Pages

Sunday, January 10, 2016

FROM TITHING TO GRACE GIVING: AN EDUCATED MINISTER

FROM TITHING TO GRACE GIVNG: A SEMINARY-TRAINED MINISTER

I wanted to take some time to share with you a personal testimony regarding how the LORD has indirectly used you, your website and your book over the last 10 years in my journey with Christ. It is my Biblical hope that what I am sharing below will help encourage you in your work and strengthen your spirit.

Like most individuals in the ministry, the Biblical training which I received in school, while well-prepared and though-out, was woefully inadequate for actual ministry work in the field. A fact which I am sure you are well acquainted with. This is also true in the area of tithing. As with most seminary training, I was originally instructed with the common views on tithing, as well as the common views on Malachi and the rest, which I did not question as I was still new and being schooled.

Over the years, as I grew in the true Grace of God (which I was taught surprisingly little about in Bible school) I struggled with reconciling the truth of the New Covenant with what I was taught in the seminary. Whenever the issue of tithing would be brought-up, the Holy Spirit would whisper softly in my spirit, letting me know that something was not right -- and over the next few years, that whisper would become louder and more urgent. I became increasingly uncomfortable with the message of tithing as it is commonly presented. This drove me to research deeply the issue with a fresh pair of spiritual eyes and a renewed mind, and also required a willingness to forget everything that I thought I knew about the subject. I believe that this is one of the reasons that the truth about tithing is so vehemently resisted -- because it necessitates that people who have spend the greater part of their lives studying the Bible to admit that they have been wrong on a fundamental issue... that requires humility, and many today are too proud to admit such a thing.


My search led me to many websites, one of them yours, which at first I must admit, I had read before, and dismissed it outright earlier because I was still entrenched in my original schooling. However as I encountered your website again and this time re-read it with a fresh mind prepared by the Holy Spirit, I saw the truth for the first time. As I then read your book, I found it to be a wonderful resource into a topic that very few are willing to touch.

I have since changed my position on tithing and realize that what I have come to call New Covenant Grace Giving is actually proper and correct -- and the ministry which God has given me has actually prospered tremendously since this change.

I have passed this information onto my network of pastors (many of whom are as closed-minded as I once was, but the seeds are still being planted.

In recent years I have since taught several messages on how Grace Giving is the correct way to give in the New Covenant, and those messages are some of my most popular. Eyes are being opened to the truth.

So please do not become discouraged in your ministry. Your message is not in vain.

I am one minister who God has used you to help change and free from the bondage of tithing. I will not be the last.
Blessings in Christ Jesus.

Thursday, January 07, 2016

THE MILLENNIUM: BIBLE VERSUS THE GREAT CONTROVERSY


Comparing EGW’s Version of the Millennium

to God’s Word

by Russell Earl Kelly, PHD

January 7, 2015.

 

The literal biblical sequence of events in Revelation 19-21 is:

 

1. Christ will return in glory to rule the nations with a rod of iron (19:1-15).

 

2. The “beast,” the “kings of the earth” and “their armies will oppose Christ (19:19).

 

3. The beast and false prophet will be alive into the lake of fire (19:20).

 

4. The “remnant” will be slain – the kings of the earth and their armies from 19:19 (19:21).

 

5. A First Resurrection of the righteous will occur. This is from Matthew 24:30-31 and implied in 20:5-6.

 

6. Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1000 years (20:1-2).

 

7. The earth will still be populated with the lost Hebrews and Gentiles who were not part of the armies of the kings (from 19:21). This is the literal Messianic reign of Christ on earth with a rod of iron which is prophesied by Old Testament prophets.

 

8. At the end of the 1000 year Messianic reign of Christ ruling with a rod of iron on earth, Satan will be loosed (20:7).

 

9. Satan will gather his army from living unbelievers (20:8).

 

10. Satan’s armies will surround the “beloved city” which had been the Messianic headquarters on earth for 1000 years (20:9a).

 

11. Fire from heaven will destroy Satan’s armies (20:9b).

 

12. Satan, the devil, will be cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishing (20:10).

 

13. A great white judgment throne will appear in outer space (20:11).

 

14. The original heavens and earth will be gone, fled away, and there will be “no place found for them” (20:11).

 

15. The resurrected wicked dead will stand before God and will be judged according to their works because their names will not be found in the book of life (20:5, 12-15).

 

16. Death and hell (Hades) will be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death (20:14).

 

17. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, will descend from heaven to the New Earth (21:1-2)

………………………………………………………………………

 

Ellen G Whites Sequence of Revelation 19-21

 

1. The second coming of Christ will only save the Sabbath-keeping remnant. Since Christ is no longer mediating in the sanctuary, they must be able to stand before God without a mediator (GC640-642).

