Tag: God

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 1, 2023

GOD’S SAVING ENMITY
Part 5

Again, Genesis 3:15 is the beginning of all the prophecies and promises of the Bible, as fleshed out in the everlasting gospel plan prepared before the foundations of the earth were laid for creation. If we truly desire to know “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” i. e., “the truth as it is in Jesus” that saves fallen, sinful humanity FROM (not “in”) the power of sin, “the world, the flesh and the devil,” we first must learn to trace from cause to effect.

Indeed, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The consequences of a seemingly “small” wrong choice or a “minor” yet willful digression from God’s express will as revealed “unto the law and testimony” (Isa. 8:20), can and has resulted in humiliating, painful, long-lasting, and in the Fall at Eden, global consequences—such as the sinful curiosity of Eve and Adam’s obsessive love for her over their Creator.

Paul precisely refers to this, declaring: “Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . .

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come [as the promised ‘Seed of the woman.’].” Rom. 5: 12, 14.

The omnipotent mouth that simply spoke into existence both “the heaven and earth and all that in them is” in six literal days of 24 hours (except the creation of man which He formed with His own hands from the dust of the ground of Eden) was the same mouth that pronounced and defined the true nature of the GREAT CONTROVERSY on EARTH (which first started in heaven, Rev. 12: 3-9), the main issue between the two armies and their respective commanders-in-chief; as to who eventually emerges victorious; and by what master strategy, method, and plan.

Abel the First Martyr; Cain the First Murderer. The murder of Abel by his own elder brother Cain (the very first two sons of Adam and Eve, their very first “seed”) is both the first example of the enmity between “Satan and his seed and the woman and her seed;” it is also the type of the antitypical declaration of Christ four thousand years after the fall in Eden to all His first faithful followers on earth in the New Testament, Christian dispensation, starting with the First Twelve disciples (in training).

He solemnly told them, as “it is written” in the following Scriptures found in
Matt. 10: 16- 18, 21-25, 32-39, KJV. all emphasis mine):
“Behold, I send you forth as SHEEP among WOLVES: be ye therefore WISE as serpents, and HARMLESS as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils [of apostate religions such as “the beast and its image,” Rev. 13], and they will scourge you in their synagogues [places of religious worship and activity]. And you shall be brought before governors and kings [politically corrupt secular and state powers-that-be] for My sake, for a testimony AGAINST them and for the Gentiles. . . . And the BROTHER SHALL DELIVER UP THE BROTHER TO DEATH, AND THE FATHER THE CHILD: AND THE CHILDREN SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEIR PARENTS, AND CAUSE THEM TO BE PUT TO DEATH. And you shall be HATED [the enmity in action and at work] of all men for My name’s sake; but HE THAT ENDURETH TO THE END SHALL BE SAVED.

“But when they PERSECUTE you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The DISCIPLE is not above the MASTER nor the SERVANT above his LORD. It is ENOUGH for the disciple that he be AS his Master, and the servant AS his Lord. If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub [‘prince of devils’|, how much MORE shall they call them of His household? 

 “Whosoever therefore shall CONFESS ME before men, him will I confess ALSO before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall DENY ME before men, him will I ALSO DENY before My Father which is in heaven. 

 “Think not that I am come [in His first advent] to  send PEACE on earth: I came not to send peace but a SWORD. For I am come to SET A MAN AT VARIANCE [enmity] AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND THE DAUGHTER AGAINST THE MOTHER, AND THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW. AND A MAN’S FOE [enemy at enmity] SHALL BE THEY OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD. 

“He that loveth FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN Me is NOT WORTHY of Me: and he loveth SON OR DAUGHTER more than Me not worthy of Me. And he that taketh NOT HIS CROSS [as defined above], and followeth after Me [My example] is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life [for his self’s sake] shall lose it: and   he that loseth his life [for Christ and righteousness’ sake] shall find it.”

