When the judgment is set, the books in heaven would be opened (Dan 7:10). These books would be searched to determine who gets eternal life and who gets eternal damnation. No one knows who gets eternal life or eternal death until the Resurrection Morning! No one knows the hearts or the motives of people who have died to know whether they are saved or not. The wheat and the tares are separated at the harvest (the end of the world).

It's amazing how countless preachers preach dead people into heaven before Jesus comes to earth to give rewards of either eternal life or eternal death. Those who rise up at the first resurrection get eternal life. Those who didn't, will rise up on the second resurrection after the thousand years were finished (Rev 20:5) to get their just reward--eternal damnation, eternal separation from God.

The heavenly ledgers are necessary, not for God because He knows everything, but for the redeemed and the unfallen beings. When the redeemed see that a loved one, a favorite preacher or Bible teacher is not in heaven, they would look at the books and find out why. These books would forever settle everything in the minds of those redeemed. No one would ever again doubt or question God because when all is said and done, all would know that God is a just and loving God and that Satan is nothing but a deceiver and the father of lies who was out to steal, kill, and destroy.

In the typical sanctuary services, the ministry of the sacrificial offering was not complete at the courtyard, the blood which had the confessed sins of the repentant sinner was transferred into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the Lord (veil). This was done daily. Then at the end of the year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place to blot out the accumulated sins of Israel. This was a day of the cleansing of the typical sanctuary. It was a day of judgment for the people. It was a solemn time.

So, likewise, in the antitype, the ministry of Jesus' Sacrifice on the cross although seemingly sufficient in all respects (the Creator dying for His creatures) was not complete for the blood still had to be brought into the sanctuary and applied. Hebrews 8 explains this beautifully and calls it "an excellent ministry". Jesus was crucified on the earth (typical courtyard). He ascended into Heaven and is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. He is officiating and applying His precious blood in our behalf. His blood was "sprinkled before the veil--His own body". A favorite hymn says: "There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His name."  Jesus is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, and He is our High Priest! Indeed, God's way (the way of salvation) is found in the Sanctuary (Ps 77:13).

The Lord Jesus was first seen by John officiating in the Holy Place (the first apartment) walking among the candlesticks (See Rev 1:13). Then later in Rev 11:15-19, as mentioned above, Jesus was seen by John not in the Holy Place but in another place, the second apartment called the Most Holy Place to minister as the High Priest in the antitypical Day of Atonement. This is a fulfillment of the 2300-day (year) prophecy of Dan 8:14.

The judgment is currently in session. Why do I say currently in session? Because Jesus has not yet returned to this earth. We are living in the time of judgment, a very serious and solemn time. While the books in heaven are being searched, we are to look deep into our hearts, confess all our sins, and make things right with one another and with God. If our sins remain in us and not confessed and placed in the heavenly sanctuary for blotting out, then when Jesus comes again, we will be consumed by the brightness of His coming. See 2 Thes 2:8. God and sin/sinners cannot co-exist.

Does the judgment mean that we are to cower and be afraid? No! The judgment is good news for the born-again Christian. Judgment involves atonement and this can only come through the Cross of Calvary. The blood represents Jesus' life and death in our behalf. When we accept Him as our personal Lord and Saviour, He stands before God in our place. He is our Substitute, our Intercessor, our Advocate, our Defense Attorney, and would you believe it, He's our Judge and Best Friend? He ministers before the Father for us, and when the Father looks at us, He sees not our imperfection and righteousness of filthy rags but the Righteousness of His precious Son. How could we be afraid under such circumstances? Dan 7:22 (NIV/NASV/NCV) says judgment was pronounced in favor of the saints.

Many denominations today do not preach judgment as part of the everlasting Gospel. For many, the preaching of the judgment and obedience to the commandments of God especially the seventh-day Sabbath is religiously incorrect. Yet this is vitally important because the Bible teaches that when there is no law, there is no sin (Rom 5:13), and where there is no sin, there is no need for a Saviour. Obviously, there is sin in the world, there is a need for the Saviour, and there is a need for accountability and judgment. To pass the judgment unscathed is to have the Seal of God, the opposite of the mark of the Beast.

