| Author | Message | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 4861 Registered: 12-2003  |
I'm posting below an email from Greg Taylor. We've checked, and it's true: Mark Martin has been forced to change the name of his website, sdaoutreach.org. He has renamed it www.exadventist.comóit's all still there, but by a new name. I'm sure the reason the church is starting to attack the web is that in the past five years, 1.4 million people have left the church. In a church of around 13-14,000, that's a lot. The church spokespeople are open about saying the web is having a deliterious effect on the people's confidence in Ellen White... Praise God; the truth is becoming known, and the Holy Spirit is convicting hearts...! Here's the announcement: Dear Friends, The Seventh-day Adventist church has been going all out to try to stop websites that are devoted to sharing Biblical New Covenant concepts with former or questioning Seventh-day Adventists. People checking into Adventism through their outreach efforts have been going online and discovering some of these issues and seeing some of the theological problems in the SDA church. The church wants to put a halt to this free access to information. In the official Church sites and publications, issues with Ellen White are often downplayed and the theological problems kept out of sight. They are concerned that people are getting information they would rather keep secret. Because of this, the SDA denomination has been actively pursuing legal means to get the alternative sites shut down. The SDA church has been taking legal action against any site that has SDA or Adventist in the name. They cannot, however, legally go after those that say ìformerî or ìexî before the word. Because of the law suit threats, SDAoutreach, a site run by my friend Mark Martin and Calvary Community Church has been forced to take on a new name. Their heart to reach out to SDAs comes from a deep desire to share the love of Jesus to those caught in sectarianism. They have a deep love for the Lord and a deep desire to share the good news of the New Covenant. Please pray for them as they continue to minister. Also click on their new website. www.exadventist.com to see what they have to share. I would encourage you to click on this site a few times a day for a while so that Google and other search engines will move them up on the list for those searching for answers. Please feel free to send this information along to your friends and contacts. As people make decisions, it is important that they have all the facts, not just those endorsed by the official SDA system. Please keep their ministry in prayer and pray for those searching for truth that God will open their hearts and bring them to the joy of knowing Him. Blessings to you all! In Christ, Greg Taylor | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 245 Registered: 6-2006  |
Thanks Colleen - I found that out the hard way. I kept trying to log on and it would read "server not found". I finally went into Mark Martin's Calvary site and found it there. It's too bad they had to change the name it's an outreach to Adventists first. Leigh Anne | ||
| Susans Registered user Username: Susans Post Number: 40 Registered: 8-2006 |
I praise God that He is freeing His people from the bondage of false doctrine and the influence of a false prophet. I would have likely never known of the theological rotten core of the SDA church without the ministry of people like Mark Martin, Dirk Anderson, and others who have invested time and money into web sites that anyone can access. Without them, I would remain confused and lost inside the SDA church. I, for one, will click on Mark's web site as many times a day as I can to move it to the top on Google. The truth needs to be known! Susan | ||
| Insearchof Registered user Username: Insearchof Post Number: 95 Registered: 8-2005 |
This is sad indeed. While I worked my way out without even knowing about Pastor Martin's website (at the time) I know that it has been a resource to me for information that I never considered reading and would not have had access to except for the efforts of those like Pastor Martin. You would think with all the real trash on the web the SDA church could better spend its time and effort on more important things than trying to stifle those that are opposed to their teachings. Funny. They need to take the words of Gamaliel in Acts 5:38-39... "And now I say to you, keep away from these men [Peter and the other apostles] and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it - lest you even be found to fight against God" It is just because ministries such as Pastor Martin's are so effective that the SDA church has to rely on threats rather than relying on the strength of the 'truth' they believe they have been called to proclaim. ISO | ||
| Jeremy Registered user Username: Jeremy Post Number: 1567 Registered: 10-2004  |
Others on here are probably more knowledgeable about this than I am, but it seems that a search engine would not know how many times a website is accessed, and looking at Google's site specifically, it appears that is not something that affects their search results. Anyone know more about this? Jeremy | ||
