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Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 18 : THIS DEADLY SPIRITUAL DISEASE IS NOT HOPELESS

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 23, 2024

Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 18

THIS DEADLY SPIRITUAL DISEASE IS NOT HOPELESS

Caveat: it has only one sure cure and eternal solution. To refuse it is to knowingly condemn and places oneself beyond any hope whatsoever. This is a “Thus saith the Lord” of the divine Physician.

If you become aware, and are convicted by the Holy Spirit by first, a humble, thorough self-examination based God’s immutable Moral Law—-the divine diagnostic tool and sin-revealing “mirror” standard of Christ’s righteousness, transcript of His unchanging character, and the basis by which the characters of all who have professed faith in Christ (both in the Old and New Testament dispensations) “are weighed in the balances of the sanctuary” in the current pre-advent, Investigative judgement, “cleansing of the sanctuary” antitypical Day of Atonement session in the most holy place in heaven—-then, do not delay, procrastinate, or “put off for a more convenient, self-accommodating time” to act with attentive dispatch and compliance with the divine Doctor’s Orders.

For together with His omniscient diagnosis is attached His complete prescription, “To-do” list, and all that you will ever need. It is a Complete Kit that has been neatly Packaged for Turn-key application and guaranteed results. And is all in-house. You need not see anyone else nor take a single step outside of your door. This is also what is comprehended in Christ’s startling words, “Behold, the kingdom is WITHIN you!”

Indeed, “Today, If you will HEAR (through your spiritual eyes of discernment) His VOICE (the inaudible voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to your conscience), HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART.”

The Laodicean disease is deceivingly virulent in its metastatic nature. This should be our prayer and attitude: “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Stay “tuned,” and “keep your eyes on the road” as this series unfolds, God willing. Bless all, NMF.

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Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans- Part 17 : THE LAODICEAN STATE, TEN VIRGINS, AND THE SEALING

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 22, 2024

Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans- Part 17

THE LAODICEAN STATE, TEN VIRGINS, AND THE SEALING

“Those that overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil will be the favored ones to receive the seal of the living God. Those whose hands are not clean [morally, spiritually], whose hearts are not pure, will NOT have the seal of the living God. Those who are planning sin [anything against God’s magnified law] and acting it will be PASSED BY. Only those who in their attitude before God [not man/institutions], are fulfilling the position of those REPENTING AND CONFESSING their sins in the great antitypical day of atonement [the current ongoing pre-advent, investigative judgment], will be recognized and MARKED [syn. with ‘sealed’] as worthy of God’s protection.

The NAMES of those who are steadfastly looking and waiting and watching for the appearing of their Savior MORE earnestly and wishfully THAN they who wait for the morning—will be numbered among those who are SEALED.

Those who, WHILE having all the light of truth [present, testing truths for these last days] flashing upon their souls, should have works CORRESPONDING to their avowed [professed] faith, but are ALLURED by sin, setting up IDOLS in their hearts, CORRUPTING their souls before God [God reads the heart], will have their NAMES BLOTTED OUT of the book of life; and be left in midnight darkness, ‘having no oil in their lamps.” -Ibid, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445.

Now note the following:
“The state of the church represented by the FOOLISH VIRGINS, is spoken of as the LAODICEAN state.” – Ibid, Vol. 2 Review & Herald, p. 420.

Q. What does it mean to be a foolish virgin?
“The class represented by the foolish virgins are NOT HYPOCRITES. They have a regard for the truth, they have advocated the truth, they are attracted to those who believe the truth; but they have NOT YIELDED THEMSELVES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORKING. They have NOT FALLEN on the Rock, Christ Jesus, and permitted their OLD NATURES to be broken up.” -Ibid, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 411.

Q. What happens to the foolish virgins in the parable?
“When the foolish reached the banquet hall, an UNEXPECTED DENIAL was given them. They were left outside in the blackness of the night. The DOOR WAS SHUT.” -ibid, Man. 92a, p.1, 1898/ Vol. Signs of the Times (ST), p. 138/ 4RH 109.

