Breakfast Crackers for Communion?

I was asked by some church leaders a while ago as to whether breakfast crackers are appropriate for communion, and is it such a big deal.

The answer is that "bread" that has no leven (or yeast) in it is the requirement.  Put it simply, slices of white bread cut into nice little squares or broken off is off limits because bread in that form contains yeast or leven.
Leven symbolically is identified as sin.  The Jewish passover, during which Jesus demonstrated what we now know as Communion would have used Matzah bread and that must have no yeast signifying no sin.  So if we partake of bread during communion that contains yeast or leven, and then proudly declare something like, "This is the body of Jesus...." we identify that body as having sin.  Is that blasphemy?

With that in mind, I looked at breakfast crackers here in Vanuatu.  There are two main brands - Punjas and FMF Breakfast Crackers plus countless Chinese kinds.  Here is the rub:
Punjas contains leven
FMF contains NO leven

So if I was to choose the most appropriate "bread" for communion I would use FMF Breakfast Crackers!  Not only do they not have yeast but they even have the characteristic stripes and holes present in Matzah bread

Matzah Bread

FMF Breakfast Cracker

The Wordless Book and Culture

The Wordless book (or banner) used in China

I was reading sermon by Charles H Spurgeon the other day called the Wordless Book.  This book was used by Hudson Taylor (founder of the China Inland Mission, now called the Overseas Missionary Fellowship).

Spurgeon is regarded as one of the princes of preaching ever to teach the Word of God.  He was a master orator but amazingly he could reduce the message of the Gospel down to the simplicity of coloured pages.   Invented this book because he was to deliver an address on the 11th of January 1866 to hundreds of orphans.

Bible Bashing Island Style

The Boys on the mat that had the close enounter

Last night I had just finished a talk to a fellowship at Melektri and during the singing afterwarda, every boy and girl on the mats in the front jumped up.  No it wasn'

t some move of the Holy Spirit but an enormous centipede that crawled under several of them. 

One of the men immediately leaped up and bashed the centipede many times with his hardcovered bible!  How symbolic I thought. 

The Gifts and Fruit of the Holy Spirit

As a part of my bible study program at Prima where I have been covering the main Biblical Doctrines, I am up to teaching the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology).  Whenever I teach, I aim to ensure that what I teach is true to scripture.  The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit is one such area where there is plenty of debate.

The debate focuses on such things as baptism in the Holy Spirit, manifestation of the gifts (especially emphasis on any one of the gifts such as Speaking in Tongues, Prophecy and Apostleship).

I see a need for the Church to better understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit as it is vitally important for the building up of the Church.  Simply put - many churches are disfunctioning because of a lack of gifts.  So my original quest was to run a series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and as such I set out to outline each of the gifts as a guide for church leaders, hopefully taking up only about 5-10 pages.

The result was over 200 A5 pages!  If you want to read the sneaked copy, I have made it available on Google Drive.  Click on the ARTICLES tab and open the ARTICLES folder then the LEAKED DOCUMENTS folder.  I have put up the first two parts of the pre-publication book. If that is too hard to follow Click Here.

I would appreciate if you could read it and comment here, especially regarding any inaccuracies that you see, especially in regard to Holy Spirit Doctrine. I would also like your opinion in how the Holy Spirit is understood by your Church.  Feel free to disagree with me if you like.  I enjoy a debate but also freely admit mistakes if I make them.

Enjoy!

"We love him, because he first loved us."—1 John 4:19.

If you have never heard of Charles H Spurgeon, then you are missing out on the teaching of one of Gods greatest teachers every to grace Christian History.  Forget much of the new kind of hype preaching that occurs today.  That is often entertainment.  But real teaching of the Word of God is found in many of the great men that were around during the revival period.  This was in the 1800s.

Here is the introduction to one of Spurgeon's sermons - his Sermon on Love

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 19th, 1858, At the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

DURING the last two Sabbath days I have been preaching the gospel to the unconverted. I have earnestly exhorted the very chief of sinners to look to Jesus Christ, and have assured them that as a preparation for coming to Christ, they need no good works, or good dispositions, but that they may come, just as they are, to the foot of the cross, and receive the pardoning blood and all-sufficient merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. The thought has since occurred to me, that some who were ignorant of the gospel might, perhaps, put this query:—Is this likely to promote morality? If the gospel be a proclamation of pardon to the very chief of sinners, will not this be a license to sin? In what respects can the gospel be said to be a gospel according to holiness? How will such preaching operate? Will it make men better? Will they be more attentive to the laws which relate to man and man? Will they be more obedient to the statutes which relate to man and God? I thought, therefore, that we would advance a step further, and endeavour to show, this morning, how the proclamation of the gospel of God, though in the commencement it addresses itself to men who are utterly destitute of any good, is, nevertheless, designed to lead these very men to the noblest heights of virtue, yea, to ultimate perfection in holiness. The text tells us, that the effect of the gospel received in the heart is, that it compels and constrains such a heart to love God. "We love him, because he first loved us." When the gospel comes to us it does not find us loving God, it does not expect anything of us, but coming with the divine application of the Holy Ghost, it simply assures us that God loves us, be we never so deeply immersed in sin; and then, the after effect of this proclamation of love is, that "we love him because he first loved us."

