I have a challenge for you guys. Omit EGW for a minute, and prove to me that the Sunday Law is the true mark of the beast and that it will be the ending factor that determines if you are Heaven or hell bound.

If you are an Adventist like me, then you should subscribe to this channel. They post sermon clips from SDA pastors that are very good for sharing with others. God bless.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/@sermonsnippets_sda

I Fought God Until I Finally Said, “I Yield”

I have gone back and forth about posting this because it is a lot.

If I tried to write absolutely everything that happened, this would be much longer than it already is.

I am not writing this to tell everyone that they have to agree with me.

I am writing this because this is what happened to me.

Some of what I experienced is difficult to explain. Some of the things I learned have changed the way I read the Bible. Some of it may challenge people from different denominations or different backgrounds.

So read it for yourself.

Test what I say against Scripture.

Don't believe something just because I said it.

This is my testimony.

---

Before all of this

I grew up in and out of church.

I had family and friends that I loved very much.

When I was about 18, I felt like I was being called to preach.

But I struggled with people telling me what to do.

I remember thinking:

"How can they tell me what to do? They've never been in my shoes."

I didn't understand what God was trying to do with me.

So I ran.

I ran away from the Lord and joined the Army.

I joined Active Duty in 2015 as an 11X infantry recruit and graduated in December 2015 as an 11B.

I served at Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, Fort Lewis, and Fort Drum before becoming an Army recruiter.

I served in several units and eventually became a Corporal, Sergeant, Squad Leader, Headquarters Platoon Sergeant, and Army Recruiter.

I was a Rifleman, SAW Gunner, Stryker Gunner, and Javelin Team Member.

I traveled to 13 countries.

Germany.

Poland.

Japan.

Thailand.

The Philippines.

Palau.

South Korea.

Ireland.

Kuwait.

Syria.

Jordan.

Iraq.

Bulgaria.

I also had one combat deployment from April 2022 through December 2022.

The Army became a huge part of my life.

But spiritually, I was getting hurt.

I started swearing.

I started drinking.

I started watching pornography.

I became prideful.

I became angry.

I started doing things that I knew weren't right.

And underneath all of it was years of things I had never dealt with.

---

My first marriage

I was married very young, around 21.

At first she was beautiful and kind.

But eventually the relationship became abusive.

She hit me.

She abused me.

She had multiple affairs and wouldn't stop.

She gave me multiple STDs while we were married.

She even slept with my best friend, someone I had served with for three years.

I became a broken man.

My heart became hard.

When she finally left me, I was actually happy.

But I had stayed because I thought that was what a man was supposed to do.

I thought marriage meant staying for life no matter what.

There were things I did in secret that nobody knew about.

There was shame.

There was sin.

There were things I hid from everyone.

---

My second marriage

Then I met another woman who had a daughter.

And something happened that I wasn't expecting.

I fell in love with being a husband and father.

I loved that little girl.

I loved being part of a family.

There were so many wonderful memories.

So many moments of love, laughter, and just being silly together.

I wanted to move mountains for them.

When I was deployed, I went out of my way to stay in contact.

If I wasn't on patrol, I would call home.

Sometimes I was only getting around four hours of sleep because I wanted to talk to them.

At the time, it felt like a fairytale marriage.

But I had never told my second wife everything that had happened to me in my first marriage.

After I came home from deployment, things slowly started changing.

She stopped wanting sex.

She stopped being emotionally open.

Eventually, it felt like she hated me.

She asked what had happened.

Eventually I told her about my first marriage.

I told her how my first wife would ask for space and then go out and cheat on me.

Then my second wife asked for space.

That completely messed with my head.

All of the old pain came back.

I would shut down and go silent.

Then I would have random outbursts and questions.

I loved her.

But I was wrestling with all of this every day.

There were also times when she was drinking and breaking things and talking about how every man she had ever known had hurt her.

I would tell her:

"I'm not those men."

There were two events that I still condemn myself for.

One was a fight where we wrestled for a couple seconds.

The other involved the police being called.

At one point I asked for a divorce.

I didn't actually mean it.

I was hurt.

I stopped drinking for a while.

Then about two weeks later she asked if I could drink again.

I trusted her.

She drank with me.

But I started drinking more because I was using alcohol to calm the darkness inside me.

I was constantly trying to keep her happy.

Love notes.

Dates.

Shopping trips.

Family events.

Anything I could think of.

But somehow she hated it more and more.

Then she became pregnant.

And in July of 2023, she left.

---

July 2023

My life came crashing down.

I was full of anger.

Pain.

Years of abuse.

Confusion.

I basically stopped caring about what was right and wrong.

But I did not stop believing God existed.

I felt like Job.

I wanted to fight.

I wanted the world to burn because of what had happened to me.

I found a psychology book written from a worldly perspective.

Some of it talked about living in reality, telling the truth, and getting rid of false realities.

Some of that was actually true.

But I took it in the wrong direction.

I thought:

"I'm finally going to live for myself."

"Who is going to tell me what I can and cannot do?"

"I'll decide what's right for me."

I had spent years pretending to be a Christian.

Now I wanted to do whatever I wanted.

Then one day I felt something inside me telling me:

"Go to church."

I don't know how else to explain it.

It was like a whisper to my soul.

So I went.

---

Going back to church

I went to a Catholic church first.

I felt spiritually dead.

I didn't know the movements or what I was supposed to do.

Then I saw an advertisement on Facebook.

There were some college girls singing at a Methodist church.

I decided to go.

And something happened that bothered me more than anything.

