Like, Share and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
You can play, download and share this audio message below.
Powered by RedCircle
Month: February 2021
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
ROME’S HATRED IS NOT AGAINST SIN BUT AGAINST THE SABBATH AND SABBATH-KEEPERS, AS THE WALDENSES WERE
“We have seen that the ancient apostolic church, scattered by persecution, and often in hiding, went under various names. Being peaceful, virtuous, industrious citizens, they were TOLERATED and even SHIELDED, by princes who understood their value to the country, while the Catholic Church HUNTED them down like wild beasts. After the Waldenses and Albigenses had lived quietly in France for many years, POPE INNOCENT III wrote the following instructions to his bishops:
‘Therefore by this present apostolical writing [?] we give you a STRICT COMMAND that, by WHATEVER means you can, you DESTROY all these heresies and EXPEL from your diocese all who are polluted with them. You shall exercise the RIGOR OE ECCLESIASTICAL POWER against them and all those who have made themselves suspected by ASSOCIATING with them. They may NOT appeal to your judgment, and if necessary, you may cause the princes [civil powers] and the people to SUPPRESS THEM WITH THE SWORD.’ – ‘A Source Book for Medieval History,’ Oliver J. Thatcher and E. H. McNeal, p. 210. NY Charles’ Scribner’s Sons: 1905.
“Philippus van Lindorch, Professor of Divinity of Amsterdam, speaking of the way the LIBERTY of the people was suppressed after 1050, says:
‘In the following ages the affairs of the church [of Rome] under the government of the Popes [the papacy] and all persons so strictly curbed by the SEVERITY of the laws, that they durst [dared] not even so much as WHISPER against the received opinions of the church. Besides this, so deep was the IGNORANCE that had spread itself over the WORLD, that men, without the least regard to KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING, received with a BLIND obedience everything that the ecclesiastics ordered them, HOWEVER STUPID OR SUPERSTITIOUS, WITHOUT ANY EXAMINATION; and anyone dared to the least to contradict them, he was sure immediately to be punished, whereby the most ABSURD opinions came to be established by the VIOLENCE OF THE POPES.’ – ‘History of the Inquisition.’p.79. London 1816.” – ‘Facts of Faith,’ Christian Edwardson, pp. 126, 127.
“There is nothing new under the sun. What has been that shall be.” Learn from history and be prepared for the future. Bless all, NMF
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE WALDENSES, THEIR ‘SABBATIC’ NAMES, AND THE PAPACY
David Benedict, M.A., says:
‘Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called SABATI, SABBATATI, INSABBATATI, but more frequently INSABBATATI. One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day. Another says they were so called because they rejected all the festivals.’- ‘General History of the Baptist Denomination,’ Vol. II, p. 413: 1813.
Dr. J.L. Mosheim says: ‘PASSAGINIANS (Waldenses) had the utmost AVERSION to the dominion and discipline of the Church of Rome ….and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath.’ – ‘Ecclesiastical History.’ (2-vol. edition), Cen. 2, Part 2, Chap. 5, Sec. 14, Vol. 1, p. 333. New York: Harper & Bros., 1871.
“The papal author Bonacursus, wrote against the ‘PASAGINI’[ Waldenses/Albigenses] ‘Not a few but many know what are the ERRORS of those who are called Pasagini [what errors?]. First, they teach that we should obey the law of Moses according for the letter—-the Sabbath and circumcision, and the legal precepts still being in force….Furthermore to INCREASE their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and whole Roman Church.’ – Quoted in ‘History of the Sabbath,’ J. N. Andrews, pp. 547, 548. 1912
It must be pointed out here that papal author Bonocorsus clearly calls his church as the Church OF ROME, not the church OF CHRIST. In his own mouth and by his scholarly pen he testifies, whether he was aware or not, that the Church of Rome or the Romish church, the Roman Catholic Church, is, and of Rome, not is and of Christ! It was Rome, at the behest of the Jewish people, in essence the union of church and state, the religious and the civil powers, who crucified the Lord of the Sabbath! God bless, NMF
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
WALDENSIAN PARENTS ‘TRAINED UP’ THEIR CHILDREN ‘TO ENDURE HARDNESS AS A SOLDIER’
“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . . Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” 2 TImothy 2: 1, 3. 4, KJV.
