Jesus was sent to earth by His Father to testify to the truth. This would not have been necessary if Truth was already known. When Jesus came to save only the lost sheep of the house of Israel there were those within this Kingdom of Heaven that were sinning innocently, being unaware of their sin, and there were also those who knew exactly what they were doing by sinning with full knowledge of their actions. All were still inside the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the prophecy of the Ten Bridesmaids in Matt. 25 five were foolish and five were wise. All were asleep, all were awakened by the cry at midnight, and ALL WERE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Matt. 25:1.

This demonstrates that being in the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth does not mean that you are not a sinner. You become a member of the Kingdom of Heaven so that you can learn the truth so you can eventually practice the truth. (John 17:17) This is called the process of Sanctification, and the SDA church is the only organized religion today that talks about Sanctification in any form. This is the gospel of the Kingdom of which Jesus speaks in Matt. 24:14. This is another reason why I believe that the SDA church is in fact the Kingdom of Heaven on earth today.

Notice that at the end of the prophecy of the 10 bridesmaids that the five wise go into the marriage feast with the Bridegroom and His bondservants, and the five foolish are left outside in the dark. What is the difference between those two group? The five wise bridesmaids had the extra oil of the Holy Spirit because they had entered the process of Sanctification and completed it prior to going into the marriage feast. These bridesmaids demonstrated that they were willing to humble themselves before God and say that they needed help from the Holy Spirit to be Sanctified. They were able to do this ONLY because they had the power of the Holy Spirit leading them into ALL truth. (John 16:-13)

The five foolish bridesmaids did not enter the process of Sanctification because they did not feel that they needed to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. They did not join the Sanctification process because they felt that 'grace' was sufficient for them, that they would enter the Kingdom on the merits of the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone (His robe of righteousness covering their filthy rags). It is a sad thing to note that they eventually came to understand their error in this (having gone out to buy more oil), but by then it was too late for them as the door to the marriage feast was already shut and was not going to be opened for them. If 'grace' operates the way we have been taught then why didn't the Bridegroom open the door for them when they knocked and say "Come inside to the marriage feast because 'My grace is sufficient for you."

When the five wise bridesmaids entered the marriage feast with the Bridegroom and His attendants they became born again members of the family of God, aka. the Kingdom of God, by being given the privilege of having the name of God on their foreheads. This is the difference between being in the Kingdom of Heaven and being in the Kingdom of God. No one can be born into God's family unless they have no sin in them, just as God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have no sin in themselves. The five foolish bridesmaids believed that they had already been born again and felt they had the right to be at the marriage feast just because they made that claim. They found out otherwise. No one that has sin in them can claim they are 'born again'. The five foolish bridesmaids felt that they deserved to be in the marriage feast because they had experienced the power of the 'Holy Spirit' in there lives that taught them that since the Law was laid aside at the cross they were no longer going to be held responsible for keeping that Law. The believed that 'grace covers a multitude of sins.' What they had experience was the power of the false 'Holy Spirit', that had led them to believe this lie as if it was the truth. To their horror they found out that they were wrong in this belief having been thoroughly decieved, and as a result there was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, as they were left in outer darkness.

It is in teaching this false belief that the SDA church has fallen away from 'their first love' (Rev.2:4). The SDA church needs to return to it's roots and begin again teaching that all who would enter the marriage feast must/needs enter and complete the process of Sanctification, this through the power of the true Holy Spirit. God will not wait forever to eradicate sin from the universe. He has a timetable that is literal and well under way toward completion. It is for this reason that He first gives this message to the Faithful and Wise Bondservant, who then gives it to the F & W servant's fellow servants, who then give it to the five wise bridesmaids, who then take this message to the world during the Great Tribulation. That message is "You must be inside the Kingdom of Heaven to be saved."

Musicman, your understanding of sanctification and the kingdom of heaven is quite unique. I've never heard it before. Did you come to these conclusions by yourself? Or, did you someone else teach it to you? Do you know anyone else besides yourself who believes as you do?

Archie777, I understand you are new here and I welcome you. To answer your question, about 16 years ago, there was a group of what I would call "Highly Educated People" w/in Loma Linda at the Calimesa Church who together realized there were problems with the present understanding of prophecy and formed a new Sabbath School class to hear what a nurse had been studying and seeing about this in a new light. This nurse is a son of an Adventist preacher, but never thought that he had any talent for teaching anyone else, but during all this time, those of us who have been studying with the group have been totally amazed at what he and then we have found. It is still a core group, about 12 in all, but many have left the area so we now do our studies on the internet radio so we all can keep up the all of the studies.

