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The following is a letter of concern from a faithful believer in Chipata, Zambia:
Dear Pastor Shafer,
Greetings to you in Jesus’ dear name. I just want to thank you so much for the work you are doing. Your messages are a great blessing to us here. Messages of this nature are very rare to come by in our churches, especially at this time.
With the disbanding of the ten churches in our mission field and the taking to court some members of the disbanded churches by the field and union conference leadership has greatly affected God’s work. This happened because of refusing to follow certain things enforced by the leadership which have no Biblical basis. The threat has continued even now. Pastors are warning and threatening some churches that were not disbanded that if they refuse to do what is told to them, then they will be denied materials for spiritual growth and evangelism.
May the good Lord continue to use you as you labor to hasten the soon coming of our Savior Jesus.
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The following is part of a special from Catholic World News concerning church teaching vs. matters of opinion:
On Easter Sunday, Bishop Robert Hennessey, a
Boston
auxiliary, celebrated Mass at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish. That was significant-- indeed the bishop's presence prompted a prominent headline story in the Boston Globe-- because officially that parish has been closed since 2004.
Some parishioners at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel have actively resisted the decision of the
Boston
archdiocese to shut down their church. Every Sunday they gather there for a prayer service. But no priest is assigned to the parish; that weekly service is not a
Mass.
Unless they are attending Sunday Mass elsewhere, then, the defiant parishioners holding these prayer vigils are violating a solemn precept of the Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2181) confirms the traditional teaching-- not changed by Vatican II, as many Catholics mistakenly believe-- that attendance at Sunday Mass is a serious obligation, and those "who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin."
During his visit to the
East Boston
parish, Bishop Hennessey explained that his presence was an indication of pastoral concern. He made that concern evident when he admonished them:
It is my firm belief that what happens here on most Sundays is not a good thing, that it could even put your souls in peril. I'm here as your bishop to remind you of that………..
"What he said was just his personal opinion," said Rita Grillo, 42, who lives across the street and has attended the church for 38 years.
I wonder, In those 38 years, how often had Rita Grillo heard a priest defend the authority of Church teaching, and explain that some questions of faith and morals are not merely matters of personal opinion? For that matter, how many American Catholics recognize that the authority of Catholic doctrine is based on the teaching of Jesus Christ, and its accuracy is guaranteed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
"What he said was just his personal opinion," said Rita Grillo, 42, who lives across the street and has attended the church for 38 years.
Now I wonder: In those 38 years, how often had Rita Grillo heard a priest defend the authority of Church teaching, and explain that some questions of faith and morals are not merely matters of personal opinion? For that matter, how many American Catholics recognize that the authority of Catholic doctrine is based on the teaching of Jesus Christ, and its accuracy is guaranteed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
"What he said was just his personal opinion," said Rita Grillo, 42, who lives across the street and has attended the church for 38 years…….
Bishop Hennessey visited Our Lady of Mt. Carmel as a successor to the apostles. His message, in essence, was that the Lord Jesus expects them to attend Sunday Mass. The parishioners were delighted by his presence, the Globe relates; they recognized the bishop as a legitimate representative of the
Boston
archdiocese. But they did not recognize him as a teacher of divine truth.
There are, of course, many Christians who do not recognize the authority of Catholic bishops to convey Christ's teaching authoritatively. Ordinarily these people are called Protestants. Over the course of the past generation, unfortunately, Americans have come to accept, almost reflexively, the stand taken by "cafeteria Catholics," who honor only those Church teachings with which they happen to agree.
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Willow Creek Repents
How long will it take to awaken our leadership and their Laodicean followers?
How many times will we continue following one apostate motivator after another?
The result is always predictable: Frustrated, unfulfilled people, overcome with emotional fallout.
When programs are organized outside of TRUTH, it ends in frustration and a mass exit from the church, not to mention the potential loss of eternal life.
As we get caught up in the mega-church program and the church-planting initiatives presented by the daughters of
Babylon
, you’ll find that there is no “Truth” to settle into.
“You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free”.
