Download PDF - Adventist Review
Download PDF - Adventist Review
Download PDF - Adventist Review
- No tags were found...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
www.adventistreview.org<br />
June 20, 2013<br />
La Sierra Votes<br />
Bylaw Changes<br />
Sexuality as<br />
Something Sacred<br />
A School Grows in Alaska<br />
8<br />
24<br />
28
“Behold, I come quickly . . .”<br />
Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His<br />
matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing<br />
Him better, and hope in His soon return.<br />
16 28 8 6<br />
COVER FEATURE<br />
16 Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s<br />
and Other Churches<br />
WILLIAM G. JOHNSSON<br />
Sure, we’re different.<br />
But serious conversations<br />
reveal how much<br />
we have in common.<br />
ARTICLES<br />
20 A Formula for Prayer?<br />
REX D. EDWARDS<br />
Preventing prayer from<br />
being formulaic<br />
24 Sexuality as Something<br />
Sacred<br />
DAVID E. THOMAS<br />
And the never-ending<br />
struggle to keep it that way<br />
28 A School Grows in Alaska<br />
STEPHEN CHAVEZ<br />
A school that teaches<br />
grace? Amazing!<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
4 Letters<br />
7 Page 7<br />
8 World News &<br />
Perspectives<br />
13 Give & Take<br />
15 Cliff’s Edge<br />
2 3 Journeys With Jesus<br />
27 The Life of Faith<br />
31 Reflections<br />
EDITORIALS<br />
6 LAEL CAESAR<br />
Understanding<br />
7 STEPHEN CHAVEZ<br />
And Justice for All<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
For 150 years this movement<br />
has never been afraid of<br />
principled dialogue.<br />
NEXT WEEK<br />
Lover? Or Seducer?<br />
The path of true spirituality<br />
is well-marked, as long<br />
as we read the signs.<br />
Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s ® , Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun,<br />
vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik<br />
Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra<br />
Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel<br />
Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Quality Assurance/Social Media Coordinator Jean Boonstra, Marketing Director Claude Richli,<br />
Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services<br />
Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are available at the <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong> Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the <strong>Review</strong>.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed envelope<br />
to: Writer’s Guidelines, <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong>, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. E-mail: revieweditor@gc.adventist.org. Web site: www.adventistreview.org. Postmaster:<br />
Send address changes to <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong>, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.<br />
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong> (ISSN 0161-<br />
1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> ® Church. It is published by the General Conference of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s ® and is printed<br />
36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth Thursdays of each month by the <strong>Review</strong> and Herald ® Publishing Association, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD<br />
21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, MD 21740. Copyright © 2013, General Conference of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s ® . PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 17<br />
Subscriptions: Thirty-six issues of the weekly <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong>, US$36.95 plus US$28.50 postage outside North America. Single copy US$3.00. To order, send your name, address, and<br />
payment to <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong> subscription desk, Box 1119, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1119. Orders can also be placed at <strong>Adventist</strong> Book Centers. Prices subject to change. Address changes:<br />
addresschanges@rhpa.org. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257. Subscription queries: shanson@rhpa.org. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (531) 3
inbox<br />
LETTERS FROM OUR READERS<br />
Going in Circles<br />
»»<br />
Stephen Chavez’s editorial<br />
“Going in Circles” (May 16,<br />
2013) is of profound importance<br />
to Adventism. This is<br />
the way we should have been<br />
thinking all along, instead of<br />
how a notion has been perpetuated<br />
that if we associate<br />
in other “circles” we will<br />
become contaminated and/or<br />
“lose our way.”<br />
DOUGLAS DEVNICH<br />
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada<br />
Superman<br />
»»<br />
I read Sandra Blackmer’s<br />
editorial “Superheroes”<br />
(May 16). I remembered<br />
something I heard a long<br />
time ago about the authors<br />
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster,<br />
who were both Jewish. Here<br />
is an interesting quote found<br />
in the article “Superman,” by<br />
Blair Kramer, in the Jewish<br />
Virtual Library:<br />
“Despite his superhuman<br />
powers, Superman shared<br />
some characteristic traits<br />
with a majority of American<br />
Jews in the 1940s. Like them,<br />
he had arrived in America<br />
from a foreign world. His<br />
entire family—in fact, his<br />
entire race—had been wiped<br />
out in a holocaust-like disaster<br />
on his home planet, Krypton.<br />
Like German Jewish<br />
parents who sent their children<br />
on the kindertransports,<br />
or the baby Moses set<br />
adrift in the bulrushes,<br />
Superman’s parents<br />
launched him to Earth in<br />
hopes that he would survive.<br />
And while the mild-mannered<br />
Clark Kent held a<br />
white-collar job as a reporter<br />
by day, the “real” man<br />
behind Kent’s meek exterior<br />
was a virile, indestructible<br />
crusader for justice. This fantasy<br />
must have resonated<br />
among American Jews, who<br />
felt powerless to help their<br />
brethren in the death camps<br />
of Europe.<br />
“Superman obeys the Talmudic<br />
injunction to do good<br />
for its own sake and heal the<br />
world where he can. Siegel<br />
and Shuster had created a<br />
mythic character who<br />
reflected their own Jewish<br />
values.”<br />
RENEE FORD<br />
Charlotte, North Carolina<br />
www.adventistreview.org<br />
April 25, 2013<br />
April 25, 2013<br />
Vol. 190, No. 12<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Youth March<br />
Against Violence<br />
Human Su fering<br />
and Creation<br />
More Than You Asked For<br />
9<br />
14<br />
22<br />
In the<br />
Kitchen<br />
With<br />
Helen<br />
VegeTAriAn<br />
Food goeS<br />
MAinSTreAM<br />
Vegetables Are Safer<br />
»»<br />
I read Wilona Karimabadi’s<br />
article “In the Kitchen With<br />
Helen” (Apr. 25, 2013) and<br />
was surprised to learn that<br />
the ingredients for one of the<br />
company’s lines, Artisan Bistro,<br />
are a mixture of vegetables<br />
and meat. I think this is<br />
a step backward for our <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
health message. Many<br />
studies have proven a vegetarian<br />
diet is much healthier.<br />
According to Genesis the<br />
original diet did not include<br />
meat, so we should make<br />
food that does not include<br />
animal products (no killing<br />
in heaven, so no meat will be<br />
served there). I know that<br />
some meat is considered<br />
clean in the Bible, but at this<br />
time I don’t think that any<br />
meat is really clean anymore.<br />
Just consider how animals<br />
are raised now and the<br />
chemicals they put into animals<br />
and the feed, etc. It is<br />
even hard to find good vegetables<br />
these days, but it is<br />
still safer than resorting to<br />
meat sources. We must stop<br />
compromising our standards,<br />
or we will not be<br />
needed in this world anymore<br />
because we will be just<br />
like the world. Do we still<br />
believe we have a unique<br />
message, or are we going to<br />
water it down so the world<br />
will accept it? This is a question<br />
we’d better consider<br />
before we make any<br />
concessions.<br />
HERB SPAIR<br />
Trenton, New Jersey<br />
Reclaiming the<br />
Library Revisited<br />
»»<br />
Special thanks to Bill Knott<br />
for the editorial “Reclaiming<br />
the Library” (Mar. 14, 2013). I<br />
have been richly blessed and<br />
gained a better understanding<br />
of the Holy Spirit and the<br />
responsibilities of Christians<br />
through the writings of<br />
some non-<strong>Adventist</strong>s. A few<br />
of my favorite books read for<br />
pleasure and growth written<br />
by non-<strong>Adventist</strong>s are: The<br />
Home Stretch, by Dale Evans<br />
Rogers; Lessons I Learned in the<br />
Dark, by Jennifer Rothschild;<br />
Yesterday, Today and Forever, by<br />
Maria von Trapp; and The<br />
Purpose Driven Life, by Rick<br />
Warren. I have just begun to<br />
read The Lord Is My Shepherd,<br />
by Robert J. Morgan (I<br />
checked this book out from a<br />
local public library).<br />
Though Knott was speaking<br />
of more scholarly works,<br />
there are many books of<br />
value and merit written by<br />
non-<strong>Adventist</strong> Christians<br />
available and worthy of our<br />
time.<br />
CAROL IRAM<br />
Woburn, Massachusetts<br />
»»<br />
I entirely appreciated Bill<br />
Knott’s thoughts in<br />
“Reclaiming the Library,” but<br />
what I am responding to<br />
now is what I perceive as a<br />
trend by many, articulated in<br />
one or two letters printed in<br />
the <strong>Review</strong>: that put-down of<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>s who hold in<br />
higher regard our publications<br />
and biblical understanding<br />
of many issues<br />
above that of other writers—<br />
Christian or not.<br />
I remember when The Purpose<br />
Driven Life, The Prayer of<br />
Jabez, and many others were<br />
the read of the day, and many<br />
“Christian” writers’ books<br />
served (and still do) as<br />
resources for Christian living,<br />
guides for child rearing,<br />
marriage improvement, etc.<br />
My issue is that we as <strong>Adventist</strong>s<br />
have so much given<br />
to us in the Spirit of Prophecy.<br />
When will I—or any one<br />
of us—have the time to read<br />
most of these counsels<br />
(much less all of them)? And<br />
4 (532) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
must I use valuable time to<br />
study the writings of people<br />
who either willfully or ignorantly<br />
ignore “Thus saith the<br />
Lord”—people who mock<br />
and criticize <strong>Adventist</strong>s, or<br />
who, in many cases, will not<br />
read our books? Isn’t this a<br />
reason one cannot walk into<br />
just any Christian bookstore<br />
and find a selection of our<br />
publications?<br />
If the advocates of reading<br />
other authors’ materials are<br />
referring to literature, art,<br />
science, music, etc., then by<br />
all means, read on! Otherwise,<br />
in spiritual matters we<br />
should be cautious to read<br />
with discernment and<br />
understanding. True, there<br />
are lessons and insights to be<br />
gained from others, but I<br />
believe we have all the basics<br />
to make it into the kingdom.<br />
TREVOR CONNELL<br />
Dallas, Texas<br />
Do I Need a Gun?<br />
»»<br />
I very much appreciated<br />
Claude Richli’s article “Do I<br />
Need a Gun?” (Mar. 14). I am<br />
personally afraid to own a<br />
gun. I am afraid that I will be<br />
tempted to use it to kill<br />
someone for whom God is<br />
still striving. Who am I to<br />
eternally separate another<br />
man or woman from God’s<br />
influence and power? As to<br />
needing a gun to protect<br />
myself, I have a hard time<br />
imagining the Almighty, my<br />
Father, saying, “Oh, Mike, I<br />
wanted to protect you . . . If<br />
only you had owned a gun.” I<br />
just can’t imagine it.<br />
MICHAEL DANT<br />
Ooltewah, Tennessee<br />
“We need to see more of the faith that Doss lived.<br />
His life conformed to the faith of Jesus.<br />
”<br />
—DAVID MANZANO, Harriman, Tennessee<br />
»»<br />
Living on a farm, I owned<br />
three rifles before I turned<br />
21. I did not buy them to<br />
defend myself; it was just a<br />
“man thing.” Target practice<br />
was a fun game. The thought<br />
of shooting another person<br />
was a completely foreign<br />
idea. At 18 I chose to be<br />
drafted into the army as a<br />
noncombatant. With Jesus,<br />
His teaching, and His promises<br />
I do not need a gun.<br />
Notice what Jesus told<br />
Peter when the mob came to<br />
attack Jesus. Peter took his<br />
sword to defend Him, just as<br />
many gun owners plan to do<br />
if attacked. Jesus’ words were<br />
“Put up your sword, Peter;<br />
those who take the sword<br />
will perish by the sword”<br />
(see Matt. 26:51-53).<br />
“Thou shalt not kill” (Ex.<br />
20:13, KJV). These words<br />
from God’s law guided Desmond<br />
Doss. We need to see<br />
more of the faith that Doss<br />
lived. His life conformed to<br />
the faith of Jesus. We choose<br />
and plan what we will do,<br />
and Matthew 9:29, “According<br />
to your faith be it unto<br />
you” (KJV), works out in our<br />
lives. I choose to put my faith<br />
in God’s promises.<br />
DAVID MANZANO<br />
Harriman, Tennessee<br />
Must Love God<br />
»»<br />
Thank you for printing<br />
Kimberly Luste Maran’s<br />
“Must Love God” cover story<br />
(Feb. 14, 2013). The article<br />
was balanced and a real<br />
blessing to me, and I am sure<br />
to many other singles who<br />
are following God’s leading<br />
and will for their lives by<br />
staying single. As we live in a<br />
world that mainly accommodates<br />
couples, I was comforted<br />
and encouraged by<br />
Maran’s statement that God<br />
www.adventistreview.org<br />
christians and<br />
February 14, 2013<br />
February 14, 2013<br />
Vol. 190, No. 4<br />
“Mi sion to Cities” Launched<br />
in South England<br />
Moving in the Same<br />
direction<br />
Rogelio’s Testimony<br />
online dating<br />
does not require us to have a<br />
mate. She mentioned that in<br />
some cases a single person<br />
can serve God more wholly<br />
than one who is married, and<br />
backed this up with examples<br />
from the Bible. A text in<br />
1 Corinthians 7:32-35 supports<br />
Maran’s statement.<br />
Maran also gave a great<br />
example for our admonition<br />
of a single Christian who is<br />
happy to be single for as<br />
long as God wants her to be<br />
single because she wants to<br />
do God’s will and not her<br />
own. I know that most single<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Christians would<br />
like to be married but only if<br />
it is God’s will—and it must<br />
be a husband or wife of<br />
10<br />
14<br />
23<br />
God’s own choosing. Praise<br />
God that He is able to use<br />
fallen human beings to finish<br />
the work whether we are<br />
single, married, poor, rich,<br />
young, old, healthy, sick,<br />
attractive, plain, educated,<br />
uneducated, highly intelligent,<br />
or average. He gives us<br />
all the power to do His will<br />
and to be a vital factor in the<br />
world for His cause by giving<br />
us a lifeline whereby we can<br />
claim the awesome promise<br />
in Philippians 4:13.<br />
Thank you again. I have<br />
shared this article with my<br />
single <strong>Adventist</strong> friends and<br />
others.<br />
MONICA SAWERS<br />
Kurri Kurri, New South<br />
Wales, Australia<br />
We welcome your letters, noting,<br />
as always, that inclusion of a letter<br />
in this section does not imply that<br />
the ideas expressed are endorsed by<br />
either the editors of the <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
<strong>Review</strong> or the General Conference.<br />
Short, specific, timely letters have<br />
the best chance at being published<br />
(please include your complete<br />
address and phone number—even<br />
with e-mail messages). Letters will<br />
be edited for space and clarity only.<br />
Send correspondence to Letters to<br />
the Editor, <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong>, 12501<br />
Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD<br />
20904-6600; Internet: letters@<br />
