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“Are we standing on the plain of dura today? What was the issue for the three Hebrews? It was worship. Not only the question of who would they worship in their minds, but who would they worship with their bodies. In the last generation, the test on this issue will be repeated. Who will we worship with our minds and bodies? This story becomes important as we realize what temptations are going to come to God's people in the last days. Satan’s tactics have not changed over the years, only the methods by which he tries to implement them. Satan knows that if he can get God's people to worship him either with their minds OR with their bodies, it doesn't matter, just as long as he gets people to worship him. Will we be able to keep the Sabbath, even if our lives are at stake?”
(Debbi Puffer, Earth’s Final Generation, 173)

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“How is this idea about unconditional love/acceptance manifested in our churches? The examples are numerous. For one, there is a growing trend especially in the Seventh- day Adventist church for members to be instructed not to say anything to newly baptized members, young people, or others about their dress, worship, adornment etc. The fear is that if we focus too much on such issues, we will ‘run’ these members out of the church. We are encouraged, instead, to accept and love them unconditionally because it is believed they will eventually make the needed changes in their lifestyles. And if they don't change, we are reminded that God is the ‘ultimate judge.’…

What is the Truth About Unconditional Love

Is this philosophy of unconditional love and acceptance from God and others congruent with God's word? It is clear that God does not expect us to fulfill any conditions before He bestows His love upon us. Remember, the subtle deception of these humanistic concepts for Christians is that they are mixed with some truth and a lot of error. Even though God may initially bestow His love without asking anything from us, does it stop there? Consider the words of Jesus:

‘He that hath my commandments and keep at them, he it is that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my father and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him’ (John 14:21)

In other words, we show our love to God by following His commandments. Also interesting in this verse is the thought that the exhibition of our love to Him (by keeping his commandments) is somehow connected to the love that He displays towards us.

Again, not that his love is contingent upon our obeying Him, but Jesus tells us there is some relationship between the two. The danger in using the humanistic concept of ‘unconditionality’ to describe God's love is that it disconnects us from His requirements, such as the keeping of His commandments.”
(Magna Parks, Christians Beware, The Dangers of Secular Psychology 28, 29)

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“Our human traditions and culture divorced the generations of believers in the church leading to ossified older congregants who have forgotten the dynamics of a passionate faith while younger congregants repeat the errors of the past without drawing on the wisdom of the mature. Breaking the biblical pattern for discipleship allows a human tradition to be created that destroys the biblical plan. Recapturing the pattern of older men discipling the younger and older woman doing the same is not only countercultural to the broader world but against the culture we have inculcated in many of our congregations.

When churches place human tradition of dividing the generations above God's own stated plan of multigenerational, integrated congregations, we delude ourselves into thinking our plans will bring about God's will. We are, in essence, thumbing our noses at the Creator and stating that His design is inadequate for the world today.”
(White & Yates, Franchising McChurch, p. 50-51)

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“The virtual eclipse of the 1888 message for decades has been the one factor almost entirely responsible for this erosion of basic Seventh-day Adventist confidence in the sanctuary doctrine and 1844. In 1889 Ellen white foresaw that opposition to the Jones- Wagner message was ‘to cause apostasy’ (CWE 31). An interesting phenomenon is apparent: those who fail to see Biblical support for 1844 likewise fail to appreciate the 1888 message; and the reverse seems operative as well. The 1888 message brought the sanctuary doctrine into clear focus and restored ‘its presiding power [in] the hearts of believers’ (EV 225); and the loss of that message tended to ‘remove its presiding power from the hearts of believers.’”
(Robert Wieland, The Knocking at the Door, 53)

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“…[T]he Book of Revelation hints at a more inclusive identification for the harlot woman than merely with Rome. Babylon, derived from ‘Babel’ and meaning confusion ‘is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion.’[GC 380]. Rev. 17 is not complete in itself; it prepares the reader for chapter 18, with its graphic images of the judgments that afflict and finally destroy the whore. The representation of Babylon largely has an end time focus. It is significant that through its wording Rev. 18:2,3 is closely linked with Rev. 14:8.
Babylon includes degenerate forms of Protestantism, churches that have forsaken the principles established by the Reformation and seek to reunite or closely cooperate with Rome. She is, after all, not only the great whore, but also ‘the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.’ (Rev. 17:5). Before the Second Coming, they- together with pagans, spiritualists, and all the opponents of the Lamb-will confederate and help the dragon in its war against the last generation who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
(Edwin de Kock, 7 Heads and 10 Horns, 40-41)

