In Psalms 138:2 we read–
“I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.”
The Scriptures are very clear– God’s Word is exalted and even so high as to be “above all Thy name.” This is profound! Let us look into this most important subject.
In the beginning we remember that the Lord told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He gave them his Word and it was clear. But soon we see that Satan came upon the scene and did what? He twisted and changed God’s Word. This was his very first act of deception upon mankind.
Let us see the two statements.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Let us focus on the clear direct Words of our Lord– “..thou shalt surely die.”
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
We notice that Satan added his word “not” — “Ye shall not surely die”.
God’s Word was destroyed and made of none effect by the cunning deceiver. But has Satan changed at all with his very first deception? Absolutely not!
Now, do we think Satan,being so successful in his original twisting of God’s Word, has not continued to this very day with this same plan? Of course he has! Let us look at a recent example.
Brother P. is a long time SDA. He is a member in good standing. He even teaches a after Sabbath service bible study class. Recently I decided to drop by and took part in the study. The subject was about Rev. 20. I listened and made some comments as we discussed this chapter.
Brother P knows that I am a Elijah message believer. The study went ok and it was over in about an hour. After the study I left and happen to run into one of the other members who was at the study. We had never met before so I introduced myself and we started to hit it off. We told of our own SDA beginnings and how we came into the SDA church. His story was very unique.
Soon after about 30 minutes of our conversation in the parking lot, who do you suppose happened to wander over to chat with us? Yes, brother P. As soon as he got there, he wanted to chat and the conversation turned over to him and I. The other brother, an elderly man who seemed an “open book” to learning the message of the hour, then had to take a back seat. Why does it seem that just when we are making inroads with our brethren, there comes some distraction?
A little history on brother P. He has been given much present truth material, CD’s, DVD’s, Tracts, etc. for a few years now. Yet has never showed that any of it means present truth to him, for all I know he hasn’t even spent much time investigating whether it is Truth or not.
But soon our conversation took a more serious turn. He started to give the much maligned false timeline of the “Sunday Law will cause the church purification.” I firmly held my ground and told him it was a false timeline. Soon the Spirit led me to say, “Brother, you are not even interested in what the Lord’s promised Elijah has to say about the final events, are you?”
He took his Bible and we opened it to Malachi 4:5.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”
I pointed to this and said, “Brother if you think that no prophet came then you must admit that the Lord’s word has returned to Him void.” He responded that the verse means the “Elijah message” before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
Ah, does this all look familiar from days of old?
“Behold, I will send you the Elijah message before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
Is that what the Lord’s Word says? Of course not. But does this trick look familiar? Yes indeed! The Lord’s Word twisted again and made of no effect from a worker of the mighty deceiver! The game plan hasn’t changed!
The SOP has clear unmistakable words for us–
“The truths most plainly revealed in the Bible have been involved in doubt and darkness by learned men, who, with a pretense of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, a secret, spiritual meaning not apparent in the language employed. These men are false teachers. It was to such a class that Jesus declared: “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.” Mark 12:24. The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or figure is employed.
Christ has given the promise: “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” John 7:17. If men would but take the Bible as it reads, if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their minds, a work would be accomplished that would make angels glad and that would bring into the fold of Christ thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error.”(GC 598-599)
Let us make no mistake, after the Elijah prophet came, we as faithful workers do indeed spread the message but the promise is for the Elijah prophet to come first to proclaim it.
The Spirit of Prophecy once again beautifully expounds upon our subject–
“Whenever the study of the Scriptures is entered upon without a prayerful, humble, teachable spirit, the plainest and simplest as well as the most difficult passages will be wrested from their true meaning. The papal leaders select such portions of Scripture as best serve their purpose, interpret to suit themselves, and then present these to the people, while they deny them the privilege of studying the Bible and understanding its sacred truths for themselves.
The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it reads. It would be better for them not to have Bible instruction at all than to have the teaching of the Scriptures thus grossly misrepresented.
The Bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk: “Write the vision, and make it plain, . . . that he may run that readeth it.” Habakkuk 2:2. The word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart.” (GC p.521-522)
You see brethren the “Word” of the Lord is plain,straight, powerful, and unchangeable. So much so that the Lord seeks the following among us–
“Hear the Word of the LORD, ye that tremble at His Word..”(Isaiah 66:5)
“For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” (Isaiah 66:2)
“…trembles at My Word”? The reverence of His Word is indeed VERY important to Him. Yet sadly Satan and all his workers, even those who knoweth not whom they serve, do the terrible deed of destroying what His Word clearly says. This seems to be a very great dividing line between those who “believe” in Him and those who don’t. They seriously –TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD.
I see this over and over again. The twisting and denying the simple clear Word. Another example is very active today among us “present truth” believers. Let’s discuss brother T.
I dare say this brother is even more deceived than the other, due to the fact that this brother knows the Lord’s Rod unlike the other brother. Satan has worked his magic upon him as well. In Jezreel Letter, No. 9, page 1 we read–
“Prophecy must be fulfilled. The Lord says: ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.’ Somebody is to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, and when he appears, men may say: ‘You are too earnest, you do not interpret the Scriptures in the proper way. Let me tell you how to teach your message.'” — “Testimonies to Ministers,” pp. 475, 476.
There are two main points to note in these quotations: (1) that the message and messenger here mentioned are the very last; (2) that they are to restore all things, (3) that there is danger for some to make fools of themselves by daring to tell him how to teach his message — assuming to take God’s place! (JL, no. 9, p.1-2)
This my brethren is as clear as the english language can make it! What do we see? We see that the Lord’s Rod says that the Elijah prophet to come and his message is the “very last” to come to the church. Yet let us look at what brother T teaches around his crowd.
There are two main points to note in these quotations: (1) that the message and messenger here mentioned are NOT the very last; (2) that they are NOT to restore all things, (3) that there is NO danger for some to make fools of themselves by daring to tell him how to teach his message — assuming to take God’s place! (JL, no. 9, p.1-2)
Do we not see Satan’s fingerprints all over this supposed worker of God? The very same trick from the very beginning! God’s simple clear Word is twisted, destroyed and made of no effect.
So what do we have here? We have a clear sign post of what to avoid! Those who teach that God’s Word doesn’t mean what it says are Satan’s henchmen who want to destroy the Lord’s exalted Word. We must be onto this trick and be prepared for it is running rampant throughout our ranks as His remnant people.
We are almost ready for the establishment of His kingdom , let us remember that all God can do is give His Word through His prophets. We MUST believe what the Word clearly says. We cannot be found as “believing” in Him if we do not believe in His Word.
“And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”(2 Chronicles 20:20)
Godsloveandlaw's Blog 
August 7, 2017 at 4:32 pm |
Amen……