Archive for November, 2011

The Daniel2 Vision

November 26, 2011

As we know, it is Satan’s determined purpose to hide as much truth as possible from us, especially “present truth”. For he knows his time is short and should the people become aware of present truth, which is His latest instructions to His people, a sort of final road map as it were,  he shall be defeated in his wiles of deception, and the people shall continue on the divine lighted path of our Almighty. A perfect example of this coy deception is the prophectic vision of Daniel, chapter 2.

Has the devil  led the people into thinking that the “stone” in Daniel’s vision is Jesus, to sidetrack the people from the real God intended purpose of the vision? Can there be  a clearly different  understanding to this important prophetic vision? Many are learning today that there most definitely IS a clear and different interpretation. It has been revealed for many decades but only now, as “Elijah’s end time message”  is going out, is it really being discovered and spread, the veil of deception is being removed, and truth is being exposed. Let’s take a look at this vision closely.

It has been a long held tradition, to most of Chrisendom, that the stone in Daniel’s vision  symbolizes Jesus. This belief comes from the proposed fact that Jesus, as the stone, comes from the “mountain”, which in the vision, is meant to represent heaven. And therefore as the stone comes from the mountain, it implies that Jesus is coming from heaven to destroy the earths kingdoms, in the near future. But let’s really understand the “mountain” symbolization  here ,  let’s  look into God’s word to understand the correct interpretation of this vision.

While it is true that the word “mountian” in the bible has varied meanings. Sometimes it a literal meaning, and sometimes symbolic. To get the most direct “in context”  meaning of the word in Daniel’s vision, we should logically look into Daniel’s own inspired writing’s within  that chapter. This  can be  a big key. How does he use the word “mountain” in his inspired writings? Does he use it symbolically? If he uses it in the symbolic meaning, then that would be a powerful clue as to the meaning used in the vision. Let’s look at the important words in the vision.

The first  verse we’ll look at is Chapter 2, verse 35. It says “..And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”  Here the traditonal interpretation is that Jesus comes and destroys the world’s kingdoms( image)  and replaces it with His kingdom (fills the whole earth).  As we stated, it is based on the fact that the stone is meant to be Jesus.

Next we have verse 44. “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, it shall break in pieces these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”   Now we can see two very  important points that need to be clarified in this verse.

 You’ll notice it says “IN the days of these kings”, but  the traditonal view is that it really means “AFTER the days of these kings”. But that is not what it says, in = does not mean = after. So we can clearly see that DURING the days of these kings , God will set up His kingdom, not after the kings days. In other words, they believe that God’s kingdom is set up- when they(the kings)  are gone from this earth (destroyed) and not while they are still here  living to behold  God’s kingdom being set-up. This subtle mis-interpretation throws the whole intended meaning of the vision off, if we don’t read it clearly.

Also in that same above verse, we notice that it is the “kingdom” that breaks in pieces all the other kingdoms. Kingdoms represent people, it cannot mean Jesus personally breaking up the kingdoms. Otherwise it would have said the “King” breaks up kingdoms or some such words. We should not imagine that which is not clearly there. This is where deception can come, when we read into verses  things which aren’t there, instead of  reading it as it simply says.

In verse 45 it says “Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold….”  Here again the traditional view is that Jesus came out of heaven (mountain) and destroyed the earthly kingdoms.  This is all based on the stone being Jesus and the mountain being heaven. But  Daniel meant that those symbols are represented differently as we will clearly see. Let’s look into the meaning of mountain.

In Daniel’s book, further in chapter 9,  we discover how Daniel uses the word “mountain” and it is clearly symbolic and it’s describtion VERY clear. Verse 16 reads, ” O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, YOUR HOLY MOUNTAIN, because for our sins, and  for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us.”   Here we see Daniel equating Jerusalem and it’s people as –a mountain. In other words, God’s people are His “Holy Mountain”.

Verse 20 really nails it as far as clarification. It says “Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God FOR THE HOLY MOUNTAIN of my God…”   Daniel is calling God’s people — The Holy mountain of God.

So from the above we can see in the book of Daniel , the word mountain is used as a representation of God’s people , and obviously that would mean also His church.

Some people have used various other scripture to show that the mountain describes heaven. But we must ask — Is it logical to use Daniel’s own  symbolic meaning of  “mountain” when interpreting this vision, or should we pull out a different meaning of the mountain from another book in the bible?  I think this is a no-brainer.

