spreading 3 angels' messages
“Researchers at Ohio State University found that religious people live an average of four years longer than atheists. Their study was published Wednesday in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.”
living longer religiously
Of course it’s not definitive, but it is interesting.
I always tell people that true Christians live longer and happier than anyone else – by millions and billions and trillions of years. 🙂
Yesterday at church, I heard that in 2017 there were 233 baptisms into the SDA church in Japan. And there were 216 deaths.
There are approximately 15,000 members, in a country of roughly 127,000,000.
I’m not sure of the breakdown, but I’m guessing around 30-40% of those baptisms in Japan last year were of either foreign people living in Japan, or of 2nd-3rd generation South Americans of Japanese descent who have come to Japan.
The church in Japan is dying.
Any ideas on what to do about it?
Mark Howard is a SDA pastor who is head of the Emmanuel Institute of Evangelism. Today I listened to his 2 sermons on the Human Nature of Christ, and can wholeheartedly recommend them.
I’ve written on the human/divine nature of Christ several times on this blog, and have often lamented the fact that very few of us SDAs understand this issue properly. I admit I was spoiled as a child by being taken to Robert Brinsmead meetings when he was still straight in his theology, and as an elementary school kid grasped the fact that Jesus was 100% divine, and 100% human, that he wasn’t born with propensities to sin like we are, and this his temptations were much stronger than anything we will ever be called on to face.
But very few fellow SDAs believe that way. Most of the Liberals don’t believe that overcoming sin is possible in this life, so whatever position they hold on anything is basically pointless. Sadly, fellow Conservatives in the church run the gamut from saying we are all born sinless (because Jesus was), to saying that Jesus was born a sinner (because we are). Neither of those positions is true – because – Jesus was not exactly like all of us born humans in everything! Jesus was born in the moral position of Adam, not needing a Saviour. He was born that “sinless” thing.
Many people quote Hebrews 2:17 ” Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren… “. Of course. Notice however, it doesn’t say that he was made in all things like fallen brethren. That’s why there is no contradiction with 1Corinthians 15:45-47 ” And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. ”
Jesus was the second Adam (see Testimony for the Church no.14 p.37), whose physical body was degenerated by 4,000 years of sin. But while all of us humans who have ever been born (except Jesus), have been born in sin, needing a Saviour to cleanse us from our sins. Jesus did not need that.
Some say this is a tempest in a teapot, but as Mark Howard rightly quotes from the SOP, Christ’s humanity is everything to us. Wrong theology here can lead to people like David Gates saying it is theoretically possible to earn your way to heaven (!!), and Kevin Paulson saying it is possible to go to heaven without ever needing the cleansing blood of Christ (if we never choose to sin). These positions are basically blasphemy.
Many fellow Conservatives accuse me of saying that if Jesus was born different from us, then it is impossible for us to overcome sin. I really don’t know how they come to that odd conclusion, except that they consider Jesus must have had an advantage over us if he was born sinless. I tell them, as Mark Howard does here too, that it was much more difficult to keep his humanity (in other words – to not use his divinity), as it is for us to rise above our sinful natures and grasp hold of divinity. By way of example, I tell people how it was difficult for me to stay in the crazy, nasty places I’ve been too (especially India), when I know at any moment I can instantly get out of there. Fortunately Jesus chose to fulfill his mission, and be the perfect example for us in everything.
So I’m extremely happy and delighted to see a SDA pastor, even a director of an institute for evangelism, preach the truth on this important subject. I wholeheartedly recommend his 2-part audio sermons:
Mark Howard – Human Nature of Christ part1
Mark Howard – Human Nature of Christ part2
The following is a response to Stephen Bohr’s video titled: “Hebrew Religious Calendar 20/24 Must we keep the Feasts?”: https://youtu.be/VVI-QoLsY-w
8:10 Pastor Bohr, perhaps you weren’t aware that God definitely DID tell Eve not to touch the fruit? From Ellen White: Spiritual Gifts. Volume 3 pg: 35 In the midst of the garden, near the tree of life, stood the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of this tree the Lord commanded our first parents not to eat, neither to touch it, lest they die. He told them that they might freely eat of all the trees in the garden except one; but if they ate of that tree they should surely die.
