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Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Apologetics or Apologies: How to Share Your Faith in Adversarial Settings

Anil Kanda

Where are all the SDA Christian Apologists?

Disarming Pharisees and Sadducees

The Apologetics of Paul

Father in heaven, we thank you again for grace, for your power.

Thank you that you are not just the light of our world, but the world.

And Lord, you are shining in every man's life in some way.

Father, we pray that you would expose us to this greater picture.

Help us to pan back and see all that you are doing, the 1 who does wondrous things.

Thank you God, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Alright now let's start off with an Ellen White quote.

Christ was the originator of all the ancient gems of what?

Through the work of the enemy, these truths have been displaced.

Who can tell me what the word displaced means?

Taken out of context and placed in another context.

Through the work of the enemy, these truths had been displaced.

They had been disconnected from their true position and placed in the framework of error.

Notice this, what she is saying, that these truths were taken away, they were uprooted and placed in an entirely different framework, a framework of error.

Christ's work was to readjust, And by the way, she says another quotation, reset, readjust and establish the precious gems in the framework of truth.

The principles of truth that had been given by himself to bless the world had through Satan's agencies had been buried and apparently become extinct.

Christ rescued them from the rubbish of error, gave them a new vital force, and commanded them to shine as precious jewels and to stand fast forever.

Christ himself could use any of these old truths without borrowing the smallest particle, for he himself had originated them all.

This is very important to understand because you see that the author of all truth is Christ.

Now watch what the Bible starts off with.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Behold, wise men from the east came from Jerusalem.

Men will come from the east and from the west.

Do you know that those who came from the east in the very beginning of his ministry were the Magi and the Greeks at the very end of his life came from the west.

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who had been born king of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

They belonged to a large and influential class that included men of normal birth and comprised much of the wealth and learning of their nation.

Others were upright men who studied the indications of providence in nature and were honored for their integrity and wisdom.

Of this character were the wise men to come to Jesus.

The light of God is ever shining amid the darkness of heathenism." And by the way, what does Jesus say?

And by the way, I highly recommend that chapter in the book Desire of Ages, because she makes it very clear that Jesus is not just in the Christian church, but he is working in every single man's world, regardless of whether they're Christian or not Christian.

As these magi studied the starry heavens and sought to fathom the mystery hidden in the bright paths, They beheld the glory of the Creator.

Seeking clearer knowledge, they turned to the Hebrew scriptures.

In their old land, this is extremely important, were treasured prophetic writings that predicted the coming of a divine teacher.

And though 1 time a prophet of God, and by the Holy Spirit, he had foretold the prosperity of Israel, and the appearing of the Messiah, and his prophecies had been handed down by tradition from century to century.

The Magi learned with joy that his coming was near, and that the whole world was to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord." These Magi's did not have the entirety, the totality of the Hebrew Scriptures.

They only had 1 Scripture, and who was it?

It was the writings of Balaam the prophet.

The writings of the Balaam prophet found in Numbers.

And what happened is when Balaam was sent to curse Israel, all of a sudden he began to give these prophetic utterances and talking about this star that would appear that would herald the coming of the Messiah.

Did you know that the word Magi is actually related people many people think that these Magi came from what is what was then known as Persia?

Iranians still have the writings of Balaam today.

They still have the writings of Balaam today.

It's called the Der Ala inscription or Balaam the son of Beor inscription.

And these were writings of Balaam the prophet.

If you want to find out how far he apostatized from God, You write that, you check that up, you can type it up in Google, and you will find out what he says in these writings.

You will find how far he apostatized from God.

And when he showed up, and he began to attempt to curse Israel, God spoke to him.

But folks, I want you to understand something.

There are people, There are people who are in a variety of nations, in a variety of countries, in a variety of religions, just like these wise men who are searching, who are pleading for truth and understanding.

They want to know what is right and what is true.

And God is leading them through His Holy spirit.

And by the way, this is very important to understand.

God does not judge a man based upon what he does not know.

But based upon what he knows and is he faithful to that.

So who do you think is going to be held in even greater responsibility in the judgment?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church will be held to the greatest standard of judgment because we have the greatest collection of truth assembled that has been brought through all the ages, brought down.

Folks, I want you to understand something.

There are people who have just a little bit of light, who are faithful to that little bit of light and God is leading them.

And what we're going to see as we go through this seminar presentation, you're going to see various countries, various nations where there are just specks of truth, gospel truth, that has been passed down through tradition, through hand to hand, mouth to mouth, and you will see these truths are very much the Gospel truths.

Ethiopia is a nation defined through its existence by its fidelity to the seventh day Sabbath.

Today the numbers of Sabbath keeping are exploding in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Gabon, Congo, and elsewhere.

Because the work of missionaries in 1800s?

The Sabbath is thriving in Africa because the Sabbath roots of African run deep, both in scripture and in historical practice.

Sabbath roots, it's actually a book written by a Seventh-day Adventist, former president, he's dead, his name is Charles Bradford.

And this is what it says, Sabbath Roots give much fascinating information about the history of the Church of Ethiopia.

Sheba was from Ethiopia and bore a son from King Solomon.

Whether or not that's actually legitimate, we don't know.

But the Fahaslash continued the Old Testament religion.

It was actually a group of Ethiopians who don't eat unclean meat, who keep the Seventh-day Sabbath, and who adhere to Old Testament principles.

They're found there, and they claim to have their lineage from Solomon.

In Acts chapter 8, verse 26 through 40, we are given the introduction of Christian to Ethiopia with the conversion of the Ethiopian treasure by Philip.

The treasure returned to Candace's court, and as a result, Ethiopia became the first Christian nation.

Series

Apologetics or Apologies: How to Share Your Faith in Adversarial Settings

The Apologetics of Paul

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Encounters With Jesus

Jesus’ Encounter with Philip and Nathanael

38m

I’ve Got a Secret

41m

One Sheep

47m

Plenary

Radical Practice

1h

Bold unto the Throne Seminars

Sanctuary in Relation to Mission

57m

Going the Distance

8. Finishing Strong

50m

By Whose Power

36m

Morning Devotional

Three Dreaded Words

25m

Science of Worship

14 - Beautiful Believing Rest

1h 9m

Righteousness By Faith

5. The Woman of Romans 7

1h

Science of Worship

12 - Mark of the Beast Principle - Part 2

56m

Manliness 101

Session 3: The Difference Between Men and Dogs - What is Manliness, Anyway?

46m

Sound Doctrine