AW English - October 2018

Page 9

Page 10

Page 16

Don’t Let Your Kids Read This

A Remnant Chosen by Grace

Jonah’s Fishing Campaign

October 2018

Called to Belong

By Bill Knott

B u n i t e d s tat e s

About the Cover Tsega Sileshi T. was born into an Adventist home in Ethiopia. She moved to the United States seven years ago.

She is currently pursuing a B.Sc. degree in biology in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she attends the East Ridge Seventh-day Adventist church. Tsega is passionate about helping people and enjoys the outdoors. She dreams of serving others in the medical field and is excited about Jesus’ soon coming.

Cover Photo: Tim Pethel

Focus 10 A Remnant Chosen by Grace 14 Faithful to His Word 16 Jonah’s Fishing Campaign 18 Living With an Imperfect Remnant 22 Jesus Has His Reasons The Word 26 Bible Questions Answered My Church 13 Millennial Voices 20 Global View 24 Discovering the Spirit of Prophecy Living Faith 27 Health and Wellness 28 May I Tell You a Story?

30 Growing Faith—Children’s Pages

efore I reached the age of 6, I learned a central truth about the remnant.

My Aunt Gladys was one of those remarkable women who illustrated “multi-tasking” long before the term grew trendy, for she was never doing only one thing. While telling long and fascinating stories or playing complicated word games, she was invariably crocheting, braiding a rug, or sewing shirts that little boys were proud to wear. Spending afternoons with Aunt Gladys meant entering a world of projects, including frequent visits to the “remnant store.”

Among the bolts of printed cotton and yards of colorful fabrics, Aunt Gladys searched for bits of cloth—scraps and pieces—which her trained eye and frugal sense could imagine for her next project. We would return with plastic bags well-stuffed with “remnants”—squares and triangles of fabric soon integrated into another quilt or sturdy, handmade rug.

By definition and repeated observation, a “remnant” was a thing created by the choice of someone else—something left when larger pieces found their designated purpose. No square of red-checked gingham or floral fabric ever chose to be a remnant. A remnant was a thing made valuable because an artist and creator saw possibilities in pieces.

That understanding, planted in my mind before I even started school, has always helped me when the rhetoric of “remnant” seemed to imply an exclusive or self-chosen identity for those who rightly call themselves “God’s end-time remnant people.” The Scriptures are entirely clear: we don’t choose to make ourselves a remnant any more than we can claim responsibility for our salvation.

It’s the gracious call to follow Jesus that creates the identity and purpose of His remnant. It’s His act to gather up small and frequently discarded fragments from other causes and faith groups according to a pattern only He can see.

It’s the glory of our Saviour that “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Eccl.

3:11), including what He makes of those the world rejects or persecutes. The vast, uncounted throng seen by the apostle John in vision is assembled from the fragments others spurned or counted worthless—a quilt, if you will, of hues and patterns pleasing to the Artist who repurposed them. His call creates His remnant: His grace is still what ties us to millions of other believers who differ in so many human categories but find our satisfying place in His design.

Rejoice in this: that you have been invited by grace to belong to that remnant precious to the Lord, those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17).

We believe in the power of prayer, and we welcome prayer requests that can be shared at our weekly staff worship every Wednesday morning. Send your requests to prayer@adventistworld.org, and pray for us as we work together to advance God’s kingdom.

2

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

News Moment

Pedro Valenรงa, an ADRA Connections Extreme participant from UNASP-Brazil, carries supplies while working on an Amazon River school site.

Photo: ADRA International

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

3

News in Brief

“It was a humbling experience.

Many community and church members attended the launch.”

—Apisalome Seru, Vanuatu Adventist Mission chief financial officer, who participated in the launch of a government-aided school renovation project on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It is the first time the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the trans-Pacific region has received government funding to renovate an Adventist school. Total funding for the project is close to AU$2 million (US$1.48 million). Speaking to those in attendance, Jean-Pierre Nirua, Vanuatu’s minister of education, thanked community members for their patience, prayers, and commitment to the project.

The number of acres (equivalent to 80,937 hectares or 809 square kilometers) that were on fire in California when the Central California Conference canceled its Camp Wawona summer camp sessions for the remainder of the season. The decision was made because the air quality index had reached very unhealthy levels. A few days later a mandatory evacuation order was given for those in the area.

4

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

36% 31%

I feel a deep sense of responsibility to reduce suffering.

200,000

Source: Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research Global Membership Survey 2013

I give a significant portion of time/money to help people.

The first phase of the East-Central Africa Division (ECD) medical school in Rwanda is expected to be completed by March 2019, regional Adventist leaders have reported.

Once completed, the medical school will address some of Africa’s most pressing health challenges. The ratio of doctors to patients across the ECD territory is very low. In Rwanda there is one physician per 15,625 inhabitants. Leaders also expect that the new medical program will support the 10 Seventhday Adventist mission hospitals and 166 clinics across the ECD territory.

The Adventist Humanitarian

I often care a great deal about reducing poverty in my country/around the world.

First Phase of Medical School in Rwanda to Be Completed by 2019

47%

“Christian youth today want to understand faith and origins, and need to hear how top scientists like Walton have developed their sense of wonder in God’s creation.”

—Victor Hulbert, communication director of the Trans-European Division, commenting on the release of a new episode of the series Seeking Understanding.

The episode features University of St. Andrews professor of chemistry John Walton, and highlights one top scientist’s view on the origins of life. Hulbert organized a preview of the film on the campus of Newbold College.

News in Brief

“We have not been able to transmit the message of salvation yet, but that story is going to change.”

—Dany Perla, president of the Metropolitan El Salvador Conference, congratulating a group of young Adventist members in San Salvador who decided to take a course in basic sign language in order to be able to minister to deaf individuals. Perla told the group that the church has so few members with hearing disabilities “simply because we have not been able to communicate with them.”

350 Number of victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) who have received medical attention and reconstructive surgery at the Desert Flower Center located in the Waldfriede Adventist Hospital in Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany. The center was launched in 2013 with the support of former top model Waris Dirie. According to United Nations statistics, more than 250 million women worldwide are affected by this damaging procedure.

8,742 Number of patients served over a three-day period by a mega clinic organized in Palawan, the Philippines. The clinic was a joint effort by Adventist World Radio and LifeSource International Medical Clinics, a humanitarian service associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Patients were offered a wide range of free medical services including access to dental care, medical consultation, minor surgeries, optical services, laboratory tests, a pharmacy, and counseling.

Dental providers care for one of the 8,742 patients at the mega clinic organized in Palawan, Philippines.

Photo: Southern Asia-Pacific Division AdventistWorld.org October 2018

5

News in Depth

Administrative Committee Takes Step Forward in Unity Process

Document to be considered at the 2018 Annual Council.

By Adventist World and ANN

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s General Conference Administrative Committee (ADCOM) voted on Tuesday, July 17, a document recommended by the Unity Oversight Committee. The recommendations came after nine months of listening and consultation with church entities around the world, and outline a process of addressing entities not in compliance with the actions of a General Conference (GC) Session, the GC Executive Committee, or working policy. The outlined process includes setting up a number of compliance review committees that will address specific issues of noncompliance and will make recommendations to the General Conference Administrative Committee.

The Unity Oversight Committee was informed by quantitative and qualitative data gathered from church leaders worldwide as well as dialogues with the 13 world divisions, General Conference Leadership Council, and GC institutions.

Comments from Executive Committee members during previous Annual Councils were also considered.

The Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research was tasked with developing a questionnaire and administering a survey of all union and division presidents worldwide.

All those surveyed submitted a response, even though in some cases they chose not to answer all questions. The results of the survey were published in a previous arti-

cle, and showed that a majority of the world church’s union presidents favored some kind of process for dealing with noncompliance.

Following standard process and protocol, the document voted on July 17 by GC ADCOM will also be discussed by the General Conference and Division Officers Committee. It will then be sent to the GC Executive Committee at its Annual Council this October for consideration.

The full document voted by the General Conference Administrative Committee can be read at www.AdventistWorld.org/ UnityOversightCommittee.

Photo: Brandon Roberts/GC Communication 6

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

News in Depth

Germany Hosts 2018 Global Youth Leaders Congress

Leaders challenged to “pass it on” to the next generations

By Costin Jordache, director of communication and news editor, Adventist World

More than 1,600 Seventh-day Adventist youth ministry leaders from around the world gathered in Kassel, Germany, for the 2018 Global Youth Leaders Congress. From July 31 to August 4, 2018, attendees grappled with significant challenges and opportunities of ministering to teens and young adults in various cultural contexts. A total of 120 languages were spoken by the attendees.

Previously open to both youth and youth leaders, this year’s event was developed specifically for youth ministry leaders only, a change in focus that came with a level of disappointment from some who would not be allowed to attend. In a letter to past attendees, Gary Blanchard, director of Youth Ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, explained, “What we do not have but desperately need is a congress for youth and young adult leaders.” Apologizing to those for whom the decision was disappointing, Blanchard emphasized that the global church organizes IMPACT events in partnership with General Conference sessions, which in essence function as global youth congresses. The next event is scheduled for Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, in 2020.

In a press conference organized on opening day, Jonatán Tejel, youth director for the host Inter-European Division (EUD), explained that divisions normally plan their own general youth congresses, and reiterated the need for specialized youth leadership training on a global scale. Blanchard indicated that all division youth leaders would discuss possibilities for the future while in Germany.

