God's court room: who's on trial?

One of the most misunderstood concepts among Christians today is the concept of the judgment. For thousands of years it has been Satan’s intent to misrepresent the character of God, and to a very large extent he has succeeded. Satan will do anything he can to prevent people from grasping the depth and scope of God’s grace, and one of the ways he has accomplished this is to mislead them concerning the truth of the judgment. If he can lead people to an erroneous conclusion about the judgment, he knows that he can cause them to fear God rather than love Him. NO relationship can thrive when it is based on fear, and if Satan can succeed in causing people to be afraid of God, it is his hope that these people will ultimately turn away from God and influence others to do the same. The reason that we are so confused about the judgment is because Satan has led us to believe that the judgment is about us. Being self centered by nature, we tend to look out for our own interests. As long as we are focused on ourselves, our only concern will be escaping the judgment and getting to Heaven. When God empties us of self and fills us with His love, our concern will be for the glorification of God’s holy name and for the salvation of others. We will feel no fear of the judgment, because we will be filled with the love of Christ, which casts out fear (1 John 4:18). As long as Satan can convince us that the judgment is about us, his true intentions will be hidden. We will live in a mode of selfishness, caring only about our own salvation, and our relationship with God will not mature. Satan knows that if we could see the big picture, we would discover that the judgment is really about God’s reputation, and Satan’s efforts to malign God’s character would be clearly seen. All of the accusations that Satan has made about God would be proven false, and the fear that we had of the judgment would be replaced with love for God.

The fact that God keeps a written record of the life of every person who has lived on the earth demonstrates that the judgment is not about us. God knows all things. He does not need to rely on written records in order to remember past events. There are Bible verses that reveal the reason for the written records. In 1 Corinthians 6 verses 2 and 3 we are told that we will judge the world as well as angels. In Revelation 20 verses 4 through 6 we are told that judgment will be committed to us during the one thousand year period in Heaven before the second resurrection. Why will judgment be committed to us when there is an all knowing righteous judge who rules the universe? In Ezekiel 20 verses 35 and 36 we find the answer to this question. “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,” says the Lord God.” God was speaking to rebellious Israel in these two verses, but His words are just as applicable today. God’s character has not changed, and these two verses paint a beautiful picture of the wonderful God we serve. God is all powerful and can do no wrong. He is at liberty to do whatever He wishes, and He owes no one an explanation for the things He does. Yet, incredibly, He not only wants to dialogue with us, but He also wants to plead His case with us face to face!

Satan has spent thousands of years slandering God. The evil character that Satan possesses he accuses God of possessing. He is constantly watching God’s every move and listening to His every word, looking for ways that he can twist God’s words and paint His actions in a false light. In everything God says and does, His purpose is to show all created beings the true nature of His character, and the way He deals with fallen humanity will prove once and for all that God is loving and fair and that Satan’s accusations are false. David understood this truth when he wrote, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). There is a trial taking place that extends across the universe, and the blameless king of the universe is the defendant. As God writes the written records, He is continually gathering evidence to support His case, and as He determines the eternal destiny of every human being, His decisions are being observed by the inhabitants of the universe. God is on trial in His own court room. The inhabitants of our world are also on trial, but our trial is simply the evidence presented in a much bigger trial that spans far beyond our little planet. Our world is not able to see the big picture that the rest of the universe sees, and when we get to Heaven and reign with Christ for a thousand years, we will be full of questions. Jesus will permit us to read through the written records of the wicked, and we will unite with Him in judging them and determining the sentence for each lost soul. He will plead His case with us face to face, and we will discover what the unfallen beings have already discovered, that God is compassionate and just.

There is a line in a well known song that illustrates the misunderstanding in the Christian world concerning the judgment. It says, “ON that day when we will pay for all the deeds we have done, good and bad they’ll all be had to see by everyone.” Such an idea would strike terror in the heart of anyone who believed that such a thing would take place during the judgment, and, truth be told, this is the kind of treatment we deserve. But Christ has provided a way of escape from judgment for all who will accept it. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24). God gives this promise to every sinner who comes to Him in repentance. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). If God truly intended for all those whom He has forgiven and cleansed from sin to publicly give an account of all of their sins in the judgment, then this promise would be meaningless and Christ’s blood would have been shed in vain.

The investigative judgment is now taking place. Every person who has professed to be a follower of Christ is having his or her case examined in Heaven. Each person’s thoughts, motives, words, and actions have been diligently recorded in writing, and each person’s written record is being carefully reviewed. “I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10). “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). When the names of all those who have been forgiven and set free from sin come up in the Heavenly investigation, Jesus pleads His blood on their behalf, and it is recorded in the books of Heaven that they are pardoned. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The doctrine of the investigative judgment is a precious truth that has been imparted to us as Seventh-day Adventists. If we shared this doctrine with the world, it would bring hope to many wounded hearts, because they would realize that the Gospel is clearly portrayed within the judgment.

The eternal destiny of each person will be determined by the books which contain all of the names and the deeds of every person who has lived on the earth. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). This fact does not contradict the Gospel; it enhances it. In Matthew 12 verses 33 through 37 Jesus paints a picture of the harmony that exists between God’s grace and His law within the context of the judgment. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” When fruit is bad, the fruit itself is not the source of the problem. It is the tree that causes the fruit to be bad. The fruit is simply the end result of the development of a bad tree. The same is true with our words and actions. The external behavior is the end result, or the fruit, of what lies in the heart. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:3-5). When we accept God’s grace, God not only declares us righteous, but He makes us righteous. He heals our wounded hearts, sets us free from the destructive patterns that enslave us, and empowers us to walk in perfect obedience to His commandments. We keep God’s commandments, not in order to be saved, but because we have already been saved. In fact, when we are under grace, obedience will be more important to us, not less. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). The reason that our eternal destinies will be determined by the deeds written in the books is because our thoughts, motives, words and actions demonstrate whether or not we are under grace. When Jesus warns us that men will have to give account in the judgment for every idle word they speak, He is making us aware of the fact that every thing we think, say and do is being written down in Heaven. Nothing is taken lightly by God. Nothing escapes His attention. Those who refuse to repent and turn away from their sins will be held accountable for their sins by God in the day of judgment, not because their bad deeds out number their good deeds, but because their wickedness reveals the fact that their hearts have not been transformed by God’s grace. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we come to God with a contrite heart, He accepts Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, and we are declared righteous. Then He imparts to us the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit, and through the sanctification process we are made righteous. This is the complete Gospel, and all who accept and live this Gospel will inherit eternal life and will not enter into judgment with the wicked.

God admonishes us to take the judgment very seriously, but He does not intend for us to continually live in fear, desperately trying to obey God in order to escape the judgment. Obedience based on fear is not true obedience, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In order for us to live free from fear of the judgment we must first recognize that “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). We must also come to the realization that without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). If we see our helpless condition, fall upon God’s grace, and continue to abide in Christ, God will perfect our characters and fit us for Heaven. We will have nothing to fear.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he accuses us before God day and night (Revelation 12:10). When Satan leads us into sin, he then accuses us before God. Satan claims that he has the right to claim us as his subjects because we have broken God’s law, but when Christ pleads His blood on our behalf, Satan’s arguments are silenced. We may be facing the best prosecuting attorney there is, but the defense attorney representing us is even greater in power. “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” (1 John 3:20). Our defense attorney knows what it feels like to stand trial, and we are safe in His hands. “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17). We can have boldness in the day of judgment, because our defense attorney is also our judge, and our judge has already served our sentence.

Meet it

It was April 14, 1912, a moonless, cold night in the northern Atlantic Ocean. Frederick Fleet stared out at the dark horizon from the crow's nest of Titanic, the new, luxurious, state-of-the-art ocean liner of the White Star line. Fleet had come on lookout duty at 10:00 p.m. and was scheduled to go off duty at midnight, in just over 20 minutes. His watch had been uneventful. Fleet and his watch partner, Reginald Lee, had been told to keep an eye out for ice. Despite repeated warnings of icebergs in the area, Titanic raced through the smooth, calm water at 22 ½ knots (about 26 m.p.h.), nearly her top cruising speed. The extraordinary calmness of the sea that night worked against Fleet and Lee, because waves breaking against the base of an iceberg were often the night lookout's first indication of the berg. As Fleet peered ahead into the night, he suddenly noticed a dark shape, even darker than the calm ocean water. Every second, it grew larger and closer. Fleet rang his bell three times to signal danger ahead, and telephoned down to the bridge. “What did you see?” asked the voice on the other end. “Iceberg, right ahead!” shouted Fleet.

First Officer William McMaster Murdoch was in command on the bridge, Titanic's Captain, Edward J. Smith, having gone to bed for the night. Murdoch ordered the helmsman to execute a sharp left turn, and signaled engineering to stop the engines. For several long seconds, Titanic bore down on the iceberg with no apparent change of course, but at the last moment she veered left of the floating mountain. It was too late, however, to avoid contact. The iceberg scraped along Titanic's starboard side for about three hundred feet, punching holes below the waterline. Murdoch then ordered the helmsman to turn right, which enabled the stern-ward two-thirds of Titanic's starboard side to slip past the iceberg without further contact. Then he ordered the 15 bulkhead doors closed, to create 16 “watertight” compartments.

Most passengers experienced the scrape as nothing more than a moderate vibration of the ship; a few went out to play with the ice that had crumbled down onto Titanic's deck. On the bridge, they thought they'd dodged a bullet, but below decks a different story was unfolding. Water was gushing into five of the 16 sealed compartments, the five closest to the bow. Captain Smith consulted the ship's architect, Thomas Andrews, who informed Smith that Titanic was designed to stay afloat with four of the forward watertight compartments flooded, but not five. That the ship would sink was a mathematical certainty. Andrews thought it would sink in perhaps 60 to 90 minutes, but Titanic managed to stay afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes. There weren't enough lifeboats, and several were launched half full. Of the more than 2,200 souls on board, only 710 survived.

Many experts believe that Will Murdoch's best option would have been to steer directly for the iceberg and ram it. The collision would have fully stopped Titanic in about two seconds, and every person on the ship would have been jarred and tossed forward by the abrupt deceleration. It would have crushed the ship's bow and flooded one or two of the forward watertight compartments; several dozen crew members who were bunked in the bow of the ship would have been killed by the impact or drowned by the flooding, but Titanic would probably have stayed afloat. In 1879, a previous state-of-the-art British ocean liner, SS Arizona, smashed prow first into an iceberg, but did not sink, was able to limp to port, and remained in service of one form or another until 1927.

About nine years prior to the Titanic disaster, Ellen White was grappling with the subtle pantheistic statements and assertions in John Harvey Kellogg's book, The Living Temple. She received a remarkable vision:

Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, "Iceberg just ahead!" There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, "Meet it!" There was not a moment's hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way.

