The International Paper for Seventh-day Adventists
O c tob e r 2 01 7
A eformation
Journey
O c tob e r 2017
C O V E R
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The Sanctuary: Above and Beyond 1 2 By Sylvia and Werner Renz
F E AT U R E
D E V O T I O N A L
Back to Basics
By Gerald A. Klingbeil We remember the debt we owe to those who sparked the Reformation.
19 Assurance of Salvation
By Jirˇí Moskala
It‘s called salvation by faith for a reason.
21 A Memorandum of Reformanda
By Justin Kim
You can‘t unring a bell.
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By Ted N. C. Wilson
It‘s all about the Scriptures.
F U N D A M E N T A L B E L I E F S “The Fountain of Every Good”
1 4 By Lazlo Gallusz
How the Reformation replaced despair with hope
2 2 Elements of Successful Education D I S C O V E R I N G T H E S P I R I T O F P R O P H E C Y
By Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy
The world’s best practices are outlined in Ellen White’s counsel.
W O R L D V I S T A Personal Conscience and the Reformation
Part of the gospel is God setting everything right.
Celebrates 10 Years 2 4 GLOW By Caron Oswald
A D V E N T I S T
L I F E
A simple tool makes it easy for giving light to our world.
D E PA RT M E N T S 3 W O R L D
R E P O R T
10 FastChat
B I B L E 26
Q U E S T I O N S A N S W E R E D
Strangers & Pilgrims
11 W O R L D H E A L T H Brushing and Flossing
27 B I B L E S T U D Y Incomparable Christ 28
I D E A
E X C H A N G E
www.adventistworld.org Available in 10 languages online Registration Date: June 21, 2005; Registration Number: Kyonggi La 50054; Issue: October 2017. Serial Number: 143; Publisher: Lee, Jairyong, Northern Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, 5th floor Samhee Plaza, 66 Juyeop-dong Ilsan Seo-gu Goyang City Gyeonggi-do, Korea; Phone Number: 031-910-1500; Editor: Chun, Pyung Duk; Printer: Korean Publishing House; Date of Issue: October 1, 2017; This magazine is edited by the Adventist World editorial team headed by Bill Knott according to the license contract and printed in Korea for free distribution throughout Asia.
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Adventist World | October 2017
C O V E R
I M A G E :
G E R A L D
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K L I N G B E I L
The Personal Reformation ur human fondness for anniversaries is matched by only one other thing: our habit of focusing on the external features of the event we are remembering. From shoeboxes and old archives, we resurrect photos of the bride and groom 40, 50, even 60 years ago, and remark with smiles how young they looked, and how the clothing styles have changed. Our graduation photos similarly remind us mostly of where the ceremony was held, the oddity of mortarboards perched on long-gone hairstyles, and, again, how young we looked. When we tell the stories of the past, we inevitably retrieve the least essential elements—the horse-drawn wagons in which they rode; the stovepipe hats that some men wore; the hammer that drove Luther’s nails into a chapel door. At the core of all these stories, though, was a substantial, even sacred, human moment—the commitment of a man and a woman to share a life of love and faithfulness; the covenant of a graduate to use the knowledge acquired in service to the world; the pledge of one individual to live the truth and freedom of the gospel against all odds, just because the Bible teaches it. Our rightful celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, highlighted throughout this edition of Adventist World, ought never miss the personal and life-changing truths of which Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Knox reminded us. It is the relationship between you and the Father—your trust in the salvation accomplished by Jesus; your reliance on His merits as your promise of eternal life—that make the Reformation worth celebrating. At the end of the story, the big, world-changing, and political parts of the story will fade away. There will only be a story about what you thought of Jesus, and how you trusted in Him to save you, to make you new, and to bring you home to live with Him.
WORLD REPORT By Marcos Paseggi, Adventist World
What Theistic Evolution Says About
God
Faith and Science Conference explores biblical creation. P I E T E R D A M S T E E G T / N O R T H A M E R I C A N D I V I S I O N
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Conference participants listen to presentations on the first full day of the Faith and Science Conference in St. George, Utah, United States.
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ore than 330 Seventh-day Adventist science teachers and ministerial leaders in the North American Division (NAD) were in St. George, Utah, United States, for a region-wide Faith and Science Conference, which kicked off July 6, 2017. The event carried the theme “Affirming Creation,” and was sponsored by the NAD Office of Education, the world church’s Faith and Science Council, and the Geoscience Research Institute (GRI). The conference explored the biblical, theological, and philosophical issues that shape Adventists’ understanding of origins, as well as the problems and answers that specific scientific disciplines present to a biblical understanding of earth history. One of the Adventist scientists participating in the conference was Leonard Brand, a professor of biology and paleontology at Loma Linda University. Brand, a seasoned scholar, has researched the processes of fossilization and the geological factors that influence the preservation of fossils. Despite his impressive professional record, which includes dozens of peer-reviewed articles and several books, he explained difficult concepts in a way that appeals to all listeners. It’s Either/Or
Brand shared why geological time is important for a biblical-based understanding of origins. “There are two ways,” Brand said. “Either we believe in the biblical story of a recent literal creation, or we accept evolutionary periods described in millions of years.” Continued on next page
October 2017 | Adventist World
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A Tale of Two Dog Owners
“There is a wolf in the neighborhood, and this wolf sets out to kill dogs,” Brand said. “But the first owner says, ‘I will raise a lot of puppies. Many will suffer and die, but the strongest will survive.’ “The second dog owner chooses a different path,” Brand continued. “He puts in a fence and teaches his dogs to stay inside the fence. When one jumps over the fence, he runs and fights the wolf to save his dog. He gets beaten badly, but saves the dog.” It is a parable of two stories about creation, Brand said. “In theistic evolution, suffering is part of God’s plan to create,” he said. “Death is part of God’s plan to create. Evil is the way it is, and there is no way around it: God is responsible for evil.” The key question is to determine whether we have enough elements to choose one system over the other, said Brand. n
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Adventist World | October 2017
I S I T
Brand made clear that both proposals ultimately demand faith. Secular scientists, Brand explained, take many things for granted. “They say, ‘This is the way it is, and this is the way it must be,’ ” he said. The creationist advantage? “We can compare and contrast both assumptions, and make an informed decision,” he said. Many Christians say they affirm the Bible, but embrace theistic evolution, the belief that God used processes described by evolutionist theorists to fashion His creation. Combining the two, however, is not only a matter of biology and geology, since it also affects our understanding of God’s character, said Brand. To illustrate why accepting theistic evolution affects how we see God, Brand shared a parable.
W R I T T E N
WORLD REPORT
John Bradshaw, speaker/director for It Is Written, is surrounded by church and community leaders at the groundbreaking of its new ministry headquarters.
By Annalyse Hasty, It Is Written
It Is Written Breaks Ground for New Headquarters
Building will include office, studio, and mission museum.
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groundbreaking ceremony for the new It Is Written ministry headquarters was held on July 10, 2017. More than 300 attended the event that took place in Collegedale, Tennessee, United States. The ceremony featured It Is Written representatives; local government and business leaders; and Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders, including North American Division (NAD) president Dan Jackson, NAD vice president of media Gordon Pifher, Georgia-Cumberland Conference resident Ed Wright, and Collegedale mayor Katie Lamb. Guest speakers welcomed the ministry to Collegedale. Ben Wygal, assistant to the president of Southern Adventist University, said that It Is Written “brings a legacy of providing hope and life to millions of people around the world; and now that’s centered right here in Collegedale.”
During the event It Is Written speaker/director John Bradshaw shared the ministry’s history of innovative media ministry, and explained how the new ministry headquarters would enable more people to be reached with the gospel. Originally headquartered in California, the 61-year-old media ministry moved to Tennessee in 2014, and has been leasing office and warehouse space in Chattanooga. In 2016 It Is Written selected the nearly nine-acre property in Collegedale as its permanent location because of its proximity to Southern Adventist University, a strong partner of the ministry. The two-story building will be 40,905 square feet and include office, studio, and warehouse space. The new ministry headquarters will also house a fitness center, resource shop, and mission museum. n
With Brand Change
Asian Aid USA becomes Child Impact International
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Impact International. “This is part of a bold new growth strategy to meet the needs of thousands of needy and poor children and to give urgently needed support to Adventist mission schools,” wrote the organization CEO Jim Rennie in an official communication in which he announced the name change. The board, staffing, office location, and policies stay the same, said organization leaders. But it is expected the new name will bolster implementation of ongoing and future projects. “[We believe] Child Impact Inter-
i Man, a school-age boy in Myanmar, lost his father recently. With no income from his mother, both risked starving. But now Ti Man attends a Seventh-day Adventist mission school, where he also gets food every day, thanks to Asian Aid USA (AAUSA), a supporting ministry of the church that has educated tens of thousands of children in mission schools for more than 50 years. Asian Aid USA recently announced a brand change. The charity organization based in Ooltewah, Tennessee, United States, became Child
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
Benefitting Children Goes Global
I M PA C T
Organization
C H I L D
By Marcos Paseggi, Adventist World
Child Impact International (formerly Asian Aid USA) is a donor-based supporting ministry that provides food and education to children in several countries of the world.
national will allow our organization to grow,” said John Truscott, chair of Child Impact International. “It will give momentum to help thousands of new needy children.” The organization sponsors more than 3,500 children in Adventist mission schools in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, according to the charity leaders. It also sponsors a school for those who are blind, a school for those who are deaf, and four orphanages, all run by the church. Other projects include serving slum schools, opposing child trafficking, and developing Adventist mission schools. n
By Inter-European Division News and Adventist World
ADRA Germany Director Named
A D R A
G E R M A N Y
Humanitarian Alliance Chair
Christian Molke, director of ADRA Germany, was recently named chair of Together for Africa, a consortium of nonprofits that seek to improve living conditions throughout Africa.