| U2bsda Registered user Username: U2bsda Post Number: 287 Registered: 11-2004 |
Traffic to a website is good, but linkage from other sites is helpful too. If you have a blog or something where you can put the link to the new site it will help the search engine rankings. If the link to www.exadventist.com is on a more popular site that is ranked well in the search engines then that is very beneficial to the search engines. Search engines spiders travel the web. The more links that there are on other sites the sooner the search engine spider will rank the site. You can find out how many sites are linking to a site by typing link:www.exadventist.com into Google. Right now there are no sites linking to exadventist in the Google listings. That should increase as more places like this post the website link. When the spider searches this site it should see the link and register it and then go and search the exadventist site. With a new web address it is like starting from scratch so it may take a few months to get back to where it used to be. | ||
| Mwh Registered user Username: Mwh Post Number: 232 Registered: 4-2006  |
Google works more on references than on clicks to measure popularity, so to get the new website on Google you should really link to it from as many resources as possible, such as plain websites, blogs, web forums etc. Also I think it would be a good idea to put up a disclaimer on the site www.sdaoutreach.org to tell that it has been pulled down by the SDA and that there now is a new website available. That should be legal I guess? | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 2947 Registered: 3-2004  |
I was able to access the www.sdaoutreach.org earlier this week with no problem. When I read Colleen's post I had the same thought as Insearchof go through my mind. This is a spiritual battle and God has conquered it already. He is awesome. Diana | ||
| Jackob Registered user Username: Jackob Post Number: 360 Registered: 7-2005  |
Maybe this is the proper time and place to ask adventists if they still believe that former adventists will unite with the state to restrict their religious liberty, their liberty of speech and so on. th What we see is that adventists, especially the General Conference, is already uniting with the state to restrict the liberty of speech of former adventists. How GC explains this to the average adventist? Who is going to persecute whom? | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 4863 Registered: 12-2003 |
Jackob, great question. I had similar thoughts! Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 2950 Registered: 3-2004 |
Maybe each of us should write to the GC and ask that question. But then they would have our mailing address and send us junk mail. Anyway, God has conquered at the cross and we really do not need to worry. He is always awesome. Diana | ||
| Lynne Registered user Username: Lynne Post Number: 475 Registered: 10-2005 |
Colleen, Was this statement accurate? "I'm sure the reason the church is starting to attack the web is that in the past five years, 1.4 million people have left the church. In a church of around 13-14,000, that's a lot." I thought the church said it had 13 Million members worldwide. Without Mark Martins website and the formeradventist website, I would still be trying to work my way through the OT wondering why that voice inside of me keeps telling me something contrary to what I was taught by the Adventists. That is likely because I was saved a long time ago, just nobody told me that I was saved in the Adventist church. But now I know I was/am saved - thanks to the former adventist forum and Mark Martin pointing to Christ over the rules. Now I'm finally not fearing Sunday worshipers. These websites were the beginning of patching the holes in my armor. Lynne | ||
| Randyg Registered user Username: Randyg Post Number: 302 Registered: 12-2004 |
Lynne, You indeed spotted a typo, I believe the number should read 13-14 million members. They will claim more like 20-25 million attend Sabbath school and/or church, including those that are minor children and others who are not baptized. I know that if they eliminated all those names that are on the books, of the people who were baptized but no longer attend, the number would drop dramatically. For every former Adventist that took the time to draft a letter, to officially leave, I would lay money down that there are at least 5 that just disappear. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 2952 Registered: 3-2004 |
Randy, I believe what you say about people just dropping out of the SDA church. That is what my family has done. Up until a few months ago I would receive mail for my youngest sister from the last church she attended in CA, more than 20 years age and from the Pacific Union. I bought her old house. I used to just give my sister this mail, but I started sending it back. I wrote on the envelopes, no longer at this address, return to sender. I am sure that none of my family asked that their names be removed, except for my youngest brother who studied his way out of the SDA church. With the rest of them, who had been baptized, they moved around and never asked that their name be removed, so maybe their name was dropped. Diana | ||
