I'm curious about something?

[True-believer]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth?

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes?

How many people are still looking and pondering whether or not they should become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

And the last question...

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

[Ben_White]

My Grandma was an SDA that is how I came to know of them, I always believed in the Sabbath because my Grandma also did, I grew up though in the Salvation Army and that is the denomination I am still in, yet as per the other thread am looking into the SDA currently!

I dont expect to be persecuted as such for my decision if I join the SDA though, people seem to have issues with the SDA, yet not in Salvation Army circles to my knowledge, the SDA are the first group to help with the Salvation Armys annual charity collection door knock and the two denominations have always enjoyed a good relationship in Australia anyway, even at the non denominational Bible Colleged that I attended I doubt they would have issues with the SDA based on the SDA acceptance of the creeds of the church and the doctrine of the Trinity.

[messenger]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth?

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes?

How many people are still looking and pondering whether or not they should become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

And the last question...

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

Hey Luke, good questions, maybe we can hear and share some good testimonies from replies. I always like to hear how the Lord has lead people to Bible Truth.

I never even heard the name SDA until I was 21 years old.I had just gotten out of the U.S Army it was in 1976. I had wasted many years of my life living as a hippie in the early 70's and joined the Army to try and change my life and were it was going, from hippie to military, was a big contrast, but I did not have to go to war, it was about over.And it was a good discipline for me at the time and got me back focusing on goals, and living. I also was raised a protestant Christians but in my family and most relatives were all either Irish or Italian Roman Catholics.

But my Grandmother was a born again protestant Christian and taught me and sent me to the "Assembly of God" Church as a child. But like most teenagers back then I became rebellious, became a hippie and a gangster. But I would still pray sometimes. Anyway, when I was in the military, I prayed more for protection, not going to war etc. And when I got out I continued to pray. But my prayers were about being sorry that I wasted so many years of my life, and did not want to waste more. And read in the bible that there are false Christ, false prophets etc. So I ask God help me to know the truth so I am not deceived and I do not waste more years etc. Within one week of praying that prayer, God lead me to SDA's I began bible studies and was baptized in 1976. The details of how the Lord lead me are beautiful, but very long and I will save them for another time. But God does answer prayer and the Holy Spirit will guide and direct every sincere seeker searching for truth. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life...

Shortly after being baptized, I accepted a call to become a full-time Literature Evangelist, The Lord blessed my faith and helped me to sell more truth filled books then anybody else in the whole Atlantic Union in my first two years as an LE. Then the leading NY Conference and Union Leaders and Pastors Ordained me at Camp-meeting it was a real highlight and privilege in my SDA Christian experience and I saw people get baptized and continued as a full-time LE for about 7 years and met my wife also through the LE work.

To your other question about persecution.I have had different what could be considered forms of persecution. Almost all my relatives that were Irish, Italian, Catholics have disowned me. They of course think that I am a deceived for becoming SDA and a fanatic being a vegetarian too, to them this all crazy etc.And after all these year they still do not have anything to do with me or my children and we have tried. Anyway, God is good and I am glad to be accepted by him, even though I am rejected by others.

Blessings In Christ, messenger

[messenger]

Hey Ben, that is great I will continue to pray for you too. Keep praying for truth and trusting God, watching unto prayer and He will guide and direct you to all known Bible Truth!

Grandmothers are a blessings, mine pasted away but I loved her so much, it was her that lead me and taught me about the Lord and sent me to a protestant Church even though most of my relatives were Roman Catholic. And I expect to see her in the kingdom of God.

Brother keep going forward in faith praying and trusting the Lord and you will be glad you did. Please stay in touch, keep us updated and if you have any biblical questions etc. will be glad to try and help you!

If you have not already done so, I recommend that you read two books by Ellen White when you can titles: Desire of Ages and Steps to Christ, when you are done with these amazing books read the Great Controversy too!

blessings in Christ, messenger

[True-believer]

The books that Messenger quoted above by Ellen White are very, very awesome books, God has annointed that woman and blessed.

Ellen White has received the most persecutions from Protestent Christians and Catholics than any other so-called Christian.

