Sunday, October 25, 2009

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM NAILED BY A SINGLE SCRIPTURE



"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities
and powers,
he made a shew of them openly;
triumphing over them in it. Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday,
or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days;
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
(Colossians 2:14-17)

I've had the opportunity to explore the doctrines of Seventh-Day Adventism through several personal relationships with those who adhere to it and from visits to Seventh-Day Adventist gatherings. Seventh-Day Adventists with whom I've had contact have been invariably friendly and generous people who obviously love the Lord but have wandered into legalism in their zeal to serve him. Many Adventists are saved and sealed saints who were later led astray by the movement to observe the Sabbath and are like the believers to which Paul wrote, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Gal. 4:9-11). Others are longtime Adventists who, in their study of the Scriptures, are confronted with the gospel of grace and believe it but continue to observe the Sabbath. Then there are those Adventists who still need to hear and believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 3:28).
Recently, I ran across a manuscript written by Kerry B. Wynne, a former third generation Adventist, in association with William H. Hohmann, a former Worldwide Church of God (also Sabbatarean) member, "Sabbath Impossibilities: History of Adventism's Long War Against Truth, etc." In their compelling document, they present evidence for the fact that Seventh-Day Adventist leaders knew at least 40 years before 1888 that weekly Sabbath-keeping was one of the "ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us," that has been taken out of the way by Christ, who nailed it to his cross, completely blotting it out. They were also aware that contrary to their teaching, worship by Christians on a day other than the Sabbath began hundreds of years earlier than the formal establishment of the Roman Catholic Church, at whose door they lay blame for changing "times and seasons." Since that time, the authors insist, an ongoing effort has been made by Adventist leaders to prevent their members from learning this scriptural truth. Why? Money, for one thing. Adventism is an international, multi-million dollar industry. But can't they just give up the idea of Sabbath-keeping but still hold to their other doctrines? All of their distinctive doctrines regarding Bible prophecy and their central pillar doctrine of "the investigative judgment" are based on visions and messages reportedly received from the Lord by their founding prophetess, Ellen G. White, in the mid-1800's. If the legitimacy of her vision regarding the necessity for today's church to observe the weekly Sabbath is shattered, the rest of their peculiar doctrines will also fall like dominoes behind it!
It's been a source of wonder to me how the SDA church has existed for so long despite the fact that it's been proven that Mrs. White plagiarized much of the content of works she published, which number well over 5,000 items. Also, the number of failed prophecies which she made would certainly qualify her, according to God's test for a false prophet in Deuteronomy 18:20-22, as someone "deceiving and being deceived." (2 Tim. 3:13). Adventists, when confronted with these truths, will quickly insist that they don't consider White to be a prophet but that by using the Holy Scriptures, she pointed the church back to honoring the Lord by keeping his commandments.
As in all cases of cultish works-salvation doctrines being promulgated by various "Christian" groups, the answer lies in their failure to recognize which section of God's word is addressed specifically to the body of Christ today. Under God's grace, made known through his apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, we enjoy the liberty that only adult sons thoroughly equipped with grace doctrine have the authority to exercise. To return to Israel's law covenants with God is to foolishly bind ourselves with the cords of a performance system by which even Israel could not win God's approval. When we realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only person to ever win God's complete approval, and that by trusting in his shed blood, burial, and resurrection we are imputed with his perfect righteousness that cannot be improved upon by our own efforts, then we become truly free to serve him as ambassadors of his grace.
Seventh-Day Adventists and others who seek to serve God by keeping ordinances which have now been blotted out: you will find complete rest from all your labors in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done it all for us.
P. S. Here's an interesting article refuting SDA's investigative judgment doctrine with Scripture.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

TAKE THE NIV "ACID TEST"!



An anonymous reader left the following challenging comment on my February 25, 2006, article entitled, "Do We Have God's Word?" It's too good to leave it buried there, so here it is for your perusal:


"I'm always amazed how people tend to shun or steer clear of the controversy that surrounds this topic, especially Christians and ascribe it to "personal preference" or the "flesh". Aren't we are clearly commanded to rightfully divide the WORD OF TRUTH, not some corruped or revised version of the Word of Truth or any old version which claims to be the Word of Truth?Christians should never avoid controversy, but rather face it head on. Wasn't it C.R. Stam that wrote a book/article about controversy and stated that we should stand up for what we believe is right, no matter how painful it is?




Anyway, here's the "acid test": NIV: THE NIV CHALLENGE"




Try Answering These From Your NIV


By Rex L. Cobb


INSTRUCTIONS:Using the New International Version Bible, answer the following questions.Do not rely on your memory. As the Bible is the final authority, you must take the answer from the Bible verse (not from footnotes but from the text).




1. Fill in the missing words in Matthew 5:44. “Love your enemies,__________ them that curse you, ______________ to them that hate you, and pray for them that __________ and persecute you.”




2. According to Matthew 17:21, what two things are required to cast out this type of demon? According to Matthew 18:11, why did Jesus come to earth?




3. According to Matthew 27:2, what was Pilate’s first name?




4. In Matthew 27:35, when the wicked soldiers parted His garments, they were fulfilling the words of the prophet. Copy what the prophet said in Matthew 27:35 from the NIV.




5. In Mark 3:15, Jesus gave the apostles power to cast out demons and to: ____________




6. According to Mark 7:16, what does a man need to be able to hear?




7. According to Luke 7:28, what was John? (teacher, prophet, carpenter, etc.). What is his title or last name?




8. In Luke 9:55, what did the disciples not know?




9. In Luke 9:56, what did the Son of man not come to do? According to this verse, what did He come to do?




10. In Luke 22:14, how many apostles were with Jesus?




11. According to Luke 23:38, in what three languages was the superscription written?




12. In Luke 24:42, what did they give Jesus to eat with His fish?




13. John 3:13 is a very important verse, proving the deity of Christ. According to this verse (as Jesus spoke), where is the Son of man?




14. What happened each year as told in John 5:4?




15. In John 7:50, what time of day did Nicodemus come to Jesus?




16. In Acts 8:37, what is the one requirement for baptism?




17. What did Saul ask Jesus in Acts 9:6?




18. Write the name of the man mentioned in Acts 15:34.




19. Study Acts 24:6-8. What would the Jew have done with Paul? What was the chief captain’s name? What did the chief captain command?




20. Copy Romans 16:24 word for word from the NIV.




21. First Timothy 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verse in the New Testament concerning the deity of Christ. In this verse, who was manifested in the flesh?




22. In the second part of First Peter 4:14, how do [they] speak of Christ? And, what do we Christians do?




23. Who are the three Persons of the Trinity in First John 5:7?24. Revelation 1:11 is another very important verse that proves the deity of Christ. In the first part of this verse Jesus said, “I am the A______________ and O___________, the _________ and the _______:”




Conclusion: Little space is provided for your answers, but it’s much more than needed. If you followed the instructions above, you not only failed the test, you receive a big goose egg.(Ed. These are all missing in the NIV.) So now what do you think of your “accurate, easy to understand, up to date Bible”?




If you would like to improve your score, and in fact score 100%, you can take this test using the Authorized (King James) Bible.




“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Gal. 4:16

Sunday, February 22, 2009

ACTS 2 POEM by Steve Atwood

At the end of his grace message, "You're Hyper" at the 2007 18th Annual Eastern Grace Bible Believers Conference, "Apologies for Grace" (all messages archived here), Steve Atwood of Grace Bible Church in Chattanooga, TN, shared his original poem, "Acts 2 Believers." I hope he won't mind if I share it with you here:

TO OUR ACTS 2 FRIENDS

There are many people who are not a few
Who believe that the church started in Acts 2.

They love the tongues and spiritual gifts
and care not that it causes a rift.

They believe that Peter is really "the man."
For the message of Paul, they will not stand.

We show them the difference in God's plan
but they refuse to see what we clearly can.

So here's my word to the Acts 2 crowd,
Obey Acts 2 and be very proud.

Sell all your possessions; hold nothing back;
Ananias and Sapphira will verify that!

Have all things common and nothing keep;
Lay it all at the apostles' feet...

And if the apostles' feet you cannot find,
bring it all to me...that'll be fine!

Hope I did it justice, Steve, and thank you so much for sharing a little humor mixed with a lot of truth!