Puritan Corner - Abide

It is not the bee's touching of the flower that gathers honey, but her abiding for a time upon the flower that draws out the sweet.
by Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)

Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

John 15:4

Tenderest Words that dripped from the pen of Ellen White

 "The Lord has presented your case before me as one who was in need of that help which God alone could give you.
---I heard words of hopelessness and despair coming from your lips.
---I heard wicked words, blasphemous words.

Said Jesus, as He looked upon you piteously, "These are not the words of the man, but the words of the spirit that has possessed him."
God will heal him. He has gone far in resisting the Spirit of God, but Jesus is drawing him by the tender cords of His love.

 

He has separated from God,

but God has not separated from him.

Through a train of circumstances he has lost confidence in himself, in his best friends,

and turned from light to darkness,

from truth to error,

and has been left to feel his own weakness.

You still cling to your pride;
you utter the words of Satan abiding in your heart.

Said Christ, "It is not he but a demon that speaks. I will save him if he will trust in me as a little child trusts in his father, his mother."

 In His presence, standing under the shadow of the cross,

His mercy,

His love,

His forgiveness,

cover the blackest stains of sin.

The Lord has made provision for your simple necessities.

---When the Israelites were bitten by the fiery poisonous serpents whose sting was certain death, the brazen serpent was lifted up on a pole, and Jesus, enshrouded in the cloudy pillar, bade Moses tell them, "Look and live."
---The same Jesus has bidden me tell you, Look and live. Do not climb the pole, but only look. I present Christ to you. Look and live. There is hope, comfort, and peace for you. There is even joy in the Holy Ghost for you. Now I bid you in the name of Jesus, Look and live.

You may say, "Oh, I am a great sinner." I admit it; Jesus is well acquainted with all this, and He says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" [Mark 2:17]. He has paid the ransom money for your soul...Will you allow Satan to triumph? He has unbalanced your mind, so that you are not able to reason calmly and sensibly.

 Lay your sin on Jesus; leave it to Him;

then do what He tells you to do, as a little child,

irrespective of consequences.

Shall Christ have died for you in vain?

You are unconsciously groping after the heavenly light.

Satan shall not conquer; he shall be expelled through prayer and faith.

Satan would have your soul;

shall he have it?

Say, No, never;

it is Christ's property.

Satan says, "Curse God and die." Will you do it?

 Say not, "There is no hope for me." Satan triumphs every time you say it.
Let these thoughts be in your heart, "Thou, O Lord, hast created me for Thyself." He has permitted you to live that you might become acquainted with Jesus and be willing to follow Him."
--Letter 85, 1891-Written to J. A. Starr, Sept. 22, 1891 E.G.W.

IN the NEWS - Twitter Aflutter

Through thy precepts I get understanding:

Psalm 119:104

Those HARD HEARTS of those secular Leftists who run social media...anyone surprised anymore?

"Twitter has reportedly denied the request of a pastor to use the social media network to advertise his new book which promotes a traditional view of marriage.

The Christian Post reports that Pastor Craig Stellpflug paid for Twitter ads to promote his recently-published book titled One Man One Woman: God’s Original Design for Marriage.
Stellpflug, who is a pastor, said that Twitter sent him an email denying his request to advertise his book on the platform.
Stellpflug had wanted to post this tweet: “One Man One Woman is about God's original design for marriage carried from Adam and Eve in the garden through today." The tweet also included an image of the book and a link to WestBow Press’s online bookstore where the book can be purchased.
Twitter told Stellpflug that they do not allow tweet’s that contain “hate content, sensitive topics, and violence globally.” They further stated that Stellpflug’s ad contained “hate.” BCN

Lillooet Ntci’nemkin Flood Story

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife,

and his sons' wives with him, into the ark,

because of the waters of the flood.

Genesis 7:7

"In the UCWALMICWTS (lower Lillooet dialect), the name of this mountain is pronounced In-SHUCK-ch, meaning “split like a crutch” (referring to the split precipice at its peak.) In-SHUCK-ch has great significance in the origin stories of the Lillooet.

