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Mid-week Manna

The Law of God and the Cross of Christ Series – No 2 :THE WAYS OF ESCAPE PROVIDED FROM THE FALL

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
March 13, 2024

The Law of God and the Cross of Christ Series – No 2

THE WAYS OF ESCAPE PROVIDED FROM THE FALL
    “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man [beginning with the first Adam to Christ, ‘the second Adam’] but God is faithful, who will not suffer [permit] you to be tempted above that which are able; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it [not yield, cave into, ensnared].” 1 Cor. 10: 13, KJV (all words in brackets mine).

    In divine love and wisdom, omniscient God Creator provided “ways to escape” sin, the transgression of His law and its “wages” which is eternal death, while preserving the everlasting nature and immutability of His law which is the transcript of His character, the foundation of His eternal throne, the rule of His kingdom.  The “Way of ways” of course is Jesus Christ the Creator, “the Word from the beginning” who was “made flesh and dwelt among us” in the “great mystery godliness” manifested to men and angels in His incarnation (John 1:1-3, 14; 3:16; 1 Tim. 3:16). Indeed, “He is THE WAY, the truth, and the life.”

     Thus, it is only in and through Christ that all the other “ways of escape” for the sinner are found, namely: the remedial plan of salvation/redemption in type and antitype: the former as 1) the gospel in symbols in  force during the Old Covenant, Mosaic, Jewish dispensation and its ceremonial systems of the Old Testament period. All surrounded and centered upon the earthly sanctuary and its services
2) the antitypical Christian dispensation of the New Testament period. All center now upon the heavenly sanctuary made up of the holy and most holy places under the New Covenant, where Christ as merciful High Priest has been interceding since His ascension and is currently Judging His professed people on earth by the records of the books of heaven.

     Nevertheless, whether during the Mosaic Old Testament dispensation beginning with the fall in Eden or the present   Christian Era, the “way of escape” of the Gospel plan, being “everlasting,” is the same, stated as follows:
     “The gospel is a system of practical truths destined to work great changes in the human character. If it does not work the transformation in life, in habits, and practice, IT IS NO TRUTH to those who claim to believe it. Man must be sanctified through the truth. Said Jesus, ‘Thy word is truth’ (John 17:17). Unless the truth of God shall lift up man out of his depravity, his intemperate and profligate habits, and make him REFLECT THE IMAGE OF GOD, he is lost!” -E.G. White, Letter 14, Mar 13. 1885.

    “The central power of the earth is a demon [Satan himself]. His throne is in the MIDST of the world, where should have been seen the throne of God. He [Satan] has been patronized by the church, for the church has been conformed to the world, and is living IN TRANSGRESSION OF THE HOLY LAW OF GOD.

     “Christ gave Himself to RANSOM man from the POWER of the destroyer. By becoming the sin-Bearer HE BROKE the power of Satan. He says, ‘I will become the Center of the redeemed world. ‘All holy agencies,’ saith God, ‘will I set in operation to oppose the armies of the INVISIBLE foe, to destroy his power. The eternal agency of the Holy Spirit shall RESCUE man from the EFFECTS of sin, and RESTORE in him the image of God.’ . . . The Lord will not let His human treasure with Christ, its Head, go into the enemy’s ranks without EVERY EFFORT made in their behalf. [But] THEIR ONLY HOPE IS TO DO DO THE COMMANDMENTS. This is THE GOSPEL which has been sounding down along the lines TO OUR TIME.” Ibid, Letter 78, Jan. 20, 1900.

Next MWM we will consider the very first “way of escape” given to Adam and Eve, God willing. Bless all, NMF,

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Mid-week Manna

THE LAW OF GOD AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST SERIES

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
March 6, 2024

THE LAW OF GOD AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST SERIES

It was sin, the transgression of God’s immutable law, that necessitated the Cross of Christ the incarnated Creator and Lawgiver, whereby He would “magnify the law and make it honorable” (Isa. 8:20).

We launch this series with an excerpt from the Introduction of “The Cross and Its Shadow” by Stephen Haskell, published 1914 (emphasis mine):

“In the government of God, law is the basis upon which everything is made to rest. Law is the foundation of God’s throne, the stability of His government and character, and the expression of His love and wisdom. 

