Category: Mid-week Manna

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Mid-week Manna

ABEL’S FAITH YIELDS OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 5)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

October 26

ABEL’S FAITH YIELDS OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; CAIN’S UNBELIEF BREEDS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 5)

Bible righteousness—-Christ demonstrated righteousness in human flesh, in stark contrast to the righteousness of the Pharisees —-simply put, is “right doing,” the opposite of wrongdoing. All “unrighteousness is sin” and “sin is the transgression of the law” (Rom. 6:23).

In the primordial examples of Cain and Abel were immediately established down through the stream of time and generations two separate lines of brethren, faiths, religions, worshippers, and churches till the close of earth’s probation.

Not long after their transgression and consequent banishment from their Eden home, to Adam and Eve, the father and mother of mankind, was quickly revealed the true nature and substance of both the great controversy—enmity and war—-between Christ and Satan and their respective agencies and followers as well as the seed of the gospel’s plan of salvation/redemption for fallen mankind only. 

These two astounding, fundamental issues underlying all and every single thing, great and small, visible and invisible, blessings or curses concerning mankind and the earth itself since after the fall in Eden, is contained and revealed in their embryonic forms in the Creator’s grand declaration to Adam and Eve and Satan (disguised as a serpent then the most beautiful and attractive animal before it was cursed):

God declared to them: “I will put ENMITY between thee and and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: It [the woman’s Seed] shall bruise thy head, and thou [Satan the serpent] shall bruise His heel.” (Gen. 3: 15, KJV).  Thus was declared the first of all prophecies and promises in the Bible ending in Revelation, the last of the 66 books of the Bible! 

God’s messenger wrote: (emphasis mine) “Cain and Abel represents two classes that will exist in the world till the close of time.  One class avail themselves of the [divinely] appointed sacrifice for sin [the transgression of the Decalogue]; the other venture to depend on their OWN merits; theirs is the sacrifice without the VIRTUE of DIVINE MEDIATION, and is not able to bring man into FAVOR with God. 

It is only through the MERITS of Jesus that our transgressions can be PARDONED [justification by faith]. Those who feel no need of the BLOOD of Christ, who feel that WITHOUT DIVINE GRACE they can by their OWN WORKS secure the approval of God [the essence of heathen/pagan sacrifice and worship], are making the SAME MISTAKE AS DID CAIN. 

If they do not accept the cleansing blood, they are under CONDEMNATION. There is no other PROVISION made whereby they can be RELEASED from the THRALLDOM of sin.” (E. G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, Pacific Press Publishing Asso., 1890, 1913, pp.72, 73. 

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

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Mid-week Manna

THE FAITH OF EARTH’S FIRST MARTYR (Part 4)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

October 19

THE FAITH OF EARTH’S FIRST MARTYR (Part 4)

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts [sacrifice]: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” Heb. 11:4, KJV. 

Abel, translated from the Hebrew Hebel, meaning “breath,” “transitoriness,” would be appropriate as the shortness  of the recorded life of this second son of Adam and Eve (Gen. 4:2, etc.). 

The only incident of his brief life recorded by the Word of God  is his “offering a more excellent sacrifice” than that of Cain, his older brother and very first son of Adam and Eve, whom they initially thought was the “promised seed.” 

How mistaken they were for their first son (after their fall and banishment from their Eden home) turned out to be earth’s first human murderer by killing his younger brother when he should have been “his brother’s keeper!”  (Jesus said Satan, the fallen cherub Lucifer, is “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning.” John 8:44). 

Abel’s offering, in faithful compliance with God’s specification on how to worship Him, was “acceptable unto God” in that being a sacrificed lamb from the flock, it testified and witnessed to his OBEDIENT FAITH in the promised Mighty Deliverer “to come,” the true “Seed of the woman,” the “Lamb of God” who was “to bruise the serpent’s [Satan’s] head (Gen. 3: 15; John 1:29). 

God’s messenger wrote (emphasis mine): “So far as BIRTH and RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION were concerned, these brothers were equal. Both were sinners, and both acknowledged the claims of God to reverence and WORSHIP. To outwards appearance their RELIGION was the same UP TO A CERTAIN POINT; but beyond this the DIFFERENCE between the two was great! 