adventistreview.org.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (533) 5
Editorials<br />
Lael<br />
Caesar<br />
Understanding<br />
UNDERSTANDING IS NOT LIFE’S ONLY MORAL REQUIREMENT.<br />
Misunderstanding that critical truth helps explain the chaos of humanistic optimism based on<br />
faith in cognitive keenness. American board-certified internist and addiction medicine specialist<br />
David Drew Pinsky, radio and television’s Dr. Drew, understands homosexuality. Drew’s video<br />
entitled Understanding Homosexuality is categorical: “There’s no evidence that it can be changed.” 1<br />
Robert L. Spitzer’s understanding changed after he won the fight against labeling homosexuality<br />
a “sociopathic personality disturbance” in psychiatry’s diagnostic manual. 2 Twenty-eight<br />
years he inflamed the world with a study on “reparative” or “conversion therapy,” turning most<br />
subjects toward a “predominantly or exclusively heterosexual orientation.” 3<br />
Addressing the problem such therapies create, the Pan-American Health Organization<br />
(PAHO) recommended, inter alia, in 2012, (1) that they be denounced, (2) that public training<br />
institutions teach “respect for diversity and the elimination of attitudes of pathologization,<br />
rejection, and hate toward nonheterosexual persons,” that (3) the media expose homophobia<br />
as a public health problem and “a threat to human dignity and human rights,” and that (4) people<br />
practicing such therapies be reported “to the relevant authorities.” 4<br />
Meanwhile, Spitzer’s understanding continues to develop. He has apologized for his 2001<br />
study, allegedly deeply flawed because, inter alia, “only half of the participants engaged with a<br />
therapist at all, while the others worked with pastoral counselors, or in independent Bible<br />
study.” 5 One may or may not draw conclusions from this, on the predictive value of such nonscientific<br />
activities as pastoral counseling and independent Bible study. To judge by Spitzer’s<br />
apology, and by the PAHO directive, one may also doubt that any credibility remains within the<br />
scientific community for therapies bearing the modifier “conversion” or “reparative.”<br />
Nevertheless, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)<br />
is a professional scientific organization that works with anyone desiring relief from the personal<br />
burden of unwanted homosexuality. 6 NARTH explains, too, “that the term ‘reparative’<br />
never referred to trying to ‘repair’ someone,” but derives from the “reparative theory” that children<br />
who receive inadequate same-sex bonding in childhood develop homosexual attractions<br />
“as a ‘reparative drive’ for those unmet needs.” 7<br />
Others besides Spitzer, PAHO, and NARTH also understand. Pastor Curtis Knapp, of New<br />
Hope Baptist Church, Seneca, Kansas, and North Carolina pastor Charles L. Worley want homosexuals<br />
all dead as quickly as possible. 8<br />
Understanding homosexuality and its explainers is no easier than understanding human<br />
nature. Available scientific frameworks cannot fathom humanity’s natural deceitfulness (Jer.<br />
17:9). But the unfathomable God who knows our frame will teach us what we would never<br />
learn by leaning on merely human understanding (Prov. 3:5). Faith in His original authority,<br />
forgiving grace, converting power, and reparative genius gives world-conquering victory<br />
(1 John 5:4), such as apparently experienced by people whose testimony Spitzer first received,<br />
then rejected as unscientific. Intelligence and saving grace together accomplish infinitely more<br />
than scientists and judgmental holiness seem to grasp. Understanding is not life’s only moral<br />
requirement. n<br />
1<br />
www.hlntv.com/video/2012/06/04/hate-pulpit-prompting-attacks-gays.<br />
2<br />
www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/health/dr-robert-l-spitzer-noted-psychiatrist-apologizes-for-study-on-gay-cure.<br />
html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. The term “sexual orientation disturbance” was introduced to the manual in 1973, “to identify people<br />
whose sexual orientation, gay or straight, caused them distress.”<br />
3<br />
Ibid.<br />
4<br />
http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6803%3A%5C%22therapies%5C%22-to-changesexual-orientation-lack-medical-justification-and-threaten-health-&catid=740%3Anews-press-releases&Itemid=1926&lang=en.<br />
5<br />
See again, n. 2.<br />
6<br />
NARTH Mission Statement, http://narth.com/menus/mission.html.<br />
7<br />
http://narth.com/2012/12/dr-julie-hamilton-on-dr-oz-show-what-you-didnt-hear-on-tv/.<br />
8<br />
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/kansas-pastor-curtis-knapp-gays-death_n_1556061.html.<br />
9<br />
Ibid.<br />
6 (534) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
And Justice for All<br />
THIS QUARTER’S SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONS ABOUT THE MINOR<br />
prophets (so-called) reminded me how little things have changed over the past two and a half<br />
millennia. If you’re looking for some tame, bland messages about personal spirituality, you had<br />
best look elsewhere. The messages of Joel, Amos, Nahum, Habakkuk, and others are messages of<br />
judgment against the same things that plague our society today: greed, oppression, classism, and<br />
indifference to the marginalized among us.<br />
The messages of these prophetic activists is also a reminder that God’s heart is as concerned<br />
with the nations of the world as it is for His own chosen people. And that often He uses others<br />
as instruments to render judgment on His own people.<br />
These voices remind us that truth in the abstract is unacceptable in isolation. In order to be<br />
truly effective, words and ideas have to be combined with acts and deeds. What good is it to say<br />
that we all come from one Creator if we cultivate a climate of inequality? Or if we ignore the<br />
material and emotional needs of people in our society just so we can say we care about their<br />
spiritual destiny? Or if we condemn others while hiding behind our own prejudices?<br />
Author Anne Lamott wrote: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image<br />
when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” While we often claim to know the<br />
mind of God, only our actions will show whether we truly do.<br />
The prophetic voice says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the<br />
Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). We know that justice will reign when Christ<br />
returns, which is all the more reason to live it now. n<br />
Stephen<br />
Chavez<br />
Find us here on Facebook:<br />
www.facebook.com/<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong><br />
The name of my Judge is Jesus.<br />
Say It in Seven<br />
Sunlight compromises the light of most stars.<br />
day on the <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong><br />
Each Facebook page we share a sevenword<br />
proverb. Created by associate<br />
editor Lael Caesar, these seven-word<br />
sayings are inspirational, thoughtprovoking,<br />
and creative. They appear in<br />
a graphic format to make them instantly<br />
appealing. Facebook users often<br />
comment on or “like” the proverbs,<br />
giving the <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong> an interactive<br />
element to our growing ministry.<br />
Here are seven of the most popular<br />
seven-word proverbs in recent weeks<br />
(indicated by the number of people who<br />
“liked” the proverb). Two are shown as<br />
they appeared on Facebook.<br />
What Jesus seeks is engagement, not access.<br />
No one dies of suspicion in heaven.<br />
You cannot finish the work without work.
World News & Perspectives<br />
LA SIERRA UNIVERSITY PHOTO<br />
RIVERSIDE CAMPUS: Aerial view of the La Sierra University campus. The Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> school’s constituency voted major bylaw changes on May 23, 2013.<br />
■■PACIFIC UNION<br />
La Sierra Constituents Vote<br />
to Reshape Trustee Panel<br />
Union president can no longer chair university board.<br />
By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor<br />
CONSTITUENTS OF La Sierra University,<br />
owned by the Pacific Union Conference<br />
of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s, voted<br />
May 23, 2013, to change key elements of<br />
the school’s bylaws, responding at least<br />
in part to requests from the Western<br />
Association of Schools and Colleges<br />
(WASC), a regional accrediting agency<br />
whose recognition is crucial to obtaining<br />
federal student loans and other funding.<br />
Because of the moves, approved by a<br />
vote of 69 to 10, the school is “changing<br />
the way in which the board chair is<br />
selected,” according to a statement<br />
released by La Sierra, which is located in<br />
Riverside, California. The school’s statement<br />
said a two-thirds majority was<br />
required to approve the bylaws change.<br />
“Delegates approved bylaws changes<br />
that require, in consultation with Pacific<br />
Union Conference officers, La Sierra<br />
University’s board chair to be elected by<br />
the board itself from one of the four ex<br />
officio member union officers, rather<br />
than automatically being the union<br />
president,” the statement said.<br />
The decision means that Ricardo Graham,<br />
president of the Pacific Union Conference<br />
of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s, may<br />
no longer be able to serve as chair of the<br />
La Sierra trustee board. A further bylaw<br />
change specifies “neither the chair nor<br />
vice chair of La Sierra’s board can serve<br />
concurrently as chair or vice chair of<br />
another university or college board,”<br />
which would eliminate an alleged “conflict<br />
of interest.” Graham currently chairs<br />
the trustee panels at La Sierra University<br />
and at Pacific Union College, operated by<br />
the church in Angwin, California.<br />
La Sierra’s statement said the Pacific<br />
Union Conference situation—in which<br />
two colleges are part of the same Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong><br />
union—has meant<br />
that both La Sierra<br />
and Pacific Union<br />
College have “faced<br />
questions from the<br />
accrediting agency<br />
on this issue that are<br />
not faced by institutions<br />
in the rest of the North American<br />
Division.”<br />
Accreditation of La Sierra by WASC, a<br />
private agency recognized by the U.S.<br />
Department of Education as a regional<br />
accreditor of educational institutions, is<br />
crucial to allow La Sierra students to<br />
qualify for federally backed student<br />
loans as well as federal grants. WASC<br />
accreditation also means students can<br />
more easily transfer their credits to other<br />
colleges and universities, as well as more<br />
easily gain acceptance into graduate educational<br />
programs at those schools.<br />
Starting in 1996, WASC has raised concerns<br />
about the La Sierra board, particularly<br />
the fact that Pacific Union<br />
Conference officials served on the boards<br />
of both La Sierra and <strong>Adventist</strong> Churchowned<br />
Pacific Union College: “The<br />
[WASC] commission expressed concerns<br />
about the need to train the board of<br />
trustees, the need to delineate more<br />
clearly the authority and responsibility<br />
of both the board and the president, and<br />
potential conflict between the needs of<br />
the church and the capabilities of the<br />
university,” WASC wrote in a 1996 letter<br />
to La Sierra. Those complaints were reiterated<br />
in 2010, when the school’s WASC<br />
accreditation was reaffirmed for eight<br />
years, and in 2011, when a WASC team<br />
conducted a “special visit” to the school.<br />
According to a 2011 letter from WASC:<br />
“Among the concerns raised by the commission’s<br />
review of the bylaws are the<br />
expansive authority of the board to hire<br />
and discharge not only the president but<br />
[also] ‘the provost, vice presidents, deans,<br />
administrative department directors,<br />
academic department chairs, and faculty,’<br />
authority usually reserved to the president.<br />
There was also<br />
concern over the general<br />
lack of clarity<br />
about the president’s<br />
role, provisions<br />
related to the nomination<br />
and composition<br />
of the governing<br />
board, and the fact<br />
that the board chair and other members<br />
of the governing board hold multiple<br />
positions in the church and the university<br />
and also serve as chair or members<br />
of more than one church-related educational<br />
institution’s governing board.”<br />
Graham, in a statement released by La<br />
Sierra, made a tacit acknowledgment of<br />
8 (536)<br />
| www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
the WASC situation. “We all need to<br />
appreciate the difficult task that our<br />
articles and bylaws committee members<br />
have had to complete,” Graham was<br />
quoted as saying in the statement. “During<br />
their nearly two years of study and<br />
review, committee members have listened<br />
to constituency delegate feedback,<br />
and have used care to ensure the revised<br />
bylaws meet current governance needs<br />
while reinforcing La Sierra University’s<br />
clear and unequivocal connection to the<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church and its<br />
mission and philosophy.”<br />
According to the La Sierra statement,<br />
the voted bylaws task “the board of<br />
trustees with ensuring that the mission<br />
and major policies of the university<br />
reflect the goals and objectives of the<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Church. Other changes recognize<br />
the limitations of expecting a board<br />
to manage day-to-day details of a complex<br />
institution.”<br />
Instead, that daily management<br />
apparently will vest in Randal R. Wisbey,<br />
the school’s current president: “The<br />
president is identified as the university<br />
officer accountable for implementing<br />
the board’s broad policies into daily<br />
operations,” the statement said.<br />
The board, however, “will continue to<br />
appoint the president, provost, and vice<br />
president for financial administration,<br />
and grant tenure to members of the<br />
faculty.”<br />
The bylaw change retains the current<br />
numerical composition of the board,<br />
the school said: “nine ex officio members<br />
(the Pacific Union Conference president,<br />
secretary, treasurer, vice<br />
president; the Pacific Union Conference<br />
education director; the presidents of the<br />
Arizona, Southeastern California, and<br />
Southern California conferences; and<br />
the university president); and 14 members<br />
elected by the constituency.”<br />
Dropped was a provision that allowed<br />
one of the 14 constituency-elected<br />
members to come “from outside the<br />
[Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>] Church.”<br />
Still under review is La Sierra’s accreditation<br />
by the <strong>Adventist</strong> Accrediting<br />
GERRY CHUDLEIGH/PUC PHOTO<br />
INCREASED ROLE: Bylaw changes voted<br />
by the La Sierra University constituency on<br />
May 23 give more responsibility to the role<br />
of LSU president, currently held by Randal<br />
R. Wisbey.<br />
Association (AAA), associated with the<br />
General Conference’s Education Department.<br />
AAA is reviewing its endorsement<br />
of La Sierra, an approval that is important<br />
within the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
community and may be linked to church<br />
financial aid to the university.<br />
According to the AAA handbook,<br />
“accreditation is concerned principally<br />
with the improvement of educational<br />
quality in institutions operated by the<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> church around<br />
the world. Accreditation of an institution<br />
by AAA signifies that the institution<br />
has a purpose appropriate to service the<br />
educational needs of those in its constituency<br />
and has the resources, programs,<br />
and services sufficient to<br />
accomplish the institution’s goals.”<br />
Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, a veteran Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> educator who directs<br />
