Unreal...It's been almost a year since my last post with this account...
My walk with God has been an up and down battle. While my faith never disappears, Jesus said it perfectly...The flesh is weak (Matthew 26:42) ...And tonight I decided to write about a Christian 'win' that I had just had because I need to start adding these up again :)
So...I'm baptized Seventh-Day Adventist. Even though I was introduced to religion at an early age and come from an Anglican family, it was never my thing. I always believed in God, but to me...All this stuff was fabricated stories that were meant to make us obedient little servants in society.
In 2015, my life changed and my approach to Christianity took quite a turn...
What really got me turning the pages of the bible and being more open to this faith was discovering the history of the world. The prophecies in the book of Daniel combined with the historical facts kept me hooked. I was on fire for the Lord! How come everyone didn't know this stuff? Was a common question I asked myself of which God revealed more and more to me!
I'm not going to go 'full testimony' here but let's just say, Adventism made complete sense to me. And not for any other reason than...To me it was the faith that truly was 'sola scriptura'...By the bible alone! Before you know it...SPLASH! I'm dunked under the water, and give my life to Jesus!
Jon...Meet Ellen!
One of the other fun little things about Adventism is our approach to Ellen G. White. Who is Ellen G. White? She's one of the founders of the Seventh-Day Adventist church. She passed away over a century ago, but her writings to this day are 'must reads' for Adventists and anyone that wants an in-depth view of scripture.
The issue is, there's a lot of mud slinging that point towards Adventists and specifically Ellen White because...Some people say we put her writings above the bible. So I wanted to do my own research with God's help...
Fun fact...So far in my years of reading Ellen's work, she's basically said time and time again that...The bible is the authority. Period. And I get the drama, because in some circles of Adventism they seem to prop her writings up as canon. But that's simply not the case....
However, I truly wanted to find out for myself, because God put it on my heart that this is the faith I'm to follow. So I better do my research...
So about 3 years ago....
I Started Reading These....
This is the 'Conflict of the Ages' series by Ellen G. White. And arguably one of the most in-depth bible studies ever written. From Genesis to Revelation and everything in between. From church history to the second coming. You name it...These books go over it all.
Did I mention...In depth?
That's Desire of the Ages, her book about the life of Jesus Christ. And it's a mammoth piece of literature. If you add up all the pages of all 5 volumes of this series, they clock in at over 3700 pages!
3700 pages...
I'm used to reading books that might have 300 pages max, but here I am, reading 3700 pages in these books.
I started my journey in Volume 1 - Patriarchs and Prophets. This book covered Genesis to the life and death of King David. We're talking...Early earth history and pretty much how everything got started down the wrong path. It took me the longest to complete, and when I was finally done...I needed more!
So while I started reading this series about 3 years ago, last year I purchased this 'collectors edition' called the 'Conflict Beautiful' from a publishing company called Types & Symbols and continued my journey...
(I have to say it, these books...Are absolutely remarkable. From front to cover, they are a pleasure to read. Types & Symbols have really created works of art in how they are presented!)
So...I didn't go in order, because I started reading her final book in the series The Great Controversy next which seems to be the book most Adventists say they read first. This was about the Christian church and how the closing events of earth's history will unfold. Amazing stuff!
While reading that though, I started up Volume 3 - The Desire of Ages. The book that's about Jesus! It. Was. Massive! Almost 900 pages of content and the book I have enjoyed the most. What a masterpiece!
After Desire, I tackled Prophets & Kings which covered the times of Solomon to the major and minor Prophets. Plenty of history on Israel and how they kept falling into sin after sin as a nation.
And finally, last month I started The Acts of the Apostles, which went over the early church after the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
3 days ago...I finished that book! Which then completed my journey through the Conflict of the Ages series. And wow, what a journey it's been.
So after 3700 pages, 3 years and 5 books...I can tell you this, as I was a previous skeptic of all things 'religious'. Ellen's books HIGHLIGHT the Bible! They HIGHLIGHT God. They shine a massive spotlight right at the center of it all and that is Jesus. And that was such a relief for me.
I truly believe, God put it on my heart to dive into faith and while I have been stumbling quite a bit recently...These books along with scripture, have helped me realize I'm never alone on my walk.
I still can't believe it....3700 pages LOL