The Way (The Way)

The golden question - but what leads someone to ask that question? There are events that precede someone asking this question. What do they have to be exposed to? Are people still asking this question in the world today? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Kanye. Beiber. Selena Gomez. Carlos Santana. It seems like becoming a Christian is the new cool thing. Has that ever happened before? How do you know if someone is a Christian and is converted? Does it matter and should we even judge anyone for anything? Some say Christianity today is nothing more than paganism masquerading under a new outfit? Let's discussNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

There may be no greater yearning in the world than for friendship. Why though in an age where we have hundreds of 'online' friends does it seem like we have fewer and fewer real life friends? The story of David and Jonathan reveals the true secret to friendship. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Adairsville

January 29, 2022

 

 

The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.

Education

 

————-

Here on the top of Mt. Tabor, we can see the valley below. Israel is watching. They too recognize something great and decisive is about to take place. The morning had started out with a typical bright desert sunrise…but storm clouds seemed to be brewing…

 

Judges 4 - 1-7

 

——————————————-

In a land where metal weapons were exceedingly rare, King Jabin and the Commander of the Armed Forces - Sisera commanded nine hundred chariots of iron that made the plain of Esdraelon tremble as they rolled along in procession. 

 

These weren’t just any chariots - they were the new 900 Series with iron wheels, iron trim, and 4 foot diamond sharpened glittering blades jutting out of the center of each of the chariot wheels. As they spun at a few thousands RPMs, they would mow down an army like mowing through your grass.

 

And the frightened Hebrews would often peer down from the hills and thought that Jabin must be a mighty king, that Jabin and Sisera must be obeyed, all because of those chariots of iron - the flaunting symbol of that civilization’s military industrial complex.

 

 

God was ready to deliver his people. All they had to do was ask and finally they were asking. It had been 20 long years under the reign of Jabin and Sisera.

 

Judges 4:8-9

 

Every day Deborah listened to their tales of grief and their stories of pain and their record of oppression, the conviction grew in her mind that her people were tired of being afraid:  her people must be led to overcome their fear of those chariots of Jabin and Sisera. 

 

And so Deborah went about breaking the dark spell of discouragement and despair that hung over the Israelites.  She taught them how to believe again in a God who can do mighty miracles, and she taught them how to pray again.  And men and women, teenagers….began to change.

 

Deborah found herself at the heart of a genuine religious revolution, and she understood that the time had come for action.  And so she sent a message to the strongest man she could find, a tribal chief with the interesting name of Barak who lived one hundred miles to the north.

 

—the man whose very name meant “lightning”—he refused to go into battle unless Deborah went with him.

 

And Deborah didn’t hesitate. She could have. She was a mother in Israel, she was the voice of the nation. She was the voice of God to the people.There was no concern that she was a woman in a culture run by men…

 

She knew that God’s biddings were and are His enablings.

 

And down on the broad plain of Esdraelon, Sisera must have smiled to himself.  ‘Bring it on,’ he thought, perhaps like Goliath just a few years later, shouting “come down to us…with your sticks and stones.” Remember metal weapons weren’t common in Israel.  And when a man has nine hundred chariots of iron, he longs for something to do with them. Just like when the land of the free spends nearly 700 Billion dollars a year funding ‘defense’, some long for something to do with all these weapons….

 

But Sisera had made all of his calculations as though there was no God in the heavens watching out for His chosen people.  Sisera foolishly thought just like all of God’s enemies do that he was only dealing with a weak and pathetically helpless people,

 

The Battle —-Judges 4:10

 

Fast Forward over 1100 years, Paul is writing Hebrews and reminds us never to forget… the hero of this story….well let’s read it - Hebrews 11:32

 

You can imagine how perhaps that scene unfolded. As do many stories in the old testament…God often uses his creation to confound the wise.

 

Perhaps a storm of sleet and hail burst over the plain from the east in the face of Sisera and his men

 

Slingers and archers were limited. Others were stung by the cold

 

Deborah and all Israel had the storm to their back.

 

Flooding begins swelling the Kishon River

 

Chariots begin sinking in mud. Whatever happened, God showed up!

 

“The Song of Deborah” recorded in Judges 5 is treated by believer and skeptic alike as one of the greatest pieces of poetry of the ancient world. 

 

But in the midst of all this celebration and thanksgiving, there’s a note of great anger and bitterness.  In the 23rd verse of Judges 5, we read these lines that seem so strangely out of place:

 

“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord,

Curse bitterly its inhabitants,

Because they came not to the help of the Lord,

To the help of the Lord against the mighty.”

 

As Deborah is on the top of the mountain about to go to war with Israel and asking Barak where the tribe of Meroz is…Barak says they just didn’t want to come, they made excuses.

 

Jesus parable in Luke 14 tells us about many making excuses in the last moments of time….I bought some land, I got married, my portfolio needs attention…

 

But Deborah doesn’t accept any excuses.  With righteous fire in her eyes, she denounces those who chose the safety of hearth and home while the legions of Naphtali and Zebulon were risking their lives on the plain of Esdraelon.

An entire tribe and people has passed into the abyss of history, leaving only its name as a byword for shame and dishonor. 

For Meroz has come to stand for uselessness, Meroz has come to stand for neutrality when no good person can dare be neutral:  Meroz has come to stand for apathy when honest people can’t stand idly by.

 

If God abhors one sin above another, of which his people are guilty, it is of doing nothing in a case of emergency. Indifference or neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime; and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God. RH September 30, 1873,

 

But Meroz didn’t do anything so actively evil as playing traitor or spy.  No, Meroz simply did--nothing.  In the face of a monumental crisis confronting the people of God, Meroz carried on as though nothing unusual was happening. 

 

In a time of desperate conflict, an inactive friend is counted as an enemy. 

 

In a time of desperate conflict, an inactive friend is counted as an enemy.

 

 

• Martin Luther King Jr.
• “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

 

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." 

 

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal." 

 

 

if we’re lost in the end, I don’t think it will be primarily because of all the bad things we’ve done, even though there are a lot of those--but because we failed to do the good we could have done.

 

Jesus calls it nothing less than treason.

 

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Forgiveness is a very easy topic until someone steals money from you. This is a very easy topic until you find out they’ve been sleeping with her or him for at least a few years. It’s rainbows and unicorns until it gets real. It’s a neat topic for children but at some point in life – it gets real. It gets hard. The test of the true followers of Jesus is not loving your neighbors. It’s loving your absolutely awful neighbors – you know the ones who call the police on you. It’s not loving your wife, its loving her when she tells you what she did. It’s not loving your kids, it’s loving them when they tell you they are coming out of the closet. We talk about unconditional love, but for many of us – our love and our forgiveness are very conditional. Lets dig in. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Pride is arguably the foundation of all sin and selfishness. How do we fight this enemy? In our latest series on the 7 deadly sins, we begin with pride - where it all began. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

 

What is Love?

Adairsville – February 12, 2022

 

Google definition of love: 

an intense feeling of deep affection.

"she is madly in love with him”

 

a great interest and pleasure in something.

"his love for football"

 

57% of Millennials ( 26-41 ) have never been married compared with 17% of members of the Silent Generation when they were the same age.

48% of American adults are married — down from 72% in 1960.

1 Corinthians 13 -  tells us Love is very different than what google tells us. 

 

John 15:13 – There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

…The highest form of love

 

“no greater love can anyone have than laying down their life – their desires, passions, career, talents, and needs – all to help enrich someone else’s life? 

 

The Prince: which one? 

 

It is believed that David was anointed to be king around the age of 14 or so. He would not actually become king until he was 30 years old. The anointing of David by Samuel was done in secret and for years it was unknown to pretty much everyone. 

 

But slowly and gradually, whispers started to swell into open conversations. Jonathan, King Saul’s eldest son and true heir to the throne as Prince of Israel, was about 27 when he met David. This first meeting would likely have been on the edge of the Valley of Elah – where Goliath was taunting Israel for those 40 days. David, probably 17 at the time, was the boy who said he would fight Goliath. 

 

David has just killed Goliath and the army of Israel has begun to chase the Philistines away. 

 

1 Samuel 17:57-58

 

1 Samuel 18: 1 – 4

 

 

1 Samuel 19:1-2 and 5-10 – a Friend defends a friend – lays down their life for their friend

 

1 Samuel 23:14 –18

 

2 Samuel 1:25-26

 

On the record of those who through self-denial have entered into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, stand—one in the Old Testament and one in the New—the names of Jonathan and of John the Baptist. -Education 156

Jonathan, by birth heir to the throne, yet knowing himself set aside by the divine decree; to his rival the most tender and faithful of friends, shielding David's life at the peril of his own; steadfast at his father's side through the dark days of his declining power, and at his side falling at the last—the name of Jonathan is treasured in heaven, and it stands on earth a witness to the existence and the power of unselfish love. – Education 157

 

2 Samuel 9 – David shows kindness to Jonathan’s son

 

John 15:13 - There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

 

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We live in a world today where peer pressure is rising on all fronts. How do we deal with this? How do we react when our convictions come in conflict with the voice of the majority? Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages For even more messages, check out on IG/FB - @trythewayNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The Israelites are losing their grasp on who God is. They think God is the box - the ark of the covenant. In fact some today still think if only they had this box, they could conquer the world. But in this message we look at making sure we understand the source of power and not being deceived by symbols of power. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

We read in the closing pages of scripture about a group that Jesus says make it through to the very end - alive, without seeing death. They have an ingredient in their lives that is called The Faith of Jesus. Somehow this faith is seemingly different than typical faith - or is it? Join us as Dee Casper shares a powerful message on the closing scenes of Calvary. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Are we waiting on another time prophecy? Are we waiting on some event? What is it that stands between the second coming and the followers of God today? Perhaps not what many think. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Jesus shares one story with two groups of people with entirely different destinies. What made one group wise? This is part 2 from last week - we take a look at what it means to be wise in our day. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” – Mark Twain - There is perhaps no love language greater than kindness. The story of Abigail shows us the power of kindness that changed the course of history. Kindness still today has the power to change the world. But how to become kind - thats the real lesson.Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

How do we prepare for the unexpected in life? There are 4 ways to prepare. Join us as we dig in. Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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What happens when you're called out for being a conspiracy theorist? Are conspiracies even real? A recent Newsweek article identified Creationism and the belief that all things have a purpose as perhaps the ultimate conspiracy. So again it appears as though Science and Scripture are headed for a collision. Who will win? Is Scripture a conspiracy? Is Science a conspiracy? The good news is that you get to decide...right? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Message by Ernest StaatsNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What is the cost of unity? Can we be friends with people that have different opinions than us? How much room do we give someone in a relationship before we deem them just not up to our level? I got pretty fired up sharing this message. I hope it inspires you as much as it has me - Jared Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages For even more messages, check out on IG/FB - @trytheway Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Where is Jesus?

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Easter Stats: 

8 in 10 Americans will celebrate this weekend 

 

#1 Christian Holiday – 1 out of 3 people on earth celebrate this holiday 

 

Resurrection of Jesus often celebrated 

Thursday night (Friday) 

Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. DA 753.2

Jesus’ objective was to reconcile the prerogatives of Justice and Mercy, and let each stand separate in its dignity, yet united. Through Christ, Justice is enabled to forgive without sacrificing one not of its exalted holiness.       

                

In many eyes in Israel 2000 years ago and echoing through time still today, Justice and Mercy stood apart, in opposition to each other, separated by a wide gulf. The Lord the Redeemer of all the earth - clothed His divinity with humanity, and lived out on behalf of mankind a character that was without spot or blemish. 

 

Jesus planted His cross midway between heaven and earth, and made it the object of attraction which reached both ways, drawing both Justice and Mercy across the gulf. 

 

Justice moved from its exalted throne, and with all the armies of heaven approached the cross. There it saw One equal with God bearing the penalty for all injustice and sin. With perfect satisfaction Justice bowed in reverence at the cross, saying, it is enough. 7BC 935-936

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10

 

Jesus died on what many today call Good Friday 

 

Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ's brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken. DA 761.2

 

Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. We must choose whom we will serve. DA 761.3

 

John 20:11-18 – Mary and Jesus 

 

Emmaus – Luke 24 – Where is Jesus? 

 

5 Great Yet Forgotten Truths – The 5 Lost teachings of Christianity were validated on this weekend 2000 years ago: 

Spirit of Prophecy – 

Sabbath – 

State of the Dead

Second Coming – 

Sanctuary Symbolism

 

Prophecy: Daniel 9:24 – Anoint the Most Holy – 70 prophetic weeks – 490 years given to Israel to accomplish a few things – 9:26 – the Messiah will be cut off…Vs. 27 – in the midst of this 7 year period the Messiah will die. 3.5 years of ministry of Jesus. I tell you these things before hand…

 

Sabbath – He could have died and been resurrected on Saturday…

 

State of the Dead – His words to Mary were very clear – He had not ascended to the Father. His words to the thief were not a lie – Today you shall be with me in paradise

 

Second Coming

– Acts 1:11 – Same Two Angels – same two at the grave, same two that had been with Jesus throughout his life… “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” 

John 14:3 - I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

 

But where is Jesus today? Why the delay? 

 

Sanctuary - 

Hebrews 8:8 Here is the main point: We have a High Priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven.2 There he ministers in the heavenly Tabernacle,[a]the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands.

3 And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our High Priest must make an offering, too.….. (Earthly Priests) serve in a system of worship that is only a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven. For when Moses was getting ready to build the Tabernacle, God gave him this warning: “Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.”[b]

6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it.

Daniel had another prophecy – The Angel showed him in Daniel 8:14 – that in the Fall of 1844 – 2300 days into the future from Daniel’s day that Jesus would finally transition to the last stage in the controversy between good and evil – into the Most Holy Place – the antitypical day of atonement 

 

A special day – a solemn day – Cleansing by the High Priest… A day of judging in favor of the saints

 

Hebrews 9 - 9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them.

Hebrews 9:11-13

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come.[e]He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds[f]so that we can worship the living God.

 

Hebrews 9:23 – 

23 ….the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.

24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf.25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal.26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age[k]to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.

27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. 

Jesus says in the Revelation – Behold I come and my reward is with me …I will never leave you…I will be with you until the end.

(At any moment in this controversy) - God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers as easily as one can cast a pebble to the earth; but He did not do this. Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan's government. The Lord's principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power. DA 759.1

It was God's purpose to place things on an eternal basis of security, and in the councils of heaven it was decided that time must be given for Satan to develop the principles which were the foundation of his system of government. He had claimed that these were superior to God's principles. Time was given for the working of Satan's principles, that they might be seen by the heavenly universe. DA 759.2

 

As the “whole creation groans and travails in pain together” (Romans 8:26, 22), the heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy. Our world is a vast house of disease and sickness, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. If we realized it as it is, the burden would be too terrible. 

Yet God feels it all. In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best Beloved, and He has put it in our power, through co-operation with Him, to bring this scene of misery to an end.

If the Love of Jesus, the Life of Jesus, the New Life in Jesus is attractive to you and you have a desire to show that kind of love to others… will you stand with me this morning? 

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3 Angels. 1 Message Before the end of earth 1.0, we are told of a prophecy of 3 angels having a message that goes into all the world. How relevant is that message today? Join us as we discuss. Presented by Jared ThurmonNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The majority of Christians today believe there is a place on fire where bad, mean or ‘evil’ people are being burned and tortured – they call it hell. But what if this concept is not true and even worse – not even in the bible? Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The Purpose of a Prophecy - Part 1

Morneau betting on track races

Knowing something before it happens is divine

Insider trading

 

I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. John 14:29 NLT

 

Isaiah 42:9 - Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.” NLT

 

Go with me to the city of Jerusalem 

Just before 605BC - 2600 years in the past

 

Parents of Daniel - 10-12 years old ? His whole life he had been learning of a coming event

 

Jeremiah the prophet - 2 roles of a prophet - foretelling an truth telling

 

Jeremiah 25:1-11 

 

Why 70 years? ---Leviticus 25:1-7, Lev 20-22

 

According to the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, the 70 years was “the exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundred and ninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity. …

 

We learn later that yet again in Daniel 9:24 - 70 weeks (490 years) 

DAY/YEAR ---Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6

 

Jeremiah 29:1-10----------------Jeremiah 29:11 - emphasize this

 

ENTER DANIEL - Interesting factoid, prophecies are foretold my someone and announced as fulfilled by someone. Daniel lives his entire adult life in Babylon. 

