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Are there any churches out there that preach a "balanced" message? I go to 2 different churches to get a balance. One church predominantly preaches nothing but "warm fuzzies" - how much Jesus loves us, the wonders of grace, just love Jesus and you'll go to heaven, faith brings joy, prosperity, peace, etc. They never preach on prophecy, overcoming, or the coming crisis and subsequent Second Coming. The other church preaches predominantly on eschatology, fear of what's coming, overcoming, the pursuit of character perfection, fear of the world, and what happens if you don't "submit"; but hardly anything about the love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace of God. I find that if I attend just one of the churches for too many weeks in a row; my mind starts dwelling on just one side of the message and ignoring the other. IMO it puts me off balance. Does anyone else struggle with this? We should be confident and encourage one another in our salvation; but we should ever be reminded of things that are to come prior to the second coming, and how we are to respond to events so we are not surprised and swept away by the Time of Trouble.

A couple questions: 1) I've always wondered about the corporate accountability to the member conference churches... how does that work? There doesn't seem to be a lot of feedback circulating back as to what goes where, what changed, and what's expected or required (apart from conference fundraising goals and things like mission spotlight). Neither there seems to be precise knowledge of the local needs at the top. 2) Likewise, it's strange to me that SDA pastoral assignment is limited in time. Where there any considerations removing such procedures of re-assigning? One huge issue is different emphasis and mentality from pastor to pastor, and when the new leadership comes in, they tend to inadvertently dismantle previous focus to emphasize their own passion rather than congregational needs (since they don't really know the congregation enough to understand the needs yet). In case of our local church, we've had a circulation of one pastor that built up the church internally via getting people and members engaged in various activities that they are gifted in. His successor then came in with passion for evangelism, and strict idea that if it's not leading to some sort of evangelism goal... it's not important. So, the church fell apart from the inside, since it became more about door-to-door leaflet dropping and training for Prophesy seminars all year, instead of the activities that previously involved members and brought interest from the community. Now, yet another successor now comes in to fix the mess caused by the "everything evangelism" mentality, and he has to share the churches and here only every other week. I think that given our membership size, we can support our own pastor and some internally... yet it seems like the conference decides on the needs, and conference is never here or doesn't seem to know or care about individuals here. Neither do members know who the people at the top are, because they don't seem to travel, ask questions, talk about combined goals...etc. So, that process seems to be rather detached. I guess I understand the overarching justification for things being the way that they are.... but what happens when it doesn't work out so well? I'm not here to debate the validity of hierarchy. I just wonder if there are exceptions you aware of where more or less autonomous decisions for these issues are made at the level of churches themselves, and not the perceived view of conference level management, which seems to be rather detached.

I think I've discovered the source of global warming it's old Bessie LikeLike · · Share

Great EGW quote: "We should not take the testimony of anyone as to what the Scriptures teach, but we should study God’s words for ourselves. If we allow others to do our thinking for us, we shall have crippled energies and contracted abilities. Our mind’s noble powers may be so dwarfed by lack of exercise on themes worthy of our concentration that we may lose our ability to grasp the deep meaning of the word of God. Our mind will enlarge if it is employed in tracing out the relationships of the subjects of the Bible by comparing scripture with scripture and spiritual things with spiritual things." Steps to Christ

Joe, what you suggest, in my opinion, is setting the SDA church up for becoming the focus of such attacks. Yes, we may believe that such will eventually happen. I do not want to be engaging in activities that bring the about earlier than it otherwise would happen.

Karratha, Western Australia. in the local Aboriginal language the name Karratha means 'good country' or 'soft earth'.

In my own case I choose to abstain also, yet my decision was not based on any religious reasoning. Its evident that Jesus drank alcoholic wine from time to time, my personal theological belief there is that alcohol was likely used as a preservative to make the grape juice last for the full year. I suspect the alcholic content to be less than modern wines today however and I suspect that is why gluttony is often paralleled with drunkenness for sheer volume. I grew up in the Salvation Army and took various pledges not to drink alcohol, I left the SA as a young adult and became a moderate drinker, yet I never really enjoyed it. I went along on one occasion to a friends wedding where a drinking competition took place as it was all being supplied free of charge and I did not like how it ended and the following morning made my decision that I no longer wished to continue so I stopped, that was a number of years ago, joining the SDA this one was a non issue, but again not for religious reasons. A friend of mine is a psychologist who deals a lot with young adults and she tells me that its becoming common for her clients not to drink at all after having made similar decisions to myself that they did not wish to continue with it. Personally I have no problem with anyone that wants to drink moderately, sometimes its a case where common sense simply applies IMO.

Sorry, Jasper is a stone

American turned its back on God a long time ago: Legalized abortions= 80,000 v Native American Genocide = (let's be conservative) 10 million Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed 135,000 men, women and children in a matter of seconds. CIA inspired coup's, Support of despotic regimes all over the world. When God was in schools and public places many Americans could not vote or enjoy simple human dignities. Reading the Bible in school did not bring the nation closer to God it just gave a veneer of religiosity. Sin isn't just about sex it is about injustice, mistreating the poor, lying (saying its the land of the free when people are not free), using God's name in vain, (saying God bless America as you drop bombs on innocents to further your own economic interests). Only now has American gone away from God? You're kidding right. This goes for all the other countries in the world too. Not one has clean hands.

I think they won't. It will be close but I think the last minute push that's happened in the last few days will push the "no" camp over the top.

Very good point Joe M. I come to this forum for some balance. I'm glad it's here.

When the LEADERS of Judah rejected the message of Christ, the LORD sent the message to the Gentiles. And Jerusalem fell to "the nations". The "turning away" does not have to involve the ENTIRE POPULACE. The LEADERS of the nation represent the whole nation in the eyes of the LORD. Wrath came upon Israel when the LEADERS turned to idol worship. The LORD still had faithful individuals. Ahab tried to kill them. The faithful were in hiding. The leaders thru Jeremiah into a pit - to die there. Wrath will come upon the United States, WHEN her leaders pass laws forbidding God's faithful from keeping His law. We are getting close to that point. Schools will be forbidden from teaching intelligent design creation, or displaying the word "God" anywhere. Preachers will be forbidden from teaching one man/one woman "marriage". (Our language is gradually being changed.) Christian employers will be forced to pay for abortions, and will be forced to hire and serve those who mock the LORD, practice witchcraft, or other "abominations". The recent wave of "political correctness" will be used against us, by Muslim extremists, and the LORD will allow it. Wrath will fall hardest on the LEADERS, but the whole nation/s will suffer - just as Israel did. Respectfully Rachel Cory Prophecy Viewpoint

Well, then have we got a forum for you... http://clubadventist.com/forums/index.php?/forum/186-family-heritage/ It is brand shiny new, and moderated by Rudywoof. Rudywoof is always coming up with fascinating things about her family history and has discovered that she is even related to other forum members. I think it started off with a DNA sample, but she can explain all that. ENJOY this. http://clubadventist.com/forums/index.php?/forum/186-family-heritage/

I drank foolishly (is there any other way) when in the service overseas but on learning what God thought of it, not being past getting sick every time I drank it was easy to succumb to God's reasoning as to its' detrimental affects and I dropped all use of alcoholic beverage use. Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise. Prov 20:1 God is Love! Jesus saves!

Basically, I just have more reasons not to drink than to drink.

There was no drinking in my parents' house. However, at family reunions and things the alcohol flowed freely, I always thought it stunk and made the "adults" act stupid. After I was out of the house I tried wine coolers, but they made me dizzy and I did not like that feeling. Oh and I was raised SDA, and we are about the only branch in my family that are.

I don't care to be around those who drink while they are drinking. So --- I am sure people would not like to be around me while I was drinking. So --- WHY drink?

90 year old Moishe is on his death bed. His wife Rochel and their three grown up sons are grief-stricken and have even called in their rabbi to say some prayers. As they all huddle around Moishe's bed, Moishe suddenly asks, in a croaky voice, "Is my eldest son Avrahom here?" "Yes dad," says Avrahom, "I'm here." "And is my son Yosef here as well?" asks Moishe. "Yes dad," replies Yosef, "I'm also here." "And what about Shmuel, my youngest son," asks Moishe. "Where is he?" "I'm here dad," replies Shmuel, "I'm standing right next to the bed looking at you." "Well," croaks Moishe, "if Avrahom is here and Yosef is here and Shmuel is here, who's minding our store?!"

Yes. I retired on February 28 after 50 years of service for God & Country. You can read about that, if you wish, in "Members Milestones" and then "Gregory Matthews' REtirement. I thank you for your good wishes.

Pam, your 2 cents is actually worth 5 cents. Do not underestimate yourself. You are correct.

**snort** the Satanic Temple of Detroit sounds more like a fluffy bunny group of activists who use the "Satanic" name and image for "shock" appeal to get a reaction from people, rather than for any meaningful relationship to Satan.. the "Satanic churches" to worry about are *not* the ones that are seen, are loud and are obnoxious; rather, the ones that are *under* the radar are the dangerous ones... most Christians will not have a clue that they are around..

Tom and I come from different backgrounds and therefore different perspectives. So, it is possible that we may not always agree. Regardless, I will welcome any perspective that he might want to share as it will contribute to the conversation.