 “Disobedience of this law caused the fall of LUCIFER [into Satan, ‘the enemy of God and man’] and his host [one third of the angels in heaven]. Disobedience to God’s commands by ADAM and EVE opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, and plunged the whole human family into impenetrable [spiritual] darkness. 

“But divine love has conceived a plan whereby man might be REDEEMED. This plan was revealed in [the first prophecy and] promise, ‘I will put ENMITY between thee [the serpent as the first disguise and medium of Satan] and the woman [Eve, then Mary, as a symbol of the true woman-church of the ages against which “the dragon makes war with,” and between thy seed [the children of disobedience] and her seed [Christ first, then the faithful of the seven churches during the Christian Era, then the end-time  “remnant of her Seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus,’ Rev. 12: 17; cf. 19:10]; It [the ‘Seed’ Christ Jesus] shall bruise thy [Satan’s] head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” Gen. 3:15, KJV. 

“Since the divine law is as sacred as Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement [or ‘propitiation’] for its transgression. Hence, the seed of the woman could refer to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In this promise to our first parents a GLEAM OF HOPE PENETRATED THE GLOOM that enveloped the minds of the [now] sinful pair, and when A SYSTEM OF SACRIFICE was made known to them that DEMANDED THE LIFE OF AN INNOCENT VICTIM, they could see more clearly the IMPORT of the promise [and prototypical prophecy],—-that it involved the DEATH OF GOD’S DEAR SON TO ATONE FOR THEIR SIN AND MEET THE CLAIMS OF THE BROKEN LAW. 

“Through this system of sacrifices, THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS reached back to the beginning [of the first-ever lamb offered at Eden, its skin used by God to cover the naked bodies of Adam and Eve which they tried to cover in vain with literal fig leaves, representing their own works of a bloodless sacrifice]. 

“It was the REFLECTION FROM THE CROSS that reached back to the [long-lived[ ANTEDILUVIAN AGE, and kept alive the hope of the FAITHFUL FEW in those years of weary waiting. It was faith in the CROSS [of Christ’s future sacrifice at Calvary] that sustained NOAH and his family during that terrible experience when God was punishing the world [with the Flood] for the TRANSGRESSION OF HIS HOLY LAW.

 “It was a knowledge of the CROSS and its significance that caused ABRAHAM to forsake his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and sojourn with his sons in a land of strangers. It is written of him, ‘He believed in the Lord [and His promised sacrifice prefigured in the typical sacrificial offerings and animals, lambs in particular] and He accounted it to him for righteousness.’ 

“In prophetic vision, MOSES was permitted to see the CROSS OF CHRIST, and understand more fully the significance of the BRAZEN SERPENT he lifted up in the wilderness for the healing of the people. It was this view that took away the STING of punishment of his own sin [of striking the rock twice in anger over Israel’s incessant murmuring and complaining,  instead of once as God instructed him], and reconciled him to the decree that, ‘he must die in the mount, and be gathered [buried] with his people.’ 

“The simple system of sacrifices instituted by the Lord in the beginning to SYMBOLIZE, or PREFIGURE, CHRIST, was almost totally LOST SIGHT OF during the BONDAGE of the children of Israel in Egypt. Upon their return to Canaan [after the 40-year wilderness wandering] Moses, by divine direction, gave them a MORE ELABORATE SYSTEM, designated in the Scriptures as the ‘SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICES.’ This earthly  sanctuary, with EVERY MINUTIA of its construction, equipment, and service, was to be built and operated in harmony with THE PATTERN OF THE HEAVENLY [Sanctuary] shown to him in Mount Sinai. 

Every form, ceremony, and detail of this service had a significance, and was designed to give the WORSHIPPER a more complete understanding of the GREAT REMEDIAL SYSTEM [of the true and whole gospel of Jesus Christ!].” (end of excerpt)

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

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Mid-week Manna

CHRIST—THE LAW IN LIVING FLESH—DEMONSTRATED ITS AUTHORITY OVER SATAN AND DEMONS

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
June 8, 2022

CHRIST—THE LAW IN LIVING FLESH—DEMONSTRATED ITS AUTHORITY OVER SATAN AND DEMONS (“in the mouth of two or three witnesses truth is established.”)

