Category: Mid-week Manna

Categories
Mid-week Manna

Satan’s Deceptions Part 4: THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 17, 2024

Satan’s Deceptions
Part 4

THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION

“With the EARLIEST history of man, Satan began his efforts to DECEIVE our [human] race. He who had incited rebellion in heaven, desired to bring to the inhabitants of the earth to UNITE with him in his WARFARE [enmity] against the GOVERNMENT of God.

NOTES:
1) Inciting is one of many forms and stratagems of deception.
2) The eternal foundation of God’s everlasting government is His immutable covenant law of Ten Commandments, the transcript of His character and the revelation of His love, wisdom, mercy, righteousness, and justice.

“Adam and Eve had been PERFECTLY HAPPY IN OBEDIENCE to the law of God, and this fact was a constant TESTIMONY against the CLAIM that Satan had urged in heaven, that God’s law was OPPRESSIVE, and OPPOSED to the good of His people.

“And furthermore, Satan’s ENVY was excited as he looked upon the BEAUTIFUL HOME PREPARED for the SINLESS pair. He determined to cause their fall, that, having SEPARATED them from God and brought them UNDER HIS OWN POWER, he might gain POSSESSION OF THE EARTH, and here ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM, in opposition to the Most High.”

NOTES:
In the same manner that God Creator ‘prepared’ a beautiful home-the garden of Eden—for the first ‘sinless’ pair so is the Redeemer Savior ‘preparing a place’ for all whose characters have been washed from all defilement and stain of sin by “overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.”

They were rendered sinless by this process even while yet in their mortal nature and sealed in their foreheads as such. The “finishing touch” of immortality and the incorruptible, glorified body is conferred upon them at Christ’s glorious return for “the resurrection of the just” and the translation of the 144,000 living saints in order to present “her” to the Father as to His “purified bride” and church triumphant of the ages.

To them is rewarded the everlasting covenant and promised “inheritance of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” as “heirs with God and joint-heirs with Christ.” The earth made new is returned to them having been taken back from Satan “the prince of the earth”, by Christ “the promised Seed” and His “remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” that have the “Spirit of prophecy which is the Testimony of Jesus.”

They, together with all the saints of the ages, starting with Abel, “overcame the world, the flesh, and devil” by faith in Christ and His plan of redemption in the everlasting gospel. They loved God and faithfully obeyed His law and died keeping and defending it. “The blood of martyrs was the seed of the gospel.” And the “blood of Christ is what cleanses from all sin.”

(All paragraphs in quotes are from the Great Controversy, 1911 ed.. p. 531 bearing the same title, The First Great Deception. All emphasis, Notes and Comments mine).

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

Satan’s Deceptions Series Part 3: RATIONALISM IDOLIZES REASON AS BASIS OF RELIGION OVER INSPIRATION

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 10, 2024

Satan’s Deceptions Series:
Part 3

RATIONALISM IDOLIZES REASON AS BASIS OF RELIGION OVER INSPIRATION

“Satan is constantly seeking to DECEIVE men, and lead them to call sin righteousness, and righteousness sin. How SUCCESSFUL has been his work! [Here’s the evidence]:

How often censure and reproach are cast upon God’s FAITHFUL servants because they will stand fearlessly in DEFENSE of truth! Men who are but AGENTS OF SATAN are praised and flattered, and even looked upon as martyrs, while those who should be respected and sustained for their FIDELITY to God, are left to STAND ALONE, under suspicion and distrust.

“COUNTERFEIT HOLINESS, SPURIOUS SANCTIFICATION, IS STILL DOING ITS WORK OF DECEPTION. Under various forms it exhibits the same spirit as in the days of [Martin] Luther, DIVERTING MINDS from the Scriptures, and leading men to follow their own FEELINGS AND IMPRESSIONS rather than yield obedience to the LAW of God. This is one of Satan’s most successful DEVICES to cast reproach upon PURITY and TRUTH.

“Fearlessly did Luther defend the Gospel from the attacks which came from every quarter. The Word of God proved itself a WEAPON MIGHTY in every conflict. With that Word he warred against the usurped authority of the POPE, and the RATIONALISTIC PHILOSOPHY of the schoolmen [scholars, church theologians, etc.], while he stood firm as a rock against the FANATICISM [specifically the Munzer Movement] that sought to ally itself with the [Protestant] Reformation.