Photo: Dejan Stojkovic

A MULTIFACETED THEME

The leadership congress was organized around the theme “Pass It On,” and aimed to “equip, engage, and empower a generation of Spirit-filled leaders to pass on the legacy of the Reformation,” according to organizers. On opening night the theme was expanded on by Blanchard, along with world church associate youth director Andrés Peralta. “Identity, mission, and leadership,” said Blanchard, are three of the specific values that youth leaders are encouraged to pass along to upcoming generations.

Organizers focused on a specific model of youth leadership, intended to be passed on and integrated not only into future generations but into current local churches around the world. Developed in partnership with the Center for Youth Evangelism (CYE), EUD, and the Trans-European Division (TED), the Intergenerational Churches of Refuge (iCOR) model seeks to create “inclusive, accepting, community-oriented, strategically placed, safe, spiritual environments for young adults,” according to Ron Whitehead, CYE executive director.

TED and EUD took the concept one step further, developing and emphasizing the intergeneration-

al aspect of the model. iCOR “is intended to provide churches with value-oriented support in making this spiritual home a reality for all generations, all cultures, and all social classes,” explains the initiative’s Web site. “It’s a communal ‘i,’ in iCOR,” emphasized Stephan Sigg, president of the Swiss Union Conference and one of the event’s keynote speakers. “The significance is that we grow, serve, and learn together.”

In 2016 the world church adopted iCOR as its main strategy in identifying local churches as the “primary target of global youth ministry.” As such, all aspects of the youth congress were organized into components such as iGrow, iCare, iLearn, and iThink.

Other keynote speakers included David Assherick and Ty Gibson, who each delivered multipart series throughout the event; Adventist world church president Ted N. C. Wilson, who spoke on Sabbath morning; A. Allan Martin, teaching pastor of Younger Generation Church; and Gilbert Cangy, former world church youth director.

For more stories about the Global Youth Leaders Congress, visit the news page at AdventistWorld.org.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

7

News Focus Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

4,026 MENA membership as of March 31, 2018

“We serve in an area where the war made strong demographic changes. Our students are now mostly nonChristians. The trust we received from parents and the community kept us working with full and promising potential.”

—Elias Choufani, principal of the Mouseitbeh Adventist Secondary School (MASS) in West Beirut, Lebanon. MENA staff members recently paid a service-oriented visit to the school. They told stories in classrooms, painted murals on the playground, played soccer with the kids, and performed maintenance jobs.

MASS provides education to approximately 700 students in grades K-12, of which 99.9 percent come from a Muslim background.

“To be able to minister to the greater population and their needs is going back to what Jesus’ methods were to help people.”

—Myron Iseminger, former undersecretary of the General Conference who accepted an invitation to serve as president of the Egypt-Sudan Field. Iseminger formerly served as treasurer of that field before joining the world church’s Secretariat Department.

96

The number of cities in MENA with a population of 500,000 or more, many of which have no Adventist presence.

US$19.5 Billion The predicted size of the health-care market in the United Arab Emirates by 2020. Across the country health awareness has increased rapidly alongside such lifestyle disorders as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. The Adventist Church in Dubai recently organized a health event attended by 200 people. Visitors had a chance to check their cholesterol and glucose levels, get their eyes checked, take a fitness test, and receive a health assessment.

“As a church we believe it is our duty to be a blessing to the community and to assist people to live fully. The opening of the Ramses Cultural Center is our way of fulfilling our values as an organization, by elevating the dignity of people and extending God’s love to all.”

—Rick McEdward, MENA president, commenting on the rededication of a renovated Adventist church in Cairo, Egypt, which is now a community center as well. The facility will offer a preschool, dental clinic, fitness center, massage room, apartments, a kitchen for healthful cooking lessons, and seven classrooms for wellness lectures and English classes. The Adventist Church has 800 members in Egypt, a country with a population of 100 million. Adventist Church president Ted N. C. Wilson rededicated the four-story complex and appealed to church members to remember that a key part of the church’s mission is helping people in big cities. (^-)

Adventist Church leaders cutting the red ribbon at the inauguration of the Ramses Cultural Center in Cairo. From left are Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Rick McEdward, MENA president; Johnny N. Salib, secretary of the Egypt-Sudan Field; and Kheir Boutros, MENA associate treasurer.

Photo: Chan Min Chung, MENA News 8

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

Perspective

By Jared Thurmon, strategic partnership liaison for Adventist Review Ministries

Photo: Hal Gatewood

Don’t Let Your Kids Read This Screen exposure is eroding children’s creativity, and perhaps ours too.

When Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple, was asked what his kids thought about the iPhone, he said, “The kids don’t use it. We don’t allow it in the home.”

Before you think of that as an atypical tech titan response, note that a school near San Francisco, California, United States, is almost entirely tech-free. The Waldorf School of the Peninsula doesn’t allow iPhones, iPads, or computers.

The school says that 75 percent of the kids there have parents who are tech executives.

So what is it about screens that some of the wealthiest innovators in the world don’t want their kids exposed to?

We are told that the prophet Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel.

As he arrived he looked at seven handsome young men, all of whom appeared ready to be king. But the one that God had chosen was not the one that he would have thought.

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord

looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7, NIV).

So what was it about David that had prepared him to lead better than his brothers? The details we know show us that he spent a great deal of time in nature caring for animals, and using his creativity to write and play music.

In writing about Adam and Eve in Eden, Ellen White wrote that they were given “the occupation most favorable to development— the care of plants and animals.”1 Caring for plants and animals and spending generous amounts of time in the outdoors sounds revolutionary in a world of gadgets. So what’s the concern with screens?

“I’ve worked with hundreds of heroin addicts and crystal meth addicts, and what I can say is that it’s easier to treat a heroin addict than a true screen addict,” says addiction expert Nicholas Kardaras.

He details how compulsive technology use and reliance on screens can neurologically damage the developing brain of a child in the same way that drug addiction can.2 If you’re a parent, or a prospective one, that last line should arrest your attention. Could screen time in those formative years be stunting the life potential of a child? The answer seems to be “yes.”

Kardaras continues: “Research shows that both drug use and excessive screen usage stunts the

frontal cortex and reduces the gray matter in that part of the brain.

So hyper-arousing games create a double whammy. Not only are they addicting, but then addiction perpetuates itself by negatively impacting the part of the brain that can help with impulsivity and good decision-making.”3 Often in Scripture we find references to the forehead. God puts His seal or mark there; or Lucifer puts his mark there. The underlying concept is talking about the pre-frontal cortex (i.e., the frontal lobe). It is the seat of judgment, morality, and character in addition to creativity and critical thinking. “The people of God are sealed in their foreheads,” wrote Ellen White. “It is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved.”4 As we all put our hopes in the next generation to pass the baton of hope to, let’s be as innovative as possible, even if that means we need to go back to the future.

Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903, 1952), p. 43.

2 www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-screen-addiction-is-ruiningthe-brains-of-children.

3 Ibid.

4 Ellen G. White, Maranatha (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1976), p. 200.

1

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

9

Focus

A Remnant Chosen by Grace

BY FELIX H. CORTEZ

Photo: Javardh

I

n 1926 Nikolai Vavilov had perhaps the “the least heralded scientific epiphany of the modern era.”1 He understood that it was necessary to preserve the seeds from the wild relatives and unknown varieties of the crops we eat in order to preserve the genes from which we could produce in the future the essential characteristics that crops need to fight diseases, develop pest resistance, and the ability to withstand extreme climate conditions.

What Vavilov conceived was the creation of the equivalent of Noah’s ark to protect a remnant of the seeds of the world, a seed bank that, in case of a catastrophe, would protect the seeds that could secure the survival of future food crops. Vavilov and his team considered this bank so important that they protected it with their lives. Nine of his colleagues died of starvation during the siege of Stalingrad during World War II protecting 400,000 seeds, roots, and fruits stored in their bank. One of them left a letter along with the enormous untouched collection: “When all the world is in the flames of war, we will keep this collection for the future of the people.”2 Today, there are about 1,400 seed banks around the world.

THE PROMISE OF A REMNANT

Deceived by Satan, the serpent (Rev. 12:9), Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden was a catastrophe of unimaginable magnitude that threatened the future of humanity. Satan had usurped the rule of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and humanity would have to be destroyed, with Satan, should he achieve complete dominion (Rom. 6:23; 5:12-14).

In order to secure the survival of humanity, God decided to preserve a “seed” that would challenge the dominion of the serpent and eventually defeat him, even if this should cost Him His own life.

Thus God announced that He would put “enmity” between the serpent and the “seed”3 of the woman, and that the “seed” would eventually bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).

God would preserve both a remnant of humanity that would pledge loyalty to Him and challenge Satan’s dominion, and also provide a Descendant, One who would destroy the power of Satan.4 The story of the redemption of humanity tracks this enmity. It follows God’s actions to preserve a remnant as an enclave of His kingdom and a

carrier of the knowledge of Him in the face of Satan’s persistent attempts to destroy it and attain complete control over humanity.5 THE PURPOSE OF THE REMNANT

Scripture identifies Noah and his family as the first remnant (Gen. 7:23). When humanity became depraved to the extent that every intention of the thoughts of their heart “was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5, 11), God preserved a future for humanity and the animals through Noah, a righteous man (Gen. 6:8; 7:1). He entrusted Noah with a message of warning to the world about the incoming destruction, and asked him to build an ark to preserve those who heard his call (Heb. 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5). God’s purpose was not only to preserve a remnant of humanity but also to preserve the knowledge of Him for future generations.

