Search For Certainty Bible Study: SFC Intro & SFC 1

Direction – The Bible is Truth. One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truth revealed in the Bible is that of Christ's second coming.

Search For Certainty Bible Study: SFC Intro & SFC1

Introduction

Ps Mark Finley (renowned author and worldwide evangelist) designed these lessons especially to answer your questions directly from the Bible. You can certainly place your confidence in God’s Word.

Weekly lessons take 45-55 min. Total number of lessons is 30. They are grouped under Five Sections especially for this study as shown in the ‘Lessons Overview’ below. The lesson is sequential and is linked from one to the next.

The power-point presentation was original designed for the weekly Care group of about 6-8 members on a Friday evening between 7.30- 9.15pm at the Balestier Road SDA Church after a light snack. Care stands for Christ’s Attitude Reflected in Each. Group members are united in getting to know Jesus in a personal way.  The lessons are just as appropriate for self study at your own time. First-time Bible student will be  in for a rich reward. God’s Word will give you encouragement and hope as you search for life’s deepest meaning. Experienced Bible student should benefit through the revision and benefit with a deeper insight into the truths of God’s Word.

Note: The power-point presentation was posted in Dropbox which is no longer providing free service. It is necessary to adapt by using the original  the Search for Certainty Bible Study  available at http://studies.itiswritten.com/certainty

The “Search for Certainty” Bible study series explores the teachings of the Bible in an easy-to-follow format. Each of the 30 studies can be used with nearly any version of the Bible. If you're searching for answers, this is the place to start!

In these self-grading lessons, you will learn: How to understand the Bible, how to make sense of our world, how the days we live in relate to Bible prophecy, what will happen at the Second Coming of Christ, how to find personal peace, how to identify a cult, what happens when a person dies, how to grow as a Christian, and what heaven will be like.

Choose a lesson below to begin! (press control key and click on lesson)

  1. How to Understand the Bible
  2. Our Day in the Light of Bible Prophecy
  3. A World in Turmoil
  4. The Manner of Christ’s Coming
  5. How to Find Personal Peace
  6. The Secret of a New Life
  7. Good God! Bad World! Why?
  8. Revelation’s Most Thrilling Message
  9. The Bible’s Longest and Most Amazing Prophecy
  10. A Date With Destiny: The Judgment
  11. What’s Behind Rising Crime, Violence, and Immorality?
  12. Christ’s Special Sign
  13. Tampering With Heaven’s Constitution
  14. Modern Cults Identified Five Ways!
  15. Our Greatest Need—New Lifestyle!
  16. The Real Truth About Death
  17. God’s Love in the Fires of Hell
  18. How to Successfully Bury the Past
  19. A Financial Secret
  20. Growing as a Christian
  21. God’s Church Identified
  22. Prophets and Prophecy/Visions and Dreams
  23. The Mystery of Spiritual Babylon Revealed
  24. Holy Spirit and Unpardonable Sin
  25. From Disappointment to Triumph
  26. The Mark of the Beast and the Mystery Number 666
  27. The United States in Prophecy
  28. Armageddon and the Seven Last Plagues
  29. Revelation Predicts 1,000-Year World Blackout
  30. Revelation’s Glorious Climax

The 30 Lessons are the same but  it is further explained with additions and divided under five sections here:

The Five Sections:

S I. Mysteries of Life: 6 lessons - 1. Direction – The Bible; 2. Certainty – Bible Prophecy; 3. Confidence – Christ’s Assurance; 4. Hope – Preview of Jesus’2nd Return; 5. Peace – Receive Jesus Christ; 6. Power – Abide in Jesus.

S II. Mysteries of God: 6 Lessons - 7. Sin – Satan’s Rebellion; 8. End-time Message – Satan’s Deceptive Plan; 9. Time Prophecy – 1844; 10. Judgement – Investigative Phase; 11. God’s Laws - Standard for Living; 12. God’s Rest - Sabbath.

S III. Imperceptible Counterfeits (False Worship): 5 Lessons- 13. Commandments – Change made;14. Fellowship – False Gathering; 15. Lifestyle – Unhealthy Living; 16. Death – Immortality Lie; 17. Hell – Eternal Fire Lie;

S IV. Right (True) Worship: 5 Lessons - 18. Baptism – Burial of Old Nature; 19. Stewardship – Wise Investment; 20. Spirituality –Practical Christianity; 21. Sanctuary –TrueChurch; 22. Spirit of Prophecy- End-time Insight;

S V. Restoration of God’s Children: 8 Lessons - 23. Revelation – SpiritualBabylon; 24. Spiritual Gift – Holy Spirit; 25. Restoration – Champion Movement; 26. Allegiance – Compulsory Counterfeit Mark; 27. Last Stand –America’s Apostasy; 28. Victory – Final Destruction of Sin; 29. Millennium – New Beginning; 30. Home – New Heavens & New Earth.

 

Attitudes in discovering Truth:

Approach the Bible with an open mind.

Believe that God will reveal truth as you search His word with all your heart.

Pray at the start of study for guidance of Holy Spirit.

     -God promises the Spirit will lead us into the truth.

Be willing to:

     - make any change from past ways of thinking.

       (never know the truth unless willing to live the truth.)

     - surrender your own ideas to the truth of God’s word.

Do not listen to advise dissuading you from doing what the Bible clearly teaches.

All truth leads us closer to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Seek Jesus in every subject you are studying.

Brief Instructions:

  1. Press control key and click on lesson as listed 1-30. For the supplementary notes return here where they are posted.
  2. The Bible is the source of every answer to the Question being asked and you are asked to refer to the appropriate Book in the Bible and to the actual verse/s and to form your answer based on your understanding after reading the verses. You may quote the verse as your answer. Do this before clicking on the answer.
  3. You will need to have access to a Bible. There are many free online Bible available on the internet. One such site is www.gatewaybible.com
  4. There are various versions of the Bible. You may choose from the King James Version –KJV, New King James Version- NKJV, etc.
  5. To locate any verse go to the Table of Contents to find the page of the Book, turn to that page and then look for the Chapter and then the verse. (E.g. John 3:16 = Book of John, Chapter 3, verse 16) If in doubt , you may email me at singtsc@yahoo.com
  6. Discovering the truth by searching the Bible yourself is exciting. God bless.

To start your first lesson, goto SFC 1 http://studies.itiswritten.com/certainty/lesson_1.php

Answer the 14 Questions. Then read the supplementary notes below:

SFC 1-Search For Certainty Bible Study Lesson1

S I. Mysteries of Life: 6 lessons
S II. Mysteries of God: 6 Lessons
S III. Imperceptible Counterfeits (False Worship): 5 Lessons
S IV. Right (True) Worship: 5 Lessons
S-V. Restoration of God’s Children:8 Lessons

 Supplementary Notes  Lesson 1

What is Truth?

Truth is:- Knowledge and wisdom  on living passed down by tradition and instruction (survival, security, belonging, comfort, happiness). Information we hear /learn from authoritative sources ( teachers, books). The teachings and examples of Jesus – the Revealer of truth  (Matt22:16; John18:37)( ..  “we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth” (Matt 22:16; Mar 12:14)) (.. “for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth”..(Joh18:37))

 Some Plain Truths:

 Who ordered the 7day week?

 God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning (Gen 1:1) in six days and rested  the seventh day (Ex 20:11). He blessed that day, the Sabbath day. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul- Gen 2:7). So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them-(Gen 1:27). In our day, as of old, the vital truths of God’s word are set aside for human theories and speculations.

Fundamental Questions on Life

 Origin of Life:  Evolution orCreation?

a. Evolution- Charles Darwin formulated his idea of natural selection in 1838.Publication of “On the Origin of Species” in1859.-the world takes evolution for granted and follows Darwin’s logic.

or

b. Creation-Bible in 66 books written over 1500 year period by about 40 authors.

Fundamental Questions on Life

Purpose of Life: Live on earth only- average 70 years, enjoy life and be happy.

Pilgrimage to heaven–eternal life, fear God.

Direction for Life: The most important directions - getting from earth to heaven. The most important appointment -meet Christ when He returns (no second chance). God has given us directions - The Bible provides clear information.

The Bible:

Presents understandable answers to the deepest questions of the human heart. Questions such as:

Is there any meaning to life? What happens after death? How can I be certain of eternal life? If God is so good, why is the world in such a mess? How can I have peace of mind? How can I become the person I really want to be? What is the ultimate solution to stress? Are we living at the end of human history? How will the world end?

Lesson One – “How to Understand the Bible.”

Unlocks the hidden secrets of understanding the Bible for yourself. The Bible’s authors do not contradict one another. These writings give evidence of divine inspiration.

The Bible story:

One central message throughout the Bible: Christ—the Savior of humankind. Begins in Eden, God’s perfect world. Ends in Eden, God’s perfect world restored. Before sin entered the world- God communicated directly with Adam and Eve. Sin separated our first parents from God.

Today: - Face-to-face fellowship with God is no longer possible. Still the heart of a loving God longs to communicate with a planet in rebellion.

 

Trivia

 B = Basic; I = Instructions;  B = Before; L = Leaving; E = Earth

 Old (3 letters), Testament (9letters) (combine letters together)= 39 books

 New Testament is 3x9 = 27 books

 Bible = (39+27) = 66 Books with between 40- 44 Authors, written over a period of over 1500years.

Extra- Origin of Old Testament

In the beginning - No Need for written word due to long life of antediluvian patriarchs (Adam 930 yrs –Noah 950 yrs – Abraham 175years = 2135 yrs). First recorded word  needed as Israelites spent 400 yrs in Egypt under slavery and forgot the  Spoken Word (Exo 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.)

Evidence of Bible’s inspirations:

Prophecy- over 300 prophecies in Old Testament about Jesus fulfilled; also others about Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Cyrus, Medo-Persia & Greece.

Archaeology- Moabite Stone, Lachish letters,The Dead Sea Scrolls, Cyrus cylinder,The Rosetta Stone.

Accuracy- Masoretic  copies match. Dead Sea Scroll fragments. Same topics harmonies in  different books. The Bible  declares itself inspired in more than 3000 places.

Archeological Discoveries

The Cyrus Cylinder records Cyrus’ overthrow of Babylon and the deliverance of the Jewish capture, as recorded in Daniel 5 and prophesied in Isaiah 44 and 45.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, date back to 150B.C. They contain portios or the entirety of every Bible book in the Old Testament. More than a half century of study by the world’s best linguist scholars confirms the accurate transmission and copying of the Bible text.

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 in Egypt by Napolean’s scientist, was written in three languages- hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. It unlocked the mystery of the Hieroglyphs and helps to confirm the reliability of the Bible.

The Moabite Stone, discovered in 1868 at  Debden, Jordan, confirms the Moabite Attacks on Israel as recorded in 2 King 1 and 3.

The Lachish Letters, discovered 1932-1938 24 miles north of Be Sheba in Israel, describe the attack of Nebuchadnezzar on Jerusalem in 586 B.C. qnd confirm the truthfulness of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Dead Sea Scrolls-(1947-1956)

Animal skin parchments up to 30 feet, 100,000 fragments in all. Containing all or part of every book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) with the exception of Esther. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The oldest copies of the Bible in existence - 250 B.C. to about 65 A.D.. The previous oldest existing manuscripts of parts of the Hebrew Bible came from about 800-1,000 A.D. The oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible, the Leningrad Codex, dates to 1008 A.D.

 Useful Viewing Resources:

www.gatewaysda.org

www.3abntv.org

www.hopetv.org

www.amazingfacts.org

www.iiw.org

www.gatewaybible.com (online Bible
 
 
tsc/21/9/09/8+4/reload 15/7/18

Lesson 2 Certainty – Bible Prophecy

Certainty – Bible Prophecy: The doctrine of the second advent is the very keynote of the Bible. Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of Christ's coming but presents tokens by which men are to know when it is near. God will not let anything happen before HE tells His prophets.

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2, Our Day in the Light of Bible Prophecy 

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Extra- Jesus spoke of Daniel

Book written in 6th Century BC, not 160 AD.
 
Quoting a passage from the book, Jesus Christ mentions Daniel as author (Mat 24:15; Mar 13:14).
 
Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
 
Mar 13:14  But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
This prophecy has dual fulfillment:

  -The first signal  was for Christ’s followers to flee, when Jerusalem was surrounded by armies prior to the Destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

  -Our signal for the end-time event is when a national law is passed in the U.S.A. enforcing Sunday as a day of rest.

Preceding Verses 12 and 13 are an encouragement for us to hang on to God, not letting go of our faith or letting our love grow cold, but to steadfastly endure to the end.(Mat28:20)
 

Authorship: the majority of Christian scholars today consider the book of Daniel the product of an anonymous author who lived about the time of the Maccabean revolt, in the 2d century b.c.

These scholars set forth two main reasons for ascribing so late a date to the book of Daniel: (1) Since, as they assert, certain prophecies point to Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–c. 163 b.c.), and since, according to their concept, most prophecies—at least those that have been demonstrated to have had an accurate fulfillment—were written after the events described had occurred, Daniel’s prophecies, according to their claims, must be dated in the time following the reign of Antiochus IV; and (2) since, according to their contentions, the historical sections of Daniel record certain events that disagree with historical facts known from available sources, these disagreements can best be explained by assuming that the author was removed from the actual events so much in space and time that he possessed but a limited knowledge of what had actually happened in the 7th and 6th centuries b.c., 400 years earlier.

AD.66 Gen Cestius retreated for unknown reason. Titus resume siege in AD.70

Theme. The book of Daniel might appropriately be called a handbook on history and prophecy. Predictive prophecy is a preview of history; history is predictive prophecy passing in review. The element of prediction enables God’s people to see the things of time in the light of eternity, alerts them for effective action at appropriate times, facilitates personal preparation for the final crisis, and provides a firm basis for faith upon fulfillment of the prediction.

The four major lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel set forth in brief outline, against the background of world history, the experiences of God’s people from the days of Daniel down to the close of time. “The curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, above, behind, and through all the play and counterplay of human interest and power and passions, the agencies of the All-merciful, One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will” (PK 500). Each of the four lines of prophecy reaches a climax when “the God of heaven” sets “up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (ch. 2:44), when the “Son of man” receives “everlasting dominion” (ch. 7:13, 14), when opposition to the “Prince of princes” is “broken without hand” (ch. 8:25), and when God’s people are delivered forever from their oppressors (ch. 12:1). The prophecies of Daniel thus provide a divinely constructed bridge from the precipice of time to the boundless shores of eternity, a bridge over which those who, like Daniel, purpose in their hearts to love and serve God, may pass by faith from the uncertainty and distress of the present life to the peace and security of life everlasting.

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Rev 10:4  And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

Lesson 3. Confidence – Christ’s Assurance

Confidence – Christ’s Assurance; Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard.Satan uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows:- bring disease and disaster

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3. A World in Turmoil

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Extra- Reason for the Turmoil

God withdraws blessings and protective care from all transgressors of His Law. (Isaiah 24:4, 5.{GC 589.3})
 
Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard.
 
Satan uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows:

  - bring disease and disaster;

  - cause accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes,

  - distress through pollution, famine, and pestilence

  - these visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous.

It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would--He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.  {GC 589.2}

Lesson 4. Hope – Preview of Jesus’2nd Return;

Hope – Preview of Jesus’2nd Return. The doctrine of the second coming is the very keynote of the Bible. "Behold , He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him" Rev 1:7

 

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The Manner of Christ’s Coming

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Extra- Love, Hope and Faith

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
 
Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
 
Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
 
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
 
1Th 1:3  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
 
1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, love (charity), these three; but the greatest of these is love (charity). (God is love- 1Jn4:7)
 
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Rom 4:20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

1Th 1:3  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

1Co 13:13  And now abide faith, hope, love (charity), these three; but the greatest of these is love (charity).

