Daily Devotional, Year 4: September 14 (Noble Bereans, Part 30: “Re-Thinking Ellen White Concerning ‘Cults'”)
By admin On July 11th, 2023.
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Daily Devotional, Year 4: September 14
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Noble Bereans,
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Part 30:
“Re-Thinking Ellen White Concerning ‘Cults'”
To read part 1, click here…”September 2nd (Noble Bereans?)”
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“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us:
for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
2nd Corinthians 2:11
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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 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
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St Paul Preaching (Raphael, 1515) – Wikipedia – US public domain
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AN OPEN-MINDED SPIRIT IN BEREA
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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!
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La Bible, Notre-Dame – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-Alike License
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ELLEN G. WHITE
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Many accusations have bee
n leveled over the past decades against Ellen G. White by the so-called “orthodox” churches, and even by some within the 7th Day Adventist Church.
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Some criticisms have been petty, while other accusations have been somewhat more serious.
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But for those of us who have tried to be “good Bereans” by thoroughly researching her life, we realize how hollow most or perhaps all of those accusations really are!
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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“THE ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN IS CAST DOWN”
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Now of course, we understand that Satan is the real “accuser”. And in his role as “Accuser-In-Chief”, Satan has done a marvelous job over the past 2,000 years in besmirching, belittling, mocking, accusing, and in concise terms, casting mud upon God’s people.
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“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, …the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night.” Revelation 12:10
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This above verse reveals that Satan does not cease, nor ever has, from casting false accusations down upon truth and upon those who speak Bible truth!
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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SATAN HAS ALWAYS STIGMATIZED THE TRUTH
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And so, it should be no surprise that from the time of the Roman emperors, to the raising up of the ruthless and apostate churches of Europe, to plaguing such reformers as Martin Luther with some fanatical followers, the Church-elect has suffered at the cruel hand of Satan and his vast armies, both human and angelic.
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And day-and-night, this ardent foe of Heaven has come as an “angel of light”, along with his so-called, “ministers of righteousness” to stigmatize God’s people. (See 2nd Corinthians 11:14, 15)
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And in many cases, Satan merely raises up false brethren who do and say things to make true worshipers look bad in the eyes of the general populace. (See 2nd Peter 2:2)
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
Burned at the stake – Wikimedia – US Public Domain
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LOOK-ALIKE ‘CULTS’
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Now in Ellen White’s day, Satan (who is a masterful Bible student), knew that God was soon going to raise up her ministry to proclaim the 3-Angel’s message.
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And so, he wasted no time raising up several cults in a largely successful counterattack to confuse the onlooking world concerning her 
heavenly-ordained ministry.
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Yes, and these so-called “cults” had similar aspects to her ministry, thus making it 
very confusing and difficult for the unlearned multitudes, to discern between them.
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And let’s face it! These cults also had some obviously false doctrines mingled into their teachings which were generally a real “turn-off” to anyone who was familiar with the basic fundamental doctrines of the 
Bible.
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Charles Finney – Wikimedia – Public Domain
David Koresh – Wikipedia – Public Domain
Aimee Semple McPherson – Wikipedia – Public Domain
Mary Baker Eddy – Wikipedia – Public Domain
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“ORTHODOX” CHURCHES TRADE AWAY TRUTH FOR TRADITION
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But in addition to their false teachings, Satan included some truths which the apostate churches of Europe had long-before discarded: such truths as the true nature of Hell, actually being “The Grave”, which was traded away for the Catholic false doctrine of “Eternal Torment”. (This was the result of taking out of context, a few passages, while ignoring scores of other passages which speak of Hell as “The Grave”.)
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And so now, all anyone had to do was say…“Hey, every cult shares this same teaching regarding Hell being the grave!”
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And so, since these “cults” mostly all reject ‘Eternal Torment’, they cast even further aspersion on Ellen White’s assertion that the Bible teaches that Hell is the grave and is the true eternal destiny for all rejecters of Salvation.
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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A HEAVY BURDEN FOR NOBLE BEREANS
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Well, God obviously allowed Satan to raise up those look-alike gospels. And of course, this stumbling block makes it even more difficult for churchgoers to discern between the true and the counterfeit.
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But those who are truly “Noble Bereans” will, by the grace of God, continue to search “the Scriptures daily, to see whether those things were so”. Acts 17:11
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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“MARVEL NOT, MY BRETHREN, IF THE WORLD HATE YOU!”
1st John 3:13
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And just one word of warning to all those “Noble Bereans” who actually do discover the truth in all these things.
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Do not expect to be applauded for your efforts in your quest for truth.
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No, Satan has already so greatly stigmatized the messages of Revelation 14, that all you can expect is to suffer persecution for your beliefs. Yes, and even to this very day, Satan continues to cast dirt upon all those who proclaim these three messages of Revelation 14, so that anyone who embraces them will be hated and belittled to the degree that the very elect people of God may even question their own sanity at times for embracing such a despised and much-maligned message!
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But really, haven’t we been sufficiently warned this will happen? After all, even Jesus warns us…“yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service…and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” John 16:2 & Matthew 24:9
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Ellen White – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
Protest – Anti-Christian rally in Chicago – cropped image – Wikimedia
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TO READ PART 31, CLICK HERE…
September 8 (Noble Bereans, Part 31: “Re-Thinking Harold Camping Concerning ‘Cults’”)
Harold-Camping – courtesy Family Radio
Charles Manson1968 – Wikipedia – 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…
ABOVE PICTURE: Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… DECEMBER 19 (Noble Bereans, Part 19: “Re-thinking Ellen White Regarding The Mark of the Beast & The Sunday Sabbath”), or you can also read…NOVEMBER 23 (Noble Bereans, Part 20: “Re-thinking Ellen White Regarding Her Old Testament Statements”)“ or you can also read…January 25 (The Straw-Man! Part 3: Kingdom of the So-Called “Cults”)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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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).
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Thomas Cole – Pilgrim of the Cross at the End of His Journey – wikimedia – US public domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Castor and Pollux & The Mystery Ship of Scripture”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW…
September 15 (Noble Bereans, Part 29: “Re-Thinking Ellen White Concerning Jesting”)
Laughing – (cropped and color added) – Fotothek df roe neg – Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) 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 #313 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, and tags, etc.. Most Images cropped & reduced in size.