Going to Madagascar?

After nearly 3 decades in Japan spanning 35 years, I’m ready to go where the people are more open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe I’ve had a good impact for Jesus on some people, especially children, But my church ended the English volunteering every Tuesday when the corona bug hit in 2020, and now I’m just kind of earning money and sending it abroad to help spread the gospel. As long as the jpy was strong, that seemed to be a good thing, but for 2 years now the jpy has been very weak, prompting me to rethink where I’m supposed to be to give the most glory to Jesus.

Right now, that appears to be Madagascar, but not sure if they will be able to get me a visa or not. Please pray that if it is God’s will, that the visa will come thru quickly.

Always keep your eyes up on Jesus!

A Call to the Churches in America, by Boris Sorokovsky – Review

“A Call to the Churches in America” by Boris Sorokovsky
Review A-

I just finished reading this 35 page booklet.
I split it up into 3 time slots, and finished it all in about 45 minutes.
During my supper break, I watched a YouTube video where a pastor in a church somewhere covered “A Call to the Churches in America”.

A Call to the Churches

https://youtu.be/EchJHxf3ZsQ
The middle half of the book was very interesting, and the first 1/4 and last 1/4 seemed to have a true message, except for one thing, and one other thing that gave me pause, perhaps some historical fudging, and then the thing about the Sabbath.

I really want something like this to happen. I would like to see the Holy Spirit working openly like in apostolic and Millerite days. It would be great to be part of something where one can be sure that God is directly leading. So I read with great wonder and happiness of the miraculous way God led this people. I like to watch videos of the “Old Believers”, many of whom are from Ukraine and Russia, and either still live in Russia, or else in Canada or America and even one group that went down to South America not long ago. Most of them are Mennonites and or Amish type people, and while I understand that they are somewhat different, I lump them pretty much all together in my mind. Just 2 weeks or so ago I watched a documentary on Old Believers in Siberia. It was quite fascinating.

Anyway, Boris Sorokovsky seems to be telling the truth about his parents’ and his personal experiences. I see no reason to doubt it.

God DOES raise up denominations

The one thing that is definitely not true is that he puts down denominations, saying that they are all man-made. We know from inspired writings that is not true at all. While it is true that just having your name on the church books does not guarantee that you will enter the marriage supper of the Lamb, we know that God personally raised up the Seventh-day Adventist Church, blessed it, and considers it as the “apple of his eye”. There is no greater object on this earth that God holds in higher regard than the SDA Church. It is in a Laodicean condition, but it is still one of the 7 churches of God, and is not part of Babylon.

New The Great Controversy animated movie by Hope Romania

Hope Romania, a Seventh-day Adventist organization, has created a nearly hour-long animated film called “The Great Controversy”.

Having wanted to create a film on this book by Ellen White for around 25 years, I was very interested in this, and watched the whole thing at one sitting.

I don’t want to give away too much, but will say that the movie does NOT do justice to the book, as it is completely contrary to it in several places. For two examples, it implies strongly that Adam and Eve weren’t told by God the reason for sacrificing animals, and it also explictly says that the angels didn’t know about the plan of salvation until Jesus came to this earth.

But there are some good points to this film, and while I don’t encourage anyone to watch it, I will link to it here in the hope that someone may get inspired to want to make a movie faithful to The Great Controversy book in the future.
https://youtu.be/QLF_VrxbFwo

Lazarus and the rich man explained as a parable

Jesus used the parable of Lazarus and the rich man to explain an important Bible truth – that the poor in this life may go to heaven, while the rich may not be there. We need to keep the injunction to “Do unto others as you want them to do unto you” if you want to go to heaven.

Many people try to bring up Jesus’ parable about Lazarus and the rich man, saying that this proves people live fairly normal lives in hell forever. Let’s explore that parable a little here.

Is hell just a few hundred meters away from heaven?

Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

If this is to be taken literally, hell and heaven (where Abraham is) are so close together than even in hell you can see those in heaven. So at most it can be perhaps 500 meters separated from each other?

Does the rich man want real help to get out?

Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

The man in hell doesn’t ask for real help with his thirst, but just a tip of finger in water, meaning that Lazarus can run over to hell and enter hell and put his finger in the man’s mouth. So people can run back and forth between hell and heaven, which makes sense if they are only 400 meters at the most separated from each other.

Hell and heaven have a great gulf between them

Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from thence.

Abraham’s “great gulf” may be very deep, but only about 400 meters wide. It seems there are no helicopters or airplanes available for transport either, making one wonder how they ever got to their respective places in the first place.

Hell must be a very quiet place

Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Somehow the men talking can make their voices heard over this “great gulf”. That suggests that hell is a quiet place. Also, it suggests that people in hell aren’t in too much pain or suffering, and actually not doing too bad if they can converse naturally with people in heaven.

Lazarus is dead

Both the man in hell, and Abraham are referring to Lazarus as “dead”. This is very telling, and the key to understanding the entire parable.

Jesus turned familiar parable on its head

Jesus used this parable that the Jews knew, and turned it on its head, because they thot that rich people were especially favored of God, and that poor people were not. By the content of the parable itself, it is quite easy to determine that Jesus is not telling his hearers exactly what happens after death, as that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

David is still dead

According to Acts 2:29, even David is dead, still in 31AD.

Acts 2:29 Men [and] brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

He is awaiting the resurrection, just like all others who have lived and died, except for the very few that either never died, or were resurrected by Jesus.

For further study

Pastor Doug Batchelor explains Lazarus and the rich man well in this sermon:

Let’s be good Bereans, and not fall for Satan’s lie that one can sin and still live forever in misery in hell.

Visiting Sasebo SDA Church, and seeing more Hidden Christian history in Kyushu

lion-mask

This post is the 2nd part of a 2 part series about my summer 2022 trip to Kyushu. (First part of Hidden Christian trip) The highlights were visiting the Sasebo SDA Church, seeing more Hidden Christian history at Shimabara castle, sleeping on a bench, and getting re-acquainted with Hiroshima.

I took the bus in a light rain back to Sasebo, then went to the shopping mall at the port and after buying some nearly-expired bread and a big rice ball, I found a nice patio table and ate overlooking the port. I had walked past a small hotel the first night I came to Sasebo, but since the sign said the front desk closed at 10pm, I walked on by as it was already closed. But today when I walk in, a loud chime rings, and an old, bent woman comes out from somewhere. She looks up at me, and after I ask in Japanese if there are any vacancies, she breaks into a broad smile and creakingly leads me up the stairs to a 3,800yen room. sasebo hotel

Yes, I wondered if I should pay to stay on the Sabbath, but I considered it would be better to do that than to lay out in the park and go to church the next day all sleepy and grimy, as that wouldn’t give a good witness. I walked out to the naval museum, but it had just closed when I got there. It was interesting to walk by the American naval base there tho.

There are a lot of Americans walking around Sasebo. I was surprised to see how many of them had tattoos, and how many of them looked like teenage persons of color. There are so many Americans in fact, that this McDonalds, along with a few other shops, even accept American currency! mcdonalds

Going to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sasebo

Sasebo SDA Church

This was one of the 3 main reasons for this trip – to go to the Sasebo SDA Church. I knew the recently installed pastor was a Brazilian man (whose grandfather was Japanese) that I had met and stayed with for a couple of days in Saitama at a self-supporting Portuguese school in 2009. At that time, he had just quit his FX trading job, and was still very much into the rise and fall of pips. We had some good talks, and I tried to show him to get completely out of that worldly mindset, and work wholly for Jesus. Well, I hadn’t had any contact with him for these 13 years, but knew that he later went to AIIAS in the Philippines to study theology, and had just recently been ordained as a pastor in Japan.

Only around 20 people attended the day I was there, but there were 3 kids and several young (under 40) couples, and 2 people who are not yet Adventists. Since this was “Bon holidays” when most everybody in Japan believes their dead ancestors return, so they go back to their hometown for about a week, the pastor’s “sermon” was on the State of the Dead – excellent timing! Why do I put sermon in quotes? Because he had extracted many Bible verses showing the true state of the dead, printed them out on paper, and then had each person in the congregation read one of the texts, then he would comment on it, then they would pass the paper and microphone to the next person, until everybody in church had a chance to read one. It was really good! The Sabbath School was good too, as he actually encouraged discussion, something that is almost never done in Japan. About 5 of us in the congregation are native English speakers, and since his English is better than Japanese, he would speak in English, then his wife would translate into Japanese.