I urge you to pick up her books, start with Steps To Christ, and you'll notice in all her books she is referring you back to the Bible-the Word of God, and she is always pointing you to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is how we know what a true prophet is, when they lead us to the Bible and to Jesus Christ.

[phkrause]

My mom became a SDA when my brother and me were very young. Than we were baptized when we were around 13 and 10 I believe. Give or take a year or so. My father was Jewish and spent 5 years in concentration camps. After my parents married my mom wanted to convert to Judiaism but my father didn't want anything to do with being jewish when he first came out of concentration camp. Than we moved to the USA and settled in NYC. So when she was approached by a sda bible worker she started taking bible studies and realized that this was pretty close to being jewish, so she asked about a Jewish adventist church. They had one in the Bronx, NY and not to far from where we lived and eventually my father started to go with us. But when he decided to join his Jewish family wanted nothing to do with us (not all but about half). But as I grew older and of course reading and study the SS lessons etc. I started to believe that this was the church that really followed the Bible. I don't believe that I've really had any persecution per say. We all have hard times on and off. But I've never left the church to go and join another church but there were times that I didn't go. But always believed that the SDA church was the right church or at least following the bible more than all other churches.

pk

[Liz]

My mom came into the church a few years before my birth, my dad came into the church when I was about 5 years old. I was dedicated to the Lord at 6 months, and baptized at 13 years. I was a goody two shoes, never strayed never rebelled. Until I married an unbeliever (gasp, the horror, I became unequally yoked).

My dh eventually came into the church. His conversion story is long, but pretty cool as it has twists and turns that coincides with my mom's conversion 30 years before.

I was only persecuted in high school(a public school) by the school board that wanted to give me an exit test on Sabbath. They were none too happy when I skirted them and found out the law on my own, and then proceeded to take it according to the law--not according to them.

Then there was my dh's family mainly his dad that kept yelling at me that I wasn't a jew. (well, yeah, duh, I never said I was) It seemed he lived to try and pick fights with me, but since I wouldn't argue about the Bible, it just made him more furious. His dad though (Dh's grandpa) used to call me his Hebrew Daughter, and he said it with pride; go figure. I never could convince either man I wasn't Hebrew nor Jewish.

[Dr. Shane]

My great grandmother became SDA, her husband never did. I was baptized when I was 10. I left the church as a teenager when I got involved with drinking and drugs. Some years later, in recovery and on a spiritual quest, I returned to the church after studying other religions.

[Taylor]

I am a 4th or 5th generation SDA, but I have checked it out for myself and think it is a wonderful church, despite us all being humans. I realize that my church isn't perfect but I have seen God's leading hand over and over again with my church, and it's leaders. I have been priviledged to see many accept Jesus as their personal savior after they found the truth as it is in God's word. There is no greater joy!

[guibox]

I come from a French Catholic family. My immediate family attended some Revelation seminars together when I was 13 and we became SDAs in the mid '80s. I went to both public and SDA church schools for the rest of my academic life and became a teacher where I now teach in an SDA highschool.

As for the last part of your initial questions...

As of late after a few years of dialogue and studying, I am questioning the corporate structure of the church (the church as an organization) and have lost my lustre for being a part of that organization. I do have some problems with our biblical interpretation (particularly our prophetic and eschaetological interpretation) but I feel it is not enough for me to say, 'I can't call myself an Adventist anymore'.

My problem with the church is mostly the way it is run, the cultic mentality of some of its members and the politics and hypocrisy of the corporate structure. It would be these things and not theological differences that would cause me to leave the church.

[messenger]

Greetings Guibox, I can understand your concern about some problems with our church. In the past I had some of these very same concerns and then seen this light on the subject. The current SDA Church is not the church triumphant, but only the church militant,God is going to bring his church into a better place,as you have said our theology is correct, but we do have some problems. There are tares among the wheat even in church leadership areas. But God loves us faulty sinners with a never failing love,but He also hates sins and will use the message of the "True Witness" the straight testimony to us the Ladoicean church to help shake it up and purify it. Christ says, "as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten...

But these inspired statements have helped me to see the light on this subject and I hope it helps you as well.