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

 
Extra- Hope in Righteousness
 
“Sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God..”-TM p367
 
“ All our righteousness are as filthy rags.” Isa64:6
 
Righteousness = right doing

         = obey God’s law

         = holiness

         = love

         => JESUS

Without Jesus, we have no hope in righteousness.
 
A Christian is one who has a faith relationship with Jesus.
 

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Rom 5:1-6; Heb9:27-28; Rom 8:24-39

Lesson 5. Peace – Receive Jesus Christ

Peace – Receive Jesus Christ; “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” (Rom 3:10)This is he dilemma of the human race. Our natures are fallen. We cannot help ourselves, even when we realize that we are destroying ourselves.God offers us a new birth with an altogether new nature. (2 Cor 5:17).

The new life is received through relationship with Christ. (Rom 8:2) Only Jesus can lead us from sin to righteousness- to stand at His second coming.

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5. How to Find Personal Peace

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Extra- Word of God & Prayer

Dr. W. Sadler, Psychiatrist:
 
-Prayer is a powerful and effectual worry-remover.
-Clear conscience barricade the mind against  neuroticism.
-Many are victims of fear and worry as they fail properly to maintain their spiritual nutrition.
-Patients to engage in daily systematic Bible reading.
He listed 43 verses of therapeutic value e.g.1Jn1:9;14:27; Mat11:28,29: Ps51:10;91:11,12; Ph4:13,19)
 
God removes the guilt “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12)
 
The Lord replaces fear & guilt with peace & gratitude. (1Jn4:18)

Ref: S.I. McMillen, MD” None of these Diseases” 1996 Aenon Itnl P.L.S’pore William Sadler, Practice of Psychiatry 1953, p 1012-13

 
Extra- Nature of Sin (unrighteous)
 
“ The inheritance of children is that of sin. Sin has separated them from God.” (CG p475) Everyone is born sinful (or self-centered), an inherent propensities of disobedience.
 
We are by nature ‘children of wrath’ (Eph2:3)
 
“The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” (Psa 58:3)
 
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” (Rom 3:10)
 
Sin (singular)- living apart from God, results in sins (plural)- doing wrong things.
 
This is he dilemma of the human race. Our natures are fallen. We cannot help ourselves, even when we realize that we are destroying ourselves.
 
The first birth is no good  for eternal life – a second birth must follow. (Joh 3:3)
 
God offers us a new birth with an altogether new nature. (2 Cor 5:17).
 
The new life is received through relationship with Christ. (Rom 8:2) Only Jesus  can lead us from sin to righteousness.
 

Ecc 3:11  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart,(put eternity in their hearts) so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecc 3:17  I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

“All the sins and excesses of Solomon can be traced to his great mistake in ceasing to rely upon God for wisdom and to walk in humility before Him” SDA commentary v2 p1031

Eve ate the apple  because she fell. She had come around to distrusting God and relying instead on herself. The act that followed was only the result.

In our daily seeking to know Him, there may be times when we take our eyes off Him for the moment andcease to depend on Him and depend on ourselves. When we do , we will fail. But as we continue to seek to know Him, He will lead us to the point of trusting Him all of the time, so that our behaviour will be right as well.

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Lesson 6. Power – Abide in Jesus

Power – Abide in Jesus: The power given us works from within outwardly, leading us to communicate to others the truth that has been communicated to us; witnessing to the lost..

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6. The Secret of a New Life

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Extra- Power in the Word of God

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” (Mat13:33; Luk13:20,21) ‘Leven’ illustrates the quickening, assimilating power of the grace of God.
 
The grace of God must be received by the sinner (none fallen so low as to be beyond the working of this power-the Holy Spirit) before man can be fitted for the kingdom of glory.
 
The word of God, if studied and obeyed, works in the heart, subduing every unholy attributes.
 
The Holy Spirit comes to convict of sin, and the faith that springs up in the heart works by love to Christ, conforming us in body, soul, and spirit to His own image; soul conversion by faith.
 
Then God can use us to do His will.
 
The power given us works from within outwardly, leading us to communicate to others the truth that has been communicated to us; witnessing to the lost.
 
 
The heart overflows with love for God and for those for whom Christ died. {COL 97-101}
 
Extra- Power Formula:
Ps Jac Colon:
Commit self to study the Bible (15-30 min) first thing in the morning.
Spend this time with Jesus:

  -Read a Gospel (e.g. Luke)

  -read a story of Jesus (e.g. Leper)

  -assume the role of leper and meditate on what you see, your obstacles and how you can get close to Him and be cleansed by Him.

  -pray and ask him to touch you and help you.

Try this for two weeks  and experience the growth in your faith of Jesus.
 
End of Section I: Mysteries of Life: 6 lessons - 1. Direction – The Bible; 2. Certainty – Bible Prophecy; 3. Confidence – Christ’s Assurance; 4. Hope – Preview of Jesus’2nd Return; 5. Peace – Receive Jesus Christ; 6. Power – Abide in Jesus.
 
Next lesson:  L7- Good God! Bad World! Why?
 

Section-II Overview: L7-L12

Section II Mysteries in Heaven - L7 -L12
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:" 1 Cor 2:7

oS II. Mysteries in Heaven:
o7.Sin – Satan’s rebellion;
o8.End-time Message – Satan’s deceptive plan;
o9.Time Prophecy – 1844;
o10.Judgement – Investigative phase;
o11.God’s Laws - Standard for Living;
o12.God’s Rest - Sabbath.
 

Lesson 7 Good Bad World, Why

Sin – Satan’s rebellion; He envied Christ in heaven and started a rebellion and were expelled. Satan's rebellion ( controvercy with Jesus) and his usurpation on earth was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages:

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7. Good God! Bad World! Why?

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Extra- Treason in Heaven

oChrist, God's dear Son, had the pre-eminence over all the angelic host. He was one with the Father before the angels were created. (Jn1:1-3)
oLucifer was envious of Christ, and gradually assumed command which devolved on Christ alone.(Isa14:13, 14) {LHU 18.2}
oThe Father conferred with His beloved Son, on the best good of the loyal angels in putting down forever Satan’s  misrepresentation and challenge:
o-could have at once hurled this arch-deceiver from heaven;
o-but give the rebellious an equal chance to measure strength and might with Jesus and His loyal angels. {LHU 19.3}
oHeaven cannot have Satan and followers living there.
oSatan and his sympathizers were expelled from heaven in the battle
.(Eze28:17; Rev12:7-9)
 
Extra- Evil Perpetuated on Earth
 
oThe Father consulted His Son in carrying out their purpose to make man to inhabit the earth at once. (The Story of Redemption, pp. 16-19).
oSatan's rebellion and his usurpation  on earth was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages:
o-a perpetual testimony to the nature of sin and its terrible results.
o-the working out of Satan's rule, its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority.
o-testify that with the existence of God's government is bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has made (Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 42, 43).
 
oNext Lesson: L8- Revelation’s Most Thrilling Message
 
 

Lesson 8- Revelation’s Most Thrilling Message

End-time Message – Satan’s Deceptive Plan; God gave Satan time to manifest all the characteristics and consequences of sin so that the whole universe will learn. Prophecies are given to tell us before things happen.

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8, Revelation’s Most Thrilling Message

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oNext lesson: L9-    The Bible’s Longest and Most Amazing                  Prophecy

Lesson 9- The Bible’s Longest and Most Amazing

2300 days Time Prophecy – 1844

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9, The Bible’s Longest and Most Amazing Prophecy

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oNext lesson: L10-    A Date with Destiny: The Judgement

Lesson 10- A Date with Destiny: The Judgement

Judgement – Investigative Phase

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10, A Date With Destiny: The Judgment

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oNext Lesson: L11- What’s behind rising Crime, Violence, and Immorality.

L11- What’s behind rising Crime, Violence, and Immoral

God’s Laws - Standard for Living;

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11, What’s Behind Rising Crime, Violence, and Immorality?

