Sabbath School with Branch Davidians
We present or expound on a principle or belief related to the SDA Sabbath School quarterly each week. We invite you to visit our website www.bdsda.com to learn more about who we are and, just as important, who we are not. Tune in each week for new and interesting insights to your Sabbath School studies.
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Jesus Emphasized Works Over Profession
12/16/2024
Jesus Emphasized Works Over Profession
In today's study we look at Luke 6:46-49, where Jesus was speaking to a group of people who called Him "Lord,” but weren’t doing what He said to do. Join us as we look closely at Jesus’ warnings about hearing Jesus’ words but not doing what He said. For more study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde, https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 4, "Jesus Emphasized Works Over Profession" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Jesus Emphasized the Importance of Doing God's Will Over Association With Himself
12/08/2024
Jesus Emphasized the Importance of Doing God's Will Over Association With Himself
Many people believe that what Jesus wants most from us is for us to associate with Him – like, by acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior. But in today's study, we'll look at Jesus' teaching concerning the importance of practical obedience to God's will, and we'll see that see that He held it of higher importance than association with Himself. For more study, see: Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, "Yes!" https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/34121406 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 4, Study no. 2, "Jesus Emphasized the Importance of Doing God's Will Over Association With Himself" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, "Yes!"
11/23/2024
Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, "Yes!"
We're going to start doing something a little different with our Sabbath School podcasts. Instead of doing studies that directly pertain to the subject matter presented in the quarterly lesson, we'll be addressing various important and current topics that relate to us as SDAs. That said, today's topic is on the question of the importance of works. Many Christians don't place a lot of emphasis on works in comparison with other aspects of Christianity - works pretty much take a backseat as far as importance goes. But Jesus didn't shy away from emphasizing works. To the contrary, He actually placed great importance on works within his own teachings. We start with John the Baptist's teaching about works in Matthew 3 and then get into how that connects to Jesus' own teachings on works in Matthew 4. For more study, see: “What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong” https://www.bdsda.com/what-jesus-taught-about-doing-right-and-wrong/ “Is God the Source of Morality?” Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/32452277 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 4, week 1: "Are Good Works Important? John the Baptist and Jesus Said, ‘Yes!’" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Sunday Keeping Doesn't Warrant Changing the 7th-Day Sabbath
09/21/2024
Sunday Keeping Doesn't Warrant Changing the 7th-Day Sabbath
The Sabbath School quarterly mentions that, "Adventists have sometimes shied away from resurrection morning because of the way it is misused to support Sunday sacredness." Sabbath School Quarterly Lesson, Saturday, September 21, 2024. Some who feel this way might think that whatever is used to support Sunday is a potential threat to the Sabbath truth. But really, even if Sunday could be shown to be divinely appointed as a day of worship, this wouldn't show that the Sabbath has changed from Saturday to Sunday, nor would it show that the command to keep the 7th-Day Sabbath is no longer binding. In today's study, you'll learn why this is the case from an article that was circulated among early Seventh-day Adventists, called "The True Issue," which James White published together with other articles on the Sabbath in 1851. Link to "The True Issue," The Bible Sabbath, p. 45.1 – 47.3 For more studies, see: Ellen White on Experimental Knowledge and Religion (1 of 2) Ellen White on Experimental Knowledge and Religion (2 of 2) 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 13, The Risen Lord, September 21–27 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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How Was Jesus Three Days and Three Nights in "The Heart of the Earth"?
09/03/2024
How Was Jesus Three Days and Three Nights in "The Heart of the Earth"?
Have you ever wondered about the calculus of Jesus' "sign of Jonah" statement? Jesus said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40 WEB). This is usually understood as referring to Jesus' time in the tomb, but this interpretation runs into some obvious difficulties. The gospels leave a very plain record that Jesus was buried Friday evening soon before the Sabbath and that he was resurrected early Sunday morning. That's a span of about 36 hours, which is only half of "three days and three nights," which is 72 hours. So, the suggestion that the "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" refers to Jesus' time in the grave, simply doesn't match the facts of Jesus' burial and resurrection. In our study today, we look at an article by J.N. Andrews from "The Present Truth," December 1849, in which he comments on the phrase "the heart of the earth," gives reason why the common interpretation isn't correct, and then explains what it really means. For more study, see: "The Sign of Jonah, " by Victor Houteff, 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 11, "Taken and Tried" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Was There a Bible Canon in Jesus' Day?