And that my friends is the message of the Gospel.  A Gospel of Love.

From BBC Documentary

This is interesting - especiallythe link made between the Mormon oath and that of freemasonry.  Also note the man in the support group at the end and how he talks about the Mormon Church removing identity, community status and the like.  I am witenssing exactly that here in Vanuatu.  

When the Mormon Cult ordains a missionary, that person is NEVER sent to their own people.   This is why you never see Man-Tanna missionaries in Tanna, or Man-Malekula missionaries in Malekula. 

Little Deacons

Here is the Faith in God Program and Award that young Mormon boys study in their Primary. I find it interesting that once a boys completes the program he is then prepared enough to receive ordination as a deacon

Now compare that with what the Bible says about Deacons.

1Tim 3:8-10 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not two-faced, not given to excessive drinking, not greedy for gain, holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And these also must be tested first and then let them serve as deacons if they are found blameless.11 Likewise also their wives must be dignified, not slanderous, temperate, faithful in every respect.12 Deacons must be husbands of one wife and good managers of their children and their own households.  For those who have served well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

That is a big ask for a boy!

Simply put, the Mormon church devalues the role of Deacon.  In fact, their use of the terms Deacon, Elder, Apostle and Prophet are also well below that required for such a title as outlined in the bible.  So to talk to a Mormon about these terms is like talking to them in a completely foreign language.

  

This is not unusual in cults - the devaluing or misconstruction of words and terms familiar to the average Christian means that before engaging in conversation over such things relating to doctrine, there is a need to establish the frames of reference.  For example:  if we say that something is wicked, to an adult that means it is evil, but to a teenager, it means really good!  A teenager understands that wicked means it is cool.  Cool is not cold, but something from OK to great!  

To a mormon, there is no Hell, there is only Heaven - \Everyone goes to Heaven.  To a Christian's way of understanding, that means that Mormons appear to say that sinners too go to heaven.  Mormons would not disagree, but that is because what you know is Heaven and what the Mormons believe is heaven,are different!  The Mormons believe there are three heavens - Celestial (what we Christians call heaven), Telestial (we call the sky) and Terrestrial (what we call the Earth).  A Mormon on death does to the Celestial Heaven, us non-mormons who nevertheless believe in God go to the Telestial while sinners return to Earth (the Terrestrial).  

Open Letter to Mormons

Dear member of the Mormon Faith

Recently the LDS Organisation showed an interest in my operations as it may be posing a threat to your faith.   They sent a spy, disguised as a Peace Corps member to investigate me when I was recently on Malekula.  It was too bad that after 2 years, he was immaculately presented - so unlike the standard Peace Corps volunteer after 2 years living in a remote village.  One thing that you are good at is dressing and presenting yourself well.

If you are part of the Mormon Leadership here in Vanuatu, can I suggest that you simply come out and ask me straight what I am doing.  There is no need to hide behind deceptive techniques like this.  I am open to discussion.  No doubt you know where I live,what I drive, who are my friends and how to contact me.  You know all about me because the secretive committee called the  "Strengthening Church Members Committee" which mainly spies on its own church members may actually be also spying on those who are opposed to it's own cause.  It is likely that I have appeared on the SCMC radar as a threat.

So pick up the phone and call.  If you want to know what I think and what I talk about, but are too afraid to ask, check out the articles tab.  It links to my cloud storage.  Actually I encourage every Mormon to check out what I write about there.  I provide many references straight out of Mormon Literature,including your Standard Works, and publications written by the men you look up to as your prophets from God, so there is no disputing is there?

I understand that you use the Book of Mormon as your definitive guide to everything, but it does concern me that you cannot show in the BoM supporting scripture for your current doctrines. For example, your doctrine states that there is more than one God.  You can find that in D&C 132:20 and 37, yet in the BoM, Alma 11:26-29 states there is only one God.  No doubt, you as a leader can explain that away somehow, after all you must defend your faith despite the truth, because you have invested a large part of your life to chasing that belief.  

