More Than You Ever Wanted to Know . . .

about Seventh Day Adventists in today's "AskdaPastor2.0" by Pr. Fisk.  In one of my classes at CUAA several years ago, we were required to pick a Christian denomination and do a detailed report on it, which included having to both attend worship and interview the pastor (or at least one of the leaders).  Not knowing all that much about Seventh Day Adventists at the time, I chose to study them.  The worship service I attended was one of the quirkiest things I've ever experienced.  It began with a time of prayer, where people spontaneously gathered into groups and prayed out loud all at the same time.  Then, there were a series of testimonials, wherein people spoke about how they had given up this or that sin and were now following God's commandments.  Some songs were song and then the message was preached.  The main thrust of the message was that we had to keep the Law just like Jesus did, and there was a lot of talk about how worshiping on Saturday proved that they were the remnant being preserved by God for Jesus' imminent return.  It was just weird - not a whole lot of structure to it, and not a single drop of Gospel to be found anywhere.  The pastor was gracious to meet with me after the service and allow me to interview him.  I was quite shocked to hear what he had to say about Jesus, namely that the whole point in His coming to earth was to show us what we had to do to please God and make it to heaven.  He also informed me that he had properly put away all sin in his life, just as all true Christians must eventually accomplish if they have any hope.  And, again, there was a lot of talk about how important it was to worship on Saturday (Pr. Fisk is right, this really is their material principle).  Anyway, given what I saw in practice and what I learned in my studies and from the pastor in my interview, I'd say that Pr. Fisk gives a pretty accurate synopsis of the group in this video.  And, his use of the hamster on the wheel as a metaphor for what happens when we place ourselves back under the Law and believe that our keeping the Law earns our salvation is brilliant.