Let me ask: Who are these three angels of Revelation 14 with their messages of judgment and obedience to God's law?

Through satellites located 23,000 miles above the earth, these messages are being proclaimed to the uttermost parts of the world. North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Europe, Africa, Alaska, Asia, the islands of the sea are hearing this life-and-death warning. Thousands of people in the so-called 10/40 region of the world (the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist world), are downloading Bibles from the Internet and requesting Bible correspondence courses to learn about the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. Tom, Jesus is coming soon. Why not be one of the many people who are responding to the call to come out of Babylon and not share in her plagues.

The three angels' messages will divide the entire world into only two classes of people--the sheep and the goats, the obedient and the disobedient, the righteous and the wicked, the Remnant and Babylon, the ones with the Seal of God and the ones with the mark of the Beast. There is no middle ground. You are either in one group or the other. One is saved to enjoy eternal bliss with Jesus; the other condemned with Satan to everlasting punishment.

There's more involved than just loving Jesus and honking your horn if you do. You saw that part of the everlasting Gospel is to "fear God and give glory to Him (in all aspects of our lives, whether we eat or drink) for the hour of His judgment is come and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."

The underlined statement above from the first angel's message is found in the heart of the moral law of ten commandments. The last verse of the three angels messages is this: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Rev 14:12)."

And Rev 22:14 says: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." It can't be denied that commandment-keeping as the fruit of our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is our ticket to the Holy City of God. See also John 12:50.

But the judgment is not just for God's created beings. Believe it or not, God Himself is being judged (Rom 3:4). The hour of God's judgment, said the angel, is come. By whom is God being judged? By all His created beings in the heavens and the earth. This is the great controversy between Christ and Lucifer over God's holy law. Lucifer misrepresented God's word and character to the angels claiming that God was unjust in laying down the rules and laws and that He was a tyrant and wanted only to exalt Himself. His law could not be obeyed. But if he (Lucifer) was in charge, things would be better for all the angelic host. A third of the angels sided with Lucifer and were ultimately kicked out of heaven.

God permitted this act of rebellion to ripen. He respected the power of choice He had granted to His creatures, and He allowed Satan to carry out his plans and prove his point. God knew that in time, all His created beings--fallen and unfallen--would see how things would be under Satan's dominion. They would see the malignancy and hideousness of SIN--that all the sickness, pain, suffering, heartache, war, crime and starvation not to mention the natural disasters that are happening in our world are the result of transgression of God's law. They would learn a valuable and eternal lesson--that sin and rebellion against God do not pay. They would see that Satan is a liar and the father of lies and God is just and true (Ps 51:4).

While Satan was the author and instigator of SIN, unjust accusations are continually being hurled at God sometimes even by His own children that He is the cause for all the suffering, pain, death and destruction in this planet.

All the inhabitants in the universe are watching intently. Earth's inhabitants are taking sides in this great and final conflict between Christ and Satan. The decisions and actions that we make every day are determining which side we are in the great controversy. Do we love God with all our heart and mind and soul? Do we obey all His commandments out of love and appreciation of His character? Do we know that He loves us and wants to save us, that He would send all the angels in heaven to aid us rather than have us defeated by the enemy if and when we recognize our weakness and our need of Him?

Do we grow in grace and knowledge of Him and daily reflect His character to those around us? Do we trust Him even when things don't go our way? Do we know that He has our best interests in heart--that He would work things out for our good? When death and other tragic things happen to our loved ones, do we say: Lord, I know this is not from You, it's from the enemy, but please give me the strength and courage to rise above this circumstance and help me not to dishonor You because of this but glorify You in spite of it. Help me to believe with all certainty that soon, You will come to destroy Satan's kingdom forever and that sin would never rise up again as per Nahum 1:9?

If this is your case, you are casting a vote in God's favor. Yes, God is on trial before a "cosmic court" in the Universe. You are a character witness on His behalf, clearing His Holy Name from Satan's false charges and accusations. You are vindicating God's Name, His Law, His Truth, and His Righteousness and bringing glory and honor to Him.

"The result of rebellion, the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, have been laid open to the view of all created intelligences. The working out of Satan's rule in contrast with the government of God has been presented to the whole universe. Satan's own works have condemned him. God's wisdom, His justice, and His goodness stand fully vindicated...The history of sin will stand to all eternity as a witness that with the existence of God's law is bound up the happiness of all the beings He has created." --Great Controversy, Page 670,671. See also Footsteps of God.

There's one last thing to the message of the first angel of Revelation 14. He cried out with a loud voice: "...Worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."

You said in your letter, Tom, that my conversation is reduced to only the Sabbath, and that you, Jehovah's Witnesses honor not just one day, but all days. I have no problem with that; however, God blessed and sanctified only ONE day, the seventh-day. Six days we are commanded to labor and do our work. When God blessed the seventh day, it stays blessed forever. It's a day to worship the Creator of heaven and earth and to spend quality time with Him. The Sabbath is central to the life-and-death messages of the three angels of Revelation 14. It's in the heart of His eternal moral law. That's why we cannot keep silent concerning the Sabbath. If we did, the very rocks will cry out.

It's not about us, Tom. It's about Him. He blessed and hallowed the Sabbath at creation before sin entered the world--long before there was a Jewish nation. He only asks that we keep it that way (holy). It's never about a day. It's never about Saturday versus Sunday. It's about who's behind those days. Do we believe God or the usurper? Do we trust God enough to believe and obey Him when He said: "Six days shall thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work..." If He is the Creator and Lord of all, is He not worthy to receive our homage and worship?

Granted we have been accused as legalists for keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, but that accusation is unjustifiable. Here's what Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, retired theologian, author, and lecturer wrote: "The function of the Sabbath is not to offer salvation through the observance of the seventh day, but to invite us to stop our work to allow Christ to work in us more fully and freely... We rest in order to allow God's omnipotent grace to operate more fully and freely in our lives. Thus, genuine Sabbathkeeping is salvation by grace, not by works... Properly understood and experienced Sabbathkeeping is an antidote to salvation by works."

The seventh-day Sabbath is a holy institution just as Marriage is, and both were instituted in Eden. We wouldn't think of doing away with Marriage, would we? And neither should we think of doing away with God's holy Sabbath. Have you noticed that these two divine institutions are under severe attack today?

As an artist signs his name at the bottom of the canvass after he has finished his beautiful masterpiece, so God affixed His glorious creative work with His signature--His Sabbath--on the seventh day. The Sabbath is a memorial of Creation. It points us to the Creator. It is a sign that He is our Creator, He is our Redeemer and Sanctifier, and He is our Restorer. His Holy Sabbath will be observed in Heaven and the New Earth throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity (Isa 66:22,23).

When people disregard and/or desecrate the seventh-day Sabbath, pretty soon they lose sight of the Creator Himself that the Sabbath points them to as can be seen in the following story:

On October 25, 1996, Chicago Tribune shocked the world when it reported that Pope John Paul II bolsters church support for Evolution. The Pope proclaims that the theory is "more than just a hypothesis and that Evolution is compatible with Christian faith." A conservative Italian newspaper reported that "The Pope said we could have descended from the apes." Asked about the Pope's statement, an editor of the 1991 Catholic Encyclopedia, said: "It's essentially what Augustine was writing. He tells us that we should not interpret Genesis literally, and that it is poetic and theological language" --Times, International Edition, Nov. 4, 1996, Page 59.

What a slap in the face of One who spoke worlds into existence and hung them from nothing, who calls the stars by names, who walks upon the wings of the wind and the clouds are the dust of His feet, who rides upon the storm and plants His footsteps in the sea, who numbers the sand upon the shore and the hair upon the head, who alone is immortal and dwells in light unapproachable, and the nations before Him are as a drop of a bucket and the small dust of the balance. GOD is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He created us; we are fearfully and wonderfully made! He is worthy of our praise and worship for He is Great and greatly to be praised!

True worship constitutes obedience to the Creator's law. In vain do they worship Me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men was what Jesus said in Matt 15:9. Who do we give our homage and allegiance to? God or the Beast? Christ or the antichrist? The Beast has its mark and the Papacy admitted that they changed the Sabbath of the Lord from the seventh-day to the first day and that's their mark. They said they changed it not by scriptural authority BUT by their own ecclesiastical authority granted them from heaven. What a lie! This came directly from the dragon--Satan, the father of lies. The Papacy admitted that Sunday sacredness is their MARK, Tom.

This change was predicted in Dan 7:15-28. There are several quotes I have from well-known Catholic authorities saying that they changed God's law. I will send it to you if you so desire. Please, I want to emphasize again the fact that I am referring here to a false religious system, not individual Catholics who happen to be a part of this system. God loves these individuals and is calling them out NOW before it's too late.

If you accept Sunday as your sabbath, you are paying homage to the Papal power, not Jehovah God. And you are risking receiving his mark. Do you know where the Beast and those who have his mark end up in? In the lake of fire. See Rev 19:20. Why do you suppose I'm writing this long letter to you, Tom? To give the warning of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14. I'm posting this in the Internet to warn others as well.

Yes, the real issue is WORSHIP to the Creator OR worship to the Beast. Two conflicting powers contending for supremacy--wanting and desiring to be worshipped. The Beast receives its power from Satan and through the Beast, Satan receives what he wanted most in heaven - to be worshipped. What he wanted most in the Wilderness was for Jesus to worship Him but he didn't get it from Jesus, did he? But today, Satan receives worship from many people who claim the name of Christ, but not His Word or His Robe of Righteousness (Isa 4:1).

Granted, some people may not know about all this, and that's fine because God winks at our ignorance (Acts 17:30). Maybe you're one of those people who didn't know about this before, but now you know. With light and knowledge come responsiblity and moral obligation to share with others the life-and-death messages of the three angels of Revelation 14. See last part of Luke 12:48.

The stories in the Bible, Tom, were not given just to 'entertain' us and our children.

They teach and reinforce upon the mind the principles of the moral law of God. It is really true that the Bible is the ten commandments expanded and amplified. Many of these stories are miniature prophecies that have end-time spiritual applications and fulfillments. Here are examples:

The call of Abraham to leave the country of his nativity (physical Babylon) to go to the land of Canaan (earthly), a land flowing with milk and honey was a prophecy, a miniature rendition of what's going to happen in the time of the end when God, through the three angels' messages of Revelation 14, proclaims in a loud voice that spiritual Babylon (global) is fallen and for His people in that false religious system to come out of her and be part of the redeemed who would go to heavenly Canaan.

Why was Abraham called out of that country? Because of the idolatry practiced by the people including his kinsmen. We learned from biblical and secular histories that it was the Babylonians that desecrated the temple of God and took the holy vessels and used them in a drunken feast in honor of their idols. These Babylonians, with King Belshazzar who was without an excuse because he knew better, put no difference between the holy and the profane, the common and the sacred. See Eze 26:22.

As a result, God's judgment fell on them. The kingdom was rent and given to the Medes and the Persians. But why are God's end-time people being called out of spiritual Babylon? So that they might be separated from paganistic, idolatrous sun worship (Sunday) that they might know and not profane His Holy Sabbath as King Belshazzar profaned the holy vessels of God--vessels that were set aside for a holy use in His sanctuary.

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah (local) is a miniature version of the three angels' messages of Rev 14 (global). You find the story in Genesis 18 and 19. The sins that were practiced by these wicked people were sex perversion, violence, crime, and materialism (fullness of bread and lots of leisure time on their hands). Sounds familiar?

Notice that three angels were sent to give the warning to come out of these cities for God was going to destroy them. Those who heeded the warning were saved. It's interesting that the Bible mentions destruction by fire and brimstone in only two places--in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and in the destruction of spiritual Babylon at the end of the age.

The story of Elijah at Mt Carmel is another prophecy that has end-time application and fulfillment. What happened at Mt. Carmel was a restoration of the law of God which specifies the worship of the true God as opposed to the idolatrous worship of Baal. CLICK on the NEXT Button to continue.

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