Puritan Corner - World's Smiles & Frowns

"Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns — ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles. The world, siren-like, sings us and sinks us!"

By Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.  

Romans 12:20

"Excuses" For Changing the Sabbath SERIES: "After 8 Days"?

"But what authority, then, do they show for changing the Sabbath!

Not a particle of direct testimony, ..... However, they have several inferences which they think make the subject very plain.

3. But after eight days Jesus again met with the disciples, (John xx, 26,) and this must have been upon the first day of the week.
Were it certain that this occurred upon the first day of the week, it would be very slight evidence that that day had become the Sabbath; for there is not even an intimation of the kind. 

----But who knows that "after eight days" means just a week! ---Certainly it would be nearer the literal construction of the language to conclude that this was upon the ninth day. 

--But if after eight days means just a week, it would then bring this appearing of Christ upon the second day of the week. For the week must be reckoned from the evening, at the close of the first day, (John xx, 19,) ..... must have been in the evening which followed the first day, and with which the second day commenced! 

Q: But granting that Christ's appearing on this occasion was actually upon the first day of the week, would that appearing make a Sabbath of the day! 

The appearing of Christ is sufficient to constitute a day a Sabbath, or it is not. If it is sufficient, then the fishing day on which he next showed Himself to his disciples, and on which He miraculously aided them to take fish, was a Sabbath! John xxi. 

But if it was not sufficient to constitute the day of its occurrence a Sabbath, then His appearing to several of his disciples on the first day of the week, and to all of them on the Thursday of his ascension, (Acts i,) did not cause those days to become Sabbaths.  

But are there no other and better arguments for the change of the Sabbath than those which have been examined?" J.N. Andrews

Papal Notes - Sitting at the Feet of Plants

"The plant paradigm takes a different approach to earth and environment. Plants cooperate with all the surroundings environment; even when they compete, they cooperate for the good of the ecosystem.  Let’s learn from the meekness of plants!” (Pope Francis’ Tweet).

Pope Francis advises us to study and learn from the “meekness of plants.” Not all plants are meek. Many plants are poisonous, and many more have spines and thorns. 

 

The Bible does not instruct us to learn meekness from plants, but rather to look to Jesus and learn from Him because He is “meek and lowly” in heart. We have a perfect example to learn from:

“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.” Matthew 11:28, 29.

Jesus tells us that we should look at the flowers in the field to know that God will also take care of us and to help us build our faith in our Creator as we seek His kingdom and righteousness:

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:28-33.”

Instead, Pope Francis is telling us to look to the earth and to nature

so that we can promote the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. 

 

---This is the opposite of what Jesus told us to focus on." AdventMessenger

SDA History - Forgotten Debate Once Upon A Time Within Christendom

A Little Flashback to a debate within Christendom in America when Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce sat in the oval office.

Once upon a time there were some Christians who erroneously thought that the Land of Canaan was the "Sanctuary". Here is how our Church responded----

 

"Q: Is THE LAND OF CANAAN THE SANCTUARY ?

A: No

 

1. The land of Canaan was the mountain of the inheritance. 

Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Ex. 15:17. 

2. That mountain was the border of the sanctuary. 

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. Ps. 78:54. 

3. In that border God built His sanctuary. 

And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. Ps. 78:69. 

4. In that sanctuary God dwelt. 

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. Ex.25:8. 

5. In that border the people dwelt. 

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. Ps. 78:54.

---These texts perfectly harmonize, not only with each other, but with the entire testimony of the Bible, respecting the sanctuary.

We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses. To the law and to the testimony.

The sanctuary of the Bible

 is the habitation of God. 

It includes, first, the tabernacle pitched by man, which was the pattern of the true ; and second, the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man." 

J.N. Andrews

Creation Moment 9/30/2022 - First to Sabbitize the 7th Day: When, Who & Why

"The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. 

The acts which constituted it such were, 

first, the example of the Creator; 

secondly, His placing His blessing upon the day; 

and thirdly, the sanctification or divine appointment of the day to a holy use. 

The Sabbath, therefore, 

dates from the beginning 

of our world's history. 

The first who Sabbatized on the seventh day is God the Creator; and the first seventh day of time is the day which he thus honored. 

The highest of all possible honors does, therefore, pertain to the seventh day. Nor is this honor confined to the first seventh day of time; for so soon as God had rested upon that day, He appointed the seventh day to a holy use, that man might hallow it in memory of his Creator."  

J.N. Andrews

"Excuses" For Changing the Sabbath SERIES: Meeting the Disicples?

"But what authority, then, do they show for changing the Sabbath!

Not a particle of direct testimony, ..... However, they have several inferences which they think make the subject very plain.

