Great Controversy

india! at last

2 Comments / travel spreading 1858gc / January 20, 2010 January 20, 2010

5 months and 6 days after arriving in mumbai, i write standing up at a recharge center in the Bengaluru (or whatever this city’s name is when you read this – think BLR) airport. 5 months and 6 days. Wow. Has the total life time spent in this country really been close to a year now? (1998, 2006, 2009) While focusing mostly on the last two weeks of my entire stay here, i want to reflect a bit on my total time in India on this journey.

India is really a country where the impossible, and totally illogical, is a daily occurence. How can it be that you see cows and dogs and pigs and humans all scrounging thru the trash bins (together sometimes!) and when mentioning how this is not seen in most of the world you get a blank stare like “that’s impossible”? How can you really call a populace civilized when they explode HUGE fireworks right in the middle of the street? What kind of education is it that produces many people that cannot explain a simple event with any sort of understandability? Or a culture where the rickshaw driver would rather yell and scream at you for 15 minutes (thus losing revenue) than accepting the fare he originally agreed to?

Please note that these are large generalizations. Saying that Americans are fat, or Japanese are clean is also a generalization. But these types of things are so common, as to almost identify a culture. Being someone who likes to ask questions, who likes to know the whys and hows of things, it was humbling to be told by so many people how to walk and talk and carry my bag etc etc. Yes, i believe this was God’s plan – to push down any pride i had remaining from my 48 years of life-experience. I can even be told now that i mustn’t clean the kitchen or toilet or floor etc., and keep on smiling and doing it anyway (only servants or women are supposed to get dirty inside the house it seems).

The purpose to come to India – to find young people willing to do animation to make the Great Controversy into a movie was stillborn. It is possible that a couple of people i met might help in the future, but as for setting up a little training school and doing the work – nothing got accomplished. But still i’m sure God DID lead me here. I had a wonderful, precious time homeschooling 2 children for the majority of the time. They taught me some more patience, and hopefully i got good experience that will be put into practice elsewhere as i hope to start or help in little schools and homeschools. If someone ever starts a “school of the prophets”, that would be a dream come true. And who knows, perhaps that is God’s will for me in the future. I had many wonderful talks, especially with the father at the house where i stayed most of the time, and i was fortunate to meet several people who are strong with Jesus.

And the last 2 weeks of my stay were like “icing on the cake”, and i mean that in a good way (mostly). It started out with a bus ride from Pune to Bangalore that was supposed to be 17 hours, but wound up being 23. The bedbug or whatever it was bites kept me itching almost uncontrollably for 2 days, and then normal painfully for about a week. Yes, the trains are much better, even with their stream of beggars, but i was just glad to get a ticket on any means of transport to reach my destination. I tried to call the pastor friend who said he would pick me up, but the call placed on the phone of a nice man i met on the bus wouldn’t go thru, so i asked a rickshaw driver at the ending point if he could call. He called somebody, then cut the phone, turned to me, and said “50 rupees i take you there”. I said “can you please call again and let me speak”? He agreed, and after satisfying him with a 10-rupee note for the call, he walked off, and i walked (dragged) the 40kg of books and calendars with me to the travel office down the road where the pastor met me. He was very gracious, and said something about being in the area since 4am when he had taken someone to the train station. It was after noon now, so i knew he had a lot of patience waiting for me. He took me to his church which is being renovated, and it was just good being with him again after a 6-week or so absence from our first meeting in Bombay.

After a bath and applying gobs of soothing jelly medicine that he so kindly purchased for me, i took a nap. He and his wife gave me their own cot-bed, and slept on the floor themselves on a little rice throw-mat. I felt bad putting them out like that, but protesting didn’t help things, so just accepted their hospitality cheerfully. That is one of the great things about India, there are so many bad things here i guess, that people who are in your group are looked after quite well, and worried over and watched over carefully. In all the 15 years i lived in the Japan with its 20+ landings at its airports, i never once was greeted by anyone. And i’ve never been taken all the way to the airport yet by anyone either, altho last time i was taken to a train station near the airport. But here, two pastors who have never met me before greeted me at the Mumbai airport in July, and, well, just tonite, i had three people go along with me to the Bangalore airport, just to make sure everything went well for me. That’s some hospitality! Of course, without that hospitality, it would be difficult to get here by public transport, as it is not connected well (hard to understand bus system and extremely overcrowded), and taxi drivers often charge what long-time foreigners here refer to as “skin tax” which is about a 5times surcharge.