You keep talking about “ceremonial law”, but that is not a biblical term.
Abraham keep the commandments, statutes, and judgments (Genesis 26:5), so there were people keeping the feasts of the Lord before Sinai.
23:00 Trying to make the Statutes of the Lord be something “contrary to us” is unfortunate, as God says they are perfect.
39:23 You talk about “physiology”, meaning that the statutes regarding unclean foods haven’t been done away with, but reject the statutes saying WHEN to have holy convocation days to the Lord?
47:50 “insult to Jehovah” to do the sacrifices and oblations – which were prophesied of in Daniel 9:27 to be done away with. To say it would be an “insult to Jehovah” to keep the feasts after the cross, means that Jehovah insulted himself by pouring out his Holy Spirit exactly on the day of Pentecost!
49:25 You quote where the rites and ceremonies had been going on for 4,000 years, which contradicts what you said earlier that they were started at Sinai…..
Your biggest error seems to be that you have conflated “holy convocations of the Lord” with “rites and ceremonies”, which is unfortunate, as you are calling on people to be lawbreakers.
May you repent, and resolve to keep all of God’s commandments, statutes, and judgments.
Updated May, 2020: Since this post was written, they now do have a streaming service on many platforms which makes most of my point in this post moot.
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While Stephen Bohr is quite a strong conservative Seventh-day Adventist preacher, one to be commended for standing up against most wrongs in the Church (nothing about abortion tho….), I’ve never been a “fan” of his because of his insistence on interpreting nearly all the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation as being fulfilled in the past (usually called the “historical position).
Recently, his organization, Secrets Unsealed, started a video streaming service called “SUMTV”.
Being interested in what it was about, I clicked on the link to it that came in the email newsletter to which I’m subscribed to.
I was quite surprised to see that it SUMTV is not a project that they do on their own, but is just a live stream on Youtube. Now I understand that there may be more behind their technical processes of making this SUMTV, but the fact that they linked directly to Youtube, makes it look very fishy, like they are trying to pull a quick one. i.e.; they appear to be just having a “live” Youtube channel, and calling it “SUMTV”. That would be deceitful. If they chose to call it “SUMTV Channel”, then that would be truthful. If they said “Watch our Youtube channel”, that would be truthful. But to say “Watch SUMTV” is deceitful, as it is not their own product.
So I wrote several emails to them asking for clarification. Their responses got haughtier and haughtier, until they basically called me “Satan”.
I’ve experienced this before from many, many fellow SDAs – they are completely right about everything, and cannot accept any reproof, no matter how small.
May they repent, and may we all have humble hearts to not only always speak the truth, but to accept reproof where it applies.
The United Nations is at it again – trying to force a one-world government on everybody. This time, it is under the guise of “saving the planet” for climate change.
Of course nearly all the world’s leaders are in on the gig, but fortunately, the United States is having none of it. While past administrations have been suckers for paying out large sums of cash to organizations that weaken America, and chip away at the God-given mandate to have individual nations, this administration is tired of being played for a sucker, and is standing up to the globalist ambitions, and telling them what to do with their plan for world domination in the name of “saving the planet” (of course climate change in itself is bogus).
In September, Macron set out the goals of Global Pact at the United Nations. He said the framework would “establish rights, but also duties for mankind.”
Macron urged quick adoption in his speech, “I very strongly believe that the world is ready for this and that it’s our responsibility.” Guterres also gave his support to the pact at the meeting.
Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot, and author of the new book, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change,” charged that, “This new global environmental pact will have more teeth and cover more aspects of human civilization than the U.N.-Paris climate pact. This new environmental pact is looking to be the U.N. Paris agreement on steroids because they are making it binding, and it appears even wider in
America tells globalists to pound sand
One more reason to praise God for this time of relative peace and freedom, before the one-worlders get their day in the sun.
While Tucker Carlson sometimes has problems, he is right on the money on this issue of what Liberals/Progressives are all about – fighting God, and feeling superior than others for doing that. Partial transcript as follows:
“CARLSON: In the wake of Eric Schneiderman’s resignation as attorney general of New York, some of his long-time friends on the left are professing shock.