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oNext Lesson: L12- Christ’s Special Sign

Lesson: 12- Christ’s Special Sign

God’s Rest - Sabbath

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12. Christ’s Special Sign

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Sabbath Truth- "a perpetual sign and memorial,

o. . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God" (Eze. 20:20). And the reason given is: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Ex. 31:17). . .
oGod first rested (stopped creation work), then blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man. Man might reflect upon God's great work of creation; behold the evidences of God's wisdom and goodness, and his heart be filled with love and reverence for his Maker.
oHad the Sabbath been universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as an object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God.
oGod brought the Hebrews out of their Egyptian bondage, and commanded them to observe His Sabbath, and keep the law given in Eden. Every week He worked a miracle to establish in their minds the fact that in the beginning of the world He had instituted the Sabbath.
oThe provision of manna (inside the Ark of Covenant) in the wildness (Ex 16:14-27) sets the Sabbath apart from other days.
o As the tree of knowledge was the test of Adam's obedience, so the fourth command is the test that God has given to prove the loyalty of all His people. 
 
Sabbath is Satan’s main hate
oThe special work of Satan to lead fallen man to rebel against God's government:

  - tried to obscure the law of God. A special hate against the fourth precept of the Decalogue, because it defines the living God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth.

oInfidel geologists claim that the world is very much older (tens of thousands of years) than the Bible record makes it. They reject the Bible record.
oWithout Bible history, geology can prove nothing. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present. But the time of their existence, and how long a period these things have been in the earth, are only to be understood by Bible history.
oMen will endeavor to explain from natural causes the work of creation. But human science cannot search out the secrets of the God of heaven. Just how God accomplished the work of Creation in six literal days He has never revealed to mortals. His creative works are just as incomprehensible as His existence (Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, pp. 90-93).
o"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever." ( Deut29:29)
 
oNext Lesson: S 3-L13- Tampering With Heaven’s Constitution

Commandments – Change made

Prologue- SIII

oProgressing to Spiritual Meat. (1Pe2:2; 1Co3:2; Heb5:13)
oIn an age of peril –ungodliness is common.
oProfessed Christians do not believe their Bibles. 
oAntichristian ideas, customs, and practices prevail, and they are even constructed to be Christian.
oSatan has come down having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.
oStronger temptation to deny Christ in spirit and in deportment, and will increase in power as we near the end.  Strong and overpowering temptations will come upon men. 
oFalse doctrines and fables will be presented as Bible truth, for men's acceptance; and if it be possible, they will deceive the very elect.  (Matt 24:24) 
 
Error + Truth = Falsehood
 
oUnsafe for us to be separated from God for one single moment. 
oOnly those who live by faith in this probationary life, will be able to stand in the day of test and be unmoved.
oJesus died to make a way of escape for us, that we might overcome every fault, resist every temptation, and sit down at last with Him in His throne.
oIf the voice of Jesus is not heeded at once, it becomes confused in the mind with a multitude of other voices, the world's care and business engross the attention, and conviction dies away. 
oThe heart becomes less impressible, and lapses into a perilous unconsciousness of the shortness of time, and of the great eternity beyond.
 
Section-III. Overview:
 
oS III. Imperceptible Counterfeits (False Worship): 
o13. Commandments – Change made;
o14. Fellowship – False Gathering;
o15. Lifestyle – Unhealthy Living;
o16. Death – Immortality Lie;
o17. Hell – Eternal Fire Lie;
 
Section-IV. Overview
 
oS IV. Right (True) Worship:
o18. Baptism – Burial of Old Nature.
o19. Stewardship – Wise Investment;
o20. Spirituality –Practical Christianity;
o21. Sanctuary  – True Church;

Section-V Overview:

oS-V. Restoration of God’s Children:
o22. End-time Insight – Spirit of Prophecy;
o23. Revelation – Spiritual Babylon;
o24. Spiritual Gift  – Holy Spirit;
o25. Restoration – Champion Movement;
o26. Allegiance – Compulsory Counterfeit Mark;
o27. Last Stand – America’s Apostasy;
o28. Victory – Final Destruction of Sin;
o29. Millennium – New Beginning;
o30. Home –  New Heavens & New Earth.
 
Satan’s special attack the fourth commandment (Rev 12:17)
oThe prophecies of Daniel and Revelation unmask a titanic struggle between good and evil just before Jesus comes. This last battle in the great controversy centers in the law of God (Revelation 12:17).
oSatan hates the eternal principles that are the basis of heaven’s government. He desires to lead all to violate God’s law and disregard the very foundation of happiness.
oThe enemy’s special attack is upon the fourth commandment, which exalts Jesus as the Creator. As we discovered in our last lesson, the seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial to Christ’s creative authority. It is an eternal symbol of both our “rest in Christ” for salvation and our absolute loyalty to Him.
The Sabbath is an eternal link to our Creator
 
Seeking the Original Worship Day-Sabbath
 
oMany sincere Christians are asking:
oHow was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to the first day?
oHow was the Sabbath changed from Saturday and why?
oIs there information in the Bible predicting an attempt to change God’s law?
oThe answer to these questions is found in a symbolic vision given to the prophet Daniel-the lesson begins..
 
Lesson 13 - Tampering With Heaven’s Constitution

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13. Tampering With Heaven’s Constitution

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Additional Statements on the Change of the Sabbath..

o“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify” (J. Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, p. 111).
o“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Catholic Church” (Plain Talk About Protestantism, p. 213).
o“… fundamentalists meet for worship on Sunday, yet there is no evidence in the Bible that corporate worship was to be made on Sundays. The Jewish Sabbath, or day of rest, was, of course, Saturday. It was the Catholic Church that decided Sunday should be the day of worship for Christians, in honor of the resurrection” (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating, 1988, p. 38).

“The sun was a foremost god with heathendom...The sun has worshippers at this hour in Persia and other lands...There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, ‘Keep that old pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus” (The Catholic World, March 1994, p. 809).

o“But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
oIt is inconsistent, but the change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born...They have continued to observe the custom even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church, and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains the reminder of the Mother Church from which non-Catholic sects broke away—like a boy running away from his mother but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair” (The Faith of Millions, Rev. John O’Brian, pp. 421, 422).
o“Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought, logically, to keep Saturday with the Jews” (American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883).
o“Now, every child in school knows that the Sabbath day is Saturday the seventh day of the week; and yet, with the exception of the Seventh-day Adventists, all Protestants keep Sunday instead of the Sabbath day, because the Catholic Church made this change in the first ages of Christianity” (Winnipeg [Manitoba] Free Press, Apr. 21, 1884).
 
The Catholic Ten Commandments:
 
1.I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve. (1)
2.You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. (3)
3.Remember to keep holy the Sabbath (LORD’S) day. (4)
4.Honor your father and your mother. (5)
5.You shall not kill.(6)
6.You shall not commit adultery. (7)
7.You shall not steal. (8)
8.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (9)
9.You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. (10..)
10.You shall not covet your neighbor's goods (10) (Ex 20:2-17, Deu 5:6-21)

      The Catholic tradition uses the division of the Commandments established by St. Augustine. (The Lutheran confessions also use this numbering, while some other confessions & traditions use slightly different numberings.)

     The Catholic Ten Commandments are linked together to form a coherent whole. If you break one of them, you're guilty of breaking all of them (Catechism, #2069).

Changes made to the Ten Commandments:

oSatan  refuses to accept the authority of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and fights against God’s Covenant.
oThe everlasting  (new) covenant (Heb 8:8-10) is a long process in perfecting our characters :
o- Writing the Laws in our hearts (incremental);
o- Vindicating us in the judgement;
o- Blotting out our sins.
oPapacy hates God’s laws- caused change to the Ten Commandments:
o- 2nd (How to get to Heaven)> taken out ;
o- 4th (How to lead a holy life)> become 3rd  with Sabbath replaced by Sunday;
o - 10th splits into 9th & 10th .
o2nd Commandment specify God’s mercy to those who lovingly obey Him. Its removal enables apostasy to progress.
o4th Commandment reminds us of God’s creative power and the realisation of our hope to have our hearts remade pure and receive the seal of God.