If you are a missionary, you no doubt have been sent away from your family for about 2 years.  You believe strongly that you are sent by the LDS church to spread the Gospel as outlined by your Prophet Joseph Smith.  However, why is it that you never see a missionary witness in his own village, or city, or even Island.  Why were you sent to somewhere entirely away from your family.  Why does your name badge not show your first name.  I like to introduce myself by first name.  You can call me Dan.  I know that you find it hard to be away from your family and that you yearn to call home, but the church forbids you calling home except on Mother's Day and Christmas Day.  That must be hard - to lose that much contact with your family and even to lose contact with your very name.  I do not understand that the LDS Church promotes family values on one hand but then takes young men and women away from those families.

Your family are sacrificing a great deal to enable you to live out your dream of serving the LDS Church.  I hear that one young man from Malekula is currently in NZ for 3 months training, kindly provided free by the Mormon Church.  All his family had to do was sign a "Covenant" with the church that they would agree to become members of the church and to give tithes.  The fact that a covenant is a binding contract until the death of one of the parties, means that your family signed their lives away to give you what you wanted.  

So to put in all that effort,and considering the commitment your family has agree to, but to discover that it is all in vain would be traumatic for you.  You feel you can never walk away even if you do come to realise how much deception the Church has hidden from you out of fear of letting your family, who you love, down. 

But thankfully, there is a God of mercy who by his grace can forgive you even now for your error.  The same God can also free your family from the yolk of bondage too.  You see, my God, the Almighty God, the creator of the Universe, through his Son Jesus Christ made it always possible to find a way to Him.   All you have to do is ask him and repent.

I have quite a few Mormon friends, along with other friends from cults like SDA and Jehovah's Witnesses.  I enjoy talking to you and finding out from you directly what you believe.  I may not always agree with what your Church believes but I do believe this - I do not want you to follow a road that has no eternal life.  I want you to enjoy eternal life in Jesus Christ.  In fact the other day, I talked to an American missionary called Dan and his counterpart from Australia - Calvin.  Two nice young men who have a zeal for their faith that is commendable, but the fact the zeal is misguided concerns me.  I wish that true followers of Jesus would have the same zeal as you have for your faith, but sadly they do not.   I am interested in discussing your doctrine and sharing my doctrine with you, but for some reason, you often seem reluctant.  When I was in Malekula, I asked an Elder to share his Gospel message with a group of the men from the village, yet he was reluctant to do so.  That is a sad situation where this man who was on a mission from your Church would not sit down and take this excellent opportunity.  I am never afraid to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who wants to listen.

I am interested that you always talk about your Testimony, and yet if I ask for conclusive proof that your testimony is true, you cannot provide that.  My understanding of a testimony is that which is presented in a court of law as fact.  In other words, you are a witness to the fact.  So why is it that you spent a great deal of time memorizing the same testimony that every other missionary memorizes.  Is that your testimony?  If that was a court, and I had ten eyewitnesses testify the exact same thing - word for word, I would label that as suspicious.  Can you please provide clear evidence that what you testify is a true and accurate record of events and facts.

I thank you for taking the time to read and consider this letter.  I am concerned for your eternity, and it is out of love for you that I take time to write this letter.  Do I hate Mormons? Absolutely not, but just like in politics, there is a political party that I support and one that I speak against because I disagree with their policy.  Yet, in NZ we get two votes - one for the Party and one for our electorate candidate.  When it comes time to vote, I vote for my party, yet I vote for a candidate that is actually from a party that I do not agree with at all!  The same it is with you. Despite the fact that you are a member of an organisation that clearly has many doctrinal problems, I still do not hate you for that.

2John 1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Dan Dempsey

Mormon Spies [UPDATED]

Did you know that the Mormon Church employs spies to watch its members?  This was revealled by a recent BBC documentary called "The Mormon Candidate."  In that documenraty, The two people directly asked about this secret Committee were Elder Jeffrey Holland and Senior Church PR Manager Michael Purdy. 

You can watch a bit of that here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9v2GxDs4To

There is a committee called the "Strengthening Church Members Committee." This is a secret committee that exists within the church that keeps files on the activities on its members. It sends the files to local church leaders with instructions to interrogate them about their commitment to the church. The committee still active today.  How this committee works can be seen in this short piece from Jerald and Sandra Tanner,and found on the ex-Mormon website Mormon Curtain.  I only put a small piece of the extract here.  Check out Mormon Curtain for the rest, or purchase the book.

Material originally extracted from "The Changing World Of Mormonism", Jerald and Sandra Tanner; Moody Press, Chicago, 1981; Chapter 10.

