This above passage from Mark 7 was spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees and scribes. And in this list of evils which proceed from the hearts of men, Jesus mentions “an evil eye”.
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And God has inscribed this sign upon the face of the Moon! Yes, this 2nd face is that of a wolf-like character with an upraised eyebrow as he appears to be looking down upon this world in judgment!
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You see, this wolf-like character represents proud Pharisees, because the Pharisees were the “Moral Majority” of their day. They were very outwardly correct and very judgmental of all those whom they thought to be less moral than they, themselves!
Oh well, he may not manifest himself so much. But he is the iconic symbol of foolish human pride! And each and every human being has pride dwelling within. In some, pride is very apparent and noticeable! In others, it lies just beneath the surface. But it’s there, working together with the other two sins, the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the eyes (covetousness).
Listen… “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Proverbs 6:16-19
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Here we have a short list of human qualities which the Lord hates! And “a proud look” holds the #1 spot on that list!
You see, Pride was the original sin, manifesting itself back in the days of the great rebellion in Heaven, when Lucifer’s heart was lifted up…
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Listen… “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isaiah 14:12
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Here we see that Lucifer wanted to exalt his heavenly throne above the stars of Heaven! He was ambitious! He wanted it all!
And so too, the Pharisees back in Jesus’ earthly ministry, loved to exalt themselves above other humans!
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Thus, they strove to become more moral and correct. They sought for excellence in outward appearance. They loved the exaltation of social status which earthly riches afforded! They coveted their extravagant and showy homes and gardens, and cattle, and lands.
Now contrast this with meek and humble Jesus. Here came the King of Heaven, riding on a lowly donkey.
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Laying aside His heavenly crown, so that He might come and bring back His lost sheep. Living a life of poverty, he condescended to those of low esteem. And instead of receiving praise and honor, He was spit upon and rejected by those of us who followed after Lucifer’s rebellion!
And so, the Good News here is that we can begin to purify our hearts from all foolish pride and its accompanying sins: anger, judging, self-promotion…
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Yes, God has given us the greatest of all commissions… “but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure. ” 1st John 3:2, 3
There are three faces in the Moon, etched by God Himself. These faces present, not only the condition of God’s house, but also, the condition of the Human Heart.
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The first face is that of a man. The other two faces are those of a scavenger and also a predator. The first face represents the True Worshipers. The other two represent the two classes of Christians that existed in Jesus’ day: the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the Proud Scorners. The Sadducees were locked in by unbelief. They didn’t believe much of the Bible. While the second face representing the Pharisees, as they professed belief in the Bible, loved the sins of pride, the 3rd face (Sadducees) continually sought after the things of the world.
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Yes, these faithless ones (represented by this 3rd face), didn’t believe that being Christ-like could bring the joy necessary to be content. So this 3rd face is a Seeker, so to speak. Just as the little furry critters are constantly seeking after food, so too, many Christians are constantly seeking after, and nibbling of the things of the world. Now, it’s not to say that Christians do not enjoy the things of the world. But Christians are not to make the things of the world of much importance. Their chief desire is to seek the things of Heaven.
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Do you get the point of these two beasts of the Earth? And while the Moon does not deal directly with all aspects of the Revelation 13 Antichrist Beast (7 heads, 10 horns, etc.). Nevertheless, the Moon exposes the Beast Within: the Beast within the human heart.
The Puppetmaster of Politics – Property of www.theheavensdeclare.net – exclusive copyrighted
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THE DESIRE OF AGES, BY ELLEN G. WHITE
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this chapter of the audio book about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in His life and ministry.
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this recording #162, a small 30 minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s 90 minute nightly talk shows. This particular program aired in the last few years of his 50 year radio ministry, and includes caller’s questions regarding his teachings on “the end of the church age”…
Back in the 1970’s, a certain saying was popularized…“The Devil made me do it! The Devil made me do it!”
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And this was merely mocking Christians, who were seemingly obsessed with pointing the finger at the Devil.
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Then they could all joke and mock “the silly and absurd notion” that Satan is a very active and powerful force controlling the peoples of this world, by laughingly saying…“The Devil made me do it! The Devil made me do it!“
But the horrifying fact is, the Devil does indeed cause the vast percentage of the world’s inhabitants to do a great amount of things!
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After all, Ephesians, Chapter 2 reveals a truth that practically nobody realizes or accepts! It is perhaps the most egregious truth in all of the Bible!
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And this verse is, “…the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
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And let’s face it! The idea that the entire world’s inhabitants are filled with this evil, antichrist spirit is more than anybody is willing to accept, much less even admit!
There has been a great mystery as to the cause of the “Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasbourg France”.
“The outbreak began in July 1518 when a woman called Frau Troffea began to dance fervently and uncontrollably in a street in Strasbourg. Troffea kept up the constant dancing for a week. Soon, three dozen others joined in. By August, the “dancing plague” had claimed 400 victims. Dancers were beginning to collapse. It is said some even died from a stroke or heart attack. No one knew what caused this reaction, which meant no one understood how to remedy it. By early September, the outbreak began to subside, when the dancers were sent to a mountain shrine to pray for absolution.”
Now, according to “experts”, the cause of this plague are unknown to this very day, although theories range from “Mass Psychosis” to “Demonic possession”.
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And this same Wikipedia article notes that similar phenomena occurred at various times and places in Medieval Europe.
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PENTACOSTAL SIGNS & WONDERS
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Nevertheless, such phenomena has continued on, even unto this very day. One such event occurred, taking on a religious form, which has been tagged as the Azusa Street Revival…
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Listen to Wikipedia…Another local paper reporter in September 1906 described the happenings with the following words: “…they cry and make howling noises all day and into the night. They run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around in circles, fall out on the sawdust blanketed floor jerking, kicking and rolling all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours as though they were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally deranged or under a spell. They claim to be filled with the spirit…”
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This event has been credited as the beginning of the modern-day Pentacostal Movement. And still to this day, there are churches and evangelists which conduct large gatherings in which are Non-Biblical phenomena such as, “Falling Backwards”, “speaking in unintelligible babbling”, “Dancing in the Spirit”, “Drunkenness in the Spirit”, “Laughing in the Spirit”, etc….
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But even going outside of the churches, there are many unexplained phenomena occurring in the secular world.
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One such unexplained occurrence is growing phenomenon of “Gender Confusion” in which millions of people are no longer happy with their God-ordained gender. Thus we are seeing not only the public being overtaken by this unnatural compulsion, but the government and medical community has joined in this cultish phenomenon, even surgically removing sex-organs of people of most all ages, to somehow quell the perverted desire to become the opposite gender.
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Nevertheless, credit for all these various forms of so-called “Mass Psychosis” must be given to the dark forces which rule over this crazy world.
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Yes, the Bible reveals that Lucifer was long ago given rulership of this antichrist world-system! Listen…”2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
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Even though there has been strange and demonic phenomena through history, today’s high-tech world has become the end-times engine for a grand perview of Satanic activity. Yes, now the entire world is increasingly able to watch through the high-tech p[ortals and see the workings of that “Prince of the Power of the Air”, as he sweeps through the nations with societal tsunamis, bringing judgment on the nations, overwhelming us with the increasingly horrific depths of sinful madness! Yes, just as giant waves of the ocean come, one-by-one, so are we flooded with one form of madness after another, whether in the music world, or sports, or government, television, Internet.
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GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY!”
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If there is any Good News in all of this world’s insanity, it is offer of Salvation in which we may aquire “Peace that surpasses all understanding!”
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Yes, by turning our eyes upon the Savior of the world, we may obtain “perfect peace” and divine rest” in a world which rages as the troubled sea which cannot rest.
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TODAY’S PRAYER
Lord, Help me to fully understand this kingdom of selfishness, this present antichrist world-system…
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
Isa 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Isa 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
A seemingly very conscientious Christian went to prison because she refused to sign her name on a gay marriage certificate.
Those who, long ago, sailed to this fledging nation, exhausted from the centuries of religious/civil tyranny in Europe, began what they thought was to be a Christian nation!
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Yes, America was the beginning of a great experiment in freedom of political/religious speech, as well as liberty of conscience!
“And he (Antichrist) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High”
Daniel 7:25
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And God mercifully gave this nation an incredible constitution: a wonderful gift given by the Almighty, because of cruel tyranny He allowed by the harsh hand of Satan, throughout the various European nations during the centuries of The Dark Ages.
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Yes, throughout the Dark Ages of Europe, Satan, using the evil, apostate church of that day, wore out the saints through various forms of persecution, against them and against the Bible they loved!
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And the forefathers of this new nation eventually named it, “The United States of America”.
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Burned at the stake – Wikimedia – US Public Domain
Yes, God in His mercy gave this nation His manifold blessings, knowing how His people suffered so greatly through the centuries of the Dark Ages of Europe! And He allowed the United States to grow and thrive.
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But nations rise and nations fall. And though God greatly blessed The United States of America, her abundance became a curse.
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JUDGMENTS NOW FALLING…”And the cities of the nations fell”
Revelation 16:19
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It is obvious that God has left America to itself. Judgments are now falling…National debt climbing by billions every week, Irresponsible government spending, decriminalization of street-drugs, collapsed borders, increasing crime, cities-in-anarchy, rampant-sexual-perversion, rising immorality, corrupt justice-system, corrupt political system, censorship of free speech, increasing brotherly-hate, decadent-school-systems, increasing sodomy,
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“GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY”
Proverbs 25:25
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But even though the world was seemingly going mad, and sinking into the bottomless pit of sin, God was allowing all these things for the purpose of purifying His saints, and helping them to place all their hope and trust in Him, instead of trusting in Man, and in the institutions of men. And now, realizing that there was nothing left in the world for them to lean upon, God’s abounding grace caused His remnant people to fully trust in the exceeding great and precious promises of His Word. Thus, the saints of God began to shine in such a way that the secularists and apostate churches could not ignore! The promises of God’s Word now became like stepping stones of safety in an upward highway of holiness out of the craziness and abject evil which burned like a fiery furnace all around the world! Now, the church became like highly polished gem-stones, purified as precious gold and silver, and shining even as the Sun! And thus, God’s purpose of the Great Tribulation was fulfilled, and Christ was ready to return for His true Church, and God would bring them to be with Him, in Heaven.
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6th Head of Beast/Left Horn of False Prophet Beast
The Revelation 13 Antichrist Beast has seven Heads. We are now in the day of the 6th and 7th heads. But right at the time of this writing, the 6th head/left horn is far more powerful than the 7th Head/Right Horn. And because the 7th Head/Left Horn is greatly represented by the political left…the so-called “party of compassion”, much of what they do is according to their warped understanding of compassion. In other words, because they have rejected Christ’s Lordship over their lives and over their politics, they then have allowed the true antichrist, Lucifer, now called “Satan” to move in and work in them and through them. And of course, Satan loves nothing more than to cast dirt upon the Bible. And so, he makes a mockery of compassion, using them as pawns in his diabolical chess-game against Heaven.
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“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”
Matthew 24:12
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The general populace is greatly confounded by the government allowing the borders to be flooded with anyone and everyone crashing into the western nations. Many are deeply saddened to see all the lawlessness abounding. And yet, God’s people knew that lawlessness would abound in these last days before the 2nd Coming of Christ.
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Now, the so-called “party of compassion”, in their perverted understanding of compassion, pride themselves that they are showing mercy to those from poorer countries, allowing them to lawlessly crash through the borders of the western nations.
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And yet, while they “showing compassion” to one group, they are trampling on other groups who must suffer the consequences of allowing millions of non-citizens to come in and deplete the recourses of taxpaying citizens!
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Psa_9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
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But to get a fuller understanding of the underlying cause of the breakdown and collapse of the western nation, we must realize that the above verse from Psalms 12:9 is now being applied to the western nations which once embraced the Christian Reformation. Yes, the nations which once rejoiced in the Protestant Reformation have now turned their backs on Heaven and have pursued materialism, hedonism, secularism, and other related endeavors.
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FAVORITE CAUSE OF THE MONTH
time for the 7th Head to be exposed?
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“GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY”
Proverbs 25:25
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Well,the title of this little is T
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to escape this awful and fearful judgment which seems to be falling on this society. Let me hide myself in Thy secret pavilion until the indignation be overpast…
Pray for Our Nation sign – Wikimedia – Share-alike-lic.
In Revelation, theDragon of Revelation 12is described as having seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. However, the Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation up in the night sky does not. But God has faithfully created this wave of water, in such a way, as to illustrate this same concept of the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. Because this wave of water is basically comprised of ten stars.
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The main body of the wave has seven stars (#’s 1 thru 7, in the sketch), and the tip of the crest of the wave has the other three stars, (#’s 8, 9, 10).
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So in this wave, we see the same 7/10 numbering found in the Revelation description of the heads/horns/crowns of the Dragon.
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And this gives us a great clue, as to where in the Bible we should look, to find out the riddle as to just what or who do these 7 heads, 10 crowns, and 7 horns represent. Because, the Bible speaks very much about floods and waters as being associated with Satan (the Dragon).
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Listen again…“When the waves of death compassed me…THE FLOODS OF UNGODLY MEN made me afraid. The sorrows of Hell compassed me about;” 2nd Samuel 22:5.
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ATHEISM AND THE NUMBER “6”
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And so, without going into a lengthy discussion, let’s just say that of all the 7 heads of Antichrist, the head which most closely aligns with atheism would logically be the 6th head. And why the 6th head? The Book of Revelation, Chapter 13 warns that the Antichrist Beast has a number of 666. And it describes this number as being the “number of a man”. The number “6” in Scripture has to do with “Man”. It is a number which reminds of the 6th Day of Creation; the day that Man was created. Man was created on the 6th day. And so, Mankind is very much connected with the number “6”
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And since atheism is the religion which holds Mankind as the supreme ruler of Earth, then the number “6”, being the number of Man, seems to correspond to the 6th head of Antichrist, very well.
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Now these ideas may not be “written in stone”, as the saying goes. And nothing hinges upon, nor falls apart, with or without these theories. But sufficed to say, there is strong evidence that these concepts have biblical support.
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And so, this 6th star in the Revelation 12 Dragon’s wave of water, would correspond to the 6th head of the Antichrist Beast. And as already said, “waves” in Scripture, represent the many false ideologies which Satan has flooded the world with, throughout time. So that is why this Signs Of Heaven website believes that atheism was the 6th head of Antichrist.
photo – music headphones – psychic-Ganzfeld – Wikipedia – Public-domain
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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.
We humans get proud of our accomplishments: our talents and abilities, our outward beauty, our charismatic personalities, our good work-ethics, our genius, our inventive ideas and discoveries, our physical strength, our good morality.
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Yes, these are only just a few of the many areas in which we humans are filled with pride.
The story of King Nebuchadnezzar makes a fitting example of how people take credit for their accomplishments, instead of realizing that it is the unseen powers who are actually responsible for much of this world’s accomplishments.
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Listen, “…they shall make thee (King Nebuchadnezzar) to eat grass as oxen…until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will…And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou? …and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” Daniel 4:32, 34, 35, 37
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Yes, after having lived for years as a dumb animal, ol’ King Nebuchadnezzar finally realized that he wasn’t so smart after all! He ultimately understood that his wisdom and might, and strength and accomplishments were only possible because God permitted him to have those qualities.
But we shouldn’t think that this wicked King Nebuchadnezzar’s abilities were necessarily gifts from Heaven.
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No, but rather, the Bible reveals to us the following source of mankind’s supposed abilities…“Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” Ephesians 2:2
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Here is revealed that mankind is indwelt by the, “prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
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And if Satan is working within the children of disobedience, then we can just imagine what kinds of things he’s doing through fallen mankind!
We humans aren’t nearly as moral, as clever, as talented, as hard-working, as witty, as we are led to believe. No, just like ol’ king Nebuchadnezzar, our abilities and talents are most likely just the result of the inner-workings of unseen spirits which indwell the people of this world.
