by Onovae Akpoesiri | Apr 14, 2020 | Bible Study, Members Writeup, Share your view
There is no seven (7) literal years of Antichrist reign after the rapture in scripture: There is absolutely nowhere in the scriptures in which one can find the Antichrist reign and oppression for seven or three and half years after the second coming of Christ. The popular unscriptural teaching is that Antichrist reign will last for 1 week (7 years) as seen in Daniel’s 70 weeks. He is said to rise as a peaceful world leader in the first 3 ½ years but in the next 3 ½ years, he will be the real devil he is.
The last week of the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9 cannot be detached from the whole block of time and applied to a future period for Antichrist’s reign. The 70 weeks prophecy was probationary time given to Daniel’s people, the Jews (Daniel 9:24). This block of time stretches from the time the commandment or decree was given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the time the Messiah or Christ would come (the first time) to die (Daniel 9:25) and when the gospel will go to the Gentiles. That decree was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus I in 457 B.C. and says in verse 25 that the first 69 weeks (483 years, when you apply the year/day principle [see Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:33) would lead to the appearance of the Messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew word that means “anointed.” The Greek equivalent is Christos. This part of the time prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was baptized in A.D. 27, exactly 69 weeks or 483 years from 457 B.C. That’s when He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and was presented or officially introduced to Israel by John the Baptist as the Messiah.
Now there remains one prophetic week out of the 70 weeks prophecy. That is the seven years that is now said to be meant for the reign of Antichrist. But this seven years is not meant for the reign and activities of Antichrist, but that of Christ Himself. This may come as a surprise to many. First and foremost, you should know that this prophecy is about Christ and not Antichrist. Notice also that the one week is a part of the 70 weeks. It cannot be separated from it and applied to the future. There is no indication of such a separation or divorce of the one week or seven years of time from the 70 weeks in the text. The 70 weeks is one block of time and the angel who was interpreting was only giving Daniel, as well as us, a breakdown of what will happen at different times during the one block of time. This prophecy is perhaps the strongest evidence that can be presented to show that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Saviour that was to come to save the world. So this prophecy is about Christ and NOT Antichrist. Now let’s read verses 26 and 27 that tell us what happens to Christ and what He accomplishes in the 70th week of the 70 weeks prophecy in the King James Version (some modern ecumenical and biased Bibles translators have rendered the verse with to make it refer to Antichrist):
“26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he [Messiah, NOT Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:26, 27).
Notice that verse 26 talks about Messiah being “cut of.” That’s a prophecy about Christ’s death. Notice too that it says He will not die for Himself, but for us. Then there is prediction about the prince that shall come and destroy the city that is referred to as the “abominations” that causes “desolations.” This is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem by Prince Titus in A.D. 70. Titus, who became Roman emperor (79–81), was the prophesied “prince” in Daniel 9: 26, 27 was to be the conqueror of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. After service in Britain and Germany, Titus commanded a legion under his father, Emperor Vespasian, in Judaea in A.D. 67. Christ confirmed that this is the true interpretation of Daniel 9: 26, 27 when He was prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24 and He referred to it as the “abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet” (verse 15). Christ used the very words in Daniel 9:26, 27. Some have applied this prophecy to Antiochus Epiphanes of the 2nd century B.C., who lived about 200 years before Christ. But this cannot be correct because Christ applied the prophecy to the future from His time. He said in Matthew 24:15: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:).” So the fulfilment of the abominations of desolation through war cannot be a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes, but to Prince Titus.
Now back to the biggest Messianic event of the 70th week. Read it again inDaniel 9: 27: “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
It’s very clear. While confirming the covenant in the last one week of the 70 weeks prophecy, Messiah is “cut of” and the Old Testament sacrifices or sacrificial system ceases or comes to an end. The “midst of the week” here will be three and half years from A.D. 27, which brings us to A.D. 31, the exact year Christ died on the cross. The next three and half years lands us in A.D. 34, the end of the 70 weeks prophecy. What happened that year? The Jewish council called the Sanhedrin, rejected Christ officially when they rejected the gospel preached to them by Stephen and ordered that he be stoned to death. From A.D. 34, the Jews ceased to be God’s chosen agency to reveal the mystery of salvation to the world and the gospel goes to the Gentiles. Remember that the 70 weeks was given to them as probationary time.