Since 1976 the Mormon church was repeatedly embarrassed by one of its own members who became alienated over the anti-black doctrine and decided to take matters into his own hands. On April 3, 1976 the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Douglas A. Wallace "ordained a black into the priesthood Friday, saying he did so in an attempt to force a revision in Mormon doctrine about the Negro race.... Wallace said he has long been bothered by the Mormon Church's bias against blacks, and he feels the time has come to challenge it. He said often all that is required to change a policy is for someone to break out of tradition ... he hopes there are no recriminations against him for his action, such as excommunication."

On April 13, 1976 the Salt Lake Tribune revealed that "Douglas A. Wallace was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Sunday for ordaining a black man into the church's priesthood." ... (Ibid., October 4, 1976). ...

Douglas Wallace filed lawsuits amounting to millions of dollars against the Mormon church, and although he was not able to prevail against the church in the courts, the publicity surrounding the suits caused the church no end of trouble. We feel that his actions and the embarrassment they caused the church played a part in bringing about the decision to have a new "revelation."

I find this excerpt amazing because it again highlights the issues the church has with black members.  A doctrine that some in the Cult denies ever existed.

So what is known of the Cult.  This from the website "Recovery from Mormonism." (also known as exmormon.org)

So what did we learn for sure about this Committee?
1. It exists and operates today, right now.
2. It monitors members who it perceives as not towing the line to the extent their behaviour may affect others.
3. It is secretive and shadowy.
4. It's activities are such that senior Church leaders are uncomfortable talking about it and would be, initially, prepared to lie about it's existence and purpose.

We can also surmise that:
5. Tithing pays the wages of the people working full time for the Committee.
6. The Committee actively monitors online forums such as this one.
7. People like Grant Palmer and Michael Quinn have been victims of this Committee.
The one true Church of God on the earth today...yeah right...

Now that I am putting in more effort into highlighting the major deceptions behind the Mormon Church, it is likely that in a short period of time, this website too will be monitored.

Is this committee active in Vanuatu?  I believe it is.  I also believe that it is also active in spying on anyone that speaks out against the cult.  In fact, just by calling the LDS organisation a cult is enough to bring the accuser to their attention.  I was recently in Malekula where I was running a series of seminars on the False Christian Cults - Mormonism is one of these.  When out of the blue, a young American man showed up.  He says he was working for the Peace Corps in neighboring Brenwe village.  He had been working for two years and was due to return home.  Now if anyone has experience with Peace Corps in this part of the world, one thing you notice is that they arrive clean cut, but after two years in the wilds,they go what can be best described as feral!  (Bushy beard, shorts, singlet, bare feet and woven basket.)  This man was young, immaculate, had nice clothes and a western style backpack.  He was NOT Peace Corps.

Secondly, Brenwe is a main base for Mormons in Malekula.
Thirdly, he said that he was good friends with two missionaries representing the "Church of Christ."  This is suspicious because the "Church of Christ" in Vanuatu is not the "Church of Christ" that founded the Mormon Church.  It is more Calvanistic and Philanthropic in nature, like Presbyterians.  The neighbouring island of Ambae is strongly CoC.  I do not believe that the CoC currently has missionaries (or volunteers) in Brenwe, but I have written to them to find out if it is true.
Fourthly: I asked him what he was doing here, and he said that he came to "Stikem Nek"  (That is Bislama for trying to peddle something, or to solicit.

I believe that he was sent to investigate me on behalf of this committee, or maybe I am rating myself too highly to think that you even care about what I do.  There are better ways to find out who I am and what makes me tick.  Just ask me directly. I would love to share with you.  You do not need to send spies.

[UPDATE: Above I quoted from exMormon.org the following - :6. The Committee actively monitors online forums such as this one."  Well, now they are observing this blog site!  I am in esteemed company it seems!   lol.  See my "Mormons are Watching" Post]

Unmet Malekula

What you find on the SDA Tithe Envelope in Vanuatu

You may find the SDA tithe envelope interesting.  Firstly, look how much they make out of the 15,000-odd members each year!  Secondly, take your bibles and look up the verses they mention.  (Try 1 Cor 16:2)

Front 

Back - 136 Million Vatu!!!!

