New member

[restoretruth]

Hi everyone! This is a re-post of the lost post we made two or three days ago when we joined this forum.

 My wife & I are lifelong SDA's. We are retired & live on a small acreage in northwestern Oregon. We are now able to spend more of our time in study of the Bible & the writings of EGW. We love E-sword, which is free & a great tool for Bible study. We also love the new EGW CD -- which can be purchased at your ABC for as low as $15. We have a 3ABN satellite dish & wish everyone had access to 3ABN. As we have had more time for personal study we have seen the need for more active personal witnessing as well as bringing our own lives into harmony with God's instructions in His Word. We believe that obedience to God's word is a necessary, but cutting process & can only be done through Divine power & union with Christ! It involves making wrongs right as much as one is able to do so. We believe we are living in the "Day of Atonement" & we need to search our hearts & be sure that we are right with God. In the last two or three years a family member has gotten deeply involved in the teachings of  what some call "the character of God movement", Tim Jennings, Maxwell, & others. This has caused us to do much study on the Plan of Redemption, the Sanctuary, & the Atonement. We came across the discussion (on this forum) of the Atonement & have found it very interesting. The link to the article in Ministry magazine on the Moral Influence Theory we found very helpful. Thank you Stan for posting it. We appreciate the spirit we see on this forum. Pastor O'Ffill, we have seen you on 3ABN & feel like we know & appreciate you, though you don't know us. We look forward to joining the discussions at some point.

[hevenaL]

Hi, I'm new to this site too. I'm glad to find a site that could help live in a relationship with God and will be motivated and sustained by one

[Tamara]

Hi, I'm new to this site too. I'm glad to find a site that could help live in a relationship with God and will be motivated and sustained by one

[Raven]

Hi, I'm new to this site too. I'm glad to find a site that could help live in a relationship with God and will be motivated and sustained by one

[Sammy Lee]

Hi,
I am a newcomer to his forum.  I am a retired minister residing in Sydney, Australia.  Formerly I served as pastor/evangelist/teacher in Indonesia, Malaysia, Macao (China), and Australia.  I am very interested in studying the ancient Chinese writings which prove that The Bible is inspired by the same God worshipped by the ancient Chinese ancestors.  They called Him, Shangdi meaning the King of Heaven or the King above all kings.  Of around 240 basic characters in the Chinese language more than a half tells the same story as it is written in Genesis 1 through 11. 

For instance   the word

[Raven]

Welcome to the forum, Brother Lee.  It's always nice to have members from countries outside North America.  I hope you will be blessed by your time here.

I know very little about the Chinese language, except to say "Nee how."  Don't even know how to spell it in English.  But I  have read some of what you mentioned and it is fascinating.  I'm surprised that the hard line communists in the country haven't tried to "sanitize" it by changing the characters that show the link to the Creator.

As a native of Indonesia, it may interest you to know that the vanilla we sell at our store (both the beans and the liquid) come from Indonesia (Bali).  It is top quality stuff.  My conversations with the company from which we get the vanilla are always interesting.  It isn't every day I get to talk with someone in that part of the world.

[V. Hahn]

Welcome to the forum, Brother Lee!  We are so happy you are here!  May God bless you in your work.

Vicki

[Sammy Lee]

Welcome to the forum, Brother Lee.  It's always nice to have members from countries outside North America.  I hope you will be blessed by your time here.

I know very little about the Chinese language, except to say "Nee how."  Don't even know how to spell it in English.  But I  have read some of what you mentioned and it is fascinating.  I'm surprised that the hard line communists in the country haven't tried to "sanitize" it by changing the characters that show the link to the Creator.

As a native of Indonesia, it may interest you to know that the vanilla we sell at our store (both the beans and the liquid) come from Indonesia (Bali).  It is top quality stuff.  My conversations with the company from which we get the vanilla are always interesting.  It isn't every day I get to talk with someone in that part of the world.

Dear Brs. Hahn and Raven,

Thanks for your warm welcome. Yes, that is one of the spices that originated in Indonesia and are still supplied by this country.
You might also want to know that the spices islands mentioned by ancient explorers are actually in the Far East and not India as mentioned in the past.  That's why when Colombus discovered America, or rather the Islands east of the continent, he mistakenly called it India (West India).  And when the Dutch explorers found Indonesia, they called it East India.  The real spices islands until now are  North Sulawesi, and surrounding islands, plus the Moluccas.  There is where spices like cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. grow in abundant since the ancient mariners

[Larry Lyons]

Pastor Lee, that is exciting information!! It appears that there is a lot happening around the world that we in North America do not hear about. That is very interesting about the Lao Zi and the Dao.
I have read that there is evidence of Christian Missionarys having been in China in the early centuries.

Welcome to the forum!!

Larry

[Raven]

Thanks for that fascinating information, Pastor Lee.  We always knew that the communists could not be successful on a long term basis, because it would prevent the gospel from reaching the whole world.  But at times it was hard to understand how things could change.  When the USSR fell 20 years ago, it became easier to understand how China could eventually open up for the gospel to penetrate everywhere.  It hasn't happened yet, but it is inevitable that change must come.

I just finished reading "Prisoner for Christ," the story about Robert Huang, and his time in Chinese prison.  I expect that you are familiar with the story.  He seems to be one of the few pastors who held the line against compromise during the dark days when Mao was in charge.

Oh, and by the way, V. Hahn is "Sister" Hahn.    Hard to tell from the avatar.  There are two distinguished looking people there, either one of whom could be "V. Hahn." 

[V. Hahn]

Yes, I'm the one without the beard!  

Vicki

[Ed Sutton]

Isaiah 49:
8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9  That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
10  They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11  And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12  Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.<05515>
13

[Richard OFfill]

I was just  surfing the forum and recognized that I hadn't visited the new member thread in a long time. I saw the names of restoretrue, hevanal and Sammy Lee. Welcome to the forum. We believe we are a  good crowd to be with and hope we will be able to have a lot of good conversations together!

[Sammy Lee]

Dear Br. Larry,

Thanks for your posting.  Yes, it is very interesting to notice the undeniable facts that the early Chinese ancestors must have heard the story about Creation, Fall, and Flood by our common ancestors, Noah and his family.
Even the Bible mentioned that: The living God, who made heaven, the earth, the sea,
and all things that are in them, Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in
their own ways, Nevertheless He did not leave himself without witness. Acts 14:15-17
Here are a few more amazing prophecies by Lao Zi and Confucius who lived contemporarily with the prophet Daniel, ca. 600-500 BC:
And here is a statement or EG White:

[Sammy Lee]

Yes, I'm the one without the beard!  

Vicki

Oops, I'm sorry Sister Hahn,  the problem is, I have a son whose name is Victor Lee, and we always called him Vicky.

Sammy