Adventist World English - March 2021

03/2021 An Earnest Appeal Page 10 Three Angels Unleashed Page 20 The Lunchbox Page 31

Revival:

Rediscovering the Three Angels’ Messages

10 An Earnest Appeal Robert H. Pierson

12 Dangers Threatening the Church

14 Separation From the World

James L. McElhany

Charles H. Watson

17 Global View God’s Final Call to a Perishing World Ted N. C. Wilson

Focus on the Three Angels’ Messages 20 Three Angels Unleashed Andrew McChesney 21 “This Is the Core of Who We Are” 22 God Led Every Step of Curriculum Development 24 Claiming the Adventist DNA 25 Three Angels Resources 27 NAD’s Take on the Three Angels’ Messages in Schools

28 May I Tell You a Story?

What Happens in Las Vegas 30 Millennial Voices Two by Two Carolina Ramos 31 Devotional The Lunchbox Dixil Rodríguez

Cover illustration and page 20, “Three Angels”

by Nathan Greene, ©1999. All Rights Reserved.

Used By Permission. www.nathangreene.com baibaz / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images Delpixart / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images robertsre / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images

When Fire Falls

BY BILL KNOTT

I

was just 15 when revival fires burned brightly in my school. And I still bless the Lord for those who ministered God’s grace to me.

Like thousands of students in North American Adventist schools in the 1970s, I found myself pulled irresistibly into the remarkable sequence of campus revivals that swept through church-run universities and secondary schools. Sparked through the preaching of righteousness by faith, each campus lit another as hastily assembled envoy groups moved from place to place, scattering revival coals all along the way.

Prayer groups spontaneously sprang up, and mid-week Bible studies launched. Witnessing replaced our usual preoccupation with sports and dating options. We felt ourselves held in the grip of something larger than ourselves—a tidal movement of the Spirit that changed our stories, redirected our careers, and made us hunger for such seasons always.

But the gospel of God’s love and grace always comes to us through other humans—men and women who do more than simply “hit and run” with facts about salvation. They walk with us; they tell us stories. They open up their less-than-perfect lives to show us how the good news is changing them, and teach us how to pray beyond our tired formulas. We see in them the Christians we still long to be, and find in them the hope that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6, RSV).* My gratitude—years later—is still to specific names and faces—to Tony, Cliff, and Linda; to Bruce; to Bob; to Jim. Their deep joy in Jesus—their passion for His Word, for offering Him rich praise—set something in my soul on fire. And like the millions whom the Spirit has renewed, I found myself wondering if I had really lived till then—if what I counted as my life had only been a prequel. Those who taste of Pentecost won’t willingly go back to sameness, grayness, and things just as they were.

Revival is God’s grace for us—for we the church, the smudged and weary folk who follow Jesus on the way. It always burns in multiples, for solo candles rarely last. We need the gospel that shows us love we haven’t known— revealed to us through those who walk beside us, pray with us, encourage us. The grace that comes from heaven has rich horizontal reach, and we learn from other Christians many virtues we might otherwise not gain.

So when you pray, pray for your church as well as for yourself.

Pray for the ones whose faith will mentor you—and those whom you will mentor. Pray for the rich humility that always blesses genuine revival, and for the willingness to serve.

When fire falls, it will be on God’s waiting, patient, loving church. Lean toward that day.

And stay in grace. * Bible texts credited to RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, by Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

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.

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News Moment

A historic image from 2005 when Adventist World began publication. The picture was taken in Marimanti, eastern Kenya, and illustrates the importance of the magazine for evangelism.

The evangelistic effort led by Blasious Ruguri, current East-Central Africa Division president, and the local pastor grew the congregation from 40 to more than 400 members.

Photo credit: Blasious Ruguri

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News in Brief

“This [donation] Mission-minded is a tremendous blessing. Everybody is struggling financially, so this money will help us continue the program.”

During the 2018 Teacher Convention of the North American Division in Chicago teachers participated in a survey commissioned by the General Conference. Here are their answers regarding the mission of Adventist schools. Teachers could select more than one answer.

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Distinctly Adventist (4%)

Community focus (5%)

No response/Do not know (9%)

Show God’s love (10%)

Christ-centered education (16%)

Share the Good News (19%)

Eternity focus (20%)

Preparation for this world (21%)

Service learning (20%)

Number of square meters (about 10,100 square feet) recently completed after a 17-month construction period to enlarge the day-care center of the Adventist congregation in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, and available to serve up to 60 children in three groups. The community center adjacent to the church includes a newly designed kitchen, activity rooms, and a light-flooded dining room with a garden view where children can enjoy freshly prepared, wholesome meals.

Name of care program initiated by young adults of the Vértice Seventhday Adventist Church in Monterrey, Mexico, to promote Christlike values in children, strengthen families, and encourage healthy lifestyle changes. Padrino in Spanish means “godparent,” or someone taking an active interest in the welfare of another person. The program involved sharing food, providing school supplies for 60 children, establishing friendships with the community, and offering bimonthly meetings focusing on healthy family relations.

Education (26%)

940

Padrinos

Lead students to Jesus (34%)

—Rachel Mall, director of the Kenosha YMCA/Frank Neighborhood Project, after receiving a check of US$1,500 from the Wisconsin Southeastern Network (WISEN) of Seventh-day Adventist churches in Kenosha, Racine, and Raymond, Wisconsin, United States. The churches had decided to support three local community initiatives.

Source: NAD Teacher Survey, Scripture Spirituality and Society Research Centre, Avondale University College, ASTR, n = 1,095

News in Brief

Psychic Numbing Refers to the indifference individuals tend to feel when confronted with overwhelming calamity. As noted by Carlos Fayard, Loma Linda University associate professor and chair of the university’s Psychiatry Department: “We tend to ‘unplug’ emotionally from, for instance, observing people in intensive-care units or a pile of caskets ready for burial.”

“It is not information but transformation.

It is not a subject but a commitment, a determination, a decision. It’s a lifestyle, a prayer-driven life.”

—Saw Samuel, Southern Asia-Pacific Division president, talking to the 1,083 registered young adults meeting virtually at the “I Will Pray” conference focusing on prayer.

“School is a powerful factor of evangelism, because education and redemption are one and the same.”

—Charles Assandé, education director for the Adventist Church in Côte d’Ivoire, commenting on Maranatha Volunteers International’s work of building churches and schools in the country.

830 Number of families from Negros Occidental in central Philippines and from Lanao del Norte in southern Philippines who received cash assistance from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) after torrential rains hit the central and southern parts of the country, causing severe flooding affecting nearly 95,000 people.

500,000 Number of face masks donated by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to La Sierra University in Riverside, California, United States, so that the Adventist educational institution can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 within its community.

For the first 20 days of January 2021 Riverside County alone confirmed more than 228,000 positive cases and 2,300 deaths. The distribution of the masks will be coordinated by La Sierra’s School of Business and students from the Enactus program. (->) Photo: Darla Martin Tucker, La Sierra Public Relations AdventistWorld.org March 2021

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News in Depth

General Conference Session Postponed for a Second Time

Quinquennial event now scheduled for June 6-11, 2022.

By ANN and Adventist World

For the second time in 10 months, members of the Executive Committee of the global Seventh-day Adventist Church have voted to postpone the quinquennial session of the denomination, originally scheduled for late June of 2020, because of challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the Executive Committee (EXCOM) from around the world attended the January 12, 2021, virtual Zoom session, where they listened to reports from world church administration, health officers of the church, logistics coordinators, and legal counsel. Leaders discussed the feasibility of adhering to the planned business session dates of May 20-25, 2021, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, that had been previously approved by the same body.

The persistence of the deadly global COVID-19 pandemic and its enduring impacts on public health, travel, and the availability of international visas persuaded the international body to postpone the session until June 6-11, 2022, also in Indianapolis. The plan voted by church leaders and laypersons now postpones the date for the denomination’s quinquennial business

session for nearly two years from its originally scheduled dates, as allowed by the Adventist Church’s constitution.

General Conference (GC) president Ted N. C. Wilson, who chaired the committee, began the two-hour meeting by outlining the process of data collection and discussion that brought the recommendations to the governing body of the church.

“A team of workers has been working diligently,” Wilson said.

“We have been carefully reviewing things, especially with those in session management and planning.”

Wilson added that recommendations are coming from a consensus approach from various groups, including world division officers, health professionals, Adventist Risk Management, the Office of General Counsel, and other Adventist Church leaders. “This is not a recommendation directly coming from the three senior officers of the GC,” he said. “This is something that has come from a plethora of information and counselors.”

CURRENT CHALLENGES

Wilson introduced those who would provide background and

Delegates use their voting cards during one of the business sessions at the General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas, United States, in 2015.

Photo: Seth Shaffer 6

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context to the current and projected challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic.

Peter Landless, director of Health Ministries for the global Adventist Church, shared current COVID-19 statistics and concerns of moving forward with such a large gathering. Given the rising infection numbers, along with a new, more infectious and aggressive strain, Landless said the Health Ministries Department had to recommend delaying the GC Session.

