40
Days of Prayer for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Son
of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon
in the day of indignation.” Ezekiel 22:24
Click to go to our Home Page
|
Dennis Smith, an SDA pastor, has written a
book series on 40 days of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Dennis
can advocate praying for the Holy Spirit every day from now till Jesus comes,
but God’s Word says that the Holy Spirit will not be poured out upon the SDA
church and those who remain members in its state of apostasy.
Ezekiel 22:24 is just an extension of Ezekiel
9. Remember, there were no chapter divisions in the original writings of the
Bible. God says the apostate “spiritual Jerusalem” church will not cleansed nor rained upon with the Holy Spirit. If you
believe God, all the efforts by the apostate SDA church to effect the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon its members will be no more effective than a
pagan Indian rain dance!
See a review of Pastor Dennis Smith’s book
series below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Karl Wagner
Sent:
Saturday, January 21, 2012 5:23 PM
Subject:
Re: 40 Days of Prayer
Bille,
Here are the notes I made on the frist
8 days of book one of 40 Days and
what I shared with the AZ Conference Office and with a number of pastors.
Karl Wagner
40 Days
Prayers & Devotions to Prepare for the Second Coming
Book 1
Review by: Karl Wagner
March 13, 2011
Review Notes:
Introduction, Day 1, 2 and 3
Without reading my ideas into the text of what I suspect
Smith means I
found the overall presentation of the first three days to be fine except for
the introduction of the second blessing. The first paragraph on Day One may
be more of a problem with syntax than theology, but I suspect that second
blessing theology is clear here. When Dennis writes, "This work of
the
Spirit is for everyone," it's as if to imply that the second work of the
Spirit is "not" for everyone. Of course, he believes that it is and
states
the requirements for this second work so that all can receive it. He also
makes a number of good points, such as receiving the baptism of the Holy
Spirit does not require the laying on of hands, though it makes for a nice
experience. He also says that the one performing the prayer for such a
service should have been recipients themselves of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. It seems like common sense, but it's good
sense. The problem here is
in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that all Christians receive at baptism.
The Bible says nothing of a "second" baptism or blessing.
Day 4
His use of the text in 1 John 3:2,
"Beloved, now are we children of God,
and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he
shall
be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is"
is
out of context. He assumes this to be the condition of the living saints at
the appearing of Jesus, while the text describes the condition of all the
saints, past and present, after translation. The text says more of what
we
are to become, or what we shall be made, at the eschaton.
However, this text
is used by LGTs (last generation theology) along with verse 3 which reads,
"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is
pure." This is the description of the perfected saints in order to effect
the eschaton according to that theology.
Note by Ron: Karl Wagner despises Last
Generation Theology (that a final generation will be perfected) as taught by
the Bible (Rev. 14:1-4), Ellen G. White and M. L. Andreasen.
Karl Wagner, a Bible teacher and Elder of his church, teaches the same gospel
as Babylon teaches and pines for the day when the whole SDA church will teach
that gospel. There are liberals in the church who teach that gospel and the
conservatives who don’t are corporately responsible for the liberals who do!
End note.
He goes onto tell us that we are to become "just
like Him." The full
context of what he means is explained on page 19. "The Spirit will take
control of the believer that they will become like Jesus in every way (1
John 3:2)."
This thought is brought home more fully when he writes
that all
believers are, in a sense, to become as Christ to the world. While he is not
affirming that we become little Jesus' (here at least), he builds on the
idea that we may be, to some, all the Jesus they will ever see. But it's
this condition of the saint that is applied to the text in Romans 8:19 which
is the manifestation of what "the creature" is waiting for. When the
saints
have become perfect, he continues, then the earth will be lighted by God's
character of glory and the end will come. He references Revelation 18:1 for
this, which is the angel who unites with the second angel of Revelation 14:8
and brings the latter rain and calls the people of God out of Babylon. The
Romans text above is a loadstone for perfectionism. The text is simply
referring to the translation that all, saints and non-saints are "craning
their necks" (as the Greek reads) for to see what the "sons of God
will be
in glory. Again, this is not what we are to be at the second coming when we
meet Jesus, but what we are to become because of the second coming, that is,
what we shall be made due to translation.
Dennis makes several theological points that refer to
what is called,
Last Generation Theology, (a'la M.L. Andreasen and Herbert Douglass). He
notes this outright in book 2 (2011) page 100, and previously in an earlier
book, Spirit Baptism and the 1888 Message of Righteousness by Faith (2008),
page 67.
Day 5 thru 7
Has some good stuff. There is nothing that
stands out without making
innuendos, and I don't want to do that. I would rather "try" to let
the book
speak for itself.
Day 8
There were certain points made for this day that
I would like to note. The
first is the statement, "Only those who have the seal of God will be able
to
survive the second coming of Christ." (page 30)
If we are truly Christians,
than we have the seal of God right now. While the tendency of LGT is to make
the seal of God the Sabbath rather than the Holy Spirit as per the handling
of the third angel's message (Rev 14:9ff), the statement in itself could
mean only that we must be sure we have God's Holy Spirit seal if we are to
see Jesus at His coming. I am not just reading between the lines and
assuming what brother Smith is teaching here. He is an avowed believer in
Last Generation Theology or as some call it, Last
Generation Perfectionism.
This statement is read in the context of that theology.
Thankfully Dennis emphasizes that the Holy Spirit is
what seals us (not
a day) as he quotes Eph 4:30, only that his next statement
seems to suggest
that this sealing which prepares us is associated with the latter rain.
Sometimes in his writings he seems to equate "baptism with the Holy
Spirit"
with "Latter Rain." Other times he is clear that we need the baptism
of the
Holy Spirit before the Latter Rain. But he is clearly writing in the context
of LGT when he quotes the Ellen White loadstone citation from Christ Object
Lessons, page 69. "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the
manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall
be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as
His own." The implications abound. When we finally get our act together
and
get perfect, oh sure, only with the aid of the Holy Spirit, but when we do
get perfect, then and only then, can Jesus come. So let's get on with it!
He adds to this perfectionism by stating, "Today
God is calling a
people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in preparation for becoming
just like Jesus, in order to receive the latter rain of the Spirit, and to
be ready for Christ's return:" and then he quotes 1 John 3:2,
"Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him
as he is." The use of this text is to suggest that when Jesus comes, He
will
be meeting people already like him. That is, Dennis is saying that this is
the condition we must already be in when Jesus comes. But we know otherwise.
The text is correctly describing translated saints, not the humans in sinful
flesh who have stopped sinning. While I'm not saying Smith is leading us
there, this kind of thinking was behind the Holy Flesh movement in Indiana
in the late 1800s, one reason for which Ellen White was called back to the
states from Australia in order for her to deal with them more directly.
Dennis then finishes up the day with our understanding
that we are
Laodicean. His caution? That
if we don't change we won't be ready for
Christ's return. He then quotes Rev 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the
door and
knock." I do applaud the number of times he stresses relationship
over just
"knowing." He seems to have missed the reason for the Laodicean
condition.
Their rejection of the gifts (gold tried in the fire, white robe, and eye
salve) in place of their own riches. We can't give what we don't have, and
he's missed the opportunity to drive home the need for the gospel of
salvation called for here in Revelation 3.
How do we let Jesus in? By opening
the door. How? By accepting
(buying.without money Isa 51:1ff) faith tried by
love, wearing His robe of
righteousness, not ours and by applying Holy Spirit eye salve so we can
discern our spiritual condition, which is our dire need for Jesus because of
our sinful condition. We can never accept Jesus unless or until we know we
need Him. We will never give this message of life unless or until we too
have received it.
Note:
My main reason for examining some of these things is due to:
1) Several pastors contacted me at my home with concerns
2) Bring to the attention some of the problems with these materials to
the
leadership at the conference office due to the fact they were promoting
the
use of the book 40 Days of Prayer by Dennis Smith.