 

Daniel 9:1-2----Daniel’s understanding of prophecy brought encouragement

Jesus described how people knew more about the weather than the signs of the times - Matthew 16:1-3) - is it possible we know more about the climate today than the signs of our times?

 

In the coming weeks we are going to be talking about prophecy for our day, what should we be teaching our kids? Preparing for? 

I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. John 14:29 NLT

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And there was war in heaven.... these words like few others explain an event that few have ever heard of. The story of earth and man begins with a war in paradise. But what started that war? Who is Michael? Who is Lucifer? Why was there an attempted coup in paradise? Join us as we begin part 1 of a series as we walk through history learning the role of both Jesus and Lucifer.

The plan that should be carried out upon the defection of any of the high intelligences of heaven,—this is the secret, the mystery which has been hid from ages. And an offering was prepared in the eternal purposes to do the very work which God has done for fallen humanity.

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What is prayer? If it doesn’t exist on any planet but ours and won’t exist in paradise, why do we have it now? The Bible seems to paint a picture that prayer is a form of wartime communication technology. In this episode, we look at the story of Daniel, the value he placed on prayer and the supernatural elements we learn once the curtain is pulled back.Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Daniel 1: 1-4 

 

Among the children of Israel who were carried captive to Babylon at the beginning of the seventy years’ captivity were Christian patriots, men who were as true as steel to principle, who would not be corrupted by selfishness, but who would honor God at the loss of all things. PK 479

 

Children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 

 

Daniel 1: 5-10

 

Multiple Reasons – Dedication to Idols + Unhealthy Practices 

 

Parents lessons on temperance  - self control – moderation in all things - saved their lives

 

Daniel might have argued that, dependent as he was on the king's favor and subject to his power, there was no other course for him to pursue than to eat of the king's food and drink of his wine; for should he adhere to the divine teaching, he would offend the king and probably lose his position and his life. Should he disregard the commandment of the Lord he would retain the favor of the king and secure for himself intellectual advantages and flattering worldly prospects. Maybe even a chance down the road to witness to the king. 

 

Purposed in his heart – what does that mean today? 

 

Should the 4 Hebrew boys compromise with wrong in this instance by yielding to the pressure of circumstances, their departure from principle would weaken their sense of right and their abhorrence of wrong. The first wrong step would lead to others, until, their connection with Heaven severed, they would be swept away by temptation.

 

Daniel 1: 11-14

 

Oldest epidemiological study on health and diet

 

10 days – plant-based diet vs. kosher diets vs. standard American diets

 

Blue Zones – Secrets of the Longest Living People on Earth and Longest Living Americans – Adventists living by the same blue zone principles - https://www.bluezones.com/2021/12/10-things-that-will-happen-to-you-in-a-day-week-or-month-when-you-eat-a-whole-food-plant-based-diet/

 

 

 

 

 

1. You’ll feel fuller sooner and stay fuller longer, 

2. You’ll Be In a Better Mood and Have More Energy

3. You’ll Have Better Blood Sugar Levels

Plant-based eaters have a 34% reduced risk of having type 2 diabetes, 

4. Your Digestion Will Improve

5. Your Cholesterol will Improve

6. Your Blood Pressure Will Improve

7.Sleep Quality will improve

8. Your Skin May Clear Up - Look more Healthy

9. Birds and Bees interaction improves

10. You will Lose Body Fat

 

Daniel 1: 15-20

 

What a great lesson on the importance of principled friendships! 

 

In physical strength and beauty, in mental vigor and literary attainment, they stood unrivaled. Through a constant connection with God - they walked with God as did Enoch.

 

Prophets and Kings commentary …. - --- How did these 4 Sabbath keeping Hebrew boys become fitted for a position of so great trust and honor? It was faithfulness in little things!!! 

 

Many are waiting for some great work to be brought to them, while daily they lose opportunities for revealing faithfulness to God. Daily they fail of discharging with wholeheartedness the little duties of life. While they wait for some large work in which they may exercise supposedly great talents, and thus satisfy their ambitious longings, their days pass away. PK 487.3

In the life of the true Christian there are no nonessentials; in the sight of Omnipotence every duty is important.

 

This story is one to children and their parents…

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The Stockdale ParadoxNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The story of J continues. A huge betrayal. A strange dream. J's life will never be the same. If you enjoyed this story - send us an email at hello@trytheway.comNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

In this episode we take a look at the history of Censorship, its moment today and we ask the question - Would God use Censorship against Lucifer?Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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America and the world finds itself in a precarious moment. Racial tension around the world seems to be increasing but why does it seem like in America its reaching a fever pitch? Are we called to right the wrongs of the past even if we aren’t personally responsible? The answer may surprise you. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

This is part 4 of our 4 part series leading up the birth of Jesus. Why did Jesus leave all of heaven to become one of the human family? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Where are we headed? How did we get to where we are today? We are on the verge of an AI revolution. How will we prepare for the world of tomorrow? Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What is the value of your soul? Like literally what are you doing to prioritize your eternal life today? Whatever that is, you have put a value on your soul - Jesus said - what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

CHOSEN

@adairsvillesda
Feb 23, 2019

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover - but we do.

They say names will never hurt you - but they do.

They say perception is reality - but is it?

———
She had a rocky start in life. As the daughter of a teenaged low-income mother, her start was anything but glamorous. In her early years, her living conditions were rough, and she was sexually abused starting at the age of 9, by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend. At the age of 14 she got pregnant, but her son died shortly after birth.

Finally the day came to pursue her dream, She was hired on to a local television station for the news, but things didn’t go well. She was fired by the producer because she was “unfit for television,” But - Oprah Winfrey didn’t give up.

———
“I’ve made billions of dollars of failures,” he said at a recent conference, adding that it would be like “a root canal with no anesthesia” if he listed them. “failure and invention are inseparable twins,” - Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America didn’t give up.

———
I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I was trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan - didn’t give up.

———
When asked by a newspaper reporter if he felt like a failure and if he should give up, after having gone through over 9,000 failed attempts, He simply stated “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” - Thomas Edison didn’t give up.

Is perception reality? If we looked at each of these people at various stages in life, we would likely call them failures.

Whose perception is reality? How often is the majority right? In a world of social media and likes and comments and views, how do we define reality? Is it based on what you see? What they see? Or is it something else?

I’d like to take you back to the land of promise…

Israel was tired of being unique, they wanted to blend in, be liked and be like the majority of the nations around them - They wanted a king on the throne.

That first King, like many leaders today was only a leader by title, not by character.
People followed him because they had to, not because they wanted to.

He failed his calling and God called Samuel, the prophet in Israel to go to Jesse’s house, to find the next king

READ - 1 Samuel 16:6-7+

Perception is not always Reality

———————————————————————
Explain the life of a shepherd
————————————————-—————————————-
1 Samuel 16:16-23

David’s talent gets him into the court of the King. Why? To learn what to do? How to become king? NO

Sometimes God leads us into situations to learn what NOT to do.

—————————————-

READ 1 Samuel 17:3-11 - THE VALLEY - THE BATTLE ARRAY

Goliath - 10 feet tall - 200 lbs worth of armor
David - - 16 years old, well built, tall

David knew God had called him to something decisive this day!

David gets audience with the king. He makes his case. 1 Sam 17:32-

Don’t get caught here, this is a moment like when Oprah finally had made it through college, finally at a network only to be fired. People thought yep she’s unfit for this type of work” But was that the end of the story? No! She was finding her own armor. Jordan didn’t make the varsity team, too short, small and didn’t have what it takes. That crazy geek in the lab, failing over and over and over with all his silly lightbulb inventions.

And so with David, he’s scared, he doesn’t want to fight…

David realizes, I’ve prepared for this, but this isn’t how I prepared.

Other people’s perceptions of what you should be doing and how you should be doing it, are hurting who you are meant to be! Fight in your own armor. You’ve been preparing for this your whole life. Stop listening to the crowd. They tell you you’re not pretty enough, not strong enough, too bossy, too wreckless….Stop listening to the crowd. The majority is never right! David has figured this out.

VS. 40 - David begins to walk down to the valley. He hears the whispers.

Why are the soldiers afraid? They don’t know how to fight with swords and armor…1 Samuel 13:19-21

Barium Sulfate - density chemical make up twice as dense of normal stone.

What was his perception? What was Israels? What was Sauls? What is yours?

VS 41 - 44 - Come to me on my terms

David Responds: But before I tell you what he says I should tell you about the slingers:

Share accuracy 400’ and range - 1300’ of slinger ( velocity -stopping power of a 44 magnum handgun

Who should be afraid in this moment?

VS 45 - 47 - David Responds

Success is when preparation meets opportunity !

VS 48 - Goliath loses his cool - forgets about all his strengths - armor bearer, helmet, slow etc. Faith is not feeling, not reality. Faith is the substance of what we are hoping for, the evidence of what we cannot see….yet

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There is learning and then there are things that we need to unlearn.

Lessons from the life of David are very practical today

While all the world sees leaders, celebrities etc appearing to have all the power, God is working behind the scenes to do something special.

It is often off screen, when no one is noticing that we being prepare for what God has in store for us.

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Have you ever run from what you knew to be right? Jonah did. His story has so many lessons for us today. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

We've heard God is Love. But is Love God? Join us as we look at two different kinds of love in the closing moments of time. One saves us, the other leads us to destruction. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Saviour's coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined His name. And yet at His coming they knew Him not. The Beloved of heaven was to them “as a root out of a dry ground;” He had “no form nor comeliness;” and they saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Isaiah 53:2; John 1:11 How in the world did this happen? Could it happen to you and I? This is part 2 of 4 Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The great sin of Christian history was outsourcing truth to the experts. The Protestant Reformation brought the power back to the individual to discern what is true for themselves. In a large sense, finding the truth in your life is done by learning how to read and understand the Bible for yourself.Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Perhaps there is no sin more broad and all encompassing than Greed. The Bible calls the love of money the root of all sin. How can that be? Has Greed made America great or could say that Greed, the unshackled pursuit of individual wealth, has turned from vice to virtue. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Inspiration > Perspiration ? What’s more powerful? Inspiration or Perspiration? Ideas or Effort? Both? In a world of disruption, one of the most disruptive ideas may be doing less in a world of more. Unplugging in a world always plugged in. In this episode we talk about the Sabbath and why it may be the answer to more than we realize. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Perhaps there is no more divisive topic in Christianity. How are we saved? By our faith? By our works? What if I told you neither? Perfection may be something we thought we knew, but we may be wrong. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What do we do when faced with a situation like David - staring into the Goliaths of our lives? What do we rely on? What can give us hope?

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The War of Education: How to Think vs. What to Think // Jared Thurmon Why is it that we love to learn but many of us don’t enjoy school to the same degree? Could it be that the way the educational system works is not built to prepare people to think but instead teaching people what to think? Does Scripture have anything to say about this battle for the mind? Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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It is perhaps the most asked question in religion "Why does God allow bad thing to happen to good people?" In this message, we explore what that means and if there is more to the story. If God is so powerful, why does He allow bad things to happen? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Bible prophecy paints a picture that an empire will rise at the close of time that forces all to worship in a certain way or face death. We find that in Revelation 13. But in Romans 13 we find a call to submit to governing authorities. So what do we do? This is part 1. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Jesus contrasts the idea of understanding and knowing perfect love as compared to being anxious and fearful. Today we are in the midst of a an all out assault on our emotional and spiritual health as it relates to fear mongering. What happens when we are afraid? How do we peel back the onion to understand this more than ever? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Can you point to specifics in your life that Jesus has been working with you and in you on? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

20 years ago everything changed. What happens when out nowhere your faith is hijacked? What do you do? How do you react? Today's message is presented by Ernest StaatsNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Jim & Michelle Warman's Testimony!Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Scenario:

Its morning again in America….

Wake up America…morning’s over

I was asleep before…that’s how we let it happen

There was a crisis…They blamed terrorists and suspended the constitution…we didn’t wake up then either

Now I’m awake…

----------------------------

Those aren’t my words. Those are the words from a superbowl ad that ran last year

An ad for a story that takes place….in an age of rampant pornography, increasing violence against women, declining morals in America, environmental disaster and decay…

Until finally the religious right – a group of Christians takes control of the US Government…it becomes a totalitarian theocracy….and bibles are banned and morality is legislated and forced upon all citizens. It’s a series based on Margaret Atwood’s book – The Handmaids Tale.

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.... -= Ellen White– {LDE 131.1}

The “image to the beast” represents that form of apostate Protestantism which will be developed when the Protestant churches shall seek the aid of the civil power for the enforcement of their dogmas. The “mark of the beast” still remains to be defined. {GC 445.2}

Tale or Truth?

 

The American dream - why is that?

 

Hunted becomes the Hunter – Persecuted becomes the persecutor

Persecution of native Americans, of the Japanese, of African Americans 

I BELIEVE AMERICA….IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN HISTORY

America’s future ----how we got here. 

Empires have ruled the world for thousands of years. as providence saw fit they rose and fall and most often their demise was related with the removal of the freedom of conscience.

We can see it in Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome…then that moment came when the babe in a manger - you know the one we count time by - i.e. BC and AD? So he comes along and inserts a revolutionary idea that man needs no intermediary to connect with Divinity.

Paganism - ie nature worship was the dominant force throughout history.

Constantine…. and Rome

compromise was the solution. 

He melds religion and government and the seed of the papacy was born. The papacy would rule the world for 1260 years - well that was according to the prophecy anyway—and in 538 we find it roots and in 1798 we find its fruit - the French Revolution. 

The Papal Empire had built itself off of persecution, legislating morality, limiting freedom of speech and conscience and especially perverting the teaching of Jesus.

Ok so what does this have to do with America? 

One author put it like this - Once people hated God so much because they thought the papacy was what god was like since the leader of the system claimed to be god on earth - eventually people had enough, they had nothing left to lose - so in the streets of France - they lost it. 

And as men and women were fleeing the persecution and corruption of the old world, they were doing all they could to get to the stores of America. 

In the last centuries of the dark ages - think about that - we literally label a time when the religious right got in bed with the government… as the dark ages. 

And to put the cherry on top - the Jesus in the book of revelation literally called the church a harlot for cheating on him with the empire. Then he says in Revelation 13 - Lucifer. Himself gave them his power and throne. 

So people are fleeing the old world and into the new - for one thing - I want freedom. I want to worship as I want to. I want to work and reap. The fruit of my labor. 

Was America perfect? No. But the prophecy foretold of that too. 

Revelation 13 - is where we find the prophecy of America. 

Two world powers are symbolized in Revelation chapter 13. Before we look at the second we need to understand and identify the first power?

This kingdom would claim to be god and claim to have the power to forgive sins – both of the definitions of blasphemy. It would rule the world for 1260 years….In 1798, French General Berthier inflicted a deadly wound upon the papacy when he took the pope captive.

 

Another Nation would arise Next :

“I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11).

Prophecy predicted that America would arise from a sparsely settled area.

The papal captivity mentioned in verse 10 took place in 1798, and the new power (verse 11) was seen emerging at that time. The United States declared its independence in 1776, voted the Constitution in 1787, adopted the Bill of Rights in 1791, and was clearly recognized as a world power by 1798. The timing obviously fits America. No other power could possibly qualify.