After the sermon we had potluck, then a good time of more study and online conference in the afternoon. It was a wonderful time, so much so that I really wish I could quit all my work here in Osaka, and move to Sasebo to help them. That’s not going to happen tho… Oh yes! There was one 50+ man in the congregation who asked some good questions in the Sabbath School. He is not Christian yet. I asked later how he started coming to church, and the pastor said that he was cleaning the church one Sunday afternoon, and ths man just walked in, saying that he was trying to find a church. Wow! I told the pastor that if all our churches were open 24/7 like convenience stores, we would no doubt have many more souls coming in, looking for help and eternal life in Jesus. sasebo adventist church

That evening I spent in the park again, in the same place I was on my first night in Sasebo. A email from one lady at church really encouraged me, and helped me ignore the mosquito bites. I prayed that God would bless the Sasebo SDA Church.

Going to Shimabara

I took a pic of this Catholic church walking to Sasebo station. sasebo catholic churchI know it looks very common for a European, but in Japan, scenes like this are very rare. The one-car train to Shimabara took us by this station, which has been featured on TV many times as the closest station to the sea in Japan. As you can tell, there is no fence or anything to keep one from falling in, something I cannot even imagine coming from Osaka – ha!

Shimabaa is famous for its rebellion against the Tokugawa government. I will copy and paste what Wikipedia says about it:

Shimabara Rebellion is often portrayed as a Christian rebellion against violent suppression by Matsukura Katsuie. However the main academic understanding is that the rebellion was mainly against Matsukura’s misgovernance by peasants, with Christians later joining the rebellion.

The Shimabara Rebellion was the largest civil conflict in Japan during the Edo period, and was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate’s rule.

Shimabara_Rebellion wiki

That’s exactly right. I was surprised too, as everything I had heard about this rebellion, was that it was about Christians fighting for their freedom to worship peacefully, when actually the root cause was because people didn’t like the high taxes, started a rebellion, and many Christians joined them. hmmmm.

Why in the world would a Tennessee state flag be flying in the shopping arcade in Shimabara? First time I’ve ever seen that in Japan! You can tell from the picture that there are hardly any people. The free, hot foot bath sure felt good! And then I could get on a ferry and cruise about one hour. That was nice, and useful, as it landed me in Kumamoto. The free little van to take passengers to Kumamoto train station were all reserved, but there were some empty ones, so the driver kindly let me ride too – sweet! There are vending machines for just about everything in Japan, but this is the first one I’d seen for FISH!

In the afternoon I had to change trains, and saw this sign for “Usa”. That reminded me of something I had back when I was a kid, how a Japanese company had marked its clothing “Made in Usa”. So many Americans happily purchased it, thinking they were supporting an American company. For me, as a kid, it symbolized how sometimes people can say what is true to the listener/reader, but what is actually false in purpose. It was quite a big lesson in my life, so to see this sign was very interesting.

Bench press and Hiroshima ending

Around the Fukuoka and Kokura areas of Kyushu, there were lots of people, and even some young people, making me feel almost like I was back in Osaka. I got off at Shin-Yamaguchi, walked around about 1/2 an hour, and found this secluded bench in a park right by some hgh-rise apartments. When sleeping outside, I never want to be too remote, as sometimes gangs or just a group of drunk young people might come up and do things they normally wouldn’t. But I don’t enjoy being too noticeable either, so to be a bit secluded, near people is the best. 🙂 I put the mosquito repellant all over my skin, but they decided to bite me thru my shirt and pants anyway, so finally I put on two layers of everything to finally get some sleep. As you can imagine tho, it was quite hot, so it’s hard to call it “sleep”. It’s more like dozing for a while, sleeping for a few minutes, waking up, and doing that all over again. Just before 5:00 I woke up with a fluttering sound in my ears. Big mosquitoes? No, little bats. They were really cute, and their acrobatic skills were amazing! It was cool too, to see a bunch of little flying insects come down to my level every time a bat passed about 3 feet overhead.

