will protect our lives, or He will bless our hearts so much in the realization that the great God of heaven has deigned to dwell in us and give us words in season to him that is weary. That alone will cause us to disregard all that the devils use to terrorize us.

Will the depopulation idea succeed? Not until the world has heard the everlasting gospel. And even then it will only last for an hour before the whole system of evil will be destroyed by the brightness of Jesus' coming. The Bible paints the picture that there will be a lot of people alive to receive Him, and many running because they were caught red handed.

"18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." ( Rev. 11:18).

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matt. 24:30).

"and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:12-17).

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen." (Rev. 1:7).

The peace and the evil of the gospel

Under the thunderous rebuke of a suffering God of love, "Get Thee behind Me", His beloved Son was made a lightning rod to save our tabernacles from burning down. Like a hundred megawatt electrocution we see God's rightful anger again and again strike His Anointed One. The Guilty One would be our Surety, forever to bear our sin, to bring us home again, and to set us before our Father (see Genesis 43:9). The agitating cutting off from the eternal Spirit of acceptance gagged His throat (see Psalm 22:15), with every nerve jangling, cellular structures dissolving, internal organs bursting (see verse 14), His blood pressure soaring. All Jesus could do was to barely hang on. Divine wrath overthrew the Divine Son of man in retribution upon all the abominations that have ever characterized us, His most beloved creation. Beholding His execution in our damnation, our conscience is shocked with conviction, crucified with Christ. His unrelenting spiritual electrocution from the Judge shunts our pride to ground, our natural self-centeredness thrust into the grave. A new power jolts our mind, awakening it to holier desires and purposes. We are delivered from Satan's hold and a new nature comes to life.

The Son of God saw Himself forever giving up His paradise so that we could replace Him, He forever paying the tremendous cost for our reinstatement to His Father's kingdom. On the cross the Prince of heaven must suffer our damnation and eternal extinction, so that humanity might eternally take His exalted place and privileges as heir to His beloved Father. By all that the servant lamb could know from His senses was that He would be forever buried, His Holy Father's Spirit forever lost to Him. He felt that He would never again hold communion that had been wonderful beyond measure. He must lose His greatest pleasure, dwelling in the excellent Spirit of His Abba. For sin to be forever put away, He must be forever shut away. And the tempter was present to persuade Him that, just as His disciples felt no sympathy for Him in His present distress, neither would anyone of humanity take advantage of His provision for their reconciliation with His Father. All this torment would be for nothing. Still, He never lost hold of faith in His Father's love to send His Spirit to call His children to Himself.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:9-11).

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to every nation in the Latter Rain.

This gospel is the promise that stands opposed to the Law, as Paul put it.

"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

For if the inheritance be of the Law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise." (Gal. 3:17,18).

I want to look at this very pivotal issue.

Paul appears--appears--to pit the grace of God against the Law of God. But the Lord made both the blessings and the curses. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." (Isa. 45:7). The evil He creates is not satanic, but the catastrophes that He would providentially use to punish His people. Hence, the curses propounded by Moses "the man of God" (Deut. 33:1). God would stop their sinning. To those who refused to be corrected and who therefore were fully determined to be wicked, death would rear up it's ugly head higher and higher as a divine threat determined against them. Finally, if they kept shaking their fist at correction, capital punishment would be theirs. Their rebellion, their destruction, had to be stopped. "To sin, wherever found, 'our God is a consuming fire.' Hebrews 12:29. In all who submit to His power the Spirit of God will consume sin. But if men cling to sin, they become identified with it. Then the glory of God, which destroys sin, must destroy them." Desire of Ages, p. 107.

Law and grace, Law and the promise, Law and the inheritance, don't have to be in opposition. But sin has made it be dealt that way.

"Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Gal. 3:21).

It was for exaggerated distinction that Paul seemed to pit the wonderful reconciliation with God and its accompanying promise of His Spirit, against the Law.

