Archive for February, 2010

“I will reveal myself”

February 27, 2010

The following is based on my true experience. I saw it and can testify it happened!

For many years, actually decades, I did my “own” thing. I sinned and sinned continually. Ignoring  the Lord and pursuing my own desires (money, women, fun times, etc.) Then, alittle over a year ago,one night,  I was inspired to read the bible (front to back) for the first time in my life. I  read it carefully, taking it all in and learning just what Almighty God had to say. After the second or third night, I read about the “Ten Commandments”. While I knew about them, I really wasn’t familiar with ALL of them. The one that “stuck out” at me was ” You shall keep holy the Sabbath day”. I pondered this and was guided by the Holy Spirit to “try” this.

In my appliance business Saturday is a very busy day for me. So I basically decided to do it “on faith”. Not knowing much about the Sabbath, except that we were NOT to do our own thing but rather to communicate with our Lord and honor Him as our creator and Lord.  So for the FIRST time in my life, I obeyed His holy Sabbath the following Friday evening. I took that first Sabbath shower, and I remember taking a real long one to get really clean for His holy day. The rest of the evening I read the bible. It was a nice quiet evening. I ended up sleeping 11 hours that night!  Talk about Sabbath rest,lol.

The Sabbath was spent quietly and mostly reading the bible and watching some Christian TV. I refused all business and calls. Then the evening was approaching and I was hungry. So I cooked dinner and sat down at the dining room table. While I was pleased that this first Sabbath was nice I really didn’t feel anything unusual. Unbeknown est to me,  I was very quickly to be shown otherwise!

It was getting dark and I reached over to the dining room lights and turned them on. I began to eat. Shortly after, the lights above me went off, then they came on, then they went off, then they came back on, then they went off  again, and then finally they came back on.  ALL BY THEMSELVES 3 times!!  I thought , what was that???  Then it hit me!  GOD had noticed my FIRST EVER Sabbath! I was stunned. God was speaking to me by showing me this sign to let me know He was watching. This was so amazing in so many ways.

This “lights” sign spoke volumes to me. First,  it showed that His ever watchful eye notices our obedience. Second, God wanted to tell me I was doing the “right thing” in obeying His holy Sabbath. Third, God’s purpose was to “open” my eyes to His holys Laws and to go and spread His truth to the people.  God has said in (John 14;21) “He that has my Commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and shall be loved by the Father, and I will love him, and WILL REVEAL MYSELF TO HIM”.  And (1 John 2:  3-4) ” This is how we KNOW we know Him, if we keep His Commandments, he that says  ‘ I know Him’  and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”   Yes, Lord,  we know you by what you said in these verses.               AMEN!   I saw it Lord, personally,  and I praise you and declare your words are true.

So once we OBEY Him and  His Commandments, HE WILL REVEAL HIMSELF TO US.  Don’t ever forget this. I have often heard from professing  Christians that “Oh, we can’t keep them, it’s impossible” or “They aren’t really needed to be obeyed”  This is, in my opinion, foolishness because HE has promised to send a helper (the Holy Spirit) and it becomes very DOABLE, Praise God! And the WHOLE PURPOSE  of obeying Him is to show WE LOVE HIM! If you do not feel close to Him, just review your life and come to Him as He has commanded and he won’t let you down!     Amen.

Posted in Commandments, God's signs, Sabbath | 4 Comments »

Witnessing

February 21, 2010

    In our walk with the Lord,  many feel called to witness.  Some are called to serve, and still others are called for something else. Today I’ll discuss what the Lord has shown me  on a lesson on witnessing.

    I have had the opportunity to do much spreading of His word online. Often I find myself in lengthly “debates” with people who are “professing” to be Christian. After a email or two it quickly becomes evident that they are A)  choosing to ignore scripture B) contradicting scripture    C) mixing their traditional beliefs with scripture’s word or  D) Misinterpreting scripture.  I often become exasperated because I will steadfastly “protect and guard” His Laws as scriptures says (prov 7:1,2) “My son, keep my words and store up my Commandments within you. Keep my Commandments and you will live, GUARD my teachings as the apple of your eye” . But unfortuantely many times to no avail.

    So it slowly started to dawn on me ( after several debates) that maybe I was spending useless time against some one who REFUSES to see the truth(?)   So I asked the Lord and began to search scripture on what the bible has shown on “witnessing” to those who refuse to listen or heed.