This was my 7th time, I think to spend at least a few hours in Hiroshima. The day I went was exactly the 77th anniversary of the end of WWII. I could get my bearings quickly, and walked over to the castle, which, for some strange reason, I had never been to before. Here’s a pic of a eucalyptus tree there that was 740meters from the atomic blast, and you can still see burn marks on one side of it. It was funny/infuriating to see signs in Hiroshima saying how they were just helpless sufferers from this terrible atomic bomb, then see small signs here and there how this was a military installation, housing for officers, air-warnng location etc. When I first went to Hiroshima on vacation in 1988, the A-bomb museum was very small and junky and honest. Just a few years later they made a big, modern museum that decries how all these innocent people suddenly lost their lives in a blinding flash. (I will never enter it again) Of course they don’t explain well how the American planes dropped leaflets for days in the town telling people to get out, that somethng terrible was going to happen, and to stop the war. Actually, the military got agitated because of those leaflets, and ordered anyone finding one to bring it to them for burning. One more very unusual thing before I leave this topic is that there is some scientific evidence that those who survived the radiation, actually live longer on average! Some say it is because they get more health treatment and checkups, which may be true, but some say that a bit of radiation is actually effective in preventing some diseases. Who knows?

Lunch was in Okonomimura, a place that used to have a bunch of little okonomiyaki stands, but had only one open the day I went. Okonomiyaki is flour, water, egg, bean sprouts, noodles, and usually some kind of main ingredient like meat, but I got mine with rice cakes and corn – delicious!!! But at 1,200 yen, it was by far the most expensive meal of my trip. I made it last until the next mornng. 🙂

So ended my excellent adventure. After 3 years of not really being able to take a long trip because of corona, I was very happy to get out and see something new. I fulfilled my dream of seeing the Hidden Christian history, got some new information regarding them, saw my friend from 13 years ago and enjoyed his church tremendously, and got to see the sea and even ride on it a bit. Altogether my one week trip cost only 34,000yen, being totally worth that and much more. I hope you’ve enjoyed experiencing this with me!

Is Jesus’ teaching only for the Jews?! Did he teach faith plus works?

Many Christians today, to avoid keeping God’s 7th day Sabbath holy from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday like Jesus did, are coming up with unbelieveable excuses for not following Jesus’ perfect example. Jesus kept the 7th day Sabbath, so did he teach faith plus works?

This video explores what one person wrote me recently saying that Jesus taught only for the nation of Israel, and that he taught faith plus works!!!

Let’s follow Jesus’ perfect example and “Remember” to keep holy what he wrote with his own finger in stone.

Did Jesus teach faith plus works video.

Trip to see Hidden Christian history in Japan

Hidden Christian Hirado panorama

My long-awaited trip to Kyushu in Japan to see Hidden Christian historical places (隠れキリシタン) finally came to fruition from August 9 – 15, 2022. I had originally planned to go to the 5 outlying islands off of Nagasaki called “五島列島” in Japanese, but in checking the web a couple of days before going, saw that they didn’t really want anyone outside of Nagasaki prefecture coming there, as they are scared of corona. OK. So instead, I went to some of the most western area of Nagasaki where there were quite a few hidden Christians, and had a meaningful time seeing historical places, and just enjoyed being in a totally different environment for a few days.

I like to ride trains and see the sea, and got my heart’s desire full of both! I also got to see some castles, and best of all, a Seventh-day Adventist friend who I’ve only seen once before, and that was at a little self-supporting place in Saitama prefecture that had a school for Portuguese speakers back in 2009.

This post will be about just the first 3 days of the trip.

I bot a “青春18切符” which translates to “Youthful 18 ticket”. There’s no age limit, and you buy a ticket for around 12,000jpy (100usd) and you get it stamped each day you use it, and you can use it for any 5 days in a period. Summer has the longest period of us: from July 20 to September 10, and you can use that ticket any 5 of those days, or of course you can have 5 people use it all together in just one day, or whatever. It’s very convenient. However, you cannot ride any of the fast trains. So to travel the 758km (471miles), I had to take the first train at 5:13, and arrived in Sasebo at 22:27. I have never had a problem with motion sickness on anything before, but I felt woozy for several hours after getting off. I had supper of noodles on the platform of the Tosu station, something I used to do a lot but has nearly completely disappeared from Japan. The lady running it looked like she was around 80:

So I arrived in Sasebo at 22:27, as the trains in Japan are nearly always on time (only one train was late on all this trip – about 9 minutes), and I promptly went looking for the Sasebo SDA church which I easiy found, and took this picture:

I went back to this church on Sabbath, and will have more pics of it in my next post.