A. What does it mean to be a wise Virgin?
“The wise virgins have faith and love and patience, whose EXPERIENCE day by day is NOURISHED by the Holy Spirit. They DO NOT CONFORM TO THE WORLD in careless inattention. They DO NOT PUT OFF THEIR DAILY PREPARATION, but follow Jesus wherever He leads the way [see Rev. 14: 4, 1-5].” – Ibid, Vol. 3 ST 132, Aug. 6, 1894.

 “The wise virgins are those who have PERFECTED A CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, who have ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’”- Ibid, Man. 92a, p. 4.5, 1898.

Compare Matt. 7: 21-23 with Matt. 25: 11, 12 (1-13).

I feel it a solemn duty to “deliver the messages” of what I have been finding and learning in my continuing studies of “the law and testimony” to anyone, “whether they will hear or forbear.” I hope and pray that the receivers will also be “Bereans”(Acts 17:11).

Bless all, NMF.

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Mid-week Manna

Satan’s Deceptions Part 9: Conclusion

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 21, 2024

Satan’s Deceptions
Part 9

Our series on the subject of deception concludes here. However, this by no means indicates we have already achieved an exhaustive study and understanding of the subject as we should, and as it demands.

Deception was the ultimate brainchild craft masterfully employed by its originator, Satan, “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning” “the enemy of God and man,” to frame the “father” of all temptations thereafter “by which all man are tempted with.”

The sad and fearful record of sacred Bible history informs, as it seeks to educate and enlighten and warn fallen, sinful mankind, particularly those who profess to know and worship God, from the very beginning of Eden time to the close of probation time, that:

a) the first temptation embodying the first lie was facilitated by the first deception of the “father of lies”

b). caused the Fall in Eden-when Eve, then Adam disobeyed God and yielded to the combined deception-temptation of the main Antichrist, Satan, who has own vicegerent on earth; apostle Paul identifies him as “the man of sin and the son of perdition.”

Deception, and all its branches, variations, shades of meaning, applications, manifestations, fruits, results, and consequences, plays a critical and prominent role in the great controversy between Christ and Satan and the latter with mankind, specifically in the realm of religion, worship, and law of God as the foundation of His everlasting kingdom and rule of government over all His creation.

I conclude this series with a vital passage in the Gospels preserving Christ’ words right after He and His first disciples departed from temple of Jerusalem for the last time. This is when and where He unfolded His now familiar “mini apocalypse,” (Matt. 23; Luke 21, etc.) placing the earlier prophesied Destruction of Jerusalem (by the Roman army led by Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, 40 years after, as the type prefiguring the antitypical destruction of the last days due to the final apostasy prophesied in Revelation 13 detailing the major deceptions of the main players revealed in prophetic symbols.

Now, read from your own Bible Matt. 23: 1-31 (KJV) focusing on verses 1-5. But read verse 1 first. Then:
“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, WHEN shall these things be? And WHAT shall be the SIGN of the of THY COMING, and of the END OF THE WORLD? 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 shall DECEIVE MANY.” vs 2-6.

Only after this does Jesus go down the list of His mini apocalypse in answer to His disciples’ two part question of time and circumstance, “when”‘ and “what,” unaware that they correctly connecting the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple as the “sign” preceding His second advent (specifically its antitype!).

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

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SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS February 19, 2024: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU THE YEARS (Sixth Part)

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 19, 2024

Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 16

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE
LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU
THE YEARS (Sixth Part)

 1903 - “To the church of the PRESENT DAY this message is sent. I call upon our church members to READ THE WHOLE of the third chapter of Revelation, and make an APPLICATION of it. The message to the church of the Laodiceans APPLIES SPECIALLY to the people of God today [note the year given]. It is a message to PROFESSING Christians who have become SO MUCH LIKE THE WORLD THAT NO DIFFERENCE CAN BE SEEN. [verses 14-18 quoted].” Ibid, RH Nov. 20, 1903/ 7 BC 959.

Note: This is but one of the dozens of incisive, “two-edged sword,” straight-talk, plain-truth Testimonies of the Spirit of Prophecy that “pierced even to the dividing asunder of my soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow” (cf Heb. 4: 12, 13, KJV) when I first read it way back in 1994 or late 1993. It still does, by the power of the Holy Spirit working on the conscience of my mind.