Well I knew the meaning of this representation. I had my orders. I had heard the words, like a voice from our Captain, "Meet it!" I knew what my duty was, and that there was not a moment to lose. The time for decided action had come. I must without delay obey the command, "Meet it!"

That night I was up at one o'clock, writing as fast as my hand could pass over the paper. For the next few days I worked early and late, preparing for our people the instruction given me regarding the errors that were coming in among us.

The pantheistic statements in Living Temple were subtle, and often closely paralleled statements Ellen White had made in answering the deistic argument that God created the world but then left it to fend for itself. Kellogg had drifted into error, but had stayed close enough to Scriptural modes of expression that the brethren were genuinely unsure of whether he had in fact erred.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church today faces a heresy that is not subtle, nor anywhere close to the biblical world view. The heresy is Darwinism, the rejection of the biblical creation doctrine and its replacement with the idea that we evolved by natural processes over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Over the past decade, the church has begun to realize the extent to which this false doctrine has seeped in among us; the faith-science conferences of 2002-2004 were an acknowledgment that many teachers and other thought leaders have embraced some form of Darwinism.

That Darwinism is incompatible with Christianity should be obvious to all. Take away the creation, and every other doctrine tumbles like a line of dominoes. Darwinism makes nonsense of the core Gospel teaching. If there was no perfect creation, there could be no fall into sin; if no Fall, then no explanation for the suffering and death we see around us. If there was no Fall, there is not need of a Redeemer. If there was no first Adam, there is no need of a second Adam to succeed where the first failed. The Biblical view of redemption as reconciliation and ransom from the consequences of Adam’s fall has to be jettisoned. In the place of the story of a ‘Fall’ has come the story of an ascent. “Sin” becomes an outmoded explanatory concept to be replaced by sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.

Darwinism also makes nonsense of the Eschaton. If God was incapable of creating the world in six days, as He said He did, then He is incapable of instantly resurrecting and glorifying the dead of all the ages, and remaking the world. If there was no literal Eden, there can be no Eden restored. In a 2009 sermon, Jan Paulsen said of the resurrection of the dead and the world made new:

All of these belong to the world of miracles. They are displays of God's unfathomable creative power. Those who have problems with the creative powers of God, or a God of creation, they have a problem so huge they don't know what to do with it, because they have no future, they have no --- everything that lies in God's future is miraculous.

Beyond the problems caused to core Gospel and end-time issues, Darwinism destroys the reason for existence of the SDA Church, which is to call Christian believers back to worship on the Biblical Sabbath, the day that God hallowed at the creation. The only universal rationale for keeping the Sabbath is that God created the world in six days and rested on the Sabbath Day. (Gen. 2:2-3; Ex. 20:11) If that's not true, there's no reason to keep the Sabbath. Without the Sabbath truth, we don't have anything unique or interesting to add to prophetic interpretation; the Sabbath truth is foundational to our interpretation of Bible prophecy, particularly our interpretation of the Three Angels Messages of Revelation 14. Darwinism also fatally undermines the prophetic authority of our founding prophet, who was fully invested in the biblical doctrine of creation, and repeatedly warned of the falsity of evolutionism and long-ages geology.

Taking away the biblical doctrine of creation destroys Christianity as an internally coherent system of doctrines and beliefs. If Seventh-day Adventists compromise on this issue, not only have we lost the only universal rationale for our signature doctrine of Sabbath-keeping, we've given away everything else, as well, every advance in biblical understanding and prophetic interpretation we've made over the denominations that preceded us. We will coast for a few generations on tradition and habit, but we'll soon disappear into the depths.

A century ago on the bridge of Titanic, Will Murdoch's first instinct was to try to avoid a violent collision that would shake up everyone on the ship. But it was too late to steer clear, and trying to skirt the iceberg sealed Titanic's doom. Today, our leaders in the SDA Church seem to want somehow to skirt the looming threat of Darwinism in our ranks, but it is too late. A collision cannot be avoided, and the best thing we can do is to brace for impact, and meet it head on.

The community: incubator of wisdom

Last Thursday evening found me at the lathe, wood chips flying, carving out my daughter's future. Well, kind of. It was a baton I was making, the kind that are used in relay races. Our oldest was turning 13 on the morrow and we wanted to set her up well for the next leg of the race. And so, on the very next day we sat in our living room, family and significant friends all around, and we ushered her into young adulthood. The men in the room all spoke briefly of qualities they had seen in Maggie that they especially appreciated, and the women passed on sage bits of advice for her journey into womanhood. All the comments were recorded on paper, rolled up, inserted in the drilled out center of the baton, capped over, and then passed into my daughter's hand. It was the spirit of the genealogy that animated us, family and community together, pointing a life towards the divine intent and encouraging her onwards. But what makes this hand-off successful? In the past two articles I have shown that the Bible genealogy roots us in a history which has at its center the divine intent, that is the vision of God by which He created. Such rooting gives a significance to each individual life that cannot be obtained in any other way. But between the individual and that history lies the connecting link of the community. The question about the success of the hand-off is really a question about the health of the community. And to explore that question we need a vigorous conception of what community health actually looks like. But first we must clear up one little matter.

The Chicken or the Egg Dilemma

Is it the action of the individual that brings health to the community, or the action of the community that brings health to the individual? It is an important question because it helps us come to grips with the ways in which a community moves towards health, and the role of both community and individual in that movement. And yet it may be a misleading question in that the answer is not either-or but both.

One thing should be clear and that is that the individual does not live in isolation, nor as an end unto himself, nor as a primary focus of attention, all of which are temptations especially tempting to the fallen. Nonetheless, there is much that comes to the community through individuals, all the more so when they have recognized and gained victory over the above temptations. Individuals, when standing in their proper God-given role and place, become a power for the good, an elevating influence or leaven to the whole. So much so, that we are inclined to say that the individual comes first, that it is the individual that brings health to the community. And certainly this is a healthy outlook for the individual to adopt, the proper outlook. We are to be for the others, not for ourselves.

Yet at the same time the individual is not first in this order. The community is. The idea of the self-made man is mythological. All that is best in us has been given to us by another, many others in fact, chief among them God himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so an argument can be made, just as vigorous, that it is the community that brings health to the individual. This goal, the community should certainly set as one of its highest priorities. We should aim at becoming a context, better said a place, where the tide of uplift is so strong that an individual would have to fight hard to resist it.

Such an attainment will and does demand our utmost in alertness and diligent effort, both individually and together. The machinations which work against us are legion, both from within and without. But we have been given what we need for the effort in foundation texts, passages on which we can build if we will but give them their due. 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 come to mind, as well as Ephesians chapter 4. In these passages both the individual and the community may find the working material for community of the highest order. But principal perhaps is the book of Proverbs, a book that is of the highest importance for the centering of the community and the individual together in their proper tasks. Proverbs Divine no!

Proverbs is the quintessential community text, following the patterns of genealogical continuity and connection. And its focus is wisdom. Wisdom is the biblical word which is expressive of the divine intent in creation, the intent which we have argued is to be the center and focus of all our living, that which the individual bends every effort to attain and the community busies itself to hoard and pass on. Proverbs 8 makes this clear. To pursue wisdom is to measure your stride by creation patterns, God ordained patterns. And it is the pursuit of wisdom which is the proper business of community. So much so that this becomes the true marker of community health, that health which we argued above is so necessary to the successful passing of the baton of faith.

If wisdom is to be gained, however, we must be clear as to what wisdom is and isn't. Apart from such clarity we all too easily settle for something other or less than wisdom. Two alternatives have become especially popular in our day.

One of these is knowledge. Though knowledge plays a part in wisdom, it can be pursued and hoarded and displayed without a hint of wisdom showing up anywhere: knowledge exiled to the theoretical, knowledge that has lost its work gloves. Such knowledge distracts so powerfully from the quest for wisdom because it is easier. Wisdom requires engagement with the messy and difficult realities of human life and community; it necessitates becoming “comfortable” with uncertainty and perplexity and it calls for humble patience, as the honing provided by experience takes time. Knowledge does not cost so much. Pursued in isolation from the rough and tumble it comes free and easy.

Technique, that is method applied to everything, is another revered distraction of our age. Technique when applied provides a map for every eventuality. You know where you are going, even before you get there and outcomes are guaranteed. Technique promises facility in every endeavor, without the hard work of wisdom; nor does the application of technique require understanding. And so in the press for success techniques proliferate wildly. And yet technique has its down sides. With technique at the helm the world becomes man sized and man centered and with technique at the helm people become either problems to be solved or pawns to be moved rather than persons, whom we might come to know and understand and share life's journeys with. Is there a place for techniques? Certainly. But not when dealing with God and Holy Texts and people. A continued reliance upon technique in these realms will eventually bring us to the point where applications of technique are thought to be the only way forward. Wisdom becomes inaccessible.

To these distractions the community of faith must say no, and one of her best allies in articulation that no is the book of Proverbs. Proverbs bolsters our conviction that wisdom is the proper business of the family: father and son, mother and daughter, parents with their children; but not just family, there are also sages from the past, elders at the gate, and friends that give rebukes as sweet as kisses. But it is more than just a no that draws us away from bypaths. It is the compelling vision of what wisdom is all about and Proverbs provides us with this as well.

Proverbs Divine yes!

Wisdom lies at the very root of things. It was wisdom that informed and shaped each act of divine creation. And as foundation it becomes the catch all word for everything that comes from God. A perusal of Proverbs 8 turns up the following as synonymous with wisdom: noble things, right things, true things, righteous things, things untouched by crookedness and perversion, straightforward things. As the synonyms pile up you find yourself longing for insight into the commitments and patterns and responses that make up such a life, that capture the fullness of the divine intent, the divine imagining of what would be and could be in the world that He made. This is at the heart of wisdom, this vision of what God meant and intended when He made and sabbathed the world.

This is the first task of the community, the work of recapturing true patterns, of sorting through murkiness, and wrongheadedness, and confusion, and even downright perversion, so as to find and keep alive the true shape of things—the will of God shape, the image of God shape—in things and especially in people.

But this is not all. As a community regains its vision it must learn how to pursue that vision in all kinds of difficult, contrary, and even contentious settings. Wisdom, remember, wears work gloves. The vision is never detached from daily realities, from the problems and responsibilities of ordinary living. To be able to ask and answer the question, “How do I move in this situation and in this moment so as to serve the higher ends of God” that is wisdom. And it isn't easy. Just as mining isn't easy. Digging deep, blasting through rock, moving mountains, looking for gold.

And it is because it isn't easy that the final element must be set forth; wisdom involves developed capacities. I may see the vision, but not have the strength or capacity to bring it into being. The hardest part of the quest for wisdom is the reshaping, the transformation of myself, each self, into a being that is capable of embodying God's vision, truly a God work, but one that I must stay engaged with.