Let me prove this a little further. Before A.D. 34 Jesus commissioned His disciples to preach only to the Jews: “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10: 5, 6). Why would He make such a statement? Because it was not time in God’s prophetic calendar for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. He wanted to use the Jewish nation but they rejected the gospel. This is the understanding of Paul and the other apostles after A.D. 34. Remember Paul was converted after the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen who was killed in A.D. 34. Listen as he addressed the Jewish leaders:
“But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13: 45, 46).
The Jews, as a nation (not as individuals), misused their probationary time of 70 weeks or 490 years and God founded a new Israel from all nations of those who believe in Jesus as the Christ (Galatians 3: 26-29).
So the whole seven years theory of the Antichrist reign is not biblical. It was a Catholic Jesuit diversionary interpretation to make people not to focus on the real Antichrist identified by the Protestant Reformation in the Bible. This Antichrist remains the papal system.
About author
Azanor Eddy Thompson
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Apr 9, 2020 | Bible Study, Share your view
There have been serious questions and confusions surrounding 5G, Covid-19 and the Anti-Christ as many believe they are all linked together. Are they really linked? We will know soon. Let us relax as pastor Azanor Eddy Thompson explain it in details.
It is obvious that we are living in strange and even perilous times. Perceptive men and women everywhere sense that we are on the verge of some stupendous, earth shaking events that might usher in the time of trouble (also known as the tribulation that will be the toughest) and the end of time as we know it. But speculations vary on how these events will exactly play out (and we do not know all the details, except what has been revealed). Satan is, of course, taking advantage of the hysteria the coronavirus pandemic has created and is busy selling his lies to millions, if not billions of people the world over.
This article will first attempt to show from the scriptures when the Antichrist is predicted to be on the stage of history and, secondly, show the role of diseases, disasters and technology (5G) in the enforcement of the mark of the first or sea beast by the second and earth beast (Revelation 13).
The Antichrist Has Been Around:
The Apostle John is the only biblical writer to use the term “antichrist” and the plural form “antichrists;” and he used them five times altogether, four times and once, respectively (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3,7; 2 John 7). Other apocalyptic writers used other terms. Daniel called it the Antichrist “the little horn” (Daniel 7 and 8). Paul referred to it as the the “man of sin” and “the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2). In Revelation John referred to this same power as “the beast” (Revelation 13 & and 14) and “Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17 and 18). Among other identifying clues, Daniel and John both predicted that the Antichrist or the Apocalypse will reign and rule for 1260 years,applying the year-day principle of apocalyptic time prophecies (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5; Numbers 14:34; Ezekiel 4:6).
“Antichrist” is a compound word, consisting of two words of Greek origin. The first is Christos, meaning “Christ” and the other is anti meaning “against” and “in place of” or “instead of.” All the meanings apply to the biblical Antichrist, for the Antichrist is not only against Christ but also pretend to, or better still, profess to act in stead of Christ as His representative. That’s why the Apostle Paul says the “man of sin,” who is the “son of perdition,” is not a secular power or individual but a quasi-Christian entity that claims the very prerogatives of deity:
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
The devil has to disguise the Antichrist power as a Christian power. That’s the way it can deceive. Satan knows that all genuine Christians will resist a secular individual or organization. But if the Antichrist comes in sheep clothing in the name of Christ, all who have not been prayerfully reading their Bibles cannot know it for what it is (2 Thessalonians 2: 8, 9; 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14); they will be looking for an unscriptural one-man Antichrist after the so-called secret rapture, just like the Jews who were not prayerfully reading the Old Testament prophecies about Christ (but relied on the popular scholarly and politically motivated interpretations of the rabis) could not know when and how the true Christ will come and are still waiting for a Messiah who has already come to die for the sins of the world (Luke 24: 25, 26, 44-49). What a deception! By the way, the only other person the Bible used the phrase “the son of perdition” for was Judas (John 17:
12). This is not a coincidence. Judas is a perfect definition of the Antichrist. He was not openly against Christ. He pretended to be for Christ while stealing and finally betraying Christ with a kiss. The Antichrist claims to be acting for or in place of God, but discerning Christian see it as betraying Christ by changing God’s law (as man of sin, of course), persecuting God’s people and blasphemously claiming the very prerogatives of God (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13: 1, 5, 7).
