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See: https://atoday.org/medical-news-platform-sums-up-pros-and-cons-of-eating-adventist-style/

I don't accept the First Book of Enoch as inspired - at all. So guess I'll leave you to discuss that between you two.

Been a busy summer. Had my grandchildren (4 & 7) again for two months. Kids can be huge time suckers! I have gotten behind in studying and reading and work around my house. They go home in 5 more days. My wife works so I end up with all the daycare for them. Also had a medical event which had me in the hospital for the first time in over 55 years! But all is good and turned out well.

Here's my first attempt. State of the dead and the 2nd coming. Here goes Walkin’ wonderin’ Lookin’ for truth Now my tv taught me Zombies are alivin’ and walkin’ But my bible sayin’ Death ain’t nuthin’ Now that’s the proof Walkin’ wonderin’ Lookin’ for truth Bible sayin’ death ain’t nuthin’ No praisin’ no thinkin’ no poutin’ Saints are waitin’ restin’ for sumthin’ Jesus comin’ shoutin’ We then awakenin’ and it’s no doubtin’ He’s takenin’ us out. Walkin’ wonderin’ Lookin’ for truth

In honor of World Elephant Day, August 12, and if you have three minutes to watch, you may enjoy the following video:

Truth of God ? Romans 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

The RCC condoning same sex marriage, reversing an Official Church Teaching, things like that would cause me to question my affiliation. Several years ago I saw a Christian Church that had been buried under sand and dirt since around 330 A.D. It looked JUST like an Orthodox Church. I've known some very saintly Orthodox Christians. If something happened that caused me to leave the Catholic Church I would become Eastern Orthodox in a microsecond.

5 Things You Didn't Know About Alfred Hitchcock On August 13, 1899, movie director Alfred Hitchcock was born in London. As an adult, he became the movie director known as “The Master of Suspense.” Here are 5 things you may not know about the Hollywood director famed for his psychological suspense movies... Hitchcock Was Known as a Practical Joker Hitchcock’s practical jokes ran the gamut from whoopie cushions to betting a crewmember that he couldn’t pass an entire night in handcuffs and then secretly dosing him with a laxative beforehand. At a dinner party one night, he surprised guests when they discovered all the different food courses had been dyed a bright blue. Another practical joke he pulled was during the filming of The 39 Steps when he handcuffed Madeline Carroll and Robert Donat together for hours and then pretended the key was lost — eventually, magically discovering it in his coat pocket. Like Where’s Waldo, Hitchcock Appears in His Movies Audiences and fans of Hitchcock have enjoyed looking for him over the years in his movies, where he often made inventive cameo appearances. He appeared in 39 movies over the years, and his cameos were so distracting to viewers that he began placing them in the films early on so the audience could relax and enjoy watching the show. In 1944, during the film Lifeboat, there wasn’t much opportunity for Hitchcock to make a cameo appearance, but ever-inventive, he appears in a newspaper ad as the “before” and “after” for “Reducto Obesity Slayer,” a product for weight loss. He Refused to Cast Jimmy Stewart Following the release of Vertigo, Hitchcock thought actor Jimmy Stewart was too old, and that was one reason the movie wasn’t more popular, so he swore never to hire Stewart again. When he was casting North By Northwest, Hitchcock didn’t want to tell Stewart that he wouldn’t have the lead, so he waited until the veteran actor had started working on Bell, Book and Candle. This meant Hitchcock could cast Cary Grant as the lead, which is what he wanted from the start. Hitchcock Fought With Hollywood Censors Hollywood censors probably didn’t look forward to checking Hitchcock’s movies for restricted content because the great director fought it out with them to get his way. When Hitchcock was filming Psycho, he sent the office of the censors graphic scenes of nudity and violence, so they might be more forgiving of the more subtle scenes he was filming. The censors asked him later to redo the opening of the movie, which they found suggestive, so he invited them to come on the set and instruct him in how to shoot it, but of course, nobody showed up, so he kept the original scene. Once Psycho Started, Late Moviegoers Were Banned From Entering Psycho was terrifying, dramatic and completely different from other films of the day, so Hitchcock wanted to ensure that theater viewers got the full effect by watching the movie from its beginning. He tried to purchase all the copies of the novel to keep the ending a secret, barred its stars from giving interviews and even demanded that major theaters not allow people to enter the theaters once the film had started. Signs were even posted saying there would be no admittance after the film started, including for the Queen of England or the President of the United States.