It is this that our hearts hunger for, this vision being lived together in and with our communities. The community may be far from perfect, indeed she is far from perfect. But if she is applying herself to these wisdom tasks her life and witness will prove compelling, her health and vigor unabated, her sons and daughter's eager to reach out and grasp the baton that is passed to them, so as to run the same compelling race they have seen enacted around them, in shops and marketplaces, factories and fields, courtrooms and hospitals.

May each of us pray to the church that which I whispered to my Maggie as I handed her my baton, hoping she would choose to run the race most worth running. “Run, girl, run!”

Lord, change me

I have spent the majority of this month traveling all across the United States. I drove from Virginia to Arizona for my younger sister’s wedding and to visit my older sister and her family. Driving that long stretch of I-40 alone in the car provided plenty of time to contemplate life in general, my life in particular, and to talk with the Lord. You see, in addition to my sister’s wedding, my grandfather had passed away just days before I left on my trip. At the same time our family was celebrating the joys of a marriage union, we were also experiencing the sadness of the loss of a loved one. Though I was unable to attend my grandfather’s funeral, I wanted to visit my grandmother in Florida. After a little over a week in Arizona, I was once more on the road, but this time I was joined by my mother, older sister and her nine-month-old. Driving that long stretch of I-10 provided plenty of opportunities to also contemplate the irritations and annoyances that pop up when I least expected it and my reactions, whether good or bad.

After a few weeks of the mental exhaustion caused by long-distance driving, living out of a small suitcase in various hotels, and jumping through hoops to find ways to prepare food that will not trigger an allergic reaction, little things that do not usually bother me were now frustrating. Patience began to wear thin and, in spite of myself, I felt grumpy and irritable. The gas pump locking up because I typed in the wrong zip code or a thoughtless comment I would normally shrug off suddenly upset me.

We are surrounded by events, circumstances, and even people that frustrate, irritate, disturb, and anger us. In an article on the American Psychological Association’s website, anger is defined as “an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage” by Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who studies anger. Our natural instinct is to lash out aggressively at the cause of our irritation and anger, though the laws and social norms of today do not allow us to physically lash out without repercussions. Therefore, we have developed other ways to deal with these feelings, not all of which are easy to do nor healthy to ourselves or our relationships with others over the long term. We have probably all heard some of these suggestions: stop thinking about whatever it was that initiated those feelings, count to ten, take deep breaths, walk away, etc. Sometimes these methods work and other times, they do not.

As followers of Christ, we are called to respond to the irritations of life in a way that is unnatural: with patience, calm, and compassion. In Galatians 5:22-23, we are told: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” This is not something that we are able to do ourselves through will power. It is a gift we receive as we grow in our relationship with the Lord, allowing His Spirit to change us from the inside out.

We are all works-in-progress, and sometimes our old nature tries to take back the reins. Let’s face it: we are emotional beings. There are times when, due to stress, fatigue, family or work related problems, passionate zeal for a cause, and many other contributing factors, we do not always present a positive representation of Christ to our family, friends, co-workers, fellow church members, and so on. We are prone to shifting the blame completely on to another person and venting our irritations and anger through various methods: complaining and griping, giving the “guilty” person the cold shoulder, holding a grudge for months or even years, and more.

This creates cognitive dissonance: a discomfort generated by holding conflicting ideas, beliefs, or emotional reactions. Some of us may struggle with trying to harmonize the range of emotions we feel, from mild irritation to rage, with the fruit of the Spirit we should be displaying as a follower of Christ. Lashing out towards the source, or perceived source, of our irritation and anger often provides an immediate sense of satisfaction, even if it does not satisfy in the long term. Yet we know this is not how we are supposed to react as a Christian. This internal conflict is described well by the apostle Paul in Romans 7:15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

Before we complain about others, before we lash out verbally or physically, we should reflect on ourselves. How are we responding to the irritations around us? Is our reaction a reflection of the love of Christ? Are we asking the Lord to change us? Our hearts, our attitudes, our feelings? By asking for the Lord to work on us first, we draw closer to Him and allow Him to transform us so that, through His power and guidance, we can face the difficulties of life—big and small, when we are at our best and at our worst—in a completely revolutionary manner: with kindness, forgiveness, self-control, peace, and love. In Ephesians 4:32 we are encouraged to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Colossians 3:15, 17 continue, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. […] And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

We may stumble in our walk with the Lord, but do not fall for the devil’s lie that it is impossible for you to change. I am reminded of the great changes that Jesus’ disciples and apostle Paul experienced when they allowed the Lord to work in their lives. Let’s take a quick look at John. John and his brother James were called the “sons of thunder” for a reason (Mark 3:17). After a certain Samaritan village did not respond positively to their evangelistic campaign and witnessing efforts, James and John asked Christ if they could call fire down from heaven (Luke 9:51-56). Yet this same man, through the transforming power of Christ, was refined and would later write so extensively on the subject of love, particularly the unconditional love of God that he has come to be called the apostle of love. If Jesus can transform John, then He can and will change us if we allow Him.

My long trip all over the country has given me many opportunities for reflection. Through the churches I have visited on the Sabbath, the people I have meet and kept company with, the long stretches of highway that provided quiet time with the Lord, and yes, even the little annoyances, have all been a blessing. I realize more than ever before how important it is to not impulsively react, especially when I am not my usual self due to circumstances like stress, fatigue, loss, etc. When something disturbs or upsets, I need to pause and discover the real reason for my feelings. Now, instead of sending up rash, ego-centric prayers for the Lord to fix the situation the way I think it should be or to change the other person (Matthew 7:2-4), my plea is an echo of David’s after he recognized his sinfulness. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

I ask the Lord to work on my stubborn heart and guide my words and actions that I may respond with kindness and patience. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6). Not by my will power, because I, like the apostle Paul, do not always do what I know I should do and instead do what I do not want to do, but through the almighty power of our Lord working on me and through me.

[UPDATE] Michigan Conference accused of shunning LSU choir students

Charles Scriven, president of Kettering College and chair of the Adventist Forum board, recently accused the Michigan Conference of shunning a La Sierra University choir. Tensions between the university and conference began in 2009 when a website published evidence the university was allowing the theory of evolution to be taught to the exclusion of creationism. A year later the Michigan Conference Executive Committee voted to remove LSU from its list of colleges and universities that qualify for employee subsidy.

A letter dated Aug. 29, 2011, was sent to La Sierra University President Randal Wisbey from the Michigan Conference Board of Education, requesting LSU no longer recruit on Michigan Conference campuses until LSU resolved its problem.

La Sierra's request to sing was initially accepted by the academy principal, and according to La Sierra adjunct professor of music David Kendall, planned months in advance; however, it wasn’t until the principal contacted the office of education in March 2012 that the conference was aware the La Sierra Chamber Singers were coming, according to a phone call with Jay Gallimore.* While university choir tours are recognized as an important element in recruiting, Kendall said the trip was not intended as a recruiting tour. The Michigan Conference though considered the Chamber Singers' performance as recruitment, and the principal declined their request to sing weeks before their performance. It is unknown why the principal waited weeks before the performance to notify the office of education.

President of Michigan Conference Jay Gallimore issued a statement Thursday to conference pastors and teachers, regarding Schriven’s allegations:

We have been getting questions recently concerning the Michigan Conference refusal to allow La Sierra, which teaches theistic evolution, to be allowed to recruit on our academy campuses. A letter dated August 29, 2011, was sent to Dr. Randy Wisbey, president of La Sierra University stating; “Our Board of Education has voted to ask that La Sierra not be present in recruiting on our campuses until the issues of creation and evolution have been resolved.” We recently declined their offer to have their choir sing at one of our academies in light of the above action, because we see that as part of recruitment.

The principal of one of our academies called our office of Education around the first of March 2012 and said that his school had been asked by a La Sierra Choir to sing on their campus. He at first said yes, as he would normally for any of our colleges. But he had second thoughts in light of the above action. Normally our office would not be asked about one of our colleges coming. But the principal’s discernment was right to see a link to the recruitment issue. Educational administrators know that music groups are important to any school’s recruitment.

In light of the vote by our Board of Education, we responded by saying we see it as part of their recruitment and we would not want them performing on our campuses. The Office of Education’s understanding of the matter was straight forward. La Sierra offered to come and we, through the principal, declined their offer to come.

The published premise by an independent magazine that that we are somehow “punishing” their students because we declined their offer speaks for itself. How did they, the promoters of faith destroying evolution suddenly become a “victim” of those who are trying to protect the faith of their children? Is a mother bird to be condemned for flapping her wings in the face of a threat to her nest? We do not want our youth being recruited in any way by any institution that continues to defy the nearly unanimous vote in 2010 of nearly 2300 delegates in General Conference Session. That vote directed that all Seventh-day Adventist schools of higher learning to teach and support Creation as given in Genesis. The action was very clear. La Sierra’s continued action of teaching and supporting theistic evolution is also very clear. We offer no apologies for endeavoring to protect the faith of our youth.

*Comments from David Kendall and Jay Gallimore added.

Eternal power vs. blind chance, part II

A careful look at the probability of Darwinian evolution unequivocally denies the possibility of progress. If God’s works are made manifest in this way, though, how is it that many evolutionists, even those that are good at math, don’t see this as a fatal flaw in their theory? First, they see the action of natural selection as a mechanism that provides them with a loophole. If natural selection is strong enough, according to the theory, it will drive things forward and progress will be inevitable.

There’s a catch, though: the probability calculations show that Darwinian mechanisms cannot produce the proper mutations. Natural selection is simply the process by which those new mutations are fixed in the gene pool. If the necessary new mutations never arise, natural selection has nothing to work with and therefore cannot be the mechanism by which progress is made. (Michael Behe’s book The Edge of Evolution is a must-read for anyone interested in this topic. All of the data ever collected on mutations confirm that the Darwinian processes of mutation and natural selection are subject to the laws of probability.)

Another common objection to the probability hurdle can be demonstrated by the following conundrum: if I multiply out all the statistical probabilities that resulted in the uplift, erosion and current form of Mt. Everest, the existence of the mountain would appear to be a statistical impossibility. This must prove that either statistically impossible phenomena happen regularly, or that statistics can be applied only to events that have not yet happened, right?

This counterargument belies a misunderstanding of the specificity of the arrangement of DNA nucleotides in the cell. The DNA in the cell is more like the form of Mt. Rushmore than Mt. Everest: It means something. If something is complex but not specified, such as the arrangement of blades of grass in my lawn or the placement of the cracks in the rocks that make up the peak of Mt Everest, there is no information present. In other words, when we apply the word “specified” to DNA sequences, we are saying that not just any arrangement of nucleotides will suffice for a given task. It must be a specific arrangement.

One idea kicked around in evolutionary biology is that there are many possible DNA sequences that could potentially get a job done, thereby limiting the specificity required for life to function. This approach doesn’t help, however. Even if there were billions of functional variations of the simplest genome known to science, its development by Darwinian mechanisms would be statistically impossible. A useful analogy is scrabble letters. There may be many ways to use all the letters in the bag to make a meaningful paragraph, but we would be extremely surprised if we dumped the letters out of the bag, and they formed one of those meaningful sequences.

