Welcome to Whole Gospel Ministries Church website. A congregation of Sabbath-Keepers.
Recent Sermons
Subscribe to Whole Gospel Ministries
Latest Posts
- God’s Saving Enmity Part 21
MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
May 31, 2023God’s Saving Enmity
Part 21WHY DOES PERSECUTION OF THE GODLY SEEM TO BE DORMANT? IS THIS A GOOD SIGN?
“For all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.”2 Tim. 3:12, KJV. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise’ (2 Pet. 3:9). He does not forget or neglect His children; but He PERMITS [and thus is in control| the wicked to REVEAL their true character, that NONE who desire to do His will may be DECEIVED concerning them [the wicked]. Again and again the RIGHTEOUS are placed in the furnace of affliction, that they themselves might be PURIFIED; that their EXAMPLE [under fiery affliction and duress| may convince others of the REALITY of FAITH AND GODLINESS, and also that their consistent course may CONDEMN the UNGODLY and unbelieving. “God permits the wicked to PROSPER, and to reveal their ENMITY against Him, that when they shall have FILLED UP the measure of their INIQUITY, all may see His JUSTICE AND MERCY in their utter destruction. The day of His vengeance HASTENS, when all who have transgressed His law and OPPRESSED His people will meet the JUST recompense of their deeds, when every act of CRUELTY or injustice towards God’s faithful ones will be punished as though DONE TO CHRIST HIMSELF! “There is ANOTHER AND MORE IMPORTANT question that should engage the attention of the CHURCHES OF TODAY. The apostle Paul declares that ‘all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.’Q. “WHY IS IT THEN, THAT PERSECUTION SEEMS IN A GREAT DEGREE TO SLUMBER?
Ans. “THE ONLY REASON IS, the church has conformed to the world’s standard, and therefore awakens NO opposition. The RELIGION which is CURRENT in our day is NOT of the pure and holy character that MARKED the Christian faith in the days of Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the SPIRIT OF COMPROMISE WITH SIN, because the great truths of the Word of God are so INDIFFERENTLY regarded, because there is SO LITTLE VITAL GODLINESS IN THE CHURCH, that Christianity is apparently SO POPULAR with the world! [But] let there be a REVIVAL of faith and power of the EARLY CHURCH, and the spirit of PERSECUTION will be revived, and the FIRES of persecution will be rekindled!” -E. G. White, Great Controversy, p. 48, 1911, Pacific Press Publishing Asso. CA.(all emphasis and words in brackets mine).
No wonder “in the last days perilous times shall come,” because as Paul warned that professed Christians will have superficial, not vital godliness for “they will have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:4, KJV). This is but one of over a dozen Peter-like, antitypical fearful denials of Christ in these last days!
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.
- God’s Saving Enmity Part 20
MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
God’s Saving Enmity
Part 20ENMITY OF WORLDLY KINGDOMS AGAINST CHRIST’S KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12, KJV.That is, ALL who lovingly and willingly choose to faithfully and progressively obey God’s law and follow Christ’s example of living godly lives in and through Him, will, not might, suffer reproach and persecution.
As immediately recorded in Genesis, the very book of beginnings for fallen and sinful mankind’s instruction and warning, this painful truth was illustrated by and manifested in the life and consequent martyr’s death of the righteous Abel in the hands of his older brother Cain, the first unthankful and unholy rebel against God’s word of law, becoming the prototypical hater, persecutor, and murderer of his own brother of his own household. Thus, as the first human hater of righteousness and murderer of the righteous, God cursed him to be the first vagabond of fallen, sinful earth.
Cain stands as the head of the line of all the rebellious, unrighteous and wicked haters of truth and righteousness at the core of the great controversy between Christ and Satan and their respective “seeds” till “six thousand years of sin is ended” at His glorious second advent. Then commences the true Biblical millenium. (We will expound on this topic in a separate mini series).
In His sermon on the mount, Jesus introduced to the world He came to save the spiritual nature of His kingdom in His sermon on the mount. It is a kingdom of righteousness See Matthew, chapters 5-7. Hence, the “good news” of the Bible is the everlasting gospel of righteousness of Christ—the divine antidote against Satan’s dark kingdom of “unrighteousness, which is sin,” “the transgression of the law of God.”
In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus declared to the multitudes and taught His disciples, saying,
“BLESSED are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for THEIRS is the KINGDOM of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall REVILE you, and PERSECUTE you, and shall SAY ALL MANNER OF EVIL against you FALSELY, FOR MY NAME’S SAKE."Rejoice, and be EXCEEDING glad: [Why] for GREAT is your reward [not ‘awards’] in heaven [not on earth]: for so PERSECUTED they the PROPHETS which were before you.” (All emphasis mine).It is only those who suffer for righteousness’ sake who receive a great reward in heaven, sharing the high, holy, and eternal distinction with the persecuted, faithful prophets of the Bible, Christ being the Arch Prophet or “Preacher and Teacher of Righteousness.”
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.
WGM Music Playlist