“We’ve been consulting with international experts, and taking into account the needs and concerns. The GC Health Ministries Department believes it is prudent and practical stewardship to postpone the GC Session to 2022, given this difficult time,” Landless said. “And it is with a heavy heart that one makes this recommendation. However, it is a recommendation that comes because it appears there is no alternative.”

GC meeting planner Sheri Clemmer outlined some of the current challenges to a large meeting of delegates from around the world. She mentioned visitor visa difficulties and quarantine requirements, especially for those who use public transportation and transportation hubs.

G. T. Ng, executive secretary of the global Adventist Church, explained that the General Conference constitution does not currently allow for electronic participation at a General Conference Session.

Following the presentations and discussion, the recommendation to move the dates of the GC Session to June 2022 was put to a vote by electronic polling. The motion passed with a vote of 185 to 9.

News in Depth

Two U.S.-Based Adventist Ministries Partner to Boost Aid to Cuba

Joint initiative seeks to address shortages because of extended lockdowns.

By Kathleen Morrissy, Lake Union Herald

The pandemic has forced Cuba to close airports and lock down borders to combat the spread of the coronavirus. This has caused tourist travel—an important source of hard currency—to plummet, and has resulted in significant food shortages.

Adventist church member and FARM STEW founder Joy Kauffman saw the situation as an opportunity to expand the ministry by partnering with Care for Cuba, based at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States.

Kauffman said that increasing food availability is one of the main objectives of FARM STEW. “With some Cubans going hungry every day and residents not skilled or equipped to grow their food, it was only natural that we would help,” she noted. “That’s the foundation of our ministry, to improve the health and well-being of poor families and vulnerable people by sharing abundant life throughout the world.”

Because the Cuban government has encouraged its citizens to plant gardens, FARM STEW donated 200 manuals and 200 flash drives with the FARM STEW curriculum, giving Bible workers the tools to address the root causes of hunger, disease, and poverty. FARM STEW has now managed to start training in 18 Adventist churches, working with a total of 150 committed families, distributing 14 varieties of vegetable seeds to each family.

CARE FOR CUBA

Kauffman has teamed up with Care for Cuba, an established ministry equipping pastors and lay workers in Cuba with training and materials since 1998. Since

Care for Cuba and FARM STEW are partnering to assist people in need in Cuba.

Photo: Kathleen Morrissy, Lake Union Herald

2013 Fernando Ortiz, who directs Andrews University’s Master of Divinity degree program and founded Care for Cuba, has organized an annual Cuba Study Tour that allows seminary students to engage in personal and public evangelism. In spring 2020 the group was unable to travel because of the pandemic, but eventually found a way to still make an impact. A shipping container loaded with supplies was sent to Cuba in December 2020.

In Cuba, pastors, Bible workers, and people in general sometimes lack many resources taken for granted in other parts of the world, including a great variety of ministry resources. While Cuba has 170 pastors and 220 Bible workers, few of them have cars. Bible workers often need to travel some distance to get from one family to the next.

“With a bicycle, you can cover three or four times as much [area], giving three times as many Bible

studies, and probably three times as many baptisms,” Ortiz said. One bicycle can make a big difference, so church leadership was happy to receive 100 bicycles for Bible workers that were donated from a variety of sources in the Berrien Springs community.

ABUNDANCE OF HOPE

In addition to the farming curriculum, FARM STEW donated 2,000 feminine hygiene kits that volunteers loaded into the containers.

Ortiz explained that these kits are providing items that simply cannot be obtained in Cuba.

Support has also come from the Village Seventh-day Adventist Church in Berrien Springs, Stevensville Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the surrounding community. “I don’t know that we’re going to have space [in the containers], but the Lord will make it [happen]. It’s a good problem,” Ortiz said.

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News Focus South Pacific Division (SPD)

601,003 Membership of the South Pacific Division (SPD) as of September 30, 2020

“I forgive you.”

Statement made by 81-year-old Richard Lillywhite, an Adventist attending the Tikipunga Adventist Fellowship in Whangarei, New Zealand, during a restorative justice conference where he was confronted by three juvenile intruders who had robbed and ransacked his home while he had been sleeping.

The heartfelt apologies of the three juveniles included baking a cake, removing black mold and moss from a garden path at the house, and a traditional monetary koha gift. The charges were dropped, and their police records were purged.

“There’s nothing like seeing people whom you’ve studied with come to the Lord and accept the truth. We’ve made amazing relationships with people here; we’ve been accepted by the Aboriginal community. And we always really look forward to the [Adventist] camps.”

—Michelle Tanner, a Bible worker from Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Australia, who traveled in September 2020 with her husband, Martin, and literature evangelist Marian Jones about 450 kilometers (280 miles) to the remote Aboriginal community of Willowra. There they made friends, studied the Bible with those interested, and helped young people to enroll in Mamarapha College, an Adventist college serving Aboriginal communities.

#weRtheCHURCH Adventist media initiative to reach members of the SPD during the pandemic. The November 20 broadcast focused on inspiring stories about the power of Adventist education shaping young lives. It featured Glenn Townend, SPD president; Narko Tutuo, a Sydney anaesthetist; and Renée Vaovasa, a theology and ministry student from Avondale University College. (^-)

100 Number of Christmas food baskets distributed to needy families and single-parent households in Macquarie Fields, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. The initiative was supported by Sydney Adventist Hospital, ADRA Australia, and local Adventist churches and Pathfinder clubs.

“Life transformation comes through regular reading of Scripture. If people gave their life for that privilege, then surely I can create a daily Bible habit this year.”

—Glenn Townend, president, South Pacific Division, highlighting the willingness of William Tyndale, the sixteenth-century Reformer and Bible translator, to sacrifice his life so that people in England could read the Word of God in their own language.

Photo: Adventist Record 8

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Perspective

By Bettina Krause, GC Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department

Photo: photovst / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images

Jesus 2020: Nation-Building for God? Where does the Adventist Church stand regarding Christian nationalism?

The world saw many shocking images as rioters forced their way into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, but for me, one of the most disturbing was of a large flag unfurled outside the Capitol. Designed to look like a campaign banner, the flag suggested that the unfolding chaos had an endorsement from an unlikely source. It read, “Jesus 2020.”

What did Christianity have to do with the events at the Capitol?

Some observers have denied any link, arguing that even if some of the rioters invoked Christian symbols or sentiments, their actions bear no resemblance to true Christianity. Others, however, say there’s no doubt that an ideology known as Christian nationalism motivated at least some of those who rampaged through the halls of Congress.

So how can people of faith—how can Seventh-day Adventists—start to untangle these competing claims?

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM?

Christian nationalism is an attempt to link Christianity closely

with national identity—the idea that to be a true patriot, one must also be a Christian. Individuals believe that hostile forces are assailing a once-Christian nation, and Christians are therefore called to battle these forces to regain lost territory for their faith.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that the ideology of Christian nationalism is shot through with ugly threads of hate: anti-Semitism, racism, and a sometimes violent hostility toward any ethnic or religious minority that is perceived to be out of step with the dominant form of Christianity.

WHERE DO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS STAND?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is absolutely clear on how it views Christian nationalism: this ideology is antithetical to our theology and beliefs and alien to our deeply held values. A key idea is that the church, its various institutions, and its representatives will never align with any political party or political ideology.

Another principle is that as a denomination, we will not seek political preference, and we do not “use our influence with political and civil leaders to either advance our faith or inhibit the faith of others.”1 Yes, individual church members are encouraged, where they can, to carefully and prayerfully take part in civic life through voting, or

taking part in public dialogue, or even holding public office.2 In all these things, however, the individual church member acts and speaks only for him- or herself.

At times the Adventist Church will take a position on a specific public policy issue that aligns with our values and will speak publicly about these ideas. Religious freedom is an area in which the church consistently takes public positions.

We work broadly to advocate for every person’s right to follow the dictates of conscience, regardless of their religious beliefs or nonbelief.

Yet contributing to the public discourse on specific issues is profoundly different from Christian nationalism’s sweeping ambitions.

The bottom line? Seventh-day Adventists should not seek to harness political power to create a uniquely Christian public square.

Why? In large part because our biblical understanding and the counsel of Ellen White lead us to affirm, unequivocally, that “efforts to legislate faith are by their very nature in opposition to the principles of true religion, and thus in opposition to the will of God.”3 In any of its forms and variants, Christian nationalism will always damage our witness to the gospel.

“Church/State Relations,” official statement adopted by the Council of Interchurch/Interfaith Faith Relations of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, available at https://www.adventist.org/articles/church-state-relations/.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

1

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Focus BY ROBERT H. PIERSON

An Earnest Appeal This is God’s church.

In the following pages, four General Conference presidents—Robert H. Pierson; James L McElhany; Charles H. Watson; and Ted N. C. Wilson—reflect on the urgency of revival and reformation to prepare a people for the Second Coming of Jesus. Pray that your heart will be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit as you read these articles.—Editors

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This article is abridged from a presentation given by Robert H. Pierson, president of the General Conference, to the Annual Council after his announcement of retirement on October 16, 1978. It was published in its entirety in the Adventist Review, October 26, 1978.–Editors.

T

his will be the last time that in my present role I shall stand before the world leaders of my church, your church, our church, and I have a few words to leave with you.