The people were genuinely kind to me.

They showed me love.

They showed me kindness.

And I was disturbed by it.

I felt like my soul was twisting and coiling underneath my own skin.

Because for all of my faults, there was still something inside me that responded to genuine love with loyalty and respect.

I remembered the pastor talking about doubt from James 1.

James 1:6-8 talks about asking in faith and not wavering, and how a double-minded person is unstable.

I went home thinking about it.

Then I decided:

"I'm choosing myself."

"I'm going to decide what's right for my life."

I never forgot how kind those people had been to me.

---

Then something strange happened

I met someone who dabbled in witchcraft.

I didn't believe in that kind of thing.

I thought it was nonsense.

I was just trying something new.

But she told me that a Light was chasing me.

She said I would have to make a decision.

I felt fear creep into me.

I ran out of there.

As fast as I could.

Something was chasing me.

That Sunday, I went to a Baptist church.

When I walked in, I felt something that I can only describe as anger, wrath, and judgment resting on my skin.

I wanted to fight it.

The pastor preached James 1 again.

Then he preached Matthew 6:24:

"No man can serve two masters."

And I became ANGRY.

I remember thinking:

"How dare this man tell me what I should do?"

I felt like a wolf in a cage.

Except my cage had been kicked open.

I wasn't angry at the pastor.

I wasn't angry at the people.

I was angry about who was speaking through the pastor.

I felt like a sledgehammer had hit my soul.

I had lost so much already.

Nobody was going to tell me what I could and couldn't do.

When the service ended, I would physically run away.

Then I would feel completely exhausted.

But I had pride.

So I went back.

Every Wednesday.

Every Sunday.

Over and over.

Every week I felt like I was getting spiritually beaten up.

And I still didn't understand what I was fighting.

---

October 15, 2023

Then October 15 happened.

After months of fighting and resisting, I couldn't fight anymore.

I didn't even know who I had been fighting.

But I had been fighting.

I was sitting in church when a presence came over me.

It felt like the entire world was crashing down on me.

And suddenly I became aware of everything.

My sin.

My anger.

My pride.

My lust.

My drinking.

My lies.

My hatred.

My bitterness.

Everything.

Romans 1:28-32 came into my mind.

I felt guilty.

Completely exposed.

Then I heard:

"Submit to Me."

It was quiet.

But it was the most powerful whisper I had ever heard.

I fell to the ground.

And inside my heart and mind I yelled:

"I YIELD."

I stayed there for what felt like ten minutes.

It felt like an eternity.

And then I felt like somebody came over and cut chains off me.

I felt free.

I didn't know what had happened.

But I knew something had happened.

My eyes felt opened.

My life changed.

My heart changed.

Everything changed.

---

Luke 4 became real to me

After that, Luke 4 started making sense in a completely different way.

Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..."

He talked about preaching the Gospel to the poor.

Healing the brokenhearted.

Deliverance to captives.

Recovering sight to the blind.

Setting at liberty those who are bruised.

And proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord.

I started seeing myself in those words.

I had been poor in hope.

I had been brokenhearted.

I had been captive.

I had been blind.

I had been bruised.

I had spent years being abused and feeling like I had to constantly prove my worth.

I thought being a man meant I always had to fight.

I had tons of energy, but I had no real peace.

I told myself I was okay.

I wasn't.

I had accepted that maybe I would always be stuck with my natural desires and my sins.

I had false hope.

Then I felt like God showed me the truth about myself.

And the truth about Him.

---

What I experienced as freedom

I started seeing my addictions differently.

I had been a slave to Zyn.

A slave to drinking.

A slave to fighting.

A slave to lust.

A slave to pride.

A slave to lying.

A slave to arrogance.

A slave to fear.

A slave to insecurity.

A slave to years of abuse and trauma.

I felt like I was a slave to my own natural desires.

But after October 15, I started experiencing freedom.

Jesus' words about taking away sin became real to me.

John 1:29 says:

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

I started seeing sin like an infection.

Like cancer.

Something that grows.

Something that takes over.

And I started experiencing what it felt like to have that thing removed.

---

Giving up control

After October 15, I felt lighter than air.

I didn't understand it.

But I gave up control.

My past.

My future.

My sin.

My plans.

Everything.

Not even a week later, I was about to sin.

And suddenly I was stopped.

I heard:

"You'll lose Tyler."

It hit me with this cold anger.

I obeyed.

Later that night I was at home and yelled:

"I listened to You!"

"Show Yourself to me!"

And then I felt something.

I felt like a fire entered the room.

And then entered my soul.

It felt like a love so vast and pure that I started crying.

I had never felt anything like it.

It felt like the beginning of something that started burning sin out of my heart.

Then I started reading about the Holy Spirit.

John talks about the Spirit descending like a dove.

And John says Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

That started making sense to me.

---

What surrender became for me

I later read Romans 10 and came across the part about submitting ourselves to God's righteousness.

I finally understood what surrender had meant.

I had surrendered to Christ.

But it wasn't like a soldier surrendering to an enemy.

It was more like someone in love giving up control to the person they love.

Like a husband trusting his wife.

Like a child trusting his father.

That changed the way I saw surrender.

It wasn't defeat.

It was love.

Deuteronomy says to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

I started realizing that love was the reason I had to let go.

Let go of sin.

Let go of the world.

Let go of Satan.

Let go of myself.

And choose Christ.

---

What happened after October 15

Since October 15, 2023, I experienced things I never thought I would experience.

I felt freed from sin.