08/21/2024
Was There a Bible Canon in Jesus' Day?
Was there a bible canon in Jesus' day? A bible canon is a set list of writings that are considered to be THE list that's authoritative for a religious community. That means that if we want to know if there was a bible canon in Jesus' day, we have to determine if, at a minimum, the Jews were agreed on which books were scripture. Did they have some sort of official list of books they accepted to the exclusion of others - did they have that sort of thing or not? Did they have a council that approved a list, or was there a list that everyone had a consensus on? Today we are going to look at a few pieces of evidence that will help answer this question. For further study see: Our "Scripture Canon" playlist on YouTube: 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 9, "Jerusalem Controversies" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?
08/05/2024
Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?
Why is God's law good? Often, people think it's good because God said it and whatever God says is good by default. While this might initially sound good and honoring to God, we need to consider whether this sort of explanation really makes sense. Consider, if anything God says is good by virtue of him saying it, could *anything* be good so long as God said it? Like, hypothetically, if God were to say, "Thou shalt not take care of the sick, the elderly, or the infants," would that *actually be good* just because God decided to make it a commandment? And how about other things, like racism, torture, exploiting child laborers, selfishness, etc.? Would these things be morally right if God had decided to command them instead of other things? If your answer to any of these questions is "no" then it shows that you understand morality must be based on something other than God's arbitrary decree. Of course, God's law should be our source of moral instruction, but we need to know that the law itself isn't the basis of morality. If it *were* the basis, it would mean that it doesn't *have* a basis. But as we'll see, God's moral law *does* have a basis. So, what is it? What is the basis of morality? Join us today as we take a look at what scripture has to say about this moral standard. For more study, see: “What is Truth?” (1 of 2) “What is Truth?” (2 of 2) 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 6, "Inside Out" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Is the Principle in the Parable of the Mustard Seed Still Relevant?
07/22/2024
Is the Principle in the Parable of the Mustard Seed Still Relevant?
In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus taught his audience that the kingdom will start small then grow large, and by implication, that we shouldn't disregard or bias ourselves against something on the basis of its small size. Of course, this was very relevant when Jesus spoke the parable since his band of followers was very small as compared to other religious groups in the world and even as compared to other groups among the Jews. But now that the SDA membership is 22 million or so, is it safe to say we are done now with the principle Jesus laid out in the parable of the mustard seed? Today we will look into the history of God’s movement upon the earth, the writings of Ellen White, and the principles of truth to find the answer. For more study see the playlist, Logical Fallacies, by Trent Wilde 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 4, "Parables" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Is it Okay to Question the Traditional Authorship of the Gospels?
07/14/2024
Is it Okay to Question the Traditional Authorship of the Gospels?
None of the 4 gospels in the New Testament list the name of is author, nor are they listed anywhere in the bible. So, is it okay to question the traditional authorship of the gospels? Or is that a doctrinally off limits thing to do? Like, is someone who questions these authorship traditions to be considered someone who doesn't really have a high view of scripture or something like that? Is it theologically okay to question a tradition if we are basing our doctrines on scripture alone? In our study today, we consider this. For more study, see: Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural? Playlist: Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic - Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bwfEmIpzu49trhT7hZdeeFUh&si=cyLx7yCNJDUOX8yW 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: Mark – Week 1, "The Beginning of the Gospel" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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You Can't Make Sense of an Immaterial Soul | Early SDA D.M. Canright
06/26/2024
You Can't Make Sense of an Immaterial Soul | Early SDA D.M. Canright
Are humans dualistic beings – two part beings, composed of a material body plus an immaterial soul? The reason some have this idea is the belief that matter cannot be organized to think, and therefore, the thinking ability of humans must be attributed to something immaterial. This is then used as a basis for the belief in the soul's naturally immortality. If it's immaterial, it has no parts, so it can't be destroyed and must endure forever. While that might *seem* to make sense, it depends on the idea that the mind is immaterial. And the apparent necessity for that vanishes if matter can be organized to think. In this study, we continue looking at a pamphlet written by SDA pioneer D. M. Canright called "Matter and Spirit," which was taken from his earlier series of articles called, "Can God Organize Matter to Think?" published in the Signs of the Times by James White. Canright made a second set of arguments in regard to the premise that humans have an immaterial part of them that is responsible for thought. These arguments point out the difficulties involved in coming up with a coherent conception of this supposed immaterial part of humans. On one hand, people claim this part is immaterial, but then, when attempting to say specific things about this immaterial part, they often end up saying things that would logically imply that it is material after all. Join us as we unpack this. For further study see: Part 1 of this 2 part series - "Can Matter be Organized to Think? | Early SDA D.M. Canright" "MATTER AND SPIRIT, OR, THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN THOUGHT" A PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT. BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT. "The Early SDA View of the Nature of Man | Are We Dual Beings or Unitary Beings?" "What is Materialism? The Seventh-day Adventist Foundation" 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 11 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests
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Can Matter be Organized to Think? | Early SDA D.M. Canright
06/16/2024
Can Matter be Organized to Think? | Early SDA D.M. Canright
Can matter be organized so that it can think? Or is there an immaterial part of humans that is responsible for thought, reason, and emotion? The SDA doctrine of the non-immortality of the soul is very well known among SDAs today, but what is less well known is the core reason behind this doctrine. This core reason is really the foundation on which the non-immortality of the soul rests, and it was plainly understood and explained by the SDA pioneers. If we don't understand this foundation, we're prone holding other beliefs that are actually in conflict with it, without even realizing it. One such conflicting belief is that although the soul is not immortal - although the soul cannot live on after death separate from the body, there is an immaterial part of humans that is responsible for thought, reason, intellect and emotion that resides inside the body. In other words, it is thought that there is a conscious immaterial something inside of humans that just becomes unconscious upon death. It's the idea that humans are dualistic beings – two part beings, composed of a material body plus an immaterial soul. Not all SDAs conceive of human nature in this way, but some do. The pioneers, though, did not believe that humans are dualistic beings. They often wrote that humans are unit beings, or unitary beings – singular beings made of matter, with no immaterial part. They believed that it is the body, and in particular the brain, that is conscious during life and that becomes unconscious upon death, not that there's an immaterial part of us that is conscious during life and that becomes unconscious upon death. And a great publication on this subject is a pamphlet entitled "Matter and Spirit" by D.M. Canright. He argues in favor of the unitary materiality of human nature from a philosophical perspective, using logical argumentation and empirical facts. Join us as we go through Canright's reasons for believing that matter can be organized to think. For further study see: "MATTER AND SPIRIT, OR, THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN THOUGHT" A PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT. BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT. "The Early SDA View of the Nature of Man | Are We Dual Beings or Unitary Beings?" "What is Materialism? The Seventh-day Adventist Foundation" 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 10 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Who Is Benefitted by Jesus' Priesthood?
05/23/2024
Who Is Benefitted by Jesus' Priesthood?
Who is benefited by Jesus' priesthood in the Heavenly Sanctuary? Many are under the impression that people are benefited by just professing Him as their lord and savior, or accepting that He is the savior of the world. But is this the case? In this study we are going to take a look at a book which has Jesus' priesthood as the central theme – the book of Hebrews. For further study, see: "What Jesus Taught About Doing Right and Wrong," by Trent Wilde, “What Are The Streams of Water In Psalm 1?" 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 8, "Light From the Sanctuary" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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How Knowing the Great Controversy Can Help In Practical Life
05/13/2024
How Knowing the Great Controversy Can Help In Practical Life
As SDAs, we all know about the Great Controversy. We all have this idea in mind that there is this controversy between Christ and Satan going on in the background. At least Satan wants us to think it's just that—a background scenario that's mainly independent from our every day lives. In light of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan, our controversies could be called small controversies in the scheme of things. But, as I'm sure we all would admit, we tend to think of our personal controversies as though they're great controversies, and sometimes THE Great Controversy between Christ and Satan becomes pushed out of our thinking as something irrelevant to our every day choices. In this study learn about how viewing things from the perspective of the Great Controversy can help pull into our every decision the knowledge of the two ways - the ways and principles of Christ versus the ways and principles of Satan- and this hopefully will help us make our choices easy ones because we can see more clearly the end result which our choices lead to. This is hard to accomplish when we are tricked into looking at the small picture - our small controversies - without keeping a knowledge of the Great Controversy in the forefront of our minds. For further study, see: Is it “Fake” to Do the Right Thing When it Doesn’t “Feel Natural”? https://www.bdsda.com/2021/07/29/is-it-fake-to-do-the-right-thing-when-it-doesnt-feel-natural/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 7, "Motivated by Hope" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Revival and Reformation Must Be Blended for Complete Success
