| They Also Will Persecute You |
Today's Text:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3:12
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The Message:
Herod and the wicked authorities killed the Just One, but Christ never killed anyone, and we may attribute the spirit of persecution-because people want liberty of conscience-to its origin, Satan. He is a deceiver, a liar, a murderer, and accuser of the brethren and sisters. He loves to see human misery. He exults in distress, and as we view the cruel persecutions of those who would obey God according to the dictates of their own consciences, we may know that this is the mystery of iniquity. The Lord said to Satan, that old serpent, "It [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). Christ in a special manner bruised the head of the serpent, but the prophecy is far-reaching. It is a declaration of an unwearied conflict between Christ and His followers, and Satan and his angels and human agencies on this earth, to the close of time.
This conflict was opened upon the Son of God. He was afflicted; He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Majesty of heaven had to leave the scene of His labor again and again because of Satan's bruising His heel, and finally Satan's malignity reached its utmost power when Satan inspired and controlled the minds of wicked men to crucify Him. He has followed the children of God, causing them disaster and death. But woe to those agents who have lent their powers to be controlled by Satan to harm God's little ones! Isaiah, Daniel, and John have in prophecy announced these very struggles and conquests that God's people would pass through, and the triumph of Satan in his supposed victories.
The enmity of Satan will continue fierce and determined against the followers of Jesus. "They have persecuted Me; they will also persecute you." John 15:20. There can be no enmity between fallen angels and fallen men who have practiced the very works and sport of Satan. Both are evil-both have forsaken the good, the pure, the holy character which distinguished the life of Christ. Evil, wherever it exists, in rejecting light and truth and departing from the living God, will always league against the righteous and obedient. Fallen angels and fallen human beings join in a desperate companionship. This is the very union that the persecutors of the faithful entered into.
Satan made his calculations that if he could induce men and women, as he deceived and induced the angels in his warfare, he should have them as his allies in every enterprise against heaven. Jarrings and discord, envy and jealousy, hatred and fraud were the elements that reigned among Satan's kingdom; but when opposing Christ and those who believed on His name, they were bound firmly together as the bands of steel. The no-law question was their present truth.
Persecution of the Vaudois has ceased, but they are not the people they once were. Shepherds are hired to be missionaries, but they have lost their power, their faith. They have not walked in the light. Piety and the beauty of holiness are not seen in the church. They have become sectarian. Errors and traditions and formality characterize the church. The truth, Bible truth, they will not receive. The living faith may be cherished by a few. The Bible is not opened to the people. There is a constant jealousy lest some shall come in to take away their congregations from them. The people are taught to look to their ministers alone.
If God has a message to this people, as He has sent messages of warning and reproof, the way is barred so it shall not reach them. The ministers will not, like the noble Bereans, search the Scriptures to see if these things are so, that as faithful watchmen they may warn the people. A firm breastwork is preserved that seemingly the truth cannot enter. But we have faith that the arrows of the Almighty will penetrate the barriers, that the people held in bondage may see what is truth. The ministers give false interpretations to the Scriptures-spiritualizing away the literal interpretation. Ignorance of the Scriptures exists.
The people are fettered and blinded and are but a few paces removed from the spirit which prevails among Catholics, and Protestant reformers have planted themselves where they will not move forward. God has light for them-peace and joy if they will have it; but they refuse-perfectly satisfied.
The Lord has light and truth if they would receive it, to awaken the old fire of zeal and practical godliness, but they refuse the only means God has ordained to reach His people by the barriers they have themselves erected. Superstition, unbelief, and ignorance prevail here in Italy among these Vaudois. Has the glory forever departed from this people, the descendants of the Waldenses? The religion, systems, and forms have sunk into apostasy. Will they never rise again?
There is in Christianity that which these churches do not possess. The truth does not present ideas mingled with traditions and fables. The religion of Jesus Christ presents the truth, pure and undefiled. It will bear investigation, and honest seekers after the truth will have it. True religion does not excite the mind and feelings, but appeals to the intellect and to the heart. It is constantly developing and rising higher and higher heavenward. God can work for this poor people.-Manuscript 62, 1886.
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Commentary:
My friend, to reject the truth is to accept a lie. God has given us ample evidence in the Scriptures of who He is, and how we are to worship Him. In the last days the central issue will be upon worship. Those who do not worship according to man-made traditions will be derided, persecuted, and eventually killed. The great deception that Satan has deceived the whole world by is in the trinity. It has a form of God, but in reality is a false image of God. It is the central doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, and by it flows all of its doctrines.
The deception that is to be played out upon the elect of God is not to be done in the future but is here today. It is the trinity. He has led the leaders remnant church to accept this false image of God, and by them he has corrupted the whole church. Though there is still a remnant within the remnant that have shaken off this great delusion, these are persecuted within the church. Like the Pharisees of old, they hold fast to their traditions, while they reject the plain truth.
Those who stand up for the truth as it is revealed in the Scriptures, are not tolerated. They are derided, ridiculed, and eventually cast out of the church. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12). The reason why there is no enmity between the remnant church and the rest of the Protestant churches is because she is fundamentally in harmony with them. By the adoption of the trinity, the remnant church has come into harmony with them. Though there are certain doctrinal issues that separates them, the church has accepted the foundation of the Babylonian church, and is being corrupted by it. The abominations that have come into the church today, are a direct result of drinking of the wine of Babylon.
The church is no longer walking after the light of truth. It has long since ceased to be the Church of Philadelphia, and is now the Church of Laodicea. It has forsaken the One true God for the triune god of the trinity. It is no longer being led by the Spirit of God, but is not being led by the Spirit of Satan. Jesus is knocking upon the doors of the hearts of His people, seeking to gain entrance. He is on the outside because the people have forsaken the One true God and accepted the false god of the trinity.
My friend, how long will you deny the evidences that are so plainly before you. It is time for us to stand true to God and turn away from the false god of the trinity unto the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ.
God bless,
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Video of the Week
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| Sin, Jesus & You - Nader Mansour |
These three words summarize the Gospel message. In this study Nader explores the practical aspects of how our understanding shapes our experience.
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