tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66890857433124900452024-02-18T21:29:37.261-08:00The Journal of Hairy-Chested AdventismIssues of Interest to Adventist MenTom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-64182991551551470662023-03-25T14:34:00.006-07:002023-03-25T15:04:49.314-07:00Angels Dressed as Soldiers<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhXk3nb3hY2lStXtaBvta4ArTyh23IHpzLjKVAWXVWbeGpXsibcNSEUI9383zS4MMR3fQIk60JjGPjL4iM_XyikR-seO9BELphqKyGWJfuFpNsxnqTldMpe63vvQDWECC5nL1RzKhA2XpjCq_8oRUnQ6qFbXaZe4Shg3P0AcLxsLfSPU9eZg8-R_gYw/s900/Angel%20army.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="900" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhXk3nb3hY2lStXtaBvta4ArTyh23IHpzLjKVAWXVWbeGpXsibcNSEUI9383zS4MMR3fQIk60JjGPjL4iM_XyikR-seO9BELphqKyGWJfuFpNsxnqTldMpe63vvQDWECC5nL1RzKhA2XpjCq_8oRUnQ6qFbXaZe4Shg3P0AcLxsLfSPU9eZg8-R_gYw/w526-h296/Angel%20army.jpg" width="526" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>These guys look like they're ready to suit up and drop onto the battlefield.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p><p><b>Angels are described in the book <i>Early Writings</i> thus. "</b><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>The company of guardian angels around them had been doubled, and they
were clothed with an armor from their head to their feet." </b>Not exactly the effeminate angels of Renaissance Christian art. Angels as described in the Old Testament could appear as nonthreatening, but usually they had to reassure those to whom they appeared, saying, "Fear not!"</span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>And angels pop up all over the place in scripture and in stories throughout Christian history. </b>I have seen the working of angels, but they remained out of my sight. A friend at camp almost ran over me and a canoe load of kids with a motorboat he was unfamiliar with. I watched in shock as the boat did an impossible 180 degree turn as the boat, bow high was coming down on us. It turned so fast the spring loaded ladder on the back of the boat knifed through the air where my head had been a second before. I felt it brush my hair as I was looking over the side watching the boat's propeller pass underneath the canoe. The way Jack (the boat driver) and I figured it, his angel got on one end of the boat and mine got on the other and spun it around. Whatever they did, that boat was moving fast and it suddenly disobeyed the laws of physics. And I'd just missed by a fraction of an inch, being knocked off the canoe on top of a spinning propeller. Jack and I spent the next hour in a lengthy prayer of thanksgiving.<br /></span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMOt1yd2Dqq86FJ1AheZhk27Y2cKFpindvZAG0BYrlZhbklFOCPkgR79_25GYRfppC262ZAmDy_SzfRYQ4gLrMtrbLl0CMQil1ner38vvbZnudyjTaT7Y5kG_bJzIYR3sqhCUEHTNAMvsSOXK_-5pNf3_WYfwar6zmLAAwevlK_qWRasigkgzp1XJVpQ/s2000/Guardian%20Angel%20-%20fear%20not.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1420" data-original-width="2000" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMOt1yd2Dqq86FJ1AheZhk27Y2cKFpindvZAG0BYrlZhbklFOCPkgR79_25GYRfppC262ZAmDy_SzfRYQ4gLrMtrbLl0CMQil1ner38vvbZnudyjTaT7Y5kG_bJzIYR3sqhCUEHTNAMvsSOXK_-5pNf3_WYfwar6zmLAAwevlK_qWRasigkgzp1XJVpQ/s320/Guardian%20Angel%20-%20fear%20not.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>A missionary friend of mine told a story about a South American Adventist school where angels did make themselves visible to the enemy. </b>Local communist guerrillas decided the school was counter-revolutionary and must be eliminated. The principle did not know anything about it. He went to the store in town one morning for supplies. When he went up to the counter the store proprietor seemed shocked to see him. <p></p><p><b><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]">"Where did you get the soldiers?" the man asked as he rang up the supplies.</span></b></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>"What soldiers?" asked the principal.</b></span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>"The ones that were standing guard around the school last night!" </b>The store owner proceeded to tell him why he'd asked. The guerrillas it seems had chosen the previous night to attack the school. Of course, word got around the close-knit community and everyone expected to hear bad news about the school in the morning. The attack never happened. Word came back that when the guerrillas reached the school, they found it surrounded by tough-looking heavily armed soldiers. The guerrillas quickly decided that in the interest of their personal survival, attacking the school was a very bad idea.</span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>The principal was shocked himself; he'd never seen any soldiers at the school that night.</b> Certainly no one from the government or the military had offered to help or had even warned him of the attack. He returned to the school with a glad heart and brought together the children and the teachers to pray and give thanks for the angel "soldiers" who had camped round about them that they might fear no evil.</span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_29-TiHLleGRrggM5_l9NuOUZyUxSawn2XsGO-t01MlJZVWc31nbsITACCsgBmqo8dB2dqsh2dw03xBP4FEHF1GBr-9QhteCiJ2MxJtPg3ghFOdy604VrJa_6e8Dj1aRSpHYmRJKC8YbmDjK8lF1YcWXo3Jemjun8XqFVAyjFKDQ7wUd0qxuehbXG-Q/s500/afraid%20my%20angel%20looks%20like%20this.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="356" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_29-TiHLleGRrggM5_l9NuOUZyUxSawn2XsGO-t01MlJZVWc31nbsITACCsgBmqo8dB2dqsh2dw03xBP4FEHF1GBr-9QhteCiJ2MxJtPg3ghFOdy604VrJa_6e8Dj1aRSpHYmRJKC8YbmDjK8lF1YcWXo3Jemjun8XqFVAyjFKDQ7wUd0qxuehbXG-Q/w198-h278/afraid%20my%20angel%20looks%20like%20this.jpg" width="198" /></a></span></div><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b>We shall see greater miracles than these in the coming days.</b> We are told that we often entertain </span><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]">angels unaware. Angels have often stood guard over us to save us from dangers of which we were not even aware. I've had more than my share of what had to be angelic intervention over my life. I once got smacked in the chest by a 3 foot wide boulder from above while rock climbing along the Trinity River. Had to have had help hanging on to the tree root I found myself dangling from when my head cleared. God only knows what other stupid things my guardian angel has saved me from.<br /></span><p></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"><b> In these last days we may go about God's work without fear.</b> Whatever happens, we may be assured of God's deliverance no matter what. Some of us may sleep, but we all shall be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye. Knowing God sees the end from the beginning and makes sure that whatever happens we will surely be going home with Him, we may face whatever the armies of evil throw at us with confidence.</span></p><p><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]">Even so, come Lord Jesus.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span class="egw_content" data-refcode-old="EW 270.4" data-refcode="28.1322" data-translate="[{"para_id":"13790.868","lang":"bg","refcode":"XOBT 123.5"},{"para_id":"789.1085","lang":"de","refcode":"FS 257.4"},{"para_id":"585.1122","lang":"de","refcode":"EG 263.3"},{"para_id":"215.1333","lang":"es","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"214.1361","lang":"fr","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2798.1439","lang":"it","refcode":"PSCR 241.1"},{"para_id":"11604.961","lang":"nb","refcode":"DEEGL 204.3"},{"para_id":"12533.983","lang":"nb","refcode":"HH 247.3"},{"para_id":"11977.1302","lang":"nl","refcode":"EG 325.3"},{"para_id":"12392.995","lang":"pl","refcode":"DW 200.2"},{"para_id":"1957.1310","lang":"pt","refcode":"PE 270.4"},{"para_id":"2691.1298","lang":"ro","refcode":"ST 270.4"},{"para_id":"1869.1279","lang":"ru","refcode":"\u0420\u041f 270.4"},{"para_id":"13885.1145","lang":"rw","refcode":"IZ 208.4"}]"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-s6sCC8krkdB6EIQRL7LYQ5iWzuwkz90UPIs95_qbWs2suz-DRluERluG4Gc3RngcOJu5CE0jBA93NLswrz4ZLrZ0TjIRV9aeM0Io3l4qRRixtkk6G9RY9KVqlA5BvorlonssGliLgVJVMt4dDtb9N-rRgYQ7IUCz0n6RbbAZuC3THlI1jU81Aw5qw/s638/Bible%20-%20we%20shall%20not%20all%20sleep.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="638" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-s6sCC8krkdB6EIQRL7LYQ5iWzuwkz90UPIs95_qbWs2suz-DRluERluG4Gc3RngcOJu5CE0jBA93NLswrz4ZLrZ0TjIRV9aeM0Io3l4qRRixtkk6G9RY9KVqlA5BvorlonssGliLgVJVMt4dDtb9N-rRgYQ7IUCz0n6RbbAZuC3THlI1jU81Aw5qw/w469-h362/Bible%20-%20we%20shall%20not%20all%20sleep.jpg" width="469" /></a><br /></p><p>© 2023 by Tom King<br /></p><p> </p><p> </p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-74067812918688938092022-10-22T20:06:00.003-07:002022-11-16T22:13:54.543-08:00What About the 60 Million?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzJy4hMABZAp4ihXVcrOYkvrSBzmCO8RmFkCKDrE4NwnXtGwKynTPD1B9LBLWmCA8LoIHh9LqUVOGn050LEdJk16I0g0yndi0c9h2ficDO9NoFXMIZJoEHhLMeMdKNtBcyENHpLva8x2IBopOK3g6jkqz0_pWVJgAGOHy8dmpSR_1mFUg7iXwSz6z5Q/s1046/Bible%20-%20Psalm%20139%2013%20knit%20together%20in%20your%20mother's%20womb.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1046" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPzJy4hMABZAp4ihXVcrOYkvrSBzmCO8RmFkCKDrE4NwnXtGwKynTPD1B9LBLWmCA8LoIHh9LqUVOGn050LEdJk16I0g0yndi0c9h2ficDO9NoFXMIZJoEHhLMeMdKNtBcyENHpLva8x2IBopOK3g6jkqz0_pWVJgAGOHy8dmpSR_1mFUg7iXwSz6z5Q/w564-h387/Bible%20-%20Psalm%20139%2013%20knit%20together%20in%20your%20mother's%20womb.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><br /><b>I keep getting crosswise of some of my brethren with some of the things I believe about God. </b>My walk with him <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto">leads me to believe even more strongly in His mercy. For instance, I
believe God will give to saved parents, the babies that were lost to
abortion here on Earth. God says he formed us in the womb and knew us before we were
even born. Our God is a jealous God, not willing that any should be lost. Therefore, I believe that all aborted babies will be taken home to be with us in Heaven. Me I want the angels to round up at least six or so that we can raise in a loving home, enough that we can have our own flag football
team or extra crew for the schooner my kids and I are going to build in the New Earth.</span><p></p><div class="bvz0fpym c1et5uql q9uorilb sf5mxxl7"><div class="k4urcfbm sf5mxxl7 l9j0dhe7 pq6dq46d"><div class="k4urcfbm hpfvmrgz g5gj957u buofh1pr mg4g778l"><div class="b3i9ofy5 e72ty7fz qlfml3jp inkptoze qmr60zad rq0escxv oo9gr5id q9uorilb kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x d2edcug0 jm1wdb64 l9j0dhe7 l3itjdph qv66sw1b"><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><span class="nc684nl6"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl gmql0nx0 gpro0wi8" href="https://www.facebook.com/AdventistChristian?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDE1OTg5OTE2MDc0NzYxMl81NzQzNDMxNjQyOTAyNDc%3D&__cft__[0]=AZUB07B_yJI0mxpRB5x0HT2W9ooqeJ-NtcuejccJjY5TGMa8e_9ajfK75_BqlxjcF90mOgp7nQAGHZlHCKDBOnAxuwOOGvM7a6WRfsewFMixKik4yHfHud__m3MWyCFSZz_IxIj99Q-7xNa3cjgel3LnTmjFfrZcdaap5zVchAuxkA&__tn__=R]-R" role="link" tabindex="0"><span class="pq6dq46d"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn mdeji52x sq6gx45u j5wam9gi lrazzd5p oo9gr5id" dir="auto">Stephen responded to my assertion that aborted babies would not be lost with this:</span></span></a></span> "<i>This is unconditional immortality which is not a teaching of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and leads to spiritism</i>."<div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">
<b>So let me ask, "How do you explain our teaching that babies like the ones spoken of in the passage below from Ellen White will be restored to their mothers'
arms at the Second Coming and even the motherless babies will be taken by Jesus to the tree of life?"</b>. After all, this baby clearly has not reached the age of accountability. Is
there some kind of free pass for these babies if their parents belong
to the right church. How is that fair to those who never had any chance to decide whether or not to follow Christ?<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIbJs7Cj3r0gn_J90LLi3sjeKzKkEkga8D55OkX8wSmzMuE1vYx1bih40PH6OpZ7j-G0ZqLnwZZ-BItpJklB8h7SVJS4wCYdjK4SkafKkLDds2VSmgruxpM21IdYNr1-WKjeB0CkaNxxbWfBBFW080sOYtuzXNjmh8EpFe5CfIk-Hcv6M_kO_n27gaw/s875/Ellen%20G%20White%20-%20motherless%20infants%20in%20heaven.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="875" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIbJs7Cj3r0gn_J90LLi3sjeKzKkEkga8D55OkX8wSmzMuE1vYx1bih40PH6OpZ7j-G0ZqLnwZZ-BItpJklB8h7SVJS4wCYdjK4SkafKkLDds2VSmgruxpM21IdYNr1-WKjeB0CkaNxxbWfBBFW080sOYtuzXNjmh8EpFe5CfIk-Hcv6M_kO_n27gaw/w544-h390/Ellen%20G%20White%20-%20motherless%20infants%20in%20heaven.jpg" width="544" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
have real trouble, Stephen, believing that God is that hard-hearted. </b>We
also believe (along with notable Protestant theologians like John Wesley) that many will be saved who never heard the name
of Christ but were seeking Him without knowing His name:. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Among the heathen are those who worship God ignorantly, those to whom
the light is never brought by human instrumentality, yet they will not
perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God, they have heard His
voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law
required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched
their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God.” - <a href="https://www.perspectivedigest.org/archive/27-1/ellen-g-whites-statements-on-the-heathen-being-saved">Ellen G. White</a></i> <br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>Strict conditional salvation is almost as heartless as the doctrine of an ever-burning
hell</b>. God is love and He knows His children. He knows our frame, He
knows we are dust, according to Psalm 103:14. God does not wish that any should perish, but that ALL should have eternal life (Matthew 18:14, ). That the God of infinite love, who carefully formed each of those
fearfully and wonderfully made, but aborted babies in their mothers'
womb and knew what they would one day be, will not finish His work,
especially when there would be millions of us willing to raise those
perfect babies in a perfect world. For that matter, I believe God will give me my
dog back if I ask Him. Would a Father deny his child something that
would only do him or her good. Would he not do ultimate good for the lost
children who were victims of the holocaust of the unborn? Sixty million dead masterpieces created by God in sixty million wombs will not be wasted I believe.<br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
do not hold to the brand of religion that treats salvation as some kind
of magical incantation. </b>Many Christians (or Hindus, pagans or Buddhists for that matter) believe that you have to say the right words and perform the
right rituals to get into Paradise. I met a Church of Christ pastor once who told me that because
the preacher didn't say "In Jesus' name," but said "In the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," my baptism was no good. I disagreed. I asked him, "Do you think God doesn't know who his son is?"<br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ixZqc6LgwJk8CRiq_bdHEqKhgZgRpGwIrYehVc6GPFUswyTL8w8vTeY6jwU33EfF3-ic0sqCr4LAzSiEYznGvFXbbAMABHj9Wwk_vPvo131aQdCBs8wPaiv-eUE5o4HHvAoDoVV4ak9anbiRrAI0YmRm8XoOBqaK6-NkyUyLZnOPup4kkzmOPvZWtg/s640/first%20ressurection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ixZqc6LgwJk8CRiq_bdHEqKhgZgRpGwIrYehVc6GPFUswyTL8w8vTeY6jwU33EfF3-ic0sqCr4LAzSiEYznGvFXbbAMABHj9Wwk_vPvo131aQdCBs8wPaiv-eUE5o4HHvAoDoVV4ak9anbiRrAI0YmRm8XoOBqaK6-NkyUyLZnOPup4kkzmOPvZWtg/s320/first%20ressurection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>My acquaintance with God
tells me He does what He does, not through magic and incantation.</b> He does what He
does because his nature is supernatural or above our 3 dimensional plane
of existence. He exists outside of time and is the Alpha and Omega, or
as scripture says He lives in the present, the past and the future all
at once. God knows who will be safe to take to heaven and the new Earth
because He sees tomorrow the way we see today. It's not magic and
definitely doesn't require incantations, waving magic wands or giving
special powers to people the church hierarchy deigns to "ordain". He picks
folks He knows, like Deborah, Gideon, Joseph, David and Simon Peter who can do the job He has for them to do. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>People
keep trying to stuff God into a conceptual box so they can (a) understand Him with
their limited intelligence and in a way that they approve of His actions and (b) figure
out how to game the system so God is somehow forced take them to heaven. </b>These folk lack faith. They don't quite trust God to make good decisions, or at least decisions they approve of, unless they have some
leverage. Ah, but if we say the right words and perform the correct
rituals, He will be forced to let us into Paradise, won't He?</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>Well,
no!</b> Remember Christ's description of the judgment - all those folks
complaining that they did miracles, preached to the masses, built
Crystal Cathedrals and God told them flat out, rituals and incantations
and successful fund-raising and all, "I never knew you." God
just doesn't fit in those kinds of boxes nor have those kinds of
limitations. A lot of that kind of thinking is left over from the long
discredited Last Generation Theology - an Adventist theologian's answer
to an ever-burning hell for scaring people into the pews and into line
with the "authorities". At the core of Adventism, is a kinder gentler, more
forgiving picture of the character of God than many strong-willed
Christians are quite comfortable with.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="bvz0fpym c1et5uql q9uorilb sf5mxxl7"><div class="k4urcfbm sf5mxxl7 l9j0dhe7 pq6dq46d"><div class="k4urcfbm hpfvmrgz g5gj957u buofh1pr mg4g778l"><div class="b3i9ofy5 e72ty7fz qlfml3jp inkptoze qmr60zad rq0escxv oo9gr5id q9uorilb kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x d2edcug0 jm1wdb64 l9j0dhe7 l3itjdph qv66sw1b"><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><b>Timothy objected:</b> "<i>This is the unconditional love and nature of God. If there is a first
life, then there is a soul, and the second life depends on our
submission and accountability.</i><i> A baby in the womb is life and has no accountability. </i></div><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><i> </i></div><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAy7FUlYQN0rLMyUqHHvF0agCwKhCrCel96uYonOS3SQ9TgixKCLLDLzwZzO8IqEptWyFAyUAsCJyCVfM8xk09NSmAfwkH951TcrS0aZnnuc-oZgQsPDbazb_TrgFEzooF-_ylDt1dc3UouTYvEHsFU9p4YD7LGgPVpCrjOANQ5IgSR3KRLpzhbr9tQ/s672/mother%20and%20newborn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="672" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAy7FUlYQN0rLMyUqHHvF0agCwKhCrCel96uYonOS3SQ9TgixKCLLDLzwZzO8IqEptWyFAyUAsCJyCVfM8xk09NSmAfwkH951TcrS0aZnnuc-oZgQsPDbazb_TrgFEzooF-_ylDt1dc3UouTYvEHsFU9p4YD7LGgPVpCrjOANQ5IgSR3KRLpzhbr9tQ/s320/mother%20and%20newborn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I think God is quite able to raise up murdered children freed from the stain of sin.</b> Adam and Eve,had they not been tempted could have lived eternally. Why not an unstained infant? If a child is knit together by God in the womb and another person ends the life that God has carefully created the child is unstained; murdered before the child has even been able to commit his first sin. Why would anyone think God would not object to having His babies killed without having had a chance to experience His love and choose life. </div><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><i> </i></div><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><b>Stephen objected. </b><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><i><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en">"You did not limit it to babes as in the picture. You included the unborn. There is no such teaching in Adventism."</span></i></span></span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="bvz0fpym c1et5uql q9uorilb sf5mxxl7"><div class="k4urcfbm sf5mxxl7 l9j0dhe7 pq6dq46d"><div class="k4urcfbm hpfvmrgz g5gj957u buofh1pr mg4g778l"><div class="b3i9ofy5 e72ty7fz qlfml3jp inkptoze qmr60zad rq0escxv oo9gr5id q9uorilb kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x d2edcug0 jm1wdb64 l9j0dhe7 l3itjdph qv66sw1b"><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><i><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"></div></div></span></i></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>Again I think such an idea is woven into the very Scriptures.</b> An
unborn child is a baby and a human. At least that's what God says about
it. The idea that a fetus is a "clump of cells" is a progressive fiction and for
that matter downright satanic. God sees the end from the beginning and
knows the choices the little human being would have made. I firmly
believe that God does not just toss out 60 million human beings that
Satan killed before they had a chance to know Him. I'm sure there are
"progressives" out there who would cheerfully stand beside the lake of
fire with a pitchfork, shoveling babies into the flames. They are
collectivists and think everybody ought to share in the same fate. I
cannot imagine the God of infinite love being that cruel. You may face eternal death (Ecclesiastes 9:5) for your own sins, but innocent babies should not be lumped in that "collective".<br /><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>Our
founding fathers didn't have millions of abortions in their day; scarcely a handful. </b>Ellen G White also
said we'd discover new truth in the years to come. I think what is
unique about our church is we really do believe God is loving and
merciful. Unborn children are no less His children than the Hottentots
who have never heard Jesus' name. I think we are learning more about Him
as the years go by. When somebody puts forth beliefs about God's
character that paint Him as harsh and unkind, it doesn't sit right because the God you know isn't merciless.
