There seems to be a lot of confusion over what Ellen White taught about Jesus. Did she teach he had a beginning at some point, or that he always existed with the Father as a co-eternal member of the Godhead? So, for the next two episodes we'll be going off topic from the Sabbath School Quarterly to address this issue. 

In this study we focus on one particular statement she made.

Here's the statement:

In Signs of the Times, August 29,1900, Ellen wrote,

"Christ is the pre-existent, self-existent Son of God…. In speaking of his pre-existence, Christ carries the mind back through dateless ages. He assures us that there never was a time when He was not in close fellowship with the eternal God." Ellen White, Signs of the Times, Aug. 29, 1900. (Evangelism, p. 615)

So, there are two aspects of her statement we look at today. The part where she says that Christ is "self-existent," and the part where she says that “there never was a time when Jesus was not in close fellowship with the eternal God.” What did she mean?

One way to know is to see how this term and phrase were generally used at the time Ellen wrote this, and find out whether Ellen's use of them enables us to know whether or not she thought Jesus had a beginning.

For more study, see: 

“The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine (2022 Series)”

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1&si=CffjlgHfZyehEc_5

 “2010 Seventh Day Adventist General Conference Agenda Addendum”

https://www.bdsda.com/2010-seventh-day-adventist-general-conference-agenda-addendum/

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 10

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. 

www.bdsda.com  

Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests. 

This week's lesson is called "Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord." This is from Psalm 118 and was applied to Jesus by the crowds who welcomed him into Jerusalem at his triumphal entry, as recorded in Mark 11. So, Jesus is said to have come *in the name* of the Lord. And Jesus also said this about himself.

So, what does it even mean to come in someone's name? Join us as we study what scripture has to say by looking at examples of Jesus coming in the name of His Father, a disciple welcoming a child in Jesus’ name, praying in Jesus’ name, God proclaiming His name to Moses in Exodus 34, and finally, the example of the Holy Spirit coming in the name of Jesus.

 For more study, see: 

“The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine (2022 Series)”

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1&si=CffjlgHfZyehEc_5

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 8, "Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord."

 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

 www.bdsda.com

 Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests.

Today's lesson is about Psalm 1, and as you'll see, there are important lessons to learn here that you probably haven't noticed before. If you don't remember what Psalm 1 is about, Thursday's lesson in the Sabbath School Quarterly expresses it really nicely by saying that it depicts the righteous by a simile of a tree planted by streams of water. And it's that "streams of water" part that we're going to really focus on today. And what we find is that if you want to be someone who could be likened to a tree that's transplanted by the streams of water that's drawing nourishment from God's direction that's like that stream, then you need to make sure that you find, not just some still body of truth – a body of truth that came in the past – and that is here entirely already – no, you need to find something that's **not** that – you need to find God's ever flowing instruction. You need to be looking for God's continual and progressive direction, and transplant yourself there.

For more study, see:

“What is the Spirit of Prophecy? SDA Edition” by Trent Wilde
https://www.bdsda.com/what-is-the-spirit-of-prophecy-sda-edition-2/

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 8, "Wisdom for Righteous Living" 

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

 www.bdsda.com

 Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests.

You know the line, "for His *mercy* endures forever"? Most likely, you've heard it many times since it's repeated in several Psalms. But here's the thing, not all translations use the word "mercy" here. So, in this study, we'll be considering whether God's *mercy* really does last forever, and also what these psalms are really saying when they say God's "something" lasts forever.

For more study, see:

Jeremiah Against Orthodoxy (Ancient and Modern) https://www.bdsda.com/2023/01/24/jeremiah-against-orthodoxy-ancient-and-modern/

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 7, "Your Mercy Reaches Unto the Heavens"

 A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

 www.bdsda.com

 Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests.

Most SDAs are aware that the judgment commenced in the sanctuary in heaven on October 22, 1844. As we know, the Millerites got the date right, but the event wrong. When they came to understand that the sanctuary would be cleansed on that day, they thought the sanctuary was the earth. But, as God soon showed, it was the sanctuary in heaven. Okay, so we know all of that, but, is there any evidence of there ever being a cleansing of the sanctuary on earth?

For more study, see:

"Do You Know About the Judgment of the Living?" https://youtu.be/ZHfjOCjnMm0?si=w66FUqa5SXY0Izne

"The Two Phases of the Pre-Advent Judgment" https://traffic.libsyn.com/branchsabbathschool/SS2022Q4W13_judgment.mp3

"The Judgment and the Harvest," https://www.bdsda.com/the-judgment-and-the-harvest/

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 6, "I will Arise"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. 

www.bdsda.com Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests 

In our study this week, we are going to deal with issues addressed in both of the two latest Sabbath School lessons from the quarterly on Psalms for this quarter – and that is, what are we to think about the times of adversity we experience in this life, even with all the wonderful promises in the scriptures about God’s protection and deliverance from evil? 

For further study on the deliverance at the voice of God, see:
"The Two Deliverances:" http://www.bdsda.com/the-two-deliverances/

Ellen White's Testimonies for the Church, Volume 3, chapter 27, titled, "The Laodicean Church," starting on page 252: https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/119.1152#1153

For further study on deliverance from sinning – Justification by Faith, see:

"What is Justification:" https://youtu.be/E1xAiDdAnaE?si=8XUW7Jgo5RkXKUXu

And "Justification by Faith" playlist: https://youtu.be/E1xAiDdAnaE?si=8XUW7Jgo5RkXKUXu

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Weeks 4 and 5

A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. 

www.bdsda.com Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests 

In this study, we build on last week's study on prayer. What we showed in last week's study, ("Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?" linked below) is that Scripture contains many examples and admonitions to pray audibly with our mouths while it contains no admonitions or examples to pray merely mentally. Even though the idea of merely mental prayer is popular today, it is ultimately foreign to Scripture.