People are lining up for my flight to Bangkok, so i better put this away for now. Thank you, some nice, dedicated people in this maelstrom that is called India, for making my stay profitable to my spiritual welfare, and i hope to yours as well 🙂

I’ll try to finish this now, a week later, typing in northern Thailand:
The pastor in Bangalore took me to many of his church members’ homes and businesses to talk and pray with them. He tries to meet with all his members in their homes once a week. This close contact is key, i believe, to keeping people healthy and strong in their church experience. I had many precious interviews, trying to lift the people up to look more closely to Jesus for everything.
…

india! at lastRead More »

smooth life

3 Comments / daily rambliniscings / January 17, 2010 January 17, 2010

Recently, the man of the house where i was staying asked me what percentage happiness there is in my life, and what percentage suffering. I thot a few seconds, and said 90% happiness, and 10% suffering. He looked at me and said “You have a smooth life”, putting his hand out in a smooth, flat motion. I told him he didn’t know my life. Then he told me a bit about his topsy-turvy life.

So i got to thinking, how many different places did i sleep in, in 2009? This is what i came up with:
year— 10 nites on a bus, 4 on an airplane, 1 on a train, 1 in a paid-for place (dormitory 9euro), and the rest in 41 different people’s places.

Php 4:12 I know both [how] to be living in humble circumstances, and I know [how] to be living in abundance; in every [place] and in all [circumstances] I have learned the secret of being filled and [of] being hungry, both to be living in abundance and to be having need.
Php 4:13 I am capable of [doing] all [things] through Christ, the [One] strengthening me.

Thank you Jesus 🙂

The Seven Trumpets by James White (1875)

74 Comments / book and video review / January 15, 2010 January 5, 2021

The Seven Trumpets by James White, 1875
D
The book can be read for free on my Earlysda website (updated to be mobile friendly in 2021): 7 Trumpets book by James White
or can be downloaded here:
Download Seven Trumpets book by James White

This book is an attempt by James White to show how the 7 Trumpets of Revelation 8-11 were all fulfilled in the physical history of the world, with the first 4 dealing with the fall of Rome, and the last three dealing with, or timed with, the rise and fall of Islam.

The content is very similar to what William Miller used in his discourses on the imminent return of Christ in 1843/4. And therein lies the big problem with this book — William Miller was a man led of God to get people ready for the move made by Jesus into the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary in 1844. But naturally, he had to have ALL the prophecies of events before Christ’s Second Coming already completed by 1843. He even proclaimed that the Catholic Church died in 1798, and would not rise again! James White makes a similar error when he favorably quotes someone stating: “The power of Islamism is broken forever.” If he could only see the rise of its power today!

What makes me put the time and energy into putting this book on the internet in 2010, is that us Seventh-day Adventists are still just repeating the same old prophetic interpretations of our forefathers, without studying for ourselves to see if these things are so. And in this book, it can be shown in several places where these things are definitely not so.

Historians Gibbon and Keith are quoted profusely throughout the book, to bolster the correctness of the Biblical interpretation. For me, that has an opposite effect, as neither of these men belonged to God’s remnant church, and thus, did not understand the Bible as we do. Now James White should have, as he is one of the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church, laboring tirelessly, even to the point of an early grave, to raise up this church. But strangely, he ignored some of the inspired counsel in the Bible and from his own wife, which would have made him rethink the publication of this book.

Do you, as a SDA member, know what the 7 Trumpets represent? We are all told that they represent something in history, and, having been born and raised in a SDA environment, i have about as much information regarding this as anyone else. And — i cannot tell you anything more about our church’s teaching on the 7 Trumpets other than they occured sometime in the past, mostly in the fall of the Roman Empire, and don’t have much instruction for us today. Yes, that is the standard SDA teaching today, i’m very sorry to say, and this book, following on the shoulders of William Miller’s work, and leading to the “Bible” of prophetic interpretation in SDA circles ” – Thoughts on Daniel and Revelation” by Uriah Smith, played a big part in creating this problem.