05/05/2024
Revival and Reformation Must Be Blended for Complete Success
Today we are going to look at a key aspect of what brings about successful reformation, because one thing we all know about the Protestant Reformation was that although many great truths were restored, it didn't finish the gospel work. And in fact, as Adventists, we know that while the Protestant Reformation was a good thing, the churches it produced are actually Babylon. As Seventh-day Adventists we should all know that the second angel's message was directed primarily at the Protestant Churches and declared that they were the Babylon that fell. Note, it's not that these churches *became* Babylon. No, they were already Babylon from their beginning, and when they rejected the light of the first angel's message, they fell. So, how does God intend to give us a better reformation? Ellen White tells us! We hope you join us to learn her message on this. For more study, see: “The King of Crises in the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” by Trent Wilde, 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 6, "The Two Witnesses" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Private Interpretation vs. Inspired Interpretation
04/18/2024
Private Interpretation vs. Inspired Interpretation
You know the bible verse that says no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation, (2 Peter 1:19-21)? Well, it's the subject of one of Friday's discussion questions in the SDA Sabbath School Quarterly this week, and it's also the subject of *our* study today. We'll find out what the deal is with private interpretation, and we'll also learn how we're supposed to approach the task of interpreting scripture. The pillars of the SDA movement were founded on the revelations given to Ellen White, not on private interpretations of the pioneers. She says that all the brethren at that time were in unity regarding this. Ellen often spoke against private interpretation – the uninspired ideas of men concerning the scriptures. In this study we look at a few statements she made regarding the danger the SDA movement was in back in her day regarding such interpretations. So, what about today? We address a topic that is very misunderstood when it comes to this, and it is regarding the question, "What is the Holy Spirit?" We hope you join us. For more study, see: “The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine,” “The King of Crises in the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” by Trent Wilde, 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 3, "Light Shines in the Darkness" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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You Can Only Be on One Side of the Great Controversy
04/06/2024
You Can Only Be on One Side of the Great Controversy
As you might know, the full title of the first edition of Ellen White's book, "The Great Controversy" was "The Great Controversy, Between Christ and His Angels, and Satan and His Angels." By this longer title, we can see that the angels have taken either one side or the other. These two sides operate by two completely different sets of principles. Christ's angels are wholly and consistently devoted to His principles;—they don't live by His principles some of the time and by Satan's principles some of the time. And likewise, Satan's angels are entirely on Satan's side—they don't have partial union with Christ; they have no union with Christ. By becoming a human with the same flesh that we all have and overcoming every temptation while in that flesh, Jesus showed that it is possible to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies, as Paul said in Romans 6:12. If we think it's impossible to stop sinning, then we'll likely buy into the idea that we can keep sinning and yet be followers of Jesus. But the fact of the matter is that it is possible to stop sinning. And we need to stop sinning since sin is of the devil and so long as we sin, we are servants of sin and are giving in to Satan's side in this great controversy. But we don't need to obey the our flesh; we *can* obey the truth. To quote Paul again, "...as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification." Romans 6:19. By exercising faith - that is, trust - in Christ, we *can* do this and this is how we can play our part on Christ's side of the Great Controversy and help to bring the controversy to an end. For more study please see: Are You Minding What Matters? https://www.bdsda.com/are-you-minding-what-matters/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 2: The Great Controversy – Week 1 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests. Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians:" https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com
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Ellen White Misinterpreted: How the SDA Pioneers Can Help
03/23/2024
Ellen White Misinterpreted: How the SDA Pioneers Can Help
Satan has long been keen on misconstruing the words of God's messengers, and Ellen White is no exception. Ellen wrote that Kellogg was misconstruing the meaning of her words to mean something almost opposite of their intended meaning, and as we know by the state of confusion about her writings today, this problem has only worsened since her death. So, today we're going to address this issue and point out least one thing we can do to guard against misunderstanding Ellen's writings. For more study, see: “The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine, Did Ellen White Teach Jesus Had a Beginning? Did Ellen White say Jesus is Co-eternal with the Father? For early SDA pioneer resources see: 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 13, "Wisdom for Righteous Living" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Did Ellen White Teach Jesus Had a Beginning?
