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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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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The Foundation Even More Fundamental Than Scripture
12/04/2023
The Foundation Even More Fundamental Than Scripture
How would we approach people whom the scriptures mean nothing to? If that common ground simply isn't there, then what? The Apostle Paul encountered people in the Athens marketplace. Among them were certain philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics – people who did not share the common ground of the scriptures with Paul. Ellen White wrote that Paul was "…able to meet all classes with convincing arguments in support of the doctrines he taught. Thus the apostle stood undaunted, meeting his opposers on their own ground, matching logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy, eloquence with eloquence." (AA 235) How did Paul do this? There must something even more fundamental than the scriptures by which we can determine if an idea or statement is true. In this study, we look at what this foundational, fundamental standard is, and show that this standard was the foundation, not only that was use by Paul, but that the SDA pioneers also used to make sound arguments in the doctrines they taught, and it is the foundation we must use as well. For more study on this, please see our playlist: “Experience Not Reliable – 3T 67,” "Materialism: Our Forgotten Foundation," https://www.bdsda.com/materialism-our-forgotten-foundation-2/ Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 10, "Mission to the Unreached: Part 1" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com
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Pre-Advent Kingdom and Overthrow of the Wicked gods
12/02/2023
Pre-Advent Kingdom and Overthrow of the Wicked gods
This week’s Sabbath School Lesson looks at examples of God reaching powerful people, such as Nebuchadnezzar, Naaman, and Nicodemus. In our study, we look at Naaman's request to take two mule-loads of dirt from the land of Israel back to Syria with him so he could worship YHWH instead of the other gods. This might seem a little strange to us today. But why was he thinking this? The lesson rightly points out that Naaman associated the God of Israel with the land of Israel. But actually, the idea involved here is quite a bit broader than that. It isn't just that God is connected with the land of Israel by some particular means; it is that each land is connected with a different deity. Israel was the land of Yahweh, while Syria was the land of Rimmon, which is another name for the deity Hadad, more commonly known as Baal. Naaman knew that when he went back to Syria, he was going back into Rimmon's territory and would be required to go to his temple, as he actually mentions right after requesting to take Israelite dirt to Syria (see 2 Kings 5:18). The idea that different territories are associated with different gods isn't just an idea Naaman had; it's actually a scriptural idea. We covered this in a recent study called "Are There Many gods Ruling Various Nations?" linked below, and we saw that God inheriting all of the nations is connected to the judgment which began in 1844, in the study entitled, “The Pre Advent Kingdom of Refugees and Immigrants,” also linked below. In this study we will see that this pre-advent judgment and pre-advent kingdom are also connected to the overthrow of the wicked gods, and that this kingdom of God wins citizens by the gospel. We will see in terms of practical reality that the way we can hasten the return of Christ is by sharing the gospel for the purpose of growing the kingdom. This is how the kingdom of the wicked gods will be overthrown, and Christ will reign forever and ever. For more study on this, please see: "Are There Many gods Ruling Various Nations?" "The Pre-Advent Kingdom of Refugees and Immigrants," Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 9, " Mission to the Powerful" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Our podcast link, "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians,"
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A Pre-Advent Kingdom of Refugees and Immigrants
11/20/2023
A Pre-Advent Kingdom of Refugees and Immigrants
The Sabbath School lesson discusses the topic of refugees and immigrants that have been displaced by war, natural disasters, or the hope of a better future. In our study today, we look into what Micah has to say about a kingdom that is coming on the earth that people will flow into rather than be displaced from because of war or famine or lack of hope. And as we'll see, this kingdom will be established before the second coming of Christ. For further study, see: "The Stone," by Ben Roden, https://www.bdsda.com/the-stone/?highlight=kingdom Sabbath School Q4 2023: "Mission to the Needy" - Week 8 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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Put Others First to Be Saved from Eternal Death
11/17/2023
Put Others First to Be Saved from Eternal Death
How are we saved from eternal death? Jesus said it was by loving your neighbor as yourself. Paul said the same thing. But often, people think the main thing we need to do to inherit eternal life is to accept as truth that Jesus came to die for us, and that by merely accepting this as truth, we thereby receive Jesus' righteousness vicariously, without needing to make His righteousness our own in our daily actions, and then the whole necessity of putting others first becomes easily lost sight of. With this means of salvation in view, we might tend to think of loving others as something that is generally good to do, and something Jesus prefers, but not necessary for inheriting eternal life, not a "salvation" issue, if you will. But the whole purpose of the judgment is to evaluate our lives to see if we will be good neighbors in heaven and the new earth, or not. In this study, we look at the imperativeness of practical righteousness, and the the inevitable result of selfishness, even of one being. For further study, see: Jeremiah Against Orthodoxy (Ancient and Modern), https://www.bdsda.com/2023/01/24/jeremiah-against-orthodoxy-ancient-and-modern/ Sabbath School Q4 2023: "God's Mission, My Mission" - Week 7 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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How To Handle New and Strange Teachings
11/07/2023
How To Handle New and Strange Teachings
In Acts chapter 2, we see that Peter was speaking to a Jewish audience that had come from far and wide to celebrate Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. Peter confronted their incorrect beliefs and offered new explanations for what people were seeing and experiencing. These incorrect beliefs being confronted were the incorrect beliefs of God's denominated people at the time. And these corrections were not coming from the established religious leaders. It's easy to read Acts 2 and imagine that we would have been the ones accepting these corrections and getting baptized into these new beliefs, but before we jump to that conclusion, let's examine ourselves for a moment. How do we handle new teachings that go against long held beliefs? And do we honestly investigate teachings that do not come from the established religious leaders in the SDA church, God's denominated people of today? Are we like the 3000 who honestly considered Peter's teachings? Or are we like the majority of the Jews, God's denominated people of that day, who rejected these new and strange teachings on the basis that they did not come from the established leadership, or went against long held ideas, or both? Today we will look into what Ellen White had to say about how to handle what seem to be new and strange teachings that come about in the church. For more studies on this, please see: "The King of Crises in the Seventh-day Adventist Church," by Trent Wilde, https://www.bdsda.com/the-king-of-crises-in-the-seventh-day-adventist-church-2/ Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 6, "Motivation and Preparation for Mission" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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Are There Many gods Ruling Various Nations?
