For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” ACTS 5:38,39 NIV.
Last year Doug Batchelor preached a sermon against " Women as pastors " that sermon created a great controversy .After that sermon the" Adventist today " and spectrum blogs were filled with commentaries for or against the views presented in that sermon . That sermon has been one of the most controversial in recent years . Does our divided church needs this to be "relevant " . For me I learned a lesson that I hope I will never forget and that is , that our church is bigger than any individual it doesn't matter how popular that person is , because it is God's church And God is in control . That has been shown in the way the church has been taken care of the controversy at "La Sierra " we need to trust our system and work with it and allow the Holy spirit to lead . We are living in interesting times , I am amazed at certain group of individuals that believe that if we " modify the 28 fundamentals " that if we "fix the language " of that everything will be ok . We should remember that our Pioneers didn't think it was a good idea to have a " creed " . The Bible is our rule of faith and practice . When I was a bible worker , I never took with me any of those " bible studies guides " I just took my bible and from the bible , I allow Jesus to lead people to him . God has called each one of us to preach the gospel , unfortunately , we have lost our mission and we get distracted in issues that will not get us ready to be translated and at the crucial moment when Jesus comes , he is going to find us playing games while there is a world that doesn't know him . Have mercy on us Jesus ! The advice of Gamaliel to the Pharisees is something we all need to think about . Ministry is not about authority or who is in control . My Dad had only a fourth grade education , he was never a "pastor " by the church , he never received a salary from the church but he help plant churches all over the western part of El salvador . Jesus says "Do not work for the food that spoils ,but for the food that endures to eternal life which the son of man will give you " John 6:27. I pray that we will proclaim the everlasting gospel and don't get distracted by all these controversies , at the same time , let's allow God to lead, let's not be afraid of the leading of the Holy spirit , remember that he will lead us into all truth . And Truth many times , goes against ideas that we treasure and is rooted in our heart . Only Jesus can help us , let's turn to him with humility .