Not all of Noah’s children, however, remained faithful to God (Gen. 9:25). Yet the knowledge of God was preserved through the line of Shem, which recognized God as their sovereign and God dwelt among them (Gen. 9:27). A remnant, then, is not simply the persons God is able to preserve from a catastrophe, but a visible instrument He uses to preserve the knowledge of Him and to call the world back to Him. God continued to preserve a remnant in later crises.6 Following the rebellion of the nations of the earth at the Tower of Babel God chose Abraham— who was from the line of Shem and had remained faithful to God’s original call (Gen. 11:31)—to bless him and to bless through his descendants all the nations of the earth (Gen. 12:1-3; 22:16-18). God intended that Abraham’s seed, the people of Israel, would become God’s treasured possession to whom God would entrust His law and upon whom He would bestow His blessings (Ex. 19:5; Deut. 4:58; 28:1-4). They would be a “kingdom of priests,” whose work was to disseminate the knowledge of God to the nations (Ex. 19:6; Mal. 2:7). Thus, God protected Israel both as a remnant from the nations and the instrument through whom He wanted to call the nations back to Him (Gen. 45:7; Amos 5:15).

But sadly, Israel failed to glorify God and profaned His name among the nations (Eze. 36:20-23; 39:7).

FLAWED REMNANTS AND FUTURE CLEANSING

Throughout history God has worked through those who have remained loyal to Him in the midst

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

11

God provided in Jesus the solution that both the remnant and the nations needed. of widespread apostasy. But these remnants have always consisted of flawed individuals and groups of people that needed God’s saving grace just as much as those people God wanted to save through them.

Noah and his children, Abraham and his descendants, Judah and those taken to Babylon, all committed grave mistakes. The paradox of the flawed instrument is probably best expressed in God’s description of His people as His vine or vineyard. God brought a “choice vine” “from Egypt” and planted it “on a very fertile hill” so that it would send out its branches to the nations, but Israel became a “wild vine” that produced “wild grapes.”7 The problem of Israel was deep-seated. The reason for its recurrent failure was that they had become a “wild vine.” More than changing their actions, the remnant needed a change of nature. This has been true for all remnants throughout history. The prophets predicted, however, that God would cleanse the remnant of His people as silver is refined (Zech. 13:8, 9). Pride, deceit, jealousy, stumbling, and evildoers would be removed from them and God would put His law and His Spirit in their hearts.8 This cleansed remnant would include people from many nations (Zech. 8:20-23; 14:16) and would attract the world back to God (Isa. 2:2-4; 60:1-3).

JESUS AND THE 144,000

God had revealed, however, the solution to the conundrum of the frail remnant from the very beginning. The “seed” of the woman was both a group of people and one person. God predicted that there would be “enmity” between the serpent and the “seed” of the woman throughout history, but that it would be “One,” a “He,” who would smash the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15).9 Paul also explained that the “seed” of Abraham was One, Christ (Gal. 3:16).10 Jesus Himself affirmed this when He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). Jesus was perfectly faithful,11 revealed the Father explaining

12

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

the true meaning and depth of the law of God,12 and attracted all humanity back to God.13 Thus God provided in Jesus the solution that both the remnant and the nations needed.

Those who pledge loyalty to God join Christ.

They are “branches” ripped from the wild vines that are grafted into the “true vine.” As they open their being to the trunk and drink from its sap, they partake of the life of the trunk and of its nature (2 Peter 1:4). This is the miracle of a new birth for the branches, who are to grow toward all the nations so that its fruit may bring glory to the divine “vinedresser” (Matt. 28:18-20; John 15:8).

The work of Christ will reach a climactic fulfillment in the last generation of believers on this earth.

The predictions in Scripture of a future cleansed remnant will be fulfilled in them.14 They are the ones from among the churches who will “overcome” (Rev. 2; 3). Revelation refers to them as the 144,000 who have been sealed, who remain faithful, from among God’s nominal people.15 They have been purified in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:4-14). In the darkest moment of history, in the face of dragon and beast threats (Rev. 13), they will remain pure, because they “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:1-5).

They keep witnessing to the truth by keeping “the commandments of God,” holding “to the testimony of Jesus,” and calling “those who dwell on earth” back to God (Rev. 14:6-12, 12:17). They will succeed because the trunk into which they have been firmly grafted will never fail.

Charles Siebert, “Food Ark,” National Geographic 220, no. 1 (July 2011): 108-131.

In Al Gore, “The Edge,” The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change (Kindle ed. (New York: Random House, 2013), chap. 6.3 The Hebrew world translated “offspring” also means “seed” (zera‘).

4 See the analysis by Jacques Doukhan, “The Seed,” On the Way to Emmaus: Five Major Messianic Prophecies Explained (Clarksville, Md: Lederer, 2012), chap. 1.

5 On the idea of a remnant that preserves humanity in the face of extinction, see Angel M. Rodríguez, ed., Toward a Theology of the Remnant: An Adventist Theological Perspective (Silver Spring, Md: Biblical Research Institute, 2009), p. 24.

6 Elijah and 7,000 faithful persons (1 Kings 19:14, 18); Judah (2 Kings 17:18); people taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:11); those who would return from exile (Jer. 31:7-9, 31-34); see Rodríguez, pp. 25-33.

7 This is a composite picture taken from Psalm 80:8-18; Isaiah 50:1-7; Jereremiah 2:21; 5:10; 6:9; Ezekiel 15:1-5; 17:1-21; 19:10-14; Hosea 10:1, 2; Joel 1:7.

8 Isaiah 11:10-13; Jeremiah 31:7-9, 31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-32; Zephaniah 3:11-13; Malachi 3:16–4:3; Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43; 25:1-4, 31-33.

9 See Doukhan.

10 See also Rodríguez, pp. 201-203.

11 Hebrews 4:15; 7:26-28.

12 John 1:14-18; Matthew 5:17-48.

13 John 12:32; 17:4, 6.

14 See note 8 above.

15 Rodríguez, pp. 91-94.

1 2

Felix H. Cortez, Ph.D., is an associate professor of New Testament literature at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

Millennial Voices

“And You Will Finally Know Me”

H

ow do you see God, really?”

The question echoed in my heart, inspired by the opening statement of a book: “Imagine God is thinking about you. What do you assume God feels when you come to mind?”1 I squirmed as the author expanded on how our answer to that question reveals much about the nature of our spiritual journey and our knowledge of God. I had to admit that when I thought about God, I often pictured Him as disappointed in me. Distant. Uninterested. There was a gap between what I read about God and my real knowledge of Him. I had not fully understood that God wants to be known. I had talked about a “personal relationship” with God, but there was a disconnect between my head and my heart. This was something God kept raising, particularly as I went through a difficult period in my life. A relationship had just ended, I didn’t know what I was doing with my career, and my life generally felt like a mess. God began to speak to me, in many ways, of hope and restoration, but also of something deeper that He wanted to do during this time.

As I lay sobbing on my bedroom floor one evening, God drew my attention to a passage in Hosea. In it God tells Israel that He can transform their valley of trouble into a gateway of hope. “ ‘When that day comes,’ says the Lord, ‘you will call me “my husband” instead of “my master.” . . . I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord,” (Hosea 2:14-20, NLT).2 I heard the longing of God’s heart in those words. Through the metaphorical language of marriage, He offers His people the deepest, most committed intimacy possible.

After that night the concept of knowing God kept appearing everywhere.

God whispered to me through sermons, media, strangers. My church ran a series with Tim Jennings, a psychiatrist and author, on how our view of God shapes our brains and how that impacts our lives. At work I interviewed a gospel artist who described God and His involvement in her life as if she were talking about a flesh-and-blood friend.

In each situation God was calling to me. “It is possible to know Me deeply. I want this for you.”

To know God seems a simple idea, but I believe it lies at the heart of what being part of the remnant means.

Ellen White wrote that God’s purpose for the church is essentially to know God as He truly is and to freely share what that means with the world.3 We are to be representatives of God, which means that we must know God, not merely intellectual truths.

David experienced the pull of God’s desire for relationship as he records in one of my new favorite verses: “My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with Me.’ And my heart responds, “ ‘Lord, I am coming’ ” (Ps. 27:8, NLT).

God longs for us to know Him. How will we respond to His call?

David G. Benner, Surrender to Love (Downers Grove, Ill.: IinterVarsity Press, 2015), p. 19.

2 Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright (c) 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

3 See particularly the first chapter entitled “God’s Purpose for His Church,” in Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), pp. 9-16.

1

Lynette Allcock, a graduate of Southern Adventist University, lives in Watford, United Kingdom, where she produces and presents for Adventist Radio London.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

13

Focus

Faithful to His Word Scripture has always been a focal point of God’s remnant people

T

hroughout the ages God has always had a remnant who remained faithful to Him and His Word, regardless of the circumstances. For instance, in the degraded antediluvian world, Noah and his family trusted and obeyed God’s word, which seemed illogical and unfulfillable (Gen. 6-9:29; Heb. 11:7). When King Ahab and his pagan wife, Jezebel, led Israel into profound idolatry, Elijah, Elisha, and another 7,000 remained on God’s side and did not worship Baal (1 Kings 16-19). In the court of Babylon Daniel and his three friends remained loyal to God under the most severe sociopolitical pressures (Dan. 1; 3; 6). Hebrews 11 provides several other inspiring examples of loyalty.

