SDA Pre-enactment of Last Day Events

photo.php

(Since the photo is so small, click here for a larger image.)

SDA Youth Pastor Alden J. Ho, also a professional photographer, captioned the photo with: "Mock up end-times hunt for Sabbathkeepers."

At the very least, it is astonishingly dysfunctional that a church leader would dramatically pre-enact a terrifying prophetic massacre of their people. Can you imagine a Jewish prophet of the 20th century getting together a group of Jews and pre-enacting the Holocaust? Not to warn them to get out of Germany, but just to prepare them for the gas chambers? Or an Old Testament prophet re-enacting the slaughter of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Captivity, not as a warning to repent and turn from their wicked ways, but just to prepare them for the tortures and persecution and martyrdom?

You see Adventists don't see this persecution as punishment from God, not as something they can prepare for and avoid. No, their prophetess Ellen White, had a vision and foretold that because they kept the correct Sabbath, because of their obedience to God, that all other Christians will vent Satan's wrath upon the SDA remnant. Adventists will be hunted down and martyred for keeping Sabbath. Every Christian who continues to disobey God by going to church and worshipping God on Sunday (which they believe is the wrong day to worship) is going to receive the Mark of the Beast.

This recent Adventist theatrical pre-enactment tells us, out here in non-SDA land, that despite their persuasive declaration that the church is no longer fearmongering its youth about other Christians and that it has dropped ridiculous and unbiblical last-day prophecies, that some Adventist church leaders are back to the old scare tactics. "Stay safely inside Adventism, all other Christians are some day going to come after you, torture and martyr you." (Well, actually the word safe to them means eternally, spiritually safe because obviously your physical bodies are going to come to great harm for being SDA.....)

It is tragic, though that the SDA church still considers Ellen White a prophetess (or more technically, they use the term "messenger") and as you can witness, still perpetuates her horror stories as truth.

The good news, the very good news is that this prophesied hunt for sabbathkeepers is a delusion of a mentally ill 19th-century woman who sustained a serious head injury that brought on religious hallucinations. So, those who have been taught this anti-christian and anti-biblical prophecy, we call upon you to jettison those Adventist nightmares foisted upon your imagination by well-meaning leaders.

Replace fears of false prophesies with the truth of a loving, merciful and forgiving Father. It is enough for you as Christian youth to take up your cross daily and follow Christ in a world that bombards you with constant temptations today! Find your true rest in Jesus, our blessed Lord, and remember that the Bible says that love casts away fear. Adventist doctrine creates fear: fear of sudden judgement, fear of other Christians, fear of last-day tortures. This is not from God.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Is. 41: 10

Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye maya be also. John 14: 1-3

Time We Had a Sincere Chat About Sex.....

Caution. Offensive level: red.

Audience: Christians.

Others: Feel free to read and respond, but if you reject a Christian worldview, I would never expect you to abide by Christian rules. This post isn't for you.

____________________________________

There is no subject on which the Devil has spent so much time completely confusing our culture as the topic of sex. He is brainwashing a fourth generation that sexual gratification at all ages and of all varieties ought to be quenched or it will lead to mental and physical health issues. We have been besieged by the secular "experts" that one is uncontrollably genetically imprinted and should submit to all sexual desires and demands. Sex has become a new "right."

Young people are growing up not realizing that for thousands of years, since the inception of humankind ALL groups, tribes, religions, cultures and societies have had restrictions and taboos about sex. All people who have stepped foot on planet earth have had to suppress sexual urges sometime in their lives. Somehow we all have managed to do it and have been better people for learning sexual discipline.

Yet in today's society, we are made to feel we are being cruel to others to even suggest that they should wait--wait for another person, wait for marriage, wait for your spouse. We are told only to indulge in any strange, disordered, selfish, harmful, addicting, demeaning act our imagination (or the media's imagination) can titillate us with. Half the time we don't even know if we are being tempted by something we actually desire or just being shocked by sexual embarrassment.

We walk around actually thinking that others are having so much more fun and doing so much more sexually than we are. Kids today think they need to experiment with the most perverse acts just so that they won't be left behind! Married adults worry that they are not "doing it" as often or with as much diversity as their neighbors. It is ridiculous.

First, as Christians, we need to get out of our language and subconscious that sex is a right. It is no such thing. Sex is a gift--a vocation--a mission. (And I hate that we even use the word sex. Somehow that word has even demeaned the gift further.)

God has presented the responsibility of loving procreation to a man and woman joined in a life-long monogamous marriage. For all others, He has given the gift of celibacy. If you do not belong to the category of those God has given this responsibility, do not steal the gift from God.

Many people believe God must be a monster to put into us the drive to join with another in pleasurable unity, and then not let us use it. Well, remember the first commandment to humans after creation was to procreate! "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth!" God commanded that we procreate. So He was hardly being cruel to infuse into us sexuality!

But the mission and vocation was limited also. For those who chose not to marry, there is another mission and vocation, that of celibacy (as Jesus Christ himself chose). It is not a demeaning vocation as you can help bring a different kind of life into the world. As a celibate Christian you are called to be full-time fathers and mothers by birthing souls into the kingdom of Heaven.

Satan is desperately trying to take this marital gift away through confusion. The Father of Lies encourages sex--the purely selfish, physical act, devoid of any authentic, self-giving and self-sacificing love.

Through this hatred of life, Satan convinces us that we are doing the environment and our career paths a great favor by keeping the act free of the power of God. He lies to us about contraceptives, abortion, homosexuality, masturbation, pornography, promiscuity, living together, adultery and divorce.... all to keep God out of the act. Keep life out of the act. In the end, the act becomes lifeless and devoid of pleasure, so we have to try strange things to continue the stimulation.

Yes, restricting our actions and even our desires (as Christ commanded that we not even lust!) is hard. It can be very, very hard. It is equally hard for heterosexuals as it is homosexuals to keep pure when not in a marriage and it is also extremely hard for many people to keep pure after marriage. The vast majority of us have sexual weaknesses in some areas and we all have to sacrifice to keep God's commands. No one is free of self-discipline and no Christian has a right to protest God's marital rules. No not one.

Remember that there is no such thing as an unrestricted gift of sexual union--even among married people.

For those who do chose marriage, and that is most of us, this gift of loving, pleasurable union is also limited-- to your spouse. It is a sin if a spouse is physically intimate with anyone other than their husband or wife. And, without getting too graphic, there are things even married people should not do that may be demeaning within the marriage bed.

Sexuality is limited by God. And somehow most people in the past have been able to suppress their physical desires until they received God's gift within marriage. It is not unloving or bigoted or cruel or old-fashioned or homophobic, or adulterophobic or masturophobic or pornophobic to tell people that they will be hurting themselves and others if they take the gift out of context.

You have been given the mission of total celibacy, called to exert self-discipline and depend upon God's grace if:

• You are too young to be married.
• If you are old enough to be married and are still dating.
• If you are attracted to someone of the same sex.
• If you are attracted to someone of the opposite sex who you are not married to.

God has placed lots of restrictions upon this precious gift. And that is because it is the most powerful gift of all. This gift makes you more like God than any other gift He has given to us. We become like Him in that we are forming another human in our own likeness. Sexuality is powerful beyond our imaginations and the marriage bed is somehow, as Paul says, a reflection of how Christ loves His Bride, the Church. It is not for the faint of heart, the selfish or childish.

Think about this: Nothing you will ever do, no matter how much money you earn or donate, no matter how famous, no matter what you did or said or wrote, no matter how fantastic--nothing you produce on earth will be eternal. There is only one eternal gift that God allows us to give to others... that is life! We can give them the spiritual dimension in spreading the gospel, but first comes the physical dimension.

We will spend eternity with our children--we create souls that are eternal. They are our greatest blessing on earth. LIFE! That is what it is all about--the gospel and marriage. That is what Satan is trying to destroy.

LIFE! Imagine the Potential!

Thank YOU!

Hello those who are visiting us from Romania! Glad you are looking at our blog!

PENNY ESTES WHEELER and Me

Penny Estes Wheeler: Adventist Celebrity: Review and Herald Publishing Editor and Writer

[Eighth in series of Adventist Celebrities and Me... because so many SDAs claim I wasn't ever really an SDA but someone on the periphery of the church.]

Penny is my mother's cousin. You may not think you know her, but she has been writing for the SDA publications like the "Little Friend," all her life. She was editor of "The Guide" "Women of Spirit" and has worked for the Review and Herald forever.... You may remember her novel about the last days and Ellen White's prophecies. Many SDA school teachers read it aloud to their elementary students, it is entitled, "The Appearing."

Penny gave me my first opportunity to publish my writings. She is a dear! Her aunts and husband, Gerald, and her son, Tompaul also work for the Review and Herald. (And they have given me a personalized tour of the publishing company and told me all kinds of James and Ellen White tidbits that most Adventists would be horrified to discover.)

For the life of me, I can't figure out why they remain SDA. They are ultra liberal SDAs. They are incredibly smart and talented. There are just personality types that are so devoted and loyal, which is sweet beyond words--that they don't care if the ones they love are flawed, they stick by them. Period. I think that is the Wheelers, I think they really love the SDA church.

Now I am bored and don't want to write any more in this series.

The reason I wrote this is because I get so many Adventists claim that I never was REALLY a SDA. I was just a peripheral member that never actually had anything to do with the church. (And it gave me another reason to beg the SDA church to stop being a one-commandment church and stand against the murder of the unborn.)