Back to my question – What do the 7 Trumpets represent? According to this book:
1. Alaric
2. Genseric
3. Attila
4. The dissolution of the Roman emperor, consul, and senate
5. The rise of Islam
6. The Ottoman Empire
7. Began in 1844.

If you are saying to yourself “How can this be?” you are not alone. No wonder that our preaching of Daniel and Revelation has so little power to convict people’s hearts today. This historical fulfillment method of interpreting the 7 Trumpets just falls flat on its face. Yes, it may have been useful in the past to confirm where the people were in the stream of time, but today, we can see much more clearly that none, yes NONE of the Seven Trumpets has been sounded yet.

How can i make such a bold claim? Easily, by just reading the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.

Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

So we see that the trumpets cannot even BEGIN to sound until AFTER the 144,000 are sealed! Then what does the first angel do? – He hurts the earth and trees, just what he was told not to do, until AFTER the 144,000 are sealed: “Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”

Returning to the book review, James White writes: “‘The four angels’ are the four principal sultanies of which the Ottoman Empire is composed, located in the country of the Euphrates. These sultanies were situated at Aleppo, Iconium, Damascus, and Bagdad. Previously they had been restrained; but God commanded, and they were loosed.” How can he ignore his wife’s own writing, in 1849: “I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus work was done in the Sanctuary, and then will come the seven last plagues.”???

Everything in referring to the 5th Trumpet, or First Woe, as Islam falls flat too. Why? Because the locusts only hurt: “the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Again, i wish to ask Brother James White why he could believe such a thing, when his own wife wrote: “The seal of God will be placed upon the foreheads of those only who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land.” and in 1873, just two years before he published this book: “Especially in the closing work for the church, in the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand,”, showing that the sealing is yet future to 1873.

On one more point, that of considering the “day-for-year” principle, the idea of taking only 360 days to make one year does not seem compelling. We know the year has 365 1/4 or so days. If we really, really wish to follow the Jewish calendar in making our calculations, then, to be honest with ourselves, we shoud do as they do, and ADD an extra month every few years. But to my knowledge, none of my fellow SDA Brethren are doing this….. How to resolve the 2300 day prophecy, for example? By showing that it refers to one Atonement day a year, thus 2300 “evening mornings”. Perfect. And it makes the whole Sanctuary service richer. But i disgress a bit from my book review.

To sum it up, James White followed the historical method of interpreting the 7 Trumpets, considering them all to have been completed, and the 7th to have already started in his day, in 1875. In 1888 tho, Ellen White wrote emphatically that: “Trumpet after trumpet is to be sounded,” showing that at least TWO of the trumpets, and probably all 7 of them, are yet to sound.

Let’s study to show ourselves approved unto God, and to know the prophecies, including the Seven Trumpets, so we can lead others to the cross of Jesus Christ, and receive the Seal of God in our foreheads.

The Miracles of Water (and the 9 Natural Doctors) by Sandra Horner

4 Comments / book and video review / January 15, 2010 January 15, 2010

The Miracles of Water (and the 9 Natural Doctors) by Sandra Horner (2005)
B+

This book explains the natural ways to maintaining good health, and how to treat illnesses. There are 31 chapters, split up into four major sections: The 9 Natural Doctors, Doctor Nutrition, Lifestyle Diseases, and only 9 chapters under the heading “Miracles of Water”, with even 2 of them not directly related to water. This makes me think that perhaps the book could be better titled, as the main emphasis is not on water.

As the author states in the “Acknowledgements” section, this book owes a lot of its material to the writings of Calvin and Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines. This book actually distills some of the best material in their books down into an easily-carried, small book that makes it very useful. It is written particularly with the Indian/Nepali circumstances in mind, and the color pics are very attractive in illustrating points.

In talking about cancer, the book doesn’t cover what i think is one of the most common causes – which is too much sunshine. Having a brother who has gone under the knife twice for this kind of cancer, and having “pre-cancer” skin problems of my own, this is a serious omission, but again, in light of the intended audience in India, perhaps it is not such a problem among them.

