LETTERS - G

He carefully avoided mentioning the NIV. He did tell us that the Scofield Bible was not a good Bible to study from. Told us not to use our EGW study Bibles to outsiders.

After the SS lesson, a group of young people from the church went up on the platform to sing and play their guitars. They sang songs that ____ remembers the young people singing in the Nazarene church, Pentecostal type songs.  One of the guitar players, a young teen girl, got her guitar going in a real loud beat. It was hard to sit there, and some folks got up and went out into the lobby. This infuriated the pastor. When he got up to speak his face was angry and he told us that when we offend these young people we will be cast into hell.

Then he continued his agenda, preaching to us about receiving the Holy Spirit, latter rain experience. He was not jovial, but indignant and very loud. He was still very upset at us.

But first here is a quote to keep in mind:

The Comforter is called "the Spirit of truth." His work is to define and maintain the truth. He first dwells in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and thus He becomes the Comforter. There is comfort and peace in the truth, but no real peace or comfort can be found in falsehood. It is through false theories and traditions that Satan gains his power over the mind. By directing men to false standards, he misshapes the character. Through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit speaks to the mind, and impresses truth upon the heart. Thus He exposes error, and expels it from the soul. It is by the Spirit of truth, working through the word of God, that Christ subdues His chosen people to Himself. {DA 671.1}

Pastor B____ is insistent that in order to have the "Holy Spirit fire, not the fumes", we need to "love each other". We have to accept each other as we are. Now re-read the words from the SOP quote I inserted above "directing men to false standards" leads to a character that is undesirable in the kingdom of heaven. Anyhow that is how I understand it. Now to the pastor’s sermon:

I don’t know the correct educated term for what I am about to describe. It is when the meaning of something is completely changed to mean the opposite.

He quoted: Matthew 7:13--Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

He insinuated that conservatives are in the broad path.  He said conservatives are always "annoyed" at other people if they don’t sing traditional songs, dress casual, and they fail to offer complete acceptance with love.

He put the conservatives, the "legalists", into the same category as the church up until the time of Constantine. He said Constantine did not change the Sabbath to Sunday, but that the church had gradually changed the Sabbath over the years by their "creeping compromise". True, but he was infering that the conservatives have not been living by the "fire of the spirit,"  but in the "fumes of the spirit", and because of our lack of love for those that are different,  going down the BROAD ROAD, we will make those changes from the Holy to the unholy, all by ourselves, we do not need the Papacy to make those changes!  That is how I understood it. If we love and accept "new theology" whether in dress, music, etc. then we are on the "narrow road".

Below is a picture of an author: His name is Shane Clairborne. Do you think you would get a blessing from reading his book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical ? Our pastor did. He quoted quoted from this man’s book.    He didn't know I would come home put that name into the Internet and do a search! 

Here are some quotes about that book and author: