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Mid-week Manna

GENESIS 3:15: EMBRYO OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, THE GOSPEL SEED AND OF PROPHECY AND HISTORY (Part 1) 

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

November 30, 2022

GENESIS 3:15: EMBRYO OF THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, THE GOSPEL SEED AND OF PROPHECY AND HISTORY (Part 1) 

“I will put ENMITY between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. It shall bruise your head and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15, KJV.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The kingdom of God is founded upon infinite love, compassion, and purity. In perfect obedience is found perfect joy.” (E. G White, Special Testimonies, Series B, Nos. 2 and 7, p. 18). This sublime truth is enfolded and unfolded in Christ’s conclusive summation of verses 1-7: “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matt. 5:48, KJV.

The two mechanisms through which the information, truth, nature, dynamics and spiritual nuances of both the great controversy and the GREATER plan of redemption are unfolded to mankind, are prophecy and history. 

Where eternal Bible truth is concerned, prophecy and history are inseparable; one without the other is incomplete and handicapped; a two-legged creature as it were, vainly struggling to stand, much less walk, on one. 

Furthermore, when one is foisted over the other

—-either through being a zealous but unsuspecting victim of guile and deception, willing ignorance, or reckless disregard for sacred truth, or worse, a calculated perpetration of the darkness of error and confusion, they but turn into Petri dishes where Satan “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning” cultivates and unleashes broadcast his most potent, deceptively-alluring, and widely-embraced counterfeit doctrine and errors. 

Counterfeit prophecy throws God’s orderly revealed plan and timetable into fanciful speculations, disarray, and confusion. The  theory of evolution is the counterfeit history of the origin of man, the earth and of all things visible and invisible. It presumptuously attempts to depose and occupy the sacred space and throne of omniscient and omnipotent authority that belongs to the God CREATOR alone. Satan, through Antichrist, his gigantic monolithic masterpiece, blasphemously attempts to be “verily God Himself on earth.

True prophecy and it’s corresponding adjunct of true history both expose the above fallacies and clarify and magnify the plan of redemption of the gospel of Jesus Christ and all the promises made and fulfilled—-beginning with Genesis 3:15. 

To be continued next week, God willing. Bless all, NAF.

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Mid-week Manna

EARLIEST PRECURSORS  OF COUNTERFEIT FAITH, SACRIFICE, RELIGION, WORSHIP, AND MEANS OF REDEMPTION (Part 6)

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

November 2, 2022

EARLIEST PRECURSORS  OF COUNTERFEIT FAITH, SACRIFICE, RELIGION, WORSHIP, AND MEANS OF REDEMPTION (Part 6)

“And almost all things are by law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Heb. 9: 22, KJV. (See verses 1-28; cf. Gen. 4: 3, 4; Rom. 3: 23-26; 5: 6-11, etc.).

None of the false assumptions and hope-crushing pretensions and presumptions of the counterintuitive  doctrine of “predestination” was (or ever will be) at work at the epilogue of the grand drama of the ages and the history book of the generations of man after the fall in Eden. 

Only that the “mystery of iniquity already was at work”—-it’s devastating immediate effects on progeny, biological and spiritual, and the cumulative, downward consequences and visceral manifestations of the “curse of sin,” quickly revealed the all-encompassing, all-pervading forces and true nature of great controversy between Christ and Satan, good versus evil, righteousness versus its opposite and counterfeit, the spiritual mind versus the carnal mind—-so immediately we learn that:

Cain and Abel, the [first] two sons of Adam, [already] DIFFERED WIDELY IN CHARACTER. Abel had a spirit of LOYALTY to God; he saw JUSTICE AND MERCY in the Creator’s dealings with the fallen race [beginning with the banishment of his parents from their Eden home and the curse pronounced upon the serpent, Eve, and the earth itself, and GRATEFULLY accepted the HOPE of redemption.

But Cain cherished FEELINGS of REBELLION, and MURMURED against God because of the CURSE pronounced upon the earth and upon the human race FOR Adam [and Eve’s] sin. Cain permitted his MIND to run on the SAME CHANNEL that led to Satan’s fall [in heaven]—-INDULGING THE DESIRE FOR SELF-EXALTATION, and questioning the DIVINE JUSTICE and authority. 

“These brothers were TESTED, as Adam [their father had been tested before them to PROVE whether they would BELIEVE AND OBEY THE [spoken] word of God. They were [equally] acquainted with the PROVISIONS made for the SALVATION of man, and understand the SYSTEM OF OFFERINGS [and sacrifices] which God ordained. They knew that in these [definitively defined and specified] offerings [and sacrifices] they were to EXPRESS FAITH in the Savior whom the offerings TYPIFIED [symbolized; a figure and representation of], and at the same time acknowledge their TOTAL DEPENDENCE on Him for PARDON [forgiveness; justification]; and they knew that by thus CONFORMING TO THE DIVINE PLAN for their redemption, they were giving PROOF of their obedience to the WILL of God.” (E. G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, Pacific Press, 1890, 1913, p. 73. 

[All emphasis and words in brackets, mine].

Remember this:  Faith is proved by Obedience: the highest, most sublime form of worship is loving, voluntary, willing, and spontaneous obedience. Therefore, trust and obey, pray without ceasing

and obey unceasingly without murmuring, for even zealous, sincere and “importunate” prayer never every replaces, is  a substitute for, or negates known duty as defined in God’s “law and testimony.” 

One without the other is incomplete, self-serving, self-justifying, vain, dead, a counterfeit of the Cain-worship brand! Likewise, it is totally unacceptable to the merciful yet just and righteous God! 

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

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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