4. What is the significance of the beast “coming up out of the earth”?

 

Answer:   This nation arises "out of the earth" instead of out of the water as did the other nations mentioned in Daniel and Revelation. We know from Revelation that water symbolizes areas of the world that have a large population. "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Revelation 17:15. Therefore, the earth represents the opposite. It means that this new nation would arise in an area of the world that had been virtually unpopulated before the late 1700s. It could not arise among the crowded and struggling nations of the Old World. It had to come up in a sparsely populated continent.

 

5. What is symbolized by its two lamb-like horns and absence of crowns?

 

Answer:   Horns represent kings and kingdoms or governments (Daniel 7:24; 8:21). In this case, they represent the United States’ two governing principles: civil and religious liberty. These two principles have also been labeled “republicanism” (a government without a king) and “Protestantism” (a church without a pope). Other nations since ancient times had taxed people to support a state religion. Most had also oppressed religious dissidents. But the United States established something entirely new: freedom to worship without government interference. Absence of crowns signifies a republican form of government, rather than a monarchy. Lamb-like horns denote an innocent, young, non-oppressive, peace-loving, and spiritual nation. (Jesus is referred to as a lamb 28 times in Revelation.)

6. What does Revelation 13:11 mean when it says the United States will speak “like a dragon”?

Characteristics and behavior of a dragon – Revelation 12:9 – Lucifer is the Dragon

What are characteristics of Jesus – the lamb? What is the opposite?

Legend of Dragons eating Lambs…

7. What specifically will the United States do that will cause it to speak as a dragon?

 

A. “Exercises all the authority of the first beast” (Revelation 13:12) The United States will become a persecuting power that will force people to go against their conscience, as did papal Rome—which is portrayed in the first half of Revelation chapter 13.

B. “Causes (forces) the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (Revelation 13:12).

Signs of the Times May 6, 1897, “FORCE is the LAST result of every FALSE religion.”

The United States will lead the nations of the world in forcing allegiance to the papal antichrist. The issue is always worship. Who will you worship and obey? Will it be Christ, your Creator and Redeemer, or antichrist? Every soul on earth will finally worship one or the other. Satan’s approach will appear to be deeply spiritual, and incredible miracles will be seen (Revelation 13:13, 14)—which will deceive billions (Revelation 13:3). Those who refuse to join this movement will be considered divisive, stubborn, radical, and unpatriotic. Jesus labeled Protestant America of the end time a “false prophet” (Revelation 19:20; 20:10),

“I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe” (John 14:29).

C. “Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” (Revelation 13:14). The United States will make an image to the beast by legislating religious practice. It will pass laws requiring worship and force people to either obey them or face death. This action is a copy—or “image”—of the church-state form of government the papacy ruled with at the height of her power during the Middle Ages, when millions were slain for their faith. The United States will combine civil government and apostate Protestantism in a “marriage” that will support the papacy. It will then influence all the nations of the world to follow her example. Thus, the papacy will gain worldwide support.

D. “And cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15). The United States, as head of this international movement, will next influence the nations of the world to impose a death sentence upon all who refuse to worship the beast or his image. Another name for this worldwide coalition is “Babylon the Great.”

8. Over what specific issues will force be utilized and the death sentence passed?

“He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:15–17).

Answer:   The final points of contention will be worshiping and obeying the beast and receiving his mark—honoring Sunday as a false holy day versus worshiping and obeying Christ and receiving His mark by honoring the holy seventh-day Sabbath. (For details, see Study Guide 20.) When the issues become clear and people are forced to break the Sabbath or be killed, those who then choose Sunday will be, in essence, worshiping the beast. They will have chosen to obey the word of a creature, a man, instead of the word of their Creator, Jesus Christ. Here is the papacy’s own statement: “The church changed Sabbath to Sunday and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church” (Hartford Weekly Call, February 22, 1884).

9. Could a government really control buying and selling?

Answer:   : During World War II, buying was controlled by requiring ration stamps for such items as sugar, tires, and fuel. Without these stamps, money was worthless. In this computerized age, a similar system would be easy to set up. For instance, unless you agreed to cooperate with the worldwide coalition, your Social Security Number could be entered into a database, showing that you are disqualified to make a purchase. No one knows precisely how all this will come about, but you can

be positive it will happen—because in Revelation 13:16, 17, God says it will.

Two Emerging Powers

Revelation chapter 13 is clear. Two superpowers will emerge in the end time: the United States of America and the papacy. The United States will support the papacy by leading a drive to force the people of the world to worship the beast power (papacy) and receive his mark or else face death.

The next two questions will evaluate the strength of these two superpowers.

The papacy is the strongest religio-political power on earth.

11. How strong and influential is the United States today?

Answer:   The United States is regarded as the world’s most powerful military force and the world’s center of influence. Note the following:

A. “In the key categories of power, the U.S. will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.” —Ian Bremmer, Time magazine, May 28, 2015

B. “What ultimately makes the difference between war and peace ... is not good intentions, or strong words, or a grand coalition. It is the capability, credibility, and global reach of American hard power.” —Senator John McCain, November 15, 2014

C. “The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation. That has been true for the century passed and it will be true for the century to come.” —President Barack Obama, May 28, 2014

D. France’s then-foreign minister, Hubert Vérdine, told a Paris audience that he defined

“the United States as a ‘hyperpower’ ... a country that is dominant or predominant in

all categories.” —The New York Times, February 5, 1999

12. What other factors could help set the stage for a worldwide law to execute those who refuse to violate conscience?

The scenes of Matthew 24 – Climate Disasters, Economic Hardship, Moral Decay, Corruption of the Christian Church

A backlash against terrorism, lawlessness, immorality, permissiveness, injustice, poverty, ineffective political leaders, and many similar woes could easily precipitate a demand for strong, specific laws to be rigidly enforced.

13. As world conditions worsen, what will Satan do to deceive the masses?

“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” (Revelation 13:13, 14).

Answer:   The United States will experience a counterfeit revival and will insist that religious

laws be passed to force every person to participate (represented by “an image to the beast” in Revelation 13:14). People will be forced to disregard God’s holy seventh-day Sabbath and worship instead on the beast’s “holy” day—Sunday. Some will comply merely for social or economic reasons. World conditions will become so intolerable that a worldwide “back to God” movement, with all joining in worship and prayer on Sunday, will be presented as the only solution. Satan will deceive the world into believing that they must compromise Bible truth and keep Sunday holy. But in reality, obedience to and worship of the beast will indicate the refusal of most people to enter God’s kingdom. No wonder Jesus makes such an issue in Revelation over worshiping the beast and receiving his mark!

14. While interest in the counterfeit revival heightens, what will be happening to the genuine worldwide revival sponsored by God’s end-time people?

 

Answer:   The Bible says the entire world will be “illuminated” with glory (Revelation 18:1). Every person on earth will be reached (Mark 16:15) with God’s end-time, three-point message of Revelation 14:6–14. God’s last-day church will grow with amazing speed as millions join God’s people and accept His offer of salvation by grace and faith in Jesus, which transforms them into His obedient servants. Many people and leaders from all countries of the world will refuse to worship the beast nor embrace his false teachings. Instead, they will worship and obey Jesus. They will then receive His holy Sabbath sign, or mark, in their foreheads (Revelation 7:2, 3), thus sealing them for eternity. (See Study Guide 20 for additional information on God’s seal.)

Spiraling Growth Infuriates the Counterfeit Movement

This spiraling growth among God’s people will infuriate the counterfeit movement. Its leaders will become fully convinced that those who refuse to cooperate with the worldwide counterfeit revival are the cause of all the world’s woes (Daniel 11:44). They will disqualify them from buying and selling (Revelation 13:16, 17), but the Bible promises that food, water, and protection for God’s people will be sure (Isaiah 33:16; Psalm 34:7).

As his crowning miracle, Satan will impersonate Jesus.

15. In desperation, the U.S.-led coalition will decide to impose the death sentence on its enemies (Revelation 13:15). What does Revelation 13:13, 14, say its leaders will do to convince people that God is with them?

Answer:    They will work miracles—so convincing that everyone except God’s faithful end-time people will be persuaded (Matthew 24:24). Utilizing the spirits (fallen angels) of Satan (Revelation 16:13, 14), they will impersonate dead loved ones (Revelation 18:23) and probably

even pose as Bible prophets and apostles. These lying (John 8:44) demonic spirits will doubtless

claim that God has sent them to urge all to cooperate.

16. How can we be safe from powerful end-time deceptions?

 

Answer:   A. Test every teaching by the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11; Isaiah 8:20).

The Bible says, “The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (John 16:2).

4. As we study the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, it seems apparent that the real enemy is always the devil. Is this true?

Absolutely! Satan is always the real enemy. Satan works through earth’s leaders and nations

to hurt God’s people and thus bring heartache to Jesus and the Father. Satan is the one responsible for all evil. Let’s blame him and be careful how we judge people or organizations who hurt God’s people and church. They are sometimes totally unaware that they are harming anyone. But that is never true of Satan. He is always fully aware. He hurts God and His people intentionally.

In its prophecies, the term beast is a symbol for a mighty nation. The proof is in Daniel 7, a chapter that parallels Revelation 13. Both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 refer to beasts, ten horns, a boastful mouth speaking pompous words, and intense warfare against God’s people (compare Daniel 7:3-8, 21 with Revelation 13:1-7). Specifically, Daniel 7 describes four great beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a dragon-like creature. Embedded in the same chapter, an angelic interpreter confirmed: “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom on earth” (Daniel 7:23).

So, we can nail this down: According to Daniel 7—which parallels Revelation 13—a beast in Bible prophecy isn’t a computer or super-evil person, but a mighty kingdom or nation. That’s what the angel said. Historically, 98% of reputable Christian Bible commentaries have interpreted Daniel’s four beasts to represent the ancient nations of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. This is a fact.

Out of the Earth

But there’s more. Revelation 13:11 continues: “I saw another beast coming up out of the earth.” Thus, John saw a great nation rising into power. From where? “Out of the earth,” the prophet predicted. By way of contrast, all four of the beasts in Daniel 7 “came up from the sea” (Daniel 7:3). What does “water” represent? Again, prophecy pinpoints a clear answer: multitudes of people. We know this because in a parallel prophecy another angel confirmed: “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues”(Revelation 17:15, italics added).

True to the facts of history, ancient Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome all arose from the midst of a sea of peoples in Europe and the Middle East. Not so with the beast in Revelation 13:11. It comes from the earth. Thus, Revelation 13:11 points to a great nation rising out of a sparsely inhabited area.

Like a Lamb

“I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb.” (Revelation 13:11). Each word is significant. The true Lamb of God is Jesus Christ who offered His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world (see John 1:29; 3:16). “Like a lamb” indicates that this nation would have lamblike or Christian features. A lamb is a young animal, a baby sheep. This nation would at one time be youthful and new. Significantly, its “two horns” have no crowns like the first beast described in Revelation 13:2. Crowns represent kingly power. So, in Revelation 13:11 we see a new nation, with gentle, lamblike, Christian features, rising out of a sparsely inhabited area. It is led by a crown-less government, not ruled by kings.

Are the pieces coming together yet?

Superpower

Here’s the shocker: Revelation 13 also reveals that this mysterious beast with two horns like a lamb would achieve superpower status near the end of time. Then it would degenerate and, during earth’s closing moments, lead out in the global enforcement of the mark of the beast. God’s Word reports: “He [the lamblike beast] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark” (Revelation 13:16,17).

These ominous verses parallel the last part of Revelation 13:11 which describes the final, tragic act of the lamblike beast: he “spoke like a dragon.” Let’s examine it closely. The beast “causes” all to have a mark—it compels or resorts to force. “All” emphasizes its global influence. Finally, the beast’s control of buying and selling clearly indicates that the world’s economy is involved.

Putting the Pieces Together

Let’s put all the pieces together:

1. Revelation 13:11 pinpoints the rising of a great beast.
2. In prophecy, a beast represents a great nation.
3. This nation rises out of the earth, or wilderness area.
4. This nation starts out young, like a baby lamb.
5. This nation has lamblike, Christian characteristics.
6. This nation has horns with no crowns—it has no kings.
7. This nation achieves superpower status near the close of time.
8. This nation influences the world’s economy.
9. This nation finally speaks like a dragon.
10. This nation finally enforces the mark of the beast.

Be honest: How many nations on Planet Earth today fit all ten of these clear, unquestionable, Heaven-inspired details?

Only one.

 

 

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For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge, “A voice from the east; a voice from the west; a voice from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the temple; a voice against the bridegroom and the bride; and a voice against all the people.” This strange being was imprisoned and beaten; but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only, “Woe to Jerusalem! woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!” His warning cry ceased not until he was killed in the siege he had foretold. Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem.Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

There is nothing better to sharpen your own faith, and to encourage faith and hope in those around you, then to share your personal story of faith. There is power in sharing your testimony. Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

There is no greater love than to lay your life down for your friends. What kind of sacrifice is Jesus talking about here? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Day of the Dead

There's really no way to describe it. One minute you have it all. The next all is gone. 

Its hard to describe the feeling of death. Unless someone near you has died.

Then you experience that sting that you cannot put into words. Death reminds us about love because we were created to love. And when someone dies, we find it strange, not showing and sharing that love. 

This past summer I had to bury one of our alpacas. Our furry friends can become our family and its like losing someone that you came to love. 

Sweet little alpaca would no longer greet me. 

What is it about death That is so hard to understand? if you've ever lost someone, you know, that feeling that you would do anything to see them again, anything to talk to them again, anything to hug them again.

Death is perhaps the only thing humans have found no cure for. If you’ve ever lost a friend or family member, you know the pain of this. But this morning I want to talk to you about the idea of talking to our dead relatives. If a visitor from another world were to sit down on a couch with us and turn on Hulu or Netflix or Disney – ok especially Disney – there is something – a theme – an idea they would start to pick up. Once I tell you you will say ‘oh yea, that’s true’. 

It's the idea that somehow, there is life beyond. Somehow death is not the end. Somehow, in ways we don’t fully understand…yet – death is still a mystery but that contacting our loved ones --- or them contacting us is such a beautiful thought. 

Here in America, we are pretty obsessed with this idea of death being nothing more than a gateway to the next life. Whether it’s zombies, the undead, ghosts, conjuring spirits or anything we celebrate on Halloween these days – death has become big business – especially the scary side of it. But then there’s the other side – the beautiful side – the idea of reconnecting with our loved ones. 

I lost my dad in a car accident a few years back. There really isn’t much you can say other than ‘man I would trade the whole world – just to talk to that person one more time’ and usually our desire to talk to them is to tell them how much we love them. That’s why in most films – Love and Death are so interconnected. 

Now if you’ve ever heard of the story of scripture – the real meta narrative you would know that this war between good and evil – love and selfishness – life and death started before humans arose on the scene. With this war, a large segment of the citizens of another realm were kicked out of the capital of the galactic realms. 

And the bible basically tells us the inner workings of this war and it really comes down to who has the power over life…and death. 

The bible describes a day in our future when it will seem as though the dead – from our time and centuries in the past will appear to us . Now the question we should be asking if this is a battle for our souls and our destiny – could it be possible that this banished legion race of beings could personify our loved ones with the hope and attempt to deceive us? 

If your loved one walked up behind you right now and sounded, smelled and seemed the same as they did while alive – is there anything you know or believe that would help you determine if this was them or not? 

And on that note, if death is just a portal to the next life then why do we fight so hard to stay alive? 

We love the idea of talking to the dead, celebrating life after death and who can blame us ? 

The Sumerians did, the Egyptians did,  the Persians, the Greeks, the idea of talking to the dead is found in Homer's Odyssey..and  the Romans And now the Christians.  Ok you get it, its chronic, and its basically everyone. 

So here's a few stats about this phenomenon, Pew research, estimated that nearly 1.4 million people – that’s more people than there are members of my denomination – that 1.4 million people in the United States identify as practicing Witches.  

