Independent Ministries

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Independent Ministries

• By James A. Cress
• cressj_at_gc.adventist.org

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Last Day Prediction

• Apostle Paul, speaking to church leaders
• Take heed . . . For I know this, that after my
  departing shall grievous wolves enter in among
  you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own
  selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,
  to draw away disciples after them. Therefore
  watch . . . (Acts 2028-30

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Greatest Challenge from Within

• Attacks come from outside like wolves.
• Persecution combines pain / opportunity.
• The blood of the martyrs is seed F. F.
  Bruce
• Why inside problems greatest challenge?
• Aim draw away disciples. Destroy good fruit you
  labored so diligently to harvest.

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1. Good Intentions

• Many independent offshoots see problems in the
  churches and begin with an earnest desire to
  reform the church.

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2. Poor Methodologies

• Focus inward vs. outward
• Intent is directed at reforming the church rather
  than winning the lost.

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Outreach Method for Revival

• If you will go to work as Christ designs that
  His disciples shall, and win souls for Him, you
  will feel the need of a deeper experience and a
  greater knowledge in divine things, and will
  hunger and thirst after righteousness. --
  Steps to Christ, p.79

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3. Sociological Product of Times

• Age of Fierce independence
• Question leadership
• Reject authority
• Postmodern Query How do I feel? How does this
  all relate to me?

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Members have same attitude

• These devoted souls consider it a virtue to
  boast of their freedom to think and act
  independently. They will not take any mans
  say-so. They are amenable to no man. I was shown
  that it is Satans special work to lead men to
  feel that it is Gods order for them to strike
  out for themselves and choose their own course
  independent of their brethren. - Testimonies
  to Ministers, pg. 29

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4. React to perceived negligence

• Why doesnt the GC do something to solve this
  problem?
• Believe in monolithic top-down control
• Want world church to resolve local issues
• Some believe world church failed to appropriately
  discipline heretics
• Backlash from ultra-conservative right
• Beware either extreme

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Temptation Go Independent

• God has a church upon the earth who are His
  chosen people, who keep His commandments. He is
  leading, not stray offshoots, not one here and
  one there, but a people. -
  Testimonies to Ministers, p. 61

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5. Appearance of Righteousness

• Fenced-off Stream
• 90 Pure 10 Poison
• What the can not discern will kill them

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6. Independent vs. dependent

• Totally dependent upon other peoples money.
• 12-15 million annually diverted from the mission
  of the church to unaudited entities.
• Funding that otherwise would have gone to mission
  of building up the work.
• Presumption Cannot trust church to spend the
  money wisely.

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7. Distinctions to keep cashflow

• First, subtle difference between church and
  ministry
• More conservative
• More concerned
• More committed
• More capable
• Later, greater differences
• Finally, heretical doctrines

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8. Major in Minors

• Small issues made great - Men will make a world
  of an atom and an atom of a world. -
  Testimonies to Ministers, p. 65
• Pray for discernment to recognize difference
  between major versus minor matters

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Flaw of Pentecostalism Over-emphasize smallest
gift

• Perfectionism
• Nature of Christ
• Worship style and music
• Women in ministry
• Sensationalistic eschatology
• Attack-based evangelism
• Preach against others instead of for Christ

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Uniformity not required

• We sought most earnestly that the Scriptures
  should not be wrested to suit any mans opinions.
  We tried to make our differences as slight as
  possible by not dwelling on points that were of
  minor importance, upon which there were varying
  opinions. - Testimonies to
  Ministers, p. 65

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9. Pseudo-Reverence - Ellen White

• Quote obscure passages emphasis supplied
• Fail to quote others
• Appearance of education, devotion, spirituality

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Abuse Misuse the Gift

• I have been made very sad in reading the
  pamphlet that has been issued by Brother S. and
  by those associated with him in the work he has
  been doing. Without my consent, they have made
  selections from the Testimonies, and have
  inserted them in the pamphlet they have
  published, to make it appear that my writings
  sustain and approve the position they advocate.
  - Testimonies to Ministers, p. 32

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Methods Lack Integrity

• It will be found that those who bear false
  messages will not have a high sense of honor and
  integrity. They will deceive the people, and mix
  up with their error the Testimonies of Sister
  White, and use her name to give influence to
  their work. They make such selections . . . they
  think they can twist to support their positions,
  and place them in a setting of falsehood, so that
  their error may have weight and be accepted by
  the people. - Testimonies to
  Ministers, p. 42

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Doing the Devils work . . .

• Those who start up to proclaim a message on
  their own individual responsibility, who, while
  claiming to be taught and led of God, still make
  it their special work to tear down that which God
  has been for years building up, are not doing the
  will of God. Be it known that these men are on
  the side of the great deceiver . . .

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. . . Doing the Devils work

• . . . Believe them not. They are allying
  themselves with the enemies of God and the truth.
  They will deride the order of the ministry as a
  system of priest-craft. From such turn away, have
  no fellowship with their message, however much
  they may quote the Testimonies and seek to
  entrench themselves behind them. -
  Testimonies to Ministers, p. 51

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10. Ignore Matthew 18

• Reject Gods methodology for conflict.
• Avoid engaging directly individuals with whom
  they have differences.
• Take concerns directly to the church
• Bypass the church polity (Board of Elders)
• Tell the world!

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11. Work secretly at first

• Presuppositions dictate methodology
• Secret information tends toward secret
  processing
• Targets
• New believers
• Recently revived members
• Emotionally vulnerable
• Warn of potential persecution from pastor

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12. Target New Believers

• Doubt
• Despair at moment when new members most need
  nurture and protection
• Create alternative authority in vulnerable minds
  of spiritually immature

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13. By Their Fruits

• Church needs to be pure to win souls
• Emphasize behavioristic performance
• Refuse to enter kingdom and prevent others
• Parasite lives off host

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Identity of True Church

• Jesus sees His true church on the earth, whose
  greatest ambition is to cooperate with Him in the
  grand work of saving souls. -
  Testimonies to Ministers, p. 19

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Whose spirit controls?

• When the truth abides in the heart, there is no
  place for criticism of Gods servants, or for
  picking flaws with the message He sends. That
  which is in the heart will flow from the lips.
  - Testimonies to Ministers, p. 88

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Criticism curses the critic

• Earnest workers have not time for dwelling upon
  the faults of others. We cannot afford to live on
  the husks of others faults or failings. Evil
  speaking is a twofold curse, falling more heavily
  upon the speaker than upon the hearer. He who
  scatters the seeds of dissension and strife reaps
  in his own soul the deadly fruits . . .

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Changed by what we look for

• The very act of looking for evil in others
  develops evil in those who look. By dwell-ing
  upon the faults of others, we are changed into
  the same image. But by beholding Jesus, talking
  of His love and perfection of character, we
  become changed into His image.
  - The Ministry of Healing, p. 492

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14. Presumptive Claim Historic Adventism

• Essentials The Sntials
• Sola Scriptura
• Sabbath
• Sanctuary
• Stewardship
• Salvation by Grace
• Second Coming
• State of Dead
• Spirit of Prophecy

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15. How to Know Who to Trust

• Credentials
• Trusted Recommendations
• Track Record
• Associates

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16. Create Big Lie with Cover-up

• Matthew 28 Falsehood justified by the
  conclusion that the end validates the methodology.

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cressj_at_gc.adventist.org