Bible Studies: 13 The Remnant

Here's another Friday Bible study. This one looks at the sometimes contraversial Adventist doctrine of the remnant from a Biblical perspective. You can find the previous study in the series here. Crosswalk.com is good website to look up the scripture refrences. As always, your feedback is welcome as these studies are a work in progress.

Study 13: The Remnant

1. The remnant are the survivors of national catastrophe; the remnant of Israel’s demise would receive the p________ of God (Deu. 3:11; Gen. 45:5-8; 2 Kings 25:30,31; Jer. 23:3).
2. In the spiritual sense, the remnant are those of all nations who accept the promise of salvation by faith and are spared when sin is d_________. (Rom. 9:25-30, Rom. 10:21-11:6).
3. The remnant are defined by a time of testing, such as the 1,260 year p___________ of the God’s people by the church authorities of the Middle Ages (Dan. 7:19-25, Rev. 13:1-10) [3.5 years or 42 months = 1,260 days of years].
4. The last remnant will be those who t____, o____, and t_______ of God in spite of Satan’s climactic assault on their relationship with Him (Rev. 12:13-17, Rev. 14:12, Rev. 19:10).
5. The last remnant promote true worship of God as he d_______ it as opposed to the idol set up by the beasts (Rev. 13:11-15; Dan. 3:1,4-6 Rev.14:6,7; Ex. 20:11).
6. The last remnant proclaim the ultimate doom of spiritual Babylon, which symbolizes spiritual c_________, enforcement of religion, and supplanting God with religion (Rev. 14:8 Gen. 11:1-9; Dan. 3:28,29; Rev. 17:1-6).
7. The last remnant warn about the deadly consequences of i_____________ or utilizing the human principles of Babylon and thus receiving its ‘brand’ (Rev. 13:16-18, Rev. 14:9-11, Gen. 1:27,30). [Six was the Babylonian holy number.]
8. Instead of the mark, the remnant of all ages have their redemption s______ by Holy Spirit in their hearts (Rev. 7; 14:1-5; Eph 4:21-24,30-32; 2 Cor. 1:22).

1. Promises. 2. Destroyed 3. Persecution 4. Trust, Obey, Testify 5. Desires 6. Confusion 7. Internalizing 8. Sealed

Song: Step by Step

We never sing the verses of this song, and that's a shame.

Step by Step
by Rich Mullins

Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so much work left to do
But so much You'd already done

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
(from ChristianLyricsOnline)

I like to think of "Step by Step" as a road song for the Christian life. I love how Rich identifies with Abraham in the second verse as a reminder that we are destined to journey to a promised land. Rich Mullins was killed in a car accident in 1997 on his way to a benefit concert.

COYN (Calling Out Your Name) is a "webpage dedicated to the music and message of Rich Mullins".

Review: Pride and Seek

Pride and Seek: an unexpected spiritual journey is this year's young adult devotional from Review and Herald Publishing. I normally don't pay much attention to these devotional books, being of a more intellectual persuasion. (Yes, that's my weakness; don't exploit it.) But when I saw the book was a mini-autobiography by Seth Pierce my interest was piqued.

I knew Seth Pierce for about 6 years as a child and pre-teen. We were in the same grade, Pathfinder club, and his father was the pastor of our church; until he left Seth's mother for another woman. I remember having a sense of disorientation at the time (Can pastors get divorced, mom?), so I can only imagine how this would have effected Seth. He kind of drifted out of the church about the same time I went to academy, and we've only had the loosest of contact since then.

In Pride and Seek Seth describes the twists and turns of his "spiritual journey" from being an Adventist preacher's kid to a nominal-Christian who became a lay youth pastor in a charismatic mega-church and ended up at Union College studying to become an Adventist minister. I know. I gave away the plot, but it's nothing the back cover of the book won't tell you.

The real attraction of Pride and Seek is it's compelling portrayal of an Adventist boy's insider experience with pentacostalism and all that goes with it--vibrant worship meetings, powerful prayer experiences, speaking in tongues, getting slain and drunk in the spirit, etc. The experience of charismatics has been a question on my mind for some time now, and Seth has valuable insights into what we can learn from them and what pitfalls to avoid. I recommend it on this basis alone.

Pride and Seek's weakness is the theoretical places Seth doesn't take the issues he has raised. For example, he discusses his experiences with speaking in tongues at great length but doesn't devote half as much space to explaining the Biblical passages dealing with the subject. Because we're talking about a devotional book, that may be a bit like criticizing Star Wars for not explaining how the hyperdrive works; but this reader would have preferred more explanation of the texts (and for George Lucas to explain the hyperdive to me).

