| Author | Message | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 236 Registered: 5-2002 |
I was blessed to be able to attend the Los Angeles Billy Graham Crusade yesterday afternoon. Over 75,000 people attended and thousands went forward to give their lives to Christ for the first time. Praise God! For me personally, it was an opportunity to come to Christ without the mediation of the Seventh-day Adventist church. This is very important to me. I was baptized at age 12 in an SDA sanctuary, but I have felt since coming out that I had declared my allegiance to the church as well as to Jesus Christ. I know that is a technicality and I believe that Jesus saved me before the foundation of the world, no matter what cult baptized me into Him. I am a believer and have known that Jesus knew my heart at the time (I fully believed that I was being baptized into Christ and had not the full knowledge about the organization that I do today). It was just very wonderful for me to have the opportunity to stand there and declare my allegiance to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. I feel that Jesus has brought me full circle and gave me an opportunity to confess my faith in Him again in public and I praise Him for that! One thing that really cheezed me off though was the people outside afterwards. I was handed 4 different pamphlets, 2 of which were about Sabbatarianism from an organization called Project Restore. There were quotes credited to Ellen White. The 3rd pamphlet was all about the new world order, the pope, the USA, and secret societies. I'm still not quite sure what the 4th pamphlet was all about, but I know that 3 of them had Seventh-day Adventist theology through and through. If this stuff is such an important part of the Gospel, why isn't it being preached INSIDE?! Why is it being preached OUTSIDE, under cover of darkness? I am about as angry as I can be about this! Here you have thousands of people who just received Christ and are riding the high of being set free. They are all excited and filled with peace and joy and someone immediately lays a burden back on them before they even get to the car! It is as if they just escaped from prison only to have a set of handcuffs slapped on them a few minutes later. I'm livid! | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 428 Registered: 1-2003 |
That is truly sad. You made an excellent point when you said, "How come it is being preached outside, under cover of darkness!" When I used to attend SDA campmeetings, the Shepherd's Rod people used to stand outside and hand out their poison...creepy. | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 128 Registered: 10-2004 |
I can definitely understand your feelings! That should make anyone angry. The SDAs are always "taking advantage" of things like Billy Graham Crusades and doing tricks like that. They think that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is not enough to be saved, they think they also have to join the one, true, "remnant," church! It's very frustrating, since they are laying all kinds of burdens on them, like you said, and trying to get them ensnared in a cult! We need to pray that they will be shielded and protected from deception, and that they'll know the truth. Jeremy | ||
| Dd Registered user Username: Dd Post Number: 221 Registered: 7-2004 |
Isn't this the same thing that happened at some theaters showing "The Passion of the Christ"? | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1134 Registered: 11-2002 |
Freeatlast, Your point about wanting to declair allegiance to Jesus only is wonderful. That is just the way I felt a number of years ago when I asked to be baptized by a minister of a mainstream Christian denmination. Then several years later I requested membership in this same church. I wanted to be a member because without official membership I could not vote on issues such as church budget, projects, etc. But, in my heart it was important to me to keep the two situtations seperate. Pheeki, When I was a kid I was even taken to some Shepherd's Rods meetings. Up in the mountains a days drive (well, not quite) from my house was a lot of them squirrled out in the hills and mountains hidden away from all the wicked people. Yeah, I had a truly schitzpherenic religious upbringing. Mostley SDA, but at the same time as I was being raised SDA my parents attended the Church of God (Seventh-day) very often and whenever Garner Ted Armstrong was in the area and occassionally even when he wasn't we would attend the Worldwide Church of God. Made for great Sabbaths for my paents because the SDA and the C of G net in the mornings on Saturdays and the WCG met at two in the afternoon. I was board to pieces and was always so happy when the sun finily set. Fortunately sometimes I'd get to attend the Sevenh Day Baptist and I liked that. In the summers when the weather was nice we'd go to the Shepherd's Rods meetings. My family will attend just about any church so long as it is a "Sabbath keeping" church. However, they really weren't too keen on the SDB because being Baptists they might get served pork at the fellowship meal and those Baptists tend to refer to their dead loved ones as now being with Jesus and that is just too much for some folks to absorb. Yeah, even growing up and attending campmeeting the Shepherd's Rods and other offshoots would go around and distribute their literature to the fallen run of the mill ordinary SDA's. There's just no escaping it in Adventism, or apparently even at the Billy Graham meetings. BTW, was it really Billy Graham whospoke? Isn't he getting a bit elderly? Was he able to handle the physical aspects of such an endevor? You know, standing at the podium under those harsh lights for a long time, etc.? | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 238 Registered: 5-2002 |
Yes indeed, it was the one and only. He had to sit down about halfway through and finish his message from a chair while holding the mic. His message about this world being like Sodom and remembering Lot's wife (she couldn't let go of Sodom in order to receive her salvation) was just as powerful and timely as any sermon he preached in his 30's and 40's. George Beverly Shea also sang one song - some 10 years older than Dr. Graham and just weeks following a heart attack. It was an incredibly special experience for me! But the Sabbatarians really ticked me off afterward. They reminded me of the birds in the parable of the sower that swoop in and pick up the seed right after it has been planted. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 771 Registered: 3-2004 |
Freeatlast, Thank Jesus that you knew what was happening and could see it for what it was and you did not fall for it. My youngest brother was saved at a Billy Graham crusade and later baptized an SDA. About 8 years ago he studied himself out of the SDA church. Thank You God. You are awesome. Diana | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 986 Registered: 12-2003 |
