Will You Choose Jesus?

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Will You Choose Jesus?

Today's Text: But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? John 18:39

The Message:      The great controversy between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness has not abated one jot or tittle of its influence as time has gone on....      In our behalf Christ met the specious temptations of Satan and left to us an example as to how to overcome Satan in the conflict. He exhorts His followers, saying, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Satan has made masterly efforts to perpetuate sin. He arrayed all his evil agencies to war against Jesus Christ in an active, desperate conflict, in order that he might bruise the heart of infinite Love. He seduced the people to bow to idols, and thus gained supremacy over earthly kingdoms. He considered that to be the god of this world was the next best thing to gaining possession of the throne of God in heaven. In a large measure he has been successful in his plans. When Jesus was on earth Satan led the people to reject the Son of God and to choose Barabbas, who in character represented Satan, the god of this world.      The Lord Jesus Christ came to dispute the usurpation of Satan in the kingdoms of the world. The conflict is not yet ended, and as we draw near the close of time, the battle waxes more intense. As the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ draws near, satanic agencies are moved from beneath. Not only will Satan appear as a human being, but he will personate Jesus Christ, and the world who has rejected the truth will receive him as the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He will exercise his power and work upon human imagination. He will corrupt both the minds and the bodies of people, and will work through the children of disobedience, fascinating and charming, as does a serpent. What a spectacle will the world be for heavenly intelligences! What a spectacle for God, the Creator of the world, to behold!      The form Satan assumed in Eden when leading our first parents to transgress was of a character to bewilder and confuse the mind. He will work in [just] as subtle a manner as we near the end of earth's history. All his deceiving power will be brought to bear upon human subjects, to complete the work of deluding the human family. So deceptive will be his working that people will do as they did in the days of Christ, and when asked, "Whom shall I release unto you, Christ or Barabbas?" the almost universal cry will be "Barabbas, Barabbas!" And when the question is asked, "What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?" the cry again will be "Crucify Him!"-Manuscript 39, 1894 (The Review and Herald, April 14, 1896).

Commentary: My friend, the deceptive power that Satan used by turning the leaders of the Jews and the people against the long awaited for Messiah, is the same deceptive power that is being exercising upon the people of God today.  Satan's power to deceive is stronger today than it was in the days of Christ.  Though we have been granted greater light than the Jews, Satan has adapted his deceptions to match the light given, and over time has supplanted the One true God that our church pioneers worshiped, with the false god of the trinity. By the churches adoption of the trinity, she is in harmony with the church of Rome for it is the central doctrine of the Catholic Church, and from it flows all of her doctrines.  The Seventh-day Adventist church today thinks that the day that we worship on makes us peculiar and different from the rest of the Christian world, but this is not entirely true.  Who we worship is more important that the day that we worship on.  Don't get me wrong the Sabbath is important, but unless we are worshiping the correct God on the correct day of the week, we will not receive the seal of God.  The Lord speaking through the prophet Ezekiel said this, "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." (Ezekiel 20:12).  God gave us the Sabbath as a sign of our allegiance to Him, but unless we are sanctified by Him; unless we are worshiping the One true God, we cannot receive the seal of God. In the 24th chapter of Matthew, Jesus is warning the disciples and the people at the end of time of the great deceptions that will come, "... insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." (Matthew 24:24).  The focus of the deceptive power of Satan is upon the elect of God, and as he did to the apostolic church of old he has done to the Seventh-day Adventist Church today.  In the book of Jude, God foretells the manner by which this is accomplished saying "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:3, 4). By infiltrating the leadership of the church, evil men have, over time, come into the church and have supplanted our belief in the One true God with the god of the trinity.  While the prophet of God was in the church this work could not have been accomplished.  Though it was tried during the time of John Harvey Kellogg through his book "The Living Temple", it was thwarted by God through His prophet Ellen G. White.  Our church pioneers were decidedly non-trinitarian and believed in the One true God and His Son Jesus Christ.  They believe that the Spirit of God was not a separate being from the Father and the Son, but was His omnipresent Spirit.  They believed that the Spirit of God lived within the Son because He was brought forth from the very substance of the Father and is the only begotten Son of God. However since our church pioneers have been laid to rest, little by little the trinity has crept into the church, though opposed in the beginning, over the generations it has steadily gained acceptance until it is not one of the fundamental beliefs of the church.  Such is the deceptive power of Satan. The Seventh-day Adventist church which was once the church of Philadelphia which had no admonitions, has now become the church of Laodicea, a church who has nothing good in it.  It is in this condition because of the trinity.  The church has forsaken the One true God and accepted the false god of the trinity, which has a form of godliness, but lacks the power of God to overcome sin, as such the people are blind to their true condition before Him.  Therefore He sends a message to them through the Faithful and True Witness saying "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:17).  They are naked because they do not have the righteousness of God; they are blind because they are looking unto the false god of the trinity, which on the outside looks like God, but it is not. By the churches adoption of the trinity she has turned her back upon God and has become as one of the daughters of Rome.  Jesus, who is the true head of the church is on the outside seeking to gain entrance saying "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20).  If Jesus is on the outside seeking to gain entrance, then who leading the church?  It is the spirit of antichrist for it says in 1 John 2:22 "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."  By denying that Jesus is the literal Son of God, it reveals that the spirit that guides the church today is not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of Satan. My friend, I know that this is not an easy thing to hear, but you must hear it.  The message of the Faithful and True Witness is a straight message that is designed to awaken those in the church who have been deceived.  That by zealous repentance, they may turn from their false worship unto the One true God. The question for you today is will you choose Jesus or the trinity?  The choice that you make today will determine your destiny for all eternity.  May you choose Jesus today. God bless,

Video of the Week The Godhead by Pastor Bill Taitague Retired pastor Bill Taitague presents a important message for our time.  This message was presented in June to a group of people in California.