Christ Himself was “obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8; cf.

Matt. 26:39, 42, 44). Many of His early disciples and later followers chose to die rather than to betray their Master and His teachings.

During the Middle Ages Roman Catholic higher clergy removed the Bible from the lay members and accommodated its teachings to their own extrabiblical traditions.

But such fearless pre-Reformers as John Wycliffe, John Hus, Jerome of Prague, and the Waldensians tried to restore the sole headship of Christ and the exclusive authority of the Scriptures. They helped to pave the way for the Protestant renewed emphasis on the authority of the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

The Reformation of the sixteenth century was first and foremost a hermeneutical reformation that shook the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and allowed the Bible once again the right to speak Photo: Nguyen Nguyen

The Reformation of the sixteenth century was first and foremost a hermeneutical reformation.

directly to every believer. The Bible was restored to its central place through the principles of sola scriptura (the exclusiveness of Scripture) and tota scriptura (the totality of Scripture). Beyond salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-10), however, the Magisterial Reformers (including Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin) did not go far enough toward restoring other major Bible doctrines that had become obscured in the post-Apostolic Era. Even so, the Reformers laid the foundation to rediscover key hermeneutical principles that in time would lead toward more thorough doctrinal restorations.1 Much more than just an event in time, the Reformation should be viewed as an enduring process of always breaking away from

error and moving ever closer to the teachings of Scripture, as well expressed by the motto “The Reformed Church, Always Being Reformed According to the Word of God.”2 Regrettably, however, the notion of an ongoing reformation was largely lost under the post-Reformation tendency of binding the understanding of Scripture to the authority of ecclesiastical creeds.

But new restoration movements emerged, reemphasizing the authority of the Bible and unfolding some of its crucial teachings. Many of them subscribed to the sola scriptura principle, but no other contemporary movement has taken the tota scriptura principle as serious as Seventh-day Adventists did.

THE ADVENTIST REFORMATION

We usually speak of early Adventism as a prophetic movement that eventually organized itself into a church. From an ecclesiological perspective, this is indeed the case. But from a hermeneutical viewpoint, we can see Adventism as a major nineteenth-century reformation, which used the Protestant hermeneutical principles and applied them more consistently and more extensively to the Scriptures. Hence, several important biblical teachings were rediscovered and integrated into a solid platform of truth.3 According to Ellen White: “Of all the great religious movements since the days of the apostles, none have been more free from human imperfection and the wiles of Satan than was that of the autumn of 1844.”4 In 1894 Ellen White stated, “The truth for this time is broad in its outlines, far reaching, embracing many doctrines; but these doctrines are not detached items, which mean little; they are united by golden threads, forming a complete whole,

with Christ as the living center. The truths we present from the Bible are as firm and immovable as the throne of God.”5 This conviction, however, should never be used as an excuse to stop our ongoing search for biblical truth. She also wrote, “There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without error.”6 Thus, since the beginning of human history, God’s remnant has always been characterized by unconditional faithfulness to God and to “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

No wonder that in the last days (Rev. 12:17; 14:12), God will have also “a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms.”7 Realizing that the search for truth is an endless process, we can affirm that a true member of God’s people is someone who lives according to the light already understood from God’s Word and who continuously seeks for new glimpses of light.

Alberto R. Timm, “Historical Background of Adventist Biblical Interpretation,” in George W. Reid, ed., Understanding Scripture: An Adventist Approach (Silver Spring, Md: Biblical Research Institute, 2005), pp. 3, 4.

2 Edward A. Dowey, “Always to Be Reformed,” in John C. Purdy, ed., Always Being Reformed: The Future of Church Education (Philadelphia, PA: Geneva Press, 1985), pp. 9, 10. See also Michael Bush, “Calvin and the Reformanda Sayings,” in Herman J. Selderhuis, ed., Calvinus sacrarum literarum interpres: Papers of the International Congress on Calvin Research (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008), pp. 285-299.

3 See Alberto R. Timm, The Sanctuary and the Three Angels’ Messages: Integrating Factors in the Development of Seventh-day Adventist Doctrines (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Adventist Theological Society Publications, 1995).

4 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publ. Assn., 1911), p. 401.

5 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publ. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 2, p. 87.

6 Ellen G. White, Counsels to Writers and Editors (Nashville, Tenn.: Southern Publ. Assn., 1946), p. 35; see also pp. 28-54.

7 E. G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 595.

1

Alberto R. Timm, originally from Brazil, serves as an associate director of the Ellen G. White Estate.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

15

Focus

Jonah’s Fishing Campaign Mission and God’s remnant people

16

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

T

he story of Jonah and the big fish that swallowed him, then spat him out on a beach three days later is a favorite among children and adults alike. The story illustrates God’s power and His ability to care for His creatures, but it also has a lot to teach about God’s mission for lost humanity. This article will follow the narrative in search of insights regarding God’s mission and His remnant.

Jonah was a true prophet of Israel, descendants of Abraham, who had been chosen as a special people for God’s mission to all nations (Gen. 12:1-3). As God’s missionaries, Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:6). Israel was to function as a spiritual magnet, drawing the nations to observe, learn, and participate in the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Israel’s location at the transportation hub between Africa, Asia, and Europe made that possible. Occasionally missionaries such as Jonah went out from Israel to the nations.

The word “remnant” does not appear in Jonah. However the remnant concept is implicit throughout the Old Testament, and it is implied in this book. A remnant is a group chosen by God’s grace to fulfill God’s mission as He directs.1 Thus, Jonah was a remnant missionary sent by God to Nineveh.

The story of Jonah is one chapter in the larger narrative of the triune God’s mission for humanity. God the Father initiated this mission for lost humanity after the Fall (Gen. 3:15). God the Son embodied God’s mission in Himself and accomplished the atonement to make redemption possible (Rom. 3:25). God the Holy Spirit empowers and supervises mission (Acts 2:1-4). God will bring His mission to glorious completion in His own time (Acts 1:7). God’s remnant people of all ages are His human mission agents, and Jonah was one of those agents.

Photo: Christopher Michel

FOLLOWING GOD’S MOVEMENTS IN JONAH

As the story begins, God commissions Jonah to proclaim judgment against Nineveh, the modern city of Mosul in Iraq (Jonah 1:2). However strong his commitment to God may have been, Jonah does not want to go.

The trip from Israel to Nineveh will be long and arduous, and the thought of confronting the pagan city alone is no doubt terrifying. Nineveh is one of the capitals of Assyria, the sworn enemy of Israel. Most significantly, Jonah knows that God is merciful, compassionate, and forgiving, and he does not think the pagan Ninevites should benefit from God’s forgiveness (Jonah 4:1-3).

In the second movement of the story, Jonah flees toward Tarshish in a ship; God blocks his flight by a storm, saves his life through a big fish, and puts him back on track (Jonah 1:4-3:10). Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish is a spiritual masterpiece.

In the third movement, God calls Jonah a second time, and this time the prophet obeys (Jonah 3:1-3). Somehow Jonah makes the long trek from somewhere on the Mediterranean to Nineveh. Once in Nineveh, he proclaims God’s impending judgment, the people believe God and call upon Him, and God withholds destruction (verses 4-10).

The fourth movement should have found Jonah praising God. Instead, Jonah is displeased that God has shown grace and compassion to Nineveh, and he asks God to take his life (Jonah 4:1-3). Jonah says in effect, “You see, God. I knew even before I left home that You would forgive Nineveh because You are so gracious.

That’s why I fled to Tarshish.”

The next scene shows Jonah seated at a vantage point outside the city waiting to see what will happen to the city (verses 5-11). Possibly he waits because he understands that a single repentance will not produce lasting change within a very sinful culture. Perhaps he believes the city still deserves destruction. As he waits and watches, his merciful God provides a plant to shade him from the scorching sun. But then God sends a worm to kill the plant. Once again, Jonah becomes angry and wishes to die.

In the final scene God confronts Jonah. “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (verses 10, 11).2 God was the Creator of Jonah, the plant that shaded Jonah, the ignorant, misguided people, and the animals of Nineveh. God’s wrath against Nineveh, which

The story of Jonah is one chapter in the larger narrative of the triune God’s mission for humanity.

Jonah shared, was justified, but it was in God’s character to be gracious and compassionate, as He willed. Neither Jonah nor the nation of Israel had an exclusive claim on God’s grace, and showing grace to Nineveh would not diminish Israel.

REMNANT LESSONS

God’s missionary remnant, saturated in knowledge about God and driven to fulfill God’s mission, must never forget that mission is about God’s grace. Neither Jonah nor the most devout Israelites of his day deserved God’s favor and salvation any more than the Ninevites. If everyone got exactly what they deserved, everyone would be consumed by God’s holy wrath against sin. God’s remnant, with its careful attention to belief, behavior, and lifestyle, should never forget that “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).

The remnant can sometimes feel exclusive and self-centered. Jonah demonstrated an inward-focused exclusivism on behalf of his own people, Israel. Jesus addressed the same exclusivism by telling the Pharisees not to boast that “we have Abraham for our father” (Matt. 3:9). Israel had a message for all nations but thought they should be the exclusive recipients of God’s compassion and mercy.

The remnant needs to remember that God’s mission belongs to God. God’s mission was much bigger than Jonah, and it is always bigger than the church. Jonah did not surrender himself fully to God’s mission, even after he had preached judgment successfully in Nineveh.

