OYC 2011: Wellness Reformation

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Oregon Youth for Christ

OYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

Dave Fiedler

It’s OK to Die

Father, we begin this encampment here asking your presence, asking your blessing.

Lord, we acknowledge that your wisdom is far above ours.

We freely admit that you have power which we can never approach.

And Lord, we thank you that with those 2 attributes you combine a love that we can never understand.

So Father, we ask that tonight, tomorrow, the next day, throughout this whole time, that we might learn more of you, that we might learn how to represent you to those who know even less.

We ask a blessing, Father, that we might be a blessing to someone else.

Tonight I'd like to share a story with you.

When I was teaching and I had these young teachers coming along, 1 of the things I would often tell them, I'd say, if you think you're teaching and you're not telling a story, You probably aren't.

This is more or less just a personal testimony.

I think it has ramifications for all of you in the audience, so it's not, hopefully, irrelevant.

But it is pretty much my story, the things that I've experienced in the last about 4 years.

Anytime you tell a story, you always have the question of where do you actually get started, you know?

There's really only been 1 perfectly good opening line for a story, but you know Moses used that 1 a long time ago.

The problem is there's always things that lead up, you know, and you always tend to, oh if I just, I should tell a little bit more back here, you know, but we're not going to do that.

We're going to drop most of the details, But suffice it to say that in the summer of 1980, I happened to be living in Colorado at the time and through a variety of circumstances, I came to the conclusion that the Lord would rather have me be in Washington State.

Being younger and probably foolisher than I am now, I decided to hitchhike.

I didn't have any money, I didn't have a car, and everything that I had I put into 14 boxes, all I kept under 40 pounds so that the folks that I left the boxes with could mail them to me, you know, later on.

Well as it worked out, there were some people that really questioned what I was doing and they had their doubts about this whole proposition.

But I assured them that the Lord was pretty smart and they had no experience hitchhiking, whereas I had done quite a bit of hitchhiking.

And I was perfectly capable of realizing that if I stood in 1 location for a day or 2, I probably ought to walk back where I was and stay there.

So I told him, you know, the Lord can tell me what he wants me to do, it's not a problem.

Well, as it turned out, they needed some help.

They asked me to stay with them 1 extra day.

I said, Dave, could you stick around 1 day and help us?

We've got these pears we have to get canned.

So I said, sure, I'll help you with your pears.

And as we were standing there canning these pears outside in the pleasant weather, a gentleman drove up.

He was on his way from Corpus Christi, Texas to Seattle, Washington, which just coincidentally happened to be more or less where I was headed to.

He had to stop in Moab, Utah, Mentone, California, and Santa Barbara, California, and he had business to transact in each of these locations and he was talking to the folks I was helping with their paris and he said, I have a problem.

He said, I've got to be in Seattle by Thursday.

It doesn't take that long to get to Seattle.

But I've got to go here and here and here along the way and I don't have enough time.

I need somebody who can help me drive." Well he had a van, I had 14 boxes and I was gone.

Along the way we stopped in Mentone, California And he knew somebody down there whom I did not.

And we spent the night, I don't remember which night it was, it was kind of a weird trip just to be honest, but yeah, nonetheless it got me there.

We spent the night at the home of a little old lady by the name of Leah Schmidke.

Is there anybody here that would recognize that name by any chance?

I'm still trying to find any information about her.

Schmidke lived there, just Mentone, it's about 6 miles from Loma Linda, something like that.

Well, 1 of the things that I'd done in life is run press, and so that was kind of interesting to me.

That was back in the days when you didn't have personal computers and such things, and so freedom of the press still belonged to those who had a press, and she had a press.

And I was interested, so we talked and spent some time 1 thing and another.

I looked at some of the things she'd printed up.

She had a tendency to print up things dealing with Adventist history, which was another big winner for me.

So I made just a note of this, went on to Seattle and never saw her again.

Ever since I decided that Christianity was worth thought and effort, I've had 2 kind of conflicting interests that have kicked around in my mind.

1 is that I've always primarily been interested in the church in North America.

I've always felt that if we can get it right here, if we can get things going the right direction here, for good or for bad, and it's been both, but for good and bad, North America is still the center of the Adventist universe.