the General Conference’s Education<br />
Department, told the <strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong><br />
that the AAA review is continuing.<br />
“At its October 9, 2013, meeting, the<br />
board of the <strong>Adventist</strong> Accrediting Association<br />
will consider the report of the<br />
review team that conducted a focused<br />
visit to La Sierra University April 16-18,<br />
2013,” Beardsley-Hardy said. “The AAA<br />
board will also consider the bylaws that<br />
were voted since that site visit, as well as<br />
any other significant matters that may<br />
occur prior to the AAA board meeting. It<br />
will take time to know whether the<br />
recently voted bylaws will strengthen<br />
accomplishment of mission.”<br />
She added that the La Sierra board<br />
has substantial responsibilities in keeping<br />
the school faithful to its mission:<br />
ANN FILE PHOTO<br />
“The board needs to express clearly the<br />
goals, means, and primary constituents<br />
served, and, as a Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
institution, explain what makes La<br />
Sierra University distinctive from . . .<br />
secular and private universities. The<br />
board needs to determine and monitor<br />
programs and ensure they are consistent<br />
with the mission and purposes of a<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> university. The<br />
board holds administration accountable<br />
for carrying out the mission on a dayto-day<br />
basis. Ultimately the faculty are<br />
essential partners in accomplishing<br />
mission, not only because of the power<br />
they hold based on academic freedom,<br />
PACIFIC UNION LEADER: Ricardo Graham,<br />
president of the Pacific Union Conference<br />
of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s, may no longer<br />
continue as chairman of the La Sierra University<br />
board of trustees if he retains his<br />
board chairmanship at Pacific Union College,<br />
according to bylaw changes voted<br />
May 23 by the La Sierra constituency.<br />
but because learning and the integration<br />
of faith and knowledge in the various<br />
disciplines take place under the<br />
direction of the faculty. They need to be<br />
fully converted, God-fearing mentors<br />
and guides who live out the mission<br />
every day,” Beardsley-Hardy said.<br />
Founded in 1922 as a Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
academy, La Sierra grew over the<br />
years and became a full-fledged college<br />
in 1946. In 1967 it merged with Loma<br />
Linda University and became that<br />
school’s liberal arts wing, reorganizing<br />
as an independent institution in 1990. n<br />
—with information provided by La Sierra<br />
University<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (537) 9
World News & Perspectives<br />
LARGE TURNOUT: Thousands gathered in a square in the heart of São Paulo, Brazil, May<br />
25, to celebrate religious liberty, in an event organized by the International Religious<br />
Liberty Association, affiliated with the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church.<br />
■■SOUTH AMERICA<br />
Thousands Rally in São Paulo,<br />
Brazil, for Religious Freedom<br />
Liberty is for all, Wilson, Köhler say; leaders<br />
from 20 movements participate<br />
By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor<br />
A CROWD numbering in the multiple<br />
thousands of people gathered in<br />
Anhangabaú Valley, a square in the old<br />
part of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, to<br />
celebrate and affirm religious liberty. The<br />
rally was the culmination of a week of<br />
meetings held by the International Religious<br />
Liberty Association—a group<br />
sponsored by the General Conference of<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s in which religious<br />
liberty advocates converged to discuss<br />
religious liberty matters.<br />
“Religious freedom is a gift from God<br />
that we should keep as a treasure,” Ted<br />
N. C. Wilson, president of the General<br />
Conference of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s,<br />
said during the rally. Wilson, and Erton<br />
Köhler, South American Division president,<br />
were joined by leaders of 20 different<br />
religious organizations at the<br />
rally.<br />
One of the clergy participants was<br />
Sheikh Jihad Hammadeh, chair of the<br />
National Union of Islamic Entities. The<br />
representative of 1.5 million Muslims,<br />
who express their faith freely in Brazil,<br />
evaluated the event as very interesting<br />
because “it was a way to reaffirm the<br />
commitment to a pluralistic society<br />
where there is mutual respect.”<br />
Hammadeh said Brazilian legislation<br />
ensures fundamental right of belief,<br />
adding it is still necessary to work in<br />
education so that people continue to<br />
learn to understand beliefs different<br />
from their own. All religious leaders<br />
present at the event received a tribute<br />
and a special keepsake for their efforts<br />
to create an environment conducive to<br />
the free exercise of belief.<br />
Also present was Pastor Jabes de<br />
Alencar, who currently leads the evangelical<br />
Council of Ministers of São Paulo<br />
State. Evangelical support for religious<br />
freedom is growing, as these churches<br />
themselves account for a growing share<br />
ASN PHOTO<br />
TREASURE FREEDOM: Pastor Ted N. C.<br />
WIlson, president of the General Conference<br />
of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s, urges<br />
Brazilians to treasure religious freedom in<br />
remarks May 25, 2013 in São Paulo, Brazil.<br />
of Brazil’s population.<br />
Gilberto Carvalho, chief minister of<br />
the Secretariat of the Presidency, representing<br />
Brazil’s leader Dilma Rousseff,<br />
spoke at the event. He pointed out that<br />
the government must always act to<br />
ensure the freedom of belief of citizens<br />
and signal that these guarantees are<br />
always in the plans of the federal<br />
government.<br />
Netinho de Paula, Secretary for Racial<br />
Equality for the Municipality of São<br />
Paulo, represented mayor Fernando<br />
Haddad and said he was pleased to participate<br />
in an event of this magnitude.<br />
Members of parliament and city<br />
councilors were also present, many of<br />
them responsible for the preparation of<br />
state and municipal laws that guarantee<br />
10 (538) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
ASN PHOTO<br />
religious freedom issues in their areas<br />
of expertise. Paulo Frange, a São Paulo<br />
city councilman, recently passed a law<br />
that established May 25 as Religious<br />
Freedom Day in the city. State legislator<br />
Campos Machado, author of a similar<br />
law for the state of São Paulo that designates<br />
a specific regional Religious Liberty<br />
Day, was also present.<br />
TV Novo Tempo, a network owned by<br />
the <strong>Adventist</strong> Church and which can<br />
also be seen over-the-air in São Paulo<br />
on channel 46, broadcast live throughout<br />
the event, along with sister network<br />
Novo Tempo Radio. Also, general media<br />
and religious TV stations such as Radio<br />
Globo and CBN aired reports from the<br />
scene.<br />
Pastor Edson Rosa, executive secretary<br />
of IRLA in South America and organizer<br />
of the event, said he believed the<br />
festival showed a good representation<br />
of religions concerned with respect and<br />
tolerance. Moreover, he said, the event<br />
served to publicize the cause of religious<br />
freedom to a greater number of<br />
people, which helps reinforce the<br />
concept.<br />
Before the rally, international religious<br />
liberty leaders addressed an<br />
International Symposium on Law and<br />
Religious Freedom held by the Bar Association<br />
of Brazil (OAB) in São Paulo. On<br />
the evening of May 22 several international<br />
religious liberty leaders presented<br />
an overview on how the subject<br />
is treated worldwide to the gathering of<br />
area attorneys.<br />
While Brazil’s religious freedom was<br />
acknowledged, participants were<br />
concerned about reports that 40<br />
percent of the world’s nations place<br />
restrictions on the right of belief.<br />
Marcos Costa, bar association<br />
president, stressed the importance<br />
of a regional commission created to<br />
protect religious liberty: “We will<br />
continue to support this committee<br />
because we believe it is a matter of<br />
respect and love for others,” the<br />
attorney said.<br />
Committee chair Damaris Kuo<br />
ASN PHOTO<br />
ASN PHOTO<br />
RESEARCHER SPEAKS: Brian Grim, at right on Jumbotron screen, a senior researcher at<br />
the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, offered an overview of freedom<br />
of conscience. He said 40 percent of the world’s countries have major restrictions on<br />
religious freedom rights. His translator (left) is <strong>Adventist</strong> pastor Williams Costa, Jr.<br />
told reporters there were daily<br />
instances in which intervention to protect<br />
religious freedom is required.<br />
She cited, for example, an episode in<br />
which Muslims arrested in Brazil were<br />
not having their right to pray respected.<br />
Another case in which Kuo was engaged<br />
concerned art objects that might be seen<br />
as hurting religious belief.<br />
Speakers told the legal seminar that<br />
the global religious liberty picture was<br />
mixed at best.<br />
Brian Grim, senior researcher and<br />
director of the Pew Research Center’s<br />
Forum on Religion and Public Life said<br />
at least 40 percent of the countries have<br />
a high restriction of rights to religious<br />
freedom. Grim, however, noted that Brazil<br />
has an admirable ability to deal with<br />
religious diversity without internal<br />
conflicts.<br />
Ganoune Diop, the Seventh-day<br />
INTERFAITH MEETING: IRLA representatives meet<br />
with Odilo Scherer, center, archbishop of the Roman<br />
Catholic Church in São Paulo.<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Church’s representative to the<br />
United Nations, stressed the official<br />
statements of the United Nations that<br />
guarantee the freedom of the individual<br />
and the issue of respect and religious<br />
tolerance. Diop stressed that these are<br />
pillars to guarantee human dignity.<br />
“We’re talking about freedom of<br />
choice, decision-making, and that is in<br />
essence what is provided in these U.N.<br />
statements,” Diop said. One of the<br />
secrets of this harmonious coexistence<br />
among different faiths in Brazil seems<br />
to be the laws that prevent a particular<br />
religion and the state from overlapping.<br />
In a separate meeting with IRLA officials<br />
before the rally, Odilo Scherer,<br />
Roman Catholic archbishop of São Paulo,<br />
praised actions promoting religious freedom,<br />
saying Brazil is a peaceful place<br />
because there are no laws forbidding a<br />
choice of faith and no persecution. Still,<br />
Scherer said there was a need for<br />
awareness not to exclude participation<br />
of religious people in society. “If<br />
you do that, it’s going to be a problem<br />
and an obstacle for religious<br />
freedom, especially when citizens<br />
who profess any religion have less<br />
opportunity and suffer discrimination,”<br />
he said. n<br />
—with reporting from Felipe Lemos,<br />
ASN, in São Paulo, and <strong>Adventist</strong> News<br />
Network<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (539) 11
World News & Perspectives<br />
■■WORLD CHURCH<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Headquarters Staff Notes<br />
GC’s 150th Anniversary<br />
Sesquicentennial recalled with worship program, new exhibit<br />
BY ANSEL OLIVER, <strong>Adventist</strong> News Network<br />
EMPLOYEES OF the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
Church headquarters building<br />
sang old, “progressive” hymns and heard<br />
remarks from top church leaders in a<br />
brief afternoon ceremony May 21, 2013,<br />
that marked the denomination’s 150th<br />
anniversary.<br />
It was on May 21, 1863, that a group<br />
of 20 delegates officially established the<br />
General Conference of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s<br />
in Battle Creek, Michigan.<br />
Jim Nix, director of the estate of<br />
church cofounder Ellen G. White, led<br />
out in singing two hymns—“Long<br />
Upon the Mountains” and “O Brother,<br />
Be Faithful”—from the original 1861<br />
hymnal, the songbook version used by<br />
church founders at their meeting.<br />
Nix said the songs and upbeat tempo<br />
were selected based on a conversation<br />
he once had with White’s granddaughter,<br />
who reported that White liked<br />
“hymns of ‘progress’. . . you know, a<br />
hymn that moves along. Grandma did<br />
not like slow hymns.”<br />
Other presenters included Marvin<br />
Robinson, a great-great-grandson of<br />
White, and General Conference president<br />
Ted N. C. Wilson.<br />
“This anniversary is a call for you and<br />
for me to move forward on that journey<br />
. . . revived and reformed in Him,<br />
empowered by the Holy Spirit to live<br />
out the dreams and hopes of God Himself<br />
as the Holy Spirit leads us,” Wilson<br />
said. “God is calling us today to never<br />
forget or to be fearful.”<br />
The opening of a temporary display<br />
on <strong>Adventist</strong> history in the adjacent<br />
atrium followed the ceremony in the<br />
headquarters auditorium, which was<br />
attended by some 400 employees.<br />
During the ceremony United States<br />
Senate chaplain Barry Black, who is an<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>, offered the prayer.<br />
Black’s prayer:<br />
Author and Finisher of our faith, You have<br />
been our hope in ages past, and our hope for<br />
years to come.<br />
Thank You for this opportunity to commemorate<br />
the 150th anniversary of the<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church and for the<br />
privilege of unveiling a new exhibit on<br />
PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS: From left to right, Jim Nix, Marvin Robinson, and Barry Black<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> history at this world headquarters<br />
building today.<br />
Lord, for a century and a half You have<br />
used this church to bring deliverance to captives,<br />
the recovery of sight to the blind, and to<br />
free those who suffer.<br />
Forgive us for the chapters in our history<br />
when we were missing in action and unavailable<br />
to help the lost, the lonely, and the least.<br />
Lord, forgive us for being silent when we<br />
should have spoken, and for speaking when<br />
we should have been silent. Forgive us, O God,<br />
for our sins of commission and omission. We<br />
claim Your promise in 1 John 1:9, that if we<br />
confess our sins, You are faithful and just and<br />
will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from<br />
all unrighteousness. Thank You, Lord, for<br />
Your forgiving power.<br />
Continue to challenge us as a church when<br />
we are too well pleased with ourselves, when<br />
our dreams came true because they were too<br />
small, when we arrived safely simply because<br />
we sailed too close to the shore.<br />
We recommit ourselves today to accomplish<br />
Your great mission. We recommit ourselves<br />
today to Calvary and the blood that<br />
sets us free. We recommit ourselves, O God,<br />
today to bring Your love to all who need<br />
encouragement, to all who lack food and<br />
clothing, to all who are cold and cheerless, to<br />
all who are sick and shut in, to all who are<br />
incarcerated, and to all who long for home<br />
and friendship.<br />
We recommit ourselves today to<br />
dare more boldly, to venture on wider<br />
seas, where storms will show Your<br />
mastery, where losing sight of land<br />
we will find Your stars.<br />
O God of ages past, push back the<br />
horizon of our hopes and lead us<br />
into a future fueled by faith, focus,<br />
and fortitude.<br />
And hasten the day when the Lord<br />
Himself shall descend from heaven<br />
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel<br />
and the trumpet of God, and the dead in<br />
Christ rise, then may those of us who are still<br />
alive and remaining be caught up to meet our<br />