There are more witches in North America than there are mainline Presbyterians author. Julie Royce is quoted as saying that Wicca is A form of paganism that is effectively repackaged witchcraft for the millennial consumption. No longer are witchcraft and paganism, satanic and demonic. It's a pre-Christian tradition that promotes free thought and understanding of earth and nature. 

I’m really fascinated right now with the gorwing discussion or tension I should say of people who worship the creator vs. those who worship the creation. I think this is the great issue of worship in the world today – it was the same in history – whether they were called gentiles or heathen or pagans vs those who were monotheistic. 

The American religious identification survey gives Wicca an average annual growth of 143%. And latest estimates say that the movement is doubling in size every 30 months. According to the journal, the statesman and Elizabeth wind claims the two most recent American religious identification surveys, declare WCA one form of paganism as the fastest growing spiritual identification in America. 

The high holiday of wicca and paganism is Halloween. It finds its origin over 2000 years ago, with the Druids when it was believed that the boundary between this world and the underworld was thinner than usual, where the spirits could come into the world more easily, but not just any spirits. a supernatural race of spirits generally described as stunningly beautiful. But if they want They can also be terrible and hideous. According to Patricia Monahan, most scholars believed they were a degraded version of ancient gods. Also on this night, the souls of dead relatives were thought to visit the homes of all who celebrated The Holiday, 

The Holiday involved people going house to house in costume or in disguise, usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the the souls of the dead and received offerings on their behalf. 

People Would set out soul cakes full of sweet fruit on out all hallows' Eve as an offering for the dead. This is where most believe we find the origin of trick or treat for all those good yummy candies. Americans, mostly Protestants did not celebrate this holiday for reasons of conviction, but as the cultural makeup changed. So did the celebration in the late 1800s and into the 19th and the 20th century,

Halloween is branded as scary and spooky in the United States. but Let's contrast that with the day of the dead or DIA de Los Muertos festivities that take place over two days in an explosion of color and life affirming joy in Mexico and central and South America and growing around the world.

This idea of engaging with the dead is not isolated to a few holidays. We see it in our literature, in our television shows and in our movies and kids are not excluded from this phenomenon. First, there was Casper. Now there's Coco. ThePixar film that was the number one film of all time in Mexico. It is one of the top 100 grossing films of all time. 

So what does the Bible say about this? Perhaps you care, perhaps you don't, but I at least think you, owe it to yourself to know what the Bible says about this idea of talking to the dead. 

Here’s one reason – nearly 2 billion people call themselves Christians in the world. Most of them believe the dead can make contact with us. Yet the bible says those who die, never return to the land of the living – but guess who it says do ? The fallen angels of heaven – to deceive. The gospel of Jesus is sin leads to death but I have died for you so that you can live forever. The gospel of Lucifer says sin is not that bad, live as you wish, death is the just the beginning. One we find in John 3:16 – the latter in Genesis 3:4. We are going to put a link to some more details on this idea in the comments below this video. 

Ok so Here’s another reason -  it's not the dead you're talking to. That's the most startling thing the Bible has to say about this topic. You are not talking to your dead relatives. According to the Bible, the dead sleep and await a resurrection. They don't have thoughts or feelings and they don't come back to talk to the living. 

If we go back to the beginning of the story, the first message shared by the fallen angel Lucifer was to Eve in a garden. And this was it. Eve, regardless of your actions, you'll never die. No matter what you do, you're going to live forever. This is where we get the idea that death is just a doorway into the next state of consciousness. But if this is true, this is a question we should ask ourselves, are we all saved? How does that make you feel? Everyone ends up being saved. Maybe that makes you feel good. Maybe that makes you wonder about that person that abused you. When you were a kid about Hitler, about people in the world that do what we call evil things. You mean they're going to be my neighbor in paradise without a standard by which people are determined to live in paradise or not. We have to ask ourselves, what is that standard?

I don't like the idea of living next to Hitler in paradise. The reason this idea is so important is because it has so many ramifications. Are we judged ? If so by whom? are we all saved? Why would someone not be saved? If we die and pass on to the next life or paradise, then why not expedite the process? Why do we fight off death so much in this world? Why not let the sick die faster? Why don't we stop looking for cures to all these diseases? Why don't we get rid of things like life support.

It's easy to play with this idea until you come face to face with it. 

1st Samuel chapter 28. This is the story of a man who was King. he's in despair. There is an army gathering against his country against his kingdom. And in verse three, we read now Samuel had died. Everything changes when someone close to you dies and nothing can prepare you for it. All Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah in his own city and saul, had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. These are key details. He had put them out and there's a reason for that.

Saul Had followed God. And while he did, he had success. But the land was filled with the Philistines and their religion, like most heathen or pagan religions, like most all religions in the world today were built on the belief that the dead can come back and talk to the living that they can help foretell future events. 

If you had someone that could tell you what tomorrow may bring, you would absolutely want to know. Even if it meant they were coming back from the dead.

. The gods of the old Testament were not just imaginary. 

Talking about these ‘gods’ David tells us the history of his people and the great sin of King Saul- 

They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood (Psalm 106:34-38).

the demons, the fallen angels, legion race were the gods of the old Testament and all these different gods were demons that somehow in some way had personified themselves. And then the people had made an idol after this demon. And if the angels are in the proportions that we read and legend says, they're extremely tall, 12, 16, 18 foot tall beings, and very Beautiful. 

(Deut 32:16-17). They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known

Deuteronomy 18 also tells us that they were sacrificing their children, 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.

This was profound. When I learned this concept that these weren't just ignorant people. They were worshiping beings with a ton of talent and skill and wisdom.

Early Church leaders such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian held similar views (that the gods were actually demons).

Why would ancient civilizations talk to these beings? We learn in 2 Kings 19:35 that one angel – one of these type of beings killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. You hear talk of generals from wars in our recent history who were communing with these same beings. 

Saul had followed God's word in the beginning and gotten rid of the mediums. The spiritists, the fortune tellers, the necromancers anyone that claimed to get truth from the dead

Saul’s army – Israel is surrounded, death seems imminent – He’s terrified. And when Saul prayed, we are told the Lord did not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. Saul is looking for answers, what are we supposed to do. And sadly we learn that he had rejected God earlier in the story. 

Samuel's dead. He was the voice of God to Saul. When you lose someone close to you in your life, you instantly start looking for someone to talk to, especially if this person was close to you. 

When I lost my dad, I remember thinking, I would do anything to talk to him. I knew the biblical teaching of the dead. But for months and months after, I would have dreams about my dad. And it began to mess with my mind because I would see my dad in my dreams. I would talk to him. 

It's not until you lose someone that you realize this power of love,

This idea of loss.

It helps you really  Begin to understand the power of this doctrine of Lucifer. 

A Friend of mine shared a story with me about a young boy in Africa. He loved to spend time with his grandmother. She would read stories to him. She would play with him and he just loved his grandma.

 He would sit by her while she read these stories in her rocking chair. Sadly, she got sick and she died. And the mom knew that the boy took this very hard. He loved his grandmother, but for weeks after she noticed him coming into the house with a smile on his face and heading straight to his room.

She couldn't put the pieces together. So finally, she asked him, why are you going straight into your room? And he said because grandma rubs my head and read stories to me. 

Life is made up of these concepts and ideas, which equate to emotions and actions. You have a choice. No one else has this choice to determine what you believe and how it affects your behavior. What we believe about this topic may have greater consequences than many give it credit for.

So we pick up our story in 1 Samuel 28. Saul asks for a medium, his men know exactly where to find one. 

But in the end it spelled disaster. 

See our notes for a deeper study on this topic. 

More Detailed Referenced Notes Below: 

Question: There is no way to describe the sting of death until you experience it for yourself. Death reminds us about love because we were created to love and when someone dies we find it strange not showing and sharing that love anymore. 

A few weeks back I found one of our alpacas that had died in the night and I was devastated. I loved her so much. What is it about death that is so hard to understand? If you have ever lost someone you know the feeling that you’d do anything to see them again, to talk to them again. Death is perhaps the only thing humans have not found the cure for. I want to tell you the story of a king who lost his closest confidant. That person he could share his heart with. He was in despair not knowing where to turn for hope and in that moment he did something he condemned others for doing and began looking for a medium - someone who could conjure up the dead. 

Preview: If the Bible is true, the countless experiences of the living talking to dead loved ones may not be as they seem. If 1/3 of the angels were cast out of heaven, and are in a war against us, what do you think would be the best way to get into your life?  By what means? If by chance it was through someone you loved, how would you know the difference between talking to a dead relative or a demon impersonating your loved one? And if the dead are permitted in to paradise, why would they not in love come back and minister to us in the land of the living? 

Data/Facts: We love the idea of communicating with the dead, and celebrating life after death. And hey who can blame us? The Sumerians did, the Egyptians did, the Persians, the Greeks, The Romans, and now the Christians… The oldest account of necromancy -talking to the dead- outside of Scripture is found in Homer’s Odyssey.

• Pew Research in 2014 estimated that with numbers at nearly 1.4 million - There may now be more Americans who identify as practicing witches/wiccans… than there are Seventh-day Adventists in North America. More than there are members of mainline Presbyterianism.” -…(https://qz.com/quartzy/1411909/the-explosive-growth-of-witches-wiccans-and-pagans-in-the-us/)
• Author Julie Roys says - “Wicca (which is a form of paganism) has effectively repackaged witchcraft for Millennial consumption. No longer are witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic… it’s a ‘pre-Christian tradition’ that promotes ‘free thought’ and ‘understanding of earth and nature.’ - says. Yet such repackaging is deceptive, Roys added, "but one that a generation with little or no biblical understanding is prone to accept."It's tragic, and a reminder of how badly we need spiritual revival in this country, and also that 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world,'" she said, referencing Ephesians 6, which explains spiritual warfare.
• The American Religious Identification Survey gives Wicca an average annual growth of 143% and latest estimates say that the movement is doubling in size every 30 months [179][269] According to The Statesman - Anne Elizabeth Wynn claims "The two most recent American Religious Identification Surveys declare Wicca, one form of paganism, as the fastest growing spiritual identification in America”.[270]
• From the Witch School in Salem, Massachusettes, yea its a real thing and really in Salem. “ Wicca is America's Fastest Growing religion, and it is anticipated by some Christian religious experts that it will become the third largest religion in the United States early in the 21st century, behind only Christianity and Islam. Editor Thomas Horn states - “In the United States alone, … [there are] as many as 8 million unregistered practitioners of ‘the craft’.”

This leads us to the second biggest holiday in America - Halloween. 

•  Halloween has become big business in the United States. 
•  2nd highest spending after Christmas. $9.0 Billion this year - 2 billion dollars more than all that was spent on the 2016 elections. We will spend more money escaping reality for a day than we did electing the leaders of the free world. 
• There is a reason flu season coincides with Halloween with the amount of candy eaten in the next week. 
• Halloween finds it origin over 2000 years ago with the Celts/Druids who called it Samhain, when it was believed that the boundary between this world and the underworld was thinner than usual. Where the spirits could come into the world more easily. But not just any spirits - the Eeesheee - a supernatural race of spirits. The aos sí are generally described as stunningly beautiful, though they can also be terrible and hideous. According to Patricia Monaghan, most scholars believed they were a degraded versions of ancient gods.  Monaghan, Patricia (2014). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase publishing. p. 167.)

Also on this night, the souls of dead relatives were thought to visit the homes of all who celebrated. 

The holiday involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the custom of souling. Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them. It was a holiday of impersonation. Impersonation - Someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. People would set out ‘soul cakes’ full of sweet fruit - on All Hallows' Eve as an offering for the dead. This is where most believe we find the origin of trick or treating for sweets. ( Kullstroem, Chris (27 May 2009). Making a Monstrous Halloween: Themed Parties, Activities and Events. McFarland. p. 85. ISBN9780786444380. “The Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating started as a European Christian custom called souling.”) 

For a long time Americans, mostly protestants, did not celebrate this holiday for religious reasons. As the cultural makeup changed so did the celebration. In the late 1800s and into the 20th century it became a community holiday and did not include the spook and dark side that we see coming back today. Perhaps where there is no light, darkness reigns.  

This idea of conjuring the dead is said to be one of the most common themes in most video games today - usually by raising up warriors as zombies to fight in battle.

Halloween is branded as scary and spooky in the United States. It is celebrated over the course of a day. Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos festivities however, unfold over two or more days in an explosion of color and life-affirming joy in Mexico, in central and south America and growing around the world.

The Day of the Dead originated several thousand years ago with the Aztec, Toltec, and other Nahua people, who considered mourning the dead disrespectful. For these pre-Hispanic cultures, death was a natural phase in life’s long continuum. The dead were still members of the community, kept alive in memory and spirit—and during Día de los Muertos, they temporarily returned to Earth.

Then there is the altar. Where families put the favorite food of the family member and even toys the children because of their long journey. Often they will put marigolds leading the way back to the grave. 

This idea is not isolated to a few holidays. We see it in literature, in our television shows and in our movies and kids are not excluded.

For Example - the Pixar film - Coco - the #1 film of all time in Mexico and one of the highest grossing films of all time is all about making the idea of talking to our dead loved ones as fun as the day of the dead portrays. 

What once was condemned we now pay to enjoy. 

So what does the Bible say about this idea of communicating with the dead? 

First off, it’s not the dead we are communicating with. According to the Bible the dead sleep and await a resurrection. They don’t have thoughts or feelings and don’t come back to talk to the living. 

So then who is it so many are talking to? 

The first message shared by the fallen angel Lucifer to Eve was “regardless of your actions, you won’t die” This is where we get the idea that death is just a doorway to the next state of consciousness. 

But if this is true, then are we all saved? Without a standard by which people are determined to live in paradise or not, are all saved? Do I have the joy of looking forward to living next to Hitler and other evil men in paradise? 

I don’t like that idea. The reason this idea is so important is because it has so many ramifications. Are we judged? By whom? Based on what? Are we all saved? Why would someone not be saved? If we die and pass on to the next life or paradise, then why not expedite that process? Why do we fight off death so much in the world, why not let the sick die faster, stop looking for cures to diseases, get rid of things like life support. 

It’s easy to play with this idea until you come face to face with it. 

BIBLE/STORY - 

Setting - 1 Samuel 28:3(Endor) - Saul had followed God and while he did he had success. The land was filled with the Phillistines and their religion which was built on the belief that the dead can come back and talk to the living…and that they can help foretell future events. 

Not many know that the great gods of the old testament were not just neat ideas, they were based on something. (https://www.thoughtco.com/false-gods-of-the-old-testament-700162)

—-

Talking about these ‘gods’ David tells us the history of his people and the great sin of King Saul- 

They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood (Psalm 106:34-38).

We learn here that the gods of the old testament were actually demons.

(Deut 32:16-17). They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known

Deut 18:9-12 - 9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one who maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or who useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all who do these things are an abomination unto the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee (KJV).

Though Mosaic Law prescribed the death penalty to practitioners of necromancy (Leviticus 20:27

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Cor 10:20-22)

Early Church Fathers such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian held similar views (that the gods were actually demons).

——

So just to be clear, the fallen angels are also known as demons. And the demons were what the majority of nations worshipped in the old world. 

Psalm 8:5 tells us man was made with lesser powers than the angels

How powerful is one angel - we know from 2 Kings 19:35 - one angel killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. 

The Good news is that each of us has a guardian angel commissioned to be with us through our lives. Now if you have a full time bodyguard with superpowers, could it be that your life is threatened by an enemy? 

So Saul had gotten rid of Mediums, Spiritists,, fortunetellers - Necromancers as Deuteronomy commanded. 

1 Samuel 28:3-6

Saul is longing for answers. Notice verse 3 - Samuel has died. He was the voice of God to Saul. Have you ever lost someone close to you? You know this feeling of love being cut off suddenly. 

I have. A few years back I got a call that my dad had died in a car accident. Sudden. You think of the your last conversation. You think of the good times. You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again. 

Let me repeat that - You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again. 

I know the Bible teaching on the dead, yet for months and even years I would have dreams where I would see my dad, talk to him, even know he was dead yet everything in my being - in my dream - wanted to hug him, talk to him. 

Not until you lose someone and realize the power of love and loss do you begin to really understand the power of this doctrine of the devil - that death is a doorway to the next life. 

Did I think it was a good thought if my dad was looking down from heaven or up from hell at his family so sad without him? 

When we really think of death and the heresies that have come even into the church we have to realize why so many want nothing to do with God. 

Saul was desperate and he called for a medium. He knew better but he was would do ANYTHING to find answers.

1 Samuel 28:7- 25

——-

Why address this today? Because if the Bible is true, then something is coming, a deception thousands of years in the making onto our planet. 

The most powerful medium - friends and family, who seem to come to us, look the same, sound the same, smell the same, and are here to comfort us and ‘warn us’ of coming danger. I can tell you everything in your soul will WANT TO BELIEVE these beings impersonating your loved ones. This is where faith and feeling will fight their greatest battle. The only thing telling you this is not real is Scripture and the truth that the dead know nothing (Eccl 9:5) and Job 7:9-10 - As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.

1 Timothy 4:1 - The Spirit clearly says that in the last days some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

1 Timothy 4:3 - For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

• as we learn this story of the battle between good and evil we learn that there are other worlds out there (Hebrews 11) we learn that 1/3 of the angels and their general are confined to this earth now.(Revelation 12) We learn that those beings from other worlds are not coming here to be contaminated by sin. Therefore we are under quarantine. Which means any discussion of aliens is a discussion of fallen angels visiting this planet. I know Hollywood has painted a picture that together if we unite we can fight the coming invaders, but the only invaders coming from outside of this planet are Christ and the unfallen angels at the second coming, because the fallen ones are already here. 

Demons - fallen angels - are organized, have special skills like filling someone with pride, anger, lust, rage, depression, despair, gluttony, resentment and the list goes on…

The new testament is filled with examples of demon possession especially as Jesus walked the earth. In Mark 5:9 we learn of a man suffering possession and it is declared to be “Legion” when Jesus asked the name - the roman term for at least 5000 in a division of the army. 

We also learn in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Lucifer - the fallen archangel of heaven is planning to personate christ before the true second coming. We also learn that the fallen angels are going to impersonate loved ones who have gone to sleep i.e. died. Why? Because this is the most powerful MEDIUM to sway someones belief system. 

I had a friend in elementary school who’s family had spoken to their dead daughter- his sister. There is NO. LET ME REPEAT. NO WAY to reason with someones apparent reality. They saw her, they spoke to her, and I was not going to convince them otherwise. 

The dead can appear to talk to the living, it’s just not the dead but demons masquerading as loved ones with the sole desire to deceive us. 

A friend recently shared a story about a boy in Africa. He loved to spend time with his grandmother and sit by her while she read stories to him in her rocking chair. Sadly she got sick and died. The mom knew the boy took this very hard. For weeks after, she noticed he kept heading to his room more often than usual and with a look of happiness. Finally she asked him why. He said because grandma rubs my head and reads stories to me still.

Life is made up of concepts and ideas which equate to emotions and actions. You have a choice on what you believe and how it effects your behavior. 

This topic and a complete understanding of it impacts so many other beliefs and ideas. It has influenced this planet since the first day and will be an issue until the last day. 

The reason it is all so important is because it is about love. God loves us and does not want to see us deceived and lost. We have to decide if that love is worth it…

For why should we seek the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5)

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For 4000 years, the angels, the unfallen worlds, and mankind had waited. Mothers and fathers had relayed the story to their children. One day the Messiah would come and be the sacrifice to save man from sin and selfishness. The tipping point in the plan of salvation had finally come.

This was the moment like that of Cortez and his men in 1519 when the Spanish Fleet landed on the shores of the new world. Cortez turns to them and says “BURN THE SHIPS” There is no going back now.

In order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was and become the son of man.

All heaven was at risk!!!

Satan meets Christ in the desert and tells Him that one of the exalted angels had been exiled to the earth, that Jesus appearance indicated that, instead of His being the king of heaven, He clearly was the fallen angel…

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Faith is Imaginary Before you think this podcast has been hijacked, how different is faith from something that is imaginary? A christian would say ‘yea but faith is real and imaginary is fake’. Someone else might say they both don’t have any tangible essence in our current reality - but instead are both real in the mind. What is faith and does it make life better? Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What is the compounding effect of having music, video, notifications, pings, and dings filling our eyes and ears all day and night? Booth Business School at the University of Chicago conducted a study and found that checking email and social media is more addictive – MORE addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. in this message, we dig into what the Bible can teach us about hearing God's voice in a noisy world. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

For nearly a century presidents have warned of a power working behind the scenes more powerful than anyone could imagine. Does the Bible speak to this power?Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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Did God embed something into our very food supply to teach us about how to live unselfishly? Rico Hill shares about why Jesus and His character is embedded in all food that gives life. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Think back for a minute. There was a day 50 years ago when dad’s were respected, appreciated, honored and loved. Then something happened. Then it seemed like every new show, movie or ad was somehow making dads look dumb, out of touch and not needed. Did something change… or is there an agenda somewhere hijacking the narrative? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Isaiah 58 talks about a people who claim to do right but wonder why God doesn’t notice them?. Is it possible the church has been overrun with a terrible disease and she doesn’t even know it? There is a remedy which we explore in this message. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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Pastor Ignacio ChavianoNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

We can find ourselves saying thank you as a reaction to something nice being done to us. But do we really get the benefits of all the latest science on gratitude and appreciation only when something good is happening to us? Can we be appreciative even in the lows of life? In this message we take a look at a turning point in the Kingdom of Israel - all hinging on King David saying Thank you! Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What is the best way to prevent and reverse disease? Does the Bible speak to the ideal diet? Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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A few months back, I had the privilege of sitting down with a new friend that had found Jesus for the first time. He lived across the country and wanted to get baptized. We planned the celebration and he flew across the country to share his testimony on how Jesus found Him. This is his story. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Join us as we look at the story of Job and its lessons for us today. I had the pleasure of having 2 teenage girls that are members of our church join me for this great discussion on Job. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Why has Jesus not come back? Abe SendrosNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Once we conclude that God is all-powerful and yet a friend who walks with us, we slowly but surely have this experience where our confidence in God increases. When this happens, like with a good friend, we desire input and even guidance on how we should walk through life. Which job should I take? Which person should I be in a relationship with? Should I buy this house or that house? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

When the fullness of time was come - the Messiah's birth was imminent. What are the comparisons of the first advent with the second? This is Part 3 of 4Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The Story of Mary Magdalene has lessons that have been applicable throughout time.

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Eve the mother of all creation is flattered, enchanted by this talking serpent. He lured her in with intrigue and awakened her curiosity to explore the mystery that God had kept secret from her - the effects of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She had the knowledge of good, but wanted to understand the mystery hidden from her…

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Harlot or Hero? - 7
January 12, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
"Jesus immediately ascended to Heaven and presented himself before the throne of
God, showing the marks of shame and cruelty upon his brow, his hands and feet. But he
refused to receive the coronet of glory, and the royal robe, and he also refused the
adoration of the angels
"Jesus refused to receive the homage of his people until he knew that his sacrifice had
been accepted by the Father, and until he had received the assurance from God himself
that his atonement for the sins of his people had been full and ample, that through his
blood they might gain eternal life." -Spirit of Prophecy, Volume 3, p. 202
The Father embraces Jesus - Yes it is enough!
——————————————
There is John, one of Jesus closest friends, looking off into the sunset of
the Mediterranean. He feels the warm rays of the setting sun under the
azure blue sky. He’s remembering the past 50 or so years of life. He
watches the slowly crashing waves. He hears the birds down by the shore.
Jesus is in heaven. The church is on earth.
Jesus had promised he would send the Holy Spirit to help the believers
and boy did he! John hears the echo of the words of Jesus in his mind -
John 14:1-3 - “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God,
believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it
were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
The disciples, John’s friends, his brother James, they had all acted upon
Jesus last words - Matthew 28 and Mark 16 - Go into all the world, make
disciples, baptize and teach them all that I have taught you. I will be
with you and signs will follow you. (Matthew 28:19-20)(Mark 16:15-18)
The church as we read in the book of Acts starts off with gusto.
Thousands are baptized in a day. Even with the persecution of Saul, the
church kept spreading. Then Saul has an encounter with Jesus in a vision
!2 of !10
and becomes Paul. The gospel is now turning enemies into evangelists.
Finally as Jesus had foretold - Jerusalem once thought to be the eternal
city was destroyed by the Romans.
How long until He would return? John, on this island, is shown scenes all
the way to our day and something is strange. He sees two churches
represented by two women:- Scripture uses a woman to describe a
religious movement. Jeremiah 6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion
To a lovely and delicate woman.
Revelation 19:7,8
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it
was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine
linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Revelation 14:4

• Church is described as pure and faithful vs.
  Pure Woman- The Hero in our story - is described as dressed in white,
  pure, faithful, ready to marry Christ and be with him forever.
  Revelation 17:1-4 -
  “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on
  many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed
  fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the
  wine of her fornication.”
  3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a
  woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of
  blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was
  arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
  stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of
  abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
  Mystery - Babylon the Great - The Mother of Harlots
  Revelation 18
  !3 of !10
  Babylon the Great is Fallen, is Fallen and has become a dwelling place
  of demons…
  1 Peter 5:13 - Peter calls Rome - Babylon
  Ellicotts Commentary: St. Peter has just personified the church of the place from which he writes, which seems quite as unprosaic a use of language
  as to call Rome “Babylon.” And it seems pretty clear that the name was quite intelligible to Jewish readers, for whom it was intended. The
  Apocalypse (Revelation 17:18) is not the only place where Rome is found spoken of under this title. One of the first of living Hebraists (who will not
  allow his name to be mentioned) told the present writer that no Hebrew of St. Peter’s day would have had need to think twice what city was meant
  when “Babylon” was mentioned. And on the mention of the name, all the prophecies of the vengeance to be taken on the city which had desolated
  the Holy Land would rush with consolation into the mind of the readers, and they would feel that St. Peter, though supporting St. Paul, was still in full
  sympathy with themselves.
  The Harlot - identified as dressed in purple and red with lots of gold.
  Fornication or sleeping around outside of marriage is symbolism used to
  describe being unfaithful to God and to the Law. The wine is used as a
  symbol of teaching false doctrine.
  John saw the most confusing thing - two women, representing truth and
  error, light and darkness all the way to the end.
  ——————
  Last week we read that for the sake of man the controversy was to be
  continued…but for how long?
  Daniel had foretold of a time that even he didn’t fully understand - 2,300
  years into the future - ‘the time of the end’ (Daniel 8:14/17)
  Daniel has dreams about the future in Daniel 7 all the way to chapter 12
  and then…
  In Daniel 12:4, we read that Daniel is told to seal the book…until the time
  of the end.
  That it wouldn’t make much sense until it was all unfolding around the
  planet a long time into the future.
  All of the disciples would eventually lose their lives for the message. They
  went around the world to tell others this amazing story of love. John they
  had tried to kill multiple times - but were unsuccessful. So they banished
  him to the island of Patmos where he was given the scenes of the book of
  the Revelation.
  !4 of !10
  Daniel and John wrote down a a clear prophetic picture of the gruesome
  days ahead for the church.
  There is John on Patmos - He sees Jesus reveal Himself and the future
  unfolds before him…and he is told to write it down
• sanctuary in heaven - Revelation 1
• Future of the church and the war playing out… Revelation 2-3
• Judgment - 4-5
• Again the state of the church - Revelation 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
  Then John writes something that perhaps he at first like Daniel didn’t fully
  understand. The church would become the greatest enemy on earth to -
  the faithful of God? Huh? John had seen Jesus become the greatest
  ‘threat’ to organized religion. But one day, organized religion would
  become the greatest threat to Jesus and his followers!
  Life of the early Church
  …They were teaching, baptizing, healing, worshipping together. Acts 17:2
• continued custom of Sabbath observance
  "The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;. therefore
  the Christians for a long time together, did keep their conventions on
  the Sabbath, (in which some portion of the Law were read: and this
  continued till the time of the Laodicean council.)” The Whole Works of
  Jeremey Taylor, Vol. IX, p416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol.XII, p.416)
  "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of
  Saturday, or the seventh day..It is plain that all the Oriental churches,
  and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a
  festival...Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious
  assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with
  Judaism, but to worship God, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says
  the same." Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. II, Book XX, chap.
  3, Sec. 1, 66.1137, 1138
  !5 of !10
  The Falling Away…
  Paul warns the church though in - 2 Thessalonians 2:3- Let no man
  deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there
  come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
  perdition;
  Daniel, writing nearly 1000 years earlier says in Daniel 7 that a power
  would arise that would persecute the faithful, would attempt to change the
  very law of god and would rule for 1260 years
  Daniel 7:25
  He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
  Shall persecute[a] the saints of the Most High,
  And shall intend to change times and law.
  Then the saints shall be given into his hand
  For a time and times and half a time.
  In Daniel 7, as Daniel writes of the future he says “I saw a Lion, a Bear, a
  Leopard and then an awful 4th kingdom come on the earth. We further see
  how that became Babylon, Persia, Greece, and the Iron Monarchy of
  Rome which would last the longest.
  John is given a similar vision of the future of the church.
  In Revelation 13:1-5 John states:
  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of
  the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
  crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
  2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were
  as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the
  dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
  John sees the same animals in vision but in reverse of how Daniel
  describes them.
  3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
  deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
  !6 of !10
  4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:
  and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast?
  who is able to make war with him?
  5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
  blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
  months.
  And Just to be clear - the dragon is Lucifer/Satan the fallen angel. He has
  set up a church on the earth - with the end goal to be worshipped by
  impersonating Jesus with a false second coming…this is the grand almost
  overmastering strong delusion that we have been warned about
  Summary
  They are both shown a power that would one day come on the world that
  would:
  1-would be guilty of making a change to the ten commandments
  2-would persecute the saints - the true church, the real heroine - the
  bride of Christ
  3-would be guilty of blasphemy.
  4-rule for 1260 years on the earth,
  John’s definition of Blasphemy was based on two interactions Jesus had
  with the Pharisees:
  John 10:36 - Claiming to be god when you are not God
  Mark 2:7 - “this fellow claims to forgive sins - who can forgive sins but
  God? This is blasphemy!
  Recap: The true church -
  The one Jesus started was one built on love, not force. Love, not
  selfishness. Built on the laws of the old testament because Jesus said “I
  have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” Love is the fulfilling of the
  law. I have not come to change one jot or one tittle from the law”. The
  ceremonial sacrificial laws of course were done away with but not the
  moral law.
  !7 of !10
  The Falling Away -
  The Roman Empire has gone from the glory of the republic before the time
  of Christ, to the mob ruled democracy for hundreds of years, to finally on
  the brink of total chaos. Wars have exhausted the treasury, morality has
  disappeared and finally the pagan emperor - Constantine - sees a vision -
  and is converted to Christianity.
  There are some changes that would begin to be implemented: Scripture
  teaches too much independence of thought and action - therefore:
  The circulation of the scriptures must be prohibited! So that the people
  become ignorant.
  #1 - An attempt to change the law of God - to get the pagan world into
  the church - to allow for idol worship - of the gods of myth and legend -
  the heathen gods. The statue of Jupiter would now be called Peter. The
  images of a woman - the queen of heaven- would not be Juno or Isis but
  Mary - Mother of god.
  If you will remember from part 5 in our story - the heathen gods - were the
  fallen angels of heaven!
  You can’t just remove a commandment, so the 10th was split into two. The
  4th commandment, the only one prefaced by the word “Remember” was
  moved and now commemorated the first not the Seventh-day of the week.
  The text of Constantine's Sunday Law of 321 A.D. is:
  "On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people
  residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country
  however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully
  continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for gainsowing
  or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven
  should be lost.”
  At first the Sunday was a day of celebration and Sabbath was still
  observed. But over time, Sabbath was made a day of mourning and finally
  given up altogether. After all - the scriptures were hidden.
  !8 of !10
  #2 - Persecution
  Then great persecution arose from the Papacy in Rome and true Christians
  fled the cities and lived in the hills and mountains of the wilderness. The
  Waldenses, The Albigenses, The Huguenots.
  Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she
  hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a
  thousand two hundred and threescore days. - 1260 years according to
  the day for a year principle found in bible prophecy.
  This was the dark ages… because the Light - Jesus was hid from daily life,
  and also were hidden the truths of scripture
  #3 Blasphemy
• The church begins selling indulgences to build a place called - The
  Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome - Forgiveness of sin was now offered by
  the church in Rome - what the disciples understood as blasphemy.
  #4 - Would rule for 1260 years…More on that in a minute
  Late 1400’s - Columbus is sailing looking for more land - the legend of a
  new world. Gutenberg has discovered how to print bibles on new
  technology - the printing press - The Bible is having a resurgence.
  Around this time, a devout Catholic priest - Martin Luther - takes a journey
  to Rome - he is about to enter the city and falls to the earth and says “Holy
  Rome - I salute thee!” And exiting the city he writes “no one can imagine
  what sins are committed in Rome….If there is a hell, Rome is built over it!”
  Quite the change of heart. Luther began to study and could not reconcile
  the sale of the forgiveness of sin with Scripture.
  The date October 31, 1517 (which since then somehow paganism covered
  up with a holiday)- Luther has 95 issues that he sees his beloved church
  must address.
  This ignites what would be known as The Protestant Reformation - Built on
  the spirit of protest.
  !9 of !10
  Then a few decades into this ‘Revival’ - The Church of Rome christens -
  The Society of Jesus - The book -The Great Controversy speaks on this -
  “At this time the order of the Jesuits was created, the most cruel,
  unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of popery…..To combat
  these forces, Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled
  them to endure like dangers, and to oppose to the power of truth all the
  weapons of deception. There was no crime too great for them to commit,
  no deception too base for them to practice, no disguise too difficult for
  them to assume. Vowed to perpetual poverty and humility, it was their
  studied aim to secure wealth and power, to be devoted to the overthrow of
  Protestantism, and the re-establishment of the papal supremacy. GC 234
  It was a fundamental principle of the order that the end justifies the means.
  By this code, lying, theft, perjury, assassination, were not only pardonable
  but commendable, when they served the interests of the church. Under
  various disguises the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state,
  climbing up to be the counselors of kings, and shaping the policy of
  nations. They became servants to act as spies upon their masters. They
  established colleges for the sons of princes and nobles, and schools for
  the common people; and the children of Protestant parents were drawn
  into an observance of popish rites. GC 235
  —————
  “We will never forget that our forefathers, the first inhabitants of the
  American land, were compelled to leave their native country, to come to
  bury themselves in unknown and far-distant wildernesses to escape Jesuit
  tyranny and cruelty. ~Jesuitism Unvailed (Americans Warned About
  Jesuitism) by Claude Pirat; 1851 AD
  ~Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chiniquy - Abraham Lincoln
  stated to his friend Chiniquy - “Man must not care where and when he
  will die, provided he dies at the post of honour and duty.' But I may
  add, today, that I have a presentiment that God will call me to Him
  through the hand of an assassin.
  “Unfortunately, I feel more and more, every day, that it is not against
  the Americans of the South, alone, I am fighting, it is more against the
  Pope of Rome, his perfidious Jesuits [and their blind and blood-thirsty
  slaves,] than against the real American Protestants, that we have to
  !10 of !10
  defend ourselves. Here is the real danger of our position. So long as they will hope to conquer the North, they will
  spare me; but the day we will rout their armies (and that day will surely come, with the help of God), take their cities, and force them
  to submit, then, it is my impression that the Jesuits, who are the principal rulers of the South, will do what they have almost
  invariably done in the past. The dagger, or the pistol of one of their adepts, will do what the strong hands of the warriors could not
  achieve. This civil war seems to be nothing but a political affair to those who do not see, as I do, the secret springs of that terrible
  drama. But it is more a religious than a civil war. It is Rome who wants to rule and degrade the North, as she has ruled and
  degraded the South, from the very day of its discovery. There are only very few of the Southern leaders who are not more or less
  under the influence of the Jesuits, through their wives, family relations, and their friends. Several members of the family of Jeff Davis
  belong to the Church of Rome. Even the Protestant ministers are under the influence of the Jesuits without suspecting it. To
  keep her ascendancy in the North, as she does in the South, Rome is doing here what she has done in Mexico,
  and in all the South American Republics; she is paralyzing, by a civil war, the arms of the
  soldiers of Liberty. She divides our nation, in order to weaken, subdue
  and rule it.
  So the war continued on earth that had started long ago in heaven - the
  principle of love and kindness vs. the principle of force and selfishness.
  ———————
  “The War against the Bible, carried forward for so many centuries in
  France, culminated in the scenes of the French Revolution.” GC 265
  The year is 1798 - 1260 years after the Roman Emperor Justinian, issued a
  decree in 538 AD, proclaiming the Pope to be supreme in religious
  matters. The moment foretold by Daniel, and John - 1260 years that the
  Church of Rome would rule the world - had come. Napoleon’s army
  marches upon Rome - led by General Berthier - , takes the pope captive.
  This was the death knell to the old world - and everyone knew it.
  Across the ocean for the last two hundred+ years a nation was springing
  up, slowly growing in prominence. A place where men and women were
  fleeing the old world in search of a place where there was no king and no
  pope. A Protestant Republic… As France is falling, America is rising
  • Declaration of Independence (1776)
  • Constitution of the United States (1787)
  • Bill of Rights (1791)
  Virgin soil existed in the new world where liberty and freedom of
  conscience could once again take root.
  Why this matters now… Revelation 18:4 -

