Princessdi,
January, 1900, and the world was comparatively peaceful and full of hope. but in the Adventist Church a deadly apostasy brewed, wherein a few of the denomination's most brilliant and charismatic teachers would seek to undermine fundamental doctrines. In so doing they would attract to themselves some of the more able people in the church. Ellen White called the apostasy the "Alpha", and warned that it would be followed by an even greater falling away--the "omega".
Interesting comment, since I am just reading about that time of our church history in George Knight's excellent biography of AT Jones. I highly recommend it, rather than looking at the past through the eyes of Lewis Walton who demonstrates a certain bias.
A secular saying is that "those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." Ellen White wrote, "We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we forget how God has led us in the past. I also recommend this year's adult devotional "Lest We Forget," by the way.
Is today's church, buffeted more from within than from without, enmeshed in the omega apostasy.
Possibly. But perhaps the main players are not the ones you judge them to be.
How is that for "Hateraid"! In fact I believe that word is entirely uncalled for as especially when you have followers that appreciated your answers and have not appreciated a great counsel that will lead us home.
Your words re not appreciating "great counsel that will lead us home" do sound a mite judgmental. (Judgementalism is a chief ingredient of "haterade.")
I appreciate your EGWhite quotes and agree with them completely. I wonder if it would surprise you to know that the leaders in the Alpha apostasy used her quotations liberally?
I also wonder if you realize that those involved in the Alpha apostasy were -- as far as I can tell -- very "conservative" in their approach to Adventism? By contrast, people like Ellen White and A.G. Daniells who did their mightiest to stem the tide of apostasy would today be judged as very "liberal." The difference was that the latter could see the
bigger picture and overlooked some of the details. "Love covers a multitude of sins." Of course, Ellen White had the distinct advantage of understanding what was in the hearts, considering she got this insight through divine revelation.
I see nothing on Hope channel that portrays a pure Adventist message throughout as the above on most of their programs. and yes it does seem like they have other churches on there that must be paying but if not --that is what I am talking about or observing. So a matter of fact you can watch other religious programing for charismatic and hullabaloo channels of Direct TV that have these same messages of everything goes.
It was never what "tinka" liked or disliked. It was a view that I wholly except and again Hope channel is in the relm of not respecting SP in all things.
I'm glad you are saying that
you "see nothing on Hope channel that portrays a pure Adventist message." Of course, I have no idea what your standard of "purity" are. At the time of his apostasy, AT Jones was quite sure that "the brethren" at the GC did not portray the pure Adventist message. He and his cohorts went so far as to conjecture that Ellen White (because of her more "liberal" stance) was influenced by these men in what she wrote and therefore they felt free to reject her counsels.
Those who will not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. I haven't seen any Hope broadcasts lately, but when I did see them earlier, I saw that they broadcast from a wide spectrum of Adventist churches and ministries -- in contrast to 3ABN which has its own strict standards to make it "better" than the rest of the Adventist church. The Hope Channel is a far better reflection of the Adventist church -- for better or for worse.
It might also be profitable to remember that the "conservatives" in Christ's day shouted loudly to demand Christ's crucifixion. They joined the "liberals" (the priests) in their deadly endeavor.
There's an interesting postscript to the latter. My husband pointed it out recently, and you can check it out for yourself: After the crucifixion a goodly number of the priests joined the believers. We know of no Pharisees who joined, other than Nicodemus. And finally God had to hit Saul over the heat to get him to see the light, and he was converted as well.
It rather seems to me that it is easier to get "liberals" to see the truth when it is made clear than to get "conservatives" to see it -- probably because the "conservatives" are already sure they know it and thus have no further need of enlightenment.
H'mm ... that does sound a lot like Laodicea, doesn't it?
At least that's the way I see it. You are free to see things differently.