Please allow a lengthy response of encouragement. I do …

Comment on Report on LSU constituency meeting by Jonathan Taylor.

Please allow a lengthy response of encouragement. I do believe we are entering the beginnings of “The Shaking” in Laodicean Adventism. Many will mock what Ellen White wrote after a vision, but here it is:

The Shaking

I saw some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness was expressed in their countenances; large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads. Now and then their faces would light up with the marks of God’s approbation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would settle upon them.

Evil angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus from their view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them, and thus they be led to distrust God and murmur against Him. Their only safety was in keeping their eyes directed upward. Angels of God had charge over His people, and as the poisonous atmosphere of evil angels was pressed around these anxious ones, the heavenly angels were continually wafting their wings over them to scatter the thick darkness.

As the praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus came to them, to encourage their hearts and light up their countenances. Some, I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left these and went to the aid of the earnest, praying ones. I saw angels of God hasten to the assistance of all who were struggling with all their power to resist the evil angels and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance. But His angels left those who made no effort to help themselves, and I lost sight of them.

I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what will cause a shaking among God’s people.

I saw that the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed, if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance; all who truly receive it will obey it and be purified.

Said the angel, “List ye!” Soon I heard a voice like many musical instruments all sounding in perfect strains, sweet and harmonious. It surpassed any music I had ever heard, seeming to be full of mercy, compassion, and elevating, holy joy. It thrilled through my whole being. Said the angel, “Look ye!” My attention was then turned to the company I had seen, who were mightily shaken. I was shown those whom I had before seen weeping and praying in agony of spirit. The company of guardian angels around them had been doubled, and they were clothed with an armor from their head to their feet. They moved in exact order, like a company of soldiers. Their countenances expressed the severe conflict which they had endured, the agonizing struggle they had passed through. Yet their features, marked with severe internal anguish, now shone with the light and glory of heaven. They had obtained the victory, and it called forth from them the deepest gratitude and holy, sacred joy.

Jonathan Taylor Also Commented

Report on LSU constituency meeting
The thing I don’t get is this . . . how is it that so many evangelical scholars seem to accept a literal 6 day creation week but Adventists science faculty are all over the map on it when it is so crucial to understanding the Sabbath?

http://www.oldtestamentstudies.org/my-papers/other-papers/recent-creationism/literal-days-in-the-creation-week/


Report on LSU constituency meeting
The one thing that will do the job is the enrollment numbers from Seventh-day Adventist students next year.


Recent Comments by Jonathan Taylor

Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
Belief in creation is a statement of faith. The main problem at LSU is not that they taught about evolution but that they have systematically through their religion and science departments torn away at the fundamental beliefs of the church by minimizing Creationism.

What we see here from Ervin Taylor, Professor Kent and a few others is essentially the same approach that has been used by professors in the Biology and Religion departments. They mock traditional Adventism and make it genuinely difficult for students who wish to hold to the beliefs of the church based on faith rather than secular science.


Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has long believed in a literal creation week as a fundamental belief. Ellen White discussed this extensively. It is supported throughout the Bible. While there is certainly room for freedom of belief in this arena, the church also has the freedom to make sure that those in its employ do not undermine this belief.

Why those who would seek to do so continue to insist on working within the Adventist Church is a mystery. Even if the belief is not supported, etc., it is the belief of the church. So why not go teach somewhere else?

There is a strange habit of those who lose their interest in the beliefs of the Adventist Church to hang around as detractors. Whereas in other churches, those who no longer practice the belief find more amicable climes.

If you do not like the teachings of the church, and the church remains unyielding to your protestations, then your alternative is to leave the church.


Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
I would like to hear a statement of faith in the second coming from one Adventist evolutionist.

So far it seems that they are cultural Christians who are actually agnostic or atheistic.

I get what Pitman is saying, and it’s not “Pitman’s Way or the Highway.” It’s what God has revealed through the Bible that Pitman supports. Do you believe that God can create something out of nothing and will do so in the future? Do you believe that God did create with the power of His Word?

If not, I respect your right to believe as you do, but do not see significant value to your theological positions.


Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
The following is from the book Christian Education. It is long so I’ve shortened it a bit but you can find the entire article at http://www.ellenwhite.org

I’ve posted this not for the purpose of trying to convince skeptics of literal creation for they will never be convinced unless the Holy Spirit works upon their hearts, but rather for the purpose of encouraging those who are on the narrow path to remain true to their faith and to their God.

——

God has permitted a flood of light to be poured upon the world, in both science and art; but when professedly scientific men treat upon these subjects from a merely human point of view, they will assuredly come to wrong conclusions. It may be innocent to speculate beyond what God’s word has revealed, if our theories do not contradict facts found in the Scriptures; but those who leave the word of God, and seek to account for his created works upon scientific principles, are drifting, without chart or compass, upon an unknown ocean. The greatest minds, if not guided by the word of God in their research, become bewildered in their attempts to trace the relations of science and revelation. Because the Creator and his works are so far beyond their comprehension that they are unable to explain them by natural laws, they regard Bible history as unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of the records of the Old and New Testaments, will be led to go a step farther, and doubt the existence of God; and then, having lost their anchor, they are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. {CE 193.2}

These persons have lost the simplicity of faith. There should be a settled belief in the divine authority of God’s holy word. The Bible is not to be tested by men’s ideas of science. Human knowledge is an unreliable guide. Skeptics who read the Bible for the sake of caviling, may, through an imperfect comprehension of either science or revelation, claim to find contradictions between them; but rightly understood, they are in perfect harmony. Moses wrote under the guidance of the Spirit of God; and a correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be reconciled with his statements. All truth, whether in nature or in revelation, is consistent with itself in all its manifestations. {CE 193.3}

[edited for length of quotes]


Panda’s Thumb: ‘SDAs are split over evolution’
“We are in the business of saving sinners, not proving creation!”

Professor Kent – The entire plan of salvation revolves around the concept of a paradise lost, with God redeeming His Creation. If He is not all powerful, then how does God have the power to save?

I fear that at the root of this Creation question is the question of who God in fact is. Does God have the power to save? Does God have the power to create a New Earth? Is Jesus coming again? Is the resurrection really possible? (Try proving resurrection from scientific literature – it’s not possible!)

I have yet to hear an Adventist evolutionist proclaim the mighty power of God, practice evangelism, or talk with conviction about the miracles of God. I have yet to hear them speak of the soon coming of Christ. Instead they speak in vague generalities about being “good people” who are “godly” but speak with very little conviction of any Biblical truths.

Those who promote evolution in our schools may be “good people” but they have little regard for assertions of Biblical truth. They cringe at the phrase, “Thus saith the Lord.” They call themselves “emergent” and want to be “relevant” but God has not called us to relevance – He called us to preach the Gospel.

We are a church that is based on the Three Angels Messages, and those who insist that our institutions preach contrary to these messages are ultimately going to be on the wrong side of history. They will either have to be shaken out or leave of their own accord.

Revelation 14:7 – Angel 1
“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Angel 2 –
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

Angel 3 – If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 12This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

It’s not “relevant” to most of the world, but it’s the truth.

Stand firm!!!!! Don’t give up the fight!!!!!