FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER SEVEN – Part 28
Heruli Uprooted; Two More ‘Horns’ to Go;
Justinian’s Role, Hidden Agenda and MO Revealed
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” – Attributed to Mark Twain
The Bible says: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He [Jesus Christ] is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” 1 John 3: 4, 7, 8, N.K.J.V. “No lie is of the truth.” 1 John 2: 21. “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.”Prov. 12: 22. God’s divine love is directed towards all sinners, both repentant and rebellious. But His divine wrath is directed towards unrighteousness—and those who “exchange [change] the truth of God for [into] a lie.” Rom. 1: 25. For more details, see verses 1 to 32; cf. 1 Cor. 6: 9, 10; Rev. 21: 7, 8, 27. Remember: “God is no man that He should lie.” Num. 23: 19. The Bible never contradicts itself.
Hitler’s infamous Mein Kampf exploits this soul-destroying human propensity and flaw: that the constant repetition of a lie or falsehood over the centuries, even by earth’s greatest and highest authorities, whether venerated individuals (living but especially when dead!), stately institutions, age-old traditions, scientific discoveries, higher criticism, apologetics that defend church origin but not the origin of man, declarations of church councils, technological advances, or any form of neo Orwellian newspeak, “alternative facts,” etc. Such can never alter the spiritual DNA of a lie into a truth, even those whose bar has been lowered by convoluted reasoning, and legalese requiring mental gymnastics. But never “the truth as it is in Jesus.” Eph. 4: 21.
The self-deceived and highly-paid wordsmiths may think they can, and convince others, that a lie can be “cloned” to look and sound like the truth, in vain. Such are but planting seeds that will result in a multiple harvest of regrettable consequences—many of which are irreparable. “Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.”Hosea 8: 7. God warn all, specially the leaders of the people, nations, and spiritual guardians of the churches who feel safe from God’s judgments, saying in words and actions, “for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” Rather, He assures such: “When the overflowing scourge passes through, then your will be trampled down by it.” See Isaiah 28: 14, 15, 16-22.
Christ says: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of a good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of an evil treasure [of the heart] brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matt. 12: 34-37. On the Sermon the Mount Jesus taught the crowds gathered to hear Him: “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: forwhatsoever is more than these cometh from evil.” Matt. 5: 37.
Spiritual Cannibalism very much alive today!
“We think with horror of the cannibal who feasts on the still warm and trembling flesh of his victim; but are the results of even this practice more terrible than are the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, dissecting character? Let the children, and the youth as well [and adults much more!], learn what God says about these things: ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ Prov. 18: 21. – E. G. White, Education, p. 235
“The power of gossip and tale-bearing is one of Satan’s special agents to sow discord and strife, to separate friends, and undermine the faith of many in the truthfulness of our positions.”- Ibid, Testimonies, Vol. 4, p. 195.
The Ninth Commandment Being Blatantly Trampled Underfoot Right Now
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Exo. 20: 16; Deut. 5: 20.
The spiritual magnification of the ninth commandment is thus summarized:
“False-speaking in any matter, every attempt or purpose to deceive our neighbor, is here included. An intention to deceive is what constitutes falsehood. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the countenance, a falsehood may be told as effectually as by words. An intentional overstatement, every hint or insinuation calculated to convey an erroneous or exaggerated impression, even the statement of facts in such a manner as to mislead, is falsehood. This precept forbids every effort to injure our neighbor’s reputation, by misrepresentation or evil surmising, by slander or tale-bearing. Even the intentional suppression of truth, by which injury may result others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.” – Ellen G. White, “Patriarchs & Prophets,” (1913) p. 309.
Can’t help but consider a sizzling hot term right now as part of current events. It’s called “Truthful Hyperbole,” one of the quotable quotes, according to Amazon books, in The Art of the Deal. Check it out for yourself. A top definition of it in The Urban Dictionary (see internet) is: “An exaggeration so big it creates a black hole no truth can enter.” Hoo-boy!
