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Conversation #028
The church of God
Hi Truth Seeker,
You wrote:-
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Hi Ron,
I do believe i've found it! Everything that i'm learning fits. The church body though seems dead to me.
This is life for me, to preach the gospel to all creatures of Christ, because He's my friend. The people in the church are complaining about pot-luck suppers and stupid meaningless things, when they could see that this life is worthless! ! ! unless we give it to Him and do His will.
I've been learning a lot and i can't see how they can be so complacent. They're no different than any of the other churches except that the Real Truth is preached there.
We need another Wycliffe, Huss, Luther and we need him now before the Roman C. C. does it again.
I've also gotten a revelation about the bar-codes use in the near future. There's a preacher i saw a couple of videos of and i heard he has a travelling ministry, if so and if he'll take me, i'm going!
I don’t have time to write everything right now, but just know that A LOT of my questions are being answered by God through the word, you, pastor, and every good source He has. It's a long time in coming but i believe i've found my purpose in life.
Till next time,
Truth Seeker
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Dear Dominic,
Welcome to the real church of God!! Most of us have been in the Laodicean condition for many a year now as witnessed by this word. But some of us are still giving the real truth at times as you can see.
Revelation 3:14-19
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning [Beginner] of the creation of God; I know your works, that you are neither cold [indifferent] nor hot [enthusiastic]: I would [wish] you were cold or hot [for then I could stir you up].
So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot [sitting on the fence, neither one nor the other], I will spue you out of My mouth [you make Me sick with anxiety]. Because you say, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;" and know not [refuse to know] that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked [spiritually].
I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire [strong faith that can handle rejection], that you may be rich [in God’s works]; and white raiment [the righteousness of Christ], that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear [your lack of power to overcome]; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve [the guidance of the Spirit], that you may see [and understand the truth].
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [I don’t give up on you though]: be zealous therefore, and repent [please!].
What shows this condition? Ellen White wrote in 1852.....
Early Writings 107.2
As I have of late looked around to find the humble followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, my mind has been much exercised. Many who profess to be looking for the speedy coming of Christ are becoming conformed to this world and seek more earnestly the applause of those around them than the approbation of God. They are cold and formal, like the nominal churches from which they but a short time since separated. The words addressed to the Laodicean church describe their present condition perfectly. (See Revelation 3:14-20.)
They are "neither cold nor hot," but "lukewarm". And unless they heed the counsel of the "faithful and true Witness," and zealously repent and obtain "gold tried in the fire," "white raiment," and "eye-salve," He will spew them out of His mouth.
The time has come when a large portion of those who once rejoiced and shouted aloud for joy in view of the immediate coming of the Lord, are on the ground of [in harmony with] the churches and the world who once derided them for believing that Jesus was coming, and circulated all manner of falsehoods to raise prejudice against them and destroy their influence.
Now, if any one longs after the living God, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and God gives him to feel His power, and satisfies his longing soul by shedding abroad His love in his heart, and if he glorifies God by praising Him, he is, by these professed believers in the soon coming of the Lord, often considered deluded, and charged with being mesmerized or having some wicked spirit.
But don’t worry about it - it’s just one of the proofs that we ARE in God’s last church (the 7th), and that He doesn’t give false witness. He tells it as it is. We need to get our faith direct from the word of God over and above their behaviour.
Matthew 24:12-13
[Jesus said] And because iniquity shall abound [in the church], the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.
When Jesus was looking for disciples He couldn’t find any among the pastors or elders of the time, except maybe Matthew Levi, and he had given up his job as a Levite (worker in the temple) and was a tax-gatherer for the Romans! The others were Galilaeans on the outskirts of the church. And so it is today.
As for the Wycliffe and Luther’s etc. Well, we have His word that there will be one BEFORE the second coming. These are the last words of the Old Testament as the 450 years of rejection began.
Malachi 4:4-6
Remember you the law of Moses My servant [the ceremonies of the sanctuary], which I commanded to him in Horeb [Mt Sinai] for all Israel, with the statutes [the laws] and judgments [daily advice on how to keep the laws].
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers [a harmony], lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Jesus told us that John the Baptist was AN ELIJAH (there have been many of them over the years, Matthew 11:14) and therefore we can look, not for the original man because he is busy elsewhere, but for one who resembles him in character and message. But how did the church receive John? At first they flocked to him, but then the leaders warned them against him and they gave him up to die. So it will be again.
1 Selected Messages 412.2
The Jews tried to stop the proclamation of the message that had been predicted in the Word of God; but 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" (Mal. 4:5).
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."
[This was given in a Morning Talk at Battle Creek, Jan. 29, 1890. Printed in Review & Herald Feb. 18, 1890.]
As for doing the will of God:- When Jesus healed the paralysed man on the Sabbath and told him to pick up his bed and walk (John 5), He knew that He was going against the popular interpretation of Sabbath-keeping. But this was deliberately done on His part in order to "preach the Sabbath more fully".
So He expected to be brought before a court to answer for His behaviour, and He was. (Notice that He engineered this under the guidance of the Spirit). That’s when He claimed to be one with God IN HIS WORKS.
John 5:16-19
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, "My Father works hitherto, and I WORK." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
Then answered Jesus and said to them, "Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for what things soever He does, these also does the Son likewise."
Of course, behind the claim of doing the works of God was the idea that He was also the Son of God IN A SPECIAL WAY and that’s what the Jewish leaders rejected. They understood that all Jews were the sons of God but they saw that He was also claiming a greater connection, which is why they accused Him of blasphemy and hated Him. In the last days the real Christians will make the same claim. Not that they are divine, for He did not claim this, but that they have a different relationship with God than all the other professed Christians and this will be shown by THEIR works. They will be hated and proscribed (outlawed) for that.
Desire of Ages 208.2
Jesus repelled the charge of blasphemy. My authority, He said, for doing the work of which you accuse Me, is that I am the Son of God, ONE WITH HIM IN NATURE, IN WILL, AND IN PURPOSE. In all His works of creation and providence, I co-operate with God.
"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do."
The priests and rabbis were taking the Son of God to task for the very work He had been sent into the world to do. By their sins they had separated themselves from God, and in their pride were moving independently of Him. They felt sufficient in themselves for all things, and realized no need of a higher wisdom to direct their acts.
But the Son of God was surrendered to the Father's will, and dependent upon His power. SO UTTERLY WAS CHRIST EMPTIED OF SELF THAT HE MADE NO PLANS FOR HIMSELF. He accepted God's plans for Him, and DAY BY DAY the Father unfolded His plans.
So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will.
When we do this, we may be sure that the end will soon come.
See ya,
Ron
oooOooo
To the reader,
If there is anything not clear to you as you read my answer, please feel free to mail me and ask about it. I promise not to send you anything but a direct answer to your question. I won't argue about it, just share with you what I have seen.
I won't ask you to join a new church or offshoot either!
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