“Has God no living church? He has a church, but it is the church militant, not the church triumphant. We are sorry that there are defective members…While the Lord brings into the church those who are truly converted, Satan at the same time brings persons who are not converted into its fellowship. While Christ is sowing the good seed, Satan is sowing the tares. There are two opposing influences continually exerted on the members of the church. One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the corrupting of the people of God.” The Faith I Live By p. 305.

Jesus Himself tells us,“I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18.

“Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world that is polluted and demoralized by sin. The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned and counseled, is the only object upon earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.”Testimonies to Ministers p.49-51. There is still hope for every sinner, in Christ Righteousness—by faith in Him. No person is beyond redemption thank the Lord.

“The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world…and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to “principalities and powers in heavenly places, “( Eph. 3:10) the final

and full display of the love of God.” Acts of Apostles, 9.

“The message to the church of the Laodiceans applies especially to the people of God today. It is a message to professing Christians who have become so much like the world that no difference can be seen.” Review and Herald Aug. 20, 1903. “Love not the world,neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world,the love of the Father in not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the

flesh (sin and selfishness), and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he (all) that do the will of God abide for ever.” 1 John 3:15-17.

The Straight Testimony Produces a Shaking

"I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony . They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God's people."--1T 181 (1857). {LDE 175.3}

There are those among us who will make confessions, as did Achan, too late to save themselves.

. . . They are not in harmony with right. They despise the straight testimony that reaches the heart, and would rejoice to see everyone silenced who gives reproof.--3T 272 (1873). {LDE 175.4}

"The Lord calls for a renewal of the straight testimony borne in years past. He calls for a renewal of spiritual life. The spiritual energies of His people have long been torpid, but there is to be a resurrection from apparent death. By prayer and confession of sin we must clear the King's highway.--8T 297 (1904). {LDE 176.1}

blessings in Christ, messenger

[Amelia]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth? No

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes? Yes

How many people are still looking and pondering whether or not they should become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

Not pondering

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian? NO

[Nan]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth?

I was born into an Adventist home - I would say I became an SDA when I was old enough to make the choice.

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes?

No

How many people are still looking and pondering whether or not they should become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

No

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

No

[Neil D]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth?

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes?

How many people are still looking and pondering whether or not they should become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

And the last question...

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

With all due respect, this is personal information that some of the more advance scammers like to see and taylor there scams appropriately....You are gonna have to wait for a face to face......if we get that far...

[Woody]

Quote:

Almost all my relatives that were Irish, Italian, Catholics have disowned me.

Is this because you tried to convert them? Or just because they heard that you were SDA?

[Lineman]

(This would have been a very interesting poll.)

I was born into an Adventist home. My dad read his way into the SDA religion through Bible Readings for the Home, which was sold to him by a Lititure Evangelist like messenger was. I think my real mother was also an SDA, but she ran around, smoked and visited places that were taboo for a good Adventist. My mom and dad divorced when I was about 5. I stayed with my dad. When he married again it was to an SDA nurse and the two of them sent me to SDA schools, from 1st grade thru academy and into collage. So I received lots of Bible teaching growing up (which I am very grateful for).

When I was about 45 or so I was listening to a radio preacher who said something that I knew was not Biblically correct and I became upset. So I turned the radio off and started thinking about how I could convince people that what the SDA church was teaching was Biblically correct. One thing led to another and eventually I even considered what it would take to convince people that God was real and that the Bible was true.

The internet says that there are thousands of Christian groups just here in the USA. I wanted to know how I could really know that I was in the right one. I already knew that I was, because of what I knew about the Bible, but that question led to thinking about other things, like how I could know that there really is a God and that the Bible is what it claims to be.

I was able to answer most of these questions right away because of what I already knew about the Bible. I realized that the Bible actually gives us a very logical test in the book of Isaiah so that we can prove to ourselves that God is very real. It says,

Quote:

“Let them bring [them] forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they [be], that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye [are] gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold [it] together.” (Isaiah 41:22, 23)

This verse is basically saying that we can check out what the Bible is saying will happen in the future and also compare what it says happened in the past with what we see all around us. These results should prove to us that there is a God.