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Listen again…“O LORD I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
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Mankind does not have the ability to walk according to his own intelligence. We are led by unseen spirits: some by the Spirit of Truth, but most by “the spirit of error”. Oh yes, God is ultimately in control of all things. But before we think that we are responsible for even our daily labor, and our daily accomplishments, let’s consider the verses presented here today in this devotional.
And truth-be-told, without the daily workings of one of those two spirits (either the Holy Spirit, or the Antichrist spirit), we would actually discover that we might rather be called “uninspired”, or “low-intelligence”.
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And, there is little doubt that the dark days ahead will only prove these things to be true.
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Yes, at some point in the near future, God may just remove all spiritual prowess from working within us, so that we may discover just how unintelligent and unimaginative we really are!
Listen to Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the great day of God’s wrath…“For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:” Isaiah 2:12
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Yes, the Day of the Lord (which has already begun) will finally reveal to us just how foolish and unintelligent we really are!
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ABOVE PICTURE: Unfunny Judgment Day Cartoon – a party tonight – signsofheaven.org
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GET ON BOARD THE ARK OF SAFETY!
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But there is a way of escape from all this!
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Yes, it is still the day of Salvation.
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And all are invited to jump ship from this sinking Titanic planet, and climb aboard the Ark of Salvation, which is leaving this doomed world, for the wonderful Promised Land: a land of joyful song and innocent laughter.
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A land in which we will never grow old, but be forever young!
“Dear Lord, Help me to prepare for the crisis which is now coming upon this world. Graciously allow me to hide Thy great and precious promises in my heart, that I might stand in this evil day which is already beginning…
“Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” Psalms 45:6
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Now, this 3rd brightest star in the night heavens, Arcturus, seems to very nicely fulfill the prophecy, “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel”Numbers 24:17.But where would the scepter be in this prophecy? After all, it speaks not only of a star rising, but also of a scepter.
This is not the Northern Cross, nor is it the Southern Cross. This cross is made of stars from both theSerpens Constellationand theOphiuchus Constellation. Here is a star-chart from Wikipedia, in which the editor of this site has sketched in this Cross/Scepter Constellation. The stars in this star-chart are accurately placed, and thisCross/Scepter Constellationstands out in brilliance, among the other stars in the night sky.
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The sketch below is the Summer Constellations, as seen when looking west. Well, if you look just to the south (south is to the left in this sketch) of Arcturus, you will see what appears to be a scepter. But this scepter also appears as a Cross. And this constellation has been named, theCross/Scepter constellation. It can be seen in January, in the pre-dawn hours. Each night, it appears a little earlier, as it slowly inches its way westward. Finally this constellation dips below the western horizon, in the fall, not appearing again till January, back in the eastern sky.
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Now, as earlier stated, this wonderful prophecy(“there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel”)has its greatest fulfillment in the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus is represented by that glorious Star. And His death on the Cross is truly His scepter of authority. Jesus died to save a world of rebellious sinners.
“Psa_9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
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“Write the vision,
and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it!”
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Dear Reader, like Habakkuk says, it’s time to “RUN!”
Habakkuk 2:2
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, I pray that You would take me out of the horrible slimy pit of lukewarmness, and give me the ability to run the Christian “race with patience”…
“And there appeared a great wonder (or sign) in heaven; a woman…And there appeared another wonder (sign) in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads…And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God…And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Rev. 12:1, 3, 6, 15
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Here is a sketch of this Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12. This is the Winter Constellations of Signs Of Heaven. Besides Orion and his Horse, we also see pictured in this sketch, the Dragon of Revelation 12.
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This Revelation 12 Woman Constellation is fleeing. As you can see, the Dragon Constellation is spewing a flood of water in her direction, as is written… “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Revelation 12:15.This wave of water represents Satan’s lies, and his false teachers who tell those lies.
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ABOVE STAR-CHART – Early Winter in the east – Orion, Revelation 12 Woman (AKA Ursa Major) – Revelation 12 Dragon (AKA Hyades, Pleiades, etc.) – Goodly Horse in Battle with Rider (Camelopardelis, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, etc…) – www.signsofheaven.org – Not for profit use!
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GOD’S MESSAGE: FLEE!!
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Beholding the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation in winter, it seems that God is trying to get a very important message across to His people: that His Church is to flee! But what are they to flee from? Well, you can go to the article titled “The Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation”
“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you REST.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find REST unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30…
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So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
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Let’s review the key Bible passage… “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
Through the decades, the Adventist denomination has gradually moved away from making the writings of Ellen White the chief reference of their doctrinal understanding.
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Oh yes, they still acknowledge her as being a messenger of the three angel’s messages. But they have pretty much transformed themselves into the same type of Gospel as most other evangelical churches and denominations.
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And one may hear an occasional quote from her writings: usually a rather nice, innocuous statement about some particular aspect of everyday Christian life.
Nevertheless, that particular denomination still clings to the idea that Sunday worship will soon become the Mark of the Beast, and that Saturday worship is the true seal of God.
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And after all, this is what Ellen White taught, didn’t she?
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Mark of the beast – pub. dom. – Wikipedia
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“MANY LESSONS TO LEARN…AND…TO UNLEARN”
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But while teaching various Bible doctrines, Ellen White also made the following statement…
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Listen…“We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and Heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed.” {Christian Experience and Teaching p. 203}
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Here is a very dramatic statement regarding her teachings, and regarding the stance which any church or denomination should have taken. In other words, those who refuse to move away from some cherished doctrinal understanding in the light of new biblical information, will ultimately be swept away into the Stygian darkness which enshrouds all stubbornness and defiance within Christendom.
For our primary example of how God often works, Ellen White spoke of the Sabbath in terms of the letter of the law, as does the Old Testament. And to this very day, most of her adherents cling to this teaching.
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But as the January 27 devotional (click here) attempted to teach, the Sabbath Rest which remains to the people of God is not merely a one-day-per-week, 24-hour long rest from physical labor, but rather is a spiritual rest which we receive in Jesus.
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And this 24/7/365 spiritual rest is the true seal of God!
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And of course, there are a number of articles and devotionals on this website dealing with this.
But as Revelation, Chapter 14 prophesies concerning the Mark of the Beast…“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Revelation 14:11
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Here is revealed that those who worship the Beast and his image have no rest day nor night. And this rest is the same Greek word found in Matthew 11:28-30…“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find REST unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
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This is the same rest which is spoken of in Revelation 14:11. It is a spiritual rest which the world cannot and will not receive, until they begin to wholly trust in Christ as their Savior.
Conversely, when E.G. White spoke of Sunday, she was literally speaking of that one-day-per-week, 24-hour period which almost the entire Christian world regards as “The Lord’s Day”.
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And yet, by reading her writings, she almost always spoke of the apostate church-world as loving this present world, being mere professors of serving Christ. This was the constant theme found throughout her writings, whenever she spoke of the church’s apostasy.
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And so, it was not merely the attendance of church on the “wrong” day of the week which condemned any particular churchgoer. But instead, it is loving this present selfish world which is the actual root of bitterness within the heart of any and every apostate professor of Christ.
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ABOVE PICTURE: Satan, The False Prophet who offers a world-loving gospel
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SUNDAY: AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
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And Sunday worship? Well, one can probably conclude that when she spoke of Sunday, it is actually just symbolic of anyone who loves this present, Babylonian, sun-worshiping world, and yet attempts to serve Christ at the same time.
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It is merely symbolic of any act of rebellion against and rejection of the commandments of God, for the “commandments of men”(“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9).
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And let’s face it, living for and loving this present selfish world is the greatest of all acts of rebellion by Mankind against the commandments of God!
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ABOVE PICTURE: The Pied Piper of Television
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WHOSE CHARACTER IS WRITTEN ON MY HEART?
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Therefore, we must not get the idea that merely attending church on either Saturday or Sunday will determine which camp we are in: the Saved or the Lost.
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But rather, it is just whose name is written in our forehead (our heart): either the character of Christ or the character of Satan; this is what truly determines just who has the true seal of God or who has the true Mark of the Beast!
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ABOVE PICTURE: The Most Holy Place in the Heart
ABOVE PICTURE: Mark of the beast – pub. dom. – Wikipedia
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STUDY, NOBLE BEREAN, STUDY!!!
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Nevertheless, every Noble Berean is highly encouraged to listen to the audio reading of Chapter 27 of Ellen White’s book, The Great Controversy, by simply scrolling down toward the bottom of today’s devotional.
THE NOBLE BEREAN IS ALSO HIGHLY ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THIS 25 MINUTE AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH (#286) CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF THE 7TH-DAY SABBATH, CONDUCTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this small 30 minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s nearly 50 year long series of 90 minute nightly talk shows…This is Open Forum Show #79
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
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Let’s review the key Bible passage… “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus, there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
Yesterday’s devotional (click here) focused on the 25th chapter of Ellen White’s book, “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan”, which deals with the changing of the 7th-Day Sabbath to the 1st-Day Lord’s Day.
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And this chapter lays out a concise history of how Satan worked through humans to affect this totally unbiblical change.
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And this same chapter 25, made the prediction that the United States of America would eventually be transformed from a Christian-oriented society into the 2nd beast, the “False Prophet” of Revelation 13, forcing the entire world to bow down to and worship the 1st Beast, the Church of Rome (actually, the Church of Rome being the 5th head of the 1st beast).
And while yesterday’s devotional (click here) focused more on the 7th-Day Sabbath, today’s devotional will briefly explore into the true fulfillment of the 1st and 2nd beasts of Revelation 13.
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As already stated in yesterday’s devotional (click here), we have a great advantage of viewing the fulfillment of Bible prophecy as it is now occurring.
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And while Ellen White did an amazing job of looking forward in time from her vantage point in the 1880’s, we now have a much broader perspective, as we see exactly how things have unfolded in these last days.
And while Ellen White referred to the Church of Rome as the antichrist beast, it must be remembered that the antichrist beast described in chapters 13 & 17 of Revelation is actually symbolic of the kingdom of Satan, this entire antichrist world-system.
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Yes, the antichrist beast is comprised of kings and kingdoms (including the apostate portion of Christianity).
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The Church of Rome was merely the 5th head of the 7-headed beast, even though that “Great Harlot” church played the primary role as persecutor of God’s people throughout most of the New Testament history. (See Revelation 17:1 & 19:2 for “Great Harlot” reference)
Likewise, the 2nd beast of Revelation 13, the False Prophet, while originating in the United States, is actually the spirit of the “Prince of the Power of the Air, that spirit which now works in the children of disobedience” Ephesians 2:2
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In other words, rather than being merely a single nation, this 2nd Beast, the False Prophet, is none other than the diabolical spirit-being, Satan, as he works invisibly through the hearts of men who are actuated by his antichrist spirit. And this two-horned spirit agency of evil, is working around the clock and around the world to compel the human race to bow down and worship his antichrist world-system, thus giving him homage he so greatly desires.
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Therefore, the 2nd Beast is working on many fronts to cause the world’s citizenry to bow down to the character of Satan: his character being manifested throughout this evil world-system in various ways.
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SATAN’S CHARACTER MANIFESTED THROUGH VARIOUS MEANS
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For an example of how Satan compels humans to worship him, the television broadcasts the various qualities of his character on a 24/7/365 basis: anger, lust, unbelief, pride, violence, revenge, greed, selfishness, and a form of counterfeit goodness, etc….
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These qualities are seen in the various daily TV shows and advertisements, howbeit are greatly disguised by a shroud of counterfeit goodness, humanitarianism, friendliness, and morality.
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STUDY, NOBLE BEREAN, STUDY!!!
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Now, time does not permit this short devotional to explore into the exact nature of the Beast’s Mark. But hopefully, tomorrow’s devotional (click here)will further accomplish that task.
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In the meanwhile, every “Noble Berean” is encouraged to listen to today’s 21-minute audio of Chapter 26 of Ellen White’s book, The Great Controversy, by simply scrolling down to near the bottom of this page.
Pray for Our Nation sign – Wikimedia – Share-alike-lic.
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THE NOBLE BEREAN IS ALSO HIGHLY ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THIS 25 MINUTE AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH (#285) CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF THE 7TH-DAY SABBATH, CONDUCTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
Rom_10:21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Isa 14:26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. Isa 14:27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
Joh_3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Cross of Jesus Christ – cropped photo – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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To His right is a thief, likewise suffering on a cross. To His left is another man, also being crucified for his sins. One man turns to the Savior…”Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom. The other man continues mocking Jesus.
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And watching all this is a crowd of curious onlookers, each one trying to decide, “Is this man hanging on that Cross, truly the Son of God as He claimed to be?”
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The Cross is a wonderful picture of God’s great love for the world. Picture the Savior, lifted up above the earth with outstretched arms, calling to all…”Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ”
And the call goes out to each and every human…”All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people”
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Yes, the Savior of the world is still stretching forth His hands, calling to each and every one of us,Joh_3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In 2012, this constellation was revealed. It is comprised of all the other constellations on this website, as they appear in the night-sky. The only way to really see this constellation, is to become very totally familiar with this website. This is because this incredible constellation spans both the summer and winter skies. This constellation is actually in a semi-circle, as it appears in the night-sky. These pictures, however, show it as it would appear straightened out.
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There is an old song which goes… “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest Hell…
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But the last verse of this song says… “Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.”Now what makes all this so extremely interesting, is that this verse was found scribbled on the wall of a deceased “insane” person’s cell in a psychiatric sanitarium, upon removing his corpse.
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And little did this “insane” man realize, that God had actually written His love and inscribed that love on the scroll (of the sky). And God had actually stretched that picture of love from sky to sky, just as the song-verse said.
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And now God has revealed this heavenly portrait of the Son of Man, writhing in pain for a planet who cares very little for Him. (These constellations span both summer and winter sky, and this constellation in this picture to the right actually appears much more curved in the sky.)
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And just like the Bible, God has made these signs in such a way, that they are true enough for the Believers to believe; but doubtful enough for the scorners to scorn.
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“With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful;
with an upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright;
With the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure;
and with the froward (crooked) Thou wilt show Thyself froward (unsavory).
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW…
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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O NOBLE BEREAN TRUTH-SEEKER, YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #1, PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
One of the lesser known geniuses of the Twentieth Century was an outspoken atheist/philosopher/theoretical-physicist/, Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988).
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This man was associate and sometimes tutor to the likes of people, for example, like Albert Einstein, a fellow Jew. And besides being a college professor, and participant in the Manhattan Project, his life was devoted to the discovery of the principles of physics.
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Now one of Feynman’s most infamous statements is the phrase, “Like likes like”, which has to do with the attraction of like-molecules to each other. And many, no doubt, have used Feynman’s quote, applying it to different aspects to everyday life!
Yes, that phrase, “Like likes like” can apply to many aspects of life! And this theory can also apply to the spiritual life!
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Listen… “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” 1st Corinthians 15:48
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Now this above verse presents a similar idea to Feynman ‘s theory, “Like likes like”. Of course, Paul uttered it much more eloquently and almost 2,000 years prior to Feynman!
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But it must be noted that things in the natural world usually have their spiritual counterpart!
And the Bible gives a confirmation to 1st Corinthians 15:48, found in 1st Corinthians 2:14… “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
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Here is an even more defined application of this truth of life!
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Yes, those who are natural (carnal) have little stomach for spiritual things!
So this theory of “Like likes like” is also seen in the church world too!
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Listen… “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7, 8
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As this above passage states, there are carnally-minded persons in God’s house! And some of these happen to be behind the pulpits!
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Listen again… “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” 2nd Corinthians 11:14, 15
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So here we see that Satan has his own ministers within the church. And many of them will so cleverly cloak their lies, mingling them in the truth, that they will “deceive, if possible, even the Elect!” Matthew 24:24
Satan has cleverly introduced a totally unbiblical doctrine into the church! It is sometimes called the “hermeneutic of literal interpretation”, or, “The Historical-Grammatical Method of Interpretation”.