The following version was acquired by James Teit, an ethnographer working for the Jesup North


In-SHUCK-ch Mountain in British Columbia

Pacific Expedition, in 1912:
All the Lillooet people lived together around Green Lake, and for some distance below Green River. At the time there came a great and continuous rain, which made all the lakes and rivers overflow their banks, and deluge the surrounding country. When the people saw the waters rise far above the ordinary high-water mark, they became afraid.

A man called Ntci’nemkin had a very large canoe in which he took refuge with his family. The other people ascended the mountains for safety; but the water soon covered them too. When they saw that they would probably be drowned they begged Ntci’nemkin to save their children. As for themselves, they did not care. The canoe was too small, however, to hold all their children: So Ntci’nemkin took one child from each family, -a male from one, a female from the next, and so on.

The rain continued falling and the water rising, until all the land was submerged except the peak of the high mountain called Split (Nci’kata). [The mountain is situated on the West Side of the lower end of Lillooet Lake and is also known as In-SHUCK-ch.]

The canoe drifted about until the water receded, and it grounded on Smimelc Mountain. Each stage of the water’s sinking left marks on the side of this mountain. [This mountain is just opposite Pemberton Meadows, to the northeast, and is rather low and flat. It has a number of flat terraces on its side, which are said to be marks of the receding flood.]

When the ground was dry again, the people settled just opposite the present site of Pemberton. Ntci’nemkin with his wives and children settled there, and he made the young people marry one another. He sent out pairs to settle at all the good food places though the country. Some were sent back to Green Lake and Green River; others were sent down to Little Lillooet Lake and along the Lower Lillooet River; and some were sent up to Anderson and Seton Lakes. Thus was the country peopled by the offspring of the Green Lake People."
St’át’imc Government Services

Creation Moment 7/31/2017 - Quite Simple

"If to create, for example a house, requires an ‘intelligent designer’, surely something far far more complex like, for example our brain, DNA, a bird, a flower etc, also requires an ‘intelligent designer’……..If we use our brain the answer is quite simple." MattB

 Thou, Lord,

in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth;

 and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

Hebrews 1:10

Identifying False Doctrine

Before accepting any doctrine or precept

we should demand a plain “thus saith the Lord” in its support.

The Great Controversy, p. 595

Study to shew thyself approved unto God,

a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

"The ultimate measure of truth and error is found in such Bible verses as the following:

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).

These (the Bereans) 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 17:11).

Sincerity, no matter how devout, is no indicator of spiritual truthfulness. The Bible tells us that “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:11). Merely because people argue on different sides of a doctrinal or moral viewpoint with what appears to be equal sincerity, proves nothing so far as truth and error are concerned.

1. Appeals to uninspired sources of authority. In nearly all theological, moral, and ecclesiastical controversies in contemporary Adventism, one side of the controversy appeals solely to the self-interpreting counsel of Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy, while one or more contrary perspectives appeal to uninspired human sources as a means of approaching and settling

issues or understanding inspired counsel.

2. Appeals to human experience. A popular path to error in the continuing controversy among some Adventists over the doctrine of salvation is the argument that goes, regarding an opposing viewpoint: “I tried that theology, but it didn’t work for me.”
The reason such testimonies are so unhelpful is because none of us knows the heart of another (I Kings 8:39). The negative experiences and false perceptions that can obstruct one’s awareness of a particular Bible truth.

3. The “guilt by association” argument. In recent decades this argument has often been used to discredit the call to revival and reformation sounded by many theological conservatives in the church. Some, for example, have sought to marginalize the summons to greater doctrinal integrity and higher standards of worship and lifestyle because certain ones issuing this call have indulged what many believe to be a harsh, negative spirit regarding the church and its leaders.
We also hear the guilt-by-association argument from advocates of such teachings as anti-Trinitarianism. The claim is made that because Roman Catholics and other non-Adventist Christians presumably hold to the Trinity doctrine, that it must be wrong. (Roman Catholics also believe in the virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Christ, and in the wrongness of adultery, fornication, and homosexual practice.)
A doctrine is neither true nor false because of the flaws or virtues in its advocates or in other positions they make take. Only the written counsel of God defines the difference between spiritual truth and spiritual falsehood.

