IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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IAUA End Time Ministry |
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Preparing for the End of Time | |
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The Lord is Coming! Are you ready? | |
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in
IAUA
(ee-ah-oo-ah) our Father,
Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath. I pray this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of IAUA. This is the 20th day of the 6th month of God's Sacred Calendar in the estimated year 6016 Anno Mundi. The fall holy day season begins with Trumpets Sabbath in 1 week and three days starting the evening of the 1st day of the 7th month (Monday, September 17th on the 2012, Gregorian Calendar, beginning sunset on Sunday, September 16th). An amazing thing occurs in the Gregorian Calendar years of both 2011 and 2012. Those who follow the Millerite Calendar (Spring New Moon Rule) and the Jewish Calendar agree with the Spring Passover Rule dates my research, and others, has determined for the Gregorian Calendar dates of God's Sacred Calendar! It has come to my attention the Karaite Calendar determination has placed The Fall Sabbaths a day later than others. This is probably because they use predicted visual sighting rules which can be very arbitrary. Perhaps the Karaites simply do not want to agree with the Calculated Rabbinical Calendar.
I was pondering the recent disputes over Woman's Ordination and the entire concept of Political Correctness which seems to pervade the atmosphere of denomination discussion recently. It is a humanistic outlook which uses human logic instead of following the Word of God. The Bible records this proverb twice in two different chapters. 12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.There is a progression of failure to follow God's Word explicitly which can be traced as continuing to a small extent in the Catholic Church, advancing rapidly in the Protestant denominations and slowly in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Protestants never embraced the weekly seventh-day Sabbath and over time there has been a progression of apostasy. Tracing some of the steps of the continuing apostasy we see the embrace of evolution, the embrace of women in leadership positions within the church, and the embrace of the homosexual lifestyle. These things are happening to a much smaller extent in the Catholic Church sometimes localized to the US. The Seventh-day Adventist denomination clings to the weekly seventh-day Sabbath but has rejected the Law of Moses. The teaching of evolution within our universities and among some Adventist scientists and scholars has had a strong foothold for many years though the church at large tends to reject evolution. It is a bit eerie to see the issue of Woman's Ordination continue to grow and is now near splitting our denomination. There are also some minor elements pushing the acceptance of the GLBT lifestyle in the church. There have been a lot of emotional pleas for the acceptance of individuals who claim they cannot change their sexual orientation and continue act upon that orientation. While I agree with the concept of a loving acceptance of those who struggle with sin, I cannot go against the guidance of God's Word which is very clear about acting on those struggles. The Law of Moses is clear in Leviticus 18 and 20. Take careful note in these chapters that the penalty of immediate death is the same for adultery and homosexuality. Homosexuality is no worse than adultery and adultery is no better than homosexuality. The immediate penalty of death was applied in a society where God's Word was faithfully taught and obeyed. The words of our Saviour to the woman caught in adultery are the same for those who practice homosexuality. 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.I think it is also valuable to note these words of our Saviour. 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.This conflict between judgment for sin and loving forgiveness and acceptance is described in the controversial words, "Love sinners, hate sin". When the worldly religious community joins with the GLBT community, these words are rejected as unscriptural. Our Saviour clearly demonstrated they are true. Some claim God could never hate but God's reaction to the simple act of burning incense to other gods is clearly described. 4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.In the end, God will destroy the sinners. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.Paul's words, which essentially say "Love sinners, hate sin". 9 Let love be without dissimulation [hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.Ellen White's comment on the word's of Paul. We are admonished by the apostle: "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another." Paul would have us distinguish between the pure, unselfish love which is prompted by the spirit of Christ, and the unmeaning, deceitful pretense with which the world abounds. This base counterfeit has misled many souls. It would blot out the distinction between right and wrong, by agreeing with the transgressor instead of faithfully showing him his errors. Such a course never springs from real friendship. The spirit by which it is prompted dwells only in the carnal heart. While the Christian will be ever kind, compassionate, and forgiving, he can feel no harmony with sin. He will abhor evil and cling to that which is good, at the sacrifice of association or friendship with the ungodly. The spirit of Christ will lead us to hate sin, while we are willing to make any sacrifice to save the sinner. {ST, February 1, 1883 par. 13} {5T 171.2}Further comments. To hate and reprove sin, and at the same time to show pity and tenderness for the sinner, is a difficult attainment. The more earnest our own efforts to attain to holiness of heart and life, the more acute will be our perception of sin and the more decided our disapproval of any deviation from the right. We must guard against undue severity toward the wrongdoer, but we must also be careful not to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. There is need of showing Christlike patience and love for the erring one, but there is also danger of showing so great toleration for his error that he will look upon himself as undeserving of reproof, and will reject it as uncalled for and unjust. {AA 503.3} It is not Christ's follower that, with averted eyes, turns from the erring, leaving them unhindered to pursue their downward course. Those who are forward in accusing others, and zealous in bringing them to justice, are often in their own lives more guilty than they. Men hate the sinner, while they love the sin. Christ hates the sin, but loves the sinner. This will be the spirit of all who follow Him. Christian love is slow to censure, quick to discern penitence, ready to forgive, to encourage, to set the wanderer in the path of holiness, and to stay his feet therein. {DA 462.4}I go to the Bible first for inspiration and guidance. Secondly, I go to the writings of Ellen White. Lastly, I did a search on Google reading various comments on this subject. I found a lot of nonsense but I was impressed by the words of D. A. Carson. "Many Christians use the cliche “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” However, we must realize that this is an exhortation to us as imperfect human beings. The difference between us and God in regard to loving and hating is vast. Even as Christians, we remain imperfect in our humanity and cannot love perfectly, nor can we hate perfectly (in other words, without malice). But God can do both of these perfectly, because He is God. God can hate without any sinful intent. Therefore, He can hate the sin and the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still be willing to lovingly forgive at the moment of that sinner's repentance and faith (Malachi 1:3; Revelation 2:6; 2 Peter 3:9). "The Bible clearly teaches that God is love. First John 4:8-9 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” Mysterious but true is the fact that God can perfectly love and hate a person at the same time. This means He can love him as someone He created and can redeem, as well as hate him for his unbelief and sinful lifestyle. We, as imperfect human beings, cannot do this; thus, we must remind ourselves to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” "How exactly does that work? We hate sin by refusing to take part in it and by condemning it when we see it. Sin is to be hated, not excused or taken lightly. We love sinners by being faithful in witnessing to them of the forgiveness that is available through Jesus Christ. A true act of love is treating someone with respect and kindness even though he/she knows you do not approve of his lifestyle and/or choices. It is not loving to allow a person to remain stuck in sin. It is not hateful to tell a person he/she is in sin. In fact, the exact opposites are true. We love the sinner by speaking the truth in love. We hate the sin by refusing to condone, ignore, or excuse it." I was also impressed by the words and brief, direct style of C.S. Lewis. "I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man's actions, but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. For a long time I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life-namely myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was the sort of man who did those things. Consequently, Christianity does not want us to reduce by one atom the hatred we feel for cruelty and treachery. We ought to hate them. Not one word of what we have said about them needs to be unsaid. But it does want us to hate them in the same way in which we hate things in ourselves: being sorry that the man should have done such things, and hoping, if it is anyway possible, that somehow, sometime, somewhere, he can be cured and made human again." Are you seeking to be like your Heavenly Father who can love the sinner yet hate the sin? I pray we may all continue to seek love, peace, and unity in truth preparing for the soon coming of IAUShUO (ee-ah-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the Son of God.
Frank T. Clark
Next: 2012-09-14 The Shaking II |
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Revised 2012-09-14 |