Closer To Heaven
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COLUMBIA, Md. – In a move that has raised eyebrows and lowered vaccination rates, the North American Division (NAD) of Seventh-day Adventists has unveiled the creation of the “PureBlood Union Conference,” a new administrative body dedicated exclusively to members who proudly reject vaccines in favor of “natural immunity and essential oils.” The announcement, made during […] Source: https://atoday.org/satire-new-union-created-for-anti-vaxxers-nad-announces-pureblood-union-conference/
Daily Lesson for Monday 28th of April 2025
It was during the Babylonian captivity, through the prophet Daniel, that God presented the most compelling descriptions we have of the relationship between His people and the kingdoms of this world. His people were no longer autonomous; they would now be reaping the consequences of their choices. (And, perhaps, learning from them?)
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
At the end of the nineteenth century, many people were exuding a new confidence in human progress. The Paris Exposition (1900), for example, was a remarkable showcase of optimism about the future. Surely, with all of our technological and scientific advances, many of humanity’s worst problems would be at an end! As humanity entered the twentieth century, among many thinkers there was this great optimism that Enlightenment ideals—such as human perfectibility and the power of reason—would usher in a wonderful new era for humanity.
World War I, however, quickly shattered those dreams, and by the end of the twentieth century, we had lost more than 200 million people to warfare. We may have advanced in a technological sense, but certainly not in a moral one. To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., we have guided missiles but misguided men. And that’s a very scary combination.
Many students of prophecy have noticed that the metals in Daniel 2:1-49 move from most valuable to least valuable: gold devalues to silver, silver devalues to brass, and brass to iron, until we end up with only iron and clay.
Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and other nineteenth-century thinkers attempted to convince us that humanity is somehow tracking upward—that we are evolving biologically and socially. And though in some ways human existence has improved (at least at a physical level), who actually looks ahead to the future of this world, as it is now ruled and governed, with much optimism about peace, security, and prosperity?
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Jesus warned, “ ‘And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places’ ” (Matthew 24:6-7, NKJV). Despite these warnings, how can we draw comfort from knowing that we have been warned beforehand about them? |
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"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22, NIV).
Tag someone in need of prayer, and kindly share your prayer requests here:
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💌 Apri la porta del tuo cuore
🗣 Speaker: Bianca Stoian Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uY0Wi7CYwk
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.
It is not essential to the exercise of faith that the feelings should be wrought up to a high pitch of excitement; neither is it necessary, in order to gain the hearing of the Lord, that our petitions should be noisy, or attended with physical exercise.
It is true that Satan frequently creates in the heart of the suppliant such a conflict with doubt and temptation that strong cries and tears are involuntarily forced from him; and it is also true that the penitent’s sense of guilt is sometimes so great that a repentance commensurate with his sin causes him to experience an agony that finds vent in cries and groans, which the compassionate Saviour hears with pity. But Jesus does not fail to answer the silent prayer of faith. He who simply takes God at His word, and reaches out to connect himself with the Saviour, will receive His blessing in return.100The Signs of the Times, May 31, 1877 (The Spirit of Prophecy 2:321, 322).
Faith is not feeling…. True faith is in no sense allied to presumption. Only he who has true faith is secure against presumption, for presumption is Satan’s counterfeit of faith.
Faith claims God’s promises, and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression. Faith would have led our first parents to trust the love of God and to obey His commands. Presumption led them to transgress His law, believing that His great love would save them from the consequences of their sin. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions on which mercy is to be granted. Genuine faith has its foundation in the promises and provisions of the Scriptures.101Gospel Workers, 260.
To abide in faith is to put aside feeling and selfish desires, to walk humbly with the Lord, to appropriate His promises, and apply them to all occasions, believing that God will work out His own plans and purposes in your heart and life.102Fundamentals of Christian Education, 341, 342.
The Faith I Live By p. 122
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Charlie who recently broke his hip. Pray also for Susan who is needing surgery for a paraoesophageal hernia. Rose
—-My late son’s mother in law has a nephew named David who is 17. He had a mishap on a trampoline and injured his C-6 vertebrae (neck). He came through over 12 hours of surgery okay. He is said to be in good spirits, but still serious condition. He has some feeling in his upper body, but so far none in his lower body. Doctors think he may never walk again. Please keep him and family in prayers. Aleta
—-Sarah got an accident through sleep walking , she walked straight to the road in a sleep and the car hit her. After a week of her getting an accident through, her husband introduced another wife claiming he can’t wait for this one to heal in order to make love thus abandoning her. One Adventist lady tries to take food to her sometimes and puts a stone and two sticks to hold the bones. She needs prayer and God’s help. John
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Dear Friends,
When I was a teenager, I lived about a mile or two from the library. I had a book that was due that day, that I had not quite finished reading. I decided that if I read the book as I walked, I would have it done by the time I got there. It took a few blocks before I could walk in a fairly straight line without watching where I was going.
Soon I became so absorbed in those last few chapters, that I was lost to my surroundings. Suddenly, I heard the squeal of brakes. Startled, I looked up from the book I was reading. Within a foot of me was a big, black car. The driver inside looked scared at first then angry. All I could say was “I’m sorry.” Closing my book, I continued walking. I would wait until I got to the library to finish it.
So, it is in our day-to-day lives. Life is a mad rush to acquire the latest gadgets to make our life happier, but those things leave us empty. We can even get so occupied with the mundane duties of life, that time passes quickly and old age is upon us. We look back and wonder where the time has gone. Truly life is as James tells us. “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:14 It seems like only yesterday that we were young and full of hopes and dreams for the future. How we wish we had at the beginning asked ourselves the question, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36
May we heed the advice of Isaiah, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isa 55:6, 7
Rose
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