blessed Savior in the air and to live with Him<br />
throughout the ceaseless cycles of eternity.<br />
Maranatha, even so, come, Lord Jesus. We<br />
pray this prayer, in the majestic name of our<br />
soon-coming Savior and King.<br />
Amen. n<br />
12 (540) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
© TERRY CREWS<br />
WHAT’S GOING ON?<br />
Where is this? And why is an upper room<br />
being built on top of the <strong>Adventist</strong> church?<br />
The lower church is the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
hearing church in Pattukkottai, Tamil<br />
Nadu, India. The new upper room being built<br />
is a deaf church. Both groups will have<br />
divine worship services simultaneously since<br />
enthusiastic singing from one will not disturb<br />
the other.<br />
The day this picture was taken (in February<br />
2013) a dedication service was held for<br />
two Gospel Outreach-sponsored deaf lay<br />
Bible workers—a man and a woman. Counting<br />
this church, there are six deaf churches in<br />
India, all of which were built with funds from<br />
donors in Canada and are led by Gospel<br />
Outreach-sponsored lay pastors.<br />
—JOHN BLAKE, CLIVE, ALBERTA, CANADA;<br />
SUBMITTED BY DAVE EKKENS, COLLEGE PLACE,<br />
WASHINGTON<br />
ADVENTIST LIFE<br />
Weary after a 10-hour drive from our son and new daughter’s wonderful but<br />
action-filled destination wedding, my wife and I arrived home and opened our<br />
front door to a distinct mildew odor. A quick trip to the basement revealed that<br />
water had flooded more than six inches throughout our finished, carpeted<br />
basement while we were gone—the water had been sitting there for at least<br />
five days.<br />
In seconds my wife was on the phone bemoaning our predicament to our<br />
daughter, who relayed the news to our not-yet-3-year-old granddaughter. She<br />
told Maddi that Nana and Papa had a flood at their house. In words that put<br />
all the calamity into perspective and melted our anxiety Maddi inquired, “Did<br />
Nana see the rainbow?”<br />
—BRUCE HIGGINS, SOUTH LYON, MICHIGAN<br />
SOUND BITE<br />
“We are losing a<br />
generation of<br />
young people<br />
because they see<br />
no value in<br />
pretending.”<br />
—PASTOR WAYNE MORRISON, IN HIS<br />
SERMON ON APRIL 20, 2013, AT THE<br />
HUTCHINSON SEVENTH-DAY<br />
ADVENTIST CHURCH, HUTCHINSON,<br />
MINNESOTA<br />
CAMP MEETING MEMORIES<br />
In the early 1940s my daddy<br />
would take a week off from work<br />
and take our family to the Oklahoma<br />
Conference camp meeting. We<br />
stayed in tents, and I had a good<br />
time attending the primaryage<br />
programs and Sabbath<br />
school. I<br />
remember the<br />
church services during<br />
which the conference<br />
president<br />
would pray for so<br />
long that my knees<br />
would hurt from<br />
kneeling on the wood<br />
shavings. I also looked forward<br />
to going to the<br />
store every afternoon<br />
to get ice<br />
cream.<br />
—GLEN LEE<br />
CHASE, OGLE-<br />
THORPE, GEORGIA<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (541) 13
Cliff’s Edge<br />
1844madesimple.org<br />
WHEN I WAS 21 YEARS OLD, IT HIT ME: TRUTH, AS IN THE TRUTH, HAD TO EXIST.<br />
Of course, the reality of the premise that the truth had to exist didn’t deductively lead to the conclusion that<br />
I could know it. My only issue was that, if humanly possible, I wanted to know it, no matter the cost.<br />
Two years later, and at a “great” personal cost, I became a Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>.<br />
I joined the church at a time of intense theological controversy swirling around Desmond Ford’s challenges<br />
to 1844 and the pre-Advent judgment. Yours truly, who six months before had been “floating” about<br />
in the astral plane, suddenly found myself immersed into a new dimension: Adventism in the 1980s.<br />
Amid the tumult, I saw early on that if Ford’s challenges to the day-year principle, the identity of the<br />
little horn, the supposed “context” problem of Daniel 8, and so forth were valid, then the theological<br />
foundations of Adventism were false, and, were I to remain intellectually honest, I’d have to bolt.<br />
Fortunately, over time and with great help from new material from the Biblical Research Institute<br />
at the General Conference and older material (such as Edward Heppenstall’s book Our High<br />
Priest), I got firmly grounded in the 1844 teaching in ways I probably wouldn’t have, had the<br />
controversy never arisen.<br />
Excited about what I had learned, I wanted to share it with others, especially because I saw<br />
so much confusion and misinformation among members about it. I eventually wrote a<br />
book, 1844 Made Simple; and through the late 1980s I used to give a seminar at camp<br />
meetings and churches under that same title. After a few years I got bored with preaching<br />
the same thing, and though still interested in the heavenly sanctuary, I moved on.<br />
Last year, realizing the potential offered by the digital age, I made a proposal to the General<br />
Conference about redoing the seminar and putting it online. The proposal was approved, and a<br />
few months later it’s up: 1844madesimple.org.<br />
The bulk is a video presentation, much like what I gave decades ago. It basically shows the<br />
parallels between Daniel 2, 7, and 8, and how the great pre-Advent judgment in Daniel 7, which<br />
leads to God’s eternal kingdom, is the same thing as the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8,<br />
and that it must occur after the 1,260 years of Daniel 7. After that I show how Daniel 9 narrows<br />
that date down to 1844.<br />
Mostly important, though, I show how the gospel is central to the judgment. I contend that<br />
the only way to fully appreciate the gospel is to understand it in light of judgment. For<br />
instance, in Daniel 7 judgment is given in “favor of the saints of the Most High” (verse 22, KJV). Why? How<br />
can anyone stand when God will “bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether<br />
it is good or evil” (Eccl. 12:14)? The key is found in Daniel 8:14, the cleansing of the sanctuary, when the<br />
blood shed on the Day of Atonement covers their sins. “He will make atonement for the Most Holy Place<br />
because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been” (Lev. 16:16).<br />
Atonement is made because of His people’s uncleanliness, their sins, and their transgressions.<br />
What? The saints weren’t perfect? No, which is why they needed the shed blood that dominates<br />
the ritual. It’s the Day of Atonement, and atonement is what God has done to save them. The Day of<br />
Atonement is about blood, the symbol of the perfect life of Christ sacrificed in their behalf, which<br />
alone got the Israelites through the earthly type of the judgment, and which alone gets us through<br />
the antitype, the pre-Advent judgment, which began in 1844.<br />
At the site you can watch the video online or download it, either as a whole or in sections. Besides the<br />
video, we have podcasts and resources for those who want to go deeper. Because the site is brand-new, the<br />
podcasts and resources are scant, but we’re going to add more.<br />
The Web site is there, and it’s yours.<br />
Truth exists, and 1844madesimple.org is one attempt to give expression to a crucial aspect of it, the pre-<br />
Advent judgment. n<br />
Cliff<br />
Goldstein<br />
CLIFFORD GOLDSTEIN IS EDITOR OF THE ADULT SABBATH SCHOOL BIBLE STUDY GUIDE.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (543) 15
Cover Feature<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s<br />
and Other Churches<br />
THE NEVER-ENDING<br />
QUEST FOR UNDERSTANDING<br />
BY<br />
WILLIAM G.<br />
JOHNSSON<br />
From the earliest days of our movement Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s have seen themselves as a<br />
special people raised up by God to proclaim a distinct message to the world. This warning<br />
message is to be sounded to all people in all churches and in all religions of the world.<br />
But how should we relate to the actual churches themselves—to the organized bodies<br />
of Methodists, Baptists, Evangelicals, and so on? Should we keep them at a distance,<br />
declining all invitations to engage in fellowship or conversation? Or should we unite with them<br />
in an attempt to fulfill the prayer of Jesus that His followers might be one (John 17:11, 20-23)?<br />
Early on <strong>Adventist</strong> leaders decided upon a course of action that lies between these two poles.<br />
On one hand, we strenuously resist all arrangements that would bind us or restrict the scope of<br />
our worldwide mission. In the twentieth century as the ecumenical movement gained momentum<br />
with its goal of organic unity of all the churches, <strong>Adventist</strong>s respectfully declined to be part<br />
of it. We have never had membership in the World Council of Churches, nor will we.<br />
On the other hand, we <strong>Adventist</strong>s do not seek to be an exclusive church that shuns relations with<br />
16 (544) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
PHOTO: ANSEL OLIVER<br />
LEADERS OF THE GENERAL<br />
CONFERENCE OF SEVENTH-DAY<br />
ADVENTISTS AND THE MENNONITE<br />
WORLD CONFERENCE MET LAST<br />
MONTH FOR FOUR DAYS OF FORMAL<br />
CONVERSATION AT THE ADVENTIST<br />
CHURCH’S HEADQUARTERS. THE<br />
DELEGATIONS PLAN TO MEET AGAIN<br />
NEXT YEAR.<br />
other Christian bodies. On occasion we<br />
participate with clergy of other denominations<br />
in ministers’ fraternals, and so on.<br />
When invited to preach in their churches,<br />
we accept. We cooperate with them in<br />
selected areas such as defense of religious<br />
liberty and disaster relief.<br />
This position concerning relations<br />
with other churches finds support in<br />
both the Bible and the work and writings<br />
of Ellen White. Jesus, our example<br />
in all things, associated with people<br />
from all backgrounds, even with those<br />
who opposed Him.<br />
The apostle Peter counseled: “But in<br />
your hearts revere Christ as Lord.<br />
Always be prepared to give an<br />
answer to everyone who asks you<br />
to give the reason for the hope<br />
that you have. But do this with<br />
gentleness and respect” (1 Peter<br />
3:15). We <strong>Adventist</strong>s certainly<br />
have a hope, so we take every<br />
opportunity to share this good<br />
news with anyone and everyone.<br />
We share, not aggressively but<br />
gently, not in the spirit of debate<br />
or superiority, but respectfully.<br />
In Our Past<br />
Ellen White associated with other<br />
Christians and Christian organizations.<br />
A strong opponent of the liquor industry<br />
with its attendant social ills, she frequently<br />
accepted invitations to speak at<br />
public meetings advocating temperance.<br />
The pioneers of our movement<br />
shared this openness to other churches.<br />
As far back as 1870 we find the following<br />
action voted by the Eighth Annual<br />
Session of the General Conference:<br />
“RESOLVED, that for the sake of our<br />
blessed Redeemer we desire to cultivate<br />
fraternal feelings, and maintain friendly<br />
relations, with all who name the name<br />
of Christ; and in particular with those<br />
who in common with us hold to the<br />
unpopular doctrine of the second<br />
advent of our Savior near.”<br />
For almost 100 years <strong>Adventist</strong> relations<br />
with other churches have been<br />
officially defined and guided by a policy<br />
in the General Conference Working Policy,<br />
O 110, “Relationships With Other<br />
Christian Churches and Religious Organizations.”<br />
In part it states: “We recognize<br />
those agencies that lift up Christ<br />
before men as a part of the divine plan<br />
for evangelization of the world, and we<br />
hold in high esteem Christian men and<br />
women in other communions who are<br />
engaged in winning souls to Christ.”<br />
Time has shown the wisdom<br />
of the decision taken by<br />
our leaders long ago to interact<br />
with other Christian<br />
churches but to avoid any<br />
union or connection that<br />
restricts our mission. Worldwide,<br />
Christianity is growing<br />
IN OUR PRESENTATIONS<br />
AND ALL INTERACTIONS<br />
WE ENDEAVOR TO<br />
BE GRACIOUS AND<br />
WINSOME.<br />
fast, but the growth is among churches<br />
that are not part of the ecumenical<br />
movement—the Evangelicals numbering<br />
about 500 million, the Pentecostals<br />
with perhaps double that, and the newly<br />
emergent indigenous churches of Africa.<br />
Meanwhile, as the mainline churches<br />
of the World Council of Churches have<br />
declined in numbers, the Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> growth, enthusiasm, and youth<br />
have become the envy of other bodies.<br />
Present Opportunities<br />
What changes a century has brought! We<br />
who were small and passed over as being<br />
insignificant and parochial have become<br />
the focus of attention by other Christians.<br />
More and more they want to know who we<br />
are, what values we hold, what lies behind<br />
our amazing growth and strength.<br />
These are days of unprecedented<br />
opportunity to share our faith with<br />
leaders of these churches. When they<br />
seek to know more about us and to<br />
explore possible areas of cooperation,<br />
shall we not joyfully engage them in<br />
conversation? To do so isn’t in any<br />
sense compromise; it is mission.<br />
Thus, at all levels of the church, from<br />
the local congregation to conference,<br />
union, division, and General Conference,<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>s today are interacting with<br />
leaders of other Christian churches and<br />
religious organizations. Way back in<br />
1910, when the World Missionary Con-<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (545) 17
ference convened in Edinburgh, we were<br />
there. The more than 1,000 persons representing<br />
global Protestantism included<br />
six representatives from the General<br />
Conference. In 2010, at the 100-year anniversary<br />
of the historic event, also held in<br />
Edinburgh, <strong>Adventist</strong>s were among the<br />
official guests and played a significant<br />
...<br />
role in the conduct of the conference.<br />
The Christian World Communions<br />
(CWC) especially demonstrates the manner<br />
in which <strong>Adventist</strong>s engage with<br />
other Christian leaders without binding<br />
ourselves in message or mission. The<br />
CWC, a gathering of the secretaries of the<br />
major Christian bodies worldwide, represents<br />
some 2 billion Christians and meets<br />
annually for discussions and reports of<br />
developments of interest to Christians in<br />
The 185-page book is<br />
available from<br />
Forschungen zur<br />
Geschichte und<br />
Theologie der<br />
Siebenten-Tags-<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>en 10<br />
(Frankfurt a. Main:<br />
Peter Lang, 2010)<br />
for US$58.95.<br />
A History of Interfaith Relations<br />
In Interchurch and Interfaith Relations: Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Statements and Documents, Stefan Höschele<br />
submits the first extensive collection of statements and documents of the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church<br />
regarding its interdenominational and interreligious relationships. The author (or rather editor, since it is<br />
mainly a collection of texts written by other authors) is a lecturer for systematic theology and missiology at<br />
Friedensau Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> University in Germany.<br />
The book is divided into three parts. The first part, “Interchurch Relations: Resolution, Statements, and<br />
Other Texts,” contains decisions, explanations, and texts that describe the relationship of the Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Church with other denominations. These texts are printed in chronological sequence and are briefly<br />
introduced by the author.<br />
For example, the volume documents the special relationship between Seventh Day Baptists, a small<br />
denomination that also keeps the biblical Sabbath, and Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s, in which extensive cooperation<br />
concerning the spread of this pillar of belief was striven for and brotherly solidarity emphasized. Ellen G.<br />