Not wanting to dump the apple cart so to speak, but still wanting to show others that we were not just some right wingers with an agenda, we recorded almost every one of our studies which for over ten years were three times a week, and broadcast them for over 2 years. We have outlasted every Sabbath School teacher and many pastors and since I have been warned (here) not to advertise because of the controversial content which could be the straw that breaks the back--or starts the "shaking" in the SDA church, if you want to know more you can read some of the past posts (if they have not been removed) or contact MM personally and ask him.

I would encourage everyone to study for themselves because it is they who have to wear their own armor during the battle. But do it honestly and with an open mind.

Because Satan took this world as hostage and demanded a ransom for its return, the Earth's owner sent his son as the ransom negotiator. Since Satan would never play by the rules, he took the owner's son as a hostage, too, then killed him. That was the only ransom demand that he really wanted, anyway. Thus, Jesus became the ransom payment to rescue the world from Satan's power, but only those who believed in him and obeyed his teachings will ultimately be rescued.

This has helped me to understand part of the mission of Jesus Messiah, by looking at the Earth and its people as hostages of Satan.


Dr. Rich,

It might be nice to condense your SS studies into a small book. I listened to one of the radio programs, but people talking on and on about something puts me to sleep, just like the sermons in church do. I rarely attend SS because my mind wanders so much that it ends up being just a waste of time. My ideas about the Kingdom of God are not exactly mainstream SDA, either.

In fact, a web site with just the facts, not long sermons, would be great, if that were possible. After studying the OT prophecies of the Last Days, my opinions about SOPism have changed. SOPism, for some, has become a religion, giving its usually well-meaning practitioners an excuse to spew quotes at their targets.

Dr. Rich, it sounds like you and MM are part of the 12 Calimesans you mentioned above. That's interesting. I appreciate you sharing the background. Would you say this view is clearly spelled out in Steps to Christ? If not, do you believe this view must go into all the world before Jesus can return? And, do you believe anyone who understands it and then rejects it is in a lost state?

I used to be a Calimesan. But I saw the light. And I have no plans to return.

I would say that Steps To Christ is a great book with just a few problems and I still pass them out. (BTW-some believe that EGW was not the true author of this book but that she got it from another writer. As for myself-I don't know.) Our class found out that one should first study the words of Jesus given to us by His eyewitnesses, (Matthew and John) in order to know what the real truth is--and then compare this to what ever anyone else says or writes--and then go with what Jesus said (and the OT) IF there is any controversy.

So, no our view is not actually 'spelled out' in this book. Many people have told us to write a book, but we all agreed that we are still only students and are still in the process of learning. When one writes a book as the author of "Wake Up America" did, it tends to make you want to stop seeking truth and market the book. We don't want to end up doing this since we do NOT ask for money, nor do we have any so called 'membership'.

If our view must get to the whole world prior to the end, then God will see a way for this to be done. It's His time table, not ours.

Having said this, we believe that the 1335 actual days found in Dan. 12 is the/a time for learning about the spiritual food the ONE person will be feeding the fellow servants as found in Matthew 24:45. These will probably be the 144k that are sealed prior to the start of the time of trouble. AND--this 1335 day starting period is very close! (Could be as close as May of this year.)

As for Satan taken Jesus as a hostage, that just does not fit the picture for restoring this world to righteousness as found in the bible.

Woody--please explain the "light" that you saw. sounds interesting.

Anyone that becomes a hostage is being forced into a situation that is against their will. This did not happen with our world. Adam (and to a lesser extent Eve) gave control of the world to Satan, being willingly disobedient to God's command not to eat of the Tree of the Learning of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. To say that our world is hostage to Satan would mean that Satan would have to be forcing the world to comply with him. This is not true. Jesus expressed this best when He said;

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19.

The world is willingly Satan's kingdom. it is a kingdom of darkness the purpose of which is to keep people confused and deceiving them into thinking that darkness is light and light is darkness.

It is for this reason that God must have a Kingdom of Heaven that will know the truth, and will then take the truth to the world to show them where they have been deceived. Satan is not called the 'Great Deceiver' because he is not good at it'. It is my understanding from the study of prophecy and end time events that the SDA church is that Kingdom on earth today. The problem with this Kingdom is that it is sound asleep, and ill prepared to take the truth to the world.

" I saw the light waning away from them. They did not desire to understand the solemn, important truths for this time." EGW CET 166