Michigan Camp Meeting 2016: The Harvest is Great

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events

Philip Samaan

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events- Part 1

Loving Father in heaven, we thank you for this occasion to learn and to be inspired and to be transformed by your Holy Spirit to be more Christ-like because that's the most important thing in life.

When everything is said and done, the question is, are we like Jesus?

When he will look into our hearts asking the question, do I know you?

May he look into our hearts and find himself revealed in us and recognize himself in us.

May this be our experience as a result of these meetings we have in Jesus name, Amen.

Now I see all scattered all across this place and they said for the camera it's better to have me stand up here.

I said I like to be down here with the people.

They said no it's not a matter of being humble and close to people.

Nobody will be able to see you and I said thank you for the compliment which implies I'm not tall.

If you stand here in the front, nobody will be able to see you.

And whoever told me that, please repent of that.

Let me tell you, when Jesus comes, all of us will be tall.

That's a great happy reunion when we experience the blessed hope.

So we can meet all our loved ones resting in Jesus.

By being ready today, as William Miller said, today and today and today, until he comes.

So, if you want to get an A in this class, Please, I beg of you, move forward right here where I am.

Because over there, I don't know, I don't see you.

If you want to get an A, please move forward.

Let's see what people are going to do now.

There are people, actually, who care about their grades.

I know it's a little bit hardship for you, but it helps me to know I'm not speaking in space.

I'm speaking to people I can see their faces.

For the others who resisted this appeal, we'll just have to settle for an A- okay?

So here for this seminar, the ISIS-Christ Al-Nasr Day events we were reminded of that, wasn't that yesterday?

When you had that shooter by the name Omar Mateen.

I can't believe it's the worst attack by a weapon like this in the history of United States.

This morning I guess it's 49, so thankfully 1 survived.

And we pray for them and their families that they will survive.

And I was asked to speak about this subject because I happen to be born in Syria, not too far from the headquarters of ISIS and the city name is what?

I mean none of us choose where to be born, right?

But someday we'll all belong to heaven, the best country in the world.

Everything in this world will be consumed with fire.

Your homes, your riches, accomplishments.

Even some loved ones will be ready to rest.

The only thing that will remain is our relationship with Jesus.

If Christ were to come tomorrow morning, Nothing will be important except our relationship with Jesus.

It will help us see the right perspective on life.

So I left home when I was a teenager and because of the persecution and intolerance I was never allowed to see my parents.

The parents were never allowed to see me.

And I wasn't even allowed to go to the funeral when they passed away.

But I'm glad they're resting in Jesus and none of the violent civil war killing in that part of the world affects them.

That's good news for me because half of the population of my old country is decimated.

58% population displaced or refugees around the world.

And ISIS members infiltrating these poor refugees because they have their own agenda.

They love to have all these refugees, by the millions of Muslims, infiltrate Western Europe, United States, because they want to impact the world for radical Islam.

So therefore, I thank you for coming to my seminar.

You got yourself a subject, a course, you got a professor here, and we need to share with you a textbook that you can just borrow because I do a lot of original translation because I know Arabic, I know the Quran, directly from the Arabic Quran to English.

I wanted you to see some of these things in the textbook.

I spent 5 years researching the subject about radical Islam and impact of Islam on the world.

1.7 billion people, More than a fifth of the world population, the fastest growing religion in the United States and the world.

It's something we confront with every day in the news media, several times every day, on all news channels.

And so, I don't think we have enough, but maybe 1 per family, please?

I want you to look at some things with me to see it with your eyes And so I would ask 1 of the ushers and maybe Sheryl and my wife to help look at that box.

I brought only 1 box with the book entitled the other Abraham's other son related to Ishmael.

In the summer we're going to focus on Ishmael and learn a lot about that subject.

So I would say we can spare only to have 1 per family, please, 1 per family.

Now you're going to borrow those, don't underline them.

The ABC is working with me because they made the arrangement that you can use the books here so you could learn from them more.

If you do not want the book, you bring it here.

The ABC asking for them, but if you want to keep the book, then you can come to the front And my wife is there and you can pay for it.

We use the royalties to help our student missionaries.

We have 175 of them that go around the world.

And we have about 27 evangelistic teams that are evangelizing now in different parts of the world and so far from Southern Adventist University because of the work for our student missionaries and Evangelistic teams my wife was a part of that 5 times to Central America We have 27, 000 people baptized Southern Adventist.

It's a very evangelistic University And so we use the resource to help students who are eager to do evangelism, to be able to do so.

I'm Sorry, we didn't think we'd have so many people.

And so, Sherlyn, we ran out of the books, right?

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events- Part 2

I'm so glad for our Christ-centered biblical aspect to our view of last day events.