White’s comments on the topic differentiate between churches as institutions and individual Christians.<br />
The second part of the book, “Interchurch Relations: Dialogue Documents,” presents documents that show<br />
the outcome of formal and informal conversations between Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s and the leaders of different<br />
Christian denominations (e.g., World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of<br />
Reformed Churches, and World Evangelical Alliance). These documents show that the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
Church increased the extent of the interchurch relationships to larger church associations after initial<br />
efforts directed toward those closer to <strong>Adventist</strong> beliefs and interests. The establishment of the Council on<br />
Interchurch Relations in 1980 by the General Conference sought to facilitate this task.<br />
The theological depth of the documents is remarkable, since they also touch “hot potatoes” such as Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>s’ self-understanding of “the remnant” and the interpretation of apocalyptic prophecy. As<br />
a result of such conversations a better mutual understanding is gained, thus helping to reduce misapprehensions<br />
without compromising our teachings.<br />
The third part, “Interfaith Relations,” is dedicated exclusively to Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> statements on<br />
interreligious relationships. They involve the relationship of the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church toward world<br />
religions, including Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism.<br />
These texts demonstrate how much our church is dedicated to the right of religious freedom for all people<br />
regardless of their specific faith commitment. The church takes Jesus’ mission imperative seriously, but also<br />
tries to meet other believers (or unbelievers) with respect and emphasize common ground wherever possible.<br />
The volume concludes with suggestions for further reading on the topic.<br />
Interchurch and Interfaith Relations can be read with much profit. The texts help the reader grasp the tension<br />
that we often find ourselves in: being critical toward ecumenical trends that may challenge biblical truth,<br />
while at the same time seeking dialogue with other Christians and non-Christians. The book also sharpens<br />
the awareness of an important aspect of the history of our church.<br />
The question remains, though, how the cited documents have and will influence interchurch relationships<br />
on the local level, since Höschele primarily focuses his collection on the level of the world church. This important<br />
and often divisive issue definitely invites further research and careful biblical and theological thinking.<br />
JENS O. MOHR, PASTOR OF THE STUTTGART-CENTER SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN GERMANY.<br />
18 (546) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
general. The CWC is purely consultative—it<br />
does not pass resolutions.<br />
The CWC is loosely organized, with the<br />
chair serving for two years on a rotating<br />
basis among the various member communions.<br />
The organizing and functioning<br />
of the group depend upon the secretary,<br />
who is also elected for a two-year term.<br />
This is the sort of meeting of Christians<br />
that Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s have<br />
felt free to be part of. And we have indeed<br />
been made part of it! For 32 years without<br />
a break, Bert B. Beach, then director<br />
of the General Conference Public Affairs<br />
and Religious Liberty (PARL) Department,<br />
served as its secretary. Every two<br />
years the chair rotated, but every time<br />
the group asked the <strong>Adventist</strong> representative<br />
to continue as secretary.<br />
And that wasn’t all. When Beach retired,<br />
the CWC turned to his successor, John<br />
Graz, the current PARL director at the General<br />
Conference. He has now served as<br />
secretary the past 11 years. Thus, for the<br />
past 43 years the key person in the CWC<br />
has been a Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>.<br />
The CWC most often meets in Geneva,<br />
Switzerland, but in 2011 it met in Silver<br />
Spring, Maryland, at the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
world headquarters. The work<br />
involved with the multiple arrangements,<br />
including a visit to Capitol Hill for discussions<br />
with representatives from the White<br />
House regarding religious liberty and<br />
other concerns, was huge. Everything went<br />
like clockwork; our guests were effusive in<br />
their appreciation of the <strong>Adventist</strong> hosts.<br />
And when the CWC met the next year, one<br />
leader revealed that as a result of the visit,<br />
he had adopted a vegetarian lifestyle!<br />
Meetings like this can have huge and<br />
lasting benefits. As Christian leaders<br />
interact with <strong>Adventist</strong>s and come to<br />
understand us, misconceptions and<br />
prejudice disappear. They see us and<br />
appreciate us for our distinctive values,<br />
lifestyle, and beliefs; they welcome us as<br />
sincere, Bible-believing, and Bible-practicing<br />
brothers and sisters.<br />
A more recent development is the<br />
Global Christian Forum. It is not an<br />
organization; rather, it provides oppor-<br />
tunities for Christians from many backgrounds<br />
and countries to meet for<br />
worship, fellowship, and discussion.<br />
Ganoune Diop, associate director of<br />
PARL, serves on its planning committee.<br />
Official Conversations<br />
With the growing desire by leaders of<br />
other churches to know more about us,<br />
the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church has<br />
become involved in official conversations<br />
with a series of churches and<br />
organizations. These conversations are<br />
approved by the Administrative Committee<br />
of the General Conference and<br />
reported to the same body at the conclusion<br />
of each discussion. Planning for the<br />
conversations comes through the General<br />
Conference PARL office, usually<br />
with involvement of the General Conference<br />
Biblical Research Institute.<br />
We select the finest scholars in our<br />
midst to represent our church. We aim<br />
to be open, honest, and forthright, stating<br />
the reasons for what we believe<br />
without compromise or equivocation.<br />
At the same time in our presentations<br />
and all interactions we endeavor to be<br />
gracious and winsome.<br />
Some of these conversations have<br />
been completed with just one round of<br />
several days; others have extended over<br />
two or more years. Some have had farreaching<br />
results, especially the meetings<br />
with representatives of the<br />
Lutheran World Federation. This conversation<br />
extended over four sessions<br />
from 1994 to 1998 and was of such<br />
value that all papers from both sides<br />
plus recommendations we had arrived<br />
at were published. The resulting book,<br />
Lutherans and <strong>Adventist</strong>s in Conversation,<br />
1994-1998, includes among the recommendations<br />
the following: “We recommend<br />
that Lutherans in their national<br />
and regional church contexts do not<br />
treat the Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church<br />
as a sect but as a free church and a<br />
Christian world communion.”<br />
During the past quarter century, our<br />
church has also engaged in conversation<br />
with leaders from the World Alliance<br />
of Reformed Churches, the<br />
Salvation Army, the World Evangelical<br />
Association, the Presbyterian Church<br />
(U.S.A.), the Church of God (Seventh<br />
Day), and some other smaller churches.<br />
The most recent conversation involved<br />
representatives from the Mennonite<br />
World Conference. <strong>Adventist</strong>s hosted the<br />
first round, held at General Conference<br />
headquarters in 2011. The following year<br />
the Mennonites reciprocated; we met at a<br />
retreat center near Basel, Switzerland.<br />
This conversation was perhaps the<br />
most rewarding of all those of the past 25<br />
years. With roots in the Anabaptist reformation<br />
of the sixteenth century, the Mennonites<br />
share much in common with us,<br />
such as “believer” baptism by immersion.<br />
They strongly believe in separation of<br />
church and state and practice a simple<br />
lifestyle. Advocating peaceful means, they<br />
refrain from bearing arms. Because of<br />
their distinctive practices, the Mennonites<br />
suffered for their faith, even to martyrdom.<br />
Driven from place to place, many<br />
found refuge in the New World.<br />
The time together with the Mennonites<br />
was deeply spiritual. Excellent papers<br />
were prepared from both communions;<br />
they are to be gathered together and<br />
jointly published in book form.<br />
In my judgment, all the conversations<br />
with other churches have been of significant<br />
benefit to Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s.<br />
Christian leaders have come to see us as<br />
we are, without the distortions and stereotypes<br />
that led us to be dubbed a sect<br />
or a cult. And we ourselves have become<br />
less exclusive, more open to work with<br />
and learn from other agencies that the<br />
Lord is using.<br />
Truth can stand investigation; truth is<br />
still the best answer. That is why we<br />
can—why we should—engage other<br />
churches as part of the fulfillment of<br />
our divinely ordained mission. n<br />
WILLIAM G. JOHNSSON, FORMER<br />
EDITOR OF ADVENTIST REVIEW AND<br />
ADVENTIST WORLD MAGAZINES, CHAIRS<br />
THE ADVENTIST GROUP IN CONVERSA-<br />
TIONS WITH OTHER CHURCHES.<br />
!<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (547) 19
Heart and Soul:<br />
Theology<br />
A F ø R M µ L ª<br />
F Ø R<br />
P R A Y E R ?<br />
NEVER MAKE A PETITION<br />
“<br />
W H A T ’ S<br />
T H E S E C R E T<br />
O F 7 - 7 - 7 ?<br />
BY REX D. EDWARDS<br />
There was no mistaking the bold and colorful numerals, 7-7-7, that filled the<br />
entire window space of this shop front in downtown Sofia, strategically situated<br />
within one block of a busy intersection. Worship centers at the intersection’s<br />
four corners embraced the store and its 7-7-7 window: a Muslim mosque,<br />
a Jewish synagogue, a Russian Orthodox church, and a Roman Catholic<br />
church. What a striking missionary strategy! I thought, until friends advised that the numerals<br />
emblazoned on that window were unrelated to any international <strong>Adventist</strong> prayer initiative.<br />
Instead, they only prescribed a gambling formula of success to patrons at this casino!<br />
20 (548) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
Relevant Questions<br />
This casino’s use of my church’s<br />
prayer formula provoked me to wonder<br />
about the efficacy of formulas for prayer.<br />
I thought again, more fundamentally, on<br />
the whole issue of the nature and purpose<br />
of prayer. I wondered, for example,<br />
if the number and dimensions of our<br />
prayers actually gives them increased<br />
efficacy? As if much speaking manipulates<br />
God. I wondered too, about God<br />
doing, because we pray, what we can<br />
actually do for ourselves? What, I ask<br />
myself, is the legitimate place of petition?<br />
If God already knows our needs,<br />
why ask? Answers to these questions<br />
answer the frequent and fundamental<br />
question: What is the virtue of prayer?<br />
reservation or conditions on our part,<br />
“bring [our] lives into harmony with [our]<br />
petitions, that [we] may receive the blessings<br />
for which [we] pray.” 3<br />
is clean. It is a conditional universe in<br />
which we live, where we may bring<br />
about an effect by proceeding along the<br />
road of its cause. Students know by<br />
studying; matches ignite by being<br />
struck. In the spiritual order we have the<br />
words of Jesus: “Ask and it will be given<br />
to you; seek and you will find; knock and<br />
the door will be opened to you” (Matt.<br />
7:7). We must prepare for God’s help by<br />
asking, seeking, and knocking.<br />
“It is . . . God’s plan to grant us,”<br />
writes Ellen White, “in answer to the<br />
prayer of faith, that which He would not<br />
bestow did we not thus ask.” 4 Millions<br />
of favors are hanging from silken cords.<br />
Prayer is the sword that cuts them. “I<br />
stand at the door and knock. If anyone<br />
WHILE AT THE SAME TIME TRYING TO HIDE A SMOLDERING DISOBEDIENCE.<br />
”<br />
This article raises the question from<br />
three not-unfamiliar perspectives. First,<br />
though, comes a warning.<br />
When Not to Pray<br />
As a boy, Norman Vincent Peale once<br />
found a large black cigar. He slipped into<br />
an alley and lit up. It didn’t taste good,<br />
but it made him feel grown-up. Then<br />
Norman saw his father approaching.<br />
Quickly he put the cigar behind his back<br />
and tried to be casual. Desperate to<br />
divert his father’s attention, Norman<br />
pointed to a billboard advertising the<br />
circus. “Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go<br />
when it comes to town.”<br />
His father replied, “Son, never make a<br />
petition while at the same time trying to<br />
hide a smoldering disobedience.”<br />
If we are unwilling to curb our selfish<br />
habits, then we may quite truthfully say “It<br />
does no good to pray.” Our prayers are useless<br />
because our choices limit God’s freedom.<br />
We have refused to fulfill the first<br />
condition of prayer, namely, a willingness<br />
to align with God’s laws. Likewise, the<br />
reception of the Holy Spirit requires that<br />
we “remove every obstacle,” 1 and work “in<br />
accordance with [our] prayers.” 2 The God<br />
to whom we pray desires that we, without<br />
Sincere Prayer<br />
Sincere prayer implies an act of the<br />
will, a desire for growth, a willingness<br />
to sacrifice on our part; for prayer is not<br />
passive, but is a very active collaboration<br />
between us and God. If the will is<br />
inoperative, our prayers are merely lists<br />
of things we would like God to give to<br />
us without any real relationship, without<br />
effort on our part, or any willingness<br />
to cooperate. Prayer is dynamic,<br />
but only when we cooperate with God<br />
through surrender. In dealing with others<br />
it is possible to have one’s cake and<br />
eat it, but with God that is impossible.<br />
As Augustine is purported to have said:<br />
“Without God, we cannot. Without us,<br />
God will not.” Here now are three queries<br />
that probe our issue—namely, the<br />
purpose of prayer.<br />
What Difference<br />
Does It Make?<br />
Inasmuch as the will of God will always be<br />
1 done, what difference does it make<br />
whether we pray?<br />
This is somewhat like saying: “My<br />
friend will either get better or worse;<br />
what good will it do to send for a doctor<br />
and give him/her medicine?” In the<br />
physical order medical power takes into<br />
account the physical factors within a<br />
sick body; in the spiritual order God’s<br />
will makes allowance for our desire to<br />
do better. It is true that in answering a<br />
prayer, God will not do what He does<br />
not will, merely because we asked Him.<br />
But God will do that which without our<br />
prayer He would not do.<br />
By way of illustration, the sun may not<br />
shine through a dirty window, but the<br />
sun will shine through the window if it<br />
hears my voice and opens the door, I<br />
will come in and eat with that person,<br />
and they with me” (Rev. 3:20).<br />
This text reverses the order that many<br />
people think to be the law of prayer.<br />
They assume that when we pray, we ring<br />
God’s doorbell and ask for a favor. Actually,<br />
it is He who rings our bell: “I stand<br />
at the door and knock.” God could do<br />
much more for any of us if our wills<br />
were more conformable—weakness is<br />
always on the receiving end. Radio<br />
broadcasts become available only when<br />
a listener tunes in to them.<br />
Are My Petitions Legitimate?<br />
If the essence of prayer is not to make<br />
2 God give us something, then is there a<br />
legitimate place for petition?<br />
God has two kinds of gifts: first, there<br />
are those which He sends us whether<br />
we pray for them or not; and the second<br />
kind are those that are given on condition<br />
that we pray. The first gifts resemble<br />
those things that a child receives in a<br />
family—food, clothing, shelter, care,<br />
and watchfulness. These gifts come to<br />
every child, whether the child asks for<br />
them or not.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (549) 21
But there are other gifts, which are<br />
conditioned on the desire of the child. A<br />
parent may be eager to have their child<br />
go to college. But by refusal to study, or<br />
by delinquency, the child may make the<br />
gift impossible. Concerning the first<br />
kind of gifts, Jesus referred to them<br />
when He said that God “sends rain on<br />
the righteous and the unrighteous”<br />
(Matt. 5:45). He spoke of the second<br />
kind of gifts when He said, “Ask and it<br />
will be given to you” (Matt. 7:7).<br />
In families in which the economic is a<br />
primary goal and in which prayers are<br />
still said, they may very likely resemble<br />
that of the prodigal: “Give me . . .” In families<br />
in which Providence is primary,<br />
prayer is more likely to be that of the converted<br />
prodigal, who says to their father:<br />
“Make me . . .” In proportion as we pray<br />
to be more faithful and loving children of<br />
God, there will be a corresponding<br />
bestowal of those gifts that a heavenly<br />
Father can give to His children whom He<br />
loved so much that He died for them.<br />
The person who thinks only of themselves<br />
says only prayers of petition; one<br />
who thinks of their neighbor says<br />
prayers of intercession; one who thinks<br />
of loving and serving God says prayers<br />
of abandonment to God’s will. The price<br />
of this prayer is too high for most people,<br />
for it demands the displacement of<br />
self. Many want God to do their will; they<br />
bring their completed plans and ask<br />
Him to rubber-stamp them without a<br />
change. The petition of “Our Father” is<br />
changed by them to read: “My will be<br />
done on earth.” It is very difficult for<br />
God to give Himself to those who are<br />
interested only in the temporal. The<br />
person who refuses to be brought to the<br />
divine level is like an egg kept forever in<br />
a place too cool for incubation, so that it<br />
is never called upon to live a life outside<br />
of the shell of its own incomplete development.<br />
Every “I” is still an embryo of<br />
what that person is meant to be.<br />
Doesn’t God Already<br />
Know Everything?<br />
If God already knows our needs, why<br />
3 then inform Him about those needs?<br />
Jesus says, “Your heavenly Father<br />
knows that you need” all these things<br />
(Matt. 6:32). The purpose of prayer is to<br />
give God the opportunity to bestow the<br />
gifts He will give us when we are ready<br />
to accept them. It is not the eye that<br />
makes the light of the sun surround us;<br />
it is not the lung that makes the air<br />
envelop us. The light of the sun is there<br />
if we do not close our eyes to it, and the<br />
air is there for our lungs if we do not<br />
hold our breath. God’s blessings are<br />
here—if we do not rebel against His<br />
will to give. As Richard C. Trench<br />
affirmed: “Prayer [is not] an overcoming<br />
of God’s reluctance, . . . it is, in fact, a laying<br />
hold of His highest willingness.” 5<br />
If God sometimes seems slow to<br />
answer our petitions, there are several<br />
possible reasons.<br />
One is that the delay is for the purpose<br />
of deepening our love and increasing our<br />
faith. The other is that God is urging us.<br />
God may defer for some time the granting<br />
of His gifts, that we might ardently<br />
pursue, not the gift, but the Giver. Or we<br />
may be asking Him for something He<br />
wants us to learn we do not need.<br />
Jacob once asked God to bring him<br />
home safely, promising that he would<br />
give Him 10 percent of his income in<br />
thanksgiving. But after wrestling with<br />
the angel, he merely said, in the joy of<br />
communion with God: “I have seen God<br />
face to face” (see Gen. 32:30). The greatest<br />
gift of God is not things, but God<br />
Himself. Growing love asks less and<br />
less, seeking only to give and give.<br />
God does not always give us what we<br />
want, but He always gives us what we<br />
need. Often this is a gift so great and<br />
generous that we should never have<br />
asked for it because, until it came, we<br />
did not know of it. Perhaps, after all,<br />
“we shall see,” writes Ellen White, “that<br />
our seemingly unanswered prayers and<br />
disappointed hopes have been among<br />
our greatest blessings.” 6<br />
What About 7-7-7?<br />
Notwithstanding the caution that<br />
“we are not to know the definite time<br />
either for the outpouring of the Holy<br />
Spirit or the coming of Christ,” 7 what<br />
can be said of a numeric and programmatic<br />
formula for the full reception of<br />
the Holy Spirit?<br />
Let DeWitt Osgood answer: “It is not<br />
the quantity of our prayers that Heaven<br />
respects; nor our eloquence, no matter<br />
how flowery our language; not our<br />
arguments, no matter how logically we<br />
present our requests; nor the time we<br />
spend in them. Rather it is our yearning,<br />
our heart cry for cleansing, and the<br />
sincerity which prompts our prayer that<br />
Heaven recognizes. God will never disappoint<br />
the soul that in sincerity and<br />
faith asks for the Holy Spirit.” 8 n<br />
1<br />
Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.:<br />
<strong>Review</strong> and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1,<br />
p. 123.<br />
2<br />
Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers (Mountain<br />
View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1923),<br />
p. 512.<br />
3<br />
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain<br />
View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 7,<br />
p. 274.<br />
4<br />
Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain<br />
View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 525.<br />
5<br />
Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Parables of Our Lord<br />
(London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trübner, and Co., 1906),<br />
p. 331.<br />
6<br />
Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain<br />
View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1942), p. 474.<br />
7<br />
E. G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 188.<br />
8<br />
DeWitt S. Osgood, The Promise of Power (Nashville:<br />
Southern Pub. Assn., 1970), p. 98.<br />
RESEARCH INSTITUTE.<br />
REX. D. EDWARDS, RETIRED<br />
ASSOCIATE SECRETARY OF THE<br />
GENERAL CONFERENCE MINISTERIAL<br />
ASSOCIATION, IS A RESEARCH<br />
ASSISTANT AT THE GC BIBLICAL<br />
22 (550) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
Journeys With Jesus<br />
True Freedom<br />
I ASCENDED THE CONCRETE STEPS OF THE OLD BRICK BUILDING AND WAITED<br />
for the gruff female guard to wave me through the metal detector.<br />
“Come on,” she barked.<br />
I smiled my thanks, but she remained impassive. I waited, uncertain where to go.She had already turned<br />
back to her book.<br />
Summoning my courage, I approached her. “Excuse me, ma’am. Where is family court?”<br />
Her eyes flickered over my face, and then returned to her book. “Third floor.”<br />
The elevator creaked on its journey up. As I stepped out and began walking down the corridor, my heels<br />
clicked on the old linoleum. Almost every chair in the long hallway was filled. A baby cried as her mother<br />
held her. Another woman rocked in unspoken anguish. Most were dressed in faded jeans. Old sweatshirts<br />
covered too-thin bodies. The stale air felt tense. Armed police officers stood guard. Important-looking men<br />
in business suits hurried past.<br />
I glanced about. Then the elevator door opened, and my friend Sam* stepped out.<br />
“Oh, Jill, thanks so much for coming!” Her voice choked as she gave me a hug. “Let me introduce you to<br />
my family.”<br />
I shook hands with her family members and made small talk. Underneath our light exterior was<br />
the unspoken question: Would Sam get her children back today?<br />
I’d known Sam for only a few short months. The first time I’d met her she was wearing a navyblue<br />
jumpsuit and orange crocs, courtesy of our local jail. Several of the women from our<br />
church visit the jail every Monday night to share the Word of God with our sisters there. Sam<br />
had regularly come to our meetings, reaching out for a new way of life. After her release she<br />
began attending our church. She’d been working toward recovery. Reaching out to Jesus.<br />
Fighting to get her children back. I’d promised to attend court with her today. I couldn’t do<br />
anything except sit beside her and pray.<br />
The sound of chains coming down the hallway startled me. A young man in street clothes<br />
was led by two officers. Head down. Shackled hands. Eyes red from crying. He didn’t look<br />
more than 16. The officers led him into a side room to await his time with the judge. A commotion<br />
occurred opposite him. Two women exited the judge’s chambers. The younger one<br />
cried so hard that she swayed and would have fallen, except the other woman caught her.<br />
She’d been denied custody of her children. They passed by me on their way out. Years of drug use<br />
had etched their mark on their faces.<br />
The chains dragged by me again, this time into the courtroom. Time seemed to stand still. The air grew<br />
stifling hot. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, prayed with my friend Sam, and paced the hall.<br />
An hour passed. The young man came out, harried parents at his side. They had a brief consultation with<br />
his lawyer in the corner. I spoke with his girlfriend while they talked. She was so beautiful yet so heartbreakingly<br />
young. So much promise. So many choices made. So much suffering now.<br />
The officers took the young man away to jail. His girlfriend reached out, tears streaming down her cheeks,<br />
but she wasn’t allowed to touch him. Turning, she stumbled after his parents.<br />
Where is the “glory” of sin now? It was gone. It had simply vanished. Here, there was only the stark reality<br />
of Satan’s world. The end result of the beautiful allure of sin: death.<br />
As I walked down the courthouse steps I thought of our precious Savior and how He had borne our death<br />
so that we could go free. Free from our guilt and shame. Free from the reality of Satan’s world. Free from<br />
our bondage to sin.<br />
Dear Father, I breathed, teach us how to be Your witnesses, how to share the true freedom found in Jesus. n<br />
Jill<br />
Morikone<br />
* not her real name<br />
JILL MORIKONE IS A MUSIC TEACHER, A CHURCH PIANIST, AND A HOST ON THE 3ABN TODAY COOKING SEGMENTS. SHE AND HER HUSBAND,<br />
GREG, LIVE IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AND ENJOY MINISTERING TOGETHER FOR JESUS.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (551) 23
<strong>Adventist</strong> Life<br />
BY DAVID E. THOMAS<br />
Sexuality as<br />
Something<br />
Sacred<br />
WHY CAN’T WE GET THIS “SEXUALITY THING” RIGHT?<br />
We live in a highly sexualized<br />
society in which<br />
sex is perceived to be<br />
part of almost everything.<br />
We have more<br />
information about sexuality and sexual<br />
behavior than a person might ever wish<br />
to know. All this openness and information,<br />
however, does not appear to be<br />
helping us very much. It seems that<br />
somehow we’re missing something—<br />
such as a major foundational aspect of<br />
human sexuality that we are not clued<br />
into—leaving us with a rather large<br />
personal and societal deficiency.<br />
Beyond My Expertise<br />
Many years ago a literature evangelist<br />
put me in touch with two people in my<br />
pastoral district who wanted help with<br />
strengthening their relationship. The<br />
man was an aspiring country-western<br />
singer, and the woman had earned her<br />
living as a stripper. They had met during<br />
one of the man’s musical performances,<br />
“fallen in love,” and then<br />
moved in together.<br />
The couple struggled with challenges<br />
that were so severe and complex that it<br />
quickly became clear that their situation<br />
was beyond my skills to address. The<br />
most noticeable challenge was the<br />
young woman’s inability to trust anyone,<br />
apparently because of the numerous<br />
times she had been mistreated both<br />
sexually and relationally. After I realized<br />
I was in over my head, I graciously<br />
bowed out and referred them to a more<br />
capable counselor.<br />
I have always had the impression that<br />
the woman’s mistreatment had somehow<br />
infringed upon her sense of personhood.<br />
In order to survive, she had<br />
developed a defense mechanism comprising<br />
many layers of opaqueness that<br />
could not be penetrated, so I was never<br />
able to help her (or them) at all.<br />
The Beginning of Clarity<br />
I later came across some information<br />
that helped me begin to understand the<br />
woman’s problem. It was a review of a<br />
book titled Premarital Sex in America: How<br />
Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About<br />
Marrying.” 1 It describes the work of two<br />
sociologists, Mark Regnerus and Jeremy<br />
Uecker, who examined statistics on 15,000<br />
young adults, 300 of whom they personally<br />
interviewed. The book review noted<br />
their observation that the “sexual script”<br />
of young adults today is quite different<br />
from what it was a generation or two ago.<br />
“Going on casual dates, progressing to<br />
an exclusive relationship, getting married,<br />
buying a house in the suburbs, having<br />
kids—that was yesterday’s middle-class<br />
American script, in which people tended<br />
to have sex within marriage or shortly<br />
before it, while society provided rules and<br />
guidelines for every stage.<br />
“Today’s sexual script looks much<br />
different. Many young adults think they<br />
will not be married for years. Although<br />
marriage remains an ideal for the<br />
young, they see it more as an end of the<br />
romantic story than the beginning. Sex,<br />
self-discovery, and freedom all end in<br />
marriage, while financial responsibility,<br />
the burden of children, and the likelihood<br />
of divorce begin there. If the desire<br />
of young adults for marriage is postponed,<br />
their desire for sex and companionship<br />
remains strong. So, though<br />
many (especially women) hope for permanence,<br />
they form temporary, exclusive<br />
relationships that last only as long<br />
as both parties remain interested.<br />
“In other words, they embrace serial<br />
monogamy. But serial monogamy has<br />
few clearly defined rules.” 2<br />
24 (552) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
All this sets up the researchers’ observation<br />
that “those who are virgins or<br />
those who have had only one or two previous<br />
partners and are in a relationship<br />
are the most emotionally healthy. The<br />
more serial the monogamy, the greater<br />
the likelihood of some kind of emotional<br />
dissatisfaction or instability.” 3<br />
Regnerus and Uecker describe what I<br />
experienced when talking to the wouldbe<br />
country-western singer and his girlfriend:<br />
that somehow all the jumping<br />
from one relationship to another<br />
diminished or tarnished the life experience<br />
of those involved. In their book the<br />
researchers make the point that sex and<br />
sexuality are not outside of or separate<br />
from ourselves; but rather, sexual<br />
exploitation and serial intimacies do<br />
damage to personhood. All the sexual<br />
information and open sexual behaviors<br />
notwithstanding, we are not getting<br />
this human sexuality thing right. Somehow<br />
the grand promise of the sexual<br />
revolution that told us that unbridled<br />
and uninhibited sex would “free our<br />
culture from its Victorian inhibitions to<br />
usher in a whole new and joyous era of<br />
free and open love untrammeled by<br />
commitments” has not worked out. The<br />
Freudian notion that a suppressed<br />
