Bethesda Shalom

It has well been said that the only really distinctive and unique doctrine of the SDA church is the doctrine of the heavenly sanctuary out of which proceeds the doctrine of the Investigative Judgment.  This teaching is the very pillar and foundation of the SDA church.  What is this peculiar doctrine that many with Adventism today want to distance themselves from?  Is such a doctrine compatible with Biblical Christianity?  We shall seek to address this head on in this teaching.    Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3g_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt7.pdf

Are Christians required to keep the Sabbath, are Christians free to eat what they please?  Does what we eat affect our spirituality?  In this teaching we shall be focusing our attention on the emphasis that the Adventist church places on the observance of the Sabbath along with its heavy emphasis on the dietary laws which SDA’s links to sanctification.  Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3f_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt6.pdf

The SDA proposition that the Law of Moses as represented by the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is still binding and in force upon those professing faith in Jesus and is a necessary requisite for salvation is not new to our era.  The Church in the first century was faced with exactly the same proposition!  Historically, the very first converts to Christianity were all Jewish; the very first church as recorded in the book of Acts consisted purely of Jewish believers who had come to faith in the Messiah Yeshua.  However in accordance with the plan of God and the Old Testament prophecies, the door of salvation was opened to the Gentile nations.  When Gentiles began being converted in vast numbers and began coming into the Church, there were those Jews, the Judaizers, zealous for the Law of Moses who sought to place them under the law as a requisite for salvation.  Are Seventh-day Adventists the modern day Judaizers?  Does salvation come by grace through faith or by the keeping of the law?  Can a professing Christia

SDA‘s readily identify themselves as the remnant church who have been called out to keep the commandments of God.  By commandments, they mean the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments.  One cannot overemphasise the place that the SDA church places upon the Ten Commandments.  They are at the very heart and centre of the organisation!!  It has well been said that SDA’s are New Testament believers in profession but Old Testament in practise.  In this teaching we begin to explore and answer the question, 'as New Testament believers are we required to keep the Ten Commandments?'    Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3d_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt4.pdf

Ellen G. White had over 2000 visions during her lifetime and the content of those visions resulted in over 100,000 pages of writings which the SDA’s today consider to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and “…a continuing and authoritative source of truth…” (Fundamental Beliefs, Point 18).  Ellen White herself claimed that her visions and writings were not merely expressions of her own ideas, but rather had their source as coming from God.In this teaching, we examine under a spotlight, the prophecies of Mrs White to see if she passes the test of a true Biblical prophet.  We will also examine the claim that Mrs White plagiarised a great amount of her written material that she claimed to have received directly from God!  Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3c_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt3.pdf

This teaching explores the history and begins of the Seventh-day Adventists.  The nineteenth century saw a literal explosion in the number of cults and religious groups springing up in the United States.  Out of this spawning ground came the Seventh-day Adventists.  In the 1830’s, a Baptist minister from New York by the name of William Miller began publicly sharing his new found belief, that Jesus Christ was going to return October 22, 1844.  When October 22 1844 came and passed without the Lord’s coming, William Miller’s followers were left absolutely devastated, their hopes dashed into pieces!!  It was against this backdrop that Ellen G. White emerged as a prophetess of a movement known as the Seventh-day Adventists.  In this teaching we explore the nature and the substance of Mrs Whites visions and ask the question, are such visions compatible with a true Biblical experience.      Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3b_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt2.pdf

The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) was officially established in 1863 in the U.S.A.  In 1961 they had a worldwide membership of about a million.  Today they have over 70, 000 churches globally with a worldwide church membership of more than 17.2 million people, spanning some 200 plus countries worldwide.  In the UK, they have a membership of approximately 34,000.  The SDA are one of the fastest growing organisations in the world with approximately 1 million new members joining each year, largely from the developing nations.  This teaching takes a look at their core doctrines and beliefs and seeks to give a brief rebuttal to these teachings which separates Adventists from mainstream Christianity and brings them into the category of a cult.Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/3a_Seventh-day_Adventists_Pt1.pdf

In this concluding part, we answer the question 'where will man spend eternity'.  According to Watch Tower doctrine, those who belong to God will spend eternity on paradise earth.   What does the Bible say?  We also examine the doctrine of salvation and ask the question 'how is a man saved?'  Is it by works or by grace?  What role does faith play?  Is faith works? We conclude by looking at some of the 'changes' in Watch Tower teaching over the last century and even into this one. Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2e_Jehovahs_Witnesses_Pt5.pdf