The book ends with Jonah’s relationship with God and God’s mission unclear. We can hope, for Jonah’s sake and the sake of his mission, that his heart was changed and that he eventually said to God, Yes, Lord.

You have a right to be merciful and compassionate to whomever You will. I am Your humble servant. Send me wherever You wish and use me however You wish.

Tarsee Li, “The Remnant in the Old Testament,” in Toward a Theology of the Remnant, ed. Ángel Manuel Rodríguez (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 2009), pp. 25-32.

2 Scripture quotations in this article have been taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

1

Gorden R. Doss, Ph.D., is professor of world mission at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University and lives in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

17

Focus

Living With an Imperfect Remnant I

t was one of those amazing photographs in which the photographer had just caught everything at the right millisecond. When I said as much, the photographer laughingly explained, “It was taken on a cloudy, miserable day; I just tinkered around with Photoshop until I got the color balance right. Surely you are not so naive as to believe that any image you see is the original.

Reality is irrelevant; it’s all about presenting the perfect image.”

In a world obsessed with presenting a “perfect” life, through “perfect” pictures, we are challenged when we are confronted with a less-than-perfect reality, in our homes, at work or school, and in the church.

Ask any group of members, old or young, for their views about the church and sooner or later the criticisms creep out. “It’s time for an upgrade. It’s time for the church to come into the twenty-first century.

Our structures are so outdated.

Why can’t the church be more . . . ?”

The list is long. If only everyone saw the world from our perspective then we would have the perfect church. Or would we?

18

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

THE FIVE POINTS

The church is a home for sinners who, by definition, are broken people living in an imperfect world.

These are not the easiest of people to live with, and sooner or later tensions emerge. This is not a new problem. Jesus experienced the same problem with His disciples.

After three years with Jesus, the disciples were still bickering over who was the greatest, and who should have the best position in the kingdom. We should not be surprised when 2,000 years later we still face tensions and challenges living as part of God’s remnant people. These five points may be the key to doing more than just surviving: preference, perspective, prejudice, practice, and principle.

PREFERENCE

Some things are a matter of preference. There is no right or wrong, just preference. For example, we should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. I like some fruits and vegetables more than others: it’s my preference. The same applies in the church. I may prefer a red

carpet, my brother a blue. Neither is right or wrong or better than the other. It is a matter of preference, yet churches have been divided over the color of a carpet or other furnishings. Before starting a new program, it is always worth asking: is this a biblical truth or a preference? If we are honest, after a few weeks we do not even notice the blue carpet that we disliked so much.

PERSPECTIVE OR PREJUDICE

Coventry Cathedral in England was bombed during World War II. Following the war, a chapel of unity was built in the shape of a tent.

The “folds” of the tent form alcoves around the walls. It is possible to see all the alcoves only by standing in the center of the chapel and slowly turning around. From any other position, something always obscures your view.

We all have blind spots or prejudices; opinions or feelings that are not based on fact, logic, or experience. Things that obscure our view, making it difficult for us to see and understand things from another’s viewpoint. Letting go of our prejudices and perspectives opens untold Photo: Ivan Vranic

There are no shortcuts to heaven, no multiple entry points, yet our journeys can be very different. possibilities. Jesus demonstrated this at Jacob’s well, where He talked with a disreputable woman. Breaking down her prejudice, changing her perspective about herself, resulted in a whole village learning about Jesus, and the seeds were planted for the disciples to develop a better understanding of mission.

PRACTICE

As children grow up there comes a point when they ask “Why?” Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why do I have to go to school? Why this?

Why that? A thousand Whys? It is a normal, natural part of growing up. Each new generation asks the same questions in the church. They challenge the older generation.

This can lead to conflict. We should encourage examination of how we do things and not be stubborn and hold onto a preference. We should ask and discuss: Is this practice, or way of doing things, just my preference, the way we have always done things, or is it a principle?

PRINCIPLES

Some things are nonnegotiable.

They are core to our identity.

Salvation by faith. The Sabbath.

The sanctuary. The Second Coming.

God’s holy law. These are eternal truths that identify the remnant, yet sometimes we wrap our expression of them in our own preferences and practices, which makes it difficult for others to understand.

Jesus told His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He is still the way, the truth, and the life. There are no shortcuts to heaven, no multiple entry points, yet our journeys can be very different.

As we drove from the airport, it was chaos to my Western eyes, but to my driver it was normal. Cars, donkeys, bicycles, camels, trucks, and pedestrians all shared the road.

All were going in the same direction, but our experiences were very different. Sitting in an air-conditioned car, we were protected from the heat and dust. The relative comfort of riding a donkey or camel was preferable to walking. Cyclists were able to move quickly weaving between the traffic, and the pedestrians somehow negotiated a way through it all.

We are all on the same journey.

Where we live, our life experiences and opportunities color how we view the world. Some travel in air-conditioned cars, while others walk with heavy loads in the heat and dust. Along the road we need to ask ourselves what is preference, perspective, prejudice, practice, and principle. If it is any of the first four, perhaps we need to accept that we may have an imperfect view. What really matters is Jesus.

With Him in the center of our lives and in our church, we can see more and become more accepting of one another. All of us are flawed. As the wise man said: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7, ESV).* *Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audrey Andersson, originally from Ireland, serves as executive secretary of the Trans-European Division and lives in St. Albans, United Kingdom.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

19

Global View

Truth for Today Relics of the past?

A

storm was brewing in Buffalo, New York. Located on the northeast side of Lake Erie, the city had never felt such a strong, driving wind as during those early October days of 1844.1 But in spite of the inclement weather, crowds came to hear Charles Fitch explain why Jesus was coming very soon.

With the aid of a prophetic chart he had designed a few years earlier, Fitch guided listeners through the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, showing them, one beast at a time, how prophecy had been accurately fulfilled.

Fitch, a well-educated preacher, had worked with famed evangelist Charles G. Finney. He had also pastored several churches in New England, including the well-to-do Marlboro Street Congregational Church in Boston.

Known as an abolitionist, Fitch wrote a pamphlet in 1837 titled Slaveholding Weighed in the Balance of Truth, and Its Comparative Guilt Illustrated. Attempting to describe the horrors of slavery, Fitch confessed, “The evil has a magnitude which my powers cannot describe; and the guilt a blackness which can never be painted, except by a pencil dipped in the midnight of the bottomless pit.”2 AN OVERWHELMING INTEREST

While Fitch was in Boston, someone gave him a copy of William Miller’s lectures entitled Evidence From Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ.3 Fitch eagerly studied the lectures, stating in a letter to Miller his “overwhelming interest, such as I never felt in any other book except the Bible.”4 At his church Fitch preached on the Second Coming, creating deep interest among his parishioners. Three days later he presented the topic to colleagues at the ministerial association in Boston. Expecting a warm reception, Fitch brought 12 copies of Miller’s Evidence for distribution.

Unfortunately, his associates’ reaction was so negative and accompanied with “such searing ridicule and contempt that for a time [Fitch] lost confidence in [the Advent message], and lapsed into his former views. . . .”5 VIEWS OF SANCTIFICATION

Although Fitch bowed to peer pressure, he continued diligently studying his Bible. In 1839, while pastoring the Free Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey, Fitch wrote Views of Sanctification6—providing his statement of faith and stressing sanctification by divine grace through Scripture.

Fitch’s book led some to label him a “perfectionist.” A committee was appointed to “counsel” Fitch on his views, resulting in a Resolution of Censure, declaring his views to be a “dangerous error” and requiring him to stop preaching on this topic.

Refuting the charges, Fitch wrote: “Can I tell the people of God that they have no Saviour from sin during their whole lives; that live as long as they may, and labor as hard as they may to find out the path of life, and pray as fervently as they may, and trust Images: Center for Adventist Research

in their Saviour for the fulfillment of the promises as fully as they may, they are doomed hopelessly to sin more or less against the Redeemer they love, even to their dying hour; that all their cries and struggles for help are vain, and that they must be, to some extent rebels against the heart of infinite love, until the grim monster death appears for their deliverance?”7 Fitch was firm. No longer was he afraid of ridicule or censure.

Believing he was called to preach the “blessed doctrine of sanctification by faith in Christ,”8 Fitch soon withdrew from the Newark Presbytery.

THE ADVENT HOPE AND SANCTIFICATION

In 1841 Josiah Litch, a physician and Millerite preacher, urged Fitch to reconsider the Advent truth, stating: “What you need is the doctrine of the second advent to put with the doctrine of holiness.”9 After further study and prayer Fitch fully embraced the message of Christ’s soon return. He became one of the most respected and beloved Millerite preachers, known for his compassion for people, his earnestness for their salvation, and his depth in Bible study.

By 1843 Fitch realized from his study of Revelation 14 and 18 that the Babylon referred to as “fallen” included not just the Roman Catholic Church but apostate Protestant churches as well. He preached a powerful sermon, “Come Out of Her, My People,”10 and soon published it. Thousands responded, leaving the churches of their childhood and joining the Biblebased people who were looking for Christ’s soon return.

BAPTISM IN LAKE ERIE

As Charles Fitch preached during that blustery day in Buffalo, New York, hearts were convicted that

this man taught Bible truth. New believers requested baptism and were baptized in Lake Erie.

The wind was blowing as Fitch headed home in his wet clothes following the baptism. He had not gone far, however, when he met another group desiring baptism.