03/19/2024
Did Ellen White Teach Jesus Had a Beginning?
There seems to be a lot of confusion over what Ellen White taught about the duration of Jesus' existence. Did she teach that Jesus had a beginning at some point in eternity past? Or did she teach He has always existed with the Father as a co-eternal member of the Godhead? Is there anything Ellen White said that let's us know what she taught on this issue? In this study we look at statements by the SDA pioneers and statements by Ellen White and discover if she agreed with the then-prevailing among the pioneers that Jesus did indeed have a beginning – at the point He was begotten of the Father, or the now-prevailing view that Jesus and the Father are co-eternal members of the Godhead. For more study please see: "Did Ellen White say Jesus is Co-eternal with the Father?" "The Personality of God, An SDA Pillar," 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 11-12 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Did Ellen White say Jesus is Co-eternal with the Father?
03/10/2024
Did Ellen White say Jesus is Co-eternal with the Father?
There seems to be a lot of confusion over what Ellen White taught about Jesus. Did she teach he had a beginning at some point, or that he always existed with the Father as a co-eternal member of the Godhead? So, for the next two episodes we'll be going off topic from the Sabbath School Quarterly to address this issue. In this study we focus on one particular statement she made. Here's the statement: In Signs of the Times, August 29,1900, Ellen wrote, "Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God…. In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God." Ellen White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900. (Evangelism, p. 615) So, there are two aspects of her statement we look at today. The part where she says that Christ is "self-existent," and the part where she says that “there never was a time when Jesus was not in close fellowship with the eternal God.” What did she mean? One way to know is to see how this term and phrase were generally used at the time Ellen wrote this, and find out whether Ellen's use of them enables us to know whether or not she thought Jesus had a beginning. For more study, see: “The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine (2022 Series)” “2010 Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Agenda Addendum” https://www.bdsda.com/2010-seventh-day-adventist-general-conference-agenda-addendum/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 10 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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"What Does 'Coming in the Name of the Lord' Mean?"
02/27/2024
"What Does 'Coming in the Name of the Lord' Mean?"
This week's lesson is called "Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord." This is from Psalm 118 and was applied to Jesus by the crowds who welcomed him into Jerusalem at his triumphal entry, as recorded in Mark 11. So, Jesus is said to have come *in the name* of the Lord. And Jesus also said this about himself. So, what does it even mean to come in someone's name? Join us as we study what scripture has to say by looking at examples of Jesus coming in the name of His Father, a disciple welcoming a child in Jesus’ name, praying in Jesus’ name, God proclaiming His name to Moses in Exodus 34, and finally, the example of the Holy Spirit coming in the name of Jesus. For more study, see: “The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine (2022 Series)” https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1&si=CffjlgHfZyehEc_5 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 8, "Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord." A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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What Are the Streams of Water in Psalm 1?
02/21/2024
What Are the Streams of Water in Psalm 1?
Today's lesson is about Psalm 1, and as you'll see, there are important lessons to learn here that you probably haven't noticed before. If you don't remember what Psalm 1 is about, Thursday's lesson in the Sabbath School Quarterly expresses it really nicely by saying that it depicts the righteous by a simile of a tree planted by streams of water. And it's that "streams of water" part that we're going to really focus on today. And what we find is that if you want to be someone who could be likened to a tree that's transplanted by the streams of water that's drawing nourishment from God's direction that's like that stream, then you need to make sure that you find, not just some still body of truth – a body of truth that came in the past – and that is here entirely already – no, you need to find something that's **not** that – you need to find God's ever flowing instruction. You need to be looking for God's continual and progressive direction, and transplant yourself there. For more study, see: “What is the Spirit of Prophecy? SDA Edition” by Trent Wilde 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 8, "Wisdom for Righteous Living" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Does God's Mercy Last Forever?
02/16/2024
Does God's Mercy Last Forever?