Satan’s special attack the fourth commandment (Rev 12:17).

oThe prophecies of Daniel and Revelation unmask a titanic struggle between good and evil just before Jesus comes. This last battle in the great controversy centers in the law of God (Revelation 12:17).
oSatan hates the eternal principles that are the basis of heaven’s government. He desires to lead all to violate God’s law and disregard the very foundation of happiness.
oThe enemy’s special attack is upon the fourth commandment, which exalts Jesus as the Creator. As we discovered in our last lesson, the seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial to Christ’s creative authority. It is an eternal symbol of both our “rest in Christ” for salvation and our absolute loyalty to Him.

The Sabbath is an eternal link to our Creator

 

Next Lesson: S 3-L14- Modern Cults Identified Five Ways

Lesson14- Modern Cults Identified Five Ways

Fellowship – False Gathering;

Some Light on.. Snares of Satan

oTo further his own malicious designs against the righteous , Satan seeks to match his power against the power of Christ and to counteract the influence of the Holy Spirit.
oKnowing his end is near, redoubles his effort to fasten souls in his snares till the Saviours mediation in the investigative judgement is ended.
oHe employs all his cunning and shrewdness so to control circumstances that the message of truth may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very point.
oSatan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind .
oWhat men believe is of no consequence is one of Satan's most successful deceptions. Many of Satan’s agents are ready to present any and every kind of error to ensnare souls. They substitute false theories, fables, another gospel and the many conflicting theories concerning religious faith;  causing confusion through the vague and fanciful interpretations of Scripture.
 
Success of Satan’s Snare.
oPost modern  characteristic:
oNew age movement growth: 180,000 per year (U.S.)
oThe new age ideology:
oThe "New Age" of Aquarius is an Astrology doctrine of the 1980s, proclaiming the human race is at the verge of a "gigantic quantum leap", to realize that every human is God... and when that happens, it will be the "New Age", a glorious time with only one nation on earth, one language, one government, one religion, one monetary system... with only love on earth, the "golden age"!, without hate, violence, wars, crime, racism, and without sickness nor death!...
oSlack in Church authority:
o- Neglect and downplay Bible.
o- Worship lacks spiritual power and fails to reveal God’s love.
o- Members leave to search for spiritual substitute.
 
 
New Age Movement
 
oThe New Age is not one particular organization, or sect. It is called a "Movement", but it is rather an "Umbrella", where many sick minds are covered; a smorgasboard of all paranormal beliefs, polluted with too many money-making schemes...
o    - Many "members" are honest people, with a deep desire to realize the innate goodness that lies within each person, but looking for it in the wrong places...
o    - Many "leaders" are "big money-makers" becoming famous and rich with their seminars, books, tapes, videos, movies, selling crystals or pyramids for $2 or $400,000; or by doing all kinds of divination with astrology, channelling, psychic readings; or by selling natural health products, or practicing holistic medicine, past live therapies of reincarnation; or organizing tours to old sacred places... and the worst are those who create new cults of "inner wisdom", with large or small groups, whose members will end up giving all their money and lives to the leaders...
o    The term "New Age", was coined by the spirit medium "Alice Bailey" of the Theosophical Society of America, who died in 1949, but it became common parlance after the musical "Hair" launched the concept of the Age of Aquarius on a popular and international scale.
o    - The "New Age Magazine", published for decades by Masonry, is one of the forerunners, as well as the "Humanist Manifesto" of 1973, but wit the New Age adding the "unlimited human potential", making each man a god... though no man can make a star or an atom!.
o    - There is not a "founder", nor a "world leader":
o    - "Shirley McLaine", the Academy Award-winner, may be the high priestess of the whole umbrella, (1980s) with her seminaries, books, TV series... She charges $300 per person to audiences of up to 1,000. Her books: "Out on a Limb" (her transformation), "Dancing in the Light" (crystals and mantras), "Going Within" (yoga and chakras).
 
New Age was Animism
 
oToday Animism is represented, among others, by the Mormons, Hinduism and the New Age. They proclaim that every human is God, and their practices will help each one to realize it.
oThe "Primitive Religions" were born in the five Continents, more than 3,000 years ago, mostly in the form of "Animism", because they believed that everything has a "soul", an "anima" in Latin, a "spirit"... including animals, plants, rocks, mountains, rivers, stars... each "anima" is powerful, spiritual, that can help or hurt them, including the souls of the dead, the "ancestors".
oFor thousands of years they deified animals, stars, idols of any kind... and practiced Spiritism, witchcraft, divination, astrology... and they used magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, prayers, amulets, talismans, charms... often with the worship of an Absolute, or the Great One...
oWarning
oPlaying with Ouija board is a form of  communicating with the spirits. Don't try it! Satan only wants an opening to get you!
The Pagan Federation have to deal with about 100 enquiries a month from youngsters who want to become witches. So, Harry Potter (and popular fictional dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer) does lead some children into the occult. It is dangerous for children to dabble with powers they do not understand. ( Isa 8:19,20; 9:15; 1Joh4:1; Deu 18:10)
o    - Monism: All that exists is derived from a single source of divine energy
    - Pantheism: All that exists is God; God is all that exists (Hinduism   Taoism   Mormons)
    - Relativism - A belief that all truth, knowledge, and laws are relative to particular perceptions or situations and do not carry universal authority. The objective truth does not exist, all depends of what you think.
    - Reincarnation of Hinduism: After death, we are reborn and live another life as a human. This cycle repeats itself many times. (Reincarnation)
    - Enlightenment of Buddha. (Buddhism ) 
    - All kind of Occultism: Divination, astrology, horoscope, magic, sorcery, witchcraft, wicca, astral projection, spiritualism, spiritism, satanism, santeria, voodoo, alchemy... (The Occult)
    - Animism, paganism, the old pagan rituals...(Wicca)
    - Hypnosis, transcendental meditation, the use of hallucinogenic drugs or any kind of drug...

New Age umbrella:

o    - Monism: All that exists is derived from a single source of divine energy
    - Pantheism: All that exists is God; God is all that exists (Hinduism   Taoism   Mormons)
    - Relativism - A belief that all truth, knowledge, and laws are relative to particular perceptions or situations and do not carry universal authority. The objective truth does not exist, all depends of what you think.
    - Reincarnation of Hinduism: After death, we are reborn and live another life as a human. This cycle repeats itself many times. (Reincarnation)
    - Enlightenment of Buddha. (Buddhism ) 
    - All kind of Occultism: Divination, astrology, horoscope, magic, sorcery, witchcraft, wicca, astral projection, spiritualism, spiritism, satanism, santeria, voodoo, alchemy... (The Occult)
    - Animism, paganism, the old pagan rituals...(Wicca)
    - Hypnosis, transcendental meditation, the use of hallucinogenic drugs or any kind of drug...
 
Transcendental Meditation (TM)
 
oTM claims 2 million people, in 140 countries; with one million it the USA, and 8,000 people in each one of the other 139 countries?... It is a "religion"... and "big business":
TM is a "religion" based on the Hindu "Raja Yoga" to obtain the Buddhist "enlightenment here called "cosmic consciousness", "complete god consciousness" and "unity consciousness", in the different "stages".
- It is a full-life project: You will spend on it all your life and money... with the assurance that, at the end, you will be liberated from reincarnation.
oThe Maharishi ("Great Sage"), became millionaire in the 70s, with the help of the Beatles, making $20 million a year; founded the Maharishi International University in Fairfield (Iowa, USA), he uses 2 Rolls Royces and a personal Helicopter; bought a 1,000-acre former Air base in Suffolk, New York to be turned into a Natural Law University.
oTM had great success in the 70s with the enrollment of the Beatles, Mia Farrow, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys... but later the Beatles left MT, concluding, "we were wrong", with John accusing the Maharishi of being a "lecherous womanizer"... and the Maharishi headed home to India, saying "I know I have failed, my mission is over".
But he came returned  with the "International Meditation Society", the "Science of Creative Regeneration Movement", the "World Plan Executive Council", the "Student International Meditation Society", "American Foundation for Creative Intelligence", "American Meditation Society"...
oTM success is mainly by the huge, well done propaganda, and the action of the "devil", the false god invoked thousands of times, who possesses the initiate, giving him all kinds of wicked deceptions and hallucinations.
 