My qualifications as a real Adventist were:

1. I was a multi-generational SDA, my great grandparents were Adventist (both sides). My husband's grandparents were SDA (both sides).

2. My great grandmother knew Ellen White--I don't think well, but knew her somewhat.

3. Both my husband and I went to Adventist elementary school. Arthur in the Seattle area and myself in Dallas--so we have a good idea of what the different SDA areas were like.

4. Both my husband and I went to Adventists boarding academy (Valley Grande Academy.)

5. Both my husband and I attended and graduated from Adventist Universities.

My husband's father was both an ordained SDA minister and also a teacher and principal in SDA schools for over thirty years.

I taught in Sabbath School for decades.

I taught in Children's Church.

I taught in SDA schools: in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference as well as the Texas Conference.

I published articles in SDA periodicals such as : Women of Spirit, Conference and Union magazines, Spectrum, Adventist Review, Signs of the Times, Adventists Affirm (often under a pseudonym).

I was founder of the first SDA pro-life organization that eventually joined with Adventists for Life (founder George Lawson) that had branches in three different states. We went to many SDA elementary schools, high school and colleges to present our message. I ended up having to quit because I was worried I was neglecting my three children. So, within a few years the organization fizzled. But now the pro-life movement is growing again within the church (thanks Nic! S.) Praise the Lord.

Arthur and/ or myself have lived in SDA meccas such as Walla Walla College; Portland, Oregon; Loma Linda, California, Keene, Texas; Collegedale, Tennessee, the DC area as well as Hagerstown, MD. We have attended SDA churches in Europe as well.

For the vast majority of my life, I was prepared to die rather than give up the Sabbath. I loved being an SDA and where they were legalistic (or outright wrong--like in abortion), I loved the church so much I tried for twenty years to change it from within.

And the series is to show that I knew a lot of movers and shakers in the SDA church. To say I wasn't really an Adventist, is to be ignorant of the facts. Which is not an insult.... just wanted to give you the facts.

DAVID NEWMAN and Me

J. David Newman: SDA Celebrity: Senior Pastor of New Hope Church: Former Editor of Ministry Magazine and man with great accent.

[Seventh in series of Adventist Celebrities and Me... because so many SDAs claim I wasn't ever really an SDA but someone on the periphery of the church.]

I watched the heat of the Asian food erupt in sweat beads all across his brow as we sat across from each other gabbing. He kept clearing his throat. I remember because I had suggested the restaurant and felt bad. Perhaps being British (or whatever that accent was), he was not used to spicy food. But it was an intense time for the both of us and I was hot under the collar myself.

We were voting members of a committee of 25 attempting to come up with Biblical guidelines for the worldwide church on the subject of abortion. It was ironic because I was quite pregnant at the time and a kind of walking illustration of what exactly was at stake.

Being, providentially, a bit late to the first meeting on the Loma Linda University campus, I was informed by a fuming lady to my left that the committee just took an oath of secrecy. After several days of listening to the back and forth, I realized that Dr. Jack Provonsha had already written the guidelines and all they really wanted from us was a thumbs up.

(These recommendations would eventually make it through the Executive Committee and become the 1992 official abortion statement for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.)

David Newman and I had to commiserate because we were outnumbered as the only openly pro-life voting members. Both of us seemed shocked at what we were hearing. I was invited because I was the president of Adventists For Life; he the editor of Ministry Magazine.

We both knew that the outcome would be very skewed towards the pro-choice side because of the utterly absurd comments coming from the mouths of the SDA elite--the lawyer for the Religious Liberty arm, the Presidents of European Unions, Vice President of something about women... Theological scholars flown in from the top SDA Universities all over the world.

I enjoyed my lunch with David, but I was rather disappointed that such a big--physically as well as influentially--man meekly explained to me that he was not the kind of guy that would loudly protest. He was a passivist. I knew his heart was supportive of our work in Adventists For Life, but that was as far as it went.

A couple day later, we all sat at a large table and voted to bring in the most liberal guidelines I could imagine at the time. David Newman and I were stunned. We both, of course, were the only two to raise a word in protest as well as a vote AGAINST the guidelines.

We have not had any contact that I can remember anyway, since the meeting was over. But for a few minutes there I felt that someone at the top understood the importance of the commandment not to kill as well as the sabbath commandment. Albert Whiting didn't seem to, (chairman of the committee), the female lawyer for the Religious Liberty department didn't seem to... if fact what was said in that meeting would have melted most Adventists' brains.

When I left the last meeting, I stroked that little baby boy awaiting birth and said I was sorry. I didn't like him hearing all that was said by those church leaders. Now a lot of his little Adventist friends would never be born.