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And to define it concisely, it is the doctrine that the Bible must be interpreted as literal as possible! In other words, unless context demands an allegorical interpretation, the Bible student must not try to see a spiritual meaning!
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Take for example, the Bible account of Jacob wrestling with the man through the night, must only be understood literally. There can be no allegorical understanding.
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Or take, for another example, the various bowls of God’s wrath, as presented in Revelation, Chapter 16. Those various plagues must be interpreted as literal as possible.
Now the Bible is a spiritual book. And there is absolutely no scripture which commands us to abstain from trying to see the spiritual meaning of the various stories found in the Gospels, or the Old Testament! And so, this phantom hermeneutic has no biblical origin! It was totally contrived by theologians of the past, and is still a cardinal rule of interpretation to this very day!
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Now, this is not to say that every Bible teacher who subscribes to this hermeneutic is a heretic! No, but Satan has deceived, if possible, even the very Elect! He has successfully brought in this hermeneutic, and has caused many sincere Bible teachers to accept this unbiblical teaching! And even though there is nothing which commands Bible students to adhere to this hermeneutic, they have somehow been deceived in this area of Bible study!
And so, as a result, the vast majority of Christians have been locked out from understanding much of the Bible!
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As an example, most Christians cannot understand that the Old Testament prophets, when speaking concerning Israel and Jews, were also speaking of the Church! And so, they cannot see the spiritual truths which are so often veiled in allegories!
The problem is, that when carnally-minded men try to interpret spiritual truths, they tend to gravitate towards an earthly interpretation! The theory, “Like likes like”applies to these carnally-minded men! They being earthly, are attracted to earthly interpretations!
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For instance, when trying to understand the meaning of locusts, in Revelation, Chapter 9, they will invariably attempt to find some earthly meaning! They cannot see the spiritual application, that locusts represent the various ways that God allows the Devil to destroy our spiritual crops, so to speak!
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In other words, God, in His attempt to bring us to repentance, will sometimes allow the Devil to remove our earthly blessings! And then, in our consternation, we will hopefully turn back to the Lord, in humble prayer and sorrow for sin!
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna”
Revelation 2:17
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The Good News is that once God gives us spiritual eyes to see the deeper truths of Scripture, we will begin to see through the eyes of Jesus, the “hidden Manna”, which is literally found all through the Bible!
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And as we become nourished up in that hidden Manna, we then can begin to walk that upward pathway, which leads us to the “Jerusalem above”!
“Dear Lord, Give me a love for spiritual things. Let me not be deceived by those teachers who force Christians to deny spiritual truths of Scripture, veiled by allegories and metaphors…
A new constellation has been revealed, as of about May 29th, 2014.
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This constellation appears as a snake. Its body is comprised of stars from the Bootes Constellation, and its jaws are made of the four stars which Babylonians saw as the head of Draco, the Dragon. It also has a small single star for an eye.
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Now in this constellation is a group of five stars, which will be called “The Five Foolish Virgins Stars”. These are located on the opposite side of the Glorious Crown of 12 Stars, from the Five Wise Virgins Stars. But one big difference between the two is, that The Five Wise are curved around the Glorious Crown, while the Five Foolish are curved away from it!
As the world transforms itself into a totalitarian police-state, many are questioning whether these are the end-time events prophesied of in Revelation, in which…“And he (the False Prophet Beast) had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15
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Here is a prophecy which strikes a nerve in those who realize that many governments are now capable of preventing any one person or even all persons from buying or selling. And many in the Christian community are asking themselves…“Are we now witnessing the world preparing for the dreaded “Mark” which will be given to all those who refuse to bow down to Satan’s beast-like, antichrist world-system?”
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Today’s devotional would like to spend a few moments on this subject as revealed in the little Book of Daniel.
Listen to this prophecy from Daniel, regarding the worship of an image…“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon…Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages…whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Daniel 3:1, 4, 6
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Here is a prophecy which lays out a basic concept for what the world will be forced to go through in the near future. (Notice this image’s dimensions are “60” cubits and “6” cubits)
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That is, the entire world will be compelled to bow down to Satan’s antichrist world-system. And those who refuse to bow down will be cast alive into some type of “fiery furnace”!
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So, our goal today will be to hopefully unravel this prophecy.
“That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!…How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”
Isaiah 14:4, 12
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First, as this above verse reveals, the King of Babylon is referred to as, “O Lucifer, son of the morning”.
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And because this golden image was in the image of the King of Babylon, who in reality, was a picture of Lucifer, this account from Daniel, indicates that the world will actually be bowing down to “the god of this world”, Lucifer, now given the office and title of “Satan”, and “The Devil”.
“And they (every unsaved human) worshipped the dragon (Satan) which gave power unto the beast (Satan’s antichrist world-system): and they worshipped the beast (i.e., loving Satan’s antichrist world-system, the world)…”
Revelation 13:4 (parenthetical notations by website Editor)
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Next, this image of the King of Babylon was actually the image of the various kingdoms which have ruled the world through the past centuries, even up till today.
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But this golden statue (6 cubits wide and 60 cubits high) was crafted into the image of a human, which, in reality, represents the various kingdoms of Mankind, as Satan works through fallen humans to carry out his grand scheme in his rebellion against Heaven, and against Heaven’s Jesus.
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do!”
John 8:44
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And isn’t it true that unsaved humanity doesn’t really believe they worship Satan?
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No, but what we must understand is this: that this fallen antichrist world-system was created to be in the image and likeness of Lucifer, the unseen spirit-ruler of this tragically fallen world of selfish lusts and desires.
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And so, by merely loving this world of sin and selfishness, we are actually bowing down to Satan’s fallen, sinful character. Thus, whoever’s character we have, determines who we worship!
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Oh yes, we can say, “Oh I love Jesus, so, so much!!!”
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But if our lives are filled with unholy words and selfish actions and world-loving desires and proud aspirations, then we are followers, NOT of Christ, but actually of Lucifer, the fallen angel-spirit, who rules this fallen, self-serving world!
“And I (God) will bring the third part through the fire (of tribulation), and will refine them as silver…and…gold is tried: they shall call on My Name, and I will hear them…”
Zechariah 13:9 (Parenthetical comment by website Editor)
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Now we come to the question regarding the fiery furnace. What does it mean to be “cast into the fiery furnace?”
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Simple! A furnace is merely a Bible metaphor (an analogy) about being persecuted and afflicted.
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Listen…“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10
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So, now it becomes clear that this last-day tribulation is actually God’s means of purifying for Himself, a holy people, who can now walk by faith alone, tried and tested in the fires of affliction.
(And let’s not forget that this is not the first time God’s people faced severe tribulation! No, just read such books as Foxes Book of Martyrs. God’s people have endured centuries of persecution through the Dark Ages of Europe!)
“…as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”
Revelation 13:15
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And as far as this above verse about being killed, the Bible makes clear that not only must Christians die physically, but true Christians must die spiritually too: “Dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11
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So, either way, or both types of death will fulfill this Revelation 13 prophecy….“and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15
“all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
1st Corinthians 10:11
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And as this true historical account continues, Daniel’s three friends refused to bow down to this “Golden Image”, and they all three were “cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Daniel 3:11
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Now of course, this true account, as with all of the Bible accounts, were given as, not only prophecies, but also…“all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1st Corinthians 10:11
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Yes, this true historical account was orchestrated by God to help God’s persecuted people throughout history. Yes, not only do all these Bible accounts show us the things we must also go through, but they likewise encourage us in our own personal tribulations!
“He (The King of Babylon) answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Daniel 3:25
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And so, even though these three youths were cast into that fiery furnace, heated up 7-times hotter, they didn’t die…
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Listen…“He (The King of Babylon) answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:25
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No, they were not hurt. As a matter of fact, in that furnace of affliction, there appeared…“the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:25
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Yes, there is no greater closeness to Christ, as when a Believer suffers in the fires of afflictions which happen to us, either small or great! Not only during the soon-coming great last trial, but Christ is walking about with us even in our present-hour trials, be they little or great!
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And God is allowing all these trials to strengthen our faith in His Word, so that we can say…“But He (God) knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:1
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Here is the actual reason for the coming trials before us: that we “shall come forth as [purified] gold!”, now fully molded into the glorious image of our beloved Lord, Jesus!
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (Babylon), My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
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God has a people in Babylon. Yes, Mystery Babylon is the Mother of Harlots. The sketch to the left shows her riding this beast with 7 heads and 10 horns.
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But in that spiritual city, there are those who still love God to a certain degree. And before the final plagues are poured out upon her, God has been and will continue to call His people out of her… “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (Babylon), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
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And so in addition to The Pleiades appearing as the Harlot Mother, we also see this second depiction of The Pleiades as an angel, which symbolizes God’s people, walking the downward pathway to destruction. They must be called out of Babylon before it’s too late!
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree (of the knowledge of good and evil), of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
“For not the hearers of the law are just before God,
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but the doers of the law shall be justified. .
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
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do by nature the things contained in the law,
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these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: .
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts,
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their conscience also bearing witness,
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and their thoughts the mean while accusing
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or else excusing one another…”
Roman 2:13-16
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It is so interesting to hear a debate between evolutionists and creationists!
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And one of the most interesting and effective arguments made by creationists is this: “If life is merely the result of some cosmic explosion, then everything is meaningless and there is no objective morality. In other words, if there is no God, then right and wrong, good and bad are simply what anyone decides and chooses to believe!
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And of course, this bleak and hopeless reality of life’s meaninglessness (if God didn’t exist), really baffles and deeply disturbs atheists, who must “keep a stiff upper lip” (as the old saying goes). Yes, if life is meaningless as they insist, then everything is just hopeless! No wonder the suicide rate is so high!
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But in such debates, atheists don’t want to admit that their godless philosophy is a very sad and hopeless one, to say the least.
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And yet, atheists argue that their own life has whatever meaning they wish to invent for themselves.
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But in spite of their hopeless philosophy, atheists still have a sense of right and wrong. They still try to live orderly and morally to some degree.
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So what is it that makes the majority of humans desire to have morality and order in their lives? There seems to be a great contradiction in their lives.
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Perhaps the great contradiction which atheists do not realize is found in today’s signature passage…
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law,
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do by nature the things contained in the law,
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these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: .
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts,
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their conscience also bearing witness,
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and their thoughts the mean while accusing
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or else excusing one another…”
Roman 2:13-16
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So, this passage reveals that God’s Law is actually written in the hearts of all humans. Yes, there is an innate understanding of good and evil which God has written upon the tablets of the human heart.
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“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled”
Titus 1:15
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But this above verse also reveals that unbelievers all have minds and consciences which are defiled by sin. And so, it is no surprise that the unbelieving world behaves so badly, so often!
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CREATION MOMENTS
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Now, if the reader would like to learn more about the Laws of nature, please bookmark this following daily 2 minute broadcast called, “Creation Moments” in which a different aspect of nature is highlighted each weekday…click here… “CREATION MOMENTS”
“Dear Lord, Give me the joy of knowing more about the wonders of nature. Help me to see, not only the beauty and poetry of nature, and the wisdom of nature, but also the many pictures of Love: God’s love in nature…
“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” Isaiah 24:23
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When God created the Moon and the stars, He ordained them to “rule the night” (Gen. 1:16). The Moon, especially when it is full, can light your pathway through the night, as it reflects the light of the Sun.
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So too, the Christian is to be a light to the world: to this sin-darkened world. But as the Moon must reflect the light of the Sun, in order to be a light to the world, so also must the Christian reflect the light of Jesus, to be a spiritual light to this planet in rebellion. Listen…
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“Ye are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
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However, during an eclipse, the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, preventing that sunlight from shining on the Moon’s face. This is an incredible object-lesson about when the child of God allows the world to come between him and his Lord. Like the eclipse, that person no longer reflects the light of Jesus, because his or her love of this dark world of sin has eclipsed the light from the“Sun of Righteousness” (see Malachi 4:2).
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And so, this is just one of the many poetic truths seen in the Moon. (For more on this subject of an eclipse, you may link to the article… “Lunar Eclipse & Spiritual Eclipse”)
A young college student was reaching the age when he began to question the meaning of life.
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And his struggle was made difficult due to his years of atheistic teachers indoctrinating him into the ideology that life was merely an accident, and he was merely an advanced level of evolution from tiny one-celled life-forms.
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Atheism – Descent of the Modernists (now called Progressives), E J Pace, Christian Cartoons, 1922 – Wikipedia –
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WHAT IS LIFE?
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And one night as he walked across campus to a concert, he fearfully questioned how humanity could have evolved from one-celled amoebas (as he had been indoctrinated to believe since grade school).
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And in his mind’s eye he grappled with how tiny, one-celled amoebas could ever advance to the degree of becoming intelligent people, now donning eyeglasses, suits and ties, driving motorcars, playing sports, making movies, plowing with tractors, flying jets, building cities, etc.
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It all seemed so impossible!
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And as this lonely student continued along the well-lit campus walkway, he struggled further with the frightening question of “Just what is life’s purpose if there’s no meaning?”
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walking at night – wikimedia – cropped image – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Amoebas – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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Yes, atheism was a very scary idea for this young man. Because if life is merely some mindless accident, then that raises some very critically important questions!
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Yes, and these are just a few of the questions which every atheist should probably ask his or herself, if they happen to be a truth-seeking individual.
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Question Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools”
Romans 1:22
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Perhaps, still another question one might ask atheism is this: “Why is it that atheist-proponents mostly make evolutionary charts which merely show only the supposed evolution of man from apes…
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“That is, why do they seldom show man’s supposed evolution all the way back from one-celled amoebas, and maybe even back further all the way to that one fated lightning-bolt striking that one fated pond-scum…supposedly creating the very first original life-form?”
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Even though this old evolution-chart does indeed show amoebas-evolving-into-humans, it merely portrays humans as primitive, half-ape-like creatures!
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Perhaps they instinctively know that a very complete chart culminating with sophisticated-looking people might appear somewhat disingenuous to the discerning eye of common-sensed reasoning.
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Human pedigree – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
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And what about existence itself? How did this awesome expanse called the universe, with all its beauty, majesty, and order, come into existence in the first place?
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Just some giant explosion: chaos into law & order? Nothing into everything?
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How could that be?! How could everything come from nothing if there is no infinite, omnipotent Creator?
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And how could this universe, made of a vast infinite sea of electromagnets, each with differing numbers of electrons and protons come into being if there’s no infinite Creator?
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Big Bang – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“…what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”
1st Corinthians 15:32
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Perhaps the next atheism question might be…“And if all we are is the result of some “big-bang” explosion, followed by a lightning-strike-to-pond-scum, then what is truth? What is right and what is wrong? What is good and what is bad?”
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Because, if life is merely accidental, having no meaning nor purpose, then maybe we might consider the advice of that old satanist, Aleister Crowley (photo right)…“Do what thou wilt”.
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In other words, if life is meaningless and purposeless, then Crowley was correct. Just do whatever we want to do. After all, it doesn’t really matter if we’re all just very advanced pond-scum!
Aleister Crowley, Golden Dawn – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
And the next question is, “If the basis for evolution is ‘survival of the fittest’, then shouldn’t Adolph Hitler be the atheist’s hero?”
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After all, the evolutionist’s claim is that Hitler was merely speeding up evolution by creating a master race!
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In other words, according to some historians, Hitler, might have been an “A+ student” of the evolution-theory’s progenitor, Charles Darwin, as far as his “survival of the fittest” teachings!
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Because, Hitler was merely putting into practical application, Darwin’s theory of evolution by exterminating all those he deemed “inferior stock”! And if life is merely survival of the fittest, and there’s no right or wrong, then what’s wrong with murder? Then what’s wrong with stealing or lying, or anything? Just follow Crowley’s one commandment…“Do what thou wilt!”
