Does having the Sabbath Truth, the Sanctuary truth, etc., automatically promote the SDA Church to a position of having a corner on Truth?

Is it possible that there are some other truths that other denominations may have a corner on, in comparison with us?

This is a very honest, sincere question so please don't attack me over this! I get asked this question a lot by people in and out of our church; and the spirit with which you answer will tell what I want to know more than anything else.

I have an answer to this question; but I don't want to bias replies one way or the other; so I will give others a chance to reply first.

Just so you know; I don't question any of THE Truths our church has been entrusted with. But I am asking if we are a church that sticks to "THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD?"

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

Notice Peter who is a member of the most enlightened body of faith on the planet, asking this question of God.

Luke 12:41 ¶ Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

If we follow Jesus with the Spirit, attitude, motives, and actions of the faithful servant with either two, or five talents ...He will be pleased with us as a people.

If we hoard, hide, and hinder the one talent given He will teach us by experience what the Wrath of the Lamb is, and the voices of the lost people whom we disdained to reach out to, and reveal Christ in us as also, their hope of glory if they would follow Him also, will scream in the judgement "you knew and would not tell us" ... "you could have but would not help us."....The message being that because of our lack to appropriating truth ...through us it became no truth at all.

Many people of other faiths are crying unto the God of truth, I don't think He is deaf toward these people. Their system of Ideology is at doctrinal variance with Scripture, but perhaps like Ruth they are walking closer and closer to Boaz, leaving Moab behind as they hear God's call to the present truths of Scripture. Many of us came from them.

Is Baptism by immersion in error because Baptists profess it? No way, but their faith follows not on as a people, yet many of them as individuals as companies and tribes are walking toward Boaz.

Boaz in this illustration being those in the Remnant House of Rev. chapter 12 that honour God and deal uprightly with their fellow humans of whatever persuasion.

Is soul sleep in error because a body follows it, that do not profess to worship Jesus, yet shame lesser dedicated bodies by their door to door diligence. If Soul Sleep is true from Scripture it stands despite belief or unbelief. Jesus declared it to be true. Ask Lazarus.

The God who raised us up to believe Sabbath, Sanctuary, Investigative Judgement, SOP, etc ...grafted us in by His mercy. He is rightfully also privileged to graft us out at His disgression should we defy His mercy. Scripture & SOP truth is His to own ,and not ours to own. It is given in mercy for us to humbly follow. All souls are His. All truths are His also.

Baptism is a joint covenant between God & the candidate, it signifies a spiritual change. Our flesh is still the same as when we were of some other body of faith or of no faith. We are no better than they in our flesh. And unless we are like Him in Spirit, owing to our higher profession we can fall much lower in our practice of faith no longer according to advanced knowledge then they who have yet to see what has been shown us.

God has given us more than 27-talents, may we become humble as a people and not boast of their ownership; and put them out to the exchangers that their Owner may receive dividends plus them when He returns to reclaim His property.

If we as a Church stuck to the whole Word of God, the Second Coming would have happened long ago.

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Edward F. Sutton

[This message has been edited by Edward F. Sutton (edited November 05, 2000).]

If ALL those professing to be God's children had stuck to the truth and accepted all of it as revealed to them, we would have been out of here a long time ago.

My only problem with this hindsight is, that if they had, I wouldn't be here.

There are those that would say that that would be a good thing.

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What is popular is not always right.
What is right is not always popular.
Gerry B.

Gerry

Don't be so hard on yourself! (you made a good point about not being here if ALL of God's Word were followed.

Ed

I really enjoyed and appreciated your last post here. But I am too short on time tonight to comment more.

Tomorrow is another day!

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

Hi there!

Arn't we the only ones with the 1844 message?
Are there others? Isn't that one of the main reasons we are what we are? Yes, but
believing that does not make us christians, of that I sure am aware
love
Barb

I guess God answered our question long ago .

He said come out of her MY people, that YE receive not of HER plagues.

Not all my children are the same age or in the same household, I guess not all of His are either.

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Edward F. Sutton

quote:

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Originally posted by DavidTBattler:
Does having the Sabbath Truth, the Sanctuary truth, etc., automatically promote the SDA Church to a position of having a corner on Truth?