YI, April 22, 1897
Every child of God needs to have a faith well grounded and settled. What say the Scriptures in regard to this?--"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God."
How long will misguided leadership of the
Seventh-day
Adventist
Church
continue looking for numbers through compromise?
As you can see from this article, these programs come and go. They make a big splash and then disappear. Then some more exciting, promising program is introduced that promises success in gaining numbers.
And because they are all based upon error, it becomes an exercise in futility.
Many faithful believers become disappointed and are left trailing in the dust, and oftentimes purposely encouraged to leave the church.
We must pray that our leaders and administrators will fall on their knees and search their hearts before it is forever too late to reform. We must pray that they will follow God’s divine blueprint for His church before the door to the heavenly sanctuary is shut and probation ends.
Bill Hybels realizes that he “..made a mistake..” and that he should have gotten his people to “…read the Bible..” for themselves.
We can introduce all the “hype” we choose, but, bottom line is, Jesus Christ and His plan of salvation as revealed in His most unpopular truths from the Word of God.
As you read the following article from “Christianity Today”, you can see that Bill Hybels, himself, has become frustrated and unfulfilled with the approach of his ministry.
Let us pray that this man will come into a knowledge of, and accept God’s wonderful truths from His Holy Word.
Pastor Dan Shafer
October 18, 2007
Willow Creek Repents?
Why the most influential church in
America
now says "We made a mistake."
Few would disagree that
Willow
Creek
Community
Church
has been one of the most influential churches in
America
over the last thirty years.
Willow
, through its association, has promoted a vision of church that is big, programmatic, and comprehensive. This vision has been heavily influenced by the methods of secular business. James Twitchell, in his new book Shopping for God, reports that outside Bill Hybels’ office hangs a poster that says: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?” Directly or indirectly, this philosophy of ministry—church should be a big box with programs for people at every level of spiritual maturity to consume and engage—has impacted every evangelical church in the country.
So what happens when leaders of Willow Creek stand up and say, “We made a mistake”?
Not long ago
Willow
released its findings from a multiple year qualitative study of its ministry. Basically, they wanted to know what programs and activities of the church were actually helping people mature spiritually and which were not. The results were published in a book, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek. Hybels called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking,” and “mind blowing.”
If you’d like to get a synopsis of the research you can watch a video with Greg Hawkins here. And Bill Hybels’ reactions, recorded at last summer’s Leadership Summit, can be seen here. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety, but below are few highlights.
In the Hawkins’ video he says, “Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.” This has been
Willow
’s philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. The church creates programs/activities. People participate in these activities. The outcome is spiritual maturity. In a moment of stinging honesty Hawkins says, “I know it might sound crazy but that’s how we do it in churches. We measure levels of participation.”
Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”
Speaking at the Leadership Summit, Hybels summarized the findings this way:
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research “the wake up call” of his adult life.
Hybels confesses:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.
Does this mark the end of
Willow
’s thirty years of influence over the American church? Not according to Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
"With the great work before us of enlightening the world, we who believe the truth should feel the necessity of thorough education in the practical branches of knowledge, and expecially our need of education in the truths of scripture. ERRORS ARE NOW EXALTED AS TRUTH, and it is our DUTY to search the Word and be able to intelligently present it to others. We will be called upon to make known the reasons of our faith. We shall have to stand before the magistrate to answer for our allegiance to the Law of God." [FE 202]
Pope Benedict XVI: Other denominations not true church
Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, stating that Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches. He has restated key sections of a 2000 document he wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus", which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation".
The document states: "Christ established here on earth only one church. The other communities cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense because they do not have apostolic succession - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles.
It is especially interesting that the document said the Orthodox churches were indeed 'churches' because they have apostolic succession and that they enjoyed 'many elements of sanctification and of truth", but it said they lack something because they do not recognize the primacy of the pope. The Papacy considers this a 'defect', or a 'wound' that harmed them.
Despite the harsh tone of the document, it stresses that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue. However, the document states that "..if such dialogue is to be truly constructive, it must involve not just the mutual openness of the participants but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith."
