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 1 John 2:1-29 [1]MY LITTLE children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God's law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father–[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father's will in every purpose, thought, and action]. [2]And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world. [3]And this is how we may discern [daily, by experience] that we are coming to know Him [to perceive, recognize, understand, and become better acquainted with Him]: if we keep (bear in mind, observe, practice) His teachings (precepts, commandments). [4]Whoever says, I know Him [I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him. [5]But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [...

 Read Revelation 13:4, 5. What identifying marks of the beast power do we discover in these verses? The beast of Revelation is an apostate religious power that rises out of pagan Rome and grows to become a worldwide system of worship. According to Revelation 13:5, it is a blasphemous power. In the New Testament, blasphemy is equated with assuming the privileges and prerogatives of God as an equal. Read Luke 5:18-26 and John 10:33. What two aspects of blasphemy do these verses identify? Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the leaders. In Jesus’ case, the accusations were unjust because He has all the powers and prerogatives of God—including the right to forgive our sins. And that is because Jesus is God. Or as He so powerfully expressed it: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ ” (John 14:9). Meanwhile, 1  Timothy 2:5 teaches that there is one Mediator between God and ...

 Read Revelation 13:1, 2. Where does the beast come from, and who gives the beast his authority? The first beast power of Revelation 13 receives his power, seat, and great authority from the dragon. Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 identify the dragon as Satan. Satan is a cunning foe and works through earthly powers. Revelation 12:3-5 says this “dragon”—the devil—attempted to destroy the “male Child” as soon as He was born. This “male Child” was later “caught up to God and His throne” (NKJV). This, of course, refers to Christ. Desiring to destroy the Christ child, Satan worked through Herod and imperial Rome. At the end of Jesus’ life, a Roman governor, Pilate, condemned Christ to die, a Roman executioner nailed Him to the cruel cross, a Roman soldier pierced Him with a spear, and Roman soldiers guarded His tomb. According to Revelation 13:2, the dragon, Satan, working through pagan Rome, would give the seat of its government to this emerging beast power. “Though primarily repre...

 The prophecy regarding the mark of the beast is about religious intolerance, an economic boycott, persecution, and eventually a death decree. Surprisingly, it also is a message of encouragement. Even in the worst of times, God will sustain His people who “keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12, NKJV). And, among those commandments, of course, is the fourth—the seventh day Sabbath. The mark-of-the-beast prophecy in Revelation 13 tells us about the worst, the absolute fever pitch, of Satan’s war against God. His first strategy in this campaign is deception. Revelation 13 tells us about a time in the future when the devil will work through an earthly religiopolitical power called the beast and resort to force. Religious persecution, of course, is not new. It has been around ever since Cain killed Abel for worshiping the way God instructed them to worship (see Gen. 4:1-8). Jesus said persecution would happen even to believers in the first century and dow...

 Read Matthew 27:45-50. What does this teach us about what Christ experienced on the cross? What did Jesus mean by asking God why He had forsaken Him, and how does this scene help us understand what it means to have “the faith of Jesus”? Hanging on the cross, enshrouded in darkness, bearing the guilt, shame, and condemnation of the sins of the world, and shut off from the sense of His Father’s love, Jesus depended on the relationship that He had with the Father throughout His life. That is, through a life of complete dependence upon the Father, even in good times, Jesus had been prepared for the worst times—even the cross. The Savior trusted, even when all around Him the circumstances cried out for Him to doubt. Even when it seemed that God had forsaken Him, Jesus didn’t give up. “Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofor...

 As we have seen in Revelation 14:7, God calls all people to worship the Creator. This is the first angel’s message. In Revelation 14:8, God warns people about “Babylon,” a false religious system with roots back in ancient Babylon. This is the second angel’s message. In Revelation 14:9, 10, the third angel warns against worshiping the beast. The angel declares in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God” (NKJV). Read Revelation 14:12. What two characteristics do we discover in this passage about God’s last-day people? Why are both important? The Greek word for “patience” is hupomone, which is better translated “steadfast endurance.” God will have an end-time people who are loyal to Him in the face of opposition and fierce persecution. Through His grace, they stand with steadfast endurance, living God-centered, grace-filled, obedient lives. Worshiping t...

 Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 14:12, Eph. 2:8-10, Matt. 27:45-50, Rev. 13:15-17, Rev. 14:4, Luke 5:18-26. Memory Text: “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads’ ” (Revelation 7:2, 3, NKJV). As we study end-time events in regard to the mark of the beast, one crucial point that comes through is the difference between how God operates and how the enemy of souls does. As we have been studying, the central issues in the great controversy between Christ and Satan are loyalty, authority, and worship. The prophecies describing the beast power in Revelation 13, the little horn in Daniel 7, and the “son of perdition” in 2 Thessalonians 2 all speak of a power that usurps God’s authority, commands loyalty, and introduces a count...

