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I'm willing to accept the decision of the world church in General Conference in the matter of women's ordination. Let it be settled there, finally, in 2015. I'd hate to see it put to a vote at every GC if one side or the other does not get the decision they want.

So after the close of probation, Jesus ceases to be my Savior? That I will then be left alone to make it to heaven on my own? You might want to look at what sin is again, before you advance the thought that you can live a totally sinless life. What does that say about a God who demands total sinlessess from a person who was "conceived in sin", who lives in a "body of sin", whose every "member" is "indwelt" by sin, to now live sinlessly on his own? That is NOT good news. That is contrary to the 3 angels' messages which are supposed to be about the righteousness of Christ, and NOT about me standing on my own righteousness. Also, bear in mind that after probation closes, the judgment is OVER! The saints will have been vindicated and no further charges can be brought against them once the verdict has been pronounced!

Hard times are coming to us all... But now is the time to cling to Jesus and pray for His meek spirit. He told us: Some people will go through hard times and become more bitter and Satanic. But for the righteous, the fires of trial and persecution are God's character purifiers.

First of all, great to "see" you back with us. I was just wondering about you a few days ago. I too would hate for this to keep coming back.The difficulty of this vote as with each one before it is that it is not directly a vote for or against WO if those who vote read the proposed action carefully. It is more about who gets to decide and if it is OK now for some to go forward on the issue without everyone else doing so. The implication of past votes was similarly a vote of "Not now" or No you can't do if the rest are not ready for it. There has not been a Session action of any sort specifically on WO since 1881 when the resolution in favor of WO was voted and and referred to the Executive Committee. I think that until they have simple yes or no vote on WO, it will keep coming back. The problem was the lack of strong consensus on WO by the GC TOSC. The proposed action to be voted on Wednesday acknowledges that sad fact. The action is framed reflecting the honest differences on the issue and that because Scriptural support for or against it is not conclusive, the real consensus by a very clear majority of TOSC effectively favors allowing for diversity of opinion and practice on the issue of WO. What has disheartened me and many others is the persistent effort by those decidedly against WO to reframe the proposed action as only about WO, as if a yes vote is a vote for WO for everyone and a no vote is a firm and final vote of nor to WO for everyone for all time.

No one will be saved by others' merit. It is only you, you alone with relationship with Jesus will save you. I do not have much doubt that Pope Francis is fit to the prophesy by EGW., however, you should plan things as though you are going to live here on earth another thousand years.

Don't underestimate God's ability to work a good end to even a lie. I am in the church today because my first contact agreed to baptise my baby when I asked. He did qualify by offering me Bible studies first, but if he had refused me who knows where I would have turned. I am reminded of Corrie Ten Boom's story of hiding Jews during WWII. Her sister would never tell a lie under any circumstances... When the Gestapo arrived and demanded to know where the refugees were hiding, the sister said, Under the table. They were under the floorboards. Corrie in a similar situation never betrayed her wards by her words, believing in the greater principle of saving lives of the oppressed. God honored BOTH women by helping them in their distress. That really spoke to me.

I copied and pasted it here. I have enjoyed going to various Korean eateries. One thing I did with a Korean friend is told him that I wanted it as hot as it could be, he laughed because only Koreans can handle it. It just about killed me but I never flenched. As soon as i could talk again, I told him, that is not really that hot. (yet it jut about killed me, and he never knew)

Are you American??? If so, be advised that I am also American. Born and raised a 5th generation on both sides -- and in MY culture, it's offensive and aggressive.

As long as we are living in this "body of sin" or "body of death", we will continue to sin, although I believe that by grace we can come to the point where we will no longer willfully/intentionally/rebelliously violate God's .law. Sinless living can only come when we are given a glorified, sinless body.

Good advice Douglass. If it's not a salvation issue then don't let it distract you from your relationship with our Lord. God is still in control.

Might be of interest to some.

Ted Wilson was re-elected in a landslide 90% in favor vote at the GC session 2015 in San Antonio! http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story2898-ted-n.c.-wilson-re-elected-gc-president-in-landslide-vote Prayers answered - God is to be praised! Nice! in Christ, Bob

"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death."