Is it possible that there are some other truths that other denominations may have a corner on, in comparison with us?

...But I am asking if we are a church that sticks to "THE WHOLE WORD OF GOD?"

---

My answer: no.

Not because it isn't all there, but because the church has neglected and ignored that which is unpalatable. There are many issues that come up and divide the church which would not be there if the church were faithful to the whole message in the first place. For example, I believe that if the church were fully following God's directions in structure and organization, and in how we conducted our services, women's ordination would be a non-issue.

One couple in our church has attended services at the Yahweh church, and I'll have to admit, their description of those church services makes me wish to visit there myself. They are doing it the way God told us through Sister White that we should. Every service is a testimony service. And everyone participates. Each shares whatever the Lord has especially impressed on them during that week, whether a testimony, a song, a prayer, etc., and it is all done in perfect order, each in his/her turn. And even those who are not quite all there mentally are given their turn, while the rest listen patiently and attentively, regardless of how well or poorly they share their part.

Now this may not have so much to do with TRUTH per se, yet it is a part of the message we have been given, and like so much of that message, we prefer our own ways.

Gerry, there are some who would criticize you for your statement about not being here if the whole truth had been followed, saying that it is a selfish attitude, that we should be more concerned about God's feelings, having to endure seeing His people hurting. I do not agree. God knew even before He created this world exactly when He would come, and all the cirucumstance and happenings that would preceed this event. And He chose to allow it all to happen, by creating us with the freedom of choice, anyway. He knew what He was doing, and He feels that it is worth every bit of it. So why should I feel guilty for being glad that time lasted long enough for me to be here? I don't, not in the least. He knew me and wanted me long before I was born, and He will never regret the slightest bit of the delay. The delay is His choice, not ours. He doesn't have to put up with our feet-dragging. He could just say, "that's it! No more!" And the time will come when He will do that very thing, and He will be perfectly satisfied with the timing of it, and so will we.

Let's each do our best to make sure that we are not part of the problem, but part of the solution. And we can't do that by going off trying to do God's work according to our own ideas and in our own strength, or the world would be better off if we just remain self-satisfied and complacent and do nothing. We must surrender everything (our whole selves) to God and diligently seek His guidance in everything.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.

[This message has been edited by Cathy Sears (edited November 06, 2000).]

Cathy

Any ideas on what we should be doing to be part of the solution?

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

quote:

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Originally posted by Barb Loman:
Hi there!

Arn't we the only ones with the 1844 message?
Are there others? Isn't that one of the main reasons we are what we are? Yes, but
believing that does not make us christians, of that I sure am aware
love
Barb

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Hi Barb

Any chance we could coax you to give a little more info with a reference or two? Especially the part: "Believing that does not make us christians?"

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"We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone!" (Eph.2:20).

Your brother in Christ

David T. Battler

quote:

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Originally posted by DavidTBattler:
Cathy

Any ideas on what we should be doing to be part of the solution?

---

Just exactly what I already said: surrender everything, our whole lives and wills, and seek God's guidance in everything. If we are willing to do His will, He will make clear to us exactly what we should do. What He tells you to do is not necessarily going to be the same as what He tells me to do. He made us, and He knows what our strengths and weaknesses are, and where we will each be most effective.

I am a very quiet person, basically a loner. I can't handle group situations - they are very stressful for me. One on one interactions is the only kind I am any good with, and even at that, I seldom start conversations, except with the few very close friends with whom I share my deepest thoughts and feelings. So that is the kind of work God called me to do. He told me to visit my elderly shut-in neighbors and be their friend, and he brought a young man to live in our house, who needed to learn the same lessons about God that I had learned, and had the same kinds of emotional and spiritual battles to fight that I had already been through. And now that the condition of my health no longer allows me to do those things, he has not left me without something to do for others. Although I have little contact with non-Adventists these days, I find that I am still able to offer support and encouragement to those I do associate with. That is important too.

God calls others who do better in a group setting to work in groups. There is a place for each and every one of us, and I believe that one of the reasons for the failure of the church to fulfill its mission, aside from the lack of true conversion and consecration of the majority of members, is the failure to understand this fact, that not everyone can or should do all the same things in the same way.

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The Lord is the strength of my life and my portion forever.