Christian Molke will lead relief organizations focused on Africa.
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DRA Germany, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, recently reported that Christian Molke, ADRA managing director, was elected as chair of Together for Africa, the registered volunteers’ alliance of relief organizations. Molke’s election as board chair took place at the general
meeting of the relief organization in June 2017. Together for Africa is an umbrella organization coordinating the efforts of more than 20 charities focused on assisting the African continent, including ADRA Germany. Its mission is to improve living conditions. Continued on next page
October 2017 | Adventist World
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WORLD REPORT Together for Africa
“Europe is perceived as prejudiced toward Africa, which is neither fair nor true,” said Molke after being informed of the results of the election. “Together for Africa has an important role for people in Germany.” Molke explained that this alliance is making its best efforts to change that perception. “We are looking forward [to share] a balanced view of this great continent,” he said. “Here the volunteer activity reaches the core mission of ADRA Germany, and it is clear to me that this task can be better achieved only [if we work] together with other organizations.”
Together for Africa works through 20 relief organizations, using campaigns, events, donations, and educational initiatives to draw attention to Africa’s current conditions and opportunities. All participating organizations, including ADRA Germany, Johanniter Accident Assistance, UNO Refugee Aid, and Islamic Relief Germany, are committed to improving living conditions in Africa. ADRA Germany, based in Weiterstadt, is focusing most of its efforts on the famine in East Africa, reported the agency, which is part of ADRA Inter-
By Tatiane Virmes, South American News Agency
New Adventist Film Produced in
Amazon Jungle
S O U T H
A M E R I C A N
N E W S
A G E N C Y
Movie will be used as a missionary tool.
Members of the production team meet to discuss the new outreach film set to be filmed in the Amazon jungles of north Brazil.
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n July 2017 the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America launched production of a new medium-length film that is slated to be released in March, just before Easter Week 2018. The Libertos audiovisual production is using locations in the Amazon forest in northern Brazil. The new, half-length film will be part of the Adventist Church’s mission, promoting strategies around a time that people in many Christian countries remember Christ’s sacrifice and are particularly open to the gospel. “This new production will be different from . . . the film we premiered
national, the global humanitarian organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Specifically, ADRA Germany has been focused on managing nutritional projects in South Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia, among other initiatives on the continent. ADRA International delivers relief and development assistance to individuals in more than 130 countries, regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation, or religious association. The organization often partners with communities, organizations, and governments in development and relief initiatives. n
in 2017,” said film general director Jefferson Nali. “Its purpose, however, will be the same: to impact lives.” On July 16, participants in the production of the film attended their first general meeting, which allowed the members of the group to get acquainted and get briefed on the specifics of the filming process. “Professional actors cast to be part of the production were asked to read The Story of Redemption, and some chapters of The Desire of Ages,” said film writer Luciana Costa, referring to two of the dozens of books written by Adventist Church cofounder Ellen G. White. Those books present important aspects of God’s redemptive plan from a biblical perspective and elaborate on Jesus’ ministry on earth on behalf of humanity. The Portuguese version of The Rescue has been viewed more than 600,000 times on the official YouTube channel of the Adventist Church in South America. Nali spoke about the prospects for the new film: “Our team’s expectations are to improve on the results of the previous film,” he said. n
More Than
1,000 Receive
By Teresa Costello, Southern Asia-Pacific Division and Adventist News Network
Free Medical Care
Adventist churches in Cambodia get impressive response.
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dventists from the Battambang Seventh-day Adventist Church in northwest Cambodia offered free medical care to more than 1,000 people during five days in partnership with a medical team from Loma Linda University, in California, United States. Seven doctors, two nurses, and four medical students, along with local church members, set up a clinic in the Battambang church from May 29 to June 2, 2017. They were overwhelmed by the first day’s crowd. The response from the community was so great that they couldn’t accommodate everyone, and had to send people away. Organizers originally wanted to hold clinics in rural areas near Battambang. However, approval had not yet been received from the local government by the first day of operation. So people flocked to the main church clinic. For some it was the first time they had received professional medical care. The Adventists prayed that God would enable them to open the rural clinics. The next day they learned that the long-awaited approval had come through. They quickly opened rural clinics in small Adventist churches and at an Adventist English literacy school. Like the clinic at the church, the rural clinics had waiting lines when
the teams arrived. On the final day, so many people didn’t want to miss their last chance for medical care that the team saw almost double the number of patients. “It is only by God’s grace that many patients were able to be treated,” said M. C. Shin, a missionary in northwest Cambodia. “It rained heavily, and the entrance to the church flooded. . . . [But] with muddy feet and clothes, everyone worked hard to give their very best care to all patients . . . [and even] left later than their anticipated departure time to provide for the patients.” In addition to the onsite medical care, the Loma Linda team also provided funding for church leaders and members to offer follow-up care in the form of visits, blood pressure and diabetes screenings, and transportation to the nearest medical facility, if needed. Thousands of dollars’ worth of medicine provided by the team was distributed at the clinics with the permission of the local Department of Health. Shin and other Adventists dream of operating a clinic at the Battambang Urban Center of Influence, slated to open soon. They hope to offer a mobile clinic, but still need a volunteer doctor and/or medical nurse willing to serve in this predominantly Buddhist area.
Although construction of the center is ongoing, music and English language classes have been launched bringing positive community feedback. Church attendance has increased to the point that the small church building is inadequate. Leaders and members alike pray they can soon offer a reading center, operate an organic farm, have a health food industry, and even open a college. These dreams need volunteers willing to serve in both short-term and longterm capacities. While they wait for missionminded volunteers to join them, church members visit those who are sick and gather their contact information so that they can notify them when the clinic opens. They also refer them to available medical care in the area. “Our prayer and goal is not only to be able to provide spiritual healing, but also to give physical, tangible help to our communities . . . to share Jesus’ love,” said Shin. “We praise God for all the precious people we were able to touch. God did not send resources to help the poor and needy, but Jesus came Himself to touch and heal the sick,” he said. “As we . . . touched the sick and needy, we were drawn to Jesus and saw Jesus in the eyes of the sick and poor. . . . It was truly humbling to be a part of this work.” n
October 2017 | Adventist World
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V I S T A
Two Central Beliefs
Going against the prevalent teachings of the time, Luther’s two central beliefs from which he argued were: 1. Sola scriptura: the Bible alone is the sole rule of faith and practice. 2. Human beings are saved by faith, not by works. So strong was Martin Luther’s belief in the importance of Scripture—and the necessity of having it accessible to everyone—that in less than 11 weeks, while hidden away inside Wartburg Castle, he translated the New Testament into the common German language. The language for-
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F E R D I N A N D
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ot long ago I had the privilege of standing in front of the Wittenberg Castle in Germany, where 500 years ago this month Martin Luther began a mighty Reformation by nailing his earthshaking document to the door of this church. The original doors no longer stand, but the Reformation that started on October 31, 1517, is alive today, half a millennium later. When Luther posted his “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” (the “95 theses”), his intention was to start an academic debate, not a revolution. The document begins humbly: “Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”1
W I L L E M
PA U W E L S
W O R L D
By Ted N. C. Wilson
Personal Conscience and the
Reformation
Bound by God’s Word
mulation he used paved the way for the commonly used version of today’s German language Bible. The power and strength of the Reformation brought people back to simple, yet profound, Bible truth. Taking the clear meaning of Scripture, Martin Luther was able to teach these Bible truths clearly and eloquently. Luther embraced sola scriptura, finding that Scripture itself is self-authenticating, is clear to rational readers, serves as its own interpreter, and is sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine.2 In the book The Great Controversy Ellen White comments that Martin Luther’s teachings “struck at the very foundation of papal supremacy. They contained the vital principle of the Reformation.”3 Sola Scriptura or Prima Scriptura?