Adventist Review said: "Delegates overwhelmingly elected incumbent General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson to another five years in office on Friday. An estimated 90 percent of the some 2,400 delegates voted in favor of keeping Wilson in his position as leader of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference after a 37-minute discussion at the General Conference session in San Antonio, Texas." http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story2898-ted-n.c.-wilson-re-elected-gc-president-in-landslide-vote Advindicate reports it this way "Mwansa called for a vote. “Those in favor of the motion, us on the floor, as read, from the nominating committee, please show by raising your yellow cards.” The air filled with cards above an overwhelming majority of delegates. “Thank you. Those opposed by the same,” said Mwansa. A localized smattering went up with the same sign. The motion was carried by a landslide. " http://advindicate.com/articles/2015/7/4/nad-delegates-display-disapproval-but-wilson-still-wins-by-landslide

Put a little "HOT SOUCE" in souerkraut, you will make Korean "Kimchi" out of German food. Actually, the souerkraut was originated in China, I think. When some asked me where I am from I am delighted because I feel he is interested in knowing about me. It also makes me feel good when someone asked me if I ever gone back home as this starts a whole new conversation and let him be educated about what Korea was and is. I wish more people ask me these questions.

We don't have to have faith in our church, our church cannot save us, and never has saved anyone. Our faith can safely rest in Jesus, fastened on the all powerful promises of His word. We can look away from all the failures of other's, away from the failures of our church, and the failures within ourselves, and look to Jesus who never failed and who will never fail. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to the Father in Jesus name, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for Them Hebrews 7:25

Wow! What a story about the frightened mother shooting her children and herself! We just never know a heart, how tortured it may be We live in turbulent times, but God knows it and the Bible has warned us. Acts 20:29 warns us that wolves will enter among our own people. But God has promised never to leave us nor forsake (abandon) us. Jesus said that He will give us rest. You may have to face difficult situations on your own. It is a jumbled up time, with some folk leaving the church and some coming in, but God has all in His hands and you are safe in Him.

I wasn't really sure, so I looked up the spelling for myself too.

You mean sauerkraut?

July 5, 1985 was the official birth of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. Now it has become a full-fledged department in the NAD and is separate from, but under the department in the GC. People from 168 countries have registered with the GC. Many are simply visitors with no official function who only want to see what is happening in their Church. Some visitors have come from China.

Total sinlessness, Bob? A total useless pursuit of a chimera. It is a subtle Galatianism, imho. Starting with the Spirit while Jesus is still at work as a Mediator and then ending up with the flesh when probation closes? "By faith are saved by grace...." a "process that begins by faith and ends in faith," "looking to Jesus the author AND finisher of our faith." The perfect righteousness of Christ is our only ticket to heaven, yesterday, now, and after the close of probation.

"In trying to correct others, we too often arouse their combativeness, and thus do more harm than good." Colporteur Evangelist, p. 67

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Rev 13:18. That verse is in the bible. It didn't come from the writings of Ellen White. It was not thought up in some SDA committee. It is from the bible. And it means something. The all knowing, all power God and creator of the universe put it there for a reason. Taken in context with the other biblical evidence in Revelation 13, and also in the book of Daniel this verse leads me to believe that 666 indicates the pope as the anticrhist, along with the other biblical evidence indicating the same.

The percentages of the nominating committee and the vote from the floor differed. I am not sure which is which..

The figure that you have cited is in dispute. In any case, it is doubtful that anyone knows the exact figure.

It may appear that some folks mock the light that God gives by their speculations. But when honest questions or proposals are given, it requires an honest investigation. IMHO it is not a matter of the old being right or wrong. Present Truth changes. For example: circumcision was Present Truth from Abraham until Christ. When Christ fulfilled the law regarding circumcision, the Present Truth was that it is not required now. The papacy fits the 666 scenario. That was Present Truth when it was discovered. But does light stop there? " Others were careless and did not cherish the light and it moved off from them... And I did not see one ray of light pass from Jesus to the careless multitude after he rose up, and they were left in perfect darkness." {DS, March 14, 1846 par. 1} "That God did abundantly bless the students in the school and the church, I have not one doubt; but a period of great light and the outpouring of the Spirit is quite generally followed by a time of great darkness. Why? Because the enemy works with all his deceiving energies to make of none effect the deep movings of the Spirit of God on the human subject." {1SM 130.2} "Satan will present his temptations until the light will appear as darkness, and many will reject the very truth that would have proved the saving of their souls. Those who walk in its rays will find it growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." {RH, September 3, 1889 par. 16} "'The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' The Christian's life is one of progression. He goes forward from strength to strength, from grace to grace, from glory to glory, receiving from Heaven the light which Christ, at infinite cost to himself, made it possible for man to obtain. But the Christian cannot let his light shine properly unless he receives, day by day, an increase of the divine illumination, corresponding with his growth in the knowledge of Bible truth. It would be as inconsistent to expect to be sustained on the morrow by food eaten today, as to depend on present light and present blessings for future strength." {ST, February 10, 1887 par. 14} The light on the papal 666 was Present Truth for yesterday, yesterday's meal. It is true and it had its purpose, but if we stop there, how will we understand what we need to know as the coming of our Lord draws near? Surely if we take the attitude that that is all there is, we will stunt our growth. "Accountable beings must walk in the light that shines upon them. If they fail to do this, their light becomes darkness, and their darkness is great according to the degree that their light was abundant. Accumulated light has shone upon God's people. Many have neglected to follow the light, and for this reason are in a state of great spiritual weakness." {RH, August 31, 1886 par. 3}

Very short video on the origin of races and skin colours beginning with Adam and Eve, through to Noah and his family and the rest of us today!

One interesting consideration is that it might be meant as an allusion to King Solomon, a wise ruler ("here is wisdom") who nevertheless turned bad, and started raising taxes, collecting 666 talents of gold per year by a certain point. (1 Kings 10:14, 2 Chronicles 9:13). So, one possible interpretation is that it will be a world leader who will be compared to Solomon.

That is a good testimony JoeMo ... thanks for sharing! We often tend to overlook God's leading and sometimes what I consider minor miracles. We look for the big flashes and overlook what saved us from being burned.

Well, if I go into another culture I'll certainly take this into advisement. Until then? I'll completely ignore it. In Rome do as the Romans do. In my culture I'll do what is acceptable in my culture. For someone outside my own culture to enter my culture and expect me to understand all their culture mores and take offense because I don't is an unreasonable expectation on their part, not on mine. This is simply political correctness run amok, once more, for I wouldn't expect them to honor all aspects of my culture inside theirs. That would be an unreasonable expectation on my part.

I have had things happen to me that could ONLY be by God's leading. Many times I don't even realize it until I look back on it in retrospect. I'll sometimes do or say things that are very atypical for me; and wonder why I am doing it. Later, I'll see the benefit and think "Hmmm; I wonder if God led me to do that?" I will readily answer "YES!" and give Him the glory and thanks. I'd rather just assume that it came from God rather than think how wonderful I am. Keeps me humble and keeps God in control.

Judging from recent programming featuring personal testimonies, that is where many of us start out. Where we end up reveals whether that is a problem in our lives. 8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.....Philippians 4 God is Love! Jesus saves!

Just came across this EG White quote: "Sunday, August 27. Today we are to...speak to those who want to hear the words of truth. I have thought how profitable it would be to have minute men, laborers together with God, who would be instant in season and out of season. The Lord's work is not to stand on ceremony, with a precise time to be observed for every line of work. When a great and decisive work is to be done, God chooses men and women to do this work, and it will feel the loss if the talents of both are not combined." {17MR 218.1}