Fitch returned to the lake and baptized them. Again heading home, Fitch was met by a third group that pleaded to be baptized. Although chilled by the wind and his wet clothes, Fitch went back to the lake and baptized them.11 In spite of feeling ill, Fitch rode several miles the next day to keep an appointment. Sadly, he contracted pneumonia and died on October 14, 1844, at the age of 39.12 Although he did not live long enough to be part of the “little flock” that became Seventh-day Adventists, Charles Fitch exhibited the same character qualities and spiritual fortitude, and preached much the same message, as the Adventist pioneers who continued searching the Scriptures, sharing light with others, and eventually establishing the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In fact, Charles Fitch is one of only a handful mentioned by name whom Ellen White saw would be in heaven.13 FABLE OR FACT?

Do we still believe today the Bible message that led honest souls to “come out of Babylon” and become a part of the remnant “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17)? Do we still believe the “sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV)? Are the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation still relevant today, or relics of the past?

Do we embrace the message of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary? Do we still believe that God is not only gracious enough to

Fitch was firm. No longer was he afraid of ridicule or censure. justify us, but is powerful enough to sanctify us? Are we still eagerly looking forward to and “hastening . . . the day” (2 Peter 3:12) of Christ’s second coming? Is God’s truth, as revealed in the Bible, still more important than the opinions of others?

It is my prayer that we each recognize we have not followed “cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:16), but will “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).

Maranatha! Jesus is coming soon!

“The ‘October Surprise’ of 1844”, www.buffalohistorygazette. net/2010/09/the-lake-erie-seiche-disaster-of-1844.html.

2 Charles Fitch, Slaveholding Weighed in the Balance of Truth, and Its Comparative Guilt Illustrated (Boston: Isaac Knapp, 1837), p.

3, https://ia802502.us.archive.org/28/items/ASPC0001888700/ ASPC0001888700.pdf.

3 Available at https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1321.13#13.

4 Letter from Charles Fitch to William Miller, March 5, 1838, www. earlysda.com/miller/william-miller-biography-5.html.

5 LeRoy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1954, 1982), vol. 4, p. 534, m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1583.3109.

6 Available at m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1259.7#7.

7 Charles Fitch, “Letter to the Presbytery of Newark” (1840), p. 19, m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1014.95#95.

8 Charles Fitch, “Reasons for Withdrawing From the Newark Presbytery,” 1845, p. 1, play.google.com/store/books/details/Reasons_for_withdrawing_from_the_Newark_Presbytery?id=HocxBHexWocC&hl=en.

9 In Froom, p. 536.

10 Charles Fitch, “Come Out of Her My People” (Rochester, N.Y.: J. V. Himes, 1843), m.egwwritings.org/en/book/2006.2#0.

11 See Froom, p. 545.

12 Ibid.

13 Ellen G. White, Early Writings (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1882, 1945), p. 17.

1

Ted N. C. Wilson is president of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. Additional articles and commentaries are available from the president’s office on Twitter: @ pastortedwilson and on Facebook: @Pastor Ted Wilson.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

21

What We Believe

The Church

Jesus Has His Reasons A

lmost everything the church of God stands for seems compromised from the beginning. Yet knowing all that is to come, Jesus establishes His church.

THE CHURCH’S BEGINNING

At Caesarea Philippi in the summer of A.D. 30, Jesus promises: “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against” His church (Matt.

16:18). He says this to 12 men whom He has called out of a group of “those He Himself wanted” (Mark 3:13). Out of that group He picks 12 to “be with him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to cast out demons” (verses 14, 15). It is His first step “in the organization of the church that after Christ’s departure is to be His representative on earth.”1 And it is the confession of one of those wanted, called, and appointed men, that brings forth Christ’s awe-

22

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

inspiring response that His church is unstoppable.

Responding to Jesus’ public polling question, His disciples give Him a good list: people think He might be John or Elijah or Jeremiah, prophets all; the bad list [glutton, winebibber, friend of society’s scum (Matt. 11:19; Luke 15:1)] does not come up.

Then Jesus asks what they themselves thought. Peter is ready: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). His confession is “the foundation of [every] believer’s faith.”2 THE CHURCH MISUNDERSTOOD

To the dismay of all, Peter’s spiritual insightfulness lasts only moments. Soon enough he is contradicting Jesus when the Master speaks of His coming sufferings (verse 21). Peter feels compelled to help Jesus. Discreetly.

He takes Jesus aside to rebuke Him

He knows how to build His church.

for speaking such nonsense: “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” (verse 22).

Peter speaks for Satan so directly that in responding Jesus rebukes Satan himself: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (verse 23).

Despite Peter’s earlier confession, his rebuke of Jesus reflects the same pathetic limitations that sound in the disciples’ answer to Jesus’ first question on public views about Him. Labeling someone a prophet affirms them spiritually.

And Peter wants the best for Jesus as a political champion. Nevertheless, Peter’s rebuke and his friends’ response are both pathetic failures of spiritual comprehension, even if they come from the lips of people Jesus wants, calls, and chooses to lead His church on earth.

Photo: Mike Kenneally

THE CHURCH’S END

“End” here is synonymous with “goal” and “purpose.” God’s church may be composed of humans, but its purpose and destiny are not humanly circumscribed. Amazingly enough, though, when God crashes hell’s gates to rescue His children from Satan, He uses many flawed humans who seem to be such an embarrassment to His purposes.

Thankfully, for the sake of all from Peter’s day to now, Jesus Himself has clarified what He is up to, or not, in building His church.

Separation: He is building distinctiveness, but without conceit or exploitative discrimination. The Greek word for “church” requires “separation”: the crazy crowd in an Ephesian theater shouting for two hours, not knowing “why they had come together” (Acts 19:32), is identified with the same word, ekklesia, that labels the body of Christ, recipient of all His spiritual

gifts (1 Cor. 12:28). Whether from their homes, from city streets, or from unity in thought and action with the rest of society, both these groups have come out.

Consistently, over against other metaphors such as salt that must mix, God’s church hears the metaphor of the loud angel voice insisting “come out” (Rev. 18:1-4), out of darkness into the marvelous light of saving truth (1 Peter 2:9; John 8:32; 14:6). Over against a mother’s ambition for her sons (Matt. 20:20, 21), over against their friend’s temporal focus, there is the focus on holiness, on piety, the goal set by Him who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26); because, contrary to our logic, there can be no continuity between His moral illumination and the darkness that facilitates evil, no intimacies of fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness (2 Cor. 6:14, 15). Instead Christ’s church is utterly distinct from the world around it: “chosen,” “royal,” “holy,” “special” (1 Peter 2:9; cf. Ex. 19:6).

Salvation: He is building for salvation, not for political fame: His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Grace that offers everyone salvation (Titus 2:11) will soon give way to overwhelming glory (Rev. 1:7). Meanwhile, the church is God’s agency, broadcasting the good news of His current and coming kingdoms (Matt. 28:18-20). Over against the sad account of His wanted, called, and chosen cowardly abandoning Him in Gethsemane, there is the miracle of millions from all points coming to “sit down [together] in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:29). Over against the shameful scattering of Crucifixion’s eve, Jesus sees down through the ages the growing gathering of family (Eph. 1:5), people who will now belong to Him and to each other forever.

Eternity: He is building for eternity: His kingdom “shall not be

Jesus Himself has clarified what He is up to, or not, in building His church. left to other people; it shall . . . stand forever” (Dan. 2:44). Construction began with calling 12 apostles (Luke 6:13). It advances by the Spirit’s leading (Rom. 8:14). Its progress confounds every strategy designed by the elders assembled at the gates of hell taking counsel together wherever it be that their leader the devil lays territorial claims. One stronger than he is ever violating his claims and counsel as “he comes upon him and overcomes him,” constantly setting sin’s captives free (Luke 11:22; John 8: 36).

Reliability: Jesus’ testimony to the 12 is that He is building His church on the immovable rock of His unchanging self. Over against abandonment and denial by one of His own, He has established His church on His own integrity. As Paul testifies, nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus (see Rom. 8:35-39). Nothing intimidates Him. Our unchanging Lord will always be by our side to care for us (Mal. 3:6).

Nothing will prevail against Christ’s church, because though composed of enfeebled and defective human beings, it is more than a human institution. Its credibility, durability, and universality are His own, divine. We may be sure that it will stand forever.

Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 291.

2 Ibid., p. 412.

1

Lael Caesar, associate editor at Adventist World, feels secure in the fact that God’s church is divine.

Read more about What We Believe at www.adventist.org/en/beliefs/ AdventistWorld.org October 2018

23

Discovering the Spirit of Prophecy

The Testimony of Jesus And its significance for today

R

evelation 12:1-6; 13-17 provides a brief outline of church history from the time of Jesus (verse 5) to the time of the end (verse 17), when the dragon, Satan (verse 9), makes “war with the rest of [the church’s] offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (verse 17).

The “rest of her offspring” are the faithful members of God’s church in the time of the end. The dragon that attempted to destroy the woman (the true church of God) throughout the 1,260-year period (verse 6), now directs his anger against the remnant of her faithful believers.

This remnant is identified by two specific characteristics: They “keep the commandments of God” and they have “the testimony of Jesus.”

Whatever commandments we may think to include in the first mark, we must certainly include 24

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

the Ten Commandments. Thus the first identifying sign of the remnant church is its loyalty to God’s commandments—all His commandments, including the fourth, the Sabbath commandment. In Revelation 12:17 God essentially says, “At the end of time I will have a visible church—the remnant church—which will be recognized by the fact that they keep the commandments as I gave them in the beginning, including the Sabbath commandment.”