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Nazi Death-Camp Corpses Wagon – Buchenwald-18th – Wikimedia – Public-Domain
Adolph Hitler – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God”
Psalm 53:1
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And perhaps the next question to ask atheism is “How in creation do people, being the product of lightning-struck-sludge-pond-scum, now have higher/nobler ideals, such as ‘compassion’, ‘love’, ‘sympathy’, ‘nobility’, ‘sorrow’, ‘joy’, etc., if indeed we are merely advanced amoebas, the result of survival of the fittest?”
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Jesus – Woman why weepest thou – Jesus – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“So God created man…in the image of God…male and female created He them.
Genesis 1:27-29 (condensed for brevity)
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“And why do humans operate by law & order? If all we are is just very advanced amoebas, then why do we organize? Why do we paint beautiful pictures of nature and compose lovely ballads and symphonies? Why do advanced amoebas elect leaders and have meetings. Why do advanced amoebas, made up of zillions of electromagnets (atoms), fall in love, get married, go to restaurants, attend plays, send children to college, drive cars, go to church, etc.?”
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If you consider all these questions, you might begin to realize that atheism/evolution doesn’t provide an adequate answer!
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Pierre Auguste Renoir, La loge (The Theater Box) – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God”
Psalm 53:1
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And unfortunately, atheists and evolutionists seldom reveal all that atheism encompasses.
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Because if any unbiased, rational person really thought all this atheism/evolution completely through, from beginning-to-end, cause-to-effect, they might realize just how impossible this dying ideology actually is.
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But some Creationist thought-leaders have asserted that atheism/evolution must rely on our unlearned ignorance and naivety, so that this ideology/philosophy is not discovered to be the fraud that it really is.
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Nevertheless, the more we understand Creation, the less we believe Charles Darwin’s folly called evolution.
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Charles Darwin – by John Collier (artist) – www.wikigallery.com – Public Domain
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“Ye are of your father the devil…for he is a liar, and the father of it”
John 8:44 (Condensed)
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This entire ideology of godless evolution is not only absurd and ridiculous, but also a gigantic lie and fraud perpetrated and perpetuated by the “father of lies”, Lucifer.
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The fact is, life is not merely some cosmic accident! Nor are we merely an advanced form of electrified pond-scum!
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
atom – Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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“God…Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son (Jesus), whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds”
Hebrew 1:1, 2
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The fact is, we’ve been given a conscience to discern right from wrong, good from bad, truth from error. And we have been given a mind and heart which loves, hates, judges, and chooses.
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And God is that eternal Spirit which has created mankind in His image, and has given each of us a desire to devote our lives to certain endeavors.
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And we’ve been given the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and bad, loving and hating, helping or hurting.
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“And I (the wise man) gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith”
Ecclesiastes 1:3
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And God has given us the desire to live by law and order, and be governed by those laws.
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And He has put within us the desire and need to explore the world and universe around us!
Starry Night at La Silla – Wikimedia – Share-Alike license
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CREATION MOMENTS
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Now, if the reader would like to learn more about the witnesses found in nature, please bookmark this following daily 2-minute broadcast called, “Creation Moments” in which a different aspect of nature is highlighted each weekday… “CREATION MOMENTS” (click here)
“Dear Lord, Give me the joy of knowing more about the wonders of nature. Help me to see, not only the beauty and poetry of nature, and the wisdom of nature, but also the grandeur, the many pictures of Love: God’s love in nature. But also, show me these signs in the Sun, Moon, and stars..
“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things; that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.” Isaiah 40:26
There is one hobby which every ‘Noble Berean’ may take up, which only compliments the pursuit of the heavenly Prize.
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Yes, Signs Of Heaven becomes a wonderfully rewarding hobby which, unlike many less meaningful hobbies, pays off with rich, heavenly rewards. Everlasting rewards!
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And unlike the person in this photo with equipment, all you need is fairly good vision, and a dark, starry night.
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And once a person really gets to know these heavenly messengers, it will become very apparent that the message connected with these signs is truly a message to be heeded.
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Thus will the Christian be able to share this message with others. And there are perhaps many nuances and hidden biblical truths to these signs which have yet to be discovered.
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;” Luke 21:25
The very first step in finding these many constellations, should be to find the two main constellations: Orion, and the 7 Stars (aka, The Big Dipper).
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These two constellations represent Christ (Orion), and His Church (7 Stars).
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And just as these are the easiest constellations to find, so too, the first place to begin studying the Bible is the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
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These four books present Christ and His Church, when He walked the earth, just as Orion and the 7 Stars represent Christ and His Church, as seen up in the heavens.
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Then, once you are comfortable finding these two constellations, you can begin to locate the next closest constellations, and so on.
THIS IS STUDY #214 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
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Let’s look at the key Bible passage… “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1.“Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that 24-hour day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
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But in reality, nothing failed!
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No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to stand in the Day of the Lord!
We live in a day in which the following prophecy is now fulfilled…“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 1st Timothy 4:3, 4
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Yes, we live in a day in which the Church-world can no longer tolerate the harder and deeper truths of Scripture. To a great extent, they have supplanted“smooth things…deceits”in place of“the offense of the Cross”. (see Isaiah 30:10 & Galatians 5:11)
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A love of the world has been inserted into the many sermons and lifestyles of those false shepherds which now rule over God’s professed people.
“NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION”
2nd Peter 1:20
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And along with the many-world-loving doctrines, there has also been a great ignorance as to how to properly study the Bible.
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Many Bible passages are now taken out of the context of“all Scripture”, and wrong doctrines are the result of these erroneous methods of interpretation.
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UNBIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS
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Another really bad and unbiblical hermeneutic has been tagged as“The Literal, Grammatical Historical Hermeneutic”which demands that Scripture must be interpreted as literal as possible unless context demands an allegorical, typological interpretation.
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Of course, the Bible knows nothing of such a hermeneutic!
And He raised up a man to counter this growing apostasy, bringing back proper methods of Bible interpretation.
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And by following the 670 audio Bible studies in Jeremiah, one can begin to learn and take hold of the proper and correct Bible hermeneutics which have mostly been lost sight of in today’s Christendom.
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And the Reader will most likely be amazed at Camping’s use of what Paul refers to as“comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1st Corinthians 2:13). His daily studies are like having an incredible center-reference column at your disposal!
One aspect which makes Camping’s audio Bible programs superior to other radio teachers is the manner in which he highlighted each Bible reference. Unlike many teachers, Camping usually made an effort to emphasize each verse given, repeating the chapter and verse, and allowing the listener time to look each verse up for themselves.
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But most other teachers do not do so well in this regard, but rather make their emphasis, instead, upon their own interpretation, and not giving listeners time to look up each given verse for their own selves.
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The bottom line is, Camping was more interested in making the Bible the focal-point of his ministry rather than his own interpretations. Thus, Camping’s presentations allow listeners time to cement those verses into their hearts, more than most other teachers normally do!
So the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and stop letting others dictate to him what he must believe and must NOT believe…
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Listen…“O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” Isaiah 3:12
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Yes, as it reveals in the above verse, it is the leaders who mislead God’s people!
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All a truth-seeker has to do is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25 minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
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THE READER IS ENCOURAGED TO LISTEN TO THE 20+ MINUTE AUDIO BIBLE STUDY ON JEREMIAH AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH DAY’S PAGE. HAROLD CAMPING’S ABILITY TO SEARCH OUT COMPARABLE VERSES IS UNLIKE ANY OF TODAY’S BIBLE TEACHERS…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
Pray for Our Nation sign – Wikimedia – Share-alike-lic.
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.
Now, contrary to popular belief, God has not ceased from sending messengers to the world and to the Church.
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No, in the Book of Revelation, it is prophesied…“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” Revelation 14:6
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Here was the message of the 1st angel of Revelation Chapter 14 (and, by the way, the name, “angel” is a Greek word, meaning, “messenger”).
And to proclaim the everlasting Gospel became the mission of Ellen G. White, a little lady of irreproachable character, who accomplished more in her lifetime than humanly possible!
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Besides writing massive amounts of letters and pages for books each day, over the span of her 70 year ministry, she also orchestrated the building of various Christian colleges, churches, and health-sanitariums.
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And in her own personal life, she carried on various daily ministries such as bringing food baskets to her poor neighbors and townspeople.
Now because of all her good works, one might imagine that she would be lauded with praise by the world, and by the church-world.
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But exactly the opposite response was given. No, Satan has waged an extremely successful campaign against Ellen White over almost the last two centuries, to destroy her reputation, and even to destroy her message.
But what most people don’t realize is that Ellen White was given the commission to preach the everlasting Gospel found in both Testaments, Old and New.
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Thus are found many statements in her writings which have an Old Testament flavor to them. Oh yes, much or perhaps most of her writings are filled with paraphrases of the New Testament, as well!
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And just like the Bible, E. G. White’s writings contain both Testaments. That is the “everlasting Gospel” to be preached to the whole world, prophesied in Revelation 14:6...“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth…”
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And as already stated, she wasn’t an angel, but a mere fallible human. Her ministry, however, was symbolized by “an angel flying in the midst of heaven.”
KILLING THE MESSENGER: “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.”
Psalm 35:11
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And more than slandering her because of her Old Testament statements, Satan even managed to drum up many false charges against White’s almost spotless life. From the charge that she didn’t follow her own health message, to the charge of plagiarism, Satan has been able to destroy the messenger and even much of her message, to a great extent.
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And Satan has even raised up several so-called “cults”, which have similar characteristics to White’s ministry, which has only further confused the public and the Church, creating a great big stigma against her as well as against her writings.
Well, at the bottom of each of these Year-4 daily devotionals, are audio chapters of some of her books, beginning with the 44-chapter book, “The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan”. And no, it is definitely not an infallibly inspired book as is the Bible. But it nevertheless gives a brief, but a very eye-opening insight into the history of the Church through the last two thousand years.
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And all those who consider themselves to be “Noble Bereans”, will want to listen to these daily audio book chapters, so that they can pursue truth by investigating this wonderful, but very much neglected and despised message with an open-minded search for Bible truth!
Stephen Stoned Acts 7:57-60 – lavistachurchofchrist.org
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
2Th_2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
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1Jn 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 1Jn 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 1Jn 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 1Jn 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1Jn 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
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Psa 18:25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; Psa 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. Psa 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
Hebrews 4:12
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It’s always fun and exciting to listen to a good, intelligent, orderly and respectable Internet debate between atheists and Christians.
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And even though we all “root, root, root for the home team”(as that old song sings), we might even learn from listening to the opposition’s arguments.
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John Lennox and Christopher Hitchens debating wikimedia share-alike license
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But as we witness more and more of these atheist/creationist debates, there is a common theme we hear from the atheists.
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Yes, it is almost guaranteed that we will hear the following complaints: “The God of the Bible is a tyrant, evil, hypocritical, and invented by mere men. Christians are hypocrites, evildoers, etc., etc….
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A young lady on a social website was listing some of the Bible’s stupidity, such as “Forbidding to wear garments of wool mingled with cotton, or discovering an unfaithful wife by drinking “bitter water that causeth the curse…thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell….”
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And well, this young lady continued on and one (interjecting numerous exclamation marks in the form of curse-words). And then she concluded by saying “these ridiculous Old Testament lawsonlyprove, without a doubt, that the ‘3!#&!#’ Bible is pure Bull-‘3!#&!#’, written by ‘#%$#!’ men!”
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But we need to understand is, that all those hard-to-understand verses begin to make sense when we realize that the Bible is a prophetic book. In other words, even though these laws and precepts are concerning earthly matters and behaviors, there is a spiritual interpretation which addresses some aspect of the Gospel of Christ.
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And if we keep this in mind we might, by the grace of God, begin to view the Bible through spiritual ‘eyeglasses’, so to speak.
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One great problem is that most people read the Bible from an earthly vantage-point. Even many ministers and Bible teachers read the Bible, largely from an earthly vantage-point, and completely miss the heavenly meaning and message.
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For example, when the Bible forbids wearing clothing made of both wool and linen (cotton), the spiritual message concern our “garments of Salvation”…”my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation” Isaiah 61:10
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God wants us to be clothed with woolen from the Lamb of God. We are not to mingle that garment with the worldly covering of cotton (which symbolizes the commonness of the world).
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SLAVERY
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God wrote rules concerning slavery for a number of reasons. One very important reason is that back in those days, it was common for people to pay their debts by placing themselves in servitude to the one whom they owed money, until their debt was paid. And so, God laid down codes of conduct for both the slaves and also for their masters.
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In the New Testament, Paul gave admonitions for godly conduct to Christians who were slaves.
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Now, today’s skeptics and critics will use these admonitions to accuses God of being a monster or just a fabrication of the men who made up the entire myth of God and God’s Son.
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Now even though most Bible students are not slaves of men, the fact is, we are servants and bondmen of Christ…
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And the unsaved multitudes are servants and prisoners of “the god of this world”, Lucifer, now titled, Satan and The Devil. 2nd Corinthians 4:4
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And so, these admonitions are applicable in many areas of life, including our career in which we are servants to our employer.
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“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
Hebrews 4:12
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God wrote the Bible as a two-edged sword. In other words, the sword of the spirit the word of God cuts both ways: cuts to save, or cuts to destroy.
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And so, many Bible-skeptics will look at various verses and passages and Bible accounts and use them to disprove the Bible or to prove that God is a monster: things like slavery, or wearing garments of blended materials, etc., not realizing that these were to be understood metaphorically.
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Jesus said “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand”
Matthew 13:13
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… And those skeptics who find seeming contradictions in the Bible or some Bible passages which prove that God is evil, because of this or that thing He did or allowed, only validates the passage that informs us…
Jesus said “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand”
Matthew 13:13
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It is not God’s purpose nor intention to bring humans to Salvation via the wisdom of this world.
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CREATION MOMENTS
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Now, if the reader would like to learn more about the Laws of nature, please bookmark this following daily 2-minute broadcast called, “Creation Moments” in which a different aspect of nature is highlighted each weekday….click here…. “CREATION MOMENTS”
“Dear Lord, Give me the joy of knowing more about the wonders of nature. Help me to see, not only the beauty and poetry of nature, and the wisdom of nature, but also the many pictures of Love: God’s love in nature…
“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” Isaiah 24:23
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When God created the Moon and the stars, He ordained them to “rule the night” (Gen. 1:16). The Moon, especially when it is full, can light your pathway through the night, as it reflects the light of the Sun.
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So too, the Christian is to be a light to the world: to this sin-darkened world. But as the Moon must reflect the light of the Sun, in order to be a light to the world, so also must the Christian reflect the light of Jesus, to be a spiritual light to this planet in rebellion. Listen…
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“Ye are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
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However, during an eclipse, the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, preventing that sunlight from shining on the Moon’s face. This is an incredible object-lesson about when the child of God allows the world to come between him and his Lord. Like the eclipse, that person no longer reflects the light of Jesus, because his or her love of this dark world of sin has eclipsed the light from the“Sun of Righteousness” (see Malachi 4:2).
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And so, this is just one of the many poetic truths seen in the Moon. (For more on this subject of an eclipse, you may link to the article… “Lunar Eclipse & Spiritual Eclipse”)
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.” 1st Corinthians 13:8, 9
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
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But in reality, nothing failed!
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No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His unprepared sleeping saints, to prepare them to shine forth in the soon-coming, Day of the Lord!
Well okay, maybe you could say that Camping’s May 21st, 2011 prediction was an error, since he didn’t realize that there was to be a tarrying time, so that God can complete His victory over Satan’s kingdom of darkness here on earth.
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But the Lord intentionally allowed this error, so as to give the world its second, “wake-up call”. Yes, God purposely wanted this call to be made that, “the end has come!” (The first “wake-up call” was perhaps, the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City.)
But Harold Camping, when alive, was always ready to admit that he was very capable of error.
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After all, on each one of his 90-minute nightly telephone call-in programs, he probably cautioned his listeners at least 6 to 10 times per night, “Don’t trust me! I have feet of clay! Trust only the Bible! The Bible, the Bible, the Bible! The Bible is the only infallible Word of truth!”
