Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Spiritual Apathy or Spiritual Truth.

Today's spiritual apathy in my sphere of living is tragic. I say my sphere of living because there are many outside my sphere who have very spiritual lives. In some countries there are men and women dying to follow the same religion I follow. Their spiritual walk with Christ is so deep, so strong through the power of the Holy Spirit that they would rather die than betray their walk with Him. They live their beliefs while we play at them, toy with them not seeking a deep spiritual connection, but a cursory glance every now and again.  If we would live close to our God we need to do just that, live close to Him. Seek Him. Truly love Him.

We need to seek truth as we live our spiritual life, we must never stop seeking truth. To know a prophecy that our Savior told us we should read and keep is important and by the grace of our Lord we will know that prophecy - reading and keeping.

******* Continuing our prophecy study--  Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily.  Thank you :)  God bless you! ******

Yesterday we discussed the dark ages a bit, we talked about the horrific dark period in our earth's history where under the guise of Christianity- Papal Rome exerted such authority that putting to death those who opposed them, torturing those who were contrary to their beliefs, was something common and widespread.

During that time not all of God's people were wiped out.  Throughout history God has kept at least a small group of those He can call His true followers, from harm's way.  While many who followed the truth in Christ sincerely were brought to horrific ends- among them the Apostles themselves- God could not allow all of His followers to be destroyed.

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he (((the Roman power))))* corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

Among those who kept a vigil over the truth were the Waldeneses-

'In 1179, some Waldensians went to Rome, where Pope Alexander III forbade explanation or critical interpretation (exegesis) without authorization from the local clergy.[5] They disobeyed and began to preach according to their own understanding of the scriptures.

Waldensians were divided by three types of activity: Sandaliati, who received sacred orders and were to prove the heresiarchs wrong; Doctores, who instructed and trained missionaries; and Novellani, who preached to the general population.[6] They were also called Insabbatati, Sabati, Inzabbatati for keeping the Sabbath and/or rejecting all religious festivals.[7] They were also sometimes called Sabotiers, which some sources state was due to the unusual type of sabot they used as footwear.[8]

Seen by the Roman Catholic Church as unorthodox, they were formally declared heretics by Pope Lucius III in 1184 at the Synod of Verona, and by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.[5] In 1211, more than 80 were burned as heretics at Strasbourg, beginning several centuries of persecution that nearly destroyed the movement.[9] Part of their legacy is recognized as works of the writer Henri Arnaud. The Waldensian Church of Italy has survived to the present day.[10]'

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Protesting the Catholic rule, protesting the Papal dictates that were against God's teaching even came from some in their own ranks.

In the 800's--

'As bishop of Turin, Claudius found that men were often directed to go on pilgrimage to Rome for penance and that worshippers were accustomed to venerate Christ and the saints by bowing before images and relics. Claudius, coming from an educated background, was not greatly exposed to such provincial modes of worship.[9] He made attacks on the use of images, relics, and crosses, he opposed pilgrimages to obtain absolution, and he had little regard for the authority of the pope due to his belief that all bishops were equal.[3]

Claudius was a heretic in the view of Dungal and Jonas of Orléans, who later wrote to refute some of his teachings at the request of the emperor.[3] The last recorded act of Claudius is in a charter of the monastery of St Peter at Novalesa in May 827.[1] He was dead by the time Dungal finished his Responsa contra peruersas Claudii Taurinensis episcopi sententias late in 827, so it is presumable that he died that year.[1]'

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The rejection of the decree to worship images--

'[14] Dupin, Eccles. Hist., cent. 9. The worship of images was decreed by the second Council of Nice; but that decree was rejected by France, Spain, Germany, and the diocese of Milan. The worship of images was moreover condemned  by the Council of Frankfort, 794. Claude, in his letter to Theodemir, says: – "Appointed bishop by Louis, I came to Turin. I found all the churches full of the filth of abominations and images... If Christians venerate the images of saints, they have not abandoned idols, but only changed their names." (Mag. Bib., tome 4, part 2, p. 149.)'

http://www.whitehorsemedia.com/docs/THE_HISTORY_OF_PROTESTANTISM_01.pdf
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As the Papal church introduced its various perversions always there were those who opposed these abominations.   There were those who allowed themselves to be called heretics rather than worship idols, there were those who were outspoken against the transubstantiation of the eucharist-

'Berengar of Tours (c. 999–January 6, 1088) was a French 11th century Christian theologian and Archdeacon of Angers, a scholar whose leadership of the cathedral school at Chartres set an example of intellectual inquiry through the revived tools of dialectic that was soon followed at cathedral schools of Laon and Paris, and who disputed with the Church leadership over the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Eucharist.'

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Those who were against the change and perversion of the Sabbath to Sunday.
Read this--
'Early church

According to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church contained diverse practices as regards Sabbath.[1] "In the first centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts".[2] "That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed."[2]

Widespread seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

In the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus Church History book 5 states:[3]
For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.

On the seventh of March, A.D. 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor stating:

All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.
— Joseph Cullen Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History [4]

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All along the huge broad path of corruption there exists a much smaller, much narrower path of truth.  Along those two paths people walk and have walked since sin entered the world.  Right now YOU are on one of those paths. Right now I AM on one of those paths.  Every single human being exist on one path or the other.  There is a path of truth and a path of lies.  Unfortunately for a lot of people Satan has prettied up the path of lies to make it look almost exactly how one might imagine the path of truth. Only those who sincerely desire the truth of God no matter the cost- will receive that truth. Those who would rather believe lies will be allowed to do so.  No one is force onto the path of Truth.

By the grace of God may we continue to study HIS truth. We have these prophecies and we have history and the two go together.  This is the 50th study focusing on prophecy studying the Book of Daniel, and we still have a long way to go. I'm not going to stop, this has been an amazing blessing for me and I hope any others who are reading this study are also being blessed.

All glory goes to God, all praise, all honor to our amazing heavenly High Priest, our King, our Savior!

May we be blessed to continue this study tomorrow learning more and more of God's love, of God's truth.

Amen.

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