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In today's culture, a lot of people crave personal interaction. I tried for years to bring people to church by passing out tracts and inviting people to SDA evangelistic series. It never worked. A couple years ago, God "made" me start a Bible Study at work. What started out hesitantly has evolved into a small group - much closer than an office Bible study. We pray together, study together, and cry/laugh together. We are all so blessed! What is so cool is that I don't even need to preach Adventism. They discover the things we believe through our study and conversation! So far, God has brought us a JW (now a former JW) and a very open-minded Catholic! I'm so blessed that God can use a dirtbag like me! This way is much more effective (at least in personal evangelism) than mass mailing.

It's a new day!!

I'm beginning to realize that the knowledge of 'the truth' will likely only have superficial results compared to knowing and allowing 'the Truth' to live within us, and change us in a way where we are different in how we respond to day to day living.

Another thing to keep in mind is that mass mailings are impersonal. There is a difference between books you get from someone you’ve met, and the stuff you get in your mailbox. Most of us aren’t afraid of throwing stuff away that we’ve never asked for, but we rarely will throw away a book we get from Aunt Selma. She might after all come on an unannounced visit... Sometimes I get pocket books in my mail, (cheap pulp fiction) and I promptly throw that stuff away. I never asked for it, and I’m not interested in that stuff. There is a similar danger when it comes to mass mailing the GC. On the other hand, in some countries it is really difficult to get hold of adventist literature, and people generally can’t afford books. So why not fund giveaways in African nations? Isn’t it better to give books to people who actually would love to read them, instead of mailing out books to people who throw them into the trash?

Ahhhh. So you're saying that anyone born of a "virgin birth" - without the male "seed" - Y chromosome - CANNOT BE the Messiah. Well - that certainly eliminates Jesus Christ. Then why - in Genesis 3, did the LORD say that the promised one - the one to crush the serpent's head - would be the seed of a woman? Genesis 3:15 [spoken to the Serpent] "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

I've always wondered why people take apart the Bible and EGW for their 'end time', 'last days' or 'last whomever' predictions when Christ said it was useless and EGW says the same. Somehow those words are always missing or reinterpreted to not really mean that. Of course the predictors will say, 'but I'm not saying the exact day' as a way to get off that hook. Quite honestly, it is no wonder that many peoples take us as a cult...of course that can happen to any person or group. Live your life to the fullest, as if each day is your last and know your salvation is assured.

I'm going to heaven!!!

Here I would disagree. I do not believe God the Father ever came to anyone on this earth UNTIL His Son incarnated. Then He did "draw" men to Jesus. "There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ." This mediation began when Eve ate the fruit. When Adam sinned, the human race was "cut off" from God the Father - UNTIL His Son incarnated. The LORD who visited Abraham, the LORD who spoke with Moses, the Commander of the LORD's army who appeared to Joshua, the LORD who appeared to Ezekiel, was the pre-incarnate son of God. Jesus said, "No man has seen the Father." The Son of God was the "spirit" which convicted human beings of right and wrong, up to the incarnation of the Christ. After the Son of God was "glorified" by His Father, He then poured out His own spirit presence. Personally, I do AGREE that "God is spirit". I am not a trinitarian. I believe that God became a "Father" when He beget a Son in His "express image". I worship God the Father as supreme. And I worship Jesus BECAUSE God has told us to worship His Son. I do not worship a third divine Being.

I know when i spend more time in meditation and prayer, and letting jesus touch my thinking and my motives... that i am different... and when i don't my thorns cut those around me easily too easily. i need a miracle to be a representative of heaven. am i about me, or am I about Jesus, this is the question..... this is a hurting dying world in need desperately in need of the life giving kindness, patience, mercy... and strength of Jesus. i am selfish, deeply selfish and that is all those around me will read written upon my being... unless heaven writes something better.

All people need a mediator/savior/redeemer. The question is whether or not they realize that they need one. But Jesus is the Mediator between God and all who seek Him.

I agree, personal evangelism is better than most forms of witnessing.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. -American Declaration of Independence 1776 ps:So how true was that statement/quote??