| Walkonwater Registered user Username: Walkonwater Post Number: 63 Registered: 9-2006 |
Actually, I do not see anything wrong with defending one's name. If someone used the name FormerAdventistOutreach.com but the web site was filled with information that made you look like demons, would you like that? I think not. And I dare say you just might go to court to make them change their name. The name SDAOutreach.org is flat out deceptive. It makes it sound like it is sponsored by the Adventist Church. Before judging so critically, how about looking from the other guys perspective before slaming them as being demonic. The Olympic Organizing Committee did the very same thing a few years ago. They went to court and forced anyone who was using the name "Olympic" to change their name. Why? Because there was abuse of the name going on. One interesting fact is that Olympic Paint solved the problem by renaming their brand "Olympic Paint" but they used a stylized paint brush for the "i". Go to any store that sells Olympic Paint and you can see this for yourself. There is absolutley no crime in defending one's name. Especially when there are people who are willing to use your name to defame it. WalkOnWater | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 252 Registered: 6-2006 |
I didn't see it as "SDAsRdemons.org". I saw it as truly an outreach to SDA's. Why is it okay for the SDA church to call all other Christians "Babylon" or the "Mark of the Beast"? That's okay, but and outreach to SDA's is not? Walk, are you an Adventist or a Christian? Mark Martin isn't slamming members of the SDA church, he's pointing out errors in the organization's doctrines. | ||
| Walkonwater Registered user Username: Walkonwater Post Number: 65 Registered: 9-2006 |
There is information on the exadventist website which is misleading at best. For example, there is the article which talks about the Adventist Church cooperating with Hilter. I was not able to read the entire article but based on what I read it appears unlikely the writer ever acknowledges that vertually every Christian denomination dropped the ball and supported Hitler. But what I saw of the article it leaves the impression that the SDA Church alone was guilty. The writer of the article appears to be deliberately misrepresenting the situation. The question is, "Are we looking for truth or are we looking for dirt to rub the Church's nose in? I would feel angry if someone tried to delibaratly misrepresent Former Adventists. Forgive me for feeling angry when I see people deliberately trying to misrepresnt Adventists. WE NEVER FIND TRUTH BY SPREADING MISREPRESENTATIONS. WalkOnWater | ||
| Cforrester Registered user Username: Cforrester Post Number: 15 Registered: 7-2004 |
Actually, I guess it's one of perspective. If I hear of a ministry that is a homeless outreach, I don't think it is the homeless outreaching. It's someone who's reaching out to homeless to help them. This is how I viewed the name SDAOutreach. Similar to http://momsydney.org.au/ and http://www.gospelhelp.com/fmo/index.html and this http://www.gospelhelp.com/fmo/index.html - these are Mormon outreach ministries. Remember, Kinship won their lawsuit against the church and still prepends "SDA" to their name. Didn't Paul say something about taking each other to court?  | ||
| Dennis Registered user Username: Dennis Post Number: 855 Registered: 4-2000  |
Walkonwater, The plain facts are that the SDA Church went far beyond other churches in cooperating with Hitler. They even changed the name of "Sabbath School" to "Church School" and denied Jews membership in the SDA Church. Their official publications presented negative thoughts about the Jews, they offered their publishing house to print Nazi propaganda, ad infinitum. Oh yes, they also publicly adored Hitler because he was a vegetarian. Dennis Fischer | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 269 Registered: 11-2005 |
Walkonwater -- Funny thing. All the time I accessed SDAOutreach I never thought it was deceptive. The name states exactly what it is -- an oureach to SDAs. There is nothing so mysterious about that. The ones who are deceptive are those who slip Bible Story books with stories that change what the Bible says (like Eve wandering from Adam's side!) and the various evangelistic crusades that try to keep secret both the supporting denomination, and their hidden agenda. That is where the real deception is taking place. The truth will always win out, and that is why the GC and the White Estate are so desparate. They preach a "different gospel" -- the gospel of Ellen White. That is why they keep 1844 (supposedly a "core" doctrine) a secret from brand new believers, and discourage talking about Ellen White from the pulpit -- and yet these are "Fundamental Beliefs"? Really now. Who is deceiving who? Gilbert Jorgensen |