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This presentation takes a deep dive into why conditions before the flood may hold the secret to health and longevity today. Presented in both English and Español. Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Today we live in a world always on the brink of a pandemic. The outbreak of a virus in China has many wondering the cause and what to do to prevent getting sick. Does the Bible talk about anything of relevance that relates with what we eat and if so what does it say? Let’s dive in to find out. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtXrko_a1HNUtBJAgx6qEA Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

Has our picture of God been poisoned by His archenemy? What if God isn't who we think He is? There's been a cosmic misunderstanding of God, and the consequences could be deadly. What do the scriptures reveal about this fatal mix-up? Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages For even more messages, check out on IG/FB - @trythewayNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The Earth is Filled with Violence 2.0

 

Today I want to talk to you about violence. Its increasing around the world. 

 

Elon Musk recently stated that the U.S. Government Is “the Biggest Corporation, With a Monopoly on Violence.”

 

Canadian novelist and journalist Stephen Marche latest book “The Next Civil War: Dispatches From the American Future,” takes the realities of a politically tribalistic United States — burdened by racial and economic injustice, packed with social resentments, awash with guns — and imagines its move toward all-out conflict. “The background hum of hyper-partisanship, the rage and loathing of everyday American politics, generates a widespread tolerance for violence,” Marche writes. “Eventually somebody acts on it.”

 

The book can be summarized by this one line “America is one spectacular act of political violence away from a national crisis,” 

 

Fast company Magazine reports the greatest fear of the wealthy and those in positions of power is the literal unraveling of the social order of society – a conflagration of culture- that the growing divide of rich and poor just needs a spark to start a wildfire -  https://www.fastcompany.com/90712209/why-global-leaders-are-terrified-about-social-cohesion-erosion

 

The Bible in the book of Matthew chapter 24, ---Jesus, seated on the Mount of Olives, gave instruction to his disciples concerning the signs which should precede his coming: “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” [Matthew 24:37-39.]

 

The same sins that brought judgments upon the world in the days of Noah, exist in our day. Men and women now carry their eating and drinking so far that it ends in gluttony and drunkenness. This prevailing sin, the indulgence of perverted appetite, inflamed the passions of men in the days of Noah, and led to wide-spread corruption. Violence and sin reached to heaven. This moral pollution was finally swept from the earth by means of the flood. The same sins of gluttony and drunkenness benumbed the moral sensibilities of the inhabitants of Sodom, so that crime seemed to be the delight of the men and women of that wicked city. Christ thus warns the world: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” [Luke 17:28-30.] CTBH 11.1

 

Christ has here left us a most important lesson. He would lay before us the danger of making our eating and drinking paramount. He presents the result of unrestrained indulgence of appetite. The moral powers are enfeebled, so that sin does not appear sinful. Crime is lightly regarded, and passion controls the mind, until good principles and impulses are rooted out, and God is blasphemed. All this is the result of eating and drinking to excess. This is the very condition of things which Christ declares will exist at his second coming. CTBH 12.1

 

----------------

The National Television Violence Study reported that 91% of the movies on television contained violence,

 

Psychology Today reports on a recent study by The University of Washington – 500 families w children between 3-5. ½ watch regular cartoons of the old school variety – scooby doo, Road Runner. And others Curious George, Dora the Explorer. 

 

At 6 months - All families receive a home visit - parents answer questions to clarify if their children are manifesting certain behaviors like shoving, yelling, bullying and destroying things, arguably the building blocks for downright aggressive behaviors later in life. The outcomes are striking, though perhaps not surprising. Very young children immersed in pro-social and non-violent cartoons after six months are more sociable children. The kids left to watch violent cartoons manifest more often early signs of aggression.

 

The Greatest rationale for parents and their kids watching videos on any device was that it was a pacifying tool – a baby sitting tool. 

 

First - Researchers showed that kids subconsciously are learning how to act. The imitate what they hear and see. They identify with cartoon characters. 

 

Second, this process beginning early in life calls to mind a well-known adage: neurons that fire together wire together. What this means is that when a group of neurons is activated concurrently in a child’s central nervous system they begin to form a kind of firing unit. So when a child sees violence used as a means to solve a problem, this lesson becomes hard-wired in the central nervous system. - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-the-media-is-the-parent/201307/violent-cartoons-and-aggressive-preschoolers

 

 

Last summer, Allen Roach saw something that really disturbed him: His then-11-year-old son, Peyton, used a sword to slice off the arms and legs of characters in a virtual reality medieval fantasy game,Blade & Sorcery, then threw the dismembered digital bodies off a bridge.

Sure, it all happened in VR. But for Roach — who spotted this gory scene while monitoring his son's VR gaming on a computer screen that mirrored what Peyton was doing with an Oculus Quest 2 headset — it felt uncomfortably real.

Roach knew when Peyton looked down in VR he was seeing a weapon held in virtual hands, not just a plastic game controller. It didn't matter that it was a single-player game, which meant that the characters weren't represented by other human players.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/tech/virtual-reality-parents/index.html

 

Is it videogames to blame? This has been a debate for decades. Many researchers say no. That the real issue is guns and gun rights. Last time I checked guns aren’t the only weapons in America and the world. That video game I mentioned above wasn’t a gun in the kids hand. https://www.vox.com/2019/8/26/20754659/video-games-and-violence-debate-moral-panic-history

 

A large study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found a direct correlation between video games and real world behaviour. 

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp784772.pdf

 

What was it before the flood that led to the increase in violence? 

 

They delighted in destroying the life of animals; and the use of flesh for food rendered them still more cruel and bloodthirsty, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference. PP 91.3

 

As we approach the close of this earth's history, selfishness, violence, and crime prevail, as in the days of Noah. And the cause is the same—the excessive indulgence of the appetites and passions. A reform in the habits of life is especially needed at this time, in order to fit a people for the coming of Christ. 

 

The Saviour Himself warns the church: -- "So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with gluttony, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.

3SM 292.1

 

 

 

--------------------------------------

Notes:

 

—God did not withhold meat from the Hebrews in the wilderness simply to show His authority, but for their good, that they might preserve physical and moral strength. He knew that the use of animal food strengthens the animal passions and enfeebles the intellect. He knew that the gratification of the appetite of the Hebrews for flesh meats, would weaken their moral powers, and induce such an irritable disposition that the vast army would become insubordinate, that they would lose the high sense of their moral obligations, and refuse to be controlled by the wise laws of Jehovah. Violence and rebellion would exist among them, making it impossible for them to be a pure and happy people in the land of Canaan. God knew what was best for the children of Israel, therefore He deprived them in a great measure of flesh meats. Te 160.2a

 

 