2. But the disciples met on the day of our Lord's resurrection, to
commemorate that event, and the Savior sanctioned this meeting by unitingwith them.
Were every word of this true, it would then amount only to

a very slender inference that the Sabbath was changed. But to show the utter fallacy of this inference, we will agree to prove that they did not at that time believe that he had been raised from the dead; but were assembled for the purpose of eating supper, and secluding themselves from the Jews. "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." John xx, 19. "Afterward he appeared unto the eleven, as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen." Mark xvi, 14. 

Then it is a fact that the disciples were not engaged in commemorating the resurrection of the Savior, for they did not believe that that event had taken place. Certain it is that the disciples did not entertain the most distant idea of a change of the Sabbath. 

At the burial of the Savior the women who had followed him, prepared spices and ointments to embalm him; the Sabbath drew on; they "rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment;" and when the Sabbath was past, they came to the sepulchre upon the first day, to embalm Jesus. Luke xxiii, 53-56; xxiv, 1. 

Then there is not even a plausible inference, in this case, for perverting the fourth commandment. 

---The disciples kept the Sabbath according to that precept, and resumed their labor upon the first day of the week." J.N. Andrews 

Creation Moment 9/29/2022 - Creation & the Decalogue

"The decalogue points us back to Creation for the origin of the Sabbath. Ex.20:8-11. 

Q: For whom, then, did Jehovah make the Sabbath? for Himself? 

A: No. verily. He made it "for man." Mark 2:27. 

 

But were it possible to show a violation of the Sabbatic institution

in the patriarchal age, it would no more destroy the sacred character of that institution, than a plain violation of the institution of marriage on the part of some of the patriarchs, affects the sacredness of the marriage institution. Mal.2:14,15; Gen. 2:21-24; Matt.19:4-8; Mark 10:6-8, compared with Gen.16: 25:6; 29; 30. 

 

---Both of these institutions were made for man before the fall. Mark 2:27; Gen.2:1-3; 1Cor.11:1-12; Gen.2:18.  

---Their sanctity is not derived from the decalogue; but the fourth commandment guards the sacredness of one, the seventh, the other. Ex.20:8-11,14." J.N. Andrews

"Excuses" For Changing the Sabbath SERIES: "Redemption is Greater Than Creation?"

"But what authority, then, do they show for changing the Sabbath!
Not a particle of direct testimony, ..... However, they have several inferences which they think make the subject very plain. 

1. Redemption is greater than creation; therefore we ought to keep the day of Christ's resurrection, instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. 

Q: Where has God said this? 

A: Nothing of the kind is found in either Testament.... admitting that redemption is greater than creation, who knows that we ought to keep the first day of the week on that account! 

Q: Has God said that we should? 

A: No, never. God has not said that we should keep any day to commemorate redemption. But if it were duty to observe any day for this reason, most certainly the crucifixion day presents the strongest claims. It is not said that we have redemption through Christ's resurrection, but it is said that we have redemption through His blood. "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. i, 7. See Col. i, 14. 

----If we would commemorate the events of redemption, no necessity exists that we should destroy the holy Sabbath in order to do it. 

---God has provided us with memorials bearing His own signature; and these we may observe with the blessing of Heaven.

Q:  Would you commemorate the death of our Lord! 

A: Then heed the following: "For I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." 1 Cor. xi, 23-26.

Q: Would you commemorate the burial and resurrection of the Savior! 

A: The following scriptures teach us the will of God in this: "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death! Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Rom. vi, 3-5; Col. ii, 12."

J.N. Andrews

IN the NEWS - Just How Dangerous is the World Getting?

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Revelation 17:2

Notice the Fascist leanings of these Globalists Leftists are out in the open. Especially on so-called climate change. 

---Now picture these people working one day with the beast power on it's Laudato Si' Agenda....scary....

Q: Just How Dangerous is the World Getting?

A: This Dangerous---

"New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the latest liberal
leader to call for an international alliance to censor speech. Unsatisfied with the unprecedented corporate censorship of social media companies, leaders like Hillary Clinton have turned from private censorship to good old-fashioned state censorship. Speech regulation has become an article of faith on the left. Ardern used her speech this week to the United Nations General Assembly to call for censorship on a global scale.

 To answer her question on “how do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists” is that you convince people using the same free speech.  Instead, Ardern appears to want to silence those who have doubts.

While referring to a global censorship coalition as a “light-touch approach to disinformation,” Ardern revealed how sweeping such a system would likely be. She defended the need for such global censorship on having to combat those who question climate change and the need to stop “hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology.”

“After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble? How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld, when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology?”

That is the same rationale used by authoritarian countries like China, Iran, and Russia to censor dissidents, minority groups, and political rivals.  

What is “hateful” and “dangerous” is a fluid concept that government have historically used to silence critics or dissenters.

Ardern is the smiling face of the new generation of censors. At least the old generation of censors like the Iranians do not pretend to support free speech and openly admit that they are crushing dissent." ZeroHedge

Creation Moment 9/28?2022 - "The Day" because of CREATION

"THE only object, direct or indirect, of this [the fourth] commandment, is "the day." 

