Spiritual Ponderings

Today we face what some call the greatest crisis in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church. A majority of church representatives have voted in a radical sea change of organization that denies the clear instructions of Jesus on how His disciples are to relate to each other in love and equality. Now each person faces a decision as to how they will react to this collective choice to follow the methods of the world instead of the ways of Christ. We have two choices awaiting our decision as to what path we will follow from here. The familiar path, now well tended and turned into a superhighway, is the path of law and order in the name of God Almighty where everyone is expected to bow to conformity to authority. It is the way of the world that nearly everyone presumes is also the way of God. Defenders of this course point to Old Testament models of order and insist that this is God's design and must be followed or be in rebellion. But is this the only option?...

Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him ; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10) Examining this chapter from a larger perspective is like examining a building that has been dramatically remodeled from its original design, with new walls installed, doorways blocked up and new one put in other places to change its entire function and purpose. Yet by examining carefully the nature of all the changes to discover what the original layout was intended to be, one can begin to discern what the intent of the original builder was for the purpose of the building. When the original design begins to be recognized it can be seen that a great deal of effort has been exerted to obscure the original design by all the changes and alterations done to thwart the original purpose from ever being accomplished. This passage is oft...