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Pastor Nathaniel's Blog June 15, 2023
"God’s Care and Judgement XIII"
Among the similarities between Seventh-day Adventists and various kinds of Pentecostals, there are two points on which we agree. First, both groups claim that "extraordinary" spiritual gifts are in operation today: Adventists are familiar with the gift of prophecy and believe the Holy Spirit can cause people to speak in foreign languages, to heal people, and to cast out demons today, while Pentecostals emphasize speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, and the ability for people to speak prophetic words for contemporary, localized situations.
Second, both groups ultimately are uncomfortable with prophets: Pentacostal prophets are constantly contradicting and denouncing each other (which makes it hard to believe many of them), and Adventists tend to be more comfortable with dead prophets than living ones (because it's easier to handle the static messages of the dead than the spontaneous messages of the living). The reason for this is easy to understand - a true prophet is unpredictable, and might convict me when I feel unprepared or unready to receive it. The same experience happened to Amaziah in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He told King Jeroboam that Amos was fomenting a coup, when in reality Amaziah was simply uncomfortable with Amos' message to him and Israel (cf. Amos 7:10-13). Amos had the heartbreaking task of pointing out to Amaziah that his opposition wasn't directed at Amos himself or the Kingdom of Judah, but rather to the God he claimed to serve and worship (cf. Amos 7:14-16). Because of this, there was only one option left open to Amaziah and those who were rejecting Amos' message: "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; your land shall be divided by survey line; you shall die in a defiled [non-Jewish] land; and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land'" (Amos 7:17). Because Amaziah didn't want God's freedom, God would let Amaziah possess the consequences of his estrangement from God: captivity and oppression by a foreign power that would totally ruin his life, and the life of his family and fellow citizens. How often do we tell God what his message to us should be, yet never really notice that his message to us is filled with love and is for our good and wellbeing?
Friends, learn from Amaziah and choose to sit with the difficult-but-loving messages God gives you, because "thus says the Lord."."
God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