Paul was not against law. "God forbid!", says Paul. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Rom. 3:31).

But God's requirement was that commandment-keeping can never precede promise-receiving. Never! Never! "Even for ever and ever." ( Dan. 7:18). Divine mercy must precede obedience. Grace must cause obedience. Never the other way around. This is God's science of our salvation, and Satan's constant target. The satanic doctrine that obedience must cause grace? Law keeping causing divine favor? Abomination straight from the bottomless pit!

Who can repent and be converted on their own? What human can initiate the process of his salvation? Who can remove the chastisement of his peace, the wrath of God for not trusting in the crucifixion of His Son? No, not one. That is all purely human "works". And humanism never got anyone anywhere, among the religious or in the secular world. But it gets tried a trillion times a day by 7.8 billion people. This, simply because the human race doesn't know what Jesus did for us and for His Father, we all naturally seek righteousness of our own ethical resources. But our own devised program is filthy, gross wretchedness. Also, the wrath of God abides upon us. So our program is not only putrid, it is also tormenting. But God's chastisement of our peace, that terrible anxiety and emptiness is given to our hearts to lay our pride in the dust, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Yet, He has provided His resolution. "The chastisement of our peace was upon (His Son)." (Isa. 53:5).

Will we go to Gethsemane and Golgotha, and stay there until it all makes sense? Will we plead for the promised power to give us the shield from the condemning curse of the Law upon us? No matter how many times Satan demands that we let go of Jesus, will we cry out, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me" (Gen. 32:26)?

Then we will see what Paul saw in Romans 7. All our efforts to obey God are an impossibility, and the wrath of God will continue, until we let the propitiation of the only Begotten of God sink in. When we have searched for God's love with all our hearts, His promise is, "I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive." (Jer. 29:14).

We have sought His face; we have sought out the unknown God of ellusive love. He has revealed His love in power, and all the condemnation has gone away.

Now we can obey Him and His Law. And we are perfectly happy to do so. Obedience comes naturally, easily, freely, peacefully, and perfectly in His eyes. And down comes the continuous blessing from the Father, "This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

This is the promise that flows down from within the veil.

And that is His promise.

There's power in the blood

"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26:27,28).

"And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with." (Matt. 20:23).

We all need the power of Jesus. His Spirit must enter ours.

But His Spirit He gives to us. Not as the world gives does He give it to His disciples. His spirit does not come by swallowing a substance or by breathing a substance. His Spirit has no substance and comes from no substance. It is not carnal or of any earthly source.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of (glory). Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." (Jas. 1:17, 18).

The Spirit of Jesus comes from above. The spirit comes through the word of truth and enters our spirit by a willing heart. The Spirit of Jesus is imbibed by standing before a broken Law of God and bowing in humiliation and helplessness. Then when, in contrition, God brings us to Christ to be justified, now knowing the goodness of God and surrendering to it, we receive His Spirit with it's power. This is the true redemption and infusion of supernatural. power from God.

Satan has deceived the world by teaching them to disregard the Law of God, it's shame, condemnation, rebukes, correction. Therefore, the Schoolmaster is never able to bring the world to the Son to be justified by faith that comes out of the wrestling with the Schoolmaster.

So, in place of God's Galatians 3:24 regimen, the master deceiver has taught the world to imbibe his godless, lawless doctrines, and horrific substances. They would receive his spirit through intoxicating spirits and doctrines. They would drink alcohol, and use opiates and narcotics in order to open their minds to the spirits that inhabited the plant kingdom. They would drink blood from the powerful animal kingdom in order to have the animal kingdom's power. 

But David said, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips." ( Psa. 16:4).

But rather his experience with the true God was one of faith and obedience to the God of excellence, wonderful counsel, and perfection.

"Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight....

The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

I have set the Lordalways before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." (Psa. 16:1-3,5-8).

This spiritual blessing from above the drinking of carnal blood and imbibing earthly substances could never provide for. The only power those provided were from below, whose source was against all excellence, and against God and His children.

