Month: February 2021

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Daily Manna Devotionals

THE WALDENSES (THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS) ‘CONTENDED FOR THE FAITH DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS’

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE WALDENSES (THE CHURCH IN THE WILDERNESS) ‘CONTENDED FOR THE FAITH DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS’

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and EXHORT you that you SHOULD EARNESTLY CONTEND for the faith once delivered to the saints.” Jude 3, K.J.V.

“The faith which for many centuries were held and taught by the Waldensian Christians, was in MARKED CONTRAST to the false doctrines put forth by Rome. Their religious belief [or faith] was founded upon the WRITTEN WORD OF GOD—THE TRUE SYSTEM OF CHRISTIANITY.

“But these humble peasants, in their obscure retreats, shut away from the world, and bound to their daily toil among their flocks and vineyards, HAD NOT BY THEMSELVES arrived at the truth in opposition to the dogmas and heresies of the apostate church.

Theirs was NOT a Faith newly received. Their religious belief was their INHERITANCE from their fathers. They contended for the faith of the APOSTOLIC church—-‘the faith once delivered to the saints.’

“‘The church in the wilderness,” and not the PROUD HIERARCHY enthroned in the world’s great capital, was the TRUE CHURCH of Christ, the GUARDIANS of the treasures of truth which God has given to the people to be given to the world.

“Among the leading CAUSES that had led to the separation of the true church from Rome, was the HATRED of the latter toward the BIBLE SABBATH. As foretold by prophecy, the papal power ‘cast down the truth to the ground.’ The law of God was ‘trampled in the dust,’ while the traditions and customs of men were exalted.

“The churches that were under the rule of the papacy were early compelled to honor the SUNDAY as a holy day [not holiday]. Amid the prevailing error and superstition, MANY, even of the true people of God, became so BEWILDERED that WHILE they observed the Sabbath, they refrained from labor ALSO on the Sunday.

But this did not satisfy the papal leaders. They DEMANDED not only that Sunday be hallowed, but that the SABBATH BE PROFANED; and they denounced in the strongest language those WHO DARED to show it honor. It was only by FLEEING from the power of Rome that any could OBEY God’s law in peace.”- E.G. White, ‘Great Controversy,’ pp. 64, 65 (1911 ed.).

Centuries earlier the ancient Israelites suffered the same spiritual bondage under Egyptian despotic rule. They could only begin to obey God’s law and keep the creation Sabbath when emancipated through the Exodus out of Egypt. The last call to the churches of “come out of her that ye receive not of her plagues” is for the honest in heart yet are still deceived as to which day is the true Sabbath and the other testing truths and doctrines. Those who already know these are under solemn obligation to God to proclaim to the “world around them” the last merciful warnings of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14.
Bless your efforts, NMF.

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Daily Manna Devotionals

THE WALDENSES, THE SABBATH AND THE BIBLE

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE WALDENSES, THE SABBATH AND THE BIBLE

“In the lands beyond the jurisdiction of Rome, there existed for many centuries existed bodies of Christians who remained almost wholly free from papal corruption. They were surrounded by heathenism, and in the lapse of ages, were affected by its errors; but they continued to regard the Bible as the ONLY RULE OF FAITH, and adhered to many of its truths. These Christians believed in the PERPETUITY OF THE LAW OF GOD, AND OBSERVED THE SABBATH OF THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. Churches that held to this faith and practices, existed in Central Africa and among the Armenians of Asia.

“But of those who resisted the encroachment of the papal power, the WALDENSES STOOD FOREMOST. In the very land where popery had fixed its seat, there its falsehood and corruption were most steadily resisted. For centuries the churches of the Piedmont maintained their independence; but the time came at last when Rome insisted upon their submission.

“After ineffectual struggles against her tyranny, the leaders of these churches reluctantly acknowledged the supremacy of the power to which the WHOLE WORLD seemed to pay homage. There were SOME, however, who refused to yield to the authority of Pope or prelate. They were determined to maintain their allegiance to God, and to preserve the purity and simplicity of their faith. A SEPARATION TOOK PLACE. Those who adhered to the ancient faith now withdrew; some, forsaking their native Alps, raised the banner of truth in foreign lands; others, retreated to the secluded glens and rocky fastness of the MOUNTAiNS, and there preserved THEIR FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD.” – E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 63, 64. Pacific Press Publishing Asso., Mountain View, CA.