Now if you choose to reject Him okay. You get removed from the
universe permanently as you expected. But the innocent who were made by God, knit together in the
womb by God Himself, have been murdered before they can make any such choice. You wanna tell me God abandons His handiwork
because the devil decided to kill it before it was finished?</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
don't think so!</b> What kept me out of the church till I was 17 was the
harsh picture of God that the Last Generation theology proponents were
peddling. Then I met the actual Jesus and rejected the "only if you are a
rigid, strong-willed Christian capable of Earthly perfection." bunk they
were peddling. You can't tell me God will abandon 60 million plus
innocent children as well. And they ARE innocent. And they are children. That settles it for me!</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>The
idea that an unborn child is not a "soul" until he draws his first
breath outside the mother's womb is messed up.</b> God breathed into Adam
and he became a living soul. He was a fully formed adult at the time.
The idea that a "fetus" hasn't drawn breath and hasn't a soul, reveals a profound lack of
knowledge of biology. When a baby is formed in the womb (knit together
by God no less), he or she is ALREADY BREATHING. Its mother breathes
and imparts oxygen and food to the child through the umbilical cord, an
incredible design by God to see that the "clump of cells" gets oxygen
and food. So, in essence, the child is breathing from the moment God
begins to form it in the womb. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvA_fBT9aKIZHIB3VAiWWJPLzmZKRb6A1iMWWtvpMsDsjfD1MsHFRZA2cz-UTk_vaRaEkTv7w-ySAw7SmUuW9nMGcGFbAmJej3Tiu-JqruTgdDSvoCsl5SKN4hpBSZa1q5pRVSu_FQemDiudmg6IH_Ul1E5GCAKE_ppyxKwhHdUgDxacMXhHVAzvSaVQ/s600/Jesus%20and%20the%20children.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="429" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvA_fBT9aKIZHIB3VAiWWJPLzmZKRb6A1iMWWtvpMsDsjfD1MsHFRZA2cz-UTk_vaRaEkTv7w-ySAw7SmUuW9nMGcGFbAmJej3Tiu-JqruTgdDSvoCsl5SKN4hpBSZa1q5pRVSu_FQemDiudmg6IH_Ul1E5GCAKE_ppyxKwhHdUgDxacMXhHVAzvSaVQ/w262-h379/Jesus%20and%20the%20children.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>God
is merciful and he knows us from the moment of conception.</b> Salvation is
not a crap shoot where you win if the roll of the dice is in your
favor. God is, as I said, not willing that any should die, but that all
should be saved. Why do you think he waited until now, when there are
more people alive than have lived and died throughout the whole history of the world,
to finish the Gospel commission and come in the clouds? He waited for
telecommunications, transportation, the Internet, rockets and satellites
to allow the Gospel to reach every kindred tongue and people, that He
might take home the absolute most numbers of people He can without their
seeing death. God hates death. He longs for that moment, that twinkling
of an eye when he changes us, gives us immortality and takes us home.
There are, we are told, going to be more people on the Sea of Glass to
celebrate God's triumph than we can number. God is not exclusive. He is
inclusive. He wants every person in His kingdom who is safe to turn
loose in the universe with both eternal life and free will (intact so
that we may reflect His image). </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b> </b></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
find nothing in this that conflicts with the picture of a loving
merciful God who would give His son to make sure we have the greatest
chance of sharing eternity with Him</b>. He's our Father and what Father is
going to abandon more than 60 million babies aborted or miscarried? Are
you prepared to tell a mom who miscarries that God doesn't care about
her lost baby and won't give it back to her in heaven? Not this father!
One of the founders of our church described little babies in heaven
being restored to parents. I'm a parent and I will gladly take a whole
flock of those babies.Sometimes
I think that pernicious doctrine that infants lost cannot be saved
comes from cranky old Christians that don't like the idea of being
bothered by a lot of rambunctious infants and toddlers running around
and walking on their grass. </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>This
I know. Jesus loves us, child, adult or old person, rich or poor, red,
and yellow, black or white and carried every one of us in his heart when
he went to the cross.</b> I will not cheapen his sacrifice by telling
people that Jesus won't accept anyone who doesn't say that canned phrase
about "accepting Jesus" or isn't baptized with the correct words by the
properly credentialed church official. God is love. PERIOD!!!! You
cannot convince me otherwise. I know him too well!</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>So
people with mental disabilities get the lake of fire too? </b>Downs
Syndrome? Autism? So, give me a list of people who will be excluded from
heaven by God who gave his only begotten son, because they are mentally
impaired or didn't manage to get born. I have no doubt that women who have lost babies prior to that age of "accountability" will
get her babies back. My infant brother will be restored to my mother's arms. And I will get my football team of unwanted "clumps
of cells". </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>The
only thing I've found that shows the Old Testament God as particularly harsh penalty-wise, was his response to the pagan practice of sacrificing babies to
Molech.</b> The Israelites got up to that sort of thing on the ancient hilltop shrines and grove
temples. God REALLY REALLY hated infanticide and I don't think he blamed
the babies for it. I sure wouldn't want to be the people who did that
stuff when I stand in the judgment.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div></span></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmg_H40oDJANL9pKnZ6cAwE5CsYXIHKclZKNDUgUtrvOVV5JQQAnnPR22ZdAhpqA5HRwvvQP5A0ON6U_fTxeqQtqLoYK1wopd31rIn4LfAAj6eUcLhbER0uR3ZZknafByCF7YhXzvje0EV_Jkhd6aXNnbkmk91zxLXHN6WO_-f-xsYpmKB6_C5JKpnpg/s492/Jesus%20and%20a%20baby.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="492" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmg_H40oDJANL9pKnZ6cAwE5CsYXIHKclZKNDUgUtrvOVV5JQQAnnPR22ZdAhpqA5HRwvvQP5A0ON6U_fTxeqQtqLoYK1wopd31rIn4LfAAj6eUcLhbER0uR3ZZknafByCF7YhXzvje0EV_Jkhd6aXNnbkmk91zxLXHN6WO_-f-xsYpmKB6_C5JKpnpg/s320/Jesus%20and%20a%20baby.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id" dir="auto" lang="en"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>That
misconception of God as an angry god, comes from his harsh "fatherly"
punishment of the Israelites and pagans for their evil practices. </b>The
Aztecs used to slaughter and butcher more than 26,000 captives annually.
The Canaanites, Israelites among them, ran up similar annual numbers
and you don't want to know what horrors were perpetrated in those pagan
temples and groves. The Mexican pyramids have special channels to
capture the blood runoff. Canaanite, Greek, Roman, Druidic and Egyptian temples
were worse than today's serial killer lairs. They believed that the
more the victims screamed, the better the harvest would be. The pagans
murdered hundreds of thousands to make the crops grow - the victims'
crime being that they were still virgins. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>Hey,
if you slaughter tens of thousands of my children, I'm going to be
pretty angry with you too and for good reason</b>. I'd probably go medieval
on you with an "automatic" weapon if you were murdering my babies. Nowadays,
we only need protest the slaughter and we get treated like criminals for speaking out about
it. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
suspect God is pretty angry with us for the 60 million we've allowed to
be slaughtered because Margaret Sanger and her ilk thought people of
color were human weeds that needed to be plucked up from among us (her
words spoken to a KKK women's group back in the 20s)</b>. I don't much blame
God for allowing that batch of willful sinners back in ancient Israel
to be punished. The interesting thing is that God didn't rain down fire
indiscriminately on folks to stop it. He simply backed off and let evil
people destroy other evil people as evil people are wont to do. Seems He
is doing the same with us. We've already ginned ourselves up a nice
plague to thin the numbers. What are we going to do next? A nice nuclear
war with Russia? A newer more deadly strain of CoVid? We could have
that soon. A university lab in Boston has already combined original Covid and the Omega variant and created a Covid strain with an 80% kill rate in rats. We're still sending money to research labs in China and they
certainly don't like us. Even our progressives don't get a pass from
them. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAEQZ4kl9MT-QdpzhMXQ-AfxmKL0kb7dIp2xw3b4OqdINIkkdvF6Ms-zLYuEH_hlNhCL4TcoL1N01sbcjNth9eSifXBy5PGVXTUyEvf0AlLKLRt_HQ6Zz8LXJZXeXBNAcXEQgKflq-NXsttaa3pbhvgUYleBgT5f_QRvEG-HFUKtMMpr9oB4TZnUdxQ/s1500/Bible%20-%20Matthew%2019%2014%20let%20the%20little%20children.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="1500" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAEQZ4kl9MT-QdpzhMXQ-AfxmKL0kb7dIp2xw3b4OqdINIkkdvF6Ms-zLYuEH_hlNhCL4TcoL1N01sbcjNth9eSifXBy5PGVXTUyEvf0AlLKLRt_HQ6Zz8LXJZXeXBNAcXEQgKflq-NXsttaa3pbhvgUYleBgT5f_QRvEG-HFUKtMMpr9oB4TZnUdxQ/w387-h313/Bible%20-%20Matthew%2019%2014%20let%20the%20little%20children.jpg" width="387" /></a></div></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>God
will shorten the time to Christ's coming else no flesh would be saved. </b>
The wages of sin is death. God doesn't have to hand you a paycheck. The
devil auto-deposits it in your account. Forgive the length of this post,
though. It's a subject that riles me up! Too many people have joined with Satan to harm the innocent and
the faithful. Knowing God for more than 50 years, I believe God will make all things new and right and just - not the social justice being peddled by today's unchurched, but justice actual and true given us by our Father in Heaven.<br /><br /> © 2022 <i>by Tom King</i><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div></span></div><div class="q9uorilb sf5mxxl7 pgctjfs5"><div class="no6464jc b5wmifdl nv5ty6hh"><span class="tojvnm2t a6sixzi8 abs2jz4q a8s20v7p t1p8iaqh k5wvi7nf q3lfd5jv pk4s997a bipmatt0 cebpdrjk qowsmv63 owwhemhu dp1hu0rb dhp61c6y iyyx5f41"></span></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div><p></p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-2891728151014479892022-10-22T15:12:00.005-07:002022-10-22T17:40:01.722-07:00Forbearance and Unity<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_vJhlvtIJ1lUzQ6mZkwV6VOtP6t6cEJWBWF4ldH8RP_8rzxSPt8ogcTI9F5riZSw6OZMINPrc7RPErTLrwCmsdcNa7AsZLIa6dVpEdvpaa1mqwwTedK78zlvTFd8hRnTQ1C7OYmC6flgbx0RkRHYhm-kdU2ZPYhumrbGkiMVCkdw0xKj4wqnimhIwWg/s500/Rosie_Ted_Wilson.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="500" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_vJhlvtIJ1lUzQ6mZkwV6VOtP6t6cEJWBWF4ldH8RP_8rzxSPt8ogcTI9F5riZSw6OZMINPrc7RPErTLrwCmsdcNa7AsZLIa6dVpEdvpaa1mqwwTedK78zlvTFd8hRnTQ1C7OYmC6flgbx0RkRHYhm-kdU2ZPYhumrbGkiMVCkdw0xKj4wqnimhIwWg/w560-h365/Rosie_Ted_Wilson.webp" width="560" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ted Wilson Wrestles With the Unity Backlash from the Women's Ordination Vote<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />
<br />
<b>
In the wake of the kerfuffle over the 2015 San Antonio General Conference and subsequent measures to "promote unity" by the General Conference administration, GC vice president Tom Lemon, chair of the Unity Oversight Committee, made remarks about the issue. </b>Lemon spoke about the different entities he'd met with
since the last Annual Council—in North America and elsewhere. In all
these meetings, he said, he didn’t find "one person who gave any hint…
[of] rebellion." The attitude was "we are children of God, and we are in
this thing together…." "I heard an understanding of mission and
commitment to mission that would warm your hearts." Lemon saw no evidence of the rebellion, which evidently GC president Ted Wilson fears. As a result, it appears that <a href="https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2017/10/20/general-conference-responds-tom-lemon%25E2%2580%2599s-departure-unity-oversight-committee">Lemon resigned as director of the church's Unity Committee</a> apparently under duress, although any information as to why he resigned was not forthcoming. This sort of thing does not increase confidence in President Wilson out here in the hinterlands. His reelection to a third term in 2022 was unusual as GC presidents for generations have limited their terms to two, further creating concerns that the Wilson was setting up a dynasty in Silver Springs, especially those who remember how difficult it was to dislodge his father Neal Wilson. Messenger to Adventism, Ellen G White weighed in on the matter of controversial decisions being made at the GC in response to discontent in the field over the 1888 General Conference.<br />
<br />
<b>“In no conference should propositions be rushed through without time
being taken by the brethren to weigh carefully all sides of the
question</b>. Because the president of a conference suggested certain plans,
it has sometimes been considered unnecessary to consult the Lord about
them. Thus propositions have been accepted that were not for the
spiritual benefit of the believers and that involved far more than was
apparent at the first casual consideration…. <i>Many, very many matters
have been taken up and carried by vote, that have involved far more
than was anticipated and far more than those who voted would have been
willing to assent to had they taken time to consider the question from
all sides</i>” ( EGW 9T, p. 278, italics supplied).<br />
<br />
<b>Unfortunately, what appears to be the defining issue of the present
administration thus far has been the General Conference president’s
failure to report the findings of the Theology of Ordination Study
Committee (TOSC) to the 2015 General Conference Session after paying
hundreds of thousands of dollars of tithe funds on the project that was
to solve the issue once and for all.</b> But the findings of the <i>carefully selected </i>committee
were out of harmony with his ideas on the topic. A large majority of the Glacier View gathering of the best SDA theologians in the world had said that Scripture did not forbid the ordination of women. Wilson and those who supported him did not agree and Wilson did not allow the study report to be presented at the San Antonio session before the divisive vote was taken. He failed to
mention that a super majority (62 for and 32 opposed) of the TOSC and nearly all of the concurrent world division reports favored
permitting divisions the option of ordaining women. One result has been
ongoing turbulence in the denomination and the three-year search for the
proper way to punish noncompliance. </p><p><b>Ellen White noted that “the very beginning of the great apostasy was
in seeking to supplement the authority of God with that of the church”
(GC pp. 289-290). </b> We need to pray for our church, its General Conference president, and
the members of the General Conference Executive Committee that they
might think twice (or a dozen times) before voting into policy “laws”
that will take all of us down a well-beaten historical road; a road that has
always led Christianity to some very unchristian practices done in the name of Christ. Many incarnations of Christ's church have confused spiritual unity with ecclesiastical compliance. May
God help His church! </p><p><b></b></p><p><b>Sister Ellen became troublesome to the GC following the 1888 General Conference and was invited to go to Australia for much of a decade. </b>Mrs. White made the most of the "opportunity" and left the church administration to work out its issues with God's guidance. When she returned to America, she championed the creation of union conferences to decentralize church authority. She counseled that shifting decision-making authority further afield would make the work out in the field more effective and responsive to issues that sometimes occurred half a world away from Battle Creek, the GC headquarters at the time. The creation of union conferences helped loosen the authoritarian grip of the leadership. And once God burned down the press building in Battle Creek, the GC admin decided God was displeased. As a result the General Conference moved from what had become an Adventist quagmire to Silver Spring.<br /><br /><b>
Recently, a new issue as flammable as the Righteousness by Faith controversy post 1888, has risen. </b>Much heated rhetoric over women's ordination has been delivered from pulpits, discussed in the aisles of our churches after services, in church-sponsored conferences, over church potluck tables, and in magazines and publications approved, disapproved or tolerated by the General Conference. Prominent Adventist theologians have weighed in on both sides of the issue. Seemingly harsh actions that have been taken at the General Conference have troubled the saints in North America. Enforcement committees have been proposed by the GC Executive Committee that seem to have the power to disband whole unions or local conferences that do not hew to the theological positions of the General Conference executives. The GC position is that the matter was settled in San Antonio. Other SDA leaders have questioned the San Antonio actions as the product of a flawed and even manipulative process. Some folk charged with examining the issue, like Tom Lemon, have found themselves removed for not vigorously supporting decisions originating in Silver Springs.<br /><br /><b>We stand on the precipice of momentous events in Earth's history. </b>Of course the devil is going to seek to divide us. We see it happening in the secular world as the political prophecies of Revelation are working themselves out on the nightly news. Is squabbling over issues of whether authority should reside in Silver Springs or in the congregations of the saints something inspired by God or by some force outside the church seeking to divide us when we should be working tirelessly side by side to reach the world. Should we be putting bureaucratic burdens upon the army of the Lord. Ought we instead to use every tool in our arsenal, every resource available to us to complete the Gospel commission? Certainly, establishing a veritable Adventist FBI to root out heresy as defined by church managers won't unite the church. A Unity Conference didn't do much to put the GCs fears to rest either.<br /></p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Ellen White, during a similar upheaval in our history said, "The church may pass resolution upon resolution to put down all
disagreement of opinions, but we cannot force the mind and the will, and
thus root out disagreement. These resolutions may conceal the discord,
but they cannot quench it and establish perfect agreement. <i>Nothing can perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christ-like forbearance</i>” (EGW, Ms 24, 1892, italics supplied).<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>At a time, when we are currently the fastest growing denomination in the United States if not the world, it probably delights Satan to stir up division in our midst. Lucifer is a master at using authority to overturn our actual agreements among the brethren. </b>Then he tries to convince us that we who run roughshod over our brethren are thereby more sanctified than those they suppress. My prayer is that we may resist the devil when it becomes evident that he is among us, that he may flee from us. In this way we may truly have Christian unity, not just submission to human authority. In God's church, it is He who is our Lord, who is our direct guide and savior. </p><p style="text-align: left;">
© 2022 <i>by Tom King</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-65169186791246707572022-06-15T03:45:00.000-07:002022-06-15T03:45:29.365-07:00Last Generation Theology Debunked<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"></span></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB85mgQKlX5lg4Szw51RRZHxDTRNnPU_LGmxmEprnPC0NxPl71axmuXYtUzZJ2HEomfso40MrBEQ-_ZvHydmNePW7mb4VQDUIozqpxTqdeqOY8hMQ5IVaTEM7ew8vdGrwHYaxhtWNbwW_1WUiCTsRe6rTc_C8ihW-0OLvP6rOCMjIu3qWSwNYkSLFv-g/s737/Second%20Coming.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="737" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB85mgQKlX5lg4Szw51RRZHxDTRNnPU_LGmxmEprnPC0NxPl71axmuXYtUzZJ2HEomfso40MrBEQ-_ZvHydmNePW7mb4VQDUIozqpxTqdeqOY8hMQ5IVaTEM7ew8vdGrwHYaxhtWNbwW_1WUiCTsRe6rTc_C8ihW-0OLvP6rOCMjIu3qWSwNYkSLFv-g/w513-h255/Second%20Coming.webp" width="513" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><br /></i></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 40px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">My pastor, Bob Stephan, posted this article by Walla Walla Biblical Studies emeritus professor Alden Thompson. It answers the premise of M.L. Andreasson's Last Generation Theology and the often misused Ellen White quote about the church achieving perfection before Christ comes. He draws quotes by Mrs. White which clearly explain that it is only by grace and not our own feeble efforts that we are made fit for heaven. Christ work was finished at the cross. We do not have to finish the work in our own strength. God knows we are so damaged by millenia of sin that only His sacrifice and His power and forgiveness can save us. For more in depth information on this subject, check out <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/End-Time-Events-Generation-George-Knight-ebook/dp/B07CP8WG4T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FK494DG1TM7G&keywords=George+R.+Knight+Last+Generation&qid=1655266297&s=audible&sprefix=george+r.+knight+last+generation%2Caudible%2C144&sr=1-1" target="_blank">George R. Knight's powerful book.</a><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/End-Time-Events-Generation-George-Knight-ebook/dp/B07CP8WG4T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FK494DG1TM7G&keywords=George+R.+Knight+Last+Generation&qid=1655266297&s=audible&sprefix=george+r.+knight+last+generation%2Caudible%2C144&sr=1-1" target="_blank">"End Time Events & The Last Generation." <b> </b></a></span></i><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/End-Time-Events-Generation-George-Knight-ebook/dp/B07CP8WG4T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FK494DG1TM7G&keywords=George+R.+Knight+Last+Generation&qid=1655266297&s=audible&sprefix=george+r.+knight+last+generation%2Caudible%2C144&sr=1-1"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></b></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/End-Time-Events-Generation-George-Knight-ebook/dp/B07CP8WG4T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FK494DG1TM7G&keywords=George+R.+Knight+Last+Generation&qid=1655266297&s=audible&sprefix=george+r.+knight+last+generation%2Caudible%2C144&sr=1-1"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"> </span></i></b></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"> </span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;">Ellen White’s Vision of a Flawed Final Generation</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">By Alden Thompson, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Walla Walla University. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Recently I came across some astonishing “last generation” comments from Ellen White in the chapter “Joshua and the Angel” in <i>Prophets and Kings</i> (582-592).