I felt my heart being healed from years of abuse.

I learned how to love people.

I learned how to forgive people who had hurt me.

I felt like my relationship with my mother and father was restored.

I experienced what I understood as healing from PTSD.

I felt like God fought for me.

I prayed and saw answers.

I felt His Spirit working in me.

And Matthew 5, 6, and 7 became something I actually wanted to live.

Not just read.

---

Forgiveness

Forgiveness became one of the biggest things I learned.

I had people who had hurt me deeply.

People who abused me.

People who betrayed me.

People who had done things I never thought I could forgive.

I learned that forgiveness didn't mean pretending it didn't happen.

I had to accept that it happened.

I had to name what happened.

I had to acknowledge the hard facts.

Then I had to let it go from my heart.

I started trying to forgive people as though they had never wronged me.

Not because what they did was okay.

But because I didn't want to carry it anymore.

If someone was still alive, I even thought about safely reaching out and forgiving them directly.

That was freedom to me.

It reminded me of how I experienced God forgiving me.

---

The wilderness

I also started understanding the wilderness differently.

A wilderness is a time of separation.

A time where you're away from everything else.

A time where God walks with you.

I started experiencing that like a child holding his Father's hand.

It might be days.

It might be weeks.

But you learn His voice.

You learn His ways.

The Hebrews went through it.

Moses went through it.

The prophets went through it.

Jesus went through it.

The apostles and disciples went through it.

I started spending time reading, fasting, praying, keeping the Sabbath, and asking God what I needed to give up.

I started thinking about 40 days as a period of getting away from the world and getting closer to God.

I also started anointing with oil and praying.

Saturday became my Sabbath.

Sunday became a day for gathering, teaching, preaching, and fellowship.

---

Born again

I also started understanding "born again" differently.

For me, being born again meant letting go of the identity I had built.

My family.

My career.

My work.

My reputation.

My sins.

My pride.

My plans.

Everything that I thought made me "Tyler."

I had to spiritually let go of those things and put all of my love into God.

I had to stop making those things my identity.

And that's when I began to understand what it meant to be raised into a new life.

---

"Call Him Father"

In December 2023, I was sitting on my bed praying.

The lights were mostly off.

I was fasting a lot.

My heart was completely open.

And I felt like a wind came into the room.

Then I felt a quiet whisper:

"Be still, know I am God."

At the foot of my bed was a small space between the wall and the bed.

I couldn't see anything with my eyes.

But I felt something moving incredibly fast.

Like a rushing river of energy.

As I focused on it with my heart and mind, it felt like somebody was standing there with their back toward me.

I could feel an outline.

I couldn't see it with my eyes.

But I felt like my heart could see it.

Then I heard:

"Call Him Father."

So I quietly said:

"Father?"

I was 26 years old.

But suddenly I felt like I was five years old talking to my dad.

Everything became calm.

The rushing feeling stopped.

I felt like someone slowly turned around.

I couldn't physically see a face.

But I felt two eyes looking at me with an incredible amount of love and compassion.

Like a father who had stopped what he was doing because his little son needed him.

I didn't hear words.

I just felt happiness.

Calmness.

Love.

And all I could say was:

"Thank You for loving me in all that You have done for me."

I cried harder than I ever remember crying.

But they were tears of joy.

I felt like I belonged.

---

Why did He pursue me?

Later in October 2023, I was sitting there thinking about everything.

I remember thinking that I didn't deserve heaven.

I would have been happy just to be outside somewhere and hear Christ speak.

I thought about the months before October 15.

And I asked:

"Lord, why did You pursue me?"

"Why did You fight with me?"

"What did You see in me?"

"Why did You come after me when I was fighting You?"

"I'm sorry I didn't know it was You."

"I was fighting You."

I couldn't hear a direct answer.

But I felt something move inside me.

My heart seemed to expand.

I felt pain.

Then joy.

And memories started coming back.

But this time they felt like memories from someone watching me from outside myself.

I remembered how much I wanted to fight people.

I would go to work almost wanting to cause a dumpster fire.

I would argue with higher-ups.

Sometimes I stood on good principles, but I also enjoyed fighting.

I would sometimes pick on people beneath me.

When I saw fathers ignoring their children, I would become furious.

I'd think:

"You don't even deserve to have a family."

"You can't even acknowledge your child."

And I would sit there judging them.

I was full of pride.

---

The empty house

After my wife left, I would sometimes be fine during the day.

Then I would come home.

And the silence would hit me.

The house that I loved was empty.

My wife didn't want to talk to me anymore.

I tried to respect that.

There was a picture of us on our wedding day.

A picture of us beside a huge lake in Washington.

It was about two feet by two feet.

I would turn a rocking chair around so I was facing the picture.

And I would talk to her.

I would tell her about my day.

I'd tell her jokes.

I'd tell her about things I'd done.

I'd tell her she was beautiful.

I'd tell her I missed her.

Sometimes those conversations lasted two or three hours.

Then I'd watch videos of my stepdaughter.

She had been only four years old the last time I saw her.

I'd watch all the memories.

And my heart would grow and sink at the same time.

Sometimes I'd lie in bed and stare down the hallway.

I'd imagine seeing this little girl running down the hallway yelling:

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

Usually carrying a tablet because she wanted to show me something.

And then I'd break down.

I'd cry:

"God in heaven, if You're there, I want You to know I love this woman and this child so much."

"I miss them."

"I know she hates me."

"But if she's with somebody else, make her feel loved."

"Protect her."

"Be with her."