The subjects are very comprehensive for such a small book, covering even the “hot” topics of spices and tea. So many people tell me “It’s our culture to use these things”, expecting me to agree that we should respect the culture we are in. I usually reply that we, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, accept the good things in the culture, and reject the bad things. The culture here is to pray to idols, but we don’t do that, do we? Whenever the culture clashes with Jesus, we choose Jesus every time. If the culture uses spices and tea, reject that part of the culture, replacing those things with something God can approve of.

Having grown up following most everything in this book, there is little new information for me, except that i didn’t know ginger is considered an “irritating spice”, and didn’t know that large starch molecules can adversely affect the brain.. Ginger is not in the harmful category, and when i asked the author, was told that it can be used as medicine, but not to be used on a regular basis. I sure remember many cold nites in Japan when i put some ginger paste or cut up some pieces and put in with my udon noodle soup, and it warmed my whole body up from the insides it seemed. But maybe it was not so good to use, or maybe it is OK to warm up a body once in a while, i don’t know.

The sources given for the various vitamins and minerals do not seem to have been thoroughly investigated. For example, the sources given for Vitamin C are “Citrus fruit, cabbage, and potatoes”. Well, cabbage and potatoes are actually poor sources of Vitamin C. Guava, which is readily available in India, has almost 3 times as much Vitamin C as an orange (per 100g), and stir-fry green pepper has more than double that of oranges, and over 10 times the amount of Vitamin C as a potato! In the Vitamin A category, sweet potatoes are not even listed, yet are actually the highest source of Vitamin A among commonly available foods.

I hope that the book can be widely spread, and that it will be a reference source to be followed in lifestyle and treating illnesses, especially for those trying to follow the Lord in southern Asia.

high times

4 Comments / travel spreading 1858gc / December 16, 2009 December 16, 2009

Last Thursday i departed Pune for Bangalore by bus. A sleeper-coach, it was supposed to complete its 850something km journey in around 17 hours, but instead, took nearly 23. Indian buses have improved much since i first took one with a huge hole in the re-rubberized tread in 1998, and this one even had nice sleeper compartments where people could lay down. I did not pay the extra 200Rs for that, choosing to sit for 600Rs instead. A man kept me pleasant company for a few hours, then someone else came to sit next to me, then someone else, and yes, it was a bit of a merry-go-round. No, it wasn’t that people were getting on and off, just that sometimes people sat here, then sometimes there, and sometimes everywhere. I’m pretty used to that on the train, but this was the first time to experience that on a long-journey bus.

The countryside was quite interesting, with pockets of extreme filth, but the countryside is generally green without the pungent smells associated with the cities. There were many rock-granite hills and mountains, and two long climbs up the mountain providing beautiful vistas and twisting mountain roads. Fortunately both lanes were for hill-climbers, so we didn’t have to meet any on-coming traffic. I can imagine many fiery accidents in the past tho, as Indian drivers are not necessarily known for their polite manners.

The bus stops around 3:30pm for lunch, then around 10:15pm for supper. Fortunately i’m prepared, and have a chapati (and nothing else) lunch while waiting in the travel office, and then nothing for supper as the ups and downs of life have made my stomach a little jolty.

The green jacket with hood is quite handy for keeping any potential blood-suckers off me (i think from past experience while drawing my hands up in my sleeves), and don’t pay too much attention when i feel a couple of bites on my hands in the early nite hours. I get a bit concerned then when the other hand gets some bites too, and start looking carefully for the nasty, winged, long-probiscosed blood suckers, but don’t see even one. Hmmm, that’s odd i think as i draw my hands up, and wrap the jacket tighter around me. Wish now that i’d been thinking along different lines. Realizing that things were getting worse instead of better, i made a thorough examination of my white seat cover and skin, but finding nothing, resigned myself to a nite of itching and scratching. What i didn’t know, was that the whole Red Cross brigade had come out, and was intent on taking all of my blood! I never did find what caused the 150+ bites that nite, but seeing the pattern of how they clustered around where my clothes became tight, i imagine it was either bedbugs or some kind of mite, like what we called when i was little – “chiggers”. Scratch scratch scratch,,,, scratch, scratch, scratch.,,scratch scratch all the way…………..
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high timesRead More »

moving from pune

1 Comment / travel spreading 1858gc / December 9, 2009 December 9, 2009

By God’s grace, i’ve survived 4 1/2 months in Pune, India. The incredible noise, electrical outages, unhygiene, lack of logical reasoning, cheating, and general disregard for laws are very difficult obstacles to overcome when attempting to get anything accomplished. Yet, for all this, i would have been happy to stay here IF there would have been a few young people who would like to dedicate themselves wholly to the Lord’s service in giving their time and talents and energy into making a 3D animation of the 1858 Great Controversy book. But they were not to be found. No doubt they are there somewhere, as this is a vast country, but i was not led to them.

