What does holiness look like in everyday life? Is it a monk living in a monastery? Is it taking a vow of poverty? Is it living in a foreign land without the comforts of civilization? Is it giving up television, movie theaters, dance clubs, and fiction novels? What is the mental picture that comes to … [Read more…]
“The present message—justification by faith—is a message from God; it bears the divine credentials, for its fruit is unto holiness.” ~ Ellen White It is almost guaranteed when I mention Justification by Faith in a church setting, I will get one of two reactions. First, some act as if the language I use is beyond … [Read more…]
What does it mean to follow Jesus? Being a follower of Jesus means accepting Him as God, believing He died for your sins, and accepting the gift of His righteousness in place of your own in the final judgement. He also calls you to love others in the same way that He has loved you. … [Read more…]
After 35 years of Bible study, prayer, and reflection, I am more convinced than ever that the message of Justification by faith needs to be taken more seriously. Many pastors and teachers give it lip service, but their hearts are geared towards teaching morality and Christian living. They forget the Holy Spirit is only given … [Read more…]
Being obedient to Christ is not legalism. Keeping Commandments is not legalism. Focusing on the rules over relationships is not legalism. PLACING CONDITIONS ON ETERNAL LIFE OTHER THAN SIMPLE FAITH AND TRUST IN CHRIST IS LEGALISM. Legalism is a curse upon professed followers of Christ who are more concerned with their own righteousness than with … [Read more…]
The relationship between the old and new covenants of the Holy Scriptures have perplexed many theologians over the last 2000 years. Some bible scholars believe the old and new covenants represent two separate plans of salvation. Others have a difficult time separating the mosaic laws from the original covenant God made with Adam and Eve. … [Read more…]
QUESTION: Do I have to believe in all of the 28 Fundamental beliefs to become a Seventh-day Adventist Christian? ANSWER: It is important to make the distinction between the official teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church as recognized by the General Conference and test of fellowship that is required by new believers when they are … [Read more…]
I wish could exclude myself from this conclusion, but being a former post-graduate student qualifies me to partake of the criticism. Having a degree or two in a particular subject does not make one infallible. There are Atheists with doctoral degrees, there are Pantheists with doctoral degrees, and there are Polytheists with doctoral degrees. The … [Read more…]
My position on the 2300 days prophecy is if the baptism and death of Christ was foretold by this view of prophecy then why not allow it to extend to its logical conclusion: 1844. What Happened in 1844? 1. People awakened to an urgency of the second coming of Christ and the message about the … [Read more…]
Gratitude-Relationships-Intercession-Petition 1. Gratitude: Start your prayers by thanking God for all His blessings. List them one by one and praise Him for being a loving friend. 2. Relationships: Ask God to help you to love Him with all your heart, mind, and soul. Once you have spent some time on this topic then shift your … [Read more…]
1. God is the judge and not man. 2. Jesus is our mediator and not a pastor, priest, or pope. 3. Jesus died once for all–no reoccurring mass as atonement for sin. 4. God judges from the mercy seat where mercy triumphs over condemnation for those written in the book of life. 5. Sins are … [Read more…]
1. The Sabbath was instituted at Creation: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, … [Read more…]
QUESTION: Why do you call yourself a Gospel Adventist? ANSWER: I am a 4th generation Seventh-day Adventist who grew up in the church. As a teenager I thought that the spirit of God would allow us to perfect our characters, if not now, then prior to probation closing. Once probation closed than we would be … [Read more…]
“No man who willfully disregards one principle of the law shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” ~ Ellen White, Desire of Ages pg. 309 This is one of the favorite quotes of Adventists who are mired in a legalistic attitude towards the law and gospel. They use this quotation to justify their attitude towards people … [Read more…]
Many Christians still struggle with the relationship between faith and works. Are we saved by our good works? No. Are we saved by our faith and good works? No. Are we saved by faith that works? No. Then How are we saved? We are saved by faith FOR good works. This is a huge paradigm … [Read more…]
“Give me a text from the Bible,” she said. “Okay, how about this one,” he replied. “That doesn’t mean what you think it means. See I told you that you don’t have any scriptures that back up your beliefs.” “How about this one over here.” “You are completely misguided. You don’t know how to read … [Read more…]