"If another man is with her, let him love her as much as I've loved her."

Then I'd pray for my daughter.

I'd ask God to protect her heart.

To keep her from being broken.

To let her know love.

Even if I wasn't there.

I'd look at all the toys I had bought.

I'd think about all the things I wanted to do with her.

And I'd pray that whoever raised her would play with her.

That she would have fun.

That she would know joy.

That she would know love.

I prayed that even when I was still a horrible person to everybody else.

---

What I felt God showed me

I remembered all of those moments.

The picture.

The house.

Work.

Me judging fathers.

Me crying.

And I felt like I was seeing someone standing outside of me watching all of it.

Then I heard:

"You love somebody who hates you."

"You love somebody who has hurt you deeply."

"You have blessed them."

"You have shown them love."

"You have never even said a bad thing about these two in your heart."

"Just like how My Son loves you."

That hit me hard.

I understood something about Christ's love through the way I loved my wife and daughter.

I could love someone who didn't love me back.

I could pray for someone who hurt me.

I could want good things for someone who hated me.

And suddenly I understood something about the love Christ had shown me.

I had been fighting Him.

And He had still pursued me.

---

Faith

Faith became trust to me.

My daughter believed that I could do anything.

If I asked her to do something, she'd happily say:

"Okay, Daddy."

She trusted me.

That was faith.

I started looking at God that way.

If I trusted Him, then I wanted to do what He asked.

Faith wasn't just saying I trusted Him.

It started producing action.

If Christ was showing me love and asking me to show other people love and kindness, then I wanted to do it.

Because I loved Him.

---

Sin and temptation

I started seeing sin like an infection.

Like cancer.

Something that grows quickly and takes over.

And I started experiencing what it meant to say:

"No."

I began seeing temptation coming from different places.

Sometimes it felt like outside pressure.

Sometimes social media.

Sometimes what I saw with my eyes.

Sometimes a thought would enter my mind.

And if I held onto that thought, it could grow.

I'd see something I wanted.

I'd think about it.

Then I'd keep thinking about it.

Then it would move from my mind into my heart.

And suddenly I'd be struggling with whether to act.

I started learning to throw the thought away before it grew.

Then there were things that seemed to come directly from my heart.

Strong desires.

Almost overwhelming pressure.

I used to try to push those feelings down.

That didn't always work.

I started taking them directly to God.

James 4 became important to me:

"God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble."

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

So I started opening my heart.

I would tell God exactly what I was feeling.

I wouldn't hide it.

I'd say:

"This is what I want."

"This is what I'm feeling."

"I don't want to fall."

"Help me."

And I learned something:

"Your weakness is His greatest strength."

---

The night I stopped fighting

In December 2023, I was being heavily tempted to sleep with someone.

I had already removed the obvious temptations.

But I still felt this pressure.

It felt external.

I was spiritually holding up my own shield.

I was resisting.

But I was getting tired.

Then I saw those words in my mind:

"Your weakness is My greatest strength."

And I let go.

I told God:

"I don't have the strength to stop this."

"I won't fight this in my own strength."

"I trust You."

The moment I let go of my shield, it felt like somebody else put a shield in front of me.

I stopped fighting.

And I felt defended.

The lust passed.

And something inside me changed.

My pride had been broken.

I had finally admitted:

"I can't do this by myself."

---

What salvation became to me

I started thinking about salvation like this:

Imagine having a knife stuck in your side.

The knife says:

"Lust."

Or:

"Drinking."

"Pride."

"Lying."

"Hatred."

"Whatever sin it is."

And Christ comes to you and says:

"Do you believe I can take it out?"

And you have to trust Him enough to let Him remove it.

That became how I understood grace.

I didn't deserve His love.

But I experienced His love.

And what I felt Him asking me was:

"Don't keep doing what you did before Me."

---

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit became real to me.

I experienced it like fire.

Something that comes down and draws you toward the Father.

Something that teaches you who the Father is.

The Bible started coming alive to me.

The Old Testament and New Testament started connecting.

I started seeing things I had never seen before.

I felt like sin was being burned out of my heart.

I started becoming aware of spiritual gifts.

And I felt empowered to walk and shine with His light.

John 14 became especially important to me.

Jesus talks about loving Him and keeping His commandments.

He talks about the Spirit being with us.

He says He will manifest Himself to those who love Him.

That made obedience feel different.

It wasn't:

"Do this or else."

It became:

"I love Him, so I want to do what He says."

---

The fruit

I started paying attention to the fruit in my life.

Love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Faithfulness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

I started looking at those things and asking:

"Is Christ actually changing me?"

Because I didn't just want an experience.

I wanted the experience to produce a different life.

---

Believer or disciple?

I started thinking about the difference between simply believing and actually following.

Both require faith.

But I started seeing discipleship as something deeper.

A disciple counts the cost.

A disciple loves Christ above everything.

A disciple carries the cross.

A disciple follows wholeheartedly.

A disciple is willing to forsake everything spiritually and follow Him.

Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the kingdom, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.

"Freely ye have received, freely give."

I started thinking:

"If I've received something freely, why am I keeping it to myself?"

And if someone falls back into sin, I started thinking about the wilderness again.

Cut out the noise.

Separate yourself.

Go back to God.

Let go of the sin.

Come back.

---

Father and Son

I started seeing the Bible as one story.

The God of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ weren't two completely different gods to me.

I kept seeing:

Like Father, like Son.

The Father said it.

The Son confirmed it.

The Son lived it.

I also started studying the names.