I take my thoughts from something that Elder and Mrs. Ralph Neall wrote describing how a sect typically evolves into a church.

They say a sect is often begun by a charismatic leader with tremendous drive and commitment and that it arises as a protest against worldliness and formalism in a church. It is generally embraced by the poor. The rich would lose too much by joining it, since it is unpopular, despised, and persecuted by society in general.

It has definite beliefs firmly held by zealous members. Each member makes a personal decision to join it and knows what he believes. There is little organization or property, and there are few buildings. The group has strict standards and controls on behavior. Preachers, often without education, arise by inner compulsion.

And then it passes on to the second generation. With growth there comes a need for organization and buildings. As a result of industry and frugality, members become prosperous.

As prosperity increases, persecution begins to wane. Children born into the movement do not have to make personal decisions to join it. They do not necessarily know what they believe. They do not need to hammer out their own positions. These have been worked out for them. Preachers arise more by selection and by apprenticeship to older workers than by direct inner compulsion.

In the third generation, organization develops, and institutions are established.

The need is seen for schools to pass on the faith of the fathers. Colleges are established.

Members have to be exhorted to live up to the standards, while at the same time the standards of membership are being lowered.

The group becomes lax about disfellowshipping nonpracticing members. Missionary zeal Photo: Annie Spratt

cools off. Leaders study methods of propagating their faith, sometimes employing extrinsic rewards as motivation for service by the members. Youth question why they are different from others and intermarry with those not of their faith.

In the fourth generation there is much machinery; the number of administrators increases while the number of workers at the grassroots level becomes less. Great church councils are held to define doctrine. More schools, universities, and seminaries are established. These go to the world for accreditation and tend to become secularized. There is a reexamination of positions and modernizing of methods. The movement seeks to become “relevant” to contemporary society by becoming involved with popular causes. Services become formal. The group enjoys complete acceptance by the world.

The sect has become a church!

Brethren and sisters, this must never happen to the Seventh-day Adventist Church! This is not just another church—it is God’s church!

Already there are subtle forces beginning to stir. Regrettably, there are those in the church who belittle the inspiration of the total Bible, who scorn the first 11 chapters of Genesis, who question the Spirit of Prophecy’s short chronology of the age of the earth, and who subtly and not so subtly attack the Spirit of Prophecy.

There are some who point to the reformers and contemporary theologians as a source and norm for Seventh-day Adventist doctrine.

There are those who wish to forget the standards of the church we love. There are those who covet and would court the favor of the evangelicals; those who would throw off the mantle of a peculiar people; and those who would go the way of the secular, materialistic world.

I appeal to you earnestly—don’t let it happen! We are not Seventh-day

Anglicans, not Seventh-day Lutherans—we are Seventh-day Adventists!

This is God’s last church with God’s last message!

God is looking for men and women who love God’s church and God’s truth more than they love their lives, to see that this church under God goes through to the kingdom. The task ahead is not going to be easy. If I understand the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy correctly, ahead lies a time of trouble, a time of challenge such as this church and this world have never before known.

The servant of the Lord tells us, “The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. . . . A new organization would be established.

Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced.

The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath . . . would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless.”1 The Seventh-day Adventist Church had its alpha years ago.2 You and I are the leaders who will face the omega that will be of the same subtle, devilish origin. Its effect will be more devastating than the alpha. Study, know what is ahead, then with God’s help, prepare your people to meet it.

God is looking for men and women who love God’s church and God’s truth more than they love their lives.

“God calls for men who are prepared to meet emergencies, men who in a crisis will not be found standing on the wrong side.”3 I call attention to a vision the Lord’s servant had, in which she saw a ship heading toward an iceberg. She was told: “Meet it!”4 Fellow leaders, it may be that in the not-too-distant future you will have to meet it. I pray God will give you grace and courage and wisdom.

Finally, “what a wonderful thought it is that the great controversy is nearing its end! In the closing work we shall meet with perils that we know not how to deal with; but let us not forget that the three great powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and that God will bring His purposes to pass. He will gather from the world a people who will serve Him in righteousness.”5 What a wonderful assurance we have to be in God’s work. This work is not dependent on any man; it is dependent on our relationship with Him. There is only one way for us to face the future, and that is at the foot of the cross. A church with its eyes upon the Man of Calvary will never walk into apostasy.

Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1, pp. 204, 205.

2 Based on Ellen White’s prophetic insights, Adventists have interpreted the ‘alpha’ crisis as a reference to the Kellogg crisis in the early twentieth century.

3 Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, Nov. 5, 1903.

4 E. G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 205, 206.

5 Ibid., book 2, p. 391.

1

Robert H. Pierson served as president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1966 to 1979.

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Focus BY JAMES L. MCELHANY

Dangers Threatening the Church

The divine remedy

This is an excerpt from an opening address given at the Autumn Council in Fort Worth, Texas, by James L. McElhany, president of the General Conference. The full address was published in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 3, 1936. This excerpt has been edited for space.—Editors.

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hen I was a boy, the city where I lived hired a large company for a street paving job. The firm employed hundreds of men, and they worked for a long time, spending thousands of dollars to complete the project. When they finally finished the work and asked the city to accept it, the authorities rejected the whole job and refused to pay a cent. They gave just one reason: “Not according to specifications.” The contracting firm had failed to do the job according to the specified plan.

Dear brethren, are we doing our work according to specifications?

We are builders. We are helping to cast up the King’s highway. May God help us as faithful workmen to do 12

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the task according to specifications.

I am absolutely confident regarding the triumph of this message.

I am courageous and optimistic about its going forward to victory.

At the same time, I believe that to be a faithful watchman, I must not allow my optimism to blind me. When danger appears or evil intrudes, I believe it ought to be pointed out in a tactful way.

TWO DANGERS FACING US

I believe there are two dangers we face today: those from without, and those from within. I believe it is the latter we need to fear more.

Ellen White wrote: “We have far more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater

from the church itself than from the world,”1 Just as it was in Nehemiah’s day, so it is today. The modern Sanballats and Tobiahs and Geshems stand off and watch the work of God, and they criticize it. They criticize the way it is done. They find fault with the work, and with those who do it. But thank God, back in the days of Nehemiah they did not stop the work, and they will not stop it today. They may criticize what we do, the way we do it, the things we stand for; they may criticize those who do the work. But under God, if we are consecrated to Him, they can never stop the work itself. It is God’s work. It is not the dangers from without that we should fear, but those from within.

Photo: Juan Cardenas

As I have meditated on it, I have come to believe that our greatest danger today is the widely prevalent attitude many members have of accepting with apparent satisfaction their present low spiritual condition, and not being very much concerned about it.

Along with that is the failure of some leaders to sound a call to a new and higher spiritual life in the church. My brethren, I believe that call should be sounding today.

Thank God there are those who are sounding it. But I believe that call ought to be going forth from every leader in this cause today.

TIME FOR A THOROUGH REFORMATION

We cannot close our eyes to some of the things God has shared with us through His messenger.

“Unless the church, which is now being leavened with her own backsliding, shall repent and be converted, she will eat of the fruit of her own doing, until she shall abhor herself. When she resists the evil and chooses the good, when she seeks God with all humility and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the platform of eternal truth and by faith laying hold upon the attainments prepared for her, she will be healed. She will appear in her God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, showing that the truth has made her free indeed. Then her members will indeed be the chosen of God, His representatives.

The time has come for a thorough reformation to take place.”2 We read on: “When this reformation begins, the spirit of prayer will actuate every believer, and will banish from the church the spirit of discord and strife.”3 Oh, let us pray God that this reformation may be hastened to banish from the church “the spirit of discord and strife.”

The spirit of discord and strife is not nourished in an attitude or atmosphere of prayer, is it?

LEADERS RESPONSIBLE

I want to say that I believe we as workers today are to a large degree responsible for this spirit of doubt, laxness, and unbelief.

I recently received a letter from a young man in one of our schools.

“Our lives are molded by our environment as we grow up,” he wrote.

“I heard of a preacher not long ago who condemned meat eating, and less than one hour later he and three others who were on the platform saying ‘Amen’ were eating meat in a restaurant. I don’t know what the Lord is going to do about it, but He should do something about it.”

That’s the young man’s comment. You may say that young man is probably an extremist. But that is really not the important thing about this letter. It is not what the young man is, but rather what the preachers are, who set that kind of example, who stand on the platform and say one thing, uphold one principle, then go away and contradict it by another in the practice of their lives.

My dear brethren, I do not believe we have far to go to find the causes of unbelief and doubt when we as leaders set that kind of example before the people. The really alarming thing is not just what that young man may say, but the fact that many of our believers have lost faith in their leaders because of the inconsistency in their lives and practices.

Leaders, we ought to be setting a consistent example by putting into practice the reforms called for by the Spirit of Prophecy. How can we hope to have the confidence and the respect of the people when we are inconsistent? How can we talk about a spiritual revival and reformation when we set that kind of example?

“We are builders. . . .

May God help us as faithful workmen to do the task according to specifications.”

LIFT UP THE TRUMPET

We also need a reformation in the matter of preaching the coming of the Lord. I believe the thing that makes Seventh-day Adventists is the preaching of the coming of the Lord; and standing as we do, surrounded by the thickening evidences of His coming, why should we be dumb on a subject so vital as this?

