| Author | Message | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Y'all' I have a headache from reading all this good stuff. Jude's posting of "in Paul, in Brindsmead, in Ford etc. was great. I'm so happy to say that I'm "in Jesus Christ". I was a 3rd gen. SDA. My Grandfather was converted to the "truth" in 1928 when Mom was 6. He did this without EGW! Proved the whole SDA theology from the Bible only!? Mom left in the 40s, and returned when my era began in '57. In '60 we moved to Wildwood Ga., a rather legalistic peel off the old SDA. There Mom learned from an "enlightened" lady that EGW was as inspired as the Bible. What joy! Mom's library soon sported 80 some EGW volumes! In '64, we went mainstream when we moved to Collegedale Tenn. There, we met Fred Wright (from Australia) who split from Bob Brindsmead in the '50s.I was so proud to be a "right", "Wrightite". In '68 we moved to the west coast where there were more of the double "enlightened" true "remnant" Wrightites. Those were wonderful years for me. Home schooled in the Sierra's, it just doesn't get any better. I started to have a serious problem with EGW with the dress reform. I found out just recently that I was sort of a legend there as I always made my weekly rounds of visiting all my elderly friends on my horse. I rode all over those mountains at breakneck speed, bareback and just a twine or halter on my Paint stallion and would park him like a car and he'd wait hours for me without ever wandering off. All this was done with a dress of some sort on with pants under it, including running a chainsaw to bringing in winter wood and every thing else you can think of. But, the thing that proved that EGWs elevater didn't go all the way up was that I had to go through barb wire fences with "that" dress on. At some point Mom studied her way into "Brindsmeaditesism" and that was actually good. To relieve myself of that hardship,I married the 1st man that came my way in'76. He was "twice as more worser even" than the dress!! Needless to say, God and religion got left behind. To get an idea of Fred Wrights mentality, he went to Germany when his main man Wolfgang got killed and spent many hours raising him from the dead. Only problem was that Wolfgang didn't raise as he still had some sin in him before he died. You see, Fred taught that the carnal nature could be erradicated and one could live in perfection on this earth. Fred had attained that level!? Now, his daughter also had attained as had my brother. Yeh, you guessed it, they got married and their kids were born withOUT a carnal nature. It was sad that the two kids "quickly" chose to have a carnal nature like the rest of the kids around. My brother had the only sinless divorce I know of and Fred had a number of sinlessly concieved kids show up around the world. Cool concept, if you're sinless, sin is sinless????!!!! After bouncing around the country I settled in Nev. in 80. About that time Mom got shook out of Adventism when the big shake was shaking from Ford, Brindsmead, Paxton etc. When I re-married in '85, Mom came down to live with us and still lives on our place. I tried so many different churches and none felt good. (You old X die hards know what I mean.) You don't want anything to do with the Sabbath BUT Sunday just is wrong. Sunday school sounds weird, etc. So you toss it all and watch football(Boo Rams)(Cheer Warner). Mom always studied and tried home groups, always looking for that feeling and always comming away empty. Then she discovered CBN, TBN, Hinn, Copeland, Jan and Paul Crouch etc. The obssesive addiction began. It takes a dandy to fill the large void EGW leaves. She had 100s of 6 hour tapes recorded and re-recorded. With the help of the Christian Research Institute, she got out of that in early '99 by the grace of God. To my utter horror, at that very time she discovered 3ABN with Danny and Linda Shelton, Dwight Nelson, Doug Batchlor etc. Now those 100s of TBN tapes are multiplied to a ba-zillion!!! The TV and recorder are going from dawn to late!!! That void is filled and growing to the point it has to explode. For the last 2 years I have found the gospel and love it. I'm not able to study much because of work but am able to listen to christian radio, tapes, Bible on tape, Swindoll, Dobson, Kennedy, etc. Mom figures that she has years of study on me and I'm totally duped. Nothing from me has any value as I'm unstudied. My views are poisoned from the devisiveness that people like Dale Ratzlaff etc. reek of.(Make sure you understand that Dale is NOT devisive, that's Mom's opinion.) This 1.2 million town of Las Vegas surely has one Former Adventist that could help me. Mom is 78 today and is getting more brain washed everyday. For those of you reading this and don't know how deep Adventism runs, please understand. For those of you that are "of Christ" and now free, please, if you are well versed in SDAism and can defend your new found "rest" please make youselves available in you local areas. Let's study to make ourselves able "God's SDA vaccines"! Oh yeh, my husband has gone back to the church of his family, Oneness, non Trinitarian, Jesus Only Penticostalism. I'm lucky I have any Hair left!! Bye for now...Maryann | ||
| Susan |
Hi Maryann, thanks for your heartfelt message. It sounds like you have your hands full! I will certainly keep you in my prayers. Keep in touch with CRI. They have wonderful resources on all of those TBN folks and on the Oneness penticostals. You must be really important to God, for Him to place you where you are. At times it seems like we can't deal with things. God never gives us circumstances that He doesn't also provide the means to deal with it. You're divinely placed to be the perfect one to do God's work. I'm fourth generation. I've lived through quite a bit of garbage. But like you, I was sifted out of the rubble and called by God to follow the cross of Christ. Thank you so much for your wonderful words of encouragement, "...make yourselves available in your local areas." I really needed that today. I'm part of a FAF in my area. We are brand new and struggling to stay afloat. I'm also bombarded by atheists from time to time. It's not easy to defend Christianity, especially to a relative whose also an ex-sda. But keep in mind, "we are called for such a time as this"! God bless you and your family. Thanks, Your sister in Christ, Susan | ||
| Plain Patti |
Dear Maryann, WOW! What a story. In many ways it reminds me of my mother's story. I was wondering if you had run across her book online--All Dressed Up and No Place to Go--by Pat Darnell? If not you can find it here: All Dressed Up. She told me to tell you to feel free to contact her: Pat Darnell. May God keep you ever in the warmth and security of His grace, Patti | ||
| Plain Patti |
That email address did not come out right: It is pinedar@hsnp.com. | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
God's blessing you in disguise, Maryann. You're an excellent writer too, by the way. Ever thought of writing your story for publication? -Jude | ||
| Lynn W |
Hey, Maryann, I enjoyed your testimony. Thanks for sharing & welcome. Patti, Didn't realize you were Pat's daughter. I enjoyed her book very much. I think I remember that she said her daughter's name was Patti. | ||
| Cas |
Hi Maryann, What a neat story you have. How I envy you who have the gift of writing and putting you thoughts into words. I have been reading the posts on FAF for several months now, and contribute occaionally, but it strikes me how much we all have in common. Especially those of us who were raised SDA's. I know exactly what you mean when you say you want nothing to do with Sabbath, but Sunday seems wrong, so you chuck the whole thing. This is what I have been going through myself. Like many have said before and I know from experience "coming out" is very isolating, unless someone has gone through this others do not understand what we are going through. I have been told "just go to a different Church". It's not as simple as just going to a different church. SDA'ism is not just a church, it is your life and a way of life that dictates everything you do. (I think it is even harder for those of us who were heavily dependent on the writings of EGW). FAF has been a life saver for me, to know that I am not alone and the people on this forum are so uplifting and caring. Thanks again to FAFers. God Bless Maryann-keep up the wonderful stories. |
