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Personally I don't think celibacy should be mandatory in the Latin Rite. There are also a few other things I'll refrain from mentioning but yes, I don't like everything in my camp as probably most people in any org feels the same way.

Yup. As a member of the globalist conspiracy, the Papacy (and other religious leaders) will make it a moral/religious issue to combat climate change while the globalist geopolitical crowd will make it a rallying point for global government.

From what I understand, "doctrine" means teaching. How can you separate Christ from His teachings?

It is fine to disagree with me. I do not have a problem with that. Notice that's I have defined "salvific" in terms of knowledge required to be saved. If you intend to say that salvation is based upon knowledge, you may be trending toward Gnosticism. I do not beleve that salvation is limited to people who have obtained a specified level of knowledge--Babies for example.

In regard to some of the questions asked by Gustave, I shall make a few comments, which will be listed in no order of priority: * There is a conservative group within Adventism (I mean here the SDA denomination.) that looks to the past, to say the methods (and themes) that brought converts in the past, should be the methods and themes that we should use today. * These methods and themes should include today, distinctive doctrines (Sabbath, soul sleep, etc.) and horns, beasts and numbers. * It is generally believed that in the foundational days of the SDA denomination, the general population of the U.S. was informed of, and in agreement with, the core beliefs of Christianity. Therefore, those core beliefs did not need to be an instructional part of evangelism. NOTE: As an exception, it must be stated that the early leaders of what became the SDA denomination, did not have a united understanding of the Trinity as a core Christian belief. * It should also be stated that the early foundational leaders, with some exceptions, of the SDA denomination were often very young people, who came from a varied denominational background, and had no understanding of what are considered to be core issues faced by the developing Christian religion. A major example is the doctrine of the Trinity. (James and Ellen White are examples among others of youthful founders of this denomination.) * SDAs today may not understand the developmental process by which this denomination has established doctrinal positions. At a time when some agreement had been reached related to the proscribed foods of Leviticus 11, there was disagreement as to the exact composition of those foods. As an example, probably few SDAs understand, although it has been published, that Ellen White enjoyed eating clams and personally considered clams to she comfort foods in times when she felt ill. NOTE: I consider this to be one example that demonstrates that the personal beliefs of Ellen White were not the foundational source of SDA beliefs. * SDAs developed their five (5) foundational beliefs in what are typically called five Sabbath Conferences as they were held at conferences on the Sabbath. Those five beliefs were all distinctive and not considered to be core beliefs of Christianity. * There is a segment of the SDA denomination that believes that the population of the U.S. can not be assumed to be informed of and in agreement with, the core beliefs of Christianity. Therefore, they believe that evangelism must be focused first on the basics of Christianity, with a primary focus on Christ, his death on the cross, and an actual conversion to Christ. * One example of this is what has been called "The One Project." This group has been controversial due to the fact that it has primarily focused on SDA members as it has suggested that SDA members have needed to re-focus on basic doctrines of Christ and the cross. NOTE: As a point of disclosure, I am a strong supporter of what was The One Project. * As to what is salvific (necessary to be believed if one is to be saved), further definition must be made as to the various groups that exist within Adventism, as I do not believe that only one group exists. * Some, within Adventism, will suggest that the core salvific doctrines are those that relate to Christ and the cross. Everything else is not salvific. Others may appear to add a little beyond Christ and the cross. * On a personal basis, when I am summing up Christianity I will say that the core beliefs are limited to Christ and the cross, with no other doctrines being salvific. * However, when I expand to give a more detailed response I suggest that there are no doctrines that are salvific. I consider God''s plan of salvation to include all people with no exceptions. This includes new-born babies who have never accepted any doctrinal position. Salvation is not determined by a lack of ignorance. It includes adults who have never heard of Christ. In brief, I consider that salvation depends upon the response that one has made to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It does NOT depend upon what the Holy Spirit has not yet done for a person. * I will sum up my understanding of salvation: Salvation is a choice that each makes, within the limits of their knowledge, as to whether or not one choses to spend eternity with God. Each is allowed to make their choice. One who choses to spend it with God is allowed to do so. One who choses not to spend it with God, ceases to exist. Each person has an equal opportunity to be saved. * As I see it, my task, is not to convert people to my way of thinking. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, my task is to build relationships that the Holy Spirit can use to encourage people to chose to spend eternity with God--IOW to be converted.

