April 30 Update - Theos Series   Theos Series A few weeks ago I was contacted by Gary Hullquist via God-head.com. During our dialog he alerted me to a series of studies that he had worked on and put together into 5 magazines. I was so blessed by reading Gary's research that I asked him if we could make them available on God-head.com. Gary has graciously allowed us to do this. I highly recommend this series to you. He has included many EGW and pioneers references that I had not seen before. His study and writing style is refreshingly straight…

2010 April 6 Update New Community Features Dear Maranatha Media Subscriber Just to let you know, that as promised, we have added the ability to manage your own details on the website. You can change email but also connect with other community members, add your picture if you like. You will see a new "Community" menu section has been added with several features. About half the site is now only availabe to registered users and is visible one you log on. If you have trouble logging on, make sure you type your username and password by hand and not let…

  The Greeks had a fable which told of the legend of the good King Admetus and his young Queen Alcestis. They believed that it epitomised the greatest form of love there is, which they called `eros'. The apostle Paul made an oblique reference to it in Romans 5: 6 - 11, in which he compared the changeable love of men, to the unconditional love of God: `For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet possibly for a good man some would even…

  There are few Christians who realize the extent to which Platonic philosophy has corrupted the doctrines of the early Church. The Nicene Creed, which is the doctrine of the Trinity, did not remain unaffected. While this is common knowledge to theologians outside of the S.D.A Church (and perhaps inside it as well); it is  virtually unknown to layman of all denominations. One doctrine that was grafted into the early Christian Church directly from Platonic philosophy, is the doctrine of the immutability of God. Now, while my  understanding of the `immutability' of God means that the character of God does…

I was graced to read Brother Adrian’s “Why I Remain Part of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church“ and “Why I Cling to My Adventist Brethren.” Before I discovered the ministry here at Maranatha Media I was on track to calling the Adventist church Babylon and looking to heed the Scripture that entreats, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing…” (2nd Corinthians 6:17 KJV).

The earliest recorded New Year’s festivity dates back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, and was deeply intertwined with religion and mythology.  For the Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia, the first new moon following the vernal equinox—the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness—heralded the start of a new year and represented the rebirth of the natural world. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring) that involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days. During the Akitu,…

The days seem to fly by and sometimes we have difficulty focusing on the spiritual in an attempt to take care of our temporal needs. Many of us feel pressure in balancing work and ministry. In my devotionals I came across a letter Sister White wrote from Australia to her son Edson and his wife in 1897.  I felt for her as I read and also realized that she struggled from time to time just as we do and I am glad to have record of her personal communications because she recognized and admitted her own faults and gave just…

  In Isaiah's day the spiritual understanding of mankind was dark through misapprehension of God. Long had Satan sought to lead men to look upon their Creator as the author of sin and suffering and death. Those whom he had thus deceived, imagined that God was hard and exacting. They regarded Him as watching to denounce and condemn, unwilling to receive the sinner so long as there was a legal excuse for not helping him. The law of love by which heaven is ruled had been misrepresented by the archdeceiver as a restriction upon men's happiness, a burdensome yoke from which they should…

The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. Adam was "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), and it was from their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs, in the truest sense, was a family school. 

The Sacred Event: David is bringing the ark of God into the city of Jerusalem "with gladness" and reverent joy and praise to God. 2 Samuel 6:14 & 15: And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

After Moses descended Mt Sinai with the Ten Commandments tucked underneath his arm, he found his people dancing around and worshiping the golden calf. Although the Lord had led His people out of Egypt and sustained them when they had nothing - after only forty days in his absence, they had returned to worshiping the Egyptian gods! How would you feel? So the Lord tested Moses and made a proposal to him; informing him that he would wipe out the children of Israel completely, and begin again with him. What did Moses say? `Wipe them out and start again with…

Wahroonga, April 03, 2009 Adrian Ebens Dear Adrian, The Biblical Research Committee commissioned me to formulate an answer to your formal response without consulting with the committee regarding the details. The following has, therefore, not been edited by the committee, and words and phrases are mine. Though the committee has expressed its trust in my ability to present to you what has been its clear consensus when it comes to the content of your manuscript, any failure to do so in the most gracious and kind manner falls back on me alone. In your response to the Biblical Research Committee…

My sweet friend was standing near the table, across from me. I was pouring water from one cooking pot into another. Suddenly, smiling at me she said quietly, “can you hear the water singing”? As an autistic person she has the wonderful gift of “hearing” things I cannot hear. I was surprised at her comment and I’m sure my face had a question mark all over. She repeated gently, “Can you hear the water singing? When the water falls it makes music.” That scene took place a few months ago, and that day I thought about it all day long.…

A.T. Jones Commentary on Galatians 4:21-31 [Hagar represents the Old Covenant and Abraham's unbelief in taking Hagar is the same process by which Israel agreed to keep the commandments. It was done in unbelief and in the flesh and not in the Spirit. Such a covenant must be cast out. No person has been or can be saved in this covenant. - Editor]  Review and Herald, July 3, 1900 “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the…

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  1 Cor 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  Our New understanding of Justice has invited us to place this new wine into a new wineskin. Psa 89:14  Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.  Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest…

Chin Chin gives a touching and vulnerable testimony of all she has gone through before she finally decided to become a missionary. Through the trials of her parents' divorce, to trying to find value through her own performance, to getting trapped in a romantic relationship, God has been there gently speaking to her. Finally she gained freedom through the principles of Identity Wars, finding peace and value in knowing that God loved her as a daughter and she didn't need to prove herself to the world or be trapped in a relationship.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God is love. This was the great truth that Christ came to the world to reveal. Satan had so misrepresented the character of God to the world, that man stood remote from God; but Christ came to display to the world the Father's attributes, to represent the express image of his person. "As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." "This commandment have I received of my Father." The object of Christ's mission to the world was…

Throughout the month of June, I attended the TRSC Evangelistic Training School LiveStream remotely, and I was asked to share a report on my experience. Adrian starts the series off, by introducing a series of divine information system models or patterns, to be used later as study and discussion aids. Then by using Millers Rules of Bible Interpretation, several key Biblical messages are then brought forward to clarify, edify and strengthen Gods Church. For some, these messages may be new exciting and liberating - for others, at first pass they may be challenging to absorb. Although for either at a…

     Intro by Frank Klin      This stream of Scriptures comes from a devotional given by Philip Garber during one of the appointed times convocations.  They speak to how we can have a victorious life when there’s a battle waging for control of our heart and mind. What I’ve done personally is create a thread in my Bible that links each verse, like the ribband of blue spoken of in Numbers 15:38.      May these verses be an encouragement and practical guide in your personal walk with our Saviour.      First we have to be honest with ourselves and our…

    Dealing With Failed Leadership This is an extremely challenging question for all of us at some time and many of us at the present time. What lessons can we learn from the life of Abraham in dealing with this question. I invite you to read the following article on this subject Dealing with Failed Agencies (Now found in book Divine pattern) The Return of Elijah The Return of Elijah Manuscript is almost completely available to registered members. CLICK HERE to access it. For those who cling to the notion that the term Begotten only applies to Christ in the…