Once the issue of specificity is clarified, Darwinists tend to argue that necessity must play some role in the development of life (1). Necessity, in this context, refers to chemical bonding preferences (2). If you have sodium ions and chloride ions in water, and you boil away all the water, the ions will, by necessity, form table salt. The argument, then, is that the laws that govern chemistry caused living organisms to come together and evolve.

The most basic fallacy in this argument is that chemical bonding preferences create repeating sequences of atoms and therefore cannot create information. Imagine trying to type a message on a computer that only allowed letters to fall in alphabetical order. Written communication would be impossible under such constraints.

Finally, after natural selection has been assigned to its proper place, the role of specificity has been properly understood, and necessity has been deemed unhelpful in information production, the last argument in favor of Darwinism is that science must, under all circumstances and against all odds, adhere to methodological naturalism.

Creationists have often been accused of allowing philosophy to warp their scientific views. When the data are allowed to speak, however, the true dogmatism is revealed. Darwinian evolution—though founded on the negation of God’s action—demands miracle after miracle of incalculable magnitude to succeed.

1. In general, Darwinists deny the action of necessity in evolutionary theory (Michael Shermer, “The Role of Contingency and Necessity in Evolution” in Nature of Nature). I’ve only heard it used in debates as a position of retreat when the idea of the power of natural selection has succumbed and specificity has been correctly understood. 2. Some might argue that I’ve set up a straw man by limiting the argument to chemistry, and that there might be other mechanisms at work on a different level. My reply is that no one has even remotely demonstrated such a mechanism, and conjecture is a poor replacement for data.

Green eggs & spam

When I was in 3rd grade, our class received a little sticker of the earth from my teacher. Printed in yellow words under the earth were the words “ecology.” I put that sticker on the cover of my red notebook next to the peace sign that I had drawn there. It was 1968. The hippie revolution was in full stride. Forty years later the notebook is gone, the earth is still around, and we could all use a little peace. But revolution? The hippies are all gray-haired now and the only thing organic about them is their Buckeye cards and the mold growing on their beaded buckskin jackets.

Most of them are not growing natural gardens in Woodstock, NY, nor sitting around in circles discussing Socialism and saying, “That’s heavy…man” (although “That’s heavy” does describe America in 2011— that is another story for another time). No, most of the old hippies went on to become accountants, store owners, Amway salesmen, professors and teachers, car dealers, and worse yet, politicians. But their desire for revolution lives on, and there are several new ones to choose from. Social Justice and Green Religion is the soup du jour of our times.

Wait a minute. Religion? Most activists today are way beyond religion, marinating in their post-Christian, Darwin-enlightened modern sensibilities. To modern man God is a nuisance, if not outright bad. We won’t be needing any of that religion stuff, thank you very much.

Thus it is with tremendous irony that the Green Revolution has become a religious movement to end all of them. Let’s examine some of the doctrines of this hazardous new religion, and you can decide for yourself.

First, there is salvation. We must save the world, and in the process we save ourselves. We don’t have to build a tower (see Babel); all we have to do is build a case for environmental supremacy and maybe plant a garden. Don’t need a Savior on a cross? You can be your own savior, and what can be more revolutionary than that?

Sin. Mowing your lawn is a sin. “But the grass grows back...!!” you exclaim. No, I’m talking about the mower! It has an engine. That engine has something worse than a gun – an exhaust system. Its bullets are carbon and each cycle of combustion fires into the atmosphere a deadly pestilence. But you live in an apartment and don’t even have a lawnmower, you say! Not so fast. All have sinned. Do you own a car? I thought so. “Well I don’t have one anymore says Grandma ‘Peterson’ from Denmark, and I ride the bus everywhere I go.” That’s better, but there’s still one unrepentant sin clinging to your life like a green sea vine wrapped around your left ankle. You are breathing. Breathing releases C02 into the fragile atmosphere and C02 is a sin! Like all sin, it must be repented of to avoid destruction and that brings us to the next doctrine.

Forgiveness. You can be forgiven for causing carbon to the earth if you use spiral light bulbs, ride your bicycle, drive a Prius, plant a tree, turn off your AC and use one square of toilet paper per sitting. But if you do all that and like the rich young ruler, green guilt drives you to your master, there is one overmastering trip to Mecca to cleanse your soul. The pinnacle of indulgences, and the envy of Johann Tetzel himself, is the mighty Carbon Credit. With it, you can purchase “peace that is of this world” and cover a multitude of carbon.

Saints. Al Gore, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Paul Ehrlich, James Lovelock, Arnie Næss, Robert Bullard, Fritjof Capra and other faces are carved into the Green Revolution wall, representing a chosen line of prophets sent to warn us. We might not be worthy, but we are guilty of environmental sin and we must turn from our ways or perish. Speaking of prophets.

Prophecy. “The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind” (Nigel Calder, 1969). “By 1999 the U.S. population will have declined to 22.6 million” (Paul Ehrich, 1968).

April 2008, Ted Turner (on not taking drastic action to correct global warming), “Not doing it will be catastrophic. We’ll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow! Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals.” [Strictly speaking, this is not a failed prediction. It won't be until at least 2041 that our church-going and pie-baking neighbors come after us for their noonday meal. But the prophecy is so bizarre that I include it here]. However, the grand prize for Green prophecy in the 21st century has already been claimed by Al Gore. His insistence that the earth will fry, that the seas will rise and that life as we know it must undergo a "wrenching transformation" will be studied by our grandchildren with the same appreciation that Ehrlich's ridiculous prophecies deserve. They will ask, “What on earth were these people thinking..?” (pardon the pun).

Outreach. Activism is the new evangelism as “church leaders” seek to hitch environmentalism to Christianity. At his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Al Gore said, “We have everything we need to get started, except for political will. But political will is a renewable resource. So let us renew it, say together: We have a purpose. We are many. For this purpose we will rise and we will act.” Quite a sermon, isn’t it? 2002 Campaigns like “What would Jesus drive” are designed to bring conviction to the masses and make them feel guilty about driving cars. And from the top seminary in the world pours a steady stream of documentaries, outreach movies, and indoctrinating innuendo. No we’re not talking about Moody, Andrews, or Wycliffe Hall. We’re talking about Hollywood. Let the sins of the tired, poor and huddled masses be greenwashed away. “There is wonder-working power in the planet..”

Temperance. “Do not drink.” Gasoline that is. In fact, wean yourself off of petroleum of all kinds before it’s eternally too late. Petroleum will break up your family, give you a hangover, and lead to all kinds of diseases. So control yourself Sir, and drop the addiction to incandescent light bulbs, Sport Utility Vehicles, and plastic Walmart bags. However…while cutting back on toilet paper to demonstrate your love for the Green Revolution may sound like earthly righteousness, it could lead to a brown uprising. Please be careful.

Conclusion. If you are one of the many folks who have become disillusioned with Christianity in this sweeping era of modern doubt, you have an option, a green one. It offers its own answers to life’s existential questions, origins, morality, meaning and salvation. But here is a much-needed warning.

A Christian is one who wants to find out and do what pleases the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 5:10). One can therefore distinguish a Christian movement by the willing hearted resolve to submit to the demands of Scripture. Since so much of the church has exalted feeling or action over the Word of God, it should come as no surprise that significant parts of the Christian church are caught up in the environmentalist movement. Rather than being fools for Christ, they are useful idiots of the Green Revolution, well-meaning but infatuated sycophants. Thus it is common to see advertisements of Jesus as the Marxist, organic-vegetable-eating hemp-wearing, pro-choice, Prius-driving, flag-hating hippie.

Now, false religion is a double edged sword: it is equally dangerous to claim Jesus as a Neo-con, flesh-eating, flag-waving, gun-toting, truck driving, gay-hating redneck. The religion of the Bible, the Christian religion is edgy and demanding. It is a religion of power yet not a power religion. In fact, it is much more than a religion. It is a generous display of the transformational power of God through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus the Christ. It is love amidst hatred, it is life from death, it is peace apart from this world. Thus a major problem with the Green Revolution is not so much that it is a revolutionary movement, but that environmentalism is insufficiently revolutionary. It cannot purify the heart. Church leaders who seek to hitch environmentalism to Christianity are but dirty fleas riding God’s dog.

To quote George Mardsen, “The lines between Christian and non-Christian morality are becoming increasingly blurred, but not because unbelievers are embracing truth." The Green Revolution is only too happy to plow with God’s heifer, especially if she is willing. But whether motivated by power lust or the hungry soul’s cry for salvation, or both—whatever the case may be—the Green Revolution is the bastard child of spiritual polygamy."

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever.”

Come let us reason together, though your sins be red, and your deceptions green, you can be as white as snow. There is hope for you and me in Christ alone.

One union says no to women's ordination

Southern Union Conference says no to women’s ordination. The executive committee voted Thursday to keep in harmony with the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s decision not to ordain women to the gospel ministry:

The Southern Union Conference, following the scriptural mandate of the priesthood of all believers, intentionally chooses to continue its long-held commitment to supporting, encouraging, empowering, and celebrating the involvement of women in ministry. However, we will do so only in harmony with the Seventh-day Adventist World Church as expressed by actions taken during the General Conference in business session.

As the largest union in the North American Division, this action could be a potential hindrance to the recent thrusts from the Mid-America, Pacific and Columbia Unions to begin ordaining women as pastors.

It would appear some church leaders are taking seriously NAD President Dan Jackson’s call to “become more intentional in the development of pathways to ministry for female pastors.”

The Mid-America Union was the first, voting to ordain women in its March 8 executive committee meeting. What followed was a flurry of similar actions.

After the Columbia Union’s decision to affirm its request to the NAD to ordain women, the union’s Potomac Conference voted to review its bylaws in order to enable women’s ordination. A week after the Pacific Union affirmed their commitment to ordain women, the union’s Southeastern California Conference voted to drop “commissioned-ordained” from their ministerial credentials in favor of just “ordained.”

The 1989 Role of Women Commission recommended not to ordain women as pastors due to “widespread lack of support” and “the possible risk of disunity, dissension, and diversion from the mission of the church” (Adventist Review, July 13, 1990, p. 15). This didn’t stop the NAD from trying to make a variance for itself.

In 1994 the NAD recommended through the Annual Council that each division be given the right to ordain individuals within its territory, but the Annual Council voted to refer the NAD’s request to the 1995 General Conference Session; however, July 5, 1995, the NAD’s recommendation was rejected -- 1,481 to 673.

Time will tell whether the remaining five NAD unions will vote to stay in harmony with the world church or not.