Like most evangelicals, bless their heart, they focus totally on the literal state of Israel and literal Jerusalem, that's what they focus on.

But in the dispensation of spiritual Israel, the church, the focus is not a piece of real estate in this world, but the focus is on the heavenly Jerusalem that's built by God.

And that's why the Advent view on last events, which is Christ-centered, biblically based, focuses on spiritual Israel.

And therefore, we don't have to think about the secret rapture, dispensationalism, the two-governance theory, the gap theory, and all these theories, because we take a view on these events from a biblical, Christ-centered perspective.

So in your textbook, we cover the subject of the secret rapture, dispensationalism, state of Israel, heavenly Jews, and why?

Because we need to present the Adventist view as a viable alternative to all the ideas about the second coming.

This became very clear to me when I was flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles on a speaking appointment.

There was a young lady in front of me, a college-aged young lady reading this book Left Behind.

How many are acquainted with the Left Behind series?

Very popular, millions of books around the world fashioned the Christians view eschatology and the coming of Jesus.

And most Christians believe in these ideas which are not biblical.

We need as Adventists to be intelligent and great communicator in presenting the biblical view of eschatology.

I began to communicate with this young lady as I like to do everywhere I travel, everywhere I meet people, to interact with them for the cause of Christ and the truth.

And she began to tell me how wonderful the book was.

Oh, it tells you all things about the second coming.

And you, sir, I mean, while we are on this plane, The secret rapture could take place all of a sudden.

Because if you're not ready, you could crash.

I said, excuse me, you know, Getting on planes usually makes me nervous.

I look at the cover and right on the bottom left corner in bold letters the publishers chose to print these words.

Oh, the word on the cover, so everybody could see.

I'm glad the Bible said we're not called upon when it comes to truth of God in the second coming, to believe in fiction, to believe in legends, but to believe in the solid word of God.

Well, sir, I thought this was what the Bible taught.

I didn't know this was what the novel taught.

Isn't that wonderful when people realize the truth?

Sir, would you please help me know what it says in the Bible about the second coming of Jesus?

And I carry my little Bible in my pocket and we sat together on the plane and I gave her several Bible studies.

By the way, whenever you give a Bible study on a plane that's going to Los Angeles, it takes about 4 hours.

Now that's 4 hours Bible study, which means you can cover 4 of them in 1 sitting and the people are captives.

They're held hostage by the Lord, and there is no place to go.

I mean, they cannot take off, hopefully, that they stay put on a plane, you never do that, you never parachute, and for 4 hours she's listening to what the novels, not what the novels say about the coming of Christ, but what the Bible says about the coming of Christ.

And so when we were ready to land at the airport of Los Angeles.

She took this book left behind, which is a novel, and she put it in the garbage can.

And as the people were going forward, she put in the garbage can.

And now there was at least 10 feet ahead.

She changed her mind and she reversed herself and against the traffic she began to go backward to that garbage can and she grabbed that book from the garbage, I said, oh, she's changing her mind.

My Bible study wasn't that effective until I realized when she came back and people were looking at her, why in the world she is getting this thing back from the garbage can?

She said, Sir, my conscience bothered me because somebody might look at this garbage can and grab this book and read it so that I have to take it home and shred it or burn it.

When you discover the precious truth from God's word, novels don't mean much to you.

I wouldn't have been as radical to put in the garbage or burn it.

I would have used it as a reference point in my library.

But for her, she got all excited, and she said, now that I have the Bible, I don't need a novel.

Now I know the truth of God's word, I don't need anymore to believe in fiction.

Aren't you thankful to God as Seventh-day Adventist Christians?

You can hold the Bible in your hand, you have to make no apologies, and I say I put my faith on his word.

And whenever I witness to somebody while I'm flying or traveling or meeting somebody in my spheres of influence doing business and they know I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and say, would you please summarize in 1 sentence what you believe?

It takes a long time to explain who we are.

Would you please take all of these doctrines and summarize them in 1 sentence?

And the Lord gives me this 1 precise sentence.

We as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, we're in love, deeply in love and loyal to the living word Jesus and to the written word the Bible.

That's a perfect answer I think it's a perfect answer.

Loyal to Jesus, a Savior and Lord, loyal to Jesus, someone we love and obey, loyal to Jesus to put our full trust in the Word of God because our teachings, our distinctive teachings, are all found in the Bible.

While you're different than others, we came as a people to the Sabbath, exactly because the Sabbath is in the Bible.

Oh yeah, yeah, but things have changed, we should be more progressive.

No, I will revere forever the day God rested on and the day he blessed and the day he sanctified.

I ask people, I know it's confusing today which day to keep, but would we go wrong if we keep the day Jesus kept?

Well, let's discover which day Jesus kept.