“Each of these opposing elements was in its own way SETTiNG ASIDE the Holy Scriptures, and exalting human wisdom. Rationalism idolizes reason [a prominent form of spiritual idolatry forbidden by the second commandment] and makes this the criterion for religion. . . .

“True Christianity receives the Word of God as the great TREASURE-HOUSE of inspired truth, and the TEST of all inspiration.” – E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., pp. 192-3 (all emphasis and bracketed words mine).

When anyone who loves God undertakes the sacred and difficult work of exposing the deceptions ensnaring the churches and the world in these last days, he must be constantly aware that he is not confronting “flesh and blood” but “principalities and powers of spiritual wickedness in high places”—Satan himself and his host of evil angels. He must carefully “count the cost” first, then “make his calling and election sure” by knowing how to “put on the whole armor of God” and how to use it efficiently to secure the victory in and for Christ.

We are called to be courageous soldiers in God’s spiritual army. Have you willingly volunteered and enlisted?

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

Satan’s Deception Series Part 2: DECEPTION CORRUPTS THE MIND; THE HOLY SPIRIT ENLIGHTENS IT

Satan’s Deceptions Series:
Part 2

Satan’s Deceptions Series:
Part 2

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 3, 2024

Satan’s Deceptions Series:
Part 2

DECEPTION CORRUPTS THE MIND; THE HOLY SPIRIT ENLIGHTENS IT

 “For I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled [deceived, NKJV] Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:3, KJV (see verse 4).

From E. G. White’s The Great Controversy, 1911 ed., we are further enlightened and warned (all emphasis and bracketed words mine):

“Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the truth that it deceives those who are WILLING to be deceived, who desire to shun the SELF-DENIAL AND SELF-SACRIFICE demanded by the truth; but it is IMPOSSIBLE for him to hold under his power one soul who HONESTLY desires, at whatever COST, to know the truth. CHRIST is the truth, and ‘the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’ (John 1:9).

The Spirit of truth [the Holy Spirit] has been sent to GUIDE men into all truth. And upon the AUTHORITY of the Son of God
it is declared, ‘Seek and ye shall find.’ (Matt. 7:7). ‘If any man will DO HIS WILL, he shall know of the doctrine [of the ‘truth as in Jesus.’].” – p. 528.

One of the most important divinely-appointed ways to protect oneself from falling victim to the “roaring lion” Satan’s end-time “wrath” manifested in any and all of his unnumbered schemes of deception is to faithfully obey and practice Christ’s example of self-denial and self-sacrifice—the opposite of self-pleasing, indulgence, and intemperance even in things that are good in and of themselves. This is part of the “fiery baptism of the Holy Spirit, the work of sanctification “unto righteousness and holiness,” the fitting up for heaven, the earth made new, and eternity.

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

DECEPTION: THE DEADLIEST FORM OF SATANIC WRATH

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 27, 2023

DECEPTION: THE DEADLIEST FORM OF SATANIC WRATH Series

(“To be forewarned is to be forearmed.”)

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ: and deceive many.” Matt. 24:4, K.J.V.

Deception heads the list of Christ’s familiar ‘mini Apocalypse’ recorded in Matt. 24:1-51, given in answer to His disciples’ two-part question of time and circumstance: “WHEN shall these things be? And WHAT shall be the sign of Thy [second] coming, and of the END of the world?” vs 1-3. A parallel chapter to this is Luke 21: 1-36. Read it.

Beginning with Eve’s fall first, followed by Adam’s, rendering thereafter all “their seed” as sinners till the close of earth’s second and last probation, there are two general classes of sinners, where deception in all its forms and variations are concerned, namely: the honestly deceived and the willingly ignorant.

An example of the former is the Pharisee Saul, the over zealous persecutor of Christ’s earliest followers before his dramatic conversion and amazing transformation to Paul, Christ’s leading “apostle to the Gentiles” after His resurrection. Hear his confession and testimony: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a PERSECUTOR, and injurious: but obtained mercy, because I DID IT IGNORANTLY in unbelief.” 1 Tim. 1: 12, 13, KJV (emphasis mine).