Pride and Seek is written in an easy and accessible prose that will appeal to a wide audience and it has the credibility of first-hand knowledge. While reading it my thirst for a deeper experience with the Holy Spirit was renewed. I especially recommend this book to young adults of my generation who will resonate with Seth's experience.

Seth Pierce's articles have been published in the Review.

In June I blogged about my exprience with clergy misconduct at the same church a few years later.

News: CIA's Secret Prisons

Washington Post | CIA holds terror suspects in secret prisons

It's nothing they haven't done before, but the truth will hopefully lead to some accountability. I just wonder how far down the torture road we have to go before America realizes we no longer have the moral high ground.

For more on this topic check out my previous post on the CBC Radio 1 documentary, "Ideas on Guantanamo".

10.29.05 Sermon Summary: Patience Of The Saints

Patience is not highly valued in success-oriented Western culture. And Christian' culture often has trouble expressing the Biblical virtue of patience, because the drive to save souls means the sooner the better. But the Bible places a high value on patience. After all "The fruit of the spirit is...patience" (Gal 5:22); "Love is patient" (1 Cor. 13:4); and "Here is the patience of the saints..." (Rev. 14:12).

So what does it mean to manifest the fruit of patience as a Christian who realizes he or she is living in the end times? In his letter the Apostle James shows us that Biblical patience looks like a farmer waiting to harvest his crop (Jam. 5:7). If the farmer takes off the crop too early or too late he will not have a harvest, so he must work along with natural processes to experience success.

Patience is primarily a matter of timing and is specifically the ability to work with God's timing. This applies to His timing for the second coming (2 Pet. 2:8,9) and to the process by which the Holy Spirit works in the human heart. The major symptom of impatience according to James (5:9) is complaining about other Christians.

Two aspects of Biblical patience (based on two Greek words)--holding back and enduring --must be combined in order to truly manifest the fruit of the Spirit. Most of us tend to fall into one of two traps: Either we fail to hold back and angrily jump the gun (i.e. impatience) or we fail to endure and give up (i.e. fatalism). The later is very often confused with patience but really has no Scriptural basis. (The fatalist doesn't bother to harvest; because if it's God will, the grain will find its own way into the barn.)

In the final analysis, "patience of the saints" is actually patience with the saints. We will all have some rough edges before Christ returns, and if in the mean time we are to be His body we must minister patience to one another. And if you feel your patience isn't all it should be, don't get discouraged; because God is patient with you. The Holy Spirit is still working on you and is patiently waiting for you to ask for help.

Don't Touch The Microphone!

CNN.com - Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism - Oct 31, 2005

It's a deadly reminder for baptizing pastors: Don't touch the microphone!

I still have childhood memory of a pastor repeatedly reaching from the baptistery for a microphone and a faithful deacon pulling it away from his grasp. Back then I thought it was funny. Now I realize that he probably saved the man's life.

Review: Serenity

If you know any of the devoted fans of the cancelled TV sci-fi series "Firefly", you're probably familiar with the question, 'Have you seen Serenity yet?' I capitulated to this request some weeks ago and now one movie and thirteen episodes later I have emerged with one question. Have you seen Serenity yet?

It's hard to explain to "Firefly" virgin why the show and the movie that caps it off are so awesome, but that won't stop me from trying. First, it's sci-fi and western rolled into one using the best parts of both genres. Second, it evokes that feeling you got from watching the first three Star Wars films and wished you'd got from the last three. And finally it's set in an anti-Star Trek universe where the bad guys spread 'civilization' riding starships with lasers while those left on the margins suffer and die.

The guy behind "Firefly" and Serenity is the writer/director Joss Whedon of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (or infamy). I guess he's known for his witty repartee and character development. Judging by the strong script on which this film rests he won't be loosing that reputation any time soon.

The actors are all people you've never heard of, but they come through with great performances. Nathan Fillion, a native Edmontonian, plays the leading role as captain of the titled space ship and is the Han Solo of his generation (last Star Wars comparison, I promise.). If I had to single out another performance it would be Chiwetel Ejiofor's unique and compelling villain, The Operative.

I have hardly any quibbles with Serenity; it is a nearly flawless film. Although you will certainly get more out of it if you have watched the preceding series, it by no means excludes the uninitiated. One could make the argument that by the end Serentiy descends into space-opera camp, but this can be forgiven in light of the moral complexities it explores.

