I have a friend you is in many ways a traditional Adventist. However he has come to the conclusion that the evidence is too massive to accept the idea that the earth is 6000-7000 years old. Of course many of us have gone through this transformation of thought long ago, but it is a transformation that is of critical importance because it means that the Christian has entered a new age of reasoning. It is of course only the beginning but an important beginning none the less.
The reason it starts this new age of reason may not be totally due to the evidence of science but a reaction to those who will deny the evidence of science. Soon if my friend has not encountered it already he will hear comments from traditional Adventist such as those made by Robert Pierson in his final address to the general conference On October 15, 1978 in his speech entitled An Earnest Appeal from the Retiring President of the General Conference presented to Annual Council Pierson states:
Already, brethren and sisters, there are subtle forces that are beginning to stir. Regrettably there are those in the church who belittle the inspiration of the Bible, who scorn the first 11 chapters of Genesis, who question the Spirit of Prophecy’s short chronology of the earth, and who subtly and not so subtly attack the Spirit of Prophecy. There are some who point to the reformers and contemporary theologians as a source and the norm for Seventh-day Adventist doctrine. There are those who allegedly are tired of the hackneyed phrases of Adventism. There are those who wish to forget the standards of the church we love. There are those who covet and would court the favor of the evangelicals; those who would throw off the mantle of a peculiar people; and those who would go the way of the secular, materialistic world.
Unfortunately my friend will now have to endure the accusations of fundamentalists, not quite the fundamentalist of orthodox Christianity but near enough they just have to add the Spirit of Prophecy to their fundamentalism. He is about to learn just how certain the traditional Adventist is and if you don’t agree with their form of fundamentalism you belittle inspiration and forget the old time standards; you deny inspiration and are immoral.
How will he deal with that? There are a few main options:
- Cave in and recant his heresy.
- Leave Christianity altogether.
- Learn alternative ways of interpreting the Bible and/or Ellen White’s writings.
Learning other ways of interpreting the Bible is the primary method used when Christians find that what they have traditionally believed doesn’t necessarily work. The traditionalist will of course say that this is the first step to leaving Christianity. It may be turn out to be the first step in the exodus or it may not be. In some ways it will depend upon the reaction of those traditionalists in the local church. As Pierson continues:
Fellow leaders, beloved brethren and sisters—don’t let it happen! I appeal to you as earnestly as I know how this morning—don’t let it happen! I appeal to
You are the men and women, the leaders, whom God is counting on to keep the
Pierson sets out the way to drive Adventists out of the church if they don’t hold to the traditionalism of certain Adventists. We are God’s remnant church because we say we are we are a peculiar people because we hold beliefs which nobody else holds. Is that what God really meant by a peculiar people? Not if you read what the Bible describes as a peculiar people see: (Deu 14:2 KJV) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. [(Deu 26:18 KJV) is kind of hard to apply to people other then the Hebrews] (Titus
You just can’t take all those texts particularly the New Testament ones and say they are about your particular denomination to the exclusion of all the other Christian believers. But that is a view that you don’t get to until you have the experience of questioning the traditional beliefs and learning how to really study the Bible and develop real methods of interpretation rather then interpretation based upon what tradition teaches.
8 comments:
I am thankful that I was taught alternate ways to look at the scripture/inspiration. At the time I found them interesting arguments that I did not necessarily agree with. Later they became something tentative to hold onto until I had my feet on slightly more solid ground. I am glad to still be a part of the Adventist movement and I plan to stick with it as long as I am allowed.
This is sad what is going on and the fact that the school is opening allowing such things is discerning.
The warnings and concerns of Pierson are true. The thing is that most of the people I see who accept all the tinkering and changes go to church, lift their hands in the air, praise God, do the hokey-pokey and would rather eat popcorn in front of the drama skits at church. They don't do much thinking. To go to even these people and ask them to fight to have more of the stuff they love in church at the expense of the original ones who don't like it, would be to be disdained. They don't like to fight. They think religion and chuch is just some easy-going and fun enterprise.
Unfortunately, the story is different for those who created that environment for them under the word CHANGE. These people fight day and night to make sure not that they have equal co-existence, but to have their ideas dominate.
All the stated beliefs of the "Progressive Adventists" they claim are at variance with the "Traditional" ones are old! They disbelieve the Investigative Judgment, Ellen White, that Sunday is the Mark of the Beast, etc. Most Adventists came from other churches and are supposed to remember that they once believed everything the "Progressive Adventists" now claim to believe. If that is therefore so, and they insist we must all be ecumenical and be together with our buddies in all the different Christian Churches, why they don't go out to these other Christians they claim are so superior is rather telling. They admit they're here to refashion the Adventist Church. That means they know how to fight. That means Ellen White can create a denomination and acquire resources, but they can't build churches on their own. They now have to take control of what others were able to acquire. Maybe they don't praise God enough so He can give them their own churches.