Going by the scriptures there are “many antichrists” (1 John 2: 8) and they were already present in John’s day in the 1st century (1 John 2:18; 4:3). Their cardinal gnostic teaching known as docetism was that Christ did not really come in the real postlapsarian flesh that the scriptures affirm without ambiguity (1 John 4:3; Romans 1:3: 8:3; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2: 14-17). This Antichrist teaching is still with us today in the form of the unscriptural Immaculate Conception dogma, that Mary was conceived without sin so that Christ will possess a flesh different from ours. Now the implications of such teaching are huge but that is not the chief focus of this study. So we can safely conclude that anyone or power or entity that is against Jesus any time is an antichrist. But there is also the other dimension of antichrist manifestation that will be a power that will have influence worldwide influence and coerce everyone in the last days to receive the dreaded mark (Revelation 13: 3, 8, 15-18).
So, when does the Bible say the Antichrist that will appear on the stage of history, before or after the second coming when the saints will be caught up or raptured? Paul was crystal clear on this. He wrote:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, [the rapture, if you will] That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: FOR THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST, AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED, THE SON OF PERDITION” (2 Thessalonians 2: 1-3, emphasis added).
Please indulge me a little space and time to give context or background to the above Pauline text. In 1 Thessalonians he had written to the believers in Thessalonica about the coming of Christ to resurrect those who were falling asleep in Christ. He presented the resurrection to them as the only hope for those who had died in Christ and for the living saints who will be alive when Christ comes to rapture the saints (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; see also 1 Corinthians 15). But some misguided teachers arose and started saying that Christ will come in the lifetime of the then believers. Some even wrote and signed letters in the name of Paul and the other apostles to deceive the people by giving them false hopes. As time elapsed and more and more Christians died, the believers would become disillusioned and loose faith, hence Paul had to write to tell them that they should not be deceived by those who were telling them that the day of Christ’s coming to take them to heaven was at hand. With this literary and historical context in mind read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 again.
What I want you to notice in the text is that that i) the subject matter was about the second coming, (verse 1); ii) at the second coming the saints shall be gathered unto Christ or raptured (verse 1), as he promised they would be “caught up” or raptured in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17; iii) the Antichrist or “man of sin” and “son of perdition” will appear on the stage of history to cause a ”falling away” (Greek, apostasia, from which we have the English word, “apostasy,” which means to fall way from the truth) first before the second coming (verse 3).
This means that this Antichrist power that Paul speaks about was not yet established in Paul’s day, though he said “the mystery of iniquity was already at work” (verse 7). But it was being restrained by pagan Rome which was the ruling power that needs to give way for the papacy. After showing that this power will sit in the temple of God to claim the very prerogatives of God in blasphemy in verse 4, the apostle went on to prophetically declare that it is the restrainer, Rome, that is to be taken out of the way that the Antichrist will appear: “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time” (2 Thessalonians 2: 5:6).
To make his point very, clear he goes on to tell us in verses 7 and 8 that this deceptive, blasphemous, Antichrist power will be destroyed at the second coming by the brightness of Christ’s coming after the restrainer leaves the way and Antichrist appears:
“For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one [because it leads people to transgress God’s law by expunging the 2nd commandment that forbids using images in worship and changed the fourth that enjoins us to keep the seventh day (Saturday) as the Sabbath], whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation [brightness, KJV] of his coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2: 7-12, ASV).
Revelation 12 and 13 prophetically revealed the same truth that Paul prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2. Revelation 13:2 says it is the dragon that gave the beast its power, seat and authority. This beast is the papacy (as shall be made more abundantly clear). But who is the dragon? The primary meaning is Satan the devil (Revelation 12:9). But there is a secondary application of the term. According to Revelation 12:4, 5 the dragon wanted to destroy Christ when He was born. Now Satan rarely works directly or openly. What earthly power was he trying to use to destroy Christ when he was born? The biblical and historical answer is, Rome. Herod was representing the power of Rome. So Rome is the second application of the symbol “dragon” in Revelation. Pagan Rome gave the papacy its seat, power and authority. This is a historical fact. When Constantine left Rome to Byzantium and renamed it after himself (Constantinople) as the new capital of the Roman Empire, he left the city of Rome to the Pope. But it was not until 538 A.D. that the the bishop of Rome was made the head of all the churches by Emperor Justinian. From this time on the pope started wielding both spiritual and temporal powers more fully, especially over the Western Roman Empire, with a forged document known as the Donation of Constantine. So when the Caesars left, the popes took their place. They even assumed the very title of the Caesars, pontifex maximus. That’s why the pope is called the Roman Pontiff till today.