Personally I believe that evangelism is the back bone of our church!! The reason, at least for me, is even though we call one to one witnessing, its still one to one evangelism!! At least in my thoughts! So even though we call it witnessing we are actually being evangelists on a one to one basis??

I'd just say personal reasons.

Ill ask a question or two about "celibacy" in another post, but I think before I do, I should ask why, again. may I ask why you "won't mention" some of the other ones?

? Alive unto God Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

February 2020 Signs of the Times Email Newsletter The Signs of the Times newsletter is a collection of stories and quotes from past issues ofSigns and These Times. *************************** Abraham Lincoln felt the need of divine guidance at the time of the Civil War. The following touching incident in the life of this great and noble man is related by Mr. James E. Murdock: "I had once been spending three weeks in the White House with Mr. Lincoln, as his guest. One night—it was just after the battle of Bull Run—I was restless and could not sleep. I was repeating the part I was to take in a public performance. The hour was past midnight. Indeed, it was coming near to the dawn, when I heard low tones proceeding from a private room near where the President slept. The door was partly open. I instinctively walked in, and there I saw a sight which I shall never forget. It was the President kneeling beside an open Bible. His back was toward me. For a moment I was silent as I stood looking in amazement and wonder. Then he cried out in tones so pleading and sorrowful: "0 Thou God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed for wisdom, hear me; I cannot lead this people; I cannot guide the Hairs of this nation without Thy help. I am poor and weak and sinful. 0 God, who didst hear Solomon when he cried for wisdom, hear me, and save this nation!” Who can tell how much this earnest prayer of the one who was then called by his countrymen to be the nation's Chief Executive had to do with the destiny of our nation in the dark hours through which it passed.—By George B. Thompson, The Watchman Magazine, April 1922. Quote: “What we want is to preach more sermons with our hands and feet—to carry the gospel to the people by acts of kindness.”—By D. L. Moody, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1938. *************************** Don't miss the March 2020 issue of Signs of the Times: To order Signs, call: 1-800-765-6955 or CLICK to order online. *************************** The story is told of a Chinese Christian whose name was Lo, and when he read this text—"Lo, I am with you alway"—he thought God was speaking directly to him. And he was right, wasn't he? Christ's friendship can be as real to us as it was to the twelve apostles who were with Him long ago. Wherever you may be, or wherever I may be, Christ by His Spirit is with us.—By H. M. S. Richards, These Times, June 1951. Quote: “A greeting card that plays ‘Happy Birthday’ holds more computing power than existed on earth before 1950.”—Fortune, Signs of the Times, March 1995. *************************** NEW from Pacific Press—I Am a Witness—the 2020 Teen Devotional. Daily devotions written for teens, by teens. Students at Georgia-Cumberland Academy under the direction of their chaplain, Kalie Kelch, have written this powerful devotional book. Teens will love it, and grow in Christ as they read it each day. Parents and other adults will catch the blessing as they read it also. Read the first chapter online, FREE—CLICK HERE! Order ONLINE or from your local Adventist Book Center--1-800-765-6955. *************************** A little lad with a childish heart had dreamed of the day when he might have a real toy boat all his own. He was poor, but he often gazed with longing at the lovely things displayed in the store window. Yet there was always the glass between. Would he never have a boat? He wondered. Then, one tragic day he was seriously hurt in a street accident. Taken to the hospital, he lay for months recovering. A kind-hearted man passed his bed one day and chatted for a while. Next time he visited the children's ward he brought with him a parcel. Unwrapping it, he placed upon the bed the very boat the lad had seen so often in the shop window. Could it be true? The little fellow gazed in silence. Then, timidly he reached over and touched it. In ecstasy he exclaimed, "There's nothing between—nothing between!" The restriction was gone. It was his own, his very own boat! Someday soon the kind and loving voice of our Saviour will be heard saying, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matthew 25: 34. All trace of sin and its curse will be gone, and we will see Him face to face; there will be nothing between.—By R. A. Anderson, Our Times, March 1946. Quote: "As I walk about in my chamber with unsteady feet, my unconquerable spirit sweeps skyward on eagle's wings. I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God."—By Hellen Keller, These Times, June 1951. *************************** Place this in your church bulletin or newsletter: Now is a great time to offer hope to your friends and neighbors. Signs of the Times® takes on a broken world and directs hearts to Jesus for relevant answers. The result is changed lives! Send a subscription today. Order from your Adventist Book Center. To order call: 1-800-765-6955 or online: http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/signs-of-the-times-magazine-yearly-us-subscription.html *************************** "FIRE! fire! fire!" This terrible cry woke up the father of a large family, who lived in a little village parsonage. He jumped from his bed to see what it meant. On opening the door, the smoke in the entry almost stifled him, while he caught sight of the flames bursting through the roof. He ran to the chamber where his wife lay sick, and told her with the oldest girls to escape for their lives. He then burst into the nursery, where the five youngest children slept, roused the servant, who caught up the baby and called the rest to follow her. On their reaching the entry, they found the stairs on fire, while the roaring flames were hemming' them in on every side. Danger gave them courage; some of the children scrambled through the windows, and others made a narrow escape through the garden door. But these passages seemed closed up to the poor sick mother. She could not climb to the windows, and to reach the door looked impossible. Once, twice, three times she tried to face the flames, but they drove her back with their fiery breath. "Oh Christ," she cried, "save me from this dreadful death; but thy will be done!" She mustered her strength for one more effort; despair urged her on; wading through the flames, she escaped, scorched and naked, into the street. Were the children all right? Were all the eight rescued from the burning building? At that instant a scream was heard from the nursery, louder than the roar of the fire; one little boy was left behind. 