Month: November 2009

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It's A Lie!

crossfingersIt is assumed true by just about everyone in the church right now. you don’t even have to prove it. The church is full of legalistic finger pointers who are attempting to steal our assurance of salvation. They are running the church. They condemn you for eating cheese, they make those who are caught in sexual sin to feel unloved. They attack and put down. They put the writings of Ellen White above the Bible while they proclaim that they have reached perfection…

Where does this church exist?

I just wonder where this church is located. While it is true that you can find a church here and there or a member here and there that have this problem, I just haven’t seen it. The churches I see are overtaken by laxness not strictness. It is laughable to think that we have a widespread problem of condemning folks for eating cheese…There are not many people using Ellen White as a sledgehammer. We are to busy bending over backwards to not offend anybody. I mean many of our preachers don’t even use her name, instead they refer to their “favorite Christian author” or a “Christian author from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.” It is interesting that a preacher can refer to to “Billy Graham” or “John Wesley” or even “T. D. Jakes” but still doesn’t want to offend anyone by referring to Ellen White.

We Bought the Lie

And yet in this climate, we are accused of “worshiping Ellen White.” We have bought into the lie that we are too strict, and now all of our solutions presented have to do with solving this illusionary problem. So we always hear about grace and little about responsibility, well if we assume that all we hear is responsibility then we must set it aside for a while. We hear about what God did and nothing about what we are to do. And it makes sense, because we assume that we are correcting something. Well it is time to stop believing the lie that legalism is rampant. Stop believing the lie that too many are using the health message as a weapon.

Stop Believing the Lie

And if we stop believing the lie, then maybe we can begin to get some real balacne in our presentations. Then maybe we can begin hearing about grace and law. Then maybe we can begin hearing about our need for God’s act and our own response. If we stop believing the lie, then we will be in a position to speak to this present world rather than the figment of our own imagination where the readers of the “red books” run wild and vegans run off all of our converts.

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The Rise of Spiritualism

hauntedGhost Whisperer, Medium, Ghost Hunters, and numerous movies are coming out that promotes communication and actually gaining help from those of our loved ones who have crossed over into death.  We can listen to the radio and even watch as experts in the supernatural speak to and gain knoweldge and help from the spirit world.

It is almost shocking the sheer amount of material that one can find that actively promotes speaking to the dead.

The Apostle Paul points to the special working of Satan in spiritualism as an event to take place immediately before the second advent of Christ. Paul declares that it is “after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

In addition Peter, describing the dangers to which the church was to be exposed in the last days, says that as there were false prophets who led Israel into sin, so there will be false teachers, “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. . . . And many shall follow their pernicious ways.” 2 Peter 2:1, 2.

While Satan is preparing the world for his final deceptions, many of us are too busy with the cares of life or entertaining ourselves to recognize how close to the end we really are. At this time we should allow the saving power of Jesus to both forgive and cleanse (1 John 1:9) that we may be prepared for the comign evil days.

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Sanctuary in Revelation

TabernacleAboveOne thing that is interesting about relatively recent Adventist study of the book of Revelation is that they have found and teach the obvious and extensive Sanctuary imagery in the Biblical book.  Such imagery demonstrates that a knowledge of the Sanctuary, as well as much of the Old Testament, is needed to understand the last book of the Bible.

A short thumbnail look at the references is as follows:

In Revelation 1 we see Jesus among the candlesticks.  In Revelation 4 we see the seven lamps of fire.  In Revelation 5 we see Christ as the slain lamb of God.  In Revelation 8 we see an angel offering incense on the alter before the throne.  In revelation 11 we see the temple and the alter being measured.  In Revelation 14 an angel comes out of the temple.  In Revelation 15 the temple is filled with smoke.  In Revelation 16 a loud voice comes out of the temple.  In Revelation 21 there is no temple in the city, for the Lamb is our Temple.

It would seem that an understanding of the Sanctuary and the Temple service is very important and necessary if we are to understand this book.   It definitely seems as though Adventists are at least right in saying that one should extensively place the Sanctuary in one’s understanding of this book,  and thus the blessing that comes on those who read the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:3) will apply to those of us who attempt to study the Sanctuary and its implications for our present and future.