But i had a wonderful experience in homeschooling 2 young children of the family i stayed with. To see them grow in stature and wisdom, and in favor with God and man – that is so wonderful to see. And to think i had a little part in guiding them on that narrow way, it fills me with a sense of wonder, and fearfulness at the awesome responsibility of raising up children to serve the Lord. There were some precious times of worship together, especially with the father of the household, that makes me glad to have come to India. He even started a web page to try and spread the good news of Three Angels’ Messages at: danielpublications.com

Lord willing, i’ll be on a bus to Bangalore tomorrow, stay with a pastor’s family a few days, then go down to Erode and be Brother Bill Dull’s orphanage/seminary called Springs of Joy i think, and then back up to Bangalore for the Southern Asia Youth for Jesus meetings, then off to Bangkok on the 29th.

Dear Jesus, please bless this family, may they always want to follow and serve you. May the mother give up all her bondages and serve you with all her heart, mind, and soul. May the children always remember and do the 2 things you have to do to go to heaven:
1. Believe in Jesus as the Son of God
2. Do what he says
May the father be comforted by you, may he be able to spread the truth about you thru the printed page and thru direct evangelism. Lord, please raise up some kind of monetary means to support him, so he can work full-time for you. Please may we all meet in heaven is my prayer – Amen.

new forum up on earlysda.com site

Leave a Comment / daily rambliniscings / December 4, 2009 December 4, 2009

Due to lots of spam on the old free “Activeboard”, i’ve switched to a simplemachines forum on my earlysda.com site. It is at: www.earlysda.com/simplemachinesforum.

And there was awful spam on the new forum too until i installed the captcha stuff, but now i think maybe it is too difficult to use. There should be some way to allow casual surfers to leave comments easily, yet will reject all the bots pushing spam around. Any advice from anyone? I’d love to have a thriving community, or at least like before where there were 3 very active contributors 🙂

the first vision of Ellen White

2 Comments / daily rambliniscings / December 3, 2009 December 3, 2009

“The first vision – Pathways of the pioneers” is a video up on youtube, made by a college student. He emailed me, saying my Great Controversy video had inspired him, so he made this video. His choice of stills to use to the audio is very good, with my only concern being that the audio is copyrighted by, i think, the E. G. White Estate. The vision covers the “narrow path” with the people only being able to stay on if they kept their eyes on Jesus, and didn’t reject the Midnight Cry which gave light at the start of the path.

the first vision – pathways of the pioneers

open doors’ list of christian persecuting countries

Leave a Comment / daily rambliniscings / November 14, 2009 November 14, 2009

Christians are being persecuted in many countries. Here is a list of the top offenders:
Open Doors World Watch

It is noteworthy that of the top ten worst persecuting countries, 7 are Muslim, 1or2 is Communist, and 1or2 is a dictatorship.

I’ve been in country #8, and have seen country #1. It is true that those who hate Jesus, love death.

May we be earnest in prayers for the persecuted flock of God in whatever country they happen to be, and pray that Jesus will come soon to take us to his “land that is fairer than day”.

first 3d ellen white?

1 Comment / daily rambliniscings / November 12, 2009 December 9, 2009

Looks like i’ve been beaten to the punch. The first 3D Ellen White i’ve ever seen is at:
ellenvision.com

Click on the “Watch: My First Vision” tab.

I know the man behind the ellenvision.net website, and think he may be behind this new site somehow.

Hats off to whoever made this for getting something done in this area. It is great to see, and gives me impetus 🙂

global warming belief fading, global government warming up

Leave a Comment / daily rambliniscings / October 31, 2009 October 31, 2009

Glad to hear that Americans are waking up to the near-universal global warming hoax 🙂

http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/american-belief-in-global-warming-takes-a-dive/4688.htm

And a former Thatcher government adviser says: “the real purpose of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 is to use global warming hype as a pretext to lay the foundation for a one-world government.