We ought to “lift up the trumpet, and loud let it ring,” for Jesus is coming again. This movement is founded on that blessed truth, and every preacher ought to sound it and repeat it everywhere.

I believe the Lord is still with His people. The Laodicean church is also the translation church.

The very church rebuked for its misdemeanors is the church that is to be translated into the kingdom of God. This knowledge gives me courage. We can labor on with the greatest assurance that this cause will triumph!

Ellen G. White, in Review and Herald, Mar. 22, 1887.

Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 8, pp. 250, 251.

3 Ibid., p. 251.

1 2

James L. McElhany served as president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1936 to 1950.

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Focus BY CHARLES H. WAT S O N

Separation From the World Connected to Christ

This is an excerpt of an address given by Charles H. Watson, General Conference president, at the Autumn Council, Louisville, Kentucky, October 29, 1935. The full address was published in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 21, 1935. This excerpt has been edited for space.—Editors.

T

he Bible is the story of a great eternal purpose; of the efforts made to defeat that purpose; and the means ordained, employed, and available to fulfill that purpose.

The foundation laid at the beginning has stood. Man, by his own choice, took himself off that foundation. But man’s moving off did not move the foundation. That foundation is the will of God, which is the essence of all truth. In order to build on that foundation, man must live and labor within the will of God. Life lived and service rendered outside of that divine will are not established upon that foundation.

Man has persistently failed to appreciate the opportunities and possibilities within God’s purpose for him.

The first section of the Bible story ends with the fall of man, the second ends with the Flood, and the third ends with Babel. Each of these periods in human experience ended in human failure. After that, the story tells of God’s efforts to have His will done on earth by a family.

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THE OPPORTUNITY OF ABRAHAM

Through the family of Abraham, God ordained that His eternal purpose would be fulfilled. He gave the literal children of Abraham a wonderful opportunity. But their story ends with them all in bondage. What happened?

God gave that family the knowledge of His will. Obedience and disobedience were clearly marked in the experience of their father, Abraham. But his children chose to depart from the Lord’s will, and they found themselves in bondage. Instead of being made rulers by doing God’s will, they were made slaves by their departure from His will.

ISRAEL AS A MONARCHY

When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, He made them a nation. He was that nation’s king, but they were determined to be like the world and were obstinately determined to have their own way.

At God’s direction they were cautioned and warned; they were reproved and told that a human king would Illustration: Elena Mozhvilo

enslave them, take away their liberties, and require their first and best for himself. It began wrong and continued to be wrong, ending in captivity and failure.

There is, of course, the story of the restoration. But, except for a brief moment, those that came back were never able to throw off the yoke of foreign rulership.

They built up their city and raised its ruined walls, but they did it by the consent and under the patronage of foreign kings.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

The story then brings us to the establishment of Christianity. Its founder is the Lord Jesus, and its foundation is the eternal truth given in His teachings. His life was a manifestation of the will of God. He came as man to fulfill God’s purpose, and after He won the right by His sacrifice on the cross, His victory over death, and His acceptance for us by the Father, He commissioned His church to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

THE CHURCH WENT FORTH

Endued with power from on high, the church went forth, conquering and to conquer. Observe that the attitude of its leaders toward the will of God was very definite. They were determined to obey God at all costs.

While this attitude of adherence to the will of God was maintained, the church was a conquering power. When it was forsaken, the church became a persecuting power.

After the first century a change came into its experience. The church first became worldly, then cruel. It forgot the will of God and began to enforce its own will upon the people, blasphemously claiming it to be God’s will.

PROTESTANTISM FAILING

Then came the Reformation. Sect after sect rose to proclaim some phase of Protestant truth and lead God’s people onward. Many have been used to stir the hearts and minds of people with living truth. Each one had some definite truth to proclaim, or some AdventistWorld.org March 2021

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Our need is great; far, far too great to be met by anything that the world can supply. We must go to a source of help higher than the world. important principle to make clearer. These truths, with all that they had previously received, became their founding principles.

They were to remain firm on those founding truths and principles, and on them embrace new revelations of God’s will.

Have they done this? In general, Protestants have not only failed to progress in Christian faith and power, but have, almost without exception, failed to keep within sight of those founding principles.

Why is this? Is it because those founding truths and principles were found to be wrong and untrustworthy? Not at all. It is because the people listened to the world’s voice instead of God’s voice. They have fallen in love with the world; and as their love of the world has increased, their love for God and His truth has decreased. They have become conformed to the world instead of being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

THE FINISHING WORK

The final section of the story is pictured in the last part of Revelation. At a specific time, a movement begins that finishes the work begun 16

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during the Reformation. This work is to be done in the judgment hour. It is done by people spoken of as “the remnant.” It is to be done at a time when faith is failing, when the world is in confusion and distress, when unbelief is prevalent and arrogant.

The message of this movement is to be preached with power. By belief in that message, its adherents will be separate in life, purpose, principle, belief, and hope from the world. That movement will succeed by its people holding fast to the peculiar truths and definite principles upon which it was founded.

There are two very important facts that we should consider. First, that this movement, if not directed according to God’s will, is just as subject to failure as any previous movement of God’s people this side of Eden. Second, the Bible foreshows that this movement must meet the most tremendous efforts of Satan and his agents to overthrow it, and to cause it to fail of fulfilling God’s purpose.

REASONS FOR FAILURE

Looking back, we find the reasons for failure are very definite. Briefly, those reasons center in one thing, “Love of the world.” God’s people have never been victorious while surrendered to the world. They have had victory only when surrendered to God, to have His will done in and by them. It must still be so. The remnant people can no more have success by loving the world and surrendering to its allurements, claims, and calls than did Israel of old.

When this movement began, the faith of its people was rugged. They were simple-hearted, trusting, and unworldly. They were self-sacrificing and intensely earnest. Their hope was buoyant. Their courage was invincible. We cannot succeed if by any means we lose these qualities.

The world and all worldly things

are soon to pass away. If we are to succeed in that to which God has called us, we must keep love of the world out of our hearts. We must successfully resist the world and make God’s will first and foremost.

DIVINE GRACE

What we need just now is a large reception of divine grace to enable us to do God’s holy will at any cost.

May the good Lord come to us and open our hearts and make us willing to receive it. We have to do the work of God in an age of doubt, and for a world sinking altogether in sin. Let us not trifle with that work at such a time and in face of such need. Foolish indeed shall we be if we seek from the lost world the power, the help, the equipment of mind and heart that we need to be God’s messengers of salvation to that same ruined world.

Our need is great; far, far too great to be met by anything that the world can supply. We must go to a source of help higher than the world, where our need can be reached farther in and deeper down than ever the world can penetrate. Oh, shall we not now “search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord”? Shall we not “lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens”? He will have mercy on us. He will lead us in the way of His purpose, and according to His divine will. Walking in that way, and living only to fulfill that unchanging purpose, this people will finish the work victoriously; and when the world, which now would allure and ruin us, shall go down in its own ruin, we shall be crowned with life eternal, and enter into our reward.

Charles H. Watson served as president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists from 1930 to 1936.

Global View

God’s Final Call To a perishing world

BY TED N. C. WILSON

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he claim was big, the letters bold across the top of the Time magazine cover for November 2-9, 2020: “The Great Reset.” At the beginning of the special double issue of this well-respected international magazine, readers were informed that “the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to think about the kind of future we want.”1 Inside the magazine, thought leaders from around the world offered their vision for a new kind of world— reimagining just about every aspect of life and urging the time for this “great reset” is now.

The worldwide explosion of the coronavirus has indeed Photo: Samer Daboul

drastically altered many aspects of life, and when one considers the political, economic, social, and natural disasters of the past year, even atheists recognize these are apocalyptic times.

Around the world, people are uneasy, fearful of what the future holds. They are searching for answers, and there are those eager to provide the panacea for which the crowds long.

AN ASTOUNDING PARTNERSHIP

Global influencers are seeking to change the world, promising a better tomorrow. One of the most astounding developments is a

partnership between big business and the Vatican.

Fortune magazine reported on December 8, 2020, “The CEOs of Bank of America, BP, Johnson & Johnson, Salesforce, and several other Fortune 500 companies are joining the Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican, a new business organization affiliated with the Catholic Church and operating under ‘the moral guidance of Pope Francis.’” 2 According to the article, the Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican3 developed from a global forum held at the Vatican in 2016, where the pope encouraged attendees to “seek ever more AdventistWorld.org March 2021

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creative ways to transform our institutions and economic structures so that they may be able to respond to the needs of our day.”4 Those familiar with prophecy recognize the times in which we live. Numerous foretold events are rapidly taking place. People are desperately searching for answers, and we have been called to proclaim the truth as revealed in God’s Word.

TRUE TO THEIR TRUST

“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the Word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance.

They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention. . . . The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them.”5 These precious messages are filled with hope, direction, and empowerment for this very time.

We know things will not get better—they will only become more complicated and confusing.

And that’s what the three angels’ messages are all about—calling people out of confusion, out of Babylon, out of chaos, into a clear understanding that God has a plan for everyone if they will allow Him to work in their lives. And His plan is to have everyone by His side in the New Jerusalem.