As I pondered the chapter, I was startled
but encouraged at how clearly Ellen White presents the case for a
sinful people standing before God in the last days, but safe under the
atoning blood of Jesus. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">I outline some of the key points below. (The italicization in the quotations are added by me.) </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Final perfect generation?</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">First,
I suspect the idea of a “final [perfect] generation” (aka Last
Generation Theology) never would have caught on if some conscientious
soul had not isolated a quote from <i>Christ’s Object Lessons</i> from
the rest of Ellen White’s writings: </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">When
the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle,
because the harvest is come.” Christ is waiting with longing desire for
the manifestation of Himself in His church.<i> When the character
of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. </i> – <i>Christ’s Object Lessons</i>, 69. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">I
have concluded that Ellen White must have viewed this quotation in a
corporate rather than an individualistic sense. In other words, Christ
is wanting his church, the corporate “body of Christ,” to
perfectly reflect his character, doing what Christ did to minister to
the “least” of God’s children (cf. Matt. 25:40). Interpreting it in an
individualistic sense with salvation overtones not only places an
impossible burden on sensitive souls, but also overlooks
key elements in Ellen White’s interpretation, both in <i>Christ’s Object Lessons</i> and <i>Prophets and Kings</i>. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">The rest of the story</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">But
now let me introduce you to a remarkable statement that I came across
years ago. (This was when I was preparing the material for the
Sinai-Golgotha series which was published in the <i>Adventist Review</i> (1981-82).)
The chapter from <i>Prophets and Kings </i>entitled “Joshua and the
Angel” is based on Zechariah 3:1-5, which depicts the attacks of Satan
against Joshua the high priest. Let me first share the entire passage
from Zechariah: </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Then
he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the
Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord
said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord
who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked
from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood
before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him,
“Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he
said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe
you with festal apparel.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on
his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with
the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing
by (NRSV). </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">In the narrative interpreting this passage, Ellen White makes this striking comment: </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">But
while the followers of Christ have sinned, they have not given
themselves up to be controlled by the satanic agencies. They have
repented of their sins and have sought the Lord in humility and
contrition,
and the divine Advocate pleads in their behalf. He who has been most
abused by their ingratitude, who knows their sin and also their
penitence, declares: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. I gave My life for
these souls. They are graven upon the palms of My hands. <i>They
may have imperfections of character;</i> they may have failed in their endeavors; but they have repented, and I have forgiven and accepted them.” – <i>Prophets and Kings</i> 589. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">But this is the astonishing sentence in her interpretation of Zechariah 3: </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Zechariah’s
vision of Joshua and the Angel applies with peculiar force to the
experience of God’s people in the closing scenes of the great day of
atonement (<i>Prophets and Kings</i> 587). </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">In other words, this is a vision of a flawed people is a vision of the “last generation”! </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">The final (flawed) generation</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">And
we must ask the question: What kind of people are these who find
themselves standing before God (and Satan!) in the great day of
atonement? </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Here are several excerpts from <i>Prophets and Kings</i> that
indicate quite clearly that these are not people who stand in sinless
perfection before God. No! Joshua was “clothed with filthy clothes”
(Zech. 3:1). So were his people: </span></p>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“He does not claim that Israel is free from fault. In filthy garments, <i>symbolizing the sins of the people</i>, which he bears as their representative, he stands before the Angel, confessing their guilt, yet pointing
to their repentance and humiliation, and relying upon the mercy of a sin-pardoning Redeemer” (<i>Prophets and Kings</i> 583-584). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“<i>Because of their sins,</i> they had been well-nigh consumed by Satan and his agents for their destruction” (p.584). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“Satan’s accusations against those who seek the Lord are not prompted by displeasure at their sins. <i>He exults in their defective characters. . . .” <em><span>(</span></em></i>p<i>.</i>585). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“In his own strength, man cannot meet the charges of the enemy. <i>In sin-stained garments, confessing his guilt</i>, he stands before God” (p.586). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“As Joshua pleaded
before the Angel, so the remnant church, with brokenness of heart and
unfaltering faith, will plead for pardon and deliverance through Jesus,
their Advocate. <i>They are fully conscious of the sinfulness
of their lives, they see their weakness and unworthiness</i>; and they are ready to despair” (p.588). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“The tempter stands by to accuse them, as he stood by to resist Joshua.<i> He
points to their filthy garments, their defective characters. He
presents their weakness and folly, their sins of ingratitude, their
unlikeness
to Christ, which has dishonored their Redeemer. </i>He endeavors to
affright them with the thought that their case is hopeless, that the
stain of their defilement will never be washed away. He hopes so to
destroy their faith that they will yield to his temptations,
and turn from their allegiance to God” (p.588). </span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">“But while the followers of Christ have sinned, they have not given themselves up to be controlled by the satanic agencies. <i>They
have repented of their sins and have sought the Lord in humility and
contrition, and
the divine Advocate pleads in their behalf. He who has been most abused
by their ingratitude, who knows their sin and also their penitence,
declares: ‘The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. I gave My life for these
souls. They are graven upon the palms of My hands.
They may have imperfections of character; they may have failed in their
endeavors; but they have repented, and I have forgiven and accepted
them</i>’” (p.589). </span></li></ul>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Imperfection</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">That last quotation stands out like a beacon light, for Christ himself declares to the court that his people “<i>may have imperfections of character.</i>” God’s people can stand confidently in court,
not because of their sinless perfection, but because their lives are hid in Christ. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">When we compare the material from <i>Christ’s Object Lessons</i> with the material from <i>Prophets and Kings,</i> logically we must give the <i>Christ’s Object Lessons</i> passage a corporate interpretation,
for Joshua and his cohorts as individuals have “imperfections of character.” </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">These imperfect saints take refuge in their “clean” clothes, which are symbolic of their total trust in the grace of Christ. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">Therefore, we can conclude that if there is a “final generation,” it is a generation that trusts solely in the grace of Christ. </span></p>
<p style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "PT Serif",serif;">And all the discouraged Adventists shouted “Amen!” </span></p>
<p></p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-74327445160151375992022-04-02T01:29:00.002-07:002022-04-02T18:35:57.381-07:00Fallen Warriors: Cosmos Garza<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07Ay4xxKBW4J2pdY64Ik1JvfQgnJxVQM2OrcsgX7ns2rcaNu_bc4ZEUrLKXBKtJPgWTb0zpC8pN167X7lbB3sGc2h4xZA-_fXsNf9S1R_10zIK5lARU9mqrXjVHIwbte-QyJdkrubLSMppC6yXJXNrd6Y8AM7K-SAk-OWQN07YoiGAmy4LJAGHZYwEQ/s403/Cosmos%20Garza.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="403" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07Ay4xxKBW4J2pdY64Ik1JvfQgnJxVQM2OrcsgX7ns2rcaNu_bc4ZEUrLKXBKtJPgWTb0zpC8pN167X7lbB3sGc2h4xZA-_fXsNf9S1R_10zIK5lARU9mqrXjVHIwbte-QyJdkrubLSMppC6yXJXNrd6Y8AM7K-SAk-OWQN07YoiGAmy4LJAGHZYwEQ/s320/Cosmos%20Garza.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cosmos Garza</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b> Just 12 days ago, I lost my friend, Carlos "Cosmos" Garza to CoVid-19.</b> We went to school together at Valley Grande Academy my senior year (1972). Cosmos was a unique individual. He tried to grow a mustache like mine, but the poor boy had to settle for that sparse growth that actually became popular more than 30 years later. He was always up for some harmless goof or other.<p></p><p><b>When I came up with the idea for a Men's Liberation March during our annual spring picnic in the orange grove, Cosmos helped me make the signs. </b>My other buddy, Dave Dameron whom we lost to CoVid last August helped me burn a pair of Fruit of the Looms on a pole. We had some very bossy girls that ran the place and the guys in the dorm were just about fed up with it. Cosmos, to his credit, instantly saw the value in the protest march as a way to harmlessly valve off some steam and was an enthusiastic participant. </p><p><b>In college, Cosmos took up a new cause of the same sort.</b> Several heretical Adventist groups, most notably the Branch Davidians (late the Shepherd's Rods). They would show up for camp meetings, evangelistic meetings or anytime a bunch of Adventists gathered at the school. Cosmos made it his mission to collect every piece of literature he could lay hands on when the came up to proselytize for whatever goofy new doctrine they were peddling. He had a box in his dorm room that he called his "heretical literature library". It grew to quite a collection.<br /><br /><b>My last communication with Cosmos was about his escapades as an anti-offshoot guerrilla.</b> I can still remember him and some friends including me hitting the Davidians at the doors and engaging them in deep theological discussions and distracting them from passing what they laughably called "literature". Cosmos could hold the best of them in thrall long enough for the congregation to get to their cars and drive away unmolested. It was brilliant strategy and the Davidians were suckers for it.</p><p><b>Here is the last post I ever got from Cosmos:</b><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>You know I just reread your last message (from Aug 9) about the Branch
Davidians .. Well the main guy that was always there, was Perry Jones
with his 5 or six (or 7) very young blond-haired kids. I'd spend time
talking to them to find out what they actually taught (& read their
literature later on). </i></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Well one of Perry's daughters (Rachel, as a very
young teen) ended up marrying Vernon Howell (David Koresh). Perry was
the frontman and public relations man for the Branch Davidians. Well, Janet
Reno had the ATF & FBI attack the New Mount Carmel Center. When they
got a cease fire, Perry Jones came to the front door and was shot by
federal agents. He refused to be taken in & taken to hospital. He
died a few days later .. the 1st Branch Davidian member to be killed. </i></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>Years,
years later (maybe 2002), returning from some Conference meeting, my son
& I drove to the center, stopped & walked all over the place. NO
BODY was there at the time we went. My son picked up a VHS tape from
their chapel that had written "PRIVATE - FOR ELDERS ONLY" on it. (It was
a Fritz Springmeier tape on the 13 Bloodlines of the Illuminati and
also one about the TRANCE-Formation of America with Cathy O'Brien [a
rescued whistleblower survivor of the CIA's secret mind control program
"MK-Ultra"]. (The tape) "traces her path from child pornography and recruitment
into the program to serving as a top-level intelligence agent and White
House sex slave." <a class="app-aware-link" href="https://trance-formation.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://trance-formation.com</a>]. </i></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>PS. When in Waco, we stopped at a convenience store & my son Jon
started talking to these 2 Sheriff Deputies. He asked them if they had
known David Koresh. They said "Oh sure! We all knew him. He was in town
every week and we'd talk with him when we'd see him." Jon asked "Did you
ever have to go to the compound?" They said, "Oh sure!" Jon: "Were
there problems?" "Not really. Sometimes we'd get calls about the gun
shooting, but since they're in the country, they have a right to shoot."
Jon: "So if he was in town often, didn't the ATF or FBI try to get him
then?" They smirked and looked at each other and said, "Look, they had
Koresh under surveillance. Koresh was in town the day before it all
broke out. They could have apprehended him then." Jon: "So do you think
they really wanted it be the big show that happened?" They looked at us
with a face of "Well yeah!' but answered, "We can't really say what they
wanted."</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>People somehow would talk to Cosmos and tell him all kinds of secrets. </b>Even with all that, Pastor Garza was a well-grounded guy and someone you could count on. Some of our stuffier SDA "leaders" had some difficulty understanding Carlos, but there is no doubt in my mind that he was a thoroughly decent and likeable guy. Of the guys in the VGA dorm, Cosmos was the closest to a kindred spirit I knew and I had some really good friends.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>So far my Academy senior class has lost 6 members dead and one is confined to a nursing home. </b>Several are missing and we can't find them. We're planning a Zoom meeting to celebrate 50 years since graduation this coming May. Jesus is clearly loading up the bus to come and get us very soon. Some of our best and brightest, He's given them a skip day and they will next wake to see Christ in the heavens. For the rest of us, the next years could be rough, but I keep ever in my mind the idea that folks like Cosmos, Dave, my friend Hansi, my grandpa, my brother, and my own son whom we lost in 2006 will be waiting up ahead for us to catch up.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Sometimes, I think Jesus is giving the best of us a pass; taking it easy on them because they don't need the tribulation to finish polishing them up.</b> They're already pretty shiny and they've gone on ahead of us. I look forward to catching up with them.<br /><br />Just sayin'.<br /><br />Tom King<br />© 2022<br /></p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-71542537677693497192022-03-27T15:43:00.004-07:002022-03-27T15:53:24.591-07:00The Art of Christian Storytelling<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXucP-mn7XTH7uuya9QIb6ksFdnRIowATtczGsDVHrw7Di6_QULxeyvhncr9Uy_CilumqvaqGJH9Kuf0QhlfpVJ0oB0tTyc1TjjcMSWvrnV0WJzi1Sm11SbzAgra9s5JJ0mKUVllaphz-wHv0bqhBG-N7TPESbkRE8WRMrSkcpynZdZIUs2v-CXsoLOw/s3411/Jesus%20the%20Master%20storyteller.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="3411" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXucP-mn7XTH7uuya9QIb6ksFdnRIowATtczGsDVHrw7Di6_QULxeyvhncr9Uy_CilumqvaqGJH9Kuf0QhlfpVJ0oB0tTyc1TjjcMSWvrnV0WJzi1Sm11SbzAgra9s5JJ0mKUVllaphz-wHv0bqhBG-N7TPESbkRE8WRMrSkcpynZdZIUs2v-CXsoLOw/w540-h243/Jesus%20the%20Master%20storyteller.jpg" width="540" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Master Storyteller<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><b>It is no accident that Jesus so often taught by telling stories.</b> Parables are a powerful tool in witnessing to others. I'm pretty much a shut-in right now, so I watch a lot of live-streamed church services on Sabbath mornings. A majority of these stories are told by women. Many of them by older retired teachers and others comfortable with being up front. My church in Tyler, Texas has been bringing young men as well as women up front to do children's stories. Men are stepping up even more often. One of my favorite of our gang of storytellers was my son, Micah. Six foot four, close to 300 pounds, he knew how to tell a story and the kids loved him. </p><p><b>Too often our churches do not train and nurture storytellers.</b> Often it's whoever they can make guilty enough not to turn down an invitation to tell stories up front. Many churches even have a rocker up on stage in deference to our older storytellers so they couldn't plead physical disability to get out of telling the children's story. You have to hand it to those volunteers who give of themselves to our youngest members, but children's story is potentially one of the most powerful parts of the church service, and if you don't attend to it by building up the skills of your storytellers, you miss that blessing.</p><p><b>I'd like to offer them some help to better engage that wriggling mass of children who's attention they try to hold. </b> So, I'm <span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto">planning
to write a free e-book for people who tell the children's story in
church. Greater storytellers than I have preceded me. There's a wonderful out-of-print book by Charles Spalding and
Eric B. Hare called Christian Storytelling. It has a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christian.../dp/B00C52L4AG">Kindle e-book version available on Amazon</a> .In my book I want to deal
specifically with how to do the children's story at church before the sermon. This sort of story has become a standard in many many churches, and it's a wonderful witnessing tool.</span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><b>Thanks to Youtube and Facebook live streaming, many many churches put services online for members who are away on are homebound, disabled or simply drifted away from the church. </b>My wife and I attend our old church back in Texas, because even though we are 3000 miles away, we get a glimpse of our grandson when he gets up front for the children's story. Our hearts are bound to that church in large part because of that brief story and the children sitting in a circle there at the front of the church. <br /></span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><b>The
principles taught by Spalding and Hare are essential, but there are some
things you can do specific to upfront storytelling in church as opposed
to campfires and sabbath/Sunday schools.</b> One of the most valuable was Eric B. Hare's advice to tell your story to the youngest members of the group of children. A story for 4 year olds will hold the attention of the 10 year-olds, while a story for the teens will quickly lose the preschool kids. So often we see storytellers talking over the heads of the little ones as they squirm and poke each other. If you've ever heard the old records Eric B. Hare made of his stories, you see a master at work. I've memorized his stories and made them my own and held the rapt attention of a gang of 2 to 12 year olds to the end of the story. The art of storytelling CAN be taught.<br /></span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"></div></div><p></p><div><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc dati1w0a e5nlhep0" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_1am"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>If you are reading this and you have some sage advice to impart to younger storytellers; if you have any stories or things that worked for you as a storyteller, I would love for you to message me and tell me all about it.</b> I thoroughly believe that children are the future of the church and the weekly worship service children's story is the first step toward engaging our young people as participants in worship and outreach. I have witnessed a church transformed by determined effort by parents and grandparents to bring their children forward and up front. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">One <b>of the best pastors I ever had was Ron Halvorsen. </b>Ron filled the church week after week and even had 1200 people coming to prayer meetings on Wednesday. He got his hands on a fleet of yellow school buses and went out into the community and rural areas picking up children and old people to come to church. I went along on the buses and played guitar and we rolled out over the county singing at the top of our lungs, five year-olds to 95 year-olds.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10152840773566629">Storytelling was his secret though</a>. Not only was Ron a gifted storyteller, he knew how to impart that skill to others.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>We taught the teens in the church how to tell stories using great storytelling principles and filled up youth meetings and children's services and taught a generation how to witness through storytelling. </b>Turns out the kids were gifted, creative and innovative and the church annex overflowed with kids every Wednesday night.<br /><br /><b>So if you have a contribution to make to the art and science of Christian storytelling, please drop me a note on Facebook Messenger or email me at <a href="mailto:twayneking@gmail.com">twayneking@gmail.com</a>.</b> Meanwhile, if you are telling stories already, click on the link to the Spalding & Hare book "Christian Storytelling." It will transform your storytelling style.<br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><br /></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><span>© 2022 <i>by Tom King</i><br /></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-7935173577721743032022-02-25T19:29:00.001-08:002022-02-25T19:29:12.427-08:00Confusion is His Game<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBwhX2dZAphPKQTyB-gPQUBpH1Vmw17Gf7OfACSi4waWYlylNrgYH9wn1GkKqj4MdinTTF9fzcSE5Oy27Qrcrsv7StVOdaViMr7bUw4zPhDBRAOnEGEvys5mTNNYoyaC54NuqJg0pFvc7ZwpUL9Akrr5__ov2dPONbtuNlZ5nuz9fP2pY-jK-qiui2iA=s960" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBwhX2dZAphPKQTyB-gPQUBpH1Vmw17Gf7OfACSi4waWYlylNrgYH9wn1GkKqj4MdinTTF9fzcSE5Oy27Qrcrsv7StVOdaViMr7bUw4zPhDBRAOnEGEvys5mTNNYoyaC54NuqJg0pFvc7ZwpUL9Akrr5__ov2dPONbtuNlZ5nuz9fP2pY-jK-qiui2iA=w549-h411" width="549" /></a></div><br /><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span><p></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><b>Recently, we've all been bombarded by lies.</b> If it isn't the news media, it's our breathless brothers and sisters with the latest conspiracy theory. If it's not the Illuminati, it's the Bilderberg conspiracy, the Rothchild's, the Rockerfellers, the Merovingians or the Jewish bankers. People you thought were wise counselors seem to be led off down paths that all have one thing in common. They are paths that stray from the light and delve into dark places. Jesus is not the subject of these elaborate stories, though He may be mentioned as justification for such flights of fancy, but Christ is not the center of the story. <br /><br /><b>We need to be so careful here at the end, for Satan has had millennia to work out his schemes and he deludes himself that they are almost come to fruition.</b> Over and over he's tried to make things work on this Earth the way he argued way back in the beginning that things ought to go. You don't have to go very far in Earth's history to see a pattern in which layers or hierarchies of authority between the people (aka, the masses, the proletariat, the collective) and some central Earthly authority. This is rather different from the single layer from human to God governance that Christianity teaches. Sadly, power attracts the corruptible and again and again, humans layer the church government with ever more and more elaborate hierarchies inserted between the Lord and his children. <br /></span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><b>All around us we see the signs that Christ's coming is imminent.</b> But we are warned that "The devil our adversary walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."* If we wish to survive the time of trouble ahead of us, we must be wary of the deceptions laid before us like so many land mines.</span><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span> <br /><b><br />Lucifer
has been a liar from the moment he arrived on Earth.</b> His first lie was,
"You shall not surely die." That wasn't what God said, of course. But Satan deceives
by flattery. He told Eve she could be like a god. He tells you that you are smarter and better than all the stupid
schlubs around you. He tells you that you understand things no one else does, especially all those ordinary folk that are so much less "aware" than you are.
