What Evangelical Protestants Owe the German Princes?
To think that God acts in history by the intermediary of political actions of man, revolutionary or conservative, is the complete opposite of hope.- Jacques Ellul.
Ellen G. White in her book Great Controversy (1911 ed.), “Protest of the Princes” ch. 11, quoted below, reminds the remainder of evangelical Protestants of the epic history of the heroic struggle the vastly outnumbered German princes put up in refusing to compromise with Rome in the sixteenth century so that in this 21st century, Christianity is stillenjoying religious freedom and free access to God’s Word where over a thousand years these were treated as heresies punishable by some of the worst forms of torture invented through the Office of the Inquisition.
Photo Credit by Flickr/Desiree Williams, "Museum of the Confederacy"
FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER THREE- Part XXVII
What is a Confederacy?
“For the Lord thus spake to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of the people, saying, Say ye not, a Confederacy [“conspiracy,” NKJV], to all them to whom this people shall say, a Confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, not be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread…..To the law and the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ Isaiah 8: 11-13, 20, KJV.
“The question has been asked, What do mean by a Confederacy? Who have formed confederacies? You know that a confederacy is? —a union of men in a work that does not bear the stamp of pure, straightforward, unswerving integrity/” – Ellen G. White, Manuscript 29, 1911/4BC 1142.
Photo Credit/Flicker/Adam Jones/Stained Glass and Silhouetted Christ Statue - Lutheran Church - Sibiu - Romania
FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER THREE- Part XXVI
Is the Protestantism still alive 500 years after its birth?
We resume from where we left off last week on “The Three-fold Union of Protestantism, Romanism, and Spiritualism” and focus on the Protestant Reformation and where it is today. There are alternating sad and happy news. But our omniscient and omnipotent Lord and Savior, “the Alpha and Omega,” “the same yesterday, today, and forever” has promised eternal deliverance.
The Three-fold Union of Protestantism, Romanism and Spiritualism
“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation [the United States] will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she [Protestantism] shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism,
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER THREE – Part XXXIV “Three Mediums of Communication: Visions, Urim & the Prophets: Lessons for the Nations and the Church(es) Today – Part B”
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and Idolatry.” 1 Samuel 15: 11, 23, NKJV.
What is the right faith we must now possess while Christ is closing up His work of atonement in the most holy in heaven simultaneous with the work on earth in preparation for the close of probation, followed immediately by Christ’s glorious second coming?
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.”
