Table of Contents
A Small Dose Of Reality
For the past 2 weeks, a tune has been running through my head, over and over again. Only yesterday did I finally remember the title of the song! The tune itself is “hauntingly beautiful” and unforgettable! And the words are wonderful and suitable for framing in a picture frame in your home! Are you curious? The song is “The Shadow Of Your Smile” by Andy Williams.
The Shadow Of Your Smile
Verse 1
The shadow of your smile when you are gone,
Will color all my dreams and light the dawn!
Look into my eyes, my love, and see,
All the lovely things you are to me!
Verse 2
Our wistful little star was far too high,
A teardrop kissed your lips, and so did I,
Now, when I remember spring, all the joy that love can bring,
I will be remembering the shadow of your smile!
Ending
Now, when I remember spring, all the joy that love can bring,
I will be remembering the shadow of your smile!
There’s no doubt that women are beautiful! And that is NOT an accident! No, God formed Eve from one of Adam’s ribs and made her a beautiful partner specifically for Adam!
God did not stop there! He made Eve beautiful, not only on the outside, but in character as well! There are so many examples of women who have demonstrated sacrificial love for someone else! I could use the rest of this article just to cite such stories!
What we really need to remember is that the God who made Eve with such beauty, both inside and out, also loves each of us with even more of the same self-sacrificing love that many women have already shown!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16 KJV
Love Is Unselfishness
Love is unselfishness! Our entertainment, these days, does not portray real love! On the screen, love is portrayed as selfishness, greed, and lust for the most part. Real love is a principle of life that a person decides to adopt as their own! Real love does not come from inside you; it comes from knowing that God loves you! Only those who know God personally can have real love for another person! Again, Love does NOT come from inside you; it flows THROUGH YOU, BUT IT COMES FROM GOD! (This is where Erich Fromm, “The Art Of Loving,” has it all Wrong.)
God Is Love
God is both the source of real love and the DEFINITION OF REAL LOVE! (See Desire Of Ages, by Ellen G. White)
My favorite quotes from Desire Of Ages Chapter One:
"Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” "
"The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known. Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, “with healing in His wings.”"
God’s Law Is Love
The best and most practical definition of real love is found in the Ten Commandments, which I’ve listed below:
The Ten Commandments
Commandment #1
"3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Commandment #2
"4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
Commandment #3
"7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
Commandment #4
"8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Commandment #5
"12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
Commandment #6
"13 Thou shalt not kill."
Commandment #7
"14 Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Commandment #8
"15 Thou shalt not steal."
Commandment #9
"16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
Commandment #10
"17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
Exodus 20:3-17 KJV
The first 4 Commandments describe how to demonstrate your love for God. The last 6 Commandments describe how to show love for others. This is the only reliable and accurate measurement of REAL LOVE! Ladies, please pay attention! Does your boyfriend demonstrate the principles of the last 6 Commandments in how he relates to you and others? If not, then are you sure he’s the one for you?
I was fortunate to have two wonderful examples of real love in my own life at a very young age. The first example was when I was only 6 years old. There was a girl about my age, also in the first grade, who was very friendly, thoughtful, and kind to me. Needless to say, she was my first “crush”! I knew her love for me was real, and this was confirmed again when I spoke with her in my mid-twenties. She was already engaged, but she had never forgotten about me.
Then again, when I was 13, I met a different girl who I knew right away loved me more than her own life. Every time I looked into her eyes, I could see the true depth of her love as clearly as you can possibly imagine! And yes, it was scary for me at first! My love for her was also deep, but not nearly as deep as her love for me! She was the one who opened my eyes to the nature of real love! Before I met her, I had no idea at all what real love was all about! After a little more than a year with her, I knew for certain what real love was! I didn’t give her much love back, but I did thank her, much later in life, and she accepted my thanks.
In 2004, I met the lady who is now my wife, and I’m still learning how to love her more!
Human Tradition Is False!
Unfortunately, the Ten Commandments have been altered to suit the whims of tradition. Here are the Ten Commandments according to the Catholic Catechism:
- I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall not have strange gods before Me.
- Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
- Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.
- Honor thy father and mother.
- Thou shall not kill.
- Thou shall not commit adultery.
- Thou shall not steal.
- Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
- Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
Please notice that the original Commandment #2 is now completely missing! This is because there are many, many idols throughout Catholic churches and shrines! That moves the Sabbath Commandment to position #3, rather than position #4 in the original Ten Commandments! That also means that, to keep the original number of commandments, they had to split the 10th Commandment into 2 separate commandments to make the total number come out right!
Take a closer look at the Sabbath Commandment! In the original Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:8-11 KJV, the Sabbath Commandment is very long! But in the Catholic Catechism, it is now reduced to “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.” This is no accident! The Catholic Church is the self-proclaimed authority that changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday “without any instruction to do so” found in the Bible! And this is THEIR claim, not mine! They claim that the fact that most Protestant churches go to church on Sunday proves their authority is ABOVE the Bible! But what does the Bible say about this kind of theology?
"9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
Matthew 15:9 KJV
If you ask me, I want my own beliefs to be based entirely on the Bible, which is God’s Word, and never on any sinful man’s words or traditions! In my view, the pope is just another sinful man, just like everyone else! He does not speak for God; he has nothing remotely comparable to God’s authority. He does have a somewhat special kind of “authority,” however! And that is the “authority” Lucifer gave him to distribute lies according to his (Lucifer’s) plan.
But isn’t Lucifer’s more well-known name Satan? Isn’t he the enemy of real Christians? Yes, he is! So, why do people listen to the pope? They shouldn’t! Since the very beginning of the papacy around 300 AD, it has always been one of Satan’s most successful and misleading organizations!
Don’t they claim that Peter was the first Pope? Yes, they do! But this is as far from the truth as one can get! If Peter were alive today, he would shudder to be associated with the Papacy in any way! They, the papal organization, don’t uphold the authority of the Bible in ANY WAY!
In fact, during the Dark Ages (538 AD to 1798 AD), they burned many copies of the Bible and murdered many people who memorized Bible passages or had Bibles in their possession! This is precisely because many of their teachings come straight from Lucifer’s mind and NOT from God’s Word, the Bible! The Bible has always been the “enemy” of the papacy because it identifies them as the “Beast” of Revelation 13, the Harlot and the Beast of Revelation 17, and the “man of sin” whose number is 666! And the Bible also refutes many of their favorite doctrines!
It’s Time To Wake Up!
So, my friend, my appeal to you today is to wake from your spiritual slumber and make the study of God’s Word, the KJV Bible, your first priority! I hope that this becomes more important to you than watching TV, eating food, or playing sports!
Jesus loves you, and He died to pay for your sins and mine! It’s important that you start putting Jesus first in your life! His love is what matters the most!
We have a very smart and cunning foe named Lucifer, and he wants you to ignore the Bible and Jesus. Lucifer wants you dead! He is NOT your friend, and he doesn’t care about your safety AT ALL! The papacy has always been the “right arm” of Satan’s army! So, if you love God and really want to serve Jesus, you need to leave the Catholic Church and join a church that teaches doctrines that completely agree with the Bible! (And just so you know, the Catholic Church happens to agree with me that the church that really teaches the same doctrines as the Bible teaches is the Seventh Day Adventist Church! One question: Why would the “right arm of Satan’s army” agree that the SDA church teaches what the Bible teaches? Could it be true?)
This is just a small dose of reality! I could say much, much more! I’m saying these things because I love you! I want you to be saved! I want you to know God, your Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, His Son, and the Holy Spirit personally and intimately! There’s no treasure on Earth as valuable as that kind of relationship! And it’s yours, if you really want it!
If you’re in the Catholic Church, I love you! And that is why I’m saying these things! God loves you too! And here is the message that He longs to give especially to you!
"1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come."
Revelation 18:1-10 KJV
This is God’s specific call to all faithful Catholic members who really want to serve God! And I can hardly wait to meet you, my brothers and sisters! So, come on out, join the real family of God in the SDA denomination. You are welcome here!
