Truths planted in my rocky heart
I have been listening to the podcast since it began and have been so healed by the truths that are planted in my rocky heart—so many strongholds of deception have been taken down by the faithful ministering of the Word that you do each week. I rejoiced this week in particular with the obvious delight you both had at all aspects of the account in Luke 1. Such an antidote to the long slog through the 28 fundamentals!
I just wanted to share with you something that came to me during study of Luke chapter one. Zachariah seems to be questioning Gods ability to make this miracle happen when he says, “How shall I know this?” and goes on to reason why it can’t happen. In this he expresses doubt.
When Mary responds, in my ESV, she says “How will this be?”, and in that she expresses curiosity about what she has accepted “will be” and only asks how.
I see it as doubt vs. curiosity. Maybe this is a poor exegesis, but thought I’d share it since you were talking about why one was disciplined and the other shown grace. Am I off base?
Thank you again for your faithful ministry. I look forward every Tuesday to hearing your teaching.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you so much for sharing your responses and your insights into this latest podcast! Yes, we LOVE looking at Scripture after the horrible slog through the 28!
I agree with you, that Zacharias expressed doubt while Mary expressed the “need to know”. She didn’t express doubt. I believe your observation is insightful.
That you so much for writing; your responses are encouraging to us.
Lonely, Tough Battle
I just want to thank you and Nikki sooooo much for the podcasts that you publish. My struggle at the moment with the division in my family has taken a real tough turn. But on the positive note, your podcasts and explanations have certainly given me comfort in the truth of the Gospel.
While I struggle to answer back with all the correct Scripture-backing when my wife argues the Adventist beliefs, I do find that this battle is firming up my belief and creating an ever bigger understanding and foundation of what New Covenant living is all about. My wife is completely opposed to any teachings or explanations that speak against Adventism, so this is a lonely, tough battle.
The EGW doctrines and teachings are very difficult to break away from, so I am trusting and believing that my love and gentle approach will eventually break down my wife’s stronghold.
So thank you again to Colleen and Nikki for the awesome explanations and unpacking of the truth.
—VIA EMAIL
What About Spiritualism and Vegetarianism?
After reading many of your articles and responses, I would like to respond to a couple of things. I wrote to you a few weeks ago about the subject of death. We will never agree concerning this subject. To teach that when we die and the spirit with all its thoughts go to heaven, communicating with Christ and other loved ones, is as outrageous as saying water is not wet. So if our loved ones that have died and are in heaven, they would have the ability to see what we are doing since we are not perfect. So knowing that, it would be embarrassing for Mom and Dad to see what really happens and [see] what skeletons are in the closet, unless you feel that what you have in your (not so perfect life) is not that bad.
Once again I will bring up the subject of spiritualism. You know as well as I do what that’s all about. So do all the other authors that have written articles. They all have the same belief, but not one brings that subject into their so called (I have all the answers) articles. You can dispute everything you have been taught by your parents and church, but spiritualism is one thing you cannot argue against. So put the two together: if the spirit goes to heaven with thoughts and communication, what do you get here on earth? Satan doing his thing by showing you that communication is possible with your loved ones.
The other thing I wanted to touch on is diet. Are people really that bitter with the Adventist church that they would argue against what medical science has proven time and time again? NO FAITH NEEDED! Two great institutions (Mayo Clinic and Loma Linda university) and many others have researched this conclusion for years. Research has proven that Adventist men live on average 10 years longer and women 6 years longer than those in the general public.
In the beginning diet consisted of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. Sticking with that diet, we would have all that is needed to survive. There would be no need for meat to get the protein. Hence the saying You Are What You Eat.
For you to say as FORMERS that you have been released from a crippling bondage is absurd. You say you are freed from the conscience-killing bondage of a false prophet’s demands.
You may look at it as demands, but I look at it as suggestions. I don’t believe the Bible or EGW have said that we are heading for hell if we eat meat, sugar, pies, and many other foods. These are suggestions to follow so we can live a life without some of the complications that we endure due to our choices we make concerning our diet.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: The idea that believing the spirits of the righteous dead go to the Lord upon death and that He keeps the spirits of the unrighteous dead “under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9) has nothing at all to do with spiritualism. EGW and Adventism created this argument, and to be sure, I suspect the devil would love nothing more than to make people believe that the biblical teaching about death cannot be true because it would open the door to spiritualism! Satan wants humans dead. Pagan and occult religions have, through the history of the world, specialized in infanticide, genocide, and the torture and destruction of humanity. It is not the biblical belief in God’s preservation of human identities that leads to the occult practices; it is fear of Satan rather than fear of God and refusal to subject oneself to His revealed Word of truth!