Strong's Concordance: 07620 [;Wbv' shabuwa` {shaw-boo'-ah} or [;buv' shabua` {shaw-boo'-ah} also (fem.) shebu`ah {sheb-oo-aw'} Meaning: 1) seven, period of seven (days or years), heptad, week 1a) period of seven days, a week 1a1) Feast of Weeks 1b) heptad, seven (of years) NIV actually translates it as "sevens" or "seven" in Daniel 9. Daniel 9:27 "He will confirm a covenant with many for one seven" (NIV).

How do I handle abuse? .....Hummm I attempt to consider the source. If it appears to be worth the effort, I attempt to respond in a calm voice and with non threatening words. If, in my opinion, there appears to be nothing to be accomplished I simply dust my feet and walk away.

The snow is ending

I think that someone might pick up and read a well-written magazine that can point them in the right direction, that of wanting to get to know God and his Kingdom better. Back in the days in which I never attended any church, when I went to the laundromat to wash clothes, I would read a tract if someone left one there. I don't think that what was written was anything that could wake me up, but at least I was exposed to what some believed about the Kingdom. Maybe literature is more of a seed-sowing adventure which lacks the power needed to transform a life until the human element is added. Without the seeds there can be no life, and without the human element there can be no life.

It's not a direct quote, but I'll understand if it breaks the rules here and the thread is deleted. I often hear comments like "He's a nasty piece of work, although he's a Christian". I hear it so often, though, that I feel as though the automatic assumption that being a Christian means being a good or nice person no longer really holds. Of course, a huge number of Christians are good and/or nice. But the automatic assumption...? I'm not so sure. (This is not about pointing fingers at others: I'm all too aware three point back at me. As a Christian, am *I* good and nice?)

Jesus died for me

We get all kinds of garbage in the mail, that really is junk! I for one would welcome The Great Controversy. I can remember growing up and wanting nothing to do with her books, but when I finally got around to reading GC, I must've been around 30, I couldn't put it down. Other than the Bible, its the best book I've ever read!!

You make a very bold assertion, especially given what God's own Word says of the so-called wisdom of man: "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men." (1 Corinthians 3:19-21) God knows how little man knows.

The uncertainty is *not* due to instrumental error or imprecision, it seems to be a fundamental feature of reality. God knows that.

As ever, I'm fully aware that 3 fingers are pointing back at me.

If light had no mass, why is its trajectory bent by a gravitational field? Basically, the "light has no mass" assumption is based on the fact that its mass is immeasurably small. We don't have instrumentation sensitive enough to assess it. If the mass were much larger than it is, getting hit by photons traveling at the speed of light would be a rather uncomfortable experience indeed. From the hubblesite.org website: In other words, scientists admittedly are working here with mere theories. They do not know how this all works, and they admit it. But it all makes sense to me, although I, like them, would have no way of measuring the actual mass of a photon of light. Basically, just as with electrons, looking at objects this small challenges scientists in very practical ways. We are limited by our equipment and technical ability. With the electron, scientists claim that the more they know about its velocity, the less they know about its position, and vice versa. This is Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. You can read more about it here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-uncertainty/. Essentially, all modern so-called quantum physics is based on this "uncertainty." But whereas man may be "uncertain," I rest assured that God is not. God knows everything at the same time. Man is simply too limited by practical aspects. We don't have any way to measure certain things that are really beyond our scope, so we develop, as did Einstein, mathematical formulae attempting to convey great knowledge and wisdom to "explain" certain things that we call "relative" and "uncertain." The very vocabulary used by physicists tells us that we simply do not know.

The sad thing Jeannieb43, is all these prophecies have already been laid out for us by EGW, Doug Batchelor, Steve Wohlberg, Sean Boonstra, Lonnie Meleshenko(sp), J.M. Hoffman, Steven Bohr, George Vandeman, Kenneth Cox, etc., I could name a few more, but I'll leave it with these few. Who have studied for more years than anyone else, but we seem to insist they can't possible be right!! We have to come up with different interpretations!!

That "something" in my opinion is the cosmic disturbances described in Joel 2:30-31: "I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Also see Joel 3:15-16); Matt:24:29-31: "Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other." See also Mark 13:24-26, Acts2:19-20, Rev 8:12. All these verses and many more prophecy cosmic disturbances immediately before the great and terrible Day of the Lord; which will include the seven bowls/vials of God's wrath. I believe this could be caused by a meteor or strike on the planet. I'm grateful that the church will be taken off of the planet prior to the wrath of God falling on the unrepentant! In my opinion, this "pre-wrath (NOT pre-trib) rapture" will be the close of probation.

Personally I love GC and I'm a bookworm, but I must admit that I'm undecided about all of this. Here is an article that is kind of relevant... It's about children and reading, but similar trends are seen in relation to adults. Sharp decline in children reading for pleasure, survey finds http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/09/decline-children-reading-pleasure-survey We ask ourselves if people will read the Great Controversy, but a more appropriate question should perhaps be if people will read any book at all, even a book they get for free? A more appropriate way of reaching people with Ellen White's writings could perhaps be to give it away to people who are willing to receive it. There is a difference between giving books to people who never requested it, and to give books to someone agreeing to have a look at it.

In the relativistic sense that light and energy are interchangeable (E=Mc2); but photons are more of a packet of energy than a state of matter. They have absolutely no mass - that's why they can travel at the speed of light. Production of light requires energy; but energy comes in more forms that heat. For example, an LED generates light from the quantum movement of electrons through a doped silicon semiconductor, in which electrons drop from one Quantum state (energy level) to another - emitting a photon of a specific frequency in the process. This is strictly a quantum mechanical process - not a thermal process.

They are of interest to all to the extent that they might influence his legislation.

Joeb said: Joeb, you have certainly made a lot of assumptions; 1) I do not dislike everything that you might post. As a matter of fact, I have not read enough of your posts it know whether or not I would dislike everything that you post. 2) To delibertly confuse the issue: Sorry. In good faith I was confused as to what you said and so I asked you an honest question. I expected that you would clarify rather than engage in name-calling. IOW, I expected good discussion with clear science. 3) Dishonesty: You sure seem to ascribe motives, at least to me. You probably do not know me well enough to know my motives. 4) If you engage in name-calling to the extent that you have done with me, it must be hard to have an honest discussion with you.

I am truly blessed

1.) Nobody is forced to accept nor to read The GC just because it shows up in their mailbox. They can give it to someone else, or even throw it o away if they want. he people who mail them are not there to watch and see if they read them. 2.) The GC is a book, which one has to open and deliberately read to see the contents in question. If the person doesn't want to keep reading, the person who sent the book is not there to force the person to keep reading. 3.) The GC contains the truth. The truth is not always pleasant, and is likely to be rejects and/or to receive backlash by many, but history so often repeats itself and will in this case. The truth can save the few who accept it and come to Christ. 4.) There are many who may not have the opportunity to receive the truth, at the very least because they do not know where to find it, if everyone waits to have one on one interaction with people and to have them ask for it. How can one ask for something he/she doesn't know exists? 5.) While some may be upset to receive a GC, there are also others who will be thankful to receive it. 6.) Not sending the GC actually violate's the potential reader's freedom of choice more than sending one, because the person who is able to, but who does not send it is making the choice for the person, so are those who restrict/force others not send the book. If the person receives the book, he/she has the freedom to choose what to do with it. Those of you who tell us we shouldn't send the books are working against the potential reader's freedom of choice. 7.) News agencies can tend to e biased and against our freedoms and so can opinions, even within the church, but we are called by Christ to preach the Gospel to all the world. God's way leads to true freedom.

Debby, you blessed me with the words of your message here. There is much truth in what you typed. It's worth reading again and again while meditating on what was written. To you I give a smile and hug from me... the one who has only one identity but clothed in multiple aka's.

Every person is a creation of God and of value. No one has to tolerate abuse, especially in the name of Christ.

The war has ended.