libido is the underlying cause of all<br />
kinds of personal and social ills is<br />
appearing to be badly flawed. Various<br />
statistics about unbridled sexual behaviors<br />
do not show an increase in happiness,<br />
but rather a significant increase in<br />
unhappiness, sometimes to the point of<br />
depression. Apparently there’s a deeper<br />
dimension underlying human sexuality<br />
than what we commonly understand.<br />
Biblical Counsel<br />
It is in light of this that Ephesians 5:3,<br />
4 intrigues me: “But sexual immorality<br />
and all impurity or covetousness must<br />
not even be named among you, as is<br />
proper among saints. Let there be no<br />
filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,<br />
which are out of place, but instead<br />
let there be thanksgiving” (ESV). 4<br />
Paul is laying out a pretty stringent<br />
standard here. Believers are not even to<br />
mention sexual immorality nor make<br />
crude comments or jokes about it. He is<br />
saying that believers should give thanks<br />
for human sexuality and all it entails, and<br />
part of that thanksgiving is to refrain from<br />
diminishing or demeaning it even by<br />
something as slight as a joke or innuendo.<br />
I am struck once more by the possibility<br />
that there is something about<br />
human sexuality that lies deeper than<br />
what we commonly perceive, something<br />
that warrants our careful treatment of<br />
it, something that calls for us to (dare I<br />
use the word?) “reverence” it.<br />
Deeper Dimensions<br />
Some years ago research psychologists<br />
G. W. Allport and J. M. Ross published<br />
findings based on their formative work<br />
on human self-understanding. Their<br />
premise was that humans have two<br />
dimensions: an internal one that is carefully<br />
formed and monitored, and kept<br />
largely hidden from others; and an external<br />
one that we show to the public. They<br />
saw the internal dimension as part of<br />
what we commonly call “spirituality.”<br />
The external dimension was the public<br />
expression of that internal spirituality.<br />
The first dimension they called “intrinsic<br />
religion”; the second, “extrinsic religion.” 5<br />
Allport and Ross contended that the<br />
intrinsic dimension is the more significant<br />
one, for it’s there that we bring<br />
together various ideas and beliefs that we<br />
hold to be true and viable and form our<br />
code of life, or code for living. We assemwww.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org<br />
| June 20, 2013 | (553) 25
le what I have come to call a “belief<br />
grid.” Some of these beliefs are at a low<br />
level at which we feel at liberty to use our<br />
discretion, while others are at a very high<br />
level, which might even involve us in lifeor-death<br />
decisions. As we face the daily<br />
task of living, we filter the opportunities<br />
or difficulties that arise through our<br />
belief grids in order to come to lifedirecting<br />
decisions. This whole function<br />
is protected by what we commonly call<br />
our “conscience.” For humans, then,<br />
intrinsic religion is not a play zone;<br />
instead, it’s a zone of great seriousness,<br />
because we know that if we do well by<br />
our beliefs, we are able to retain a sense<br />
of integrity. If we become duplicitous, we<br />
can diminish ourselves significantly.<br />
Another researcher, Kurt Lewin, 6 coined<br />
a name for this inner dimension: our “life<br />
space.” 7 The visual image this name suggests<br />
is a “space” inside us in which life<br />
happens. And the life that happens in the<br />
inner space ends up influencing and<br />
guiding what is seen on the outside.<br />
Allport and Ross developed a list of<br />
things that they saw domiciled in the<br />
life space, which include highly personal<br />
beliefs about life: identity and<br />
sexuality, family and origin, expectations<br />
of self and others, attitudes<br />
ality. Interestingly, Allport and Ross link<br />
identity and sexuality together as a pair,<br />
which suggests an inherent understanding<br />
that identity and sexuality are<br />
parts of our basic makeup—part of who<br />
we perceive ourselves to be.<br />
Embedded in our belief grid and<br />
linked to our sense of personhood is<br />
our sexuality, domiciled within the<br />
intrinsic realm of the human mind in<br />
which we hold things sacred to us.<br />
Implications of Infringement<br />
Since sexuality is part of the intrinsic<br />
zone in which we hold sacred things, if<br />
it is not properly reverenced and is<br />
treated tritely a person will feel diminished<br />
and infringed upon. The misuse<br />
of sexuality or the infringement upon it<br />
by someone else becomes both offensive<br />
and damaging, because the inner sanctum<br />
of life was trampled upon. People<br />
who have been victimized sexually, for<br />
example, are often overtaken by a sense<br />
of diminished personhood. It’s not<br />
unusual for a victim of sexual mistreatment<br />
to exhibit a sense of self-loathing,<br />
even to the point of depression.<br />
When such a person realizes the<br />
depths of the offense they have suffered,<br />
they sometimes become fearless,<br />
THERE’S A DEEPER DIMENSION UNDERLYING<br />
HUMAN SEXUALITY THAN WHAT WE COMMONLY<br />
toward personal risk-taking, life goals<br />
and relationships, personal hopes and<br />
dreams, and ideas we use to make sense<br />
of life. 8 They form the inner essence of<br />
our lives and are “sacred” to us in that<br />
we hold them in such high esteem that<br />
we revere them. They not only give us a<br />
sense of morality, direction, and purpose<br />
but also our sense of identity. Who<br />
you perceive yourself to be is derived<br />
from these very ideas.<br />
The order in which Allport and Ross<br />
set things down is also intriguing. Identity<br />
is mentioned first, because our<br />
sense of who we are is foundational to<br />
life. The second item on the list is sexu-<br />
UNDERSTAND.<br />
unafraid to confront the perpetrators of<br />
the deeds done against them. They<br />
struggle to feel whole again until they<br />
have done so. Their very sense of being<br />
clamors for justice and restitution.<br />
Reverencing Sexuality<br />
If, indeed, sexuality is part of the intrinsic<br />
zone, or life space, and linked to identity,<br />
then it should be reverenced, protected,<br />
carefully tended, and held as<br />
sacred. I believe this is why Paul wrote the<br />
counsel he did, and why for so many centuries<br />
societies have attempted to protect<br />
sexuality by the establishment of taboos.<br />
Certainly, those taboos have not all been<br />
good, but their existence testifies to an<br />
inherent human understanding of a certain<br />
“sacredness” to sexuality that is missing<br />
almost entirely from current culture.<br />
On the positive side, because sexuality<br />
is domiciled in the life space, when it’s<br />
respected, preserved, and guarded as<br />
something sacred, it can become the<br />
means of a deep bonding between two<br />
people. When two people who have preserved<br />
their sense of sexual integrity<br />
consent, in love, to willingly offer themselves<br />
to each other, it’s not just their<br />
physical bodies that touch, but their<br />
intrinsic dimensions as well. Love and<br />
volition allow the intrinsic dimensions<br />
to open without any sense of infringement.<br />
Their sexuality becomes an instrument<br />
of a profoundly intimate bond that<br />
is theirs alone to enjoy and be blessed by.<br />
It is this inner aspect of human sexuality,<br />
the idea that personhood and sexuality<br />
are linked, that is all but gone from popular<br />
culture. This is what leaves us with<br />
such a deficit in spite of all our knowledge<br />
and information. It’s an aspect that Christians<br />
are well situated to address powerfully,<br />
if we would but reverence the gift<br />
God has given us by way of this very complicated<br />
thing we call sexuality. n<br />
1<br />
Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker, Premarital Sex in<br />
America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About<br />
Marrying (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).<br />
2<br />
Quoted from a review in First Things, August/September<br />
2011, p. 53.<br />
3<br />
Ibid., p. 55.<br />
4<br />
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy<br />
Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by<br />
Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.<br />
Used by permission. All rights reserved.<br />
5<br />
Harding Journal 9, no. 2 (1990). (This journal was once<br />
associated with Harding Hospital, but is now defunct and<br />
can no longer be found.)<br />
6<br />
Kurt Lewin was a notable person in the field of psychology<br />
and best remembered for his pioneering work in<br />
group dynamics.<br />
7<br />
The idea of “life space” in Lewin’s thinking can be<br />
quite expansive, enough to include all events in a person’s<br />
past, present, and future that help shape and affect them.<br />
But it begins with the internal dimension describing a<br />
person’s motives, values, needs, moods, goals, anxieties,<br />
and ideals. The term is used here in the internal sense.<br />
8<br />
Harding Journal.<br />
DAVID E. THOMAS IS DEAN AND A<br />
PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICAL<br />
THEOLOGY AND APOLOGETICS<br />
DEPARTMENT AND CHAIR OF THE<br />
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE<br />
AT WALLA WALLA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY.<br />
26 (554) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
The Life of Faith<br />
Peter Upside Down<br />
I SAW POPE FRANCIS YESTERDAY, THE PAPAL SUCCESSOR, ROMAN CATHOLICS<br />
believe, to the original pope, Simon Peter. It’s easy for Protestants to feel cynical about that. We reject much<br />
of what Catholics teach: we don’t pray to Mary, we don’t believe she was conceived immaculately, we don’t<br />
believe we consume Jesus’ literal body and blood, we don’t believe Peter was the first pope.<br />
But we should be careful not to dwell on other travelers when we’ve got a long way to go ourselves, collectively<br />
and personally. As Romans 2:1 appropriately reminds us: “You who pass judgment on someone<br />
else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself.” In every setting let’s seek<br />
instead the path of redemption.<br />
I’m in Rome at the start of a New Testament study tour that will also take me to Turkey and Greece.<br />
I’ll then meet my own group in Israel—can’t wait! In a sense, I’m traveling backward through<br />
Peter’s life; my itinerary is upside down, just as Peter was, according to tradition, crucified<br />
upside down.<br />
Yesterday I was one of 250 people who each day get to go under St. Peter’s Basilica to an area<br />
called the Scavi (excavations), which was rediscovered in the 1940s. One side of the necropolis<br />
is filled with pagan graves dating as far back as the second century; the other side has Christian<br />
graves dating to the first century. One particular box is filled with 22 bones from every<br />
part of the body except the feet. The name of Peter is scribbled all over it. The theory is that<br />
these are the bones of Peter, perhaps as he was cut right off the cross. (The site is a stone’s throw<br />
from where Peter was previously thought to be buried. Perhaps he rolled over in his grave as the<br />
basilica in his name was being built above him.)<br />
Whether or not these are Peter’s actual bones, whether or not anyone even kept his bones, a<br />
strong Christian tradition holds that Peter was crucified in Rome upside down at his request. He<br />
didn’t see himself worthy to die as Christ did.<br />
Yet Peter died in Rome—for Christ. This is the point. Peter died for his faith in Christ. This time he did not<br />
deny Christ.<br />
Isn’t that beautiful? How completely privileged Peter must have felt to be asked the question once<br />
again: “Are you one of His disciples?”<br />
Imagine him throwing his head back: Am I one of His disciples? Am I one of His disciples? Why . . . YES, I<br />
AM! I am Simon Peter, a disciple of Christ!<br />
Rome is where Peter’s life ended but not where it started. Over the next few days we will also visit:<br />
Joppa: where a maturing Peter was dramatically called by Jesus to preach to the Gentiles.<br />
Jerusalem: where a sifted Peter, ashamed of Jesus, denied he knew Him.<br />
Galilee: where a fisherman met Jesus for the first time.<br />
When they met (John 1:42), Jesus looked straight at Peter. The Greek term is emblepo. It means to gaze at,<br />
to look into the soul. The same word would be used once more in the Gospels (Luke 22:61) to describe the<br />
way Jesus gazed at Peter after his denials.<br />
Jesus knew the end from the beginning in Peter’s life. He knows yours as well. If you’re currently living a<br />
period of denial of Christ, this doesn’t have to be the end of your story. Receive the grace of Christ that Peter<br />
humbly received. Get back on your own road to Rome where you will stand resolute.<br />
You may not be called pope someday, but you’ll know a better title, the only one Peter ever wanted: disciple<br />
of Christ, son of the living God.<br />
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you<br />
also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:4, 5). n<br />
Andy<br />
Nash<br />
ANDY NASH IS A PROFESSOR AND PASTOR. HE’S LEADING A TOUR TO ISRAEL IN JUNE 2014, ALONG WITH GUEST PRESENTER CLIFFORD<br />
GOLDSTEIN. YOU MAY CONTACT HIM AT ANDYNASH5@GMAIL.COM.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (555) 27
A School<br />
Grows in Alask<br />
PHOTOS BY STEPHEN CHAVEZ<br />
Feature<br />
CASUAL DAY: Principal Dane Bailey<br />
makes announcements in the main<br />
hallway before classes. Once a month<br />
the kids get to wear jeans to school.<br />
AMAZING<br />
GRACE<br />
ADVENTIST<br />
ACADEMY<br />
AND ITS<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
OUTREACH<br />
BY STEPHEN CHAVEZ<br />
Tammy Leslie was looking<br />
for a school for her 11-yearold<br />
daughter, Aubry. The<br />
Matanuska Christian<br />
School, one of the oldest<br />
Christian schools in Palmer, Alaska, was<br />
closing its doors at the end of the school<br />
year. And Leslie, who had worked in that<br />
school’s office for several years, was<br />
thinking of enrolling Aubrey in Amazing<br />
Grace Academy (AGA).<br />
When Leslie told her friends what she<br />
was thinking, someone told her, “Be<br />
careful; I don’t think those people<br />
believe in Jesus.”<br />
“I’m fairly certain they do,” Leslie replied.<br />
She contacted the school, and had a<br />
conversation with Cerise Bailey, then<br />
office manager of AGA. That conversation<br />
led to others, and an introduction<br />
to Cerise’s husband, Dane, who is the<br />
principal and teacher of grades 5 and 6<br />
at AGA. Aubrey was enrolled at AGA.<br />
Leslie, who had a fairly good idea about<br />
how a school should be run, was immediately<br />
impressed. “This was much more<br />
professionally run,” she says. “Had I<br />
known how good the teachers are, I would<br />
have enrolled my daughter sooner.”<br />
That by itself would be a pretty good<br />
story, but that’s not the end, far from it.<br />
“We just started going to church here,”<br />
says Leslie matter-of-factly. “I really<br />
liked the people.” She and Aubrey not<br />
only attended church—they attended an<br />
Amazing Prophecies evangelistic series,<br />
and a few days after my visit to Palmer,<br />
they were baptized.<br />
Guided by Prayer<br />
The sign on the Glenn Highway into<br />
Palmer that advertises the Palmer Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> Church and Amazing<br />
Grace Academy is one of those<br />
affairs that flashes the time and temperature,<br />
interspersed with Bible quotations<br />
or thought-provoking nuggets<br />
such as “Pray without ceasing,” “In<br />
everything give thanks,” and “Prayer is<br />
the best wireless connection.”<br />
Its emphasis on the Bible and practical<br />
Christianity is one that’s reflected among<br />
the faculty, students, and staff of AGA.<br />
The following words are printed on the<br />
wall over the main entrance: “Be it<br />
known to all who enter here that CHRIST<br />