Later, another doctrine, known as prima scriptura, entered some Protes-
tant churches. This doctrine teaches that “while scripture is not the sole rule of faith in the church, it is the primary authority. It refers to the primacy of scripture, or that scripture is primary among traditions and ecclesiastical decisions, although those also carry some authority alongside scripture.”4 As good as prima scriptura may sound, it goes against the principles of the Reformation because it does not always place God’s Word as the final authority, above tradition or church teachings. Commenting on Luther’s stand on the Bible alone, Ellen White wrote, “Luther saw the danger of exalting human theories above the Word of God. He fearlessly attacked the speculative infidelity of the schoolmen and opposed the philosophy and theology which had so long held a controlling influence upon the people. He denounced such studies as not only worthless but pernicious, and sought
Martin Luther allowed Scripture to inform his conscience and his actions. So must we. to turn the minds of his hearers from the sophistries of philosophers and theologians to the eternal truths set forth by prophets and apostles.”5 Those who embrace sola scriptura and scriptural methods of Bible study are sometimes mischaracterized as naive, ill-informed, and closedminded by those who view the Bible as a human book and use critical methods of studying it. As explained in the official document “Methods of Bible Study,” voted by the members of the General Conference Executive Committee of Seventh-day Adventists: “As it is impossible for those who do not accept Christ’s divinity to understand the purpose of His incarnation, it is also impossible for those who see the Bible merely as a human book to understand its message, however careful and rigorous their methods. “Even Christian scholars who accept the divine-human nature of Scripture, but whose methodological approaches cause them to dwell largely on its human aspects, risk emptying the biblical message of its power by relegating it to the background while concentrating on the medium. They forget that medium and message are inseparable, and that the medium without the message is as an empty shell that cannot address the vital spiritual needs of humankind.” Committed Christians “will use only those methods that do full justice to the dual, inseparable nature of Scripture, enhance [their] ability to understand and apply its message, and strengthen faith.”6 Personal Conscience and Scripture
When Luther took his famous stand at the Diet of Worms, he based
his actions and informed his personal conscience by Scripture, not on tradition, culture, or personal opinion. “Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by the clearest reasoning,” stated Luther, “unless I am persuaded by means of the passages I have quoted, and unless they thus render my conscience bound by the Word of God, I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience.”7 As Luther was urged to acquiesce to the demands of church and state regardless of what the Bible said, he made it abundantly clear that Scripture ruled his conscience. “ ‘I consent,’ said he in reply, ‘with all my heart, that the emperor, the princes, and even the meanest Christian, should examine and judge my works; but on one condition, that they take the Word of God for their standard. Men have nothing to do but to obey it. Do not offer violence to my conscience, which is bound and chained up with the Holy Scriptures.’ ”8 Martin Luther allowed Scripture to inform his conscience and his actions. So must we. The essence of the Reformation is a personal relationship with God through His Word, and a living faith. Reformation to Continue
The Reformation did not begin and end with Martin Luther. “It is to be continued to the close of this world’s history,”9 wrote Ellen White. Throughout history God has preserved His truth through Scripture and, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, has been revealing new truths through His Word. It is vital that we, when considering “new
truth,” adhere to the scriptural test given in Isaiah 8:20: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Scripture was central in the Reformation, and it needs to be central in our lives today. We need to be heralds of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (to the glory of God alone). Is the Reformation over? No! May we continue to carry it on, because at the very end of time our witness must continue to be based solely on the Word of God. Let us remain faithful to God and His Word, so that when the test comes, we, like Luther, will be able to take our stand, having our conscience “bound up” with the Holy Scriptures. n 1 “The
95 Theses,” at www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html. See “What the Bible and Lutherans Teach,” at wels.net/aboutwels/what-we-believe/. 3 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Asn., 1911), p. 126. 4 See “Prima Scriptura, Sola Scriptura and Sola Ecclesia,” at www.orthodoxevangelical.com/2014/02/26/prima-scripturasola-scriptura-and-sola-ecclesia/. 5 E. G. White, p. 126. 6 “Methods of Bible Study,” approved and voted by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Executive Committee at the Annual Council in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 12, 1986. For entire document, see: www.adventist.org/en/information/ official-statements/documents/article/go/-/methods-of-biblestudy/ 7 J. H. Merle d’Aubigné, History of the Reformation of the the Sixteenth Century, b. 7, ch. 8, cited in E. G. White, p. 160. 8 In d’Aubigné, b. 7, ch. 10, cited in E. G. White, p. 166. (Italics supplied.) 9 E. G. White, p. 148. 2
Ted N. C. Wilson is
president of the Seventhday Adventist Church. Additional articles and commentaries are available from the president’s office on Twitter: @pastortedwilson and on Facebook: @PastorTedWilson.
October 2017 | Adventist World
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CHILD IMPACT INTERNATIONAL
Asian Aid USA Becomes Child Impact International FASTCHAT is a monthly ministry feature/interview for
A S I A N
A I D
I N S TA G R A M
Adventist World.
Jim Rennie
This month we had the opportunity to interview Jim Rennie, president of Asian Aid, one of the longer running supporting ministries in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Rennie has been CEO of Asian Aid for a little more than 10 years, and is now leading the organization’s transition to Child Impact International.
To learn more, visit www.asianaid.org.au.
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Adventist World | October 2017
Asian Aid has a long, rich history. Tell us about the work of your ministry over the years. Asian Aid started in Australia just over 50 years ago. Its key activity has been sponsoring needy children in Adventist schools in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and now Myanmar. It also sponsors orphans and blind and deaf children in churchoperated special homes in India. We are told, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble” (James 1:27). At Asian Aid/Child Impact International, we take this as a mandate to act upon. I’ve been honored to serve over the years, and it has been a blessing to see tens of thousands of children given a Christian education. Asian Aid USA, which is a separate organization to Asian Aid Australia, was established more than 15 years ago and continues to grow. Asian Aid USA has continued its sponsorship program, and now has more than 3,500 sponsored children in Adventist Mission schools and homes. In recent years it has partnered with Scheer Adventist Hospital in Nepal with earthquake emergency work, and launched Operation Child Rescue, which is rescuing girls from the sex industry in India.
■ Helps us avoid being confused with participating countries in Asia. ■ Sets us apart from Asian Aid Australia, a separate organization. ■ Helps us improve our communication with donors. ■ Allows us to expand outside Asia, and helps us be more effective internationally.
Is it a new organization with different personnel? No, we want to grow and do things better, but the board, staff, office location, and policies will stay the same.
As readers hear about your new name and passion, what are your biggest needs? How can people help? Right now we have more than 500 unsponsored children in India and Myanmar, very needy children. Supporters can sponsor a specific child or contribute to our Unsponsored Child Fund. Sponsors then have a specific child they can communicate with, and are able to send and receive letters on a frequent basis. Sponsoring a child is very rewarding; you are making a difference in the mission field every day.
Why is Asian Aid USA changing its name?
What does the future look like for Asian Aid?
We believe the new name, Child Impact International, will give us momentum to help thousands of additional needy children. We also believe the new name brings the following benefits: ■ Reflects more accurately the critical work the organization does in impacting the lives of children. ■ Gives momentum to our new growth strategy.
We are very excited that we are making this change. It will be a key cornerstone to our growth to help thousands of needy children, which gives further support to Adventist Mission schools. We feel called to a unique purpose as we give hope to children and provide urgent funds directly to Adventist Mission schools. But most important, we are introducing children to Jesus.
W O R L D
Brushing and Flossing
H E A L T H
Can good dental health protect more than our teeth?
Does dental health affect our overall health?
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ental, or oral, health is an often-overlooked aspect of total health. Healthy teeth and gums do more than help us look good; they actually promote health, and when not cared for, they put the whole body at risk. Dental, or oral, pain, or difficulty eating, chewing, smiling, and communicating because of missing or sick teeth and gums, can seriously affect a person’s daily life and well-being. In recent years research strongly suggests that oral health and overall health are closely linked. Current evidence supports a link between gum disease and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and osteoporosis. Common gum diseases involve an inflammatory process in the tissues surrounding the teeth in response to a buildup of bacteria, also known as dental plaque, on the teeth. As bacteria accumulate in tiny pockets around the teeth, they cause inflammation. The inflammation can range from mild to severe. Gingivitis in the mildest form affects about 75 percent of adults in the United States. It causes redness, swelling, and bleeding of the gums, especially when brushing your teeth. In the United States about 30 percent of adults have moderate disease, and 10 percent have advanced disease. Worldwide the severest forms affect about 15 percent of the population. Inflammation in the gums, or periodontitis, sets the stage for inflammatory reactions throughout the body
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and is thought to be the way in which oral conditions affect overall health. In the other direction, any systemic medical condition that triggers the body’s immune defense mechanisms, such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and white blood cell disorders, can promote periodontal disease. As with many areas of the body, bacteria live in the mouth. These bacteria are typically harmless and not troublesome. When there is inadequate or improper hygiene, however, bacterial colonies can reach concentration levels that may lead to oral infections such as tooth decay and periodontal disease. Some medications used to treat systemic health problems can reduce the flow of saliva and thus limit the body’s ability to wash away oral food particles, which can slow down the neutralization of bacteria and acid in the mouth—natural processes that protect the mouth from microbial overgrowth and even invasion. Examples of such medications include analgesics, antihistamines, nasal decongestants, diuretics, and antidepressants. Chronic, progressive bacterial infection of the gums also leads to bone destruction around the teeth, loss of attachment of the teeth, and eventually tooth loss. Unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as poor diet, nutrition, and oral hygiene, as well as the use of tobacco and alcohol, can increase the risk of periodontal disease. Other contributors can include pregnancy, steroid or oral contraceptive use, anti-epilepsy medications, cancer chemotherapeutic agents (although careful dental
F R E E I M A G E S . C O M
hygiene practices will enhance protection when the previously mentioned medications are needed and during pregnancy), poorly fitted bridges, crooked teeth, and loose fillings. Limited availability of or access to oral health services and not just poor living conditions can contribute to poor oral health. Tobacco in any form in combination with the use of alcohol is responsible for many cases of oral cancer and more than half the cases of adult gum disease. Areca nut chewing, along with alcohol and tobacco, pushes the cancer risk even higher. To protect and promote oral health and prevent unnecessary suffering, it is important to develop sound daily oral hygienic practices: twice daily teeth brushing with appropriate toothpaste and an effective toothbrush; daily dental flossing, especially before bed; avoidance of sugary snacks and drinks, tobacco, and acidic chemicals; and regular dental checkups and teeth cleanings. Investing in oral hygiene pays dividends in oral and systemic health. There is no good health without oral health! n
Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear cardiologist, is director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference. Zeno L. Charles-Marcel, a board-certified internist, is an associate director of Adventist Health Ministries at the General Conference. October 2017 | Adventist World
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The following interview-style conversation between the husband-wife team Sylvia and Werner Renz connects one of the key Reformation-era discoveries, “righteousness by faith alone,” to the sanctuary, God’s object lesson in righteousness and salvation. Sylvia: In Hebrews we read that Jesus “always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25). Why is this necessary? I thought He had already done everything on the cross. Werner: The death of Jesus on the cross provided the legal basis for our salvation. At that time God reconciled Himself to us, although we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10). But this is not yet the happy ending. I agree, we are constantly reminded of this when we watch the news. What exactly did Jesus accomplish or achieve when He died on the cross? When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” the answer came immediately from above, as the curtain in the Temple tore from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). The veil pointed to Christ, and by His death we once again had free access to God the Father (Heb. 10:20). Jesus’ cry “My God, My God, why have You for-
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The
By Sylvia and Werner Renz
Sanctuary:
Above Beyond and
saken Me?” (Matt. 27:46) made it clear that sin cuts us off from the source of life. God the Son was torn by our sin from God the Father. He tasted the second death for us. By this, He fulfilled His mission (Gal. 4:4). What was His mission? Through His life Jesus showed what God is really like. When He took our death, the punishment for sin, upon Himself, He paid the price and redeemed us. He Himself was sinless, so death could not hold Him. Jesus rose and defeated death. He has brought us eternal righteousness (Dan. 9:24). God now sees us as His beloved children. At the same time,
Jesus as our high priest enables us to live a righteous life as He did. How is this supposed to work? The Holy Spirit, as the representative of Jesus, creates an “online connection” between us and Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary. Through this He lets the perfect life of Jesus become a reality in our life, as long as we are willing to receive this gift. Thus, both through Jesus’ death and through His life, we are made acceptable to God. So Jesus paid the entrance ticket to heaven for every human being. But many prefer not to go there. To live with a loving God does not appear attractive to them. They do not know
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G O O D N E W S I N T E R N AT I O N A L / C O L L E G E P R E S S P U B L I S H I N G
D E V O T I O N A L
The heavenly sanctuary is the sanitarium in which the plague of sin is treated. God; they do not trust Him. They would rather follow their own ideas. Lucifer, the most beautiful angel, turned against God because of selfishness and distrust of His Creator. This resulted in the fatal plague of “sin.” It is curable only because God has, because of His love, sacrificed His Son for us. His offer of reconciliation is available to all people. But not everyone accepts it. Love and trust cannot be enforced. Is this the reason Jesus is constantly interceding on our behalf and searching for us? Yes, He wants to help us (cf. Heb. 2:18). The heavenly sanctuary is the sanitarium in which the plague of sin is treated. People knew since the Fall that God had provided a pathway to salvation for them (Gen. 3:15). They were reminded of this every time they confessed their guilt and an innocent animal died in their stead. But why did Jesus have to die on the cross and not through stoning, the usual way of execution? Jesus reminded Nicodemus of a scene from the Old Testament: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14; cf. Num. 21:4-9). He also predicted: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die” (John 12:32, 33), hanging on a cross connecting heaven and earth. Here the heavenly vertical crosses history’s horizontal. This “plus” sign is a symbol of our salvation. This is the basis of our justification by faith, and thus also the foundation for
our doctrine of sanctification. The most famous snake tracker in Australia was once asked: “When is a snake the most dangerous?” “When you don’t see it,” he replied. Christ has made visible and defeated the “snake on the pole.” The head of this serpent has been crushed in a tremendous spiritual battle. Satan is still alive, but has no spiritual power over us when we believe that Christ defeated the serpent on the cross. Christ’s death has confined, secured, and exposed the serpent on the cross. This defuses all evil in us. Evil has no power over us as long as we live and believe this: the serpent is hanging on the pole, so lift up your head and live! Jesus also defeats the evil in us and all the fear that emanates from it. This is lived justification by faith! Fantastic! But why did God not put an end to all of this shortly after the ascension of Jesus? God wants to save as many as possible. He wants to fill heaven with the redeemed, “as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore,” as He promised Abraham (Gen. 22:17). But He does not take all of them to heaven! Only those who let Him “heal” them and who trust Him. God knows everyone and looks into every mind and heart. What’s the purpose for opening books in heaven? All intelligent beings are able to see the files. One’s inner motives become clear only by one’s behavior. An objective scale is applied to all, that is, the Ten Commandments. God wants me to love Him above all else, and my neighbor as myself. Only those who want to live like that and
long for healing are ready for heaven. I get this. But then a public court hearing in the presence of the angels shows who will be saved by Jesus and who will not be saved. This must already be clarified before He returns. How does God deal with our questions when we miss people we loved? There are many decent people who may not be there. For these explanations, God takes a great deal of time. After the 1,000 years, the millennium, everyone will understand and appreciate why God had to judge the way He did. All thinking creatures will join in the final song: “Just and true are Your ways” (Rev. 15:3). Only when everything is completely clear, will final events take place. Satan and his followers will demonstrate one last time that they are not ready for peace and trust. They want to overthrow God and kill His children. But that will not happen. Satan and his followers must bear the consequences of their own decision. They will die from the plague of sin in the final fire. Afterward God dries all tears and comforts us. He creates a new heaven and a new earth. This is the ultimate joyful ending! n
Sylvia and Werner Renz live in retire-
ment near the European Media Center in Alsbach-Hähnlein, Germany. Sylvia served in the Hope Bible Study Institute, and Werner served as editor/speaker.
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F U N D A M E N T A L
B E L I E F S
“The
T
he sixteenth-century Reformation was the epicenter of profound changes. These changes were not caused by social or economic forces. The central issues were theological in nature. First-generation Protestant theologians had concluded that the church and scholastic theology had buried the gospel under layers of human tradition. At stake was the understanding of how one could be saved. This was a matter of life and death, since the church had advocated a system of salvation in which grace was relegated to the status of a commodity that could be earned. Back to Basics
The fresh understanding of the gospel in the sixteenth century brought changes of such an extent that Diarmaid MacCulloch, a wellknown scholar writing on the history of the Reformation, summarizes this paradigm shift as “All things made new.”1 Martin Luther’s foundational contribution to theology was the recognition that salvation is a free gift of divine mercy, and humans can do nothing to get it except to receive it through faith alone. This idea was revolutionary, since it stood in sharp contrast to the medieval understanding of salvation in which the concept of merit played a crucial role. Sin was considered to be a problem of being, which needed healing through a process of transformation. Consequently, it was believed
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Fountain of
The paradigm shift we call the that salvation was the result of becoming a “holy person by cooperating with grace by all means possible.”2 This system implied that humans must add their efforts to the work of God’s grace in order to achieve salvation, since eternal life came as a reward for cooperating with divine grace. Purgatory, a concept considered the theological foundation for a vast church business in the medieval period (including the payment for salvation by purchasing indulgences), became for the Reformers the symbol of all that was wrong with this view of salvation. The “theology of the cross” lay at the heart of Luther’s argument, highlighting the centrality of God’s mercy despite human sin, instead of demanding from people virtue as a prerequisite for grace. God’s Righteousness
The key expression in Luther’s thought is the “righteousness of God” (iustitia Dei). In Romans 1:18-3:20 Paul establishes the argument that all people are guilty, and so the main problem of humanity is facing God’s justice. In pre-Reformation theology the “righteousness of God” was equivalent to the punishment by the divine judge. Luther challenged this view as the result of his study of Psalms, Romans, and Galatians in the period between 1513 and 1517 while he lectured on these books at
Wittenberg University. Luther established biblically that the iustitia Dei is not to be understood in terms of God’s righteousness, by which God is Himself justified, but as the righteousness by which He justifies sinful human beings. Righteousness is a gift from God given for the benefit of humanity. It is a gift by which God declares believers righteous even though they are not in themselves righteous. This new definition of righteousness points to God as “the fountain of every good.”3 The cross reveals “an exuberantly happy God who glories in sharing His happiness. He is not stingy or utilitarian, but a God who glories in being gracious.”4 This is revealed in the climactic statement of Paul’s argument for justification by faith in Romans 4:25: “[Jesus our Lord] was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (NIV). After explaining the necessity of justification (Rom. 1-3) and the way it works (Rom. 4), the apostle Paul points out its consequences in Romans 5:111. In these texts he describes the blessedness of the people of God who received the new status in Jesus Christ. The foundational statement of the passage comes right at the beginning: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 1, NIV). In reconP H O T O :
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ciliation, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God gave Himself to us: He gave us His friendship, which is the basis for hope and the reason for joy. According to the argument of Romans 5:1-11, the main characteristic of believers is joy in God: deep and satisfying happiness is found in worshipping God and seeking His glory in our lives. Christians have good reason to rejoice despite life’s circumstances, because God has acted on their behalf and rescued them from the bondage of sin for a new life in Jesus Christ. We can have assurance even in the face of our human weaknesses, because God justifies us on the basis of our faith in Christ’s work of salvation, even though we have nothing to contribute
The I
” Good
to this salvation. While faith will produce good deeds in a person’s life, salvation does not come as the result of faith plus works, as in the Roman Catholic view of salvation. It’s Really Personal
Justification by faith is a doctrine with a deep existential significance. Since this experience changes us to the core of our being and determines our eternal future, for sixteenth-century Protestant theologians the doctrine of justification was “the summary of Christian doctrine,” “the article on which the church stands or falls.” Much has changed over the past 500 years, when Europe was set on fire because of these important theological issues. Today, however, we need an even stronger focus on the Reformation principle of justification by faith.
This biblical teaching has the potential to give us a fresh experience of the work of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the strength of God, the salvation of God, and the glory of God so needed in today’s secular postmodern culture. Reformation matters, even after 500 years. n
1 Diarmaid MacCulloch, All Things Made New: The Reformation and Its Legacy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). 2 Roger E. Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), p. 373. 3 Alister McGrath, Iustita Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 222. 4 Michael Reeves and Tim Chester, Why the Reformation Still Matters (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2016), pp. 209, 210.
Laszlo Gallusz, Ph.D., is lecturer in New Testament studies at Belgrade Theological Seminary in Serbia.