In the beginning of this post I mentioned how Satan hates “present truth”. To give you an idea about this prophetic vision and how it is considered  present truth, it has only recently been correctly understood (within the last few decades). Not even Ellen White knew much about this vision!  Arther White, the secretary of the EGW estate, back in 1971, stated that she had made no mention of the “stone” as to what it represented,  in all her vast writings!

 The scroll of truth has since opened further. And today, we can see that the stone really is a small portion of God’s people “Cut out with out hands”. This term means God removed this portion from among the people of God (church).

These people are none other than the 144,000! They are divinely”cut out”. This process is a divine act that comes from God, it’s  the sealing time of God’s servants, which is described in Revelation 7:1-4. It also is described (quite solemnly) in Ezekiel 9:1-11). 

This vision means that WE are now being shown what will very soon happen, hence the devils wants  falsehood in describing this vision. The 144,000 (stone) will go forth, in God’s power and strength and  “break” the other kingdoms. This means that the 144,ooo go forth and show God’s power and might (miracles and such), and as the other “kingdoms” (which means established religions-NOT governments) see this, they confess that God is indeed with these people. A great mulititude come forth from around the world to come into “God’s kingdom” which really is God’s true church.

So my brothers and sisters, let us take heed on today’s present truth, for by knowing God’s truth FOR TODAY, we are well equipped to navigate Satan’s arrows and stand on firm ground. There will always be people who cling to “tradition”. Spiritual pride is one sickness that can seriously harm our walk with the Lord.

In Christ, Your servant Rob        Ps. For a great video presentation of the Daniel2 Vision , click here ( the source of much of this post)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUnCmLdm-Pw

Posted in Daniel's Vision (chapter 2) | Leave a Comment »

A Shining Light In Prison

November 19, 2011

Little did I know just what I was getting myself into, when I decided to write “Eldon” several months ago. But God sure did! After receiving his latest letter from prison ( and getting the goose-bumps) I was chomping at the bit, eager to write this post,  to let you know just what God is doing with this prisoner.

In  life we all make mistakes, but some make a “big” mistake. But as the devil leads us to sin, God is waiting in the wings, for the “bad scenario” to play out, so he can talk one on one to the down and out. They  most often are humbled by their prior actions and the Lord always knows, that it is the humble and despondent, who frequently are receptive to the Lord’s pleading. Eldon is a perfect example. Not only has he seen the light, but has the spark of zealousness to get to work, doing the Lord’s work right there in prison.

As I have read Eldon’s letters of the past months, I have begun to see that God can lead people to the “real” truth, no matter what their circumstances. I also have come to know that God is active RIGHT NOW in giving signs and dreams, to those ready and expecting to receive them.

On Friday October 28, I sent Eldon a letter. As I usually do, I sent him some tracts and flyers and such to hand out to the other prisoners. I also sent him copies of the latest blogs. I had written recently about the post “Has Elijah come?” and I sent him part one and two.  On Weds, Novemeber 9th I got his latest letter.

Let us look at an amazing account of God’s active workings within a prison recently. Eldon wrote:

“The night of Nov. 1st, I had a dream. I was standing in a tremendous valley or a plain, which was situated between two great mountain ranges that lined opposite horizons. The land was dry and washed out, and reminded me of the salt plains where they test race cars. The ground was sun parched and I didn’t see anything growing.”

I heard a voice say, “Look”, I turned expecting to see the person who spoke, but instead I noticed what appeared to be a huge irrigation ditch which ran from one horizon to the other betweeen the mountain ranges…as far as could be seen. At it’s center, it was maybe 30 feet deep, and maybe 50 or 60 feet wide. The water was so clear that I could see the bottom of the ditch. It was about half full of water.

I noticed something odd….the sides of this “V” shaped ditch were not created by run off or flood, but appeared to be purposely dug out and was reinforced by about 6 inches of a course , greyish material that resembled concrete or mortar.

Then the same voice told me ” look closer still” and when I did I could see that the sides, from top to bottom were spider webbed with fine cracks, imperfections and stress fractures. I immediately moved away from it’s edge, sensing that it might collapse under my weight. Then I awoke.” 