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Every nightly call-in program was replete with this same warning: “Read the Bible, instead of trusting me (Harold Camping), or any other Bible teacher!”
Now regarding another glaring error in Camping’s teachings was his inability to see the unbiblical doctrine of the Sunday Sabbath.
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Over almost 90 years as a church-goer, even from childhood, he became so thoroughly indoctrinated into the so-called “orthodox” teachings of the mainstream churches, that it was only the mercy of God that opened his eyes to the heretical church-doctrine named by theologians, “Eternal Torment”.
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And he then renounced that false doctrine and began teaching the wages of sin is death, not “Eternal Torment”!
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SUNDAY SABBATH ERROR
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But the Sunday Sabbath was another unbiblical church-tradition that Camping clung to until the day of his death.
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(Now let it be stated that this website is not necessarily advocating the return to a Saturday Sabbath. This website primarily promotes the spiritual Sabbath Rest that we have in Christ.)
Now there are a number of Bible passages which Camping used to substantiate the Sunday Sabbath. Matthew 28:1 was the premier passage he used to promote the idea of the so-called, “1st-Day Sabbath”. And while he was very correct that the Greek language says, “At the end of the sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the 1st of the sabbaths”, his interpretation of that verse is without biblical substantiation.
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In other words, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible that speaks of a new 24-hour Sabbath Day on the 1st day of the week, which begins and ends at midnight. It is only by twisting Scripture, that one can arrive at that conclusion. The Bible never ever speaks of the 1st day of the week as, “The Lord’s Day”. The Lord’s Day, spoken of in Revelation, Chapter 1 never assigns itself to only one day of the week.
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This whole idea is purely a presumption on the part of the theologians and Bible teachers through the centuries, back to the Romans Catholic Church, and to the secular Romans, and even way back to ancient Babylon!
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CHURCH TRADITION
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Oh yes, the Bible does begin to make reference to the, “1st day of the week”, a number of times after the resurrection of Christ.
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But nowhere does it establish a new 24-hour weekly Sabbath on that day.
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It is merely church-tradition that exalts a new weekly Sabbath day on Sunday.
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And merely church-tradition which follows this antichrist world’s reckoning that days begin and end at midnight!
Now, Harold Camping also tied other similar passages to the so-called Sunday Sabbath. One of those is found in Isaiah 58…“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:” Isaiah 58:13
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But nowhere does this passage speak of the 1st day of the week, and certainly not of Sunday. This is totally fabricated by human logic. As a matter of fact, Isaiah 58 is most likely referring to the Christian life in general, a 24/7/365 Sabbath “rest unto your souls”! (see Matthew 11:28-30)
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In other words, we are to honor God every day of the week! And we are not to find our own pleasure any day of the week! Nor are we to speak our own words any day of the week. Every word we speak should be as the “oracles of God”, as it says in Peter’s 1st Epistle 4:11.
Now Harold Camping used his own human reasoning to validate the Sunday Sabbath. “After all”, Camping often said, “people have to work very hard, six days of the week, trying to provide for their family. And that leaves no time for much spiritual refreshment. That’s why God instituted a new Sabbath Day on Sunday. So on that 24-hour period, we are commanded to devote that entire day to spiritual activities.”
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The problem with Camping’s logic is that church history shows that the Church tended to rely on that one-day Sabbath, to the neglect of the other 6 days of the week. In other words, just a quick look at today’s church-world proves that attempting to keep one day per week holy inspires legalism among church-goers. And right after the so-called Sabbath, Christians, for the most part, enthusiastically pursue all the cares and pleasures of this selfish world!
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We are somewhat like a track runner, waiting for the race to start, ready to sprint back into our worldly mode, after the sun goes down at Sabbath’s end!
Because of our fallen human nature, most church-goers attempt to worship Jesus on the Sabbath, and immediately after church, we resume the pursuit of our “week-day gods” the other 6 days!
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And we forget that our communion with God should be happening 24/7/365!
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Unceasing prayer, day & night contemplation of His Word should be going on every moment of every day!
Well this error was not only Camping’s error, but is embraced by nearly the entire Christian world!
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But God is now calling His people out of Babylon.
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We are to cling only to the Bible. And we are to add nothing to it! And yes, we are to live the resurrected life! This is what the 1st-day symbolizes! The “1st of the Sabbaths”, as found in the Greek manuscripts is actually speaking of the Sabbath rest that can only be found in Christ!
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His glorious Rest is found in taking His light yoke upon us and learning of Him, as we sit at His feet and hear His Word! (see Matthew 11:28-30)
Now just because Harold Camping had several great errors in his teachings, by no means negates all the otherwise wonderful teachings of his 50-year ministry.
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We all, “know in part and prophesy in part”, as it says in 1st Corinthians 13. None of us are perfect in our understanding.
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And God had purposely allowed errors in Camping’s teachings, so that nobody would begin to think of him as some sort of an infallible messenger!
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And Camping freely (and constantly) advised his hearers NOT to place their trust in him, but to trust only the Bible! “The Bible, the Bible, the Bible”, often said Camping, “that’s the only infallible Word of God!”
So while we can learn really valuable information from Camping’s ministry, we are not to neglect our own personal Bible study, to check out what God’s infallible Word says on any particular subject!
So the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and personally begin that 30-month study in Jeremiah.
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Yes, all those who are hungry for truth will delight to hear these many cryptic passages of Jeremiah, finally opened up to our understanding!
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And now that we are at the threshold of that great and awesome Day of God, this Jeremiah study will begin to make complete sense at such an hour as this, when it is truly needed!
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And all a truth-seeker has to do, is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25-minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
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This above link is to the first installment of Camping’s Jeremiah study. And at the bottom of each day’s devotional is a 20-25 minute audio Bible study by Harold Camping.
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
“With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.” Ezekiel 26:12
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THIS STAR-CHART: This is a Wikipedia star-chart, in which this site’s editor has sketched in these three constellation (without the Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation). Notice how the right front hoof is trampling on the tail of the Dragon. Also notice his eye is a star.It’s best seen when in the western half of the sky. It is found in mid-sky traveling from east to west. In January, it is in the west after midnight. As winter progresses, it can be seen earlier and earlier in the evening. a dark sky with good star-visibility is best, but not absolutely necessary to see this constellation. It is found on the opposite side of the Dragon Constellation from Orion. And as already stated, this Goodly Horse Constellation can be seen best in mid-winter when it is in the western side of the sky, and you are looking at it while you are facing west. The nose and head of this horse is partly made from the Perseus Constellation. The tail and rear end is partly of the Cassiopeia Constellation. The hind-leg is made partly of stars from the Andromeda Constellation.
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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
winter Constellations in the east
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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars
represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
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So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ.
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But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence. Hence, this constellation is perhaps the most faint of all the constellations of Signs Of Heaven!
Yes, our teachers (beginning with one, John N. Darby, and popularized by one, Cyrus I. Scofield, back in the 19th Century), have invented this false doctrine to seal up over 80% of the book of Revelation, saying “It doesn’t concern the Church!”
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And like lambs to the slaughter, the Church is heading into the Day of the Lord, thinking we’re going to miss it! But Revelation, Chapter 22:6.6, 7, 10, 16 says quite the opposite about itself…“These sayings are faithful and true…to shew unto His servants the things WHICH MUST SHORTLY BE DONE. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book…FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND…I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things IN THE CHURCHES.” (Condensed for context and brevity)
Just ask your Bible teacher about this, above, final confirmation from Revelation’s last chapter and be prepared to get an unsatisfactory/confusing answer!
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John Nelson Darby – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
Cyrus Scofield – 1920 – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“The Cities of the Nations Fell”
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Revelation 12 Woman represents the church
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“COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE!”
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And all this wrestling with Scripture by theologians and Bible teachers, is just one more reason why God is calling His people out of “The City of Confusion”, mystery Babylon…“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
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Yes, this entire false doctrine concerning the so-called “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” is just one more heresy among many, which the apostate church-world teaches.
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And this is why there is an end-time exodus occurring away from the harlot churches!
But like most of the other Signs which this website reveals, Orion too, has much more to say as he changes his position in the sky. And this Soldier in the Heavens puts on different garb, as he presents the five awesome aspects of his various offices. From ‘Orion the Soldier’,and‘Orion the Reaper’, and‘Orion the Archer’, and‘The Cross of Orion’, and last but certainly not least, “Orion, The Good Shepherd”. This amazing constellation presents a very complex revelation of the God’s magnificent love for a fallen planet.
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So read on and discover, “things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 13:35
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
There are many who are running “here and there”, in attempt to prove just how close we are to that great and notable Day of the Lord.
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After all, don’t we now see a great interest within the church-world for Bible prophecy concerning these things? Prophecy seminars, and popular international television and radio ministries dedicated solely to Bible prophecy?
But there is a general consensus among all these Bible teachers concerning 2nd Thessalonians, which warns that The Day of the Lord cannot come, until two certain signs are first witnessed in the world…
Yes, the above passage from 2nd Thessalonians, 2:2 makes very clear… “for that day shall not come, except there come:
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1. “a falling away first, and…
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2. “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2nd Thessalonians 2:3, 4
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Now here above is seen that two things must first occur, prior to the Day of Christ: “a falling away first”(an apostasy), and the “man of sin be revealed…that he as God sits in the temple of God”.
Now in the last installment (click here to read) of this little series of devotionals titled, “Apocalypse NOW!”, it was presented that the “Man of Sin” has already been revealed.
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Yes, contrary to today’s popular consensus in the church-world, Satan has already come in the form of the Antichrist Beast.
Well, to find the answer to this question, the Bible is the only place to search for the answer…
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Listen…“They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these (who built their house on sand) have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation FALL AWAY.” Luke 8:13
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So here is seen the meaning of the words, “fall away”. (See also, Luke 8:13, which translates the Greek word, “Apostasia”, into the English word, “forsake”)
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FURTHER BIBLE CONFIRMATION
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And for further confirmation, the Book of Hebrews says…“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened…If they shall FALL AWAY, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:4, 6
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And also, the words, “falling away” in Strong’s Concordance are actually defined as an “apostasy”, or “a forsaking”. (see Acts 21:21 & Luke 14:33, concerning the word, “forsake”, which is the same word in the Greek as “falling away” in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3)
So then, the next question is, “Does the Bible ever prophesy of the day when the churches will all fall away?”
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Oh yes! Listen again to Paul as he foretells of the day when the churches will fall away…“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2nd Timothy 4:3, 4
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So here is seen that the Christian churches will turn away from the truth, and from sound doctrine.
Now the next question to be asked is this… “Have we arrived at that day, when the great apostasy foretold in Scripture has already occurred?”
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Well, just about any biblically well-versed conservative Christian understands that a great portion of the churches have now embraced a prosperity-driven, pleasure-focused gospel.
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Rock Music Christian CHURCH -Wikimedia – Public Domain
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ARE SOME CHURCHES STILL FAITHFUL?
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But these same conservative Christians might also affirm that there are many faithful churches which still teach from the Bible.
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So then, these so-called conservative Christians will by no means acknowledge a total apostasy in the church-world. They insist that their church is still faithfully preaching the Bible-only!
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Well, this website gives many proofs and evidences that the great apostasy has already occurred, both in the so-called “liberal” churches, but also in the so-called “conservative” churches.
Now whether the Reader agrees or not concerning the totality of today’s apostasy, it is generally acknowledged that the current apostasy concerns at least half of the churches: those churches who have embraced the prosperity/pleasure gospels.
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And so, the bottom line to all this is, we can now finally see the two events transpiring before our very eyes: the apostasy of the Christian world, and the revealing of just what is and who is the Antichrist Beast (Satan’s world-system), foretold of in Scripture.
(After all, Revelation 17 reveals this multi-faceted beast as having various “kings and kingdoms”, which means this beast is a conglomerate of various antichrist kings and kingdoms. Therefore, those who insist on the Antichrist Beast as being one single individual are ignoring Revelation 17:7, 8)
And so, the signature question of today’s devotional remains, “Have we arrived at the day which is called, The Day of the Lord?”
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Well, these two devotionals have shown that the two conditions which must first come to pass, are already present on the world stage. And so, there is nothing standing in the way of Judgment Day arriving.
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Well, this website offers much more information on these things. And so, please keep reading these devotionals (and “Signs Of Heaven.org”) to gain a fuller understanding of just where we are in time!
“Dear Lord, Help me to study, study, study, that I may know for a certainty about these things. Hide me from the fiery tempest which is now coming upon the earth. Help me to put away any worldly traits and affections and lusts which I may still be clinging to. Let me take refuge under the shadow of Thy wings…
Prayer – Mother and Daughter – Wikipedia – (cropped image) the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” Revelation 12:3
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In Revelation, the Dragon of Revelation 12 is described as having seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. However, the Dragon Constellation up in the night sky does not.
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But God has faithfully created the wave of water, in such a way, as to illustrate this same concept of the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. Because this wave of water is basically composed of ten stars.
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The main body of the wave has seven stars (#‘s, 1 thru 7). And the tip of the crest of the wave has the other three stars (#’s, 8, 9 & 10). So we have this 7 and 10 numbering. And this gives us a great clue, as to where in the Bible we should look, to find out the riddle as to just what or who do these 7 heads, 10 crowns, and 7 horns represent. Because the Bible speaks very much about floods and waters as being associated with Satan (the Dragon).
Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.
There are many who are looking around at this topsy-turvy world, and asking the question, “Have we arrived at the Day, which is called, The Day of the Lord?”
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Yes, there are many unbelievable events and paradigm shifts going on right now in the world which would make one believe that we have indeed reached that great and fearful day, The Day of the Lord!
But the Bible makes very clear… “for that day shall not come, except there come:
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1. “a falling away first”, and…
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2. “that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2nd Thessalonians 2:3, 4
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Now, here above is seen those two things which must first occur, prior to the Day of Christ: 1. a falling away (apostasy), and 2. the “man of sin be revealed…that he as God sits in the temple of God”.
But most people do not understand who or what is the nature of this Antichrist beast! We have been told, over and over again that this Antichrist Beast is a single individual, as it seems to say in 2nd Thessalonians, calling him, the “man of sin”.
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The problem is, this verse cannot be understood properly unless we allow the Bible to define who is “the man of sin”…
Listen to Isaiah…“How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!…
They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee,
and consider thee, saying,
‘IS THIS THE MAN that made the earth to tremble,
that did shake kingdoms'”
Isaiah 14:12, 16
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So here, Satan (Lucifer) is referred to as, “Is this the man…?”
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Yes, Satan is the true Antichrist as he has waged his warfare against Heaven and God’s elect through the various kings and kingdoms which have ruled in the earth, throughout history.
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And so, Lucifer, empowering these various kings and kingdoms is what composes this multi-headed, multi-horned beast with various other beasts making up his body.
These old engravings properly depict this multi-faceted Antichrist Beast with the Mystery Harlot Babylon riding upon it.
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Yes, the Christian community of yesteryear knew who this beast was, who for centuries persecuted God’s elect in the form of the apostate church-system of Europe.
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Oh yes, those popish rulers were indeed part of the Antichrist Beast. And certainly that apostate church and her popish potentates received the deadly wound by God ‘s sword, the Bible. And it is true, that the Romish church seems to have fully recovered from that deadly wound.
But the Antichrist Beast is far more than just one of its heads.
Exclamation Mark – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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A 7-HEADED BEAST
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Now this is not to diminish the role that this 5th-head of the beast has played in Church history and in the history of the world. And this 5th-head (popery) is definitely beginning to re-emerge as a big player in the end-time events!
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But the true fullness of the 1st-Beast of Revelation 13 must be realized by beholding all of its 7 heads. Because in these last moments of Earth’s history, this entire Antichrist Beast will stand upon the world stage in all of its fullness, and in all of its sinister, counterfeit “glory”.
And even though the inhabitants of the world will once again “wonder after the beast”, God’s elect and chosen followers are encouraged to study, study, study, so as to gain a much fuller understanding of this 7-headed Beast.