 

2. Jesus and the resurrected saints will enter the City of God (GC646).

 

3. The saints will gather around the Great White Throne inside the City of God (GC647).

 

4. God will wipe away all tears from the saints in heaven (GC651).

 

5. All of the living wicked will be killed (GC657).

 

6. Satan, as scapegoat, will inhabit earth (the bottomless pit) 1000 years (GC658).

 

7.  The judgment of the dead unraised wicked will last 1000 years (GC660-661).

 

8. The wicked dead will be resurrected at the end of the 1000 years after they have been judged (GC661)

 

9. Jesus will stand upon the Mount of Olives; it will split and become a plain (GC662-663).

 

10. The New Jerusalem will descendd to the plain onto the desolate earth (GC662-663).

 

11. Satan will gathere the wicked resurrected dead to attack the New Jerusalem (GC663).

 

12. The Great White Throne Judgment of the wicked dead will occur (GC666).

 

13. The wicked dead will be judged from the books (GC666).

 

14. The wicked will turn against Satan (GC671-672).

 

15. The wicked will be destroyed by the same fire, the lake of fire, which will purify earth (672-673).

 

16. New Jerusalem will descend to the newly purified earth a second time. No eternally burning hell (GC674).

 

CONCLUSION:

 

The EGW/SDA explanation of the millennium is far out of sequence and context. It is no wonder that no other denomination or theologian has ever reached the same conclusions as do SDAs.

 

1.  EARTH: Earth will not be depopulated at the second coming of Christ in glory. In Revelation 19:19-21 only the beast, the false prophet, the kings who followed them and the armies of the kings are slain. There would remain on earth the families of those kings and armies plus those who had not decided to serve Christ or the beast. GC657

 

2. MILLENNIAL EARTH: The millennial earth is not the “bottomless pit” where Satan wanders as the scapegoat.  First, Satan is not the scapegoat. Second, the scapegoat was to die in the wilderness, never to bring sins back –Satan did not die. Third, earth is not desolate; many prophets foretold of a fruitful beautiful earth during Messiah’s rule with a rod of iron. GC658

 

3. REVELATION 20:4: There is no justification for teaching that the righteous will judge the un-resurrected wicked dead for 1000 years prior to the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20:11-14. During the 1000 years the glorified righteous will rule and reign with Christ while living in heaven (John 14:1-3). The Apostles will judge and rule over Israel (Mt 19:28) and other saints will rule the world with Christ. A “rod of iron” would unnecessary in snless heaven (Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15 (GC660-661).

 

4. GOG AND MAGOG: Those gathered by Satan in 20:8 are not the resurrected wicked dead; they are unbelievers living on earth at the end of the 1000 years. The wicked dead are not resurrected until 20:11-14 after the living wicked are killed in 20:9. GC661

 

5. MOUNT OF OLIVES: Christ does not descend upon the Mount of Olives at the end of the 1000 years. This event will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation per Zechariah 14 to redeem literal Israel before the millennium. GC662-663

 

6. NEW JERUSALEM: The New Jerusalem does not descend to a desolated earth at the end of the millennium before the Great White Throne judgment (see Rev 21:1-2). The “beloved city” in 20:9 is the millennial city. GC662-663

 

7. BOOKS OF HEAVEN: The books of heaven are not opened and the judgement of the wicked does not take place before the destruction of the earthly Jerusalem in 20:9. The sequence is wrong. The judgment occurs in 20:11-14. GC666

 

8. SATAN: Satan is not still around after the wicked dead have been judged. He was cast into the lake of fire in 20:10 before the judgment in 20:11-14. GC669

 

9. GC671-672: The judged wicked do not turn on Satan after they have been judged. Satan was removed in 20:10 before the judgment.

 

10. OLD EARTH: Fire does not destroy the old earth after the judgment of 20:11-14. EGW places 20:12-14 in front of 20:10. She also ignores the fact that the old heavens and old earth disappeared in 20:11 before the judgment of 20:12-14. GC672-673

 

11. NEW EARTH: The New Heaven and New Earth are not the purified Old Heaven and Old Earth because “they had passed away” (21:1) and “there was no place found for them” (20:11). GC674

 

12. ETERNALLY BURNING HELL: There is an “eternally burning hell” as attested by the SDA’s own “Third Angel’s Message”: Rev 14:10 “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” GC674

 

Compiled and submitted by Russell Earl Kelly, PHD.