F I R MINISTRY Ministry is the international journal of the Seventh-day Adventist Ministerial Association and has been published since 1928.
Association Secretary James A. Cress Editor Willmore D. Eva 9/11/2002: Preaching to anxious Managing Editor Julia W. Norcott times Editorial Assistant Sheila Draper Professional Growth and Inter-church Relations How a pastor can be more effective in addressing Nikolaus Satelmajer Contributing Editors: Sharon Cress, Peter Prime, joei heightened anxiety in the congregation Sarli, Kit Watts IN Loren G. Seibold International Editors: Inter-American Division Felix Cortes looUliTCCT IT? South American Division Zinaldo A. Santos Consulting Editors: Ben Clausen, Raoul Dederen, Teofiio Ferreira, Ron Letters Using decision cards effectively Flowers, John M. Fowler, Michael Basel, Roland Hegstad, Kathleen Kuntaraf, Ekkehardt Mueller, ]an in worship services Paulsen, Robert Peach, Angel Manuel Rodriguez, Penny Shell, William Shea, Russell Staples, Richard Tibbits, Ted Increasing the decision-making effectiveness of Wilson, Edward Zinke calls in the weekly worship hour Pastoral Assistant Editors: John C. Cress, Fred rick Russell, Maylan Schurch, Loren Seibold Glenn Holland International Advisors: Alejandro Bullon, John Duroe, Andrews Laurence Ewoo, Paulraj Isaiah, Anthony Kent, jairyong Lee, Ivan Manilich, Zacchaeus Mathema, Gabriel Maurer, Ivan Omana, David Osborne, Peter Roennfeldt, Raymond Zeeman Seminary and local church: Pastoral Advisors: Leslie Baumgartner, S. Peter Building a viable relationship? Campbell, Miguel A. Cerna, Jeanne Hartwell, Mitchell Henson, Creg Nelson, Norma Osborn, Leslie Pollard, Specific ways of improving pastoral education Dan Smith, Steve Willsey Carlos C. Camarena Advertising Editorial Office Subscriptions and Circulation Jeannette Calbi Cover Photo Photodisc Cover Design Harry Knox Delivering the message Resources Cathy Payne
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MINISTRY August 2002 L
April 2002 issue combining our sowing and cultivating would quote uniquely from her several s often happens in Ministry, the arti methods with our reaping meetings. statements on drama in the entertain A cle entitled "Another Look at One of the problems is that we have vir ment industry. In reading "over 100 ref Babylon" by George R. Knight ends tually given up our two best sowing erences," he could not have missed her where the real questions begin. methods, which we were divinely statements about his topic, the use of Every minister knows Ellen G. instructed to use. theater in ministry. Did he really find "in White©s counsel on this topic. The prob One is the work of the literature one place" "instruction to those who lems, however, start with the practical evangelists, which is basically gone in were learning to be actors"? I think he application. most conferences of the NAD. One of might have included the reference if the One of my friends, a Roman Catholic the reasons Jehovah©s Witnesses are context had not been detrimental to his priest, once asked me when he read doing so well is because they are using cause. One attempt at an exhaustive about our future expectations in The this type of door-to-door sowing. study on this topic turned up nothing of Great Controversy, "Do you really believe The other sowing method we could the sort in White©s writing, and did turn that in the future, I am going to perse utilize more than we do is the health up a great deal of material of another cute you, or even going to kill you?" ministry. Veganism is on the rise. The sort. See www.canvassing.org/studies. To answer this direct question, I regular grocery stores carry soy milk, And how did Tolbert conclude that the could only say, "I do not believe that etc., as regular items. Yet veganism does Christmas music program was entitled you will do this, but I am expected to not seem to be dramatically rising "The Lighthouse"? The readers might believe and proclaim this." among SDAs. If SDAs aren©t drinking up want to read the reference themselves This dualism was incomprehensible all these soy beans, who is? to see if White©s reference to the "light for him. "Whoever is expected to build When we sow seeds of good books, house" that "pleased her" was the friendships in this manner has to be by the time the meetings come they are alleged play or the prop. There is really schizophrenic or will be soon in the halfway in the water. If we sow seeds of no evidence that it was more than a near future," my friend said. Of course, good health, their minds are clear to backdrop with singing children dressed he was totally right. hear and accept the message. How can up. The letter may be found in the study During many conversations with we reap and cultivate if we don©t sow? mentioned earlier. many of my colleagues, it became clear And why aren©t we sowing with the Eugene Prewitt, via email. that they would rather not start relation sowing methods and seeds that God ships with other ministers, because of specifically told us to use? I speak as a ince I have been receiving Ministry the above-mentioned embarrassment. whole and individually. We can be utiliz S magazine, I have learned so much George Knight wrote an excellent ing these methods even more to reach about the pastor©s work. It has really article. However, we do not need a the unchurched. There are areas and enlightened me. If my ministry is succes- church historian to remind us of our whole conferences that are using the lit ful, it will be because of this precious task. We need a psychiatrist to discover erature and health work combined with magazine. Thank you for making this how to put this task into perspective. evangelism very effectively. arrangement that this magazine has Abraham j. van der Kamp, Amersfoort, Jeff Zaremsky, New Port Richey, Florida. reached to me. I thank Pastor C. Pherim The Netherlands. also for recommending that it be sent ary Tolbert©s article on Christian to me. Bl agree fully with Russell Burrill©s assess G drama poorly represents White©s Once again, thank you so much. I ment that the best way for us to reach view of the topic. It is ironic that in an Edwin Ramrar, literature evangelist, the unchurched and the churched is by article about drama in ministry, Tolbert Dimapur, Nagaland, India.
