4 days into the year and we are fired up in the Kingdom Bible community!
We've got 8 amazing people to start reading the Chronological Reading Plan on the YouVersion app! What's a real blessing is that some of these folks, aren't with us last year when we read through the bible. So we;re attracting new readers and community members which is fantastic.
Remember, if you want to join in the fun, simply add the plan here from the Bible App and jump right in!
This will be the second time I will have read the bible from front to cover, so this year I wanted to go a little bit more in depth....
And to do that, I plan on adding 3700 pages to my studies by re-reading the Conflicts of the Ages series:
What on earth is that?
Let's so some back story shall we....
I'm a Seventh Day Adventist. We are literally....People of the book. So that means we believe in all 10 commandments written by the finger of God, including the one the majority of Christendom has seemed to forget, even though it begins with the word remember.
If you want to learn more about Adventism, I did a post about a year ago breaking it down here!
Part of being an Adventist is that we believe in the spirit of prophecy. We read in Revelation 12:17 that in these strange days, the dragon (Satan) is going to be upset with a certain group of individuals. Those that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ!
So what is the testimony of Jesus Christ?
Thankfully, the bible interprets the bible and we see in Revelation 19:10, that the testimony of Jesus is the 'spirit of prophecy'.
Yes, we believe that prophecy plays a big role in the end times, so we are to keep watch, pray, spread His Word and stay true to God. No matter what man may say is tradition or whatever new laws pop up....God first, always!
With that story in mind, one of the founders of Adventism is a woman by the name of Ellen G. White. If you Google her, you'll see every claim imaginable from being a prophet of God to being a scam artist to being a false prophet, cult leader, you name it....It's always an adventure looking into Adventist information online lol
So Adventists believe she has the gift of prophecy and we tend to read a lot of her writings.
O.K., let's get this out of the way right now....
The bible comes first! Never once have I met an Adventist that claims Ellen's writings are above or even on par with Scripture. She writes books that highlight the bible and Jesus, and that's it. No matter what you read online, if you want to see what she's about, read one of her books. Steps To Christ is a fantastic suggestion. In fact, if you want a copy of Steps To Christ, let me know, I'll mail you a copy!
And you have to understand where I'm coming from when I say this...I was the most skeptical heathen on earth a few yeas ago. I hated religion, and thought all of this was made up. And then I start learning about a 'prophet' from these people called SDAs....Let's just say, skeptical is putting it lightly!
Then I read her books. And nothing, in every singe book I've read, departs from Scripture. There just isn't anything I have yet to see or read.
Anyways, her magnum opus is the Conflict of the Ages series. In a nutshell it's a 3700 page bible study. Starting from Patriarchs & Prophets, we learn about creation, the fall of man, into the history of Abraham and onto King David. Next up, in Prophets & Kings, we are shown the continuing history of Solomon onto the promised Messiah in Christ.
After the Old Testament we learn about Jesus in all His glory with Desire Of The Ages. I'm biased, but this is my favourite book in the series! Then from Acts to Revelation, we learn about the history of the church and how it begins to spread in Acts of The Apostles. And then finally, the climax....Which has been called her most important work ever, as it dives into the history of the church after the apostles had passed away and the atrocities that ensued.
That book is The Great Controversy.
These books are just a joy to read and I finished all of them back in April of 2022. It took me 3 years to get through them all because yeah...They are BIG books lol
But like I mentioned, all these books are is in-depth bible studies, essentially going verse by verse through scripture. So guess what I'm doing this year lol
Adding the Conflict of the Ages series to my daily bible readings!
It took me 3 years to get through all 5 books before, and I'm going to do this reading in 1 year so....That means much less time in Netflix, and much more with my nose in the books lol
Thankfully, there are some fantastic reading plans out there that match what you are reading in the bible, with chapters in these books. It actually works out pretty well, but my goodness, it's going to be a lot of time spent reading this year.
And I'm fine with that ;)
By God's grace, I'll get through this massive undertaking I'm about to embark on. So prayers are always welcomed lol
Are there any bible commentaries you read along side your bible readings?