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“The ‘generation gap’ theory was popularized in educational psychology and promoted heavily by vested economic interests in the community. Capitalizing on this theory, the popular churches began to emphasize the role of youth leadership. Adults were now urged to play a supporting rather than an active role in youth ministry. We again followed suit. Within the Adventist church, at first in North America, some of our youth leaders began to advocate that adults were no longer welcome in the AY society. The cry of youth for youth was heard, and the idea that only youth were able to communicate with youth or adequately plan for their needs was promulgated.

The youth society was in trouble. Membership was no longer required. Most aspects of devotional life or training for service had been eliminated.”

(Malcolm Allen, Divine Guidance or Worldly Pressure?, 121)

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Why isn't it helpful to focus on our past to help us with our emotional difficulties, especially as Christians? For one, focusing on the past keeps us in bondage to the past. This is why we are told by Paul that we should be ‘forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (to) to press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil. 3:13,14)

How can we fulfill this spiritual goal if we spend time analyzing and gaining supposed insight into what our parents and others have done to hurt us when we were children?

In addition, God tells us that ‘if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: all things are passed away; behold all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17). If we are truly born again, we must realize that whatever we experience when we were children is now ‘passed away.’

This undue focus on childhood can prevent us from developing our new lives in Christ- just what Satan desires. This is why we are admonished to ‘cast out of the mind the dangerous obtrusive theories which, if entertained, will hold the mind in bondage so that the man shall not become a new creature in Christ.” [EGW, Mind, Character and Personality, Vol.2, p.769]. Could such theories include those from the secular psychology world? I believe the answer is yes!
(Magna Parks, Christians Beware, 14-15)

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“There are two contrasting elements in religion that teach us how we should approach God and how we should view Him. These two elements are transcendence and immanence. The transcendence of God says that He is great and mighty and glorious and that He runs the universe from His throne. The immanence of God tells us that He's our friend who was come down to dwell beside us. How can both of these views be true? How can the great majestic God of the universe also stoop low to become our personal friend? That is the great tension of religion, a tension that was ultimately resolved in the Incarnation. Jesus came to live alongside of us with His divinity shielded from us by His humanity. Thus the great God of the universe becomes our personal friend in Jesus Christ, and in that capacity He has a tender loving concern for us. That is part of what the vision of God/Jesus in Ezekiel 1, Daniel 10, and Revelation 1 tells us.”
(William Shea, Daniel, p.235)

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“ ‘At times those who have no knowledge of God aside from that which they have received under the operations of divine grace have been kind to His servants…

‘Heaven's plan of salvation is broad enough to embrace the whole world… And He will not permit any soul to be disappointed who is sincere in his longing for something higher and nobler than anything the world can offer. Constantly He is sending His angels to those who, while surrounded by circumstances the most discouraging, pray in faith for some power higher than themselves to take possession of them, and bring deliverance and peace.’ (PK. 376-378)

The significant thing, after all, is how we relate to truth. ‘Our standing before God depends, not upon the amount of light we have received, but upon the use we make of what we have. Thus even the heathen who choose the right as far as they can distinguish it are in a more favorable condition than are those who have had great light, and profess to serve God, but who disregard the light, and by their daily life contradict their profession.’ (DA 239)

According to Ellen White, salvation is possible for those honest in heart who have never heard the name of Christ. However, she does not say that they can find salvation through their own religions. The fact that she says that the honest in heart can find salvation even though they have never heard the name of Christ indicates God's presence among all the people in the world. His efforts are not limited and circumscribed, but universal. No barrier of language, culture, or religion can stop the Holy Spirit in His efforts to reach the human heart. Among those asked to sit at the right hand of His throne are those who have done good to the needy and oppressed, though they may have never heard Christ’s name.”
(Sakae Kubo, The God of Relationships, 136-137)