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“When we have set out to walk in His ways, we are ready, at the earliest appearance of pressure or trial, to murmur and rebel. Indeed there is nothing in which we so signally fail as in the cultivation of a confiding and thankful spirit. Ten thousand mercies are forgotten in the presence of a single trifling privation. We have been frankly forgiven all our sins. ‘accepted in the Beloved,’ made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, the expectants of eternal glory, and, in addition to all, our path through the desert is strewn with countless mercies; and yet let but a cloud the size of a man's hand appear on the horizon, and we at once forget the rich mercies of the past in view of this single cloud, which, after all may only ‘break in blessings upon our head.’” (C.H Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch, p.212-213)
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“Christ knew that after His heavenly ascension His disciples would live in a changing world, by nature hostile to the Kingdom of God. For this reason He fervently prayed to His Father to keep them from the evil one (John 17:15). Jesus also clearly warned against the danger that human culture poses to the Christian life. The cares of this world and the riches therein can form invisible but permanent grooves in our lives, separating us from Christ and the power of His word (Mark 4:17-18. Have the ‘cares of this world’ affected Seventh-day Adventists’ understanding of salvation and pastoral ministry? Is Adventism looking progressively more like the prevailing secular culture all around us? Is the difference between the church and the world growing fainter and fainter?”
(Fernando Canale, Secular Adventism, p.13)
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“In contemplating the second coming, we must understand it in relation to what God needs to accomplish. In order for Christ to come, the issue is not evangelism. We could evangelize the whole world and have everyone be seventh-day Adventist, and yet the Lord still could not come. ‘What!’, you may ask. ‘Why not?’
The issue is not having everyone accept the SDA choose so that they might die saved, but a people might accept the truth in light of our sanctuary message in such a way as to not just die saved, but to not die at all. The final generation must be prepared to stand alive and saved in God's consuming- fire- presence at his second coming. God will have a whole generation that is ‘without guile’ and is able to be translated without seeing death.
‘The peculiar people whom he is purifying unto himself to be translated to heaven without seeing death, should not be behind others in good works’ 1T487… Elijah, representing those who at the close of earth’s history will be changed from mortal to immortal and be translated to heaven without seeing death.’ PK 227”
(Debbi Puffer, Earth’s Final Generation, 43)
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“Soft minded individuals are prone to embrace all kinds of superstitions. The minds are constantly invaded by irrational fears, which range from fear of Friday the 13th, to fear of a black cat crossing one's path. As the elevator made its upward climb in one of the large hotels of New York City, I noticed for the first time that there was no thirteenth floor- floor fourteen followed floor twelve. On inquiring from the elevator operator the reason for this omission, he said, “This practice is followed by most large hotels because of the fear of numerous people to stay on a thirteenth floor. Then he added, “The real foolishness of the fear is to be found in the fact that the fourteenth floor is actually the thirteenth.” Such fears leave the soft mind haggard by day and haunted by night.” (Martin Luther King, Strength to Love, p.10-11)
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“Somewhere, deep within each of us is an understanding about God. We don't often use the word theology when talking about issues of everyday living, but somehow we need to find a means to bring a discussion of our understanding of God into the conversation about consumption. We suspect that at the root of many of the causes that drive us to overconsume is a view that God and God’s creation is insufficient to meet our needs, or a view that God is so distant from the concerns about our daily lives that he is unconcerned about our levels of consumption.”
(“Will Samson, Enough: Contentment in an Age of Excess, p.54)
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“The tendency of modern writers is to reflect upon the erroneous idea, assiduously built up by the interested parties, that the papacy is the connecting link between the Church of the apostles and the Christianity of the present time. Even among Protestants and non-religious people there is much false reasoning. The following quotation will exemplify this. Says a modern writer: “Protestantism must never forget that its faith was communicated through Catholicism. The Roman church remains the only link during many centuries between the modern world and the early Christian enthusiasts.” (Protestant Digest, April-May 1941)
This book has sought to make it clear that the Church in the Wilderness, of the 1260- year period is the connecting link between the Apostolic Church and our time. To her, we are indebted for the learning and the treasures of truth preserved throughout the Dark Ages. As to the transmission of the pure text of the Holy Bible, credit should not be given to the papacy, which has placed tradition above the Bible, but to the faithful churches who adhered through years of darkness and superstition to the original Apostolic writings and their uncorrupted translations. This volume, in some small measure, pays tribute to these unsung heroes of the past of the true Christian Church.”
(B.G. Wilkinson. Truth Triumphant, p.379-380)
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“Ask any pastor with time constraints on a service, and he will voice his concern that sometimes he feels trapped. With all of the things we have added to our services-special music performances, excellent worship, graphic media, multiple services, televised or broadcast services-we have to ask ourselves, “What would we do if God showed up? … Furthermore, in an attempt to attract more congregants, many churches have moved away from the core Reformation promise of Word -centered worship. Evaluating this is quite easy. If the Word of God functions as the foundation for every believer's spiritual health and life, why do many churches spend less time studying the Word of God together than they do singing? We know we are meddling here. But is this a valid question?”
(White & Yeats, Franchising McChurch, 31-32)
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“In the year 1844 10 words of Scripture turned the world upside down for thousands of Americans, and dominated the thinking of hundreds of thousands more. For one sublime moment it seemed that the greatest event of human history was about to occur, and those ten words had become in a large part of the Western world a rallying cry for a generation about to witness this event.
What were the words? “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him” Matt. 25:6. What was the event? The second coming of Christ, which according to the most ardent believers, a group led by William Miller, New England army captain turned preacher, was to take place in 1844. For this group, known historically as the Millerites, the second coming was a certainty. Their faith was sound, their convictions sure; and with joy they awaited the holy event… Belief in the second coming of Jesus has been prominent in the Christian Church since Apostolic times. Repeated emphasis in the New Testament made thisinevitable. The uniqueness of the nineteenth century revival of interest in this doctrine lay in its emphasis on the imminence of the event.”
(Jerome Clark, 1844, Vol.1, p.15-16)