4. Making Biblical metaphors stretch too far. Adventists who support the pre-Fall view of Christ’s human nature often fall into this trap, when they claim that because Christ is identified in the inspired writings as the Second Adam, that this means He must have inherited a human nature identical to that of the sinless Adam, as distinct from the fallen nature inherited by Adam’s descendants.
Anti-Trinitarians fall into this trap as well. They don’t seem to realize that human metaphors regarding the Godhead such as “Father” and “Son” can’t be understood in human terms. The word "son“ may imply a beginning for human beings thus identified, but the inspired pen does not allow such a perspective regarding the Second Person of the Godhead. To insist that the title “Son of God” means Jesus had a beginning at some point in eternity past is no more credible than the claim of Robert Brinsmead some years ago, when he stated regarding classic Christian theism: “God does not have a son any more than He has a wife”.

5. False dilemmas. Recent arguments by anti-Trinitarians have insisted that because the writings of Ellen White identify the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ and of the Father in some statements, that the Holy Spirit therefore can’t be a distinct, separate Person within the Godhead. But Ellen White also states, regarding the Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, in Christ’s name. He personifies Christ, yet is a distinct personality. Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, p. 324 E.G.W.

What some fail to consider is that the Holy Spirit can in fact be both the Spirit of Christ and the Father, as well as being a distinct divine Person. It isn’t a question of either/or, in other words, both of both/and.

6. Reliance on unproved, often outlandish theories. Conspiracy speculation can be found on both ends of the ideological spectrum, whether in the sacred or the secular realm.
Certain promoters of anti-Trinitarianism have cited as support for their case the allegation that Trinitarian theology entered the Seventh-day Adventist Church through LeRoy Froom. One such individual recently claimed in an online discussion that “the trinity first appeared [in Adventism] in

1931”. But the one making this claim appeared quite surprised when it was demonstrated that Francis M. Wilcox, in the Review and Herald, had listed belief “in the divine Trinity” as first among Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Beliefs as early as 1913.

7. Bending beliefs and standards for the purpose of outreach. The adjustment of doctrinal or lifestyle imperatives by the church as a means of reaching one or another group outside or on the edge of the church, has been around for some time. Many who have promoted contemporary methods of music and worship have done so with the intent of reaching the unchurched or reclaiming former members. Still others have insisted at times that unless Adventists either change or marginalize such teachings as the sanctuary, the Spirit of Prophecy, or the need for a perfected final generation of believers in preparation for Christ’s return, that certain segments of the Christian world will call us a cult.
Remarkably perhaps, we even see this approach at times on the opposite end of the Adventist spectrum. Certain anti-Trinitarian Adventists have claimed that the Trinity doctrine places a major impediment in the way of evangelizing Jews and Muslims, and thus urge an adjustment of our doctrinal position as a denomination on this point. But even such commendable reasons as the desire to reach the lost cannot justify the twisting or denial of inspired statements on any subject."
AdVindicate

On the Streets of Babylon: Take Shelter!

Babylon is fallen, is fallen,... 

Come out of her, my people,

Revelation 14:8/18:4

 

There seem to be some bracing for "falling gold pens" on the Streets of Babylon...take shelter

"In the Spirit, I saw huge warehouses in heaven that appeared to be full of books, songs and poetry. I noticed these books had no titles on their covers or any words written on their pages. These were wordless books, blank bundles of sheet music and empty pages of poetry stacked high to the ceiling. A sign was over the huge door that read, "Stationery to Be Released and Published in the Final Hour

Upon the Earth."
I heard the Father give a command to the angels: "Empty those warehouses and deliver to the earth! There are books yet to be written, new songs yet to be sung, poetry yet to be recited that will woo hearts back to Me. Drop the pens down first and empty those warehouses!"

I heard the Father say, "I'm releasing a 'scribe anointing' upon the earth!"