Some of the more interesting things found in this book are...... How many of these tactics can be denied. It is a little interesting that Justice Keagan responded in her confirmation hearings that "gay marriage" was not a constitutional right Desensitization: Talking about Gays and Gayness as Loudly and as Often as Possible And I quote: “To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of keen emotion.Desensitization aims at lowering the intensity of antigay emotional reactions to a level approximating sheer indifference. The principle behind this advice is simple. Almost any behavior begins to look normal if you are exposed to enough of it at close quarters and among your acquaintances. The acceptability of the new behavior will ultimately hinge on the number of one’s fellows doing it or accepting it. The way to benumb raw sensibilities about homosexuality is to have a lot of people talk a great deal about the subject in a neutral or supportive way. The masses should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex should be downplayed and gay rights should be reduced to an abstract social question as much as possible. Novelties cease to be novel if they just stick around long enough; they also cease to activate alerting mechanisms. You’ll have noted this in your own life: if you hear a protracted, earsplitting mechanical screech, you’ll either be so alarmed, or so annoyed, that you’ll be forced to take action; if you hear a softer–though, perhaps, nonetheless annoying–sound, like the ticking of a clock, and can’t shut it off, you will, eventually, shut it out, and may cease to hear it altogether. Apply this to the problem of homohatred. If gays present themselves– or allow themselves to be presented–as overwhelmingly different and threatening, they will put straights on a triple-red alert, driving them to overt acts of political oppression or physical violence. If, however, gays can live alongside straights, visibly but as inoffensively as possible, they will arouse a low-grade alert only, which, though annoying to straights, will eventually diminish. Straights will be desensitized.” And I quote: “While public opinion is one primary source of mainstream values, religious authority is the other. When conservative churches condemn gays, there are only two things we can do to confound the homophobia of true believers. First we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretation of Biblical teaching and exposing hatred and inconsistency. We can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated and backwards, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings of psychology.” Another popular strategy used to undermine the moral authority of Christian churches is to repeatedly point out the moral failings of churches and their leaders. Unfortunately, there are more than enough of such moral failings to keep the gay activists supplied with fresh ammunition. Jamming: Creating an “Incompatible Emotional Response” And I quote: “In Jamming, the target is shown a bigot being rejected by his crowd for his prejudice against gays. The ‘incompatible emotional response’ is directed primarily against the emotional rewards of prejudicial solidarity. All normal people feel shame when they perceive that they are not thinking, feeling, or acting like one of the pack. The trick is to get the bigot into the position of feeling a conflicting twinge of shame, along with his reward, whenever his homohatred surfaces, so that his reward will be diluted or spoiled. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways,all making use of repeated exposure to pictorial images or verbal statements that are incompatible with his self-image as a well-liked person, one who fits in with the rest of the crowd. Thus,propagandistic advertisement can depict homophobic and homohating bigots being criticized, hated, shunned. It can depict gays experiencing horrific suffering as the direct result of homohatred–suffering of which even most bigots would be ashamed to be the cause. It can, in short, link homohating bigotry with all sorts of attributes the bigot would be ashamed to possess, and with social consequences he would find unpleasant and scary. The attack, therefore, is on self-image and on the pleasure in hating. Remember, a bigot seeks approval and liking from ‘his crowd.’ When he sees someone like himself being disapproved of and disliked by ordinary Joes, he will feel just what they feel –and transfer it to himself. This wrinkle effectively elicits shame and doubt, Jamming any pleasure he might normally feel. Our effect is achieved without reference to facts, logic, or proof.” Examples of “Jamming” would include: 1) the repeated use of name-calling, e.g., “bigot”, “liar”, “fundie”, “bible-thumper” and “homophobe” to create a feeling of shame; and 2) the repeated use of potentially disturbing accusations, e.g., “you are part of an ever-dwindling minority”, “more and more churches are supporting gay rights”, “you’re losing” and “all of the mental health and medical associations say that there is nothing wrong or bad about being gay”, all of which are designed to make the opposition – such as born-again Christians — feel isolated, marginalized and out of the mainstream of society; 3) derogatory references to God as “your mythical sky fairy” and to His Word as the “buy-bull”; and 4) witness this trail of vitriolic comments from a single commenter concerning just one article re. homosexuality published on a Christian website… “You have no right to interfere with the secular political culture of this country.” “You can believe this nonsense all you like but do it behind closed doors and in the privacy of your own homes and churches.” “I don’t want to hear another word about your weird cultish beliefs in the streets and public squares.” “All religious evangelism is assault.” “Americans do not share your views anymore.” “You are a reactionary post-modern convulsion.” Portray Gays as Victims, Not as Aggressive Challengers And I quote: “Gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector. If gays are presented, instead, as a strong and prideful tribe promoting a rigidly nonconformist and deviant lifestyle, they are more likely to be seen as a public menace that justifies resistance and oppression. For that reason, we must forego the temptation to strut our ‘gay pride’ publicly when it conflicts with the Gay Victim image. A media campaign to promote the Gay Victim image should make use of symbols which reduce the mainstream’s sense of threat, which lower its guard, and which enhance the plausibility of victimization. In practical terms, this means thatsympathetic figures of nice young people, old people, and attractive women would be featured.” And I quote:“The mainstream should be told that gays are victims of fate, in the sense that most never had a choice to accept or reject their sexual preference. The message must read: ‘As far as gays can tell, they were born gay, just as you were born heterosexual or white or black or