3) By understanding some of the problems, the leadership will respect the
wishes of those pastors who want to distance
themselves from this book and
its theology.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bille Burdick" <burdick6@bellsouth.net
To: <sdanet@sdanet.org
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: 40 Days of Prayer
At 09:04 AM 1/18/2012 -0700, Karl Wagner
wrote:
Steve,
Dennis Smith was a pastor in the Arizona conference before
he left in
2000 to go to the New England area. He
has since retired and moved back
to Arizona for his retirement from
church employment, but is still active
promoting his books.
I was concerned with his book, 40 Days, when it came out
knowing his
proclivity to last generation
perfectionism for which I have very little
patience for, but I kept quiet and said
nothing while selling the books
at the ABC, in large quantities mind
you. Trying to mind my own business
and not stir up trouble, I later
received a call from a pastor who had
problems with it. And then in short
order, talked to two more pastors who
had questions about it. This caused me
to share some of the things I
discoved in
just the first eight days of the book with our leaders at the
conference office, as just sort of an
FYI or heads-up. I was not saying
to take the book off the shelf or not
sell it (even though that is what I
would have done).
My paper laid on one conference
leader's desk for a day or two when he
got a call from NAD Evanglism
director Ron Clouzet who asked him if he
had read the book. My leader said no,
and Ron reponded that this book (40
Days) had error in it. I told him I was
glad I wasn't the only one
speaking out. If you look at Ron Clouzet's book, Adventism's Great Need:
The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you
will find in the footnotes for
chapter 9 (I beleive)
comments on 40 Days.
Thanks Karl, for your detailed comments
on this. I wonder if you would go
one step further and give us the gist of
your paper and what you found
that concerned you and also if you would
share Clouzet's comments on the book
with us here. (SDAnet
cannot pass attachments through, or I would ask for your
whole paper for the net subscribers to
read. But would you please send me
a copy to my personal email address as
an attachment?)
The two major things I noted from the book was 1) secnd blessing
theology (right on day one, first
lines), and 2) last generation
perfectionism. I discussed this issues with Graeme Bradford and Woodrow
Whidden who
added significant insight for me to follow up on regarding
second blessing theology (John Wesely) which Whidden said EGW
did not
teach. Whidden
is a Weselyian scholar - FYI.
Take a look again at the book and see if you can pick up any
of that
stuff. The only good thing I can think
of is that most of our people will
read the book and this stuff will go
right over their heads, but I still
worry about subliminal teachings that
will cause reisitance to the real
gospel of Jesus Christ. It's hard enough
to preach to the gospel to
Adventists, let alone put up anything
that adds to the problem.
It is quite obvious that he is teaching
Second Blessing theology right
from the first lines on his web
page. In view of the emphasis on "what Ellen
White says" recently, it is indeed
strange that this has not been officially
denounced by our leaders since she very
specifically spoke against any
"second baptism of the
Spirit". But... it seems that various such
doctrines that are common to Pentecostalism
but "foreign" to Adventism have
infiltrated our church without challenge
until many think that they are indeed part of
our own heritage.
Thanks again for sounding the warning on
this.
Bille Burdick
Blessings,
Karl Wagner
----- Original Message ----- From: "SDA Net" <sdanet@sdanet.org
To: <sdanet-send@sdanet.org
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012 4:34 PM
Subject: 40 Days of Prayer
I am wondering if any other congregations besides my own have
any experience with the "40 Days of Prayer" series of books, written
by Dennis Smith. This is the third time that people in our
congregation have done the 40-day prayer sequence, going through
a different one of his books for that purpose each time.
I have personally not participated in any of the three sequences.
Dennis Smith has a web site called http://www.spiritbaptism.org
which details these materials. According to the web site he served
as a SDA minister for most of his career but it is not clear from
the web site if he is still thus employed or not.
I am by nature suspicious of any site that promotes baptism by
the Holy Spirit because to me it seems contrary to Ephesians 1:13
which states that the sealing of the Holy Spirit occurs at baptism.
But up until now I haven't found any of the dangerous doctrines
in those books that I experienced in the mid-1990's
where such
teaching split several SDA churches including my own.
If anyone has experience with these books, either good or bad, please
share.
Steve Timm