"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." (Rev . 17:6).

The religion that ascends from the bottomless pit will lead only to the angel of the bottomless pit. And only the religion that comes from God will lead to God.

The great fulcrum of eternity is the Law of God. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20). 

Will we stand before God's Law and the testifying prophets through whom He spoke?

Or, will we dispense with the Law's condemnation of our sins? Whether we will be pagans or Christians hinges on us accepting the Schoolmaster, the Judge of all the earth. Will we evade the deflation of all our pride in the humiliation that comes with our sinfulness unavoidably pointed out? Will we agonize and plead under the disconcerting thunders of the Law that we have committed the unpardonable sin if we don't immediately seek His face? Will we be humbled by the great Judge of all the earth, and then be carried by the ministering angels to the cross to be further humbled into the dust? Will we forgo  all our rebellion and be brought to the mighty scene at Calvary, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"?

Will we look at the Son of purest righteousness and love? Will we choose paganism or the gospel? If we will submit to God's rite of passage, then and only then can we receive power from above that overcomes the world, the beast and his image, and the number of his name. Will we be pagan or Christian? Will we drink from the lowland's dirty water or the highland's springs?

 

"Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." (Rev. 3:20,21).

 

Doing and going and accomplishing, to what purpose?

"He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." (Matt. 13:22,23).

Do, do, do. 

Go, go, go.

Accomplish, accomplish, accomplish.

Why are we doing, doing, doing, going, going, going?

Why are we accomplishing, accomplishing, accomplishing?

Not, "What?" But, "Why?", is the question.

I've heard it said that accomplishment brings us the greatest happiness. And, yes it can. But not if we are striving to accomplish without God, striving apart from Him, living separated from our Creator.

"Jesus did not shirk care and responsibility". Yet, "He was never so full of worldly care as to have no time or thought for heavenly things."

"Throughout His life on earth, Jesus was an earnest and constant worker. He expected much; therefore He attempted much. After He had entered on His ministry, He said, "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." John 9:4. Jesus did not shirk care and responsibility, as do many who profess to be His followers. It is because they seek to evade this discipline that so many are weak and inefficient.... The energy, the solidity and strength of character, manifested in Christ are to be developed in us, through the same discipline that He endured. And the grace that He received is for us....

Jesus carried into His labor cheerfulness and tact. It requires much patience and spirituality to bring Bible religion into the home life and into the workshop, to bear the strain of worldly business, and yet keep the eye single to the glory of God. This is where Christ was a helper. He was never so full of worldly care as to have no time or thought for heavenly things. Often He expressed the gladness of His heart by singing psalms and heavenly songs. Often the dwellers in Nazareth heard His voice raised in praise and thanksgiving to God. He held communion with heaven in song; and as His companions complained of weariness from labor, they were cheered by the sweet melody from His lips. His praise seemed to banish the evil angels, and, like incense, fill the place with fragrance. The minds of His hearers were carried away from their earthly exile, to the heavenly home. " Desire of Ages, p. 73.

When we spend all of our time and effort, all of our thought and actions, achieving and accomplishing, what do we end up with? We have a thing. A finished project. A finished program. Big deal! And after years of doing and going and accomplishing, what do we have? A bunch of finished things and a few accolades from the organization! We have some pink stickies that we can frame if we have the interest and energy to do one last thing before we fall into the grave!

We have a work of our own hand, which God calls an idol.

"Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: and the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not." (Isa. 2:7-9).

Our life is an idol that we worship because we never brought the great God into our works, letting Him join in our joy to accomplish and permeate our love of accomplishment. We treated Him like the kid that has to stay out of the way, hardly being seen, and definitely not being heard.

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." (Ecc. 2:11).

Vanity. In vain. All for nothing. Kaput.