bright or athletic. They never made a choice, and are not morally blameworthy. What they do isn’t willfully contrary –it’s only natural for them. This twist of fate could as easily have happened to you! Straight viewers must be able to identify with gays as victims. To this end, the persons featured in the public campaign should be decent and upright, appealing and admirable by straight standards, completely unexceptionable in appearance.” Witness here the bombardment of our visual media – TV, movies, comics, theater — with homosexual characters looking entirely normal and being fully approved and admired by heterosexual characters, and the continuing (bogus) claims that homosexuals are “born Gay.” Give Heterosexual Protectors a Just Cause And I quote: “Our campaign should not demand direct support for homosexual practices, but should instead take anti-discrimination as its theme. The right to free speech, freedom of beliefs, freedom of association, due process and equal protection of laws–these should be the concerns brought to mind by our campaign. It is especially important for the gay movement to hitch its cause to accepted standards of law and justice because its straight supporters must have at hand a cogent reply to the moral arguments of its enemies. The homophobes clothe their emotional revulsion in the daunting robes of religious dogma, so defenders of gay rights must be ready to counter dogma with principle.” Familiar examples would include couching “gay marriage” in terms of “civil rights”, insisting on adoption “rights” for homosexual couples and demanding that openly gay boys and teens be welcomed into the Boy Scouts of America because “it’s not their fault” that they like boys. All of these issues are being promoted in the name of “equality”, and mainstream America is buying into it. Conversion: Make Gays Look Good to the Public And I quote: “In order to offset the increasingly bad press that these times have brought to homosexual men and women, the campaign should paint gays as superior pillars of society: ‘Did you know that this Great Man (or Woman) was ____?’ We are safest, in the long run, if we can actually make them like us. Conversion aims at just this. We mean conversion of the average American’s emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media. In Conversion, the bigot, who holds a very negative stereotypic picture, is repeatedly exposed to literal picture/label pairs, in magazines, and on billboards and TV, of gay- explicitly labeled as such!–who not only don’t look like his picture of a homosexual, but are carefully selected to look either like the bigot and his friends, or like any one of his other stereotypes of all-right guys– the kind of people he already likes and admires.The image must be that of an icon of normality.” And I quote: “The objection will be raised that we are exchanging one false stereotype for another equally false; that our ads are lies; that that is not how all gays actually look; that gays know it, and bigots know it. Yes, of course–we know it, too. But it makes no difference that the ads are lies; not to us, because we’re using them to ethically good effect. In Conversion, the target is shown his crowd actually associating with gays in good fellowship. Once again, it’s very difficult for the average person, who, by nature and training, almost invariably feels what he sees his fellows feeling, not to respond in this knee-jerk fashion to a sufficiently calculated advertisement.” Make the Anti-gay Victimizers Look Bad And I quote: “At a later stage of the media campaign for gay rights it will be time to get tough with remaining opponents. To be blunt, they must be vilified. Our goal here is twofold. First, we seek to replace the mainstream’s self-righteous pride about its homophobia with shame and guilt. Second, we intend to make the antigays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types. The public should be shown images of ranting homophobes whose secondary traits and beliefs disgust middle America. These images might include: the Ku Klux Klan demanding that gays be burned alive or castrated; bigoted southern ministersdrooling with hysterical hatred to a degree that looks both comical and deranged; a tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed. A common tactic used nowadays to vilify born-again Christians is to claim that the Bible approves of slavery, polygamy, incest, etc., in order to portray Christians as rank “cherry picking” hypocrites for selectively condemning the practice of homosexuality. Another common tactic is “jamming”, as described above, where born-again Christians, in particular, are constantly subjected to name-calling, e.g., “bigot”, “liar”, “fundie”, “bible-thumper” and “homophobe.” And, of course, this strategy depends entirely upon the eager cooperation of our mainstream, liberal media – TV, movies, magazines, newspapers, comics, theater, billboards and the internet. And, as you will see below, even Christian online magazines are joining in. The Legacy Lives On Present day gay activists vehemently deny both any knowledge of Kirk and Madsen and the influence of Kirk and Madsen on the strategies of today’s homosexual movement. They do this because they don’t want the dark and sinister underbelly of the homosexual movement to be exposed to the heterosexual majority. That would hinder their goal of winning the hearts and minds of the heterosexual majority to their agenda. But much of what they are actually doing to further their “gay agenda” is proof positive that they are both the progeny and the legacy of these two pioneers of the homosexual movement. I cited many present day, and all too familiar, examples of this in the sections above, and you can read many, many more examples by clicking HERE and reading the comments at the end of the article. The actions and the words of gay activists themselves demonstrate that the legacy of Kirk and Madsen does, in fact, live on. The Use of Christian Websites to Attack Born-again Christians I have personally investigated more than a dozen Christian online magazines that allow readers to comment on their feature articles, and almost every one of them permits gay activists to freely use these very same psychological attacks, via their Comments, against the born-again Christians who are among their readers and commenters. These publications are free to filter comments any way they want to; the First Amendment does not prohibit them from doing so. Now, I don’t know if the editors of these magazines are simply not aware that the homosexual movement is using them in this way – as a Trojan Horse, in effect — to attack born-again Christians; or if, perhaps, they already know this, but have their reasons to permit it anyway. But I do know this: everything is done for a reason, but not everything that is done has an excuse. And I do know that born-again Christians should be able to read Comments on Christian magazine websites without being subjected to psychological attacks by gay activists.