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But the bottom line to all this is, we can now finally see the two events transpiring before our very eyes: 1.the apostasy of the Christian world, and 2. the revealing of just what is and who is the Antichrist Beast, foretold of in 2nd Thessalonian, chapter 2, concerning what must occur prior to Christ’s coming for His gathered-together people.
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The Pleiades: Mystery Babylon: Mother of Harlots
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ARE WE THERE YET?
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And so, to answer the signature question of today’s devotional, “Have we arrived at the day which is called, The Day of the Lord?”
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Well, this website offers much more information on these things. And so, please keep reading these articles on this website to gain a fuller understanding of just where we are in time!
.Judgment Day – by sweet media – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to study, study, study, that I may know for a certainty about these things. Hide me from the fiery tempest which is now coming upon the earth. Help me to put away any worldly traits and affections and lusts which I may still be clinging to. Let me take refuge under the shadow of Thy wings…
Prayer – Anna Blunden – For Only One Short Hour – Wikimedia – Public Domain
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.” Revelation 12:3
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In Revelation, the Dragon of Revelation 12 is described as having seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. However, the Dragon Constellation up in the night sky does not.
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But God has faithfully created the wave of water, in such a way, as to illustrate this same concept of the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. Because this wave of water is basically composed of ten stars.
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The main body of the wave has seven stars (#‘s, 1 thru 7). And the tip of the crest of the wave has the other three stars (#’s, 8, 9 & 10). So we have this 7 and 10 numbering. And this gives us a great clue, as to where in the Bible we should look, to find out the riddle as to just what or who do these 7 heads, 10 crowns, and 7 horns represent. Because, the Bible speaks very much about floods and waters as being associated with Satan (the Dragon).
Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration, concerning another area of concern.
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Let’s look at the key Bible passage…“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
OK, so these in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, these Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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So there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
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But in reality, nothing failed!
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No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to shine forth in the Day of the Lord!
Yes, Harold Camping was accused of being a false teacher, all for the sake of enriching himself.
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But those who knew him, understood very well, that this dedicated Bible teacher was a very spiritual servant of God: a man who cared nothing for the riches of this world!
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But rather, he loved the heavenly riches found only in the study of God’s Word, the Bible!
In the present-day era of mega-churches and television evangelists, glorifying themselves with costly church-buildings and personal extravagance only afforded to royalty in ages past, stood a humble little group of buildings in Alameda California, somewhat in need of updating. These were the main studios and headquarters of Family Stations Incorporated. (The new directors of Family Radio have since moved into new buildings.)
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But this group of outdated buildings became the epi-center for a radio ministry that reached around the world in several dozen languages and broadcast via AM, FM, and shortwave radio.
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Yes, this humble, yet powerful organization grew over a 50 year span, from one Bay Area FM radio station, into a worldwide ministry.
The president of that station was a thin little wisp of a man, yet with a big and powerful voice, Harold Camping.
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And with the blessing of the Lord, this man loved the Bible more than life itself, always cautioning his listeners, “Don’t trust my teachings! Trust only in God’s infallible Word, the Bible!”
Now, because of Harold Camping’s dedication to sending out the gospel around the world, this faithful servant denied himself the luxuries which many other radio and TV evangelists take for granted. Oh yes, Camping built his very large family (of 10) a comfortable home back in the late 1940’s.
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But if you would have driven by his house, you might have noticed a 35 year old Cadillac, and a 35 year old pickup truck in the driveway. And if you would have watched one of Camping’s televised Bible studies, you would have noticed that his several suits served him well for decades.
Yes, in a day in which many TV evangelists own their own personal jets, Harold would buy a ticket on a commercial airline, if he had to negotiate a new radio station in a foreign country.
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And just a few years prior to his death, his family finally persuaded him to join them for a family camp-out about 50 miles from home.
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That was pretty much Camping’s one and only vacation in all of his 50 year ministry!
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Harold-Camping – courtesy Family Radio
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NOT ONE ACCUSATION
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On his nightly call-in show, Camping frequently was asked about his finances. And he was not hesitant to declare that he had been an unpaid volunteer from the very start of Family Radio, “Never even taking one nickel in wages!” Yes, because of wise investments during his early years as a civil engineer, Camping and his family lived very frugally on those investments throughout his years with Family Radio.
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And during the many years of his nightly, live, unedited call-in radio talk-show, never once did some disgruntled employee or accountant ever accuse Camping of personal misconduct or misappropriating funds. And since it was a live, un-delayed call-in talk-show, it would have been very easy to do so! There was absolutely no editing!
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Oh yes, he had his detractors and critics concerning his teachings! But never was his personal integrity ever called into question.
The point to this little description is to put to rest the many false charges: that Harold Camping was like so many other well-known television and radio evangelists, using a portion of their received donations to live in opulence, splendor, and extravagance!
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Camping was just the opposite! If anything, his frugality and self-denial and self-sacrifice was his biggest fault!
So the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and stop letting others dictate to him what he must believe and must not believe…
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Listen…“O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” Isaiah 3:12
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Yes, as it reveals in the above verse, it is the leaders who mislead God’s people!
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But just because the world cannot understand that there has been a tarrying time in the Bible’s end-of-the-world prophecy concerning the “Last Day”, that doesn’t necessitate that we too must remain in ignorance of these things!
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All a truth-seeker has to do is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25 minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
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This above link is to the first installment of Camping’s Jeremiah study.
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And at the bottom of each day’s devotional is another 20-25 minute audio Bible study in the Book of Jeremiah, or a similar audio study. Thus, the Reader can pick up on Camping’s ongoing studies at whatever day’s devotional, today happens to offer!
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
“With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.” Ezekiel 26:12
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THIS STAR-CHART:
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This is a Wikipedia star-chart, in which this site’s editor has sketched in these three constellation (without the Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation). Notice how the right front hoof is trampling on the tail of the Dragon. Also notice his eye is a star.It’s best seen when in the western half of the sky. It is found in mid-sky traveling from east to west. In January, it is in the west after midnight. As winter progresses, it can be seen earlier and earlier in the evening. a dark sky with good star-visibility is best, but not absolutely necessary to see this constellation. It is found on the opposite side of the Dragon Constellation from Orion. And as already stated, this Goodly Horse Constellation can be seen best in mid-winter when it is in the western side of the sky, and you are looking at it while you are facing west. The nose and head of this horse is partly made from the Perseus Constellation. The tail and rear end is partly of the Cassiopeia Constellation. The hind-leg is made partly of stars from the Andromeda Constellation.
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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
winter Constellations in the east
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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars
represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
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So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ.
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But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence. Hence, this constellation is perhaps the most faint of all the constellations of Signs Of Heaven!
1Co_14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…”
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“Isa 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isa 24:10 The city of confusion (Babylon) is broken down…
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SPIRITUAL DEATH-CAMPS!?!
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One popular Bible teacher recently made the comment, saying to the effect, “Our public schools have devolved into what I refer as “Spiritual Death Camps!”
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In spite of the fact that there may still be many dedicated, honest-hearted public-school teachers, his comment was referring to the intense social/political/sexual/moral indoctrination which public schoolchildren are currently subjected to on a daily basis in the government-run classrooms.
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Headsets – France in XXI Century School – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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There are many videos on the Internet, in which various pastors have a very well-ordered, yet lively outdoor debates/discussions with young adults on various college campuses.
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What is amazing is to witness how thoroughly indoctrinated these young people have become into atheist ideologies. Many young people graduate from public schools, coming out as, what many might say, “Hardened, fire-breathing, God-hating, socialistic atheists”.
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It’s very tragic how schools, to a great extent, have become indoctrination centers into atheism, socialism, evolution, racism, sexual-deviancy.
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No wonder that the suicide rate among young people has so greatly increased over the past few decades! These hopeless ideologies eventually drive their victims into confusion, and hopeless despair!
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After all, if life has no meaning, no purpose, and no hope beyond the grave, can we really blame so many young people for choosing suicide?! If all we are is a collection of infinitesimal energy particles from some cosmic accident, then (as most atheist thought-leaders insist), then there is no right or wrong, good or bad, in a freak accident called “life”. Who wouldn’t be depressed by such a hopeless and dreadful ideology?!
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And now, if all this horrible godlessness isn’t already bad enough, these same thought-leaders tell these kids they can thwart the natural order of things and choose whatever sexual identity they wish.
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And if that’s not evil enough, young people are indoctrinated to believe their worth is determined by skin-color!
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Hab 1:4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
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Of course, many Christians are pulling their children out of this insane-asylum called “The Public School System”! They realize that Lucifer, now called, “the god of this world” has turned this world into his mind-control machine. And via the various media, television, radio, Internet, the printing-press, the governments, and government school-systems, this antichrist-world-system’s unseen ruler is perfecting his absolute authoritarian control over the minds of humankind!
“And the LORD…said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables…but at the end it shall speak, and not lie…”
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And only in this day is it God’s will for that little Book of Habakkuk to be opened up to our understanding, as is written…
“And the LORD…said, Write the vision,
and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time,
but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:
though it tarry, wait for it;
because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk 2:2, 3
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Here above, is revealed that Habakkuk’s vision, thus prophesied, “for at the end it shall speak”. And the way God kept this vision hidden is two-fold. First, it is written in allegorical language. And second, only now are events unfolding which dramatically fulfill this prophecy.
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It’s fully time to “run” as Habakkuk says!
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And this article is one of many which shows, both you and me, just how we must run!
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Habakkuk by James Tissot – Wikimedia Commons – US Public Domain
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“Write the vision,
and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it!”
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Dear Reader, like Habakkuk says, it’s time to “RUN!”
Habakkuk 2:2
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, I pray that You would take me out of the horrible slimy pit of lukewarmness, and give me the ability to run the Christian “race with patience”…
“And there appeared a great wonder (or sign) in heaven; a woman…And there appeared another wonder (sign) in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads…And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God…And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Rev. 12:1, 3, 6, 15
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Here is a sketch of this Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12. This is the Winter Constellations of Signs Of Heaven. Besides Orion and his Horse, we also see pictured in this sketch, the Dragon of Revelation 12.
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This Revelation 12 Woman Constellation is fleeing. As you can see, the Dragon Constellation is spewing a flood of water in her direction, as is written… “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Revelation 12:15.This wave of water represents Satan’s lies, and his false teachers who tell those lies.
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ABOVE STAR-CHART – Early Winter in the east – Orion, Revelation 12 Woman (AKA Ursa Major) – Revelation 12 Dragon (AKA Hyades, Pleiades, etc.) – Goodly Horse in Battle with Rider (Camelopardelis, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, etc…) – www.signsofheaven.org – Not for profit use!
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GOD’S MESSAGE: FLEE!!
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Beholding the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation in winter, it seems that God is trying to get a very important message across to His people: that His Church is to flee! But what are they to flee from? Well, you can go to the article titled “The Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12 Constellation”
On Thanksgiving, while sitting at the table, a certain person (not present at that gathering, of course) came up in the conversation.
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One person made the comment that this certain person was always talking about religion. And everyone pretty much agreed that this certain person talked too much about religion. Unfortunately, nobody at the table came to this certain person’s defense.
Listen to Jesus… “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. So why do you think they put Jesus to death? Because they didn’t like what He was saying, and they couldn’t shut Him up.
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Well, probably any one of these three men would not be somebody that most people would want to “hang out” with for very long.
Well, one thing is for certain, it surely isn’t the people of the world who might be considered to be the most boring to be around.
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Listen to John’s testimony… “They (Anti-Christs) are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1st John 4:5, 6.
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So, it says here that the people of the world speak of the world and the world hears them.
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But it also says here that we Christians are of God, and the world does not hear us.
Well, the above passage from 1st John plainly declares, “he that is not of God heareth not us.”
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So, if they’re not listening to us, then just maybe we Christians are the most boring of all people!
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Well, this next passage only confirms it.
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Listen… “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life…” 2nd Corinthians 2:15, 16.
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Now here’s a real indictment against Christians. To those of the world we are the “savour of death unto death”.
WHO WOULD WANT TO “HANG OUT” WITH HOLINESS, ANYWAY?
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Just think about it! If we are living the Christ-like life, who in the world would want to “buddy around” with us anyway!? Only another Believer would dare hang around us, if we are truly Christ-like. Do we suppose that Jesus had secular friendships?
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Or Paul, perhaps?
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Or even the Apostle John?
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Certainly, the Bible makes no mention of these three having secular friendships. Only those who were contemplating becoming followers of Jesus were interested in His companionship. Eventually, everyone else wanted Him dead!
Now, on the other hand, if we find that secular people do happen to enjoy our company, then what could we conclude? Well, perhaps we are still worldly and carnal. And so they can relate to us on a worldly level.
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Listen to Jesus… “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19.
“And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1st John 3:3
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Now, some people have the notion that they must be witty and worldly, in order to evangelize the world. They erroneously surmise that by mingling the purity of Heaven with the commonness and triteness of the world, that this will somehow prove more effective in bringing in new converts.
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But never do we ever read anything about secular relationships with those three Christian role-models (Jesus, Paul & John). And, in spite of their holiness, these three evangelized more successfully than any other humans on this planet.
First of all, Jesus would be considered boring to the world. Then Paul. Then Peter, then John and the other Apostles. And last but not least, every true worshipper of God. We’re all boring to the world! And even though we tend to mostly keep silent about Jesus, when in the company of unbelievers, we just don’t share in the same “gusto” that unbelievers have toward their world, and it more or less shows.
But when true worshippers of God get together, then to talk about Jesus and Heaven is the most exciting thing on earth, and maybe also in Heaven too!
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“…and in His temple doth every one speak of His glory.” Psalm 29:9
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, help me to not run to the same excess of riot when in the company of unbelievers. But help me instead, to merely smile a warm smile of love, which is by far, the best sermon ever preached…
and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”
Revelation 11:19
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THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
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In the days of Moses, some 1400 years before Christ, God instructed that great man of faith, to make a portable tabernacle for the children of Israel to take from place to place as they sojourned in the deserts of the wilderness for 40 years. This tabernacle was, of course, for the purpose of performing the animal sacrifices for the sins of the people of God…the Hebrews.
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Moses was given specific instructions as how to make that tabernacle: “And look that you make them after their pattern, which was showed you in the mount.” Exodus 25:40. The Lord God Himself, showed Moses, while on that fiery mount, just how that elaborate tent was to be constructed, and how it was to be furnished.
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In the heart of this tabernacle was a room called the Most Holy Place. In it was the Golden Ark of the Covenant (Law). Nobody but the high priest (symbolizing Christ) was allowed in that room. This room was where the once-a-year Atonement for sin was made with the blood of the animal sacrifice (representing Christ’s blood).
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Now in this Ark were 3 symbolic items:
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1. a golden bowl of manna (bread),
2. the 2 tablets of the Law, and
3. Aaron’s rod that budded with almonds, showing that Aaron (symbolizing Christ) was the chosen high priest.
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Now this rod of Aaron was a type of kingly scepter. In other words, it was the forerunner of a king’s scepter which became a common symbol of power in most kingly courts around the world.
So what importance to us is all this information? Well, if a person goes out at night, beginning in April (earlier in southern-most latitudes, and later in northern-most), in the pre-dawn hour, they just might locate the constellation commonly referred to as the Sagittarius Constellation. It is located in the southern sky. (Each night it appears a little earlier, slowly inching westward, through the summer, until it finally disappears below the western horizon in November.)
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At first, it simply appears as two twin birds flying westward. But if you look once again, it just might appear as a long box-like figure, with one star on the right, as you face it, and two stars on the left. The box, of course would be the Ark, and the stars on either side would represent angels, which are sometimes referred to as stars in the Bible (for instance, “the seven stars are the angels…” Revelation 1:20). To the right is a star-chart from Wikipedia, in which the editor of this site has sketched in this Sagittarius Constellation, to show how God created it to appear.