After 30, 40, 50, years of doing and going and accomplishing comes the horrible nightmarish thought, "Who, except for me, is going to remember what I did?" For most us, no one is going to remember. Maybe our spouse. Maybe our children. On rare occasion a distant relative at a reunion, or an even rarer stranger, might want to touch on the works of our own hands for a conversation piece. Maybe a door to door salesman will see our framed yellow sticky accolades hanging on the wall, and chat about them in order to get himself a commission. (That sounds so horrific, yet all too often we hear of the elderly being forgotten and neglected.) 

But besides them, the things we killed ourselves to achieve and accomplish are forgotten. We can try to talk ourselves into believing that we did our part in building up a great nation, or our organization. But, will our organization stop by periodically to thank us and to reminisce? I trow not.

In reality, without communion with Jesus, without union and cooperation with the eternal One, our life was just busy work. Really, haven't the works of our own hands been simply us trying not to think of our accountability to the God who we have sinned against? Everybody knows deep down that they are sinners.

Aren't we so much like our father and mother of a thousand generations  previous, that is,  Adam and Eve? They ran from Jesus because of sin. They didn't want to admit to disloyalty to the God who gave them life and an lavish garden home and freedom of choice. He had told them, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." How much more love could He express? However He must add, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, lest you die." 

And they did eat of the forbidden tree. Now they must die. But they didn't want to call their sin evil and to confess any guilt. Sin, being cut off from their connection with their God of love, wouldn't allow them to repent. Their souls were rife with rebellion.

Yes, isn't humanity still running from their Redeemer? Isn't that the motive behind our life of employment and home and family affairs--our life of busy work? But busyness hasn't filled the God-sized hole in our hearts. It has left billions with no real purpose in life. And social justice programs and ministries don't fill the God-sized hole.

At the end of our life we look back and review our life of labor. And we must confess, "Why did I slave myself for that?" God reserves the place of being loved with all our heart and mind and strength. But we have given that privileged honor to our employer, our professor, our family, our spouse, or to our self.

And there is more. Multitudes will come up to Judgment Day and find out that they did worse than just waste time. They wasted millions of wide open opportunities to get in close with the One who they consigned to being seen but not heard, yet who was seeking every chance to woo them to Him and a future eternity with Him, another Eden, "the first dominion", done right this time.

"In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." (Mic. 4:6-8).

We must not miss this promise. Let's be good ground hearers that hear the truth and repent at the goodness of God and let Him grow His fruits in us.

Let's no longer seek to circumvent the poweful, convicting word of God with all of its "doctrine,... reproof,... correction,... instruction in righteousness" (2Tim. 3:16). Jesus is our Father, so He has the right to keep us in line! No one is too old to not be treated like a child by their Creator. Be glad you have a living Parent.

Because our Father loves us and corrects us, let'sbe determined to hear and heed all that His word has to offer. God doesn't waste His breath on His instructions for us. The scriptures are written perfectly, with precepts that are exemplified by personal examples of what to do and what not to do. It's beautiful! The Bible is easy to understand especially as He changes the human heart to love Him and His righteous and loving precepts. The Bible is easy to identify with. The Son is easy to relate to. Before it's too late, let's make the profound simplicity of the Almighty's thoughts our priority, our foundation. Every other pastime leaves us empty, purposeless, confused, and woefully unprepared for the coming "first dominion".

Why invest our lives in a world that is going away? Why work hard for that which is not bread? "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26). This world is ready to pass away.

What college grad would invest in a career with a company that is spiraling into its demise and will never correct its course? What investor will throw his wealth into such a company? What hope is there in an empire that has decided fiscal irresponsibility and its adversarial successor is standing ready to take over after its collapse? 

But that is America and its global empire today. What rises out of the global rubble will be hideous and reprehensible. Nothing to have a vested interest in. It's going to speak like the dragon. The dragon will have full control.

But only for "one hour" (Rev. 17:12). The first dominion is also returning with a vengeance. "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven and Earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." ( Rev. 14:7)

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

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

Saying We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail." (Rev. 11:15-19).

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (Rev. 16:17-21).