Lucifer is a brilliant deceiver. </span></p><p class="bodytext"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><b>Jesus says the truth shall set you
free.</b> It's a very good idea to go to the source of Truth and keep yourself regularly infused. When you are wandering about the world, beware. Before you latch onto some conspiracy theory,
especially if it feeds your ego, remember, as the old spiritual puts it, "Satan is an evil charmer. Shut the door, keep out the devil."<br /><br /></span> <b>Paul is even more direct with regard to spending time looking into dark places.</b> "...it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which
are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they
are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, 'Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'”**</p><p class="bodytext"><b>Seek the truth. </b>If some conspiracy theory attracts your attention be very careful. Do not rush to attribute the events on the nightly news to some brilliant human plot to control the world. We have been told who is plotting against us. Much of what seems to be some diabolical plot, is simply the shared interests and the similar lusts for power of wicked people. It is also the stupidity of those steeped in vanity, sin and selfishness that creates what seems like a dangerous plot to harm us.</p><p class="bodytext"><b>Angels stand behind us to lead us safely through the valleys of the shadow of death. </b>We need fear no evil. For He is with us. His angels surround us. We need what is available to us in His Word and no other secret "truths". For in conspiracy theories, there be dragons.<br /></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"></span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto">© 2021 by Tom King <br /></span></p><p><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db gfeo3gy3 a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto">* 1 Peter 5:8 <br />** Ephesians</span></span> 5: 12-14<br /><br /></span> </p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-70551738770105975472021-06-05T12:29:00.001-07:002021-06-05T12:29:15.234-07:00We Have Almost Reached the Deciding Moment<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvBAV7CUSSb7B5KzXdmJRosjO7IyXb2PhOnDWSfe-3S87tbKdghwZwhXzoUT_zGw9wU3wVfwHE0YMVowOYog1VNwOwns03ZwdcSSlNNuXV-dg9djd382WWuBBvE84_Bd8QCmycVhu1e1st/s688/Bible+-+Mark+16+15+Go+ye+into+all+the+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="688" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvBAV7CUSSb7B5KzXdmJRosjO7IyXb2PhOnDWSfe-3S87tbKdghwZwhXzoUT_zGw9wU3wVfwHE0YMVowOYog1VNwOwns03ZwdcSSlNNuXV-dg9djd382WWuBBvE84_Bd8QCmycVhu1e1st/w607-h317/Bible+-+Mark+16+15+Go+ye+into+all+the+world.jpg" width="607" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="afo6a" data-offset-key="9ch66-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9ch66-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9ch66-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>We've just about reached every corner of the Earth what with radio, TV, air, train, bus and auto travel, the Internet, the printed word and other media.</b> My church has established missions on the ground in 212 out of the 235 nations of the world and by radio and Internet we've covered them all. It's getting close to the point that we can say with our fellow Christians that we've actually preached the gospel to the whole world. </span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="afo6a" data-offset-key="8vil8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8vil8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="8vil8-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="afo6a" data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-text="true">Meanwhile, Satan has used those same tools to deceive multitudes, to create weapons capable of turning Earth into a molten lake of fire, something Revelation talks about. At one moment in history we stand almost ready to go home and almost ready to destroy the Earth utterly. This is the moment. Go tell it on the mountain folks. Not much time left.<br /><br />Yours in Christ,</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6g83f-0-0"><span data-text="true">Tom King<br /></span></span></div></div>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-84110924350296129652021-05-29T23:03:00.002-07:002021-05-30T01:16:55.190-07:00AF Doesn't Archive These - How We Got the Interstate Highway System<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsZBCs-3P-KagdCFN3aN0HPWy8_GWcMDOFfZAxHEEV9YdVxrb5w3-oTWlIUJrFpsry4z6Klk0ac7SLq65p5huyOyRbsR8DOJavax2tfJSV_dmpAO72R1kTUtqFyND-0G2dez4_bKxxCB6/s1000/Interstate+highway.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1000" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJsZBCs-3P-KagdCFN3aN0HPWy8_GWcMDOFfZAxHEEV9YdVxrb5w3-oTWlIUJrFpsry4z6Klk0ac7SLq65p5huyOyRbsR8DOJavax2tfJSV_dmpAO72R1kTUtqFyND-0G2dez4_bKxxCB6/w393-h261/Interstate+highway.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><i><b>© Amazing Fact Devotional - May 29, 2021</b></i><br /><br /><b>AN AMAZING FACT: </b>After World War I, leaders in Washington became
concerned about the state of the nation’s roads. The automobile was
still a relatively new invention, so most transcontinental travel
depended on a few train tracks spanning the country. The U.S. War
Department wanted to know if the nation’s roads could handle
coast-to-coast movements of Army units by road. As a test, the
Transcontinental Motor Convoy—some 80 military vehicles and 280
soldiers—took an epic road trip from Washington, D.C. to California. The
starting date was July 7, 1919.<p></p><div>Like the cavalry of old, Army scouts would ride in advance of the
convoy to check out the conditions that lay just ahead, except they were
mounted on Harley-Davidsons instead of horses. The convoy traveled over
dirt roads, rutted paths, winding mountain trails, and shifting desert
sands roughly along the route of present-day Interstate 80.<br /><br />Many
areas were nearly impassable, and the men often had to push or pull the
heavy trucks along through the summer heat. The vehicles frequently
broke down, got stuck in quicksand and mud, and sank when roads and
bridges collapsed under them. In spite of the hardships, 62 days after
it left Washington, D.C., the convoy reached San Francisco. It had
covered 3,251 miles, averaging 58 miles a day at an average speed of 6
mph. The official report of the War Department concluded that the
existing roads in the United States were “absolutely incapable of
meeting the present-day traffic requirements.”<br /><br />One of the Army
officers on the convoy was 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D.
Eisenhower, who later said the roads they encountered “varied from
average to non-existent.” Eisenhower never forgot this grueling
experience, and one of the most important things he did after becoming
president was to create the interstate highway system. Construction
began in 1956, and the entire interstate system now has a total length
of 46,837 miles. It’s the largest highway system in the world and the
largest public works project in history.<br /><br />Did you know the Bible
speaks of an army of highway workers that will go before the Lord? “The
voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3). Not
only did John the Baptist fulfill this prophecy, but we too may help
make straight roads that guide others to heaven.</div><div> </div>
<div>
<div style="color: maroon;"><b>KEY BIBLE TEXTS</b></div>
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people;
cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard
for the people.
Isaiah 62:10
</div><p><b>Note from Tom:</b> The Interstate Highway System is often cited as an example of socialism in action. It actually wasn't. It was Americans and their government fixing a problem together that everyone agreed needed fixing. Each state participates in maintaining the Interstates. We all contribute to it. We do this because it enables commerce in the national marketplace and contributes to making us all a bit wealthier in the process. The Interstates were primarily designed to help move troops in case of an invasion (we learned about the dangers of that in WWII. It had the added benefit of allowing commercial and private citizens to move easily about the the country. It was the sort of thing the Constitution said we were creating a government for - in this case to provide for the common defense. <br /><br />Tom King<br /></p>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-40645860058038544172021-05-01T20:31:00.001-07:002021-05-01T20:31:14.085-07:00Answer to a Critic of Ellen White <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nsSXrtu1Ukw" width="441" youtube-src-id="nsSXrtu1Ukw"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>I
recommended a book by SDA historian George R. Knight called "Ellen
White's Afterlife" in which he thoroughly discusses the issues the
anti-Adventist crowd has presented here on social media</b>. Let me address some of the
points one by one.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>1.
Ellen White never claimed to be equal to scripture much less greater. </b>
She told pastors not to quote her from the pulpit as an authority. She
described herself as a messenger, not a prophet. Others later on made
that claim about her. She did not.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>2.
Her writings always point to the Bible as the source of all truth</b>. She
always sent people back to the Bible when she offered advice or a
message she received in vision.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>3.
To outright reject her claim to having visions is to dismiss
scripture's prophecy (Acts 2: 17) that, "In the last days, God says, I
will pour out my Spirit on all people. </b>Your sons and daughters will
prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream
dreams." Bible says it will happen.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>4.
Her use of sources credited and uncredited is described clearly in the forward to Great
Controversy.</b> She followed what was common publishing practice in her day. When concern was
expressed about how her lack of written sources might be perceived, she
altered the book in later editions to include references. She was quite
frank that in many cases she found a passage in her reading that said
what she'd seen or wanted to say better than she could herself. She had
secretaries who edited her work and, as I said, she changed some things
in later editions, especially if she found better more accurate sources.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>5.
She never claimed to be infallible. Many things she wrote were for
individuals and not for public consumption.</b> There was a doctor and his
wife (also a doctor) in Australia that Dr. Knight described as "dying of
health reform." Sister Ellen wrote them and told them to drink grape
juice and 2 raw eggs for breakfast each morning to recover their health.
They were doing health reform over-zealously and missing parts of the
message. She did not recommend this for all, but in this case it seemed
to have saved the couple's lives.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>6.
Of course her health messages were similar to others ideas. </b>If
something is good for you, it should be advised by more than one person.
She advised people to stop tobacco use a hundred years before doctors
finally weighed in on the subject. She preached temperance before AA.
She had a knack for getting it right even when it went against the ideas
of other health reformers at the time. At one SDA college where she had lunch in
the cafeteria, Mrs. White asked for a salt shaker. The waitress said the
school no longer provided salt because it was unhealthy. They didn't
even use it in cooking. Mrs. White told the waitress, "Please bring me
some salt. My Bible says it is good and I trust it's counsel over
man's."</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>7.
The final words of her final sermon shortly before her death were,
"Brothers and Sisters," she said lifting her Bible over her head, "Unto
you I commend this book." She advised pastors to teach from the Word
and not to quote Sister White.</b> She once complained that it made her skin
crawl when she heard someone preface their remarks with "Sister White
says...." She got to where she had to almost quit giving people verbal
advice, specifically for that person alone, because she often heard it
repeated from the pulpit the next Sabbath. This she objected to
strenuously.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>8
After her death, GC president AG Daniels, who knew her and her views,
called a conference of educators together to discuss how to use Sister
White's writing with students.</b> Daniels was adamant that she never wanted
to be used as a club to enforce any idea for which there was not
thorough grounding in Scripture. When one conference president wrote her
demanding that she give the brethren advice on a hotly debated passage
in Galatians as to the meaning of "The Daily", she flatly refused. She
told them to go back and pray some more and that God would lead them
aright.<br /><br /><b>9.
There was a time in the 40s and 50s when a theologian named Andraeson
promoted something called Last Days Theology, which was the idea that
Christ's sacrifice was not a completed work, but that humans in the last
days would live perfect lives for a time without an intercessor and
that it was necessary for humans to prove that one could live perfectly
on his own hook.</b> This is contradicted in scripture and comes primarily
from one misunderstood passage in a single book which was a compilation
which Sister Ellen did not like the idea of were she not involved in the
selection of the writings. Andraeson became disruptive with his
insistence on Last Day perfection being necessary to justify God
somehow, that the church had to withdraw his ministerial credentials. On
his deathbed he apologized for the disruption he caused. Unfortunately,
his influence was very widespread and it took some controversy within
the church in order to resolve the issue. The church now is united on
the idea that atonement for His children was completed at the cross. The
Sanctuary doctrine and the investigative judgment we believe is a final
closing of the books that takes place as Christ comes. The Sanctuary
doctrine has far more support in Scripture than the secret rapture
doctrine and the immortality of the soul.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>10.
The Adventist Church can support it's theological doctrines from
Scripture.</b> We don't have to explain to our members as to why we are
allowed to disobey the only commandment that says "Remember" as the
first word. We don't have to explain the absence of an immortal soul, an
ever-burning hell and a commandment to change the Sabbath to Sunday
anywhere in the New Testament.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>11.
We Adventists do a healthy diet as far as possible. </b>Not all of us eat a good diet
but in repeated studies, among all Adventists we live 9 or 10 years
longer than everyone else. We've taken much from the Old Testament
about diet going back to the Garden of Eden where the original diet was
fruits and vegetables with grains added after they got kicked out. We
reason that if our body is the Temple of the Lord, we should probably
treat it well.</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>You
can go to church anywhere you like</b>. You may even find your way to
heaven without ever darkening the door of an SDA church. Adventists believe Jesus will take home people from all corners
of Christendom and beyond. We even believe that some will be saved that
never heard the name of Christ, but who searched for Him with all their
hearts. But there is no excuse for some Christians who seek to tear down
fellow Christians, calling them a cult, calling Ellen White a false
prophet and accusing us of a whole horde of things without evidence.
That's all I've got to say. If you don't like us, you are not required
to fellowship with us. Your salvation is between you and your God. You
preach what you believe about God's character and we'll do the same. I
frankly believe that when Jesus said the dead sleep, that he meant that.
I believe when Paul said "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" that that's exactly how
it works. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>The
God I met while studying Scripture would not torture any one for all
eternity.</b> Satan was the one who said "Thou shalt not surely die". and we
don't lop a week off the 70 weeks prophecy and move it 2000 years later
to hide the identity of the Beast power. </div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;"><b>We
must have something right or our fellow Christians would not be so
anxious to discredit us, I think. </b>We hope you find your way to Him as we
too have that blessed hope. We'll see you there.<br /><br />© <i>2021 by Tom King</i><br /></div></div>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-76642669288843211962021-05-01T12:33:00.000-07:002021-05-01T12:33:04.647-07:00Towards a Lost Sheep Ministry<div data-block="true" data-editor="fejj5" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span><span data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv-CCGJ0unlj9vUnKoMNxLpPCv3H0XpJaNbb6x8YA12vk5_E1uKJ0yqfY9DUwE6zCS52jwFnSiX_XWxgRe2DYZjubjp06GeA1Wae3gUgX6788HqH7Z3_jn4lIiASJsECk76sPiVUdZFaI/s584/The+Lost+Sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkv-CCGJ0unlj9vUnKoMNxLpPCv3H0XpJaNbb6x8YA12vk5_E1uKJ0yqfY9DUwE6zCS52jwFnSiX_XWxgRe2DYZjubjp06GeA1Wae3gUgX6788HqH7Z3_jn4lIiASJsECk76sPiVUdZFaI/s320/The+Lost+Sheep.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The reward of seeking lost sheep.<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span></span></b></div><b><span><span data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br />When</span></span></span></b><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"><b> I was working in Tyler, Texas during my nonprofit days, I saw a survey we did for a HUD grant of the local "demographic."</b> In it, they included an item that identified people by religious affiliation. I was shocked to see that of the people who said they were Adventist, there were half again the number of professed Adventists as there were Adventists who were actually attending the 3 Tyler SDA churches. </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Some likely listed themselves as SDAs because that was the last church they'd had anything to do with</b>. I suspect many were maintaining their connection to the church through the 3ABN TV UHF ground station the local church maintained in the community. Others were occasional attendees but had never put their names on the books. It's a sad statistic that of the ninety and nine of our flock there were 50 more missing and wandering around kind of lost.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"><br />S<b>adly, ministry to the lost of our own flock is too often neglected these days in favor of evangelistic meetings that bring in new members.</b> I wonder if some of the reluctance to seek after our lost members has anything to do with the fact that some of them were troublesome sorts of members in the first place and our church officials are not anxious to reignite old fires. Still, our displaced and isolated members are a fertile field for harvest.<br /><br /><b>Still that one lost sheep is by definition, a troublesome sheep, wandering off from the flock.</b> With many of these lost sheep having caused the shepherds all sorts of trouble., the thought may be, "Better to let sleeping sheep lie." </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c32kb-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c32kb-1-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Just as new technology has improved search and rescue techniques, so new tech has given us new tools for spiritual search and rescue.</b> If Jesus' parable about the lost sheep is any indication of the relative importance of spiritual search and rescue, then it seems like it ought to be a ministry that is a fixture or our church programs. It seems there should be more of a focus on this neglected ministry. <br /><br /><b>Now with the Internet and the ability to inexpensively livestream our services we have a priceless opportunity to reach out to disconnected members, shut-ins and hereditary Adventists in the community who have slipped away.</b>With texting, mobile phones in everyone's pocket and the means to use social media to keep in communication with one another, there are abundant avenues to woo back our lost lambs.<br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="fejj5" data-offset-key="c5p35-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c5p35-0-0"><span data-offset-key="c5p35-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="fejj5" data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Being a shut-in myself has opened my eyes to the possibility of ministries to recover lost members and engage our shut-ins.</b> Ron Halvorsen Sr did a thing at the Keene, Texas church when he was there, where he bought and had donated a small fleet of school buses. We fanned out through the countryside picking up kids for Wednesday night youth meetings and picking up elderly and disabled folk for prayer meeting and church. Through word of mouth and by direct mail we let people know that we would come for them to bring them to church. We put young people with guitars on the buses and sang our way through the hills and dales of Johnson County picking up kids and adults on Sabbath on on Wednesday night. The church was packed to overflowing. We went from an average 42 attendance at prayer meeting to over 1000. We went from one service to two.We trained the Academy and College kids to organize, plan and run the youth meetings. We taught classes in story-telling to young volunteers. Musicians just showed up anxious to help and to be a part of some wonderful music. </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-text="true"> </span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4mkme-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The church grew dramatically, much to the chagrin of some of the board members.</b> There are always some that hate the idea of all those new and energetic members. I say new members, because in seeking our lost members, we wound up finding dozens and dozens of new ones who were swept up in our nets. Adventist kids often brought along friends and neighbors on the buses. The Wednesday Youth meetings were like an all year Vacation Bible School.<br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="fejj5" data-offset-key="8uj6l-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8uj6l-0-0"><span data-offset-key="8uj6l-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="fejj5" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>I think every SDA church needs a lost sheep ministry.</b> The Graham church here in Washington did a thing where the deacons and board members and volunteers went round to take communion to our shut-ins. It was a lovely idea and a blessing to those of us who are isolated from our church family due to health, disability or transportation issues. <br /><b><br />Sometimes we think witnessing is going around passing out "literature" and throwing evangelistic meetings</b>. But it's not. In all of scripture I have found only three things we have been told to do in order to find our way to heaven. Study, pray and then share what you've learned from the first two. In sharing what you've learned, you'll find that what you've learned is heavy on treating others the way you want to be treated, caring for the sick, the disabled, the widows, orphans and elderly. Witness means getting out your hammer and building your elderly friend a ramp so he can get his wheelchair out of the house, installing handrails in her shower, mowing someone's grass or repairing a sink.</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpDmIQZ-BhaVmrFUOg_WoPyAxsE_ToTF3mgdG8ug7yac33jrEaOycq1ENLxve77Qca8ywL5RzxkhfH6NjWd7bRgzUx4up2S7Q0lqTcIYwvwSd0EBs4EB6ndwX0xMyy1g77PJ7hH0T69F1/s474/The+Lost+Sheep+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="474" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpDmIQZ-BhaVmrFUOg_WoPyAxsE_ToTF3mgdG8ug7yac33jrEaOycq1ENLxve77Qca8ywL5RzxkhfH6NjWd7bRgzUx4up2S7Q0lqTcIYwvwSd0EBs4EB6ndwX0xMyy1g77PJ7hH0T69F1/w517-h344/The+Lost+Sheep+2.jpg" width="517" /></a></div><br />The really beautiful thing is that doing all this outreach to our lost sheep and to our neighbors as well, we help save souls, including, surprisingly, our own.</b> There's nothing so good for depression and unhappiness as turning your hand to helping another, especially if you do it with no thought of reward or payment. <br /><b><br />In these days when we see prophecy being fulfilled right and left, it will not be having the right politics that will bring us through these times of trouble. </b>It will be how we build communities of faith, how we lift each other up, and how we pull together as sons and daughters of God. <br /><br /><b>Think about it. </b>What can you do to find a lost sheep. It may be simply listening to someone's troublesd. It could be running an errand for someone. It might be as simple as inviting someone to go with you on an adventure. If each day you ask God to bring you to the witness stand that you may tell of your own experience with Him, God will guide you to His lost sheep that you might show them that He loves them through your own life. <br /><br />Yours in Christ,</span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true">Tom King<br /></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-offset-key="470c8-0-0"><span data-text="true">© 2021 </span></span><br /></div></div>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-14570946807220295612020-09-19T18:44:00.009-07:002020-09-19T20:11:20.660-07:00Is it Wrong for a Christian to Be Involved in Politics<p></p> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoDWVdVn6WzddOOsAdZThoyf8eClu557fVanptvqrw0VEVUsTymHo-giYFfkhpWy3cuDaEC7EY8M2N-3YNg5hOyNtinOPsTlraMVhs2Xous1-HUb95EqH2n_XADn67nDt6IJ8GB2hDwfTB/s704/watchman+on+the+walls+Isaiah+62+v6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="704" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoDWVdVn6WzddOOsAdZThoyf8eClu557fVanptvqrw0VEVUsTymHo-giYFfkhpWy3cuDaEC7EY8M2N-3YNg5hOyNtinOPsTlraMVhs2Xous1-HUb95EqH2n_XADn67nDt6IJ8GB2hDwfTB/w394-h205/watchman+on+the+walls+Isaiah+62+v6.