The Bible never makes this connection between the spirits of the dead being with the Lord and spiritualism; only EGW and non-Christian sources make this connection. Demons function and deceive by twisting reality any way they can in order to lead people away from truth and reality and eternal life.
There is absolutely nothing in Scripture to suggest that the dead have any access to those on earth. Rather, the Bible makes it clear that they are separated from what goes on “under the sun”—from our lives on earth. They are with the Lord, and we are not told what that looks like—just that it IS. But we CAN know that the dead have no access to the living. Furthermore, God forbids necromancy, witchcraft, spiritism, and all aspects of the occult. God’s forbidding, though, doesn’t stop the devil from trying to deceive and to entrap the unwary who are not grounded in truth. He masquerades as an angel of light. Those who do not know the Lord are vulnerable to his deceptions because they are dead in sin (Eph. 1:1-3) and are citizens of the domain of darkness (Col 1:13).
It is remarkable to me that I have known several devout, traditional Adventists who would defend their state of the dead to the death, as it were—yet these Adventists actually HAVE had experiences in which they saw and spoke with dead relatives. Even Ellen herself had a dream in which she spoke with her dead husband, took his advice, and made decisions about her activities which she wrote to the brethren, justifying her decision by saying that the Lord forbade her from doing what she had planned to do before talking with dead James. (See “Ellen White Consults With Her Dead Husband”.
On the flip side of the coin, in my twenty-three years as an evangelical, born-again Christian, I have never met a Christian who saw or spoke with dead people—yet these Christians know that their loved ones are WITH the LORD. The operative words here are these: With the Lord. The dead do not roam the universe nor watch or tempt those on earth. Scripture never hints that the dead have any access to anyone on earth apart from God’s specific intervention (as in the case of Samuel with the evil Saul. The Bible clearly says that was Samuel, and God allowed Samuel to prophecy truth to Saul that day when the apostate king turned from God. Significantly, even the witch was shocked and afraid. Her conjuring apparently did not normally include actually conjuring real people!)
Spiritualism does not arise because people believe the dead are with the Lord and not simply non-existent. Rather, spiritualism arises because people do not believe God and are vulnerable to Satan’s deceptions. Either we believe and are born again and transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved Son (Col 1:13), or we remain dead in our sins, under the authority of the prince of the air (Eph. 1:1-2) and condemned already (Jn. 3:18). Spiritualism is demonic activity that entraps unbelievers who do not trust the Lord Jesus and submit to Him. Those who remain under Satan’s dominion are vulnerable to demonic spiritistic deception. This practice does not originate with the belief that God keeps the dead! It originates from a fear of the devil rather than from the fear of God!
As for the much-touted life-span advantage for Adventist vegetarians—that life-span advantage is not limited to the Adventist practitioners of the health message. Mormons also have the same advantage, and they eat meat. They do not, however, drink alcohol or smoke. A director from the Adventist Health Study once privately told my husband as they lunched together years ago that the Adventist advantage is exactly the same for all people who do not smoke, who do not drink to excess, and who do not eat heavily of processed red meats. The real reason for the lifespan advantage, apparently, is the lack of ingesting carcinogens. People who regularly eat poultry, fish, and occasionally red meat but do not smoke and do not drink to excess share exactly the same lifespan advantage Adventists tout.
Adventism has deceived us and has given us arguments that seem logical but lack foundations in actual truth. From the spiritualism scare (which has absolutely no foundation in Scripture) to the health message, the arguments are contrived based on an internal worldview, not on facts.
Interestingly, non-Adventist professionals are beginning to see that the growing international popularity of veganism for “planet health” has actually been the result of Ellen White’s religious teaching that meat clouds the mind and inhibits spirituality. In this link Gary Fettke, an Australian orthopedic surgeon, appeals to professionals and lawmakers to advocate for whole foods, not the low-fat, processed foods and meat substitutes made popular by the now hugely profitable “health food” manufacturing owned by Adventists. You may read his article “Replacing meat with highly processed food would repeat the health disasters of the 1970s” online.
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