The in of the in-and-out

“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). This verse summarizes the immediate effect of the first dose of the Holy Spirit’s power given to God’s people. Empowered by the second dose, “Pentecost II” or the latter rain, the remnant will enter a period of extremely successful missionary effort. Ellen White said in Last Day Events:

Thousands in the eleventh hour will see and acknowledge the truth . . . . These conversions to truth will be made with a rapidity that will surprise the church, and God's name alone will be glorified. There will be thousands converted to the truth in a day who at the eleventh hour see and acknowledge the truth and the movements of the Spirit of God. The time is coming when there will be as many converted in a day as there were on the Day of Pentecost, after the disciples had received the Holy Spirit. (212)

In and out “‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27).

Most of us are familiar with the concept of the shaking. We know that many who label themselves believers will be shaken out. In 1893, Ellen White wrote:

It is a solemn statement that I make to the church, that not one in twenty whose names are registered upon the church books are prepared to close their earthly history, and would be as verily without God and without hope in the world as the common sinner. (Last Day Events 172)

However, in addition to the massive outflow, there will be a corresponding influx of people joining the final movement:

Some had been shaken out and left by the way. The careless and indifferent, who did not join with those who prized victory and salvation enough to perseveringly plead and agonize for it, did not obtain it, and they were left behind in darkness, and their places were immediately filled by others taking hold of the truth and coming into the ranks.

The broken ranks will be filled up by those represented by Christ as coming in at the eleventh hour. There are many with whom the Spirit of God is striving. The time of God's destructive judgments is the time of mercy for those who [now] have no opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save, while the door is closed to those who would not enter. Large numbers will be admitted who in these last days hear the truth for the first time.

Standard after standard was left to trail in the dust as company after company from the Lord's army joined the foe and tribe after tribe from the ranks of the enemy united with the commandment-keeping people of God. (182)

Evidently, then, in addition to the massive “out” of the shaking, there will also be a huge “in,” like someone shaking something into its proper place.

Personal contact What will the “in” of the “in & out” look like? Will it occur even in wealthy, secular, Laodicean America? Really? How do all these people join God’s church? What will this event look like?

In visions of the night, representations passed before me of a great reformatory movement among God's people. Many were praising God. The sick were healed, and other miracles were wrought. A spirit of intercession was seen, even as was manifested before the great Day of Pentecost. Hundreds and thousands were seen visiting families and opening before them the word of God. Hearts were convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit, and a spirit of genuine conversion was manifest. On every side doors were thrown open to the proclamation of the truth. The world seemed to be lightened with the heavenly influence. The true and humble people of God received great blessings. I heard voices of thanksgiving and praise, and there seemed to be a reformation such as we witnessed in 1844. (White, Testimonies Vol. 9, 126)

I clearly recall the sound of crunching metal when another car broadsided our own some years ago, breaking my leg. After an off-duty EMT braced my back and neck, paramedics smashed a window to extract me from the wreckage. I was rushed to the hospital where an exceedingly grumpy head nurse greeted me with a frown and demanded information from me. Shaking, and with pieces of broken glass still in the folds of the blanket which covered me, I felt something squeeze my right arm. I looked, but instead of a sweet Asian nurse smiling at me, it was a blood pressure cuff. Following the cord with my eyes, I found that it terminated at a machine on the wall behind me. Evidently the nurses were back at their desks, spending time with the computer whose screen reported my condition!

In our technologically advanced age, when machines take your blood pressure, talk to you on the phone, and eliminate face-to-face human interaction as much as possible, people need personal contact. “You must come close to those for whom you labor, that they may not only hear your voice, but shake your hand, learn your principles, feel your sympathy” (White, Gospel Worker 192).

“By personal labor reach the people where they are. Become acquainted with them. This work cannot be done by proxy. Money loaned or given cannot accomplish it. Sermons from the pulpit cannot do it” (188).

I would wager that you, the reader, have heard some great preaching; that’s the way it should be. God used preaching as one of the primary “tubes” through which He did His work in Pentecost I (see, e.g., Acts 2:4; 3:12; 5:20). But it is not enough—“sermons from the pulpit cannot do it”! And because “strength to resist evil is best gained by aggressive service,” we know that the work which God will do in His people in the final moments of earth’s history will not be given while we are stationary. Instead, like the church of Acts 2-5, there will be aggressive activity, visiting “from house to house” (Acts of the Apostles 125; Acts 2:46; 20:20). In Acts 5:42 we read, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” As a result of the first pouring out of God’s Spirit, God’s people were inside of houses sharing the good news: “Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given” (White, Great Controversy 611-612).

Literature “In a large degree through our publishing houses is to be accomplished the work of that other angel who comes down from heaven with great power and who lightens the earth with his glory” (Last Day Events 214).

In addition to personal contact, literature will evidently loom large in the mechanics of how all these people will join God’s movement. During the “in” of the “in & out,” we are told that the Holy Spirit will use printed material to speak to hearts.

“More than one thousand will soon be converted in one day, most of whom will trace their first convictions to the reading of our publications” (213-214).

“The results of the circulation of this book [The Great Controversy] are not to be judged by what now appears. By reading it some souls will be aroused and will have courage to unite themselves at once with those who keep the commandments of God. But a much larger number who read it will not take their position until they see the very events taking place that are foretold in it. The fulfillment of some of the predictions will inspire faith that others also will come to pass, and when the earth is lightened with the glory of the Lord in the closing work, many souls will take their position on the commandments of God as the result of this agency” (214).

Please notice the clear usage of the past tense—the first convictions of these folks are traced back to publications; The Great Controversy will by many be read first, but accepted later. This implies a work which has happened before the latter rain and loud cry, sometime in the past—but with results delayed until the loud cry. This argues strongly for literature distribution now, before the events happen:

Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers . . . . The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere . . . . Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord's side. (Great Controversy 612)

“But,” you say, “people don’t read anymore.” While it is true other forms of media have become popular, the idea that people don’t read anymore may be laid to rest as a myth. According to a Forbes magazine column, people are reading more, not less; the Internet is actually fueling literacy. Revenue from book sales climbed 5.6% in 2009 and 2010, even in the middle of challenging economic times—and was projected to reach nearly $42 billion for 2011. Even sales of religious books increased 12% in 2010. The infamous Watchtower folks produce their ever-present magazines at the astounding rate of over one billion pieces per year. In addition, the output of our publishing houses includes some excellent material available in digital format, such as Doug Batchelor’s Final Events DVD, which includes over 350 pages/clips of Bible study material, audio clips, etc.

Boldness As a result of the early rain, God’s people grew bold in their missionary effort.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus...

“Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word . . . .” And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:13; 29-31)

Evidently, personal contact and literature will be accompanied by boldness—not reluctance, reticence, or tentativeness. The impetus behind all this successful missionary outreach, the “engine” which drives the movement, will be the Holy Spirit which has been given in latter rain abundance; and He knows no timidity.

Conclusion There will be a period of time, probably fairly short, in which evangelistic effort will find astonishing success—much like its prototype in Acts 2-5. That other angel, also called the fourth angel of Revelation 18, will find its bold fulfillment through our publishing houses and through hundreds and thousands, visiting families and opening before them the word of God.

So: Should we sit back and wait for the latter rain at which point we will begin active outreach and hand out literature? No. As we have seen, much of the effect of literature during the last movement “in” to God’s people will be from literature previously distributed. Furthermore, the latter rain will not be given until we are an active people:

When the churches become living, working churches, the Holy Spirit will be given in answer to their sincere request . . . . Then the windows of heaven will be open for the showers of the latter rain.

The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God. When we have entire, wholehearted consecration to the service of Christ, God will recognize the fact by an outpouring of His Spirit without measure; but this will not be while the largest portion of the church are not laborers together with God” (Last Day Events 193).

Do you want to be there, right in the middle of the dramatic “in,” when many, many people choose to follow God with all their hearts? There will be a big “out” as well—but what a privilege to be a part of those final moments in the history of the world when thousands and thousands of people choose God! Do you want this? Are you willing to begin to work now in whatever small or large way God has given you? Are you willing to work in your sphere of influence—whatever that is—and yes, to hand out literature? I challenge you to be one of those shaken in, rather than shaken out. Jesus said to Peter: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail” (Luke 22:31-32).

Now Lord, send Your Spirit, and let thousands of the honest-hearted join Your people. Help us to be faithful now; please prepare our hearts, that we may be “counted worthy to escape all these things . . . and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36).

Questions on origins

A review of the deep questions students, teachers, and many others face in the origins conflict. Icons will include: the origin of life; age of the universe, the earth, and life; as well as the sequence of the fossils. This presentation will serve as an introduction of the 1,268 slide presentation prepared especially for the students and teachers in Adventist schools.

Southeastern Calif. Conference removes 'ordained-commissioned' from ministerial credentials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Enno Mueller, Interim Communication Director Southeastern California Conference 951.509.2258 enno.mueller@seccsda.org

March 22, 2012 (Riverside, CA) – The Executive Committee of the Southeastern California Conference voted today “to remove the term ‘Ordained-Commissioned’ and replace it with the term ‘Ordained’ on all ministerial credentials, regardless of the gender of the credential holder.” This is effective immediately.

Since 2000 the conference had issued “Ordained-Commissioned” ministerial credentials to men and women.

The committee believes this step will enable all pastors to better fulfill the conference’s mission statement, which is the expansion of God’s kingdom through preaching, teaching, publishing and living of the everlasting gospel throughout the cross-cultural communities of its territory.

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Southeastern California Conference is the administrative headquarters for the more than 70,596 members of 156 churches and companies. The conference employs 177 pastors that hold ministerial credentials, of which 10 are female. The conference territory encompasses the Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. Southeastern California Conference is one of seven conferences that make up the Pacific Union Conference, which has approximately 222,000 members and is one of nine union conferences that form the North American Division. The North American Division has more than 1 million members.

The fine-tuned universe

The incredible precision of the universe is often overlooked in discussion about science and God. The topic is also too often neglected in the Adventist conversation. This topic will be introduced by a video prepared for the general viewer and will also serve as an introduction to the 14 video series titled "Where Is Truth?: In the Bible, in Science, or Both?" by Ariel Roth.

Futility

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday from my shop radio. I had moved the radio over to another area of the shop where I was working and plugged it into the outlet. At least I tried to. The dumb plug was wrong, or the way I was holding it was wrong, or maybe the outlet was wrong. At any rate, I had to turn the plug over so the finicky wide plug went into the dumb wide slot. Then it worked. Now I have had this experience before; in fact I have had it many times. So I began thinking… “Why is it that the majority of times I attempt to plug in an electrical appliance, I do it wrong? Couldn’t it just as easily be right a majority of the time? How about 50/50? Why is it usually wrong?” I think I finally found the answer in an obscure text in the Bible: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). DID YOU HEAR THAT? Futility. That’s what we have had ever since Adam and Eve ate that futile fruit.

So what does futility mean to us? It means that we are subjected to futility & frustration (“Yeah, I read that, Gerry”). But, what does it mean to us today? It means that things don’t always work out the way that we wish they would. In fact, very many times they do not.