It is real unscriptural to teach that Antichrist will do its nefarious work of deceiving people with satanic miracles (Revelation 13: 13, 14; 16:13, 14; 19:20) and forcing people to receive the mark of being against God (Revelation 13: 15, 17) after the church has been raptured away from the earth. The Antichrist reigned uninterrupted from 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. That is the 1260 years prophesied by Daniel as “a time and times and dividing a time” (Daniel 7:25) and “a time, times, and an half” (Daniel. 12:7). John the Revelation prophesied of the same period as “three days and an half” (Revelation 11:9), “three days and an half” (Revelation 11:11), “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (Revelation 12:6), “a time, and times, and half a time” (Revelation 12:14) and “forty and two months” (Revelation 13:5). In apocalyptic scriptures a day is interpreted as a year. The interesting thing is that this prophetic time that is mentioned seven times in Daniel and Revelation is always (without and exception) found in the context of the persecution of God’s holy people. God’s church was in obscurity or wilderness during this period. This is also the period God law was changed. Church historians call it the Dark Ages. This is because it was a time when moral darkness reigned supreme because the Bible was suppressed, outlawed and burned. People were not free to translate and read it. Superstition was the order of the day and even the growth in scientific knowledge was stunted. This period ended in 1798 when Napoleon Bonaparte sent his general to arrest the pope, Pius VI, and took him captive to the city of Valence in France where he died the next year. It was said that the soldiers entered Rome a year before to arrest the pope but he was sick, so they pitied him and left, thinking he would die. To the ordinary eye, this is one of those things. But if they had arrested him in 1797, the prophecy would have failed. But God’s word cannot fail. So they came the next year and abolished the papal states. All of these were fulfilling Revelation 13:10 which says the papacy would go into captivity. This also fulfilled Revelation 13:3 that says one of the heads of the beast would be wounded to death. Everyone said the papacy would never exist again. But the prophecy says the beast will recuperate, its wound would be healed and it will regain worldwide following (Revelation 13:3). This healing began in 1929 A..D. when Mussolini of fascist Italy and Gaspari, representing the Roman church, signed a pact that returned the Vatican to the papacy. From that time till now the papacy had made a wonderful recovery and is rapidly gaining worldwide following and this is leading to world dominance. This is the beast of prophecy and history. This is what the Waldenses, Martin Luther and all the Reformers, Matthew Henry, Charles Spurgeon, etc., believed. The reason many people believe that the Antichrist is going to appear after the rapture is because of what the Jesuits have done in the Counter Reformation (see my other article titled WHY WE FORGOT WHO THE REAL ANTICHRIST IS). The prophecy cannot fail. Get ready for the mark of the beast.
2. Diseases, Disasters and 5G Technology: There is no doubt that diseases, disasters and technology will play roles in the mark of the breast crisis. For instance it is not impossible for the powers that be to say that those who will not cooperate with the beast agenda of false worship are the ones incurring the wrath of God and causing the disasters and diseases. If you can imaging a small group of believers who refuse to worship according to the changed law of the beast power when it is enforced by the powers that be (championed by the second or earth beast [America, this will be clear by another studies]) because they believe that the Sabbath is the seal of God’s law and the sign of ultimate allegiance to Him (Isaiah 8:16; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; Hebrews 8:10), you are getting very close to the heart of the matter. The issue is not about some microchip powered by the 5G technology to control people or some vaccine to reduce the world’s teeming population. The real issue is worship. Satan wants worship through his accomplices, the Roman and American beasts.
