July 2014 - Great Controversy

1888 Materials by Ellen White

1 Comment / book and video review / July 16, 2014 July 16, 2014

1888 Materials by Ellen White
A+

After nearly 6 years, it is done.

I started reading the 1888 Materials while in Thailand in 2008, and reading on and off for 5 years, finally finished all 4820 paragraphs on New Year’s day 2014. I wanted to give expression to what I learned from that reading, so planned a video, which finally, this week, I finished. The video is around 1 1/2 hours, so I split it into 3 parts and put it up on Youtube.

Adventists who have studied anything about the 1888 experience, know that it was mainly about Jones and Waggoner coming with the message of Righteousness by Faith, which the leading men in the SDA church then did not fully accept at that time. Other than that, there are many conflicting reports on what actually happened, with some publications even going as far as to state that the General Conference accepted the message!

Here, from Ellen White’s writings, we see that not only did the SDA leaders not accept the message, most of them were also actively working against Ellen White. Interestingly enough, while Ellen White basically supported the message of Jones and Waggoner, she mentions most pointedly that the main issue here was NOT about the Law in Galatians, but about coming together in a spirit of humbleness to work together with our brethren to seek what the Lord would have us learn.

So in this video, I have highlighted the quotes that seem to show the main points of the 1888 Materials, and the lesser-known quotes, as well as some quotes that just struck me as interesting/unusual. Being that my focus is what it is, you will find a preponderance of quotes that show that the leaders in the General Conference were in the wrong then, because these types of quotes are rarely, if ever, quoted from our pulpits. Also, I show the many quotes where Uriah Smith was one of the two ringleaders in this debacle, as many of us SDAs tend to view Uriah Smith’s books as almost inspired.

If you like the videos please give them a “thumbs-up” on youtube, so they will display higher when people are searching for videos to watch.

May we not repeat the mistakes of those in 1888, and may we always be humble to accept light thru whatever channel God pleases to send it to us.

Part1 of 1888 Materials
Part2 of 1888 Materials
Part3 of 1888 Materials

incest latest abomination to gain acceptance?

1 Comment / sigh and cry / July 11, 2014 July 11, 2014

Australian judge says incest may no longer be a taboo.

Judge in Australia says incest may no longer be a taboo and the only reason it is criminal is potential birth abnormalities, which can be solved by abortion.

Entire Telegraph article here.

Judge Garry Neilson, from the district court in the state of New South Wales, likened incest to homosexuality, which was once regarded as criminal and “unnatural” but is now widely accepted.

What is interesting to me, is that stuff like this is exactly what was predicted by those pointing out the abomination of homosexuality. While they were/are roundly pooh-poohed as being sensationalistic, they are being proven correct.

One big argument that homosexuals use to support their abomination, is: “How can you deny love between two consenting adults?” That kind of logic opens the gates to incest, polygamy, and other abominations.

Of course God, who has told us what is good and what is bad, knew this, so warned us with his holy words to not do those abominations.

May society at large, our Seventh-day Adventist church, and each of us individually repent, and resolve to follow all the words of God.

pope says sundays are for everyone

Leave a Comment / daily rambliniscings / July 7, 2014 July 7, 2014

This pope is showing his true colors more and more recently. As everyone who is interested in end-time events probably already knows, he sent a little video to Kenneth Copeland’s group of pastors last January, calling for them to come back to the Roman Catholic Church. He also made the strange analogy of asking the Protestants to “come to Joseph” with the idea of getting help in their time of need, but made two huge mistakes with that analogy – Joseph was NOT the first born, and Joseph was in the land of Egypt (Babylon)!

Then he recently went to Jerusalem, trying to do his part obstensibly for peace, but more likely to get respect to be the “king-maker” in future negotiations, and probably also to get some of that land in Jerusalem, as Satan has always wanted to put his headquarters there. Daniel 11:45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Yesterday he called for people to take Sundays off work. He said: “that spending Sundays with family and friends is an “ethical choice” for faithful and non-faithful alike”. “Francis said the priority should be “not economic but human,” and that the stress should be on families and friendships, not commercial relationships. He added: “Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves if working on Sundays is true freedom.””

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-no-sundays-good-not-just-faithful-130300599.html

It looks like the gloves are being slowly removed. May all of God’s people be awake to the times!

Awakening believer, Jack Walker, dies at 86

3 Comments / daily rambliniscings / July 1, 2014 July 1, 2014

Jack Walker, a member of the “Ridgetop Awakening Group” has passed away at the age of 86. Jack Walker was kind of the leader of the Ridgetop group. I don’t really remember him, but have a very faint feeling that he was a fun guy.

My mother was a believer in the Awakening message by Robert Brinsmead in the mid 1960s up to around 1972. This caused extreme friction in our family, as my father was very much against the “offshoots” as they were termed, and more derisively “Brinsmeads”. One of my first recollections of life is of a Seventh-day Adventist pastor of the church in Madison Tennessee screaming at my mother, and then later, my mother hurrying away with me into the neighborhood/fields behind our house to escape my dad who we could see driving his car looking for us, knowing that he would kill us if he found us in his rage.

There was an uneasy truce with frequent flare-ups in our house after that incident. Often, on Sabbaths, my mother would drive the 25-30 miles or so to Ridgetop Tennessee where she would fellowship with like-minded believers in the Awakening message. Normally I would listen to a few minutes, and then run off downstairs to play or whatever. Towards the end of that experience, I remember sitting in an old building in Coalmont Tennessee with maybe around 20 people, and the solemnity, earnestness, deep study etc. has left an impression on me that I thank God for, and for which I keep longing will be resurrected or even exceeded before I go the way of all humans.

In 1972 when Robert Brinsmead came to Nashville TN, he was teaching that Ellen White isn’t to be trusted, and even the first few chapters of the Bible can’t be taken literally. I can still remember my mother standing up in front of around 200 people at the Ramada Inn conference room, asking with tears in her eyes if he was rejecting the authority of parts of the Bible and Ellen White, and then leaving when getting an affirmative response. So after being rejected by the official SDA structure, she now was rejected by the Awakening people too. That was the single, bravest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do in my life. Sadly, most of the Awakening people were following Robert Brinsmead, instead of the truth, and Jack Walker, along with around 95% of them, left the truth and started forging their own path.

There was no more contact between myself and any of the Ridgetop Awakening people after that incident until around 2009 when I met Mr. Poulton at the Lebanon TN SDA church. At the potluck we talked a bit, and he was so lost in a fog of “no 2 apartment sanctuary in heaven, Jesus did it all on the cross” etc. I knew that Robert Brinsmead had gone from disbelieving Ellen White to rejecting the Sanctuary and Investigative Judgment to rejecting the Sabbath, and recently is on record as saying that he isn’t even sure if there is a God or not, but would like to think so, so I expected that.
Somehow I found Jack Walker on the internet in 2011. He remembered me, or more rightly, my mother, and kindly sent me a picture taken around 1968 with a young boy standing in front of him. Sure enough, it was myself 🙂 We had a few emails pass between us, but it was sad to see that he had rejected the basic truths of Adventism. He wrote me once: “The atonement was made on the cross. It is another human error to place the atonement some where in the last days.” He believed that Jesus will save all people except only those who outright reject him. I pleaded with him to come back to his earlier understanding of the Bible and Adventist and Awakening doctrine, but he wasn’t moved. Then yesterday, this email about his passing…..

Another piece of the puzzle that is my life is fixed forever in place in one respect, and lost forever in one respect. How is it with my soul today? With yours?

Month: July 2014