| Author | Message | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 1787 Registered: 3-2004  |
Kelly, Thanks for telling us about yourself. Start with reading the Bible. Get yourself a good modern version, like the NIV, and start by reading John, then read the other Gospels, Acts, Romans, Galatians and the rest of the NT. Just read the Bible and pray. Do not read the OT for a time. Just get through the NT. Ask God to send the Holy Spirit to teach you as you read. Get a marker and mark what you want to remember. In a note book, write down your thoughts on what you are reading. God will teach you the truth. As for a church to attend, pray about that also. I did and God told me what church to go to and I did and am so happy. Just read the Bible for now and God will lead you and teach you. After I started reading the NT, and left the SDA church by not rejoining it, God opened my eye to many things I had read while growing up SDA, but now I was really seeing what the Bible says. That still happens to me. Concentrate on the Bible for the time being. You have been put on my prayer list and I will remember you in my daily prayers. God loves you and will care for you. He is so awesome. Diana | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2415 Registered: 12-2003  |
Kelly, Diana is right. Ask God to guide your study, and He will show you what to read and teach you what He wants you to know. Spend time in the NT. You might also spend some time reading the stories on this website. You'll find others who discovered Jesus and what it meant to themn to leave Adventism. Even though the SRA is not the official Adventist church, still the rules are at the core the same, and the spiritual hold on the members is essenetially the same. Ellen underlies them both. God is faithful. When the doubts come, go to the Bible and pray. Read Jesus' promises of security in the book of John. Praise God that He pulled you and your family out! Where is your husband spiritually in all this? Praying for you, Colleen | ||
| Wooliee Registered user Username: Wooliee Post Number: 31 Registered: 6-2005 |
Kelly, Welcome. I am fairly new here also. I just want you to know that I will be praying for you. I understand how you feel about leaving a church and the feeling of leaving friends and family behind. God is so loving and faithful, and He is with you always. He will guide you in your journey. Julie | ||
| Kellymiller Registered user Username: Kellymiller Post Number: 3 Registered: 8-2005 |
Thank you everyone. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 1790 Registered: 3-2004 |
Kelly, I forget where in the NT Jesus promises to provide family for us when we follow Him. Well, for me he has provided that in the church that I joined, under His direction and on this website. I have met a member, Belva, when she came to Las Vegas, and it was like we had been friends since forever. Then the weekend of Aug 5,6,7 I was in SoCal and went to the FAF Bible study, Friday evening, August 5. An older sister went with me. She was so surprised at how we greeted each other and we had only met on the internet. Christians are our family, now that we believe in Jesus Christ. It is a good family to be a part of. I would not want it any other way. God, you are so awesome. Diana | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 615 Registered: 7-2004 |
If I may be so bold, I would like to express that when we, as individuals, have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it is no surprise that even as human strangers we can recognize each other as brothers and sisters in Jesus. That is exactly how I felt when I first saw Diana. She looked like someone I already knew. Of course I had the help of her picture as it appears on her posts, but she had only a word description of me, and she locked eyes with me, and there was recognition in her eyes as well as mine. It is so hard to really describe that moment, but I have experienced it only in the company of Holy Spirit filled brothers and sisters in Christ. I totally agree with Diana's description above. The sweetest thing is that these moments are but a sampling of that day soon to come when we will get to meet all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Until then we will still have the great pleasure of enjoying the Family of God with each other. Belva | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1000 Registered: 7-2003  |
Do you ever wonder how our relationship will be in heaven, or if they'll really be anything like here? There are, afterall, personalities, I just don't enjoy being around, so it's hard to imagine eternity with harmony. It really is fascinating to wonder about what it will be like when we can sit around the proverbial table and "chew the fat". | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 617 Registered: 7-2004 |
That question has often crossed my mind. I've told myself that there will be so many people there, from so many ages of man that I should be able to avoid those people that had bugged me during my time here. Of course there are also the stories about people who have done really awful things who had accepted Christ before they died -- Jeffry Dahlmer, for instance -- and that means that if their conversion is real we will be calling him brother in the Kingdom of Heaven. Right now we have just such a person who is turning stomachs all over the country, Dennis Rader, and he's saying that he has confessed his sin, repented, and accepted Jesus as his Savior. An example of this is also listed in scripture when God lists his lineup of heros and you find scoundrels, whores, madams, murderers, and they are all praised for their faith (Hebrews 11). I'm so glad that there is nothing that I do that will effect who gets in or has to stay out. It will probably amaze a few people when they see me there, too. I'm glad that I can leave those decisions with God. Still, with the numbers being as big as they will be in heaven, maybe we can love them with brotherly love, but stay over in that section of heaven that keeps me from having to fraternize with the people I'm uncomfortable with, or -- in changing us to make us appropriate for heaven, none of us will be irritated by any of the rest of us any more. Belva | ||