Ecumenism and the ideas of the "Progressive Adventists" dominate most of the world. When will they realize that there should be VARIETY in the world and those of the minority who choose to believe Adventists truths should be left alone? Do they really love diversity? Do they know and understand there is far more square footage of space in churches and square miles of earth in countries to be among people who believe their ideas? Why would they want to fight with the original Adventists who worked and acquired the property and resources of the Adventist Church?
The tyranny of Rome was suppressed. Then, all of a sudden, a farmer named William Miller studied the sealed writings of Daniel and began to understand its meaning. It is because of the hatred of those sealed messages why so many propagandists can't tell that something major happened at that time. Adventists include these prophecies in their scriptural repertoire. Propagandists always exclude them, suppress them, and work for everyone else to do the same. This is a strike against the intelligence of the intelligences that graciously gave us these revelations.
Mr. Hulmes told us that Ellen White predicted Christ would come in 1845. Well that's the plight of a propagandist. She didn't say she had a vision that Christ was coming back at that time though she fully believed it. All the bible writers thought Christ was coming back in their day. Ellen White did predict though that all who disbelieved William Miller's messages were lost. That turned out to be true. While they were opposing and attacking the new sensation derived through opening up sealed scripture, they started to preach and teach that the book of Revelation was an incomprehensible mystery and discouraged everyone from studying it. The opponents of true Adventism in ecumenism and a One World Church have inherited this same disease with their intolerance hidden under rosy themes. The last chapter of the book of Revelation says that all who take away from its messages will have their names taken out of the book of life. Most Christians are still doing this just merely by their suppression of these scriptures with the maligning of the characters of those who love these revelations.
In 1843/44 is when a major unsealing of precious revelations given by the Lord were especially unsealed. They were wrong about the date of Christ's return, and just like the Disciples of Christ preached true repentance but also taught that Christ would set up His eternal kingdom at that time, EVERYONE who REFUSED to believe their message at that time were lost also. New meaning to scripture was found in 1843/44. The enemies of truth attacked the message AND WISHED TO BURY THE REVELATIONS. That is the inherited disease of the fallen churches today.
The bottom line is that Adventists have the story clearly laid out: not with snippet calculators and no message. They have a whole message shown in Revelation Seminars! They show a complete repertoire of scripture without giving any hatred to any. If Mr. Hulmes was proud of his knowledge and snippet calculator, he would have the whole sequence of events laid out and given meaning to the efforts of the whole story revealed in sealed scripture by the Divine beings who condescended to reveal them. He doesn't have whole seminars because he is really not that proud of his accomplishments.
The website:
http://www.TheirSecrets.info/ac/appealchapi.htm
clarifies all these issues.
This post sort of, well, went missing! It's not that we're surprised now!
Michael Ray Humes, your speculations are still wrong. That's why you don't have any Revelation Seminars. You must not only attack God's people but you must expound upon those sacred scriptures and show how they fit in the special messages given by the Lord. That's where the warning comes against all who refuse to teach and preach the definite message given by the Lord for the Last Days. The book of Daniel was unsealed. Show us then the correct interpretation and where and when your revelation seminars are held.
You even know that others refuse to do this and work to add to the words of the prophetic books and take away from them. You don't seem to have any warnings about this. Neither did any scripture tell you about the terrors of a dead prophet and the paranoia of God's people who see another character becoming very powerful!
BOLD PUBLIC DEATH THREATS AGAINST ALL NON-CATHOLICS HERE!
theirsecrets.info/ac/appealchapi.htm
Such things don't happen in my neighborhood all the time, and so I show much consternation even about this being publicly posted right after our climate of terror and the Patriot Act was searching for terrorists everywhere. This turned out to be a litmus test not only for treason and apostasy, but to point out the source for it.
Being very mindful that Christ is love, how is a Christian to view these threats? Well, everytime we found someone spueing lies on the internet we understood who they were, posted these threats and watched them attack us and ignore the threats.
The whole truth will be laid out by the True people of God, they will not only show dates, but clearly lay out the whole plan. You cannot do this. If you could, you would have had your Revelation Seminars. Knowing you cannot do this you remain to attack God's Church.
God gave a message for the last days in scripture that was sealed. His people will expound upon it. They do, and they do it in an organized way.
As it says you the author Ted removed the post. I will warn you thought if you post anything like this on my other articles I will remove them. Comments must be in regards to the articles or I will remove them.
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