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><p></p><div data-contents="true"><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="2aklc-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2aklc-0-0"><span data-offset-key="2aklc-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>A preacher friend and relative, counseled all of us to not involve ourselves in politics in his Sabbath morning homily today</b>. It was at that point that I realized he'd done stopped preaching and done started meddling!</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="969ea-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="969ea-0-0"><span data-offset-key="969ea-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="1o4g7-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1o4g7-0-0"><span data-offset-key="1o4g7-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Seriously though, as a professional journalist/blogger/author whose specialty is politics, humor (two branches of the same field), religion (make that 3 branches), vegetarian cookery and how-to articles, I find it difficult to give up my political writing. </b>This is especially so since I firmly believe that modern progressive politics are working very hard to create the world we were warned about in Revelation. I personally have come to believe from my study of current events, political discourse and the Bible that there is one political group that will get our nation down the road to hell far faster than the other. Revelation talks about a three-fold union between the Dragon (Satan/Pagan Rome), the Beast (the inheritor of the power of pagan Rome - see Emperor Constantine) and the False Prophet. Sounds suspiciously like some sort of global new world order to me. </span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="dn95e-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dn95e-0-0"><span data-offset-key="dn95e-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="df78e-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="df78e-0-0"><span data-offset-key="df78e-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>As a result of my studies, my political blogs tend to be as much about religious matters like the Second Coming and the 7 last plagues as they are about who should win the next election, since at this point in history, politics and religion have become so intertwined.</b> And anti-religion is every bit as much a religion as any denomination. They have shared rituals like burning down electronics stores after looting them, setting forest fires, shooting people with MAGA hats, and screaming Marxist claptrap in the faces of people smaller than they are (not to mention knocking down little old people). They have shared beliefs like collectivism, and shared values like perversion and anarchy. Also as a citizen of a nation whose constitution clearly states this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, that makes each of us leaders of the government. The state, our founding fathers decided, belongs to us, not we to it as the collectivists would have us believe.<br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="deibt-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="deibt-0-0"><b><span data-offset-key="deibt-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></b></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="juf2-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="juf2-0-0"><span data-offset-key="juf2-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The advice this morning's speaker quoted came from one of our church founders, whose advice to avoid politics was, I believe, aimed at Gospel Workers (that being the name of the book the quotation was drawn from)</b>. The counselor in question also once publicly called out the president of the United States for not making the Civil War about slavery - she said God wouldn't bless the North if he didn't. She was an abolitionist at the time which was a very prominent and trouble-making 19th century political movement. It can be argued that the abolition movement was a direct cause of the Civil WAr. It seems that even back then politics and religion had some shared values. Turns out she was prophetic about making it about slavery once it got started. The North struggled in the early years of the war, until Lincoln stopped talking about a settlement that left slavery intact and went right for the Emancipation Proclamation solution. Immediately after that, the tide of the war turned in favor of the Union. </span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="19odv-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="19odv-0-0"><span data-offset-key="19odv-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="1rvr9-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1rvr9-0-0"><span data-offset-key="1rvr9-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>I feel like there is still a role for watchmen on the wall whose responsibility is to tell the truth to kings. </b>A lot of God's servants have gotten in trouble for doing just that. The kings didn't appreciate their meddling in politics and some prophets paid with their lives in singularly unpleasant manners. So like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Elijah, John the Baptist, Elisha, Joel, Samuel and other minor and not so minor prophets, all of whom got in trouble for challenging the centrist governments of their day (they called the politburo presidents kings back then), I feel called to challenge the centrist oppressive government of today and support those who fight against those who would take our freedoms, shut down our churches and persecute those who disagree with them. Even more so as the end of time approaches.<br /></span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="ate4l-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ate4l-0-0"><span data-offset-key="ate4l-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="2b8d0-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2b8d0-0-0"><span data-offset-key="2b8d0-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>"Watchmen on the wall" Isaiah called them (Isaiah 62: 6). </b>He said we shouldn't rest from watching for the approach of the enemy, nor should we be silent about it..</span></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="pnu2-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="pnu2-0-0"><span data-offset-key="pnu2-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div data-block="true" data-editor="4l6s3" data-offset-key="9r8pa-0-0"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9r8pa-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9r8pa-0-0"><span data-text="true">Just one man's opinion.....<br /></span></span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9r8pa-0-0"><span data-offset-key="9r8pa-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br />© 2020 by Tom King<br /><br /><br /></span></span></div></div></div><br /><br /><br />Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-23248816830737051972020-05-23T00:01:00.000-07:002020-05-23T00:01:13.691-07:00Water - One Reason I Gave Up on Atheism<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45UIc3-t5cVFbgqalfe0hRy4J5c_s5QxQoYye0sospI72nauOeeMpr-CosdA-iPLk3ErrBBU-6YNd7aJue_O6-LeMOZnTayYyS9YWP610tDFasOnUNYgHsTK65GD7gsafiMxDVF7U-Zb_/s1600/mtnlake.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45UIc3-t5cVFbgqalfe0hRy4J5c_s5QxQoYye0sospI72nauOeeMpr-CosdA-iPLk3ErrBBU-6YNd7aJue_O6-LeMOZnTayYyS9YWP610tDFasOnUNYgHsTK65GD7gsafiMxDVF7U-Zb_/s400/mtnlake.bmp" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Water in all 3 of its miraculous forms - liquid, solid and gas</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><br /><br />As a young man, as young men will do, I toyed with the idea of atheism.</b> With my limited youthful logic I thought the idea of evolution and survival of the fittest a pretty smart idea as we often do in the midst of our youth and arrogance, when like Eve, we buy into the lie that we are, by nature, immortal and that, with a bit of knowledge, we can be our own gods.<br /><br /><b>Once I learned how to reason, however, some problems soon arose with the whole idea that there is nothing out there beyond our own, horrifically flawed selves.</b> If, in fact, we are the result of a very long series of cosmic accidents, I came to realize, that then how could we trust that our minds are even capable of real rational thought. We could be thinking we have reasoned things out by cold logic, but the fact is, our accidentally constructed "minds" could well be incapable of anything other than a crippled kind of thinking influenced more by our lack of some missing kind of perceptive ability than by reason as we think of it, if we can think rationally at all. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>So, the truth is that the "logic" by which the atheist rejects the notion of God may only be the product of a limited ability to think.</b> We could be limited in our ability to think truly rational thoughts about anything beyond what our five senses seem to perceive. In fact, there may be an entire reality beyond the limits of our perception. Perhaps God is a pan-dimensional being we can neither see nor hear nor touch nor taste nor feel because we lack the sense organs to perceive such a being. God told Moses it was impossible for him with his limited sensor equipment to see more than his "back parts". <br /><br /><b>If could be that we are only able to perceive the results of a creature outside the strictures of 3 dimensional space when He interacts with the universe and with us lower creatures</b>. Consider, for instance, water. Without water, life could not exist. Water is a compound made of two of the simplest of elements - hydrogen and oxygen.Water has the following unique properties.</span></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">It is liquid in its normal state allowing us to drink it, sail on it, water crops with it, bathe with it and cook with it.</span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Water turns to gas in response not only to boiling, but to lowered humidity levels in the air at relatively low temperatures through evaporation. </span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Were it not for evaporation, clouds would not form, nor would precipitation redistribute fresh filtered water over the land areas of the Earth where animals and plants take it in as a necessity of survival. </span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Also, water changes to a solid (freezes) at a temperature at which animals and plants can survive. Just before it freezes and turns into a solid, unlike every other substance on the planet.</span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Just before freezing water expands rather than contracts causing its solid form to float on it's liquid form. </span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Were water like all other substances, it would continue to contract as it cools and sink to the bottom of the body of water exposed to freezing temperatures.</span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">If ice sank rather than floated, instead of protecting life below the surface of the water from freezing temperatures above, it would fill up lakes, rivers and oceans from the bottom up.</span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Ice that sinks would eventually force the fish our onto the surface of what had become a solid block of ice instead of a body of water. Sea life would die gasping. Virtually all animal life in the water would be killed after a single hard winter. </span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Water, by all appearances, seems unlikely to be a happy accident of physics, but rather the product of some intelligent design scheme. And, where you have a design scheme, you pretty much have to have a designer. </span></span></li>
<li><span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">Were you to change those two very odd properties of water, life would be unable to exist. </span></span></li>
</ol>
<span data-offset-key="f0df6-0-0"><span data-text="true">It turns out that it takes an incredible amount of faith in accidents or a remarkable lack of curiosity to attribute all that to chance. Over the past century or so, as science digs deeper and deeper into the nature of the universe around us it keeps discovering that life exists by a singularly complex web of factors which increasingly like they could only have occurred on their own by a string of not just improbable, but statistically impossible complex circumstances. <br /><br />CS Lewis compared it to smashing a jug of milk on the floor and hoping it gives you a map of London. As unlikely as that would be to happen, no matter how many jugs you smashed to the floor, your family cat, attracted by the crashing, could hardly guess with the brain it has, whether the delightfully tasty patterns spread across the kitchen floor accidentally appeared there as a result of the crash or if this odd superior creature sitting on the drain board taking notes might have created the mess for some unfathomable reason known only to itself. The cat, with cat--like logic might assume the milk spread itself over the floor of its own accord for the cat's enjoyment. <br /><br />Not having seen you smash several jugs of milk on the floor, the cat would likely accept the miracle of the milk and commence to licking it up without further thought. Me? Because I have a human's ability to reason, could look at the milk, even if someone else at broken the jugs, not me, and detect the action of some actor who was behind it. I could probably even guess which one of my kids was responsible for the milky map of London on the kitchen floor.<br /><br />So given that I would require an extremely deep sort of faith to accept that this glorious world is the accidental product of volcanoes and asteroids, I have look deeper, with an open mind and found unmistakable imprint of Him, the great designer, in even simple things like water.</span></span>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-89736792256902887022020-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:002020-04-06T08:01:02.016-07:00Is God Giving the Churches a Nudge?<br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBrmMn-2dTF8myPrEyrPN5gubGyJsedYddKCAN6KHvAYnXiSC2KbEwHUFDOyDf1qwp0hB_m03YitAJr9obj0Ee-1U0EqzU2GRSPTLyeILlNeTGxvopjoB7j7eR0N99ieKscbRqUbsYVES/s1600/shut-ins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="672" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBrmMn-2dTF8myPrEyrPN5gubGyJsedYddKCAN6KHvAYnXiSC2KbEwHUFDOyDf1qwp0hB_m03YitAJr9obj0Ee-1U0EqzU2GRSPTLyeILlNeTGxvopjoB7j7eR0N99ieKscbRqUbsYVES/s400/shut-ins.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div>
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<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x"><span><b>In the midst of the CoVid-19 pandemic, SDA churches all over the world have stopped having services on Sabbath.</b> A lot of our churches have given their members weblinks and reading materials and the address to which to mail their tithes and offerings and said "See you later." However, many of our churches have, at this
time and for this crisis, chosen to invested the rather modest funds needed to purchase cameras, computer and sound gear needed to livestream
church services rather than simply shoving their flock over to Amazing Facts, 3ABN and the Hope Channel. While these are worthy sources for religious instruction and comfort in this difficult time, they lack the personal impact of remaining connected to your brothers and sisters.<br /><br /> <b>When this emergency is over, the churches will still have the equipment to livestream services and should be able to
do so economically</b>. I wonder if perhaps God will use this crisis to nudge His churches into using
this technology to reach out and provide a link to others beside those who show up each Sabbath. I'm thinking of the elderly and disabled shut-in members
and those who have for one reason or another drifted away from our fellowship. Perhaps this
is an opportunity for our churches to provide a more subtle way for lost and
isolated Christians to rejoin the life of their churches. </span><br /><br /><span><b>In
my town in Texas, they did a survey of church membership in the city by
denomination. </b>We discovered to our shock that though we have 3 churches
in the city, the number of people who listed themselves as belonging to
our denomination was over twice the number of people on the books and
who were coming to church.<br /><b><br /></b></span><b>We have sadly neglected our shut-ins and strayed lambs.</b> I've been made acutely aware of this in the past few years as my wife and I have found ourselves becoming shut-ins due to her disability. Amazing Facts has been a blessing, but it is no substitute for being able to connect with our church family. There is a huge field out there to be harvested. So many people have drifted from the church over the years simply because they missed a few weeks and nobody noticed.<br /><br />W<b>ith social media, live-streaming, email and telephones, a whole field of mission has opened up that we are really not reaching. </b>Maybe you aren't confident enough to do Bible Studies or you don't have the stamina or courage to "pass out literature" to perfect strangers. But how hard is it to work with your church's website or social media page to answer messages from people who saw services on the Internet? What a great way to follow up with isolated, lonely, elderly, disabled and ill church members. How hard could it be to follow up a comment on a post on the church Facebook page with a phone call and a simple "How are you doing?"<br /><br /><span><b>Jesus told the story of
the ninety and nine in which the shepherd turned and headed back out into the night to find a single sheep who had strayed</b>. My God, why have we forsaken the vast flock out there who have gotten lost from our fellowship? Perhaps God is giving us a high-tech flashlight and a
shepherd's crook in all this scary pandemic in order to encourage us to gently seek out our lost sheep
and bring them home - or at least to offer them a little comfort and a sense of belonging to their home church again. What a nice mission that would be and so easy to set up.<br /><br />© 2020<i> by Tom King</i></span></span></span>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-81275980611673394862020-01-25T00:29:00.000-08:002020-04-03T09:37:13.097-07:00Upsetting the Sanhedrin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>It's been a while since I've written anything on this weblog.</b> There's a reason for that. I haven't trusted myself to comment on the sorts of controversies rattling around in the upper rooms of church governance and in the lower chambers of the active and often outspoken laity. I got my copy of Adventist World today, opened it and there it was - <i><b>Executive Committee Members Debate Proposed Compliance Action. </b></i>I thought, "Well here we go again." As I read, I quite frankly found myself in sympathy with the unions and pastors who were being threatened.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>I use the word "threatened" because you can't read the article and sense anything less than a clear threat for unions and union conference presidents</b>. I found it odd that nothing was said about conference presidents and individual conferences that are out of compliance with the sketchy vote-down of women's ordination at the San Antonio General Conference.There have been two reactions to that decision by those unconvinced by that vote. Both reactions were discussed in the article. <br />
<br />
<b>One response was to ignore the edict which didn't exactly forbid women's ordination, but took power from the Union Conferences to make that decision for themselves.</b> The vote moved the authority for deciding about ordination back to the General Conference where it was prior to the 1903 General Conference. In that conference, the unions were created. Ellen White was at that conference and said angels walked the aisle and influenced the decision to divest the GC of some of its power. Individual union conference presidents in the West Coast Unions seem destined to be publicly reprimanded as their unions have continued to ordain women as though they still had the authority to do so.<br />
<br />
<b>The second response has been that of the Scandinavian and German unions in Europe.</b> There, the men turned in their ordination credentials and both men and women are commissioned. To me that seems like a reasonable compromise on the part of the unions. It complies with the prohibition against ordaining women while achieving the conference's goal of treating women equally in terms of pay and responsibility as pastors. <br />
<br />
<b>Apparently not.</b> Elder Wilson intimated in his comments that, although he hasn't used the compliance committees, he still has them holstered and ready if needs be. It was clearly a not so veiled threat and it's backed by many of the more patriarchal unions that find the ordination of women to be a threat as well. <br />
<b><br />My wife and I were watching one of the Jesus movies and something kind of jumped out at me.</b> All was not harmonious in the time of Christ. There were factions ranging from the zealots on the right to the looser Jews like Zacchaeus, Matthew and their crowd. And in the midst was the political class of the Sanhedrin - Pharisees and Sadducees, the Democrats and Republicans of Jesus' first advent.<br />
<br />
<b>Many of our brethren express concern over the state of the Adventist Church at this time</b>. The divisions within are at once spiritual, political and cultural. Could we expect anything less in the day of Jesus' second advent? The fragmented Jewish faith at the time of his first advent was unable to find unity within its diversity save through the emerging Christian faith. Jesus drew followers from tax-collectors, revolutionaries, fishermen, the rich and poor, small and great, young and old, Scribe, Pharisee and Sadducee. Rather than stuffing his children all into one ideological box, he met them where they were and set them on the road to heaven. <br />
<b><br />Perhaps after 2000 years my church should remember that we are called to save the lost</b>. We are not called to accumulate people who perfectly reflect our own beliefs and ideas and stuff them all into a big organized box o' holy folk. We are called to love one another, not obey human authority in a hierarchy growing as complex and authoritarian as that of the Roman Catholic Church. This troubles me too.<br />
<br />
<b>I'm a rock-ribbed conservative, in both spiritual and political matters, yet I find myself siding on ordination with fellow Adventists who are down-right socialists. </b>Perhaps my small government, individualistic, and respectfulness of foundation law and principles colors my thinking. In watching recent events, I find myself worried about the direction in which our leadership is taking us. We've always done Bible Conferences over issues of Bible doctrine. In this case also, we spent a good deal of church money doing a conference at Glacier View in Colorado over women's ordination. The Theology of Ordination Committee (TOC) found by a solid majority that ordination was a human construct rather than a Biblical command and that there is no evidence that women could not be ordained as pastors and ministers if the church chooses to do so. And with TOC report firmly in hand, the GC proceeded to effectively ignore the advice of the TOC, burying its findings in procedural maneuvering at the San Antonio GC in order to push toward the desired vote. The vote effectively divested the union conferences of authority to decide policy regarding ordination for the individual unions. While the union conferences that have been accused of noncompliance have yet to be summoned before the committees, the GC and Wilson in particular seemed determined to bully the unions into compliance without having to invoke the compliance committees and disband unions, especially unions that provide a significant chunk of the world budget. Compliance committees have been called the Adventist FBI and large numbers of Adventist members find this ominous. <br />
<br />
<b>The church is made up of individuals making their way to heaven.</b> It's not a bus or a cruise ship. It's not a form of transport where everyone must have a ticket and sit where the conductors tell us to. The church is a gathering place where we all flock to be blessed with God's presence. Why are we worried that remembering the way the Lord has led us in the past will lead to trickle-down non-compliance? And since when is it the church's duty to enforce "compliance". Since when do we place human authority between Christians and their God that men be granted the power to make us all comply with human decisions? Yet in the end, I can say with the president of the Pacific Union Conference, "I am a Seventh-day Adventist today and I will be a Seventh-day Adventist tomorrow regardless of what this vote does." <br />
<br />
<b>Based on my experience with the children of God, I expect they will continue their journey toward home, whatever the Sanhedrin does.</b> I love my church and pray for its leadership that they look beyond their fears and trust in Christ. Based on what I see on the evening news and what I read in Scripture, Jesus will soon come and once again He will take his children with Him beyond mere compliance to righteousness and eternal life.<br />
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© 2020 <i>by Tom King</i><br />
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<br />Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-62993563402781363132019-06-24T21:20:00.001-07:002019-06-24T21:22:58.218-07:00The Third World Next Door<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b><br /><br />There's a <a href="http://What a lovely idea. During my heyday, I worked with folks in the colonias. Now the term colonias has a very narrow, politician-defined name. It must, for instance consist of a settlement with poorly constructed houses, often with little or no insulation, no electricity except what could be stolen from nearby businesses or directly from light poles. Lots of people killed trying to wire their shacks. Running water is rare. Sewer service and trash pickup are rare. Transportationis dependent on employers offering semi-slave jobs. AND they have to be with something like 150 miles of the border to be a colonia. The trouble is there are a couple of dozen in East Texas, a lot farther from the border, so they aren't targeted as colonias. The Texas legislature is trying to do something about it, but they aren't getting a lot of cooperation from the "loyal" opposition party. These illegal immigrant camps are a whole lot like the worker camps the railroads and mining towns back in the 1800s that Tennessee Ernie Ford used to sing about in the song "Sixteen Tons". Like the welfare programs, colonias are designed to punish anyone who escapes a particularly oppressive form of indentured servitude, except with indentured servitude had a time limit. Life in colonias is a sentence without a visible end. Try to escape and the boss man gets you sent back to Mexico. With legal refugees and immigrants, there may be a period of hard work and sacrifice, but the future in America holds promise. For illlegal immigrants, especially from Mexico, there is only a slightly better form of poverty and endless, often brutal work. That's why we must close the border and create a legal path for guest and migrant workers to enter the USA. They would then come under the protection of the state and federal Departments of Labor and OSHA. Of course, then the big campaign donors and corporations that exploit illegals would lose there wildly underpaid servants. There is a mission field out there, often hidden nearby in poverty-stricken towns you didn't even know were there. I worked one nonprofit program where we quietly developed transportation to town for the mothers in those colonias to buy groceries and supplies. When we started, coyotes with pickups would drive them town piled in the back. The women would buy saleable commodities and trade them for a ride home. The going rate was $85 worth of food stamp purchase for the ride home. That way they got around the limits to transferring food stamp dollars to the guy who was driving you. Typically they would shove 5-10 women in the bed of the truck, and get up to $800 or so in goods in exchange. This was being encouraged and coordinated by big flower nursery owners, chicken ranchers and processors, dairy farmers and big commercial farms. Looking for a mission field? The colonias needs more than religious tracts in their own language. And these guys aren't just facing language barriers or cultural barriers or racial prejudice. These guys are being oppressed right here in the United States. It's an enlightening visit to a third world right next door that you probably don't know about. Want to help oppressed third world peoples? Take your church van to a colonia (or for that matter your own van) and offer the ladies a lift to town. Raise some money to provide heaters in winter. Perhaps pay for a light pole and breaker box to be dropped in the neighborhood. Find a spot and dig a well or deliver cases of bottled water. You'll get in trouble for your kindness with the people hiding these places as their own personal slave camps, but in the process you can shine a light on the enslavement of people simply looking for a safe place to raise their kids. There are still honest people in the media and in elected office. Appeal to the good guys. They love it when you do and you'll quickly discover who the good guys aren't. Of course, you'll probably anger the oppressors in the process and you may want to travel in pairs, go armed and check under the van for funny wires before you drive out there to the colonias. Anybody supporting "illegal" immigration and who do not want to enforce the border must share the responsibility for the continuation of this deep level of oppression of a desperate people. Immigration must be regulated, not to keep out undesirables as the leftist media try to characterize it. Controlling the border is about making sure that what happened to my Irish ancestors or your Italian, Greek, Chinese and Japanese ancestors back in the days of the "company store" and unsafe coal mines, dangerous railroad building work and migrant abuse doesn't happen in the 21st century when we're supposed to have grown to be better as a society than that. We're supposed to be compassionate, yet we tolerate a system that pours willing slaves into the gristmills of cheap labor dependent industries. Sorry for getting on my high horse again, but my trips to the colonias were deeply disturbing and seeing the good citizens who abused these people parade their wealth in local social circles and donate millions to put their names on buildings on the backs of illegals was sickening. We need to cut off the flood at the border and funnel it through legal channels. Want to see exploiters of illegals wither up and die on the vine? that's how you do it. If you just look away you're abetting this evil system. If we create a legal path to work for guest workers, then they can appeal for help to government regulators the same as citizen workers can, if employers underpay them or force them to work in dangerous conditions. A controlled border is about cutting off the flow of desperate human beings into the maw of the cruel third world of undocument slave labor camps. Want to do mission work? Visit the colonias. Get your hands dirty. Don't just throw a bag of burgers out for the homeless alongside the road. Get up on your horse and visit your representatives in government. Shine a light on the exploitation. Say something out loud about it. Organize your church. Build a food bank in an empty room and keep it stocked. Drive out to the colonias with a load of food and distribute it to the mamacitas and the children. Do something to directly help them, but don't stop there. Vote for people who will stop this self-imposed slavery. There's a better way to get these folks jobs with dignity in jobs "Americans don't want." It's an American tradition to provide immigrants with jobs for unskilled workers. What is not a product of our uniquely American idealism, is the evil (yes evil) setting of caps on people to prevent them from rising in the world to escape their poverty. Wouldn't it be nice if rose growers, farmers, dairymen, chicken processors and such had to provide clean places to live for migrant workers and access to food and training in how to speak English and manage money. We did all that in migrant communities in East Texas when I was there. Good church people taught ESL classes. Banks sponsored classes in money management. There's so much more we could do for the Third World next door if we'd open our eyes to it. But as Joy Behar once said, it's unpleasant to see and "deal with" and it's so much easier to shove (my word) the responsibility off on the government and tell yourself "I care about those poor people." It's time more people like the couple in the video get up and go out among, not just legal immigrants and people who are okay but just unconverted. It's time we make a hard push in and among the truly oppressed. We Adventists have a history of doing that and building communities, digging wells, and teaching children. Ellen White's son shocked some of his brethren by going among Southern black communities after the civil war and preaching, teaching and helping emancipated former slaves become truly free. It's time our church got back into that business in a big way, especially in Texas where I come from. If we were to put a stop to the exploitation of illegals and get control of the problem, Texas is the perfect place to work that change. We are a blended society. Hispanic Texans fought alongside American immigrants at the Alamo and San Jacinto. There's hardly a third generation Texan that doesn't have a Garcia or Rodriguez up their family tree. We even have a special language - Tex Mex that blends English and Spanish. Our favorite foods in Texas are blended cultural dishes. So why aren't we out there in those dark colonias, modern-day slave labor camps, doing some good. It's hard work, but there's no reason the local churches and border conferences shouldn't be sending warriors into the slave camps to bring relief and the word of God to a people who truly need it. Okay, getting down off my podium now. Think about it though. I challenge you all to look beyond "The Wall" and "Open Borders" easy ideology and think about how we can solve the actual problem. We can get our crops picked without abusing the pickers. And yes, some day the pickers will want to get an education, learn some skills and rise from the fields to become more than they ever thought they could be, with homes, cars, children in college and plenty of food on the table. Don't worry my liberal friends. There will always be a supply of entry level workers waiting at the border to come to del Norte where opportunity awaits even the poorest of the poor. And by the way, these people have a work ethic that puts the Puritans in the shade. That's the value they bring to America if we can just keep the bosses from crushing that spirit. Okay, now I'm done preaching. Tom" target="_blank">wonderful new program</a> that trains students for missions by visiting refugee/immigrant communities in Houston, Texas where half the population speaks a language other than English.</b> It's a great program, don't get me wrong, It's a lovely
idea. I just think they can go farther with this idea.<br /><br /><b>During my heyday, I worked with folks in what the Texas government calls "colonias"</b>. Now the
term colonias has a very narrow, politician-defined meaning. It must, for
instance consist of a settlement with poorly constructed houses, often
with little or no insulation, no
electricity except what could be stolen from nearby businesses or
directly from light poles. There are lots of people killed trying to wire their
shacks, especially during freezing weather. Running water is rare. Sewer service and trash pickup are often non-existent.
Transportation is dependent on employers offering semi-slave jobs. AND
they have to be within something like 150 miles of the border to be a
colonia and receive federal and state dollars. It's not accidental that communities within 150 miles of the border tend to be the stronghold of one particular party that has encouraged the establishment and filling of these tar-paper communities for decades.<br /><br /><b>The trouble is there are a couple of dozen
colonia type settlements in deep rural East Texas, a lot farther from the border. </b>So these settlements legally defined as
colonias and don't get political attention much. The Texas legislature is trying to do something about it, but
they aren't getting a whole lot of cooperation from the "loyal" opposition
party - especially not the ones that aren't Demoocrat strongholds. These illegal immigrant camps are a whole lot like the worker
camps the railroads and mining towns used to build back in the 1800s that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6wCzeNk1kw" target="_blank">Tennessee Ernie Ford sang about in the song "Sixteen Tons"</a>. <br /><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HpYJ3ufEccGzNzfowJplBb_0eSo0_tnkm0tPFB09b35fOVz1oD7_jTTsZAuu7WVfC_Kf4AeJaydF3weagJ5swfcjcGdGeRfAwsNAcyZgzE169UXSGb8zR41nvMk5CCArbVbLArFkkmor/s1600/Texas+colonia+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HpYJ3ufEccGzNzfowJplBb_0eSo0_tnkm0tPFB09b35fOVz1oD7_jTTsZAuu7WVfC_Kf4AeJaydF3weagJ5swfcjcGdGeRfAwsNAcyZgzE169UXSGb8zR41nvMk5CCArbVbLArFkkmor/s320/Texas+colonia+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div>
<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b><span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b>Like
our War on Poverty welfare programs, colonias are designed to punish anyone who
tries </b></span></span>to escape this particularly oppressive form of indentured servitude.</b> Except
with indentured servitude you had a time limit. Life in colonias is a
sentence without a visible end. Try to escape and the boss man calls a friend in ICE and gets your fuzzy hindquarters
sent back to Mexico. With legal refugees and
immigrants, there may be a period of hard work and sacrifice, but the
future in America holds promise and opportunity for them and a path to citizenship. For illlegal immigrants, especially
those from Mexico, there is only a slightly better form of poverty and
endless, often brutal work. <br /><br /><b>That's why we must
close the border and create a legal path for guest and migrant workers
to enter the USA.</b> It will take both actions to solve the problem. Guest workers could then come in to the US under the protection of the
state and federal Departments of Labor and OSHA. Of course, then the big
campaign donors and corporations that exploit illegals would lose there
wildly underpaid servants. <br /><br /><b>There is a mission
field out there calling out to our church, often hidden nearby in poverty-stricken towns you
didn't even know were there. </b>I worked with one nonprofit program where we
quietly developed transportation to town for the mothers in those
colonias to buy groceries and supplies. We used church buses. When we started, coyotes with
pickups would drive the ladies to town piled in the bed of the truck. The women would buy
saleable commodities with food stamps and trade them for a ride home. The going rate was
$85 worth of food stamp purchases for the ride home. That way they got
around the law against transferring food stamp dollars to the guy who was
driving them. Typically they would shove 5-10 women in the bed of the
truck, and get up to $800 or so in goods in exchange. This was being
encouraged and coordinated by big flower nursery owners, chicken
ranchers and processors, dairy farmers and big commercial farms.<br /><b><br /></b><b>Looking
for a mission field?</b> The colonias needs more than religious tracts in
their own language. And these guys aren't just facing language barriers
or cultural barriers or racial prejudice. These guys are being oppressed
right here in the United States. It's an enlightening visit to a third
world right next door that you probably don't know about. </span></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIB88ku0S9EsUBveVHWHfY_aXRvPhDyF2ltJHU6-ulY9XgVGz7VKnM1_quzCUNny4I-H8_F2GCsnSH8vtOiFDMNUHO4jqLKgABQQXs9FDLIMok_liqEgs9xZ_PbfnVyxEIgSdORA6Ayjy4/s1600/food+bank+workders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="713" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIB88ku0S9EsUBveVHWHfY_aXRvPhDyF2ltJHU6-ulY9XgVGz7VKnM1_quzCUNny4I-H8_F2GCsnSH8vtOiFDMNUHO4jqLKgABQQXs9FDLIMok_liqEgs9xZ_PbfnVyxEIgSdORA6Ayjy4/s400/food+bank+workders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b>Want
to help oppressed third world peoples?</b> Take your church van to a
colonia (or for that matter </span></span>your own van) and offer the ladies a lift to
town. Raise some money to provide heaters in winter. Perhaps pay for a
light pole and breaker box to be dropped in the neighborhood. Find a
spot and dig a well or deliver cases of bottled water. Set up food bank days for those living in colonias. You'll get in
trouble for your kindness with the people hiding these places as their
own personal slave camps, but in the process you can shine a light on
the enslavement of people simply looking for a safe place to raise their
kids. There are still honest people in the media and in elected office.
Appeal to the good guys. They love it when you do and you'll quickly
discover who the good guys aren't.<br /><br /><b><i>Of course, you'll
probably anger the oppressors in the process and you may want to travel
in pairs, go armed and check under the van for funny wires before you
drive out there to the colonias.</i></b><br /><br /><b>Anybody supporting
"illegal" immigration and who do not want to enforce the border must
share the responsibility for the continuation of this deep level of
oppression of a desperate people.</b> Immigration must be regulated, not to
keep out undesirables as the leftist media try to characterize it.
Controlling the border is about making sure that what happened to my
Irish ancestors or your Italian, Greek, Chinese and Japanese ancestors
back in the days of the "company store" and unsafe coal mines, dangerous
railroad building work and migrant abuse doesn't happen in the 21st
century when we're supposed to have grown to be better as a society than
that. We're supposed to be compassionate, yet we tolerate a system that
pours willing slaves into the gristmills of cheap labor dependent
industries. Sorry for getting on my high horse
again, but my trips to the colonias were deeply disturbing and seeing
the good citizens who abused these people parade their wealth in local
social circles and donate millions to put their names on buildings on
the backs of illegals was sickening.<br /><br /><b>We need to cut
off the flood at the border and funnel it through legal channels. </b>Want
to see exploiters of illegals wither up and die on the vine? that's how
you do it. If you just look away you're abetting this evil system. If
we create a legal path to work for guest workers, then they can appeal
for help to government regulators the same as citizen workers can, if
employers underpay them or force them to work in dangerous conditions. <b></b></span></span><br />
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<b> </b><span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b><span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b> </b></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b><span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x _1n4g"><b>A
controlled border is about cutting off the flow of desperate human
beings into the maw of the</b></span></span>cruel third world of undocumented slave labor
camps.</b> Want to do mission work? Visit the colonias. Get your hands
dirty. Don't just throw a bag of burgers out for the homeless alongside
the road and rest on your unearned moral superiority. Get up on your horse and visit your representatives in
government. Talk to the media. There are still honest reporters. Shine a light on the exploitation. Say something out loud
about it. Organize your church. Build a food bank in an empty room and
keep it stocked. Drive out to the colonias with a load of food and
distribute it to the mamacitas and the children. Do something to
directly help them, but don't stop there. <br /><br /><b>Vote for
people who will stop this self-imposed slavery. </b>There's a better way to
get these folks jobs with dignity in jobs "Americans don't want." It's
an American tradition to provide immigrants with jobs for unskilled
workers. What is not a product of our uniquely American idealism, is the
evil (yes evil) setting of caps on people to prevent them from rising
in the world to escape their poverty. Wouldn't it be
nice if rose growers, farmers, dairymen, chicken processors and such
had to provide clean places to live for migrant workers and access to
food and training in how to speak English and manage money. We did all
that in migrant communities in East Texas when I was there. Good church
people taught ESL classes. Banks sponsored classes in money management. <br /><b><br /></b><b>There's
so much more we could do for the Third World next door if we'd open our
eyes to it.</b> But as Joy Behar once said, it's unpleasant to see and
"deal with" and it's so much easier to shove (my word) the
responsibility off on the government and tell yourself "I care about
those poor people."<br /><br /><b>It's time more people like<a href="https://vimeo.com/341607995" target="_blank"> the couple who helped start the Houston program</a> get up and go out among, not just legal immigrants
and people who are okay but just foreign and unconverted</b>. It's time we make a hard
push in and among the truly oppressed. We Adventists have a history of
doing that and building communities, digging wells, and teaching
children. Ellen White's son shocked some of his brethren by going among
Southern black communities after the civil war and preaching, teaching
and helping emancipated former slaves become truly free. <br /><b><br /></b><b>It's
time our church got back into that business in a big way, especially in
Texas where I come from. </b>If we were to put a stop to the exploitation
of illegals and get control of the problem, Texas is the perfect place
to work that change. We are a blended society. Hispanic Texans fought
alongside American immigrants at the Alamo and San Jacinto. There's
hardly a third generation Texan that doesn't have a Garcia or Rodriguez
up their family tree. We even have a special language - Tex Mex that
blends English and Spanish. Our favorite foods in Texas are blended
cultural dishes.<br /><br /><b>So why aren't we out there in those
dark colonias, modern-day slave labor camps, doing some good. </b>Well, for one thing, it's hard
work, but there's no reason the local churches and border conferences
shouldn't be sending warriors into the slave camps to bring relief and
the word of God to a people who truly need it. For another thing, your community leaders aren't going to give you permission. They'll likely discourage you, but since when do Adventists do the easy thing or ask for permission to do God's work.<br /><br /><b>Okay,
getting down off my podium now. </b>Think about it though. I challenge you
all to look beyond the "Wall" and the "Open Borders" easy ideology and think
about how we can solve the actual problem. We can get our crops picked
without abusing the pickers. And yes, some day the pickers will want to
get an education, learn some skills and rise from the fields to become
more than they ever thought they could be, with homes, cars, children in
college and plenty of food on the table. <br /><b><br /></b><b>Don't
worry my liberal Adventist friends.</b> There will always be a steady supply of entry level
workers waiting at the border to come to del Norte where opportunity
awaits even the poorest of the poor so long as they are legal. And by the way, these people have a
work ethic that puts the Puritans in the shade. That's the value they
bring to America if we can just keep the bosses from crushing that
spirit. And helping lift people up is a huge witness for Christ by the way.<br /><br /> Okay, now I'm done preaching.<br /><span class="whitespace"> </span><br />© 2019 by Tom King<br /></span></span>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-51879853420742738602019-05-31T00:12:00.001-07:002019-05-31T00:14:40.789-07:00Do Not Underestimate an Adventist Woman<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="6m9v0" data-offset-key="3fpb4-0-0">
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<span data-offset-key="3fpb4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Bet You Didn't Know This:<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7y7XcsyVMfDGUBMjyGOepqGsaNNgWzVpTuz4OLgNhZn7Ygz6gTpoAMJPzWeQZ-a5vo8fXGjnhPmm9nZz6CjtmPtelFmEwhjwaqFw4hku4bE701NPjXueXlx1-R2s9zySIa664aqExQqcs/s1600/Irene_Morgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="207" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7y7XcsyVMfDGUBMjyGOepqGsaNNgWzVpTuz4OLgNhZn7Ygz6gTpoAMJPzWeQZ-a5vo8fXGjnhPmm9nZz6CjtmPtelFmEwhjwaqFw4hku4bE701NPjXueXlx1-R2s9zySIa664aqExQqcs/s320/Irene_Morgan.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Source, Fair use, <br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31871975">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31871975</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</b><br /><br />Never underestimate an Adventist woman on a mission. That's why we love them so much. They are a precious resource it is our duty to protect. In 1944, A twenty-seven ye<b>ar </b>old Seventh-Day Adventist black woman, Irene Morgan, made the gutsy decision to refuse to leave the "white" section of an Interstate bus and was arrested in Virginia under state segregation laws eleven years before Rosa Parks' famous refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama local bus. She was a little more spirited than Rosa however. She kicked the Sheriff in the groin when he tried to arrest her!</span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="3fpb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">She landed two highly skilled lawyers on her defense team, one of whom was no less than future Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall. Irene won her case before the Supreme Court. In 1946 in a landmark decision, the Court ruled that the Virginia law was unconstitutional, as the Commerce clause protected interstate traffic. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span data-offset-key="3fpb4-0-0"><span data-text="true">Irene's stubborn singular defense of her rights strengthened the WWII era U.S. anti-discrimination law prohibiting segregation on all interstate transportation and influenced public opinion against Southern racist segregation laws. Unlike Rosa, whose protest was part of a planned challenge of the segregation laws, Irene simply stood up for herself all on her own. With Irene, the NAACP was running along behind her shouting, "Wait for me I'm your leader!"<br /><br /><b>References:</b></span></span></div>
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<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Morgan"><span data-offset-key="16g3f-0-0"><span data-text="true">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Morgan</span></span></a></li>
