Category: Mid-week Manna

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Mid-week Manna

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

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.

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Mid-week Manna

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS (Part 2)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 17, 2022

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS (Part 2)

Jesus said: “But the hour cometh, and NOW IS, when the TRUE WORSHIPERS shall worship the FATHER in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: for the Father SEEKETH SUCH to worship Him. God is a SPIRIT: and they that worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4: 23, 24, KJV (emphasis mine).

Referring to Mark 12: 28, 29, A. T. Jones thus wrote: “All there is of any SOUL [the living person, not a separate, ‘disembodied spirit’ or “ghost” that leaves the person’s body at death!] is first due to God; because it all came from God. This, therefore, is the first of all commandments, NOT because it is the first one that was ever given by spoken word, or that was ever written out, but because it is the first that could POSSIBLY be.

“And this because it is the expression of the FIRST PRINCIPLE of the existence of any INTELLIGENT creature. The principle was there, INHERENT in the existence of the first intelligent creature [the first Adam], in the FIRST MOMENT of his existence, and there the principle abides ETERNALLY, UNMODIFIED AND UNFADING.

“Now, though that is the first of all relationships, and the first of all duties, though that relationship and duty are inherent in the very existence of intelligent creatures, yet even in that inherent OBLIGATION, God has created every intelligent creature FREE–free to RECOGNIZE that obligation or not, free to DISCHARGE that duty or not, just as he CHOOSES.

“Accordingly it is written, ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve’ [Joshua 24:15]. ‘Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely’ [Rev 21: 17]. Thus it is absolutely true that in RELIGION [of the Bible] –in the duty which we OWE to our Creator and the MANNER of discharging it—God has created man entirely ‘exempt from the domination of others and from restricting circumstances,’ has made him free to make his choice, and decide his conduct for himself, SPONTANEOUSLY AND VOLUNTARILY.’ Thus religious liberty is a GIFT OF GOD, inherent in the gift of RATIONAL EXISTENCE ITSELF.

“Any service to God that is NOT freely chosen [coerced, forced, intimidated, threatened] by him who renders it CANNOT be of God; because ‘God is love’ [1 John 4: 8, 16] and love and compulsion, love and force, love and oppression, can NEVER go together [they are ‘at enmity towards each other.’ See Rom. 8: 6-8 for example].” Individuality in Religion, pp. 6-8.

Even as “spiritual things are spiritually discerned,” true worship is in and of the spirit (from an honest, sincere, humble, and penitent heart). not merely “having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof.. . .ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3: 5, 7), ceremonial, mechanical, mere lip service. See Isa. 28:13; Matt. 15: 7-9; Mark 7: 5-9, KJV.

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

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

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

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Mid-week Manna

STUDY THE PROPHECIES WITH THE RIGHT SPIRIT, NOT DISSECT CURRENT EVENTS, INDULGING IN POLITICAL PUNDITRY

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 3

STUDY THE PROPHECIES WITH THE RIGHT SPIRIT, NOT DISSECT CURRENT EVENTS, INDULGING IN POLITICAL PUNDITRY

“Agitate, agitate, agitate! The subjects which we present to the world [beginning first in our own households, then, in our home churches], must be to us a living reality [not merely doctrinal points to proselytize].

It is important that in DEFENDING the doctrines which we consider FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES OF FAITH [the great way marks of present truth] we should NEVER allow ourselves to employ ARGUMENTS that are not wholly sound. These may avail to SILENCE an opposer, but they [such arguments] do NOT honor the truth. We should present sound arguments that will not only silence our opponents, but will BEAR THE CLOSEST AND MOST SEARCHING SCRUTINY.

“Whatever men’s intellectual advancement, let him NOT FOR A MOMENT think that there is no need of THOROUGH AND CONTINUOUS searching of the Scriptures for GREATER light. As a PEOPLE, we are called INDIVIDUALLY to be STUDENTS OF PROPHECY [not ‘current events.’].