Let the Great Controversy speak: "Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years....Have these persons forgotten the claim of infallibility put forth for 800 years by this haughty power? So far from being relinquished, this claim was affirmed in the 19th Century with greater positiveness than ever before. As Rome asserts that the "church never erred, nor will it", how cna she renounce the principles which governed her course in past ages? The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility. [GC 564]
Let us be vigilant, beloved, as we rapidly being swept into the cataracts of the final events. We must be faithful and busy about our mission. Pastor Dan Shafer
Response to Pastor Ryan Bell Article
Ministry Magazine September 2004
In his article "The Shape of the Emerging Church: A Pastor's View" (Part 1) in your September issue, Ryan Bell states..."..the church is less clear about its role in relation to a great many of the cultures in which it finds itself. Just as Israel had to reconsider its way of life when carried off into Babylonian exile, so the church today must rethink its role in Western society particularly.....the church frequently saw itself as being in partnership with its host culture..." In response I would ask; When young Daniel and the Hewbrew youth were carried away into captivity to Babylon, did they have to reconsider their way of life? Did they have to rethink their role in this strange new society? The Bible makes it very clear that Daniel "purposed" in his heart to maintain his convictions and his way of life. (Dan. 1:8) Daniel also remained committed to his prayer life; which went contrary to the decree of his culture. (Dan. 6:10) It was no different with the other young Hebrew captives. They would not bow down to the culture and goals of their new environment. They did not have to rethink or reconsider their role in this new society. In Daniel 3:16 the three Hebrew boys answered the King: "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter." These faithful young men did not have to sit down and carefully weigh out the pros and cons of their decision. They were rooted and grounded in a faith that was far beyond any consideration of compromise. Pastor Bell leads us to the conclusion that we are to blend in with the secular culture of western society. I do readily agree with him however, that we must meet the needs of that society. However, we are called of God to present to them their greatest need; and that is to bring them to Jesus that they would learn of the true culture. Our influence in secular society can only be effective and successful as we manifest to the world the true God and His culture. Pastor Dan Shafer, Hampton, Virginia
UPDATE
On Tuesday, January 13, 2006, Judge Samuel Alito was officially appointed to the position of United States Supreme Court Judge, following a vigorous and shameful demonstration by committee members, after days of hearings involving testimonies from Mr. Alito and questioning of committee participants.Unfortunately, those involved, and most of our citizens do not understand the ramifications of this appointment where our religious liberties are concerned. And this concern has nothing to do with the qualifications of the man himself, but rather the prophetic impact this appointment brings to the makeup of the highest court of our land in regard to church and state issues. For the first time in our history, the Supreme Court is now composed of a majority adherents to the Roman Catholic Church. As we look back to the appointment of Judge Roberts, another Roman Catholic, we should be reminded that before that nomination, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote to President Bush, encouraging him to select a justice who would meet with their approval.
Great Controversy pg. 566
"The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for the fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world."
Let us be as a light on the hill to warn our people of the impending conflict and be about our ministry of soul-winning. Pastor Dan
Religious Liberty
Presently, 4 of the 9 Justices of the United States Supreme Court are Roman Catholic. They are as follows:
-
Antonin Scalia - 1986 - present
-
Anthony Kennedy - 1988 - present
-
Clarence Thomas - 1991 - present
-
John Roberts (Chief Justice) - 2005 - present
The President's choice to fill Sandra Day O'Conner's vacancy is Samuel Alito. If confirmed, Alito would tip the scale toward majority Roman Catholic representation on the highest court of our land.
