Friday Morning Manna
May 22, 2020
Nathaniel Fajardo
email: [email protected]
Super Blessings Disguised as Super Calamities
“Blessings in disguise.” I know it’s so cliché. And yet it has never lost its luster of truth and relevance, particularly for those who have become familiar with how God has mysteriously led in the past from one bad crisis to another worst one to this present Covid-10 crisis. And, as God’s servant said it best, “We have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us.” (TM 31; LS 190; 9T 10).
Through whom will God work especially through in a crisis?
“He will work through those who can see mercy in misery, and gain in loss. When the Light of the world passes by, privilege will be discerned in hardship, order in confusion, success in apparent failure. Calamities will be seen as disguised blessings, woe, as mercies. Laborers from the common people, sharing the sorrows of their fellowmen, as their Master shared the sorrows of the whole human race, will by faith see Him working with them. ‘The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly. Zeph. 1: 14. The world [around us] is to be warned.” E. G. White, Education, p. 270.
Lest we forget again, angels are commissioned to save the God-fearing. See Ps. 34: 4-10. But even with such special providences and provisions, how often we still fail to quickly remember and summon for aid those special experiences of the past to strengthen our faith, courage and resolve in this current crisis. Thus, we miss the special lessons God wants to teach us individually. Notice:
“He delivers men from perils they do not see, he commissions heavenly angels to save them from calamity, to guard them from ‘the pestilence that walketh in darkness’ and the ‘destruction that wasteth at noonday’ (Ps. 91: 6); but their hearts are unimpressed.” Ibid, Desire of Ages, p. 348.
Why are all these calamities coming, particularly upon the great cities?
“There is coming rapidly and surely an almost universal guilt upon the inhabitants of the cities, because of the steady increase of determined wickedness. The corruption that prevails, is beyond the power of the human pen to describe. Every day brings fresh revelations [as in ‘late breaking news’] of strife, bribery, and fraud; every day brings its heart-sickening record of violence and lawlessness, of indifference to human suffering, of brutal, fiendish destruction of human life. Every day testifies to the increase of insanity, murder, and suicide.
“From age to age Satan has sought to keep men in ignorance of the beneficent designs of Jehovah. He has endeavored to remove from their sight the great things of God’s law [cf. Ps. 119: 18],—the principles of justice, mercy, and love therein set forth. Men boast of the wonderful progress and enlightenment of the age in which we are now living [the digital age]; but God sees the earth filled with iniquity and violence. Men declare that the law of God has been abrogated, that the Bible is not authentic; and as a result, a tide of evil, such as has not been seen since the days of Noah and of apostate Israel, is sweeping over the world.”
“Nobility of soul gentleness, piety, are bartered away to gratify the lust for forbidden things. The black record of crime committed for the sake of gain is enough to chill the blood and fill the soul with horror. [That is, those whose minds have not been so corrupted, hearts that have not become so hardened, and consciences not yet so fully seared indulging in and cherishing that which the law of God condemns].”
“Our God is a God of mercy. With long-sufferance and tender compassion He deals with the transgressors of His law. And yet, in this our day [ ], when men and women have so many opportunities for becoming familiar with the divine law as revealed in the Holy Writ, the great Ruler of the universe cannot behold with any satisfaction the wicked cities, where reign violence and crime.”
“The end of God’s forbearance with those who persist in disobedience, is approaching rapidly. Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world?Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime? Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud? Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God’s requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah’s rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven.
“The forbearance of God has been very great,—so great that when we consider the continuous insult His holy commandments, we marvel. The Omnipotent One has been exerting a restraining power over His own attributes. But He will certainly arise to punish the wicked who so boldly defy the just claims of the Decalogue.
“God allows men a period of probation; but there is a point beyond which divine patience is exhausted, and the judgments of God are sure to follow. The Lord bears long with men, and with cities, mercifully giving warnings to save them from divine wrath; but a time will come when pleadings for mercy will no longer be heard, and the rebellious element that continues to reject the light of truth will be blotted out, in mercy to themselves, and to those who would otherwise be influenced by their example. [this is one difference between divine wrath of the Creator and Lifegiver from the human wrath of the creature who has no life of his own in him].