Learn as much as you can on what the Waldenses and others of the earliest Christians who were the immediate fruits of the missionary labors of Christ’s first disciples and apostles, treasured, practiced, and defended with their lives:—-the Bible and Bible only as the rule of faith; the perpetuity of God’s law: the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and the inalienable right of liberty and freedom to worship God according to the dictates of the conscience: these are possible only by the separation of church power and state power, which is still protected by the original First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. It is upon this terminal issue that mankind will choose EITHER to receive the mark of the beast or the seal of the living God. This last choice determines the soul’s eternal destiny.
Choose to do God’s will and you will “please Him” as Enoch did before his translation! Bless all, NMF

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Daily Manna Devotionals

HERETICS’ KEPT FLAME OF TRUTH BURNING THROUGH THE DARK AGES

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

‘HERETICS’ KEPT FLAME OF TRUTH BURNING THROUGH THE DARK AGES

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the WILDERNESS, into HER PLACE, where she is nourished for A TIME, and TIMES, and HALF A TIME, from the face of the serpent.” Rev. 12.14, K.J.V.

“While Constantine’s purchased converts, and the superficial-minded multitude followed the popular [Romish] church, there were many honest, God-fearing Christians, who resented this sinful compromise with PAGANISM; and when they saw that all their protests [the compromise] were useless, they withdrew to PLACES where they could more freely follow their CONSCIENCES and bring up their CHILDREN away from the contamination of the fallen church which they looked upon as the ‘Babylon’ of Revelation 17. Several hundred SABBATH-KEEPING Christian churches were established in southern India, and some were even found in China. Likewise the original Celtic Church in England, Scotland, and Ireland KEPT THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH, as will be shown in the following:

“The majority of these Christians settled, however, in the ALPS, a PLACE naturally suited for their protection, being situated where SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, and ITALY join. They could, therefore, more easily get [nature’s] PROTECTION in one or another of these COUNTRIES, as it would be harder for the PAPACY to get JOINT ACTION of all these [three] countries in case of PERSECUTION. Then, too, these MOUNTAINS were so STEEP and HIGH, the VALLEYS so NARROW, and the PASSES into these so NARROW so DIFFICULT, that it would seem as though God had PREPARED THIS HIDING PLACE for His TRUE CHURCH AND TRUTH during the Dark Ages! William Jones says:

‘Angrogna, Pramol and S. Martino are strongly fortified by nature on account of their many passages and bulwarks of rocks and mountains: as if the all-wise Creator, says Sir Samuel Morland, had, from the beginning, designed that place as a CABINET, wherein to put some INESTIMABLE JEWEL, or in which to preserve MANY THOUSAND SOULS, which would not bow the knee to Baal [ancient Phoenician sun-god].’- ‘History of the Christian Church,’ Vol. I, p. 356, third edition, London: 1818.” – C. Edwardson, ‘Facts of Faith,’ p.118.

Know who the Waldenses, Vaudois, Albigenses are and what they were persecuted and died for. They are included in the Biblical Hall of Faith of Hebrews chapter 11, verses 35-40. They were the martyrs and saints, together with the later Protestants, of Jesus who preserved the truth with their lives and blood which we received as it were in a silver platter. Hence, we take it for granted because we hardly sacrificed anything to obtain it. I often think to myself, Those godly men, women, youth and even children deserve the reward of eternal life. How about me? My faith, loyalty, trust and obedience to God, His truth and law have not yet been tested and tried as theirs!
Lord have mercy and patience on me! NMF.

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Daily Manna Devotionals

DENIAL DEBUNKED BY THE TRUTH, FACTS, AND THEIR OWN WORDS

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

DENIAL DEBUNKED BY THE TRUTH, FACTS, AND THEIR OWN WORDS

Jesus Christ, God Creator in the flesh, declared, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”(John 8:32,36). John said: “No lie is of the truth” (1 John 2: 21).

Uriah Smith wrote: “The false claims of some Catholics that their church has never killed dissenters, have been flatly denied by one of their own standard writers, Cardinal Belarmine, who was born in Tuscany in 1542, and who, after his death in 1621, came being near being placed in the calendar of saints on account of his great services in behalf of the church. This man, on one occasion, under the spur of controversy, betrayed himself to an ADMISSION of the REAL FACTS of the case.

“Martin Luther having said that the church (meaning the true church) NEVER BURNED HERETICS, Bellarmine understanding it of the Roman Catholic Church, made answer:

‘This argument proves not the sentiment, but the ignorance or impudence of Luther; for as ALMOST AN INFINITE NUMBER were either burned or put to death, Luther either did not know it, and was therefore ignorant; or if he knew it, he is convicted of impudence and FALSEHOOD —-for that heretics were often burned BY THE CHURCH, may be PROVED by adducing a few from MANY examples.’- John Dowling, ‘The History of Romanism,’ p. 547. (D&R 133,134.