 The woman in scarlet and purple, riding on the scarlet-colored beast, has passed around her wine cup, and the world is drunk with Babylon’s false doctrines. Speaking of the “wine of Babylon,” Ellen G. White makes this clear comment: “What is that wine? Her false doctrines. She has given to the world a false Sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told to Eve in Eden,—the natural immortality of the soul.”—“Let the Trumpet Give a Certain Sound,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 6, 1892. These erroneous teachings have deceived millions. As a result, God is giving His people, still entrenched in error, a final last-day appeal. Read Revelation 18:4, 5. What is God’s appeal to multitudes still in fallen religious organizations? As we already have seen (but worth repeating), many of God’s people are in religious organizations that have compromised biblical teachings. They do not understand the truths of Scripture...

 The message of the second angel in Revelation 14 is “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” In Revelation 17, the woman identified as spiritual Babylon, dressed in purple and scarlet, rides upon a scarlet-colored beast, passes around her wine cup, and gets the world drunk with error. Church and state unite. Falsehood prevails. Demons work their miracles to deceive. The world catapults into its final conflict. At the same time, the people of God are maligned, ridiculed, oppressed, and persecuted, but in Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit, they are steadfast in their commitment. All the powers of hell and the forces of evil cannot break their loyalty to Christ. They are secure in Him. He is their “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). God is calling an end-time people back to faithfulness to His Word. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth” (John 17:17, NKJV). The truth of God’s Word, not human opinion or tradition, is the Nort...

 Sun worship was prominent in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and certainly Babylon. In his book The Worship of Nature, James G. Frazer makes this observation, “In ancient Babylonia the sun was worshipped from immemorial antiquity.”—(London: Macmillan and Co., 1926), vol. 1, p. 529. It may seem surprising, but at times, Babylonian sun worship influenced the worship of God’s people in the Old Testament. Read Ezekiel 8:16 and 2 Kings 23:5, 11. What did the prophets write about the influence of sun worship in Israel and Judah? (See also Rom. 1:25.) The prophet Ezekiel, a contemporary of Daniel, pictured some of God’s people with their backs toward the temple of God worshiping the sun toward the east. Rather than worshiping the Creator of the sun, they worshiped the sun instead. In Revelation 17, John described a time when the principles of Babylon, including sun worship, would enter the Christian church during an age of compromise. The casual conversion of Constantine, in the early part of th...

 If is a conditional statement that when fulfill, certain things are giving approval for having meet the initial requirements. Look for the references as stated in the scriptures; John 14:15-23 John 15:10-14. Salvation is through Jesus Christ alone, so follow His Teachings and leave the man made laws.

 Read Revelation 16:13, 14 and Revelation 18:2, 23. What allusions to spiritualism do you find in these verses? Such expressions as the “dwelling place of demons” or the “spirits of demons” and “sorcery” all indicate demonic activity. No wonder we have been warned that of the two great deceptions in the last days, one will be “the immortality of the soul” (see Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588). Of course, that’s so easy to see today. Even in the Christian world, the idea of the soul being immortal is all but staple Christian doctrine. Many Christians believe that, at death, the saved go soaring off to heaven, and the lost descend into hell. How often, for instance, after the great evangelist Billy Graham died, did we hear that “Billy Graham is safe now in heaven, in the loving arms of Jesus,” or the like? This kind of thing is taught all the time from pulpits; in classrooms; and, especially, at funerals. Read Ecclesiastes 9:5; Job 19:25-27; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; an...

  Home Nigeria World Politics Sport Opinion Business Technology Guardian Life Guardian Arts Features Guardian Woman Guardian Angels Property Saturday Magazine Sunday Magazine #EndSARS Guardian TV National    Alleged N89.1trn stamp duty collection: Presidency defends Emefiele, says Kazaure’s cttee illegal By  NAN 11 December 2022   |   2:39 pm Central Bank of Nigeria governor Godwin Emefiele PHOTO: /TWITTER/GOVWIKE Presidency has dismissed as fake and untrue that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, could not account for about N89.1 trillion the CBN collected as Stamp Duty charges. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a member of the House of Representatives from Jigawa, Gudaji Kazaure, in a viral video, had allegedly accused the CBN governor of attempts to cover-up facts surrounding the collection of the controversial amount. He also alleged that he was deliberately being denied access to present a preliminary report ...

 In the context of the last days, Jesus uttered a powerful warning, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:22, NKJV). Who are “the elect”? He later says, “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31, NKJV). A little scary, isn’t it, when the deception in the last days will be so great that even the faithful ones will be in danger of being deceived? Read Revelation 12:9. Who is deceived by Satan? How do we understand these words? Obviously, God is going to have some faithful people in the last days, as He has had all through the ages. However, the wording here shows just how widespread Satan’s deception really is. Read Proverbs 14:12. What powerful warning is presented here? People are often told to follow their own conscience in order to determine for themselves what is r...