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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong

Facing Sensationalism

Father, this morning as we come before you, hoping to tackle an issue that we may or may not have faced, I ask that you enlighten our minds with principles with which how to properly think and how to evaluate Things that we come across in this world.

We pray that the Holy Spirit will come to give us open minds and An understanding heart we pray these things in Jesus name.

Amen If you turn with me to Matthew 24, verse 44, this is where I like to begin.

There was once upon a time that I was asked, What was my favorite text in the Bible?

And Of course, that's a difficult thing to answer but for a long time It was this verse matthew 24 verse 44 and as I continue to study and meditate on it there unceasingly becomes more applications from this text This is what it says Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man comes Be ready keep that in mind That's really the crux of our topic today.

Because Jesus is coming and we don't know when.

Now, I'm afraid that many of us, I often fall into this category, we are skeptical or we are skeptics.

And the skepticism runs on a gamut, it's on a spectrum, there are different severities, levels of severity I guess you can call it.

But 1 thing I want to point out right from the get-go is that the Bible does not promote skepticism as a virtue.

Skepticism is not piety, it's not holiness, it's not sanctified intelligence.

In fact, The Bible very soundly condemns people who say things like, My Lord delays his coming.

You can read the story of the wicked servant who says that.

Jesus also condemns those who say, all things continue as they have since the beginning, and it will never change.

And the Bible also condemns those who preach peace and safety, because we are living in a day and age when there really is no guarantee of peace and safety.

Skepticism is not a virtue, but why do we sometimes fall prey to skepticism?

1 of the reasons I think is because as Adventists, for a long time our message has been based on time.

In the 1840s, there were a series, actually 1 in particular, time prophecy that was fulfilled to the very day, August 11, 1840, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, predicted by sound, historicist interpretation of the Bible.

And ever since October 22, 1844, came and went, the church continually, many people in the church, continually tried to set new dates, and they tried to come up with Another time that they can look forward to and unfortunately as a whiplash effect or as an Overreaction sometimes people say we preach us so long.

Let's just forget about We've preached the signs of the times for so long Maybe we weren't right and they stopped preaching the times that we live in and some go even so far to say our our prophetic understanding of the last day events are even untenable They're wrong National Sunday law impossible Mark of the Beast no way skepticism and the Bible soundly condemns that a Few quotes here, and then we'll move on this is actually not the main topic of the presentation today.

As we near the close of this world's history, the prophecies relating to the last days especially demand our study.

So not only are we to not to be skeptical of last day events, we are to promote it and to preach it.

Fundamentals of Christian Education, page 335.

More, much more should be said about these tremendously important subjects.

Here's another 1, second selected messages, page 113.

Be assured that God gives no 1 authority to say Christ delays his coming 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years.

White has actually passed away much more than 20 years.

But yet the principle is no 1 has been given the authority to say that God has delayed His coming because he can come whenever he sees fit.

There is much more that needs to be preached about last day events.

It is to be placed in front of our people.

And we are to remember the urgency of the time in which we live.

And what good are Adventists if we're no longer waiting for the Advent?

But there is sometimes, especially amongst the more conservative traditional groups within Adventism, they swing that pendulum back to the opposite extreme and there is an opposite overreaction.

And what I believe is 1 of the symptoms is sensationalism.

It is a very broad subject and it covers a lot of ground.

But sensationalism often is the interpretation of current events to have special, often secretive, stupendous last day application.

Some of you, some of these may ring a bell with some of you.

Y2K may have an adverse effect on computer systems because of the way that computer systems were designed.

They were not designed with the intention of calculating dates in the year 2000.

In the 2000th, I guess, the third millennium, I should say.

And so here, we see that as fairly credible fact.

It's a possibility that the computers may crash.

Y2K will destroy all the computer infrastructure in the world, which will lead to mass chaos, and will trigger the final events, bringing the 1 World Order and the Mark of the Beast.

You see the difference between sensationalism and reading the signs and being mindful of current events.

I don't actually remember this, but I have read some, so perhaps I'm wrong, but some of you may confirm this with me.

Kennedy, was the first Catholic president.

Therefore, we can see a close alignment between Catholicism, or acceptance I should say, a wider acceptance of Catholicism within Protestant USA.

Sensationalism says this, JFK is the first Catholic president, therefore he will bring in the mark of the beast.

Tacked on to current events but making application to final events that really is unfounded.

The economy right now is struggling and the future is uncertain.

Sensationalism says an economic crisis will occur in the next 6 months, which will lead to mass chaos and hysteria, leading to a 1 world order.

Sensationalism is different than current events.

The news says the Pope is visiting the US next week and it is very clear that his relationship with the US is very strong.

Sensationalism says there has been closed door, top secret, clandestine meetings to pave the way for Bush to sign a Sunday law when the Pope visits next week.

You may laugh, but these stories, all of these illustrations of sensationalism I've given you, actually exist.

And I don't say these things to ridicule the people who promote these things.

I think most of them are genuinely sincere.

However, we need to have an intelligent, Bible-based, inspiration-based approach to dealing with these stories.

Because 1, regardless of whether or not we are faced with these questions now, I believe sooner or later we will.

And most of the sensational stories that I've heard related in the past few decades, all in 1 way, shape, form or another, promote that a Sunday Law or something very close to it or a close of probation or something like it will happen within a certain time frame.

I don't know how many of you have heard those type of stories, but generally that's what happens.

That's what drives the emotional excitement behind these stories, is that they tell you, look at what's happening.

It is going to be the end in the next 6 months or this will happen in 5 weeks.

There is a quote here that many well-meaning individuals use to support their promotion and and spreading of these type of stories This is found in testimonies to the church volume 8 page 28.

It says the end is very near We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

There are things soon to take place, And it will indeed be an overwhelming surprise to most people.

But let's think a little bit about human nature.

As little children, you may remember, or if you have little children, have you ever seen them, little children, talking with each other and say, I know something you don't know.

This human nature tendency is bred within us and it really doesn't go away once we get older.

If you're honest with yourself, I think you'll agree with me.

We all have this interest to know something or to be able to tell other people something that nobody else knows.

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Facing Sensationalism

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