I have definitely heard BS from SDA pastors. But I never held SDA pastors in the same esteem (as an adult) as I held priests in (as a young teen). At that time, I still thought priests spoke for God. I was even planning to attend the Franciscan Seminary. But since I was going to hell, I figured I was no longer qualified for the priesthood. (A couple years later when my interest in girls started peaking, I didn't want to be a priest anymore anyhow). This experience happened prior to Vatican 2; and at 13 years old I was still drinking heavily of the old-time Catholic Kool-Aid. Being totally honest, I have been so offended at SDA's in high places that I have temporarily left the church. But I could never find anything better, so I came back. Also being honest, I'm not the most compliant SDA in the denomination. My beliefs would not change, nor would I doubt my salvation if the denomination felt it necessary to relieve me of my membership. My salvation is in Jesus Christ; not in any denomination.

That was for Gentile Christians - the ancient equivalent of babies in the faith. But when I read James, he appears to take a "stricter" look at things. I believe that is because his letter was to the church in Jerusalem - basically mature believers who already knew the law backwards and forwards. Different audience, different messages. It's no different in the church today. Whether in church or in small Bible studies, we don't (or at least shouldn't) start people out with the legal part of our faith, we start (or should start) with getting them acquainted with Jesus. Once we get people reading their Bibles and listening to the HS, we can get into more challenging issues. While I am a devoted observer of Sabbath, I don't "judge" anyone who worships or "rests" on Sunday. They are not doing so in rebellious defiance of God; they are doing so with a heart for God. God looks at the heart, not the exterior.

Praise the Lord 1 Chronicles 23:30 And to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at even;

Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 1 Corinthians 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock (petra) that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. I think Paul understood who "the Rock" was and is. The church is "built on" Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He is "the cornerstone" that "the house" is built up on. It is what Peter said - not Peter himself. Peter said Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God". The church is built on that fact - nothing else. The church is certainly not built up on Peter the disciple. The Holy City New Jerusalem has 12 "foundations", each one named for one of the 12 Apostles. The Holy City is not built on the men themselves, but on their message. The men were simply the Apostles of that message. Just like we do not enter the Holy City through one of the 12 sons of Jacob. We enter "through" Jesus Christ.

"Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." John 20, 21 We are told to forgive others, that God may forgive us. It is good to know that God will not punish a fellow human being for a sin, if I have asked the Father to forgive that sin against me. Jesus did that while He was being crucified. Those soldiers did not ask for that forgiveness. On the other hand: Believers (all assumed to have received the Holy Spirit) were to separate from their fellowship, those who persistently committed open sin. Paul addresses the case of the man who was sleeping with "his father's wife). Paul argues that openly defiant sinful fellow members of the church, harm the reputation of the church. The church was to separate such persons from fellowship. "I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people." (ICor 5:9) v. 11 "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, etc. etc. etc. v.5 "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." I don't think Paul was telling believers to literally destroy anyone's flesh. He was telling them to let the openly defiant suffer the hard consequences of their behavior, so that they might one day repent. It was not a done deal. That person could repent and find salvation at a future point in his lifetime.