You know the line, "for His *mercy* endures forever"? Most likely, you've heard it many times since it's repeated in several Psalms. But here's the thing, not all translations use the word "mercy" here. So, in this study, we'll be considering whether God's *mercy* really does last forever, and also what these psalms are really saying when they say God's "something" lasts forever. For more study, see: Jeremiah Against Orthodoxy (Ancient and Modern) https://www.bdsda.com/2023/01/24/jeremiah-against-orthodoxy-ancient-and-modern/ 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 7, "Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests.
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Will There Ever Be a Cleansing of the Sanctuary On Earth?
02/06/2024
Will There Ever Be a Cleansing of the Sanctuary On Earth?
Most SDAs are aware that the judgment commenced in the sanctuary in heaven on October 22, 1844. As we know, the Millerites got the date right, but the event wrong. When they came to understand that the sanctuary would be cleansed on that day, they thought the sanctuary was the earth. But, as God soon showed, it was the sanctuary in heaven. Okay, so we know all of that, but, is there any evidence of there ever being a cleansing of the sanctuary on earth? For more study, see: "Do You Know About the Judgment of the Living?" "The Two Phases of the Pre-Advent Judgment" "The Judgment and the Harvest," 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 6, "I will Arise" A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests
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Why Doesn't God Deliver Us From Adversity?
01/31/2024
Why Doesn't God Deliver Us From Adversity?
In our study this week, we are going to deal with issues addressed in both of the two latest Sabbath School lessons from the quarterly on Psalms for this quarter – and that is, what are we to think about the times of adversity we experience in this life, even with all the wonderful promises in the scriptures about God’s protection and deliverance from evil? For further study on the deliverance at the voice of God, see: "The Two Deliverances:" Ellen White's Testimonies for the Church, Volume 3, chapter 27, titled, "The Laodicean Church," starting on page 252: For further study on deliverance from sinning – Justification by Faith, see: "What is Justification:" And "Justification by Faith" playlist: https://youtu.be/E1xAiDdAnaE?si=8XUW7Jgo5RkXKUXu 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Weeks 4 and 5 A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us [email protected] for comments and study requests
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How Our Prayers Get to God—Telepathy or Angels?
01/19/2024
How Our Prayers Get to God—Telepathy or Angels?
In this study, we build on last week's study on prayer. What we showed in last week's study, ("Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?" linked below) is that Scripture contains many examples and admonitions to pray audibly with our mouths while it contains no admonitions or examples to pray merely mentally. Even though the idea of merely mental prayer is popular today, it is ultimately foreign to Scripture. Today we continue with this topic by looking at another aspect of prayer; specifically, how scripture portrays the role of angels in taking our prayers to God – and that since angels do bring our prayers to God, obviously God isn't receiving them through mind-reading our merely mental prayers. Then we get into the implications of these scriptural aspects of prayer. Why use angels if God is already personally everywhere present? If God is personally everywhere present, wouldn't that make the ministry of the angels useless? Ellen White addressed this issue. She said that "extreme views of 'God in nature' undermine the foundation truths of the personality of God and the ministration of angels." Join us as we deal with the realities of the scriptural view of prayer, the personality of God, and the ministration of angels. For further study: "Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?" https://youtu.be/S-cntY9BJhk?si=ImTN7ThWSMgiLB0X "The Personality of God" playlist, "Angels: Their Nature and Ministry," written by Dudley Canright and later revised by Joseph Waggoner, "Why SDAs Should Care About The Apocrypha," 2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 3 A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. Email us for comments and study requests Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians,"
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Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?
01/12/2024
Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?
In our study today, we're going to look at what Scripture has to say about whether prayer should be spoken out loud or merely thought in our minds. Even though the idea of merely mental prayer is popularly practiced today, does scripture portray it as a means of communication with God? For further study, see our series, "Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic: Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus" (Series Info and Videos) – April-May 2023 https://www.bdsda.com/2023/04/03/before-spirit-was-spiritualistic-upcoming-series-april-may-2023/ Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 2 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us at [email protected] for comments and literature requests. Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians:" https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com
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Are There More Psalms?
01/04/2024
Are There More Psalms?