Q: What are we commanded to remember? 

A: "The day." 

Q: What are we required to keep holy? 

A: "The day." 

Q: What did the Lord bless and hallow? 

A: "The day." 

Q: In what are we forbidden to work? 

A: In "the day." 

Q: How could we keep holy "the day" that has not been specified? 

A:  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, ....For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:9-11."

J.N. Andrews

"Excuses" For Changing the Sabbath SERIES: Intro

 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8

"One of three things is indispensable to those who would prove the change of the Sabbath. 

1. One plain statement that God has changed the Sabbath from the 

seventh to the first day of the week. 

2. Or a single statement that God has blessed, hallowed and sanctified the first day of the week. 

3. Or a single commandment to keep the first day holy as a Sabbath unto the Lord. 

The reasonableness of this must be apparent to every one.  

For a plain commandment from the Lord of hosts, can only be

changed by an explicit, divine statement authorizing such change. And as the God of heaven has blessed and sanctified his Rest-day, no human authority may presume to choose in its stead another day, and require that that day be observed, unless the Lord himself shall transfer his blessing to that day and command that it be kept holy. 

 

These truths are self-evident. 

Q: But how many of the above particulars do the advocates of this change claim! 

A: They do not claim one of them!"  

J.N. Andrews

SDA Issues: 1844 and the Great Reset

.....ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

Matthew 16:3

 

"Dr. James Lindsay, ....At about the 8 minute mark of the lecture, Lindsay said this:

“You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy was on a video

from 2016, but that was not an idea that was expressed for the first time in 2016.  Let me tell you something that was written in 1844.  In 1844, a young 25 year-old goober by the name of Karl Marx, was writing what is now known as “The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts,” sometimes called the “Paris Manuscripts”  . . .

In these manuscripts what Karl Marx did—this is four years before he wrote “The Communist Manifesto” and 23 years before “Capital” [Das Kapital], this was his early writings--and what he designed in those pages was nothing short of a religion.  The name of the religion can be called communism or it can be called Marxism.  And what he describes throughout those pages is what that religion entails. 

But at one point, page roughly 103 in the copy I have, if I remember right, he writes that communism is the positive transcendence of private property.  You will own nothing, and you’ll be happy.  It is not just relinquishing private property—that’s crude communism.  True communism is the positive transcendence of private property. You don’t need private property.  You will own nothing and you’ll be happy.

And what he says that is equal to is the transcendence of human self-estrangement, which is how you know it is a religion. Humans are estranged from one another in the same way that humans after the Fall are estranged from God.  And we’re going to undo it.  We’re going to make our way back into the Garden of Eden on our own terms. 

That’s what Karl Marx was writing about; that is the Marxian religion.  And we’re going to have the positive

transcendence of private property as the mark that we have arrived.  That is the goal. At which point, Karl says, we will remember that we are truly social, our human nature is that we are a truly social species-being, a truly social animal. Communist, is what he means. Communism, he says at the end of the same paragraph, is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be the solution. 

You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy is the 2016 update of an 1844 sentence by Karl Marx, or paragraph, if you want. 

So when you realize that the “Great Reset” is a comma in a communist revolution, or communist religion, you realize that what we’re going for is some kind of updated communism. 

And we’ve tried these things and they don’t work.  And they’re not going to work.  Every attempt so far in the world to introduce communism has killed people by at least the hundreds of thousands, depending on the country, often the millions, sometimes the tens of millions, so that its victims over just the 20th Century alone probably number just over 100 million people who didn’t need to die.  .  

So the people perpetrating the Great Reset understand this mentality; they will use people and then discard them.  We’ve seen hundreds of millions die in the twentieth century, I believe it will be billions, with a “b” and an “s” on the end of it, if this is allowed to proceed through the next, say, 30 years. And we’re at the exclamation point part of that.  We’re coming to the point where this has to be stopped.”    

To me, it is very striking when someone who is not an Adventist or even a Christian (James Lindsay is reportedly an atheist), and couldn’t possibly know much about the Adventist religion, starts

talking about 1844 and “early writings.”  I interpret a coincidence like that as God trying to get my attention, and He got it. 

What Dr. Lindsay is telling us is that Karl Marx had formulated the basic principles of his new religion in 1844, years before “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital” were published.....despite the Soviet capitulation in 1989, it is now far stronger and more influential than it has ever been, in the form of the radical environmentalism (“The Green New Deal”), Cultural Marxism, critical theory, and race and gender ideology. 

 

First Darwinism and now Marxism have taken over most significant Western institutions, beginning with academia.  

From there, these ideas have spread all throughout the culture and society, including into the Christian Church." David Read/Fukcrum7

BTW, It's NOT that the Great Reset is the Mark of the Beast, but rather powers at play that are Greasing The Skids for the Beast Entity....