HEARTFELT APPEALS

In this special issue of Adventist World, focusing on the very important three angels’ messages, you will find three heartfelt appeals 18

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from previous General Conference presidents. A similar theme runs through each—the need for revival and an understanding of our calling as Seventh-day Adventists.

As a Seventh-day Adventist, you are not just part of one of many denominations. You are part of a unique people group, outlined in Revelation 12:17, “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus,” which, as Revelation 19:10 indicates, “is the spirit of prophecy.”

Seventh-day Adventists are a people faithful to God’s Word and to His great mission entrusted to them.

But before we can proclaim God’s amazing angelic messages to the world, we must first be transformed by the Lord. That is why revival and reformation is so important.

A PROCLAIMER OF TRUTH

In the book of Isaiah we read about the call of Isaiah. God called Isaiah for a particular purpose, to intercede, to warn His people. And God is calling you, not as a prophet, but as a proclaimer of His truth.

When God called Isaiah, He gave him a vision of the throne room in heaven. “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple” (Isa. 6:1). Isaiah describes the amazing, awe-inspiring setting with a multitude of angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (verse 3). And the posts of the door were shaken and the “house was filled with smoke” (verse 4).

Isaiah was completely taken aback. Everything around him told of God’s glory and power, and he felt totally diminished. He felt sinful and inadequate.

“Woe is me,” he cried, “for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (verse 5).

The Lord understood Isaiah, just as He knows your heart and mine.

He knows exactly what you need, and if you are willing, He will take care of you even before you ask.

Humble yourself before the Lord and see His power in your life. Stay connected to Him through Bible study every day, and through the study of the Spirit of Prophecy, and He will bless you amazingly.

The Lord knew Isaiah was overwhelmed, and He sent an angel to the altar in the sanctuary. The angel took a coal from the altar, and figuratively touched Isaiah’s lips, representing the cleansing power of Jesus Christ. Symbolically, Isaiah’s sin was taken away, and Christ’s robe of righteousness placed over him. Then, through the power of God, his life began to change through God’s sanctifying process, empowered by the Holy Spirit and Christ’s righteousness.

The same thing can happen for you and me today.

Isaiah was thrilled because his sin was purged. He then heard the voice of the Lord calling, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (verse 8). Happily, Isaiah answered immediately, “Here am I! Send me” (verse 8).

GOD’S CALL TODAY

That same voice is calling you and me today. He is saying, “I want you to prepare for the Second Advent, and I want you to tell somebody else about it.” We are all sinners at the foot of the cross, in need of that coal of fire to cleanse our lips, to bring us into right relationship with Jesus, so that we can proclaim this message with Holy Spirit power! Pray for the latter rain of the Holy Spirit.

We are told, “Christ says of His people: ‘Ye are the light of the

world.’ . . . It is not a small matter that the counsels and plans of God have been so clearly opened to us. It is a wonderful privilege to be able to understand the will of God as revealed in the sure word of prophecy. This places on us a heavy responsibility. God expects us to impart to others the knowledge that He has given us. It is His purpose that divine and human instrumentalities shall unite in the proclamation of the warning message.”6 The time has come for us to become more serious than ever about the wonderful mission entrusted into our hands. Now is the time for Total Member Involvement. He calls you, just where you are, to be a light for Him. We know our spiritual experience will be tried to the fullest; don’t lean on anything else except on Jesus. He will take you through.

Just as He did for Isaiah, He will cleanse you and give you courage.

He will place within your heart and mouth a beautiful assertiveness to proclaim the message of the last days—the three angels’ messages and the love of Christ embodied in His righteousness, and the great news that Jesus is coming soon!

A WAKE-UP CALL

What we are seeing today is a wake-up call, urging us to look to God’s Word and be ready for what’s coming. The Holy Spirit will carry us through. The Three Angels’ Messages have at their very core the justifying and sanctifying righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that’s why the fourth angel of Revelation 18:1-4 is calling people out of Babylon, out of confusion and into the pure light of truth— biblical truth. Not some humanistic, philosophical, machination of interesting concepts. No. Into pure, biblical truth. Only the Word of God will stand to the end of time!

“There are stormy times before us, but let us not utter one word of unbelief or discouragement. Let us remember that we bear a message of healing to a world filled with sin sick souls.”7 That’s our message.

That’s our mission. “In the darkest days, when appearances seem most forbidding, fear not. Have faith in God. He knows your need.

He has all power.”8 Let us prepare for the end of time by leaning completely on Christ and His power, studying our Bibles and the Spirit of prophecy, and earnestly praying as we share the Three Angels’ Messages. The Lord will prepare us for what is to come and our role in it. “It is in a crisis that character is revealed. When the earnest voice proclaimed at midnight, ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,’ and the sleeping virgins were roused from their slumbers, it was seen who had made preparation for the event.”9 We are living in the last days.

Jesus is soon to come, and His voice rings out to you and me: “Who will go for Us?” Are you willing to say, “Lord, here I am!

Send me! I Will Go”?10 “The Great Reset,” Time, Nov. 2-9, 2020, https://time.com/ collection/great-reset/.

2 “Big companies Join Vatican-affiliated Council Pledging Inclusive Capitalism,” Fortune, Dec. 8, 2020, https://fortune.com/2020/12/08/ council-for-inclusive-capitalism-with-the-vatican/.

3 https://www.inclusivecapitalism.com.

4 “Big Companies Join Vatican-affiliated Council.”

5 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, p. 19.

6 Ibid.

7 Ellen G. White, Christian Service (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1925), p. 136.

8 Ibid., p. 107.

9 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900, 1941), p. 412.

10 For more on the I Will Go strategic plan, visit https://iwillgo2020.org.

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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.

Those familiar with prophecy recognize the times in which we live.

Feature

Three Angels Unleashed Feature

Laypeople and leaders team up in an unprecedented project to educate Adventists about the three angels’ messages.

“Three Angels” by Nathan Greene, ©1999, All Rights Reserved, Used By Permission. www.nathangreene.com

BY ANDREW MCCHESNEY

D

uring weekend hikes Rusty McKee, a vice president at McKee Food Corporation, often strikes up conversations with young people who look like they might study at Seventh-day Adventist schools.

“Hey, are you Seventh-day Adventist?” he asks on the wooded trails around his hometown of Collegedale, Tennessee.

When he hears an affirmative, he poses another question.

“Do Seventh-day Adventists consider themselves Protestant?”

Usually the young person nods.

“What are you protesting?”

McKee asks.

Silence.

“Do you believe 1 John 4:8, which says, ‘God is love’?” McKee persists.

The young person always gives a

resounding “Yes.” “Adventists have the three angels’ messages,” McKee says. “What are they, and how do they reveal God’s love even more?”

Silence.

McKee began taking the informal survey after learning on a 2015 backpacking trip that a young relative and his friends—even with more than eight years of Adventist education and a lifetime of church attendance—could not explain the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, the core of the Adventist Church’s mission. The results were no better on the hiking trails around Collegedale. Puzzled, he spoke with friends, then phoned another friend, Dan Houghton, president of Hart Research Center, a supporting Adventist ministry in California that

“This Is the Core of Who We Are” The General Conference president reflects on the three angels’ messages.

A brief interview with General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson about the three angels’ messages project.

What do you hope this project will accomplish?

The goal for the project is to get the three angels’ messages out to our church members and the public in the most powerful way possible. This is the core of who Seventh-day Adventists are, and the real core of the three angels’ messages is the righteousness of Christ, His justifying and sanctifying righteousness.

What is the significance of the three angels’ messages to the Adventist Church and to individual church members?

Church members are to be thoroughly acquainted with the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12 and the fourth angel of Revelation 18:1-4, calling people

develops evangelistic resources.

The 2018 phone call resulted in an unprecedented project to educate Adventists of all ages about the three angels’ messages, a love letter from Jesus that identifies the characteristics of the last-day remnant church and declares His imminent return.

The initiative aims to strengthen relationships with Christ, deepen understanding of the Adventist Church’s purpose in the last days of earth’s history, and encourage greater passion for mission.

The multipronged project, which has won support from the General Conference world church headquarters and the North American Division, includes: ■ a two-week curriculum for K-12 students.

out of Babylon and confusion into the marvelous light of God’s full truth. We are told that the books of Daniel and Revelation, which are so intricately linked in prophetic understanding, are to be well understood by Seventh-day Adventists. They can then share these precious messages in Total Member Involvement with Christian love and hope, bringing people to the foot of the cross, where they can understand from the sanctuary message that Christ’s intermediary work continues for them in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. All of this is closely tied into the three angels’ messages, helping people know that God is the Creator, that we need to turn away from false religious practices that constitute Babylon in mixing error with truth, and that we are to avoid the mark of the beast—false worship on a day other than the seventh-day Sabbath—and align ourselves with our Redeemer and His seal, observing and worshipping on the biblical seventh-day Sabbath, the sign of God’s creative power.

What a privilege to be part of God’s last-day Advent movement with its full understanding of prophetic truth and our role in helping share the three angels’ messages with Holy Spirit power. The 2022 General Conference Session’s theme is “Jesus Is Coming! Get Involved!” Get involved by sharing the three angels’ messages under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

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a 13-part video series by Mark Finley.