I saw gold pens falling out of heaven onto the earth as though they were being thrown by the angels like javelins into the hands of unknown people. I saw these pens turning into spears and swords as they fell into these hands. As their fingers began to write, books, songs and poetry were becoming lethal weapons to war against the enemy!
Psalm 144:1 was being activated throughout the earth." BillYount/Charisma
 

ARCHAEOLOGY: FAKE NEWS

FAKE NEWS HEADLINE's ALERT ---from the Daily Mail (several similar headlines are making the rounds attached to this story in various "media" outlets)..
"Bronze Age DNA disproves the Bible's claim that the Canaanites were wiped out: Study says their genes live on in modern-day Lebanese people"....from the Independent- "Bible says Canaanites were wiped out by Israelites but scientists just found their descendants living in Lebanon"
 Below is an article from the former journalistic (now just a daily opinion piece) NYT

"There is a story in the Hebrew Bible that tells of God’s call for the annihilation of the Canaanites, a people who lived in what are now Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories thousands of years ago.

“You shall not leave alive anything that breathes,” God said in the passage. “But you shall utterly destroy them.”

But a genetic analysis published on Thursday has found that the ancient population survived that divine call for their extinction, and their descendants live in modern Lebanon.

“We can see the present-day Lebanese can trace most of their ancestry to the Canaanites or a genetically equivalent population,” said Chris Tyler-Smith, a geneticist..." NYT

RESPONSE:
1) Because God gives a command does NOT mean it is followed by humans....just look no further today than His professed followers when it comes to marriage. HE clearly states it is to be between a man and a woman, and that man with man, woman with woman, is an abomination. Yet how many

"Christian" churches now embrace the LGBT movement and even perform gay weddings in the holy sanctuary?
2) The Hebrews only occupied the land of Canaan in roughly modern day Israel, so if Canaanites also lived in modern day Syria, Lebanon (Phoenicia at the time) and modern day Jordan as the NYT states---then those Canaanites would obviously survive the invasion of a land they weren't living in. They were never told to invade neighboring lands.
HELLO NYT, Daily Mail & the Independent...can you truly be this simple minded, weak minded & feeble minded to write these headlines?
3) According to the BIBLE all the Canaanites were NOT destroyed (so apparently the Bible bashing "journalists", in their zeal to discredit Scripture, wrote headlines without doing research)...anyone surprised these days?
Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that

land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.   And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. 

Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.

 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.
Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
Judges 1:27-33

Isaiah 42 Chiasm

Structure of Isaiah 42:1-9

The literary structure of Isaiah 42:1-9 points to the importance of
Isaiah’s servant, his call, and his mission. This passage contains two chiastic
structures, the first one suggested by W. A. M. Beuken, who sees the
structure of Isa 42:1-4 as a chiasm with a juridical literary genre.

A la Yhwh designates his Servant

Behold my servant, whom I uphold;

mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;

B lb’ Yhwh equips his Servant

I have put my spirit upon him:

C lb” his mission: mišpat

he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

D 2-3a his behavior: no shouting, no violence against the oppressed

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench:

C’ 3b his mission: mišpat

he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

B’ 4a’ his destiny: oppression

He shall not fail nor be discouraged

A’ 4a”-b his mission: mišpā† and tora.”

till he have set judgment in the earth:

and the isles shall wait for his law.

....the second chiasm, found in vv. 5 to 9, is structured as follows...

A 5 God’s creative acts

Thus saith God the LORD,

he that created the heavens, and stretched them out;

he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it;

he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

B 6a “I Yhwh” demonstrates his character to the servant/you (emphasis righteousness)

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness,

and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,

C 6b-7 The Servant as a covenant to the people and his work

and give thee for a covenant of the people,

for a light of the Gentiles;

To open the blind eyes,

to bring out the prisoners from the prison,

and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

B’ 8 “I Yhwh” demonstrates his character to the servant (emphasis on "My Glory")

 am the LORD: that is my name:

and my glory will I not give to another,

neither my praise to graven images.

A’ 9 God’s creative acts by telling the future “new things"

Behold, the former things are come to pass,

and new things do I declare:

before they spring forth I tell you of them.