Over the past few days I have been meditating on what it means to be a Seventh-day Adventist. It is obvious to say that being a member of the church means one is willing to support the official teachings of the church as documented in the Statement of Beliefs. However, while the church pushes for … [Read more…]
As a Gospel Adventist, I believe that the Ten Commandments are the eternal law of God. This is the law by which all human beings are judged. This is the law that condemns us all. The law has never changed, and God still requires obedience to ALL His commandments. What has changed is that we … [Read more…]
Is Doctrine Important to our Salvation? God reveals truth to us through the scriptures. We ignore the essential teachings at our own risk. If bad theology is the result of an innocent error then God may overlook our ignorance. However, if we willfully reject the plain teaching of His word then we run the risk … [Read more…]
People tell me over and over again that my beliefs about the Bible are simply a matter of personal interpretation. But that statement assumes truth cannot be known as objective fact. No one agrees 100 percent of the time, yet there are some basic undeniable facts. For example, if a person jumps off an airplane … [Read more…]
Popular athiests have recently published books about the pros of atheism and the cons of Christianity. One reason they promote for rejecting the existence of God is they believe all religion is merely a cultural bias based on tradition. One of the atheist’s favorite expression is “Christians are only Christians because they live in a … [Read more…]
I almost do not want to write about this subject. Many times, I have come close to giving up on any attempt to communicate this message. I am not even sure that I completely understand all of the implications that arise because of my conclusions. However, it is an important message to understand in the … [Read more…]
There are two ways of looking at the universe. One way is to claim that energy is eternal. If this is the case, then an intelligent designer is not a necessary cause for human existence. Another way of looking at the natural world is that an intelligent creator is the source of all energy, and … [Read more…]
I had breakfast with George Vandeman, the famed Adventist evangelist from the It is Written television broadcast, and we talked about the Book of Revelation and the Mark of the Beast while we ate our morning pancakes at a Northern New England Camp Meeting many years ago. We both agreed that the Mark of the … [Read more…]
PAUSE. Reflect on what it means to be in the presence of ultimate power, wisdom, and source of life. PRAISE. Begin by thanking God for all of the blessings He has already bestowed. There is always something for which we can be grateful. POUR. Tell God what is on your mind and don’t hold back. … [Read more…]
Arthur White, grandson of Ellen G. White, related the following story about his grandmother’s influence at general conference session of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church during the later years of her life. The SDA church had grown to 750,000 members worldwide, and a small group of general conference leaders were reluctant to restructure the church … [Read more…]
God is real. He is as real as the air we breathe and the water we drink. The creator of the universe is as real as the heavens and earth that we observe in the natural world. The divine king of creation is as real as the printed page of divine revelation that reads, “In … [Read more…]
In my last article, The Investigative Judgment, I stated that it pays to have an open mind concerning the actual meaning of the 2300 days prophecy. I can see the value of the 2300 days prophecy when it comes to predicting the first advent of Jesus Christ, but the significance of the year 1844 … [Read more…]
Do Gospel Adventists believe in the investigative judgement? Do we believe that God judges both the righteous and wicked prior to the second coming of Jesus to decide their place in eternity? The answer to this question is yes. The problem has never been about whether there is an investigative judgement (IJ), but the real … [Read more…]
The Seventh-day Adventist church founded by James White, Ellen White, and Joseph Bates, started out as a progressive movement that resisted the biblical dogmatism of its day. The scholars in the church were consistently revising its biblical theology as new information was received through Bible study and prayer. It was with much reluctance that the … [Read more…]
Many people wonder how God speaks to me. How can I claim to speak the words of God unless I am able to discern the voice of God? It took me awhile to be able to explain how I am able to separate the word of God from my own inner voice. The simplest … [Read more…]
I am not convinced the judgment actually began in 1844, but that is most certainly the year God spoke to draw the world’s attention to this message. May I add, Christians are not judged by their own works in the judgment as a means to salvation. Christians are justified by the perfect works of Christ … [Read more…]
