| Author | Message | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3295 Registered: 7-2007 |
I've been emailing back and forth for a long time with a sister of mine. The SDA veil is over her eyes REALLY thick though, so please pray for her and her husband. Here's my latest email: Dear _____, Do you know how evolutionary scientists often try to "prove" their evolution? Take for example a scientist trying to tell you that a bone is one million years old. You ask: "how do you know that the bone is one million years old?" He says: "because it's in a rock that's one million years old." You ask: "how do you know that the rock is one million years old?" He says: "because the bone in it is one million years old." He's using ridiculous circular reasoning. Aren't you doing the same thing? I ask: "how do you know you're right with Jesus?" You say: "because I keep the Sabbath and the other commands and keep asking forgiveness as a natural result of being saved." You don't realize that everyone in a cult, whether Mormon or J. Witness believes they're "right" with Jesus because they are doing things that they think are a natural result of being "right" with God. Do you know what justification is? It means declared righteous - not "as long as we're undergoing sanctification and growth and showing works in our lives." Romans 3:23-24 says: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, though the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." I heard about a kid who accepted Jesus when he was six years old. After that, though, he was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist church. When he became a teenager, he got discouraged and decided that he would never make it, so he went out in the world and lived a very worldly life. Was he still saved? Yes, definitely, because Jesus is the One Who keeps a person saved. [Jude 1:24] (God had declared him righteous when he was six years old! He had been born again! And once born, can you be unborn? Can you decide that you're not born from Mother anymore?) Now, don't get me wrong. There are people who claim to be Christian who aren't saved. Not everyone is saved who claims the name of Christ; but the tragic thing is that those like you who are in a cult are TRYING SO HARD and want so bad to be saved, but deep down they're depending on their keeping Sabbath and asking forgiveness and in general living a good life to let them know whether they're "right" with Jesus or not. We've both been taught a lie growing up. We were taught on the one hand that we're "justified by grace," but then a lie was taught saying that we aren't really justified because we have to go through probation first! They can't both be true! I really care about you. That's why I go on and on about this. I want you to "get" this! I want you to go to Heaven and live forever, but you can't do that if you're depending on anything like "works" to show you that you're right with Jesus. It's either ALL Him; all His doing; or nothing at all! You're getting the fruits of the Spirit mixed up with things that YOU have to do! That's why that article you sent me on the assurance of salvation made no sense. The author didn't know how to be saved. He just thought if you join the "one true church" and obey God "through Jesus' strength" then you'd be all right. That's not assurance. That's a trap from the devil to keep people from COMPLETELY ACCEPTING Jesus' COMPLETED work. Love, _____ | ||
| 1stthings1st Registered user Username: 1stthings1st Post Number: 7 Registered: 9-2013  |
Amen. What a great letter. Thanks for sharing, Asurprise. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3296 Registered: 7-2007 |
You're welcome. The trouble is, it's been years of email ping-pong with her not budging in her SDA beliefs. I'm wondering if early on, right after I got saved out of that religion myself, if she decided [maybe even subconciously] that it would be too high a price to stop being an SDA. The reason I wonder that is because she had moved a couple thousand miles away to marry a very conservative SDA man and also because she was well liked and respected in her SDA church. Most all my relatives stubbornly hang onto their false beliefs. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3298 Registered: 7-2007 |
She "friended" me on facebook and then when I responded to an article that she'd written mostly quoting Ellen White, she "unfriended" me because I pointed out a bunch of errors in Ellen White's words. She has a lot of relatives in common with me that she's "friended" so I put links to a couple articles that tell about salvation on my facebook page to balance out her "twist" and teach the real gospel! The gospel means "good news" and the Adventist "gospel" is no gospel at all!  http://www.gotquestions.org/get-right-with-God.html http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-lose-salvation.html | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 14742 Registered: 12-2003  |
I'm so sorry, Asurprise. It is so hard to have these ongoing conversations with Adventists. And good for you for posting sources of the gospel where the Adventists can read them! Colleen | ||
| Mjcmcook Registered user Username: Mjcmcook Post Number: 1349 Registered: 2-2011  |
Asurprise~ Thank-you for getting out there the links to 'gotquestions.org' ! I discovered this site quite some time ago and use it often~ I believe it is trustworthy and also the the answers are 'to-the-point' with accompanying Scripture~ ~mj~ | ||
| Rioranchoprays Registered user Username: Rioranchoprays Post Number: 4 Registered: 3-2014 |
I certainly understand the problem. My dear brother joined the SDA church back when we were teens. He joined as well as my dad because of my influence and baptism into the church. A few years ago, I called him and asked him if he died and appeared before the judgement seat of God, and he was asked why God should let him in. What would he say. He said, well, I keep the commandments. I went, NAH, wrong answer. He said, well, I work hard . . . I said, NAH, wrong again. He though for a minute. I know, he said I love Jesus. That was a good answer. Of course, he then wanted to add that he worked hard for God. No, it's just your relationship with God that saves you. I have been working for a long time for him to just get this far. I think the best approach would be to start praying that God will reveal himself to your sister. When you email her, just tell her you are praying this for her and ask if she would receive this. Kind of hard to say no to God. Don't you think? If you try to hard to pull her works from her, she will just hold on tighter to what she is doing. But if you go about it from asking God's blessings on her, asking God to reveal himself to her, and privately, asking God to help her see Himself. Well, you have nothing to lose. Lots of people who are in cults really think they are right. We have to have a good relationship with the individual, and begin to build a bridge with them. Your sister likely feels threatened and doesn't really know how to deal with you. Therefore, she may be just not even listening to you anymore. I will put your sister on my prayer list. I have tons of Mormon cousins that I would love to see saved. I am praying for them. Sometimes that prayer and releasing them to God is the best we can do at the moment. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3307 Registered: 7-2007 |
Rio; thanks, that's a good idea  Here's a good video for those people in cults who think that their "good works" count for anything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfc9ARM2yCA The thing is; I thought I was depending on Jesus to get me into heaven when I was an Adventist. If asked though, I would have admitted that I believed that depended on whether I was "faithful" at "keeping on" - continuing to ask forgiveness and "make progress" in the Christian life. | ||
| Thalarian Registered user Username: Thalarian Post Number: 22 Registered: 7-2006 |
There is a fine line between cult and religion, unfortuantly a religion can become a cult quite easily. One might have the best intentions but unless one is grounded with a firm biblical background one can become a cult. I think the advent movement may have gone down that route, they had good intentions but humans being who they were decided for some reason to have ellen white replace God and the Bible... If you look into her past you will find that she and her family originally were Methodists and yet from that humble beginning they formed a church that turn into a cult all because of her so called visions which humans of the new religion called her a prophetess without checking the Bible first to see if she met the standards of a prophet.. Now at in present we are left with a massive religion that is actually a cult. A religion that preaches that writings of Ellen White is above the Holy Bible and should be regarded as primary source of salvation in Jesus. In studying the biblical standards of prophecy and prophets, Ellen White fails every test... 100% failure rate... And that is telling and quite shocking... So how can flawed humans who were members of the Methodist religion where they were taught from birth to test everything by the Bible end up taking the visions of ellen white as gospel from God without checking the Bible first? I have never been able to figure that out... It is mind boggling to say the least. It shows how the devil works, how it is easy to regard a frail human women as a prophetess without checking the Bible first. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 3402 Registered: 7-2007 |
A good way to put it is "religion" is man's effort to be right with God. "Relationship" is what real Christianity is all about - a relationship with God! Religion teaches that God makes bad people good, but Christianity teaches that God makes dead people alive! (Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13) |