    Some  scripture’s are very direct and cutting  against those who “ignore” or attempt to “refute” our speaking about God’s Laws  ( Prov. 28:9) “If ANYONE turns his ear from hearing of the Law, even his prayers are an abomination”  Wow, pretty powerful words from the Lord! It basically says their hearts are  NOT right and receptive to God’s truth, expressed in his Laws. Notice it doesn’t say “If any Jew…..”. The anti-Law Christians act as if it does! 

    (Psalms 119:51) “The arrogant utterly deride me, yet I DO NOT turn away from your Law”  I very often get a sense of arrogance from anti-Law Christians.  It’s almost  like the attitude is “How dare you even think of following Old Testament Laws! ”

    Now we go to the New Testament. Jesus says  In (Matt 10:14) “If anyone will not welcome you OR LISTEN TO YOUR WORDS, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town”    So here it is clearly saying to start out friendly and proceed to tell them the truth in God’s word. And in my case, many times it’s about God’s holy Moral Law. And if they refuse to listen,  according to Jesus , I should get away from them. This is a hard lesson for me due to my compassion to keep on showing them more and more of God’s truth. But after “learning” from experience I have found the Lord is right!  

    So We must not spend time arguing with people who want to turn away from God’s word or Law. I believe , due to their heart’s hardened condition, the Holy Spirit must come to the rescue! Instead let us spend that energy on spreading His truth to where it will bear fruit! To the meek and humble of heart, for they will “listen well” to the truth!  Amen.

Posted in Witnessing | 2 Comments »

3 miracles from God

February 13, 2010

This story I read in the paper this last week. A man who had been robbing stores in this small Texas town happened to pick the WRONG store,lol. Late in the afternoon this lady (wife of the owner) was behind the counter in their small grocery store. The hapless criminal burst into the store,  looked around, then approached the counter, he quickly pulled a gun on the lady and demanded “give me the money, now!” The lady stopped for a moment, then looked straight into the man’s eyes and said ” I command you in the name of Jesus! Get out of this store NOW!”  The man stood there alittle stunned, then started shouting obscenities. The lady was getting even more powerful, she said    “I arrest you in the name of Jesus, now get OUT!” as she pointed defiantly to the door.  The man became almost as if he was frozen! Then he quickly ran out the store!  (No doubt with visions of the lady looking like a monster ready to eat him alive,lol)

Wow, if only we “professed” Christians had such faith in the Lord! The Lady drew on the “power” of Jesus and defeated evil! Amen.

The next one is about our Church’s missionaries in the quake torn city of Diquini, Haiti. Last week we had a Seventh Day Adventist medical doctor come and present his experience in treating the people there. What a disaster it is there. He described the suffering and the hardships. But he told us that the Seventh day Adventist Hospital was one of the few hospitals to come away relatively “unscathed”. Praise God. He knew  to help “save” this hospital. Most hospitals suffered substantial damage or leveled but “Haitian Hospital Adventiste” was preserved! Amen.

 The following is the most inspiring miracle. In the Philippines in a village called Panias. The people there faithfully give their tithes, which the church treasurer keeps in a special bag until she can go into town. Unfortunately the trip is dangerous. Logging trucks and motorbikes are the only mode of transportation. people often risk their lives perching on top of the trucks as they wallow along the muddy roads.

One day the treasurer headed to town. She brought with her God’s money to give to the district pastor. Reaching the dirt road she sat with her daughter at a waiting shed, as they waited for a truck. The church treasurer sat on the money bag to keep it safe as more people gathered inside the shed. Then a truck came and She and her daughter found a safe place on top of the truck. Then the truck headed down the road.

After they traveled about a half mile, the daughter asked ” Mama, where’s the money bag?” With a sinking feeling, the treasurer realized she didn’t have it.  “Mr. Driver, STOP!” she shouted. The truck stopped and they climbed down. They ran as fast as they could, avoiding if they could all the mudpools. As the treasurer ran she prayed “Lord, please keep your money safe”. 

Looking ahead, she could see the waiting shed. Two  men were waiting inside the shed for another truck. Reaching the shed, she saw the bag EXACTLY where she left it!  Grabbing it, she prayed out loud “Thank you Lord, for keeping your money safe”   “what are you talking about?” one of the men asked. “I just thanked God for taking care of His church money” she answered.  “I don’t understand” the man said. “well, didn’t you see this bag? it was right there” the treasurer pointed to the spot where she’d left the money. “I left it behind when I ran to catch the last truck”    “No, we didn’t see it” the men said.   “but a stranger was sitting right there. Where did he go”? the first man asked the other. The other man responded “He was sitting right there where you picked up your bag, but left when we saw you coming”   “Thank you Lord” the treasurer shouted. “Thank you for sending a angel to keep your money safe”

God does use His angels often, but sometimes we just don’t know it or aren’t aware of it. Praise God!  Amen.  This is a story from the SULADS missionaries Seventh Day Adventist in the Philippines.

