Leaderboard

I think we are on solid ground, and we shall soon get all the answers..

Country music icon Violet Hensley, known as the “Whittlin’ Fiddler” for her ability to carve and play violins, dies at age 109 (More, w/video)

People should be free to avoid vaccines. The gov't should construct camps. Put all the antivaxxers in them, regardless of the reasons for their belief. Charge them a fee for every day they are kept there. Some countries in Asia did something similar during Covid. Even vaccinated people in "red" zones were corralled into quarantine camps Probably not widely publicized, some Asian countries were more or less a slaughterhouse during Covid. Basic medical supplies were unavailable. Neighboring countries sealed their borders. There were online videos available, possibly fake, of people dying in the streets. I've seen enough miraculous happenings through modern medicine to consider antivaxxers stupid, no matter how smart they are. People die from throat spray, peanut dust, bee stings. Dead people are brought back to life through code blue measures, recover from AIDS through antivirals. People in the midst of a heart attack can be relieved through interventional cardiology. Individual rights should end when freedom exposes other people to danger. There are already laws which empower public health officials to forcibly quarantine [lock 'em up] individuals with communicable disease. Years ago in Sacramento, there was a guy, possibly an illegal immigrant, who had multiple drug resistant TB. He was quarantined in his own home. One day a public health official happened by to discover numerous children playing with him. The guy was arrested and forced into a secure location where he could not start an epidemic of a devastating disease. You think people with Ebola are allowed to roam around freely? Time to remove the tin foil pyramid spinner cap, toss the crystals and either self isolate OR get vaccinated.

This word tartarus is used just 4 times in the entire Bible, including the Greek OT. One Hebrew equivalent, evinced by Proverbs 30:16 is Sheol. Get it? The Hebrew word sheol is used in place of tartarus in Proverbs 30:16; therefore, Sheol is a Greek equivalent of tartarus. Sheol is used more than 60 times in the OT. Sheol is usually translated as hades in the NT. Jesus has the keys to hades (Rev. 1:18). The Online Bible numerical equivalents of these words are these tartarus 5020: Sheol 07585 hades 86 Thayer's lexicon has this to say about hades: 1) name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions 2) Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead 3) later use of this word: the grave, death, hell In Biblical Greek it is associated with Orcus, the infernal regions, a dark and dismal place in the very depths of the earth, the common receptacle of disembodied spirits. Usually Hades is just the abode of the wicked, Lu 16:23; Re 20:13,14; a very uncomfortable place. TDNT.

On August 3, 2026, Dr. Ronald Lawson PhD, died. He was a con traversal figure in Adventism, He was seldom welcomed and often dismissed Yet throughout it all he remained on the far distant edge of this Church. As a historian/sociologist he once traveled the world interviewing some 4,500 SDA members as to their understanding and relationship to Adventism. His research was published in the scholarly journals. The following Spectrum provides more information on his life https://spectrummagazine.org/news/ronald-lawson-trailblazing-gay-adventist-sociologist-scholar-and-advocate-dies-at-86/ It should be clearly stated that I differed with his understanding of certain Biblical issues. In those areas my understanding conforms to main-line Adventism. I also agree with an application of those beliefs that demonstrates grace rather than legalism. I once asked him to evaluate my understanding of certain aspects of SDAs living in Germany under Hitler, In his response he clearly informed me that my suggestion totally lacked historical evidence. With the announcement of his death, many have posted on the Internet their thoughts as to how he will spend eternity. I do not consider this to be either helpful or Christian. I ask that such not be posted here in Club Adventist. Sometimes Adventists point to scandals in other Christian groups an ignore that such has happened in Adventism. One such involving the highest levels of Adventism occurred while I was living in Denver. I am well aware of it. Dr. Lawson wrote a 43-page report of it which is available on the Internet, I consider it to be just, accurate and helpful. Those with probably a superficial knowledge of Dr, Lawson will probably remember him as a co-founder of SDA Kinship. The General Conference filed a lawsuit requesting that Kinship be banned from using the trademarked name Adventist The GC was represented by a well qualified legal team and expected an easy victory. The G/c team was matched by the pro bono team that defended Kinship, The following article informs as to that litigation. https://ronaldlawson.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kinship-goes-to-trial.pdf The final decision of the Court was definitive:: The GC could not prevent the use by Kinship of the word Adventist./ It also opened that use by others in other ways

Need to see what it teaches and the real issue here. Here is a good summary..: Here’s the conundrum: to suggest Jesus, as the God-Man, is unable to sin seems to denigrate His true humanity. This position seems to make the incarnation a farce – a foregone conclusion. It implies Jesus never felt the true force of the temptations. This position is known as impeccability. but, to suggest Jesus could sin seems to denigrate His deity. This position is known as peccability. So, what to do? The solution seems to be a qualified form of peccability, as follows:12 Jesus was genuinely tempted to sin, not like us, but like the original Adam and Eve (morally neutral), so, it was theoretically possible for Him to sin, but He chose not to sin

