Angels can Read God’s Mark

Everything in the world is in an unsettled state. The nations are angry, and great preparations for war are being made. Nation is plotting against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The great day of God is hasting greatly. But although the nations are mustering their forces for war and bloodshed, the command to the angels is still in force, that they hold the four winds until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads.
As yet the four winds are held until the servants of God shall be sealed in their foreheads. Then the powers of earth will marshal their forces for the last great battle. How carefully we should improve the little remaining period of our probation!
Minds that have been given up to loose thought need to change. . . . The thoughts must be centered upon God. Now is the time to put forth earnest effort to overcome the natural tendencies of the carnal heart.
Just before we entered it [the time of trouble], we all received the seal of the living God. Then I saw the four angels cease to hold the four winds. And I saw famine, pestilence and sword, nation rose against nation, and the whole world was in confusion.
What is the seal of the living God, which is placed in the foreheads of His people? It is a mark which angels, but not human eyes, can read; for the destroying angel must see this mark of redemption. The intelligent mind has seen the sign of the cross of Calvary in the Lord’s adopted sons and daughters. The sin of the transgression of the law of God is taken away. They have on the wedding garment, and are obedient and faithful to all God’s commands.
The Lord will not excuse those who know the truth if they do not in word and deed obey His commands.
Maranatha p. 243
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Prayer Requests
—–Pastor Robert Folkenberg’s cancer has returned and he is not doing well. Please pray for him, his family, and his friends. Doug
—–please pray for Brody. he is the newborn baby of my cousins Jason and Lacey—he is at Children’s Hospital and is having heart surgery on this Thursday. He is only able to tolerate a teensy bit of milk through an ng tube. Deedee
—–Please pray for my friend Linda who fell and is in pain. Rose
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Dear Friends,
When our children were at Union College, we had the privilege of hearing Mark Finely, the speaker emeritus, for It Is Written Television (www.iiw.org) speak to us on the parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25. Our hearts were touched as he spoke to us from his heart of our need of a personal, living connection with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He shared with us his own personal Bible Study and prayer habits, which have helped him in his journey on the road to Heaven. We came away from that meeting with a renewed commitment to have a closer walk with Jesus through Bible study and prayer.
On the way home, from Lincoln, we stopped at the little town of Concordia to buy gas. After getting back into the car, I attempted to put the car in reverse. The gearshift would not budge. With a sinking heart, I wondered if this car’s transmission had failed just as our old car’s had. Ron looked over at me with a look of amusement on his face and said “Try turning on the key.”
As we drove toward home, I began to think of what had just happened. Just as the car would not run without turning on the key, so our spiritual life is lifeless without Bible study and prayer.
How often we go through life “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Tim 3:5 How many times we go through the motions of religion without the necessary power. We are like the Pharisees of old of whom Jesus declared, “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matt 23:13-28
Now is the time to “give diligence to make our calling and election sure.” 2 Peter 1:10 Now is the time to take time each day meditating upon the life of Christ especially the great sacrifice that He made for us. Now is the time to pray and praise our Great Redeemer using the psalms as our guide. The Bridegroom is coming soon! He is even at the door! May we all be ready to meet Him is my prayer.
Rose