MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
May 20, 2026
God’s Purposes Revealed by Inspiration, Not Superstition or Tradition
ORIGIN OF DISCONTENT, DISSATISFACTION, PRIDE, DECEPTION, TRUTH-PERVERSION, TRAITORS
Texts: “Only by pride cometh contention. . . . “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Prov. 13:10; 16: 18, KJV.
We resume from where we left off last week quoting from Ellen G. White’s Great Controversy, 1911 edition, pp. 495-6 (all emphasis, bracketed words and numbers provided):
“The spirit of discontent had never been known in heaven. LUCIFER HIMSELF DID NOT KNOW AT FIRST TO SEE WHITHER HE WAS DRIFTING; he did not understand the NATURE OF HIS FEELINGS.
“But as his dissatisfaction was proved to be without cause, Lucifer was CONVINCED that he was in the wrong, that the divine claims [of God’s law] were JUST, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such BEFORE ALL HEAVEN.
“Had he done this, HE MIGHT HAVE SAVED HIMSELF AND MANY ANGELS [in fact and truth, one third of the heavenly host under his direct command while Christ is the Archangel, His name and title being Michael, the Commander-in-Chief of the heaven’s army of angels].
“He [Lucifer] had NOT at this time FULLY cast off his allegiance to God. Though he had FORSAKEN HIS POSITION AS COVERING CHERUB, yet if he had been WILLING to return to God, acknowledging the Creator’s WISDOM, and satisfied to fill THE PLACE appointed him in GOD’S GREAT PLAN, he would have been RE-INSTATED in his office [as covering cherub of God’s ‘great white throne’!]
“But PRIDE forbade him to submit. He persistently defended his own course, maintained that he had NO NEED OF REPENTANCE, and fully committed himself, in THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, to his Maker! [herein lies the spirit-nucleus, the core-substance of the ‘drama of the ages,’; ‘the cosmic conflict’ between Christ and Satan over God’s law, the foundation of His everlasting throne and kingdom!].
“All the powers of his master-mind were bent on the work of DECEPTION, to secure the SYMPATHY of the ANGELS THAT HAS BEEN UNDER HIS COMMAND. Even the fact that Christ had WARNED AND COUNSELED him, was perverted to serve his traitorous designs.
“To those whose loving trust BOUND THEM MOST LOYALLY TO HIM [1/3 of the angels], Satan had represented that he was [1] wrongly judged, that [2] his position had not been respected, and that [3] his liberty was to be abridged.” (End extract)
If Lucifer and the angels he had initially deceived by perverting truth in heaven were given time to repent and be restored to God’s favor and their positions—before they had exceeded the boundaries of God’s mercy when it meets His righteousness and justice—how much more for fallen, sinful mankind—who are subject to God’s saving grace, power, and plan of redemption to which angels were not similarly provided for in God’s wisdom!
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.