“At [the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in] Copenhagen this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed,” Lord Christopher Monckton told a Minnesota Free Market Institute audience on Thursday at Bethel University in St. Paul.”
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=113219

Jesus for mumbai meeting’s report

Leave a Comment / travel spreading 1858gc / October 31, 2009 October 31, 2009

The “Jesus for Mumbai” meetings last week ended on Sunday. The people living there were quite discouraged by the low turnout (around 70-100 per nite), but i told them that even if there was just one who received benefit from it, then it was worthwhile. One pastor said it even better when he said: “We just do the work we are told to do – to spread your bread on all the waters, and then we trust in God that he will do his part by sending his Holy Spirit to work on hearts.” That was encouraging! Myself tho, i had several excellent experiences, and praise God that i had an opportunity to serve him in that capacity for a few days.

I was told to have the health talks, so each meeting i gave around a 10-minute talk which was translated into Tamil, and then into Hindi. I talked about eating fresh fruits, drinking lots of water (especially on awaking), whole grains (the bread of life), increasing your immunity, and regularity in all our actions. God gave me good freedom to speak, and i pray the people were blessed.

It was great to see that the producers of the meetings had all the food prepared before the Sabbath. They also happily saw to it that all the bottled water was delivered before the Sabbath. On Friday evening, while practicing singing with two Brothers, it hit me that the music man and video man were being paid to work for us on the Sabbath hours. In talking with the music man, i found out that while he was getting money, it wasn’t a “money” gig, he was basically doing it as a favor for the meetings. The video man however was asked to stop, which he did on the holy time on Saturday, but not on Friday nite.

On Friday morning there was a nice meeting for all the students taking tuition from one of the SDA families there. 97 children came, and it was nice to see them singing Christian songs and listening to a Christian message, something which is not usual for them. It brought back memories of my students in Japan, and made me wish that i had brought all of them together at least once to have a Christian witness meeting for them….. Lord, please forgive me for not doing much for my students in Japan, to lead them to eternal life. Yes, they all knew i was Christian, and i did have Bible studies with several of them, but i wasn’t near as strong about it as i should have been. I don’t want to see any of them going to the fire………..

The main speaker was Pastor John Willmott. A hall had been rented in a Christian school, and of the 5 nites, 2 of the nites saw wedding parties on the same grounds with the attendant noise. Our meetings got quite noisy too, and i counseled the music people twice to have more melodious music, but after one or two songs they went back to the heavy almost rap-like beat. After 45 minutes, your stomach tends to turn upside down, and the relish for spiritual food is mostly gone. Fortunately, many of those who sponsored the meetings agreed that the music should be better next time 🙂

On Sabbath i was able to have a deep Bible study with 3 young people, one of whom is not yet Christian. We studied the last part of Matthew 5, and then several verses in Matthew 24 about how Jesus will return. I also had an interesting experience giving away Steps to Christ and 1858 Great Controversy books to those Christian groups who were having worship services in other rooms of the school complex. I only sold 3 1858gc books, but was happy to see that everyone was happy to receive a laminated printing of a beautiful drawing of Jesus’ Second Coming.

There were some things which could, and should be done better next time, but all in all, i believe it was a great start to evangelizing the Tamil-speaking population in Mumbai, and am very thankful to having been asked to pay a small part in this great work. Courage Brothers and Sisters!

prayer for meetings, myanmar 1858 great controversy

Leave a Comment / daily rambliniscings / October 21, 2009 October 21, 2009

Tomorrow, Lord willing, i will be going to Bombay for 4 days for what is said to be the first SDA evangelistic effort for Tamil speakers there. There are a few dedicated families who have gotten together, and have rented a hall. They are expecting around 500 to attend, with Pastor John Willmott being the main speaker. I hope to give away some drawings of the Second Coming, and sell some Tamil 1858gc books too.