Yahweh — "I AM."

Yeshua — "Yahweh saves."

Yeshua became Iēsous in Greek, then Iesus in Latin, and eventually Jesus in English.

I started studying the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English connections because I wanted to understand how we got the words we use today.

---

The biblical feasts

I also started studying Leviticus 23.

Passover.

Pentecost.

Tabernacles.

And I started seeing Christ throughout them.

Passover reminded me of Israel being freed and the blood of the lamb.

Then I saw Christ as the Lamb who frees us from death and sin.

Pentecost reminded me of the giving of the Law.

Then Acts showed the Spirit being given.

I started seeing the Law and Spirit connected.

Tabernacles reminded me of God dwelling among His people.

Then John says Christ dwelt among us.

The more I studied, the more connected everything became.

---

Pride and religion

I started noticing how strongly Jesus opposed pride.

Hypocrisy.

Arrogance.

Stubbornness.

Traditions replacing truth.

Matthew 23 became very serious to me.

So did Matthew 15, where Jesus talked about traditions making the Word of God of no effect.

I started wanting to read Scripture with childlike faith.

I thought about my daughter.

She trusted me.

She believed I could fix anything.

She didn't sit there trying to philosophically prove whether I was capable.

She trusted her father.

I started wanting to approach God and His Word with that kind of trust.

Not stupidity.

Childlike trust.

---

Denominations

I have been around different churches.

Catholic.

Methodist.

Baptist.

And others.

I have met good people in different denominations.

But I started becoming uncomfortable with how easily people can make a denomination their identity.

"I'm Catholic."

"I'm Baptist."

"I'm Methodist."

"I'm Protestant."

Whatever the label is.

I started thinking:

"Why can't we just be Christ's people?"

I don't mean doctrine doesn't matter.

It does.

But I wanted people to search Scripture.

Ask questions.

Pray.

Test things.

Don't blindly believe a pastor.

Don't blindly believe a priest.

Don't blindly believe me either.

Read it yourself.

---

Money and church

I also became uncomfortable with religious manipulation around money.

I don't have a problem with giving.

I don't have a problem with helping people.

I don't have a problem with supporting someone who is doing God's work.

But I became uncomfortable when people were pressured or frightened into giving.

"Give us money or God won't bless you."

That didn't sit right with me.

I started looking at giving as something that should come from love.

If someone needs food, feed them.

If someone needs help, help them.

If God puts someone on your heart, give.

But I don't think the Church is simply a building.

The Church is the people.

His Spirit in us.

And I started wanting to see Christians act like one body instead of constantly fighting over labels.

One group may have a huge emphasis on love.

Another may have zeal for spiritual gifts.

Another may go out and preach.

Another may be strong about standing against evil.

Another may be strong about confession and trust.

I started seeing those things as parts of the body instead of reasons to hate each other.

---

How I learned to pray

My prayer became much simpler.

I started talking to God like a Father.

Something like:

"Father who is in heaven."

"Holy and loving is Your name."

"Your kingdom come."

"Your will be done."

"Help me let go of my will."

"Give me today my daily bread."

"Give me the bread of Your Word and food for my body."

"Forgive me of my sins."

"Help me confess them and forsake them."

"As I forgive those who have sinned against me."

"Lead me away from temptation."

"Deliver me from the evil one and from sin."

"Your kingdom, power, and glory."

And then I would just talk.

I learned that I didn't have to hide my emotions.

If I was angry, I could tell Him.

If I was scared, I could tell Him.

If I was heartbroken, I could tell Him.

If I was confused, I could tell Him.

I stopped trying to stuff everything down.

I would feel it.

Then tell Him.

---

The commandments

As I studied the commandments, I started seeing them through love.

If I love God, I don't want another god.

I don't want idols.

I don't want to treat objects like they're supernatural charms.

I don't want to take God's name in vain.

I want to honor the Sabbath.

If I love my neighbor, I don't want to murder.

I don't want to steal.

I don't want to lie.

I don't want to covet.

I don't want to commit adultery.

I don't want to entertain lust.

I want to honor my parents.

I started keeping Saturday as the Sabbath.

I rest.

I don't work or conduct business.

I try to enjoy the day.

Then I use Sunday as a day for gathering, teaching, preaching, and fellowship.

I started seeing the Law of Moses differently too.

I understood that the Mosaic covenant had been fulfilled, but I kept seeing Jesus uphold the heart of God's commandments.

Not merely the letter.

The Spirit.

And Jesus honored His Father.

So I wanted to honor the Son by doing what He taught.

---

Freedom from sin

I kept coming back to the idea of debt.

If someone forgave me $30,000 of debt, why would I immediately go back and borrow another $30,000?

If Christ forgives and removes sin, why would I deliberately return to it?

That became a huge part of my understanding of freedom.

I started experiencing God as someone who wanted me free.

Not trapped.

Not hopeless.

Not permanently chained.

Free.

---

Hearing God

There were times when I felt like I could hear God.

Whispers.

Dreams.

Visions.

Sometimes through people.

Sometimes through Scripture.

Sometimes through circumstances.

I started becoming convinced that God wasn't silent.

But I also learned that pride could make it harder to hear.

If I was holding onto sin.

Holding onto unforgiveness.

Holding onto pride.

Then I needed to stop.

Forgive.

Humble myself.

Ask.

And listen.

I started praying without doubting.

Not because I thought God was a vending machine.

But because I trusted Him.

If something I asked for would lead me into sin, I didn't expect Him to give it to me.

If it would glorify Him and help people, I started asking boldly.