Moreover, Jesus said of this manifested enmity (see chapter 15: 1-27): “These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended. [why?] “They shall put you out of the synagogues [accused and anathemized as “soulless heretics’ consigned damnation and eternal torment of hell fire’]: yea, THE TIME COMETH, that whosoever KILLETH YOU will think that HE DOETH GOD SERVICE. And these things will they do unto you, because they had not known the Father nor Me.” John 16: 1-3, KJV.

If we do not invoke the grace-imparted anew principle of enmity/hatred that God put immediately after the fall between Satan and the woman and their respective “seeds,” we will invariably become the most efficient agents of Satan and the worst enemies of God’s faithful people in these last days. Therefore “examine yourselves, prove yourselves whether you are really in the true “faith of Jesus.”

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 25, 2023

GOD’S SAVING ENMITY-Part 4

“But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and HATETH INIQUITY; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, IN THE BEGINNING hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thy hands: They shall perish; but Thou REMAINEST; and they shall all wax old as does a garment. And as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL NOT FAIL.” Heb. 1: 8-14, KJV.

Apostle Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote these holy Scriptures but the real author is Jesus the Word, who is the
“Author and Finisher of our faith,” the “Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End,” “the One altogether lovely” and is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Apostle John, called “the beloved disciple” in the New Testament (prophet Daniel was also called “the beloved” in the Old Testament), likewise moved by the same Holy Spirit, penned the sublime words of life and truth describing differently, yet in perfect harmony and unity with Paul, who addressed his epistle Hebrews, to the Hebrew-speaking Jews in his time (Galatians was addressed to the Gentile converts to early Christianity).

In the introduction of the the fourth of the “synoptic gospel” books, John wrote of the same “Son whom God the Father addresses as God” (Jesus Himself declared, “I and My Father are one”), in these
“In the BEGINNING was the WORD and the Word was with God AND THE WORD WAS GOD. The SAME was in the beginning with GOD. All things were MADE by Him; and without Him was not ANYTHING made that was made. In Him was LIFE; and the life was the LIFE of men.” John 1: 1-4, KJV (emphasis mine).

Then, following in verse 14, John helps those spiritually-minded to begin grasping the spiritual depths of the “mystery of godliness” (cf. 1 Tim. 3:16)of the mystery of the incarnation:

“And the WORD WAS MADE FLESH and dwelt among us (and we beheld His GLORY, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.” (emphasis mine).

It is the “glory” of “fulness of saving “grace and truth”—not the luminous, physical-vision-blinding glory—that John and his fellow disciple-apostles “beheld,” i. e., eventually spiritually discerned only after His resurrection and ascension, after the promised descent and empowerment by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Indeed, God’s amazing GRACE in the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” from the power of sin and Satan and his “seed.” And “the TRUTH that shall “make us free” from the alluring bondage and slavery to our cherished, self-centered, self-indulgent sins is the ENMITY, the new principle of HATRED against INIQUITY or sin, “transgression of the law,” and further described as: “All unrighteousness is sin,” and “to him that knoweth to DO good, and doeth it NOT, to him it is SIN.”

Not until we correctly interpret, properly appropriate and faithfully apply the divine provisions of God’s ENMITY towards sin and God’s GRACE which “MUCH MORE abounds where and when sin abounds,” will the professed Christian become a victorious OVERCOMER over “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” And Jesus the Word made flesh says, and our Example says,” “overcome EVEN AS I overcame,” if you want to “sit down and sup with Me now, then later after My return, to be part of My bride at the “wedding supper of the Lamb.”

So TODAY, if you WILL hear His voice, HARDEN NOT your hearts.”

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

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 18, 2023

GOD’S SAVING ENMITY
Part 3

Without the enmity which God immediately “put between the serpent and his seed and the woman and her seed” (Gen. 3:15), immediately after the transgression and fall of Eve, followed by Adam, in Eden, there was nothing natural or intrinsic in man’s nature to counteract the mysterious power of the “mystery of iniquity” to unite Satan and his fallen angel “seed” with man, now fallen and sinful.

