In this last article, we will establish the need for and the nature of the investigative preadvent judgment. What needs to stay clear is that the judgment is a confirmation of the saving effects of God’s grace on the believer’s life from the moment of his conversion. The investigative judgment “reveals our relationship to Christ, disclosed in the t
I need you to use your imagination with me today. But first, let me paint a picture. Just a few months ago, most of our churches were tracking along as usual. We had lots of events, a big central program every weekend that we put most of our energy into, and our usual Sabbath Schools, prayer meetings, etc. Then, along came the
As we saw in our previous article, John 5:24 teaches that by believing and obeying the words of Christ, and sustaining a faithful relationship with Him,[1] His followers should not fear condemnation. Once that has been settled, we now turn to other important questions related to the subject of salvation and judgment, raised by the study of the text
Seventh-day Adventists have long believed that Christ is now conducting the second and last phase of His atoning ministry in heaven.[1] The cleansing of the sanctuary mentioned in Daniel 8 is believed to refer to an investigative judgment that began in 1844 when Christ left the holy place in the heavenly sanctuary to begin a new work in the holy of
Every institution that we trust lies to us. - Dave Chapelle In the previous article, we touched on the nature of inclusivity and exclusivity in the church. We saw that the church can be passively exclusive while imagining itself actively inclusive by nurturing structures, cultures, and systems that are designed for one kind of demographic. In Adven
On the question of gay identity and Christian sexual ethics, I start with a bare-bones theology of group identity drawn from Acts 17:26–27. In his discourse at the Areopagus, Paul briefly laid out how the Athenians have already groped toward a knowledge of God. It is because God arranges history so that, through the formation and shifting of group
Covid-19 Reactions With the global reaction to the Coronavirus thousands are thinking more about the end times now than they ever have in their lives. Country living is a hot topic now that people have witnessed the horrors of being on lockdown in some of the most famous cities in the world. Job loss, food shortages, and lack of resources due to wi
There can be no great love without exclusivity. - Carol Grace In the previous article, we explored how an experiential approach to baptism—one that emphasizes its romantic and metamorphic roots—is necessary for the secular man’s discipleship journey. The one-dimensional approach that often suffices for those who are brought up in church must
I know Tim Jennings as a Christian psychiatrist who came and spoke at a church I pastored a couple of years ago and I enjoyed his presentations. However, Jennings has recently written an article warning Christians to "Beware of the Social Justice Trap" I actually agree with many of the things he said and I encourage you to read it, but I would defi
We were having devotions one beautiful evening. We rehearsed a Bible reading that talked about God’s mercy. I can’t quite place my finger on the exact verse but before we could finish, we were all jolted by a loud "No! God is not merciful". We quickly established that it was my 8-year-old boy, Hiram Edson. He continued to rage, saying that if God w