The awesome and reassuring truth stated in the above title that God in Christ exercises ultimate authority and power over Satan and his evil angel-demons, is witnessed to by these three “witnesses”:

Example No. 1.
The dramatic experience of the ancient patriarch who was “the richest man in the East” of his generation yet was “a perfect and upright man who escheweth evil.” Read the book of Job, written by Moses.

When God permitted Satan to afflict Job to prove his accusation that he was only faithful because of God’s blessing and protection, He defined the limits of how far Satan could employ all his most diabolical schemes and cruelty against the unsuspecting target. “Do all you want with him but kill him, God said. “Thus far and no further.” Satan immediately unleashed his scorched-earth attack upon all of Job’ s vast properties, herds, servants, then killing all his ten children of three daughters and ten sons, sparing only his wife.

Then Satan turned to his ultimate target: Job himself. Obeying God’s specified limitation of not taking away his life, Satan proceeded to torture Job, without touching him, by inflicting him with terrible boils from the crown of his head down to the soles of his feet. (Satan is the mastermind behind all manner of diseases and sicknesses that have vexed mankind since the fall). All that the disconsolate sufferer could manage to do was to “sit on ashes” and use pieces of broken pottery to scrape away the pus oozing out of the boils he could reach.

As if the imponderable loss of all his properties and ten children were not enough to break his indomitable will and patience of a saint, his wife, of all people, instead of of being his designated “helpmate and better half,” told him, adding insult to injury, “curse God and die.”

This is when and where the awe-inspiring, succinct, and concise declaration of pure faith and trust were spoken that have echoed down the stream of the ages to the very close of fine by all who have and will glorify God, pleasing Him by “doing His will in magnifying His law and making it honorable.”

Here they are as spoken by Job under extreme duress [emphasis mine[: “I have esteemed His WORDS more than my necessary food,” and “Though He slay me yet will I serve Him.” Unconditional and uncompromising fidelity, loyalty, trust, confidence and obedience to God’s word and His law! God regarded Job after by returning all that he had lost, tenfold!

Among all the astonishing takeaways from this Biblical record is that Satan, the adversary of God and man, the prince of the devils, of this world, of the power of the air, OBEYS God and His spoken command!

We will consider the next two examples in the following MWMs, God willing. Bless all, NMF

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Mid-week Manna

THE LAW GIVES WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR’S NAT’S DESK:
April 27, 2022

THE LAW GIVES WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

David declared (emphasis mine: “O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thou through Thy commandments hast made me WISER than my enemies: for they [the commandments] are ever with me. I have MORE UNDERSTANDING than all my teachers; for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I UNDERSTAND MORE than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts.”’Ps. 119: 97-100. “Thy word is a LIGHT unto my feet and a LAMP unto my path,” verse 105.

The apostle James, defined the divine law as “the perfect law of liberty” the “royal law,”’because it is the law of Christ the King of kings, Lord of lords, and God of gods.” In the gospel plan, God exalts, magnifies, and declares His law as “the LAW OF LIBERTY” (and freedom) for all sinners who are truly repentant and fully converted, have it “written in the two tables of the heart and mind” under the terms of the New Covenant (Heb. 8: 10-12; 10:16,17; Eze. 11-19,20; 36:26, 27).

As they do the will of God as defined in His law they are freed from the condemnation and guilt of transgressing the law of God (not man) that exclusively defines SIN as “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3-4). And “the wages of sin is DEATH” (Rom. 6:23). Empowered by grace unto willing, intelligent and joyful obedience to the precept and principles of the law, they are liberated from carnal bondage to the thralldom of sin, strange obsession with the “mystery of iniquity,” and the “WISDOM that descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish”(James 3:15).that invariably results in willing slavery to the master enslaver. tyrant, and deceiver, Satan, whom Christ further described as “the murderer from the beginning and the father of lies (John 8:44).

“Adam and Eve, at their creation, had a KNOWLEDGE of the law of God; they were ACQUAINTED with it’s claims upon them; ITS PRECEPTS WERE WRITTEN UPON THEIR HEARTS. When men fell by transgression the law was NOT changed, but a REMEDIAL SYSTEM was established to bring him back to OBEDIENCE.

The promise of a Savior was given [Gen.3:15] and SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS POINTING FORWARD TO THE DEATH OF CHRIST as the great sin offering were established. But had the LAW of God never been transgressed, there would have been NO DEATH, and NO NEED OF A SAVIOR.

“Adam TAUGHT his descendants the law of God, and it was handed down from father to son for successive generations. But notwithstanding the gracious provision for man’s redemption, there were FEW that accepted it and rendered obedience. By TRANSGRESSION [of God’s law of love] the world became SO VILE that it was NECESSARY to cleanse it by the FLOOD from its corruption.

The law was PRESERVED by Noah and his family, and Noah TAUGHT his descendants the Ten Commandments. As men again departed from God, the Lord chose Abraham, of whom He declared, ‘Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, MY COMMANDMENTS, MY STATUTES, AND MY LAWS.’ Gen.26:5. To him was given the RITE OF CiRCUMCISION, which was a SIGN [seal or mark] that those who received it were devoted to the service of God,—a PLEDGE that they would remain SEPARATE from idolatry, and would OBEY THE LAW OF GOD.” E. G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, p. 363.

As long as the patriarchs faithfully preserved God’s law by obedience and instructed their descendants to do the same, the KNOWLEDGE of God, His righteous character and His plan of redemption became their WISDOM, which was far greater than the combined wisdom of the wisest men of their respective generations. The same is true, but in a cumulative degree and sense, for the faithful remnant of the final generation!

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

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Mid-week Manna

GOD IS LOVE: SO IS HIS LAW

MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
April 6, 2022

GOD IS LOVE: SO IS HIS LAW

Among many others of original precept and principle in the Sacred Word, the following few attest to this eternal truth: God is Love, so is His Law.
First, petition the throne of grace for the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then read from your Bibles (preferably the KJV) the following:
1 John 4: 7, 8. 16. Speaking through David of Himself, Christ declared (emphasis mine): “O how I LOVE THY LAW! It is My meditation all the day.” Ps. 119: 97. The invisible God the Father of love is revealed in His visible (readable) written Word but more so in His visible “only-begotten Son” “by whom the worlds were created by Him and FOR Him” (Col.1: 16, 17; cf. John 1: 1-3, 10; Heb. 1: 1-3, 8, 9, etc.).

Of Christ Jesus, “the EXPRESS IMAGE of the glory of the presence” of the INVISIBLE Father of LOVE, life, light, and truth John declares: “That which was from the beginning, which we have HEARD, which we have SEEN with our own eyes, which we LOOKED UPON, and OUR HANDS HAVE HANDLED, of the Word of life”(1 John 1:1).

The reason why HATRED is worsening in the world in all its myriad forms and expressions whether unfeigned, overtly expressed, or physically demonstrated aggressively or is sly, suggestive, or implied but just as virulent, evil, corrosive, and destructive, is because the LOVE of God, who hates all evil and unrighteousness, including hatred for His law which enjoins love for our fellow men and fellow sinners is because God’s love does not abide and control the heart and mind (as was the experience and thus the expression of John and his fellow disciples!).

And in eternal things, there exists no void of neutral grounds. There are only two masters in this fallen, sinful world: Christ the Savior of mankind and Redeemer of the world He created, or Satan the master usurper, pretender, deceiver, “the enemy of God and man” and destroyer of souls.

By the knowledge and light of truth made available to us individually during our conscious and rational lifetime, as free moral agents, we choose whom we worship and serve (obedience
is the highest form of worship) whether God in Christ unto eternal life, or Satan, pretending to be God or Christ through his main agencies, unto eternal death.

