| Author | Message | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Guys, I think it is time for a "funny" that shows that God does work in unusual and mysterious ways for something as simple as relieving stress. Yesterday, George and I went to the San Bernardino Library to kill some time before my Dr. appointment in the late afternoon. Naturally, we went to the FAF site. There are rules about how long you can be on the computer if someone is waiting. While still within our time limits, we started to hear this rumbling behind us about these people that wouldn't get off the computers. There was eeny, meeny, miny, moe, who we gunna kick off the computers! We tried to ignore it. I told this lady, who's son was wanting "on", that our time was not up. She said that it was and started calling me names that related me to the animal kingdom among many other various vulgarities. She then said that she wished that Le Roy was with her, 'cause he would kick both of our behinds out of the Library. She was not to far behind me (and I don't like people behind me) and commented in her nasty language that that MY behind was her next target. My mistake was to turn around and invite her to "bring it on". (She had at least 150 lbs on me!) George stepped in between and very firmly turned me around. I just had to turn around and inform her that the reason kids in this world turned out as rotten as they do was because of parents like her! George really turned me around FIRMLY again. Then I got accused of being racial!? About then security showed up and escorted her out and then came back to escort us out. What's really funny is that this is ONLY the second time in my life that I seriously accepted a challenge to a fight. And a Library at that! Wow. (I of course didn't start either one, but was certainly willing to finish them! ;-)) I had this really well thought out post to Patti and Jude and it too, got lost in the excitement! I'll try to re-do it later. Anyway, after the previous days conformation of the cancer and the rather radical surgery that was indicated, God gave us a really neat diversion, don't you think?! We laughed so hard after we left the Library. We laughed about it till we got to the 2nd Dr. appointment. Sooooo, the good news is that, pending one more test, that it wont be as radical as first thought. In other words, we got on it so early that things look really good. I know all you FAFers that have known about this, have sent up a few extra prayers and I really appreciate that. Colleen even got her entire class to pray about it! And I know you all will continue. I may tell the story later about the interesting and God leading chain of events that brought all this to where it is now. But, right now, I will say that I've know this was cancer for a while and told Colleen so last month. I've had a peace about it that I would never have had a year ago. The way I look at it is; God has taken care of me all these years and it is up to Him whether to keep me going now that I'm all fired up about witnessing. If He chooses to not to leave me hangin' around, I figure, na, na, na, na, na, I get to see Jesus 'for you do! In peace.....Maryann | ||
| Lydell and David |
We're praying for you too, Maryann. | ||
| Maryann |
Hey Guys, Thank you, every one of you! You know what one side effect of this will be? I will be able to take in FAF meeting more often that I ever would have imagined. I will have to have regular check ups for a while just a stones throw from FAFland. That's better than Disneyland! And this just tickles me PINK! Maryann | ||
| BRUCE H |
MARYANN ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN JESUS | ||
| Joni |
Maryann, I am praying for you. May you have the peace that passes all understanding just now and all the way through your pain. Joni | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Maryann, Hope you don't mind my attempts at humor (on another post), meant to cheer you. I'll keep praying for your full recovery. Wholeness to you, Jude | ||
| Maryann |
Upon some thought? It occured to me that I AM whole. Whole in Christ! Thank You......Maryann | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Boys and Girls ;-) Just got my CT scan report! Other than the giant void that was behind my eyes, the report was NORMAL! In other words, we found it before it spread! The lymph is clear! The cancer is still in one area. Which is amazing since it is NOT encapsulated. Soooo, prayers answered! And more needed. Later, I'll have to do the story of how God drew all this together. Pretty amazing. Thank you, all of you for your prayers. With a Praise.......Maryann | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Maryann, Praising AND thanking God for you, Jude | ||
| Heather |
I am an SDA. I ask for prayer that God will lead me to the ABSOLUTE TRUTH as I am confused and deeply troubled by what I am learning here. Thank you. | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Heather, Welcome! Yes, we do seem to be a group of Former Adventist that have felt the need to share our lives and support each other and SDAs that have questions. If you have any questions or comments, please ask. Someone will, I'm sure, do their best to answer you scripturally. Best to you, Maryann | ||
| Heather |