Experience of Salvation
n infinite love and mercy God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might be made the righteousness of God. Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, Substitute and Example. This saving faith comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God’s grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God’s sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the
Spirit renews our minds, writes God’s law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life. Abiding in Him we become partakers of the divine nature and have the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment. (Gen. 3:15; Isa. 45:22; 53; Jer. 31:31-34; Eze. 33:11; 36:25-27; Hab. 2:4; Mark 9:23, 24; John 3:3-8, 16; 16:8; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:6-10; 8:1-4, 14-17; 10:17; 12:2; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Gal. 1:4; 3:13, 14, 26; 4:4-7; Eph. 2:4-10; Col. 1:13, 14; Titus 3:3-7; Heb. 8:7-12; 1 Peter 1:23; 2:21, 22; 2 Peter 1:3, 4; Rev. 13:8.)
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C O V E R F E AT U R E
O
n a hot July afternoon I climbed a steep path to Wartburg Castle, overlooking the town of Eisenach in Germany. People around me were engaged in conversations. I became very quiet as I imagined how another man, known to the castle’s inhabitants as Junker Jörg (Knight George), made his way up to the stronghold that would be his home for the next 10 months. We know this man as Martin Luther. Following the climactic ending of the Diet in Worms and the Bann and excommunication pronounced by Pope Leo X in the face of Luther’s refusal to recant his views on Scripture and salvation, the Reformer had been whisked away on the orders of Frederick the Wise and brought to a safe place. This was the place, I thought. Following years of studies and close contact with God’s Word in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, Luther completed his German translation of the New Testament in 11 weeks. Eleven weeks of dedicated labor changed the face of Germany—and the world—forever. Scripture, which had been kept from people for centuries, blazed through the hearts of readers and listeners alike, who, for the first time, heard God speaking German. We can see the power of the Word as it spread through Europe, inspiring translations in other languages and a reformation movement that transformed the then-known world. I appreciated Ellen White’s description of Luther’s months in Wartburg: “From his rocky Patmos he [Luther] continued for nearly a whole year to proclaim the gospel and rebuke the sins and errors of the times.”* Our Reformation journey lasted only a couple days. We sat in the chapel of the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt where young Luther desperately tried to find a gracious God—yet realized, again and again, his own failures and shortcomings. He tried hard. We walked the streets of Erfurt’s old city, where Luther had studied law prior to his entrance to the monastery. We visited Luther’s home in Wittenberg, the place the Reformation first let down roots when Luther published his 95 theses, also known as the “Disputation on the Power of Indulgences,”
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ack B
as B
A Reformation
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By Gerald A. Klingbeil
sics journey
The Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany, was a refuge to German Reformer Martin Luther in 1521.
C O V E R F E AT U R E
where he argued vehemently against the sale of indulgences. Five hundred years after this pivotal moment in the history of Christianity in 1517, I sat in Wittenberg’s Stadtkirche (city church), where Luther often preached and looked at an image of the Reformation-Altar painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Younger, showing Jesus on the cross in the center of the image. Salvation by faith became the rallying cry of the Reformation. Jesus was on their banner. Paul’s “The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17) helped Luther recognize his utter need of divine grace. Theologians summarize this as sola gratia (“by grace alone”), sola fide (“by faith alone”), and solo Christo (“by Christ alone”). Together with sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”), they represent the foundation of the Reformation—and continue to do so for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As I saw the exhibits and walked the streets these early Reformers had walked I felt, once again, God’s gentle invitation to let Him do what I cannot do for myself: to rest in Him like a little child nestling in the Father’s arms; to hear the Spirit speaking through His every Word. Back to basics— soli Deo gloria. n * Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 169.
Gerald A. Klingbeil
was born and raised in Germany. He serves as associate editor of Adventist World and lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
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Above: Inside the Stadtkirche (city church) in Wittenberg, the place where Luther often preached the Word in German.
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Assurance of
By Jirˇí Moskala
Salvation
Yes, there is such a thing.
A
Above: An idyllic picture of the inner court of the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. Left: It was here that Luther began to realize that our only safety can be found in God’s grace.
Below: View of the restored Luther house, which served as the home for Martin Luther.
ssurance of salvation is plainly taught in Scripture. God declares that we can have full confidence and bold assurance when we are in Christ.1 Consider the following texts: “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you’” (Isa. 35:4).2 “Dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28). “This is how love is made complete among us so we will have confidence on the day of judgment” (1 John 4:17). The apostle Paul underlines that when we are in Christ, we are His, and no one can stand against or separate the believers from the love of God: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1; see also verses 31-39; Eph. 2:4-7). The apostle John proclaims: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12, 13; see also John 1:12; 3:16, 17, 36; 5:24; 6:47; 10:28, 29; Rom. 5:1-5; Eph. 2:114; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:1; 3:1). Two Extremes
Some Christians have little or no assurance of salvation. They tend to experience internal struggles, doubts, frustrations, and fears. Others have too much assurance, sleeping on the pillow of self-assurance and selfdeception.3 What is the balance?
Socrates famously asserted, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”4 The apostle Paul encouraged healthy introspection: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5; cf. 1 Cor. 11:28). Ellen White colorfully described the assurance of salvation for Christ’s followers: “If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your personal Savior, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.”5 Yet she stressed that one should not live in false assurance, claiming to be saved but disobeying God’s explicit commandments. “God’s holy law is the only thing by which we can determine whether we are keeping His way or not. If we are disobedient, our characters are out of harmony with God’s moral rule of government, and it is stating a falsehood to say, ‘I am saved.’”6 She warned against cheap grace:7 “All those who say, ‘I am saved!’ . . . but do not obey God’s commandments, are resting their salvation on a false hope, a false foundation. No one who has an intelligent knowledge of the requirements of God can be saved in disobedience.”8 She also explained: “The gospel does not weaken the claims of the law; it exalts the law and makes it honorable. Under the New Testament, no less is required than was required under the Old Testament. Let no one take up with the delusion so pleasant October 2017 | Adventist World
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C O V E R F E AT U R E Left: A reconstruction of one of the cells used by monks in the sixteenth century Augustinian monastery where young Luther searched desperately for a gracious God.
to the natural heart, that God will accept of sincerity. . . . God requires of His child perfect obedience.”9 She further explained that in the matter of salvation we cannot rely on our feelings. We are saved because God said so, not because we feel good. She wrote: “There are many who conclude that they are saved simply because they have good impressions; but this is not enough. The entire affection must be renovated.”10 On the other hand, Ellen White also stated that Christ’s followers must have an assurance of salvation: “It is essential to have faith in Jesus, and to believe you are saved through Him.”11 She described the Gentiles’ joy when they responded to the preaching of the gospel by the early church: “The Spirit of God accompanied the words that were spoken, and hearts were touched. . . . And the speaker’s words of assurance that the ‘glad tidings’ of salvation were for Jew and Gentile alike brought hope and joy to those who had not been numbered among the children of Abraham according to the flesh.”12 A Healthy Tension
As followers of Christ, we have to live in this healthy tension: full confidence in Christ, and complete mistrust in ourselves. We need to persistently focus on Jesus (John 15:5; Phil. 4:13; Heb. 12:2), not on ourselves, bearing fruit that is the natural result of cultivating a close fellowship with Him. As Ellen White described it: “Connected with Jesus Christ, they will be wise unto salvation. They will be fruitbearing trees.”13 Unfortunately, many are not sure if they are saved in Christ. We must know how to live consciously in a
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Above: A money chest used to collect indulgences. Left: Example of a sixteenth-century letter of indulgence, guaranteeing the forgiveness of sins. Image of the only entrance to the 10-meter-deep (30-footdeep) dungeon of the southern tower of the Wartburg, where in 1548 the Anabaptist Fritz Erbe preferred death to renouncing his convictions. What happens when the persecuted become the persecutors?
steady reality of “already” but “not yet.” We have eternal life, but not yet; we are saved, but not yet; we are perfect in Christ, but not yet; we sit with Christ by the right side of the heavenly Father, but not yet. Thus we experience the true joy of salvation. We need to wait for the second coming of Christ, when we will see Him face to face. Then our present hope of redemption will become tangible reality. n
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 201, 202. 5 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 62. 6 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1, p. 315. 7 God’s grace is never cheap, since Christ gave Himself for it. But some treat grace cheaply. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1959), pp. 43-49. 8 Ellen G. White, in Signs of the Times, Dec. 28, 1891. 9 E. G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 373, 374. 10 Ellen G. White, in Signs of the Times, Aug. 18, 1890. 11 E. G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 373. 12 Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), pp. 172, 173. 13 Ellen G. White, Daughters of God (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1998), p. 16. See also Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), pp. 674-680.
1 For
details, see my article “The Gospel According to God’s Judgment: Judgment as Salvation,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 22, no. 1 (2011): 28-49. 2 Bible texts in this article are from the New International Version. 3 Gregg A. Ten Elshof, I Told Me So: Self-Deception and the Christian Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009). 4 Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, Plato’s Socrates
Jirˇí Moskala is dean of
the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University.
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A globe in the central marketplace of Wittenberg, highlighting the global impact of the Reformation.
By Justin Kim
A Memorandum of
eformanda
N
otice the Latin phrases that pepper the writings of the Protestant Reformation. Just as Roman Catholicism deemed it to be the lingua sacra (“sacred language”) of liturgy, Protestants correspondingly immortalized the great timeless ideals of their movement in ecclesiastical Latin. These ideals were so potent that they ruptured Christianity into a myriad of Protestant denominations today. Modern Protestants may not understand Latin, but we are quite familiar with the unifying themes of sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solo Christo, and soli Deo gloria. Within a half century after Luther’s initial posting of the 95 theses, these phrases represented the imperative ideals of Scripture, faith, grace, Christ, and the glory of God, respectively. No Protestant denomination deviates from these—at least they shouldn’t. Every ideal is dangerous, for it has the potential to change its world. For the Reformation age, the world of the church was altered. Sermons, lectionaries, theologies, and seminaries were reworked. Music, musicology, hymns, congregations, art, and architecture were transformed. Even families, marriage, sexuality, and children were affected. Not only the world of the church but the bigger world surrounding the church was altered, affecting work, labor, government, economics, and culture.