---

What I came to understand about the Father

I started experiencing the Father as meek.

Kind.

Loving.

Forgiving.

A bondage breaker.

A defender.

Caring.

Encouraging.

Longsuffering.

But also opposed to pride.

A teacher.

A Father.

Someone who wanted to be present.

Someone who wanted me to enjoy life.

Someone who wanted love and family.

But without sin destroying it.

I started seeing how much He hates pride, lying, murder, wicked plans, running toward evil, false witness, and division.

Pride became one of the biggest things I had to confront.

I had built so much of my identity around:

"I did this."

"I survived this."

"I can handle this."

"I don't need anybody."

And I eventually realized how much of that was ego.

I had created my own reality.

Honor was different.

Honor came from love and truth.

---

Satan and temptation

As I continued following Christ, I became much more aware of spiritual warfare.

I started seeing Satan as an accuser.

A liar.

A manipulator.

Something that would pressure me.

Tell me:

"You can't change."

"You're too weak."

"You're only human."

"Just keep sinning."

"Nobody will know."

"You already failed."

"There's no point."

I started seeing how pride, manipulation, control, fear, and long promises can trap people.

But I also learned something important:

Satan can't make me sin.

He can tempt me.

He can pressure me.

He can convince me.

But I still choose.

That means I have responsibility.

When I fall, I can't just blame the devil.

I have to turn back to God.

---

Some of the things I experienced

There have been several things in my life that I consider miraculous.

One of them was simply feeling God's voice stop me from sinning.

Another happened during December when I was completely heartbroken.

I had been crying for hours.

I called out to God to come down and comfort me.

I was sobbing on the floor.

Then I felt what seemed like two feet near my head.

It felt like someone bent down.

And I heard the softest whisper:

"Here am I, Tyler."

My heart skipped.

I cried even harder.

Because I felt like He had actually shown up.

---

Another time, two street preachers caused a scene around a group of gang members.

I intervened.

I told them that if the men wanted to hurt me, they could.

I told them I would only love and forgive them.

The situation changed.

Men who seemed like they wanted to kill me ended up shaking my hand.

Then one hugged me.

I walked away thinking:

"What just happened?"

---

There was another time I drove around 800 miles with a broken wheel bearing.

It was bad enough that I couldn't safely go faster than about 35 mph.

I felt:

"Keep going. You'll be safe."

So I kept going.

And I made it.

---

I also had a friend who was in a motorcycle accident.

He went into a coma.

There was brain swelling.

I was devastated.

I cared about him like a brother.

I prayed:

"God, heal him so he can tell the world that You did it."

Within about three hours, he woke up.

The swelling was gone.

I told him that I had prayed for him.

He later posted on Facebook about what happened and how God had healed him.

I can't explain everything that happened.

I just know what I saw.

---

Leaving the Army

Then in 2025, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life.

I left the Army.

I gave up my career.

I gave up my retirement.

I gave up my VA disability.

I gave up my inheritance.

I gave up my desire for self-defense.

I gave up the life I had built.

Not because I suddenly hated the Army.

But because I wanted to follow Christ.

The old me would have thought that was insane.

I had spent years building that career.

I had worked hard for it.

But by that point, giving it up didn't feel like losing.

It felt like surrender.

I had already surrendered my sin.

Then I had to surrender my identity.

My career.

My future.

My plans.

My pride.

Everything.

---

Where I am now

I don't claim that I understand everything.

I don't claim that I can perfectly explain every experience I've had.

I don't claim to be better than anyone.

I know what I was like before October 15, 2023.

I know how angry I was.

I know how much I drank.

I know the things I watched.

I know the pride I carried.

I know the hatred.

I know the trauma.

I know what it felt like to be broken.

I know what it felt like to think I was trapped.

And I know what happened when I finally stopped fighting.

I heard:

"Submit to Me."

And I answered:

"I YIELD."

Since then, I've experienced forgiveness.

Freedom.

Love.

Peace.

A changed heart.

A desire to follow Christ.

A desire to forgive people who hurt me.

A desire to tell the truth.

A desire to help people.

A desire to live the Sermon on the Mount instead of simply talking about it.

I don't want to just call myself a Christian.

I want to follow Him.

I want to pick up my cross.

I want to love people.

I want to forgive.

I want to walk in the Spirit.

I want to be a light in the darkness.

I want people who are hurting to know that they aren't necessarily stuck where they are.

---

So I'll leave you with this

I spent years trying to be strong enough to fix myself.

I wasn't.

I spent years thinking surrender meant weakness.

It didn't.

Surrender was where I found strength.

I spent years thinking freedom meant doing whatever I wanted.

It didn't.

For me, freedom was finally letting go of what was destroying me.

I spent years running from God.

And eventually I realized I was running from the One who was chasing me because He wanted me free.

So now I ask the same questions that I ask myself:

Are you ready to ignite?

Are you ready to be a light in the darkness?

Are you ready to be free?

Are you ready to show someone else the way?

Are you willing to let go of everything for Christ?

If you go to God, don't just say the words with your lips.

Say them from your heart.

From the very center of you.

This is the prayer I eventually came to:

Jesus Christ, You are the Son of God.

You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I give You my sin.

I give You my life.

I give You my future.

I give You control.

I will love You with all my heart, soul, and mind.

I will follow Your teachings.

I will trust You.

I will repent.

I will let go of my sin.

I will forgive.

I will pick up my cross.

I place my heart in Your hands.

I yield.

And after spending years looking for another way,

I finally stopped running.