Thank you for responding Maryann... I do not know where to begin, but I am deeply troubled by what I have learned here of E.G.White and am wondering that if you are right about her, then all my life I have believed a LIE??? If she was not a true prophet...and she was led of Satan, then I am in the middle of a real mess here. And your revealing of the Sabbath Day not being the day to worship also troubles me. These are beliefs rooted in me since toddlerhood...I do not know what to believe here. This is a cause of great distress and I have no peace knowing that SOMEONE is not telling the truth, is it E.G.White? Or not?? I have prayed that God reveal the truth to me...this I MUST have as I want to see God. I am not sure how you can help me...I just know that I believe that the SDA's are not a perfect religion and have errors in their teachings as all religions have if they have men involved in their theology. I just do not know which teachings are false, twisted, or downright blasphemy. I search for these answers... | ||
| Bruce H |
Heather Do you believe that Jesus is your Lord and savior. Do you trust that His death on the cross covers all your sins both past, present and future, do you see that there is nothing that you can do to save yourself and that you are indeed dead. If this is true then accept the Life that Jesus has for you in His Spirit He will give you life and you WILL KNOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN (PAST TENCE) SAVED. Eph 1:13-14 accept the Gift and know that fear does not come from God for he does not give us a Spirit of fear but one that cries ABBA father. Then claim this promise 1John 2:27 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you (THIS IS THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE), and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. Heather you are seeking and God rewards seekers (Seek and ye shall find) do your study and God will reward you, The truth will set you FREE. Bruce Heinrich bh b | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Heather, I'm praying right now that the Holy Spirit will give me the right words to say to you, because I've been told I have an overly aggressive style. Bruce is much better at this than I am. I see you as a precious child of God. Jesus said (Matthew 19:14 NIV), "Let the little children come to me, and donot hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them." I do not think he was only talking about preschoolers. I think he was also talking about adults -- such as yourself -- who are being convicted and humbled and led to Jesus by his Holy Spirit. Right now you don't need to be confused about Ellen G. White or the Sabbath. All you need to do is to realize that God's grace is sufficient for you and that you never have to do anything to earn it. Then don't neglect it. It's yours now. You don't need anything other than Scripture as your source of information about Jesus. You don't need any non-biblical prophets (no Ellen G. White or anyone else) to lead you to Christ. All the prophecies concerning him have already been fulfilled. There is no need of any more. That's history. In fact, the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ -- not the Revelation of Last-Day Events -- utters a curse on anyone who would add words to the Revelation of Jesus Christ or take words away from the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22:18-20. Here's all you need to do(Romans 10:8-13 NIV): "'The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew [or Seventh-day Adventist] and Gentile [or non-Adventist Christian] -- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" Seventh-day Adventists do not have a lock on the gospel. The gospel bypasses them, going straight from the cross to you and me. If you have confessed Jesus -- and I believe you have, you certainly do sound sincere -- then you are fully JUSTIFIED, you are fully SANCTIFIED, and you are PERFECTLY SINLESS now and forever. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO STAND BEFORE GOD IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT WITHOUT A MEDIATOR! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO "GET READY" FOR JESUS TO COME! You are ready NOW because you have confessed Christ. You can keep the Sabbath if you wish. FAF has never seen anything wrong with keeping the seventh-day's Sabbath holy. FAF has always agreed with and supported the Scripture (Romans 14:5,6 NIV)which says: "One man [person, it could be you, Heather] considers one day more sacred than another; another man [me, for example] considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord." This is a very precious statement of our liberty in Christ, our individuality in Christ, our insistence in not passing judgment upon one another in Christ. Everything we do is "in Christ,' for "the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21. You have everything you need right now. Guilt is one of those things you don't need. It has a useful purpose, guilt, under certain circumstances -- when you sin and need God's ever-ready forgiveness -- but that isn't your problem here. I guess I would sum up by saying two things: 1. You don't need Ellen G. White or any other "lesser light" to lead you to Scripture. 2. You don't have to give up the Sabbath, unless you are using it as a test of your salvation. If you're doing that, then, of course you would have to give it up. But if you're not, then Scripture gives you permission to keep it holy, for you then would be keeping it "unto God," not "unto self," as many Adventists wrongly believe. Praying and praising God for you as you deal with these troubling issues. Grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, Jude | ||
| Colleentinker |