The second identifying mark is explained in a vision in which John falls at the feet of the angel to worship him. But the angel says: “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10).

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

What is “the Spirit of prophecy”?

This phrase occurs only once in the Bible, only in this text. The closest parallel is found in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. There Paul refers to the Holy Spirit, who, among other gifts, gives the gift of prophecy. The person who receives this gift is called a prophet (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). In Revelation, just as in 1 Corinthians 12:28, those who have the gift of prophecy are called prophets, so in Revelation 22:8, 9, those who have the Spirit of prophecy in Revelation 19:10 are also called prophets.

The situation in both passages is the same. John falls at the feet of the angel to worship him. The words of the angel’s response are almost identical, yet the difference is significant.

In Revelation 19:10 believers are identified by the phrase those “who hold to [or have] the testimony of Jesus.” In Revelation 22:9 the Photo: Anja Osenberg

Rev. 19:10

Rev. 22:8, 9

And I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that!

I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

I fell down to worship him at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; But he said to me, “You must not do that!

I am thy fellow servant with you and your brethren the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

believers are simply called “prophets.” Applying the Protestant principle of interpreting scripture with scripture leads to the conclusion that “the Spirit of prophecy” in Revelation 19:10 is not the possession of all church members in general, but only of those who have been called by God to be prophets.

That this is not purely an Adventist interpretation can be seen from the writings of other scholars. Lutheran scholar Hermann Strathmann, for example, says concerning Revelation 19:10: “According to the parallel 22:9 the brothers referred to are not believers in general, but the prophets.

Here, too, they are characterized as such. This is the point of verse 10c. If they have the marturia Iesou [the testimony of Jesus], they have the spirit of prophecy, i.e., they are prophets, like the angel, who simply stands in the service of marturia Iesou.”1 THE WITNESS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Jewish readers in John’s day knew what was meant by the expression “spirit of prophecy,” because they were familiar with this phrase from the Targums (translations of the Hebrew Old Testament into Aramaic), where it appeared frequently. For example, where the Hebrew text in Genesis 41:38 says, “Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can

we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?’” the Aramaic Targum reads, “Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of prophecy from the Lord?’”

Jews understood the expression “spirit of prophecy” as a reference to the Holy Spirit, who imparts the prophetic gift. New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce comes to the same conclusion: “The expression ‘the Spirit of prophecy’ is current in postbiblical Judaism: it is used, for example, in a Targumic circumlocution for the Spirit of Yahweh which comes upon this or that prophet.

Thus the Targum of Jonathan renders the opening words of Isaiah 61:1 as ‘The Spirit of prophecy from before the Lord God is upon me.’ . . .

In Revelation 19:10, however, it is through Christian prophets that the Spirit of prophecy bears witness.

What the prophets of pre-Christian days foretold is proclaimed as an accomplished fact by the prophets of the new age, among whom John occupies a leading place.”2 So we can say that the visible remnant church, which according to prophecy exists after the 1,260-day period (after 1798), has two specific identifying marks: (1) It keeps the commandments of God, including the Sabbath command as God gave it; and (2) it has the testimony of Jesus, the Spirit of prophecy or prophetic gift, in its midst.

THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

From its very inception in 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has always claimed these identifying signs for itself. We Adventists proclaim the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath; and we believe that as a church we have the testimony of Jesus, that God manifested Himself in the life and work of Ellen G. White. Thus the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a church prophetically foreseen, not just one church among many.

We Seventh-day Adventists are members of God’s remnant church.

But this identification with the remnant church does not afford us exclusive status with God. Salvation is not guaranteed through church membership in any church; people are saved as individuals, not as a church. Nevertheless, it is a privilege to belong to the church God has called into existence for the purpose of proclaiming the three angels’ messages to a dying world.

Hermann Strathmann, “Martyrs,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, trans. G. W. Bromiley, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964-1974), vol. 4, p. 501.

2 F. F. Bruce, The Time Is Fulfilled (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), pp. 105, 106.

1

Gerhard Pfandl, Ph.D., now retired, served as an associate director of the Biblical Research Institute of the General Conference.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

25

Bible Questions Answered

The Love Chapter’s Big Three Q

What is the relationship between faith, hope, and love in 1 Corinthians 13:13?

A

Paul wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13, NIV). This triad of Christian virtues is mentioned often in the New Testament demonstrating its importance for the Christian life (e.g., 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:8; Gal. 5:5, 6; Heb. 6:10-12; 1 Peter 1:21, 22). In the middle of the triad found in our passage is hope, as if holding the other two together, or at least forming a bridge between faith and love. Hope orients Christians toward the future, faith provides content to hope, and love energizes both to service. I will comment on the relationship between each, and the possible function of the triad itself.

1. FAITH AND HOPE

Hope directs faith to the future and challenges it to persevere in the midst of great adversities by reminding faith that there is more to come than what we now see and experience. The present is not the final expression of cosmic reality. Something new and wonderful is coming; as such, hope imbues faith with expectation.

Hence hope is always willing to wait, trust, and endure, providing to faith stability; hope is like an anchor (Heb. 6:19, 20). Since hope consists in trusting fully in God’s promises, acknowledging His trustworthiness, faith as trust and dependence on God is inseparable from hope. Faith informs hope that Jesus is not only the One who will come, but also the One who has already come, bringing reconciliation to us, and in the process providing hope a solid and reliable foundation for the time of waiting. Faith and hope together remind believers that they are pilgrims heading to the heavenly city (Heb. 11).

26

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

2. HOPE AND LOVE

Hope is dynamic, and as such does not allow love to become pure sentimentality, so obsessed with its immediate object—the present needs of human beings—as to forget the consummation of salvation. But love challenges hope to act in the present. It takes the future last-day existence characterized by freedom from selfishness and suffering and makes its presence felt in the here and now in selfless care for others (cf., Heb. 6:10, 11). In other words, love makes hope relevant in the now of human existence. The model for this type of life is Jesus Himself (Matt. 4:23). Elements of the last-day expectation (e.g., freedom from sickness and evil powers) were made present in Jesus’ ministry to illustrate the quality of life in the future kingdom of God. 3. FAITH, HOPE, LOVE

These three theological virtues are not natural to humans. They are the result of God’s presence in our lives through the power of the Spirit. The greatest of these three virtues is love, because faith and hope without love could become, during the time of waiting, oppressive forces in the hands of corrupt human beings. In this triad love assures us that faith and hope find their source in God, who is love by nature. We could even suggest that faith, hope, and love together constitute the basic profile of believers. In other words, those who are united to God through Christ have at the center of their religious experience faith in the work of Christ on their behalf, hope that announces the soon consummation of such a great salvation, and love that breaks their enslavement to selfishness and motivates them to the service of God and others.

Angel Manuel Rodríguez is retired after a career serving as a pastor, professor, and theologian.

Health & Wellness

Saved by Health?

Clarity on the role of the health message In a recent church member survey this “agree/disagree” statement bothered me: “Following the health message ensures my salvation.” Does it?

N

o. Our salvation comes through accepting Jesus, His righteousness, and His death on the cross in our place: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9, NIV). Thankfully, this includes all forms of deeds and actions—including healthful habits and behaviors. Our salvation is not earned through exercise, rest, or even diet. Salvation is a gift!

A significant number of respondents to the world church survey you cite reported they thought that following the health message ensured their salvation. It is vitally important that we have clarity on this question.

As a church and as individuals we have been blessed with a wonderful, wholistic, preventive, preserving, and at times even healing, grace-filled health message. After the Otsego, Michigan, United States, vision in June 1863, Ellen White stated that we were given the health message because our work was not yet done. In short, we are saved to serve, not healthy in order to be saved! Let’s allow Ellen White’s writings to elucidate the purpose for healthful living by asking the what, why, and how of it all.

The health message is wholistic and addresses all aspects of our being—physical, mental, spiritual, social, and emotional.

“In teaching health principles, keep before the mind the great object of reform—that its purpose is to secure the highest development of body and mind and soul. Show that the laws of nature, being the laws Photo: Emma Simpson

of God, are designed for our good; that obedience to them promotes happiness in this life, and aids in the preparation for the life to come.”1 Through comprehensive health ministry, we may educate on health, meet people’s needs in a practical way, and demonstrate God’s love.

“As a people we have been given the work of making known the principles of health reform. There are some who think that the question of diet is not of sufficient importance to be included in their evangelistic work. But such make a great mistake. God’s word declares, ‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ 1 Corinthians 10:31, KJV. The subject of temperance, in all its bearings, has an important place in the work of salvation.”2 In our daily living, careful health choices and temperate living may enhance our communication with God and relationship with Him. “The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the electric currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind.”3 Good news! Saved by His grace, we may share wholeness and serve all.

Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1905), p. 146. (Italics supplied.)

2 Ellen G. White, Counsels on Health (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1923) p. 443.

3 Ellen G. White, Child Guidance (Nashville: Southern Pub. Assn., 1954) p. 447.

1

Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear cardiologist, is director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference.

Zeno L. Charles-Marcel, a board-certified internist, is an associate director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference.

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

27

Mom’s Prayer T “May I Tell You a Story?”

BY DICK DUERKSEN

28

he editor’s request was simple yet challenging: “Please provide us a photograph of a mountain goat who is standing on an outcrop of rock looking out into a black canyon.”

