Southwestern Union Record for 1999
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Publication of the Southwestern Linton Conference of Seventh dau Adventists December 1999 hill ri i) contents fire we ready Advertising 28 Arkansas-Louisiana for the new millennium? Conference News 9 young man riding the bus to the teachers are instructing their stu- Manhattan Center on the second dents, that the law of God has been Editorial 3 11. night of Doug Bachelor's prophecy changed...and those who regard its seminar was overheard talking excitedly requirements as still valid, to be lit- Feature 4 to a friend on his cell phone. "I went to erally obeyed, are thought to be that Millennium of Prophecy meeting deserving only of ridicule or con- last night, and I'm on my way there tempt. Thousands deify nature General News 27 again tonight. You've gotta come! It's while they deny the God of nature" great!" (p. 583). Obituaries 35 The year 2000—what does it • "Church members love what the mean to you, and what does it mean to world loves and are ready to join me? Does it really have significance? with them, and Satan determines to Oklahoma The escalation of disasters, vio- unite them in one body and thus Conference News 12 lence, crime and corruption, the confu- strengthen his cause by sweeping all sion among nations, and the disappear- into the ranks of spiritualism" ance of law and order—do these events (p. 588). Southwest Region give a sense of doom? Like the young • "He (Satan) has studied the secrets Conference News 15 man on the bus, thinking people are of the laboratories of nature, and he asking serious questions about the uses all his power to control the ele- future. ments as far as God allows" (p. 589). SWAU 18 In re-reading the last few chapters • "In accidents and calamities by sea of Great Controversy, once again I am and by land, in great conflagrations, Southwestern Union impressed with how Ellen White's in fierce tornadoes and terrific hail- Conference News 14 depiction of the end of time so closely storms, in tempests, floods, chronicles our day. "The agencies which cyclones, tidal waves and earth- will unite truth and righteousness in this quakes, in every place and in a thou- Sunset Calendar 35 contest are now actively at work. God's sand forms, Satan is exercising his holy word, handed down to us at such a power" (pp. 589-590). Texas cost of suffering and blood, is but little • "These visitations are to become valued. The Bible is within the reach of more and more frequent and disas- Conference News 20 all, but there are few who really accept trous. Destruction will be upon it as the guide of life" (pp. 582-583). both man and beast" (p. 590). Texico • "Infidelity prevails to an alarming Are the current events that seem Conference News extent, not merely in the world, but to occur with increasing frequency serv- 24 in the church" (p. 583). ing as a wake up call? Can these events • "Many have come to deny doc- be a reminder to us of the parable of the trines which are the very pillars of ten virgins in Matthew 25 where five the Christian faith" (p. 583). virgins had fallen asleep, • "Thousands who pride themselves tired of waiting About the cover: upon their wisdom and indepen- and woke This is a digitalized copy of the oil dence regard it as an evidence of unprepared for painting by Joe weakness to place implicit confi- the bride- Maniscalco that dence in the Bible; they think it a groom? Or hangs in the foyer proof of superior talent and learn- will we be of Christian Record ing to cavil [quibble] at the like the five Services, Lincoln, Neb., the church's Scriptures" (p. 583) . wise virgins, organization that • Many ministers are teaching their ready and wait- ministers to the people, and many professors and ing for the bride- visually impaired. groom's arrival. MAX A. TREVINO SOUTHWESTERN UNION CONFERENCE PRESIDENT Vol. 98, No. 12. The Southwestern Union Record is a monthly publication of the Seventh-day Adventist churches of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas published at the headquarters office of the Southwestern Union Conference, Box 4000, 777 South Burleson Boulevard, Budeson, Texas 76097, Subscription price is $10. Time.. It's all about time "The value of time is beyond preparing for the time, not predicting will come." But Laodicea hears the computation." — Ellen White the time! For example, think of Matthew words: "I stand at the door and knock" 24. The disciples asked Jesus for timing, (Revelation 3:20). Wow! That's awfully on't worry. This will not be another He counters with time. The timing of close! That's excitingly close! It's about Y2K article. But I have noticed some- the Second Coming is up to God. How