Misconceptions about 7th Day Adventists (SDA)

What's wrong with Seventh Day Adventists? I'm interdenominational and have met really amazing Seventh Day Adventists I have high regard for. They're just a different denomination, not cults.

I've read a couple of articles but still don't see anything wrong with SDAs. They still believe in faith and grace. A cult will add or subtract from the Word of God. They don't add or subtract. A cult would deny Jesus as both 100% man and 100% God. They don't deny that. So they're no more considered cults as some think. Just a different denomination. Their extreme teachings aren't extreme enough to fall into the "cult" category. They're not JW or Mormons.

Also, the writer of some of these online articles I've read against the SDAs are also questionable. But that's a different topic altogether.

They never said Ellen White's writings are equal to the Bible. They said the revelation and inspiration behind it-- meaning the Holy Spirit. Meaning they believe that the Holy Spirit gave her Revelation and inspiration.

I am not saying SDAs are right or Ellen is right but as long as they don't equate her teachings to the Bible, they're not adding to the Word of God. Therefore, they're not cults.

The biggest persecutor of the Church in the world right now are the Christians. The less we fight each other and the more we fight the devil, the better.

Learning to Devo

When I teach anyone devotion, I always ask, "Whose voice do you hear when you read? Don't hear your own voice reading. Hear His voice speaking to you."

Kid wants to be a doc?

Dissect as many dead creatures she can get her hands on.

Have tons of pets - various varieties and paired so they multiply and she can raise them from birth or egg.

When they get sick, have her scope the garden for various weeds and plants she thinks could be a herb, download the plant app to identify it, then Google it's health benefits. Look for cures in your backyard.

My Valedictorian Speech - Doctorate in Ministry - Velecdictory

 I represent the class of 2016. 

First and foremost, I would like to appreciate the people who brought this day into being: God, who never fails and makes sure we never really do; Rev. Dr. Dexter and Lily Low, my parents, who have poured not just knowledge but spirit, heart, and soul –their lives– into all of us –we truly hope we have lived up to your standards; and all our other lecturers who have been coming from all over the world whose hearts were to make us the signs and wonders God has intended us to be– you are all true servants of the living God. Thank you for those sleepless nights and invaluable insight that superceeds the treasures of the world.

[pause]

Not all of us are here because we earned it. Some of us are here because we have, in fact, unintentionally earned it.

When I was still schooling, my dad used to say, “Don’t just study for the sake of studying. Study because you want to learn. It is not about the grades. It is about learning because you want to.” 

I, and many of the students and graduates here, started our classes in the School of Christian Ministries at least two decades ago. Why? Because our time here was really just to learn and not simply collect credit units. In fact, when many of us first signed up and attended some of those classes, we were not even aware of credit units being offered. 

In fact, don’t be surprised, if after this graduation ceremony, you still find us in classes with everyone else– not just as teachers but students.

I started attending courses in SCM when I was about ten. And I would like to encourage all the young people today to enrol as young as ten, not because it takes forever to graduate but because they are truly capable in understanding what these adults are talking about and can submit papers which are both relevant and competent. I am a living testimony of that.

[pause]

During my time here, what I really learned was that we were special people. I have also learned how we were to be properly equipped as special people. We needed special training– and this is just the place to do it.

A graduation is the beginning of new beginnings. What lies ahead is life. Today, we celebrate new beginnings. 

[Prayer of Decree]

In Jesus’ Name, Today, we hatch the breaking forth of a new anointing, the unlocking of spiritual doors which stand between us and the destiny that is ahead of us– we say to these doors, be opened. Today, we pave the way for our graduates to walk into the promises of God upon their lives. They will experience a continuous road of victory and power. They will see the fulfillment of the visions and dreams that God has placed upon their hearts ever since they were young. There will be a restoration of those dreams today. We unlock their hearts to the realization of their destinies today, in Jesus’ Name.

My message to the Graduating Class of 2016:

If the world remembers us not, 

we are nobody;

If God remembers us not, 

we are nothing.

True legacies live on,

true legacies multiply;

A heritage leave not behind,

without a legacy.

No sons without fathers,

 no fathers without sons;

First a true son be,

 then a true father.

Living together before Christ

After living for years in sin, you finally receive Jesus and you and your partner are saved! Congratulations 🎉 👏🏻 

Can you still have sex outside marriage? Nope.

Sex is not allowed. Need to get married ASAP.. it's not about the tradition or ceremony. The issue is to make a vow and covenant before the Lord. You don't need to make it huge. Just get it done legally and have the pastor to officiate it and a couple of witnesses. Remember -- you're not doing this for the people -- you're doing this for the Lord, to the Lord, presenting yourselves to God so your marriage may be blessed by God

What about the sins before this? That was before you were baptized. You're a different person now. The devil cannot accuse you for what you did before baptism. That person is dead and you are a new creation. A brand new human being. Reborn. Whoever it was before baptism was not you.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Yes, you are a brand new person

Ephesians 4

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

My Take on the Trinity

Yes. Jesus is God. Right from the beginning of the World, it was always "Us": God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. "Let Us make them in Our Image" Genesis 1:26

And John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

The reason why the word for 'God' was different in the Old Testament than the New testament is because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. Jesus is God.

John 10

30 I and My Father are one.” 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Matthew 28:19

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mark 14

60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” 61 But He kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

John 19

7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”

John 5

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Please don't take this lightly. Jesus was killed for this reason -- by making himself equal to God.

A grudge

Christianity is all about forgiveness. God can only forgive us as much as we have forgiven others. If we have something against someone, we need to leave our gift at the altar and settle it with our brother. Also, don't forget the parable of the servant who did not forgive the debt of his fellow servant when the master had forgiven him all his debts.

The Bible tells us that he who does not love his brother does not know God and the Love of God is not in him. 1 John 4:7-21

Love is not a feeling. It is a choice. Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. First choose to forgive, and if necessary, speak it forth aloud to the Lord that you forgive your brother. This will help. And how you feel about it will come later .