“The next day, I prayed that God would help me to understand the meaning of this dream, if it had one. That night (Nov.2) I had another dream, I was right back where I was in the first dream.And it occured to me, that this wasn’t an irrigation ditch at all, but a giant cistern for holding an enormous amount of water. And I heard the same voice speak again saying, “This is my church.Unless it is repaired it cannot hold that which I am ready to pour into it. And all that surrounds her will dry up her waters, leaving everything desolate.” As I awoke, I heard a multitude of voices saying, ” There will come a great falling away.”

Wow!! What Eldon just experienced and described was the soon to come church purification in God’s dream symbolism. And Eldon doesn’t know anything about it–yet. Eldon received my letter the next day, Nov.3rd. Then a few days later,  He wrote me and said “What amazed me about the blogs and the scriptures I’ve been reading with them, is that (chills) they coincide with the dreams I’ve had for two days before I received your letter!”

God then helped him understand it’s meaning, he wrote, “The giant cistern (church) in the desolute land..half full of water (people?) full of cracks and fractures (members in need of repair), or else all that is poured into it (more water,more people ?)will not be held by it (burst at the seams).. and all that surrounds it will dry up it’s waters.”  Then he asks me an excellent question –“Does the church LOSE  a massive amount of members? or do they just leave the church and fall away from God?”

 He then says ” I believe it is absurd for us to believe that the church, by itself , will repair all of it’s breaches and become acceptable, pleasing, without spot or wrinkle ON IT’S OWN. Those who hold this philosophy will be standing on dangerous ground and will likely reject the one who, comes in the “spirit of Elijah.”

As he received the blogs, he read through them and mentioned that he had never heard of the “Shepherd’s Rod”. Yet, what he just saw in that dream is a picture of God’s end time message, given him and priviledged by God to know some end time prophetic events to come. Even though Eldon is not aware fully of the last day “Elijah”message of church judgement, he clearly shows he is being called by God to understand this very important last message to His people.

A prisoner who is in tune with God and His signs and dreams, is a very uplifting message for us indeed. Some think those guys inside there are just wasting away, yet Eldon clearly shows us, God can and will use any and all people, no matter who they are, for HIS purpose. Because God has given this important dream to him, I believe  He has much more in store for him. Let us keep him in our prayers.

For those of you, who would like to become a part of this prison ministry, please let me know. We still have 5  prisoners(of the original 10), who are Christians, who would love to hear from some one who can share their faith. Jesus said we visited “Him” in prison.

Lastly, I would like to tell you about “Leona”s story. She responded with a big YES, when I first asked if anyone would like to be a pen pal with a Oklahoma prisoner. Recently she wrote me, telling me of her experience. Let me share some of her grateful words:

“From the first letter I received from Gary (her prisoner pen pal), he showed a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude. He commented on the scriptures I sent him and replied that he was indeed in agreement and received truth in them. As time passes and with each letter that Gary sends, along with the tracts, their church calender and other cards, it clearly shows that while he is in prison, he is using every moment to stay focused on God, to stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to always remain in that state of remembering what Jesus did on the cross..”

“Reading the words and scriptures that Gary sends can only come through a heart that is focused on God. We promised to keep each other up in prayer.”

She and Gary discuss their life and the Christian way. God is truly blessing them. In closing she writes “So, in closing I thank God for opening this door for me to correspond with Gary, it is truly one I treasure!!

Though some have been given more light than others, we will be accountable to the light given each of us. These prisoners can change and if we are there to lend a helping hand, let us do what we can.

To our loving Lord and God, be all the glory!

 Amen, Rob

Posted in Prison ministry updates | 2 Comments »

Supporting our brothers and sisters

November 12, 2011

As the time was quickly approaching, for our Lord(The Lord of the Universe), to lay down His life for us,  He did something that I’m sure sent bewilderment through out the apostles. He WASHED their feet!  An act that showed the ultimate in support and servitude to another. In  this one act, we can gain so much. A true lesson for us to know and learn and DO.

As we know, the Lord’s examples are our examples in our Christian walk. If we just read about them and don’t APPLY them, we are like those white washed tombs our Lord spoke of. Once we announce to the world  —  “I AM A CHRISTIAN”, we now must live under different rules, higher standards. Our brothers and sisters, and the even the heathen, are watching how we act and live. Our life is an direct reflection on Christ!  Don’t forget this.

With the above laying the groundwork, let’s look at how we can support our brothers and sisters in the faith. In (Gal.6:10) it says “As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”  Here we are instructed to “do good” to our own fellow believers. Also our immediate family must be taken care of (supported) (1 Tim 5:8) “But if any provide not for his own, and especailly for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse off than an unbeliever.” So the Lord is watching how we “do good.”

Our Lord Himself told us to “strengthen our brothers” (Luke 22:32) “…And when thou are converted, strenghten thy brethren.” So our support pleases our Lord and our lack of, or ignorance, displeases Him.  Let’s look at some ways we can do good and support each other.

Before we go into “support” areas, I thought it important to show a most serious “opposite” trait — criticizing. Before we criticize, let us be sure we fully understand the situation. A good example would be ” I don’t follow you, can you explain more about this?”  Instead of being confrontational.  If two people approach a matter in  a disagreement, their similar motive must always be to arrive at the –truth. But if one has “cemented their stakes” by refusing to hear the other one out (carefully reading or listening), then it shows that “their opinion” is the most valuable thing to them, instead of arriving at the truth. It’s a serious condition known as spiritual pride. Christ could not reach people like this in His day, neither can He now.

Here are some ways we can be supportive in a real concrete way.

1) When in church, and they announce “visitors”, give them a nice applause. This let’s them know they are appreciated. We don’t know, maybe they made a real effort to come be with the brethren that day.

2) Return email. The sooner the better. What kind of message does it send to carelessly respond days or weeks later, to a brother or sister. Can this be called “doing good”? Ignorance is never -good.

Keep in mind, Jesus said “Do unto to others, as you would want them to do unto to you.” (Matt.7:12)  Do you want people to ignore you?  I wonder how many people would stop ignoring others, if they themselves were ignored when they sincerely reached out in email or question.

3) Be ready to offer assistance in study tools. One of the best online tools to have is called esword.com , It can be downloaded for free http://www.e-sword.net/ It gives the bible (both OT and NT) translations in both Hebrew and Greek. All at your fingertips, when you hover over any word. A great tool for studying!

4)On the internet, be supportive and let your bro’s and sis’s know theyare appreciated. One of the saddest things for me to behold, is to go on a fellow believers wall (on FB) and see they have posted numerous times over several weeks, trying to reach out and share and NOT ONCE has anybody made any comments, or even thumbs up. Yet they have hundreds of “friends”.

5) Our concern for our brothers and sisters and their salvation should be our upmost concern. Therefore lead them to end-time prophecie sites that will explain what our Lord has planned and how they can prepare for His coming . Unfortunately many are not even aware how and when our Lord is coming next. As many are now discovering the scriptures fortell a “surprise” coming of judgement FIRST before He comes in the clouds.

Lastly, be very careful about who you send money to on internet, especially if they are some type of “orphanage” over seas.

Let us remember that we are called to serve and support one another, just as our Leader showed us in that most humble act. Let us never think we are too important or busy to take time to support and reach out, thereby neglecting to show  Christian courtesy .

 (Matt 23:11)  “But he that is greatest among you, shall be your servant.” 

In Christ, Rob

Posted in Brotherly love, Christian walk | 6 Comments »

Let us be good representatives of Christ

November 5, 2011

When our Lord answered the Pharisees in (Luke 17:21) He said  “… The kingdom of God is within you.”  Here our Lord made it clear that the way to the kingdom STARTS within each and every one of us. No exceptions.  The meaning is that we must be sure to be right with the Lord first. And once we have been truly converted and decide to “follow” Him and put away sins in our own life, we can then concentrate on being the “best” representative we can for Him.

We can know all the truths, scriptures, doctrines but yet still not be converted and saved, because we failed to apply it all — INTO OUR LIFE FIRST. Our actions and knowledge go in different directions. Infact the most pitiful and sad situation for a “Christian” is to know so much truth, have so much light, yet ignore the basics of love, caring, and a close righteous walk with our Lord daily. Even the most vile and sinful man who finds one day that he must protect a woman being beaten, and thereby get’s killed, will indeed be with the Lord, amen.(1 Cor 13:2) ” Though I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, yet have not love, I am nothing.”

There are two basic areas where we represent our Christian ways. They are in the church (meaning fellow believers) and in the world (general non-believers). Let us look at each one of these areas. First we’ll look at the world.

Every day, when we step out into the world, we should have a spiritual “sign” on us, saying “worker for Christ”. Our mind should be firmly planted on “doing right” according to the Holy Law, thereby enlightening  those we meet and work with during our day or night.