The U.S. midterm elections cycle is rapidly approaching under this current hyper-charged political atmosphere. On national and global display, again, will be how politicians, including those who assert to be zealous Christians, will try to win the electorate with exaggeration and untruth for self-serving agendas. Even if finger-tip fact-checking abounds like never before courtesy of the digital age, they will even ratchet up their tirades and burn toward their opponents, paying it with millions of dollars that could’ve and should’ve been used for spreading the last messages of mercy in preparation for Christ’s glorious second advent. They term it “political rhetoric.” It is the predominating dirty aspect of politics that the cliché “politics is the dirtiest game” was coined. This never becomes outdated or irrelevant; it only grows worse, dirtier that is, with time and usage.
THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
“Before passing to the next power destroyed by the Papacy we shall briefly state the condition of the Roman Empire at this time. Justinian had finally ascended the throne of Constantinople as the Emperor of the East, 527 A.D. He was a shrewd politician, and in his effort to extend his rule over the whole of the Roman Empire he realized his need of securing the cooperation of the highly organized Catholic Church, for it was directed by a single head (the pope), and worked as a unit all over the empire, while the Arian nations stood separately, without any central organization, and hence they were weak. Then, too, the Arian nations were very wealthy, and if Justinian could conquer them in the name of ‘the true Church,’ he could confiscate their property and thus secure means to carry out his many wars. [Conspiracies and “hidden agendas,” big or small are of this nature]. We read:
‘Justinian (527) . . . . already meditated . . . the conquest of Italy and Africa.’ –‘ Decline and Fall,’ Edward Gibbon, chap. 39, par. 17.
‘Justinian felt that the support of the Pope was necessary in his reconquering the West.—‘History of Medieval Europe,’ L. Thorndike, PhD., p. 133. Cambridge, Mass.: 1918. ‘
‘Justinian spared nothing in his efforts to conciliate the Roman Church, and we find inserted with evident satisfaction in Justinian’s Codepontifical letters, which praised his efforts to maintain ‘peace of the church and the unity of religion.’ ‘ – ‘Cambridge Medieval History,’ Bury, Gwatkin, and Whitney, Vol. II, p. 44. New York: 1913.
“Procopius, the historian who followed Justinian’s armies, says:
‘In his zeal to gather all men into one Christian doctrine, he recklessly killed all who dissented, and this too he did in the name of piety. For he did not call it homicide, when those who perished happened to be of a belief that was different from his own.’ – ‘Secret History of the Court of Justinian,’ pp. 138, 139. Chicago: P. Covici, 1927.
‘Now the churches of these so-called heretics, especially those belonging to the Arian dissenters, were almost incredibly wealthy.’ — Id., p 121.
‘Agents were sent everywhere to force whomever they chanced upon to renounce the faith of their fathers . . . . Thus many perished at the hands of the persecuting faction; . . . but most of them by far quitted the land of their fathers, and fled the country . . . and thenceforth the whole Roman Empire was a scene of massacre and flight.’ – Id., p. 122.
“Dom John Chapman (Roman Catholic) says of Justinian:
‘He felt himself to be the Vicegerent of the Almighty to rule the world and bring it all to the service of Christ. His wars were holy wars. [so were the Catholic Crusades and the Moslem Jihads]. In later centuries a Byzantine battle began like a church ceremony. Even in the sixth century every enterprise was consecrated by religion.
‘He was well aware that judicious persecution is a great help towards conversion [to false and apostate churches of course, for Christ never used deception, coercion, conspiracy, force or persecution to convert to the religion of the Bible]. . . . He strengthened the existing laws against pagans, Jews, and heretics . . . . Many were burnt at Constantinople after the Emperor had made vain attempts to convert them. John of Ephesus . . . was employed in this apostolate. He boasts that in 546 he gained 70,000 pagans in Asia Minor, including nobles and rhetoricians and physicians, and many in Constantinople. Tortures discovered these men, and scourging and imprisonment induced them to accept instruction and baptism. A Patricius, named Phocus, learning that he had been denounced, took poison. The Emperor ordered that he should be buried as an ass is buried. The pious Emperor paid all the expenses of the Christian [Roman Catholic, i.e.) mission, and gave to each of the 70,000 Asiatics the white garments for their baptism and a piece of money.’
‘Other heretics were given three months grace. All magistrates and soldiers had to swear that they were Catholics.’ –‘Studies in the Early Papacy,’ Dom John Chapman, p. 222. London: Sheed and Ward, 1928. New York: Benziger Brothers.” – Christian Edwardson, “Facts of Faith,”Southern Publishing Association, (1943), pp. ___.
(Continued next week, God willing)