"It is clear, then, that no Catholic may positively and unconditionally approve of the policy of separation of church and state. But, given a country, like the United States, where religious denominations abound and the population is largely non-catholic, it is clear that the policy of treating all religions alike, becomes, all things considered, a practical necessity; the only way of avoiding a deadlock. Under such circumstances, separation of church and state is to be accepted, not indeed as the ideal arrangement, but as a modus vivendi." {American Freedom and Catholic Power, Paul Blanshard, pg.49}
The following is quoted from the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy:
"In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendency, the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence.... The Roman church is far reaching in its plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution and to undo all that protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground in our country on every side." {4SP380-382}
The great prophetic time clock is moving at breakneck speed. Keep your eye on the
The Michigan Conference NAD Stewardship Stats
(Thru December 31, 2002)
Michigan = No. 16 in Membership - 23,945
Michigan = No. 7 in Total Tithe Dollars - $27,453,875
Michigan = No. 2 in Tithe Per Capita - $1,120.05
Michigan = No. 1 in Total World Missions - $1,242,649
Michigan = No. 1 in World Missions Per Capita - $51.90
The following letter is Highway for the Remnant response to this report on the Michigan Conference:
Elder Reid:
Thank you for your newletter. This is very helpful and I look forward
to your future correspondence concerning faithful stewardship.
I was especially interested in conference statistics on the last page;
noting that God has been blessing the Michigan Conference in such a
marked way.
It is also interesting that Michigan has a president who, I understand,
upholds the standards and waymarks of the faith.
I have noticed through the years that those conferences which are very
lax in upholding the standards and waymarks of the faith tend to have
churches that become divisive and sometimes even dissolve. Their
stewardship program is not usually positive, but steadily declining. I'm
sure there are many reasons for this trend, however, I do believe that
when there is no unity of commitment to the true SDA message, and where
methods of the other evangelistic communities of faith are adopted, then
the commitment involving stewardship also is tremendously affected.
I long for the day when we SDA Christians no longer need to express our
concerns in regard to the direction our beloved church seems to be
heading. May these statistics regarding the Michigan Conference be an
eye-opener and a lesson to us all.
Your Fellow Minister in the Faith
Pastor Dan Shafer
Kay Kuzma Advocates Sunday Worship
The following article was in the May 2002 issue of the Adventist Review. This very vividly illustrates how effectively the adversary is influencing our people to sacrifice "Truth" in favor of the "Warm Fuzzies" of the "Social Gospel":
"...there's nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too" May 2002 - Adventist Review, pg. 14 - NAD Edition
Family Matters by Kay Kuzma
Let's Just Praise the Lord
"I was raised a Baptist, but I attended a series of evangelistic meetings, and 1 now believe in the seventh-day Sabbath. I love my Sabbath school class, and the message at church is good, but I miss the praise and worshipful singing part of the church service. I feel like I'm starving to death. Sometimes I think about going to a Baptist church, but I don't believe in their beliefs any longer. But then again, I don't believe in everything at the church I'm at now.
What can I do?--Joyful
"Dear Joyful: I love praise services too. We right-brained people need to feel and respond to God's love with our body language. There are a lot of left-brained people, however, who were drawn to the Adventist Church because they saw the logic of Bible truth, and they don't understand us. Many are afraid that a show of emotion will lead to extremes.
So what should we do? I urge you to enjoy the diversity of God's church family and pray for flexibility, for openness to new forms of worship, and for a loving tolerance of each other. Raise your hands when you feel like it--especially if the words of the songs you sing tell you to, Any song can be a praise song if sung with emotion (although it seldom happens with heads buried in hymnals).
You might suggest that your church select a few hymns to memorize, so they can put the hymnals down and look up to God. Start with a slow, meaningful version of "Holy, Holy, Holy." Our little church group is memorizing scripture songs; it's really fun. The children sing with us, and they're eager to raise their hands to the Lord and clap as the words of the song may indicate. We're also learning to sign some songs, since one of our members is a deaf teenager.
There's no question that the seventh day is holy time. But when you're hungering for something more, there's nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too. Just don't give up one for the other. Plus, it's a great way to witness to others about the Bible truth you've found. And keep playing the praise CDs in your home, singing out, raising your hands, and praising the Lord."
Kay Kuzma, Ed.D., is founder and speaker of Family Matters.
Send your questions and comments to:
Dr. Kay c/o Family Matters
1105 Big Creek Road
LaFollette, TN
37766
Or
Email Kay Kuzma Personally
True believers will be rooted and grounded in the faith. We must be established upon the infallible principles of God's Word. Then, with that footing, endurance and prosperity will be assured. This marvelous truth brings me to our text in 2 Chronicles 20:20:
"..... believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe in His prophets, so shall ye prosper."