We have the influence, we have the money, we have the ability to change the rest of the world, so I've always been interested, what can we do for North America.

But at the same time, I've always been drawn to what I might call the intensity of overseas work.

I'm particularly fond of advanced frontier missions.

Some of you are probably familiar with them.

I have a niece who's buried away deep in...

Not buried, but what should I say, working away, shall we say, deep in China with Adventist Frontier Missions.

You won't see her name in the publication, though.

And, you know, I know other people who've gone to other places.

Some of you are familiar with David Gates, Gospel Ministries International.

I know a number of people associated with that operation.

Some of you may recognize Jeff Rich, Lehman Ministry News and his work, especially in the former Eastern Bloc of the Soviet Union, the countries over there, Eastern Europe, China and other places.

I've always liked history, Edmund's history in particular.

So I don't like history for history's sake.

But history for tomorrow, that makes sense.

So I've always liked that and some of the things that have attracted me, I've always appreciated the sacrifice and dedication of our pioneers.

I've always been intrigued by what I might call the inner battle of competing influences within the church.

Now I put that up there euphemistically, that's to be honest, I'm talking about politics.

Okay, you know, I mean come on, it would be sweet if there were no never politics within the church.

But the church is made up of people who feel deeply about whatever it is they feel deeply about.

And 1 guy feels deeply this way, and 1 guy feels deeply that way, and you've got a deep chasm between.

And so naturally, there's always going to be a competing matter of influence.

Because this guy's trying to steer things the way he thinks is right.

And this guy's trying to steer them the way he thinks is right.

Allen Lloyd

Wisdom vs. Rubies, Part 1

Well, this is a talk of wisdom versus rubies.

And of course, this talk comes from scripture.

This was a comparison that was made by 1 of the most intelligent writers ever to write.

And we'll talk about that, where that comes from later on in this talk.

Looking up the definition of wisdom, it's the comprehension of what is true or right, coupled with optimum judgment as to action.

So that means it requires some intelligence, and it also requires the frontal lobe of the brain, the area of judgment, is critically important to wisdom.

Now since we're comparing wisdom versus rubies, I thought I'd also give you the definition of rubies.

There you can actually see a picture of that.

You saw a picture of wisdom, too, in the previous slide, but you may not have recognized it as such.

But these are pictures of several different types of rubies.

And ruby is distinguished for its bright red color, being the most famed and fabled red gemstone.

And Besides its bright color, its most desirable gem is due to its hardness, durability, luster, and rarity.

That was the traditional reason why people would have these, is a way of saving or accumulating their wealth, or at least being able to hold on to it when banks are failing, etc., and when they don't want to put it in someone else's hands, but want to hang on to it themselves.

Transparent rubies of large sizes are even rarer than diamonds.

I was looking today to see how much a ruby would sell for.

And the large rubies that are well-desired have sold for over $3 million a piece.

And $2 million is not necessarily a high fee for the right type of ruby, particularly the Burmese rubies are thought to be the most desirable.

And so this is a comparison that was made in scripture, wisdom versus rubies.

And of course, in a time when the economy is failing, you have been hearing a lot about commercials, if you watch television, about gold as a way of hanging onto your money.

Well, rubies actually are worth more than gold, ounce per ounce, at least the good ones are.

And so if you really want to ramp up the investment, so to speak, when the dollar is deflating, then rubies may not be a bad way to go as long as you're intelligent enough to recognize what's a real ruby and what isn't.

And of course, that gets into the wisdom part as well.

There's a little bit of a crossover there in dealing with this subject.

1 of the things I thought of in regards to rubies is why all this focus on the economy.

Have you noticed that whenever you turn on a news station, this is the topic?

You can't really get a news, a whole news cycle done with for a day without something being mentioned in regards to the economy.

And the politicians, as they're getting ready for elections, it's a subject that is palpable, 1 that just about everyone wants to hear about in regards to the plan for the economy.

And it is, in reality, as far as information is concerned, or at least that subject matter, we have had economic overload when it comes to news.

Unfortunately, A lot of it is repetition, and very little of it is actually insightful.

But nonetheless, it is a major focus today.

