Sermon Tone Analysis

News Headlines

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m so fed up with the news.

And I’m not talking about CNN vs Fox News, or whichever.

I’m talking about all the nasty, crazy, and just evil stuff going on in the world.

Here are just a few sample headlines:

President’s arts and humanities committee resigns over Trump’s Charlottesville response

This was about the fact that, yet another of President Trump’s advisory committees has resigned over something he said, this time over the statements he made regarding the events in Charlottesville, VA.

‘We were guinea pigs’: Jailed inmates agreed to birth control

Inmates in a rural county of Tennessee were advised that they could shave off an entire month of their prison sentence if they would be willing to, for females, be on a long-term birth control solution, and for men, to endure a vasectomy.

Today's Headlines Signal Convergence with 'End of Days' Scenario, Rabbi Says

Aaaand this one.

Let me read the last few paragraphs of this article:

The other reason is that there are so many prophecies being fulfilled that the Jewish people are focusing on that rather than heavenly signs, he said.

He likened the coming of the Messiah to birth pangs and the contractions getting closer and closer together before a woman gives birth.

"So, too, events on the planet earth will get more and more intense and happen much more rapidly and certainly I would say things are speeding up very dramatically in the world, the change that is taking place, the political upheaval, the technological advances, as to whether that is linked to astronomical events that are coming, we'll only know [when it happens]," Spiro said.

"We could be hitting that end of days scenario," he continued.

"Certainly time is definitely running out and as we see by what's going on in the world, in a positive and a negative way – I mean the rebirth of the State of Israel, the reunification of Jerusalem.

We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of that.

I mean that's unbelievable, that's prophecy coming true before our eyes.

The nations of the world lining up against Israel, largely, what you see going on in UNESCO, the United Nations is clearly a sign," he said.

US vs THEM

If you look carefully at each and every event going on across the nation and the world, it always boils down to “us versus them.”

Blacks versus whites, liberal versus conservative, Muslim versus Christian, Westerner versus Middle East or Europe.

America versus Russia.

Man versus woman.

Adventists versus Catholicism.

We - They; Us - Them.

Here’s the thing, and I hate that I have to preface this, but let me be clear: I condemn all acts of violence and hate, regardless their source.

I am not against defending innocent people who have committed no violent acts, but I am against responding to violence with more violence.

I believe that, in this, Dr. Martin Luther King got things right.

That said, with everything happening in our country and in the world right now, Christians as a whole, and especially as Adventists, are no better than anybody else.

Period.

You see, Paul was dealing with this same issue when it came to the church in Rome.

Turn with me to our Scripture reading for today, :

9 What then?

Are we Jews any better off?

No, not at all.

For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

11  no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

13  “Their throat is an open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16  in their paths are ruin and misery,

17  and the way of peace they have not known.”

18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Did you catch that?

NONE IS RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS.

NO ONE SEEKS FOR GOD.

ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, NO ONE DOES GOOD, NOT EVEN ONE!

This means:

the racist neo-Nazis are not righteous.

The counter protesters are not righteous.

The Democrats are not righteous.

The Republicans are not righteous.

Liberals are not righteous.

Conservatives are not righteous.

Europeans are not righteous.

Middle-easterners are not righteous.

Russians are not righeous.

Muslims are not righteous.

Muslims are not righteous.

Jews are not righteous.

Atheists are not righteous.

Christians are not righteous.

ADVENTISTS are not righteous!

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US, IF WE BEAR THE LABEL “HUMAN” ALSO BEARS THE OTHER LABELS THAT PAUL STATES IN TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING!!

You see, the Christian church in Rome had a bit of a race relations problem.

Due to persecution, the Jewish Christians had to get out of Dodge.

The synagogues where they were meeting were getting destroyed.

So, what did the Gentile Christians do?

Well, they had to keep on keeping on!

They reorganized themselves with their own leaders, and met in house churches!

Later on, after things blew over, the Jewish Christians came back, and found themselves…not needed.

They were trying to take the leadership positions that they held when they left, positions of pastors, elders, deacons, etc…but found that those positions were filled…with Gentile Christians.

It became a whole mess of us versus them, Jew versus Gentile.

In a phrase: a total mess.

That said…then what’s the point?

Well, I’m glad you asked.

Here’s the point, and I’ve got three of them to make:

Getting into arguments, quarrels, and fights over all of this nonsense is absolutely pointless.

How we talk to one another and treat one another matters, especially to our salvation

There is one thing alone that is supposed to make us different from the rest of the world.

Why Fight?

Seriously, I have had it up to here with social media arguments and fighting.

He said, she said, blah, blah, blah.

And 99% of what I’m seeing is coming from fellow Christians, and of that, 90% is coming from fellow Adventists.

Seriously?

I mean, come on!

Who here can tell me that there is ANY use or ANY kind of love in these fights and arguments?

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It is so sad to see these kinds of things popping up all over social media.

And then people arguing and fighting over what was posted, and why, and yada yada yada.