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 1 of  15
America the Beautiful?
January 19, 2019
adairsvillesda.org
Where we are at in this series…
Bible is a book about how the world and civilization interacts with God
and His friends or followers - Sodom, Egypt, Ninevah, Babylon, Persia,
Greece, Rome, Papacy, …. Today we are going to talk about America
and the purpose for which it was founded…
The Old World…is ending - Why?
To those who were looking to go back to the primitive church - the
apostolic church - the King of England is quoted as saying “conform,
or ….harry them out of the land, or else worse” - George Bancroft,
History of the United States of America pt. 1, ch12
-J.G. Palfrey writes “Hunted, persecuted and imprisoned many could
see only dark days ahead. For those who wanted to serve God
according to the dictates of their conscience “England was ceasing
forever to be a habitable place” -J.G. Palfrey - History of New England -
They fled to Holland, left their homes and lands because of religious
persecution.
They became known as the Puritans, a Protestant group where their
motto was “to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made
known to them.” - J. Brown , The Pilgrim Fathers p. 74
This was the true spirit of Protestantism and the Reformation.
Men like their pastor - John Robinson were teaching that Luther,
Calvin, Knox and others would have kept the reformation progressing.
He said “were they now living, [they] would be as willing to embrace
further light as that which they first received.” - D Neal, History of the
Puritans vol. 1, p. 269
 2 of  15
He goes on “Remember your promise and covenant with God…to
receive whatever light and truth shall be made known to you from His
written word…..for it is not possible the Christian world should come so
lately out of such thick antichristian darkness and that full perfection of
knowledge should break forth at once.” Martyn , vol 5, pp. 70-71
It was with this creed that they set sail for the shores of the new world
and a new life.
They had seen the evils of religion seeking to define and punish heresy
and saw the value of keeping church and state separate.
But sadly not long after they arrive, many begin to mandate that only
church members can serve in government and it was not long before
persecution arose…in the new world.
Before they left the shores of Holland Robinson said to them “I am very
confident the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of His
holy word.” - Martyn, vol. 5 p. 70
Roger Williams
Another man of faith arrives to the shores of the new world.
He agreed with John Robinson that “it was impossible that all the light
from God’s word had been received.”
He is known as “the first person in modern Christendom to establish
civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the
equality of opinions before the law.” -Bancroft, pt. 1, ch 15
When Williams arrived in America - he found church attendance was
mandated by law. This disgusted him.
He was respected and loved as a faithful leader and minister, a man of
rare gifts, integrity and kindness shown to everyone he met. But as he
kept teaching and preaching tolerance and freedom of speech and
 3 of  15
freedom of conscience he was accused of “subverting the government
and society” - Bancroft pt. Ch 15
He was sentenced for a crime - as an enemy of the state - and to
escape arrest - he was forced to flee in the cold stormy winds of winter
into the deep forest.
He wrote later “For fourteen weeks, I was sorely tossed in a bitter
season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean - but the ravens fed
me in the wilderness and a hollow tree served as a shelter.” -Martyn Vol.
5, pp 349-350
He continued through the snow and the forest until he found refuge
with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he won while
teaching them the truths of the gospel.
Finally he made it to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he laid the
foundation for the first state in the new world that would recognize
religious freedom - “that every man should have liberty to worship God
according to the light of his own conscience.” Martyn vol 5, p 354. That
state would become known as Rhode Island and became the asylum
for civil and religious liberty - the cornerstones of the American
Republic.
The Declaration of Independence would eventually state: “all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit
terms, the inviolability of conscience: “No religious test shall ever be
required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
United States.” “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
A land of Freedom?
Word begins to spread around Europe and the world - There is a land
where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the
 4 of  15
convictions of his own conscience - and thousands came to the shores
of America.
The French would gift us a statue - The Statue of Liberty - where on it
today it reads - in a poem - that Lady Liberty is called The Mother of
Exiles - “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free…”
A land set up to give men and women the freedom that deep down we
all desire.
————————
Revelation 13 - Would the Bible mention this nation?
The first verses of Revelation 13 identify a power that comes up out of a
populated area i.e. the Sea. The Bible uses water to symbolize people -
population. Revelation 17:15 - The waters which you saw, where the
harlot sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
We learned last week, The harlot/beast/kingdom rules for 1260 years,
guilty of claiming the power to forgive sins, guilty of changing the 10
commandments, persecuting those who kept the Sabbath of Creation
and who prized liberty of conscience.
Verse 10 says - This power that led others into captivity would be led
into captivity. The capture of the pope and Napoleon taking himself
into exile fulfilled this prophecy. The kingdom, most Protestant scholars
along with scripture identify this power as the Roman Church.
But another power begins to rise once this previous power begins to
fall.
It is good to note that Daniel 7:23 interprets a beast as a kingdom or
empire. So when this passage describes one beast falling and another
rising it’s talking about kingdoms or empires.
So the Roman church is represented like other nations before it by a
predator - a carnivore. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome - all of these
world powers had to conquer and kill another kingdom to become the
new superpower on the earth.
 5 of  15
But this new nation, a new empire is not rising out of a populated area
symbolized by water.
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had
two horns like a lamb…
New Kingdom, coming up (or growing up) in an unpopulated area of
the world symbolized by a lamb - an herbivore - not an animal that eats
or kills other animals. So this kingdom would not conquer or overcome
another power in the territory it would rise in. It would grow up slowly
and innocently like a lamb.
The lamb may also be a symbol of the values of Christ - represented in
scripture.
The words ‘coming up’ are also translated as ‘to grow or spring up as a
plant’. G.A. Townsend describes it like this - “Like a silent seed we grew
into an empire.” - The New World Compared with the Old p.462
How about the horns? Lamblike horns? It’s not a sheep with horns, but
lamblike horns. A lambs horns are still Innocent, gentle - not dangerous
yet.
When we see other horns in the Bible - horns represent power. Horns
often like in Revelation 13:1 - have crowns on horns. Crowns in the old
world were on kings and pontiffs.
But what would these two sources of power be in this new nation?
History reveals that Republicanism and Protestantism - are the
fundamental principles of the nation. Many identify these principles as
the secret of its power and prosperity. Separation of church and state.
A country was forming marked with peace and prosperity where you
could have a “church without a pope, and a state without a king.” A
new world, a new civilization, a new country - where Protestantism
could flourish.
 6 of  15
But Revelation 13:11 ends with something strange…. And he spoke like a
dragon
How could this lamblike innocent nation become the most fearsome of
all monsters on the earth - a dragon?
How could this new nation transform from a lamb - a symbol of Christ
into a dragon - the symbol of the fallen angel Lucifer - the Devil
himself? How does that happen?
Not all at once. If we are being honest we have some sad realities in our
past - Indian genocide, slavery, racism - These were not the reason this
country was founded.
The motto of John Robinson and Roger Williams and of the Puritans
and Protestants that founded America - that Truth is Progressive - The
Protestant Churches of America stopped believing and stopped
practicing.
But God was not done yet…
Another Reformer was raised up - a farmer, a military man, a Patriot and

• a man who doubted the Bible’s inspiration and validity - William Miller
  @ the age of 34.
  He was turned off from Scripture and Christianity.
  The doctrines of the old world were still badges of slavery of the dark
  ages and the medieval church. Doctrines that most of the churches still
  held to included:
• Burning Hell Fire for bad people
  -rising teaching of a secret rapture - not a visible second coming
  -the dead moved on to the next life
  -prophecy was sealed - God and the Bible were a mystery
• the millennium was to be on earth - not heaven
  -that Israel was the country to look to in prophecy rather than the
  United States
   7 of  15
  But the biggest thing that caught Miller’s attention was the accuracy of
  the time prophecies of the Bible.
  He began to study the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel, 2300 day
  prophecy, 1260 days, He was curious as to why the Jewish leaders had
  pronounced a curse on all who studied Daniel 9.
  After years of study - he was convinced and convicted that the
  imminent second coming of Jesus was near and that sometime around
  1843-1844 Jesus would return to the earth at the close of the 2300 year
  prophetic time period.
  Miller decided to spend his wealth and devote his life to telling all in
  America of this long hoped for Advent. Those who believed his
  message would become known as Millerites or Adventists.
  Miller was not alone in this understanding. Like the beginning of the
  Reformation in the 16th century, Around the world something was
  happening -a great awakening in the first half of the 19th century.
  The Middle East, Europe, South America, England but America
  becomes the center of where the Reformation continues.
  The majority of the churches reject the idea of an imminent second
  coming and further reforms in Protestant belief. God was trying to
  complete the Protestant Reformation in the land of the free and yet a
  battle was raging for the soul of the nation. A few years later - A civil
  war would break out. After all - divide and conquer from within is the
  most seditious of all threats to any institution. Abraham Lincoln had
  this to say about the civil war:
  “This war would never have been possible without the sinister influence
  of the Jesuits. We owe it to Popery that we now see our land reddened
  with the blood of her noblest sons….It is the promises of the Jesuits…
  the money and the arms… The Protestants of both the North and South
  would surely unite to exterminate the Jesuits, if they could hear…the
   8 of  15
  plots made in Rome to destroy this Republic. - A Letter - June 8, 1864 -
  Abraham Lincoln
  The church begins to slip back into the superstition and persecution of
  the dark ages. A Professor at Oberlin College said “churches generally
  are becoming sadly degenerate…” Many wanted to follow what they
  knew to be right but they trusted their pastors who forbade them or
  they couldn’t endure the persecution they would get from family and
  fellow church members.
  Ellen White, one of those who began to listen and follow Miller stated -
  “He who deliberately stifles his convictions of duty because it
  interferes with his inclinations will finally lose the power to distinguish
  between truth and error.”
  Men like Thomas Guthrie, a Presbyterian, began to write on the separation of protestant churches “300 years ago, our church, with an open
  Bible on her banner, and this motto ‘Search the Scriptures’ on her scroll, marched out from the gates of Rome…But did they come clean out of
  Babylon?” Thomas Guthrie , The Gospel of Ezekiel, p. 237
  “The Church of England,” says Spurgeon, “seems to be eaten through and through with sacramentarianism; …
  Those of whom we thought better things are turning aside one by one from the fundamentals of the faith….I believe, the very heart of England is honeycombed with a
  damnable infidelity which dares still go into the pulpit and call itself Christian.” -GC
  384
  Howard Crosby states “It is a matter of deep concern that we find
  Christ’s church so little fulfilling the designs of it’s Lord.” - The Healthy Christian:
  An Appeal to the Church, p. 141-142
  Only a few today cling to the idea that truth is still progressive.
  That God is calling people out of the confusion of Babylon - confused
  religion - back to the primitive simple faith of the early christians.
  Revelation 12:17 - And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went
  to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
  commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
  two key identifiers - those keeping the commandments of God and
  those who Revelation 19:10 says kept the flame of prophecy alive and
  burning. Our challenge is to find that group and stay close.
   9 of  15
  —————-————-————-————-————-————-————-
  Revelation 13 continues on and the scene changes…
  11 and he spake as a dragon.
  How does a nation speak? Through its legal and judicial system and
  laws.
  In history what is the process by which the religion of God falls from
  having power to wielding persecuting power?
  It is when the church and it’s adherents are really no different than the
  world. When they lower the standards and dilute it’s brand identity
  When the church loses its power it turns to power.
  When the church loses its power - it turns to those in power.
  When the church loses its power from God - it turns to the power of
  men.
  Paul says it this way - talking about a sign of the closing moments of time - a picture of those in the church -
  2 Timothy 3:1-5 “ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers,
  without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
  What does the Bible predict for America?
  12 And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and
  causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first
  beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
  Quoting from the book the Great Controversy on this passage that The
  Bible foretells that America will develop “the spirit of intolerance and
  persecution of the empires and superpowers that came before her.
  Revelation 13:13 goes on to say that it will be through signs and
  miracles that the United States and eventually the whole world will be
  deceived into persecuting those that don’t fall in line with the majority.
   10 of  15
  1 Timothy 4:1 - Now the Spirit expressly says that in last days some will
  depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
  demons. —-In other words, the fallen angels have been warned to
  begin disseminating deception around the world.
  That the day would come when -Verse 14 - “that they should make an
  image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
  That America should honor the Papacy that was wounded and yet has been regaining it’s influence in the world. The
  phrase “they should make” denotes a country where legislative power
  rests with the vote and voice of the people.
  Verse 15 … [America would force] those who don’t worship the image
  of the beast should be killed.
  What is the image of the beast? What is an image of something? When
  you hear the phrase in the south - you’re the spitting image of your
  father, mother etc. Something that closely resembles something else.
  That America would closely resemble the Roman power -a state
  influenced by the church - that ruled the world and men and women’s
  consciences for 1260 years…. Could it be true? Could this happen?
  It goes on …
  16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
  bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
  Some method to identify people by what their choice is
  17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
  name of the beast, or the number of his name.
  Some way to track everyone to the extent that you can limit someone’s
  ability to buy or sell anything.
   11 of  15
  18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number
  of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six
  hundred threescore and six.
  More symbols, more details….for another time.
  When we talk about Marks of authority, cattle are branded, cars are
  branded, clothing is branded, Does anyone claim to have something
  that is their mark or brand signature?
  In the last message, we described two churches represented by two
  women - one the Bible calls a harlot, unfaithful who has attempted to
  change the law of God and one a hero, faithful and keeping all of the
  commandments of God.
  We learned that Constantine, the Roman emperor, in order to unite the world - the pagans and Christians, created a new holiday, a rest day on
  the first day of the week - the Sunday.
  Speaking on that change of the weekly day of rest:
  Priest T. Enright says - “It was the holy Catholic Church
  that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the
  1st day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep
  Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, AD 364, anathematized -
  condemned those who kept the Sabbath and urged all
  persons to labor on the 7th day under penalty of anathema.”
  John A. O'Brien, The Faith of Millions: the Credentials of the Catholic Religion Revised Edition
  (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1974): 400-401:
  But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it
  curious that non-Catholics, who claim to take their religion
  directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday
  instead of Saturday?
  C.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons on October
  28, 1895: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the
  change [of Sabbath to Sunday] was her act…And the act is
  a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in
  religious matters.
   12 of  15
  —————-
  So the Bible predicts that America would abandon the secrets of her
  power, her lamblike horns, like Samson cutting off the secret of his
  power, America would see the sunset of - Protestantism and
  Republicanism and church and state would unite.
  Ellen White, author of the book the Great Controversy writes,
  “Our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a
  Protestant and Republican government.” - Testimonies Vol 5, P. 451
  When Jesus was asked by his disciples about what life would be like
  just before His return, He tells them some signs to look out for: Let’s look at both those
  and if we have reason to be concerned about the future or Protestantism or The Republic.
  The Signs of the Times
  Jesus says in Matthew 24 -
  Verse 4 - Deception or Fake News will be everywhere
  Verse 5 - People claiming to be Christians will be guilty of not telling
  the truth
  Verse 6 - There will exist the threat of war
  Don’t be afraid, these are just leading up to the final events…
  Verse 7 - There will be disasters - famines, disease, earthquakes
  Verse 8 - Persecution
  Verse 24 - Deception signs and wonders
  Harvard Historian - Charles Meyer on America since 1971… “We have switched from an empire of production to an empire of consumption”
  We began living on credit as soon America went off the gold standard and in essence the world economy became attached to the fiat currency
  of America. Fiat currency is as good as the entity says it is, not inherently of value.
  The fall of Rome - why did the Republic fail and fall?
  Mike Duncan - author of The Storm before the Storm
   13 of  15
  Many people ask me ‘Is the United States Rome? Are we following a
  similar trajectory?’ If you start to do some comparisons between the
  rise and development of the U.S. and rise and development of Rome,
  you do wind up in this same place.
  What preceded the fall of the Republic?
  -mos maiorum began to falter -the code of conduct and normalcy for
  society - the heirarchical family structure began to break down. The
  traditional home led by fathers disappeared. Society was in a place to
  make sure social pressure was there to hold men accountable -
  Hölkeskamp, Reconstructing the Roman Republic, p. 33.
• it also depended strongly on the ruling influential class adhering to
  the consensus of society and the norms of society, not undermining it.
• Law began to be used to change culture rather than persuasion and
  consensus
• rising political tensions and factions
  -unprecedented wealth began to be had across the empire.
  -Growing gap between the rich and the poor classes
  -Poor are having to sell their land
  -Rich are buying up large tracts of land
  -small farms are disappearing - Land ownership really became the
  wealth determinate
  -“At the founding of [The United States Republic] our republic,
  everybody’s a farmer, and now everything is owned by what,
  Monsanto?”
  Review & Herald Magazine - October 3, 1912, - In God's plan for Israel,
  every family had a home on the land, with sufficient ground for tilling.
  Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful,
  industrious, and self-supporting life. And no devising of man has ever
  improved upon that plan. To the world's departure from it is owing, to
  a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist today.
  -“People felt like the state was no longer working for them, that the
  Assemblies and Senate weren’t passing laws for the benefit of anyone
  but a small group of elites. This resentment was threatening the
  legitimacy of the Republic in the eyes of many citizens.”
   14 of  15
• Another issue Duncan says was citizenship - everyone wanted to be a
  citizen of the Republic
• • Camille Paglia states - the movement towards androgyny (removal of
    the distinction of gender and gender roles) occurs in late phases of a
    culture. As a civilization is staring to unravel. In the Greek art, the sculptures of handsome nude young men and athletes that used to be very robust,
    suddenly begin to look like wet noodles. This applies to the Hellenists, the Romans, Weimar Germany. People that live in these
    moments feel they are very sophisticated, very cosmopolitan - saying
    homosexuality, heterosexuality - anything goes - you can see from a distance that this is a culture that no longer
    believes in itself, and then what you invariably get are people who are convinced of the heroic power of masculinity - that could be the Huns, Barbarians, Vandals - ISIS today. There is disconnect
    between the fascination of the transgender with what is taking place at the fringes. I am concerned and I think it’s ominous.
    6 - protracted wars, crumbling infrastructure, rising national debt,
    “These are all examples of a society that is completely unmoored”
    “Pay attention to the warning signs, If you ignore it, you risk the whole
    thing collapsing into civil war and a military dictatorship.”
    Rome went from a Republic quickly to a democracy to anarchy to
    dictators, tyrants.
    Author Chris Hedges describes current underemployment, rising debt,
    growing sexual abuse, rising gambling addiction, opiod and drug
    addiction, people are feeling alienated, depression is rising, loneliness
    is increasing. Disintegrating societies resort to violence.
    “Never forget that within American society, we are a deeply violent
    culture. - awash in weapons.”- An Estimated 40% of all guns in the
    world are in the United States. 400 Million Guns to a population of 328
    Million.
    When national discourse is no longer rooted in fact, then facts are interchangeable with opinions. Then the truth is whatever you want it to be.
    -Chris Hedges (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPk9HSLagVg)
    "A growing segment or majority of the Christian Right does not have
    the standard of living that they once did and is being marginalized. "
    There is currently an ideological vacuum in America which is quickly
    being filled by the Christian Right.
    The christian right is organized. They have their own universities, their own media platforms, systems of indoctrination, huge amounts of money behind them. Unless there is sustained mass civil
    disobedience to put pressure on the two party system and corruption then what’s coming
    Noam Chomsky “You may want Trump out but Michael Pence will be worse.”
    A republic protects the minority despite what the majority wants. A democracy is guided by the majority, the mob, the popular vote… Once people see their government and leaders cant be trusted or
    they lose that trust….we see what happened in France - Revolution
     15 of  15
    Today, Multitudes are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law,
    that license is liberty, and that man is accountable only to himself.
    Education p. 227.6
    “…anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human.
    The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the
    enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of
    the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the
    spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of
    the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending
    to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed
    France. Education p. 228.
    Automation threatens jobs, unions still hold significant power.
    Hebrews 13:5 - “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
    FOR FURTHER STUDY
    Artificial Intelligence and unions
    Growing gap of the rich and poor
    The peril of cities and the data
    EW - Out of the cities is my message.
    Matthew 24, disasters are coming. Dead are coming, satan coming as Christ
    heathen gods are coming.
    Digital currency. No buy or sell. Mark of the Beast. Loss of freedom of speech and religion.

