Review and Herald for 1970
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REVIEW AND HERALD • GENERAL CHURCH PAPER OF THE SE DAY ADVENTI STS.:` THREE CLOUDS By JOHN BOTTSFORD, M.D. Orchid Islanders gather by the author. HE screen was a temporary structure. Four spent in seeking food; and food is kept scarce by many of bamboo poles formed an upright square the taboos and rituals of living in a spirit-dominated cul- suspending a bedsheet. The monotonous ture. For example, during our visit the early morning drone of the four-cycle engine reassured the secret sacrifice of a small pig was performed by each company of a continuous electric source. On boatman prior to the use of the large nets in fishing. the screen Jesus ascended to heaven. The inscription was It is said that the cloud surrounding Jesus was a multi- in Chinese characters, the translation in Yami dialect. tude of angels of light. Conversely, the cloud surrounding The next slide arrested my attention in a new way. It these people is composed of angels of darkness. The task was a divided slide. The title was "Two Clouds." On the of dispelling this cloud with the love of Jesus is our work. left "a cloud received him out of their sight" ( Acts 1:9 ). Interest has been stirred on Orchid Island. A worker On the right, "Behold, he cometh with clouds" (Rev. needs to be sent now. The budget at present cannot sup- 1:7 ). Two more important clouds will never be known port the addition. It is sad to watch opportunities for —the cloud that received Jesus up to heaven and the the advancement of God's work fade away. We pray cloud that attends His return to this earth. now for a way by which a worker may soon go to This presentation of the second coming of Jesus was Orchid Island, there, by the Spirit of God, to disperse part of a pioneering program on Orchid Island. Orchid the cloud of superstition and false belief, there to gather Island is 45 miles southeast of the island of Taiwan. together those who will look up and say, "Lo, this is Under the leadership of the Taiwan Mountain Mission our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us" president, J. E. Christensen, work is beginning in this (Isa. 25:9). +4 new area. Last year Elder Christensen surveyed the area for in- terest during a short visit. This year a five-man team ar- rived on Orchid Island to develop the interest: L. Lamber- ton, a dentist; John Bottsford, Jr., a physician, both from the Taiwan Sanitarium and Hospital; two national work- ers, Tseng Wu Lang and Tseng Chieh Ya; and Pastor Christensen. This minister-medical-dental team worked in four of the six villages during the five-day stay. People from the two other villages came to one of the four for treatment. Daylight medical and dental services were followed by the evening meetings of slides and motion pictures. Each night another area heard of the soon coming of Jesus. Each night the slide with two clouds was shown. Each night it became plainer that these two clouds must dispel a third cloud. These aboriginal people, numbering about 2,000, are enshrouded in a cloud of superstition and false belief. The concept of the "happy heathen" is not true here. The task of living is encumbered with many PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR taboos. Much of the time of these primitive people is Tseng Wu Lang brings the gospel story to the Orchid Islanders. By WALTER RAYMOND BEACH Marching in Aarth' s Sunset UT through the gates of Je- heaven, shall so come in like manner "I will come again." This realistic rusalem He led them—across as ye have seen him go into heaven" hope in the Lord Jesus makes us Ad- O the Kedron, up the green (see Acts 1:4-11). ventists—makes us a people with a slopes of Olivet—Jesus the Master, This communication was not news changed outlook on life; a people risen from the dead, immortal and save as the disciples had forgotten who "live, here and now, responsible, triumphant, and His eleven disciples what their Lord had previously told honorable and God-fearing lives. And transported with joy at His resurrec- them. Some forty days before He had while we live this life we hope and tion and filled with hope. They stood said, "I go to prepare a place for you. wait for the glorious denouement of around Him on the brow of the And if I go and prepare a place for the great God and of Jesus Christ our mountain in eager expectation. you, I will come again, and receive savior" (Titus 2:11-13, Phillips).* "The kingdom, Lord! The king- you unto myself; that where I am, Others may find their main interest, dom! Would Thou at this time re- there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). their future, and their fortune in store again the kingdom to Israel?" Before that, Jesus had taught much this present world. But Adventists fol- But He said to them, "It is not for about the coming kingdom. Finally low a new way, setting their affec- you to know the times or the seasons, the disciples came to understand tions on things above and centering which the Father hath put in his own God's message and work. Apostles their interest in the world to come. power. But ye shall receive power, now, they left the sandstone fastness of They plan their future where their after that the Holy Ghost is come Judea conquering and to conquer Lord has gone to prepare a place. upon you: and ye shall be witnesses with Christ's own words of promise "We are 'looking forward to the unto me both in Jerusalem, and in on their lips. happy fulfillment of our hope when all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto We can think of no more encour- the splendour of our great God and the uttermost part of the earth." And aging message, no words of greater Saviour Jesus Christ will appear' " He lifted up His hands and blessed cheer, nothing of more assurance and (Titus 2:13, N.E.B.).t them. "And when he had spoken importance today than this: "I will But this "looking forward" will rec- these things, while they beheld, he come again." Our Lord, our Saviour, ognize that a definite task has been was taken up; and a cloud received our God is coming. He is coming per- assigned to us here—one that must be him out of their sight." sonally. He is coming to gather to completed before the glad day of the Parted and lost in the clouds. Their Himself for all time those who have Lord's return. Like the apostles, we Lord was gone and where now was chosen Him above all else in the must be the unceasing and unwearied the kingdom? Where their hopes? world. He is coming to make an end emissaries of "present truth." The Steadfastly they gazed toward heaven of sin and of all its evil results. He is "everlasting gospel" must be pro- until the cloud faded away in the coming to purify this world and to claimed to "every nation, and kin- distance. remove from His universe forever all dred, and tongue, and people" in the But as the disciples watched with traces of sin's contamination. He is setting of the judgment hour (Rev. sinking hearts, it seemed the cloud coming to abolish death and to be- 14:6). It is our conviction that we was returning. Could it be? It was. stow eternal life upon His purchased have a definite place and mission in The points of glory increased in size possession. He is coming to gather His this world now. The world needs our and form and brightness. Then, as in own. The prophet Malachi, with the message and help. We cannot look the opened tomb, two men framed in angel of revelation peeping over his upon ourselves as just one more re- light stood by their side. As the dis- shoulder, wrote: "And they shall be * The Bible texts in this article credited to Phillips ciples sought to bring their eyes into mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that are from The New Testament in Modern English, ® J. B. Phillips 1958. Used by ?permission of The focus, the messengers of heaven said, day when I make up my jewels; and I Macmillan Company. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gaz- will spare them, as a man spareth his t Texts credited to N.E.B. are from The New English Bible. © The Delegates of the Oxford Uni- ing up into heaven? this same Jesus, own son that serveth him" (Mal. versity Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge Uni- which is taken up from you into 3:17). versity Press 1970. Reprinted by permission. 2 REVIEW AND HERALD, August 20, 1970 as we advance, we shall find that Heaven has moved before us, enlarg- ing the field for labor far beyond the proportion of our means and ability to supply."—Fundamentals of Chris- tian Education, p. 209. Executing God's Great Design Heaven has enlarged the resources and the ranks of believers and the staff of workers. Yet, the inability to answer all the calls is ever sorely felt. "In secret places," wrote the messen- ger of the Lord, "they are weeping and praying that they may see light in the Scriptures; and the Lord of heaven has commissioned His angels to cooperate with human agencies in carrying forward His vast design, that all who desire light may behold the glory of God."—Ibid.