Apostasy and rebellion by a third of the angels led by Lucifer, against the rest of the loyal angels led by Christ, eventually resulted in the first (and last) war ever in heaven. Lucifer and his “seed” of rebellious angels were defeated and cast out of heaven and “fell” to the freshly-created earth.

Lucifer’s pride over his unparalleled beauty and excellence in knowledge, power, and privileged position and honor as a “covering cherub,” led to covetousness and jealousy against the preeminence of Christ the Creator over all heaven, all created beings and all creation.

Lucifer and all the angels were mere created angels to serve exclusively as “ministering spirits” and “all were to worship Christ only.” (Ps.104: 4; 103: 20, 21; Heb. 1: 6, 7). They were of a fixed number and had no power, reason, or purpose for multiplication by procreation. Thus they are sexless. When an angel falls he becomes a fiend. No plan of redemption exists for them for they were not “made in the image and likeness of God,” as only man was. Since then a third in the original number of angels remains “unfilled.” The plan of salvation for fallen men includes the provision for this “vacancy.” But it is not as most would carelessly opine and presumptuously assert. (A subject for another time).

This thing called “enmity,” was first manifested, mysteriously, in heaven, as part of the “mystery of iniquity.” It was LUCIFER’S (later called “the great dragon, the old serpent, Satan, the devil.” Rev. 12: 3-9). HATRED against Christ and His law, asserting the latter could not be kept by created beings and still enjoy “freedom, liberty, and happiness.” He secretly desired more and all the attention, adulation, reverence, and worship due to Christ only for himself. But “The first and greatest of all commandments” and the highest form of love and worship is to “love God with ALL your heart, all your mind, all your might or strength” (see Matt. 22: 35-38: Luke 10:25-18).

Lucifer coveted this “all.” And this led to jealousy, scheming, subtle subterfuge, and primordial “politicking”among the angels, which finally broke out openly in rebellion and finally, war. Since angels are spirits and not made of flesh and blood, this first conflict of the great controversy was “bloodless,”nonetheless an all-out, “scorched-heaven,” and pivotal war bearing eternal consequences.(See Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4).

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Bless all, NMF.

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
January 4, 2023

GOD’S SAVING ENMITY

It’s already the fourth day of the new year 2023. If you have already started implementing whatever resolutions, quickly yet prayerfully add this “new principle,” which, in fact and truth, is as “old and ancient” as the fall in Eden but is as potent as when first given, and even more critically vital as we near the stupendous closing events of the great controversy between good and evil laid out in the closing chapters of the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation.

Instill this divine principle in your heart and mind and inject it into your mental and spiritual arsenal of the “whole armor of God”(Eph. 6: 10-18).

See Gen. 3: 15. Enmity is a translation from the Hebrew and Greek words that means hatred; trouble; agitation; variance; hostility; a reason for opposition.”

It was God Creator who put this new principle of enmity or hatred between Satan and man immediately after the fall—the first of all PROVISIONS that accompany all of His promises and prophecies.

“[Gen. 3: 15 quoted]. The divine SENTENCE pronounced against SATAN after the fall of man, was also a PROPHECY, embracing all the ages to the close of time, and foreshadowing the GREAT CONFLICT to engage all races of men who should live upon the earth.

“God declares, ‘I will put enmity.’ THIS ENMITY IS NOT NATURALLY ENTERTAINED. When man transgressed the divine law [hence sinned and fell in Eden], his nature [instantly] became EVIL, and he was IN HARMONY, and NOT IN VARIANCE, with Satan. [This is part of the ponderous “mystery of iniquity” or sin].

“There exists naturally NO ENMITY between sinful man and the originator of sin [Satan, the enemy of God and man, “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning;” the “old serpent;” the devil]. Both became evil through APOSTASY [a falling away from the truth, disobedience and rebellion against God’s law].

The apostate is NEVER AT REST [never has Christ’s peace “that passeth understanding”], except as he obtains SYMPATHY AND SUPPORT by inducing others to follow his example. For this reason, fallen angels and wicked men UNITE IN DESPERATE COMPANIONSHIP.