In verse 15 he reveals the spirit and attitude of all previously honestly-deceived but were convicted when they saw the light of truth, then were transformed by grace. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM CHIEF.”

The latter are revealed as countless by another apostle: “Knowing this first, there shall come in the LAST DAYS, SCOFFERS, walking in their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His [second] coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation: for this they WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF.” (Read verses 5-18 for fuller context).” 1 Pet. 3: 3-5, KJV.

Therefore, remember this: When the honestly deceived see the truth they will cease to be deceived, or else they cease to be honest and join the class of the willingly ignorant, thereby ending up willingly deceived!

Added to this is the fearful truth, first manifested and demonstrated in Eden—-that one who becomes deceived, soon becomes a deceiver himself. Mark this: After being deceived into yielding to the serpent’s cunning temptation, Instead of faithfully functioning as a “helpmate” to her husband, Eve, the woman became the first agent of the master deceiver and ‘father of lies.”

The difference makers here are clearly “the truth as it is in Jesus,” (“to the law and testimony,” in “it is written” only), and the rational individual’s exercise of willing and voluntary choice, as a free moral agent endowed with will power in response to the conviction of his conscience by the Holy Spirit.

As someone put it so succinctly: “If a man deceived me once, shame on him; if twice, shame on me.”

Self-deception resulting from
self-love, self-worship, self-promotion, self-confidence, and all forms of self-centeredness are all fatal to the soul.

Only in and through Christ Jesus, the self-denying, self-sacrificing incarnated Creator, Savior, and Example can any and all sinners receive His Life and Light of truth that will dispel the darkness of sinful and willful ignorance of sin through the tempter’s cunning and deadly deceptions!

More souls will lose both temporal and eternal life through Satan’s tender and subtle deceptions rather than his wrathful persecutions. We will show this next time.

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

God’s Saving Enmity (Last Part of this Series)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 20, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
(Last Part of this Series)

Here’s a summary of this series, “God’s Saving Enmity.”

God Creator decreed the first of all the promises and prophecies of the Bible immediately after Eve, followed by Adam fell by disobedience in the garden of Eden (prototype of all the homes, houses, and households to the close of time) God’s command and yielded to Satan’s first cunning and subtle deception by taking on the appearance of a serpent, the most beautiful animal before it was cursed, as the first of all forms and types of mediums thereafter, in the first of all the unnumbered schemes and temptations of “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning.

God Creator’s first promise and prophecy of hope to the now fallen, sinful, and guilt-laden First Couple was a revelation that God’s own ENMITY, verily divine hatred toward sin, the transgression of His law, was what He would PUT BETWEEN the deceiver and the deceived, the tempter and the tempted. Without the divine power of enmity imparted by God’s saving grace, there was absolutely nothing that could break the attraction, affinity, loyalty, and propensity for sin and disobedience that Adam and Eve now possessed. One seemingly little act of disobedience of the originally sinless, unfallen pair and instantly their natures now became fallen and sinful, their bodies subject to death, decay, and corruption. Such is the fearfully malignant power of the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the mystery of iniquity!

The divine solution to the SIN PROBLEM and the nature of the great controversy between good and evil that started in heaven and continued on earth beginning in Eden, is the comprehensive Plan of Redemption of the everlasting gospel, indeed “the good news of salvation! God Creator introduced it in Eden with these part of the plan of redemption in these momentous words: “I will put ENMITY between thee (Satan) and the woman and between your seed and her Seed; it (the Seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His [the Seed’s] heel.” Gen. 3:15, KJV.

And what or who is this “seed of the woman who would “bruise the head of the serpent,” that is, finally and eternally destroy Satan? Paul tells us with a clear and plain words:

 “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law [the natural law of conception and birth], to redeem them that were under [the condemnation of the law for transgressing it], that we might receive the adoption of sons [through the true rebirth by the twin baptisms of water and the Spirit and transformation into the “new man in Christ Jesus” through the work of sanctification).” Gal. 4: 4, 5.

Paul further clarifies who this “seed” is by comparing and contrasting Him with Abraham (emphasis mine):

 “Now to Abraham and his seed [isaac, Jacob, etc.] were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is CHRIST.” Gal. 3:16.

