We would be sealed by God's angel
James
{5:7} Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
{5:8} Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh.
Hosea
{6:3}Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD:
his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain,
as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.
Heb.
{8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts:
and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people:
{8:11} And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
{8:12} For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Rev. {14:6} And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
{14:7} Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
{14:8} And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
{14:9} And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
{14:10} The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels,
and in the presence of the Lamb:
{14:11} And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:
and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
{14:12} Here is the patience of the saints:
here [are] they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus.
{14:13} And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write,
Blessed [are] the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours;
and their works do follow them.
Joel
{2:23} Be glad then, ye children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God:
for he hath given you the former rain moderately,
and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain,
and the latter rain in the first [month. ]
{2:24} And the floors shall be full of wheat,
and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
{2:25} And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,
the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm,
my great army which I sent among you.
{2:26} And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
that hath dealt wondrously with you:
and my people shall never be ashamed.
{2:27} And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel,
and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else:
and my people shall never be ashamed.
{2:28} And it shall come to pass afterward,
[that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions:
{2:29} And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
{2:30} And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
{2:31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
{2:32} And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:
for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Rev. {7:3} Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. {7:4} And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
[and there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Eph. {1:12} That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
{1:13} In whom ye also [trusted,] after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise
{1:14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory.
Sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
All glory and honor, all praise to the Lord our God the maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is!
Praise be to God that we are not left without comfort- Heavenly Comfort.
John {14:16} And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever;
{14:17} [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
{14:18} I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you
The Spirit of truth dwells within us, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter from Heaven. Jesus prayed that the Father would give the Comforter to those that Love Him.
Does having a Comforter mean we'll feel no pain? On the contrary, having a Comforter is the Hope of a future beyond the pain of existing in the world we live in. No matter the pain everyone has pain. The Spirit of Truth brings us comfort and hope, the truth as it is found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He preached of the coming world, of His return, He knew He had to leave and yet He wasn't abandoning anyone. Just as a good parent provides a care giver for their children when they have to leave, Jesus provides for us a care giver while He ministers in Heaven and prepares a place for us there. The Holy Spirit is real, as real as Jesus, as real as God. Can we know the ways of the Holy Spirit? No, no more than we can know the ways of God.
All praise to God!
If the Holy Spirit is to be poured out in a way exceptional to the every day offer of the promise of His being with us, may we be ready to receive whatever the Spirit can give us through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
We would be sealed by God's angel, sealed unto Christ, completely marked as His and His alone! We offer all we are to God, and we long for the out pouring of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter.
Please Lord, have us Yours.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior now and forever.
Amen.
8/11/11
Yesterday we
discussed the dark ages a bit, we talked about the horrific dark period in our
earth's history where under the guise of Christianity Papal Rome exerted such
authority that putting to death those who opposed them, torturing those who
were contrary to their beliefs, was something common and widespread.
During that time
not all of God's people were wiped out.
Throughout history God has kept at least a small group of those He can
call His true followers, from harm's way. While many who followed the truth in
Christ sincerely were brought to horrific ends- among them the Apostles
themselves- God could not allow all of His followers to be destroyed.
Dan 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the
covenant shall he (((the
Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their
God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33 And they that understand among the
people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by
captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be
holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall
fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the
end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Among those who
kept a vigil over the truth were the Waldeneses-
'In 1179, some
Waldensians went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III forbade explanation or
critical interpretation (exegesis) without authorization from the local
clergy.[5] They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own
understanding of the scriptures.
Waldensians were
divided by three types of activity: Sandaliati, who received sacred orders and
were to prove the heresiarchs wrong; Doctores, who instructed and trained
missionaries; and Novellani, who preached to the general population.[6] They
were also called Insabbatati, Sabati, Inzabbatati for keeping the Sabbath
and/or rejecting all religious festivals.[7] They were also sometimes called
Sabotiers, which some sources state was due to the unusual type of sabot they
used as footwear.[8]
Seen by the Roman
Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared heretics by Pope
Lucius III in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, and by the Fourth Lateran Council in
1215.[5] In 1211, more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning
several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the movement.[9] Part of
their legacy is recognized as works of the writer Henri Arnaud. The Waldensian
Church of Italy has survived to the present day.[10]'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians>
*******
Protesting the
Catholic rule, protesting the Papal dictates that were against God's teaching
even came from some in their own ranks.