You will notice that we are "established" upon belief in God and His Word. Only God and His Word will be the foundation of our faith. Then, as we continue in the process of sanctification, we will follow the counsels of His prophet. The prophet instructs us how to live "in" the world but not "of" the world. It directs our minds to the Bible. The prophet impresses our minds to be "thinkers" and not just "reflectors". It brings out principles and standards and helps us apply them to our everyday lives. It teaches us how to eat, drink, dress, and behave. It instructs on how to have a happy home and how to treat your wife/husband and children. The Spirit of Prophecy gives us 20/20 vision (interesting our text is from 2 Chron. 20/20).
If the church is seeking true prosperity, this gift of prophecy will be evident in her midst and will give the church "perfect" vision to enable her to see through the darkness of these last days.
When the counsels of God's Word and the Spirit of Prophecy are not questioned or quibbled over, the work of God advances. The Word assures us very clearly in Revelation 12:17 that God's people will be identified as possessing 2 attributes:
1. They will be commandment keepers
2. They will possess and uphold the Spirit of Prophecy
The Spirit of Prophecy keeps us on course with the waymarks of truth. The book "Counsels to Writers and Editors" says this on page 52:
"Messages of every order and kind have been urged upon Seventh-day Adventists to take the place of the truth, which, point by point, have been sought out by prayerful study, and testified to by the miracle working power of the Lord. But the "waymarks" which have made us what we are, are to be preserved as God has signified through His Word and the Testimony of the Spirit. He calls upon us to hold firmly, with the grip of faith to the fundamental principles that are based upon unquestionable authority."
One day a tribal chief in the Andes Mountains made a long journey to the Lake Titicaca Mission and asked the missionary there to send a teacher to tell his people messages of truth. The missionary responded, "Friend, we have no teacher to send to your people."
The chief pressed his request; he wouldn't give up his case. "My people do not know truth; can't you send someone soon?"
The missionary said, "Maybe in about 2 years."
The chief asked: "How will we know this man?"
The missionary picked up a soft rock and broke it in half. "Here, put this piece in your pocket; I'll give the other half to the teacher I will send to teach truth to your people. If his piece fits your piece, you'll know this is the right man."
Beloved, the remnant can have the assurance that the message of our prophet fit perfectly with the Bible. We will not be led astray as we allow these counsels to guide us today.
Pastor Dan Shafer
:In the November issue of "Signs of the Times" (page 3) there is a letter to the editor from a reader entitled "Sabbath vs. Sunday". The respondent said: "I agree that saved people should be as serious about honoring the fourth commandment as they are about honoring the other nine.However, it disturbs me that you and other Adventist writers, as well as television teachers, constantly refer to Sunday Sabbath keepers as violators of the fourth commandment. Certainly we can debate vigorously the issue of Saturday vs Sunday, but it seems disingenuous to judge the propriety of those who se aside a day other than Saturday for corporate worship."
The following is my response to this letter:
Regarding letter to the editor "Sabbath vs. Sunday" (November 2003), the writer states that "certainly we can debate vigorously the issue of Saturday vs Sunday..."
In all kindness and concern, this individual makes it very evident that she does not study the Word for what it says, because God's Word provides absolutely no basis for any debate over this issue. All true Bible students and scholars, many of whom are leaders of Sunday-keeping churches, know of what I speak. However, my greater concern is the editor's response to this letter. The editor states that..........
"The editorial in question did not say that those who observe Sunday as Sabbath are in violation of the fourth commandment."
Our Blessed Lord says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments". (John 14:15) He also says, "Blessed are they that do the commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (Rev. 22:14).
If the article in question did not say that those who observe Sunday as the Sabbath are in violation of the fourth commandment, then it certainly should have.
Since when do Bible believing Christians teach that Sunday keeping is not in violation of the fourth commandment?
Pastor Dan Shafer
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