5 Things You Didn't Know About Dr. Seuss On August 12, 1960, the Dr. Seuss book “Green Eggs and Ham” was published. Discover what you didn’t know about Theodor Seuss Geisel, familiarly known to children and adults around the world as Dr. Seuss. The Popular “Green Eggs and Ham” Was the Result of a Bet Bennett Cerf, a founder of the publishing company Random House, bet Seuss that he would not be able to write a book that used only 50 different words back in 1960. The amount of the bet was $50, which would have been worth considerably more these days. Dr. Seuss won the bet, of course, but Cerf reportedly never paid him. Seuss Developed State Fright Because of Teddy Roosevelt As World War I raged overseas, the young Ted Geisel, 14, became one of ten Boy Scouts who sold the highest amount in war bonds to support the effort and appeared before a huge audience to receive a medal from Theodore Roosevelt. Unfortunately, there were only nine awards, and Roosevelt had run out of them when Geisel stepped up as the last scheduled Boy Scout to receive his. Roosevelt, when the boy faced him, asked what the little boy was doing there, and an embarrassed scoutmaster whisked Geisel off, which gave the lad a permanent case of stage fright. His First Book Was Rejected by Many Publishers The first book written by Dr. Seuss, “And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” ended up being rejected by the 27 publishers he sent it to, and feeling discouraged, the author thought about burning it. While he was walking on his way home, he stopped to speak to Mike McClintock, who had been made the children’s book editor at Vanguard just that morning. The two men went back to his office, and the company purchased the book to publish that day. Dr. Seuss Didn’t Have a Doctorate Degree Geisel’s father had wanted him to become a physician, but he was working toward a doctorate of philosophy in English literature at Oxford when he became acquainted with Helen Palmer, his future wife. It was she who encouraged Geisel to draw instead of teaching. Geisel did receive an honorary doctorate in 1956 from Dartmouth, which was his alma mater. Seuss Created Cartoons for the Army Geisel was in the army during World War II and was head of the animation department at the First Motion Picture Unit in the Air Force. It was his job to create cartoons used as war propaganda and write promotions films to be used for U.S. troop and the folks at home. Some of the cartoons used as training films had the music provided by Carl Stalling and voices by Mel Blanc, who produced “Looney Tunes.”

This understanding may have been held (and still held) by orthodox Jews, but the Pharisees lost the battle as far as Gentile Christians go. in the incident described in acts 15: "When they finished, James spoke up. ... “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood." (Acts5:13 - 20) No mention of circumcision here. Also, no mention of Sabbath-keeping. Also, it appears that James is giving the orders for the whole church here; not Peter.

Interesting: https://atoday.org/lawsuit-filed-by-adventist-siblings-over-tennis-tournament-sabbath-scheduling/

There is much that is not known related to the issue of transgender. Regardless, I will say that being transgender is not a happy situation for anyone who is transgender. In my personal opinion, I do not even believe that we have a good understanding as to what a transgender person is. I am reminded of the debate that exists in the U.S. today related to homosexuality. Some define homosexuality on the basis of conduct, while others define it on the basis of gender preference. There is a world of difference between these two. Under the definition related to conduct, one may change from homosexual to heterosexual. Under the definition of gender preference, one may change their conduct, but their gender preference is unlikely to be changed. I will suggest that a similar situation may exist related to a transgender person. I will suggest that there are problematic issues related to school children claiming to be transgender, which is often simply a fad. One of the issues is probably that of genetics. In the area of homosexuality, we have limited information available as to a genetic influence. We are still in the learning stage on this issue. I will suggest that in the area of transgender, we understand even less as to the genetic influence. We have probably been taught that there are genetically two types of humans. [NOTE: We do know that this is NOT true for some other types of animal life.] We believe that persons born with a XX genetic configuration are female and persons born with a XY configuration are male. As it pertains to humans, all are either XX or XY. In actual fact this is not true. We now know some people have some organs that are genetically XX and other organs that are genetically XY. [NOTE: I am not referring to the external genitals.] To illustrate with an example: In some people it would be possible for a persons skin to be of one type, while that person's liver to be of another type. I do not think, that we know how this may effect a person being transgender. In short, I believe that our knowledge as to what it means to be a transgender and therefore we should be cautious as to what we say about such people.

Harvest is ripe ⛏️ Joel 3:13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

Perhaps, Jewish male would have to be circumcised in order to properly keep the Sabbath. SDAs do not keep the Sabbath in the same manner that the Jews kept it.

Mold at Washington Adventist University https://spectrummagazine.org/news/2019/former-assistant-dean-recounts-mold-outbreak-and-evacuation-washington-adventist