time! fi thing interesting about the year 2000. we spend our time is up to us—stunning And so, instead of smug sugges- The world—polarized by political responsibility, an infinitely rewarding tions or smart paper proposals, or even boundaries, divided by economic differ- privilege. New Year's resolutions, just a couple of ences, and separated by time zones— An unknown author once wrote, questions: seems to have found a common focus in 7ust a tiny little minute, only sixty • Has your commitment to serious the year 2000. Here humanity feels con- seconds in it prayer, Bible study, and church fronted with a fixed, immovable date Forced upon me. Can't refuse it. involvement "one of these days" that appears to accelerate in proportion Didn't seek it, didn't choose it, turned into the sour but honest to its arrival. Today's time transports an I must suffer if I loose it, reality of "none of these days"? immeasurable amount of anticipation Give account if I abuse it. • Even easier (but no less serious), Some striking parallels emerge, I Just a tiny little minute, but eternity How do you spend your time? believe, not coincidentally. As the world is in it." focuses on the year 2000, Adventists Take your time to answer. I have should be focusing on two familiar Nice poem. Good theology. Great discovered that the crucial aspect of times, one that occurs every week—the advice. Greek mythology presents time time is not its fixed end-point but rather Sabbath—and the other which will come in the image of a man with long hair in how the time up to it is spent. The only once in a lifetime and in the history the front but bald in the back. So catch process makes the product. Even of this universe—Christ's Second him when he passes by, because once investors know: It's all about time, not Coming. While the Sabbath is no secret, he's passed, there is nothing left to grab. timing. I admit I'm still a freshman in Christ's return to earth is unknown. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the school of time. Graduation is However, both require preparation. "A day is a miniature eternity" approaching rapidly. I have a feeling that Incidentally, together they make up our No wonder Ellen White cautions, the Father is anxious to write the clos- very name—Seventh-day Adventists. "Of no talent He has given will He ing chapter of earth's history. Thank And together they form a pro- require a more strict account than of our God! It's about time. found link. Since Sabbath points humani- time" (Christ's Object Lessons, page 342). ty back to Creation, simultaneously it After all, "Every moment is freighted points forward to the re-creation of the with eternal consequences" (page 343). Ingo Sorke has been pastor of the Highland Hills Adventist church universe after the Second Coming. Pre- Yes! in San Antonio. Beginning January 2000 he will be teaching in the religion sin era and post-sin eternity clasp hands The Bible forcefully presses this department at Southwestern Adventist University. together. This actually means that prepa- point in the book of Revelation. The ration for Sabbath is not just preparation seven churches portray a progressive for the end of the week but becomes intensity of Jesus' Second Coming, cli- preparation for the end of the world. maxing with the church of Laodicea. Jesus Himself made it clear that Five churches receive Jesus' message, "I the Second Coming is about the careful preparation by His followers, not the cal- culated pinpointing of dates. It's about INGO SORKE SWAU DEPARTMENT OF RELIGION December 1999 • The Record fis we near our journey's end, let s not give up, but renew our strength and push on o get to the base of the spectacular God will allow this to continue is not for involved in ruin more terrible than that Devil's Canyon in southeastern us to know, but incidents of this nature which came upon Jerusalem of old... T Arizona, you first have a two-hour should serve as a wake up call to all who Those who honor the law of God have hike down the Aravaipa Canyon, sloshing believe in the Bible. been accused of bringing judgments through a rocky riverbed that runs Paul describes the conflict in upon the world, and they will be regard- between craggy canyon walls. Where the Ephesians 6:12: "For we do not wrestle ed as the cause of the fearful convulsions two canyons meet, a young forest of against flesh and blood, but against prin- of nature and strife and bloodshed...that saguaro cacti grow on the steep western cipalities, against powers, against the are filling the earth with woe." slope and stand sentinel-like, as if guard- rulers of the darkness of this age, against But many are looking for Jesus' ing the entrance to Devil's Canyon.