You’ve heard them. We just can’t believe it, they say. How can a man so publicly committed to feminism beat women? It just doesn’t make sense.
But, of course, it makes perfect sense. Self-righteousness is always a marker for secret creepiness. The people yelling the loudest are usually hiding the most.
Keep that in mind the next time you hear some Democratic politician lecturing you about your moral inferiority. That’s the guy you need to watch carefully. Chances are he’s up to something awful behind closed doors.
Hypocrisy isn’t just a feature of modern liberalism. It’s the heart of modern liberalism. Ever wonder how people who advocate for abortion can say they stand for children? How a movement that demonizes an entire race can claim to oppose racism? The same way Al Gore can travel by private jet while trying to ban your SUV.
Because consistency does not matter to the left. Only virtue matters. We’re good people; therefore, we must rule. You are not; therefore, you must obey.
Al Gore doesn’t believe he’s a hypocrite. Eric Schneiderman probably doesn’t think he is either. You can’t commit sin if your intentions are pure. And liberals believe their intentions are the purest.
If that sounds like theology, and not public policy, that’s because it is theology. Modern liberalism is a religious movement. It’s a replacement for the protestant Christianity that the left worked so hard to undermine and destroy.
Liberals are speaking the language of faith, albeit a faith without god. This is the main reason that right and left talk past each other. The reason our public debates are so weird and unsatisfying.
One side arrives with facts and stats and arguments. The other brags about its decency. One side is trying to convince; the other is trying to convert.
You can beat the liberal in an argument, but you can never convince them that you won. He cares much more deeply than you do; and, therefore, he knows he’s right. By definition. And nothing can convince him otherwise.
Somewhere tonight Eric Schneiderman is marinating in his shame. Probably unshaven and alone. His career is over. His reputation is destroyed. He faces years of potential legal action. He is a broken man. He is in agony.
And yet, on some level, despite all of that, Eric Schneiderman still knows he’s a better person than you are.”
This is from Breitbart website: Progressives think they are more moral without Jesus
Sadly, many of our own SDA Brethren are Progressives/Liberals too, and that is why many converstaions never go anywhere with them, as they believe they are on the moral high ground, apart from what the Bible and Ellen White’s writings say.
I’ve been extremely skeptical of the whole “gluten-free” fad that has been so popular for the last few years. Of course some people do experience relief from their bloating or irritable bowel syndrome or whatever by going to gluten-free. However, as I’d long suspected, it isn’t really the gluten in the food that is the problem – it is the other things that normally go along with what the gluten is contained in.
Finally, there is scientific evidence to support my hunch.
Daily Mail article on gluten-free being a waste
Dr Biesiekierski’s colleagues at Monash University in Melbourne, led by respected gastroenterology expert Professor Peter Gibson, were investigating how chemicals called FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols) in the diet could trigger symptoms in people with irritable bowel syndrome.
Unlike gluten, which is a protein, FODMAPs are sugary molecules that naturally occur in a range of foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy. The most widespread are fructans, which are carbohydrates found in wheat, fruits and vegetables.
Other common FODMAPs include lactose (milk sugar) and polyols, including artificial or naturally-occurring sweeteners such as xylitol and sorbitol…..
‘But every single person improved more on the FODMAP-free diet. Then, when we gave them gluten without them knowing, 90 per cent of them had no symptoms of intolerance.’In other words — it’s not sensitivity to gluten, it’s a reaction to FODMAPs that is causing the problem.
So what are some foods with FODMAP?
Garlic.
Onions.
Beans (for example, red kidney beans, broad beans).
Brassicas (for example, cauliflower, cabbage).
Dried vine fruits (for example, raisins, sultanas).
Some fruits and juices, including apples, pears and mangoes.
Processed meats.
Wheat-based breads, cereals and pasta.
Dairy foods (for example, cow’s milk and related products such as cream or cheese).
Sweeteners such as xylitol, sorbitol and honey.
Let’s be careful about going after any new fad, and treat this marvelous body God has given us the best we can.