“By faith Abel offered unto God a MORE EXCELLENT sacrifice than Cain.” Abel grasped the great PRiNCIPLES of redemption. He saw himself a SINNER, and he saw SIN, and it’s penalty DEATH, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, THE SACRIFICED LIFE, thus acknowledging the CLAIMS OF THE LAW that had been transgressed (by his parents first).

Through the shed blood he looked to the FUTURE sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary, and trusting in the [sacrificial] ATONEMENT that was there to be made, he “had the witness that he was righteous,’ and his offering accepted. 

“Cain had the SAME opportunity of learning and accepting these truths as had Abel. He was not a victim of arbitrary purpose [as in the pernicious, fake doctrine of ‘predestination’]. One brother was not selected to be accepted of God, and the other to be rejected! Abel CHOSE FAITH AND OBEDIENCE; Cain CHOSE UNBELIEF AND REBELLION. Here the whole matter rested.

“Cain and Abel represent two classes of [worshippers] that will exist in the world till the close of time.” -E.G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p.72. 

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

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Mid-week Manna

THE ‘SUBSTANCE’ OF THE FAITH OF JESUS AND THE BIBLE (Part 3)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

October 12

THE ‘SUBSTANCE’ OF THE FAITH OF JESUS AND THE BIBLE (Part 3)

“Now faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”Heb. 11: 1, KJV.

In his scholarly treatise, “The Book of Hebrews” (Review & Herald Publishing Asso.,1948), which I heartily endorse to all serious Bible students, M. L. Andreasen says(all emphasis mine): 

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for.’ This verse is not so much a definition of faith as a statement of what faith will do. It presents faith SO STRONG AND VITAL that the person not only feels himself in possession of that which he HAS NOT AS YET RECEIVED, but is caused to EXPERIENCE the [1] strength [2] the courage, and the [3]confidence that ordinarily only actual possession would give.

“Faith thus ENABLES a Christian not only to claim promised blessings but to have and enjoy them NOW.

The powers of the world to come’ become a present possession: and the kingdom of heaven is not MERELY a future possibility: it is even now WITHIN.

“Faith gives the ‘good things to come’ a real SUBSISTENCE in the soul and mind. They are no longer DREAMS to be fulfilled in the future; they are LIVING REALITIES which the soul enjoys and appreciates. They cease to be far-off visions, and become SUBSTANCE. WE SEE THE INVISIBLE! The old Syriac Version of the Scriptures well translates: ‘Now faith is the PERSUASION that are in hope, as if they were in fact: and the MANIFESTATION of things not seen.’

The evidence of things not seen.’ ‘Evidence’ here is not merely an abstract belief that evidence EXISTS, but CONVINCING PROOF ALREADY DEMONSTRATED, and the soul, persuaded of its truth, rests SECURE in that belief.” pp. 472, 473.

Furthermore, on the word “substance,” Andreasen wrote: 

“The Greek word hupostasis, translated ‘person,’ is the same word rendered ‘substance’ in Hebrews 11:1, whereas in 2 Cor. 11:17 and Heb. 3:14 it is translated ‘confidence.’ 

Its root meaning is ‘that which stands under’ as an underplacing, a substructure, a support, a foundation; that which can be built upon; and hence denotes firmness, steadfastness, assurance, confidence. It stands for reality in contrast with imagination and fancy, and is used for the ESSENCE of things, the INMOST nature of a person; the real self.  Its meaning is well expressed by ‘standing’ in Ps. 69:2: ‘I sink in deep mire, when there is no STANDING.’ In Eze. 20:11 the same word is translated ‘ground.’”-Ibid, pp. 50, 51.

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

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Mid-week Manna

THE FAITH AND RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST WITNESSED TO BY THE SAINTS OF THE BIBLE’S HALL OF FAITH PART 2

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

THE FAITH AND RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST WITNESSED TO BY THE SAINTS OF THE BIBLE’S HALL OF FAITH

(Part 2)

“By it (faith) the elders obtained a good report.” Hebrews 11: 2, KJV.

By carefully reading through this “Faith chapter” of 40 verses, stripped of preconceived opinion, it becomes self-evident that verse one (read it again) is less of a dictionary-like DEFINITION of faith and more a DESCRIPTION of what genuine Biblical faith and the faith of Jesus (cited in Rev. 14:12) has done, and will do for all the true followers of Christ from Abel down to the last saints of the final generation before earth’s probation closes. 

