To Ray

Thanks Ray,

We actually attended Adventist congregrations and that is where I learned about Ellen White. I love her. I was quite surprised to find out that very few folks even read her these days, much less talk about her from the pulpit. Even those who have grown up in the church do not know much about her. I am in the USA.

One of the Adventist preachers recently was talking about how, in general, the white Adventist congregations in the US are not growing, even downsizing some. The other Adventist congregations in the US, such as the African-American, Hispanic, Korean, etc., churches are booming. And the Adventist church is rapidly growing in other parts of the world. I have heard several people estimate that someone is baptized into this church every 28 seconds worldwide.

I love 3ABN. Are you familiar with this station? I have learned so much from it.

We are just beginning to investigate the messianic movement. My husband's mother was reared Jewish, then became a Christian, so there are a lot of Jewish roots in the family. I also had several Jewish friends when growing up and have always been fascinated with them as a people. I guess you could say it is based on the Jewish faith with a belief in Jesus - Yeshua.

They do not have a traditional service as we know it. They have some sort of circle dancing at the beginning of the service with music and singing. The kids are pretty well worn out by the time it comes to sit down and do the actual Bible study, pretty smart, huh? Then the facilitator talks and gives scriptures on a particular subject. He solicits a lot of feedback from the congregation, so that is nice. It is not real formal.

There seem to be some agrarian peoples there as well. One family brings their "first fruits" as tithe and offering and it is some of the most beautiful produce I have ever seen.

Another thing that is different about them is the size of the families. There are a few folks without children, some with grown children and then some families have between 5-10 children. One couple, the farmers, just announced that #11 is on the way. This is very refreshing to me. All the children look healthy and appropriately dressed. The older ones help with the younger ones. This is refreshing to me as these folks seem to embody that children really are a reward from the Lord. Even though I grew up in a supposedly Christian household, children were still unwanted and considered a burden. What a contrast!

I am careful to ascertain their beliefs, but they are slowly unfolding. I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting in with a cult, as my beliefs are probably pretty much along the lines of Adventism. I did hear one lady state that a member was talking to a couple about Yeshua, the church, etc., one of whom was a non-English speaking Russian, and this Russian understood everything she was saying. This is along the lines of speaking in tongues as I understand it. I first heard of this happening at evangelistic meetings and it was/is such a wonderful concept to me. They believe in the return of Yeshua at the sound of the trumpet. They blew on a shofar trumpet this past Sabbath, and it was truly an impressive sound.

I look forward to further correspondence with you. Thanks.

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