Biblical Numerology: NUMBER THREE – Part XXXIII “Three Mediums of Communication: Visions, Urim & the Prophets: Lessons for the Nation and the Church(es) Today – Part A”
“God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. Hebrews 1: 1, 2, N.K.J.V.”
The different ways God spoke in time past include three specific mediums by which He communicated His will for the nation during the first and last theocratic form of human church government on earth till He returns to eternally install His kingdom of glory in the earth-made-new.
WHAT IS THE TRUE INTERPRETATION OFREVELATION 16: 12-16?
(The Threefold Union in the Battle of Armageddon (Continued)
It’s shopping mania season, again. And nobody is complaining, “Oh no, not again!” In fact, with the introduction of e-commerce the demand is getting greater and the activities more frenetic. Nothing seems to satisfy this insatiable appetite—“the lust of the eye and lust of the flesh for the things of this world” (1 John 2: 15-17), one of the undeniable signs of the times. The giant retailers are amping the buying melee, vying for the multi-billion business. They’ve given it new names: Gray Thursday, now [sadly] AKA “Thanksgiving;” Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Sofa Sunday, and Cyber Monday. Emarketer predicts “A Happy Holiday Season Expected for Retailers.” It forecasts that “U.S. retail sales in the months of November and December 2015 will increase 5.7% year over year, reaching $ 885.70 billion.” www.emarketer.com/Articles/Happy-Holiday-Season-Expected-Retailers/1012898.
In sharp contrast, few give serious thought to the Bible forecast of the rapidly-approaching final test of every individual’s professed faith in God to be waged by the tripartite union of the prophetic “dragon, beast, and his image” before earth’s probation closes permanently.
THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, NOR THE MAJORITY’S BUT GOD’S
“Thus saith the Lord unto you: Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 2 Chronicles 20: 15.
“This great multitude.” – The Latin phrase “Vox populi, vox Dei,” meaning, “the voice of the people is the voice of God,” is egregious. It is one of the leading causes and means of mass deception and mass manipulation, from small groups to kingdoms, nations, and religions, of course. It is antithetical to the truth that salvation is individual. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.” Phil. 2: 12, 13. “It is written, ‘Be holy for I am holy. . . . the Father who without partiality judgesaccording to each one’s work . . . “ See 1 Pet. 1: 15-18; Rev. 22: 12..
Prophecy and history testify that more souls will lose eternal life through organized and craftily orchestrated deception, subterfuge, compromise, confusion, and counterfeits of truth than persecution and ignominious death combined for standing true to individual conviction. Because of fallen human nature, “Vox populi, vox Dei” is coercive, intolerant, a gargantuan bully, and cruel. Given the opportunity, a deceived people, generation, nation, and yes, church and religion, will, as has darkened the history of mankind, stifle individual conscience and resort to deadly force when rationality and reason yield to crowd mentality,—carnal human nature that has yielded to the wiles of Satan and is controlled by “the enemy of God and man,” “the murderer from the beginning” and “the father of lies.”
The book The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White is not alone in referring to the Roman Catholic Church more succinctly as the “Roman Church” or the “Church of Rome” or the “Romish Church.” The Protestant Reformers said the same. This Monday, the 20th, the secular press also referred to it as such. The AFP reported May 20, 2015, which the TheGuardian (Nigeria) repeated the next day, saying, and we quote: (emphasis mine):
“Pope Urges Chinese Catholics’s Allegiance to Rome
“Pope Francis called Wednesday on Chinese Catholics to remain attached to the ‘rock’ on which the Church in Rome is built, in a move expected to rile Beijing. ‘Ask Mary to help Catholics in China….to live spiritually united to the rock of Peter on which the church is built,’ the pontiff said in his weekly general audience in Saint Peter’s Square.
The late Australian evangelist and eminent Bible scholar, Louis F. Were, authored the book The Certainty of the Third Angel’s Message (among others), which I strongly recommend to all serious students of prophecy–not merely as a must-read but as one of your major reference book for interpreting prophecy correctly. Undoubtedly, I have been enlightened by this Scripturally-comprehensive and scholarly work; it certainly has “clarified the issues, creates order in a confusing number of different prophetic portrayals, and installs new confidence in God’s absolute providence. But above all, L.F. Were exalts Christ Jesus as the center of all Scripture and inspires the soul with new hope and enthusiasm to meet the world’s Redeemer.”
The third angel’s message of Revelation 14 calls attention to the Ten Commandments, the true Sabbath; directs minds to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary where Christ our High Priest is closing up His work of mediation and pre-advent judgment, and is “justification by faith in verity.” It also includes this assignment: “In the very time which we live, the Lord has called His people and has given them a message to bear. He has called them to expose the wickedness of the man of sin who has made the Sunday law a distinctive power, who has thought to change times and laws, and to oppress the people of God who stand firmly to honor Him by keeping the only true Sabbath, the Sabbath of creation, as holy unto the Lord.” –E.G. White, Testimonies to Ministers, p. 118.
April 11, 2015: Pope Frances issued a Misercordiae Vultus—BULL OF INDICTION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY (Multimedia) which declares to the Roman Catholic Church’s votaries worldwide that their Holy Year called the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, will open on December 2015, eight months from today.
The historianJ. A. Wylie says: “The noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world.” – “The History of Protestantism, book I, ch. 4. The Holy Scriptures were almost unknown, not only to the people, but to the priests. Like the Pharisees of old, the papal leaders hated the light which would reveal their sins. God’s law, the standard of righteousness, having been removed, they exercised power without limit, and practiced vice without restraint. Fraud, avarice, and profligacy prevailed. Men shrank from no crime by which they could gain wealth or position.
Monotheism and Polytheism: Monotheism literally means “the belief in only one God.” The three major world monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Arab American Museum claims that “all three originated on what is known today as the Arab world.” It says further that:
Judaism is the oldest, being 3500 years old. “Jews believe that God made a promise (called the first covenant) to Abraham, the he would be a father to a great people if he followed God’s instructions. Jews believe that God renewed the covenant (the second covenant) with Moses, who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt . God also revealed the 10 commandments to the Jews as a set of rules to follow.”