In this study we discuss a principle to keep in mind when reading any author's work - a principle that will help us understand more clearly what an author is trying to communicate. The principle: it's important to judge the writings of each author on their own merits rather than judging them by their association with other writings. This is important when we're talking about any writing that could potentially be a product of divine inspiration. As we go through this, we'll introduce you to some facts that might be new and even surprising in regard to the Psalms, the topic of this quarterly study. For example, did you know the 150 psalms in the Protestant bible aren't the only psalms out there? In the 1940s and 50s, Bedouin and archaeologists discovered a significant number of ancient manuscripts in locations by the Dead Sea. These became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Included among these manuscripts were 40 Psalm scrolls dating from the 2nd century BC to the first century AD. Some contain familiar psalms in an unfamiliar order, and several of the scrolls include others psalms side by side the psalms in our bibles simply as part of the collection. This includes Psalm 151 as well as the psalms known as Psalm 154 and 155. But there are also psalms that were completely unknown to modern people until they were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is hugely significant because it is plain manuscript evidence showing that at the time of Jesus and the apostles, there was no one book of Psalms like we have in our bibles today. We've included links to where you can read English translations of the Psalms scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls along with the Psalms known as Psalms 151-155. Dead Sea Scrolls Psalm Scrolls - Psalm 151 - Psalm 152 and 153 - Psalm 154 - Psalm 155 - For further study, see our "Scripture Canon" playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bwezbikTsIHG2_eaNcbLd0SW&si=uBo_5B3_t3Ie-rk- Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 1 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us at [email protected] for comments and literature requests.
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Strange - No New Light in 100 Years?
12/30/2023
Strange - No New Light in 100 Years?
As SDAs we are called to proclaim the present truth, but what preset truth has the denomination accepted since Ellen's death over 100 years in the past? Given that Ellen spoke so much about the importance of keeping up with new light and advancing truth, it seems strange that there has not been any in over 100 years. Basically the things that have been updated as far as the fundamental beliefs are concerned have not been anything that the rest of the world doesn’t already have too. The doctrines newly accepted by the SDA church over the past 100 or so years simply don't qualify as present truth. The most we could possibly claim regarding those doctrines is that they're past truths that SDAs were behind the other churches on. If our SDA leadership, the General Conference, has not accepted or claimed to have received any new light since Ellen's death over 100 years ago, should we personally be satisfied with this? Join our study as we investigate this topic. For further study, see: "The Study of Knowledge" Playlist, https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bweNGaL5X92Lm_fUj4dBjVS8&si=wzPA6wVhC8baEGLf Sabbath School Q4 2023: "The End of God's Mission" - Week 13 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Email us at [email protected] for comments and literature requests.
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Should Our Rights Guide Us?
12/24/2023
Should Our Rights Guide Us?
In this study we look at the story of Esther and Mordecai and the turn of circumstances that occurred for the Jews and for those who attacked them under Haman's decree. Esther found a way to turn the King against Haman and to petition the King to revoke the decree. But since no decree of the King could be revoked according to Persian law, they had to devise another way to protect the Jews. So, the king permitted Esther and Mordecai to write a new decree in the name of the king. Their decree gave the Jews the legal right to inflict on them all the things which Haman's decree had planned against the Jews. Interestingly, in the portion of Esther that describes what happened when the attack came, it says the Jews killed their attackers, and it specifies that they didn't take their possessions, even though that was part of the decree. So, even though the Jews had a legal right to take the possessions of their attackers, they chose not to exercise that right. This brings us directly to the principle that is the main lesson of our study. Simply stated, the principle is this: Our rights, as important as they are for society, are not a good guide for determining what we as individuals should do. Join us as we take a look at what rights are all about, and ask, what **should** guide our choices and actions? For more study, please see: "Are You Minding What Matters?" by Trent Wilde, Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 12, "Esther and Mordecai" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com
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Did Peter, James and Paul Teach the Same Gospel?
12/13/2023
Did Peter, James and Paul Teach the Same Gospel?
In Galatians 2:11-14, clearly, there is some tension here between Paul and Peter - and Barnabas. But what exactly is going on? The way some people see it, there are 2 sides: the circumcision faction on one side and Paul on the other. In this view, James, Peter, Barnabas, and however many other Jewish followers of Jesus were part of the circumcision faction, while Paul was on the other side of the issue. What we'll be addressing in this study is whether this was really the case. Were either Peter or James of the circumcision faction? And who were "those of the circumcision"? For more study, please see: “Are We Judged By Our Works If We Are Saved By Grace?” “Are Good Works Required At All?” Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 11, "Mission to the Unreached: Part 2" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com
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