Seventh Day Adventist Prophecy Seminar

August 20 (and 24)

A flier addressed to Resident arrived in our mailbox last week, invitation to a free nine-session Bible Prophecy Seminar at the Champaign Seventh Day Adventist Church. Who am I, with my church curiosity, to turn down such an opportunity? This is a  bonus post, as the meeting wasn’t a regular worship service. There was no singing or offering or general announcements, and the church's pastor didn't take the stage. The only person to speak was the guest teacher, Carlis Clinton as noted on the flier.

A greeter opened the door for me and indicated registration just ahead. Apparently, even though the seminar was free, the speaker wanted to know who was there. As said before, I’m not interested in being on the mailing list of all the churches I visit, so I slipped in a side door to the event avoiding the sign-in tables. I hoped no one would notice, but after a minute a gentleman approached to give me a raffle ticket which, to his surprise, I politely turned down. Thankfully, he didn’t ask me to go back out and register.

Our speaker was already on the stage and engaging the audience. He drew for the raffle and announced the winner's name. If I understood correctly, this winner as well as the person who brings the most guests on another night will receive a Strong’s Bible Concordance, no light-weight gift!

About sixty people half filled this attractive sanctuary. An American flag was up front on the left and the Christian flag with two others on the right. Rev. Clinton briefly reviewed the previous four sessions of the series and previewed the four yet to come. Friday he will talk about conspiracy, he told us, which will leave everyone with questions he will answer on Saturday morning. (Remember that Saturday is primary worship day of the Adventists.) Clinton said the man of lawlessness will deceive the majority of Christians but that those who attend these anchored-in-scripture lectures will know more than most pastors. 

He told a joke that was pretty funny and began tonight’s talk, which he called the most technical of the nine lectures. For the next hour, he went into detailed explanation of numbers and dates and events and years from various prophecies in Daniel, Revelation, Hebrews, and other scriptures. He took issue with the writings of Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey—see 2) on the card.

We are living in judgement now, he said, and our good works cannot get us to heaven. Cosmic conflict between good and evil is coming soon, but the door of mercy is still open.

As we were simply dismissed, this response card was distributed, the third opportunity/request for our names. On the way out, I was handed an end-times diagram and a list of supporting scriptures which related to tonight's message.

Harvest Church

August 4, 2024 

A friend suggested a visit to this church. The nice big building is only about 25 years old and sits on scenic acres east of Urbana. I was greeted at the door and offered communion elements and a printed outline for message notes. The sanctuary is a good-sized room with a high ceiling and a stage flanked by the US and the Christian flags. There were way more empty seats than those filled by the fifty people in the room. Kids were elsewhere in the building. Music from the worship band had just begun. None of the melodic songs were familiar to me.

Communion was first. All Christians are welcome to participate said Pastor Jon Callahan. He took the hand of the young woman who delivered his cup and prayed a special blessing over her before moving to wider concerns after we had taken the wafer and juice. “When President Trump was shot, Lord, and he stood up and he said ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ I believe, Lord, that that was a prophetic word from you to your church.”

A woman (indicated later as Jon’s wife, Pastor Debbie) stepped forward from playing keyboard to invite people to fill out prayer request cards. She prayed for a woman fighting cancer and told a story of her own healing some years ago when she took her toddler’s hand to agree with her in prayer.

The offering plate was passed and those joining by internet were welcomed. 

“Keep praying for Israel,” Callahan advised. “This thing is getting serious. Pray that the demonic forces of the earth would not be able to usher in the antichrist.” He then went into a lengthy introduction of Psalm 150 and read through it in animated fashion, singing and shouting as indicated. He encouraged listeners to shout and dance. “Your shout has power!”

Today’s sermon was a brief retelling of Joshua 6.12-19 with excursions into health and politics. Our bodies are like that Ark of the Covenant; they carry the Holy Spirit. We should keep them holy and clean. Some of us are struggling in body, we were told, a big area of discouragement. The devil wants you weak, defeated, and in a brain fog. “You’ve gotta shake it off, people.” Press in. Keep fighting. One aspect of Callahan’s own good health has been the elimination of sugar from his diet. (Not a bad idea.) He took a few minutes to talk about this. 

Another point in regard to health: it’s important to not be constantly focusing on the negative. If you have pain, depression, "weird stuff in your head," start praising God. "Shout it out!"

Then we got Jon Callahan’s political opinion. It's not his candidate who is the weird one, he said, but Pete Buttigieg. There’s no need to worry about offending people “of the other persuasion” in saying that because Callahan is “just telling you truth.” Truth heals and restores. Desiring to see this nation be great again, "that's not weird." 

There followed a short prayer and the service ended simply with a dismissal. No one spoke to me as I went out.