“Had not God SPECIALLY interposed, Satan and man would have entered into an ALLIANCE against Heaven; and instead of cherishing ENMITY against Satan, the WHOLE HUMAN FAMILY would have been united in opposition to God.” (From the inspired pen of E. G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., Pacific Press Publishing Asso., p. 505. All emphasis and words in brackets mine).

To be continued next MWM, God willing. Remain blessed and “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” NMF

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
December 21, 2022

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS UNVEILED BEFORE THE EYES OF MAN AND ANGELS IN GOD INCARNATE IN A MANGER OF ANIMALS

First, you can, if you will, find time in your multi-layered, multi-tasking hectic and stressful schedules during these unprecedented, mind-boggling times, to literally take a pause. Take your Bible (preferably the KJV or NKJV) and read, “pondering in your heart,” the following verses in this order, focusing on the “Seed of the woman”: Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4: 4, 5; John 3:16: Matthew 1: 21-23.

Then follow these scriptures (all emphasis and bracketed words mine]:
“And without controversy, GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels [both the holy and the fallen angel-demons], preached [first to His own people, the Jews, then to the] Gentiles, believed on in the world [by the true believers], received up into glory [after His death, resurrection, and ascension].” 1 Tim. 3: 16, KJV.

If we are truly convinced and fully convicted that Christ indeed is the REASON we celebrate the Christmas SEASON, then our most precious thoughts and affections would center upon the glorious revelation of the great mystery of godliness, when, according to the plan of redemption, God Creator was manifested “before man and angels” as the promised “Seed of the woman,” made in the flesh and blood nature of man four thousand years after the Fall in Eden.

Love divine and love excelling, unfolded in the humblest yet immaculately-pure and majestic simplicity of the birth of the only begotten Son of God into the Son of man, when and where divinity was manifest in humanity in the unfallen universe in greatest act of divine condescension—-the incarnation!

Without ever ceasing to be God, the Creator became a Man to walk among men for thirty-three and a half years, beginning as every human does “according to natural law, an infant “born of a woman” but of a virgin birth,” Mary being “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.”

In the Incarnation God Bound Himself to Humanity with Ties that can Never be Broken.

“In STOOPING to take upon Himself HUMANITY, Christ [the Creator] revealed a character OPPOSITE the character of Satan [the fallen covering cherub, Lucifer]. But He stepped STILL LOWER in the path of humiliation. [Phil. 2:8].

“Christ was treated as WE deserve, that we might be treated as HE deserves. He was condemned for OUR sins, which He had no share, that we might be justified [forgiven; pardoned] by His righteousness, in which we had no share, He suffered the DEATH which was OURS, that we might receive the LIFE which was HIS. ‘With His stripes we are healed.’. . . .

“In taking our nature, the Savior has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is LINKED with us [John 3:16 quoted]. He [the Father] gave Him NOT only to BEAR our sins, and to DIE as our sacrifice; HE GAVE HIMSELF TO THE HUMAN RACE. [God gave divinity to to humanity, even to the depths of fallen humanity].

“To assure us of His IMMUTABLE COUNSEL OF PEACE [Zech. 6:13; Heb. 6:17), God gave His only-begotten Son to BECOME ONE OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, FOREVER TO RETAIN HIS HUMAN NATURE.” E.G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 25-6 (emphasis mine).

In the incarnation, as visibly manifested in Christ’s birth, fallen humanity gained a new member of its family—the sinless “second Adam.” He partook of and will forever retain the human nature which He did not possess prior to the incarnation. And yet He never gave up His divinity. He who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” the “great I am,” “who changeth not,” never ceased to be God Creator when He became the Man Christ Jesus, the Savior of mankind whose promised second advent “draweth nigh: even at the door!”