Free Subscription If you©re receiving Ministry bimonthly and haven©t paid for a subscription, it©s not a mistake. Since 1928 Ministry has been published for Seventh-day Adventist ministers. We believe, however, that the time has come for clergy everywhere to experience a resurgence of faith in the authority of Scripture and in the great truths that reveal the gospel of our salvation by grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ. We want to share our aspirations and faith in a way that will provide inspiration and help to you as clergy. We hope you will accept this journal as our outstretched hand to you. Look over our shoulder, take what you want and find helpful, and discard what you can©t use. Bimonthly gift subscriptions are available to all licensed and/or ordained clergy. Requests should be on church letterhead and addressed to the editorial office.
August 2002 MINISTRY EDITORIAL
Conscience
t©s out of fashion these days to talk dered in the conscience tells us that about "conscience," at least in its tra something is wrong in our soul. And I ditional role as an authoritative inner just as it would be foolish to deny or moral voice. At one time, the voice of ignore pain in our body, it is as wrong conscience was virtually equated with WILL EVA to deny the spiritual and psychological the voice of God. It was seen as a posi pain to which our conscience draws our tive and almost unerring point of attention. reference for moral decisions. When we are confident that the We pictured the conscience as locat Spirit of God does indeed speak ed somewhere within us, occupying a through conscience, we can begin to strategic and penetrating perspective relate to its voice more sensibly and into our soul. Because it knew us better maturely, and by the Holy Spirit it can than anyone, conscience was viewed as then exercise the power it was meant to more authoritative than any other encouraging and sometimes it is con- possess through "the blood of Christ, human intelligence. It was something frontative. who through the eternal Spirit offered worth respecting, a guide to be, more Despite the profound discomfort it himself unblemished to God [cleansing] or less, unquestioningly obeyed. often produces, conscience is crucial to our consciences from acts that lead to Today, however, we question the the life of everyone, especially those death, so that we may serve the living validity of its conclusions. This almost who have been called to the ministry. God!" (Heb. 9:14, NIV). irrepressible and still highly active part The conscience is the minister©s con Painful as that voice sometimes is, it of our inner being has been demoted to summate moral compass as long as it is is so because it is honest and coura just another voice among the many. possessed by the Holy Spirit Himself geous and Spirit filled. This presence Under a kind of inner postmodern and properly informed by the living ora within is at least the partial fulfillment of assault, conscience seems to have lost cles of God. This partnership between Jeremiah©s prophecy, the one quoted in its nerve. Even among Christians, it is the Bible and the Spirit is critical to the Hebrews 8:8-12, which talks about a often viewed as an entity that has little accuracy, authority, and healthiness time, now here, when the Lord will to do with the voice of God in the with which the conscience speaks. make a new covenant with Israel which human soul. All of us know the intense guilt that involves putting "my laws in their Yet such a strategically placed alter sometimes takes over our soul as we minds and [writing] them on their ego has the capacity to speak powerful stand up to preach, or how it feels to be hearts" (Heb. 8:10-12, NIV). ly in us, even though in the contempo repeatedly stormed by the reminder of We ministers must recognize and rary world we©re consistently being something wrong that we have done or embrace anew this magnificent inner reminded of its capacity to impose upon something right we have not done. We role of the Holy Spirit. It is His work to us guilt-producing neuroses or madden also know what it©s like to be haunted take His place in the conscience. When ing psychoses. Conscience, after all, is by an inner sensation of duplicity, insin we recognize God in the voice of con subject to unhealthy manipulation and cerity and double-heartedness, which science we are far more likely to follow exploitation. cuts us off from others and from God. the bidding or believe the encourage The truth is that while the conscience These feelings and thoughts are woven ment than we are if we reduce such a is not perfect (because we are not) we into consciousness through the voice of voice to something merely human. nevertheless intuitively know its indis our conscience. Most importantly we It©s a privilege of magnificent propor pensable value. Conscience not only has know that these inner conscience tions to fully identify and recognize the the capacity, but the God-given assign storms strike because we are in need of underlying source of such a voice, one ment to tell us what we are and what we finding wholeness and healing. that "is near you; it is in your mouth are not. It deals with our past rights and Just as physical discomfort, illness, or and in your heart" (Rom. 10:8, NIV); wrongs and with our present integrity pain alerts us that something is wrong one that is there to "guide into all quotient. Often the conscience is with our body, the pain of guilt engen truth" (John 16:13, NIV). 851