And of course, 1 of the reasons why some people may say, well, this is a good thing to focus on because you have to have food, you have to have shelter, you have to have clothing, and so there has to be some sort of economy there in order to have these necessities of life.

And my question is, are we really afraid of not having food, shelter, or clothing?

Is that really what the fear is in regards to why everyone wants to focus in on the economy?

Do they actually believe that they're going to run out of food in a short period of time or water.

They actually believe that they're going to have 0 shelter available.

You know, when you actually talk to people like that, even though they're very concerned about the economy, they're not really thinking along those lines.

It's not like the children of Israel, where it looked like their food was just totally done and their water was totally done, and there was massive amounts of humanity to be fed and to be watered, and there wasn't any sight for that around.

Now I can understand their concern a little bit more than our major concern in regards to the economy today when these are not the things that people necessarily are all that fearful of.

What it really boils down to is many people have this in their mind.

And if my personal income goes down, then my happiness is going to go down.

And thus the economy has to be something that we're concerned about because it might affect me.

It might affect how much money is coming in.

And if that ends up affecting me, then it's going to adversely affect happiness.

So really this major focus on the economy is simply due to this belief that income equals happiness.

Do you think incomes and happiness are related?

We'll talk about that too in some of the studies.

Another thought is that assets equal happiness.

And so it's not just personal income, but how much you accumulate in regards to stuff, or in regards to property, or in regards to houses, et cetera.

And there's a pervasive belief in these things, even though there's very little to actually substantiate belief in those 2 things.

Thus we have this massive attention and focus on money in our society today.

And it is 1 that you can't escape because of this major focus on money.

And have you noticed all the gold commercials?

And there's just, that's part of this obsession and major focus in regards to money, preserving the money that you have, making sure it doesn't lose value over time, and the different strategies that can be there, including buying gold or silver, or As we mentioned, if you're very intelligent, maybe rubies.

And of course, this focus on the economy has a lot to do with personal decisions that people make.

And in fact, people might have made decisions to not come here tonight simply due to the fact that it would cost money to stay in these rooms, et cetera.

Now it's not necessarily that they didn't have it, It's just that they had a cable bill to have to pay.

They had different aspects of priorities that they were focusing in on.

And so because of this focus on money, people make personal decisions sometimes to exclude themselves from events that could really positively affect their personal happiness but they don't recognize that because it's going to negatively, adversely affect their accumulation aspect of things.

And so personal decisions often involve this aspect of money.

Whether you accept a new job often has to do with whether there's going to be a raise or not associated with that.

And this is the measurable event that people always look at.

How much are you gonna get paid per hour?

And I can tell you it's very interesting when you're in a position like I've been.

Of course, I've run multiple worldly organizations, but also as the president of Weimar, 1 of the big interests I have when I'm interviewing a prospective candidate is how quickly they're going to bring up the pay aspect of things.

And it It happens relatively quickly, much more frequently than I would desire it to have it happen, but yet it is 1 of those things that people are basing their decision on in regards to actually money.

And this is 1 of the reasons why God put these commandments there.

You know, there are several commandments that have to actually do with money.

The last commandment, the 10th commandment, has to do with it as well.

What's the 10th commandment, anyone remember?

And of course it tells you what not to covet.

Possessions, people, position are mentioned, the 3 P's.

And some have called it the sin that is not committed.

And it actually proves that the Lord is interested in our thoughts.

A lot of times people think that Christianity is just about behavior or action.

No, God wrote a commandment that is directly, not even tangentially related, but directly related to what you are thinking.

And of course the other ones are very much related to what you're thinking as well.

But this 1 is totally about the thoughts.

Has really nothing to do in regards to actions.

And of course it's not only mentioned in the Old Testament, Christ mentioned it as well.

He said, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

And of course, we've heard about this, that no matter how much you possess, at the time that you die, none of those possessions are going with you.

You know, you just see the hearse going down the street, you don't see the house, you don't see, you know, even bank accounts, et cetera, traveling with the individual in the hearse.

And I've heard, and you know, being in the physician world, we see a lot of death and dying.

And of course, a lot of focus on the individual in regards to money and in regards to having enough, etc.

