Month: August 2022

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 31

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH Of JESUS (Part 4)

Focus on the “Faith of Jesus.”

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14: 12, KJV.

Here we will focus on “the faith of Jesus” more definitively, expansively, and wholistically, as in the whole gospel, not merely parts or broken shards of it; or worse, “another gospel” and “another Jesus” which Paul warned against (2 Cor. 11: 3, 4). Thank and praise God for making special provisions for the commandment-keeping remnant saints of the last days (Rev. 14:12) with the “Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19: 10; cf. 12: 17).

By magnifying (not replacing or rendering secondary) the testing truths of the Bible for these last days (called ‘present truth’), it fortifies the mind and strengthens the faith of those who will stand faithful and true in the rapidly-approaching “hour of temptation, which will come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10). In the context of the proclamation of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14, the “faith of Jesus” is defined as follows (emphasis mine):

“You inquire what the faith of Jesus is. I have seen that the brethren and sisters have NOT understood the faith of Jesus in its TRUE light. They have taught that it is healing of the sick, etc. It is not healing the sick, MERELY, but it is ALL THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS in the New Testament. ‘The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ I saw that it was the WHOLE NEW TESTAMENT, which relates to Jesus.” (E. G. White, Letter 4, 1857 (To Bro. Pierce, Dec. 3, 1857), Manuscript Releases, Vol. 5, p. 290, par. 1.

The Faith of Jesus. It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the Faith of Jesus, THAT BELONGS TO THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE? Jesus becoming our SIN-BEARER that He might become our sin-pardoning Savior. He was treated as WE deserve to be treated. He came to our world and TOOK OUR SINS that we might TAKE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Faith in the ability of Christ to save us AMPLY and FULLY and ENTIRELY [from the power of sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil] is the FAITH OF JESUS.” (Ibid, Vol. 3, 1888 message, p. 117).

See Gen. 4: 1-16. The offering [and worship] of Cain was an offense to God, because it was a Christ-less offering. The burden of our message is NOT ONLY the commandments of God, but the Faith of Jesus. A bright light shines upon our pathway today, and it leads to INCREASED FAITH in Jesus. We must receive EVERY RAY of light, and WALK in it, that it may be NOT our condemnation in the [pre-advent, Investigative) Judgment.

Our duties and our obligations become MORE important as we obtain more DISTINCT views of truth. Light makes MANIFEST and REPROVES the errors that were CONCEALED in darkness; and as light comes, the LIFE and CHARACTER of men MUST CHANGE correspondingly, to be in HARMONY with it. Sins that were ONCE sins of ignorance, because of the BLINDNESS of the mind, can NO MORE BE INDULGE IN without incurring guilt.

As increased light is GIVEN, men must be REFORMED, ELEVATED, and REFINED by it, or they will be MORE PERVERSE and STUBBORN than before the light came.” (Ibid, Gospel Workers, p. 162).

To be continued in next week’s MWM, God willing. NMF

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 24

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS (Part 3)

Per the “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Pet. 1: 19-21, KJV) specifically the prophetically con-joined prophecies of Daniel in the Old Testament and Revelation, the last of the sixty-six books of the Bible–the great controversy between Christ and Satan and their respective agencies and followers on earth, between righteousness and sin, good and evil, truth and error, particularly it’s mesmerizing counterfeits in these last days—was and will be waged through and over religion and it’s main form of expression, worship, OBEDIENCE being the highest form of worship.

It is this arena of human activity, experience, and context that man’s duly informed, conscious and rational ultimate choices, before death, determines and then fixes beyond change, his eternal destiny.

This is why the wiseman Solomon, moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, wither thou goest.” Eccl. 9: 10, KJV. Again, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.” vs 5, 6.

Repeating what God sadly told Adam and Eve after their transgression in Eden (Gen. 3:19), the wiseman wrote: “Remember now Thy CREATOR in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say [too late], I have no pleasure in them.” Eccl. 12: 1. For “Then shall the dust return to the earth as if was: and the spirit [the breathe of life] shall return unto God who gave it.” v 7. He then tells all generations of men since then who have ears to hear and do not harden their hearts: “Let us hear the CONCLUSION of the whole matter: FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. For God shall bring every work info judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl 12: 13, 14, KJV.

This is Bible religion, and certainly central to the faith of Jesus who testified of Himself: “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My Love, EVEN AS I HAVE kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15: 10. Having set that example of genuine Bible religion and His own faith, verily “the faith of Jesus,” He then bequeaths this love command to His true followers thereafter: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15, KJV.