Since I look different, I consider it natural that white people would ask me where I came from, especially since there is still a tinge of foreigness in my speech. But what bugs me sometimes is when they ask me if I ever go home even after learning that I've lived here 59 yrs!

Certainly I can appreciate your position, I still cannot see that if asked in a "polite, get-to-know-you" manner that it would be considered aggression. Having been in several countries and lived for a while in one I had lots of people ask my origin. Even living in this local people often ask, "Where you from?" Perhaps I am just dense and don't think of it as anything out of the ordinary.

While a bit of humor in the video, it is over-the-top in making it's point. I'm not sure aggressive is the word I would use for his behavior .. perhaps rude be a more accurate description.

I see no reason to change the belief. I don't think we need to be dogmatic about it but it is a good and sound possibility.

Hi Naomi Our Sabbath school teacher, who happens to be a working chaplain at the local hospital, referred his class to Timothy Jennings as a very good source of spiritual reference online through a webpage entitled "ComeandReason ministry that might be of interest to you. I haven't explored it enough yet to know all of what the benefits might include but I did run into a page that contrasted by parallel lists, the law of sin and death along side the law of life or something like that. I failed to bookmark it but was very impressed at its' easy access to some highly enlightened thoughts. His name can be googled but maybe these two URLs might be a good start for what I'm satisfied you could benefit from. I will remember you in prayer that Jesus reveal His will for your assurance and comfort. A thought was expressed by the evangelist Ron Halvorsen (SDA) that gave me some reason to hope. He said, "When I look at myself I can't see how I can ever be saved. When I look at Jesus, I can't see how I could ever be lost." And I'm of the same opinion. Keep looking up. http://comeandreason.com/index.php/media-center/love-truth-freedom/2-the-cosmic-conflict http://comeandreason.com/index.php/media-center/love-truth-freedom/2-the-cosmic-conflict God is Love! Jesus saves! 13No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthian 10 God is Love! Jesus saves!