The structure of Isa 42:1-9 suggests two key elements about the servant.
1) Behavior & Mission
2) Mission Accomplished in His Behavior
Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 27/1-2 (2016)

Creation Moment 7/30/2017 - "Article" Satire on Evolution

"You might think that someone wrote this article. But of course, you would be mistaken. Articles are not written by people. They are the result of chance. Every intelligent person knows it. There might be some people who want you to think that

articles are written by people. But this view is totally unscientific. After all, we cannot see the person who allegedly wrote the article. We cannot detect him or her in any way. The claim that this article has an author cannot be empirically verified, and therefore it must be rejected. All we have is the article itself, and we must find a scientific explanation for its origin.

Since no intelligent source can be empirically detected within this article, empirical science must look to the chance processes of nature for its formation. In other words, we must not allow ourselves to think that this article came about from a mind; for this would be unscientific. Since it is not the result of a mind, it follows logically that this article is the result of chance. The article has not been designed – it is not the result of some unseen conscious forethought.

Naysayers might suggest that this article bears evidence of design. They might point out that it has a logical flow, that its sentences are coherent, and that it contains creative information. True enough. But this is only evidence of apparent design at best. We must certainly grant that many articles appear designed, as if they had been planned by a mind and written with creative forethought. But to assume that the design came from some unseen, undetectable author would be unscientific.

What then is the true origin of articles? We know that articles can be copied. Articles on paper can be duplicated using a Xerox machine, and electronic articles can be copied from one computer to

another. We also know that errors can occur in this duplication process. A simple glitch in the computer can result in a letter being changed, or a sentence or paragraph being duplicated or removed. Most of these random changes would make the article less readable than the original. But such variations would not be copied. (Who would bother to Xerox a bad article?) And so eventually they would be lost.

We must assume that occasionally, very rarely, a mistake in the copy would actually improve the quality of the article – making it more readable and more interesting. In such cases, the improved article would be much more likely to be copied than the original. In this fashion, articles gradually improve, often growing in length, complexity, and interest. It stands to reason, therefore, that all articles started out as a simple word, or perhaps even a single letter, which was gradually changed as it was duplicated due to errors in the duplication process and selection of the more readable

variations.

It is also sensible to conclude that all articles have diverged from a common original article which itself consisted of nothing more than a single word. This is obvious by virtue of the fact that all articles have certain things in common. For example, all articles use words. And in all cases these words are organized into sentences. Many of the words used in many articles are exactly the same! For example, the word “the” appears very commonly in almost all articles. Are we to believe that this is just a coincidence? Clearly not. It is evidence that these articles share a common source. They have each diverged from a common article in the distant past.

Naysayers argue that articles are written by people. But would people use the very same words in

different articles? The common words, common grammar, and common sentence structure clearly point to a common origin for articles. It is reasonable to conclude that articles which share more common words and sentences are more closely related than those that have fewer common words and sentences. Clearly this extends to larger works of literature – books for example. Books are the most advanced form of literary diversification, and so they must also be the most recent.

Critics of our position (“authorists”) might object that we have never seen one article transform into a completely different article. In other words, all observed changes have been only minor transformations. But is this really surprising? After all, it would take a very long time for an article to have accumulated enough changes to be classified as a completely different article. And people simply don’t live long enough for this to happen within our lifetime. But the fact that all articles share common words is positive evidence that it has happened, even though the process is too slow to see it in its entirety today. We do see minor transformations today. And it is reasonable to conclude that these minor changes will add up to major changes over long periods of time.

Some readers might be bothered by the fact that we do not have a complete record of how the simpler articles diversified into the wide variety of complex articles in our present world. But this does not in any way disqualify our basic thesis that articles do share a common original source. After all, considering the trillions of variations that must have existed and been destroyed in the vast time necessary for this process, we would expect that the record of links in the chain would be fragmentary at best. And we do know of some links. For example, there are several minor variations

of the book “the Hobbit.” These are known to exist, and it is obvious they stem from a common original. So it is perfectly reasonable to conclude that all works of literature share a common source.

Given the slowness of the diversification of articles, it is reasonable to conclude that articles are far older than “authorists” assume. The process of an article becoming longer and more interesting likely takes millions of years – perhaps even hundreds of millions of years. It may even happen in spurts, rapid diversification followed by long periods of relative stasis. This may account for the fact that we find so few intermediate forms in ancient libraries.