These commandments are the commandments of God and Jesus, not the counterfeit and Antichristian commandments of “the man of sin” and its “image” of the apostate churches of the last days, as prophesied.

Apostle Paul exhorts all professed believers: “Examine yourselves and prove yourselves whether ye are in the faith. . . “(2 Cor. 13: 5). Now, ask yourself these questions:
Does my present Christian religion teach and uphold these clear fundamental truths of Bible religion? Is the “faith” I currently profess, and even zealously promote to others in harmony with this “faith of Jesus”?

The midnight cry for these last days (first given by Jesus as part of Bible religion and the faith of Jesus) in the prophetic-parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25: 1-13), is echoed by Paul in these words: “And that, knowing the time, that NOW IT IS HIGH TIME TO AWAKE OUT OF SLEEP: for now is our salvation NEARER than when we [first] believed. The NIGHT is far spent, the DAY is at hand: let us therefore cast off the WORKS OF DARKNESS [see Gal. 5: 15-17; Rom. 1: 18-32; 2 Cor. 6: 9. 10, etc.] and let us PUT ON THE ARMOR OF LIGHT [see Eph. 6: 10-18, etc.].

Let us walk [“live, move, and have our being”] honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering [partying] and wantonness [self-pleasing indulgences], not in strife and envying. But PUT YE ON JESUS CHRIST, and make not provision for the FLESH, to fulfill the LUSTS thereof.” Rom. 13: 11-14, KJV. Beyond any reasonable doubt, this is Bible religion and the faith of Jesus.

To be continued in next week’s MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 10

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH Of JESUS (Part 1)

Religion and Faith. Regardless of any and all arguments, contradictions, disavowals, or denials to the contrary—-whether held as a personal view or upheld as a venerable tenet of belief defined by various religious authorities, or secular luminaries such as clinicians, psychologists, philosophers,
and even poets, etc., the only origin of the twin subjects of faith and religion, and the respective principles that undergird their interpretation and practices, are but two intertwined branches emanating from the main trunk of the “tree” called WORSHIP.

Here’s why:
The only true record and source of information and enlightenment on these transcendental subjects lying at the core of the humanity of the human race, is the written Word of God, the Holy Bible, specifically Genesis, the first of its 66 books–the veritable book of beginnings.

It is here, in the unvarnished, pristine sheen of primordial simplicity, unaided by jargon, metaphor, or symbolism, declared in a language that all who wish, child or adult, can understand; which are:
1) the creation of the heavens and the earth, and man, as the crowning act of the creative genius of the omnipotent power and perfect works of God Creator
2) the genesis of the fundamental principle and foundation of the first-ever of relationships possible, that being between Creator and creature, divinity and humanity.

This instantly commenced when the yet-lifeless, mannequin-like, perfectly-formed, hand-made from the “dust of the ground” in the Garden of Eden, received the first breathe of life through his nostrils, from the Life giver-Creator. Instantly, “man became LIVING SOUL.”

Thus began the Relationship between God and man, “made in the image and likeness of God,” a free moral agent endowed by his Creator with a free will, which is the glorious and precious “governing power in man,” not a “perfect” automaton. Of such is the origin of man, as designed by God.

From hereon, I shall present passages (all emphases mine) from Alonzo Trevor Jones’ booklet, The Individuality of Religion (The Divine Right of Individuality of Religion or Religious Liberty Complete).

Since God has created man, in the NATURE of things, the first of all RELATIONSHIPS is that to God; and the first of all DUTIES could be nothing but duty to God.

Suppose a time when there was only one intelligent creature in the universe. He was created: and his relationship to his Creator, his duty to his Creator, is the only one that could POSSIBLY be. That is the FIRST of all relationships that can possibly be.

Therefore, IT IS WRITTEN that ‘the first of all the commandment is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with ALL thy HEART, and with all thy SOUL, and with all thy MIND, and with all thy STRENGTH (also might).’ [Mark 12: 28, 29; cf. Deut. 6: 3-9, KJV.].

This is the consummate Biblical meaning and definitive definition of “love for God.” Everything else and anything less is not of God. Such will be “weighed in the balances of sanctuary” during the pre-advent judgment announced by the first Angel’s message of Rev. 14, and will “be found wanting.”

Bless all, till next MWM, God willing. NMF