Recent News: Aum Shinrikyo
 
oDec 10, 2009,  Death penalty for cult member
oTOKYO - JAPAN'S Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Thursday against the death
o penalty handed to a senior member of the doomsday ( preaching end of the world in 1997) cult behind the Mar 1995 deadly sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
oThe ruling makes Yoshihiro Inoue, 39, the ninth member of the Aum Supreme Truth cult awaiting execution after final rulings by the country's highest court.
oAmong 13 Aum members originally sentenced to death, he was the only defendant whose earlier rulings were divided between a lower court's life sentence and a death sentence given by the Tokyo High Court.
oAccording to the ruling of the high court, Inoue plotted the attack, which killed 12 people and injured thousands, with Aum Supreme Truth sect leader Shoko Asahara. The court also ruled he kidnapped and murdered Kiyoshi Kariya, then 68, who tried to shelter his sister after she escaped from the sect.
oThe bearded guru was revered as a god by his sect, which preached a blend of Buddhist and Hindu dogma mixed with apocalyptic visions. He was obsessed with Nazi-invented sarin gas and paranoid his enemies would attack him with it. -- AFP
oFounded in 1987 by Shoko Asahara, a professed admirer of Hitler, one the most demonised men in Japan. He predicted the effective end of the world in 1997.
o-. Its 10,000 members form a strict hierarchy of 13 levels with specially colored uniforms. It is based on Reincarnation and Shinto doctrines... and Hitler's methods!.
- The police discovered manuals outlining which type of recruits were most likely to give the most money for their warfare against the world; in the office of Asahara they found $10 million in cash.
 
Awareness on Religious Gathering
 
oCults are on the rise. False religious teachers continue to attract multitudes. Sincere people are being deceived. The stakes are high. It makes all the difference who you follow. 914 members of the Peoples Temple followed their leader, Jim Jones, on a path of death into the jungles of Guyana in November, 1978. David Koresh’s  followers died a fiery death in Waco, Texas.(54 adults & 21 children- 1993) Members of Heaven’s Gate evidently listened to their leader, Marshall Applewhite, and committed mass suicide in an affluent southern California suburb (39- 1997).
oWhy were these people deceived? Are there some clear ways to identify false religious teachers? This lesson will present five clear identifying features of a cult to help you keep from being deceived.
 
Lesson 14 - Modern Cults Identified Five Ways!

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14. Modern Cults Identified Five Ways!

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Sects and Cults of Christianity

oThis is a group of churches that may call themselves Christians, use the Bible as their Sacred Scripture, and may even have the name of Christ in the title of their church... but they say that "Jesus is not God", or that Jesus Christ is god as much as you and I are god, like the Mormons.
    - Mormons. The Church of Jesus Christ of the of Latter-day Saints, Book of Mormon
    - Jehovah's Witnesses. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
    - Moonies. Unification Church - The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, Sun Myung Moon
   -  New Age
    - Christian Science Church.
    - Church of Scientology.
    - Church Universal and Triumphant.
    - Children of God, Family of Love.
    - Worldwide Church of God, of Armstrong.
    - Spiritualism, Spiritualistic Churches, Spiritism.
    - Unitarian Church
    - Universalism
    - Unitarianism... Universalism.
    - Unity School of Christianity
    - Socinianism   
oDestructive Cults, Christian and non-Christian
o- People's Temple, Jim Jones, Guayana, Jonestown, 913 death
- Branch Davidians, "Waco", David Koresh (Vernon Howell), 82 death
- The Family, Charles Manson, 8 death
- Jeffrey Lundgren, destructive Mormon splinter group, 5 death
- Order of the Solar Temple, 53 death
- Heaven's Gate, 39 death
Aum Shinrikyo, subway gas attack in Tokyo, Japan, 1995
- Snake Handlers, Serpent Handlers
- Movement of Restoration of "Ten Commandments, in Uganda, 924 death
   
oNext Lesson: S 3- L15 - Our Greatest Need—New Lifestyle!

 

Lesson: L15 - Our Greatest Need—New Lifestyle!

Lifestyle – Unhealthy Living;

Some more Light on… Snares of Satan

oSatan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind.
oHe tempts men to the indulgence of appetite or to some other form of self-gratification, and thus benumbs their sensibilities so that they fail to hear the very things which they most need to learn.
oHuman knowledge of both material and spiritual things is partial and imperfect; therefore many are unable to harmonize their views of science with Scripture statements. Many accept mere theories and speculations as scientific facts, and they think that God's word is to be tested by the teachings of "science falsely so called."

Seeking the relationship between physical wellbeing and spiritual wellbeing

oSome time ago the president of the American Medical Association was addressing a large group of heart specialists in New York City. He began his speech with these words: “America’s greatest need is for a new lifestyle.” Even a casual look at the health habits of a majority of Americans indicates these words are indeed true. Degenerative diseases directly related to faulty habit patterns are on the rise. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes have soared to epidemic proportions in the United States.
oThere is a close relationship between our physical well-being and our spiritual well-being. God is deeply interested in our physical health. The apostle John states it succinctly, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2, NKJV).*
oThe book of Revelation clearly teaches that God’s message of physical health is a significant part of His last-day message for the world.
 

Lesson 15 - Our Greatest Need - New Lifestyle!

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   15. Our Greatest Need—New Lifesty

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Next Lesson L16 The Real Truth about Death

Lesson 16 The Real Truth about Death

Death a deep sleep -– Immortality Lie

Seeking the Truth about Death
oDoes an immortal soul survive the body at physical death? Can the dead communicate with the living? How can the mystery of death be solved?
oThe Bible says that people who misunderstand the subject of death will almost assuredly be deceived by the Devil on other issues as well.(check the website www.truthaboutdeath.com)
oThe Bible provides sane, sensible information to the question “What happens when you die?” It reveals not only what happens when you die but also how to face death with new hope and confidence.
oSince the origin determines the end, it is necessary first to answer, What happened when we were created? Or How did we get here?

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16.  The Real Truth About Death

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Extra:

The Diet Lesson from the Great Flood ( Gen 6-9)

oNoah’s family and the animals stayed in the Ark for 377 days. What did they eat for food?
oGen 6:21  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
oGen 7:2  Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
oGen 7:3  Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
oGen 7:11 The rain started in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, about the beginning of November; so that Noah had a harvest just before, from which to victual his ark.
oGod allowed the eating of meat (but without blood), (Gen 9:3,4) only after Noah landed on dried earth, built an alter and sacrificed one of each clean beast and fowl. (Gen8:20)
oLife shortened* as a result of eating meat & lifestyle:
oAdam– 930yrs; Noah- 950yrs; Shem- 600yrs;..Peleg-239yrs; ..Terah- 205yrs; Abraham- 175yrs; . Jacob- 147yrs.
oNoah- 10; Shem- 11; Peleg-15; Abraham- 20; Jacob- 22.
 
The Deeper lesson from the Great Flood
 
oGenesis 7:11 – In the 600th year of Noah’s life in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
oGenesis 6:3 – And the Lord said, “My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be 120 years. (Noah was 480 years old at that time)
oGenesis 5:32 – And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth (eldest-Gen 10:21) .
oFlood came when Noah was 600 years old.
oNoah preached for 120 years before the flood came.
oNoah was 480 years old when God told him to build an Ark.
oBecame a father at 500 years old à 20 years gap.
o“Possibly” a bachelor - because of wickedness of the world & got married after receiving news of flood to preserve mankind.
 