<li id="cite_note-3"> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web"><a class="external text" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Morgan_v_Virginia" rel="nofollow">"Morgan v. Virginia (1946)"</a>. <i>www.encyclopediavirginia.org</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2015-11-04</span></span>.</cite><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AIrene+Morgan&rft.atitle=Morgan+v.+Virginia+%281946%29&rft.genre=unknown&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.encyclopediavirginia.org%2FMorgan_v_Virginia&rft.jtitle=www.encyclopediavirginia.org&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal"></span></span></li>
<li> <span data-offset-key="16g3f-0-0">Lamb, Yvonne S. "Irene M. Kirkaldy; Case Spurred Freedom Rides," <i>The Washington Post,</i> 13 Aug. 2007: n. pag. Print.<span data-text="true"></span></span><span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web"> </cite></span></li>
<li><span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web"><a class="external text" href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Morgan_v_Commonwealth_June_6_1945" rel="nofollow">"Morgan v. Commonwealth (June 6, 1945)"</a>. <i>www.encyclopediavirginia.org</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2015-11-04</span></span>.</cite></span></li>
</ol>
<span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web"> © 2017 by Tom King</cite></span></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-7090545693265542752018-12-16T09:17:00.000-08:002018-12-16T09:17:20.432-08:00You're Wrong - Marxist Socialism Is Not a Viable Model for Church Governance.<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="dtt6o" data-offset-key="6psjs-0-0">
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<span data-offset-key="6psjs-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /><br /><b>A rece<a href="https://atoday.org/should-the-adventist-church-embrace-marxism/?fbclid=IwAR3x9ADJVel0q1cLrFUFfZMBRm_lm4VaIOaNCZMAHj7kQBwOfliGQlk5S-E" target="_blank">nt piece in Adventist Today</a> </b></span></span><span data-offset-key="6psjs-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>by Stephen Ferguson | 16 December 2018 posits that <br />Marxism's governance model has a lot to offer the church.</b> Ferguson admits that "</span></span><span data-offset-key="6psjs-0-0"><span data-text="true">...the world is fundamentally corrupt and human nature is a long way
from ideal, which is why Marxism has consistently failed from Russia, to
North Korea to Venezuela." Yet throughout, he flirts with the idea that maybe the church should embrace a little Marxism, as though the church is immune from the problems of a fundamentally corrupt human nature somehow. It is not.<br /><br /><b>A link to this article was posted on Facebook and Adventist Today seems invested in defending its premise.</b> No matter what anyone says, in the comments section, if they disagree with the author of this piece on Facebook, they are going to get Adventist Today saying "Please read the article before commenting." </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4tnjq-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>I did read it and once again they pull some nonsense out about how Karl Marx's philosophy is like Jesus'.</b> This guy's final point is that Jesus owned no property in this life. Balderdash! He owned the entire planet and he knew it and he went down fighting for a planet full of real estate and billions of people who were destined to become His. No one owning property was one of Marx's brilliant ideas and all it's every led to is starving millions. <br /><br /><b>As to Marxism being some kind of preferred style of governance for the church, I don't see it.</b> Marx and Engels wanted to do away with religion altogether and create a human driven Utopia. There is no such thing. Man is corrupt. There is one system that will work eternally and one only. Good people harvested from the hellish challenges we face here on Earth (or spiritual bootcamp as I like to think of it), </span></span><span data-offset-key="4tnjq-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="61qvl-0-0"><span data-text="true">serving their God who is Himself, incorruptible. No hierarchy of authority. Just God and his people - one layer of authority. That's it.</span></span>. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="29q93-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The church on Earth will inevitably go the way of the genocidal socialist nations of the 20th century if it adopts a communist collectivist model of governance.</b> We can see it happening in the recent shift of power to the GC administration. At Marxism's core is that somehow if we create a centrally planned and controlled collective, men through their own efforts can create some kind of Earthly utopia.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7kjln-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The truth is it won't.</b> Human beings can't do that. We can be washed clean and transplanted to a place where the only ruler we need is God and where we are free indeed as God promised. There, we won't need to worry about the rich for we will all be rich. Nobody will have to send out jackbooted troops to force us to do right. We will do right because it is right.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4ugr4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Capitalism has a lot wrong with it, but it's one of the only systems on Earth where a good man can make himself successful and even wealthy by providing his fellow humans with something they need or want.</b> He doesn't have to steal it from someone else as Karl Marx claims. He merely works hard and provides something other people want. There have been communal, collectivist Christian societies, but if you notice something about groups like The Shakers, and other communistic religious societies, they tend to die out. Those who work hard wind up carrying others who have no interest in hard work. In the early American colonies there were groups that experimented with commune living. They disappeared, scattered or died off. Even early Christians did something similar. But that wasn't a permanent thing. It was designed to meet a crisis. Once the Christians scattered away from their persecuters, they went free market capitalist at once.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ev7oa-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Are there corrupt capitalists?</b> You bet, but even those guys produce things like affordable goods, four dollar medications, convenient services and jobs to high school dropouts working on their GED's. There are far more corrupt Marxists too and they do far more damage these days. Marxist socialist models always put power in the hands of a few self-proclaimed smart people and therin lies the problem.<br /><br /><b>No, I don't believe absolute power corrupts absolutely. </b>What power does is attract the corruptible who inevitably seize the reins of control over men and women so that instead of a free society of people doing good things because they want to, it all soon devolves into something like the Stanford Experiment where pretend guards became nearly as brutal as Nazi concentration camp guards. Collectivism in all its form will not work upon the Earth. We are not in any condition to make it work and as Ronald Reagan put it, "<i>Socialism only works in heaven where they don't need it and in hell where they've already got it."</i></span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cmg7j-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Free Market capitalism with all its flaws in both church and state is still the most effective governance strategy in nations packed to their borders with sinners.</b> I would be very afraid to enlist Marxism as a model for church governance. If it ain't broke, should we really be fixing it. The SDA church is growing faster than anybody. Yes we are losing members, but that's always happening in any church. The point is, we're out there busily spreading the gospel to every kindred, tongue and people and some of us are trying to round up all the sheep and pen them up in some imaginary Christian worker's paradise. Then like the Roman Church, The Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Venezuela, Cambodia too many others to list here, the leaders of "paradise on Earth" discover they are not gods and not capable of managing the vast proletariat from Washington DC (or Silver Springs for that matter). When it all goes South, then leaders inevitably start purging anyone with the temerity to point out that the system ain't workin'.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cm0l4-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Marxisizing the church won't do anything but inhibit the church from doing the work we've been told to do. </b> Marx has nothing good to say for the church. His theories depend on people who do not exist and a severely flawed theory that you can make people good through external force. You can't make people be good through governance systems. The best you can do in this nasty old world is protect the sheep from wolves, protect their rights and freedoms and let them take care of themselves as best they can. Plenty of them will do the decent thing if one of their number gets in trouble. It's what good sheep do and it makes them better sheep because they do it of their own free will and not because some system dictates it.</span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="cm0l4-0-0"><span data-text="true">But Marxism is such a neat idea that our intellectual betters always drift back to it, fancying themselves as just the sort of "dear leaders" to lead the children of God to the promised land. They forget that not even Moses could manage that task. It was left to God to do it His own way.<br /><br /><b><i><br />Tom King - </i></b> ©<i> 2018</i></span></span>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-36539816758102444442018-07-06T09:00:00.000-07:002018-07-06T09:00:08.806-07:00Jesus and The New Golden Rule<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Many, who would minimize the impact of Christianity upon the world, claim that the so-called "Golden Rule", which requires one to treat
others as one would wish for them to treat oneself, had its origins
long before the time of Christ.</b> While it is true that variants of the Biblical Golden Rule show up in Confucianism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and other religions and philosophies, it is not exactly true that these prior "golden rules" were the same as the one Christ articulated. Christ articulated a new version of the golden rule.<br />
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<b>Prior to
Christ, a careful reading of ancient texts reveals a uniformly negative
construct of the idea. </b>In other words, these prior versions were more about not provoking others. These versions more closely read "<b><i>Do not do to others what you
wouldn't want them to do to you.</i></b>" There is no instruction to do good things to others for unselfish reasons. Before Jesus it was about not poking the bear. After Jesus it became about doing acts of kindness, even towards the bear.<br />
<br />
<b>Jesus' teaching, however, goes beyond
the negative instruction to avoid doing what one would not l</b><span class="text_exposed_show"><b>ike
done to oneself.</b> Christ's version was a positive formula that
directs His hearers to actively do good to another that, if the
situations were reversed, one would desire that the other would do for
them. This formulation, as indicated in the parable of the Good
Samaritan, emphasizes the needs for unselfish positive action that brings benefit
to another, not simply restraining oneself from negative activities that
hurt another person. </span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show"><b>The instruction by Jesus to initiate kind treatment of
others rather than to simply avoid being unkind emphasized a doing
version of love for one's fellow man rather than a mere feeling kind of
love.</b> We are to be proactive in loving our neighbors rather than
reactive. This idea of actively doing good first to others is unique to
Christ's message.<br /><br /><b>That message of proactive goodness is the thing that undergirds all Christianity.</b> It's why Christianity outstrips virtually every other religion on the planet in doing good. It's why we have missions. It's why we build hospitals, send doctors, nurses and teachers to every corner of the planet teaching proactive kindness. Jesus told us to and in obedience, we do acts of kindness. Because we have a relationship with Christ we cannot help doing good to our neighbors.............as we would have them do unto us.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show">© 2018 <i>by Tom King</i></span><br />
Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-23692394878371978782018-06-29T09:00:00.000-07:002018-06-29T18:58:17.975-07:00Who is Trying to Create a "Religious" State<div data-contents="true">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>It's coming and we're looking the wrong way!</i></td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><br />An SDA pastor friend of mine who is clearly a card-carrying Democrat justifies his defense of DNC talking points by raising the old Adventist fear of the oppressive religious state and Sunday Laws.</b> His arguments seem really thin to me - at least Biblically. I don't see it. President Trump and V.P. Pence, if they are creating an oppressive religious state, seem to be doing a really lousy job of it. Trump has been reducing federal power at every turn over the past year and has given Americans permission to believe in God without being jumped on with the full approval of government by an anti-religious or at least anti-Christian establishment. </span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06DOxUGcjvr_IadGfUgzYWo1kHHNwzIlR-9UrKTxdcLQrTpN1qtVJXWACXGB8Bywg_NET2-Se33FyAIVX4hCx3lpPnFjHfF_sJLl80k5sOI3gruF9kugmuZDVIPspD4IT0hcyuTwqn1K5/s1600/Sunday+Law+-+Germany.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06DOxUGcjvr_IadGfUgzYWo1kHHNwzIlR-9UrKTxdcLQrTpN1qtVJXWACXGB8Bywg_NET2-Se33FyAIVX4hCx3lpPnFjHfF_sJLl80k5sOI3gruF9kugmuZDVIPspD4IT0hcyuTwqn1K5/s320/Sunday+Law+-+Germany.jpg" width="320" /></a> </b></span></span></span></span><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>There
is way more potential for an oppressive government to create a
quasi-religious state </b></span></span></span></span>under progressive principles than under
constitutional conservatism.</b> Conservatives, for one thing don't
believe in abolishing amendments. Progressive Democrats advocate this
all the time - the second amendment repeal would simply establish the
clean-up-the-Constitution-by-eliminating-the-Bill-of-Rights principle.
This is necessary to prepare government to rule over all during the
events of the last days.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5C85xZCDtX7VoG_kmEMU0Ke2elZFWK3l4wSruqylYcXFlzoV3wkmiXvvrXYxbkgr2VB5enw5UfeEzywDDtROxN4bYtW48uBJmqjF51YXP1Anfz2hVYnAeKErhzLIe95EefLWk4VaDBTo/s1600/Sunday+Law+-+Hungary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn5C85xZCDtX7VoG_kmEMU0Ke2elZFWK3l4wSruqylYcXFlzoV3wkmiXvvrXYxbkgr2VB5enw5UfeEzywDDtROxN4bYtW48uBJmqjF51YXP1Anfz2hVYnAeKErhzLIe95EefLWk4VaDBTo/s320/Sunday+Law+-+Hungary.jpg" width="320" /></a> <span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The
religion that will dominate, of course, will be an unchallenged twisted
cocktail of atheism, spiritualism, Marxism, apostate Protestantism and
Catholicism with support from international corporate powers and trade
unions.</b> Of course, left-leaning SDA friends say that can never
happen with modern progressivism in charge. That's been demonstrated
clearly as progressives chip away at the Constitution and give more and
more intrusive power to the federal government.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pibSWxB8rWpnarz8ZK6edr0hIpT3cg-7Jtfjn_Di6hSha5SSDKa0i1d7iynpFPsMKHRsCxEL2yjuAA4p4KTutCw4osdJm8HSWUycxC5bU1jfvZbExn-VSmlHzWlV-OT23CoPc0ADzc1-/s1600/Sunday+Law+-+Poland.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0pibSWxB8rWpnarz8ZK6edr0hIpT3cg-7Jtfjn_Di6hSha5SSDKa0i1d7iynpFPsMKHRsCxEL2yjuAA4p4KTutCw4osdJm8HSWUycxC5bU1jfvZbExn-VSmlHzWlV-OT23CoPc0ADzc1-/s320/Sunday+Law+-+Poland.jpg" width="320" /></a><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/14/city-houston-demands-pastors-turn-over-sermons.html" target="_blank">Houston's hard left Democrat mayor has already shown open hostility toward conservative Christianity,</a> even going so far as to demand copies of pastors' sermon notes. The justification? Mayor Anise Parker, the city's first openly lesbian Democrat mayor wanted to see if they were speaking out against her bathroom ordinance that forced all public facilities including churches to allow trans-gender men to use women's bathrooms. This was an illegal "fishing expedition" that even leftist judges wouldn't sign off on. The intent was to use the IRS to end conservative churches' nonprofit status. </span></span><br />
<span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /></span></span><span data-offset-key="66qlb-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>The lid was clearly off the not well progressive hidden agenda in Houston.</b> The left tolerates high-church liberal churches (the ones that have already signed memorandums of understanding with the Roman Catholic Church). Dude, I am not afraid of conservative Christians. In the religious liberty realm, the folk who support Trump by and large have been pro-religious liberty all along. Evangelicals - the prosperity gospel, televangelist crowd - don't really count as conservative fundamentalist churches. They've been picking and choosing Bible passages for years with all the dexterity of a South London pickpocket. Evangelicals of that ilk have already sold out and begun signing on with the new and improved global church movement and have banded with high-church (read "apostate") Protestant churches to reunite with the Roman church which is led by a very very progressive socialist papacy. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9ls2r-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Throughout our history most presidents have been open about their religious beliefs.</b> Because Trump has received support from Christian groups doesn't mean he's going to establish a theocracy. Democrats have been trying to lay the charge of authoritarianism at Trump's door since before he took the oath of office, but it doesn't seem to stick. Trump's been busily deregulating and freeing up business. He's allowed religious institutions to freely practice their beliefs. It was the Obama administration that tried to force religious institutions and religious people to violate their own beliefs. Dems even tried to make the Catholics pay for abortion insurance for their nuns and teaching staff at schools. They tried to force Christian bakers to use their art to support practices that run counter to their religious beliefs.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5m4c2-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>At every turn, Trump is reducing the power and limiting interference by government in the lives of Americans.</b> That's kind of the opposite of the sort of religious authoritarianism leftists have accused conservatives and Trump of being in favor of. I know of no real conservative who favors forcing anyone to go to church on Sunday. I have seen European socialist governments cooperating with high church Protestant denominations and the Catholic Church and trade unions and corporations to pass Sunday Laws. In Germany you can be fined or arrested for washing your car or mowing your lawn on Sunday. Europeans, as Democrats will tell you, are so much more advanced than we are.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5vnp0-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>If you ask me, they are advancing directly toward hell and American progressives are marching along behind them wondering after the Beast.</b> Let us be careful, then, what mast we nail our flag to.</span></span></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-50120612476990865862018-06-22T10:00:00.000-07:002018-06-24T23:22:32.047-07:00Has the NAD Joined the Democrat Party?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: block; font-family: "helvetica", "arial", sans-serif; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 6px 0px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">The NAD just posted a message to all Adventists to basically send up prayers based on Democratic National Convention talking points. </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">The message asserts - (1) that innocent children are being cruelly snatched from their immigrant parents, and (2) the Bible is being used to justify cruelty by a Trump administration official.This is a bit worrisome to me. I think the devil has us looking right when he's going left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Sadly, the first talking point is based on a distortion of the facts.</b>This is not a new problem. This procedure was instated by the Obama administration. The left excuses this because they say the former pres<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">ident never intended to enforce these rules. One has to ask why then make the rule other than to deceive voters that he actually cared about illegal immigration. Democrats are ultimately responsible for the current immigration enforcement policies that see immigrant families split up after crossing the border illegally. Trump laid out a number of provisions that must be included in any proposed immigration legislation that would be acceptable to him. The ball is in the Democrats' court....</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>It should be noted that the kids are separated from the adults largely so they won't be running around the detention facility where there are drug mules, sex traffickers, smugglers, drug cartel enforcers and terrorists and in some cases their actual parents but not always.</b> Also remember these are not legal immigrants. Once they make sure the kids are with their actual parents and not some sex trafficker, they will be repatriated to Mexico where they may start immigration applications to come back legally. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Separating the kids is done for their own safety.</b> The pictures of crying children in cages largely come from pictures taken in 2014 during the Obama administration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>#2 - Jeff Sessions was being castigated by hostile reporters and asked how he could tolerate this horrible situation as a good Christian person.</b> Sessions quoted the Bible with regard to obedience to the law. It's not like he proposed establishing a theocracy.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Truthfully, if you check out what Sister White said you will find a much different sort of threat on the horizon.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: small;">"<i><span style="font-family: "geneva" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif , "century gothic";">The Protestants
of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the
gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to
clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold
union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights
of conscience. .." - EG White</span></i></span></li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We Adventist must stick together,<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "geneva" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif , "century gothic";"><b>She was talking about "apostate" Protestantism.</b> When I was a kid growing up in the church, I was taught to fear Baptists and the Church of Christ - those nasty conservative Christian churches. But, if you take a look at who is taking the lead on hooking up with the Pope, it's been Anglicans (Episcopalians), Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists and other black-robed "high" churches. These guys have signed agreements with Rome already and have begun inviting Charismatic and TV based Evangelical churches to also join with Rome. <br /><br /><b>Also, the other member of the alliance are spiritualists including Mother Earth worshipers, radical environmentalists and progressive socialists who also favor creating a powerful global government.</b> The papacy has already released two major encyclicals proposing a global world government (with teeth as Pope Benedict suggested) and even suggested it be organized by trade organizations, Labor Unions and international political parties (and there's really only one of those - the Communist Party). <br /><b><br />Anybody else creeped out by that?</b> Yet, our church leaders seem to be bound and determined to support leftist talking points at every turn. I've seen talk from the top about supporting environmental initiatives that turn ever more power and authority over to central governments. I'm concerned that the upper echelons of our church are drifting into the arms of that threefold alliance.<br /><b><br />This is why I'm really concerned by moves from the administrative levels of the church toward centralizing authority once again in Silver Springs. </b>It makes it a whole lot easier for government authorities to decapitate and cripple the church than it would be if we were diversified in authority and decision-making. The devil is subtle and devious. We have been told what to watch out for in the end times. It mystifies me that our church leadership seems to be missing the real danger that progressivism poses to the church. Progressivism operates as much like a religion as anything. It's especially obvious if you deviate from the progressive "faith". Progressives immediately want to end free speech, freedom of the press and even to gag ministers in the pulpit. Attempts have already been made in places like Houston, Texas where the Democrat mayor demanded that Houston pastors hand over their sermon notes to investigators to see if they spoke against her open bathrooms law. Not only is such "fishing" illegal and a violation of free speech, but judges won't even allow cops to search a car or home if they don't have evidence of probable cause. <b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "geneva" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif , "century gothic";"><b><br />We need to look for the signs of Christ's soon coming.</b> Jesus said we'd see them. We just need to not be like the leaders of the Sanhedrin in Jesus' day and convince ourselves to expect to see something rather different from what the prophets have told us to expect. <br /><br /><b>I love my church and I will never leave it</b>. I will, however, speak up when I think there's a problem. That's just being a responsible "member". The church is a fellowship, not a dictatorship. We work together. We obey Christ, not man.<br /><br /><i><b>Tom King</b></i></span></span></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-86100276804066581002018-06-08T10:00:00.000-07:002018-06-08T10:00:01.206-07:00Violating the Third Commandment<div data-contents="true">