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced.
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And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration, regarding another area of concern.
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Let’s look at the key Bible passage…“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so these in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, these Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus, there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-afore-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
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But in reality, nothing failed!
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No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to shine forth in the soon-coming, Day of the Lord!
Well Okay, maybe you could say that Camping’s May 21st, 2011 prediction was an error, since he didn’t realize that there was to be a tarrying time, so that God can complete His victory over Satan’s kingdom of this present, selfish world.
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But the Lord intentionally allowed this error, so as to give the world its second, “wake-up call”.
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And God’s sleeping saints really needed more time to prepare to meet their God.
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Yes, God purposely wanted this call to be made that, “the end has come!”
But Harold Camping, when alive, was the first one to admit that he was very capable of error.
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After all, on each one of his nightly telephone call-in programs, he probably cautioned his listeners 6 to 10 times per night, “Don’t trust me! I have feet of clay! Trust only the Bible! The Bible, the Bible, the Bible! The Bible is the only infallible Word of truth!”
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Every nightly call-in program was replete with this same warning, “Read the Bible! Study your Bible!”, instead of trusting Harold Camping, or any other Bible teacher!
And indeed, Harold Camping’s ministry was not free from error.
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Perhaps one of the most glaring errors in Camping’s 50-year ministry, was corrected during his 30-month-long study in Jeremiah, a few years before his death.
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Yes, while Camping began that study believing in the false doctrine of “Eternal Torment”, he later renounced that doctrine, and began teaching that, “The wages of sin is death”.
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Now this was a remarkable change-of-mind, since he previously had been teaching the so-called, “orthodox”, church doctrine of, “Eternal Torment”, for nearly 50 years!
But this change-of-mind was in harmony with his long-held belief that a Bible student, and especially a Bible teacher must be willing to prayerfully re-examine his doctrinal beliefs, and change them if necessary.
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And so, Harold Camping’s wonderful Jeremiah study reveals this change (towards the last few chapters of that 30-month daily study).
Unfortunately, unlike Harold Camping, almost all of today’s popular churches still cling to that old Catholic church-doctrine of eternal torment in Hell (but originally was an ancient Babylonian belief).
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And today’s apostate churches refuse to see it for what it really is: an unbiblical heresy conjured up by early-century apostate church-leaders who, being void of the Holy Spirit, didn’t have the slightest idea of what constitutes proper Bible interpretation!
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They simply took some verses out of context, while ignoring many others which speak of Hell as being the grave…eternal death.
So the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and personally begin that 30-month study in Jeremiah.
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Yes, all those who are hungry for truth will delight to hear these many cryptic passages of Jeremiah, finally opened up to our understanding!
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And now that we are at the threshold of that great and awesome Day of God, this Jeremiah study will begin to make complete sense at such an hour as this, when it is truly needed!
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And all a truth-seeker has to do is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25-minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
This above link is to the first installment of Camping’s Jeremiah study. (Go to the Year 1, January 1st devotional (click here) to begin these daily studies)
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
“With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.” Ezekiel 26:12
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THIS STAR-CHART: This is a Wikipedia star-chart, in which this site’s editor has sketched in these three constellation (without the Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation). Notice how the right front hoof is trampling on the tail of the Dragon. Also notice his eye is a star.It’s best seen when in the western half of the sky. It is found in mid-sky traveling from east to west. In January, it is in the west after midnight. As winter progresses, it can be seen earlier and earlier in the evening. a dark sky with good star-visibility is best, but not absolutely necessary to see this constellation. It is found on the opposite side of the Dragon Constellation from Orion. And as already stated, this Goodly Horse Constellation can be seen best in mid-winter when it is in the western side of the sky, and you are looking at it while you are facing west. The nose and head of this horse is partly made from the Perseus Constellation. The tail and rear end is partly of the Cassiopeia Constellation. The hind-leg is made partly of stars from the Andromeda Constellation.
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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
winter Constellations in the east
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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
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So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ.
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But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence. Hence, this constellation is perhaps the most faint of all the constellations of Signs Of Heaven!
Why didn’t God just make the “Signs of Heaven” so plain to see that most anyone could find them? (Actually, there are several, such as Orion and The 7-Stars, which are very easy to see!
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But most of these signs take some effort to discern. Well, it would be nice to have some human point them out to us.
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One Constellation which presents some difficulty to fully see is The Revelation 12 Dragon.
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Well, the mouth and jaws are very easy to see (Hyades), and the tail-tassel (Pleiades) is also easy to see.
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And if one goes out on a dark and starry night, the first thing to do is to locate those two constellations (Hyades & Pleiades), which will make it easier to connect the long, coiled serpentine body which runs between these two constellations.
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And yet, it takes some effort to fully discern that coiled body.
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But there are reasons why God made this Revelation 12 Dragon Constellation in this manner.
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First of all, the mouth and jaws and teeth of this constellation represent Satan’s ferocious nature, as evidence by the evil all around us and all around the earth! It doesn’t take very long to see evil and the results of evil. Evil and its long wake of sorrow & tragedy is literally everywhere we look!
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And so, why wouldn’t the mouth, jaws, and teeth, be easy to see?! It only makes sense that this part of the dragon constellation would be easy to locate!
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Now the tail-tassel (Pleiades) represents a woman, actually can be seen as two women: the Church-apostate and the Church-faithful. Yes, this constellation can be seen as a harlot with a wine-cup. But looking at again, one might see it as a long-haired woman with angel-wings. This woman represents the church-in-Babylonian-captivity.
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And likewise, it’s not too difficult to see the Church of God in her apostate condition. Hence, these women are the tail-tassel of the Dragon.
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But the hard part is to discern the long, coiled body of the Dragon.
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But why would God make this part of the Dragon so hard to see? Well, a very common proverb is the following: “The Devil’s greatest trick was to make people think he doesn’t exist!”
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One study found that while a large portion of humanity believes that God exists. But only one-percent of those questioned actually believe there is a literal Devil! Pretty amazing, would you say?
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And so it only makes sense that this Revelation-12-Dragon-Constellation’s long serpentine body is difficult to discern!
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But this is a very good case-study for the other Signs-of-Heaven. Because God purposely designed every one of these constellations in such a way that brings out various Bible truths concerning each sign.
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to not be fooled by this very deceptive, antichrist world-system…
The star-charts are from Wikipedia and are combined into one chart to show these three constellations, which this editor has sketched over with these three constellations, as they appear when in the west.
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Hopefully, this will be an assist in locating these constellations in the night-sky.
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ABOVE STAR CHART: Wikipedia star-charts winter constellation in West with Orion
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LOCATION…
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The Revelation 12 Dragon Constellation can be located by finding Orion in winter months. The Dragon is to Orion’s left, and the Dragon’s mouth is right next to Orion’s shield. This Dragon’s mouth is the V-like constellation The Hyades Cluster, which is also known as the head of Taurus the Bull. The Dragon’s tail-tip is Pleiades and the lower shaft of his tail is partly of Ariesand Pisces. Then with aid of a dark and starry night, you may begin to connect the mouth and the tail with a very long body in an oval shape. The front and back legs are made of a few stars: the front legs partially of stars from Taurus . The back legs and rear fin are made of 6 stars from the CetusConstellation.
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BODY HARD TO SEE
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The long oval-shaped body has relatively few stars, but can been seen, howbeit with a dark, starry night. The four stars of the front fins are made partially of Taurus .
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ABOVE STAR CHART: Wikipedia star-charts winter constellation in West with Orion
The Wave of Water is primarily composed of the Constellation Auriga. There are two dimmer stars (#’s 1 & 2) which are closest to the Dragon’s mouth. These two dimmer stars are also part of this Wave of Water, but are not part of the Auriga Constellation.
It is not the purpose, nor the desire of www.theheavensdeclare.net to give any validity or recognition to the Zodiac or any pagan deities. But unfortunately, the common names of many constellations (such as Scorpio or Sagittarius, etc.), must be given, solely for the purpose of locating them on star-charts.
Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.
Now, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration, concerning another area of concern.
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Let’s look at the key Bible passage…“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And thus, these Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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So, there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that day came and went, the world (and the Christian community) began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
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But in reality, nothing failed!
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No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to stand in the Day of the Lord!
Yes, Harold Camping was accused of being a false teacher, all for the sake of getting rich!
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But those who knew him, knew well, this dedicated Bible teacher to be a very spiritual servant of God: a man who cared nothing for the riches of this world! But rather, he loved the heavenly riches found only in the study of God’s Word, the Bible!
But did anyone dig into his message, to find out why he believed what he believed? Did any consider that he spent years studying the many prophecies concerning these things? Or the various dates and numbers which he tirelessly scrutinized, to come up with the date of “The Last Day”? Hardly!
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Or did anyone ever consider that he was not coming as a prophet who spoke to God, or received a vision or a dream?
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No, Camping’s prediction was based solely on decades of Bible study, studying an average of 5 or 6 hours per day, over a 50-year span. He was merely announcing to the world, the conclusion of his 50 years of careful and prayerful study of God’s Word.
One distinctive hallmark of Harold Camping’s ministry was his passion for the Bible. In nearly every Bible study or call-in talk show, Camping urged his listeners to, “Study the Bible. The Bible, the Bible, the Bible! Don’t trust me”,Camping would constantly warn, “The Bible is the only infallible Word of God!”
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And so, Harold Camping would constantly uplift God’s infallible Word, the Bible. Never did he quote this old saint or that theologian!
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In all his radio Bible classes, he merely compared scripture with scripture, to prove any particular point.
One aspect which makes Camping’s audio Bible programs superior to other radio teachers is the manner in which he highlighted each Bible reference. Unlike many teachers, Camping usually made an effort to emphasize each verse given, repeating the chapter and verse, and allowing the listener time to look each verse up for themselves.
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But most other teachers do not do so well in this regard, but rather make their emphasis, instead, upon their own interpretation, rarely giving listeners enough time to look up each given verse for their own selves.
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The bottom line is, Camping was more interested in making the Bible the focal-point of his ministry rather than his own interpretations. Thus, Camping’s presentations allow listeners the necessary time to cement those verses into their hearts, more than most other teachers normally do!
And when a Christian begins to follow Camping’s past Bible studies and call-in talk shows, he (or she) will begin to gain an appreciation for the Bible in this era of apostate Christendom. Yes, today’s apostate churches merely give “lip-service” regarding “the Bible and the Bible only”, but in reality, put more trust in Church tradition, and non-biblical terminology to a great degree.
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Yes, Harold Camping’s life-long love-affair with the Bible is bound to rub off on those who begin to follow his 50-year radio ministry!
Therefore, the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and stop letting others dictate to him what he must believe and what he must disbelieve…
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Listen…“O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.” Isaiah 3:12
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Yes, as this above verse reveals, it is the leaders of today’s churches who greatly mislead God’s people!
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But just because the world cannot understand that there has been a tarrying time in the Bible’s end-of-the-world prophecy concerning the “Last Day”, that doesn’t necessitate that we too must remain in ignorance of these things!
All a truth-seeker has to do is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25 minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
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This above link is to the 1st installment of Camping’s 600+ Jeremiah studies.
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And at the bottom of each day’s devotional is another 25-minute audio study in the Book of Jeremiah (scroll to the bottom of this page to see).
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
“With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.” Ezekiel 26:12
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THIS STAR-CHART: This is a Wikipedia star-chart, in which this site’s editor has sketched in these three constellation (without the Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation). Notice how the right front hoof is trampling on the tail of the Dragon. Also notice his eye is a star.It’s best seen when in the western half of the sky. It is found in mid-sky traveling from east to west. In January, it is in the west after midnight. As winter progresses, it can be seen earlier and earlier in the evening. a dark sky with good star-visibility is best, but not absolutely necessary to see this constellation. It is found on the opposite side of the Dragon Constellation from Orion. And as already stated, this Goodly Horse Constellation can be seen best in mid-winter when it is in the western side of the sky, and you are looking at it while you are facing west. The nose and head of this horse is partly made from the Perseus Constellation. The tail and rear end is partly of the Cassiopeia Constellation. The hind-leg is made partly of stars from the Andromeda Constellation.
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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
winter Constellations in the east
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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars
represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
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So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ.
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But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence. Hence, this constellation is perhaps the most faint of all the constellations of Signs Of Heaven!
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
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Let’s review the key Bible passage… “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea:
who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
For over 45 years, Harold Camping taught and defended the church-doctrine commonly known as “Eternal Torment”.
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Since his single-digit years as a small child, he heard this church-doctrine taught in Sunday School.
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And because this horrific view of Hell’s eternal torment was so deeply etched into the hearts and minds of churchgoers through the decades, Harold Camping was just one of many who were solidly conditioned to believe in this archaic Catholic church-doctrine.
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After all, haven’t we all been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that Hell is a place of fiery eternal torment?
Now, on the other hand, Ellen White always taught that Hell was merely the grave.
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And by scrolling down to almost the bottom of this page, the Reader can listen to a 40+ minute audio chapter from Ellen White’s book, The Great Controversy, which deals with the subject of the church-doctrine known as “Eternal Torment”.
HAROLD CAMPING FINALLY CHANGED VIEW HIS OWN VIEW OF HELL
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Now for so many decades, Harold Camping vehemently opposed, not only Ellen White’s view regarding the nature of Hell, but was also very much in opposition to her entire ministry, calling her a “false prophet”.
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And it wasn’t until the last few years of Camping’s 50+ year radio ministry, that he finally admitted that he had been wrong concerning the true nature of Hell.
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But finally, after all those decades of publicly defending and even promoting “Eternal Torment”, Camping at last realized that it was just another false Babylonish doctrine which the churches had been clinging to through the centuries (yes, the ancient Babylonians originally taught that death’s Hell was a place of conscious existence).
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Harold-Camping – courtesy Family Radio
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CAMPING AND WHITE ALIGNED REGARDING HELL
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Now the point of today’s devotional is to show just one more doctrine that both White and Camping agreed on: Hell being the grave.
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Yes, when Camping finally realized that God does not eternally torment all unbelievers and apostate Christians, then he was aligned with Ellen White in their correct understanding of the nature of Hell.
Now it must also be stated that other of Camping’s teachings quite often presented various Bible truths which White’s ministry did not address back in her day. These truths were the proverbial, “other side of the coin”, since the Bible has many different facets of truth, some of which Camping taught, but Ellen White did not, and visa-versa!
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And as every Truth-seeker explores the writings of Ellen White and the audio recordings of Harold Camping, there should begin to be the implementation of the exhortation from 1st Thessalonians 5:21 that we must…“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
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Yes, every truth-seeking Noble Berean should be daily investigating both those ministries with the intent to prove all things, and hold fast the good things from each ministry.
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In other words, there are some doctrines which the 1st Angel’s Message taught that have been modified by the 2nd Angel’s Message.
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But there are, likewise, some truths taught by the 2nd Angel’s Message which the 1st Angel’s Message modifies.
Harold Camping on phone – Courtesy of Family Radio.org
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3RD ANGEL’S MESSAGE CORRECTS 1ST TWO MESSAGES
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But in God’s great mercy and wisdom, He has raised up the 3rd Angel’s Message to blend these two messages together. And combined with the Third Angel’s Message, these three separate messages will make one complete and harmonious, biblical message.
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And so, the Reader is encouraged to read through all of these daily devotionals, but also listening to the audio messages at the bottom of each day’s devotional.
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ABOVE PICTURE: Orion the Soldier and the Revelation 12 Dragon (Hyades & Pleiades, etc. – winter constellations – www.signsofheaven.org – not for commercial use
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“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”
1st Thessalonians 5:21
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And the very Good News is, that this further agreement between Camping’s ministry and White’s ministry puts a great big giant exclamation mark on the validity and veracity of both these two ministries.
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Yes, they both are indeed a dramatic fulfillment of the prophecy found in Revelation 14 concerning the messages of the three angels!