Freeatlast, I am thrilled for you! Praise God for giving you such an opportunity and such an affirmation of your trust in Him! I have the same reaction to those Sabbatarians outside--we experienced them after a Harvest Crusade in Anaheim about three years ago. I'm left, after reading your post, with the conviction that we must pray that God will protect the vulnerable from evil and deception. Those people with the literature ARE like the birds in the parable--but the wonderful thing is that they have no power over the condition of the soil. If the gospel seed feel into receptive soil, the birds cannot eat the seed. It will germinate and reap a harvest. I pray that God will protect His word in the hearts of those who accepted Him--and even of those who heard but did not yet accept--and protect them from deception. Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 779 Registered: 3-2004 |
I am appalled, disgusted that any Sabbatarian could hand out their literature at a Christian crusade. I realize that SDAs think they are the remnant, but if that is so why are they working so hard to grow? Why do they have to go after other Christians? Why don't they go after the unchurched/pagan/whatever else there is? It has been my experience that when God is growing a church people are attracted because of what they see there. Yes, I also realize they want to teach the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey puts it. All the other churches just do not have the rest of the story, per the SDA church. Like Colleen, I pray for those who are vulnerable and are just getting acquainted with Jesus. I ask God to protect them with his angels and the Holy Spirit and to protect them from deception. I also know that God has been and will always be in charge, no matter what happens on this earth and in my little corner of it. God is awesome and His will will be done. Diana | ||
| Dundo Registered user Username: Dundo Post Number: 2 Registered: 12-2004 |
I experienced the same thing at the Harvest Crusade in Anaheim this summer! I reasoned with these guys after the crusade( 2 hours). The cool thing wuz that we talked so long, and they didnt have a chance to hand out the SDA propaganda to the people leaving the crusade!!!!! Next time Amazing Facts has a meeting, we should show up with information to hand out to people leaving the meeting!!! God Bless.R.C. | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 439 Registered: 1-2003 |
My SDA sister-in-law in California (the one who uses vegan cooking to pull people in) is having bible studies with an "evangelical" preacher. She says he is close to accepting the Sabbath. It made me sad to hear it. | ||
| Pheeki Registered user Username: Pheeki Post Number: 440 Registered: 1-2003 |
And then I think...why is it so important to accept the Sabbath that you spend months trying to win an already saved person over to it...yet if you ask the SDA they say the Sabbath doesn't save you. So why? | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 633 Registered: 7-2003 |
I'm curious if they would devote so much time to win one to Christ to begin with... | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 80 Registered: 7-2004 |
Think about it Guys, they are not putting all of that effort into winning people to Christ, they are working very hard to win people to Sabbath. Look really closely at that and you will see that they are winning people away from Christ. We can also praise God that in most cases, about 80% of the time, only winning the people over for a short while and then most come to their senses and take full hold of Christ once again! | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 1100 Registered: 12-2003 |
Scuh a good point, Belvalew! Colleen | ||
| Goldenbear Registered user Username: Goldenbear Post Number: 14 Registered: 12-2004 |
The really real problem facing the SDA church as they look to evangelize the world is money. Tithe income is falling, specialized ministries are draining it, people are stopping giving because of perceived wrongs, churches have been over extended. When I was working in NJ we had 84 churches. Every church I was in (probably about 20) as I had to move around due to my job, was rarely 1/4 full. My mother lives in Florida and they just went through "major" cost cutting by letting go 70+ church workers. In the effort to have a lot of churches so the signs can witness, SDA's have reduced church populations so that when all the positions have been filled, everyone is doing several jobs and is just worn out. I sat on many a nominating committee trying to fill church offices, and not spending the time to make sure that a persons' spiritual gift match their job description. The primary evaluative tool right now, I believe, for evangelism is dollars per convert. The emphasis on DVD evangelism is more cost effective, even the sattelite series, on the whole are more cost effective. I still get information from PSI, the philanthropic assistance arm of the church. There was an article in one of the newsletter that had an address to the NAD presidents by the CEO of one of the largest Fundraising consulting firms in the country. His charge to them was don't be so isolated. Join the community. You can do education and healthcare work well, but you don't get engaged with the rest of the world. Which I believe is at the root of the whole problem. When you don't see other Christians as equals, you don't want to lower yourself to them or become vulnerable to others. It continues to baffle me that people in the church don't see that we must lift up Jesus not a day or a prophet or a set of books or what we eat. Jesus and Him crucified. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.... | ||
| Esther Registered user Username: Esther Post Number: 100 Registered: 5-2004 |
Amen! to all of the above. Here at work this morning my coworker were talking of a possible basketball game between the local academy team, and the Christian school in town. My coworker said, "just think of what great young missionaries they are." Now, the christian school has a reputation for being just that, while even the adventists in the area are alarmed by the problems within their system. Go figure. | ||
| Freeatlast Registered user Username: Freeatlast Post Number: 250 Registered: 5-2002 |
The official SDA mission is to convert Christians to Seventh-day Adventism. Always has been, always will be, no matter how much they try to dress it up as something else. That's known as sheep stealing, but they will never cop to it. | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1234 Registered: 11-2002 |
EGW said not to partisipate in competition sports. In fact, even when I attended Monterey Bay Academy the p.e. teachers told us we were not allowed to keep score. Of course, in our minds we all did but the teachers told us not to because EGW said not to. Now, Esther, you are implying that the SDA church has once again been picking and choosing which of EGW's counsils to throw out and which ones to adhear to. The inconsistancy of that denomination never ceases to amaze me. | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 193 Registered: 10-2004 |
Susan, EGW also said specifically that SDAs were not to sell ice cream at camp meeting. But they sure do! Jeremy |