As I said, I already knew many of the prophecies of the Bible and knew some of what the scientists have been finding (regardless of what they personally thought about their findings). I knew that the Bible was true and that there was a real God. I knew that He loved all of His people and that He was trying to save us (as many as would trust Him) from the results of sin.

But there was one question I was not able to answer. It was well and good that the prophecies were fulfilled as they were written, but what I needed to know was, “How do I know that someone a few hundred years ago had not been reading the Bible and realized that some of these prophecies had not really come true and so rewrote parts of the Bible so as to make it appear that it was all correct?” In other words, I wanted to know how I could be sure that what was originally written thousands of years ago was exactly what I was reading in my Bible. How could I know that it had not been changed in the last 500 years or so?

I pondered that question for about 5 years and one day it dawned on me that around 1948-1949 someone had found old scrolls (The Dead Sea Scrolls). They found that they were older than 2,000 years and that they could not have been changed because they would have just fallen into little pieces. What they had found was a real “time capsule”, proving to us that the Bible we have today is 99.9% accurate. (They say that the .1% error was in spelling of names and things like that, nothing that made any difference in what it taught.) I remember being so excited that I actually got “goose bumps”.

What I am trying to say is that I was born into the Adventist faith, but as I grew up I kept looking at what was being taught. I’m a “picky” person and not one to go off “half cocked” so to speak. And even though I grew up SDA I wanted to KNOW that this is truth, not just something being shoved down my throat.

You might say that I was born an Adventist and kept becoming an Adventist over and over.

I really have enjoyed reading all the above testimonies, thanks everyone!

Blessings,

Dan

[Lineman]

I come from a French Catholic family. My immediate family attended some Revelation seminars together when I was 13 and we became SDAs in the mid '80s. I went to both public and SDA church schools for the rest of my academic life and became a teacher where I now teach in an SDA highschool.

As for the last part of your initial questions...

As of late after a few years of dialogue and studying, I am questioning the corporate structure of the church (the church as an organization) and have lost my lustre for being a part of that organization. I do have some problems with our biblical interpretation (particularly our prophetic and eschaetological interpretation) but I feel it is not enough for me to say, 'I can't call myself an Adventist anymore'.

My problem with the church is mostly the way it is run, the cultic mentality of some of its members and the politics and hypocrisy of the corporate structure. It would be these things and not theological differences that would cause me to leave the church.

Hi guibox,

Just something to keep in the back of your mind. I have been concerned, especially this past year or so, with the "politics and hyprocrisy" in my own church leader and someone reminded me just the other day that even though there are problems in the SDA church, God cares more for His church than for anything and will make adjustments as needed, wherever needed.

I needed to hear that! This just tells me that no matter how "bad" it seems (and there are lots of problems, both in this denomination and wherever else God's people are) God cares and will reward those who will trust him completely. Please don't give up just because the Devil has infiltrated God's church.

Something I need to also keep in mind is that if someone is coming between me and God it must be because they are closer to God than I am.

Someday God will make all things right again. Trust him.

[True-believer]

Thankyou everyone for your testimonies, they have really encouraged me in my spiritual journey with Christ.

In less than a month I will become a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

From now until then, I will experience severe pressure from my mother, so please pray for her eyes to be open to the truth of God's word and please pray that the pressure she puts me under I'll be able to handle with God's strength and might.

The power of prayer is powerful.

Help me dear Lord Jesus to overcome this pressure from my mother, in Your name I pray Jesus--Amen.

[John317]

Very good testimony, Lineman. Enjoyed reading that.

[John317]

The books that Messenger quoted above by Ellen White are very, very awesome books, God has annointed that woman and blessed.

Ellen White has received the most persecutions from Protestent Christians and Catholics than any other so-called Christian.

I urge you to pick up her books, start with Steps To Christ, and you'll notice in all her books she is referring you back to the Bible-the Word of God, and she is always pointing you to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is how we know what a true prophet is, when they lead us to the Bible and to Jesus Christ.

I believe the same, Luke. She was definitely a true prophet of God. Keep reading and studying. God bless!

[John317]

How many people on this forum were Seventh-day Adventist from birth?