One objection to our position is the idea that some sentences in some articles contain a degree of “irreducible complexity.” This is to say that even a minor change of any kind would make the sentence unclear or unreadable. However, this notion fails to consider that multiple simultaneous changes – though rare – can occur in the process of time. The fact that we cannot conceptualize an intermediate sentence does not actually prove that no such intermediate is possible. The process by which articles diversify from a common source is still being studied, and so we do not have the answers to every detail yet. But this does not mean that such answers will not be forthcoming in the process of time. The formation and diversification of articles from a common source is a scientific fact and well supported by the evidence even though some of the details are not yet understood.

To assume that articles have an author is a faith position. It is a belief in something that cannot be perceived with the senses. As such, it is unscientific and should be rejected. If some people feel that they must believe in an author, that’s okay, but please remember that your view is religious and not scientific. Please don’t force it on others or teach it in school.

Just think about it. This very article which you are now reading is the result of countless copying errors which gradually increased its length and complexity over time. How amazing that such a process of nature has resulted in so many wonderful works of literature! Such literature is not the result of some mysterious, unseen, undetectable “author.” It is simply the inevitable result of the mindless duplication process working over unimaginable periods of time." BSI
  

The righteous see it, and are glad:

and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

Job 22:19

God's Dear Children

Unless the LORD had been my help,

my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

Psalm 94:17

"We will not have a murmuring thought because we have trials. God's dear children always had them, and every trial well endured here will only make us rich in glory. . . . "
Manuscript Releases vol.2, p.248 E.G.W.

Those Rolling Skies over the Child of God

That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Hebrews 12:27

"WE have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things.

                                     Yet,

we have certain "things which cannot be shaken,"

and I invite you this evening to think of them,

that if the things which can be shaken should all be taken away, you may derive real comfort from the things that cannot be shaken, which will remain.

Whatever your losses have been, or may be, you enjoy present salvation. You are standing at the foot of His cross, trusting alone in the merit of Jesus' precious blood. 

Then you are a child of God this evening.

God is your Father.

No change of circumstances can ever rob you of that. Although by losses brought to poverty, and stripped bare, you can say, "He is my Father still. In my Father's house are many mansions; therefore will I not be troubled."

You have another permanent blessing, namely, the love of Jesus Christ. He who is God and Man loves you with all the strength of His affectionate nature—nothing can affect that."
Charles Spurgeon

IN the NEWS - Secular Terrorism now?

"MEXICO CITY, Mexico, July 28, 2017 – Radical feminists took

responsibility for detonating a bomb outside the office of the Mexican Catholic bishops' conference earlier this week.
The anarchist website Contra Info posted a statement from a group calling itself the Informal Feminist Command of Anti-Authoritarian Action. They said they planted the bomb on July 25 "for every torture and murder in the name of your God!"  LSN
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness;
Psalm 58:2
 

Indulgences were for WHAT?

Tell us, how was this wickedness?

Judges 20:3

"Leo X, a man famous for the encouragement of letters and the fine arts, ....He was a Florentine of

the illustrious house of the Medici, and inherited the elegant taste and munificent spirit of that family. He was elected pope in the thirty seventh year of his age.

Leo X, after he had presided almost five years, having reduced himself to straits by his prodigal expenses of various kinds, and being desirous to complete the erection of St. Peter's church, begun at Rome by his predecessor Julius II. after his example had recourse to the sale of indulgences,.... These he published throughout the Christian world, granting freely to all, who would pay money for the building of St. Peter's Church, tlie license of eating eggs and cheese in the time of lent."
The History of the Church of Christ Volume 4 Ch.2, Joseph Milner

 

Creation Moment 7/29/2017 - Presumption of the Critics

"One of the more troubling aspects of the contemporary debate

over evolution is the largely unargued presumption that critics of evolution must be motivated by religion, whereas defenders of evolution are supposedly the disinterested pursuers of truth. Yet evolutionary biologists are human beings just like everyone else, which means that they are subject to the same influences of passion, pride, and even prejudice. If scientists start to dismiss their colleague's work based solely on motivation... not much would be left of science."
 — John West, Darwin Day in America, p. 244

Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,

even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Psalm 90:2

Passing over the ground where Adam fell

"Brother A:
In your letter in regard to the temptations of Christ, you say if He was one with God He could not fall.