■ written sermon scripts with 1,200 new graphics that preachers can use for evangelistic meetings.

■ a book, a GLOW tract, and other printed materials.

Catching the enthusiasm of the lay-led initiative, the General Conference has commissioned the first-ever Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide dedicated to the three angels’ messages; embraced a three angels honor for Pathfinders; and formed a committee to enhance understanding of the three angels’ messages through apps, digital media, and a variety of other methods.

■

NO OTHER WORK SO IMPORTANT

“I hope to see every Seventh-day Adventist around the globe involved in sharing these precious

three angels’ messages about Christ and His righteousness and pointing people back to the true worship of God the Creator, Redeemer, High Priest, and coming King,” said Ted N. C. Wilson, president of the General Conference.

He noted that church cofounder Ellen White taught that Adventists’ greatest responsibility was to proclaim the three angels’ messages.

Citing her words, he said, “In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They

God Led Every Step of Curriculum Development Veteran educator wondered how to share three angels’ messages with kindergarteners.

Sandra Doran, a veteran Seventh-day Adventist educator, was intrigued when she was asked to develop a curriculum to teach the three angels’ messages to children from kindergarten through high school.

But she wondered whether it was possible. After all, how could she break down the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12 for a 5-year-old child?

Doran considered declining the project. With a doctorate in special education from Boston University, she had just invested her energies for 17 years as associate 22

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are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.”1 McKee said that he and other laypeople were motivated to act when they discovered the same Ellen White quotation and realized that the three angels’ messages were the main reason for the church’s existence.

“When we discovered the primary purpose our church exists, this set our hearts and minds on an action to educate church members, students, faculty, pastors, and leaders on this purpose and to provide tools to help them take action the way our Seventh-day Adventist movement did in the 1800s,” McKee said by e-mail.

Early Adventists shared a joyful expectation in Jesus’ soon return, and that passion needs to be rekindled, project leaders said.

“The three angels’ messages lift us from being simply another

superintendent of education for the Florida Conference and founding head of North Tampa Christian Academy, an innovative Seventh-day Adventist school start-up in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

That night, after praying, she slid into bed and fell asleep.

In the morning she woke up with a poem ringing in her head. The words flowed as she wrote.

“Three angels in the sky. Oh my! OH MY! OH MY!” she wrote. “Ready? Let’s begin the story. First angel: Give God the glory. He’s always fair and good and true. He’ll do what’s right for me and you.”

The poem became the text for Three Angels in the Sky, the first book in a curriculum being made available to K-12 church schools and homeschools at no cost in the 2020-2021 academic year. The curriculum is a key part of a larger three angels project financed by Seventh-day Adventist laypeople and supported by the Adventist world church to educate and inspire church members of all ages to share Jesus’ love letter of Revelation 14:6-12 that He is coming soon.

Doran didn’t know what to write after the initial poem, but she felt God was saying, “I’m going to help you along the way.” She agreed to develop the curriculum.

denomination to a prophetic movement of destiny, to a movement raised up by God to prepare the world for His soon return,” evangelist Mark Finley said by telephone.

“Each passing generation faces the challenge of a loss of that cutting-edge passion to see Jesus come, a loss of a general understanding of who we are as a people. The three angels help us understand who we are in light of eternity.”

Finley’s contributions to the project encompass 13 video presentations called Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final Conflict, which are available with downloadable study guides via Hope Channel, 3ABN television, and the websites HopeLives365. com and ThreeCosmicMessages. com. In addition, he authored the 212-page companion book, Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final

Conflict, with 13 chapters focusing on various aspects of the uniqueness of the three angels’ messages with application to people’s lives today.

The book is published jointly by Hart Books and the General Conference-owned Review and Herald Publishing Association. Finley also wrote the specially themed Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, scheduled for release in second quarter 2023. In addition, sermon scripts and accompanying graphics from Finley’s presentations have

“God made it very, very clear to me that I could do it,” Doran said. “But He never gave me everything at once.

He only gave me one chunk at a time.”

One chunk fell into place as Doran wrestled over content for a book for third- and fourth-grade students.

She wanted the book’s main character, a girl, to find her father facing a Sabbath conflict so students could understand the religious liberty issues that some people experience in keeping the fourth commandment. That night in bed Doran remembered that her husband, a pastor, had assisted a police officer in his church with a Sabbath problem three decades earlier.

You should use this case, she thought.

The next morning she asked her husband, Eric, “Do you remember 30 years ago when you had this police officer with a Sabbath problem in your congregation?”

Eric’s jaw dropped in shock.

“I haven’t accessed those files in 30 years,” he said.

“But yesterday I was going through my files and found it. I can give you everything right now.”

He went into his home office and returned moments later with a fat file containing newspaper clippings and other documents. Doran had the information that she needed for the book, Beth and the Trio of Angels.

Image: Hart Research Center

been prepared for pastors and lay members to use to present the messages themselves. Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) is also preparing a special version of Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final Conflict for sharing.

Dan Houghton, whose Hart Research Center is coordinating the project, voiced enthusiasm about the momentum that has grown as lay members have teamed up with General Conference leaders and supporting ministries, notably 3ABN,

A similar incident happened while preparing materials for the fifth and sixth grades. As she grappled to write 10 essays for the children, she remembered a trip to Russia to speak at a women’s retreat in 1996. While in Moscow, she had interviewed a woman named Natasha in hope of writing a book about her life. The book never materialized, but Doran recalled one of the stories that she had heard. Looking through her files, she found her handwritten notes from 1996 and wrote an essay titled, “A Dark Night in Russia.” God had given her the perfect story for the essay 24 years before she needed it.

Doran describes the unexpected surprises as miracles and confirmation that she made the right decision in accepting the position of curriculum and creative director at Three Angels for Kids, a unit of Adventist supporting ministry Hart Research Center that developed the school curriculum.

“Why did I take on this curriculum?” she asks. “Because God gave the assurance every step along the way that this is what He wanted me to do. Whenever I doubted myself or needed reassurance or felt that I didn’t know which direction to take, God would put it very clearly in my mind. . . . I am humbled. I feel that God has led through all of this.”

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which provided use of its production facilities to create the Finley series.

Such close cooperation is needed to finish the church’s mission of proclaiming the three angels’ messages, he said, pointing to another statement by Ellen White in the same volume: “The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church membership rally to the work

and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers.”2 Houghton is praying for big results for the lay-funded project.

“It’s the three angels’ messages as they haven’t been preached in several generations,” he said.

THREE ANGELS IN SCHOOLS

A crown jewel of the project is the K-12 curriculum developed by

Claiming the Adventist DNA Jewish children have the Shema; Adventists have the three angels’ messages.

A

rabbi approached the Roman Catholic priest overseeing an orphanage shortly after World War II. “Do you have any Jewish children in your orphanage?” the rabbi asked.

The priest shook his head. “We have no Jewish children here,” he said.

“Are you sure?” the rabbi asked. “What about their names?”

“They have Polish names,” the priest said. “We cannot tell the difference. There are no Jewish children here.”

The rabbi left the orphanage, but he had no intention of giving up. He was traveling across Europe in search of Jewish children, a number of whom had been sent to orphanages by desperate parents for shelter from Nazi forces.

As evangelist Mark Finley tells the story, the rabbi returned to the orphanage that night and received permission from the priest to walk through the quiet rooms.

As he walked, he began to sing the Shema, a Jewish prayer from Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one,” he sang in Hebrew.

As the sweet words pierced the still night, a 5-yearold child began to cry. “Mameh, Mameh,” she sobbed.

“Mama, Mama.”

A 9-year-old stirred in another bed. “Tatte, Tatte,” he wept. “Daddy, Daddy.”

Every Jewish child knows the Shema, Finley said. They are taught it from their earliest ages as part of family morning and evening worship. It’s part of their DNA. 24

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veteran Adventist educator Sandra Doran and endorsed by the North American Division’s Department of Education.

The curriculum, available online at no cost, is designed to be easily incorporated into church schools and homeschools and to progress in a developmentally appropriate manner, Doran said. Kindergarteners will learn the broad concept

As the children awoke and cried for their parents, the rabbi turned to the priest. “That’s one of mine,” he said.

“That’s one of mine. That’s one of mine.”

In telling the story, Finley asks: What is the Seventh-day Adventist DNA? What is it that makes Adventists unique? The answer, he says, is simple: It’s the three angels’ messages given in Revelation 14:6-12.

“One of the great challenges we face in the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the loss of our identity,” Finley said in an interview. “Adventists were raised in the 1840s as people who anticipated the coming of Christ. We were a movement of destiny, a movement of prophetic certainty, that was raised up by God to prepare the world for His return.”

The three angels’ messages are at the core of the Adventist identity, the Adventist DNA, he said. The messages identify the last-day remnant church as people who keep all of God’s commandments, including the fourth (to observe the seventh-day Sabbath), and have the testimony of Jesus, also known as the Spirit of Prophecy. The three angels’ messages are a love letter from Jesus containing an urgent appeal for the world to be prepared for His imminent return, because He doesn’t want anyone to be lost.