It was his custom to honor the seventh day, Sabbath, and he said, I'm the Lord of that day.

We don't need to be proud, we just need to be thankful that you and I are anchored in the sure word of God.

Now, with the seminar, as I talk about eschatology and the second coming of Jesus and the secret rapture, because there's a special section in our seminar and textbook about the subject and how witness to these people.

And I just want to tell you that people, you know, even though I'm an American citizen naturalized 50 years ago, I'm so proud to be a citizen.

I'm probably more proud than some of you.

And I appreciate America more than some people who take it for granted.

And so people want to know, Oh, you have an interesting accent.

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events- Part 3

Loving Father in Heaven, may your spirit abide first of all in our hearts and minds, and may your spirit fill this place, and may you keep our minds and hearts open to you through as it is in Jesus.

I want to give you a special treat today before I start speaking by inviting Chris and Sheban Peterson to come here because I want to share with you a short interview with them.

So I know you're sitting here, and Chris, would you please help your wife, I should say your bride, to get up on the stage with these crutches.

Right after you got married, you need to have crutches?

And so, were these crutches needed before the wedding or after?

So could you please tell us what happened with these scratches?

My knee gave way on Saturday night and I was trying to stand up but my knee didn't want to come with me, it wanted to stay behind so it decided to stay and it twisted and it swelled up.

And the doctor thinks I might be torn inside, but we'll see.

Yesterday I talked to you, never met you before.

I was very impressed with your testimony as I took time to visit with you both.

First of all, you have like a British accent.

You see, I want to experience camaraderie with your people here.

Now it's interesting that you joined our seminar on Islam and you recited to me yesterday some verses from the Quran.

You know passages from the Quran in Arabic from memory.

How could a young lady who speaks English with a Welsh accent know Arabic in the Quran?

And by the way, could you give them a sample, just say something from the Quran in Arabic?

I can say what we say when we open the Quran.

When we open the Quran and we say any of the passages out of the Quran, we start by warning God's blessing.

And we always say, I was a bit of a, I'm gonna show you the energy.

Yes, I know Arabic and she pronounced it correctly.

Now, do you know the literal meaning of what you just said?

That Muslims in different parts of the world memorize Quranic verses without necessarily knowing the meaning.

They just feel there's a blessing in reciting them.

Would you mind if I translate for you what you just said?

You have many African Muslims who would be outside on the street praying in Arabic, the language of the Quran, and I stopped them.

I mean, you could stop them and say, hi, they greet you, visit you, and go back to praying.

I said, do you understand what you're praying?

Ask the Ethiopian, do you understand what you're reading?

No, I need somebody to explain that to me.

So I would say, I would translate what they're saying in their language.

And then I end up with quite a few Bible studies, just talking to people about that.

So now as I translate what you said, I hope we can start a Bible study with you.

3 weeks ago She was converted to the Lordship and Salvation of Jesus Christ from Islam.

And you don't know the bravery God gave her to make the decision because Muslim parents do not let their kids become Christians at all.

So 2 big events in your life, marriage and becoming a Christian.

And Chris, you seem to be very supportive of this young lady.

She can cook just about anything, but mostly Pakistani style foods.

But I mean like you like, she can cook anything you want.

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events- Part 4

Loving Father in Heaven, we thank you for the awesome gift of Jesus, who invested everything in us.

Help us to be so thankful to invest everything in his kingdom.

May like Lindsay all the gifts you have given us we use to the maximum to praise you and to impact everybody to give themselves to you because time is short.

Now dear Lord, take this earthen vessel that's mine and empty it of self.

Break it if you want to, reshape it whatever you want to do so that you will fill it with your spirit and the fragrance of Christ.

Some people on this campus Ask me questions because of their fear of the last days.

And the only answer I can give them is Jesus will walk with each 1 of us.

When Jesus walks with us, we have nothing to fear.

Look what the promise in Isaiah 41 10 said, fear not.

And he gives solid reasons for not being afraid.

The reason people feel afraid because they feel they're all alone, but we're never alone.

Fear not because I am with you and when he is with us it takes the fear away.

Christ is not afraid of the time of trouble.

And because he is not afraid, we are not afraid.

Biblical answer I'm not afraid because Christ is with me.

You know the word dismayed means baffled, confused.

We live in a very confusing world in every aspect.

He says I am your God and there you have the possessive pronoun.

He belongs to us Just like saying I don't worry when I get sick because Dr.

And then it says I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

In the Bible the word hand represents power because you know our strength is constant in the hand.

Like when I play with my grandson who is 4 and I'm taller than him.

I'm not taller than many many people but I'm taller than my grandson.

I hold him like this and bring him up to our ayah and talk to him.

Series

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events

ISIS Crisis & Last Day Events- Part 3

Transcript

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