As we approach the ten days of global prayer, now should be a time of intense preparation. We must heed this counsel. May no one think that God will pour out His Spirit on the church as it is now. This is an opportunity for the church to repent, seek revival and reformation, and return to primitive godliness.

It is not only an individual preparation and cleaning house but the leaders that stand in the place of Christ are required to heed 2Timothy 3:16.

T9: 231
Plain statements must be made. Unvarnished truth must be spoken.

That reminds me of this statement:

T1: 181
“I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God’s people.”

I’m not sure if the “shaking” comes before the Latter Rain, or if the two happen at the same time. In any case this shaking seems to seperate “the men from the boys”, so to speak.

Thanks Tempest!

Here’s one for you that per chance you were not aware of before?:

Ellen = light, lamp (Think “eye salve!”)
Gould = “gold”
White = “white raiment”

Coincidence or by design? By whom?

Praise the Lord, the Creator of all!

God is trying to tell us something here so that as a people we won’t miss it. As a church we have been luke warm and it is now time to be zealous for the Lord.

Hello friends:
It’s amazing to realize that God would rather have us COLD, than lukewarm. Of course His first choice would be for us to be hot; however we must remember that being lukewarm is particularly deadly. And this spiritual state is remarkably prominent in (though not limited to) the affluent parts of the world - North America and Western Europe. The counsel of Revelation 3:18 is of paramount importance, so I pray that more and still more of our churches will participate in this great movement.

During the 40 days of prayer, for 40 minutes each day,leading up to the ten days of global prayer, it makes perfect sense for the people of God to seek repentance of this Laodicean condition.

From my intense study on the subject of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of the prophecy in the book of Joel, I strongly do not believe that this prophecy will be fully fulfilled until the church is sifted.

The sifting of the church in my understanding will come when “Sunday law is passed”. Those who are not fully committed etc. will be sifted out. Persecution will definitely sift out those who are not on the Lord’s side.

Check the process the first church went through. It was a pure church that the Lord poured out His Spirit on. There was no one in that upper room that was not clean and pure within. “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4.

When the law is passed which will bring about the mark of the beast, persecution will follow. This will be on a global scale. The goats will be shifted from the sheep and a pure church will remain on which the good Lord will pour out His Spirit. Of this group the 144,000 will preach the last sermon calling God’s people out of Babylon. Though there were 120 persons in the upper room, all received the power but only the disciples preached.

I crave your responses.

Thanks Tempest!

I used to be an avid bird watcher. One thing about that and about recognizing anything whatsoever: Everything, every living being, can be recognized by certain characteristics. Rarely does a thing have only one characteristic, does it?

Think about a bird, a flower, your favorite pet, your spouse, your child! How many characteristics can you come up with for each one?

God has created a multi dimensional universe, has He not? God’s Sons and Daughters may well be characterized as those who have an eye towards recognizing as many dimensions as possible out of all that which the Creator has created for each of us to perceive and learn? Then doesn’t it make sense to characterize this particular characteristic using one specific symbol? And isn’t “144,000″ just such a symbol?! 12 x 12 x 1,000 = 144,000. What lessons do each of us perceive in each of those numbers? More than one dimension - or just one?

And how about “the Mark of the Beast?” Is it nothing but that one thing we’ve all been taught? Or is that pointing to any characteristic that can be used for recognizing someone as being a ‘beast’ and not an ‘Adam?’

How many distinguising characteristics can I think of in order to more correctly recognize myself for what I am, whether one “of man” or one “of God?”

May God bless each of us as we continue to watch ourselves in the mirror of God’s Holy Scriptures - and as the latter rain is pouring down upon us and cleansing us!

Shalom!

Am I a beast, or am I a Son or Daughter of God?

Do I have some of the characteristics of a beast? Or, do I have only the characteristics of a true Son or Daughter of God?

Is my life characterized by the Mark of the Beast? Or, do I carry the Mark of the Creator God within my forehead and within my mind? Who and what is my focus of my life? Where are my priorities?

Sometimes I believe we spiritualize away important terms used in the bible by making a too narrow application of certain words in real life. For instance, growing up as an SDA I have all my life been hearing that the Mark of the Beast, 666, is found upon the Pope’s tiara in the form of the words “VICARIUS FILII DEI.” I don’t recall ever hearing much of anything being taught from an SDA pulpit about this Mark of the Beast besides that and besides not obeying the Sabbath commandment in connection with some indefinite future enforcement of the already existing (in most States) Sunday laws. It seems to me that by this kind of thinking and teaching we are keeping on fooling ourselves that that is the one and only real life application of the significance of the Mark of the Beast. In other words, Are we fooling our selves that the Mark of the Beast is something that is not yet reality? while in fact it is very much a reality today. A reality with many applications in the here and now which touches upon most of our lives in many and different ways?

Revelation 13:18 teaches us that the number 666 “is the number of a man.” Think about the words “a man.” The “a” is the indefinite article, is it not? Thus the same passage could just as well be translated “it is the number of any man,” can it not? Doesn’t that imply that the Mark of the Beast is a characteristic applicable to others besides the pope?

In fact, isn’t it true that the Roman Catholic Church with all its teachings and rituals and beauty is a glorious and very attractive way of demonstrating to all of us many of the characteristics that a true Son or Daughter of God is not? If we are indiscriminatingly taking upon us as a people or as a church or as individuals more and more of the very attractive characteristics of the Roman Catholic Church, aren’t we then risking taking upon ourselves the Marks and characteristics of the Beast?

And what about Genesis 1:29-30? Isn’t that text teaching us some distinguishing characteristics between a true Son or Daughter of God on the one hand, and on the other the corresponding characteristics (and marks) of the beasts granted by the Creator into the dominion of Man in verse 28?

In fact, what about submitting oneself indiscriminatingly and unreservedly into a dominion of men (e.g. into the jurisdiction of any State,) isn’t that in and of itself a characteristic and Mark of a beast as per the definition found in Genesis 1:28?

What other characteristics does the Bible associate with the Mark of the Beast? Perhaps some of them may be better recognized than before by carefully and prayerfully considering Revelation 14:12?

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