Verse 3 quickly reveals why atheists are more consistent in denying Creation because they don’t believe in God and the Bible than professed Christianity who profess “sola scriptura” as the basis of their faith yet openly deny the fourth commandment of the Decalogue (Exo. 20: 8-11; Deut. 5: 12-14;  Heb. 4:1-11, etc.) that alone definitively explains WHO God Creator is, WHEN and HOW “the earth and all that in them is” was created, and the one and only day of each week the Creator appointed, set apart, and sanctified by the same fiat He spoke the worlds and the earth into existence after His six-day work of “creating the heavens and the earth in the beginning,” as the weekly (never monthly or annual) MEMORIAL DAY of His creative power and authority and the creation origin of man and the earth. 

Hebrews 11:3 says, “Through FAITH we understand [not conjecture or surmise] that the WORLDS were framed by the word of God, so that things which are SEEN were NOT made of things which do appear.”  Another verse that assures all faithful believers and commandment-keeping saints (Rev. 14:12) of the existence of other worlds created by the only-begotten Son of God, who became the Son of man through the mystery of the incarnation (1 Tim. 3:16; John 1:1-14, etc.) and declared Himself as “the Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:6-8; Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 6: 5, 6) is also in the book of Hebrews that declares (emphasis mine):

“God. who at sundry times and diverse manners spoke in time past to the fathers [elders,patriarchs] by the prophets, hath in these last days [New Testament Christian dispensation] spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the WORLDS.” (Heb.. 1:1, 2).

Learn new truth every single day from the increasing and progressively “marvelous light,”of the “present, testing truths” of the last days from “the law and testimony” (Isa . 8:20), which is “the word” of the Bible and the “Spirit of prophecy which is the Testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 19: 10). 

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

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Mid-week Manna

THE FAITH OF JESUS, THE BIBLE AND THEIR SAINTS (Part 1)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

THE FAITH OF JESUS, THE BIBLE AND THEIR SAINTS (Part 1)

“Now faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By it [faith] the elders obtained a good report.” Heb. 11: 1, 2, KJV. 

As with the oneness and unity of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three Persons of the Godhead or the “heavenly Trio” (1 John 5:7), the faith of Jesus, Bible faith, and the faith of the saints (beginning with Abel down to the last faithful “patient, commandment-keeping saint” (Rev. 14:12) before earth’s probation closes, are likewise “one.” How? Why? It simply follows and is true to the eternal principle of the indivisibility and unchanging unity expressed and manifested in the following few examples:

Jesus Christ, “in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily” (Col. 1:19; 2:9)  is “the SAME yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).

Again, He, “Who is the IMAGE of the INVISIBLE God, the Firstborn of every creature, for BY Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and FOR Him and He is before all things, and by Him ALL things consist” (Col. 1:16,17), whom the Father “hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the WORLDS, who being the BRIGHTNESS  of His [the Father’s] glory, and the EXPRESS image of HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the WORD of His POWER…”(Heb. 1: 2, 3), is no less than “the Author and Finisher of OUR FAITH” (Heb. 12:!2)! 

Even as 1 Corinthians 13 is known as “the love chapter,” and Psalms 119 as the “meditation on the Law chapter,” our lead Bible verses are the opening “It is written”introduction of Christ’s  and the Bible’s eternally-honored HALL OF FAITH to the eyes, ears, minds, and hearts of earth’s fallen, sinful inhabitants as well as to the numberless “worlds” in God’s universe mentioned briefly in Hebrews 1: 2. Hebrews chapter 11 stands in stark contrast to all the man-made, self-serving, self-glorifying Halls of Fame of fallible mortals, and the ignominious “Halls of Shame” made up of the worst of human beings and their ignominious careers and deeds, sadly glorified in fiction and film. 

In the Bible’s Hall of Faith those whose names are mentioned as well as the unnamed ones including all who refused to “receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads or in their hands” in obedience-worship to “the image of the beast” and “overcome them by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony” (Rev. 7: 1-17: 12: 10. 11; 14:1-5, 12, 13; 19: 7-9; 15: 2, 3; 20: 4; 21: 1-27; 22: 1-14) are forever enshrined in God’s book of life, as “nominated” and “fully vetted” by the the three Persons of the Godhead that “bear RECORD in heaven” (1 John 5:7) and are witnessed to by the “ministering spirit-angels” (both cherubim and seraphim, guardian-and-recording) that number “thousand thousands, ten thousand times ten thousand (Dan. 7: 10; Rev. 5:11, etc.), “the twenty four elders’ and the ‘four beast-living creatures’ (Rev..5:8-14; 11:16-19; 19:4; Eze. 1: 4-28). 