is the reason for our school. He is the<br />
unseen but ever-present teacher in our<br />
classes. He is the model of our faculty<br />
and the inspiration of our students.”<br />
That would be a lofty objective for any<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> school. But it is especially<br />
so for this one, in which most of the<br />
students are not from <strong>Adventist</strong> homes.<br />
The <strong>Adventist</strong>s in Palmer have run an<br />
elementary school for some 60 years.<br />
But the campus was located eight miles<br />
out of town. It primarily served the<br />
church, but enrollment was never that<br />
high, anywhere from 12 to 20 students<br />
from year to year (once 40 students).<br />
Then one of the church members<br />
donated property on land that fronted one<br />
of the main highways into town. A church<br />
was built on the property, and later a school.<br />
The school, an impressive building on<br />
three levels, says something about the
a<br />
faith and mission focus demonstrated<br />
by the people who planned and built it,<br />
especially considering that enrollment<br />
at the time it was built hovered around<br />
20 students, with a bank note of about<br />
$500,000 to pay for the expansion.<br />
Into this formative situation God<br />
brought together a set of circumstances<br />
that has forever changed the profile of<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s in Palmer.<br />
First, the name of the school was<br />
changed from Matanuska Valley <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
School to Amazing Grace Academy.<br />
“We wanted something that would<br />
resonate with the community,” says Stacey<br />
Peterson, AGA board chair. “If you say<br />
it’s Palmer <strong>Adventist</strong> School, people think<br />
you have to be an <strong>Adventist</strong> to go there.”<br />
Then the board invited Dane Bailey to be<br />
principal and teach grades 5 and 6. “He’s a<br />
spiritual man, a prayerful man,” says Peterson.<br />
Adds Pastor Aaron Payne, “Ever since I’ve<br />
known Dane his prayer has always been<br />
not that God would bring students to the<br />
school just for the numbers, but that He’d<br />
bring people who needed to be here.”<br />
Then Payne, not long after being<br />
assigned to lead the Palmer church, prayed,<br />
“God, what do You want me to do?”<br />
“It hit me one day: Get rid of the debt!”<br />
Payne asked his congregation for 100 percent<br />
participation in paying off the debt.<br />
When people asked how much he wanted<br />
them to give, he replied, “I’m not asking<br />
you to give money; I’m asking you to pray.<br />
Then do whatever God tells you to do.”<br />
Members responded. Payne reports<br />
that more than 95 percent of the members<br />
contributed to eliminating the debt.<br />
But that’s when the Palmer church<br />
deviated from a course most congregations<br />
might have taken. The church board<br />
decided that for every $100,000 the debt<br />
was reduced, it would donate $1,000 to a<br />
One-Day Church project somewhere in<br />
the world. The result of that commitment<br />
is five plaques of appreciation from<br />
Maranatha Volunteers International for<br />
buildings erected around the world,<br />
thanks to the generosity of the Palmer<br />
Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong> Church.<br />
Steady Growth<br />
The arrival of Dane Bailey as principal,<br />
along with the new building and the<br />
higher profile, provided the school with a<br />
sense of purpose. Enrollment rose to 35<br />
the next year, and 52 the following year.<br />
Then something happened that<br />
nobody imagined: Matanuska Christian<br />
School announced it was closing, leaving<br />
dozens of families looking for alternatives<br />
to public schools.<br />
“I went over and did one of the last chapels<br />
of the school year,” says Payne. “We<br />
had an open house. I told them, ‘We’re not<br />
pleased [by the closing of the school]; we<br />
need as much Christian education as possible.<br />
But if we can be a blessing to any of<br />
your families, we’d like to be.’ ”<br />
The following year enrollment at AGA<br />
jumped from 53 to 72. And during the<br />
school year just ending the enrollment<br />
hovered at just under 90, most of whom<br />
do not come from <strong>Adventist</strong> families. If<br />
you go to the school’s Web site<br />
(amazinggraceacademy.org), most of the<br />
faces you’ll see are not <strong>Adventist</strong>s.<br />
“There’s a concern that you don’t water<br />
down your message just to appeal to people,”<br />
says Peterson. “We’re unabashedly<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>.” The local church sees the<br />
LOOKING FOR<br />
OPTIONS:<br />
When Matanuska<br />
Christian<br />
School closed<br />
its doors,<br />
Tammy Leslie<br />
went looking<br />
for options for<br />
her daughter,<br />
Aubrey. They<br />
were both baptized,<br />
and<br />
Tammy now<br />
works at<br />
Amazing Grace<br />
Academy.<br />
TIME FOR<br />
SCHOOL:<br />
School begins<br />
before dawn<br />
in Palmer the<br />
first week of<br />
spring. The<br />
temperature—25<br />
degrees—was<br />
10 degrees<br />
warmer than<br />
earlier in the<br />
week.<br />
school as one of its greatest outreach<br />
tools. “They’ve bought into the idea of<br />
mission and service and outreach,” he<br />
says. “Our best recruiters are those families<br />
that are not <strong>Adventist</strong>.”<br />
Bailey, who came to AGA after teaching<br />
in Chico, California, attributes the school’s<br />
growth to a question he asked the staff at<br />
the beginning of his second year as principal:<br />
“How can we make sure these kids,<br />
these families, know that our primary<br />
purpose is spiritual?”<br />
The answer to that question begins<br />
first thing in the morning with staff worship,<br />
most often led by Bailey. “I like to<br />
set the tone by emphasizing the spiritual<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (557) 29
aspects we need to focus on,” he says.<br />
The morning assembly is another<br />
place where spirituality is emphasized.<br />
All the students—from kindergarten to<br />
tenth grade—sit on the floor in the<br />
main hallway to sing a couple songs<br />
(“The Wise Man Built His House Upon<br />
the Rock” was most requested the week<br />
I was there), have a few announcements,<br />
say a prayer (specifically mentioning<br />
the day’s “prayer kids”), and say the<br />
Pledge of Allegiance.<br />
More about the “prayer kids”: The<br />
school calendar lists two prayer kids<br />
every day, kids who are specifically<br />
mentioned in prayer each day. “Every<br />
day we get to pray and dedicate,” says<br />
Bailey. “Every day we pray over our kids.<br />
It creates a spiritual family. . . . I ask the<br />
church to pray for our kids. We can’t<br />
emphasize prayer enough.”<br />
Indeed, prayer is<br />
an essential ingredient<br />
in both church<br />
and school. The Sabbath<br />
before school<br />
begins, after a brief<br />
message during the<br />
worship service,<br />
members migrate<br />
down the hall to the<br />
school classrooms<br />
where they pray for<br />
the teachers, the students<br />
who will<br />
inhabit those desks,<br />
RECESS: Even if<br />
you’re used to<br />
harsh winters,<br />
recess on a frozen<br />
playground can be<br />
a challenge; hence<br />
the need for a<br />
gymnasium.<br />
and the challenges<br />
they will face in the<br />
coming year. Prayer<br />
kids are also listed<br />
in the church bulletin<br />
each week.<br />
The result is a climate<br />
of real fellowship<br />
between<br />
students, teachers, staff, and parents. Parents<br />
who drop off kids in the morning or<br />
pick them up in the afternoon are often<br />
greeted by a teacher (or two). Smiles,<br />
handshakes, and hugs reflect the closeness<br />
they feel for each other.<br />
The week I was there culminated in<br />
“Education Sabbath,” where parents and<br />
friends joined the worship<br />
service to watch their children<br />
lead out in various aspects of<br />
the service. The students sang,<br />
played their instruments, read<br />
Scripture, prayed, called for<br />
the offering, and, most important,<br />
shared their testimonies.<br />
It was touching to see how seriously<br />
they took their responsibilities, and hear<br />
them share how a relationship with<br />
Christ has touched their lives.<br />
Also heartwarming is how <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
students befriend and support their<br />
non-<strong>Adventist</strong> friends. They attend each<br />
other’s recitals and other performances.<br />
They support them in times of grief or<br />
family tragedies. Not surprisingly, a<br />
handful of students have become Seventh-day<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong>s because of their<br />
contact with friends at AGA.<br />
What the Future Holds<br />
It would seem that Amazing Grace Academy<br />
is well on its way to a bright future.<br />
But it still faces some formidable challenges.<br />
The first being the growth it’s<br />
experienced over the past few years;<br />
growth nobody foresaw. The increased<br />
enrollment puts a strain on all the teachers,<br />
but especially on Principal Bailey. You<br />
can be principal and teach grades 5 and 6<br />
when the enrollment is 60 or 70. But it<br />
becomes increasingly time-consuming<br />
when enrollment approaches 100.<br />
Plus, a higher enrollment requires<br />
more space. For several years AGA has<br />
leased its upper level to Palmer’s Head<br />
Start program; providing Head Start<br />
with a place to meet, and giving AGA a<br />
source of income to help with their next<br />
project (more about that later). But the<br />
lease is up at the end of next school<br />
year, giving AGA more space, but eliminating<br />
that income stream.<br />
AGA currently offers a K-10 education.<br />
The next obvious step is to make it a full<br />
academy, something never before seen in<br />
Alaska. With nearly 100 students it seems<br />
a likely possibility. But the North American<br />
Division has standards for academies that<br />
AGA can’t yet meet. And a student body<br />
that’s only 20 to 25 percent <strong>Adventist</strong><br />
would set off alarm<br />
bells in some circles.<br />
A final challenge<br />
facing AGA is the proposed<br />
building of a<br />
gymnasium. For<br />
much of the school<br />
year outdoor activities<br />
are chilly, to say<br />
the least. The local<br />
school district<br />
REHEARSING:<br />
“Education Sabbath”<br />
is a oncea-year<br />
event in<br />
which parents<br />
are invited to the<br />
church’s worship<br />
service, and students<br />
from<br />
Amazing Grace<br />
Academy lead<br />
out in worship.<br />
requires teachers to keep kids indoors if<br />
the windchill falls below 20 degrees<br />
below zero (which happens often when<br />
the wind blows 20 to 30 miles an hour,<br />
sometimes more). A gymnasium would<br />
not only benefit the school and provide a<br />
place for its programs, but it would benefit<br />
the church and be a place for the<br />
community to hold special events.<br />
The price tag for such a project is $1.5<br />
million, but for a church and school<br />
already used to sacrificial giving, that goal<br />
is well within reach. A number of donors<br />
have already stepped forward, but much<br />
more has to be done (to see how you can<br />
help, visit ouralaskandream.com).<br />
Higher Education<br />
In the past four years Amazing Grace<br />
Academy has experienced tremendous<br />
growth. But more important, it has<br />
raised the profile of Seventh-day <strong>Adventist</strong>s<br />
in the community. The potential<br />
from that kind of profile is inestimable.<br />
“For example,” says Bailey, “we have<br />
someone registered for next year who’s<br />
from Mongolia. The kid has never experienced<br />
Christianity. It’ll be real interesting<br />
to present the gospel to that<br />
family. But you pray about it.”<br />
What else can you do? n<br />
STEPHEN CHAVEZ IS COORDINAT-<br />
ING EDITOR OF ADVENTIST REVIEW.<br />
30 (558) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013
Reflections<br />
Delivery Day<br />
THE 6:00 A.M. ALARM RATTLED ME OUT OF MY DROWSINESS. I WANTED TO<br />
snooze, but this Friday would be a busy one, so I slipped out of bed and into my cozy slippers with the day’s<br />
agenda swirling in my head. On my list was my husband’s reminder that the UPS man would be delivering a<br />
package that required a signature.<br />
After early-morning errands and meetings, I pulled into the garage at 9:45 a.m., assured that the UPS truck<br />
didn’t usually come until after lunch. Now I could get busy with the piles of things looming on my to-do list: vacuuming,<br />
laundry, cleaning, and paperwork. I plunged into my chores with fierce determination to have a clean and<br />
presentable home by the start of the Sabbath. Mirrors started to sparkle, clutter disappeared, lunch was served,<br />
and my son went down for his afternoon nap. Superb! But no UPS truck yet. He’ll be here soon, I assured myself.<br />
I continued with my dusting and mopping, and the house started looking rather spiffy. I decided to go down<br />
to the basement to tackle the spare room. My piano technician husband had turned our guest room into a temporary<br />
repair shop. Pianos came and went, but the telltale signs of occupancy were strewn about. Vroom, rattle,<br />
whoosh—the dust, dirt, and gravel were soon swooped up, and the room was transformed.<br />
Strange the UPS man hasn’t shown up yet, I thought. I’m just going to have to go to town now, because I can’t wait<br />
any longer. As I marched out the door with my son holding my hand, my eye landed on a formal yellow sticky<br />
note. The familiar UPS symbol was clearly emblazoned on the corner. Two little square boxes on the yellow<br />
paper were checked with black ink: “First attempt” and “Will return Monday.”<br />
“Unbelievable! I’ve been here all day,” I fumed. My husband was not going to like this.<br />
“Of course you can’t hear the door when you’re in the basement with the vacuum on,” he said. “Why didn’t<br />
you put a note on the door?” I had a lame reply, because I really had no good excuses or witty comebacks. I<br />
knew that the UPS man was coming, and I’d been home waiting all day.<br />
My husband continued: “That’s what’s going to happen to people when the Lord comes. He’ll come, and<br />
people will be down in the basement, vacuuming!”<br />
His quick analogy startled me. He’s not one for sermonizing, but his blunt response struck a nerve.<br />
What if I am too busy with my earthly life to pay proper attention to the One who is coming soon<br />
to give me eternal life? What if I’m not hearing Him knocking on the door of my heart?<br />
My spiritual journey has been blessed with the assurance of salvation through faith in<br />
Jesus. I know God loves me in an incomprehensible way. But have I allowed the busyness<br />
of life to be a distraction? Have I let the soon coming of Jesus be the primary focus in my<br />
life? He is coming soon, and unlike the UPS man, there will be no second chance at<br />
delivery.<br />
Jesus talked at length about being ready for His coming and the work we should<br />
be doing. Peter encouraged the believers to love each other deeply, and manage the<br />
spiritual gifts God gives them with strength and energy. Our busy lives should be<br />
filled with things that will lead us up to the light, not down into the basement.<br />
Our very identity as <strong>Adventist</strong>s indicates that we know what the Master wants. We<br />
are looking forward to His soon second coming, and we have a special message to<br />
share with all who will listen. There will always be the cares of this life, but as I’ve been<br />
reminding myself lately: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and<br />
all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33, KJV).<br />
It’s been some time since I missed the UPS delivery that Friday, but by the grace of God<br />
the priorities in my life are shifting. Jesus is coming soon, and what a day of delivery that<br />
will be for those who seek Him first. n<br />
SHAMA STOCK WRITES FROM CANON CITY, COLORADO.<br />
www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 20, 2013 | (559) 31