Such messages remind me to be constantly vigilant lest my faith in Jesus, love for God and His law, and relationship with the Holy Spirit (all Three Persons of the Godhead being invisible to the physical, naked eye)—be merely a profession, performative, transactional, situational and conditional subject to compromise, depending on convenience, not conviction.

True indeed that “Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks upon the heart.” And yet it is also true that our lives “may be the only book that our neighbor may ever read.” It is called “the word of our testimony.” And what kind of “spectacle” are we to the gaze “of the world, men, and angels (both good and evil)?”

And thus, a truly convicted and genuinely converted and “born again” Christian, especially the professed member of the “remnant church” of prophecy, particularly during these silent closing hours of probation, will also be clearly distinguishable from the vast majority of the Christian mainstream, let alone the world itself. The apostle echoes and repeats what Moses declared centuries earlier:

 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness [of sin, ignorance, worldliness] unto His marvelous light [of truth, righteousness, holiness, godliness].” 1 Pet. 2:9, KJV. cf. Deut. 14:2.

So ask yourselves this question. Are we also “so much like the world” that “no difference can be seen” in what we think, talk about, do with our time and talents, etc. (except for physically going to church on the seventh day and performing Sabbath duties and functions? The Jewish nation excelled in these in the time of Christ.

The real difference can only happen when “the carnal mind” of the “old man” is “transformed by the spiritual “renewal of the mind” into the “new man” or “new creature in Christ Jesus.”

If this radical change inside-out is not effected thru the work of sanctification by the daily fiery baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the thorough work of character-preparation for eternity requires, then the professed believer becomes fearfully content in self-deception as to his true spiritual condition, brought on by the soul-destroying Laodicean disease.

Remember this: God loves the sinner with perfect love and hates sin with perfect hatred. And He remains “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Bless all, NMF.

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SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS February 16, 2024: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THROUGH THE YEARS (Fifth Part)

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 16, 2024

The Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 15

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THROUGH THE YEARS (Fifth Part)

 1901 - “The Laodicean message is applicable to the church AT THIS TIME. Do you believe in this message? Have you hearts that FEEL? Or are you constantly saying, ‘we are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing’? . . . God has a CHOSEN PEOPLE and made them REPOSITORIES of truth weighty with ETERNAL RESULTS. To them has been given light that must illuminate the world. HAS GOD MADE A MISTAKE? Are we the men and women who are to bear to the world the messages of Revelation 14, to proclaim the message to those standing in the BRINK of ruin? DO WE ACT AS WE WERE?” -ibid, Man. 51, 1901/ 7BC 961. 

 1902 “The message to the Laodicean church is applicable to all who have had GREAT LIGHT and MANY OPPORTUNITIES, and yet, have NOT APPRECIATED THEM.” Ibid, RH Mar. 11, 1902/ 7BC 961.

NOTE: If, in any way, shape, or form we feel contented, secure, and confident that we have already “made our calling and election sure” such that we are just patiently “waiting” for Jesus to finally come in blazing glory “to take us home” to the “mansions” He has been taking too long “to prepare” for us, then the Laodicean message specially applies to us. We have unfinished work to complete and so little left to “redeem lost time in these “evil days.”

Until we fully realize that our MORAL CHARACTERS have to be first INDIVIDUALLY “transformed by the renewing of the carnal “mind” of the “old man” into the spiritual mind of “the new man in Christ Jesus,” thus enabling us to “present our “bodies as a living sacrifice” to God and the Holy Spirit to be their appointed TEMPLE, “which is but our “reasonable service,” we will fail to please God in Christ, and prevent Him from placing His SEAL of approval IN our foreheads indicating that we were indeed FITTED-UP for eternity (not merely the one-time event of the Second advent) by the lifetime work of daily sanctification until our brief life is ended—we don’t know when, where, or how, only that it is a certainty. One of the most important goals of the whole gospel is to restore the lost image of God in fallen, sinful man.