We must WATCH with earnestness that we may DISCERN ANY RAY OF LIGHT which God shall present to us. We are to catch the FIRST gleanings of truth; and through PRAYERFUL STUDY, clearer light May be obtained, which can be brought before others.

“When God’s people are AT EASE, and satisfied with their PRESENT ENLIGHTENMENT [as in Laodicean, “lukewarm” contentedness and pride], we may be SURE that He will NOT FAVOR them. It is His will that they should be EVER MOVING FORWARD [in spiritual growth of knowledge and wisdom, “increasing in stature and favor with God and man’], to receive the increased and EVER-INCREASING light which is shining on them.

“Brethren, we must sink the shaft deep into the mind of truth. You may QUESTION matters with yourselves and with one another, IF YOU ONLY DO IT IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT; but too often SELF is large, and as soon as investigation begins [in Bible studies, etc.], an UNCHRISTIAN SPIRIT is manifested. This is just what SATAN delights in, but we should come with a HUMBLE HEART to know for ourselves what is truth.

“THE TIME IS COMING WHEN WE SHALL BE SEPARATED AND SCATTERED, and each one of us will have to stand WITHOUT the privilege of communion with those of LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH, and how can you stand UNLESS God is in your side, and you know that He is leading and guiding you?

Please remember this: “Whenever we come to investigate Bible truth [especially during Bible study] the Master of assemblies is with us [in and through the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, Christ’s only vicegerent on earth from His ascension to His second advent].

The Lord does not leave the ship one moment to be steered by IGNORANT PILOTS. We may receive our orders from the Captain of our salvation.”- E. G. White, Review & Herald, Mar. 25, 1890/CWE 41, 42.

Bless all. To be continued next MWM, God willing, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

THE TERRIBLE AND FIERY, YET NECESSARY ORDEAL OF THE SIFTING (Part 1)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 27, 2022

THE TERRIBLE AND FIERY, YET NECESSARY ORDEAL OF THE SIFTING (Part 1)

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues [official places of public worship and prayer]; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them.”

“God will arouse His people [because they are spiritually asleep]; if other [less trying and painful] means fail, HERESIES will come in among them, which will SIFT them, SEPARATING the chaff from the wheat. The Lord calls upon all who believe His word to AWAKEN out of sleep [see Rom. 13: 11-14]. Why?

“Precious light has come. APPROPRIATE FOR THIS TIME [described as the present, testing truth’]. It is Bible truth, showing the PERILS THAT ARE RIGHT UPON US. This light should lead us to:
1] a diligent study of the Scriptures [not ‘Googling’],
2] A MOST CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE POSITIONS WE HOLD.

“God would have ALL the bearings and positions of truth THOROUGHLY AND PERSEVERINGLY SEARCHED, WITH PRAYER AND FASTING. Believers are not to rest in SUPPOSITIONS AND ILL-DEFINED ideas of what constitutes truth. Their FAITH must be firmly founded upon the Word of God [‘It is written;’ ‘Thus saith the Lord’ only], so that WHEN THE TESTING TIME SHALL COME, and they are brought before COUNCILS (of church and state) to answer for their faith, they may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in them with meekness and fear’ [not with the self-confident debater’s spirit, stance, looks, tone of voice, and choice of words].” – E. G. White, Counsels to Writers and Editors, p. 40 (1915).

How many professed people of God today are ‘praying,’ ‘doing Bible study’ but not accompanied with FASTING. Instead, they “go about doing their own pleasure and speaking their own words,” thus polluting the holy hours of the Sabbath day!

The “deep things of God” can only “be spiritually discerned,” and cannot be comprehended, much less appreciated and treasured! Jesus, our Savior and Example, and all His faithful followers from the beginning, diligently “searched the Scriptures, while praying and fasting [not only in food and drink but in any and all forms of self-pleasing and carnal indulgences].