0h, the agony of the parents. The father dashed into the house and ran to the stairs; they fell beneath his feet, while the flames beat him back. The poor father fell on his knees and committed the soul of his child to a merciful God. The little fellow was now seen climbing up to the nursery window, surrounded by fire and smoke. He stretched out his hands to the people below." Save him, save him!" is shouted on all sides; now or never. Ladders there were none; moments were precious. One man leaps upon the shoulders of another; the walls are tottering, the heat is suffocating, but the window is reached; an instant more; and the boy is safe in the arms of his deliverer. A shout of joy goes up. "Safe, safe!" In a few moments more the roof fell in, and the once pleasant home was a heap of ruins. “Come, neighbors," cried the grateful and glad father, "let us kneel down; let us give thanks to God. He has given me all my eight children; let the house go, I am rich enough." This signal rescue from a death so dreadful made a deep impression both upon the mother and the boy. She looked upon him as the lost one saved, and with an ever-grateful memory of his deliverance, she felt herself specially called upon to train this child for the service of God. Nor did the boy ever forget or overlook this peril of his childhood; it made him thoughtful and serious. He felt that if God had thus spared his life, he ought to love God, to obey and honor Him; he cherished a lively sense of his dependence upon Him, and could never speak of it without feeling deeply grateful; and when he grew up to be a man, a house in flames was engraven under one of his portraits, with the motto, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning?" The boy thus saved was named John Wesley, born at Epworth, in England, in the year 1703; he grew up to be an eminent minister of the gospel, and so intent was he upon bringing people to a knowledge of God, that he used to go out in the commons and fields and highways to tell them of their great deliverer Jesus Christ, who came to seek and to save them which are lost.—Sabbath School Visitor, The Youth’s Instructor, January 1953. Quote: “When tempted, pray on God’s side of the fence, not on the devil’s.”—By Charles G. Bellah, Signs of the Times, November 19, 1929. *************************** Are you giving tracts to your friends and those you meet? Do you carry some with you wherever you go? CLICK HERE to see the most complete line-up of topics. *************************** An older woman described a young member of her church as having "just enough religion to make her miserable—too much to be happy at dances and too little to be happy in prayer meeting." Alas! the type is common—a troubled spirit that halts halfway, afraid to go back and unwilling to go forward. There is no peace in the borderland. The halfway Christian is a torment to himself and no benefit to others.—By Earnest Worker, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1938. Quote: “By praying we learn to pray, and the more we pray the oftener we can pray, and the better we can pray. He who prays in fits and starts is never likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much.”—By C. H. Spurgeon, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1938. *************************** Visit www.AdventisteBooks.com for the largest selection of Adventist eBooks. *************************** This true incident from an English school teacher’s lips shows how a boy can be both high-minded and unselfish for the sake of another. Jamie Pettigrew and Willie Hunter were the clever boys in Mr. Howatt’s school class, and used to “run neck and neck for the prizes.” Examination day came again, Jamie and Willie were left last in the field. Jamie missed question after question, which Willie answered and got the prize. Says Mr. Howatt, “I went home with Jamie that night, and instead of being cast down at losing the prize he seemed rather to be glad. I couldn’t understand it. “’Why, Jamie,’ I said, ‘you could have answered some of those questions. I know you could.’ “’Of course I could!’ he said with a laugh. “’Then why didn’t you?’ I asked. “He wouldn’t answer for a while; but I kept pressing and pressing him till at last he turned round with such a strange, kind look in his bonnie brown eyes. “’Look here’ he said; ‘how could I help it? There’s poor Willie—his mother died last week, and if it hadn’t been examination day, he wouldn’t have been at school. Do you think I was going to be so mean as to take a prize from a poor fellow who had just lost his mother?’” Bravo, my lad! A good speech that; and second was a good place, if not the noblest of any, in all the school that day.—Sunday School Advocate, Signs of the Times, February 26, 1902. Quote: “The test of a good church bulletin, like a restaurant’s menu, is whether or not the establishment can deliver what is listed in the contents.”—Unknown, These Times, September 1967. *************************** Resources for giving Bible studies at www.ToolsForEvangelism.com *************************** Ere your boy has reached to seven, Teach him well the way to heaven; Better still the work will thrive If he learns before he’s five.—By Charles Haddon Spurgeon, These Times, April 1961. Compiled by Dale Galusha. Please pass this newsletter on to others.