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Change was not for change’s sake, but epitomized in the Latin term ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda, or “the church reformed, always reforming.” The historical context in which the church resides is dynamically changing from age to age. The church was to continually adapt to an everchanging world, with ever-changing threats to the ideals of the Reformation. These adaptations are in themselves testaments to our faith and hope that reform will occur until the second coming of Christ. The actualization of these ideals will not occur until we see Him face to face. So until then, the changed church is to change constantly. This reforming church is to ask questions, counter, stand, and dissent against the status quo of the world. In an age in which rebellion is glorified, how much more should the church, the object of the Lord’s supreme regard, rebel against error clearly unmasked by Scripture? As modern heirs of the Reformation we have been called to witness against both religious and secular entities. Twenty-first-century reformation means questioning the extravagance of religious organizations at the expense of the impoverished. It means holding theologically accountable all those organizations that have rejected the biblical doctrines of the Sabbath,
justification by faith, creation ex nihilo (“creation out of nothing”), a genuine biblical anthropology, the heavenly sanctuary, etc. It means rejecting apathetic and synthetic spirituality and traditions of indifferent and unbiblical theologies. The reformation in the twenty-first century means calling out corruption and exploitation at all levels of governance and preaching of disinterested justice and mercy. It means disconnecting our dependence on humanistic management philosophies, simplistic moral reform, and organized behavior modification. It means the preaching of libertas (“liberty”), iustitia (“justice”), veritas (“truth”). It means the preservation of the value of the imago Dei in public discourse. Whether it is Hebrew, Greek, Latin, or any other language, we are called to continue upholding Reformation ideals today. It’s the moment we should be found semper fidelis (“always faithful”) to changeless truth within this changing church. n
Justin Kim serves as
assistant director of Sabbath School and Personal Ministries and editor of the young adult quarterly at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
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D I S C O V E R I N G
T H E
S P I R I T
O F
P R O P H E C Y
By Lisa M. Beardsley-Hardy
Elements of Successful
Education How the best in the world is reflected in Ellen White’s counsel
T
he Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides a global report card of knowledge and skills essential for adult participation in society. Between 4,500 to 10,000 students from 72 countries are tested near the end of their required education. Rankings are based on scores in reading, math, and science. Recently top marks have gone to geographically small countries, such as Singapore, and subnational cities in China, such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taipei. Finland remains among the top-ranking countries in the world. In 2011, corroborating PISA scores, Finland produced more scientists and engineers than any other country in the world (7,000/million people), despite spending far less in research and development than the United States, Japan, Germany, China, South Korea, United Kingdom, France, and many other countries.1 Finland’s high PISA scores have stimulated research and visits from foreign educators. My own teaching career started in Finland, first in a primary school, then teaching in secondary and tertiary education. This has shaped my personal perspective on some of the reasons for its success. Experimental research is the usual way to identify best practices. The inspired writings of Ellen White are another. She has no shortage of counsel about education.
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What Sets Finnish Education Apart?
Free, equal education is available to every child in Finland. Between 11 and 12 percent of Finnish state and municipal budgets are spent on education. Children start school in the fall of the year they turn 7. This gives children more time to play, mature, use their imagination, and develop secure attachment with their parents before they go to school. Free hot lunches are part of the official curriculum, as are lessons in health and nutrition. Some schools offer climate-friendly, vegetarian, and organic lunches. Teachers are qualified, respected, and trusted professionals. Primary teachers (grades 1-6) teach all subjects and hold master’s degrees in education with an emphasis in instruction. Secondary teachers hold master’s degrees in their respective fields, and they complete additional studies in educational science. There are standardized educational objectives, and a National Matriculation Examinations Board, but teachers select methods of instruction depending on their assessment of student needs. Both school curriculum and teachers support balanced growth and development of students. School days are shorter in Finland than in most countries; and even though the Arctic Circle inscribes part of the country, students have recess outside every day, rain, shine, or snow. Special support is provided to students as needed. The curriculum includes artistic subjects. All students receive free health and dental care. P H O T O :
A N N E L I
S A L O
How Does This System Measure Up?
About universal access to education, Ellen White wrote: “All our youth should be permitted to have the blessings and privileges of an education at our schools, that they may be inspired to become laborers together with God. They all need an education, that they may be fitted for usefulness, qualified for places of responsibility in both private and public life.”2 On the need for student readiness, she wrote, “Do not send your little ones away to school too early. The mother should be careful how she trusts the molding of the infant mind to other hands. Parents ought to be the best teachers of their children until they have reached eight or ten years of age. Their schoolroom should be the open air, amid the flowers and birds, and their textbook the treasure of nature.”3 Finnish children who start school at 7 years of age are in harmony with her counsel not to send them to school too young. Ellen White’s counsel is even more specific with respect to personal and spiritual qualifications for teachers: “Our church schools need teachers who have high moral qualities; those who can be trusted; those who are sound in the faith.”4 She continued, “Only devout and consecrated men and women, who love children and can see in them souls to be saved for the Master, should be chosen as church school teachers.”5 Ellen White understood the power of role models and social learning theory. She urged, “Teachers are to do more for their students than to impart a knowledge of books. Their position as guide and instructor of the youth is most responsible, for to them is given the work of molding mind and character. Those who undertake this work should possess well-balanced, symmetrical characters. They should be refined in manner, neat in dress, careful in all their habits; and they should have that true Christian courtesy that wins confidence and respect. The teacher should be himself what he wishes his students to become.”6 Academic qualifications were to be balanced with teachers’ ability to foster wholistic development. “The principles and habits of the teacher should be considered of greater importance than even his literary qualifications. If the teacher is a sincere Christian, he will feel the necessity of having an equal interest in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual education of his scholars. In order to exert the right influence, he should have perfect control over himself, and his own heart should be richly imbued with love for his pupils, which will be seen in his looks, words, and acts.”7
The formation of healthy behaviors and an intelligent understanding of how to care for health is essential. “Many students are deplorably ignorant of the fact that diet exerts a powerful influence upon the health.”8 Ellen White would give an approving nod to including free hot lunches in the curriculum, along with lessons on nutrition and health, and a shorter school day. In addition to outdoor exercise, Ellen White advised: “Students should not be permitted to take so many studies that they will have no time for physical training. The health cannot be preserved unless some portion of each day is given to muscular exertion in the open air. . . . Equalize the taxation of the mental and physical powers, and the mind of the student will be refreshed. If he is diseased, physical exercise will often help the system to recover its normal condition. When students leave college, they should have better health and a better understanding of the laws of life than when they entered it. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.”9 In every facet of education, students should leave school better than when they started. Point of Departure
On the basis of Ellen White’s writings, Finnish education would get an “A” grade with respect to preparing students for the “joy of service in this world.” However, Finnish education stops short of the redemptive purpose she envisioned of leading students to Christ and thereby preparing them for “the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.”10 n 1 World
of R&D 2011. Source: Battelle, R&D Magazine, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, CIA World Factbook, OECD. http://www.rdmag.com/articles/2011/12/2012-global-r-d-fundingforecast-r-d-spending-growth-continues-while-globalization-accelerates. 2 Ellen G. White, Child Guidance (Nashville: Southern Pub. Assn., 1954), p. 332. 3 Ellen G. White, Counsels for the Church (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1991), p. 208. 4 Ibid., p. 207. 5 Ellen G. White, Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1913), p. 166. 6 Ellen G. White, Daughters of God (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1998), p. 87. 7 Ibid., pp. 86, 87. 8 Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education (Nashville: Southern Pub. Assn., 1923), p. 147. 9 Ibid., pp. 146, 147. 10 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 13.
Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, Ph.D., M.P.H., is director of the Education Department for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists world headquarters. October 2017 | Adventist World
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A D V E N T I S T
L I F E
By Caron Oswald
Celebrates1O Years G L O W / F A C E B O O K
And stories abound!
G
iving Light to Our World (GLOW) started in 2007 with a simple idea: every believer sharing hope and a future in Jesus every day wherever they go. During the past 10 years 85 million pocket-size GLOW tracts have been printed in more than 60 languages, with 40 titles, for 45 countries. A rapidly growing “army”— young, old, and all ages in between—carry the easy-toshare tracts and trust God’s leading. It’s a lifestyle. GLOW is modeled after the pioneers of the Advent movement. In a vision in 1848, God gave Ellen White a message for her husband, James: “You must begin to print a little paper and send it out to the people. . . . From this small beginning it was shown to me to be like streams of light that went clear round the world.”1 This was referring to the paper Present Truth, later the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (now Adventist Review, www.adventistreview.org); the principle, however, is the same for GLOW tracts. Somewhere in the world right now, someone is handing out GLOW tracts. What follows are a few brief stories of people’s experiences with GLOW.