In the
800's--
'As bishop of
Turin, Claudius found that men were often directed to go on pilgrimage to Rome
for penance and that worshippers were accustomed to venerate Christ and the
saints by bowing before images and relics. Claudius, coming from an educated
background, was not greatly exposed to such provincial modes of worship.[9] He
made attacks on the use of images, relics, and crosses, he opposed pilgrimages
to obtain absolution, and he had little regard for the authority of the pope due
to his belief that all bishops were equal.[3]
Claudius was a
heretic in the view of Dungal and Jonas of Orléans, who later wrote to refute
some of his teachings at the request of the emperor.[3] The last recorded act
of Claudius is in a charter of the monastery of St Peter at Novalesa in May
827.[1] He was dead by the time Dungal finished his Responsa contra peruersas
Claudii Taurinensis episcopi sententias late in 827, so it is presumable that
he died that year.[1]'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius_of_Turin>
*******
The rejection of
the decree to worship images--
'[14] Dupin,
Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council
of Nice; but that decree
was rejected by
France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was
moreover condemned
by the Council of
Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: – "Appointed bishop
by Louis, I came to
Turin. I found
all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians
venerate the images of saints,
they have not
abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p.
149.)'
http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/THE_HISTORY_OF_PROTESTANTISM_01.pdf
*******
As the Papal
church introduced it's various perversions always there were those who opposed
these abominations. There
were those who allowed themselves to be called heretics rather than worship
idols, there were those who were outspoken against the transubstantiation of the
eucharist-
'Berengar of
Tours (c. 999–January 6, 1088) was a French 11th century Christian theologian
and Archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at
Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of
dialectic that was soon followed at cathedral schools of Laon and Paris, and
who disputed with the Church leadership over the doctrine of transubstantiation
in the Eucharist.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengar_of_Tours>
*******
Those who were
against the change and perversion of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Read this--
'Early church
According
to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices as regards
Sabbath.[1] "In the first centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been
kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God, and, believing
that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its
precepts".[2] "That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday,
it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious
services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the
Sabbath being still sacredly observed."[2]
Widespread
seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and
4th centuries.
In
the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus Church History book 5 states:[3]
For
although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred
mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at
Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.
On
the seventh of March, A.D. 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree
making Sunday a day of rest from labor stating:
All
judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of
the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the
fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for
planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the
advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time
perish.
--
Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History [4]
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Sabbatarians>
*******
All along the
huge broad path of corruption there exists a much smaller, much narrower path of
truth. Along those two paths
people walk and have walked since sin entered the world.
Right now YOU are on one of those paths. Right now I AM on one of those
paths. Every single human being
exist on one path or the other.
There is a path of truth and a path of lies.
Unfortunately for a lot of people Satan has prettied up the path of lies
to make it look almost exactly how one might imagine the path of truth. Only
those who sincerely desire the truth of God no matter the cost- will receive
that truth. Those who would rather believe lies will be allowed to do so. No one is force onto the path of Truth.
By the grace of
God may we continue to study HIS truth. We have these prophecies and we have
history and the two go together.
This is the 50th study focusing on prophecy studying the Book of Daniel,
and we still have a long way to go. I'm not going to stop, this has been an
amazing blessing for me and I hope any others who are reading this study are
also being blessed.
All glory goes to
God, all praise, all honor to our amazing heavenly High Priest, our King, our
Savior!
May we be blessed
to continue this study tomorrow learning more and more of God's love, of God's
truth.
Amen.
{5:7} Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
{5:8} Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh.
Hosea
{6:3}Then shall we know, [if] we follow on to know the LORD:
his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain,
as the latter [and] former rain unto the earth.