I recommend Serenity to any movie fan who loves great action, dialogue, and characters. However this movie does have some brutal violence. It's not on a Saving Private Ryan or Passion of the Christ level, but you may want to avoid it if you're squeamish. You will also want to avoid this film if you don't want to get hooked on a certain cancelled television series with 13 episodes and about 11 good ones.

FIREFLYFANS.NET is the fansite for all things Firefly.

Our First House

My wife and I are considering buying a house. I reckon that after paying about $7,000 to our landlord it's about time we started putting some money into our own equity. An old pastor in Australia told me that if you put a little equity into a house each place you move, when you retire you'll own your own home. So that's our goal.

Right now we're navigating the confusing array of mortgage options. We figure we'd better move now before the interest rates go up. Any advice for this first time home buyer?

The Bigger, The Better?

I found this to be one of the most interesting results of the Natural Church Development international research project of 1000 churches.

Small churches grow 1600% more
When we compared all of the churches with less than 100 regular attenders (average size being 51 worshippers) with all of the churches that have a regular attendance of more than 1,000 (the average being 2,856), the result was striking. We discovered that "small churches" grow 16 times more than megachurches.

When doing such a comparison, we could not compare one church of 51 people to one of 2,856. We had to compare the results of 56 churches of 51 people each, to one megachurch with 2,856 people to come up with exactly the same number of people, just differently organized. On average, the small church category had a 1,600% higher growth rate. They one 16 times as many people! Interesting results, aren't they? Small churches really have no reason for a low self-esteem. (Color Your World With Natural Church Development, 34, author's emphasis)

Perhaps there is more to this than just helping small churches feel better. Maybe this statistic should tell us something about what size of churches we ought to be striving for. After all, a small church that experiences great growth will soon become a large church that grows more slowly.

Since organisms grow most quickly when they're small and young, the best way for God's churches to grow would be for them to multiply by dividing after they grow too large. As the author points out, it's "the same number of people, just differently organized." Perhaps we should say that they are organized for better growth.

I should say that I'm not totally against megachurches. Some people will be won by megachurches that wouldn't be won any other way. However I don't think that they are the model most churches should aspire to or emulate.

10.22.05 Sermon Summary: Service of Worship

The "Seven Deadly Social Sins" according to M. Ghandi include the sin of "Worship without sacrifice". Some Christians might wonder if this is even a sin. I've worshiped many times without sacrificing, does it matter? When was the last time you saw a animal slaughtered or food burned in church?

In most cultures worship involves sacrifice--indeed even ancient Hebrew culture of the Old Testament. Whenever God would bless his people they would worship by offering sacrifices upon an altar to Him. Abel, Noah, Abraham, and many others expressed their devotion and love to God in this way.

After God rescued Israel from Egypt He instructed Moses to build a portable temple called the tabernacle where His presence would dwell and His people would come to worship Him. The place in this tabernacle where the average Israelite could worship was at the altar of burnt offering. There they could offer animals and grain as sacrifices to be burned on the altar, but a usable portion was given for the priests to eat. In this way the offerings that the Israelites gave were similar to the money we place in the offering plate to sustain the church.

The purpose of these sacrifices was to point towards the sacrifice God made for us, when He gave His Son to die for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice, and as such we can easily get the idea that sacrifice doesn't play a role in the Christian worship. We tend to worship for what we can get out of the experience, rather then thinking about worship as an activity where we give. Is there still room for sacrifice in the Christian experience

Yes. The apostle Paul wrote: "Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (Rom. 12:1)” In response to God's total sacrifice for us, how else can we demonstrate love back to Him? This is what it means to worship--to give every part of ourselves over to God's will.

This sermon was actually inspired by a one of my blogs (Seven Deadly Social Sins), not the other way around.

A Plug For Adventists From National Geographic

Secrets of Living Longer (click on "The Seventh-day Adventists' Way")

Wierd, eh. Evolution's best propaganda machine giving props to the religion that spawned George McCready Price and preaches "worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters (Rev. 41:7)". I guess that's the power of the Adventist health message - one that I believe, but don't always apply as well as I should.

If you attend an Adventist church and are over the age of 30, sign up for "Adventist Health Study 2" and share the benefits of the Adventist lifestyle through research.

(via joie de vivre)

Blog Review: Philobuster

Philobuster* hasn't been updated for awhile, but it has some very cool art. It's actually one of the best combinations of philosophy and art that I've seen. Click on the pictures for the full effect.

I believe the blog was created by a professor on the Faculty of Religion at Pacific Union College.

*This is no longer the same blog I linked to years ago.