Body Building

Date of Publication Feb. 2005 WM1258

ANOTHER OF THE NEWEST DENOMINATIONAL BOOKS -

SPIRITUAL BODY BUILDING

The following letter was sent to us from a fellow believer in Florida:

"I was invited to join a small group to study the Adventist book, just out this year, entitled Spiritual Body Building. I had heard the president of the Florida Conference speak on this theme in one of his talks on 3ABN. The concept sounded familiar until I realized it was based on the same theories and ideas found in Ignatius Loyola's Spiritual Exercises.

"The book continually drags God down to our level and devalues the sacred meaning of His holy Word. Nothing is sacred, nothing left unscathed. Love rather than holiness Is said to be God's fundamental attribute. Many quotes are from secular and non-Adventist sources, including Christianity Today, Institute for Motivational Living, and Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), David W. Johnson and Frank B Johnson (Joining Together), and Charles Colson.

"We are going to Babylon for our personal and group Bible study, and most don't even notice it. Unity in truth is the only true unity of God. This book has no sound doctrine, although there are Spirit of Prophecy quotes sprinkled throughout to keep people deceived and asleep.

"The author Is Kim Johnson, an SDA pastor and one who has a personal 'vision for the remnant church. This book is full of false truth and wordy visions to help us be Christians.

"Silly questions are proposed and worked into doctrine for us to follow, such as: Is it more sacred for a pastor to preach a sermon or for a Christian plumber to fix a leaky pipe? This particular sermon thought Includes having some of the congregation participate by

'bringing their tools of the trade up to the communion table at the front of the church. A special 'dedicatory ceremony' is then performed, and they are asked to stay for a 'commissioning prayer.' The pastor then prays that all the power of electricity, etc.. be transformed into a power for good.

"On subsequent Sabbaths, other tools are brought up. For example, barbers and hairdressers lay their brushes and combs and wigs on the communion table so they can be dedicated.

"Our people are being seriously side-tracked, so the Three Angels' Messages will be forgotten and we will become like the other Protestant Churches.

"The glorifying of self, instead of pointing others to the Saviour, is the way taught-but it is the way of death.

"Small group meetings are encouraged, so we can tell one another our special needs, our hopes and disappointments. Group psychology is really group pressure to conform and not think for one's self. A person regresses to a primitive mental state. The atmosphere is not holy, sacred, solemn, and soul-searching,-but rather emotional; and a person learns to be controlled and directed by another mind.

"It is a ploy to convert SDA Christians to Jesuit spirituality, and we should have nothing to do with it. We must stand on the fact that Jesus is our example and the Spirit of Prophecy will help us understand the truths in the Bible. But those who hold to such values are labeled in this book as disruptive church members who hold extreme views. We have gone so far back to Egypt that we no longer recognize the truth. If we study the ecumenical movement theology of love and unity, the love gospel and the spiritualism which it teaches, we will be training our conscience in Jesuit 'spiritual formation' principles that will render us in total submission to Satan.

"Do NOT rest your trust in a familiar confidant or spiritual director' or 'soul friend.' Our only eternal soul friend is Jesus Christ! He alone can be trusted with our minds and hearts. We must look to Jesus, not relationships, to save us! People will let you down; Jesus never will! He will give you grace and power to overcome sin! He wants us to be sinless and spotless and ready to meet Him in the clouds of glory!

"The principles in this book are based on Roman Catholic natural law, which is the natural inclination of the heart. The cry is, Achieve your full potential! Contemporize! We can do it ourselves, and God will learn from us!'

But, instead, we must be humble, separate, and peculiar to the world. We must worship God in spirit and in truth. We must be dedicated to the truth. We are His witnesses; and as Christ is a faithful Witness, so we must be down here!

"We must be ready for every work that we can do for the Master, instead of catching up every new and fanciful interpretation of the Scriptures. We must cling to the messages in the Bible/Spirit of Prophecy, continue deep soul-searching, and return to primitive godliness! We must be motivated by true love for God and His truth, and not by 'the love gospel' or by coercion by guilt.

"We can do this, dear brethren, by reading the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy more than anything else! We have no time to lose; the enemy is in the camp and is in great disguise-and we are not detecting it! The foundation is being undermined by the termites of error and sedition. We must be watchmen and warn the sleeping saints!"-Florida. December 2004.

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