“Pure, simple, and fervent was these followers of Christ. The principles of truth they treasured ABOVE houses and lands, friends, kindred, even life itself. These principles they earnestly sought to impress upon the hearts [and the conscience] of the YOUNG.
“From EARLIEST CHILDHOOD the youth were instructed in the SCRIPTURES, and taught to regard SACREDLY the claims of the law of God. Copies of the Bible were RARE; therefore its precious words were COMMITTED TO MEMORY. Many were able to repeat LARGE PORTIONS of both the Old and New Testaments.
“Thoughts of God were associated alike with the SUBLIME scenery of nature [not the metropolitan glitter and glamor or Disneyland’s short-lived, spiritualistic fantasies, etc.] and the HUMBLE BLESSINGS of daily life. LITTLE CHILDREN learned to look with gratitude to God as the Giver of every favor and every comfort.
“Parents, TENDER AND AFFECTIONATE as they were, loved their children TOO WISELY to accustom them to SELF-INDULGENCE. [Why?] Before them [their real ‘future’] was a life of trial and hardship, perhaps a MARTYR’S death.
“They were educated from childhood to ENDURE HARDNESS, to submit to control [to genuine godly parents]. and yet to think and act FOR THEMSELVES. Very early they were taught to BEAR responsibilities, to be GUARDED in speech, and to understand the WISDOM OF SILENCE.[Reason?] One INDISCREET word let fall in the hearing of their enemies, might imperil not only the life of the speaker, but the lives of HUNDREDS of his brethren; for as wolves hunting their prey did the ENEMIES OF TRUTH pursue those who dared TO CLAIM FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS FAITH.”- E. G. White, ‘The Great Controversy,’ 1911 ed.,p. 67.
Ask yourself, Am I an enemy of truth or an enemy of lies? There exists no “shared platforms” here for there are only two “Fathers,” the “father of darkness, “lies, and murderer from the beginning” and “the Father of lights [not lies], with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Thus there are only two kinds of spiritual children: “the children of light and obedience” and the “children of darkness and rebellion” against God’s law and authority. “Choose ye this day whom your ‘Father’ is!” Bless God’s humble family on earth, His household of faith. NMF
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE SIMPLE AND PURE BIBLE-BASED FAITH OF THE WALDENSIAN CHRISTIANS
“The Waldenses were among the first of the peoples of Europe to obtain a translation of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of years before the Reformation, they possessed the Bible in MANUSCRIPTS in their native tongue [dialect, language]. They had the TRUTH UNADULTERATED, and this renders them the special OBJECTS of hatred and persecution. [Here’s particularly why]
“They declared the Church of Rome [in contrast to the church of Christ] to be the apostate Babylon of the Apocalypse [Revelation], and at the peril of their lives they stood up to resist her corruptions.
“While, under the long-continued pressure of persecution, some compromised their faith, little by little yielding its DISTINCTIVE principles, others held fast the truth.
“Through ages of darkness and apostasy, there were Waldenses who DENIED THE SUPREMACY OF ROME, who rejected IMAGE WORSHIP as idolatry, and who kept the TRUE SABBATH. Under the fiercest tempests opposition they maintained their faith. [can this be also said of us today when the prophesied persecution hasn’t yet come?]. Though gashed with the Savoyard spear, and scorched by the Romish fagot, they stood UNFLINCHINGLY for God’s word and His honor.
“Behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains,—-in all ages the refuge of the persecuted and oppressed—-the Waldenses found a hiding-place. Here the light of truth kept burning AMID THE DARKNESS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Here for a THOUSAND YEARS, witnesses for the truth maintained the ANCIENT FAITH.