Imagine, if you can, yourself in Christ's stead in the wilderness. There is no human voice you hear, but you are surrounded with demons under deceptive pretensions as angels from heaven in the most seducing attractions presenting Satan's wily insinuations against God, as he did to our first parents.

His sophistry is most deceiving and artful in
*undermining your confidence in God,
*destroying your faith and your trust,
*and keeping your mind on a constant strain so that he can get one clue that he can use to his own advantage to allure you into a controversy, as if reading your thoughts to which you will not give utterance, just as he did to Eve.

He could not obtain from Christ one word to lead him on. The word, "It is "written," was spoken" from point to point as he tested Him.
His human nature must pass through the same test and trial Adam

and Eve passed through. His human nature was created; it did not even possess the angelic powers. It was human, identical with our own. He was passing over the ground where Adam fell.

He was not the Father but in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and yet He calls to a suffering world, "Come unto me, all ye that labor, 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."
--Letter 8a, 1890, pp. 2, 3. To M. J. Church, July 7, 1890, E.G.W.

Papal Notes - Drought to Tout

WOW...the Papacy is using the Italian drought to tout the infamous Laudato Si (Green Encyclical). Francis doesn't miss a PR chance does he?.....Picture on a global scale someday drought & the Papacy hearkening back to this as an example for the world to follow...helping to bring the world together under the Papacy's Green tent...the drought to tout Laudato Si....you see...

"While Rome reels from one of its worst droughts in decades, the Vatican is doing its part to

conserve water by shutting down the city-state’s 100 fountains.
The office governing Vatican City State announced that the drought has “led the Holy See to take measures aimed at saving water” by shutting down fountains in St. Peter’s Square, throughout the Vatican Gardens and in the territory of the state.
“The decision is in line with the teachings of Pope Francis, who reminds us in his encyclical ‘Laudato Si” how ‘the habit of wasting and discarding’ has reached ‘unprecedented levels’ while ‘fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,'” the office said.

The prolonged drought has forced officials from the Lazio region of Italy to halt pumping water from Lake Bracciano, located roughly 19 miles north of Rome. Lower-than-usual rainfalls in the past two years have steadily depleted the lake, which provides eight per cent of the city’s water supply."
CatholicHerald
The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Revelation 17:15

SDA Issues - Brownie Points with the World

"The Ghana Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the Ghana Seventh-day Adventist Church, has launched a tree-planting campaign for schools in the Ashanti Region to commemorate

the World Environment Day. The campaign was organized to inspire children to grow trees to protect the natural environment. The EPA selected 27 schools mainly from Presbyterian and Adventist schools. Samuel Oteng, the Regional Director of the EPA, said the agency took into consideration how effective the schools would be in ensuring that the seedlings were looked after to grow well. Oteng expected that the chosen schools would plant a total of 2,200 tree seedlings. Students of the Gyinyase SDA Primary and Junior Secondary Schools said they were grateful to the EPA and to their schools' administration for educating them on the benefits of tree planting and how urgent it was that trees were planted to protect the environment. From Graphic, “EPA plants trees to commemorate World Environment Day.” CCV

Should they, as a church organization, participate in such things?
First, there is nothing wrong in and of itself in planting trees. BUT-the notion that planting trees to save the planet is nonsense. Their trees are not going to make a difference and the world is NOT

running out of trees.
Second, the modern environmental movement, as documented many times on here, is both political (with Marxist undertones) and spiritually rooted (and many times open) about elements of neo-paganism. Also, it appears that the mark of the beast (counterfeit Sabbath) will likely be tinted green in some way, shape or form. So for a multitude of reasons, should the church, as an entity, participate in such events?
Third, shouldn't the Church be known for gospel evangelizing, like the everlasting gospel, 3 Angel's Messages & Sanctuary Doctrine, etc., rather than as just another so-so denomination trying to score brownie points with the secular world (which in the end will count for NOTHING to them) and it's devotion to Mother Earth rather than Father God whom they are at enmity with?.....Just asking
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God:
Romans 8:7