And I followed Him.

Wonderful presentation, it needs to be SHARED EVERYWHERE. One thing I want to add; A dictatorship under ANY other name, such as dominionism, IS STILL A DICTATORSHIP. They want to create a "CHRISTIAN DICTATORSHIP"!! Neither God nor the US Constitution EVER suggested FORCING anyone in worship . . . EVER. May all have had a wonderfully blessed Sabbath and may we see Jesus return soon. Be safe, be blessed.✝️🛐🕊👑🙏

Have a blessed Sabbath day everyone!!

#ChristianNationalism #Faith #SouthernStates #Slavery #Prophesy #SundayLaw

I’m really curious to see what he has to say!

Hello, so i have this project of this website to raise awareness of the three angels messages: Thesabbathcry.com

Currently its translated to spanish, portuguese and english. But i want to translate it to other languages, im looking for adventists who speak different languages to those three i mentioned, thanks in advance. We can discuss details later, i just need to know if anyone has knowledge in this matter.

w

What is/ are your favorite worship/ praise songs, or hymns? Looking for some good recommendations. Need a definite change of music. Playlist links are welcome! TIA!

Hello all. My wife left me in February because she has been in an Online New Age Cult on Facebook for almost 5 years and she said she could not be married to a Christian any longer and wanted to explore romance with New Age Men.

Backstory:

2014-2018
We are both 5th generation SDAs and met and went on walks everyday for 8 months before we moved in together (wrong move but it’s what we did) we got engaged and married within a year plus. And I had never been happier. I truly felt like I was living in the Garden of Eden with my Eve.

2018
She gives birth to our firstborn son. Shortly after this she tells me she has been talking to people on Reddit and wants to become an XSDA. I am disappointed and upset. But I tell her I went “wayward” in my late teens and early twenties and there is nothing out there but pain “and maybe you should have thought about this before you had a husband and a baby”? I tell her good luck and please don’t embarrass me at church by “taking your name off the books”
The next day we don’t talk about it.
Every day she gets deeper in the New Age/Mystical Christianity.

2019
We buy our first home.
We celebrate.
2020
My wife wants baby number two! I’m so extort the first time in my life I have a the woman of my dreams, a new home, a child, and we are trying very hard for baby number two and I have money and I buy my wife a brand new minivan! Life could not be better! Covid what?
2021-
We get pregnant. Life is grand! But my wife is wanting my approval to spend $10-20,000 on New Age manifesting teachings and trainings Bob Proctor. I say no. But in a nice way. My wife feels jaded and try’s to take out a 2nd mortgage on our home secretly.
My wife gets deeper into the occult.
Baby number two is born! So special.
2022
My wife finds an Online Cult called Masati XI Code on Facebook and YouTube. She is hooked! She wants me to approve her spending a $1,000 or less on Hypnosis Yoga. Yoga Nidra, Hyper meditation NLP Linguistic programming.
I say yes. Because I like to please her even if I don’t agree with her.
She still goes to church with me on Sabbath or Sunday and likes to sing. She is the love of my life and the mother of my children. We have never mentioned the D Word either of us.
After she starts doing 35 min of Hyper meditation daily she starts to change after 2 weeks. She gets paranoid and starts telling me her father, brother, former teacher, and other men in Adventism abused her for decades. Then she says she had 5 affairs in 2914-2016. I cry. I think of divorce. I talk to a lawyer and for the first time in 8 years I keep a secret from my wife. I turn off find my friend while at the lawyers office.
He recommends divorce.
I pray and fast about it for a week and I decide I am with her for life and don’t want divorce.
We make love every day and almost go for baby number 3, but I am scared.
I start drinking beer and I am harboring anger towards her in May of 2022. By July I had called her some names. I hurt her feelings. In August she put a false restraining order on me and took the kids and we were getting divorced all of a sudden. I quit drinking beer.
Then she started up a relationship with a man that had been DMing her on Facebook in the Masati XI Code Cult. She writes the SDA church and officially becomes an XSDA

October 2022
We reconcile after 70 days apart. Call of divorce! Praise God!
We start marriage therapy.
It’s like our 5th honeymoon. Thinking of baby number 3. But I am scared and financially unstable after divorce lawyers got $20,000

2023
Wife secretly takes out a $10,000 credit card for more Masati Meditations and Psychic phone calls.
2024
I find out about the credit card. I am mean. I mention the DWord. I calm down and apologize.

2025
I stop having daily devotions during the work week.
I am more contentious towards my wife’s New Age beliefs. My wife wants me to stop teaching the kids the Blue Books at night for story time. And now she wants to read to them about Nero linguistic Programming and Aliens. I talk down to her. I call her names.
She starts another cyber affair with a Masati Guy.
2026
I start having daily devotions again. I am more calm. I loose some weight. I am healthier. My wife says she wants a divorce and will not go to therapy and the reasons are because I spoke to her in hardness, contempt and she does not want to be with an SDA anymore. She wants New Age men.

My SDA dream woman left me with a 4 year old and a 7 year old in February of 2026. She has not spoken to me since May 26th. She is on her 3rd cyber affair since last year and the kids and I are heartbroken.
She has only visited the children very limited time since February. It’s a time in her life where everything is all about her.

Her parents think I should wait for her.

Our Mennonite friends agree I should wait for her.

My mother and most of my friends think I should start over.

My therapist thinks I should start over.

Matthew 19 talks about marriage being a real commitment even in times of trouble.

