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-------- Original Message --------
| From: |
Mary Penny |
| To: |
AUReporter |
| Subject: |
letter |
| Date: |
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:16:21 -0700 (PDT) |
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I do believe that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is God's
remnant church and I do not believe that the church is Babylon,
nor do I believe that there will ever be a mass movement of saints
called out of the SDA church because of its supposedly fallen
condition. But this does not mean that I do not recognize that
it is for the most part in a lukewarm Laodicean state. It does
not mean that now as in Jesus day and in the time of the reformers
many supposedly devout people aren't content to follow the crowd
without investigating to find out what is true.
I see some who
are smug and self satisfied believing that they are in some way
superior and that they are part of a group that has all the truth
and are favored by God. I do not believe that leaders are
infallible in their judgements as to whether investigations into
ministries such as 3ABN are designed by the devil to tear down
a work of a man of God, or whether this investigation is ongoing
because these people are honestly trying to find out what is
happening there and have been horrified at what they are finding ... especially
if they have not open-mindedly considered the evidence.
In Jesus day, the people asked "Have any of the
rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" (John 7:48). Is this the way
we judge what is true?
Some of the leaders do believe what they hear about problems
needing to be solved and the lack of personal accountability
there. But even though some of them do believe what has been
discovered and have said so you will not hear that from the media
ministry that is being investigated. And they very much control
public opinion. I think that I have a duty to think for myself.
We do not excommunicate, do we? Or shun people? I feel that Danny
has tried to claim orthodoxy and has virtually tried to "excommunicate"
anyone who disagrees with him, or at least has tried to mark them
with "the mark of Cain" or a scarlet A.
We are told that everything that goes right for 3ABN is because
God is blessing. Everything that goes wrong is because the devil
is working to oppose it. This is quite convenient but hardly
true. Ministries featured on 3ABN have done a lot a lot of good
and have been allowed to get a lot of needed support. People
have worked hard because of the optimism engendered by the miracle
stories and because of the testimonies of others' personal successes
in soul winning. It may have been a lot of hype (one huge colporteur
rally), but it worked.
I hate to rain on anyone's parade and this may be considered
heretical by some but though there are many miracle stories about
3ABN that are told, there are also non-miracle stories.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-709A1.pdf and
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-270269A1.pdf
Now my questions are, "Can we look into the matter without
anger and be fair and evenhanded, understanding that truth is
objective and not subjective?" and, "Can we be truthful and transparent
and still do the same good work as has been done in the past?"
Mary Penny (pen name)
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