Heb.
{8:10} For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts:
and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people:
{8:11} And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
{8:12} For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Rev. {14:6} And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
{14:7} Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
{14:8} And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,
because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
{14:9} And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
{14:10} The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels,
and in the presence of the Lamb:
{14:11} And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:
and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
{14:12} Here is the patience of the saints:
here [are] they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus.
{14:13} And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write,
Blessed [are] the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours;
and their works do follow them.
Joel
{2:23} Be glad then, ye children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God:
for he hath given you the former rain moderately,
and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain,
and the latter rain in the first [month. ]
{2:24} And the floors shall be full of wheat,
and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
{2:25} And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,
the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm,
my great army which I sent among you.
{2:26} And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the LORD your God,
that hath dealt wondrously with you:
and my people shall never be ashamed.
{2:27} And ye shall know that I [am] in the midst of Israel,
and [that] I [am] the LORD your God, and none else:
and my people shall never be ashamed.
{2:28} And it shall come to pass afterward,
[that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
your young men shall see visions:
{2:29} And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
{2:30} And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
{2:31} The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
{2:32} And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:
for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Rev. {7:3} Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. {7:4} And I heard the number of them which were sealed:
[and there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Eph. {1:12} That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
{1:13} In whom ye also [trusted,] after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise
{1:14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory.
Sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
All glory and honor, all praise to the Lord our God the maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is!
Praise be to God that we are not left without comfort- Heavenly Comfort.
John {14:16} And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever;
{14:17} [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
{14:18} I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you
The Spirit of truth dwells within us, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter from Heaven. Jesus prayed that the Father would give the Comforter to those that Love Him.
Does having a Comforter mean we'll feel no pain? On the contrary, having a Comforter is the Hope of a future beyond the pain of existing in the world we live in. No matter the pain everyone has pain. The Spirit of Truth brings us comfort and hope, the truth as it is found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He preached of the coming world, of His return, He knew He had to leave and yet He wasn't abandoning anyone. Just as a good parent provides a care giver for their children when they have to leave, Jesus provides for us a care giver while He ministers in Heaven and prepares a place for us there. The Holy Spirit is real, as real as Jesus, as real as God. Can we know the ways of the Holy Spirit? No, no more than we can know the ways of God.
All praise to God!
If the Holy Spirit is to be poured out in a way exceptional to the every day offer of the promise of His being with us, may we be ready to receive whatever the Spirit can give us through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
We would be sealed by God's angel, sealed unto Christ, completely marked as His and His alone! We offer all we are to God, and we long for the out pouring of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter.
Please Lord, have us Yours.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior now and forever.
Amen.
8/11/11
Yesterday we
discussed the dark ages a bit, we talked about the horrific dark period in our
earth's history where under the guise of Christianity Papal Rome exerted such
authority that putting to death those who opposed them, torturing those who
were contrary to their beliefs, was something common and widespread.
During that time
not all of God's people were wiped out.
Throughout history God has kept at least a small group of those He can
call His true followers, from harm's way. While many who followed the truth in
Christ sincerely were brought to horrific ends- among them the Apostles
themselves- God could not allow all of His followers to be destroyed.
Dan 11:32 And such as do wickedly against the
covenant shall he (((the
Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their
God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33 And they that understand among the
people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by
captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be
holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall
fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the
end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Among those who
kept a vigil over the truth were the Waldeneses-
'In 1179, some
Waldensians went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III forbade explanation or
critical interpretation (exegesis) without authorization from the local
clergy.[5] They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own
understanding of the scriptures.