Their  eternally-redeemed status have been judged and finally and irrevocably determined during the pre-advent, investigative judgment session in the heavenly sanctuary solemnly announced by the first of the three angels of Revelation 14. 

With prayer and fasting, accompanied with earnest and importunate prayer for the conviction, guidance, and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, study the three angels’ messages like you never did before. Your faith in Jesus and the Bible will grow exponentially in quicker preparation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in latter rain power for the final loud cry of the “fourth angel” of Revelation 18! 

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

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Mid-week Manna

THE FAITH OF JESUS THAT BELONGS TO THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE PART 7

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

September 21

THE FAITH OF JESUS THAT BELONGS TO THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE

Part 7

“The  faith of Jesus.  It is long talked of, but not understood [in its true light and fullest sense]. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel’s message [Rev. 14:6-12]? 

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 word and took OUR sins that we might take HIS righteousness. 

Faith in the ABILITY of Christ to  save us AMPLY AND FULLY AND ENTIRELY IS THE FAITH OF JESUS.” [emphasis mine].”- E. G. White, Selected Messages, Vol. 3, 1888 Messages, p. 117. 

See Gen. 4:1-16. An Offensive Offering, Sacrifice, and Worship–“The offering 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 [of the Third Angel’s message] shines upon our pathway TODAY, and it leads to  an INCREASED FAITH in Jesus. We must receive EVERY ray of light, and WALK in it, that it might not be our condemnation in the [pre-advent Investigative] judgment. 

Our duties and obligations become MORE important as we OBTAIN more distinct views of [Present, testing] truth. Light [of present truth] makes manifest and reproves the errors that were CONCEALED in darkness [of ignorance, traditions, superstitions, and false yet popular ‘doctrines of men’]; and as light [of awakening, reproof, conviction] 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 INDULGED 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.

Apostle Paul says, “Faith works by love” (Gal. 5:6), and God’s messenger magnifies and dignifies its result: “and purifies the soul.” Indeed, the faith of Jesus working by love and grace in the heart of the humble sinner will progressively reform, elevate, and refine him in the lifetime work of sanctification, fitting him up for eternity, the “place!”

Christ went “to prepare for him” (John 14:1-3) and to dwell with angels that have never fallen! 

To be continued next MWM, God willing. NMF

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Mid-week Manna

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS Part 6

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS Part 6

Who, does the Bible say, practices and manifests the religion of the Bible and have the faith of Jesus?

Without a shadow of doubt, it is those who, often unrecognized, despised, and ridiculed for their singularity and “peculiarity as a people, as a chosen nation, a royal priesthood and holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9), because of their own enlightened, loving, consistent, growing, and “faith that works by love” (Gal. 4:6) in the “faith of Jesus”(all that refers to Christ in the New Testament) and thus “have the Spirit of prophecy which is the Testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev.12:17; 14;12; 19:10).

The Revelation of Jesus Christ in the last book of the Bible, by way of end-time prophecy that proclaims “the EVERLASTING gospel,” distinguishes them from the rest of the Christian world in these “It is written,” “Thus saith the Lord,” definitive definitions and descriptions of who, why, and what makes them such: (All from the KJV; emphasis mine):

First, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make WAR with the REMNANT of her SEED which KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of GOD, and HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST.” Rev. 12: 17.

Second, ( after citing the first, second, and third angels’ messages in their fixed order, verses 6-11): “Here is the patience of the SAINTS : here are THEY THAT KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the FAITH OF JESUS.” Rev. 14:12.

Third, (read verses 1-9). John says, “And I fell at his feet [the angel revealing these prophecies to him] to WORSHIP him. And he said unto me, See thou do it NOT: [for] I am thy fellow-servant, and of THY BRETHREN that HAVE THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS: Worship God: FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS IS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.” Rev. 19:10.