A desire for young Adventists to claim their DNA and share this love letter with the world is the reason Finley and others support a groundbreaking three angels project, which includes a K-12 curriculum, a 13-part evangelistic series, a new book and magazines, an Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, a Pathfinder honor, and more.

“Imagine every Seventh-day Adventist young person graduating from an Adventist school—eighth grade, academy, and college—and coming out with a passion for mission, a passion to share the three angels’ messages,” Finley said in announcing the beginnings of the project at an ASI convention in 2018. “That’s what this project is about.”

that God is always right, fair, and true. High school students will dive deeply into specific issues such as fairness, Sabbath observance, religious liberty, and the importance of making good spiritual decisions. The common theme running throughout the curriculum is: God is love.

“The entire curriculum is saturated with the love of God in

sending a three-point alert to people living just before He comes so they understand that He is coming, share what they know with others, draw closer to Jesus, and put their faith and trust in Him,” said Doran.

Doran emphasized that the two-week curriculum can be integrated effortlessly into a class, and not necessarily Bible class.

The materials for kindergarten and

the first and second grades, for example, include two storybooks and a watercolor book that can be used for art class.

“They make their own watercolor book,” Doran said. “We teach them how to be artists and to be proud that they can paint.”

Third and fourth graders read Beth and the Trio of Angels, a book about the adventures of a little girl

Three Angels Resources A quick guide to three angels’ messages resources and ways to access them All resources—including Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final Conflict, a 13-part video series by Mark Finley with study guides, and Mark Finley’s Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final Conflict written scripts for a 13-part evangelistic series with more than 1,200 new graphics—can be downloaded at:

threecosmicmessages.com Three Angels for Kids curriculum for K-8 homeschool teachers:

threeangelsforkids.com K-12 curriculum for church school teachers:

adventisteducation.org Mark Finley’s 212-page book Three Cosmic Messages: Earth’s Final Conflict, with 13 chapters that focus on various aspects of the uniqueness of the three angels’ messages with application to people’s lives today.

Download the ebook on Amazon, buy the book online or at a Adventist Book Center.

Images: Hart Research Center

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that Doran wrote at three different reading levels. All three versions are available so that teachers can use them in a multigrade classroom if needed. In addition to Bible class, the book could be used in reading class.

“The book teaches children how to read,” Doran said.

Three reading levels are also available for the 10 essays that Doran prepared for fifth and sixth graders.

The essays aim to teach children how to write. In one assignment,

students read an essay about a horse-judging contest and the reality that a horse can be rejected for a single mistake. Then students read an essay from Ellen White’s book The Acts of the Apostles about how God’s sacrifice for humanity, not human perfection, is the deciding factor on judgment day. Students are then asked to write about how God’s judgment differs from the judging that takes place on earth. “With that assignment, the teacher has taught

Getting the Resources in Different Languages The resources developed to highlight the message of the three angels of Revelation are currently only offered in English, but it is anticipated that they will also be available in other languages in the near future.

■ A translation protocol and system has been set up to make the Preach It version of the “Three Cosmic Messages” available to approved translators working on the script and of the PowerPoint slides and sermon notes.

■ Both the companion book and the magazines are offered to Adventist publishing houses around the world for translation and distribution agreements.

■ Local divisions and unions are encouraged to work on translations needed for their territories, as well as produce their own material that is contextualized to their specific cultural realities.

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the first angel’s message about the judgment hour,” said Doran.

An interactive notebook/journal teaches the three angels’ messages to seventh- and eighth-grade students, while five micro units are available for high school students, including an honors Bible course in which they preach evangelistic meetings based on Finley’s Three Cosmic Messages series.

North American Division president G. Alexander Bryant has thrown his support behind the K-12 curriculum, which is available on the division’s website. “I am amazed with these wonderful tools God has created to reach millions of people in this unique period of time in which we live.

God will use this curriculum in our schools to give our youth a great understanding of Jesus as found in the messages of the three angels in Revelation 14 that will inspire them to be wonderful ambassadors for His cause.”

Arne Nielsen, vice president for education at the North American Division, described the K-12 curriculum as “an invaluable resource for both students and teachers.”

NAD’s Take on the Three Angels’ Messages in Schools Two education leaders weigh in on the new curriculum.

A short conversation about the three angels curriculum with Lisa Standish, North American Division (NAD) director of elementary education and curriculum development, and Stephen Bralley, NAD director of secondary education and accreditation.

He also praised the curriculum’s crossover value, noting that it could be used to support subjects such as history, English, and science, and said it respects Ellen White’s counsel: “It is the work of true education . . . to train the youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men’s thought.”3 “This curriculum provides our students the opportunity for reflection, critical thinking, and opportunity to share with others as they become disciple makers,” he said.

With the three angels project, the day may come that McKee no longer hears silence when he asks young hikers to define the three angels’ messages and explain how they reveal God’s love. “Every Seventh-day Adventist should be asking themselves and their Adventist friends these same questions,” he said.

Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, p. 19.

2 Ibid., p. 117.

3 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903, 1952), p. 17.

1

Andrew McChesney serves as editor of Adventist Mission.

What advice would you give NAD teachers and homeschool teachers about this curriculum?

LS: The three angels curriculum has been adopted by the NAD’s Curriculum Committee as a distinctly Adventist resource that is easy to use, promotes rigorous learning, and dovetails with our Encounter Bible curriculum. Teachers or homeschool parents could use the three angels’ lessons for their Fun Fridays, as a unit before Christmas or spring break, or as part of their language arts program. It’s easy to use and comes with all the resources necessary to teach the unit.

SB: The NAD’s education department is always adding resources and additional support for the core curriculum it offers. This is a wonderful addition to Encounter. It aligns and affirms the growth of understanding in the nature and purpose of God for His followers. The curriculum was designed to be flexible and to provide teachers with plenty of options for using the material. It can be used in direct conjunction with Encounter lessons, as stand-alone pre- or post-lessons, or as bridge units before moving into the next lesson.

Why have you embraced and endorsed this curriculum?

LS: The NAD is committed to provide distinctly Adventist resources that promote our mission and vision for Adventist schools. We want our young people to have an ongoing and authentic relationship with Jesus. This curriculum engages students in the biblical message and promotes faith and learning in a creative and student-centered unit.

SB: For all the reasons listed in the first answer. It offers additional resources for teachers; it affirms our beliefs and reinforces their importance; and it provides intentional flexibility of the material for the teacher.

What is your goal for this program?

SB: Teachers are always looking for resources when they create and adapt their daily lessons. Our intent is to provide high-value material for teachers to use.

Anything you would like to add?

LS: The elementary and middle school units are specifically designed to complement the language arts. Students are engaged in an integrated unit based on the three angels’ messages. Students will be engaged in art, history, reading, writing, and math. Each level is developmentally appropriate and highly engaging.

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What Happens in Las Vegas

M “May I Tell You a Story?”

BY DICK DUERKSEN

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onte’s plane was to leave from the Las Vegas airport terminal at 3:30 p.m. With the COVID-19 restrictions, the mass of travelers waiting to fly, and the intense Vegas traffic, he was determined to be early. Way early.

Being early is especially difficult because the rental car return center is about three miles from the airport.

“Be here at least two hours early,” the sign said. Monte obeyed, arrived three hours early, gave his black Nissan SUV rental back to the kind folk at the rental counter, and settled into the airport shuttle bus. He was relieved and pleased to have made it on time.

It had been a good trip, not to the city of Las Vegas, but to the mountains beyond where he had been recording a new gospel video series for Native American people, encouraging them to trust God for answers on how to live in this lost world.

Now his focus was no longer on the programs. Now he was thinking about finding the right counter, checking his luggage, moving successfully through

the security checkpoint, and boarding the plane. On time!

When he got to the counter to check in his luggage, he reached for his driver’s license and felt terror grab his heart. His wallet was missing.

“I had to find the wallet. It had US$300 in it, and all my credit cards! I had to find it! I searched through all my luggage, and then remembered that I had put my wallet in the glove compartment of the rental car! Oh, no!” *** The airline attendant used his passport to check in his luggage and issue him a boarding pass. “You have an hour and 40 minutes,” she said. “That gives you time to get back on the rental bus and see what you can do.”

Monte sprinted to the curb and waited impatiently for the rental car shuttle bus. When it came, it took forever to disgorge passengers, load new passengers, pack in the luggage, and move off toward the rental cars with the speed of a very tired snail. When the shuttle finally arrived at Avis, Monte managed Photo: Skitterphoto

to be the first person off the bus.

“You know how it is when you’re in a hurry?” Monte is getting anxious just talking about the experience. “There are always 10 people ahead of you!”

One of the clerks saw his look of distress and asked if she could help.

“I have a big problem. I left my wallet in the glove compartment of my rental car,” Monte said, with the voice of a desperate man. “And I can’t miss my flight.”

“What kind of car was it?” she asked.

“It was a black SUV. A Nissan, I think.”

“That’s not much help. We run about 300 cars through here every hour,” she frowned, “and yours has probably already been washed and put away. I probably can’t look through all of them fast enough to help you.”

Her words hung in the air with finality. Monte was going to miss his flight.