For instance: If you are changing the oil in your truck out in the driveway, it can be a perfectly calm day until you bend over and crawl under the truck, leaving your vulnerable backside as a target. The formerly nonexistent wind will choose that moment to inflate your shirt like the sail on a British schooner, and at the same time turn the steady oil stream into a dribble of black mist that creates a large stain on the concrete (gravel if you are lucky). Futility is what we’re talking about here. Or, frustration. How can we cope with it as we wait for Jesus to return?

We are not alone

It should take some of the sting out of life to discover that the Apostle Paul was frustrated at times too. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he writes about a real tough time he was experiencing. “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life itself (2 Cor. 1:8). In other words “We didn’t think we were going to live...”

Now most of us have not feared for our lives, but we know what it means to be frustrated at times by jobs, children, marriages, neighbors and maybe even our faith. We don’t all struggle alike, but alike we all struggle. Can Anyone help us? Enter Jesus. When He spiraled down into a human cell, He subjected Himself to humanity with all of its frustrations. According to Hebrews, He did this so that He might have a behind-the-scenes bond with our condition and lift us above it (Hebrews 2:14-18). Paul understands what frustration is; an entire line of chosen witnesses in Hebrews 11 understood, and most importantly Jesus understands. We are not alone in this grand existential struggle.

Prayer makes a difference

In his letter to the believers at Corinth (2 Cor. 1:11) Paul reveals a special antidote to the shivers of futility that we experience. Prayer. How many people have prayed for you during some low time in your life? More than we know. How many times have we prayed for others? When we ask others to pray for us, two things happen. We humble ourselves (very important in my life–perhaps yours too) and we give others an opportunity to share in the rejoicing. As our trials pass, they often reveal that some good has come from the experience. This gives way to gratitude, and those who prayed for us can share in that rejoicing. As Paul wrote: “You helped us by your prayers” (v. 11a) and now many will give thanks for the gracious favor granted in this answered prayer” (v.11b). This is how the Church is designed to function. Are you concerned about someone? Pray for them. Do you love someone? Pray for them. Do you despise someone? Pray for them, and ask others to pray for you. Prayer messes up futility.

Look forward

The trials that we face have a purpose. God never wastes pain in our lives. He has promised to use it to bring good into our lives (2 Cor. 1:10; 4:17). In 2007, I spoke with a family in Idaho who had endured many frustrations. In tears, they shared some of the pain that life had brought them. After listening, I asked them, “What good has come out of this experience?” That one question turned the direction of the whole conversation toward God. They spoke of finding God through the trial and learning to love each other more deeply. The experience gave them something they hadn’t possessed before. Hope! As Jeremiah said, “God has a desire to give us hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). God cares about your future enough to have already secured your place in it (John 14:3). There is hope. We may still have red traffic lights, property tax, cemeteries and hospitals to temporarily endure, but there is a better land coming if we remain faithful. So the next time you go to plug in your blender to make a smoothie, remember… you may try to plug it in the wrong way at first.

That’s okay. God, in His goodness, has plugged us into His family, into His future and into His heart, and the enemy is the only one frustrated with God's goodness.

Contraception: a memoir

All told, while attending different schools, I have lived in a dormitory for a total of ten years. Dorm life breeds a certain familiarity with people far beyond one’s friend group. Little discretion is often used when sharing the facts of one’s life. One year, a girl that I lived near involved herself in a relationship with a certain young man. He had been an acquaintance and I did not know him well, but nonetheless I had the unfortunate privilege of coming to know some very intimate personal details about him via a former roommate of mine and girlfriend of his. This was on the heels of yet another previous friend of mine and another former girlfriend of his. (The dating game can be a very messy business indeed). I’ll never forget the day when Jill came to me and said, “Jack* says we’re going to get married, so why does it matter if we wait?”

She was a budding, not-so-logical-at-times feminist as was Jack. But on this particular point, strange as it may seem, I found it difficult to argue with her reasoning. After all, if the two of them were truly on the fast track to marriage, who was I to disagree? Though I couldn’t adopt her stance for myself, her desire for marriage was infectious and I found it difficult at times to question her reasoning. Except for the fact that scripture teaches abstinence before marriage (Gen. 34; Deu. 22:13-28; 1 Cor. 6:9; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19-21; Heb. 13:4), she actually made some sense. Or at least, I tried to convince myself that she made sense and genuinely hoped the best for them both.

As their relationship “progressed” and had continued for some time, I would occasionally be on the unfortunate end of her tales of escapade while bumping into her on my way to the library or before a class began. The issue of contraception inevitably came up. One evening sitting in her dorm-room, I noticed that the look in her eyes was similar to the look I imagine Eve casting at Adam as she held up the forbidden fruit. Jill rummaged through her bag and triumphantly held up a cunning little white box, announcing, “I am now in FULL control of my body!” (emphasis hers.) “No more condoms!”

And, according to the newspaper I found in my mailbox just yesterday and the recent political skirmish, “most” of American Catholics might have joined her in cheers and slogan shouting in support of contraception: an irritating little secret celibate priests would rather no one know--including God. She, too, could have the joy of special knowledge and experience without consequence. Or so it seemed.

Somehow, Jill was not in “full” control because the issue of baby-prevention resurfaced later that year when she and Jack were careless and he forced her into frantically obtaining a “morning after” pill. After this traumatic experience which she relayed with some guilt and emotional turmoil, Jill explained that she wasn’t sure if Jack was right in his conclusion that abortion was just as viable a contraception option as all of the other choices. I was stunned that she would even be considering that he might be correct. She reasoned, or at least tried to, that barrier methods, the morning after pill and abortion, were all somehow on a level playing field. There was certainly some very creative, but not unheard of, rationalizing to escape responsibility.

“He said that it’s the same thing, if you really think about it.” Now this was something that I couldn’t wrap my mind around. Where was I to turn? When Jill and I were trudging through the college years, we had no church dogma by which to guide our sexual interest. This was unlike the archaic stereotyped chaste “Catholic girls.” There was no black and white theology for sexuality on the campus we lived on!

What made the difference between, say, my mom’s 1950s era framing of sexuality and sex and what Jill and I encountered? After all, if my mom encountered things like pre-marital sex, extramarital sex or homosexuality (as she certainly did since it has existed since shortly after the fall), then at the very least, her familiarity with it was probably orders of magnitude different. But what factors led to such a radical difference? If I had to implicate one major factor it would assuredly be the ‘C’ word: contraception.

If the Adventist church sometime around its origins had issued a statement of belief that contraception was the sin of Onan (Gen. 38:9,10; Deu. 25:7-10) and that anyone who used a contraceptive agent would have a similar fate, perhaps Jill would not have fallen prey to Jack's rationale, and Jack would have come to different conclusions while interpreting the word fornication when he read his Bible. But because Jill and Jack could participate in the gifts intended for marriage without the “dreaded and unfortunate side effects” of such intimacy, the line as to when and where their intimate act could or should be done was blurred and then finally obliterated.

Arguably, contraception allows more stewardship for the Christian in terms of planning for the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the children brought into this world. In addition to considering the quality of parenting, the mother and father are able to give and understanding the significance of the social and political circumstances they find themselves in. However, it is often used more for convenience and ease of sexual pleasure.

Some would argue that sexual activity is for one purpose only: procreation.***** This stance is frighteningly utilitarian and can take some, if not all of the joy out of the gift. It also ignores the many times that sex does not in fact lead to a child. While contraception may allow couples to exert more control over the number of children they have, there are also several natural methods of fertility awareness which also allow for the best of both worlds: sexual pleasure and procreation.

However, arguably the most alarming downstream consequence for a culture with the free use of contraception is that it ultimately provides the option of bypassing the context where sex should take place: marriage. And this has the potential to radically alter a person’s worldview. It allows for sex with a perception of minimal risk or commitment. This is clearly a misuse of contraception from a biblical perspective. It engenders an atmosphere of arrogance and a potential demeaning of something that God intended to be holy.

Years later, Jill and Jack are still not married despite their verbal and physical vows made to one another. Though the “safe-sex” they enjoyed courtesy of contraception in its multiple varieties did not produce children, neither did it produce devotion or the planned matrimony. It did, however, produce something else, something completely un-safe, and fraught with consequences. The once gentle, happy manner of Jill changed into the hardened attitude and practice of an addict: user and used. And Jack added another -ism to his academic list, that of Atheism, an arguably very natural end result to a created being yearning for moral autonomy while trampling on God’s laws. Of course there was more on the road to his becoming an atheist and her becoming an addict, but it would be grossly naive to assume that their ungrounded intimacy did not play a significant, if not the significant role. There are certainly more unintended consequences to “safe sex” than our society would have us believe. The potential wreckage of a body that is objectified, a mind that is perverted and a soul that is destroyed is absolutely horrific.

So then, is the use of contraception a potentially salvational issue? Definitely. Both Jill and Jack were active and thriving in the Christian faith prior to their involvement with each other. I believe that if they had not considered contraception an option for the Christian, they may have waited to unite themselves sexually until marriage, thereby leading healthy lives devoted to God and each other; a light in this dark world.

The use of contraception outside of the context of marriage is clearly a trap. But what about its use in the context of marriage? In my opinion, the question of whether or not contraception should be used outside or inside of marriage must be asked separately. In my mind, it would be similar to asking if, in considering the enjoyment of alcoholic beverages, one could justify driving while under the influence. One may argue wholesale against the use of contraception despite the context, but the reasons are vastly different and therefore must be addressed in its own right.

*Not their real names.

Carbon-14 and Egyptian history

In an article in Science, Christopher Bronk Ramsey et al. documented a massive number of radiocarbon dates on material from various Egyptian dynasties. Some of the difficulties the data raise for the dating of the Santorini eruption, and for various theories of the Exodus, are considered. References: 1. Bronk Ramsey C et al., 2010. Radiocarbon-based Chronology for Dynastic Egypt. Science 328:1554-7 2. Bruins HJ, 2010. Dating Pharaonic Egypt. Science 328:1489-90 3. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2010/06/15/328.5985.1554.DC1.html

Source: It's About God

Danger ahead: personal agendas

I could not believe what I had just heard. Momentarily stunned, I sat in the pew mulling over what had happened. How could an elder of the church say that during the welcome? While the words spoken may have been applauded by a select few and dismissed without thought by some, others in the congregation were offended. If I had been a visitor, I most likely would never return. Though only two sentences, what the elder implied that our local church was perpetuating racism because we had not corporately celebrated a secular event elevating one race over others. In no way did the statements glorify Christ nor promote the principles of equality found within the Bible (New King James, Galatians 3:28). It deeply saddens me that this particular occurrence is not an isolated incident. Throughout the centuries and across the world, the pulpit has been misused to further personal agendas, as a platform for social or political ideologies, and to intentionally instigate disunity among God’s people. Sometimes those who are called to lead in the worship services place themselves above glorifying the Lord. “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:12,17-18).