A “farm” in China has grossed 684,000,000 usd in revenue over the years by producing this one thing for medicinal purposes. They use AI to a high degree, and have dramatically increased productivity.
The full story is here (not for the squeamish): Outnumbering humans (almost)
AI is rapidly integrating into our daily lives, making it harder and harder to get away from being in somebody’s (or something’s) database…
Many Christians like to point to Colossians 2 (especially verse 16), to try and prove that the 7th day Sabbath is done away.
Strangely, many fellow Seventh-day Adventists point to the same text to try and prove that the holy convocations of the Lord (Feast days) are done away.
Are either of those valid interpretations of this text?
Please read the entire chapter of Colossians 2. You will notice that the phrase “no man” or “any man”, is referred to 4 times.
Someone who will
1. beguile you
2. spoil you
3. judge you (verse 16)
4. beguile you
Don’t you believe it makes sense to take it into context, and understand this as “Don’t worry about what non-christians think of you for following Jesus?
Jesus kept the 7th day Sabbath.
Jesus kept the holy convocations (Feast days).
So what WAS done away with at the cross?
The sacrifices and oblations passed away, per Daniel 9:27.
Nothing else.
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
So until “heaven and earth pass”, neither the 7th day Sabbath, nor the holy convocations, are done away.
Let’s follow Jesus’ perfect example, and keep not only his 7th day Sabbath holy, but also his Feast days. 🙂
While I don’t know about the following resources/treatment centers personally, they have contacted me to spread their information more widely. Overcoming addictions of any kind is a good thing, so altho I’m not sure if these are based on Biblical ideals or not, they seem worthwhile. If even only one person is potentially helped by this post, then I will give God all the glory.
Addiction Resource was founded in 2014 to provide a community for those recovering from addiction and to help patients find the highest quality care for a successful recovery. Our goal is to provide resources to help patients and their loved ones so that they may stay on the road to recovery, and can successfully overcome addiction for life. We believe in our ability to help improve the lives of others, and belief is what motivates us to educate and support our readers every day.
Addiction Resource is not a treatment center and does not accept payments or advertising offers. Instead, we work to provide free resources to help people better understand their addiction and motivate them to make the first step in seeking support.
Recovering Champions is a comprehensive drug & alcohol treatment program in Massachusetts specializing in substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. The Recovering Champions Treatment Center, located in Falmouth, offers high-quality clinical treatment, medication management, and additional support services, including:
12-step guidance and instruction
Addiction education
Individual and family therapy
Yoga, meditation, fitness, and nutrition
At both of their locations, clients enjoy the tranquility and stunning scenery of Cape Cod along with the best the region has to offer, including outdoor experiences, local food, and beautiful vistas.
https://recoveringchampions.com/
(Note: Yoga is not spiritually sound. Perhaps you can ask the staff to just do stretching exercises.)
I’ve thot this for quite a while now, but the news this morning is just shouting this out at us – Progressives are following China’s government in their willingness and methods to crush all opposing ideas.
China’s govt. has established a “social credit” system, where you get points taken away for certain things from skipping train fares, to avoiding taxes, to bribery, to being a Christian or anyone who does not agree 100% with their Atheistic Communist Party. Starting in May this year, they will start using this “social credit” score to determine whether to allow you to even ride on a train or airplane! China bans people from transportation
While the Left in America is not quite there yet, there are many troubling signs that they are going down the same path. That path entails not just silencing everyone who doesn’t agree with them, but forcefully restricting their ability to disseminate ideas and physical movement.
Twitter is blocking people from even quoting material from articles it deems bad: Twitter censorship As this article shows, just trying to tweet something that has no violent overtones at all is banned if from a Conservative, but super-violent tweets from Leftists that show people killing others etc. is allowed.
Then there is the case of Amazon reviews. Authors rely on the number and quality of reviews in order to get their books displayed prominently in Amazon rankings. Yet Amazon is just willy-nilly deleting reviews from Conservative authors books, and deleting some reviews those Conservative authors make: Amazon deletes reviews
Of course just the other day I had the personal experience where Youtube shut down my channel for no real reason other than that I’d violated their policy. They reinstated me the next day, but there are many examples of Conservative, or just anti-establishment channels have gotten shut down for a while, or forever, including Natural News (a health channel featuring Mike Adams), Prager U, InfoWars etc. Mike Adams says his Youtube channel was probably taken down because he believes in just two genders! I understand there are many channels that need to be shut down, as there are many bad people trying to push absolutely disgusting things on the internet. But to shut someone down just because they hold to a different view than yours? That’s totalitarianism.