The only hope of the sinner is to cease from sin by enmity and hatred for sin that comes with the whole package of the comprehensive plan of redemption taught in detail by the wonderful sanctuary doctrine revealing the twin aspects of sacrifice and intercession, all through Christ as both the Sacrificial Lamb of God and the all-powerful yet merciful High Priest, Intercessor, Mediator, Advocate and now as righteous Judge of all the earth during this most solemn period of earth’s history in the ongoing pre-advent or investigative judgment.

In short, we cannot successfully overcome and triumph over sin and Satan until we hate sin as Christ hates it. Mark this scripture (emphasis mine):

“But unto the Son, He [the Father] saith, Thy throne O GOD, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast LOVEST righteousness and HATED INIQUITY [or sin; unrighteousness]; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Heb. 1: 8, 8. And lastly and solemnly: 
 “For it is IMPOSSIBLE for those who were ONCE enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come [by way of prophecy], IF they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they CRUCIFY TO THEMSELVES THE SON OF GOD AFRESH [the promised Seed of Gen. 3:15], AND PUT HIM TO AN OPEN SHAME.” Heb 6: 4-6, KJV.

By God’s permission and grace, we will start a new series next MWM, but by no means can we ever exhaust the enlightening, testing truths of this subject!Bless all, NMF.

Categories
Mid-week Manna

God’s Saving Enmity Part 48: THE ONLY BATTLE AND WAR TRUE CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE ENGAGED IN

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 13, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 48

THE ONLY BATTLE AND WAR TRUE CHRISTIANS SHOULD BE ENGAGED IN

 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against WICkED SPIRITS in high places.” Eph. 6:12 (margin), KJV.

While Satan is constantly seeking to blind their minds to the fact, let CHRISTIANS never forget that that they ‘wrestle not against flesh and blood [verse above quoted]. The inspired warning is sounding down the centuries to our [present] time: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your ADVERSARY THE DEVIL, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.’ 1 Pet. 5:8. [Therefore] ‘Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.’ Eph. 6:11.

From the days of Adam to our time, OUR great enemy [in his enmity of God and man] has been exercising his power to oppress and destroy. HE IS NOW PREPARING FOR HIS LAST CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE CHURCH.

[What or which ‘church’?]. “All who seek to follow Jesus will be brought into CONFLiCT with this relentless foe. THE MORE NEARLY THE CHRISTIAN IMITATES THE DIVINE PATTERN, THE MORE SURELY WILL HE MAKE HIMSELF A MARK FOR THE ATTACKS OF SATAN.

All who are actively engaged in the cause of God, seeking to UNVEIL THE DECEPTIONS of the evil one and to PRESENT CHRIST to the people, will be able to join in the testimony of Paul, in which he speaks of serving the Lord in all humility of MIND [not performative appearance or professions], with many tears and temptations. [Why?]:

Satan assailed Christ with his FIERCEST AND MOST SUBTLE TEMPTATIONS; but he was repulsed in every conflict. Those battles were fought in OUR BEHALF; those victories make it POSSIBLE for us to conquer [‘overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil’]. Christ will GIVE strength to all who SEEK IT [by prayer and study of His Word through the Holy Spirit and ministry of holy angels that excel in strength].

[As free moral agents, divinely and originally endowed with the will, which is the governing power in man], “No man WITHOUT HIS OWN CONSENT can be overcome by Satan [i.e., yield to his temptations or fall for his temptations]. The tempter has no power to CONTROL the will of FORCE the soul to sin [disobey God’s law]. He may DISTRESS, but he cannot CONTAMINATE. He can cause AGONY, but not DEFILEMENT.

The fact that Christ [‘The Word made flesh,’ John 1: 1-3, 14] has CONQUERED should INSPIRE His followers [as their Example and Pattern Man] with courage to FIGHT MANFULLY the battle against SIN and SATAN.” – E. G. White, Great Controversy, p. 1911 ed., Pacific Press Publishing Asso.[all emphasis and words in brackets mine].