“Abortion is Murder” – Adventist pastor Devron Thomas preaches the Word!

Today, I uploaded a new video to Youtube:

Devron Thomas is a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in Turks and Caicos Islands. Recently he gave an impassioned sermon showing how the US Supreme Court overturning Roe vs Wade was a godly act, and that abortion is a terrible sin. He asks the provocative question: “What if Mary had aborted Jesus?”

What if Mary had aborted Jesus?

His full sermon can be seen at this link, and he gets into the focus of his sermon around the 34:30 mark:

We praise God for this godly decision by the US Supreme Court, and vow to work more and pray more to overturn the support of abortion in our own SDA Church. Would that we had 1000 SDA pastors blasting this truth out of their pulpits, but most are addicted to worldly praise and honor and paychecks, so they forbear.

God bless you pastor Thomas!

The least of these my brethren get love from the U.S. Supreme Court!

Jesus Christ in womb

After 49 years of dismembering and beheading over 50 million of the least of these my brethren, finally this travesty of a decision of Roe vs Wade in 1973 has been overturned by a vote of 5-4.

This was made possible by Donald Trump and people who voted for him for president in 2016, and of course these 5 Supreme Court justices. Thank you God for raising up such people!

It’s calculated that within a month, over 1,000 kids a day will be given life because of this godly decision. 🙂

I can’t think of anything happier that has happened in society since this anti-christian law was enacted.

For all SDAs who support abortion, or don’t care enough to vote – REPENT! The blood of those littlest ones made in the image of God can be forgiven by Jesus today.

May our SDA Church finally wipe the stain of supporting this evil off its collective membership, so God can finally pour out the Latter Rain on us.

For the least of these my brethren who will have their lives spared because of this godly decision: we love you, and pray that you will choose Jesus to the salvation of your souls, and we will meet in heaven around the great white throne very soon!

Secrets Unsealed Summit 2022 breaking the Sabbath yet again!

So sorry to see that Pr. Stephen Bohr, of Secrets Unsealed, continues to break the Sabbath each year at his annual summit. I’ve remonstrated with him before, but he decided that evangelism is better than to obey God. If you want more detail, check out what I wrote on this subject last year: 2021 Secrets Unsealed Summit breaking the Sabbath

Secrets Unsealed Summit 2022 Behold I Send You Elijah - Repent!

Secrets Unsealed Summit should follow Elijah’s teaching

The theme for this year is: “Behold, I Send You Elijah”. It will be held at Tenaya Lodge again, from October 26 to the 30th, forcing the workers to serve them food on the Sabbath. I call on you to heed Elijah’s words and obey the commandments of the Lord. Repent of your breaking the holy Seventh-day Sabbath!

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1Kings 18:21

“The Lord does not require them (our restaurant workers) to furnish meals for the public on the Sabbath. If those who come to our restaurants choose to take away with them on Friday, health foods sufficient to last over the Sabbath, let them do this. But our restaurant workers should not be asked to work on the Sabbath.” Ellen White Letter 45, 1902.

Does God allow divorce for lust in the heart?

Does Jesus allow divorce for lust in the heart?

divorce for lust?

Recently I was asked to give advice on this very question. My answer, supported by the Bible and Ellen White’s writings (shown at the end of this blog post), is that we humans are only given authority from God to judge for actions, never for thoughts. This seems very logical, but some of my dear SDA brethren have demurred, quoting the following text: “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28).

Let’s explore the context:

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:21-30)

This makes it much clearer than taking out one verse and trying to apply an application to it. Jesus is obviously saying that what is in the heart, will come out in the actions.

For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:43-45)

If we are angry at someone without cause, or call them a “fool” in our hearts, it is equated to killing them. So, in order to be consistent, if we are freed from our marriage vows to God by what our spouse is thinking, then we must present ourselves to the police whenever we hate someone. And we must inform the police if we see someone we assume is thinking hateful thoughts. If we don’t, we are hypocrites, and God is not fond of hypocrites.