Waldensians were
divided by three types of activity: Sandaliati, who received sacred orders and
were to prove the heresiarchs wrong; Doctores, who instructed and trained
missionaries; and Novellani, who preached to the general population.[6] They
were also called Insabbatati, Sabati, Inzabbatati for keeping the Sabbath
and/or rejecting all religious festivals.[7] They were also sometimes called
Sabotiers, which some sources state was due to the unusual type of sabot they
used as footwear.[8]
Seen by the Roman
Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared heretics by Pope
Lucius III in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, and by the Fourth Lateran Council in
1215.[5] In 1211, more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning
several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the movement.[9] Part of
their legacy is recognized as works of the writer Henri Arnaud. The Waldensian
Church of Italy has survived to the present day.[10]'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians>
*******
Protesting the
Catholic rule, protesting the Papal dictates that were against God's teaching
even came from some in their own ranks.
In the
800's--
'As bishop of
Turin, Claudius found that men were often directed to go on pilgrimage to Rome
for penance and that worshippers were accustomed to venerate Christ and the
saints by bowing before images and relics. Claudius, coming from an educated
background, was not greatly exposed to such provincial modes of worship.[9] He
made attacks on the use of images, relics, and crosses, he opposed pilgrimages
to obtain absolution, and he had little regard for the authority of the pope due
to his belief that all bishops were equal.[3]
Claudius was a
heretic in the view of Dungal and Jonas of Orléans, who later wrote to refute
some of his teachings at the request of the emperor.[3] The last recorded act
of Claudius is in a charter of the monastery of St Peter at Novalesa in May
827.[1] He was dead by the time Dungal finished his Responsa contra peruersas
Claudii Taurinensis episcopi sententias late in 827, so it is presumable that
he died that year.[1]'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius_of_Turin>
*******
The rejection of
the decree to worship images--
'[14] Dupin,
Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council
of Nice; but that decree
was rejected by
France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was
moreover condemned
by the Council of
Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: – "Appointed bishop
by Louis, I came to
Turin. I found
all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians
venerate the images of saints,
they have not
abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p.
149.)'
http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/THE_HISTORY_OF_PROTESTANTISM_01.pdf
*******
As the Papal
church introduced it's various perversions always there were those who opposed
these abominations. There
were those who allowed themselves to be called heretics rather than worship
idols, there were those who were outspoken against the transubstantiation of the
eucharist-
'Berengar of
Tours (c. 999–January 6, 1088) was a French 11th century Christian theologian
and Archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at
Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of
dialectic that was soon followed at cathedral schools of Laon and Paris, and
who disputed with the Church leadership over the doctrine of transubstantiation
in the Eucharist.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berengar_of_Tours>
*******
Those who were
against the change and perversion of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Read this--
'Early church
According
to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices as regards
Sabbath.[1] "In the first centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been
kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God, and, believing
that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its
precepts".[2] "That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday,
it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious
services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the
Sabbath being still sacredly observed."[2]
Widespread
seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and
4th centuries.
In
the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus Church History book 5 states:[3]
For
although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred
mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at
Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.
On
the seventh of March, A.D. 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree
making Sunday a day of rest from labor stating:
All
judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of
the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the
fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for
planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the
advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time
perish.
--
Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History [4]
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Sabbatarians>
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All along the
huge broad path of corruption there exists a much smaller, much narrower path of
truth. Along those two paths
people walk and have walked since sin entered the world.
Right now YOU are on one of those paths. Right now I AM on one of those
paths. Every single human being
exist on one path or the other.
There is a path of truth and a path of lies.
Unfortunately for a lot of people Satan has prettied up the path of lies
to make it look almost exactly how one might imagine the path of truth. Only
those who sincerely desire the truth of God no matter the cost- will receive
that truth. Those who would rather believe lies will be allowed to do so. No one is force onto the path of Truth.
By the grace of
God may we continue to study HIS truth. We have these prophecies and we have
history and the two go together.
This is the 50th study focusing on prophecy studying the Book of Daniel,
and we still have a long way to go. I'm not going to stop, this has been an
amazing blessing for me and I hope any others who are reading this study are
also being blessed.
All glory goes to
God, all praise, all honor to our amazing heavenly High Priest, our King, our
Savior!
May we be blessed
to continue this study tomorrow learning more and more of God's love, of God's
truth.
Amen.