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In any good story we quickly know the good guy, the bad guy and what is at stake depending on who wins. So is God good all the time? How do we know if something comes from God - like cancer, a breakup, failing a class? Does God send calamity into our lives or is someone else responsible? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

The Dark Side of Beautiful – 10/30

 

 

 

 

This weekend America and much of the world celebrates the second biggest holiday of the year – Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos. This holiday often portrays the scary side of death – though today I’d like to also talk about the beautiful almost irresistible side of death too. 

 

Halloween Stats[1] per USA Today 

 

Americans love holidays – Ancient Israel had close to 4 weeks of national holidays plus the weekly Sabbath holiday

 

Today there are said to be 11 days of national holiday in America

 

10 billion dollars will be spent on Halloween this year – 1 billion more than ever before. 1/3 on costumes – 1/3 on candy and 1/3 on decorations

 

2/3 Americans will celebrate Halloween 

 

8 out of ten families with children will celebrate Halloween 

 

Most popular costume by 4x more than any other – A witch - Did you know that more people in America today identify as a witch[2] (1.4 million) than those who identify as Seventh-day Adventist? More witches than those who identify as Presbyterian! An Atlantic article describes – “Americans’ interest in spell-casting tends to increase as instability rises and trust in establishment ideas plummets. Wicca is America’s fastest growing Religion!!!!!

 

Author Julie Roys says - “Wicca (which is a form of paganism) has effectively repackaged witchcraft for Millennial consumption. No longer are witchcraft and paganism satanic and demonic… it’s a ‘pre-Christian tradition’ that promotes ‘free thought’ and ‘understanding of earth and nature.’

 

October 31 is Halloween – November 1 begins the festival – Dia de los Muertos or day of the dead – often very beautiful - 

 

Origins are believed to be pagan—Pagan - a person who worships many gods or goddesses or the earth or nature -  Later all hallows eve – sought to Christianize the holiday – 

– originally called Samhain – a celtic pagan holiday 

 

Occurred around the solstice and a day when animals were slaughtered and bonfires were lit where it was believed the veil between the living and the underworld/dead was thin – a time when the AOS SI or spirits or fairies could more easily communicate with the living. Some say the AOS SI were a supernatural race of spirits generally described as stunningly beautiful.

 

The AOS Si were believed to be the gods of the ancient pagan world – Scripture describes these ‘gods’ of the pagan world as fallen angels cast out of heaven for giving their allegiance to Lucifer rather than Jehovah

 

The celebration of this ancient festival was when - The souls of dead relatives were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and a place was set at the table for them during a Samhain meal.

 

Disguise and wrapping oneself in burial clothes like a mummy was a part of this festival in order to hide yourself from the AOS Si. It was a holiday of impersonation. Impersonation is the practice when Someone imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another.

 

According to Irish mythology, Samhain was a time when the 'doorways' to the Underworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead".[3]

 

Here in America, we are pretty obsessed with this idea of death being nothing more than a gateway to the next life. This sentiment is much like the ancient Egyptians. Whether it’s zombies, the undead, ghosts, conjuring spirits or anything we celebrate on Halloween these days – death has become big business – especially the scary side of it. But then there’s the other side – the beautiful side – the idea of reconnecting with our loved ones. 

 

We love the idea of communicating with the dead, celebrating life after death and who can blame us ? The Sumerians did, the Egyptians did, the Persians, the Greeks, the idea of talking to the dead is found in Homer's Odyssey..and  the Romans were into it And now the Christians…

 

In the midst of the civil war – there were more people who claimed to be able to talk to the dead than the number of people who were in favor of abolishing slavery!!!!

 

In the early years of the United States – Most Protestant Christians openly protested to celebrating this holiday. 

 

I don’t know your thoughts on Halloween but I think its important to know the history of a thing and the issues around it. Especially in light of the belief by some that the downfall of ancient empires was closely linked with the increase in supposed communication with the spirit world and communicating with the dead. 

 

Why would that be? Today nearly 2 billion people on earth identify as Christian and the majority of those believe it is possible to communicate with the dead. 

 

 

Two sides of this discussion the beautiful and the ugly 

 

So often we talk about the ugly – in our books, our art, our films – the dead are scary but then the other side is when its our loved ones…. That we miss so much – that we often would do anything to reconnect with - Hollywood capitalizes on both – the scary and the beautiful

 

The bible is not silent on the idea of what happens to us humans after we breathe our last breath. The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 18:20 – that the soul is not immortal. That life comes from the dust of the ground and the breath of life from God. Like a lightbulb made of materials from the ground is nothing without electricity – together they create light. 

 

Overall Scripture paints death as a sleep – awaiting the final judgment – the final decision of God as to who knew Him and who did not. Only after that decision does destiny and destination be decided. But not secretly – instead at events known as the second and third coming of Jesus. At the second the righteous dead awake. At the third the dead who are lost will awake. 

 

After death a person: returns to dust (Psalms 104:29), knows nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5), possesses no mental powers (Psalms 146:4), has nothing to do with anything on earth (Ecclesiastes 9:6), does not live (2 Kings 20:1), waits in the grave (Job 17:13), and continues not (Job 14:1, 2).

 

--------

The gods of the old Testament were not just imaginary. 

Talking about these ‘gods’ David tells us the history of his people and the great sin of King Saul- 

 

They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood (Psalm 106:34-38).

 

the demons, the fallen angels, legion race were the gods of the old Testament and all these different gods were demons that somehow in some way had personified themselves. And then the people had made an idol after this demon. And if the angels are in the proportions that we read and legend says, they're extremely tall, 12, 16, 18 foot tall beings, and very Beautiful. 

 

They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known.. (Deut 32:16-17). 

 

Deut 18:9-12 - 9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. 10There shall not be found among you any one who maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or who useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12For all who do these things are an abomination unto the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee (KJV).

 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.

 

This was profound. When I learned this concept that these weren't just ignorant people. They were worshiping beings with a ton of talent and skill and wisdom.

 

Early Church leaders such as Justin Martyr and Tertullian held similar views (that the gods were actually demons).

 

Why would ancient civilizations talk to these beings? We learn in 2 Kings 19:35 that one angel – one of these type of beings killed 185,000 soldiers in one night. You hear talk of generals from wars in our recent history who were communing with these same beings. 

• - - - 

I’d like to tell you a story about Israel’s first King – Saul and his communicating with the spirit world through an oracle of Endor – READ 1 Samuel 28:3-6

 

Saul is longing for answers. Notice verse 3 - Samuel has died. He was the voice of God to Saul. Have you ever lost someone close to you? You know this feeling of love being cut off suddenly. 

 

I have. A few years back I got a call that my dad had died in a car accident. Sudden. You think of the your last conversation. You think of the good times. You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again. 

 

Let me repeat that - You would do ANYTHING to talk to them again. 

 

I know the Bible teaching on the dead, yet for months and even years I would have dreams where I would see my dad, talk to him, even know he was dead yet everything in my being - in my dream - wanted to hug him, talk to him. 

 

Not until you lose someone and realize the power of love and loss do you begin to really understand the power of this doctrine of the devil - that death is a doorway to the next life. That there is no check and balance to immortality – all must just live on regardless of character and actions in this life. 

 

Saul was desperate and he called for a medium. He knew better but he was would do ANYTHING to find answers.

 

1 Samuel 28:7- 25

 

——-    —-     —-    —-   —-

 

Why address this today? Because if the Bible is true, it paints a picture of some mass event in our future - a deception thousands of years in the making.

 

In the closing scenes of this war between good and evil we are told that The most powerful medium - friends and family, who seem to come to us, look the same, sound the same, smell the same, and are here to comfort us and ‘warn us’ of coming danger. I can tell you everything in your soul will WANT TO BELIEVE these beings impersonating your loved ones. This is where faith and feeling will fight their greatest battle. The only thing telling you this is not real is Scripture and the truth that the dead know nothing (Eccl 9:5) and Job 7:9-10 - As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.

 

1 Timothy 4:1 - The Spirit clearly says that in the last days some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

 

1 Timothy 4:3 - For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

 

We also learn in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Lucifer - the fallen archangel of heaven is planning to personatechrist before the true second coming. We also learn that the fallen angels are going to impersonate loved ones who have gone to sleep i.e. died. Why? Because this is the most powerful MEDIUM to sway someone’s belief system. 

 

I had a friend in elementary school who’s family had spoken to their dead daughter- his sister. There is NO. LET ME REPEAT. NO WAY to reason with someone’s apparent reality. They saw her, they spoke to her, and I was not going to convince them otherwise. 

 

The dead can appear to talk to the living, it’s just not the dead but demons or the fallen angels masquerading as loved ones with the sole desire to deceive us. 

 

Life is made up of concepts and ideas which equate to emotions and actions. You have a choice on what you believe and how it effects your behavior. 

 

This topic and a complete understanding of it impacts so many other beliefs and ideas. It has influenced this planet since the first day and will be an issue until the last day. 

 

The reason it is all so important is because it is about love. God loves us and does not want to see us deceived and lost. We have to decide if that true love is worth it…

 

Jesus - For why should we seek the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5)

 

Challenge - 

 

---------------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ellen White on husband James after death: 

 

Prolific Author and Adventist Pioneer, Ellen White – 

Letter 17, 1881 (RY 161) ------ Life Sketches p. 360 -----GCB June 1, 1913

 

James White her husband has just died recently –--------A few days since, I was pleading with the Lord for light in regard to my duty. In the night I dreamed I was in the carriage, driving, sitting at the right hand. Father (Dad – James White) was in the carriage, seated at my left hand. He was very pale, but calm and composed. “Why Father,” I exclaimed, “I am so happy to have you by my side once more! I have felt that half of me was gone. Father, I saw you die; I saw you buried. Has the Lord pitied me and let you come back to me again, and we work together as we used to?”  

He looked very sad. He said, “The Lord knows what is best for you and for me. My work was very dear to me. We have made a mistake. We have responded to urgent invitations of our brethren to attend important meetings. We had not the heart to refuse. These meetings have worn us both more than we were aware. Our good brethren were gratified, but they did not realize that in these meetings we took upon us greater burdens than at our age we could safely carry. They will never know the result of this long-continued strain upon us. God would have had them bear the burdens we have carried for years. Our nervous energies have been continuously taxed, and then our brethren misjudging our motives and not realizing our burdens have weakened the action of the heart. I have made mistakes, the greatest of which was in allowing my sympathies for the people of God to lead me to take work upon me which others should have borne.  

“Now, Ellen, calls will be made as they have been, desiring you to attend important meetings, as has been the case in the past. But lay this matter before God and make no response to the most earnest invitations. Your life hangs as it were upon a thread. You must have quiet rest, freedom from all excitement and from all disagreeable cares. We might have done a great deal for years with our pens, on subjects the people need that we have had light upon and can present before them, which others do not have. Thus you can work when your strength returns, as it will, and you can do far more with your pen than with your voice.”  

He looked at me appealingly and said, “You will not neglect these cautions, will you, Ellen? Our people will never know under what infirmities we have labored to serve them because our lives were interwoven with the progress of the work, but God knows it all. I regret that I have felt so deeply and labored unreasonably in emergencies, regardless of the laws of life and health. The Lord did not require us to carry so heavy burdens and many of our brethren so few. We ought to have gone to the Pacific Coast before, and devoted our time and energies to writing. Will you do this now? Will you, as your strength returns, take your pen and write out these things we have so long anticipated, and make haste slowly? There is important matter which the people need. Make this your first business. You will have to speak some to the people, but shun the responsibilities which have borne us down.” 

“Well,” said I, “James, you are always to stay with me now and we will work together.” Said he, “I stayed in Battle Creek too long. I ought to have gone to California more than one year ago. But I wanted to help the work and institutions at Battle Creek. I have made a mistake. Your heart is tender. You will be inclined to make the same mistakes I have made. Your life can be of use to the cause of God. Oh, those precious subjects the Lord would have had me bring before the people, precious jewels of light!”  

I awoke. But this dream seemed so real. Now you can see and understand why I feel no duty to go to Battle Creek for the purpose of shouldering the responsibilities in General Conference. I have no duty to stand in General Conference. The Lord forbids me. That is enough.—Letter 17, 1881. . RY 161.1-RY 163.2

 

 

 

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/09/22/halloween-costumes-2021-candy-decorations-spending-record/5816767001/

[2] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/witchcraft-juliet-diaz/605518/

1. [3]Monaghan, Patricia (2004). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. New York City: Infobase Publishing. p. 41. ISBN978-0816075560.

 

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Abraham is looking for a wife for his son Isaac. But he knows the one key to happiness in a home - Kindness. The story of Rebekah has plenty to teach us today about this trait that we all crave to experience.

Present the truth as it is in Jesus. Let the tones of your voice express the love of God. Lead, but never drive. Approach the most obstinate in a spirit of kindness and affection. Dip your words into the oil of grace, and let them flow forth from your lips in love (Letter 105, 1893).

Those whom Christ commends in the judgment may have known little of theology, but they have cherished His principles. Through the influence of the divine Spirit they have been a blessing to those about them.

Even among the heathen are those who have cherished the spirit of kindness; … …Though ignorant of the written law of God, the heathen have heard His voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God. DA 638

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For years students of Bible prophecy have seen the prediction of legislating a new day of rest at the hands of the religious right. But what if we have missed something? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

There are 3 inanimate objects in the Bible that cry out to God. Why? How? What is the lesson for us as we relate with God? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

This is somewhat of a part 2 to the message 'When the Music Stops'. How do we internalize and get through a crisis? Does Jesus keep us away from trials or does he go with us through them? Surprisingly most believe he keeps us away from them. That is such a dangerous mindset when you are in one because you start to wonder where Jesus is. And then what happens if tomorrow is not as amazing as today? What do we do then? Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

What is the greatest threat to America today? Could it be the same threat to your own spiritual journey? Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messages Newsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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What do we do when we face a crisis of conscience? Thank you so much for listening to our weekly messages. If you want to watch or listen to more, check out the links below. Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seventh-day-adventist-church-of-adairsville/id1440553159 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/62bPX2F27W2ru285tCZiGC Youtube - https://youtube.com/channel/UCZZbQzFSlsdDcSz4_NzJiUQ Web - https://www.adairsvillesda.org/messagesNewsletter Link - Click Here Watch Videos - Click Here

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This past week my wife became a mom. I have such a new appreciation of mothers everywhere.

“Next to God, the mother’s power for good is the strongest known on earth. We may safely say that the distinctive duties of woman are more sacred, more holy, than those of man.” -Ellen White

A mother is the queen of her household. Her word is law. A wife is to be her husband’s equal. Her work in educating her children is as important as a King. The story of Jochebed shows us how important being a faithful mom is.

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