The offenses are not confined to the sermons preached, but everyone, from pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses, lay people, to guest speakers who participate in the platform duties on Sabbath, could potentially be tempted to use the opportunity of standing before the congregation to slip in their own opinions and agendas. In Philippians 1:15-17, we are warned: “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.” (Emphasis added)

Acts chapter 4 recounts how Peter and John were taken before the religious leaders in Jerusalem for preaching about the resurrection of Christ; their accusers commanded them to never speak of nor teach in the name of Jesus. “But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). This example demonstrates to us that those called by the Lord to be leaders among His people have a grave responsibility to do so according to the principles laid out by the Lord. Our actions, deeds, and motivations will be judged more strictly than others (James 3:1). Therefore, we need to carefully guard all parts of the service: the welcome, the offering, the children’s story, the prayers, the sermon, the benediction, and even the transitions into the congregational songs.

During a worship service, the believers enter into consecrated time with the Almighty, our Creator and Redeemer. This holy time is dedicated to the praise of our Lord, to uplift Christ, and to edify His people. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Manual, on page 112, states:

The purpose of all services and meetings is to worship God for His creative work and for the benefits of His salvation; to understand His Word, His teachings, and His purposes; to fellowship in faith and love; to witness about our personal faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice at the cross; and to learn how to fulfill the gospel commission of making disciples in all the world (Matt. 28:19, 20).

One of the most fundamental purposes of such a gathering of God’s children is to learn from the Divine Word of God. “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16). The Church Manual clearly upholds the Biblical standard and condemns personal agendas. “[T]he pulpit must be reserved for the preaching of the truths of the Divine Word and the presentation of denominational plans and policies for the advancement of the work of God, not personal views and opinions” (116).

When positions that place individuals in leadership roles are misused for selfish motivations, disunity among God’s people is the result. Disunity is not from the Lord but is a deadly tactic of the enemy to prevent the local churches from being effective missionaries to our communities. Ultimately, disunity among God’s people prevents the life-saving Gospel message from reaching those seeking the Lord. We must not give in to the enemy’s sly schemes. The apostle Paul issued a grave warning: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:7).

In addition to being cautious of the snares laid by the enemy, we are to be a united witness for Christ to our families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, communities, and the world: “It is important that we maintain ‘the unity of the faith’ (Eph. 4:13), and just as important that we seek to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”(verse 3). Such unity requires caution and counsel with church leadership” (114-115).

Let us never forget that we are the children of God, called for a unique purpose. We have the responsibility to stand boldly for Christ and to teach the pure Word of God:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

If asked to participate in a worship service, no matter how large or small the part, we should always go to the Lord in humble prayer, asking for self to be purged from our hearts and minds and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that the words we speak may not be our own, but His, in harmony with the Scriptures. Individual church members are also responsible for holding our local leaders accountable. If someone misuses the platform to further personal agendas or push errant doctrines or proclaim worldly ideology, we should take our concerns first to the Lord in prayer and then to the church leadership so that it may be reviewed and dealt with as needed.

If each of us consecrated ourselves wholly to the Lord and obeyed His Word in our lives, these types of issues would never even arise among our congregations. Let us first safeguard our hearts and minds in Christ, and then our services and meetings will also be protected from the wiles of the devil and the infiltration of personal agendas that obscure the love of God. Brothers and sisters, let us fix our eyes upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ, contemplate His triumph over sin and death through His resurrection, and share with our communities the blessed hope we have in His soon return.

Slavery and the Bible (Part III)

We've seen that the New Testament writers, most notably Paul, did not directly attack the institution of slavery. Paul advised slaves to obey their masters, to work conscientiously even when unsupervised (Eph. 6:5-8; Col. 3:22-23), to be trustworthy and not steal the master's property (Tit. 2:9), and to think of and emulate Christ when suffering unjustly (1 Pet. 2:18-23). Masters were admonished to treat their slaves justly and not to threaten them, but to recognize that in God's eyes the slave was as valuable as his master (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1; Col. 3:11; Gal. 3:28). We've also seen how this advice was applied in the case of Onesimus, a slave in what is now Turkey, who stole money from his master, ran away to Rome, was converted to Christianity, and became a helper to Paul. Paul sent Onesimus back to his master, Philemon (who was also a Christian whom Paul had converted), bearing a letter telling Philemon to treat Onesimus just as he would treat a son of Paul. Philemon was to think of Onesimus not as having run away but as having gone on a Christian mission in Philemon’s stead, to treat him not as a slave but as a brother, and not even to mention the money he had stolen when he ran away. In effect, Paul had replaced Roman law and custom relating to slavery with a new standard of Christian behavior.

We have little extra-biblical, historical evidence for how Christians related to slavery, but what there is is interesting and instructive.

Paul tells free Christians that although they are Christ's slaves, they were bought with a price and are not to become slaves of other men. (1 Cor. 7:21-23) But Paul's advice was early ignored, albeit for good causes; Clement of Rome writes (c. 96 AD) that, “We know many among ourselves who have given themselves up to slavery, in order that they could ransom others. Many others have surrendered themselves to slavery, so that with the price that they received for themselves, they might provide food for others.” Some Christians were selling themselves into slavery in order to free others or provide for the needs of others.

We also have evidence that the church sometimes used its funds to purchase freedom for slaves. This is hinted at in an early Second Century letter from Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. It is stated more clearly, some centuries later, in the Apostolic Constitutions (c. 390 AD) which provide that, “As for such sums of money as are collected from them in the aforesaid manner, designate them to be used for the redemption of the saints and the deliverance of slaves and captives.”

It had become common by the early 4th century for Christian masters to free their slaves. These religiously motivated manumissions were performed in church in the presence of a bishop. An early ruling of Constantine, made in response to petitions from bishops, refers to slave owners freeing their slaves because of their religious convictions (“religiose mente”). That this was an accepted practice in Constantine's time suggests that it probably began long before then. There was no requirement that Christian masters free their slaves---and certainly not all did---but it is significant that a custom developed pursuant to which (1) Christian masters (2) freed their slaves (3) in a church ceremony (4) before a bishop (5) ultimately with the bishop-requested authority of the emperor.

We also have reports that when extremely wealthy Romans were converted to Christianity, they freed their slaves en masse. When the prefect Hermas was converted by Bishop Alexander during the reign of Trajan (r. 98-117), he was baptized at an Easter festival along with wife, children, and twelve hundred and fifty slaves, to all of whom (the slaves, that is) he gave their freedom plus monetary compensation. In the time of Diocletian (r. 284-305) the prefect Chromatius was baptized with his fourteen hundred slaves whom he also emancipated at the same time, proclaiming that their sonship to God had put an end to their servitude to man. Church historian Phillip Schaff states that, “these legendary traditions may indeed be doubted as to the exact facts in the case, and probably are greatly exaggerated; but they are nevertheless conclusive as the exponents of the spirit which animated the church at that time concerning the duty of Christian masters."

Indeed, it is difficult to imagine why, if the early Christian Church endorsed slavery, it should have (1) used church funds to free slaves, (2) developed a bishop-led church ceremony in which slaves were freed, and (3) encouraged wealthy converts to manumit their slaves en masse. The logical conclusion is that slavery was a pagan institution that the Christian Church did not view as God's ideal form of social organization. But re-organizing society has never been the primary function of Christianity. Christianity changes hearts, and enough changed hearts will eventually lead to a changed society.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, its legal forms and customs, including slavery, gradually fell into disuse and were replaced by what has become known as feudalism, a decentralized system of reciprocal legal and military obligations. By the late Middle Ages slavery had disappeared in Western Europe (although it persisted until much later in parts of Eastern Europe). The slave's feudal counterpart was the peasant who was bound to work specific land and could not move or change his occupation. The peasant's plight bore some similarities to slavery (especially in Russia, where serfs could be bought and sold) but was really a very different kind of institution.

Slavery was unambiguously legitimate in Islam; Muhammad owned slaves, and Muslims consider him the perfect example to emulate. Non-Muslims captured in raiding, piracy, and Jihad warfare were booty; and volumes of Islamic jurisprudence are devoted to regulating the distribution of booty. Although Muslims enslaved millions of black Africans—one common Arabic term for slave, abd or abeed, is also a slang term for a black person---they were equal opportunity slavers and frequently enslaved Europeans, especially from southeastern Europe. Slavery in Muslim lands was typically ended only when they were colonized by the Western powers.

Related articles 1. Slavery and the Bible (Part I) 2. Slavery and the Bible (Part II)

The genealogical mandate

Few among us would put scripture genealogies at the top of our list of spiritually significant subjects. And yet as I have suggested in my previous article, the scripture genealogy holds within it the very antidote to numerous present day ills. It remains for us to delineate the exact way in which a genealogy meets contemporary needs. Our discussion will focus in this article on the place and role of the self, and in a subsequent article on the place and role of community. A final article will explore some specific implications of the "genealogical framework" for Adventism in particular. The Self

Within the post-modern universe the self is the center; the individual and his preferences and opinions the only sacred entity. Family, community, and the social order must all bow to the individual. It is not that these entities do not exist within society today. They do, and yet they do not hold priority. They either serve the perceived needs of the individual or they are dispensed with or challenged. They are for me, not me for them.

Central to this post-modern argument on the place and role of the self is the issue of authority. If the constraining patterns of a given society exists solely on the basis of tradition and if traditional conceptions represent nothing more than the opinions of other men and women like myself, then why should I allow their opinions to be imposed upon my own life? This is in essence the post-modern question and it undergirds and informs the post-modern condition.

Lippman believed that such a condition of things was caused by "the impact of science upon religious certainty and of technological progress upon the settled order of family, class, and community" (New York Herald Tribune, August 1964). And though there is some truth in this he is only telling part of the story. What lurks in the background as the deeper cause is the failure of Enlightenment rationalism, a failure that Lippman himself was probably unwilling to admit. That rationalism had set out to establish a set of truths arrived at by empirical reason alone which would provide an unbiased and non-arbitrary pattern for human life and experience. When that attempt begin to unravel and prove untenable a thoroughgoing relativism was the inevitable result and the isolation of the self the only possible defense for the protection of the self from conceptions "arbitrarily" imposed by others. What this inevitably means, quoting Lippman again, is that "the meaning of life and the social order," must be "invented and discovered and experimented with, each lonely individual for himself."

As biblically astute Christians, this state of things should bring great sadness to our hearts. For we, above all others, should realize that it is impossible for the self to begin from scratch and successfully write its own story. That capacity and prerogative belong to God alone and make up the essential divide between the creature and the Creator. God begets and only then are we able to beget. Individual selves may of course attempt an independent narrative, discarding the image in which their selves were originally formed. This has been the way of mankind ever since Adam and Eve bit the apple. But the tragedy of this attempt is that the bid for independence will always result in the eventual unraveling of the self. The proclamation of the Preacher echoes and re-echoes over such lives. "All is vanity, vanity of vanities." This tragedy is made all the more profound in postmodernism because of the brazenness of the return to the forbidden tree by which man believes that he can become the creator of his own reality.

That a return to this tree should be the end result of the Enlightenment project is not surprising, for the whole of Enlightenment humanism was based upon the assumption of the moral autonomy of man. In Enlightenment thinking the individual comes first and has priority apart from all considerations of place or role in metaphysical orders or social and political structures. Ironically, giving the individual priority alongside these objective entities did not lead to the elevation of the individual but rather to his increasing dissolution and trivialization.

Take for example, the doctrine of rights. At its inception it was intended to provide a defense for the individual against oppression, but in its present day form it has become a force for dissolution. When first developed it was still linked with a sense of obligation towards God and one's fellow man. In other words, rights were balanced by duties and those rights which were invoked were rooted, just like the duties, in the recognition of the Creator. With the increasing secularization of the West, however, subtle shifts in the use of this doctrine have occurred. It is now used to buttress the primacy of the individual and the sacredness of his or her quest for self-fulfillment. Given such primacy, the ongoing expansion of perceived rights can be expected to continue apace.

Over against these developments, the central conception within the genealogical framework of scripture is that of duty and not of rights. Though there is unarguably a service of the family and the community carried out on behalf of the individual, the purpose of this service is not self-fulfillment as defined by the whims of the self, but rather a subsequent service to the community as defined by the divine intent and purpose within human history. Within such a framework the self has significance in the service of divine ends far beyond what it could ever fabricate for itself and protection of its highest interests, not in the fallible human conception of its rights, but in the person of God himself.

As never before in the history of the human family, it is absolutely imperative that as Christians we follow our Lord in allowing our "selves" to be shaped and our commitments and interests formed, not by self-interest but by the duties and responsibilities involved in living out God's Creation intent. "He who loves his life [insisting on the primacy of the self] shall lose it" (John 12:25). "But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels shall save it" (Mark 8:35).

The strength of weakness

We live in a society that promotes self-sufficiency. We are taught to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. When we struggle to overcome bad habits, the world tells us that we can change ourselves if we simply incorporate certain actions into our lives. Tragically, this message of self-reliance has crept into the Gospel message, under the guise of “God helps those who help themselves.” If we look closely at the way Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven, we will discover that it is Christ’s intent to turn our society’s views upside down and inside out. There are priceless gems to be discovered in the analogies that Christ uses to describe the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus does not compare His kingdom to a palace that is constructed of the most precious stones and built to withstand the test of time and decay. He does not compare His kingdom to a majestic ship that glides effortlessly over the ocean waves, withstanding every storm it passes through. Incredibly, Jesus compares His kingdom to a tiny mustard seed, barely visible and easily swept away by the smallest gust of wind. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches” (New King James, Matthew 13:31-32). In this simple, yet profound, statement Christ directly challenges the self-sufficient mentality of society. Notice how the mustard tree begins as a tiny seed and grows into a tree. Also notice how God describes the righteous person in Psalm 1 verse 3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not whither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” There’s a specific reason why God uses these illustrations. When a tiny, fragile seed is planted, it is entirely dependent upon the nourishment that God provides for its growth, and when it grows into a strong, majestic tree, it is every bit as dependent upon God for its existence as when it was a seed. In like manner, when we accept Christ and experience the new birth, we are like a tiny seed, entirely dependent on God for spiritual growth. As we grow into mature Christians, reflecting God’s character more and more fully, we are every bit as dependent upon God for our spiritual growth as we were when we first accepted Christ. We can do nothing of ourselves, and when we finally realize this fact and surrender completely to God, spiritual growth will take place.

Through this parable Jesus is also trying to teach us the necessity of patience and perseverance. We live in a very fast paced society that prides itself in finding ways to get things done more quickly and easily, but in our effort to make life more convenient, we’ve lost sight of the concept of delayed gratification. We can’t even handle it when our computers take two minutes to load a webpage! One of Satan’s master deceptions is to lead us to view our spiritual lives in this fast paced manner and to forget that the sanctification process is indeed a process. Satan is very aware of our faults; he is ever ready to bring them to the forefront of our minds. Satan would like nothing better than for us to try and exercise enough will power to correct our bad habits as quickly as possible, because he knows that this method is the surest way to defeat. When we fail, Satan attempts to lead us into discouragement by telling us that our situation is hopeless and that we will never grow spiritually. His goal is to make us feel so discouraged that we will give up on God entirely. But all the will power in the world will not change us. Even if we do succeed in resisting the temptation to do something wrong, or in forcing ourselves to do something right, these outward accomplishments will not change our hearts, because changing the heart is something only God can do. In our effort to correct our bad habits, we focus on the behavior, rather than the root of the behavior. Satan leads us to work from the outside in, while God, on the other hand, works from the inside out. God’s work of sanctification does not begin with external behavior; it begins in the heart. Just as the mustard seed is hidden in the earth, God begins His transforming work in the secret chambers of our hearts, unseen by the human eye. The mustard seed does not initially appear to be growing. No one can see the changes that the seed is undergoing in the heart of the earth. Likewise, it may initially seem to us that we are not growing spiritually. We are still keenly aware of our weaknesses, and we still find ourselves yielding to temptation from time to time. However, if we surrender our lives to Christ and choose to depend totally on Him rather than ourselves, we can trust ourselves to His care. Every gardener knows the necessity of patience and persistence. As the gardener continues caring for the seed, signs of growth become evident. The seed begins to sprout, and leaves begin to emerge. Jesus is the master gardener, and if we persevere in submitting our lives to Him and staying connected with Him, signs of spiritual growth will soon become evident to us, as well as to those around us. We will notice our thoughts, feelings, interests, and desires changing. We will find ourselves responding to people and situations differently. Just as the mustard seed grows into a great tree and becomes a place for birds to dwell, we will grow into strong, mature Christians, fully reflecting Christ’s character, and those who are hurting will come to us for love and support.

One of my favorite quotations goes like this: “Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow” (Alice Mackenzie Swaim). Many of us think that in order to be strong we have to be like that towering oak, but the mighty tree is much more likely to be uprooted during a tempest than is the delicate flower. We all experience trials in our lives, and many of us are told that these trials will make us stronger. God’s definition of strength is the opposite of the world’s definition of strength. “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). As the mustard seed grows from a plant into a tree, it is continually hammered by the blazing sun and the pouring rain, both of which are necessary for its growth. In like manner, God allows trials to come into our lives that He knows will bring about spiritual growth. God does not intend for these trials to make us spiritually self-sufficient or to make us strong according to the world’s standard. It is His desire that through these trials we will see our weakness and become totally dependent upon Him. When we see our helpless state and fall broken upon His grace, then, through Christ, we will become strong. True strength lies in this dependence.

It is absolutely crucial that we learn the lesson of the mustard seed and apply it to our lives, especially as the time of the end approaches. If we think that we have to change ourselves, or, even more dangerously, if we think we are capable of changing ourselves, we will not see our need of God, and when the end time crisis suddenly comes upon us, we will fall. Peter’s experience is both a warning and an encouragement to us. Even though Peter had walked with Jesus for three and a half years and listened to His teachings, he didn’t understand his own powerlessness or what it meant to be strong through Christ. Peter believed that he had to be strong, and he was certain that he was strong enough to remain loyal to Jesus even to death. In fact, Peter was so confident in his own strength that he thought he could outdo his fellow disciples. He emphatically told Jesus, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble” (Matthew 26:33). Ironically, of all the disciples who remained loyal to Jesus, the one who thought he could outdo them all fell the hardest. Not only did he curse and vehemently deny knowing Jesus three times in His presence, but also he completely forgot that Jesus had predicted this very event. Jesus’ prediction did not come to Peter’s mind until he denied Jesus the third time and heard the rooster crow. Peter’s failure was not the end of his story. The very same man who was afraid to acknowledge knowing Jesus in the presence of a group of servants became one of the boldest preachers of the Gospel—proclaiming the good news to thousands of people, defending the name of Jesus in the presence of the greatest religious leaders of his day, and even becoming a martyr for Christ.

What brought about this remarkable transformation? Peter discovered the strength that lies in weakness. Never in Peter’s wildest dreams did he imagine denying his Lord, and when he did the unthinkable, he was devastated. It was through his failure that Peter discovered his own weakness, and he came, broken and repentant, to his heavenly father. When he finally learned the necessity of depending entirely upon God, he was ready to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that God had been waiting to bestow upon him, and God miraculously turned Peter’s devastating failure into an incredible blessing.

The work that God did in Peter’s heart is the work that He longs to do in every heart. In fact, God’s purpose in permitting a time of trouble to come upon the world is to accomplish this work in His last day people. In Daniel chapter 12 verse 10 we are told, “many shall be purified, made white, and refined.” The seventh verse of the same chapter tells us what the result of this refining process will be. We are told that “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.” God will have an end time people who fully reflect His character, but this will be accomplished only when the power of God’s holy people has been completely shattered—that is, when they finally realize how utterly powerless they are and choose to rely on God’s power alone. When God’s people finally get out of His way, there is no limit to what God can do in their lives. Through their weakness, God’s people will become strong, and no storm will be too powerful for them to endure.

Do you feel as if your life is out of control? Have you repeatedly tried to overcome the destructive habits that enslave you, only to be met with failure? Do you feel as if you simply are not strong enough to make it on your own? Then take heart! You are in the perfect place for God to do a mighty work in your life. It is when we come to Him in our greatest weakness that He provides His greatest strength. Come to Him, wounded and broken as you are. Thank Him for sending His son to pay the price for your sin and to set you free. Accept the healing gift of God’s grace for yourself, and ask God to give you the mind of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a request that God will never deny. God, in His infinite love and mercy, can never resist the wounded cry of a contrite soul in need of His grace. When the mind of Christ is imparted to you through the Holy Spirit, you will gain the victory over sin. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His god pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Let God be the master gardener of your heart. He longs to turn you into a beautiful tree, deeply rooted in His love. Even when the process seems long and painful, do not give up hope. No matter how far you have come on your spiritual journey, you will continue to feel your need of Christ. Even those who will fully reflect Christ’s character at the time of the end will not feel as though they have attained perfection. In fact, as you draw closer to God and gain greater glimpses of His perfect character, the more clearly you will see your own imperfections. Every person has a unique conversion experience. Some people give their hearts to Christ in the privacy of their bedrooms, while other people take a stand for Christ in front of a large crowd. There are those who experience immediate deliverance from addictions, while others experience freedom over a period of time. No conversion experience leads to instant spiritual maturity. Every person must go through a garden-like experience. Keep your eyes upon Christ. Do not compare your experience with the experiences of other Christians around you. You are a unique and precious flower in God’s garden of life, and He will mold your character through the process that He knows is best for you. Through your weakness you will become strong in Christ, and “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6).