Did God kick Satan out of heaven for thinking prideful thoughts? Or did he kick him out after he had talked out his thoughts to others, encouraging them to join him in his rebellion?

Did God tell Adam and Eve that they would die if they thought about the fruit of the Forbidden Tree? Or was it that they would die if they ate of the forbidden tree?

Did God destroy the antediluvians for thinking evil thoughts continually, or for actually doing wicked things all the time? Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Did the Israelites bring a man to Moses for thinking about picking up firewood on the Sabbath, or for actually picking up firewood on the Sabbath?

Do any of the Commandments, Statutes, or Judgments ever even hint about us humans being commanded or allowed to judge someone based on what they are thinking?

Did God divorce the nation of Israel for thinking about wanting to kill his Son, or when they actually did it?

1Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

So if God wants to judge the heart, that is his prerogative, as he created it and us. However, if we created beings start judging what others are thinking, we are on Satan’s ground. This idea that we can judge other’s motives is rampant in the world today, for example, a young man in Wisconsin two years ago tried to defend some property with a gun. The current president* of the United States judged him as a “White Supremacist” at the time. A jury later found him entirely innocent.

Breaking your vows to God: “until death do us part” because of what your spouse is thinking, is evil, pleasing Satan.

So what is Jesus telling us in Matthew 5? He is obviously saying, as repeated consistently throughout the Bible, is that what is in our hearts will come out in the actions. So we should be careful what we see, what we hear, and what we think.

—— Writings of Bible and Ellen White on this subject ——

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Lt50 1895 “Walter Harper did not put his wife away. She left him, and put him away, and married another man. I see nothing in the Scripture that forbids him to marry again in the Lord. He has a right to the affection of a woman, who knowing his physical defect, shall choose to give him her love. ”

” It is a serious matter to part a man and his wife. There is no Scriptural ground upon which to take such a step in this case. He did not leave her, she left him. He did not marry again until she had obtained a divorce. When Laura divorced herself from Walter, he suffered most keenly, and it was not until Laura had married another man, that Walter married again. The one he has chosen I feel certain will be a help to him, and he can be a help to her.”

Lt1 1896
” I feel deeply over another matter, and that is your visiting Fannie in her tent. I have already decided that you two cannot work together. You are a married man, father of two children. If your wife has obtained a divorce from you, that does not leave you free to marry again, as I read my Bible.” ( I understand this to mean that because the married man gave an appearance of impropriety, he forfeited the right to remarry even if his wife divorced him).

Lt6 1888
” Those who enlisted themselves in this work to separate the two and make of no account the marriage vow had better been reading their Bibles or engaged in praying that the Lord would give them wisdom and pure hearts and clean hands.”

“Brother Harper, if he has done an unwise thing in suffering his body to be mutilated, has not committed a sin for which there is no pardon,”

“Be it understood, I do not advise or sanction the same process that Brother Harper has gone through to arrive at the results that he was desirous to secure, but this action on his part is not a sin which God marks against him.”
(Seems Mr. Harper castrated himself, and some church members told his wife to divorce him. Ellen White wrote strongly that they were mistaken, and themselves in a worse condition than he was).

Lt8 1888
“Your ideas in regard to the marriage relation have been erroneous. Nothing but the violation of the marriage bed can either break or annul the marriage vow. ”

“God gave only one cause why a wife should leave her husband or the husband leave his wife, which was adultery.”

“Then let this, God’s institution of marriage, stand before you as firm as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.”

Lt14 1895
“I see not a particle of leniency in the Scriptures given either of you to contract marriage, although his wife is divorced. From the provocation he has given her, it was largely his own course of action that has brought this result” (So even if your spouse divorces you, if you were the cause, you cannot remarry).

Lt106a 1896
“You say you did not commit adultery. God charges adultery against everyone who doeth these things, and all who will communicate these vile practices to another are polluting that soul with vile imaginations. Can you not see, can you not understand by your own experience, that you are leading youth into this habit of self – abuse? ”

” You allow a girl to make her body common property for a man to handle, and you break down all reserve, and she will have lustful desires planted in her heart” (SDA minister was exposing himself to kids and handling their privates. Note: while this was a grievous sin, nothing is said about divorce).