“The time is at hand when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn. [Gen. 6: 3;3 cf. Matt. 24: 37-41]. Disasters by sea and by land follow one another in quick succession. How frequently [and right now] we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property. Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of men [or caused by the so-called ‘global warming,’ thus, man-made]; but in them all, God’s purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger.” Ibid, Prophets and Kings, pp. 275-277.
Designed to lead men to humble hearts and repent. “These startling calamities [are] designed to lead them to humble their hearts, and to repent of their sins. The storm of vengeance [the day of visitation] was gathering, who was soon to burst upon all who had not found a refuge in Christ.” Ibid, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 213.
Testify that the end is near. “No time to lose. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking its prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do, but soon it will be more difficult than we imagine. The coming of the Lord is nearer than when we first believed. The great controversy is nearing its end. Every report of calamity by sea or land is a testimony to the fact that the end of all things is at hand. Wars and rumors of wars declare it. Is there any Christian whose pulse does not beat with quickened action as he anticipates the great events opening before us?
“The Lord is coming. We hear the footsteps of an approaching God, as He comes to punish the world for its iniquity. We are to prepare the way for Him [as Eljah and John the Baptist did] by acting our part in getting a people ready for that great day.” Ibid, RH Nov. 12 1914/ Evangelism, pp. 218, 219.
The Concluding Crisis of All Crises
Through years of daily, prayerful, careful study, with all the unique experiences that come with it, I have come to trust, as my main go-to to verify any and all significant things past, currently developing and future, the Bible and its prophecies, alongside the magnification, commentaries and insights of the inspired pen of Ellen G. White. So again, not merely to “make heads or tails” of what is going on with this confusing Covid-19 pandemic but what to expect and prepare for, I quote the following (again) to help us know what to expect and prepare for, which, in the same token, reveals and exposes the counterfeits, such the sinister “conspiracy theories” running wild through the “novel rumor-mills” of the internet age.
“Satan works through the elements [the four so-called, of the material world] also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls [as God garners His harvest of prepared souls as well during the pre-advent judgment in heaven]. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his powers to control the elements as far as God allows. [Take note of how God is in total control]. When he [Satan] was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding one another as in a moment. It is God [not any human wisdom, power or invention] that shields His creatures, and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer.
“But the Christian world [note this] have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would,—He will withdraw His blessings from the earth, and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law, and teaching and forcing others to do the same. [On the other hand] Satan [also] has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in order to further his own designs; and he will bring trouble upon others, and lead men believe that it is God who is afflicting them.
“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician [through his human agencies, individuals and institutions] who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work [check your own news sources!]. In accidents and calamities [as well as accidents caused by the calamities] by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrible hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves [tsunamis], and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan [not the “Deep State” or the “New World Order,” etc.] is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousand perish by the pestilence.”- E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911, pp. 589-90.
“These visitations are to become more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon the inhabitants of the world. The beasts of the field will groan and the earth will languish [Isa. 24: 3-5 quoted]. NOTE: More crises are looming in the horizon.
“And then the great deceiver [working through his agencies] will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God’s commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men [and the nation] are offending God by the violation of the Sunday-Sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying the reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people [and the nation], preventing its restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.” Ibid, p. 408.
“Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated, and upon grounds equally well established [as in type-antitype]; [1 Kings 18: 17, 18 quoted]. As the wrath of the people shall be excited by false charges [like today’s political jousting, finger-pointing, character-assassination], they will pursue a course towards God’s ambassadors [the overcoming remnant] very similar to that which apostate Israel pursued toward Elijah.”- Ibid, p. 590.
In order to understand how the current events will unfold going forward, you must know with certainty who antitypical apostate Israel is, and who, what kind of work and message the antitypical Elijahs of these last days are engaged in! Then, this Covid-19 Crisis becomes a blessing to you and those you help to awaken in the midnight of earth’s history to accept and be saved by the present, testing truths for these last days!
(To be continued next week, God willing)