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K A M I L
M E T Z
This group distributed GLOW tracts in Romania and Ukraine ahead of evangelistic meetings to be held in those regions. A woman in Fiji compares the information in a GLOW tract with her Bible. United States
When Pope Francis visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 2015, crowds at the Saturday concert were estimated to reach 500,000. For Mass on Sunday, more than 1 million people were expected. So GLOW leaders organized a 10-day mission trip to Philadelphia with the goal of distributing 1 million tracts. One afternoon a young adult volunteer was handing out GLOW tracts in a parking lot and gave three tracts to a man. “Where is the other man?” he asked. “What man?” the volunteer replied. Then the man explained. Two weeks before he had dreamed that a tall blond man had given him three GLOW tracts, the same tracts he had just received. Also, he had seen two other tracts, and he named the titles. The volunteer didn’t believe he had those tracts in his bag, but he looked anyway. And there they were—one of each! The man thanked the volun-
teer for the tracts and went on his way. The volunteer is still uncertain who the blond man in the dream was. Kenya
From Kenya, Moses e-mailed his experience: “I am not a Seventh-day Adventist practitioner, but I read your magazine, Adventist World, and I cut out the GLOW tracts.2 I gave a ‘Secrets of Mental Health’ tract to a patient on his deathbed. After reading it, the patient gave his life to Christ before he died. I want to get more of your magazines and GLOW tracts.” Netherlands
Danny, in the Netherlands, was getting a haircut. A few weeks earlier he and his hairdresser had talked about the Sabbath after she said she was a Christian. She then asked Danny a question: “I don’t understand why you go to church on Saturday and everyone else goes on Sunday.” Danny left her with a few Bible texts and a copy of The Great Controversy, by Ellen White. The next time Danny headed out for his haircut appointment, he had a plan. While sitting in the shop chair, he read the notes he had written in the margins of his Bible. Curious, his hairdresser asked what he was reading. He said he was reading Sabbath texts in the book of Acts. He showed her a few, and she read them out loud. A customer came over to see what was going on. The hairdresser enthusiastically summarized everything she had heard and read. By now the hairdresser was convinced that Saturday was the Sabbath and wanted to tell her husband about it. Danny showed her a few GLOW tracts, which she wanted to share with her customers. He left her a stack of tracts and hoped his hair would grow quickly so he would need another haircut soon. United States
In the United States, Liz was working at home when she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, David, who was handing out GLOW tracts, was already walking toward the next house. Liz called out to let him know she was home. Back on her porch, David handed Liz a GLOW tract. “I have chills right now!” Liz said. “Not too long ago I had a dream. In the dream I saw two ministers of the gospel coming to my house sharing literature.” David was thrilled to hear about her dream, but he was the only person there. Just then Taylor, his ministry partner, arrived. He had run out of GLOW tracts and had come looking for David to get more. Now there were two ministers of the gospel at her door. Liz looked at David and Taylor. “I believe this is from
God. In my dream I saw two ministers at my door bringing me hope. I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘This is your last chance. I’m coming back soon!’ Please pray for me. I need Jesus in my life.” Philippines
In the Philippines a church member personally experienced a visual example of Giving Light to Our World. One afternoon he was walking through several neighborhoods handing out GLOW tracts. In his city it was customary for trash to be swept into small piles near the street and burned. Someone lit a pile of trash near where the church member was handing out tracts. Then a man walked by and noticed that one paper that had blown into the pile was not burning. Intrigued, he picked it up and tried to light it—but it wouldn’t catch fire. He called a few people over to see this strange happening. Speechless, the small crowd watched his failed attempts to burn the pamphlet. Across the street, the church member noticed the crowd and went to see what was happening. Stunned, he told them he was the person who was handing out the leaflets. He then invited all of them to an evangelistic meeting at his church that evening. Some came just for the one meeting; others continued to come until the evangelistic series ended. Several of the eyewitnesses of the tract that wouldn’t burn were baptized! “I love the stories,” says Nelson Ernst, GLOW director for the Pacific Union Conference in the United States. “Like when a kid dropped a tract from the second floor of a mall, and it fell into a woman’s open purse. Or when someone was stopped from committing suicide because a GLOW tract was shared at just the right time. But probably my favorite stories are about church members who are excited because they have actually done the outreach and experienced the satisfaction and fulfilment that come with selfless ministry.” To learn more about GLOW, go to sdaglow.org. To watch GLOW testimonies on video, go to vimeo.com/user13970741. n G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1915), p. 125. tracts have been printed in a few previous issues of Adventist World.
1 Ellen
2 GLOW
Caron Oswald, now retired, served as vice president of Communication for the Central California Conference. October 2017 | Adventist World
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B I B L E
Q U E S T I O N S
A N S W E R E D
Strangers & I rarely hear references to believers as pilgrims in this world. Was that not a good biblical image?
It’s always been a valuable biblical image to designate the people of God. The tendency now is to use the less-religious idea of a journey. I suppose this has something to do with secularism and political correctness. Consequently, we talk about “my journey in life,” which is a private matter. Let me explore some of the main components of the biblical image of God’s people as pilgrims. 1. People on the Move: It would appear that it is in the context of the Fall that images of pilgrims surface in the Bible. As a result of humanity’s rebellion, God “banished him from the Garden of Eden”; away from the tree of life (Gen. 3:23, NIV). It is even stated that the Lord “drove the man out” (verse 24, NIV). The verb garash (“to expel”) is the same verb used to refer to the divine activity of expelling the sinful Canaanites from their land (e.g., Ex. 33:2; Joshua 24:18; Ps. 78:55). After the Fall, humans lost their land and were heading to a hostile and almost unproductive land (Gen. 3:17-19). Two cherubim “[guarded] the way to the tree of life” (verse 24, NIV). From then on humans lived as pilgrims, or sojourners, on the land that was not originally theirs. The image specifically applies to the patriarchs (Gen. 15:13; 35:27; 47:9) and to the Israelites who left Egypt. The Lord described His people, even after they had been dwelling in the land of Canaan, as sojourners on the land He had provided for them (Lev. 25:23). David reaffirmed this reality (1 Chron. 29:15; Ps. 39:12). God intended to give them a better land, what Isaiah would call “new heavens and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17). 2. Pilgrims and Identity: It is difficult for foreigners to hide their identity. They differ from natives in the way they dress and speak, and in what they eat. When applied to believers, the image conveys the idea that God’s people are peculiar among the nations of the earth. They are pilgrims because Christ, at the cost of His sacrificial death, called them to become pilgrims; to be in the world but not belong the world; to be holy (Heb. 11:8; 1 Peter 1:17, 18;
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Pilgrims John 17:14-17). He was the pilgrim par excellence, and became the pilgrims’ “way” of life (John 14:6). Christians, as citizens of the heavenly city, are called to represent the values of their heavenly home through their deportment in every way possible. As aliens and sojourners, they are not to be controlled by the desires of a sinful nature (1 Peter 2:11), but to “keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles” (1 Peter 2:12, NASB).* In their pilgrimage in a land of sin and suffering they go through trials, but are encouraged to persevere (1 Peter 1:6, 7). 3. Pilgrims and Hope: The image of God’s people as pilgrims also has a last-day component. The pilgrimage is not a random journey; it is oriented toward a goal. Abram went out “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10, NIV). The pilgrims’ final destination is the place that orients all other places: the dwelling of God. Pilgrims anticipate when they will find themselves at the cosmic center of worship to bow down in adoration and gratitude to their Creator and Redeemer. This will take place at the Second Coming, when Christ will fulfill the promise made to His disciples to take them to His Father’s house (John 14:1-3). For now, pilgrims journey toward the heavenly city, the better country (Heb. 11:16), possessing that specific goal by faith in divine promises. Concerning previous pilgrims, it is said that “they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (verse 13, NIV). Pilgrims hold on to God’s promises in absolute trust. At the same time they tell others that they are pilgrims, and invite others to join them in their travel to where God dwells at the center of the cosmos. n * Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Angel Manuel Rodríguez is retired after serving as a pastor, professor, and theologian.
B I B L E
S T U D Y
By Mark A. Finley
Incomparable
Christ
J
esus is divine. He exists from eternity (John 8:58). He never had a beginning, and will never have an ending. He is from eternity (Micah 5:2). Christ’s eternal nature is intimately linked to His ability to redeem the human race. An angel could not redeem us. Angels are created beings. They do not have eternal life, so they could not give us eternal life. If Jesus was not eternal, He would not have the authority to give us something He does not have. Some people read certain Bible texts that Jesus is “the beginning of the creation of God,” “the firstborn of creation,” and “begotten of the Father,” and wrongly conclude that He was brought forth sometime in ages past and is not eternal. In this month’s lesson we will carefully examine these passages.
1
What title did John the revelator use to describe Jesus? Read Revelation 3:14. Some people wonder about the expression, “the Beginning of the creation of God.” Was Jesus the first being created? The Greek word for “beginning” in this passage is arche. It literally means the originator, the principal cause, the one who began God’s creation. Jesus is the beginning of God’s creation in the sense that He created all things (Eph. 3:8, 9).
2 In describing Jesus as Creator, what term did the apostle Paul use? Read Colossians 1:15, 16. In the Bible the “firstborn” was privileged to receive the inheritance as the representative of his Father. The firstborn held the title deed to his father’s wealth and property. The term firstborn did not always relate to the time of one’s birth, but to his privileged position. David was called firstborn when he was actually the youngest son of Jesse. He was preeminent over all the tribes of Israel. Jesus is called the “firstborn” from the dead (Rev. 1:5). Many were raised from the dead before Him, but He is preeminent over death because He conquered the grave.
3 How does Hebrews 1 reveal Jesus’ eternal nature? Read verses 1-3. Jesus is the “brightness” of the Father’s glory, the “express
image” of His person. These two expressions powerfully portray Christ’s eternal relationship with the Father.
4 Why does the Bible use the expression “only begotten” to describe Jesus Christ? Compare John 1:14, 3:16, and 1 John 5:1. “Only begotten” describes Jesus’ unique role as the divine Son of God born into this world. No one else in the universe is like Him. He is both Son of God and Son of man. “Begotten” is used to portray the new birth (1 John 5:1). When we are born again, we are “begotten” of God. This does not mean we existed before; it simply reveals the uniqueness of our new birth when we were reborn to new life.