5 Things You Didn't Know About The Super Bowl It’s officially Super Bowl Sunday folks! Today, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will face off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Here are 5 crazy Super Bowl facts to keep you going until kickoff… More Footballs Than You May Think Are Used in the Super Bowl. Each of the teams that plays in the Super Bowl gets 108 footballs apiece for the Super Bowl game. Half of them are used in practices leading up to the big game, and the other half are used during the game itself. During a typical Super Bowl, 120 balls are used. (The additional ones are kicker footballs, used for all kicking plays.) Halftime Entertainers Don’t Get Paid Many famous singers have appeared at the half-time shows at the Super Bowl, including Beyonce, Bruno Mars and Prince, but they were not paid anything to perform. But don’t feel too badly for them because these entertainers are getting the equivalent of millions of dollars in terms of exposure and publicity. Super Bowl viewer data has shown that the musical shows at halftime often have higher ratings than the games themselves. Today, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira will perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV halftime show at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Price of Super Bowl Tickets Has Risen Astronomically In 1967, when the first Super Bowl was played between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs, tickets only cost around $6. Apparently many people found that price too costly because 30,000 of the seats at this first Super Bowl were empty. In 2016, the average Super Bowl ticket cost was more than $4,700, which is still far too expensive for the average football fan. The Balls Used in the Game Are Made in America The footballs used in the actual game are made in Ada, Ohio, by the Wilson Football Factory, which produces over 700,000 footballs each year. The game balls are constructed of steer hide and are made by hand. The hides used are treated in Chicago at the Horween Factory and stamped with small Ws to show their authenticity. It Wasn't Always "Super" The Super Bowl wasn’t actually referred to as the Super Bowl until Super Bowl III. At the time, what we now know as Super Bowl I and II were just called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The third Super Bowl was officially given that name thanks to Lamar Hunt, the main founder of the American Football League and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. According to legend, Hunt knew his daughter played with a toy called a "Super Ball" and it stuck in his head when the league was looking for a less cumbersome name for the event.

Lou: I believe I hear you emphasizing that peace comes through knowing the truth about God and knowing that Satan’s charges against God are false. Satan’s charges against God have been summarized in five words that you’ve used again and again: God is accused of being arbitrary, exacting, vengeful, unforgiving, and severe. I’d like to […] The post Questions and Answers (20:7) appeared first on Jon Paulien's Blog. View the full article