Jesus said. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” All who for any excuse, reason, political, national, or worse, religious agenda trains any form of weapon of warfare against his fellow mortal and sinner cannot be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Why? Simply because when the Creator and Redeemer introduced the nature of the kingdom He came to inaugurate on earth in His Sermon on the Mount (which of course includes the famous Beatitudes) declared: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy [cf. Lev. 19:18; Deut. 23:6].

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; THAT YE MAY BE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matt. 5: 43-45, 36-48, KJV.

Apostle Paul echoes this unadulterated kingdom truth for the true and faithful New Testament Christian:

“Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him a drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good [not ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’].” Rom. 12: 20, 21, see verses 9-19, KJV.

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

God’s Saving Enmity Part 47: THE GREATER HIS ENMITY AND WRATH THE GREATER HIS DEADLY DECEPTIONS

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 6, 2023

God’s Saving Enmity
Part 47

THE GREATER HIS ENMITY AND WRATH THE GREATER HIS DEADLY DECEPTIONS

“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and the sea! For the devil is come down upon you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time.” Rev. 12:12, KJV.

Great Controversy, page 509:
“The tempter often works MOST successfully through those who are LEAST suspected of being under his control. The possessors of TALENT AND EDUCATION are admired and honored, as if these qualities could ATONE for the absence of the fear of God, or ENTITLE men to His favor. Talent and culture considered in themselves, are GIFTS of God; but when these are made to SUPPLY the place of piety, when INSTEAD of bringing the soul nearer to God, they lead away from Him, then they become a CURSE AND A SNARE.

“The opinion prevails with many that all which APPEARS as courtesy or refinement must, in some sense, pertain to CHRiST [and Christianity]. Never was there a GREATER mistake. [True] these qualities should grace the CHARACTER of every Christian, for they would exert a powerful influence in favor of TRUE RELIGION; but they must be CONSECRATED to God; or else they are a power for EVIL.

“Many a man [or woman] of cultures intellect and pleasant manners, who would not stoop to what is COMMONLY regarded as an immoral act, is but a POLISHED INSTRUMENT in the hands of Satan. The insidious, deceptive character of his influence and example renders him a MORE DANGEROUS ENEMY to the cause [of ‘the truth as it is in Jesus’] THAN THOSE WHO ARE IGNORANT AND UNCULTURED.” -E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., p. 509 (all emphases and bracketed words mine).

How timeless and awesomely timely is the divine rebuke and warning raised by the weeping prophet to backsliding ancient Israel: “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.” Jer. 17: 5, KJV.

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

Categories
Mid-week Manna

God’s Saving Enmity Part 46 : ONLY AUTHENTIC BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS RECEIVE DIVINE ENMITY AGAINST SIN

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
November 29, 2023

God’s SavingEnmity
Part 46

ONLY AUTHENTIC BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS RECEIVE DIVINE ENMITY AGAINST SIN

 “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the  servant of sin.” John 8:34. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:8, KJV.

“In the ungenerate heart there is a LOVE OF SIN, and a disposition to cherish and excuse it. [In stark contrast] “In the renewed heart there is HATRED FOR SIN, and a determined RESISTANCE against it.

“When Christians CHOOSE the society of the ungodly and unbelieving, they EXPOSE THEMSELVES to temptation. Satan CONCEALS himself from view [a key cog in his deadly original strategy of deception as ‘the father of lies’] and stealthily draws his deceptive covering over their eyes. They CANNOT SEE that such company is calculated [by the master strategist] to do them harm; and while all the time ASSIMILATING to the world in CHARACTER, WORDS, AND ACTIONS, they are becoming more and more BLINDED.

“CONFORMITY TO WORDLY CUSTOMS CONVERTS THE CHURCH TO THE WORLD; IT NEVER CONVERTS THE WORLD TO CHRIST.

“Familiarity with sin will INEVITABLY cause it to appear LESS REPULSIVE. He who chooses to associate with the servants of Satan, will soon cease to fear their master [Satan].

“When in the way of duty [see Eccl. 12:13,14] we are brought into trial [by temptation to disobey God’s law], as was DANIEL in the king’s court, we may be sure that God will PROTECT US; but if we PLACE OURSELVES [by our self-pleasing, self-justifying choice, not by God’s commandments and leading], we shall FALL sooner of later.” – E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., Pacific Press Publishing Asso.(all emphasis and words in brackets supplied).

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