Today we continue with this topic by looking at another aspect of prayer; specifically, how scripture portrays the role of angels in taking our prayers to God – and that since angels do bring our prayers to God, obviously God isn't receiving them through mind-reading our merely mental prayers.

Then we get into the implications of these scriptural aspects of prayer. Why use angels if God is already personally everywhere present? If God is personally everywhere present, wouldn't that make the ministry of the angels useless? Ellen White addressed this issue. She said that "extreme views of 'God in nature' undermine the foundation truths of the personality of God and the ministration of angels." Join us as we deal with the realities of the scriptural view of prayer, the personality of God, and the ministration of angels.

For further study:

"Is Merely Mental Prayer Scriptural?"
https://youtu.be/S-cntY9BJhk?si=ImTN7ThWSMgiLB0X

"The Personality of God" playlist, 
 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbPVtTaj0MXEsuRokPxciM7PjCTveaTi1

"Angels: Their Nature and Ministry," written by Dudley Canright and later revised by Joseph Waggoner,
https://egwwritings.org/read?panels=p1441.107(1441.106)&index=0

"Why SDAs Should Care About The Apocrypha," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t-9IodBtaY&list=PLq5exKaBCIq-7c-U5hkiZLPEUS37S4NFF&index=1&t=1269s

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 1: Psalms – Week 3

A Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School Lesson. 

www.bdsda.com

Email us bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and study requests

Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians,"
https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com

In our study today, we're going to look at what Scripture has to say about whether prayer should be spoken out loud or merely thought in our minds.

Even though the idea of merely mental prayer is popularly practiced today, does scripture portray it as a means of communication with God?

For further study, see our series,

"Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic: Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus" (Series Info and Videos) – April-May 2023

https://www.bdsda.com/2023/04/03/before-spirit-was-spiritualistic-upcoming-series-april-may-2023/

Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 2

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. 

www.bdsda.com 

Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests. 

Podcast link for "Sabbath School with Branch Davidians:" https://branchsabbathschool.libsyn.com 

In this study we discuss a principle to keep in mind when reading any author's work - a principle that will help us understand more clearly what an author is trying to communicate. The principle: it's important to judge the writings of each author on their own merits rather than judging them by their association with other writings. This is important when we're talking about any writing that could potentially be a product of divine inspiration.

As we go through this, we'll introduce you to some facts that might be new and even surprising in regard to the Psalms, the topic of this quarterly study. For example, did you know the 150 psalms in the Protestant bible aren't the only psalms out there?

In the 1940s and 50s, Bedouin and archaeologists discovered a significant number of ancient manuscripts in locations by the Dead Sea. These became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Included among these manuscripts were 40 Psalm scrolls dating from the 2nd century BC to the first century AD. Some contain familiar psalms in an unfamiliar order, and several of the scrolls include others psalms side by side the psalms in our bibles simply as part of the collection. This includes Psalm 151 as well as the psalms known as Psalm 154 and 155. But there are also psalms that were completely unknown to modern people until they were found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is hugely significant because it is plain manuscript evidence showing that at the time of Jesus and the apostles, there was no one book of Psalms like we have in our bibles today.

We've included links to where you can read English translations of the Psalms scrolls from the Dead Sea Scrolls along with the Psalms known as Psalms 151-155.

Dead Sea Scrolls Psalm Scrolls - http://dssenglishbible.com/ScrollsPsalms.htm

Psalm 151 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-151-according-to-the.../

Psalm 152 and 153 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-152-and-153-a-hebrew.../

Psalm 154 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-154-according-to-the.../

Psalm 155 - https://opensiddur.org/.../psalms-155-according-to-the.../

For further study, see our "Scripture Canon" playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bwezbikTsIHG2_eaNcbLd0SW&si=uBo_5B3_t3Ie-rk-

Sabbath School Q1 2024: Psalms – Week 1

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson. 

www.bdsda.com 

Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests. 

As SDAs we are called to proclaim the present truth, but what preset truth has the denomination accepted since Ellen's death over 100 years in the past? Given that Ellen spoke so much about the importance of keeping up with new light and advancing truth, it seems strange that there has not been any in over 100 years.

Basically the things that have been updated as far as the fundamental beliefs are concerned have not been anything that the rest of the world doesn’t already have too. The doctrines newly accepted by the SDA church over the past 100 or so years simply don't qualify as present truth. The most we could possibly claim regarding those doctrines is that they're past truths that SDAs were behind the other churches on. If our SDA leadership, the General Conference, has not accepted or claimed to have received any new light since Ellen's death over 100 years ago, should we personally be satisfied with this? Join our study as we investigate this topic.

For further study, see:

"The Study of Knowledge" Playlist, https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw8ykUZG-bweNGaL5X92Lm_fUj4dBjVS8&si=wzPA6wVhC8baEGLf

Sabbath School Q4 2023: "The End of God's Mission" - Week 13

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

www.bdsda.com

Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests.