CREATIONS OLD AND NEW

One key difference between the first and second creations is the role of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning, the Spirit is shown hovering over the surface of the water as if beginning the imposition of order on a chaotic, formless Earth. Each of the messages to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is from Jesus, but Jesus points to the Holy Spirit at the conclusion of each message.

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The Three Angels' Messages and Racial Prejudice

Racial prejudice is a problem in the world. In the United States, our history has been marked with intense racial struggle, from slavery to Jim Crow, Civil Rights and now racial profiling has reared its ugly head in today's society. There are, however, circles within our Adventist midst that wish to dismiss these issues, calling it dismissive pejoratives such as it being "social justice" or saying it has no bearing on our message as Seventh-day Adventists.

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We Have This Hope

Sadness grips me as I trace these lines. For the second time in a week, the world of fashion and television has been struck by the tragedy of a self-inflicted death. Earlier this week, Kate Spade—fashion designer, businesswoman, and founder of Kate Spade New York—was found dead in her Manhattan apartment by her housekeeper, hanged by her own hand.

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Healing the Nations Podcast (w/ Lemuel Sapian)

What role does the church have upon the government and what role does the government have in the church?  Should the church be involved in legislating morality?  In this episode, Pastor Lemuel Sapian shares his thoughts on the recent culture wars between secularists and Christians, the Johnson Amendment, and the principles of the Separation of Church and State, and why Seventh-day Adventists break from evangelical Christians in regards to partisan politics. 

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The Waco Tragedy: 25 Years Later

This spring will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the siege and destruction of the Mount Carmel Center (sometimes called Ranch Apocalypse) in Waco, Texas, headquarters of the so-called Branch Davidians and their leader, one David Koresh.  For those who aren’t aware or may not remember, the Branch Davidians were a splinter sect of the Shepherd’s Rod (or Davidian Seventh-day Adventist) movement, an offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1930.

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This is an Apple!

Recently on CNN, a commercial has been running with various wording, with an apple in focus.  It speaks of how whether the apple is viewed from the right or from the left, whether one insists with loud screams or capital letters that this is a banana instead, the fact still remains that “this is an apple.”  The commercial ends with the simple phrase, FACTS FIRST.

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Evangelical Theology, Unconditional Forgiveness, and Public Scandal

During the U.S. presidential scandal of the late 1990s, Kenneth Woodward, religion editor of Newsweek magazine, wrote a column titled, “Sex, sin, and salvation”, in which he declared that understanding President Clinton’s moral foibles required an understanding of “Bill the Baptist”. 

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Confused About the Reformation

As Bible students and historians recount the events of half a millennium ago, when the hammer blows of a German monk on a church door sparked the movement that would split Christendom in two, it is imperative that we understand correctly what the issues were, and were not, in that rending conflict whose implications would prove so dramatic for Western civilization and for the world.

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Will the Real Protestants Please Stand Up?

The ever-growing threat of a joint union between the two largest sects of Christendom looms before us, five hundred years after an erstwhile Augustinian monk nailed a copy of his letter to the Archbishop of Mainz on the All Saint’s Church door in Wittenburg, Germany.

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