I have seen many leave the church, claiming Ellen White was not a prophet. I always said, what difference does it make? Do you want to follow the Bible 100%? If so, the Adventist church is the place to go. The truth is, many backsliders do not want to follow the Bible 100%. They only use Ellen White as an excuse. When I first came into the church in Michigan, MANY years ago, I was puzzled by the reports about backsliders. It took me over 5 years to find the Adventist church. I could not understand why people would leave. Within a short time, I was ordained as an elder. Then I started visiting backsliders. It was interesting. None of them left the Adventist church for another church. They just stopped going altogether.

I respect what Ron Lawson accomplished as a sociologist. He had a career that some might call illustrious. He is the one most often credited[?] with Kinship's founding; however, a Spectrum or Kinship article, some time back, rightly acknowledged the roll Ben Pickell played in Kinship's founding. Ben was not an SDA when he placed an ad in a gay magazine inviting gay SDA to contact him. Since his connection to Adventism is somewhat sordid, likely a slick PR move for Kinship to upplay Ron Lawson. He had deep SDA ties.

🦌 Parting shot: Antler alert Photo: Sam Trizza Reader Sam Trizza of Bentonville, Ark., shares scenes from a morning hike yesterday up Handies Peak, a mountain rising above 14,000 feet near Lake City, Colo. Trizza, her sister Cate Bowman and brother-in-law Brett Bowman of Houston took the American Basin rout, catching their shadows across the terrain. They also caught two antlered grazers peeking over a ridge. Photo: Sam Trizza

I believe this is another reason to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit.

Things seem to be moving along very quickly. I do not underestimate them.

🏞️ Parting shot! Photo: Matt Lasure Speaking of otherworldly ... Reader Matt Lasure of Saint Paul, Minn., shares a "Best National Park" submission: "One of my favorite pictures, showing the alien landscape of Badlands National Park [in South Dakota]. Taken on a family trip in July 2022."

Don Nelson, five-time NBA champion and Hall of Fame coach, dies at age 86 (More) | How he revolutionized the sport with "Nellie Ball" and won 1,335 regular-season games, the second most in league history (More)

🕯️ Sydney Towle, a social media content creator who projected enduring optimism as she chronicled her life with a rare form of cancer, has died at 26. Keep reading.

Desna boarding house caught fire after drone attack, no injuries reported. https://adventist.news/news/desna-boarding-house-damaged-by-drone-attack

Ronald L. Lawson, an Australian sociologist; scholar of global Adventism, sectarian religions, and urban conflicts; and co-founder of Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International—the Adventist LGBTQ+ advocacy organization—died on August 3, 2026 at his home in Loma Linda, California. Lawson, who had been beset with various health issues in recent years, was 86..... Lawson was born on January 6, 1940, in Sydney, Australia. After graduating from Toowoomba Grammar School in 1958, he matriculated at University of Queensland, Brisbane, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in history in 1963, and a PhD in history and sociology in 1970. The following year, he won a Fulbright Travel Grant to New York City, where he became a post-doctoral visiting scholar at Columbia University and studied urban conflicts. After teaching at both Columbia and Hunter College, City University of New York, in 1984, he became a professor in the urban studies department at Queens College, CUNY, where he taught until his retirement in 2009. It was during his nearly forty years living in New York that he helped found the organization that would eventually become SDA Kinship, after he placed advertisements in the gay magazine The Advocate, seeking to connect with other gay and queer Adventists. Eventually, with these contacts, he organized the first meeting of queer Adventists in the summer of 1980. The gathering led to the formation of SDA Kinship, which continues to hold annual conventions called “Kampmeetings.” ---------- That explains so MANY things.

🕯️ Former U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, the first Republican woman to represent Texas in Congress, has died at 83. N.Y. Times obit (gift link).

ASHLAND COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO) - A Canton pastor will spend three years in prison for a crime involving a 13-year-old girl. Jesse Santos was sentenced by Ashland County Court of Common Pleas Judge David Stimpert Thursday afternoon. Santos, pastor of Canton Seventh-Day Adventist Church, was arrested in February 2025 and charged with kidnapping, two counts of gross sexual imposition, and endangering children. In January, Santos entered a guilty plea to the amended charge of abduction. According to the police report, the crime happened at a campsite in the 3000 block of Ashland County Rd. at River Run Campground in Loudonville in September 2025. https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/03/06/canton-pastor-going-prison-crime-involving-13-year-old-girl/