On tonight's broadcast Swindol had the gall to mock the millerite movement.

DB

Well ... after all ... they didn't keep the Sabbath. Was that his point?

You could say the same thing about any of the popular evangelists, such as Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, Bishop Sheen, Kathryn Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, John Hagee, Paul Crouch, Binny Hinn, Ken Copeland, and many more. All of these you could say introduced many more to Christ than Ellen White did in her day.

But are the popular preachers of today preparing people to receive the seal of God? Are they getting people ready for the Second Coming? Are they proclaiming the Three Angels' Messages?

I believe that God has used those men to lead millions to put their faith in Jesus Christ, but the Adventist church-- and Ellen White-- was raised up by God for a special purpose, and that is to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Christ.

Read Chapter 27, "Modern Revivals," GC 461-478.

Step by Step. This is how the Holy Spirit leads. Step by Step.

After taking a class at the Seninary ... I learned that our church is not very good at all with getting NEW converts. Most of our converts are from other churches.

This is what I mean. Step by Step. First the other churches have to bring them to the Lord. Then the Adventist church can do the more advanced teachings if they are interested.

If I recall from the class correctly ... less than one percent come from the un-churched.

I agree.

But while many of the popular evangelists are used of God to introduce people to Christ, they are also teaching them false doctrines that can make it hard for them to accept the truth as it is in Jesus, thus setting them up to receive the mark of the beast. For instance, all of them teach the keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath. They teach that God's law has been done away with so believers don't need to pay attention to the Sabbath. They also teach that the soul of the wicked is immortal and so they prepare people to receive the lies of Satan. In many other ways, these church leaders are misleading the people.

I don't think there's anything wrong with getting converts from other churches but I agree that we should work at doing a better job of making new converts.

It should bother us

What this means is that we have effectively turned over the "saving" of souls over to people like Rick Warren. He is doing the saving and we are doing the 'further educating'. Yes, the Holy Spirit is using both. But it seems to me that we ought to be in the forefront like the Rick Warrens.

If he can do it ... why can't we?

There is a free book which can be read on line entitled: “Reinventing Jesus Christ” by Warren Smith published 2001. The additional foot notes Mr. Smith has added update and document the progression of the movement from 2001 to 2006.

“Hidden Heresy“ by Tom Mostert(Former Pacific Union President) – Pacific Press Publishing gives an additional perspective.

"Faith Undone" is a third excellent book on the above mentioned topic.

These books pretty well trace the developement of this seeker sensitive movement.

Each one of us must make hard decisions.

Here's a link to Smith's book: http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com/reinventing.pdf

It looks like an interesting, worth-while book.

Could you summarize for us the basic danger that you and others see in Rick Warren's theology or views?

parsongarlic... I like your name!

I'm also interested in this type of information. Thanks for the recommendations!