IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in IAUA (ee-uh-oo-uh) our Father,
Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath. I pray that this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of the Lord. This is the 4th day of the 2nd month of God's Sacred Calendar in the year 6012 Anno Mundi. It is four weeks and two days until the evening of the 6th day of the 3rd month which is Pentecost Sabbath (Sunset on Sunday, May 11 on the 2008 Gregorian calendar). I pray that this may be the time for the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit in power and truth on the 144,000 to prepare the world for the final judgment. I have some additional thoughts continuing from the previous newsletter about prophetic emphasis. I recall some details from reading about Victor Houteff (Shepherd's Rod) and his discord with the Adventist church. His main discontent with the church was that he saw "new light" on prophetic interpretation. The church did not share his enthusiasm. I agree with the church that there was a misplaced emphasis concerning "new light" from prophecy, though there are new things we can learn from prophetic study. A quote which illustrates that the emphasis of new light is about the law of God not prophecy. The phrase "lighten the earth with its glory" refers to Revelation 18 and ties "new light" to the Fourth Angel's Message. "Said my guide, "There is much light yet to shine forth from the law of God and the gospel of righteousness. This message, understood in its true character, and proclaimed in the Spirit, will lighten the earth with its glory. The great decisive question is to be brought before all nations, tongues, and peoples. The closing work of the third angel's message will be attended with a power that will send the rays of the Sun of Righteousness into all the highways and byways of life, and decisions will be made for God as supreme Governor; His law will be looked upon as the rule of His government." {1888 166.1} Continuing the discussion about prophecy leads to observing prophecy in fulfillment examining the news stories about activity in the Catholic church. There has been considerable discussion about the papal trip to the US. This website is self-titled "The World Seen From Rome". http://www.zenit.org/article-22105?l=english There is controversy over whether there is going to be a meeting to discuss the "National Day of Rest". Several potential meetings are already announced. "When Pope Benedict XVI comes to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington for an early-evening interfaith meeting April 17 with Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and representatives of other religions, space will be at a premium." "When he is in New York, the pope also with gather with leaders from other Christian denominations at an ecumenical prayer service at a Catholic church April 18." http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801407.htm There are also interesting public news articles about agitation for recognition of Sunday. Take a look at this article and notice what they are calling the "seventh day". "French go to war -- over work on Sunday" "Working Sundays calls into question the very foundation of society" PARIS -- Ikea was ordered to pay more than $700,000 last week for staying open on Sundays in a Paris suburb. A big French home repair chain was sued for nearly as much -- also for violating a 102-year-old requirement to shut up shop on Sunday. Both cases show that the stakes are mounting in a long-running battle between French unions and retailers over shopping on the seventh day. The government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, encouraged by major companies, is trying to shed old restrictions as part of broader plans to loosen up the French economy. Advocates of the 1906 law, determined to prevent its demise, are digging in and demanding ever-higher fines against violators of a rule they say upholds a less spending-obsessed French way of life. "Working on Sundays calls into question the very foundation of society," said lawyer Vincent Lecourt, who represents the Workers Force union. "It is a day when we try to consume less ... when we try to have values that are a little different." http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/881221,CST-NWS-sunday07.article Also in a prophetic vein are some interesting books and predictions about a time of trouble beginning in 2008. http://www.nostradamusonline.com/?a=148 http://the-end.com/2008GodsFinalWitness/ Finally, on the subject of misplaced emphasis, I ran across this interesting book review. It is a couple of years old now but the problem described has gotten even larger. It is interesting that this comes from the General Conference "Biblical Research Institute" expressing a view I agree with but is still being ignored by many churches. Thomas Mostert, Hidden Heresy: Is Spiritualism Invading Adventist Churches Today? Nampa, ID: Pacific Press, 2005. This book is a wake up call for Adventist pastors and administrators who have in some way been involved with the church-growth movement in North America and in other parts of the world. That has resulted in what is known today as mega-churches (they have an average of 2,000 worshipers every week) and giga-churches (those with 10,000 or more worshipers). Many Adventist ministers and even administrators, sincerely interested in the growth of our church, have been using the methods employed by the church-growth movement without realizing the potential dangers inherent in the system. According to Mostert, we are now realizing that it is impossible to separate the theology of the movement from its methodology for church-growth. He argues that the incursion of the movement into Adventism has resulted in a de-emphasis of our distinctive truths and mission and in the marketing of religious services in order to please our church members and to attract outsiders. He makes reference to pastors who have publicly stated that they no longer preach Adventist distinctive truths, because they are a hindrance to the growth of the church. Mostert goes on to argue that what we have in the modern church-growth movement is veiled spiritualism. By allowing the movement to influence Adventist growth we have unintentionally made ourselves vulnerable to spiritualism. Veiled spiritualism is defined by him as that type of spiritualism that assumes a Christian identity and that blinds the eyes of people in such a way that the deception is not discerned. It denies the ultimate reality of death and defines sin as low self-esteem. The new birth is declared to be a change from a negative to a positive self-image. Self-esteem is the ultimate human value, all believers are one with Christ independent of their denominations, and believing in Jesus is all that is needed for salvation—its impact on your daily life is not important, because He always loves you. This type of spiritualism also emphasizes the rejection of the Sabbath commandment and preaches a sentimental gospel of a generic type that is not spiritually offensive to the sinful nature of those who listen to it. Mostert demonstrates that this type of spiritualism characterizes the church-growth movement. He calls Adventist pastors to reconsider their association with the movement and insists that Adventists should continue to proclaim the message God entrusted to them without diluting it through the veiled spiritualism that is slowly engulfing the Christian world and that could lead to the end-time demonic deception predicted in the Scriptures. This is a book that every church pastor and leader should read. More work is needed in the study of the church-growth movement and on its potential damaging influence on the Adventist movement; but for now this is a good beginning. Angel Manuel Rodríguez, BRI Is Satan leading you into a misplaced emphasis that results in deception and apostasy? I pray that we may all continue to seek love, peace, and unity in truth preparing for the soon coming of IAUShUO (ee-uh-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the Son of God. Shabbat Shalom,
Frank T. Clark
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