With that, she dashed to one of the rental cars. “This is going to be difficult,” she told Monte as she climbed into the car, tossing the words over her shoulder, unwilling to offer any hope. She then sped off toward the car wash and cleaning facility.

Monte stood on the curb, waiting slowly for the clerk to return. He understood “difficult,” and was already twisting the unacceptable result in his mind. *** When she returned, she rolled down the window and asked if there was anything unique about his rental SUV. “I think it had Arizona plates, but I’m not even sure about that,” Monte replied.

“I’ve checked more than a dozen black Nissan SUVs during the past hour, and yours may already have been sent out with a new customer.” She was frowning again.

“It was just a plain black Nissan SUV,” Monte said, running through pictures in his mind. “And I put the wallet in the glove compartment, not between the seats.”

Surprisingly, she said, “I’ll try again,” and sped off the second time to where the cars were stored.

“As she drove away, I remembered to pray,” recalls Monte. “I’d spent all week presenting programs that explained how we can talk to God about everything

in our lives, even the small things. But I had been so busy trying to solve this problem myself that I had forgotten to ask God to help me with this situation.”

His prayer was simple and direct, beginning with an apology.

“I’m sorry, God. I should have come to You first, rather than dashing around trying to fix this on my own. I’ve done everything I can; now I’m putting this all in Your hands. There’s a kind woman running from SUV to SUV searching for the wallet I forgot. It’s important for me to be on this flight, and since I have my passport ID, I will be able to get home.

But if it can be according to Your will, please help her find it quickly. And whatever You decide, I’ll live with the result.”

His prayer erased his stress, relaxed his muscles, and replaced his frown with a smile. The problem was in God’s hands, and whatever God chose to do about the wallet would be OK with Monte.

He waited, trying to slow down his watch. Finally, only 45 minutes before his gate boarding time, the clerk came squealing up in her car.

“I thought you’d be happy to receive this,” she said as she handed him his intact wallet.

Her words stopped Monte’s heart.

That’s what God always says, he thought.

We cannot do anything to earn His gift of salvation. All we can do is receive it.

Monte humbly thanked her and dashed to the waiting shuttle bus, which left for the terminal immediately, finding only green lights on the way. The airport security line was a breeze, and moments later Monte was listening to a flight attendant give takeoff instructions from his seat in row 24C. Actually, Monte didn’t hear a word the attendant was saying. He was sending prayers of thanksgiving to the God who loves for us to ask for help. Praising the Lord who teaches us to trust Him for the answers we can “only receive” from Him. “You see,” Monte says, “Even what happens in Vegas matters to God.”

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 Hong, Myung Kwan Adventist World Coordinating Committee Si Young Kim, chair; Yukata Inada; Joel Tompkins; Hong, Myung Kwan; 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, Wilona Karimabadi, Dixil Rodríguez Editors based in Seoul, Korea Hong, Myung Kwan; Park, Jae Man; Kim, Hyo-Jun Digital Platforms Director Gabriel Begle Operations Manager Merle Poirier Editorial Assessment Coordinator Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste Editors-at-Large/Advisors Mark A. Finley, John M. Fowler, E. Edward Zinke Financial Manager Kimberly Brown Distribution Coordinator Sharon Tennyson Management Board Si Young Kim, chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Hong, Myung Kwan; Karnik Doukmetzian; Han, Suk Hee; Yutaka Inada; Gerald A. Klingbeil; Joel Tompkins; 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 © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. 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.® Used by permission.

All rights reserved worldwide.

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

Vol. 17, No. 3

Dick Duerksen, a pastor and storyteller, lives in Portland, Oregon, United States.

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Millennial Voices

Two by Two H

ave you ever seen how children approach each other and ask, “Do you want to be friends?”

Some of the best friendships start with this simple question.

The disciples had seen Jesus work many miracles and had an idea of how He interacted with people. Apparently, they were now ready to go on their own. Jesus commanded them to go before Him, preparing the way for the places He would visit, going “two by two” (Luke 10:1).

They were going to face many dangers, and Jesus gave them advice that is still relevant for us today.

Jesus told them not to go alone. They would go two by two. They would be able to support each other as they shared the good news with those they met. They would point their listeners to their Master.

Jesus did many amazing miracles while on earth.

He continues to work in our world through His Spirit. We have seen Him work among us, giving us strength in difficult and bewildering times.

We, too, have been commanded to go and share the good news; and we have discovered many different ways of doing this, especially during lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and a raging pandemic.

No matter how isolated we may be, however, we are never alone. It’s interesting to notice that Jesus sent them two by two.

Ellen White tells us that one of His purposes for this mission was to show His unchanging love for the people of Samaria.* Jesus had dedicated time to help a number of Samaritans in His ministry, and now the fruits were about to be seen.

Although we may not walk those specific roads today, we are still called to go before Him and show His love to those who are often

We can start doing so by following His method and going two by two.

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overlooked and forgotten or even hated.

We can start doing so by following His method and going two by two.

I remember how encouraging it was to visit people in their houses with one of my friends to give Bible studies. When one of us felt tired, the other spoke more. Meanwhile the other sat silently and prayed for the right words and the working of the Holy Spirit. When we felt discouraged or encountered rejection or indifference, it was easier to share the burden and to overcome things together.

I used to wake up very early once a week to visit a friend to pray together about some of the challenges and struggles we or others in our friendship circle were facing.

With a different friend I shared a prayer ministry for various projects in the 10-40 window.

Another friend and I enjoyed reading something every Sabbath, right before sunset, and singing a couple of hymns.

We had started that “tradition” when we were much younger.

I have belonged to small Bible study groups that met every week. Each group had a different study focus. One studied Bible prophecies; another read The Desire of Ages; and with the third group we focused on the Gospel of John. We also enjoyed developing mission projects for our own community.

There are many ways in which we can enjoy fellowship, even long distance or online, and go before Him two by two.

Why don’t you approach one of your friends this month and ask him or her: “Do you want to be missionary partners?” *See Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), pp. 485-496.

Carolina Ramos studies translation, English teaching, and music education at River Plate Adventist University in Argentina.

Devotional

The Lunchbox We were made for more.

Photo: Jovanmandic / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images

S

ometimes I am reminded of a moment in my life when a lesson was learned. I remember an event, a story, that taught me something valuable that I still honor today. We often learn the most valuable lessons by being part of the story that teaches the lesson.

Growing up in the Caribbean, I attended an Adventist elementary school in Puerto Rico. The small school did not have a cafeteria. Every child had two options: go home for lunch or bring your lunch to school.

Every morning my mother prepared lunch for me and packed it in a lunchbox that I would carry to school.

As a shy child I ate alone and soon noticed that some children did not have a lunchbox and did not go home for lunch. Instead, they played outside during the lunch hour. In the middle of the school year a new student arrived. She always remained alone, coloring during the lunch hour. One day I sat next to her, and midmorning I heard a loud sound: a stomach growl. I looked at the girl and saw her turn away, embarrassed, as she squeezed her stomach, trying to make the growling stop. She was hungry. Looking at my lunchbox made me aware of what she did not have. From that day forward I shared my lunch with her.

I have revisited that experience quite often during the past several months as I see people go hungry in my own neighborhood. The pandemic has left many without resources for food. Lunchboxes are empty, and stomachs are growling. What there is of time and resources must be shared. A friend mentioned the necessity for volunteers to help in an assembly line of food distribution for a hungry community in southern California, United States. I volunteered.

The day had an early start. Standing behind different tables, volunteers transformed a parking lot into a food bank. The completed boxes were delivered to vehicles driving up or handed to individuals ready to carry the precious items on their shoulders. As people and cars began to fill the parking lot, the volunteers repeated their greetings and questions: “How many people live with you? Do you have children?”

These questions helped determine what other items would go into the food boxes: additional fresh vegetables, juice, milk, and more.

As we packed boxes, the volunteer next to me sang. From under the mask she wore, the lyrics of the song were clear: “Loaves and fishes, dear God, feed Your people with loaves and fishes and bless us . . .” I was not familiar with the song, but I recognized that somehow God had placed

an experience in her life that helped her recall a lesson learned: love one another; know who will care for you in this hour.

Loaves and fishes. The lunchbox we cannot forget. There is care and compassion demonstrated in that meal. These are lessons to be taught for generations.

Scripture describes Jesus’ sensitivity to the crowd’s needs and His ability and willingness to provide sustenance and set a precedence for future service to one another: “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’

But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (John 6:5, 6).

Jesus already knew. We had to be taught. Now we know.

There is a necessity to help one another. There is a necessity to be aware of one another’s needs. There is a necessity for compassion toward one another.

Showing kindness to others begins with being aware of their needs. As Christians, in a time of physical and spiritual hunger, we are called to remember; we are called to participate and share the lessons given to us. “Loaves and fishes, dear God, feed Your people with loaves and fishes that You bless . . .”

Dixil Rodríguez recently joined Adventist World as an assistant editor after serving as a university professor and hospital chaplain.

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April 3, 2021 July 3, 2021 October 2, 2021 January 2, 2022

WORLD CHURCH DAYS OF PRAYER AND FASTING

Find the program materials at revivalandreformation.org/prayerdays