Jesus, “the Word from the beginning,” Himself the God of love and law, “manifest in the flesh” in the “great mystery of godliness” in His incarnation, defined the SUM and SUBSTANCE of the true worship of the true religion of the Bible, manifested in those that have the sanctifying “faith of Jesus” through the edifying and enlightening work of the Holy Spirit in “the Testimony of Jesus in the Spirit of prophecy” in these last days, as follows:

“If you LOVE Me, KEEP [do; obey] MY COMMANDMENTS.” John 14: 15. RenderIng it even it clearer “by the word of His testimony,” rebuking all Pharisee-like naysayers, and silencing any all disputes, quibbling, controversy and confusion generated by both ignorant and willful ignorance, Jesus reiterated this sum-and-substance definition of the everlasting covenant-relationship and its conditional promises and blessings between Jesus Christ and His true apostles, disciples, and followers, in the following verse in the New Testament for all professing Christians to study and ponder upon:

“IF ye keep My commandments, ye shall ABIDE in My love, EVEN AS I have kept His [the Father’s] commandments and ABIDE IN HIS LOVE.” John 15:10.

I am sure that all who claim to be Christian, “live, move, and have their being” based exclusively on sola scriptura (as did the early church in apostolic purity), will want and do everything within their God-given talents, abilities and powers by the empowering grace dispensed by the Holy Spirit, will “make their calling and election sure” in and by ABIDING IN THE LOVE OF JESUS, “even as,” His example as the “Son of man,” in our adopted “flesh and blood nature, He abode in His Father’s love BY KEEPING the law, “magnifying it and making it honorable” (the exact opposite of ignoring, “making of none effect,” trampling upon,” disobeying, transgressing, tinkering, amending, distorting, abrogating, and the absurd and apostate teaching that it has been “done away with” by “nailing it to the cross.”

It was CHRIST, not the Law of God, that was “nailed to that shameful tree.”) This IS religion, this IS the faith of Jesus, this IS the faith of Abraham “the father of the faithful” and “friend of God,” the faith of all the named and unnamed SAINTS in the Bible’s eternal HALL OF FAITH (in contrast to the “Halls of Fame,” and ignominious “Halls of Shame” of fallen, sinful morals of corruptible flesh) preserved and immortalized in the divine ARCHIVES and revealed to the eyes of mortal man, both wicked and righteous in Hebrews chapter 11.

Dear friends, please FAST and PRAY for the awakening, conviction, conversion or re-conversion, enlightenment, and guidance of the Holy Spirit, then “roll up your sleeves,” study and store your minds with the great testing truths of the fundamental pillars and landmarks of Present, testing, sealing Truth and “work for the night is coming when man works no more” in death.

To be continued in the next MWM, God willing. NMF

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Mid-week Manna

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS (Focus on the Faith of Jesus) Part 5

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
September 7

THE RELIGION OF THE BIBLE AND THE FAITH OF JESUS (Focus on the Faith of Jesus) Part 5

In the context of the proclamation of the three angels’ messages (of Rev. 14: 6-12) given in these last days of earth’s history, the first immediately reveals the nature and burden of these consecutive and threefold worldwide messages (represented as “flying in the midst of heaven”), as being: worship, religion, and “the patience” of a people who “are prophetically distinctly identified as the faithful “remnant,” thus, not the mass of Christianity, because of two distinct joint-features: they “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

The sum and substance of the relationship between the Creator and man, alone created in His image and likeness, was stated simply by Christ Himself: “If you LOVE Me, KEEP [do; obey] My commandments.” (John 14:15). And loving obedience is the highest and most sublime form of worship!

Among other fundamental commands and principles the Creator laid down and declared in the beginning, uniting the indivisible union between Creator and creature, starting with Adam and Eve, “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder,” so everything following thereafter in the gospel’s plan of salvation, especially as it reaches its stupendous climax in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and their respective agencies and followers on earth, the issue is the same: it is over the immutable law of God, which is the transcript of His character, the foundation of His government in heaven and throughout the universe, and the pre eminent authority of Jesus, the Creator incarnate, over all creation, both animate and inanimate, thus, the only Redeemer and Savior of fallen mankind from the power of Satan and slavery to sin, “the transgression of the law of God Almighty, not multitudinous and changeable laws if sinful, finite, and mortal man.

These are integral parts of the Bible’s religion, the faith of Jesus, and thus the religion and faith of those designed ages as the faithful “remnant” of the last days.

Are you part of these “saints” who “worship Him who made heaven and earth” by “keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” and are in “one accord” “in spirit and in truth” with these faithful “remnant” of the last days?

Be sure to “make your calling and election sure” by “examining yourselves and proving yourselves whether you are in the faith” of the present testing truths for these last days!

To be continued next MWM, God willing. NMF