The reason why LAWLESSNESS, which invariably breeds and results in all manner and degrees of disruptive disunity, confusion, unbridled passions, gross intemperance, mayhem, anarchy, revolts, bloodshed, pain, suffering, and death is because the LAW of God has been, for so long derided, trampled upon underfoot, called a “burden” and a “curse” and then blasphemously replaced by counterfeit, man-made religious laws by the apostate churches and denominations and blindly embraced by their sincere yet gullible votaries and adherents who have been taught from childhood to implicitly trust their religious leaders, honor the decretals of church councils, venerated traditions and long-held superstitions over the “Thus saith the Lord,” and “It is written” of the the sacred Bible.

Until next week’s MWM, God bless all, NMF.

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Daily Manna Devotionals

MY PERSONAL PRAYER AND DESIRE FOR YOU

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MY PERSONAL PRAYER AND DESIRE FOR YOU

This prayer and desire embraces all the law-abiding, law-loving living saints of God, because we can only pray for the living, not the dead saints, for “the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward [such as “posthumous rewards,” etc.]; for the memory of them is forgotten.”…. “for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, wither thou goest” (Eccl. 9: 5, 10).

This personal prayer and desire for you during these most solemn, dwindling hours of probation, are inspired by, contained in, and expressed through a personal emphasized, reading of Colossians 1: 9-14, KJV. Please open your bibles and join me as we establish and reinforce our church family fellowship connection and interrelationships, and electrify the loop and enrich the content and substance of our communications and interactions. So here it is:

“For this cause (“the word of the truth of the gospel,” “the knowledge of the grace of God in truth,” and our “love in the Spirit,” vs 5, 6, 8) I also, since the day I heard it, do not cease to PRAY for you, and to DESIRE that you might be FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WIlLL IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.

That you might walk (live the course of your life) WORTHY OF THE LORD unto all, pleasing, BEING FRUITFUL (not barren or “reprobate”) IN EVERY GOOD WORK (for “faith without works is dead”), and INCREASING (daily) in the KNOWLEDGE of God, STRENGTHENED WITH ALL MIGHT, according to CHRIST’S GLORIOUS POWER, to ALL PATIENCE AND LONG SUFFERING WITH JOYFULNESS.

Giving thanks (“without ceasing,” meaning having the attitude of) unto the Father, who has made us meet (fitted through sanctification) to be PARTAKERS of the INHERITANCE [justification is our title to, and sanctification is our fitness for this] OF THE SAINTS.

For Jesus, through the workings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds has delivered us from (not in) the power of darkness of the prince of darkness and his HOSTS of evil into the KNOWLEDGE of His dear Son:

In and through whom we have REDEMPTION [purchased through HIS BLOOD not by our good works], even the forgiveness of our sins [that have been repented of, and turned away from].”

In the only name under heaven by which and whom we are saved from sinning, Jesus Christ, first, the Son of God, then the Son of man. Amen.

Remember to overcome one day at a time progressively, and one prayer at a time, hence the need to pray daily! NMF

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Devotionals

THE HUMANITY OF JESUS

September 27, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE HUMANITY OF JESUS

Whenever mortal sinners like you and me approach the subject of the Incarnation of Christ, we are warned to “take off your shoes from your feet for the ground in which you are standing is holy ground.” We would do well to take heed! Let all remember that “spiritual things can only be discerned spiritually.” The carnal mind disqualifies itself “for it is at enmity against God’s law.”

Now, please read Hebrews 2: 5-8 first. Then consider these:

“Christ is presented here as being ‘lower than the angels,’ though ‘crowned with glory and honor.’ He is shown to be VERY MAN, as truly as in the first chapter He is shown to be VERY GOD. His humanity enables Him to be the kind of High Priest [merciful and all-powerful Intercessor, Mediator, Advocate] men need.

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Devotionals

GRACE IS FOR FALLEN MEN, NEVER FALLEN ANGELS

September 9, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

GRACE IS FOR FALLEN MEN, NEVER FALLEN ANGELS 

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men.”

Titus 2:11, KJV.

“Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:!

  1. “Have sinned,” is not the same as “will.”

“By disobeying the commands of God, man [beginning with the first Adam], men fell under [the condemnation] of His Law. This called for the GRACE of God to appear in behalf of sinners. We should never have learned the meaning of this word, grace, had we not fallen!