Let me give you some personal examples that may be beneficial to your walk as well.

Many times, in our walk God will purposely lead you to a person he would like you to share your testimony with. They or you, may not even be aware of it, but our Lord sure is! In my own case I have discussed this with the Lord. We’ve made a pact, that whenever I go to a home to do a service call (in my line of work) and I see a cross, or the person has some type of religious sign in the house, I’ll know that I am suppose to hand them a “Steps for Christ” book.**

That will lead to discussing the Lord, and I’ll be able to mention I am a SDA. Which they’ll remember when they read that enlightening book. It’s a good simple way to show them your faith, and highlight God’s holy day-Sabbath.

Ofcourse during our work, we should be doing the very best we can. My Grandfather told me something (though not a particularly religious man) that was quite biblical about “work”. He said “always do what you are suppose to do, and alittle more.”  That  has been my model in my line of work, but as I do that little extra I think the Lord’s words (1 Cor. 10:31) “…whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”

We can buy the bumper stickers that say “The Seventh Day is the Sabbath.”    “For God never changed it.”   and place on our vehicles, giving silent testimony to the Lord and His Law. One of my friends at church took some that I put in the church foyer a while back and he told me this reaction he got. Someone had followed him into the store, and when they were in there, this man said to him “You know I have been thinking about that, I think the world will have to make a decison concerning that soon.”  I was told he wasn’t a SDA, but just maybe this inspired him more along those lines.

A neat little idea is to put on your phone’s answer machine ” Hello, this is _______, It is Friday evening, the Sabbath of the Lord, I’ll be off for His holy day, please leave a message, and I’ll get back with you after Sabbath on Saturday evening or Sunday.”  I’ve had customers mention that little message to me, and was able to give them a book and share some words of the Lord. We shouldn’t be picking up the phone and talking worldly conversation anyway.

Lastly concerning worldly testimony, you can get some business cards together and put your favorite online Christian website on them and pass out to your  friends and co-workers or even your own church members. Just make sure the site promotes the number one rule  (Isaiah 8:20) ” To the Law (meaning 10 Commandments) and to the testimony( the Lord and His prophets) ….”.

In regards to the church, we also can show our fellow members good solid ways to enrich and enlighten their walk. To profess being a “Christian” really is something to NOT take lightly. We have a solemn responsiblilty. Woe to those who take this professed life lightly and carelessly.

To be a TRUE Christian we must first and foremost strive to “love” Christ. And the way to love  Christ is plainly and directly given by our Lord Himself, not prophets, or anyone else spoke these words on “how” to love Him. (John 14:15) “If you love me, KEEP —MY—- COMMANDMENTS.”  So once we know this and believe His words, we use this as our guide for daily living. Surprisingly, my own church (SDA) apparently needs our most attention in this regards. We are told by our prophetess, that not one in twenty members are ready to meet our Lord, talk about sobering!

But never the less, let’s look at areas we can reach out and help. The Sabbath is indeed the Lord’s day and as such we can start there. As we are entering His his temple (sanctuary) each Sabbath, we can set a good example of dressing very nicely. Our grooming is at it’s best and we are indeed representing a respectful attitude into His temple.

We can also rememeber that this is the Lord’s day and any “wordly” conversations, we can steer away, back to the things of the Lord. Here’s a very unique and good example of showing our Lord, you don’t go to church just to go through the motions. You really believe it’s His temple, so you stay awhile in church, after service to pray. How often have you seen that? The Lord LOVES these little extra things! I will say that is one thing I respect the Catholics for, the reverence many show in the church. May we as SDA learn and do this kind of reverence.

Lastly, our fellow believers are more and more fellowshipping and sharing things of our Lord on the internet. This is indeed a great thing. But let us remember, Satan will turn each and every good thing into a bad thing, if he can!  The computer, I’m afraid has become an idol to many, thereby breaking a Commandment of God. Let us set a good example by staying away from it a portion of the week and especially during Sabbath.  I try to do only this post and be off most of the Sabbath.

Let us remember our life should be a direct reflection of who we are and who we worship. If we keep His holy Laws solidly in mind each and every day, and DO THEM we represent Him well. We must also never forget that He validates our walk by how we look after each other.

Your servant in Christ, Rob

** For those who would like to order the books “Steps to Christ”  and the bumper stickers (both very reasonable) call Harvest Books at 1-931-692-2777

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