11/01/2023
Are There Many gods Ruling Various Nations?
In this study, we going to look at the worldview mentioned by the Quarterly, or at least the part of the worldview that suggests various gods rule over various lands and their inhabitants. Is this idea only a traditional pagan worldview, or was it a view also held by the ancient Israelites, and particularly, the writers of scripture? To find this out, and to bring out the main point for this study, we look at some passages that show that the authors of Scripture used two terms translated "God" and "gods" to mean something different from what we often mean by "God" today. Our main point is that it's important to understand scripture according to its own use of terms rather than reading it through the lens of our own definitions. When we read Scripture through the lens of modern definitions, there can often be a clashes, and this can cause a lot of confusion. To avoid this, it helps to understand each author's actual message, which we hope you will all agree is important to do. For more studies on this, please see: "Who are the 'sons of God' in Genesis 6?" https://youtu.be/BbizxkcTAaE?si=d_Ee3K8t1NjCtFlw Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 5, "Excuses to Avoid Missions" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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Is the Time for Living Prophets Over?
10/23/2023
Is the Time for Living Prophets Over?
Today we focus on something the lesson mentions, and that is what is said in Amos 3:7, which reads, "Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7 (WEB) From this key text, we not only learn that the role of prophets is to reveal the secret things of God, but also that the Lord won't carry out his plans unless he lets his servants, the prophets, know about it first. Also, notice how this arrangement of God revealing His secret to His prophets in connection with His deeds is spoken of as simply being how God operates. And this isn't the only passage that conveys that idea. Many Christians have a jaded opinion about prophets in the last days, or as SDAs, a jaded opinion about there being more prophets after Ellen's passing. But why would we even have these jaded positions? Does Scripture give us any reason for being cynical about there being end time prophets? For more studies on this, please see: "The 'Every Wind of Doctrine' Problem," "The King of Crises in the Seventh-day Adventist Church," by Trent Wilde, Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 4, " Sharing God's Mission" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. www.bdsda.com Our podcast link, "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians," https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com
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The Preferred Solution to the Sin Problem
10/18/2023
The Preferred Solution to the Sin Problem
How exactly Jesus is the solution to the sin problem? Some think Jesus solves the sin problem by changing the way God looks at the sinner, while leaving the sinner still committing sin in their hearts and lives. But if sinners still sin, is that really a solution to the sin problem? No. When you think about it (and you can even see it with your own eyes today), living in a society where sin still abounds, harbored in our own hearts, but is considered understandable and "atoned for" while not eliminated in reality, doesn't make for a great society. If allowed to continue, it simply would eventually end in death for all. In other words, how is life in heaven going to be any different than life in the world today if we have not overcome every temptation to sin? And if we are inclined to think that in heaven or in the new earth sin will not abound on the basis that we will be with Jesus, consider that Satan and some of the angels chose to sin in that environment. Join us as we look at what scripture tells us is the only true and logical solution to the sin problem. For deeper study, please see our study: "Are We Judged By Our Works If We Are Saved By Grace?" "The Only Way to Life," by Trent Wilde, , Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 3, " God's Call to Mission." A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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Are We Judged By Our Works If We Are Saved by Grace?
10/07/2023
Are We Judged By Our Works If We Are Saved by Grace?
How is the concept of judgment linked to the “everlasting gospel” in the first angel’s message? Why must the gospel be central to the idea of judgment? Some might say that the gospel is central to the idea of judgment because it is thought that acceptance of the gospel equals salvation from judgment, and if we don't have to be judged, there is nothing to fear about the judgment. Another thing people might say concerning the gospel and its relation to the judgment is that the gospel makes it so that believers won't have to be judged by what they actually do. However, scripture is clear that all of us, including believers, are judged by our works, and each will receive according to what they have done, whether good or bad. Many passages say this. To name a few, there's Romans 2:6; Matthew 16:27, James 2:24 and 2 Corinthians 5:10. In this study, we look at this problem: on one hand, it is commonly thought that the gospel of being saved by grace makes it so that whether we go to heaven or not isn't determined by our works. On the other hand, Scripture plainly tells us that we are judged by our works, whether good or bad. These two ideas just don't jive. For deeper study, please see our study: “The Real Meaning of Jesus' Substitutionary Death,” “The Truth of Sacrifice” - Oct. 1, 2015 - Trent Wilde (FOT'15 S3), Sabbath School Q4 2023: God's Mission, My Mission - Week 2, "God's Mission to Us, Part 2" A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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