The authors of the Life Application Study Bible stated our galaxy spins at 490,000 miles per hour. Even at that speed, it still takes 200 million years to make one full rotation. If that does not overwhelm your senses, add one billion other galaxies into the equation. Cosmologists estimated the number of stars in the … [Read more…]
Christianity is not merely a matter of personal interpretation of bible doctrines. Christ commands that we know Him as opposed to false teachers. Christ warned us about being deceived, and Paul proclaimed that people believing in a false gospel were cursed. At the same time, we need only to understand the bare essentials of … [Read more…]
Betrand Russell, a famous Atheist in his day, wrote in his book “Why I am Not a Christian” that Jesus misled the disciples, because He told them that His second coming would happen within their generation. In response to the disciples asking about His second coming, after giving a few signs to look for Jesus … [Read more…]
The doctrine of justification by faith alone is what sparked the protestant reformation in 1517. On October 31, a Catholic priest named Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of All Saints Church protesting the abuses of the Catholic Church regarding the sale of indulgences. The document was meant to start a local … [Read more…]
Jesus, the divine Son of God, proclaimed to the crowds during the Sermon on the Mount, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink: nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life … [Read more…]
Martin Luther, the icon of the protestant reformation, said it best when he proclaimed the doctrine of Justification by faith to be articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae “the article of faith that decides whether the church is standing or falling” (Packer). The doctrine of Justification by faith is not only one out of many church … [Read more…]
The only thing that any minister of the gospel can do is share what we believe is the truth with honesty and conviction. We cannot convince anyone to change their mind unless those people see the need for change. The role of the Holy Spirit is to convict people of their need. Our job is … [Read more…]
What does it mean to be not “Under Law” but “Under Grace”? When the New Testament scriptures state we are not “Under Law” but “Under Grace” it means we are no longer subject to the penalty of the law and are not subject to its condemnation. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who … [Read more…]
“Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.” Luke 6:26, NIV I fear many Christians are afraid to speak their minds about God’s word. They worry that other people will turn against them, or that they might offend someone who is opposed to the … [Read more…]
Christians have the assurance they are part of the family of God. Genuine faith rests in the promises of God’s word. Our human nature wants to question our salvation or doubt our fitness to enter into the heavenly kingdom. God wants us to trust that He has forgiven us and that we are part of … [Read more…]
“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14, NLT The BAD NEWS is that every human being is under a death penalty and we cannot save ourselves from this ultimate end. The gospel … [Read more…]
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and … [Read more…]
The Holy Scriptures tell a story in the book of John about Nicodemus, who was a high-level leader of the Jewish people and a member of a conservative sect of Judaism called the Pharisees. Nicodemus wanted a private meeting with Jesus to discuss the theological implications of the miracles He was performing, and to find … [Read more…]
“ One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God” (Luke 6:12, NIV). One of the major hallmarks of Jesus’s earthly ministry was His personal prayer life. He understood His dependence on the Father for the power to live a perfect life. As a result, He … [Read more…]
Here is a quote from Ellen White for all the legalists who believe they must add works to the list of requirements for salvation: “He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility.” ~ Desire of Ages, P. 172 It might be tempting to turn … [Read more…]
How does anyone survive in this world full of sick and twisted human beings? Examples of man’s inhumanity to mankind are everywhere and include perverted torture, rape, slavery, and serial murder. Men and women possessed by evil demons are rampant and enjoy causing pain and suffering. Then there are people who drink and drive, and … [Read more…]
What is the central teaching of the Christian faith? The following verse is the thesis statement of the entire Bible and the single thread that runs through every doctrinal teaching of Holy Scripture: Acts 4:12, NIV: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by … [Read more…]
Why did Jesus leave the paradise of heaven to come to earth where He would be rejected and despised by human beings? Luke 19:10 gives us the answer to this mystery: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (NIV). From this verse we can learn (a) Jesus became a … [Read more…]