I was born into a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist family. Grandmothers on both sides saw and heard Ellen White, and my grandfather was an SDA pastor/evangelist and had a private meeting with her. My father and mother were wonderful Christian people devoted to the SDA cause, my father serving over 50 years as an educator and pastor.

As a teen-ager I rebelled and wanted to experience the world, which I did. I ran away from home and hitch-hiked and rode freight-trains from the West Coast to New York and back, and a short time later, served two years in the army. I spent the next 35 years struggling with things that I got involved in during those 2 years.

Quote:

How many people on this forum became Seventh-day Adventist later in their lifes?

I was brought up SDA, but after leaving Christ and the church, I chose later to return.

Quote:

Has anyone received persecution for becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

No, I have never been persecuted.

[Beryl]

Quote:

please pray that the pressure she puts me under I'll be able to handle with God's strength and might.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV

Learn that promise off by heart so that you can quote it when one of those BIG temptations comes along.

God bless,

Beryl

[Beryl]

My testimony:

I was still hitching a ride in my mother's tummy when my parents took my 3 brothers to see "the circus that had come to town" and found that it was meetings about the Bible. They sat, amazed at what they learned, and never missed a meeting. They were among the charter members of the Murray Bridge church (Sth Aust). As the Depression began to bite they put all their belongings on to the old truck my father owned and went out to Geranium where farm hand work was available. We were 40 miles from the nearest Adventist family and 60 miles from Murray Bridge. We used to meet with that family once a month, and a trip to church one every 6 months, and each year we loaded up the truck and made the trip to Adelaide to attend the Campmeeting. The "in-between" Sabbaths we had our own Sabbath School.

Going back in my life, I can still vividly remember a dream that I had when I was 6 years old. This beautiful shining angel came with a big basket. He picked me up, put me in the basket, and was taking me to heaven -- but I woke up before we got there! To me that was a promise that one day Jesus would indeed take me to heaven. When I was 8 years old we went to Adelaide to the Camp meeting. I loved the Primary class meetings. I can't remember the speaker, but I do vividly remember that on this particular day his message really touched my young heart. When the meeting was over I went to where there was a clump of trees, knelt down, and gave my heart to the Lord.

We lived in Geranium until during the war, when the danger of invasion from Japan was a reality. At this stage the Government commandeered my father's truck (not the original one!!)and sent it to be used on putting through the section of the Alice Springs to Darwin road. My father chose to go with the truck just to make sure it was cared for and he would still have a truck when the war was over. My older brothers were in college, so my mother, myself, and my younger brother went to live in Adelaide, and I had the privilege of attending our Adventist school. We also attended a city mission, and I loved it. I longed to be baptised, but was too shy to ask.

At the end of the year there was a baptism, and several girls of my age, church school friends, were baptised -- and no-one had asked me! I determined that, before next baptism, I would indeed ASK! There was another mission the next year, and I realised that they were getting to the end -- so there would be a baptism.

The next Sabbath I noted that the lady Bible Worker was at our church, so I thought that I would definitely go and ask her. However, after the service she was talking to my mother, and I stood a way off, determined to talk with her before I went home. However suddenly she walked away and my mother came over to me and called my brother and we started on our way home. As we walked along my mother informed me that the Bible Worker had asked HER if they could baptise ME! And she had said yes. My reaction was a mixture of frustration and joy.

I will never forget that day, and the wonderful feeling of being cleansed from all the mistakes and sins of my life! It was several years after this when I went to college and graduated as a Bible Worker. I was appointed to North New Zealand, and worked with a great evangelist and team. Perhaps my greatest joy was that one of my tasks was the preparation of young people for baptism -- and, yes, each of those precious young people was treated as I wish I had been treated. They were visited individually in their homes, and they went through the same studies as I did with the non-Adventists with whom I was studying. And I ensured that the decision for baptism was their own, personal decision. I did not study with the family -- only the young ones, away from parents and siblings (unless they also wanted baptism), so that they could freely ask questions, and talk about personal issues.

When I was married two of my attendants were those with whom I had studied and prepared for baptism. One of them went on to become a Bible Worker herself. My third attendant --- the flower girl -- was the little daughter of another of my baptismal candidates. It was all an occasion of rejoicing!

God bless,

Beryl