The walking dead are attempting the law
Hello J___,
I just looked up the lyrics. I’ve not heard the song before. I don’t know the music. Do you know how I can hear them? How could we practice, except on the anniversary Sabbath? I will have other friends with me and I wouldn’t be able to practice then. I don’t mean to sound so negative, but also with M____, I think I’ve worn out my welcome with her. She has made it pretty clear she doesn’t want any more pressure from me. We’re still on speaking terms, but only on a secular basis. So if you want to ask her to sing, you will have to be the one to ask. And I recently asked her again if she might join us at the 100th anniversary of SVA and she said she would not be able to. (Maybe for her the religion pill from last year is good enough for another decade.) It really saddens me. :(
I love you brother. I’m so happy we still have our faith. You are a real encouragement to me. So many are barely awake. Jesus is so far away from them. All they can see is the law according to Ellen White. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Spirit of Prophecy. But when people can’t see Jesus, they misinterpret EGW, and she found this to be true the whole time she was serving the Lord. She served Jesus, and in the process found a powerful resource to uphold and enforce God’s Law. Serving Him is the only way we can ever genuinely love God’s Law and uphold it. Serving the law doesn’t make us uphold it. The high standard becomes a galling yoke, and as Paul put it, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom.7:5,6).
Serving the rules and taboos of the people only leads to “going through the motions” as Paul puts it. And death. This is why the church of today is the walking dead. But we are prisoners of hope. The Remnant church will come alive again one day soon. And I, for one, want to be part of that when it happens. The other denominations won’t have that experience at its core. They will have people waking up also and joining us, but only in the SDA denomination will the revival happen at its core. It will happen with us because we still have God’s Law, and thus we alone can know the fullness of His grace.
The other denominations can only pretend or imagine to have His grace. Many offshoot SDAs believe they have His grace, but theirs is only pretended grace also because they forsook God’s Law in the Spirit of Prophecy, in an effort to follow the empty promises of the Evangelicals. The real revival is yet to come. That one will be characterized by primitive godliness. Ooo, I can hardly wait! There will be true victory over sin seen in many lives. That will be exciting. To see the joy in the faces of so many who found the power of God unto salvation because they were finally able to discern the true character and love of Christ for a ravenously rebellious world.
Well, J___, I hope I didn’t talk you ear off. We need to exhort one another daily, and so much more as we see the Day approaching, which it is. Bless you, brother.
David
Just so no one misunderstands this email, I quote more from Paul. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Rom. 7:4).
When the cross is revealed to the conscience through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, then and only then will we become dead to the law and bring forth fruit to God instead of to the law. Before we have the change of heart that only God can give, all our efforts to keep the Law are dead works. All we can possibly do to keep the Law is without faith and leads only to being good upstanding citizens and good moral church people—pure, unadulterated “death warmed over.”
Some SDAs still interpret this law Paul refers to as the ceremonial law, as they also do of the law in Galatians. With this wrong understanding they will never find the way of escape from the suffocating legalism to which they are bound captives. Legalism is the only alternative for someone who desires to keep the rules of the high standard, without ever being forced to come face to face with Jesus and His love. And it is truly a sickening alternative—the reason many Christians, Bible-believing, health conscious Christians, are so sick and physically suffering. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1Cor. 11:30).
Certainly, the law is “ordained to life.” (Rom. 7:10). And when “the righteousness of the law” is “fulfilled in us,” we will truly be living. (Rom. 8:4). However, we must first wrestle with Jesus and be given a new nature before we will ever be in the right relation to the Law to be able to keep it. Until then our efforts are all wasted and truly demoralizing, not only to the individual attempting the impossible obedience, but also to everyone around them who must endure his maligning of God’s character.
By attempting obedience without first receiving the gracious Spirit of God we break the 3rd commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7). Our only true option in living the Christian life is to find the grace of God in Jesus and let it transform us. Surrendered, submissive to God—truly a miracle we can never manufacture. New creatures, in newness of spirit, keeping the Law of God in all its loving righteousness.
What a blessing to know the fulfillment to Abraham’s promise, “I will make of thee a great …blessing.” (Gen. 12:2).