Heather, we will be praying for you. God is faithful to reveal truth to those who seek it. One prayer I have often prayed is this: "Please show me what book you want me to read next." God has honored that prayer in wonderful and sometimes surprising ways. God knows the trauma in your soul, and he knows how to resolve it. Trust him, and let him lead you through the trauma and into his love and light. His grace is enough! | ||
| Heather |
Thank you all for responding... What I am hearing here is that I need to trust in Jesus, the word, alone. I find this to be sound, biblical advice. I do believe that my mind wrestles with doubts and beliefs that I have struggled with for many years that have caused me to remain in bondage. These beliefs keep trying to overpower my thoughts and confuse me into thinking many things that I am now discovering to be false. I know one belief is that in order to be saved, I better tow the line in obeying the Commandments in the Bible and if I do not keep the Sabbath in the end times, I will be lost. That is a belief I have grown up with and has caused many fears. I have suffered nightmares from childhood of being approached by Satan while all alone and frozen from fear...these nightmares I have had periodically all my life... I have been warned that Satan will try to take us away from the SDA religion and to beware of this. Anyone trying to woo us away from the TRUE SABBATH is of the devil and to flee from them. I have always suffered from depression in thinking that I will NEVER be perfect enough to go to heaven. I have always felt so sinful and hopeless. I have suffered from thinking that God could not help me as I was just too bad. These thoughts have in the past made me "give-up" trying to please God. I knew it was inpossible. I have been learning a new way that Jesus will make the necessary changes in my heart and I have to do nothing except to let HIM do the work and render my will to Him. The old thoughts tend to shadow me though. It is my belief that Satan is fighting for my soul in a mighty way that keeps getting stronger with time. I long to be in the ABSOLUTE TRUTH and not to be swayed by false doctrines or people who believe things that are non-biblical. Ever since I was a child I longed to do what was right. Now as an adult, my longing continues, though my confusion in knowing what is right keeps me searching. I appreciate your prayers and your help. Yes Bruce, I DO believe in Jesus as my Savior. I believe He died for me. It is so hard to believe that I AM saved without "DOING" something to remain that way. The best way I have to combat those thoughts is that Jesus will put His love in my heart and guide me into wanting to do His will and it will not be MY WORKS...but HIS in me. I try to rethink my old thoughts with these new ones. I will continue to seek the truth Bruce...my biggest comfort comes from that special belief that all I have to do is pray to Jesus and ask His help and know somehow, someway, He will come through, but in His time, and I must trust that. Meanwhile, it is kinda hard to wait on Him to impart what He wishes to teach me...but I know He will. It is "ME" that I do not trust to know always, the truth. Jude, I find much comfort in your words. What you relay about "Let the little children come unto me"....has special meaning to me...and to not worry about the Sabbath and E.G.White is a relief as I have been very overwhelmed in learning that she may not be who she has been portrayed all my life...what a shock!!!!! It makes me feel very betrayed. And if this is so, it will lead to many other discoveries and new decisions to make, and I am feeling everything from fear, guilt, disbelief, anger, depression, and more....this is no small matter and will lead to life changes if I am convicted that this is so. All this talk of not having to stand before God without a mediator and not having to get ready for Christ's second coming is like blasphemy according to all I have been raised to believe????? It sounds reassuring to believe that I have assured Salvation...it is just so very hard to believe 100% with all I have been raised to believe. Guilt is very hard not to feel, it does confuse me. I want to believe what God intended for us to believe from His word...it is hard to know what that is when I have learned one way of believing, and learn another way may be the truth. Thank you Colleentinker for your prayers...I ask for them as I know I need His help more than ever. Thank you all for responding...it is time to really get serious about knowing the truth. I will keep praying and searching. Thank you....... | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Heather, It's great that you felt comfortable enough to describe your feeling, pain and guilt. Really! I was fortunate in that I didn't really have those feeling. A lot of people have those feelings like you. Just look at BMorgan, she has suffered enough to sink a battleship, till recently. George was 3rd gen. SDA that had tossed God when he came on the scene with a horror story and made no bones about his feeling towards religion. Even though he wanted nothing to do with God, he was scared spitless of Him. George went from a non-believer in Feb. to a believer in May. He says that he is so happy now that he's afraid it's a dream and it will be like it was. I will re-print one of his last post's: ################################################## "If we are not worried about the things we do, we are worried about how we do them. What a good way for the devil to get at us. Big sins, little sins, conscious sins, unconscious sins, premeditated and spontaneous sins, which ones did He not die for. Notice I said which ones did He NOT die for." "Think