Shall I obey God rather than men?

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. The people of God are directed to the Scriptures as their safeguard against the influence of false teachers and the delusive power of spirits of darkness. Satan employs every possible device to prevent men from obtaining a knowledge of the Bible; for its plain utterances reveal his deceptions. At every revival of God's work the prince of evil is aroused to more intense activity; he is now putting forth his utmost efforts for a final struggle against Christ and His followers. The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested.  

Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His word; they can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test: Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's immutable word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? 

Before His crucifixion the Savior explained to His disciples that He was to be put to death and to rise again from the tomb, and angels were present to impress His words on minds and hearts. But the disciples were looking for temporal deliverance from the Roman yoke, and they could not tolerate the thought that He in whom all their hopes centered should suffer an ignominious death. The words which they needed to remember were banished from their minds; and when the time of trial came, it found them unprepared. The death of Jesus as fully destroyed their hopes as if He had not forewarned them. So in the prophecies the future is opened before us as plainly as it was opened to the disciples by the words of Christ. The events connected with the close of probation and the work of preparation for the time of trouble, are clearly presented. But multitudes have no more understanding of these important truths than if they had never been revealed. Satan watches to catch away every impression that would make them wise unto salvation, and the time of trouble will find them unready.  

When God sends to men warnings so important that they are represented as proclaimed by holy angels flying in the midst of heaven, He requires every person endowed with reasoning powers to heed the message. The fearful judgments denounced against the worship of the beast and his image (Revelation 14:9-11), should lead all to a diligent study of the prophecies to learn what the mark of the beast is, and how they are to avoid receiving it. But the masses of the people turn away their ears from hearing the truth and are turned unto fables. The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days: “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:3. That time has fully come. The multitudes do not want Bible truth, because it interferes with the desires of the sinful, world-loving heart; and Satan supplies the deceptions which they love.  

But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority—not one nor all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord” in its support.  

Satan is constantly endeavoring to attract attention to man in the place of God. He leads the people to look to bishops, to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides, instead of searching the Scriptures to learn their duty for themselves. Then, by controlling the minds of these leaders, he can influence the multitudes according to his will.      Great Controversy pp. 593-595

A Virgin Mary statue appears to be crying.

US News 

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — A Virgin Mary statue at a Hispanic Catholic church in southeastern New Mexico is drawing visitors from around the region because believers say it appears tears are flowing from the statue's face.

Visitors of the bronze statue located inside the auxiliary building of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church said Tuesday the statue wept, like it did for several hours last Sunday, the Hobbs News-Sun reported .

"There were tears coming down her face again," said church manager Judy Ronquillo, who was in the building on Tuesday when it took place.

Ronquillo said the statue began crying as the group inside the church finished a Rosary.

"It's beautiful," she said. "The tears aren't watery, they are an oil-like substance and the tears smell like roses."

Mother Teresa will be made a Catholic saint after Pope Francis approved a second miracle needed for her canonization

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 10:04 a.m. EST December 22, 2015
Mother Teresa will be made a Catholic saint after Pope Francis approved a second miracle needed for her canonization, a move welcomed by the archbishop of Kolkata, India, as “a real Christmas gift” from the pontiff.

Francis took the step by signing a decree late Thursday declaring that the inexplicable 2008 recovery of a Brazilian man who suddenly woke from a coma caused by a viral brain infection was due to the intercession of the Albanian nun, who died at age 87 in 1997.

Mother Teresa, known as "the saint of the gutters," was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 after dedicating her life to working on behalf of the poor, particularly in the slums of Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta.)

She was beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II after being attributed to a first miracle, answering an Indian woman's prayers to cure her brain tumor, according to the Vatican. One miracle is needed for beatification — described by the Catholic Church as recognition of a person's entrance into heaven — while sainthood requires two.

By the time of her death, Mother Teresa's India-based Missionaries of Charity supported 4,000 nuns and ran hundreds of orphanages, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and clinics around the world.

Church observers said the pope would probably canonize Mother Teresa on Sept. 4, the day before the anniversary of her death, which is also her official feast day.

“It is a real Christmas gift that the Holy Father has given, especially the Church in (Kolkata),” said Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the Indian city's archbishop. “We were waiting for this moment, since many years really, and now that it has come we are very happy, overjoyed."

Francis, who has made outreach to the poor a priority for the Catholic Church, met Mother Teresa more than two decades ago while he was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. He is known for admiring her ministry as well as her fearlessness in speaking out on behalf of society’s outcasts.

“I would have been afraid to have had her as my superior, since she was so tough,” he once joked.

Visitors take photos of a portrait of Mother Teresa at the Missionaries of Charity after a special Mass in Kolkata, India, on Dec. 18, 2015. Pope Francis has signed off on the miracle needed to make Mother Teresa a saint, giving the tiny nun who cared for the poorest of the poor one of the Catholic Church's highest honors just two decades after her death.  Bikas Das, AP

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, into an ethnic Albanian family in what is today the Republic of Macedonia.

She joined the Loreto order of nuns in 1928. In 1946, while traveling by train from Kolkata to Darjeeling, was inspired to found the Missionaries of Charity order.

The order was established four years later and has since opened more than 130 houses worldwide to provide comfort and care for the needy.

While her actions gained widespread admiration, Mother Teresa was not beloved by all and was criticized for the quality of care in her clinics and taking donations from Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and disgraced American financier Charles Keating, according to the Associated Press.

Contributing: David Gibson and Rosie Scammell, Religion News Service

SOURCES:  U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.catholicdoors.com, AP and USA TODAY research;  PHOTO: AP       USA Today

Note: Martin Luther once said: “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works.” Goodreads Good works must emanate from the real source (Christ) to be consider a blessing, otherwise we will be deceiving ourselves. Worshiping God is my first and most important duty towards Him. Supplying the needs of my neighbors is my second duty. Matthew 6:33 says: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." What is His righteousness? The perfect character of God as described in His Word (Job 36:3; Isaiah 51:5-8; John 17:25) That said, if we seek God's kingdom but not His righteousness then the great deceiver called the serpent and satan who deceives the whole world (Rev 12:9) and who transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) will try to perform miracles in the place of Christ.