I just looked up the lyrics. I’ve not heard the song before. I don’t know the music. Do you know how I can hear them? How could we practice, except on the anniversary Sabbath? I will have other friends with me and I wouldn’t be able to practice then. I don’t mean to sound so negative, but also with M____, I think I’ve worn out my welcome with her. She has made it pretty clear she doesn’t want any more pressure from me. We’re still on speaking terms, but only on a secular basis. So if you want to ask her to sing, you will have to be the one to ask. And I recently asked her again if she might join us at the 100th anniversary of SVA and she said she would not be able to. (Maybe for her the religion pill from last year is good enough for another decade.) It really saddens me. :(
I love you brother. I’m so happy we still have our faith. You are a real encouragement to me. So many are barely awake. Jesus is so far away from them. All they can see is the law according to Ellen White. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Spirit of Prophecy. But when people can’t see Jesus, they misinterpret EGW, and she found this to be true the whole time she was serving the Lord. She served Jesus, and in the process found a powerful resource to uphold and enforce God’s Law. Serving Him is the only way we can ever genuinely love God’s Law and uphold it. Serving the law doesn’t make us uphold it. The high standard becomes a galling yoke, and as Paul put it, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom.7:5,6).
Serving the rules and taboos of the people only leads to “going through the motions” as Paul puts it. And death. This is why the church of today is the walking dead. But we are prisoners of hope. The Remnant church will come alive again one day soon. And I, for one, want to be part of that when it happens. The other denominations won’t have that experience at its core. They will have people waking up also and joining us, but only in the SDA denomination will the revival happen at its core. It will happen with us because we still have God’s Law, and thus we alone can know the fullness of His grace.
The other denominations can only pretend or imagine to have His grace. Many offshoot SDAs believe they have His grace, but theirs is only pretended grace also because they forsook God’s Law in the Spirit of Prophecy, in an effort to follow the empty promises of the Evangelicals. The real revival is yet to come. That one will be characterized by primitive godliness. Ooo, I can hardly wait! There will be true victory over sin seen in many lives. That will be exciting. To see the joy in the faces of so many who found the power of God unto salvation because they were finally able to discern the true character and love of Christ for a ravenously rebellious world.
Well, J___, I hope I didn’t talk you ear off. We need to exhort one another daily, and so much more as we see the Day approaching, which it is. Bless you, brother.
David
Just so no one misunderstands this email, I quote more from Paul. “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Rom. 7:4).
When the cross is revealed to the conscience through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, then and only then will we become dead to the law and bring forth fruit to God instead of to the law. Before we have the change of heart that only God can give, all our efforts to keep the Law are dead works. All we can possibly do to keep the Law is without faith and leads only to being good upstanding citizens and good moral church people—pure, unadulterated “death warmed over.”
Some SDAs still interpret this law Paul refers to as the ceremonial law, as they also do of the law in Galatians. With this wrong understanding they will never find the way of escape from the suffocating legalism to which they are bound captives. Legalism is the only alternative for someone who desires to keep the rules of the high standard, without ever being forced to come face to face with Jesus and His love. And it is truly a sickening alternative—the reason many Christians, Bible-believing, health conscious Christians, are so sick and physically suffering. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1Cor. 11:30).
Certainly, the law is “ordained to life.” (Rom. 7:10). And when “the righteousness of the law” is “fulfilled in us,” we will truly be living. (Rom. 8:4). However, we must first wrestle with Jesus and be given a new nature before we will ever be in the right relation to the Law to be able to keep it. Until then our efforts are all wasted and truly demoralizing, not only to the individual attempting the impossible obedience, but also to everyone around them who must endure his maligning of God’s character.
By attempting obedience without first receiving the gracious Spirit of God we break the 3rd commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” (Ex. 20:7). Our only true option in living the Christian life is to find the grace of God in Jesus and let it transform us. Surrendered, submissive to God—truly a miracle we can never manufacture. New creatures, in newness of spirit, keeping the Law of God in all its loving righteousness.
What a blessing to know the fulfillment to Abraham’s promise, “I will make of thee a great …blessing.” (Gen. 12:2).
posted by David | 7:08 PM
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