“John Lothrop Motley, speaking of the papal persecution in the Netherlands [one of the three countries of the Lowlands; Belgium and Luxembourg are the others], says:

‘Upon Feb. 16, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office (The Inquisition) condemned ALL THE INHABITANTS in the Netherlands TO DEATH AS HERETICS……A proclamation of the king ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it be carried into instant execution…..This is probably THE MOST CONCISE DEATH WARRANT that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women, and CHILDREN, were sentenced to the SCAFFOLD IN THREE LINES.’- ‘The Rise of the Dutch Republic,(2-vol. ed.) Vol. I, p. 626. New York.

“Many Roman Catholic authors today tried to prove that their church does not sanction persecution, but FACTS of history are too plain to be denied. Eternity alone will reveal what God’s dear children suffered during the Dark Ages. Accordingly as the Papacy attained to power, the common people became more oppressed until ‘THE NOON OF PAPACY WAS THE MIDNIGHT OF THE WORLD.’ – ‘History of Protestantism,’ J. A. Wylie, L. L. D., Vol. I, p. 16. London.”- C. Edwardson, ‘Facts of Faith,’ p. 67. Southern Publishing Asso. TN. 1943.

Prophecy reveals what is coming; history is prophecy fulfilled. Bless all, NMF.

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Courage of Conviction and Choice of Conscience

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Daily Manna Devotionals

TRACING THE BLOODY TRACKS FOLLOWING AFTER THE ‘LITTLE HORN’

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

TRACING THE BLOODY TRACKS FOLLOWING AFTER THE ‘LITTLE HORN’

“I beheld, and the same (little) horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them”….”and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” Dan. 7: 21, 25, K.J.V.

“The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. VIII was printed in 1910, which bears the sanction of the Catholic authorities, and their ‘censor,’ so that here is up-to-date authority showing that the Roman church sanctions persecution. The Roman church here acknowledges that, WHEN SHE IS IN POWER, she forced the CIVIL government to BURN those she termed ‘heretics, and the government officials who FAILED to execute her [the church’s] laws, because ‘heretics’ by that neglect, Ans SUFFERED [the same] punishment of ‘heretics.’ Professor Alfred Baudillart, a Roman Catholic scholar in France, who is now [as of 1943] a Catholic Cardinal, says:

‘The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty……She has, and LOUDLY PROCLAIMS THAT SHE HAS, a ‘HORROR OF BLOOD.’ Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she DOES NOT CONTENT HERSELF WITH PERSUASION; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her INSUFFICIENT, and she has recourse to FORCE, to corporal punishment, to TORTURE. She creates TRIBUNALS like those of the Inquisition, she calls the LAWS OF THE STATE to her aid, if necessary she encourages a CRUSADE, or a religious war and all her ‘HORROR OF BLOOD’ practically culminates into urging the SECULA POWER [‘the kings of the earth’] to shed it, which proceeding is MORE ODIOUS—BECAUSE IT IS LESS FRANK—THEN SHEDDING IT HERSELF.

Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century [the Dark Ages] with regard to PROTESTANTS. Not content to REFORM MORALLY, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she LIT (set afire) in Italy, in the Lowlands (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), and above all in Spain the FUNERAL PILES OF THE INQUISITION.

“In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the SEVENTEENTH century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the RELIGIOUS WARS. No one here will deny that we here have a GREAT SCANDAL to our contemporaries…..Indeed, even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look at this problem IN THE FACE. They ask permission from the CHURCH to IGNORE or even DENY all those acts and institutions [such as the Inquisition] in the past, which have made orthodoxy compulsory.’ – ‘The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism,’ pp. 182-184. London: 1908. This book bears the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities, and their ‘censor.’”— Christian Edwardson, ‘Facts of Faith,’ pp. 64, 65. Southern Publishing Asso., Nashville, TN 8, 1943.

It was on Friday that Jesus was crucified by the CHURCH (Jews) and the STATE (Rome) combined!! That was the type. We are facing the antitypical FRIDAY of end-time prophecy! It is preparation day and preparation time!
Have a sanctifying Sabbath starting sunset tonight. NMF

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Daily Manna Devotionals

THE LITTLE HORN ‘WEARS OUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST’ BECAUSE OF ‘HERESY’

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE LITTLE HORN ‘WEARS OUT THE SAINTS OF THE MOST’ BECAUSE OF ‘HERESY’

Prophecy warns God’s people of the last days that the bloody and dark chapters of church history will be repeated, this time by the final threefold union and divinely-forbidden global confederacy of “Romanism, apostate Protestantism and Spiritualism.”