Hence they were braced and equipped, intellectually and spiritually, to meet Satan and his agents with their guile, vexations, and false accusations, with the simple, childlike faith of the saints and the unwavering and uncompromising courage of the martyrs, daily, one victorious day at a time!

Bless all. Until next MWM, God willing, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

WILL WE STAND WHEN TESTED SINGLY AND ALONE?

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 20, 2022

WILL WE STAND WHEN TESTED SINGLY AND ALONE?

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, ye shall NEVER fall. . . . Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you ALWAYS in remembrance of THESE THINGS, though ye know them, and be established in the PRESENT TRUTH.” 2 Pet. 1: 10, 12, KJV. (As to what “these things” spoken of above, see verses 1-9, because only then will the promised reward stated in verse 11 apply).

Moreover, a specific set of doctrinal pillars are designated as Present Truth, revealed and entrusted to the commandment-keeping remnant since after 1844. Make “your calling and election sure” by clearly understanding what these doctrinal pillars or “landmarks” are—they are the “testing, sealing truths” during these closing hours of the investigative judgment taking place in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.

The eternal destiny of all who claim to be members of the remnant church is determined by what they “DO,” not merely say or profess, of “these things.” Making one’s calling and election SURE is an INDIVIDUAL for “salvation” has, and always is, “individual,” never corporate, much less institutional!

Hence, the following warning of the Spirit of Prophecy:
“CWE 39, 40: “I have been shown [in vision/impression] that MANY who profess to have a KNOWLEDGE of present truth KNOW NOT what they believe. They DO NOT understand the EVIDENCES of their faith. They have NO just appreciation of the WORK for the present time.

“When the TIME OF TRIAL shall come, there are men NOW PREACHING to others, who will find, upon examining the POSITIONS they hold, that there are MANY ThINGS for which they can give NO SATISFACTORY REASON. UNTIL THUS TESTED, THEY [such preachers] KNOW NOT THEIR GREAT IGNORANCE.

“And there are MANY IN THE CHURCH, who take it for granted that they understand what they believe, but, UNTIL CONTROVERSY ARISES [such as at this very time!], they do not know their OWN WEAKNESS.

When SEPARATED from those of like faith, and COMPELLED TO STAND SINGLY AND ALONE to explain their belief, they will be SURPRISED to see HOW CONFUSED are their IDEAS of what they had accepted as TRUTH. [Here’s why and how such a fearful state of uncertainty and unpreparedness lay hidden, until exposed by certain circumstances]:

“Certain that there has been AMONG US [within, not without] A DEPARTURE FROM THE LIVING GOD, and a TURNING TO MEN [see Jer. 17:5], putting HUMAN wisdom in place of DiVINE.” – E. G. White, Counsels to Writers & Editors, pp. 39, 40 (1915).

Both preachers (ministers; pastors) and members alike, from pulpit to pews need to diligently and thoroughly examine themselves,” not others, and “prove themselves whether they are really in the faith,” and make sure they can “stand singly and alone” to explain, defend, and “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Bless all till next MWM, God willing, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

FATHER’S DAY IS EVERY DAY THAT GOD THE FATHER IS OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 13, 2022

FATHER’S DAY IS EVERY DAY THAT GOD THE FATHER IS OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

“Except the Lord build the house, they labor on vain that build it.” Ps. 127:1, KJV

“What can we say to AWAKEN the moral sensibilities of [Christian] fathers, that they may understand and undertake THEIR DUTY to their offspring? The subject is of INTENSE interest and importance [why?], having a bearing upon the FUTURE WELFARE OF THE COUNTRY.

“We should solemnly impress upon fathers, as well as mothers, the GRAVE RESPONSIBILITY they have assumed in bringing children into the world [especially at these closing hours of earth’s probation]. It is a RESPONSIBILITY from which nothing but DEATH can free them…. In that great day of RECKONING it will be asked of him, ‘Where are the CHILDREN that I entrusted to your care to EDUCATE FOR ME, that their LIPS might speak My praise, and their LIVES be a diadem of beauty in the world, and they live to honor Me throughout eternity?” E. G. White, Signs of the Times, Dec. 20, 1887.

