Leaderboard

SDA in Prison: Steve Bannon was recently released from prison after completing his sentence. While in prison, he shared a cell with a Seventh-day Adventist. Steve has now released a U-tube video centering on the SDA faith of his cell-mate.

The following is a link to an article published in 2011, informing us as to evangelism in New York City in the late 1970's and 1980's. This was a period of time in which Ted Wilson served in the Greater New York Conference. https://spectrummagazine.org/post-archives/mission-city-pastor-remembers-his-dream-job/ During part of that period of time the Conference owned a building in Manhattan, often called the New York City Center (NYCC). It was intended to be a center of evangelism for New York City. The article above points out the specifics of how Ted Wilson planned to evangelize New York City. It also points out the failure of the New York City Center to be effective and its eventual sale to a controversial religious cult. I lived in New York City from June of 1975 to September of 1975 and also from July of 1979 through December of 1979. My overall evaluation of SDA work in NYC and of the New York City Center, was that it was ineffective. As just one example, and I could give many others, is the time that members of the NYCC spent an evening giving our copies of Our Little Friend to people attending the theaters in the area. I give this as an example that I consider to fairly demonstrate the quality of the SDA efforts for NYC. My point in all of this is: In the End Time of today, we need SDA leadership that plans effective programs for today. We have not always done so in the past. Those who have not been successful in the past should not be continued today.

Christians in Congress: The following article provides and extensive analysis of the spiritual backgrounds of the members of the present Congress. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/01/02/faith-on-the-hill-2025/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=7f39439dc9-Weekly_1-4-25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-7f39439dc9-401299773

A recent article in Adventist Today asked whether we should consider Ellen White to be equal to the Bible. pr as a fraud. I posted the following in response: In my opinion, we owe much to the guidance that she gave to us as a developing denomination. I do not believe that we would be the denomination that we are today if we had not had her advice. However, when it comes to spiritual advice and doctrine, I believe that we should look beyond her to the Bible. Over the years that she ministered in this denomination, her doctrinal understandings changed in many areas as she developed her beliefs. She grew, over the years in understanding the Biblical beliefs, as we must. We should not limit our growth to some point in her Christian growth. She would not want that. I will expand a bit beyond what I posted in AT. I consider our denomination to be indebted to her in the following areas: * Publishing: I consider her to be a primary source behind this area of our denominational life. * Missions: I do not think that we would have the emphasis on world missions if it had not been for her. * Health care: She is clerly the one who encouraged that area of our ministry. * Education: We would not have the extensive school system if it had not been for her.

Indeed!!! May I add to the list: She kept us more orthodox than where some of our members wanted to go. She gave us a focus on the issues of the great controversy. She helps us to hold more encouraging views about hell fire than tradition does. She tried (we can argue over how successful she was) to give us a balance between the Fundamentalist approach to scripture, and the Biblical minimalists approach to scripture. If we could follow what she offered to share with us we can be careful scholars open to the historical and archaeological and linguistic breakthroughts, and not get all frazzeled if it does not fit Fundamentalist tradition, yet we can see God as real and the Bible as God's book.

James Coffin is a SDA clergy person who has served on high levels within Adventism. In the following article he reflects on why some SDA members leave and why others do not. It challenges one's thinking. https://spectrummagazine.org/views/adventist-boomers-why-they-leave-why-they-stay/

Alright, here is the solution, as well as the incorrect one: * In the incorrect one, you subtract 72 from 99 and get 27 as an answer. That looks like it works until you get to the end. * In the correct one, you add: 9 + 9 +7 +2 and you also get the number 27. So now you go to the missing number and you add the digits for 36 and 21: 3 + 6 +2+ 1, which results in the number 12. * Replace the ? with the number 12 and you end up with the end number of 7. Like I said: It is so simple that an 8th grade student could do the addition and subtraction required to answer the problem. You simply need to think out of the box.

It's not that I don't believe in science or understand its great value, but I believe it has limitations. It may tell us that wine or coffee are good for us in certain respects, but we know that science doesn't always give us all the facts that we may need to know.

As far as coffee goes, I'll accept the counsel of Ellen White over the scientific studies. Science has always lagged behind the Bible and God's revelations. How many years did it take science to catch up to the EGW counsel that smoking causes cancer? Or that eating animal flesh can cut short people's lives? I used to drink coffee almost every night at my work for close to 21 years. I also drank about a liter of diet pepsi every day from about 1979 to about four months ago. I now believe both those things came close to killing me. It certainly did not help me. Yesterday my doctor as well as a nurse at the VA hospital I go to asked me if I drink anything with caffeine, and for the first time I was able to tell them that I don't.(They also asked if I smoke or drink alcohol, but I stopped smoking about 15 years ago and stopped drinking 6 years ago.) It was not easy for me to stop drinking those things. But I came to the point where I knew that if I didn't, I would continue to have problems with severe pain in my feet and discomfort in my thighs. Since I stopped drinking those things, I've noticed a great improvement in my health. None of these things would have happened if I had been practicing "health reform" instead of ignoring Ellen White's counsels on health. I believe I can get back to complete health eventually, but I have learned how important it is to eat right and to practice the other laws of health. Our bodies can only take abuse for so long. While at my work, a fellow worker told me that her dad died because of drinking too much diet pepsi and other sodas and coffee, but I didn't believe her. I should have stopped then, but I frankly was addicted to it, although at the time I didn't think I was. What do I drink now? Mostly just a lot of good, pure water. I'm feeling better now than I have felt in over three years, when I found out I have diabetes.

Ágnes Keleti, Holocaust survivor and the oldest living Olympic medal winner, dies at age 103 https://apnews.com/article/keleti-obit-hungary-oldest-olympic-medal-winner-b6facb6ead67a0ec298931cb297e4579?

Eight Adventists are known to have died in the crash at the South Korean airport. See: https://adventistreview.org/news/adventist-members-among-deceased-in-south-korea-plane-crash/