And Christ, by His mysterious incarnation, followed by victorious death, then His all-powerful intercession has made that possible to all “who love and keep and obey His commandments. The finishing touch of immortality of eternal life is rewarded only to those “who died in Christ,” not to those who “perished in their sins” because of fatal self-confidence. “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth (made new).”

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

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SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR WGM TEAM PARTNERS February 15, 2024: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU THE YEARS (Fourth Part)

SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 15, 2024

Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 14

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU THE YEARS (Fourth Part)

  1900 - “Self-exaltation is a dangerous element. It TARNISHES everything it touches. It is the OFFSPRING of pride, and it works SO INGENIOUSLY that, unless guarded against, it will take possession of the THOUGHTS and control the ACTIONS. The Laodicean message must be proclaimed with POWER; for NOW MORE THAN EVER before, are seen PRIDE, WORLDLY AMBITION, HYPOCRISY, and DECEPTION.” - Ibid, RH Sept. 5, 1900/7 E. G. W BC 963.

Like begets like and reproduces itself after its own kind. Thus Self-exaltation is an offspring of pride, and “pride goeth before a destruction; a haughty spirit before a fall. It “tarnishes,” corrodes, erodes everything it touches of our heart, mind, character, and personality—the so-called “spirit” of man. Indeed, now more than ever before, spiritual and carnal pride, worldly ambition, “the love of the world and things of the world, the lust of the eye and the flesh”, hypocrisy, dishonesty, deception, and “living a lie” are not only found in a doomed world hastening on to its destruction just like the antediluvian world, but as fearfully prophesied, in the churches and Christian mainstream. God’s supposed people are hardly that “chosen generation, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” for they have become so much like the world in their practices and lives. No wonder the straight testimony to the Laodiceans must be “proclaimed with power,” i. e., under the unction of the Holy Spirit.

Much earlier, in 1887, God’s humble messenger already warned the remnant church members:
“We have far more to fear FROM WITHIN THAN WITHOUT. The hindrances to strength are far greater FROM THE CHURCH ITSELF than from the world! . . . What is our condition in this fearful and solemn time? Alas, what PRIDE is prevailing in the church, what HYPOCRISY, what DECEPTION, what love of DRESS, FRIVOLITY, and AMUSEMENTS, what desire for SUPREMACY!” – Ibid, RH Mar. 22, 1887/ 1 SM 122, 125.

It is with a deepening sense of urgency that I am sharing with any who are still interested, what—by prayer, due diligence, patience, and painstaking research and studies through the years up to this very moment—truly opened my eyes, and mind to unalloyed, unvarnished, incisive truths that cut to the heart, convicted my conscience but also revealed “the way of escape,” “the divine standard that God will raise “when the enemy shall come in like a flood” that threatens to overwhelm and drown me! No, it is isn’t and never will be a “peace-and-safety,” “once-saved-always saved,” “once in grace-always in grace” message but “to the law and the testimony,” verily, “the straight testimony to the Laodiceans.”

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

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Mid-week Manna

Satan’s Deceptions Part 8: NATURAL IMMORTALITY: SATAN’S FIRST GREAT LIE

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 14, 2024

Satan’s Deceptions
Part 8

NATURAL IMMORTALITY: SATAN’S FIRST GREAT LIE

“Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited by transgression. [Thus] “Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he did not possess; and there could have been NO HOPE for the fallen [human] race had not God, by the sacrifice of His Son,  brought immortality WITHIN OUR REACH [not automatically nor instantly. 

“While ‘death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,’ Christ ‘hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.’ (Rom. 5:12; 2 Tim. 1:10).  And only through Christ [the Creator and incarnated Redeemer and Savior] can immortality be OBTAINED. Said Jesus, ‘he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not shall not see life’ (John 3:36). 

 “Every man may come into POSSESSION of this priceless blessing [of life immortal] IF he will comply with its CONDITIONS. [What are they?] “All ‘who by patient continuance in well doing SEEK for glory and honor and immortality’ will receive ‘eternal life.’ (Rom. 2:7).