The Deeper lesson from the Great Flood
 
oGen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. *
oThis divine prediction cannot mean that man’s life span would henceforth be restricted to 120 years. (Compare ages of men after the Flood.*) They predict, rather, that God’s patience would come to an end and probation close within the period of time here specified. In the meantime, divine mercy lingered.
oGod’s dealings with the antediluvians is the lesson for the human race at the end of time (Matt. 24:37–39). We are now living on borrowed time, knowing that the destruction of the world will soon occur (see 2 Peter 3:3–7). We know also that God’s Spirit will not endlessly strive with men who do not choose to heed His warnings and prepare for that great event.
o* Psa 90:10  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years
 
The Present truth from the OT
 
oNoah was directed to build an ark, and at the same time to preach that God would bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy the wicked. Those who would believe the message, and

  would prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, should find pardon and be saved.

oMany had a knowledge of God and his law; but they not only rejected the message of the faithful preacher of righteousness themselves, but used all their influence to prevent others from being obedient to God
oTo every one comes a day of trial and of trust. God sounded the note of warning of the coming destruction; but they yielded their minds to the control of Satan rather than of God, and he deceived them, as he did our first parents. He set before them darkness and falsehood in the place of light and truth; and they accepted his sophistry and lies, because they were acceptable to them, and in harmony with their corrupt lives, while truth that would have saved them was rejected as a delusion.
oIn every age, transgression of God's law has been accompanied by the same result. In the days of Noah, only one family was saved in the flood.
oIn the time of Abraham, the people of Sodom & Gomorrah openly defied God and his law and all the inhabitants perished in the fire from God.
 
Some more Light on… Snares of Satan
 
odeceiver are the delusive teachings and lying wonders of spiritualism. Disguised as an angel of light, he spreads his nets where least suspected. Spiritualism, which numbers its converts by millions, which has made its way into scientific circles, which has invaded churches, and has found favor in legislative bodies, and even in the courts of kings-- this mammoth deception is but a revival, in a new disguise, of the witchcraft condemned and prohibited of old.
oTeachings from popular pulpits that the second advent of Christ is His coming to each individual at death, is a device to divert the minds of men from His personal coming in the clouds of heaven; and many souls have been lost by accepting this deception.
oThe errors of popular theology (represented as the teaching of the Bible) have driven many a soul to skepticism who might otherwise have been a believer in the Scriptures. It is impossible for him to accept doctrines which outrage his sense of justice, mercy, and benevolence; so he refuses to receive it as the word of God.
 
Seeking the Truth about Death
 
oWhat happens on death? Is it to Heaven, hell, or nothingness? The subject of death has intrigued men and women down through the centuries.
oDeath evokes feelings of fear, uncertainty, and even hopelessness. Many believe their loved ones who have died are not dead at all, but instead live in other places under varied conditions. Most world religions teach that the dead become spirits or ghosts.
oIn the post modern era, books on “near-death” experiences have catapulted into best-seller status. (90-min in Heaven-Ps Don Piper) There has been an amazing upsurge of interest in spiritualism and communication with the dead.
oThe basis of spiritualism is the immortality of the soul. This is one of the successful way Satan deceives mankind. The first deception in the garden of Eden was the lie about the immortality of the soul. (Gen3:4) Satan declared to Eve that God was hiding the truth.
 
New Age umbrella:
   - Monism: All that exists is derived from a single source of divine energy
    - Pantheism: All that exists is God; God is all that exists (Hinduism   Taoism   Mormons)
    - Relativism - A belief that all truth, knowledge, and laws are relative to particular perceptions or situations and do not carry universal authority. The objective truth does not exist, all depends of what you think.
    - Reincarnation of Hinduism: After death, we are reborn and live another life as a human. This cycle repeats itself many times. (Reincarnation)
    - Enlightenment of Buddha. (Buddhism ) 
    - All kind of Occultism: Divination, astrology, horoscope, magic, sorcery, witchcraft, wicca, astral projection, spiritualism, spiritism, satanism, santeria, voodoo, alchemy... (The Occult)
    - Animism, paganism, the old pagan rituals...(Wicca)
    - Hypnosis, transcendental meditation, the use of hallucinogenic drugs or any kind of drug
 
A Trip into the Supernatural by R. Morneau
 
oTestimonies of devil worshippers (spiritism):
o
o-Medical doctor given great hypnotic and healing powers, including the abilities to take away pain and to stop bleeding in wounds and severe cuts.
o-Astrologer given divination to counsel  certain wealthy persons in their investments.
o-Nightclubs owner with power to hypnotise a person in less than ten seconds causing visiting performers in his clubs to be prostitutes working for him.
oSatan’s sanctuary- spacious and magnificent, gold everywhere, not brightly lit,  about 75 beautiful large oil paints (over alters) of noble looking individuals (gods), and at end a huge solid marble alter with a life-size painting of a majestic looking individual above it, image of Satan (no horn and hoof).
oMembers are richly rewarded by gifts from the spirit, Any non-Christian automatically qualify. Status  and background vary greatly, reflecting the culture. The illiterate are very superstitious and employ the most degrading form of worship. Members of the secret society in Montreal are the elite of spirit worshippers.
 
Spiritism
oSpiritism is a philosophicaldoctrine, established in France (Allan Kardec ) in the mid-nineteenth century. It is the belief in life after death, part of  a list of nine other activities, that expose people to the world of supernatural spirits. Scripture calls all of them abominations (Deu 18:10-12; Lev 20:26,27) 
oThe belief in life after death is a form of idolatry through necromancy. Necromancy is the belief that human being has a conscious  higher existence after death and  can communicate with the living. This belief acknowledges and pays tribute to Satan and allows demonic spirits the opportunity to impersonate the dead.
oFallen angels  fall into three distinct groups.  The “friendly spirits” are those of great intellect who have ability to impersonate the dead. The “warriors” concentrate  on sowing discord in families and misunderstanding between friends, create friction between races and other segments of society, even outright war among nations.  The “oppressors” produce misery and destruction among the human race. They suffered mental breakdown when were evicted from heaven.
 
Satan’s Spiritism Deceptive Plan
oThe three-part plan adopted by the executive committee:
o- Convince human beings that Satan and his angels did not really exist.
o- To obtain total control over people by introducing hypnotism as a new and beneficial science; renown people hypnotised to believe in the immortality of the soul, able to communicate with the dead, and speak fluent foreign languages: e.g.  Austrian physician Franz Mesmer( animal magnetism) transformed hypnotism as a new science; Charles Darwin & Henry Huxley hypnotised at an early age (evolution theory).
o- To destroy the Bible and the knowledge of God without actually do away with it through the theory of evolution; every teacher of evolution given power to induce spiritual blindness to convince and to convert others. Satan himself personally tutored Charles Darwin in his theory.
 