Two weeks ago i got info that someone donated funds to reprint 3,000 Vietnamese 1858 Great Controversy books, and then last week info that the Myanmar 1858gc has been printed. Today i got a email that a group in Ukraine is studying this book after church every Sabbath. My cup is running over ;0

Please keep these meetings, 1858gc book work, and myself in your prayer.

best laid plans of mice and daniel

Leave a Comment / travel spreading 1858gc / October 16, 2009 October 16, 2009

In laying plans to make this Great Controversy movie, i had decided quite long ago that India would be the best place to do it. There are friends in India who would be willing to have me stay with them. There are lots of animation schools, and many young SDA people who not only already have been trained in this area, but they would be happy to work for a decent salary to use their skills for the glory of God. I thot. The reality is, while the first parts of the equation worked out well enough, the last item did not. I just can’t find anyone willing to work for a “decent” salary. The young people i’ve met all want to work for a big company, making wages that far exceed what their parents make.

Along with the difficulties of living in this place, police killing innocent people to get promoted, people getting run over by motorbikes or cars very often, people throwing trash just everywhere, the general attitude of doing the exact opposite of “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”, the lack of coherent thinking, the cheating, the noise, the filth, the ridiculousness of what is said and done and believed — it is all very hard to take. But if for Jesus, of course we take it. This whole world is a crazy place compared to what he made it like, and i’m sure it was difficult for him to live in this hell-hole of a planet.

Just this week, the man who lives in this house said he went to vote, but when he got there, they told him he had already voted. He protested, but they showed him the book with his name already marked off. Finally 5 drunk policemen carried him out of the polling place. There is no democracy here it seems. Oh yes, it seems that votes are costing about 4usd each, and even our SDA brethren are congratulating themselves at making “easy” money. Have they not learned anything from the Bible?

So around three weeks ago i started getting serious about finding a new venue to carry forward this animation work. My friend in Tbilisi gave me a good idea of working in his English language school, then i could have plenty of free time for this project, and perhaps he could find some people interested in helping. But there were two sticking points, and they were not satisfied. I MUST be able to walk in harmony with anyone i link up with. I cannot, and will not, spend my time trying to give glory to God, while working with someone who is not following God.

After sending out feelers to friends in 5 countries, i got back positive responses from all of them, especially from Sabah Malaysia, and northern Thailand. Praise God, he has moved on hearts, and there are already 4 young people, and 2 adults in Thailand willing to work on this project basically for food and a place to stay. The response from the person there really thrilled my heart when she wrote “those youngsters dont think first about money, but their own spiritual thing”! My heart was really uplifted by that statement! These kind of young people are very rare.

Then the Sister in Sabah, (strangely enough, with the same first name as the Sister in Thailand!) wrote saying that i could teach English sometimes, help in the oil palm orchards sometimes, and would have plenty of time to work on the animation, and with the Brother there who runs a computer-training school. She even said she would make me fat – ha! Good luck on that 🙂 Really tho, my heart was/is very touched.

But the greatest opportunity to give glory to God looks to be in Thailand. In conjunction with this animation work, we plan to work towards starting a little “homeschool”, based on the counsels from the Spirit of Prophecy, and the Bible. Along with the 4 young people, that Sister and her husband are saying that they will work for no remuneration at all. I don’t know how long they can last on that, but that heart, that attitude, is very, very encouraging.

So the plan now is to leave India after the SAYJ camp around the end of December. I’m hoping against hope that i can meet someone who will have a booth at the General Conference session in Atlanta next May, that will let me have some space. So i’m praying that the Lord will move on someone’s heart.

Please keep this in your prayers.

myanmar 1858 great controversy printed!

Leave a Comment / great controversy book work / October 16, 2009 October 16, 2009

I received word yesterday that the Brother in Myanmar has finally gotten the 1858 Great Controversy book by Ellen White printed in the Burmese language – Praise God!! There were some printing mistakes, so they are pasting in pages in the back of each book, which may take a while to finish. 3,000 copies were printed 🙂 Now we need to pray that the Holy Spirit and angels will go with each copy, and that the people will be able to understand, and prepare for the soon-coming Time of Trouble so they can all go up to heaven when Jesus comes.

This has been about the longest of any of my projects from beginning to printing – 3 years and 7 months. The only ones longer are the Chinese and Spanish translations, which have both been done, but not properly, so cannot be used. One Sister right now is supposed to be translating it into Spanish, but i haven’t had any contact with her for months. Can anyone out there translate into Chinese?