The little horn power, in “speaking great words against the Most High,” would also “wear out His saints.” Dan. 7:28. That is, as we have already seen, persecute the saints of the Most High, not the ‘saints’ canonized by the papal church, till they were literally ‘worn out’ to death.

Edwardson says: “Has the Papacy fulfilled this part of the prophecy? In order to do ROMAN CATHOLICS] NO INJUSTICE, we shall quote from unquestioned authorities among them. And, since they PERSECUTE people for ‘HERESY,’ we must first let them define what they mean by ‘heresy.’

“In the New York Catholic Dictionary, published by the Universal Knowledge Foundation, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, 1929, we read:

‘Heresy (Greek hairesis, choice), deciding for oneself what one shall believe and practice.’- Art. ‘Heresy, p. 440. According to this definition anyone who will not blindly subject to papal authority, but will read the Bible, deciding for himself what he shall believe [according for the dictates of his conscience] is a ‘HERETIC.’

Q. “What official stand has the Catholic Church taken in regard to such ‘heretics?’
Ans. “This we find stated in the Catholic Encyclopedia in the following words:

“In the Bull ‘Ad extirpanda’(1252) Pope Innocent IV says: ‘When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the CIVIL power [state] by the bishop or his representative [church], or the INQUISITION, the ‘podesta’ or chief magistrate [civil power] of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them….. Nor could any doubt remain as to what CIVIL regulations were meant, for the passages which passages which ordered the BURNING of impenitent heretics were inserted in the PAPAL DECRETALS from the IMPERIAL constitutions ‘Commissis nobis’ and ‘Inconsutibilem tunicam.’ The aforesaid Bull ‘Ad extirpanda’ remained therefore a FUNDAMENTAL DOCUMENT of the Inquisition, RENEWED OR REINFORCES by several popes: Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicolas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1303), and others. The civil authorities therefore, were enjoined by the popes, UNDER PAIN OF EXCOMMUNICATION to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the STAKE [called ‘auto da fe’]. It is to be noted that the excommunication itself was NO TRIFLE, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from excommunication within a year, he was held by legislation of that period to be a HERETIC, and incurred all the penalties that affected HERESY.’- Vol. VIII, p. 34.” – Christian Edwardson. Facts of Faith, pp. 62, 63. Southern Publishing Asso. Nashville 8, TN 1943.

The Christian life is not a cakewalk. It is a battle, a march, a race for immortality and eternity. As the apostles truthfully declared, “It is through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God” and “All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution,” that is, “for Christ” and “righteousness’ sake.”
More tomorrow. Bless all, NMF

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Daily Manna Devotionals

THE ‘WEARING OUT OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH’ BY THE ‘LITTLE HORN’ – PART 4

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE ‘WEARING OUT OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH’ BY THE ‘LITTLE HORN’ – PART 4

We have clearly seen from the overwhelming evidence already thus presented that the “little horn” of Daniel 7: 21,25 is the the Papacy or the Roman Catholic Church with the Pope as its singular, exclusive titular head. It has several other designations and names (which we will summarize later in another message) identifying and symbolizing its salient characteristics and identifying its true nature and role in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and between truth and error. Here under are more records of its fearful role of “wearing out the saints of the Most High”:

“These facts are confirmed by the testimony of W.E.H. Lecky. He declares:

“That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other INSTITUTION that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by NO PROTESTANT [or “Christian”] who HAS A COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORY. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so SCANTY that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that NO POWERS OF IMAGINATION can adequately realize their sufferings…..These ATROCITIES were not perpetrated in the brief paroxysms of a reign of terror [such as the 3 1/2 year French Revolution], or by the hands of obscure sectaries, but were inflicted by a TRIUMPHANT ChURCH, with every circumstances of SOLEMNITY and deliberation.” – William E. H. Lecky, ‘History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,’ Vol. II, pp. 35, 37.” – Uriah Smith, ‘Daniel and the Revelation,’ p. 131.

So when you turn to Revelation 17 and read what John saw in vision of the last days of “a woman drunken with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (verse 6) you know that it is “the truth as it is in Jesus” because “life is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11) and “without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin,” and Jesus the Lifegiver told His disciples, “If they persecuted Me they will persecute you also for the servant is not greater than the master.” The “blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,” like that of Abel, the very first saint and martyr for the truth, joins him in that “the voice of their blood criers unto Me from the ground.”(Gen. 4:9-11).
More follows, stay focused and on track. Bless all, NMF.