Closer To Heaven
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by Loren Seibold | 29 May 2023 | Here in the United States, today is a holiday when we honor those fallen in military battles for our country. It’s called Memorial Day. And I confess I have mixed feelings about it. Especially when it’s celebrated in church. I am deeply appreciative of those who died […] Source: https://atoday.org/patriotism-in-the-worship-service/
Sun worship was prominent in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and certainly Babylon. In his book The Worship of Nature, James G. Frazer makes this observation, “In ancient Babylonia the sun was worshipped from immemorial antiquity.” — (London: Macmillan and Co., 1926), vol. 1, p. 529. It may seem surprising, but at times Babylonian sun worship influenced the worship of God’s people in the Old Testament.
Image © Justinen Creative Collection at Goodsalt.com
The prophet Ezekiel, a contemporary of Daniel, pictured some of God’s people with their backs toward the temple of God worshiping the sun toward the east. Instead of worshiping the Creator of the sun, they worshiped the sun instead.
In Revelation 17:1-18, John describes a time when the principles of Babylon, including sun worship, would enter the Christian church during an age of compromise. The casual conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great joy in the Roman Empire. Constantine had a strong affinity for sun worship. Edward Gibbon, the renowned historian, writes, “The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.” — The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: J. O. Robinson & Co, Ltd., 1830), p. 12. In A.D. 321, Constantine also passed the first “Sunday law.” This edict stated, “On the venerable day of the Sun let the Magistrates and the people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.” — Edict of Constantine, A.D. 321. This was not a law enforcing Sunday observance for all of Constantine’s subjects, but it did strengthen the observance of Sunday in the minds of the Roman population.
It was in succeeding decades that emperors and popes continued through state decrees and church councils to establish Sunday as the singular day of worship, which it remains today, as well, for the majority of Christians. What a powerful example of the hard truth that just because the majority of people believe in something, or practice it, doesn’t make it right.
| Look around at how prevalent Sunday worship is in Christian churches. What should this fact teach us about how pervasive Satan’s deceptions are? Again, as with the state of the dead, what is our only safeguard? |
(0)The post Tuesday: Babylon – The Center of Sun Worship appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/tuesday-babylon-center-of-sun-worship/
COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. — Mark and Suzie Robertson, parents of two recent Southern Adventist University graduates, are demanding a full tuition and board refund from the university. “The whole reason we sent Seth and Bethany to Southern was so that they could both get married. All we ever heard about were a few lame banquet dates,” […] Source: https://atoday.org/satire-parents-demand-tuition-refund-from-southern-for-their-unmarried-kids/
Los himnos que solemos considerar adventista, son una compilación de himnos producido por diferentes compositores, protestantes y evangélicos. El 80% del Himnario Adventista son cantos hechos por no adventistas. Y esto ha sido así, desde que en 1855, James White compiló el primer Himnario Adventista con música que tenía 435 himnos.[1] A partir de […] Source: https://atoday.org/la-influencia-protestante-y-evangelica-en-el-himnario-adventista/
Such expressions as the “dwelling place of demons” or the “spirits of demons” and “sorcery” all indicate demonic activity. No wonder we have been warned that of the two great deceptions in the last days, one will be “the immortality of the soul” (see Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588).
Image © Steve Creitz at Goodsalt.com
Of course, that’s so easy to see today. Even in the Christian world, the idea of the soul being immortal is all but staple Christian doctrine. Many Christians believe that, at death, the saved go soaring off to heaven, and the lost descend into hell. How often, for instance, after the great evangelist Billy Graham died, did we hear that “Billy Graham is safe now in heaven, in the loving arms of Jesus,” or the like? This kind of thing is taught all the time from pulpits, in classrooms, and, especially, at funerals.
One of the pillars of Babylonian deception is a false understanding of death, which, centered on the idea of the immortality of the soul, prepares the way for the deceptive influence of spiritualism. If you believe that the dead, in some form, live on and might even be able to communicate with us, then what protection do you have from any of the myriad deceptions that Satan has? If someone whom you thought were your dead mother or child, or someone else beloved, were suddenly to appear and talk to you, how easy would it be to be fooled by your senses? This has happened in the past, happens now, and, certainly, as we near the very final days, will happen again. Our only protection is to stand firmly rooted in what the Bible teaches and to cling to the biblical teaching about death as a sleep until the second coming of Jesus.
| What examples of modern spiritualism exist in your culture today? Why is firm adherence to the Word of God our only protection? |
(0)The post Monday: The Old Lie of Immortality appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/monday-old-lie-of-immortality/
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