WHAT WE ARE AT HOME WE BRING INTO THE CHURCH

“Every family is a church, over which the parents preside. The FIRST consideration of the parents should be to WORK for the SALVATION of their children. When the father and the mother, as priest and teacher [respectively] of the family take their position FULLY on the side of Christ, a good influence will be exerted in the HOME. And this SANCTIFIED influence will be felt in the CHURCH, and will be recognized by every believer. Because of the great lack of PIETY AND SANCTIFICATION in the home, the WORK OF GOD is greatly hindered. No man can bring into the CHURCH and influence that he does not exert in the HOME LIFE and in his business relations.

“The angels of God, who minister for those who shall be ‘heirs of salvation,’ will help you make your family a MODEL of the heavenly family. LET THERE BE PEACE IN THE HOME, AND THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE CHURCH.

These precious experience brought into the church will be the MEANS of creating kindly affection one for another. QUARRELS WILL CEASE. True Christian courtesy will be seen among church members. The WORLD [around them] will take knowledge of them that ‘they had been with Jesus and have learned of Him’ [without ever seeing Him physically/visibly, yet!].

What an IMPRESSION the church would make upon the world if ALL members would live [genuine, consistent] CHRISTIAN LIVES.” – Ibid, Child Guidance, p. 549. Indeed, “Charity begins in the home,” not in the church.

Bless all till next MWM, God willing, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

THE LAST STATE (CONDITION) IS WORST THAN THE FIRST

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
July 6, 2022

THE LAST STATE (CONDITION) IS WORST THAN THE FIRST

Jesus solemnly said to the religious leaders of the Jewish nation in His day (and in our day): “When the unclean spirit [fallen angels; demons; evil spirits] is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth NONE. Then he [the demon] saith, I WILL RETURN into my house from whence I came out, and when he [the demon] is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished.

Then goeth he, and taketh with himself, SEVEN OTHER SPIRITS MORE WICKED THAN HIMSELF [as in a ‘legion’], and THEY enter in and dwell there: AND THE LAST STATE OF THAT MAN IS WORST THAN THE FIRST. Even so shall it be unto this WICKED GENERATION.” Matt. 12: 43-45, KJV. See also Luke 11: 24-26; compare to John 5: 14, 1-47.

Now let all prayerfully read the verses below, then carefully and honestly examine our own (not others) spiritual condition or “state” today, compared to “when we first became “believers” or were “converted” (Rom. 13: 11-14):

“While they promise them LIBERTY [or ‘freedom’], they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of that same is he brought into BONDAGE. For IF after they have ESCAPED , the POLLUTIONS of the world [the defilement of sin; ‘love of the world and things of this world’] through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are AGAIN ENTANGLED THEREIN, AND OVERCOME, THE LATTER END WITH THEM IS WORSE THAN THE BEGINNING. For it had been BETTER for them NOT to have known the WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, than, after they had known it, to TURN FROM THE HOLY COMMANDMENT delivered unto them. But it happened unto them ACCORDING to the true proverb [cf. Prov. 26:11], The DOG is turned to his OWN VOMIT again, and the SOW [female pig] that was washed [already] to her WALLOWING in the mire [filthy mud].” 2 Pet. 2: 19-22, KJV.

These verses clearly explain why the claim “once-saved-alway-saved” is not a sound doctrine but the doctrine of modern soothsayers, deceivers, false prophets, the “children of darkness and disobedience,” who are either willing or unwitting agents of Satan, “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning,” the prince of this world,” the “prince of the power of the air,” the master tempter and “accuser of the brethren.”

To be continued next MWM, God willing. NMF