$5 million

If New Hope was to receive a New Year's gift of five million dollars how would you want the church to spend it? Would you spend the whole amount in one area or would you divide it up into smaller pieces? I could give you some ideas but I will leave it very general at the moment.

When will Christ return?

I have a unique theory of when Jesus will return. See if you agree or how you would describe his readiness to return.

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said that this gospel of the kingdom would be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations and then the end would come. Later on in the same chapter he said that his coming would be as in the days of Noah when people were eating and drinking and were oblivious to the floods coming until it actually arrived.

Here is the BIG question. How can Jesus return if there are children constantly being born and growing into the age of accountability? Will Jesus save these children based on where their parents stand? Will Jesus save these children based on what decisions they would make if time was to last longer? Will Jesus treat them as if they have never lived? So since they have no chance of salvation they will not face punishment either.

2 Pter 3:9 says that God does not want anyone to perish but all come to salvation. I believe that Jesus gives us the clue in Matt. 24:36-39, being as in the days of Noah. The world had reached such a state of rebellion that no one was making a decision for God. Noah preached for 120 years and only his family entered the ark.

So today. The world will become worse and worse until evangelism dries up. No one is making a decision for Christ and it doesn't matter how many babies are born none of them will decide for Christ just as no one was making that decision in Noah's day. When this happens Jesus will return because there is no one left to save. What do you think?

Adventist Positives

In this Christmas season we are encourage to be positive, to give thanks, to bless others, and be reminded of all the goods things that happened to us during the year.

I dedicate this post to the good things about Adventism. Much has been written about the negative aspects of our faith but there are many good things too. What have you found to be a great blessing in the teachings of Adventism? I could list quite a few but one that I am most thankful for is our emphasis on health and our heritage of health. I use the eight natural remedies, acronym--A STEWARD-- as guiding principles for my life. Good health is much more than not smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, it is all about balance in life. Now it is your turn.

Adventism Bible mistakes

When I was a young pastor I preached that everything that Adventism taught could be proved from the Bible. I have since come to realize that I was wrong. Adventism has its traditions and its "truths" that it inherited from other Christian groups. What are some of the teachings and practices of Adventists that you believe are non-biblical?

Let me start if off by comenting on our theology of ordination. Our theology comes right out of the Roman Catholic church not from the Bible. We have three levels of ordination: Deacon, Elder, Pastor. Deacon is inferior to elder which is inferior to pastor with you having to be ordained each time you take on one of these offices. In the Catholic church it is deacon, priest, and bishop, in that order with bishop being superior to priest and priest superior to deacon.

You find bishop, pastor, elder, deacon, in the New Testament but there is no hint that there were three separate ordinations required to fill these offices. There is much more I could say on this subject but this is enough for now. Now it is your turn. Where were we creatures of our culture such as ordination? And where do we need to change?