Daily Devotional, Year 4: October 24 (Noble Bereans, Part 36: “Harold Camping vs. Ellen White”)
By admin On November 24th, 2023.
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Daily Devotional, Year 4: October 24
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Noble Bereans,
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Part 36:
“Harold Camping vs. Ellen White”
To read part 1, click here…”September 2nd (Noble Bereans?)”
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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
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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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HAROLD CAMPING: ‘ELLEN WHITE A FALSE PROPHET’
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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.
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Ellen G. White – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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.
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And to understand more about this, the reader can go to the following article…November 4 (Noble Bereans, Part 10: Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Doctrinal Error of the Sunday Sabbath) (click here)
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Harold-Camping
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“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!
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Falling Backwards – cropped/altered image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Share-alike License
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NOT SO MUCH BACK IN THE 1800’S
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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.
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It’s as common as grass, today!
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Audience hands – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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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.
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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!”
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Luther – Wikipedia – public domain
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“THE LORD ALONE SHALL BE EXALTED IN THAT DAY”
Isaiah 2:11
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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-liner 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.
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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.
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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!”
1st Thessalonians 5:21
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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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TO READ PART 37, CLICK HERE…
January 6 (Noble Bereans, Part 37: “The New Waldenses”)
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…
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…August (Noble Bereans, Part 16: “The Signs Of Heaven?”) or you can also read…September 17 (Noble Bereans, Part 20: “Re-thinking Ellen White Regarding Her Old Testament Statements”), or you can also read…October 30 (Noble Bereans, Part 26 – “The Message of the Third Angel of Revelation 14”)
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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ThomasCole-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…
October 25 (Noble Bereans, Part 49: “Dead People Speaking!?”)
Hank Williams Promotional Photo – Wikipedia – Public domain
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS 5-MINUTE DEVOTIONAL – – Maranatha!: “Are We Ready for His Coming?”– By Ellen G. White
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Christ Returns – Triumph of Christianity – by G. Dore – www.christimages.org – Limited-use-license – see their website for restrictions (2)
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