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the eternal nature of man, i.e. the continued existence of the soul of man after death and instead believe that upon death man ceases consciously to exist until such time as he is resurrected.  This doctrine is known as the doctrine of Soul Sleep.  We tackle and expose this doctrine head on in this teaching, proving from Scripture that man is more than simply a material being empowered by God's life force but that he actually is a living eternal being.  We also consider what the Watch Tower teaches regarding the doctrine of hell and eternal punishment. Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2d_Jehovahs_Witnesses_Pt4.pdf

This teaching follows on from part 2 in continuing to look at the heresies taught by the Watch Tower concerning the person and deity of Jesus Christ.  In what sense was Jesus worshiped?  Was His resurrection bodily or spiritual?   We also explore in this teaching what Jehovah's Witnesses teach and believe about the Holy Spirit.  Is the Holy Spirit a person or simply God's active force?   Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2c_Jehovahs_Witnesses_Pt3.pdf

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that there are two classes of people within its organisation.  There are those belonging to an earthly class known as the “Great Crowd” and make up 99.9% of all practising Jehovah’s Witnesses on the earth today.  Then there are those belonging to the heavenly class who are known as the “anointed class”.  The anointed class or the “little flock” consists of 144,000 In this teaching we begin to look Biblically at some of the heresies of the Watch Tower, including the doctrine of the 144,000, the doctrine of God and the Trinity and the deity and person of Jesus Christ. Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2b_Jehovahs_Witnesses_Pt2.pdf

As of 2012, there are approximately 7.5 million members of Jehovah’s visible organization – aka Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, spanning over 235 countries which were more than was represented at the London Olympic Games in which 205 countries were represented by their respective athletes.  In the UK, there is a reported 130,000 practising members.  Their infamous Watchtower magazine is the most widely circulated magazine in the world, with an average monthly print run of nearly 45,000,000 copies each month.  It is made available in 209 different languages including sign and brail.  Last year Jehovah’s Witnesses conducted a staggering 8.5 million Bible studies worldwide resulting in a quarter of a million new members being baptized worldwide.   In this teaching we give an overview of some of the key beliefs and practices of this organisation along with a sketch of its history and beginnings. Download notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/2a_Jehovahs_Witnesses__Pt1.pdf

The 19th Century has been rightly been identified as the spawning ground for the cults.  Many of the major cults that are with us today were birthed in the later end of the 19th century which saw a literal explosion of false prophets and teachers which has carried right through to the last century.  Joseph Smith, Charles T. Russell, William Miller and Ellen G. White are just a handful of such false teachers and prophets to rise out of the 19th Century – The cults that they forged and founded; namely Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh Day Adventists have influenced millions for the cause of Satan!!   Jesus warned His disciples when asked about the sign of His coming and the end of the world, saying ”…many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (Mat. 24:11). In this teaching we look at the definition of what constitutes a cult.  We look at the warnings given in the Bible of the rise of such groups who would secretly bring in damnable heresies.  We too look at the emotional and psychological

In this second part of the teaching on replacement theology, we continue to refute the position put forward by those holding to this teaching.  We end by looking at the possible implications both theologically and ethically of holding to replacement theology.  Download notes (pdf)http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/5b_Replacement_Theology_Pt2.pdf

Replacement Theology in its simplest form teaches that the Church has replaced national Israel as the new people of God.  God’s plans and purposes no longer lie with national Israel, but the Church.  Replacement Theology teaches that it is the Church that now inherits the promises formerly given to Israel.  The term Replacement Theology is fairly new in theological studies.  The more historic and traditional term is “Supersessionism”; a descriptive term denoting the superseding nature by which the Church has replaced Israel.  Proponents of Replacement Theology teaches that apart from repentance and faith in Christ thus leading to an incorporation into the Church, the Jewish people have no future, hope or calling in the plan of God.  In this teaching we take a look at the history of replacement theology and seek to define our terms looking at other variations of this teaching.  We end this teaching by looking at some of the arguments that are put forward by proponents of replacement theology and seek to refute

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who around the 7th century A.D, occupied Khazaria, a land that lay between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, what today would spread across Georgia and into parts of Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe.  At this time there were Jewish communities from the diaspora who had settled in Khazaria and made it their home.  It is also a fact that during the middle-ages, some of the Khazar ruling elite and royalty converted to the religion of Judaism.  However, it is at this point where the ‘Khazar theory’ dramatically departs from historical fact.  The theory sets forth the claim that not only a minority of the Khazars converted to Judaism but in fact the whole Kingdom converted to Judaism!!  The theory says that the Khazars were a white race of people who upon conversion to Judaism then migrated to Germany in the middle ages and then to surrounding European countries to become what we know as Ashkenazi Jews which today constitutes the majority of Jews worldwide.  Those th