Lt153 1901
“The daily papers are full of notices of divorce and marriage after divorce – the marriage condemned in the words of the Saviour”

Ms7 1904
“Because of the degeneracy of the people, a divorce law which was not in God’s original plan was permitted. ”

New Texas law saves 2,000 kids in one month!

Texas law saves 2,000 kids

The Texas Heartbeat law that came into effect on September 1, 2021, allows citizens to report and sue anyone performing or getting an abortion after the baby’s heartbeat is detected (usually at 6 weeks). It is estimated that in the first month, it saved around 2,000 lives! In September 2020, 4,313 little kids’ lives were snuffed out. In the same month in 2021, that had dropped to 2,164.

Yes, it is still horrific that over 2,000 kids were thrown in the trash in one month in one state in America, but to see this reduction, and to know that many lives are actually being saved every second this law is in place, is a great encouragement. 🙂

Don’t ever believe it when people say “my vote doesn’t matter”, because it does. Vote as if your life, and the life of the least of these my brethren, were on the line, because it is!

Article: https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/september-abortions-texas/2021/10/29/id/1042572/

The Valera 1602 Purified is the best Spanish Bible

I was looking for a faithful, good version of the Spanish Bible recently in order to subtitle the Revelation video I want to make. It was difficult searching it out, as there are several versions, each with their own supporters and detractors.

Short history of the Spanish Bible

This is by no means an exhaustive list of Spanish Bibles, but will give an idea of what is available. The Alfonso Bible (1240 OT only) was commissioned by a king, but was prohibited to be used, so was locked up and unavailable to most people. The Ferrara Bible (1553 OT only) was made by two Jews in exile. The Reina Bible (1569 first entire Bible in Spanish) was THE Protestant Bible in Spanish. The Valera Bible (1602) was a revision of the Reina Bible. This line became known as the Reina-Valera Bible, and is still seen by Protestants as the most faithful line of Bibles in Spanish today. 1865 Revision by American Bible Society which has itself been revised many times since, most notably in 1909 and 1960. The Gomez Reina-Valera Bible (2004/2010) is seen by many Protestants to be the best revision of the Reina-Valera line. The Valera 1602 Purified Bible (2007) has worked to be the most faithful to not only the Textus Receptus manuscripts, but also to the original, Castilian Spanish found in the original, 1569 Reina and 1602 Valera versions.

Example

In reading thru the various explanations, it is my belief that the Purified Bible is the best version of the Spanish Bible available today. One example will suffice: Many Spanish Bibles, including the Gomez version, have John 1:1 as “verbos” instead of “palabar”.
1960 Reina-Viera and Gomez: “En el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo era con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios.”
Purified Bible: “EN el principio era la Palabra, y la Palabra era con Dios, y la Palabra era Dios.”
This makes it very clear that Jesus is not a “Verb” (yes, there are other meanings for this word, but “verb” is the most common one), but “Word”.

For more information on this subject, check out this website: http://www.rrb3.com/mypub/books/spn_bible_inception_men_translation.htm

To read the Valera 1602 Purified Bible online, go to this link: https://valera1602.org/

¡Que Dios bendiga a todos los lectores españoles de la Biblia!

Mark of the Beast coming thru Saule Omarova, Biden’s nominee for Comptroller of the Currency?

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Revelation 13:16-18.

We Seventh-day Adventists know without a doubt that the Mark of the Beast will be not just worshiping on Sunday when the governments around the world decree it, but actually being forced to break God’s 7th day Sabbath. When you submit to their demands to do that, you will receive the Mark of the Beast, and there is no more hope of redemption for you.

“President* Joe Biden wants to put an actual Communist — self-proclaimed “radical” Cornell University law school professor Saule Omarova — in charge of the nation’s banking system.

Saule Omarova graduated from the Soviet Union’s Moscow State University in 1989 on the Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship, … ““The core idea here is simply to allow all U.S. citizens and lawful residents, local governments, non-banking firms and non-business entities to open transactional accounts directly with the Federal Reserve, thus bypassing private depository institutions,” she wrote. “In this sense, it is a variation on the familiar FedAccounts — or FedCoin, ‘digital dollar wallets,’ etc. — theme. In principle, FedAccounts can be made available as an alternative to bank deposit accounts, upon a person’s request.””