Mormons and Racism

On October 19, 1971, the Genesis Group was established as an auxiliary unit to the church. Its purpose was to serve the needs of black members, including activating members and welcoming converts. It continues to meet on the first Sunday of each month in Utah. Don Harwell is the current president.^[13] When asked about racism in the church, he said "Now, is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints racist? No, never has been. But some of those people within the church have those tendencies. You have to separate the two." [Wikipedia]

This is an amazing statement considering the long history of what the Church has actually stated:

When did the SDA Cult realise that Ellen G Whites Investigative Judgement and Sabbath doctrines were false?>

The SDA Cult relies on three main doctrines to support their money making enterprise.  ( around 136,000,000vt in tithes out of Vanuatu each year in fact - according to a to the tithe envelope that fell into my hands.)

1. The teachings, writings and visions of Ellen G White as God given truth
2. The observance of the Sabbath
3. Investigative Judgement / Heavenly Sanctuary 

What many SDA members do not know is that the SDA leadership has known and kept hidden the fact that they admit that EGW was in fact a fraud in regards to her teaching on theSabbath and Investigative Judgement.  

Ask an SDA this question

Here is something you should ask an SDA the next time you meet one.
"When you die, are you going to heaven or not?"

For most Christian believers, they answer strongly in the positive - YES!  I am definitely going to heaven.  But for an SDA, they strongly believe in a doctrine called "Investigative Judgement."  This states that Jesus moved into the Heavenly Sanctuary in October of 1844.  The reason for this date is that at the time,Ellen G White - false prophetess of the SDA Cult claimed that this date was when Christ would return.  He didn't come so damage control was needed.  The 1844 date was actually not EG White's vision from God but that of William Millar, who EGW was a disciple.   William Millar confessed his error but EGW hung on to this obvious lie.

—"As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living. Every name is mentioned, every case closely investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected".

(The Great Controversy, 1950 edition, page 483).

—"At the time appointed for the judgment –the close of the 2300 days, in 1844– began the work of investigation and blotting out of sins. All who have ever taken upon themselves the name of Christ must pass Its searching scrutiny. Both the living and the dead are judged 'out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works ".

(The Great Controversy, 1950 edition, page 486).

According to the Investigate Judgement, Christ is currently studying every dead person's name throughout history and determining if they are eligible for heaven or not.  As if somehow he does not know who is in and who is out.  This despite this verse in John:

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me

Once this occurs, He will then check out the living.  No one knows when the living will be checked out so every SDA must live in fear of rejection rather than hope.  The problem they face is that every sin you ever commit after repenting into the SDA Cult is remembered in that book and will be used against you.

But it gets worse.  This is an embarrassment to SDAs but EGW also taught a doctrine called the Shut Door. SDAs deny this or at the very least do not tell their congregations, but EGW believed that sicne 1844, those who had not repented before that point would never enter heaven.  Jesus had effectively closed the door of heaven for humankind.

EGW goes on to say that Jesus moved into the Heavenly Sanctuary in 1844.  The implication between AD30 and AD1844, he was somewhere else.

—

EGW: "...In 1844 Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, to perform the closing work of atonement, preparatory to His coming"

(The Great Controversy, page 481)

This goes against scripture which says:

—Eph 1:20 This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms

—Col 3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

There is one throne in heaven, and Jesus has always been there.  God has not moved it from one place to another.  Furthermore, what about Enoch and  Elijah who were whisked away to heaven,  Is their fate known?  The simple answer is, yes, they are assured of salvation.  How do we know that we are assusred of our salvation - that we have Eternal Life (Laef we i no save finis)?

—Rom 5:6-11

—Rom 5:11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

—Heb 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  


Received and Accomplished means he already has done it.  The writer of Romans and Hebrews knew that around 1800 years before EGW says that Jesus entered the Heavenly Sanctuary.  Jesus took less than three days to accomplish this, and most likely, only the six hours that he was raised on the cross for your sins and your sickness.

So for an SDA, the assurance of their salvation is not known.  This is a sad thing and against scripture.  It is concerning that the SDA cult also knew the Investigative Judgement was not sound bible doctrine and that EGW was essentially a fraud as farback as 1910.  You can read the reasons why the doctrine of Investigative Judgement is not based on scripture at by downloading the powerpoint from Google Drive.  It is written with a mix of English and Bislama and you may freely use it inyour studies or church. View here.

Sam

Sunday the 29th of April 2012 will stand out as one of those typical days in Vanuatu and yet very special and unique.  Now that statement is an oxymoron – typically unique – but life for me here is a lot like a captivating thriller that never ends. Let me explain by going back years before that date…

Articles

General Topics

The Lord's Prayer

Mormons and other Christian Cults

I have recently been to Malekula speaking about some of the cults that are invading Vanuatu.  I will update more on this later.  It is important that you please pray for Vanuatu as many are falling for the deception.  I have some alarming stories to tell on how these Churches are raping the country and its people of their freedom and also their money.