It is only when we hold these profound, precious and glorious truths close to our hearts that we will truly understand, appreciate, and receive the specific blessings enfolded in the grand anthem sang by the celestial choir over the plains of Bethlehem at Christ’s birth. “Glory to God,‘peace on earth and good will towards man!”

Bless all, NMF.

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:

May 4, 2022

GOD’S LAW REVEALS THE EXCLUSIVELY ALL-ENCOMPASSING, INFINITELY INEXHAUSTIBLE AND UNEQUALLED POWER OF THE GODHEAD

What kind of power is this? The power of love, the power of wisdom, the power of creation, the power of redemption embodied in the comprehensive plan of redemption as taught in the sanctuary and its services, the power of His sacrificial atonement and His atoning blood shed for the remission and cleansing of sins repented of and confessed to Christ, the power of His enabling grace that is “greater than sin wherever it abounds;” the power to “overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil” in the same way Christ overcame in His incarnated human nature as “the second Adam;” the power to see the invisible by intelligent and living faith; the power to discern and understand the “deep mysteries of God” by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in His holy Word; the power to “please God” in all that we think, say, and do while yet in the sinful fallen nature and mortal state, as Enoch (the seventh patriarch from Adam) did and was translated to heaven without tasting death; the power to “fight the battle of the Lord where champions are few; the power to “do all things” that God desires and expects of us “through Christ who strengthens us;” the power to become “living epistles seems and read by all men,” and “spectacles unto the world, men, and angels” as “new creatures” in Christ Jesus” having been amazingly “transformed by the renewing of the mind,” in the midst and in spite of overwhelming odds to the contrary; the power to think, speak, and act “in the image and likeness” of Christ’s life example through His amazing, empowering grace! 

Character is power and the Law is a Transcript of Christ’s Character.

“Apostle Paul did not represent either the moral [Ten Commandments] or the ceremonial law as MINISTERS [pastors, theologians, and Bible teachers in the Christian mainstream] in our day venture to do so. Some cherish such antipathy to the law of God that they will go out of their way to denounce and stigmatize it! Thus they despise and pour contempt on the MAJESTY AND GLORY OF GOD. 

“The moral law was NEVER a type of a shadow. If existed BEFORE man’s creation, and will endure as long as GOD’s THRONE REMAINS. God could NOT change or alter one precept of His law in order to save [fallen] man, for THE LAW IS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS GOVERNMENT. It is UNCHANGEABLE, UNALTERABLE, INFINITE, AND ETERNAL. 

“In order for man to be saved, and for the HONOR of the law to be maintained, it was necessary for the Son of God to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin. ‘He who knew NO sin BECAME sin for us.’ He died for us on Calvary. His death shows the wonderful LOVE of God for man, and the IMMUTABILITY of His law!

“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass (or mirror) the glory of the Lord, are CHANGED into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the [Holy] Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor. 3:18). Christ is the sinner’s advocate. Those who accept HIS GOSPEL ‘behold Him with open face.’ [Meaning] They see the RELATION of His mission [on earth] to the law, and they acknowledge God’s wisdom and glory as revealed by the Savior. 
THE GLORY OF CHRIST IS REVEALED IN THE LAW, which is the transcript of His character and His TRANSFORMING EFFICACY is felt upon the soul UNTIL man become changed to His likeness! They are made ‘PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, and grow more and more like their Savior, ADVANCING step by step in CONFORMITY to the will of God till they reach PERFECTION [of moral character]. 

“The Law and the Gospel are in perfect harmony. Each upholds the other. In all its MAJESTY the law confronts the CONSCIENCE, causing the sinner to feel his NEED of Christ as the PROPITIATION [atonement] for his sin. The GOSPEL recognizes the POWER and immutability of the law. ‘I had not known sin, but by the law,’ Paul declares (Rom. 7:7). 

The SENSE OF SIN, URGED HOME [to the conscience] BY THE LAW, DRIVES THE SINNER TO THE SAVIOR.” (E. G. White, Vol. 1 Selected Messages, pp. 239-241. Emphasis mine).

Till next week’s MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF