Lord of the Flies mentality

While priests and bishops were themselves pleasure-loving, sensual, and
corrupt, it could only be expected that the people who looked to them for
guidance would be sunken in ignorance and vice.

from An Era of Spiritual Darkness, Great Controversy, EGW

and these used to be Christian nations!!

Behold," says the prophet, "this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom

--pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." Ezekiel 16:49, 50

Rescue the Perishing

Jesus did not involve himself in politics (freeing the Hebrews, women's rights, race or cultural issues).

Horrific Minds

I am horrified that these people that live in a parallel world

When absolutely nothing of importance is happening in the real world, these people are obssessed with gaming and events and contests. They are literally completely mad.

I try to ignore them and avoid them.

God says to help people when you can, that is all. No need for anything else.

Christian Code

No home, no honor, no power


But those things which were profit to me,
I gave up for Christ.
Yes truly,
and I am ready to give up all things
for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
which is more than all:

for whom I have undergone the loss of all things,
and to me they are less than nothing,
so that I may have Christ as my reward.

Philippians 3.7-8

(Please see note "No Power but Faith")

Love God, not people, and feed them with HIS love

Do not defend your pride. Other people are not important enough.

WE are Christian, it does not matter if others see us badly. Let them take what they want (if they want one cloak, let them have both), just defend justice.

You are not a part of a community here on earth. Stop trying to do anything. You are to point others to Jesus, that is all.

You are NOT here to support or save any community.

You are not God.

We are here to obey His will, until he finishes perfecting us (give to those who ask, etc.).

So if anything absorbs your heart -- cut it off.


The beast has taken over the path of luxury and comfort.

Fear God means don't fear anyone else

God cannot help when we choose to follow pagan rules. (voodoo).

Because through it we call upon the power of the antichrist.




(However, God says we should obey legitimate authorities (only authorities that he has placed)

Real work (eternal)

I would like to do religious or charity work, work that does not interfere with your ability to pray and that can be an offering to God.
(Some with other talents are called to other work. )
This is the only way the holy spirit can continue to guide, as you can dedicate the work to Him each day.

Christian Economy

The source of the money and the occupation need to be distinct! If there is a need for separation from the job, there should be an umbrella organization that supports the temporary exclusion from work and the necessary move to another situation.

We who breath praise are one

For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.

Amos 4.13

To love the world is to be afraid of everything

To love the world is to be afraid of everything--

what it may think of me,

what it may do to me,

what may happen today or tomorrow for which I am not prepared.

"The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?" (Ps
27:1 RSV).

Taken from: Fear God and Fear Nothing Else
By Elisabeth
Elliot

Pasted from <http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/devotion.php/elliot/182>

This is what needs to be overcome by faith and by not clinging to anything in life.

Job 35.1

Elihu spake moreover, and said,

Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?

For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?

I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.

Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

[ital]

The Purpose of Christianity

And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all [men], as every man had need.

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 2.44

Organized Christianity

[Just in front of our printing office] is a large park of many acres, reserved by the government for military drill. Here day after day, at certain seasons of the year, we see the soldiers training. They are drilled in all the duties of the army, so that in case of war they may be ready at the call of the government to engage in actual service. For hours, soldiers are drilled to disencumber themselves of their knapsacks, and place them quickly in position again upon the person. They are taught how to stack their arms, and how to seize them quickly. They are drilled in making a charge as against the enemy, and are trained in all kinds of maneuvers. Thus the drill goes on, preparing men for any emergency. And should those who are fighting the battle for Prince Immanuel be less earnest and painstaking in their preparation for the spiritual warfare? Those who engage in this great work must take part in the drill. They must educate themselves to obey, before they are fitted to command.


The Church Does Not Fall
Satan will work his miracles to deceive; he will set up his power as supreme. The church may appear as about to fall, but it does not fall. It remains, while the sinners in Zion will be sifted out--the chaff separated from the precious wheat. This is a terrible ordeal, but nevertheless it must take place. None but those who have been overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony will be found with the loyal and true, without spot or stain of sin, without guile in their mouths. We must be divested of our self-righteousness and arrayed in the righteousness of Christ.-- Selected Messages, book 2, pp. 379, 380.


Christ's Commendation to the Merciful
In the providence of God events have been so ordered that the poor are always with us, in order that there may be a constant exercise in the human heart of the attributes of mercy and love. Man is to cultivate the tenderness and compassion of Christ; he is not to separate himself from the sorrowing, the afflicted, the needy, and the distressed.-- Signs of the Times, June 13, 1892.

from Ellen White's writings

Christian Defense

Because of their murmuring against Him, the Lord suffered them to be attacked by their enemies. The Amalekites, a fierce, warlike tribe inhabiting that region, came out against them and smote those who, faint and weary, had fallen into the rear. Moses, knowing that the masses of the people were unprepared for battle, directed Joshua to choose from the different tribes a body of soldiers, and lead them on the morrow against the enemy, while he
Page 299himself would stand on an eminence near by with the rod of God in his hand.

Their assault was wholly unprovoked. It was to manifest their hatred and defiance of God that they sought to destroy His people. The Amalekites had long been high-handed sinners, and their crimes had cried to God for vengeance, yet His mercy had still called them to repentance; but when the men of Amalek fell upon the wearied and defenseless ranks of Israel, they sealed their nation's doom. The care of God is over the weakest of His children. No act of cruelty or oppression toward them is unmarked by Heaven. Over all who love and fear Him, His hand extends as a shield; let men beware that they smite not that hand; for it wields the sword of justice.

To maintain order and discipline among that vast, ignorant, and untrained multitude was indeed a stupendous task. Moses was their recognized leader and magistrate, and not only the general interests and duties of the people, but the controversies that arose among them, were referred to him.

Holy Spirits and Unclean Spirits, Obediance to God

Christians are only to share their spirit with other Christians

They are never to fellowship with indeterminate types of spirits

They are never even really to associate with these types, because of the corrupting influence


Christians are supposed to offer to the general community assistance and opportunity to join.

That is all.

Jesus does not approve of nonsense. The Amish and Hasidic are smart, possibly because of persecution.

Spiritually, the unholy live like rats in a dirty cage, and when they see a christian who lives in the freedom of Christ , they rub themselves on them because of their separateness. They are of course not willing to pay the cost of being Christian.

Groups always harrass outsiders, so this is why the Christian must be persecuted to be true.

If not you know you've missed.

"Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking into the sky?"

It is such a beautiful thing to see majestic angels
Graced with the light of heaven
Shining in excellence
Take their place below one
Who in human form
Is worn and despised
But still above all holy angels
Because he is wholly reflectant of God's glory

Christianity

No home, no honor, no power

The true experience with the Christian's God is a crushing re-adjustment to the higher mind.

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he
shutteth out my prayer.
He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me

Lamentations 3

Civilization

Benedict insists that this remembering is hard work needing daily attention and
care.

The Cloister Walk
Kathleen Norris

Unless we are cavemen, there is always some effort required to be social animals. Inadequacies in the system are signs of insufficient management.

Every day it requires an effort for us to be decent.

Persecution

God does not want us playing games or striving for power on earth. He does not want us playing with the oddfairies.
We are supposed to be pure vessels of his power and support each other in a closed Christian community.
This is why he says flee.

Perfection through Suffering

The Lord has a great work to be done, and He will bequeath the most in the future life to those who do the most faithful, willing service in the present life. The Lord chooses His own agents, and each day under different circumstances He gives them a trial in His plan of operation. In each true-hearted endeavor to work out His plan, He chooses His agents not because they are perfect but because, through a connection with Him, they may gain perfection.

Christ's Object Lessons, page 330, paragraph 1
Chapter Title: Talents
Ellen White

Conformity to the World

Conformity to the world and harmony with Christ cannot be maintained. Worldly maxims and worldly practices sap spirituality from heart and life. Conformity to the world means resemblance to the world in meeting the world's standard. . . . No man can serve the world and Jesus Christ at the same time. There is an irreconcilable antagonism, between Christ and the world.

The Faith I Live By, page 117, paragraph 4
Chapter Title: God's Remedy For Sin
Ellen White

The purpose of simplicity and adherence to moderation in attitudes towards others

[At the end of the Puritan age] by some means or other, first the ministers, then the Churches, got on "the down grade," and in some cases, the descent was rapid, and in all, very disastrous. In proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life, and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation. Natural theology frequently took the place which the great truths of the gospel ought to have held, and the sermons became more and more Christless. Corresponding results in the character and life, first of the preachers and then of the people, were only too plainly apparent.

The Sword and the Trowel
Spurgeon

Battlefield of the Mind

[Unhealthy State of Mind]

Turn your mind away from romantic projects. You mingle with your religion a romantic, lovesick sentimentalism, which does not elevate, but only lowers. It is not yourself alone who is affected; others are injured by your example and influence. . . . Daydreaming and romantic castle building have unfitted you for usefulness. You have lived in an imaginary world; you have been an imaginary martyr and an imaginary Christian.

The Adventist Home, page 52, paragraph 4
Chapter Title: True Love or Infatuation