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And every truth-seeking “Noble Berean” is invited and encouraged to scroll down to the bottom of this day’s devotional to listen to the 40+ minute audio version of Ellen White’s Chapter 33 from The Great Controversy, entitled, “The First Great Deception“
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
From time to time, the Book of Revelation mentions stars. But when we get to Revelation Chapter 12, it speaks of two “great signs in heaven”. First, it speaks of the sign in heaven of a woman with child. Then it speaks of the sign in heaven of a great red dragon, with a tail that sweeps one-third of the stars and casts these stars down to the earth. So we get the sense that this phenomenon that the Apostle John was seeing, was closely intertwined with the starry host of the heavens. And these two signs in heaven, a woman, and a dragon, are a big part of this website, Signs Of Heaven.
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And so this phenomenon that the Apostle John was seeing, was closely intertwined with the starry host of the heavens.
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What really gives validity to this idea, is that God created the Universe in such a way, that if one looks at the major constellations, then this Revelation 12 scenario can be seen. So please read on. And if you really want to see this heavenly battle, you just might. It will take some real effort on your part. But through prayer, faith, and study of the site, God may just graciously open your eyes to see this amazing story written on the heavenly scroll above. But don’t wait! This heavenly scroll will soon be rolled up, just as it is written… “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;” Revelation 6:14
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
.
Let’s review the key Bible passage…
“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea:
who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind,
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
.
1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
.
2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
.
And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
.
Thus there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
It only makes sense that spiritual Babylon (in the form of today’s fallen world, including the world-loving churches and denominations) would have doctrines which originated in ancient Babylon. And the church-doctrine of “the immortality of the soul”, living in a conscience state in Hell actually originated in ancient Babylon.
(information from the much despised and much maligned book, “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hislop).
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After all, it was the serpent in the garden who first falsely promised the woman…“Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4, 5
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Yes, it has always been that serpent, Satan, who lies against Bible truth, when Scripture clearly teaches…“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4, 20
Harold Camping also believed in the immortality of the soul for most of his life, although he did finally recant over his life-long belief in “Eternal Torment”, just a few years prior to his death.
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And so, this is one area of the Three Angel’s Messages that the 1st message (given by Ellen White) is more correct than the 2nd Angel’s Message (Harold Camping).
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Nevertheless, God has raised up the 3rd Angel’s Message to set these things straight.
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Harold-Camping – courtesy Family Radio
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STUDY, STUDY, STUDY!!!
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And every truth-seeking Noble Berean is highly encouraged to spend much time searching these things out, by following these daily devotionals, and listening to the accompanying audio segments at the bottom of each day’s devotionals.
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
From time to time, the Book of Revelation mentions stars. But when we get to Revelation Chapter 12, it speaks of two “great signs in heaven”. First, it speaks of the sign in heaven of a woman with child. Then it speaks of the sign in heaven of a great red dragon, with a tail that sweeps one-third of the stars and casts these stars down to the earth. So we get the sense that this phenomenon that the Apostle John was seeing, was closely intertwined with the starry host of the heavens. And these two signs in heaven, a woman, and a dragon, are a big part of this website, Signs Of Heaven.
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And so this phenomenon that the Apostle John was seeing, was closely intertwined with the starry host of the heavens.
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What really gives validity to this idea, is that God created the Universe in such a way, that if one looks at the major constellations, then this Revelation 12 scenario can be seen. So please read on. And if you really want to see this heavenly battle, you just might. It will take some real effort on your part. But through prayer, faith, and study of the site, God may just graciously open your eyes to see this amazing story written on the heavenly scroll above. But don’t wait! This heavenly scroll will soon be rolled up, just as it is written… “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;” Revelation 6:14
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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To all Truth-Seekers, this is a small 30 minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s nearly 50 year series of 90 minute nightly talk shows…This is Open Forum Show #86
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into another area of concern.
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Let’s review the key Bible passage… “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:10, 11
Okay, so those in Berea were more noble, because they:
.
1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
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2.“And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
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And so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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Thus there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
So just how can it be that Harold Camping did not believe that Ellen White was a true Christian, but instead referred to her as “a false prophet”?
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After all, are not both of these two vital messages which White and Camping each proclaimed, prophesied of in Revelation 14?
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Well, Harold Camping’s two main objections to Ellen White was that she believed in the literal observance of the 7th Day Sabbath, and secondly, that God no longer sends direct messages through prophets, but communicates through the Bible only.
Harold Camping – Wikipedia – copyrighted – not-for-free-use
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CAMPING A LIFELONG ADVOCATE FOR SUNDAY OBSERVANCE
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Yes, since childhood, Harold Camping personally observed the Sunday Sabbath, and publicly encouraged its observance throughout his 50-year radio ministry.
“the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”
2nd Thessalonians 2:9
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But Harold Camping also strongly believed that God is no longer giving direct revelations nor speaking directly to people, especially considering how many church-attendees now claim to be receiving direct revelations from God.
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Yes, the number of those who are supposedly receiving visions, voices, dreams, tongues, etc., is now at almost pandemic levels today!
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And all this causes a great amount of confusion in the church-world, to say the least, especially considering the unbiblical and often even outrageous behavior of many who supposedly receive these signs and wonders!
But one explanation for why God so miraculously communicated with Ellen White could very well be, that back in her day, there were virtually no signs or wonders occurring.
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Oh yes, there were a handful back in the 1800’s, who claimed to have received signs and wonders.
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But today, you can go into most any church, and before long meet persons who claim that God is miraculously working, via voices, visions, dreams, tongues, healings and other signs and wonders.
No, this great phenomenon of “signs and wonders” was not happening back in Ellen White’s day, except in rare instances.
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And so, while Mrs. White’s ministry was not smothered beneath mountains of other reported signs and wonders, this is no longer the case. Rather, it now appears as if the entire Christian community today is literally teeming with this phenomenon! Almost every church-member claims to have received some sign and wonder, it would seem!
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Listen to 1st Corinthians 14:27, 31, 33… “If any man speak in an [unknown] tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret…For ye may all prophesy one by one…For God is not the author of confusion…”
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Here is a general principle laid down, that God wants no part of those churches in which parishioners are all speaking in tongues at the same time, but rather, “one by one…For God is not the author of confusion…”
Now, just what does all this have to do with Ellen White?
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Well, if Ellen White’s ministry had occurred in today’s Christian world, her messages would no doubt be confused by all the other millions of instances of voices, visions, tongues, dreams, etc., also currently taking place in churches around the world.
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Nevertheless, while Harold Camping’s teachings against the countless revelations now occurring is a valid message and warning for today, it is very possible for God to have made an exception with Ellen White back in the day when virtually nobody was involved with signs and wonders.
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That is one important reason why Ellen White’s ministry had such a great impact back then. Today, her ministry would most likely not even “raise an eyebrow”, being swept away by this current tsunami of “signs and wonders” within the church-world!
MARTIN LUTHER: BOOK OF JAMES, ‘A PERFECT STRAW-GOSPEL’?
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But even though Harold Camping’s negative views about Ellen White are somewhat troubling, this is not the only instance of such a disagreement. For example, it is commonly reported that the great theologian and church reformer, Martin Luther, had actually considered the New Testament Book of James to be, “made of straw”. He just didn’t see that Book as being the inspired Word of God!
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(above information according to the “Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth by Charles Ryrie, article .’The Canon'” as published on the www.biblestudy.org website)
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Now obviously, nobody fully understands everything in Scripture: not Martin Luther, nor Harold Camping, nor Ellen White, nor any of the rest of us!
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And so, while Harold Camping was disputably one of the world’s greatest theologians, he constantly made the disclaimer, “Don’t trust in me! I too have feet of clay! Trust only in God’s infallible Word, the Bible!”
Now, of course, the Lord has not left us in confusion concerning the disagreement between these first two messages from Revelation, Chapter 14.
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Yes, these cloudy issues and seeming contradictions are right now being rectified via the third message of Revelation, Chapter 14.
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And Camping’s hard-line stance against E.G. White can be reconciled in the following way…
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After all, God is not desiring for any human to be exalted and deified as some sort of infallible authority. And let’s be ever aware that, it’s human nature to do just that! Therefore, God allowed the messengers of these three Revelation 14 messages to all have “feet of clay” in one way or another.
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And in that way, God’s people will not begin to trust in human instrumentalities, but instead, we must trust solely and entirely in God’s wonderful and infallible Word, the Bible!
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ABOVE PICTURE: Orion the Soldier and the Revelation 12 Dragon (Hyades & Pleiades, etc. – winter constellations – www.signsofheaven.org – not for commercial use
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STUDY, BEREAN, STUDY!
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Now, one thing has to be remembered.
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The proper way to test the authenticity of Ellen White’s Message and Harold Camping’s message is to study each message separately, that the truth-seeking Berean might prove to his or her own self, the veracity of each message. And this website is confident that any and every true worshiper of God will become satisfied that these two messengers were faithful servants of Christ.
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This same method of testing applies to the message of the 3rd angel. Spend copious amounts of time studying this message on its own merits, apart from the other two messages.
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“Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good!”
Waldensians hunted by the armies of Rome – Courtesy Gutenberg.org – Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
Hank Williams Promotional Photo – Wikipedia – Public domain
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THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BY ELLEN G. WHITE
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O NOBLE BEREAN (i.e., an open-minded Bible truth-seeker): This 44- chapter audio book is a brief history of the Church, from the Cross of Christ forward to the Return of Christ.
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this, a small 30 minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s nearly 50 year long series of 90 minute nightly talk shows…This is Open Forum Show #54
It is said that a certain thought-leader urges his fellow ideologues to avoid criticism by preemptively accusing their political foes first, of the very same evil deeds that they themselves are practicing.
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And such advice has obviously been very well-received by many of his followers!
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Yes, there’s a whole lot of finger-pointing going on these days, wouldn’t you agree?
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In this very unhappy world, the creation of the Internet and social media has opened up the ability to engage in mob-like character assassination. Millions of Internet users can now gleefully participate in and enjoy the destruction of the lives of others while maintaining their own anonymity.
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VICTIMHOOD…
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There has been a growing movement in the western nations in which many are claiming to be victims of some type of oppression.
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And this new craze of being a victim has become a very power force…even an industry, because there is, not only elevated social-status, but often, even financial incentives for claiming victimhood.
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And this new craze is not just for individuals! No, even racial groups, political groups, religious groups, and yes, even nations have joined in the race to victimhood, realizing how much power and riches it might yield!
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CRYING CROCODILE TEARS?
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This current phenomenon has recently been tagged, “Cry-Bullying” and refers to those who claim victimhood so that the social-media mob can join together to bully their supposed enemies. And thus, they cry “I’m a victim” in attempt to cast aspersion upon them, thus placing them in a weak and vulnerable position!
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And quite often, they accuse their opponents of the very evil behavior which they themselves regularly engage in!
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For just one example among many, certain groups have risen up claiming to fight fascism, while they themselves are striving to bring in some form of fascism!
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Another example is how learning institutions are advocating for anti-racism while indoctrinating students into another brand of racism!
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The government is claiming that Christians are guilty of oppressing certain forms of sin in order to oppress the Christian community.
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Nations are attacking other nations and then crying victimhood when that other nation retaliates!
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Even back in the Garden, Eve was deceived into believing that she was being oppressed by God, being prevented from reaching her true potential.
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Yes, victimhood has always been a powerful weapon, even used by that master-deceiver, Lucifer, who convinced a third of the host of Heaven to rebel against God!
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THE USUAL HATE-FILLED NAME-CALLING
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Now, some of the current name-calling sounds like this: “They’re a bunch of Nazi Fascists!” “He’s are racist!” “He’s a modern day Hitler!” “They’re a bunch of ‘such-&-such-Phobes’!”
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For those who watch the daily news shows, these smears are commonly heard, and oft repeated!
Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister for Adolph Hitler said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”
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And isn’t it true that this demonizing of political enemies by branding them as “Nazis”, “Fascists”, and/or “racists” is very effective?
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And using the major media as willing accomplices, the public now hears these derogatory names being repeatedly chanted on a 24/7/365 basis to the point that these false accusations against their political adversaries eventually begin to take root in the minds of the masses.
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Yes, these modern-day ideology-warriors in both politics, and also in the media, instinctively know that George Goebbels was right in his assertion that “a lie repeated often enough, it becomes truth”.
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So then, could it be said, that the very ones currently following the same philosophical views of that notorious Nazi leader, Joseph Goebbels, are actually the true Nazi’s? And the true Fascists? And the true Racists? And the true ‘such-&-such-Phobes’?
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”
Ephesians 6:12
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Of course, credit must be given to the true source of this phenomenon. Yes, “the god of this world”, Lucifer, now titled, The Devil and Satan, and the great Dragon is the true mastermind and orchestrator of this gargantuan movement!
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And because, Satan now “speaks as a dragon”, through the media, and learning institutions, he has the ability to stir up hatred and anger and even violence amongst his unsaved citizenry of the nations.
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As this above verse from Ephesians reveals, it is not humans who are at the root of all this hatred and neo-racism. But rather, it is the unseen spiritual powers of the darkness of this world who are stoking the flames of all this division and hatred. Oh yes, the unsaved people of this world are unwittingly being used and manipulated by these dark forces of evil. But behind it all is the true hater-in-chief…Satan and his fallen angels!
Well, today’s devotional is still attempting to further bring out this concept that at whatever point we judge another, we are guilty of the same.
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Listen again…“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.” Romans 2:1
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Yes, the Bible forewarns us that when we point the accusing finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at us: THREE FINGERS FROM HEAVEN!
What these erring individuals do not realize is that when we accuse our opponents of being fascists or racists or bigots or phobics of one stripe or another, we are unknowingly revealing what’s in our own heart!
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And if we who defame others were ever given political authority, we would most likely carry out the same Nazi-like fascism, racism, or bigotry that we are accusing our political opponents of possessing?
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As a matter of fact, certain political factions who daily accuse their political foes of being “fascists” are they themselves now beginning to call for suppression of free speech, sometimes even to the point of physical violence. In other words, are not the finger-pointers at others actually, they themselves, behaving just like totalitarian fascists of the past had always behaved? It’s a good question to ask ourselves.
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The Bible clearly teaches…“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9
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As this above verse reveals, humans just do not know how much wickedness is bound up in our own heart! And it’s truly an amazing phenomenon to hear the very ones who most loudly engage in name-calling of others, by their own verbal attacks, actually describe their own selves! Are they so self-deceived to not realize their own hypocrisy?
And the day has now arrived when, “…God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ…” Romans 2:16
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And truth-be-told, all this pandemic anger is a fulfillment of the following prophecy concerning these end-times…
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“And the nations were angry,
and Thy wrath is come,
and the time of the dead,
that they should be judged”
Revelation 11:18
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Yes, this above prophecy informs us that Judgment Day has already begun!
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And so, right now, it would be a critically wise decision for those who are immersed in their hate-filled anger, to turn to the Lord with all their heart, and to plead for true repentance, before it’s too late!
Please tilt your head to the left. Do you see a man with a very long pointed nose. (Obviously, the sketch to the right is just an exaggeration in order to help you find the face in the photo to the left.)
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Do you see an angry look? His right eyebrow is raised as if he is judging.
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This second face in the Moon appears to be that of a combination of a man as well as a fox. Or maybe a wolf. Doesn’t he have a long narrow nose like a wolf or fox? Maybe even a dog. Nevertheless, the expression on his face, as he appears to look down upon the Earth, is that of scorn.
“Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.” Proverbs 21:24
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Yes this wolf-like beast-face in the Moon, is what the Bible calls a proud Pharisee. They were the morality crowd. They were the finger pointers. They were the scorners. They didn’t realize that their own pride was even more reprehensible to God than the drunkenness, immorality, or sexual perversions of the unsaved of the world.
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this recording #138, a small 30-minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s 90-minute nightly talk shows. This particular program aired in the last few years of his 50-year radio ministry, and includes caller’s questions regarding his teachings on “the end of the church age”…
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