And sometimes, in fact, I kind of agree with this cartoon that I saw not long ago where there was a couple of men at 1 of their friend's funeral, and 1 was shaking his head and saying, you know, poor Tom, He died and he didn't have a dollar to his name.

And the other guy says, that's great retirement planning.

So, in other words, don't feel sorry for them.

Diane Burnett

Lisa Puffer

Health Ministry Q & A

I am the treasurer for the Oregon Youth for Christ, and as the treasurer, so you'll be seeing me at a later time here today.

But today I'm here with you with our speakers.

And they don't require any introduction for us here who are live, but for the sake of the recordings, we're going to take a brief moment and have them introduce themselves to you.

And we will start from my right, your left.

And we will give you very brief introductions as to who these people are.

I'm originally from Michigan but I'm a licensed massage therapist and a lifestyle counselor from U2 Pines, Alabama.

I've done residency in family practice, but my interest is in doing natural remedies.

Currently, I am in Idaho as well with Lisa.

We are trying to build a ministry called Recreation Lifestyle Health, which will basically be trying to educate our people about the health message and using natural remedies.

I'm an internal medicine physician that runs the Nedley Clinic in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and I'm also the president of Weimar Center of Health and Education.

And we, of course, at Weimar offer the full pre-med, pre-nursing.

Program and we're very much into nutrition and lifestyle and soul winning at Weimar.

In fact, you can't come to Weimar unless you're involved in those things in an intimate way.

My name is Dave Fiedler and I'm a recovering school teacher who spent 20 years teaching Adventist history and finally decided I ought to just get on the stick and try to make something come from all those lessons that nobody else is doing anyhow.

So now I'm the president of Adventist City Missions, based out of Wichita, Kansas.

Well, thank you, distinguished members of our panel.

And I do have approximately 21 questions.

I will not guarantee that we will get through them all.

So we're just going to go ahead and start with the questions right off the bat.

And this is something, I tried to categorize these as best as I could, but some of them will be related and we will just go through them 1 at a time.

This is a question that I've been asked myself and I've asked myself personally to others, it states, since Jesus ate fish and lamb, isn't it fanatical to tell people that they should not eat meat?

Well, I can tell you this, 100 years ago, fish was a lot healthier food than it is today.

When we take a look at the science behind fish, it's the most toxic laden food that Americans can eat today, really worldwide.

And so if you want high mercury levels, if you want high pesticide levels, if you want basically the toxins of the ocean accumulated a Thousand to a million fold or the toxins of lakes and streams accumulated a thousand to a million fold Then you can eat fish fortunately fish are the High and I mean the good thing about fish the reason why people started eating a lot more in the 80s was the studies on omega-3.

But omega-3 you can get from plant foods or you can get them from sea plants as well and fish don't have any ability to make omega-3.

They have to get it from the plants as well And so omega-3 is the primary nutrient that people seek for in eating fish, but there's much healthier ways to get that today.

In regards to lamb, of course, that was the sacrificial lamb.

I don't think there's no real evidence that Christ was eating lamb on a regular basis but the lamb that he did eat regards to the sacrificial aspect of things had no fat and no blood and if if people were going to do it on the basis of a yearly Passover service with no fat and no blood, I would have no issue with them in regards to that.

But I can tell you Most people are eating meat for the fat and the blood that's what produces the flavor and without them it tastes like a little you know piece of rubber and And so it's not necessarily appetizing.

It was to be a symbol of sacrifice and not a symbol of abundance in eating the lamb.

I would like to make a few brief comments on that too.

As you look at the Bible And some of the things that we see that were practiced a lot of the things as we look at God's people There were things that were allowed and not necessarily God's Ideal choice when you look at the diets in the Bible We know that the ideal diet especially when man was in his prime state was a plant-based diet After the fall God added another item and as we go through the biblical history We see the the Bible diet come basically in 2 categories.

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Series

OYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

Wisdom vs. Rubies, Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

It’s OK to Die

48m

Wisdom vs. Rubies, Part 1

56m

Health Ministry Q & A

53m

Wisdom vs. Rubies, Part 2

1h

The Ministry of Healing

46m

United Work or the Worst Evil

57m

Sound Doctrine