They will no doubt use technology to freeze your account and try to track you. This is all possible now. They will even accuse the remnant that keeps God’s commandments (Revelation 12:17) of causing the pestilences and seismic and climatic disasters (especially as the pope is now linking Covid-19 to climate change) as Elijah was accused of causing drought for going against Baal worship in Israel of old (1 Kings 18:17). All of this will be part of the issues leading to the enforcement of the mark of the beast, but they are not the mark of the beast itself. The mark of the beast crisis is about who, how and when to worship. The mark of the beast is calculated to rob God and His people the holy time they have together. The real aim is to rob God’s people of their love relationship with God. This has being Satan’s work since he rebelled and led one third of the angels to sin against God in heaven. He separated Adam and Eve from God by leading Eve to disobey God. The Bible says he deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). If he can deceive or force God’s remnant people to break just one of God’s law, he will win the controversy and they will be lost with the world (James 2:10). So it’s about who you obey. You must have to choose whom to obey between Christ and the beast (Romans 6:16). Obedience is the highest form of worship (1 Samuel 15:22). Adam and Eve obeyed Satan in breaking God’s commandment in regard to the fruit of a tree and that’s how disease, disappointment, disaster and death entered and flooded the world. “Just a tree and its fruits,” you might say. But it’s more than that. It was a matter of who Eve believed and obeyed. The same with the Ten Commandments, especially the Sabbath. Do you believe the word of God or would you out of convenience, necessity and following the crowd worship according to man made laws? That’s the real issue.
According to Revelation 14:12, all who truly keep the commandments of God will not receive the mark of the beast. This verse, found in the context of the three angels’ messages, reports the existence of a last days worldwide minority who are the fruitage of the preaching of the three angels’ messages. They will not receive the mark of the beast because they keep all of God’s commandments as found in the Bible and not as changed by the beast from Saturday to Sunday (Daniel 7:25). “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12). Satan hates them because they insist, even at the loss of everything, in continuing their keeping of God’s commandments because they love Him (Revelation 12:17; John 14:15). This they will continue to do, even at the peril of their lives (Revelation 13:15; 12:11). God will prove to the universe (like He did with Job and Abraham) that His law can be kept, even in the most foreboding circumstances, to forever silence Satan’s charges (that God gave laws that can’t be kept) that are calculated to impugn God’s character.
It is “the faith of Jesus” in them that enables them to keep the commandments of God (Revelation 14:12). When you accept Christ into your life, the indwelling Christ will begin to live out His very life within you. You will have the resurrection power of Christ in you to live as a child of God. That’s what it means to have the faith of Jesus. Says Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2;20, emphasis added). That’s it. When Christ lives in you, you will begin to live by the faith of Jesus which will enable you to keep all of God’s commandments and they will become a delight rather than a burden (Psalm Psalm 40:8; 1 John 5:2,3).
About author
Azanor Eddy Thompson
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Dec 25, 2019 | world Church
The Seventh Day Adventist Church is an organized denomination that runs almost the same program worldwide. They may live and worship in far-flung places, but the 19.1 million Seventh-day Adventists worldwide are not only a faith community—they’re a family.
But finding a sense of togetherness can be difficult. One way Adventists can promote community across time zones is by celebrating special emphasis days and events together. The Adventist Church’s calendar of Special Emphasis Days and Events not only encourages unity, it also helps raise awareness of key issues, such as abuse prevention, family and religious freedom.
Adventist Church leadership invites you and your church to join your global family in celebrating these emphasis days and events.
CALENDAR OF SPECIAL DAYS AND EVENTS – WORLD 2019
2020 SPECIAL DAYS/EVENTS
January 2020
- January 4: Day of Prayer and Fasting
- January 8–18: Ten Days of Prayer
- January 11: Health Ministries
- January 18: Religious Liberty Day
February2020
- February 1: Reach the World: Personal Outreach
- February 8–15: Christian Home and Marriage Week.
March 2020
- March 7: Women’s Day of Prayer.
- March 14: Adventist World Radio.
- March 21–28: Youth Week of Prayer.
- March 21: Global Youth Day.
- March 21: Global Children’s Day.
March 28: Christian Education.
April 2020
- April 4: Day of Fasting and Prayer.
- April 4: Youth Spiritual Commitment Celebration (Northern Hemisphere)
- April 11: Friends of Hope Day (Visitor’s Day)
- April 11: Hope Channel.
- April 18–24: Literature Evangelism Rally Week.
- April 18: World Impact (Distribution) Day.
- April 25: Special Needs Awareness Day.
May 2020
- May 2–30: Drug Awareness Month.
- May 2: Reach the World: United by Our Mission – This day has been set aside to share our church’s global strategic plan with the world. Please use this presentation to share Our Mission with your congregation, institution or communication channel.
- May 9: Reach the World: In the Community, Disaster/Famine Relief.
- May 23: World Day of Prayer for Children at Risk.
June 2020
- June 6: Reach the World – Bible Study: Sabbath School and Correspondence Courses.
- June 13: Women’s Ministries Emphasis Day.
- June 20: Reach the World – Reach Across: Nurture and Reclaiming.
- June 20: Adventist Church World Refugee Sabbath.
July 2020
- July 4: Day of Prayer and Fasting.
- July 11: Mission Promotion.
- July 18: Reach the World: Media Ministry.
- July 25: Children’s Sabbath.
August 2020
- August 1: Global Mission Evangelism.
- August 8: Reach the World: Church Planting.
- August 15: Education Day – Presentation about Adventist Education (3.7mb Zip)
- August 22: enditnow Day.
- August 22: Lay Evangelism.
September 2020
- September 5: Youth Spiritual Commitment Celebration (Southern Hemisphere)
- September 6–12: Family Togetherness Week.
- September 12: Mission Promotion.
- September 19: Pathfinder Day.
- September 26: Sabbath School Guest Day.
October 2020
- October 3: Day of Prayer and Fasting.
- October 3: Adventist Reviewhas launched a series ‘The Church I Want to Belong to Is…’ Subscribe today to be a part of the discussion.
- October 10: Pastor Appreciation Day.
- October 16–18: Global Public Campus Ministries Weekend.
- October 17: Spirit of Prophecy and Adventist Heritage.
- October 24: Creation Sabbath.
November 2020
- November 7-16: Week of Prayer.
- November 14-20: e-Week of Prayer for Youth and Young Adults.
- November 14: Annual Sacrifice Offering.
- November 21: World Orphans/Vulnerable Children’s Day.
- November 28: HIV/AIDS Awareness.
December 2020
- December 5: Stewardship.
December 12: Health Emphasis.
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Dec 17, 2019 | Ellen White, news
What did Ellen White counsel about observing Christmas? Noting her prophetic gift, some today might expect her to shun Christmas. They trace Christmas through the Roman Catholic Church back to paganism, which gave rise to the December 25 date and various other customs. They find no biblical command or example to observe the birth of Jesus, and they see little that reflects or honors the Master in the usual celebrations of Christmas.
Ellen White was aware of these concerns, but they did not lead her to reject Christmas. While she acknowledged that “the Bible does not give us the precise time”¹ of Jesus’ birth and “there is no divine sanctity resting upon the twenty-fifth of December,”² she did not urge us to ignore the day. Rather, she said that “it can be made to serve a very good purpose,”³ and she urged parents to turn “the minds and the offerings of their children to God and his cause and the salvation of souls.”⁴
“Christmas is coming,” she wrote. “May you all have wisdom to make
it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in this innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to Him gifts and offerings. Let everyone remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid. Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord’s treasury.”⁵
GIFT-GIVING?
Does this mean that we shouldn’t give each other gifts? Not necessarily. “Brethren and sisters, while you are devising gifts for one another, I would remind you of our heavenly Friend, lest you should be unmindful of His claims. Will He not be pleased if we show that we have not forgotten Him?”⁶ She saw purpose in both kinds of giving, one that recognizes family and friends, and the other that honors our Saviour. “It is right to bestow upon one another tokens of love and remembrance if we do not in this forget God, our best friend.”⁷
The gifts we give to one another should be useful and helpful. “We should make our gifts such as will prove a real benefit to the receiver. I would recommend such books as will be an aid in understanding the Word of God or that will increase our love for its precepts.”⁸ Other kinds of gifts, carefully chosen, may also be a benefit to the recipient.
Ellen White’s view of holiday gift-giving is clearly a departure from custom. It puts Jesus first. If this requires scaling back on gifts to each other so that we may give where God would have us direct the funds, we will be the stronger—and happier—for having done so. “Come, brethren and sisters, come with your children, even the babes in your arms, and bring your offerings to God according to your ability. Make melody to Him in your hearts, and let His praise be upon your lips.”⁹
TEACH THE CHILDREN
Won’t children be disappointed if we make changes like this? Ellen White, a wise and experienced mother, had thought about this. “There are many things which can be devised with taste and cost far less than the unnecessary presents that are so frequently bestowed upon our children and relatives, and thus courtesy can be shown and happiness brought into the home.
“You can teach your children a lesson while you explain to them the reason why you have made a change in the value of their presents, telling them that you are convinced that you have hitherto considered their pleasure more than the glory of God. Tell them that you have thought more of your own pleasure and of their gratification and of keeping in harmony with the customs and traditions of the world, in making presents to those who did not need them, than you have of advancing the cause of God.
“Like the wise men of old, you may offer to God your best gifts and show by your offerings to Him that you appreciate His Gift to a sinful world. Set your children’s thoughts running in a new, unselfish channel by inciting them to present offerings to God for the gift of His only-begotten Son.”¹⁰
THE CHRISTMAS TREE
Ellen White did not forbid the Christmas tree, even urging that such a tree be placed in the church and adorned with special “decorations.” When many of our congregations struggled to have a church building, she wrote:
“God would be well pleased if on Christmas each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship. . . . Let its boughs be laden with the golden and silver fruit of your beneficence, and present this to Him as your Christmas gift. Let your donations be sanctified by prayer.”¹¹
The principle may apply to helping other aspects of the Lord’s work as well, such as ministry to the needy. “Christmas and New Year celebrations can and should be held in behalf of those who are helpless. God is glorified when we give to help those who have large families to support.”¹²
Some may ask, “Isn’t a Christmas tree forbidden by Jeremiah 10:1-5, which speaks against cutting a tree and decorating it with gold and silver?” Verse 3 refers to the one who takes the axe to the tree as a “craftsman” (RSV),¹³ translating a Hebrew word that means “artificer, engraver.” This passage refers to fashioning an idol, one that cannot walk or speak and must be carried, and which a person need not fear (verse 5). It deals with false gods rather than Christmas trees.
How may we best celebrate Christmas? Ellen White challenges us to make our Lord the focus of it, reserving our best gifts for Him. We will be blessed when we observe it that way.
¹Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home (Nashville: Southern Pub. Assn., 1952), p. 477.
²Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, Dec. 9, 1884.
³E. G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 478.
⁴Ibid.
⁵E. G. White, in Review and Herald, Dec. 9, 1844.
⁶E. G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 480.
⁷Ibid., p. 479.
⁸Ibid.
⁹Ibid., p. 480.
¹⁰Ibid., p. 481.
¹¹Ibid., p. 482.
¹²Ibid.
¹³Bible texts credited to RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.
Credits: https://www.adventistworld.org/should-we-celebrate-christmas
by Onovae Akpoesiri | Dec 9, 2019 | Babcock university, news
Prof. Ademola Tayo, the Vice Chancellor of Babcock University, has explained why the institution took the decision to expel the female student in the sex video that went viral last month.
According to him, the decision was to protect what the institution stands for. However, he said the institution was still in contact with the girl’s family and may take her back if she was repentant.
Last month a video surfaced of two students making out in what was later said to be a hospital ward. The boy was said to have been expelled before the incident while the girl was expelled as a result of the video.
Speaking during a luncheon with journalists at the Babcock Guest House on Sunday the VC said:
“We had to take that decision in order to protect this institution and to protect its alumni. Because anywhere they go they say the University where they are all prostitutes. They said the girls are always swallowing …and all kinds of ridicule. If we keep mute, in the public opinion they would think that anything goes in the institution. We had to make a statement to show discipline.
“But I need to tell you that I signed it off with tears in my eyes as a responsible father. But we are not leaving this young lady to her doom. The pastor called me last week and I prayed with the family. The father called me and said pray with your daughter. I said she is still my daughter. Sometimes discipline is therapeutic. It is when you go that you realise that this is not right what I have done and then you go back to yourself.
“I look forward to a time when this young girl would graduate and be celebrated. It may not be here; I don’t know where but we are not throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
Tayo described the act by the girl giving the boy a Mouth Action as abnormal.
It is not normal for a young woman to take the manhood of the man and be swallowing. That is a very dirty thing which supposed not to be heard,” he said, adding that the institution had to apply discipline but with love.
The VC however said some stakeholders commended the university’s decision to expel the student, saying that they would have pulled their wards out of the University.
Tayo also described as mischievous a publication by an online publication that listed the institution as the third worst to attend in the country.
“I see that as a sponsored campaign to smear the institution. I know where it is coming from but we will not relent because we will do our best to offer holistic education to the children.
He said Babcock had achieved a lot with 36 fully accredited programmes and alumni who were making waves in various fields of endeavour, including the alumnus, Oladapo Oluwatoyin who made the overall best result in the 2019 bar exams, among others.