about it, if you can find one sin that He didnít die for, our salvation is not perfect and we are in big trouble, and perhaps this is all just a big joke." "Go ahead, find me one single thing we can do that He didnít die for!!! Please do. Really." "Now, if it is not something that we do that keeps us out of heaven, then what is left. Thatís right, it is something that we do NOT do." "The only thing I can see that He didnít die for is unbelief . This He can not forgive if we continue in it. It is when we do not believe He died for everything that we could ever do, that we are lost." "No one can know if or when another is saved, that is between them and God. ìBy their fruits ye shall know themî says to me that if we are really and truly saved we will not WANT to go around sinning all the time. If I always go around doing those things that are inconsistent with salvation, I would question whether I had been truly saved to begin with." ################################################# I would encourage you to go back to the thread "Once Saved Always Saved" and very prayerfully go through it. In it, you will go on a marvelous ride. George had good days and bad days on the thread. There was anger, resentment, guilt etc. There was even discord on our "little Forum", yet God worked it all out to His good. George did post on other threads, but this one will serve the purpose of letting you watch a miracle happen befor your very eyes. Keep your eyes upward.........Maryann | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Heather, I would add this: You seem to be responding a little as though you thought ... well ... maybe God didn't love you very much..... and that maybe he hasn't been directing your life from before you were born. You've heard the old saying, "Things are seldom what they seem." And so, in time, you may come to realize that God was "hanging in there with you" all along, leading you, sometimes maybe even driving you. And all because he loves you more than you can ever possibly imagine in your wildest dreams. As people with Seventh-day Adventist backgrounds from our birth up, we have grown accustomed to thinking of God as the harsh, needle-nosed, even brutal judge who has been torturing you to death with unconfessed details and unremembered splotches on your soul. Where, oh where, has the jolly God gone? The God who -- unlike the dour John the Baptist -- came "eating and drinking" into the world? The God the 1st century SDAs called "a glutton and a drunkard"? Though, of course he was neither. He only loved them, ate with them, drank -- gasp! -- WINE with them. God did that! Ate a broiled fish after he was resurrected. Changed perfectly good water into an alcoholic beverage at a wedding! Oh, not God! Yes, God! A bit of humor too. Called Herod, "That fox!" Said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven. And he didh't have a whole lot to be happy about, did he? THAT'S the God who loves you: Jesus Christ who said, "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees -- the SDAs of that time -- you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." THAT'S the God who's on your side, on your team, in your corner, a fan of yours even. For the most fundamental thing we can ever know about God is that he IS love. Not so much that he loves, although he certainly does that, but more .... God IS love. He's the source and essence of all agape love. THAT'S the God who loves you and who says, "I will never leave you or forsake you." And so maybe you don't need to feel "so betrayed" about the past. If it happened, God willed it. Because he had his eye on you, willing you to be saved in him, justified in him, sanctified in him, perfect in him, sinless in him. Now and eternally. Even when you blow it. For if your heart is right, you'll seek his forgiveness. And at the harvest, when he comes in the clouds, you'll look at yourself and see -- maybe for the first time -- that you are a wheat rather than a weed. And yet I'm not trying to deny the "fear, guilt, disbelief, anger, depression, and more." I've been through my share myself -- I lost my job, my wife, my kids, my house, my family of origin (father, mother, and two brothers), and all my friends, including those of decades standing. (This is not easy for me to say on the Internet, and I wonder if I even should, for I have suffered some things as a very young child that I cannot dare repeat.) But I want to tell you that what Jesus said is true: "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." And, Heather, I have found it. I have found my life. Praising God for you, Jude | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Jude, You so eloquently posted. Also, you said: "But I want to tell you that what Jesus said is true: "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." And, Heather, I have found it. I have found my life." You have found your life! Praise God!! Could you or would you share from a corner of your life what you buried to have found your life? Then post it under BMorgan. I know hers is hard to follow, but I know you have courage. I've observed it more times than I care to mention:-) Think about it? Onward and upward........Maryann | ||
| Colleentinker |
JudeóI praise God for you and continue to pray for you! Heather, It is the Holy Spirit who is giving you the courage to pursue truth. Rest in that assurance! You will find what you seek. Yes, I continue to pray for you. It is awesome to watch miracles of freedom and changed hearts occur right before my eyes. Praise God for drawing all of us to himself! Colleen |