“as Kristin Tate wrote for The Hill on Wednesday: Taken to its extreme, this would mean that the Federal Reserve, acting on behalf of Washington, could become the only place citizens could deposit their money. Such a massive transformation would be accomplished by replacing consumer deposits into a new digital dollar, held by the Fed.” https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2021/09/30/lenin-smiles-biden-nominates-soviet-trained-radical-saule-omarova-for-top-banking-post-n1520765

Mark of the Beast cannot happen under a cash system

I’ve been saying this for quite a long time, especially ever since I went to India first in 1998: “It is not possible for this to be fulfilled (normally thinking) if cash is in use. With cash, it doesn’t matter what you look like or what you believe, shopkeepers will take your cash.

HOWEVER, if there is no more cash, then it is a simple thing, kind of like what we are seeing now regarding methods to keep people from getting sick, to keep people from having access to their digital currency.

What should we do? We should vote for people who will not install workers of iniquity into high positions in government, use the money you have now for spreading the Three Angels’ Messages, and prepare spiritually and physically (but not hoarding food) for the Time of Trouble that is coming soon.

The Two Witnesses cannot be the Old and New Testaments

Last week I downloaded an interesting-sounding audio sermon from the net by a SDA pastor titled “Learning From Egypt, Babylon, and France”. Obviously this is going into Revelation 11 and 13 territory, and there were several interesting things mentioned in it, However, the same, standard, unbiblical SDA position that the Two Witnesses are the Old and New Testaments was preached, startling me to hear again such unbiblical preaching glossed over in a veneer of biblical study.

We Seventh-day Adventists better get to studying deeply soon. As Revelation 11, 12 and 13 start unfolding around us, how are we going to support a belief that is so contrary to the plain reading of the Scriptures?

Revelation 11:1-14

Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Let’s break it down verse by verse.

1. “temple of God” definitely means the true church that is following God, and possibly also a physical temple somewhere sometime.
2. “holy city” may mean God’s true people, but in the Bible, it always refers to “Jerusalem” the city in Israel.
3. Was the Bible only given power “1260 days/years”? No. Possibly they were in “sackcloth” during the Dark Ages.
4. “Two olive trees”. Not sure, might be OT and NT, or maybe something else.
5. This is one of the 2 strongest verses showing that the two witnesses cannot be the Old and New Testaments. Did fire come out of the OT and NT during the Dark Ages and kill anyone? No.
6. This is power the 2 witnesses have. Yes, the Bible talks about these supernatural things.
7. Have the OT and NT ever “finished their testimony”? No. Have they ever been “overcome”? No.
8. “Our Lord was crucified” in Jerusalem in Israel. Only there. This is super-clear.
9. How many people of China, Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, India etc. even heard of the French Revolution in 1798 when it was happening? Basically zero. And nobody tried to put them in graves either, so no one could have tried to prevent them from being put in graves!
10. No one except maybe inside France sent presents to each other when France officially abolished the Bible in 1798 or so.
11. The “Spirit of God” left the Bible for 3 1/2 years around 1798? Really?! How can any Seventh-day Adventist who professes to believe the Bible believe this?
12. The Bible did not suddenly go from being persecuted to being greatly exalted around 1798. Yes, the Bible Societies were very strong in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, but there was nothing special at that time to be specially noticed by the Bible’s enemies.
13. There was no earthquake of any note in France around the 1798 time frame. There is absolutely nothing in history to point to showing that people who hated the Bible in France got really scared about seeing the Bible being exalted by God.
14. No “woe” has come quickly at all since 1798. It hasn’t. (To be honest, none of the woes or Trumpets have had their final fulfillment yet here July, 2021.

Two Witnesses

The two witnesses cannot be the Old and New Testaments for many reasons

So we see that if we believe what the Bible says, the two witnesses cannot be the Old and New Testaments.

I call on all my fellow Seventh-day Adventists to study what you believe, to show yourself approved unto God. Please let me know in the comments what you believe the Two Witnesses to be.