NOTE. Here it clearly states that “immortality”, i. e., “immortal life” or “life immortal” the same as “eternal life” and “life eternal.” If fallen, sinful man or his “soul” is naturally “immortal,” why does the gospel teach that we are to “patiently and continually seek for it?

 “The only one who promised Adam [after Eve] LIFE IN DISOBEDIENCE was the GREAT DECEIVER. The declaration of the serpent [described as the “dragon” in Revelation] to Eve in Eden, — ‘Ye shall not surely die’— was the FIRST SERMON EVER PREACHED UPON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

 “Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of Satan, is echoed [repeated ad infinitum] from the PULPITS OF CHRISTENDOM, and is received by the MAJORITY OF MANKIND as readily as it was received by our first parents. The divine sentence, ‘the soul that sinneth, it shall die’ (Eze. 18:20; cf. Gen. 2: 7, 15-17; 3: 1-24, etc.), is made to mean [exactly the opposite], The soul that sinneth, it shall not die, but LIVE ETERNALLY. 

 “We cannot but wonder at the STRANGE INFATUATION which renders men [mankind] SO CREDULOUS concerning the words of Satan, and SO UNBELIEVING of the words of God!” - Ibid, Great Controversy, 1911, pp. 533. AAA

 “The paradox of mortality is that the moment we are born we begin to die.” Death, “the wages of sin,” is the portion of all men,” “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Indeed, the “foundation” of  Satan’s final form of deception of end-time Spiritualism, “which will take the whole world captive,” is based on his very first deception and lie, “thou shalt not surely die”! Your only safety in these last days is simply the Word of God, “It is written.”

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

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SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR WGM TEAM PARTNERS February 12, 2024: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU THE YEARS (Third Part)

SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR WGM TEAM PARTNERS:
February 12, 2024

Straight Testimony to the Laodiceans – Part 13

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAODICEAN MESSAGE THRU THE YEARS (Third Part)

1899 – “The Laodicean message applies to all who PROFESS to keep the law, and yet are NOT DOERS of it. We are not to be SELFISH in anything. Every PHASE of the Christian life is to be a REPRESENTATION of the life of Christ. If it is not, we shall hear the terrrible words “I KNOW YOU NOT.’ Ibid, Oct. 17, 1899.

Note the following:
1) A mere “profession” of any thing is not the same as its actual “possession.” It may only be a performative “form of godliness but denies in substance “its power thereof.” Jesus made the difference plain between “saying” and “doing” in His parable of the two sons.
2) The Ten Commandments is an unbreakable unit, thus, “to break one is to break all.” The Jewish nation in Christ’s time zealously preserved, observed, and enforced by their religious authorities and own laws the inviolable sanctity of the seventh-day Sabbath—to the point that they even condemned Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath himself, of breaking the Sabbath by healing the sick. In fact, it was on the very Sabbath day that they plotted to kill Him! They honored and worshipped the seventh DAY Sabbath over the LORD of the Sabbath of creation.
3) Christ’s purpose and earthly mission as the promised “seed” and Messiah through His “great mystery of godliness” incarnation and “once and for all” sacrifice by crucifixion was in fact “to magnify THE LAW and make it honorable” by His own LIVING EXAMPLE. Only thus could He enable, empower, and expect the INDIVIDUAL, who considers and obeys Jesus as his PERSONAL Savior, to “overcome even as He overcame. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The old covenant was made with Israel as a nation. But the new covenant is made with the individual. Thus, “work out your OWN salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh IN YOU, both to WILL [i., e., to exercise one’s power of choice as a free moral agent] and to DO [willingly and lovingly obey] His good pleasure.” The “hope of glory” is “Christ IN you.” Col. 1: 26, 27.
4) This is one of the passages that helped me better understand Matt. 7: 1-29, particularly verses 21-23, and know, intelligently and spiritually as to what Jesus meant, to who it applies,and why. Indeed, “to the law and testimony” is the way the truth is to be established, not by “selfish,” that is, self-justifying, self-serving, self-pleasing interpretations perpetrated by cultural tradition and corporate institutional mentality, instead of the precious “individuality of man where true religion is concerned.

To be continued. Bless all, NMF.