5 When the angel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to the Christ child, what terms did he use to describe Jesus? Read Luke 1:31-35. 6 If Jesus and the Father both existed from eternity, why is Jesus called the “Son of God,” and why does He declare that the Father is greater? Compare the following passages: Luke 19:10, John 14:28, and Philippians 2:5-9. Jesus’ statements declaring “the Father is greater than I” were spoken in light of His incarnation. When Jesus became a man, He gave up His privileges and prerogatives as God’s equal. He “made Himself of no reputation,” or, as many translations put it, He “emptied” Himself. Jesus voluntarily surrendered His rights as God to redeem us. Only One equal with the Father could reveal the Father’s love to lost humanity, represent the Father to fallen humanity, and redeem us from the penalty and power of sin. Jesus is unique. No one else is like Him in the universe. He is the eternal Son of God, coexistent with the Father from eternity. For this reason He has the ability to save us. We can praise God for His marvelous love. n October 2017 | Adventist World
27
IDEA EXCHANGE
50 of
G E R M A N I S C H E S N AT I O N A L M U S E U M
YEARS
eformation
1517
1518
Martin Luther, a German monk, posts 95 theses (propositions) for reforming the Roman Catholic Church.
Swiss preacher Ulrich Zwingli adds his voice in calling for reform.
S E A L :
S T O C K U N L I M I T E D
England’s King Henry VIII used the Reformation as an excuse to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, marry Anne Boleyn, and start the Church of England.
PrayerW
K I N G
PRAISE
I need prayer to pass all my classes this semester in school. Morris, via e-mail Please pray for me to be released from financial bondage. Monique, via e-mail
The Lord has put it upon my heart to start my own business to serve older adults who are in need. Please pray that I humble myself before the Lord and trust in His plan for my life. Dominique, via e-mail
My husband and I have been praying to have a baby. Arina, via e-mail
Please pray for Gail M., a breast cancer survivor, who now needs a biopsy for a suspicious mammogram. Gail, via e-mail
Please pray for me. I need a serious change in my life. Nothing seems to be on track. Tamary, via e-mail
Please pray for me. I am struggling in my walk with Christ and trying to renew my mind. Tiffany, via e-mail
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Adventist World | October 2017
H E N R Y:
G O O G L E A R T P R O J E C T F R A M E : P I X A B AY
Please pray for deliverance for my daughter who is an alcoholic. Cheryl, via e-mail I pray for good health for my parents and me. I need help to choose the right path for my life throughout my teenage years. Thabisile, via e-mail Jesus, please forgive my many sins and heal me. Michael, via e-mail Thank you so much for the prayers. I passed the licensure exam for professional teachers. Alyssa, Philippines
P O S S I B LY B Y H A N S H O L B E I N
1541 1545
1560 1562 1568
John Calvin founds a Protestant church in Geneva, Switzerland.
John Knox founds the Protestant Church of Scotland.
The Roman Catholic Church launches the CounterReformation.
Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” is considered “The Battle Hymn of the Reformation.”
Catholics and Protestants clash violently in France.
Dutch Protestants lead a revolt against Catholic Spain.
Prolific
PLASTIC 822,000 E I F F E L T O W E R S
80 MILLION BLUE WHALES
25,000 E M P I R E S TAT E B U I L D I N G S
Prayers for a friend who is going through a rather big problem. He needs the hand of God in these difficult times. Eliezar, via -mail Since the 1950s, 8,255,381,134,000 kilograms (18.2 trillion pounds) of plastic have been produced. China, the United States, and Europe produce the most. A study published by the journal Science Advances says that only about 9 percent of plastic has been recycled. The best recyclers are China and Europe.
1BILLION ELEPHANTS
G
S
:
S
T
O
C
K
Source: USA Today
U N
L
Prayer & Praise: Send prayer requests and praise (thanks for answered prayer) to prayer@adventistworld.org. Keep entries short and concise, 50-words or less. Items will be edited for space and clarity. Not all submissions will be printed. Please include your name and your country’s name. You may also fax requests to: 1-301-680-6638; or mail them to Adventist World, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
N D I I L B U
Pray for my wife and me and our spiritual lives, that God will give us the power to overcome temptation and sin and to place our reliance on God. Tinei, via e-mail
IM
IT E
D
October 2017 | Adventist World
29
IDEA EXCHANGE
K E V I N
E N G
565
Years Ago
O
n September 30, 1452, the first section of the Gutenberg Bible was finished in Mainz, Germany, by Johannes Gutenberg. Ancient books had primarily been written on scrolls, though an innovation in the second century A.D.—the codex, a sheaf of pages bound at one edge—gave us the familiar book form we recognize today. Early codices were produced by hand by monks in scriptoriums, working with pen and ink, copying manuscripts one page at a time. A book the size of the Bible, rich with color and illuminations, would take years. Gutenberg’s genius was to separate each element of the calligraphic blackletter script commonly used by scribes into its most basic components—lowercase and capital letters, punctuation, and connected ligatures standard in Medieval calligraphy—nearly 300 different shapes that were each cast in quantity and assembled to form words, lines, and full pages of text. He also invented a printing press. Gutenberg produced about 180 copies of the Bible: 145 that were printed on handmade paper imported from Italy and the remainder on more luxurious, expensive vellum. Only four dozen Gutenberg Bibles remain, and of these only 21 are complete. Gutenberg’s contemporaries called his printing press “the art of multiplying books.” It was a major catalyst for the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the Protestant Reformation.
I believe in
Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. —C. S. Lewis (1898-1963).
Luther may have posted his 95 theses on October 31 because the next day,
Source: The Writer’s Almanac
All Saints’ Day,
A New
Blue Zone
The population with the healthiest arteries in the world is found among the Tsimané people in the Bolivian Amazon. Its men are active six to seven hours a day; and its women are active four to six hours. Their diet consists of 72 percent nonprocessed, high-fiber carbohydrates (rice, nuts, fruit) and 14 percent protein. Nearly 90 percent of Tsimané aged 40 to 94 had no heart disease risk, compared to only 14 percent of people who live in industrialized settings. Source: The Lancent/The Rotarian
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Adventist World | October 2017
P L A N TA I N S : M O R G U E F I L E R I C E B O W L : P I X A B AY
was a holiday, and he could expect more exposure for his theses.
Reformation Day (October 31) is a national holiday in Chile.
5O 5O
WORDS OR LESS
My Favorite...
Bible Promise My favorite Bible promise comes from my favorite book of the Bible, Isaiah: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3). n
—Roberto, San Juan de Pasto, Colombia
“Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). God does not want weak children; He wants children powerful in their faith in Jesus. n
—Tuxtla, Chiapas, Mexico
“Let not your heart be troubled. . . . In My Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). n
—Sarah, via e-mail
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, . . . nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39). This wonderful promise tells us that God is always with us. n
—Samir, via e-mail Next time, tell us in 50 words or less about your favorite hymn. Tell us the title, why it is your favorite, your name, and where you live. Send it to Letters@AdventistWorld.org. Put in the subject line: 50 Words.
“Behold, I come quickly…” Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ, uniting Seventh-day Adventists everywhere in beliefs, mission, life, and hope.
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. Adventist Review Ministries Board Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Guillermo Biaggi, vice chair, Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, Williams Costa, Daniel R. Jackson, Peter Landless, Robert Lemon, Geoffrey Mbwana, G. T. Ng, Daisy Orion, Juan Prestol-Puesán, Ella Simmons, Artur Stele, Ray Wahlen, Karnik Doukmetzian, legal advisor Executive Editor/Director of Adventist Review Ministries Bill Knott Associate Director of Adventist Review Ministries International Publishing Manager Chun, Pyung Duk Adventist World Coordinating Committee Jairyong Lee, chair; Yukata Inada; German Lust; Chun, Pyung Duk; Han, Suk Hee; Lyu, Dong Jin Editors based in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA André Brink, Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil (associate editors), Sandra Blackmer, Stephen Chavez, Costin Jordache, Wilona Karimabadi Editors based in Seoul, Korea Chun, Pyung Duk; Park, Jae Man; Kim, Hyo-Jun Operations Manager Merle Poirier Editors-at-Large Mark A. Finley, John M. Fowler Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke Financial Manager Kimberly Brown Manuscript Evaluation Coordinator Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste Management Board Jairyong Lee, chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Chun, Pyung Duk; Karnik Doukmetzian; Han, Suk Hee; Yutaka Inada; German Lust; Ray Wahlen; Ex-officio: Juan Prestol-Puesán; G. T. Ng; Ted N. C. Wilson Art Direction and Design Jeff Dever, Kim Pollock Consultants Ted N. C. Wilson, Juan Prestol-Puesán, G. T. Ng, Guillermo E. Biaggi, Mario Brito, Abner De Los Santos, Dan Jackson, Raafat A. Kamal, Michael F. Kaminskiy, Erton C. Köhler, Ezras Lakra, Jairyong Lee, Israel Leito, Thomas L. Lemon, Solomon Maphosa, Geoffrey G. Mbwana, Blasious M. Ruguri, Saw Samuel, Ella Simmons, Artur A. Stele, Glenn Townend, Elie Weick-Dido To Writers: We welcome unsolicited manuscripts. Address all editorial correspondence to 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600, U.S.A. Editorial office fax number: (301) 680-6638 E-mail: worldeditor@gc.adventist.org Web site: www.adventistworld.org Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible references are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. Adventist World is published monthly and printed simultaneously in Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States.
Vol. 13, No. 10
October 2017 | Adventist World
31
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