OK, I thought. No problem.

Big problem.

I had photos of mama goats, billy goats, kid goats, many goats, and individual goats sleeping on granite boulders.

No photos of individual goats looking out over a black canyon.

I asked the publisher for a few more weeks and began praying for the perfect photo to come my way. We were planning a trip through Glacier National Park in Montana, so maybe we could find a goat somewhere up on Going-to-the-Sun Road and bribe him to stand on a rock and stare into a black canyon.

Thinking it might be worth a try, we drove the awesome curly road from west to east over the top of Glacier National Park. We were driving an old Dodge van, a vehicle that was just right for Mom, Dad, and three kids under 8. It

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

was packed full of food, clothes, books, prayers, and cameras. *** Near the top, where the road is narrow and the drop-off seems to go down all the way to Arizona, I spied a goat high on the mountain above us. I pulled into a wider spot that would have been perfect for a tiny smart car, gathered my camera gear, and promised my family that I would be “right back.”

Mom and the kids waved goodbye, and I headed up a granite waterfall toward my distant quarry. Mom, knowing that my “right away” might stretch to an hour, got out the homeschool materials and set up school in the van.

“I couldn’t let anyone go outside the van,” Mom remembers. “There was a million-foot drop-off right out the van door!”

I hiked till my knees were ready to give out. Then I hiked some more, always following the elusive mountain goat. He was there, but always just over the next rise.

After an hour of hiking, the goat and I finally made friends. He wondered what I wanted, and I was praying God would help me speak “goat.”

Photo: Dick Duerksen

“Please,” I said to the goat, “walk over to that granite rock and look into the black canyon to your left.”

The goat continued chewing on his banquet of bright-yellow spring flowers.

I jumped up and down, begged, pointed to the rock. If he would just understand my need. I set up my tripod and prepared for a perfect 400-millimeter shot. *** Back in the van my photographer’s wife was beginning to worry. Ninety minutes was a bit longer than she had expected. Worry, mixed with a large dose of frustration and blended with the voices of three kids, resulted in a mother’s moment.

“I was hoping he wasn’t lying up there with a broken leg,” Brenda remembers.

“I was ready for him to return, and preparing to kill him when he did.”

The mountain goat finally heard me, or at least saw me, pointing to the black canyon, and wandered toward the canyon to see what was there. He stood squarely in my “hoped for” photograph, in focus, and staring out into the inky black of the canyon.

It was perfect. Except that he was staring down and looked like he was so depressed he might jump.

“Please, God, have him lift his head and look over at me.”

The next picture was perfect.

I believe God answered my prayer because Brenda was kneeling in the van, pleading that God bring me back down the mountain.

I packed up my gear, turned around, and realized it was going to be harder to climb down than it was to climb up. My watch said I’d been gone more than five hours. Far too long! Not fair to Brenda and the kids. Hurry down. *** Ten minutes later I stumbled on a granite ledge, fell to my knees, and looked squarely into the face of a giant grizzly bear, who was only 30 feet away.

A very tall and unhappy bear who was standing tall behind a small willow bush and roaring at me to “GO AWAY!” I would have gladly obeyed, but her roar had turned my knees to butter.

“Kids,” Mom said in the van 1,000 feet down the hill, “we must pray for Daddy. I feel as though he may be in bad trouble right now.”

“Lord Jesus,” one of the kids prayed, “please keep Daddy safe.”

The bear dropped onto all four legs and walked out from behind the willow bush, right toward me. The wind was blowing my way, and the bear smelled terrible.

I begged God for help, but couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do if I met a bear. Was I to stand still or to jump up and down while making lots of noise?

Since I was too weak and terrified to do anything, I stood still and tried to taste as bad as I possibly could.

The bear stood again, sniffed the breeze, roared like a bull elephant, then dropped to all fours and slowly walked away over the hill.

“Thank you for taking care of Daddy,” Mom prayed.

Fifteen minutes later my knees finally agreed to support me. I stood, haltingly, using my tripod as support, and headed slowly downhill. Five hours on the hill had left me with a painful limp, and a worried heart. I had been gone far too long!

“Look, Mommy,” one of the kids said.

“There’s Daddy! I think he’s hurt his leg.”

Brenda ran to meet me, ready to shout at me for taking so long, eager to hug me for still being alive, and worried about my leg.

“I was ready to go find a park ranger,” she said as she helped me back to the car. “What time was it when you hurt your leg?”

I told her, and she smiled. Her smile made me feel better, even though I had not yet been forgiven.

“That’s exactly the time we had a special prayer for you.”

Then I told her about the grizzly bear.

Dick Duerksen, a pastor and storyteller living in Portland, Oregon, United States, is known around the world as “an itinerant pollinator of grace.”

Publisher The Adventist World, an international periodical of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The General Conference, Northern Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists®, is the publisher.

Executive Editor/Director of Adventist Review Ministries Bill Knott International Publishing Manager Chun, Pyung Duk Adventist World Coordinating Committee Si Young Kim, chair; Yukata Inada; German Lust; Chun, Pyung Duk; Han, Suk Hee; Lyu, Dong Jin Associate Editors/Directors, Adventist Review Ministries Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Greg Scott Editors based in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA Sandra Blackmer, Stephen Chavez, Costin Jordache, Wilona Karimabadi Editors based in Seoul, Korea Chun, Pyung Duk; Park, Jae Man; Kim, Hyo-Jun Operations Manager Merle Poirier Editors-at-Large/Advisors Mark A. Finley, John M. Fowler, E. Edward Zinke Financial Manager Kimberly Brown Management Board Si Young Kim, chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Chun, Pyung Duk; Karnik Doukmetzian; Han, Suk Hee; Yutaka Inada; German Lust; Ray Wahlen; Ex-officio: Juan Prestol-Puesán; G. T. Ng; Ted N. C. Wilson Art Direction and Design Types & Symbols To Writers: We welcome unsolicited manuscripts. Address all editorial correspondence to 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600, U.S.A. Editorial office fax number: (301) 680-6638 E-mail: worldeditor@gc.adventist.org Web site: www.adventistworld.org Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible references are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.

Unless otherwise noted, all prominent photos are © Thinkstock 2017.

Adventist World is published monthly and printed simultaneously in Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States.

Vol. 14, No. 10

AdventistWorld.org October 2018

29

Growing Faith

Fun-filled pages for younger ages

Jesus Is Your Forever Friend

W

hen Brawn Kyan was 6 years old, his Buddhist parents sent him to the Seventh-day Adventist school to learn English. He learned much more than that!

This is a really different school, thought Brawn Kyan. The teachers are patient and kind, and they always talk about a man called Jesus.

Brawn had never heard of Jesus before, and every day he learned more about Jesus from a special book called the Bible. He loved such Bible stories as David and Goliath, Joseph, Daniel in the lions’ den, and many others.

Soon he started attending church and participating in many children’s activities. He loved it!

“Say, Brawn, now that you have been in our schools for 30

October 2018 AdventistWorld.org

some years now, would you like to study the Bible to know Jesus better?” asked his teacher earnestly. “Jesus can make your life happy, and He will give you peace that no one else on earth can give you.”

“I would love to,” Brawn replied excitedly. “When can we begin?”

Brawn studied the Bible with his teacher faithfully for a whole year. He learned so much about Jesus that he wanted to follow Him forever. He told his parents about his new discovery, but they were not happy at all.

One day in 2016 his teacher told him some interesting news.

“Brawn, we are going to run evangelistic meetings for children for 10 nights. I would like you to be one of the speakers.”

“What, me?” replied Brawn surprisingly. “Oh, no, I don’t know enough of the Bible to preach to children, or to anyone!”

“Don’t worry, Jesus will give you power to speak,” assured his teacher. “Moreover, I will help you prepare your sermons.

There are just three.”

“OK, I’ll try,” Brawn responded.

“I’ll pray every day that Jesus will give me understanding to speak for Him.” Five hundred children attended the evangelistic meetings every night. Brawn’s friends and classmates helped lead out in the singing and health talks.

Brawn preached his first sermon on John 3:16. Each time he preached he felt the Holy Spirit tug at his heart to love Jesus more and more.

Illustration: Xuan Le

BY WILONA KARIMABADI

Puzzle What do we need to make Jesus our forever friend? Strike out the colored letters to discover the answer.

Finally Brawn preached his last sermon on following Jesus forever. At the end Brawn made an appeal for all those who wanted to follow Jesus and to be baptized to come forward.

Many children went forward.

Brawn felt the Holy Spirit speaking to him strongly, so he stepped down from the stage and went down to the front with the other children, indicating that he wanted to be baptized.

There was joy in heaven on Sabbath when 104 children and some adults were baptized.

Brawn was especially filled with joy as the pastor baptized him in the water. “Jesus is my forever friend! He will never leave me!� shouted Brawn with elation.

ACZXRDEK KPEWNDVT M A R K N T D V G B L M E B PAY S P N O Q T KIAXVZQE TDZDGIJN T R F H S E N WAPCUMIE YYOFZHJM MELSKTUS AdventistWorld.org October 2018

31

“There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the Scriptures.”

Ellen White, Steps to Christ, p. 90

START AGAIN FROM THE BEGINNING, ONE CHAPTER A DAY. BELIEVE HIS PROPHETS Begins October 13th in Genesis.

Sign up and download the reading schedule at revivalandreformation.org/BHP