Posted in Prayer's answered | 5 Comments »

Enter Life

February 6, 2010

Perhaps one of the most important  questions we as  Christians need to ask is —How do we enter eternal life?  Well, the most obvious starting point is to ask  our Lord himself! Let’s inquire from Him.

In (Matt:19;17-21) there came a man to inquire of our Lord just this exact question. He asked ” Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have ETERNAL LIFE?” According to many “Christians” today, you would think the Lord had said “Just love me and profess me among men, and you will have eternal life” Afterall that is what I hear constantly among today’s “Christians”. But no! Look at what our Lord SAID. He said “…If you wish to enter into life,KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS ” Look Just how important the Commandments are! LOOK! I feel like I must repeat this a thousand times to some of our “Christian” friends. They simply don’t believe that the Commandments are important. I can only think they are being deceived by the great deceiver. Once the devil can convince them, to quote the beatles “all they need is love”, then they start IGNORING what our Lord said! It is indeed possible to love my fellow man and NOT love God. How? By disobeying His Commandments. What good is it to gain the whole world and ignore God’s word?(prov 14;12) “There is a way which seems right unto man, but it’s end is the way of death”

Then the man was curious and asked ” which?” Meaning he knew Jesus was talking about the holy moral 10 Commandments. Jesus replied ” Thou shall not murder, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bear false witness, honor thy Father and Mother, love they neighbor as thyself” Here it is made clear. The Lord is telling the man (and us) that the Commandments must be kept  to enter eternal life. They are the Commandments of God and even Jesus professed to have kept them. (John 15;10) “If you keep my Commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I HAVE KEPT MY FATHERS COMMANDMENTS, and abide in His love”

To summarize, if we wish to enter eternal life let us never forget that His Commandments are to be kept. EACH ONE OF THEM! Not 9 0f 10, like most Christians want to do today.

Posted in Commandments | 4 Comments »

A good Christian teaching site

February 2, 2010

I am online many hours, especially in the evening and happen to find the site called  biblestudy.org  and  I was simply blown away with advice on how to properly inform people about God’s holy day. I don’t know all their views and cannot attest to everything but I did study their views on the Sabbath and particularly their scripture references about it .All scripture based with supreme logic. Simple and direct yet very thorough,  it is so effective in my estimation that ANY Christian who wishes to become more enlightened would benefit greatly from it. With SO MUCH false teaching today (rapture, go immediately to heaven or hell upon death, Sunday as God’s worship day, etc.) it behooves us to study and learn the REAL truth from scripture. I’ve taken a small snipet from there site. Here it is.

  Are arguments against observing the Sabbath true?

Often Sabbath observance is attacked by arguments that sound very spiritual, BUT lack real substance.Evangelical Protestants will make general arguments against keeping the Sabbath that would attack observing other laws that they believe are in force.They give a general principle against keeping the Sabbath that is so broadly drawn… it has to be rejected.Often Evangelical Protestant rhectoric, when carefully examined “In the light of scripture” and logic, simply evaporates.It’s almost as if after merely invoking the name “Jesus Christ” all careful thinking about “salvation theology and the law ceases. Sloppy thinking about the interrelationship of such terms as “grace”, “law”,”justification”, “salvation”,”faith”, repentance”, “sin”, “righteousness”,”works”, “baptism”, and ‘sanctification” hold MILLIONS unknowlingly in it’s thrall. Often anti-law evangelicals hide their careless reasoning by sprouting vague, vacuous rhetoric or generalizations about Jesus’ role as Savior, IGNORING that the conclusions they’re drawing don’t follow from the premises they’re using.

In order to put their Sabbatarian opponents on the defensive, they will usually claim spiritual superiority ( I have indeed seen so much of this, because when one feels superior, they feel you must address THEIR points, and they don’t have to on yours) by saying something about Jesus’ role as Savior in order to “prove” that the Sabbatarians are obeying an abolished law. But merely citing Jesus’ role as savior of humanity from it’s sins doesn’t prove the conclusions they wish, since their premise(something said about Jesus) lacks the SCRIPTURAL support for the conclusion they want (the Sabbath was abolished).Simply by asking them whether these same general arguments against the Sabbath would abolish the other laws that the arguer DOES believe are in force often is enough to “Refute” (my word) their argument.

Enjoy this site and learn,  this is my sincere wish and prayer for ALL who call themselves “true believers”

Posted in Useful sites | 2 Comments »