Spiritist Worship Service
 
oMeeting is similar to Christian worship service and program- sing spiritual hymns in weekly prayer meeting.
o
oWednesday Evening meeting- After testimonies as to what the spirits had done for them,  the assemby proceed to worship room and have praise session  to the gods speaking in heaven’s language.  The priest performs a short ritual before the alter and then tells the assembly to turn to a particular hymn (Christian Hymnal)  and sing along with him. The singing lasts 20 minutes with some members breaking into singing in foreign languages. This type of service has a dual purpose. The singing deride the name of Christ. When the demon spirits  assumed control of the minds of some of the singers so that they praise Satan and his chief counselors in spirit language to the melody of a Christian hymn, it constituted the highest form of blasphemy against the God of heaven, which please Satan exceedingly.
oAnimal sacrifice celebration on 1st November, a very sacred day celebrated in remote resort
oInitiation service into the secret society necessary before the spirits tell the new committed member their  special plans for his life.
oChristian idolatry- Demonic spirits established and maintained purgatory  to turn the minds of millions away from Christ. Spirits have the advantage of lying about the truth to suit human beings feelings when it comes to deciding in the direction of their lives. They cause people to feel strongly about things the spirits want them to believe. They fill the human mind with erroneous thoughts. People naturally accept such ideas and always will. Christian involved in idolatry are not aware of it.
o
 
Popular beliefs
oThe Roman Catholic Church is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population (6.79Billion). (Islam is the world's second largest religion after Christianity.  Islam has 1.57 billion adherents, making up 23% of the world population. )
o
oCatholic teachings and practices:
oOn death, a person undergoes judgement in which the soul's eternal destiny is specified. Some are eternally united with God in Heaven, often envisioned as a paradise of eternal joy. Others are destined for Hell, a state of eternal separation from God often envisioned as a fiery place of punishment.
oPurgatory (a third state before being admitted to heaven) is a cleansing that involves  painful punishment, associated with the idea of fire such as is associated with the idea of hell.
oAn indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. Indulgences may be obtained for oneself, or on behalf of the dead.
oPrayers for the dead and indulgences have been popularly envisioned as decreasing the "duration" of time the dead spend in purgatory.
oDaily evening prayer is  kneeling in Rosary recitation calling out the names   of about 100 or more saints asking them to pray for you..
oGregorian masses involving mass in various churches  celebrated at the same time on a particular day for a  just departed soul have a redeeming power sufficient to take a soul directly to heaven, so that it would not even see the flames of purgatory.
oThe catechism states that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church regardless of whom the person may be.. Protestants probably goes into limbo at death as in the case of the souls of unbaptised infants when they die.
 
Freemasonry
oFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland.
oOfficially, Freemasonry was born in 1717, when 4 Craft Lodges gathered at the Apple Tree Tavern in London, and set up a constitution for Free and Accepted Masons, written by Anderson... but they claim their roots can be traced to Egypt, Syria, Babylon... and the stonecutters of the Solomon Temple, specially "Hiram Abiff" 
oThe "tenets" of Masonry are apparently beautiful, and many Masons are good, honest people, deceived in the surface of Brotherhood, specially the first three degrees Masons, most of them, who, in the words of Pike, already quoted, "they are intentionally misled by false interpretations"
oTo be accepted as a Mason, you have to believe in "the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of men, and the immortality of the soul"... and this is beautiful, but like a chocolate with deadly poison inside, because it will end up robbing your Christian or Muslim or Jewish believes...
oIts goals are the betterment of the whole life of the member... and as modern "speculative Freemasonry" "to control" jobs, economics, politics, education, government, police, military, banks, communications, entertainment... to have a "cashless society" controlled by the government...
o... And all of this at a local level, but aiming at a "New World Order" to control a universal monetary system, a universal government, and a unified religion under the doctrines of Masonry.
 
 
oNext Lesson: S III Lesson 17 - God’s Love in the Fires of Hell
 
 

S III Lesson 17 - God’s Love in the Fires of Hell

Hell – Eternal Fire Lie

Truth to dispel the Immortality Lie( popular myth):‘On death, the righteous are eternally united with God in Heaven, Others are destined for Hell, a fiery place of eternal punishment.’

oGod mercifully shuts our eyes at death to all of the sorrow, heartache and disappointment on earth.
oThe Bible compares death to a sleep  66 times. To the Bible-believing Christian, death is no more to be feared than a sound peaceful sleep until the return of Jesus.
oAt the last trump, the dead in Christ will rise first …those who are still alive will be caught up together in the clouds.(1The4:16,17)
oThis is the first resurrection of the righteous dead who are resting/sleeping in their graves. The unrighteous dead sleep on until after the millennium when they rise in the second resurrection to learn about the justice in their condemnation. They will die in the second death together with Satan and the evil angels in the lake of fire. (Rev20:5,6, 7-10)
oDeath for the believer is no more to be feared than a rest in the arms of a loving Savior. When we accept Jesus we receive the gift of eternal life and the promise of immortality.
 
Seeking the truth on Hellfire
 
oIf you were God, would you delight in tormenting sinners in hell for millions and millions of years?
oCould you be truly happy in heaven if you knew an unsaved relative or friend was intensely suffering in the fires of hell at that very moment?
oHow could a loving God burn sinners in hell for eternity?
oIf God knows everything, wouldn’t these suffering sinners be continually on His mind?
oMost of us would not want to torment our worst enemy that way. Is it logical that a loving God would keep His enemies in a continual state of suffering for eternity?
oIs hell a hot spot in the center of the earth, some burning, fiery chasm with millions crying out for deliverance right now?
oThis is no small matter. The concept of an eternally burning hell has led many to reject God altogether. The Bible presents a clear answer for the question of God’s love in the fires of hell.
 
Bible History/OT  Lesson:
 
o"The men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." Genesis 13:13. Finally, God decided to destroy these sinful cities for their abominations, but first He sent two angels to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family.
oBefore entering Sodom, these angels took on the appearance of two wayfaring men. Lot saw them and urged them to find refuge in his home. But wicked men were watching, and that evening they gathered about Lot's door and insisted that he bring out his guests so they might abuse them. Lot tried in vain to reason with the perverse mob gathered at his door. Their demonic obsession only intensified, and soon the crowd began to threaten Lot as well! At this point, the angels could no longer conceal their true identity. They pulled Lot inside the house to safety and struck the maddened mob at the door with blindness.
oEarly the next morning, the angels told Lot and his family, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you. ... Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." Genesis 19:17. "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." Genesis 19:24. Only Lot and his two unmarried daughters were spared, for his wife looked back to Sodom with longing and was turned into a pillar of salt.
oGod's Word tells us that in the last days, world conditions will resemble that of Sodom-and so will the punishment! (Mat 13:40-42)
 
Lesson 17 - God’s Love in the Fires of Hell

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17.   God’s Love in the Fires of Hell  

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Extra: Hellfire Truth

oHellfire will be here on earth, because it will be the earth on fire.
oThe devil is not in charge of hellfire, rather he will be the one cast into the fire. (Rev20:10) It will finally turn him to "ashes upon the earth,“

  and God says of Satan, "Never shalt thou be any more." (Eze28:18, 19.)

oAfter sin, sinners, and everything on earth is destroyed, the fire will go out. It will not burn throughout the ages. An eternal hell of torment would make it impossible to ever get rid of sin. God's plan is to isolate sin and destroy it, not perpetuate it. Rev 21:5 says, "Behold, I make all things new.“
oMany believe that the soul never dies, but twice God says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze 18:4, 20. So according to Scripture, the wicked will be destroyed in hellfire--both soul and body. (Mat10:28) .
oThe purpose of the fire is to destroy Satan, his evil angels, and sin. (Mat25:41) If I refuse to turn loose of the plague of sin, I will have to be destroyed with it, because if sin is not destroyed, it would again contaminate the universe.
oGod can't stand the thought of destroying those He loves. "The Lord is not ... willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Pet3:9. He is constantly saying to them, "Turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Eze33:11. Destroying people is so foreign to God's ways that hellfire is called His "strange act." God leaves nothing out in His desire to save people. Before they are destroyed, every wicked person will admit that God has been fair (Rom14:11).
 
Light on.. Overcoming Satan’s Snare
oSatan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in Christ is more than a match for the hosts of darkness. He would be met and resisted when he reveals

  himself openly. Therefore he lies in ambush with his forces, ready to destroy all who venture upon his ground. Only in humble reliance upon God, and obedience to all His commandments, can we be secure.

oNo man is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Especially should we entreat the Lord for wisdom to understand His word. Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpretation upon passages, by which he hopes to cause us to stumble. Therefore, we should study the Bible with humility of heart, never losing sight of our dependence upon God.
oThe very object of the trial is to prepare people to resist all the allurements of evil. The followers of Christ know little of the plots which Satan and his hosts are forming against them. The Lord permits His people to be subjected to the fiery ordeal of temptation, not because He takes pleasure in their distress and affliction, but because this process is essential to their final victory.
 
End of Bible Study Part i
 
oNext Lesson: S IV Lesson 18 - How to Successfully Bury the Past