Romans tells us that we have all fallen short of the mark; and that none of us is righteous - no; not even one. We are told that us trying to change our nature is like a leopard trying to change its spots. It is impossible for us to live sinless lives under our own power. That's where grace comes in. Grace - besides being unmerited favor, is the power to overcome. Does that mean we will overcome? In my opinion, overcoming is a process guided by the Holy Spirit. If any of you are like me; the Holy Spirit has a myriad of issues that He and I work on together - but He sets the priorities. I don't think He'll be finished with me before I die; I don't think we can be truly perfected until this mortal body is changed to immortal. God is much more driven by a loving relationship than He is by perfect compliance to His covenant. Peter says that love covereth over a multitude of sin. Example - when the woman was caught in adultery, who was the only one qualified (i.e., He who was without sin) to throw the first stone? Jesus! Did He throw it? Did He condemn her? No; He forgave her. So it is with us. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. Do you want to be with Jesus in His Kingdom forever? Get to know Him now. Dwell not on your own shortcomings; but on His majesty, perfection, and goodness. Be beholding Him; we will become changed. We don't overcome sin by force of will and self-effort. We overcome by resting in Him and trusting in His mercy and goodness. We sin when we take our focus off of Him and start looking at self.

I had the honor to know Jenny. She was a Senior at AUC my freshman year and our Norwegian Heritage and language formed a connection. Her thought affected my thought. Our theology department would describe her as "The best man in the ministerial program." I wish her ministry was not so short. But she was truly anointed by God.

The answer may depend in part on one's understanding of the Biblical doctrine of sin: The Bible, as I understand it teaches that God does NOT charge one with sin where the Holy Spirit has not convicted one on that point. On this point, the technical answer may be "yes." But, an aspect of sin is that which is outside of the will of God. In our humanity we can never fully understand all that God has in mind for us. From this perspective the answer is a resounding "no!" And, probably the early years of eternity will involve us learning of God what we could not learn in our human life.

If people are not ready to hear the truth they will lash out at the preacher, teacher or Christ himself By the same token, on a personal non spiritual level try to tell a smoker who does not want to quit that they should stop. Often you should run for cover .....

I see the ordination paper of Ellen White, however, why do I hear some say that her grandson denies Ellen White ever ordained ?

I don't recall ever having serious objections to having women ministers, especially after looking into what scripture had to say about it. My issue is with conferences who took it upon themselves to ignore what the world church had decided in a general conference session which, according to God's messenger, is the voice of God on earth.

Yes, Walter Rea who's thinking got all messed up because he wanted the Bible and Mrs. White to fit nicely into his presuppositions of how inspiration was supposed to work and was all frustrated because the Bible and Mrs. White did not meet his expectations. Instead of yielding his expectations to the standard presented in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, he threw them out because they did not fit the views he followed which was presented in the Philadelphia 1919 Bible Conference and the 1923 General Conference. If we made a different choice in the 1923 General Conference, either he would not have gotten so confused and taken down so many people with him. Or he would not have been a part of us and life would have moved on with out his attacks.

​You're going to be waiting a long time if you're going to wait for the Obama administration to be honest. In my opinion you'll be waiting until pigs fly for that to happen.

With regard to the undue importance some are putting on the lack of evidence of the ritual of the laying on of hands to ordain EGW, I have sometimes pointed out that there is a similar lack of any evidence of that ceremony being performed at the appointment/ordination of many, if not most, of the early Adventist leaders and ministers. But another thought similarly came to my mind just recently. When Jesus appointed the twelve apostles, there is no mention of Jesus laying his hands on them when he did that. Nor is there any mention of him doing so when he sent out the 70. There is mention of him laying his hands on the sick when he healed them. And he layed his hands on the children when he blessed them. (Did he accidentally ordain them by placing his hands on them?)