What’s this got to do with God’s people as we come up to the end time?
A lot, because we see the Atheistic Communistic ideas of hatred for God is dovetailing with the Atheistic Progressive ideas of hatred for God. While they are not currently openly working together, it is easy to tell that they are working towards the same goal – the eradication of all truth, and eventually the eradication of all those who follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
May we be firmly grounded in the truth ourselves, and use this window of freedom wisely, because it appears to be closing up quickly.
Well, knowing how Progressive Youtube is (meaning totalitarian), I was kind of expecting them to take down my videos one day for telling the truth as it is in the Bible, but this is just weird. I got an email today saying that “Google アカウント tenXXX@gmail.com は、Google ポリシーに違反する行為に使われていたと思われるため、無効となりました”.
Which says that I’ve gone against their policy, so my account (Earlysda) is unavailable anymore. Just now, in checking, I see that not only are all my 100+ videos gone with their 800K+ views, but that all my comments on all other peoples’ videos are gone too. It’s like my 11 years on Youtube has been erased in an instant.
I hope Youtube fixes this, but since Google is such an evil company, I will count myself lucky if I don’t get either a police knock on the door, or a hitman who will run me off the road.
If anyone knows another video sharing service, please let me know.
Updated morning of March 16: When I woke up this morning, wondering what to do, I did a search on the net for my most viewed video. I clicked on the link, expecting it to show that the video had been deleted, but it displayed normally!
So what happened? I don’t know, but here is my guess. The day before this happened, I made some comments on videos regarding Stephen Hawking’s death, that he was a poor scientist because there cannot, by definition, be more than one black hole in a universe. And also, he fought God,
so basically he wasted his life, but I hope he repented before he died. Probably someone got royally upset at that, reported me to Youtube for “hate speech”, and they quickly deleted my account. When a human actually checked the facts, they saw that I had don’e nothing wrong,
and reinstated my account.
But I have learned from this, that if I want to help keep my videos up, which I know will be taken down when the Sunday Law question starts becoming agitated, I need to either stop commenting on other articles on Youtube, or else comment under a different name.
Often in talking to Evolutionists, they like to pooh-pooh the idea that there is enough water on this planet to ever cover the whole earth. I always ask them to take a globe, and think for a minute about what all that blue color means, as 71% of the earth is covered with water. Also, the mountains on the earth would fit comfortably in the deepest trenches in the oceans.
I’ve read somewhere that if you flattened out all the mountains on the land, it would just take around 100 feet (meters?) of water to cover 100% of the planet.
Anyway, we can read in inspired writings that there were jets of water that came out of the earth at the time of Noah’s Flood. They had tremendous force, and hurled huge rocks high up into the air. Personally, I think they might have even created comets and blasted pockmarks on the moon etc., but am not sure about that at all, as 95% of the craters on the moon face earth.
So it is interesting to see that scientists are finding more and more clues that there are huge amounts of water far under the crust in places and forms that they thot couldn’t exist. Here is one science news article showing that ice was found in a diamond. They estimate the diamond came from 500 miles or so down (that’s highly speculative), and it includes ice with a new atomic structure, so they have named it Ice-VII. Seems our ordinary ice is now called Ice-I – ha!
massive amounts of ice in mantle
Another article says
A reservoir of water three times the volume of all the oceans has been discovered deep beneath the Earth’s surface. The finding could help explain where Earth’s seas came from.
It’s getting stranger and stranger in America. Now condominium associations are trying to forbid residents from using the commons area for Bible studies or play religious songs on the organ. Seems that playing poker and having jazz is just fine, but not if it is religious.
Now, a SDA lay minister lady is taking them to court: Condo Bans Senior Citizen Bible Study, Christian Music
Let’s pray that she will win this case for freedom.