I agree with the general emphasis of the article and posts regarding light versus darkness; however there are a few texts which do support the idea that God is surrounded by darkness. Admittedly, these are a very few texts compared to the many which reference God and light: Deuteronomy 4:11 "you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness <02822>, cloud and thick gloom. Deuteronomy 5:23 "and when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 2 Samuel 22:10 "he bowed the heavens also, and came down with thick darkness under his feet. 11 "and he rode on a cherub and flew; and he appeared on the wings of the wind. 22:12 "and he made darkness canopies around him, A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky. Psalms 18:11 he made darkness his hiding place, his canopy around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
God uses physical darkness, at times. Not spiritual darkness and confusion.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5
The darkness in the bible at times is to shield the people from the bright Glory of God that they could not look upon. The Bible says, "He (Moses) put a vail on his face.But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him"(Exodus 34:33 to 35). Also in SoP it is written, "In that thick darkness God's presence was hidden. He makes darkness His pavilion, and conceals His glory from human eyes. God and His holy angels were beside the cross. The Father was with His Son. Yet His presence was not revealed. Had His glory flashed forth from the cloud, every human beholder would have been destroyed. And in that dreadful hour Christ was not to be comforted with the Father's presence. He trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him"(The Desire of Ages, Page 753, 754).
Let the leaders of apostasy know that God is in control. God says to His faithful followers 'Be still and know that I AM GOD' (Ps 46:10)! The time of sifting is here and it will follows the outpouring of the power of Holy Spirit in the latter rain upon those who are sighing and crying out loud for the abominations done among God's Remnant people.
What is the point, ultimately, of this trickery and telling someone they can only have a relationship with Jesus if they follow a ritual? It's insane. I can't believe this kind of activity is tolerated by the world church.
I'm told reliably that this account is inaccurate.
Jose Rojas speaks to the issue of Light and Darkness. He says, very emphatically, "Light! and Darkness! Cannot occupy the same place at the same time!!" I believe the leadership at Walla Walla would be well advised to take this statement to heart and re-examine their mission.
Umm . . . concerned SDA, what are you talking about? What is inaccurate? You can watch the video above and see for yourself that what has been reported here is accurate.
In my view, that was a good sermon. While not stressing peculiar Adventist views, it was biblically grounded as an invitation to walk by faith and not by sight. The lights off and the shutters closed were an apt aid to that point. Yes, we seek God's light in a world of darkness, but must we do it by means of incendiary blog posts?
"The lights off and the shutters closed were an apt aid to that point." --Alfredo Vergel Apt aids are fine. Aids which deliberately border on mysticism and the sophisticated occult merchandise of the emergent/new age movement are more than highly questionable. They are unacceptable. If that is incendiary, let it be incendiary. "I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?" --Jesus, Luke 12:49
This is a most unfortunate characterization of Pastor Bryan's sermon. Confirmation bias is a phenomenon by which people tend, unconsciously, to sense only evidence that seems to support their preconceived beliefs, and ignore disconfirming evidence. That is the most charitable way I can think of what happened here. The author makes no mention of the very valid and Biblically sound point of the pastor's message -- that removing distractions and darkening the background can help us to see the light more clearly. He gives no examples of the "twisting" of texts. The red herring of the cited author's Episcopalian identity, and the allusions to the "emerging" church serve only to obfuscate the issue and smear a good pastor's name. I would invite the author, if he wants to be consistent, to remove every hymn from his hymnal that has a catholic or episcopal author. His worship would be markedly impoverished.
> @austincameron > that removing distractions and darkening the background can help us to see the light more clearly. This is only true in a physical sense. It is absolutely not correct from a spiritual perspective, and the Bible teaches no such thing. If this is what the pastor was teaching, then he is most certainly a false teacher.
Again, what was false about that teaching? "Close your eyes while you pray" was his repeated admonition. Precisely a metaphor for removing distractions. What would it mean "from a spiritual perspective"? How would the teaching suddenly become false and un-Biblical? Why must we revert to the most unfavorable construction of what on its face a benign teaching? "Judge not" is also a Biblical admonition.
"Judge" is also a biblical admonition. We do not see spiritual truth more clearly by "darkening the background." We see spiritual truth more clearly by walking in the light. Also, as bible believing Christians we do not place too much importance on physical practices intended to help us reveal truth/become one with God/see the light, etc. We have no such tradition or instruction in God's Word. So those who teach otherwise are false teachers, plain and simple. Where in the Word are we instructed to enter into complete darkness in order to reap the benefits of prayer? Nowhere! It's not a biblically sound teaching.
To say that a point should be made about the true aspects of something is somewhat startling to me. Satan ALWAYS mixes truth with error, otherwise no one would follow his lies. Should we focus on the positives and not worry about the errors? I feel that ALL Adventists would do well to reread the great controversy again, including myself. We have to be aware of the falsehood and turn away from it. Especially the uniting of pagan religions (spiritual formation) and the truth. We have to focus on Christ and His righteousness to keep safe in the final scenes of this earths history.
One more Adventist leader deceived by the same book. http://www.adventistreview.org/141518-17
> @brenda1 > One more Adventist leader deceived by the same book. Deceived by a book, yes, but not primarily by a book, but by the frog of new age spiritualism/mysticism as presently manifested through apostate protestantism. It really is a sad day when we have GC general VPs referring to a new age mystic as a theologian, and recommending her wine for the sheep in his care. May the Light of the world show mercy to His Church and shine His light on His Little Flock!
Most sermons currently being preached in our pulpits certainly are not teaching present TRUTH, a truth that is focused on preparing the people for the reality of the times we are living in. It is clear Satan is diligently working to distract and divide to conquer, and we are falling into his trap even though God has warned us. What will He have to do to wake us up?! We are wretched, poor, blind and naked, and don't even know it!
And this man is coming to My church this weekend for convocation and only a handful of us are upset. And yet all of our pastors in this conference are defending him in a public forum and against us. My heart is heavy and sad tonight...aching....Oh Jesus...please come.