The morning Manna will be provided at
6am. Thanks. Studying In the Crucible with Christ in
the SSnet.org series Lesson 4, may the Holy Spirit be the speaker to your
heart. The Topic today is: "Character development" The Opening Hymn will be 229
"Spirit of the Living God" The Sabbath School Quarterly,
downloadable from SSnet.org in the Teacher's Edition is on page 47 and for the laymen edition or Standard Edition, on page 33. The SSnet.org site allows anyone,
anywhere to read the lesson in their own language. Choose your own language to
see God speaking also to your heart. ---Today's lesson explains Jesus' Last
words to His disciples and two parables stands out in the lesson: the ten
virgins and the parable of the sheep and goats. ---It is Last Generation Theology at its
best. ---Suppose you say like H. K. LaRondelle
in his thinking and George Knight following his teachers also, teachers who
also followed Karl Barth when he influenced Protestantism in the 1960's and
1970's with his thoughts, thoughts that said that the regenerated Christian is
at the same time sinner and saint and will stay so until Jesus comes. ---Think about it: cannot change until
Jesus Comes: cannot fully 100% be obedient; cannot fully 100% keep the Law of
God; cannot fully 100% be perfect; thus character perfection is a constant evasion
and Last Generation Theology an imagination not tenable. ---Ellen White and the Bible is full of
Last Generation Theology. Full of "overcoming statements". They are
with Jesus telling the woman of John 8: "Go and sin no more". ---Was Jesus just teasing the woman? ---Ellen White in her writings says that
we have to attain perfection of character. She says that the oil that the
virgin had to prepare is both the Holy Spirit and character development. ---Mind you, she does not allow for any
inherited habits and acquired ones to reign in our lives eventually. ---She is on the same page with Reformed
Theologians, LaRondelle and Knight in his cynical works on Adventism, but when
they close the book of possibility to reach perfection before the Second
Coming, she sticks to Jesus, Paul, John, Peter, James and Luke's words:
overcome. To him that overcome I will give right to sit with Me on My
throne.... ---Sorry Martin Luther, sorry John
Calvin, sorry John Wesley, sorry F. Schleiermacher, sorry Martin Hegel, sorry
Karl Barth, sorry Gerrit Berkhouwer, sorry Hans K. LaRondelle, sorry George Knight
but Jesus is speaking. ---The Eschatology of Didache is found
in the last chapter, namely 16. ---For a Seventh-day Adventist the
situation of the Didache is clear: it is evidence of the apostasy that crept
into the church after the death of the last apostle, John circa 97 A.D. ---Whether on Sabbath or whether on
Baptism, Didache is non-biblical. ---The Perfection expectation before the
Second Coming in Didache 16:2 is very relevant in the Biblical Theology and
Ellen White. ---(Kirsopp Lake) 2”But be frequently
gathered together seeking the things which are profitable for your souls, for
the whole time of your faith shall not profit you except ye be found perfect at
the last time.” ---This translation is very literal by
Lake and it definitely illustrates the requirement of perfection in
sanctification so commonly found in the Old Testament, the preaching of Christ
and the apostles. Adventists is familiar with this requirement in the work of
Ellen White. ---The doctrine of enabled
sanctification is presented in Didache 10:5: 5. J. Draper translated: “Remember, Lord,
your church, to snatch it from all evil and to perfect it in your love and
gather it from the four winds having been sanctified into your kingdom which you
have prepared for it that you are the power and the glory unto eternity”. ---The role of the biblical
sanctification doctrine is untouched in Didache. It is not a case of individual
versus corporately but individual as corporately. The body has many members.
One individual body but also many members. Each member needs to participate to
be part of the body. That is the biblical view of sanctification. The
perfection requirement is of all from Adam to Adam in sanctification and the
power to attain it is from God. ---But, Didache is still evidence of
falsehood that crept into the pure church of John after he died. Therefore it
is not biblical. ---Enabling grace is really able, really
100% able and perfection of character and overcoming a must before Christ
comes.