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<span data-offset-key="e40s6-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Once in a while someone pops up to take a shot at the kind of Christian witnesses who proclaim the message that we are "...saved by faith in Christ, not by works lest any should boast."</b> Why this message makes some brethren angry, I will never understand, but it does.<br /><b><br />We keep rejecting the message of righteousness by faith. 1888 was the first time and there has been resistance every time since to it's proclamation. </b>I saw it int the 60s and 70s. Righteousness by faith was always a little too loosey-goosey for some of the brethren, preferring the stick to the carrot a little too fondly I think. The authoritarian wing of the church has never quite trusted God to keep the troops in line simply through the power of a deep relationship with him. Like the Roman church, they think we need to insert some "leadership" between ourselves and the Almighty.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4aCYufwpjclcV8C-X3nk9GCrL12pjude0netgs0BlzpLJnQScSKAkJcDmdLBLc8k0MhkUxhQsJhNmldT3LwpHYHLYiQeXZFH00ybznlI2JBMOcF1dWo_pfjpUohkWGsM6jVZj3-QZ9PB/s1600/morris+venden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4aCYufwpjclcV8C-X3nk9GCrL12pjude0netgs0BlzpLJnQScSKAkJcDmdLBLc8k0MhkUxhQsJhNmldT3LwpHYHLYiQeXZFH00ybznlI2JBMOcF1dWo_pfjpUohkWGsM6jVZj3-QZ9PB/s320/morris+venden.jpg" width="320" /></a><span data-offset-key="a94gu-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>They need centralized power and strict rules with strict enforcement or they fear all sorts of rule-breaking horror will break out.</b> They measure hemlines. They tell us how deep could be the water we could wade in on Sabbath. Any deeper than the knees and we'd be considered swimming which would be a sin, I was told. They had big discussions about whether it was moral or not to roller skate to music.They didn't just give a hard time to champions of righteousness by faint like Morris Venden. They tried to run Ron Halvorsen Sr. out of my little town. The same sort of folks even criticized HMS Richards Sr. for being too excited about righteousness by faith and felt he should spend more time preaching on the law. Even poor Del Delker was attacked for singing with young men with guitars and banjos. They went after anyone who placed any emphasis on righteousness by faith or who questioned church authority or encouraged young people, thereby endangering their authority.</span></span></div>
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<tr align="center"><td class="tr-caption">Ron Halvorsen Sr.</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="den2g-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b><span data-offset-key="den2g-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>What a group
of Keenites from the church I grew up in did to Morris Venden was
Satanic and these people believed they were doing it all for Jesus.</b>
</span></span></b><span data-offset-key="den2g-0-0"><span data-text="true">As though Jesus needed them to act as some kind of security force. For
the same "crime" of not emphasizing the law, they also went after Ron
Halvorsen Sr.. Both those men filled the church to the rafters. I never
left a sermon by either of them that I didn't feel that I was going home
to heaven one day. This group of "saints" hated both men. Why? I
believe it was because both men appealed directly to the members without
deference to that good old boys network of power brokers. I fear that what one dear
saint said to me once is true, "What we need in this church is a visit from the
Grim Reaper."</span></span><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James and Ellen White</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="den2g-0-0"><span data-text="true"></span></span><span data-offset-key="den2g-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>We have a serious problem in the church and it isn't with the likes of Morris Venden.</b> After the manipulation by Elder Butler at 1888 GC meeting to suppress the message of righteousness by faith, James and Ellen White wrote that they no longer had confidence that the GC administration spoke with authority for God to the church. Shortly after James died the GC wrangled an invitation to Ellen to go to Australia. She did, but when she came back, she was no less the warrior for Christ. God had already burned down the GC's power base in Battle Creek and forced it to move to Silver Springs. On her return, Sr. White led a minor revolt at the 1903 GC and the members of the church created the union conferences to divest the central administration of much of its power. Ellen said angels walked the aisles at that conference. With this new "unity in diversity" model the church spread around the world like wildfire until our tiny church had the second largest parochial education system in the world, a huge medical work, a massive publishing work and the largest mission work in the Protestant world.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HMS Richards Sr.</td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="dd1qn-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Since then, the authoritarians keep trying to recover their power.</b> They use manipulation, bullying, "working policies" and subterfuge to try and accomplish what they think God wants. And the membership keeps resisting. Why? Because they know Christ and they recognize the enemy when he is among them. We may love our children</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bt02f-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>I believe it's a clear violation of the second commandment that is happening here at the end of time. </b>There's a reason God put that command early on the list. The second commandent is not about cussing. It's about thinking to speak for God when He has given you no such authorization to speak for Him. To invoke his name in vain just to justify your own ambition and lust for power, is a mighty sin. It's the very sin that brought down Lucifer.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9pcli-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Jesus' followers are the meek, the kind and the unassuming.</b> That doesn't mean they won't get up on their hind legs and fight you when you seek to rule God's church or to turn it into an image of the authoritarianism of the Beast. We imitate Christ. He is our master. When you ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?", remember. That might involve flipping over the money-changers' tables and cracking a few whips. And our role model in that was NOT a member of the Sanhedrin at the time.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a4ijh-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>God bless us all. </b>Unity in diversity is the way forward! We follow Christ, not jumped up middle managers. No one must place themselves between us and Him. I would not want to answer for that before the judgment throne of God.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="tdm-0-0"><span data-text="true">Yours in Christ,</span></span></div>
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<span class="_247o" data-offset-key="8uj9f-0-0" spellcheck="false" start="0"><span data-offset-key="8uj9f-0-0"><span data-text="true">Tom King</span></span></span></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-19112004214207444412018-05-26T20:42:00.002-07:002018-06-01T23:37:18.419-07:00Agape - Transformative Love<div data-contents="true">
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<span data-offset-key="3evgm-0-0"><span data-text="true"><br /><b><br />There is a Youtube channel called "CS Lewis Doodle".</b> It offers essays by Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis with accompanying illustrative drawings. It's a fascinating way of presenting Lewis' many essays on Christian theology, history and ethics. The site recently released the final chapter of Lewis' broadcast on "The Four Loves". I sat down this afternoon and watched the presentation on "Agape", the Christian kind of love - the kind God wants to give you.<br /><br /><b>I realize that CS Lewis disagrees with me on some points of theology. </b>Be that as it may, I do believe he was a brilliant man and had an incredible ability to make sense of the Christian faith, even for atheists, agnostics and backslidden Christians.<br /><br /><b>If you haven't seen them, you should listen to all four in order, but the one I saw today on "Agape" or God's love, was stunning</b>. A lot of things I have picked up in my lifelong study of scripture came together in this essay by Lewis. It was one of those rare things where a window to the Divine is opened up. It explained so much about how the natural loves (storge, philios, and eros as Lewis labels them) are incomplete unless transformed by God's love (agape) which is freely given to us if we will accept.<b> </b></span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="3evgm-0-0"><span data-text="true"><b>Turns out what prevents us from receiving it is our own pride.</b> We think we need to deserve it and therefore we think that we must also deserve the other kinds of love and that intern, those upon whom we bestow natural love must deserve our love. This makes love a business transaction and if we don't feel the transaction was to our benefit, then we become angry because we didn't get what we deserved. <br /><br /><b>Equipped by God with Agape (Godly love), we no longer need to get our money's worth from love.</b> I highly recommend you see the whole series of four broadcasts and pay close attention to the last one on Agape. It's the payoff and it's transformative.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="s42m-0-0"><span data-text="true">© 2018 <i>by Tom King</i></span></span></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-80975488626052840242018-04-28T20:16:00.002-07:002018-04-28T20:33:56.891-07:00Are Adventists Racists?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6xfGAAyer43A4vJreeyofjUPM3Mujqw4m8iKKDuhtmxT7UKnc4qFEp9FeX5H5k_T3OIpdcx-xjoyYcl9C9WvN7z7weSNRZ6TEdL1swXlendY3QTGFWuY7KPB1S2tYw3TDsRJtXli94A7s/s1600/Adventist+Youth+Group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6xfGAAyer43A4vJreeyofjUPM3Mujqw4m8iKKDuhtmxT7UKnc4qFEp9FeX5H5k_T3OIpdcx-xjoyYcl9C9WvN7z7weSNRZ6TEdL1swXlendY3QTGFWuY7KPB1S2tYw3TDsRJtXli94A7s/s400/Adventist+Youth+Group.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Daughter (top left) with some of her Adventist Youth Group</td></tr>
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<span class="UFICommentActorAndBody"> <span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><b><br />Once in a while some well-meaning college student (usually white but not always), raises the charge that the SDA church is racist.</b> They're often already on their way out of the church for other reasons (dress, diet, the Sabbath cramps their style, someone's bony finger, etc.), but on their way out they fire a Parthian shot at the Region Conferences. Region Conferences are a remnant of the Jim Crow South at a time when mixed congregations could find their churches burned down around them by the Klan. It seemed safer to give our black members their own churches. After all, there were a lot of black SDAs in the South since one of the first mission fields Adventist saturated was the antebellum South. We got into a lot of trouble for it. We were teaching black children to read and training black teachers and nurses and Nathan Bedford Forrest and his ilk didn't like it.<br /><br /><b>So, I'd like to 'splain about Region Conferences as best as I know what happened! </b> Now, I know I'm
going to probably get hammered here but here goes. I grew up in the South in the 60s and early 70s. I went to schools with kids of all races, many from the far side of the world. I went to college in my home town. My former college
president at Southwestern Adventist University, the inimitable Leroy Leiske, had come from a conference president's job in one of the Southern Conferences. While there he attempted to integrate the administration. Sadly, there was some serious racial discomfort among the white brethren with that idea back then. The Klan was still active then and the SDA church was already in enough trouble with its Bible Belt neighbors. The powers that be feared change. Months into his administration, Elder Leiske got run off for his hiring policies. He then came to Texas to become president of what
was then Southwestern Union College. He wasn't an academic. He was a reformer and Texas was apparently ready for some reformation. And even if they weren't, Uncle Leroy was bringing it. In just a few years he almost seamlessly integrated the
school. Because the denominations only predominantly black school, Oakwood, was far off in the deep South, Leiske convinced some brave black students to give Southwestern a try. He recruited quite a few black, Asian and Hispanic students and I don't remember any real racial problems on campus. No riots. No cross-burnings. A friend of mine who was half black and half white told me he felt like he didn't quite fit in either the white or black groups on campus, but that was more an artifact of unfamiliarity than of any overt racism. And he was the perfect guy to cross the racial divide, since white, black and Hispanic girls all thought he was awfully handsome.
There may have been some hard core racism, but if so I never heard about it and would have been against it if I had. Much more I remember the student body in general
embraced the new students. <br /><br /><b>Several times in Texas
it was proposed that the Region Conference be blended into the Texas
Conference.</b> The conference already had a group of Hispanic churches within the Texas Conference and
specific conference secretaries who were designated to care for the Hispanic
churches. The Region Conferences, however, have resisted blending with the regular
conferences, largely for cultural reasons. Also, there was some feeling that
blacks, especially during the Civil Rights movement, might lose some
control over their churches. Since then blacks have moved freely between black churches and white churches. Whites often attend black churches and lots of Adventist couples intermarry now that racism has let up so much in the South.<br /><b><br /></b><b>When I went to school
back then in the late 60s and 70s bunches of us used to go to the black
churches pretty regularly - easier to stay awake if you'd been in the
middle of mid-terms and not been getting much sleep. </b>We were welcomed in black churches when we came to visit. They used to tease us white kids about not expecting to get out of service at noon. And
black people were welcomed in the so-called "white" churches. I'm sure
there were some jerks in the white congregations, but mostly there was love. I know a pastor who was a neighbor of mine who had serious racial prejudice all of his life. He lost
his minister's license in part because of it. He lived in Keene and ever once in a while, if a black minister preached in the Keene Church pulpit, he would pop
up in some meeting to express his outrage. There were always plenty of people of all colors, including me,
who stood up and told him he was out of line. Ex-Voice of Prophecy
Quartet member John Thurber fully integrated his Adventist Youth in Action teams and nobody
said a word. If they did they were marginalized pretty quickly by the rest of us..<br /><br /><b>Today
in the Texas Conference there are Hispanic Adventist Churches, Black
Adventist Churches and "Regular" Adventist Churches</b>. I haven't seen a
"White" SDA church in 40 years. My 2 home churches in Tyler and Keene
are veritable rainbows when you look out across the congregations. The
college draws kids from every corner of the Earth to Keene and I grew up
in the 60s not knowing how to be racist. My grandmother used to make
little comments, but my sister and I didn't let her get away with it.
Even she opened up to the idea that black people were okay. As a nurse
she had many black co-workers she was friendly with despite her firm
non-Adventist racist upbringing. <br /><br /><b>In Tyler, we had
some white people but they were becoming a minority.</b> We had a whole lot
of Filipinos, black people, Hispanic folk, and Asians. The rest of us were mutts of one sort or another. We Adventists
have astonishingly little racism in our blood, even in the South. It
didn't last long when openly challenged. We know better. We were brought
up better than that. We sang "Red and Yellow, Black and White" we sang
every Sabbath in Kindergarten and Cradle Roll and we believed it.
Anything else was a shock to us as we grew up. <br /><b><br /></b><b>As a
people, we Adventists flock to do mission work.</b> My Uncle ran mission
schools in Hawaii and Thailand for most of his career. I went to SWAU
with some of his former students. We watch mission updates every month
showing work we are doing in every corner of the work.Retired
missionaries occupy honored seats in most of our North American
churches, a living witness against racism. Church boards usually look
quite colorful. In Tyler we had a black church, a Hispanic church and
the Tyler church which took in the overflow from both of our sister
churches and folk from cultures not covered by either. Our Hispanic
churches are about language mostly. Our Black churches are mostly about
culture and worship style. Racism has nothing to do with it. That Jim
Crow influenced generation is long gone. It's so rare to find an SDA
racist that we tend to swarm them like a righteously indignant flock of
Guinea Hens on a rattlesnake.<br /><br /><b>My church is not in the least racist.</b> It's against everything that we are as a people who expect the soon coming of Christ.<br /><br />© 2018 by Tom King</span></span></span>Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6689085743312490045.post-9383185435278504032018-04-08T13:12:00.002-07:002018-04-08T13:12:46.200-07:00Debating the Sabbath - Doug and Steve Go At It Politely!<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
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<b><br /><br />On March 30, Amazing Facts hosted a <a href="https://www.amazingfacts.org/should-christians-keep-the-sabbath" target="_blank">debate about the Sabbath</a> between Pastor Doug Batchelor and Pastor Steve Gregg, a radio pastor there in California. </b>Adventists used to do this kind of thing a lot back in the late 19th century. It usually didn't result in a lot of conversion since the sides were pretty well drawn among the audiences who showed up for those things. Eventually, SDA ministers gave up doing it, because, though they buried their opponents in scripture, not a lot of hearts seemed to respond to seeing their preacher suffer a theological beat-down. I was curious as to how Pastor Doug was going to handle the debate format.<br /><br /><b>We
watched the debate twice yesterday.</b> My wife had no trouble understanding
what Pastor Doug presented, but she got really lost listening to Pastor
Gregg. Was he really saying there is no law for "New Testament"
Christians, only what they feel the law is in their hearts? She had to
listen to it twice and still couldn't follow the intricacies of his
argument. I generally find that subtlety of argument is not a common
feature of Scripture. Stuff tends to be pretty plain and
straightforward. The prophet Habakkuk (Hab. 2:2) was told by God to
"Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may
read it." In other words, simple enough for a billboard. While I do
enjoy deep theology, at the same time I find it difficult to accept the
kind of theological gymnastics that results in it being okay for us to
not be "these are they who keep the commandments and have the faith of
Jesus," but to just decide whether or not I can skip over commandments I
don't care for.<br />
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<b>Pastor Gregg pointed out that the ten commandments weren't exactly original and that some version of the law had been enacted by Hammurabi and other ancient rulers. </b>Pastor Steve seemed that this somehow made the ten commandments less an eternal law and more of a temporary thing God laid on the Jews for a while. The fact that Hammurabi or other ancients were
aware of some of the other commandments doesn't mean the ten on stone
were derivative.<br />
<br />
<b>Of course people were aware of the laws of God prior to Mt. Sinai. </b>We are
built as human beings to know that we should not steal, lie, kill or be
greedy. It's that God-shaped hole in us that keeps man trying to fill it
with gods of His own making. Even the first four commandments can be found in religions pre-dating Sinai, though some of them are arguably much more severe in the penalty phase than the Exodus version. Lately in our culture, we've been trying to shove gods who
look like us into that empty space. Many even try to fill that God-shaped hole
with themselves. "I am god!" is even used in some of the more ineffective forms of psychotherapy.<br />
<br />
<b>Pastor Gregg's concept of the new covenant seems like
part and parcel of the original deception in Eden - that our souls are
immortal and if we know about good and evil, that's all we need to
become little gods ourselves. </b>It follows then that we can make up our own laws
if there is no law except some nebulous personal extrapolation of "treat
others the way you want to be treated." Reminds me of the 60s when the
theme was "If it feels good, do it!"<br />
<br />
<b>The law, someone has said, is
a teacher.</b> Do we kill the teacher and put the children in charge of the
classroom? Pastor Gregg also conflates the law of Moses and the Ten
Commandments with the covenants old and new. The covenants were a
separate thing from the law. The old covenant was the agreement between
the Israelites and God where they agreed to obey the law in their own
strength. That covenant was proposed by Israel, not by God. Even then,
God meant for them to be bound by the new covenant which was basically,
trust me and I will help you obey the law through My strength. The new
covenant is restated repeatedly in the Old Testament, but it took Jesus'
sacrifice to seal it with his people. It took the death of the Son of
God for us to believe what God was offering to us.<br />
<br />
<b>I don't believe
in magic - that God waves a wand and suddenly we know right from wrong
and can think to change times and laws based on our own feelings.</b> People
aren't made like that. I do believe in the supernatural - God above
nature, outside of time and space and encompassing our physical universe
and existence. I believe a relationship with the creator of the
universe will change our hearts. It works because we are connected to
Him who is beyond nature who draws us upward to Himself. We're just now
in the past few decades learning how the human mind works. New therapy
techniques look more and more like the kind of things Christians have
been doing for two millenia in order to have peace within and to become
better people. Jesus, because He is the Creator, understood how our
minds work and how to build his church so that what we do helps us
become one with the Father and suited to live forever without messing up
the universe again.<br />
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<b>The law is a critical part of that
sanctification process. </b>The ten commandments obviously were in effect
prior to Mt. Sinai and remind us of what should have been had we not
rebelled in Eden. The Mosaic Law pointed forward to Christ in every
detail of its services. When Christ came, he brought us back to the
original natural law of God as spelled out in the commandments.<br />
<br />
<b>When
John said "These are they who keep the commandments," he could have
meant no other commandments than the Decalogue, that was written on
stone.</b> What is different now is that God has written those commandments
upon our hearts this time. We must agree to the terms of the New
Covenant in order for that to happen. God says he changes not. I
seriously doubt He is going to revise his commandments or revoke them.<br />
<br />
<b>Doing
away with the Law would seem to me a surrender to Satan's original
proposal - that there be no law and everyone gets to be a god and decide
for himself what laws to obey. </b>I do not hold to that. And as this philosophy takes hold and the Christian world comes together around the idea that we can change the law and our behavior to suit our own feelings, I aim to misbehave. Already in Europe you can be fined and/or jailed for mowing your grass on Sunday or washing your car. The Protestant churches are beginning to run home to Rome. Meanwhile an "I'm okay/you're okay" theology is gaining ground, while the spiritualists and earth worshippers are infiltrating every corner of our culture and religion. <br /><br />Do you see it coming?<br /><br />© 2018 by Tom King<br /><b></b></div>
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Tom Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16700342512275624543noreply@blogger.com0