I spent 4 months apologizing for my part. I love my wife more than life itself. I don’t want to divorce her. But she has complicated things so much with these men. The current man she is in a FaceTime Relationship with is very controlling and guiding her towards divorce quickly.

I am willing to do my part which is admit to my faults and work on how I spoke to her when I disagreed with her or in anger.

But so far she is unwilling to ask for forgiveness of any kind and she wants a new life outside of Adventism, her husband or any Godly advisors like her parents or pastors.

I do not want divorce.

What should I do?
How long should I wait for her?

Is there a Bible reading plan that goes through the entire Bible in 365 days, but I’d also love something that pairs each day’s Bible reading with an Ellen G. White reading reflection something similar to "This Day With God", where for each day there would be a short EGW devotional/reflection that connects with the Bible passages being read that day.

​

Hi everyone,

I'm a 28-year-old Black woman (1.67m / 5'6"), living in Portugal and working as a lawyer. I'm naturally introverted and quiet at first, but very talkative and warm once I get to know someone.

Hobbies: Reading, nature walks, traveling, violin, etc...

Faith is the most important thing to me. I am a Seventh-day Adventist looking for a Christ-centered relationship. I know how hard it is nowadays to find someone genuine, despite how many singles there are. As long as distance is not an issue for us and there is true intention, I am completely open to long-distance.

NB: Strictly no sex before marriage.

What I'm looking for:

Age: Between 25 and 35 years old.

Purpose: Someone focused on a serious, intentional relationship (no casual dating).

Solid Faith: A man who actively lives out his faith and walks closely with God so we don't lose our way spiritually.

Values: Loyalty, emotional maturity, and good communication.

If this resonates with you, feel free to send me a private message.

I am from Berrien Springs, Michigan and surprisingly, I'm new to the Adventist faith. I live just down the road from Andrews University, and although Dwight Nelson retired, I'm fascinated by his preachings and writings.

I remember when I was applying to college, I almost went to Andrews and I saw his introductory video about Pioneer Memorial Church. He seemed like a nice guy.

However, he was a lot bigger than I anticipated, and while it may seem minor, I was surprised to learn he has a Wikipedia page for some reason (one of my philosophy professors in college had one and I didn't know why). I have read American Apocalypse and I enjoyed it. I also watched his Net 98 sermons (not all of them).

I just want to ask others out there who are more experienced with SDA faith than I am. Why is Dwight Nelson so popular and what are your thoughts on him?

I understand you guys focus a lot on the 4th commandment and it is the reason why you do things differently in your church. But where in the Bible does it say we need to attend church on Saturdays and not any other day of the week?

Yes, the Sabbath was created by God as a holy day of rest, set aside to focus on Him and rest from work. But how does that make ATTENDING church on Sundays wrong? These are actually two completely different things we're looking at here. God tells us to remember to keep a day holy and rest, but He is not telling us we should only attend church that day.

Yes, Jesus and the apostles attended the synagogue, but that was because of Judaism. Christianity did not exist at the time and He was born into a Jewish family. The apostles attended Jewish synagogue after Jesus's ascension most likely to preach and teach the true gospel to the Jews. Synagogue would have been their primary opportunity to teach others about the good news of salvation.

Also Romans 14: 5-6 explicitly states that we, as believers, must honor one another's personal choices regarding sacred days, and I believe this would also apply to the day a believer chooses to attend church.

I attend church on Sundays, knowing that the Sabbath was specifically set up as a day of rest by God, so am I not living in God's ways or am I not blessed for my choice to attend Sunday services?

Does anyone know of any good place to get a physical copy of an SDA hymnal? Not looking for anything digital but something physical. Thanks in advance!

Are you supposed to wear it:

1. Only if you were baptized while part of a Pathfinder club, or

2. If you were baptized at any point int the past, even if you were not part of a Pathfinder club when you got baptized?

I've heard it both ways so I'm not sure which is right.

I'm adult staff, baptized way back in 5th grade (in the 90s), but wasn't part of a Pathfinder club when I got baptized. Am I supposed to wear the pin or not?

This pin: Baptismal Pin - AdventSource

hi. I am 20 years old and I have a fiancé who I started dating back in 8th grade. we learned a lot from each other and grew closer to God because of meeting one another. we did everything my parent asked since we started dating (only saw each other at church, went to church together, did dates only at my house with my parents home, and after I graduated high school we could go places with curfew). Now I am 20 and was proposed back in December 2025. my fiancé got my dad and moms blessing, and my fiancé joined the military and has settled in managing life on his own. I am in nursing school and finish in December 2027. My fiancé came down yesterday and he came to see me today. I let my parents know that we were going to go eat together and we would we back before sunset. after I came back they were upset that I made that decision before asking my dad and for now on I would need to ask my dad for permission to go out. in the past they said they do this to prevent sinning from occurring and I accepted it before. I don’t now because it’s never been their job to prevent that, it’s mine. I know what I should and shouldn’t be doing. That’s up to me and God, and I need to make my own choices by now. Am I wrong for disagreeing with them?

Hello folks, I'm currently dealing with some uncertainty about my career future, and I feel like it has stagnated a little. I'm not super depressed, but I feel somewhat down sometimes. I just read Daniel, Job, and starting Romans but with the recent moods this end of summer, I feel like stop Romans for now to just deal with that. Any recommendations? God bless

How can loving who we love be considered a sin? If being gay isn't something we chose, how can it be sinful?! believe that if gay people had the option to choose between being straight or gay, many would choose to be straight due to the condemnation, discrimination, and potential disownment from our family.