“God had provided for His people a SANCTUARY OF AWFUL GRANDEUR, befitting the MIGHTY TRUTHS committed to their trust. To those faithful exiles the mountains were an EMBLEM of the immutable RIGHTEOUSNESS of Jehovah. They pointed their CHILDREN to the heights towering above them in unchanging majesty, and spoke to them of Him ‘with whom there is no variablemess nor shadow of turning’[James 1:17], whose word is as ENDURING as the everlasting hills. God had set fast the mountains, and girded them with strength; no arm bug Infinite Power could move them out of their place.
“In LIKE MANNER He had established His law, the foundation of His GOVERNMENT IN HEAVEN and upon earth. The arm of man might reach his fellow-men and DESTROY THEIR LIVES; but that [mortal, finite] arm could as readily uproot the mountains from their foundations, and hurl them into the sea, as it COULD CHANGE one precept of the Law of Jehovah, or BLOT OUT His promises to those who DO HIS WILL. In their FIDELITY to His law, God’s servants should be AS FIRM as the unchanging hills.
“The mountains that girded their lowly were a constant witness to God’s CREATIVE power, and a never-failing ASSURANCE of His protecting care. These pilgrims learned to love the SILENT symbols of Jehovah’s presence. They indulged NO REPINING [complaining, grumbling] because of its hardships.of their lot. What a rebuke to Christians who are constantly complaining over little or even imagined, self-induced difficulties and problems!].
They were never lonely amid the mountain solitudes. [Instead] they THANKED God that He had provided for them an ASYLUM from the wrath and cruelty of men. THEY REJOICED IN THEIR FREEDOM TO WORSHIP BEFORE HIM. Often when pursued by their enemies, the strength of the hills proved a sure defense. From many a lofty cliff they CHANTED THE PRAISE OF GOD and the armies of Rome could not silence their SONGS OF THANKSGIVING.” Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 65, 66.
During this pandemic, how many words of complaint, murmuring, accusations, lying versus word of praise, versus words and songs of praise and gratitude to God in Christ have been entered by our guardian angels into our books of record in heaven? Remember that “by our words we are either condemned or justified.” Ponder prayerfully, humbly, and thoroughly. God is mercifully righteous and just, NMF.
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
YOUR CHRISTIAN HERITAGE DETERMINES YOUR ‘CHRISTIANITY’
“And it came to pass, that a whole year they [Barnabas and Paul] assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Acts 11:26, KJV (for proper context, read verses 1-29).
Notice that the “church” here mentioned wasn’t yet identified by any specific designation such as “Anglican,” “Adventist,” “Baptist,” “Catholic,” “Evangelical,” “Methodist.” “Presbyterian,” or even “CHRISTIAN,” not until the Word says so.
This ongoing series of the prophesied or foretold—not preordained or predestined—‘falling away of the church,” i.e., already called “Christian,” is past, present, and future: it traces back to the earliest pagan and heathen religious influences and practices that gradually entered into the early church, its deceptively devastating and overwhelming power of amalgamation based on compromise that resulted in the early “falling away” that morphs into its prophesied spiritual state of confusion described in Revelation as “Babylon,” and its final shocking form as “Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots (her spiritual daughters) and the Abominations of the Earth,” made up of “the beast and his image,” in final desperate global confederacy with “the dragon and the false prophet.” All these religious and civil institutions with their respective isms will be arrayed against God’s authority as expressed and defined in His immutable law of Ten Commandments, His power and seal as Creator-Redeemer-Sanctifier definitively defined and embodied in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and against the last remaining faithful “keepers of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” They are the last and culminating purified “church of Christ” of the Desire of Ages.” For, “from the beginning faithful [not compromising, much less apostate] souls comprise the church of Christ on earth.”
Most certainly, not all who profess to be or claim to subscribe to a creed such as the Apostle’s Creed. etc.. are rendered from the same spiritual foundry and cast in the same mold, although Christians of the “primitive godliness” mold are. A. How can we tell? What are distinguishing differences/marks?
A. The Bible answers: “To the law and testimony: if they speak not according to this word it is because it is no light in them“ (Isa.8:20); “By their fruits you shall you know them”(Matt. 7:16-20); Jesus calls (not canonizes) them as “saints” because “they keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” and “have spirit of prophecy which is the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12; 19:10).
Now let’s trace back when and why the true followers of Christ and of His “church” were first called Christians.
“Christian, [Greek. Christianos, a. ‘a follower of Christ.’]. A name used FIRST in Antioch of Syria to describe a disciple of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26). The text does not make clear WHO originated the term. It has been thought unlikely that it was adopted by the Christians [the true followers of Christ], although there is an ancient tradition that Evodius, the first bishop of Antioch, as the originator of the term. Nor is it likely that the name was coined by the JEWS [why?] for the Greek ‘Christos’ means ‘Messiah,” and the Jews would hardly call the disciples of Jesus ‘followers of Messiah’ [they rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah]. It appears that the term was FIRST applied to the followers of Jesus by the HEATHEN [such as the religion of the Roman emperors and their subjects were], doubtless as a nickname to express CONTEMPT, but to the Christian of became a name of HONOR. The word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Acts 26:28 and 1 Pet. 4:16, KJV.” – SDA Bible Dictionary Complete with Atlas, Commentary Reference Series, Vol. 8, art. ‘Christian,’ p. 192: Review & Herald Publishing Asso., Washington, D.C. 1960.
Now we return to our prophetic tracing of the blood-stained career of Romish church through the Middle and Dark Ages, progressing onward. God bless, NMF.
Like, Share and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
You can play, download and share this audio message below.
Powered by RedCircle
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
HEATHEN PHILOSOPHIES AND PAGAN PRACTICES INTO THE EARLY CHURCH AND IS NOW TOO DEEPLY EMBEDDED TO UPROOT.
Let’s retrace the origins of three vital and pivotal doctrines, practices by Christianity today, fulfilling Paul’s prophecy that Christ’s second coming “shall not come, except that there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thess. 2:3 (read verses 4-12), K.J.V.
“The advancing centuries witnessed a constant increase of ERROR in the doctrines put forth from Rome. Even BEFORE the establishment of the papacy [in 538 A.D.], the teachings of heathen philosophers had received attention and and exerted and influence in the [early] church. Many who professed CONVERSION still clung to the tenets of their PAGAN philosophy, and not only continue its study themselves, but urged it upon OTHERS as a means of EXTENDING their influence among the heathen. Serious errors were thus introduced into the church.
“Prominent among these was the belief in [1] MAN’S IMMORTALITY and his CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEATH. This doctrine laid the foundation upon which Rome established the [2] THE INVOCATION OF SAINTS [3] THE ADORATION OF THE VIRGIN MARY. From this sprang also [4] THE HERESY Of ETERNAL TORMENT for the finally impenitent, which was early incorporated into the papal faith.
“Then the way was prepared for the introduction of still another invention of paganism, which Rome named [5] PURGATORY and employed to terrify the credulous and superstitious multitudes. By this heresy is affirmed the existence of a PLACE OF TORMENT [or Torture], in which the souls of such as have not merited eternal damnation are to suffer punishment for their sins, and from which, when freed from impurity, they are admitted to heaven.
“Still another fabrication was needed to enable Rome to PROFIT by the FEARS and VICES of her adherents. This was supplied by the [6] DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. Full remission of sins [Justification], PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE, and the release from all the pains and penalties incurred, were promised to all who would ENLIST IN THE PONTIFF’S WARS [deceivingly called ‘holy Crusades’] to extend his TEMPORAL dominion, to PUNISH his enemies, or to EXTERMINATE those who dared deny his spiritual supremacy. The people were also taught that by PAYMENT OF MONEY to the church they might free themselves from SIN, and also release the souls of their DECEASED [dead] friends who were confined to the ‘tormenting flames.
“By such means did Rome FILL HER COFFERS [treasury,] and sustain the magnificence, luxury, and vice of the pretended representatives of Him ‘who had not where to lay His head.’” – E.G. White, ‘The Great Controversy,’ 1911 ed., pp. 58, 59.
More follows. God bless, NMF.