| Kellymiller Registered user Username: Kellymiller Post Number: 4 Registered: 8-2005 |
We had a conversation like this at work not too long ago. Because I have anxiety issues the thought of heaven being free from those issues and there being a spirit of love for everyone there, it's a wonderful thought. Yet, one of my co-workers - who is not a christian - was extreamly upset at the thought of "having" to love the people who hurt her. To me it sound like total peacefulness. | ||
| Bobalou Registered user Username: Bobalou Post Number: 23 Registered: 2-2005 |
Belvalew, You knocked me off my lurching limb. Please don't even hint that maybe there will be groups off in a section of Heaven. (I know you were kidding) I call them clicks and have always had a bad taste in my mouth for them. I see unwelcome posted in every group. Instead of trying to infiltrate into one of these clicks, I look for the one who looks dejected or the stranger to communicate with. Our goal should be to give a blessing to someone. That is how we receive blessings. I wonder how many people slip out of church each week, never to return, because they see clicks standing around not interested in anyone else. boB | ||
| Bobalou Registered user Username: Bobalou Post Number: 24 Registered: 2-2005 |
I think that should have been a lurking limb. Ha boB | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 620 Registered: 7-2004 |
I was merely portraying the fact that I'm not sure how heaven's society will work. I have a tape by one of the current Christian authors that everyone is reading (sorry I can't remember his name--senior moment) and it was on that tape that I heard that Jeffrey Dahlmer had accepted Jesus as his personal Savior before he was "offed" by a shiv in a prison bathroom. I was just mentioning that because even God, in Hebrews 11, makes it clear that there will be both saints and scoundrels, ministers and murderers, and every other form of human being who will give their hearts to Jesus. It's hard for me to know how I will respond to some of those people, or even if I will be called upon to respond to them in heaven. I'm sorry that you got the impression that I'm exclusive in my approach to people. I'm usually nonconfrontational. You mentioned the person standing to the side--that's me. Thank you for coming over to talk to me. Belva | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2426 Registered: 12-2003 |
Hey, Bobalou, perhaps you lurched off your lurking limb. I've often wondered about this question, too, Melissa. I've been pondering lately that God's love for us does not equal His complete approval of us. When we are outside Christ, He loves us and wants us to love Him, but He does not "approve", per se, of us. Ephesians 1:3-6 tells us that God chose us to holy and blameless, adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ. It also says he has freely given us His glorious grace in the One He loves. Here's what I'm thinking: When we are in Christ, we enjoy God's approval, but that approval is His approval of Christ whose righteousness he sees when He looks at us. The Bible also encourages Christ-followers to be generous and loving so men will praise God for the believer's good works. In other words, even in the physical world, Christ's work in and through us generates responses of praise to God, not primarily to us. God's love makes it possible for us to brought into a position of approval because of His approval of Jesus. Perhaps when we are resurrected and free from these still-mortal tents, our responses to each other will be that same kind of response: we will look at those around us and see the righteousness of Christ and praise God for the love of Jesus we see. A bit abtsract, I'm afraid; I'm sorry if I rambled confusedly! In a nutsehll, I guess I could say that increasingly I see our very existence to be for, from, and about Jesus. Maybe in eternity we will be praising Him for healing our hearts so we can worship God for the way He's also healed the hearts of the Jeffrey Dahlmers of the universe. (It's going to take a lot more healing for me to be able to enjoy being around Jeffrey, though!) Colleen | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1001 Registered: 7-2003 |
Living just 3 hours from Wichita, and thus Dennis Rader, we get lots of press on the local news about his case. I heard that he claimed to be a Christian now, etc., and a lot of negativity towards that claim from the family hoping a special hell exists for him, and I think that is actually what made me start wondering. Though I know his crimes awful in human terms, we have to consider "sin is sin" in God's terms, right? It's easy to say a distance away without anyone I loved being hurt or killed, but in God's eyes, aren't we all just as wicked as Dennis Rader? It is that coming realization that makes me less judgmental and "grading" if you will of sins (mild, moderate, servere...something like that). It still creeps in when I'm the "victim", but I have to remember who I really am in my natural state. I just wonder if ... like my ex-husband were to be there ... (and reality is, I hope so...I really don't wish anyone to hell) ... but I'm not sure I'd like to be neighbors. It's fascinating to speculate, but I know we have nothing to "know" in those regards. Glad to know I'm not alone. | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 625 Registered: 7-2004 |
Perhaps that is why we will all have new names in heaven. We can leave behind our sinful, wrong-doer identities and truly be able to assume the sin-free covering that we have by proxy from Jesus. | ||
| Cindy Registered user Username: Cindy Post Number: 770 Registered: 7-2000 |
I pray that Dennis Rader will really get to know and trust in Christ alone. I watched his live final statement yesterday and he said he hopes he will "someday be accepted by God..." I think many of the families involved in his crimes also need much healing and forgiveness from God. Their hatred towards Dennis Rader is something that will just eat them up. JESUS...His salvation and forgiveness, is what we all need! grace, cindy | ||
| Bobalou Registered user Username: Bobalou Post Number: 25 Registered: 2-2005 |
I have had the same thoughts as you Belva. How will I be able to fellowship with certain people in Heaven when I have a hard time doing it here on Earth. Sometimes it takes all I have in me to go up to certain people. Many times I have turned away. It was out of sight, out of mind. All I can say is I am still trying and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it becomes easier to accomplish. One very good thing I learned while a SDA was before foot washing we were reminded to make things right with those that we had hard feelings towards. On the light side of this, there wasn't any time to find the one(s)and set things right. No one ever came up to me. Maybe they couldn't find me. Surely, in all those years, someone had somthin agin me. | ||
| Xsra Registered user Username: Xsra Post Number: 4 Registered: 6-2005 |
Hi Kelly, I don't visit here very often, due to being busy with my work. I've read your posts enquiring as to who I am. I was a member of the SRA church in Palmwoods, Australia for nine years. This was the church where Fred Wright lived, and so I experienced first hand what the SRA church is about. I eventually left after I was wrongfully judged - by the Australian church at the behest of Andreas Dura - for bringing out into the open a very serious sin that he and the church were covering up. They boldly denied any such sin, then rebuked me without any trial or discussion, and never talked to me again. Some years later I heard that they revisited that matter and acknowledged that particular sin I had raised earlier. But they never contacted me to apologise or to invite me back. I concluded from this, and other things I had seen in that church, as being fanaticism, and was very thankful to God that He had opened my eyes. I recently read a similar account that Martin Luther experienced at the hands of the papacy. The spirit of the papacy always manifests itself in the same manner. It is a spirit that quickly turns on you if you don't conform to the church's ideas. Ellen White refers to it as "liberty of conscience threatened". Andreas Dura runs the church like a pope. But the church was well on its way toward the papacy through the "primary order" doctrine in 1989, as that doctrine taught the church to consider anyone apart from Fred Wright - the primary messenger at the time - who felt they had new light as being of Satan. This was the manifestation of the spirit of the papacy in the SRA church. But the foundation of this spirit of mind control was laid as far back as the early 1970's by Fred Wright, as it was then that he first began to subtly persecute, through doctrine, those who didn't follow him in every particular. You should thank God that the SRA church cast you off, for this is the very sign that they are no longer God's church. Take care, and feel free to contact me by email, as I have given Richard Tinker, the moderator, permission to forward to you my address. Hope to hear from you soon. Yours in Christ. Rob | ||
| Kellymiller Registered user Username: Kellymiller Post Number: 10 Registered: 8-2005 |
Thank you very much for writing. The night when I found your thread, it was amazing, yet never occured to us, that you were not from the U.S.. We never really met many "believers" from your area. Although, we were almost sent there so that my husband could help Anthony with the school in N.Z. They were not giving us a lot of choice in the matter, it was only dropped when they could not decide what to do with our dept. A lot of that was brought on by "mini Andreas" - Eric Roitsch. It was a couple of years after that they once again were leaning toward moving us to Germany. Partly because they knew I was not the most sincere worker for the church, plus, they were thinking of doing a school there too. Did you ever know any believers from the U.S. or Canada? Are you still in contact with anyone from the church? A couple of weeks ago, my husband felt very impressed to contact a current member and just say HI, it was honestly that simple. So he did, but Camp was the next week, so we do not expect to hear back from him, it is a sure thing that my husbands call will be seen as the work of Satan - right before camp. The only thing I ever knew of Andreas to even come close to saying he may have done wrong was a few years ago. It envolved the marriage of two American believers. Again, thank you for sharing your story and it was wonderful to hear it. In a way though, a bit of a let down, because I feel silly that we never considered you being anyone other than an American believer. kelly | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 943 Registered: 10-2004  |
Xsra, You talked about "...a spirit that quickly turns on you if you don't conform to the church's ideas." And you said, "But the foundation of this spirit of mind control was laid as far back as the early 1970's by Fred Wright, as it was then that he first began to subtly persecute, through doctrine, those who didn't follow him in every particular." That is the exact same spirit that Ellen White had. Fred Wright just followed in her footsteps! She persecuted anyone who did not follow and/or believe in her 100%. She was a false prophet, and both the SDA and the SRA churches were founded on a lie--the false prophet Ellen White; and false, unBiblical, heretical, blasphemous doctrines, including every major and unique doctrine. Neither church was ever "God's church." They both go back to the false prophet Ellen White as their founder. Check out the following web sites to find out more about Ellen White and how she is a false prophet: http://www.ellenwhite.org/ http://www.sdaoutreach.org/ http://www.truthorfables.com/ Jeremy (Message edited by Jeremy on September 01, 2005) |