MINISTRY August 2002 were strangely-dressed people who seemed to live in a state of anger against one another and the rest of the world. After 9/11, we actu ally found it a bit of a relief that our enemy was someone whose alienness, whose sheer otherness, saved us the trouble of having to understand them. Yet remembering that as a Christian I am to love my enemy (instruction I suspect we all felt unusually challenging) I became more attentive to what I heard of Moslems in the weeks following 9/11. In television interviews 9/11/2002: Moslem experts disclaimed Moslem militancy, declaring it incompatible with their faith. Moslems in America suggested they were the Preaching to real victims and in some instances they were right. Some Christian leaders rushed to Islam©s anxious times defense. Yet I also received an email written by a clergyman, that was just short of Hitlerian in its bigotry and willful misinterpretation of the theology and social system of Islam. It advised n the 12 months past, we (you and I, us not to believe a word we heard from mod Loren G. Seibold preachers of the gospel) have addressed erate Islamic leaders or their Christian the events of 9/11/2001 in our sermons. defenders. In this man©s assessment, Islam was We have preached, as we must, to the fundamentally hateful, its whole agenda the times. destruction of Western civilization. IWhile the horror of September 11, now Let us admit it is probably impossible for us dubbed "9-11," have been the particular stuff to understand the Islamic faith from the out of the American scene, people around the side with much accuracy. I can make a few world have been shocked by the force of its assumptions, though, based on what I know implications. Now that a year has passed, we about human beings. I can assume that some need to take a moment to reexamine four of Moslems are liars, others honest. Some are our most frequently-preached related themes, angry, some peace-loving. Some bigoted, some and consider whether or not we have thoughtful. Some sincerely wrong, others addressed them well and accurately. angrily right. In short, they are quite like us. I also know from looking at my own faith The nature of our enemy tradition that it is possible for insecure people I have felt less fondness for New York City to edit their faith to justify hatred, vengeance, than any other place in America a city rude, and domination. (A historical event called the crude, dangerous, expensive, and seemingly Inquisition is something in our own history inaccessible to those of us who operate by the that we who follow gentle Jesus, meek and rules that work in much of the rest of America mild, would prefer not to be reminded of.) and the world. Yet on the evening of Yet it is not our task to either defend or September 11, 2001, New York almost seemed damn the Moslem faith, but to preach the like my hometown; its people, my people. I gospel of Jesus Christ. And that gospel identi and many others true blue, honest, upstand fies all sin as the work of an enemy, one who ing citizens of the U.S.A. and the world sud is not Moslem, nor even human. And though Loren Seibold is denly found ourselves bonded to New Yorkers human beings may act as agents of that pastor of the because they had been attacked by a strange enemy, we are all victims of sin. Worthington Advent/st Church in and frightening enemy. Following 9/11, commentators observed Worthington, Ohio. It turned out that the attackers were part of that normally brusque New Yorkers had a group whose reputation had preceded them. briefly begun behaving toward one another Most of us didn©t know any Moslems. What with some courtesy. Sharing a common Americans saw on the 6:30 p.m. TV news enemy was a bonding experience. Yet sinful-
August 2002 MINISTRY ness is our real enemy, and we hold result in someone©s suffering. When ism, though it nabbed not a single ter that enemy in common with faced with war, the best we can do is rorist, led to more ordinary people thoughtful people of all faiths, to choose the slightly better of bad dying of gunshots than would have including Islam and Christianity. options, which will result in nothing otherwise. Rather than trying to analyze Islam, more than the slightly better of bad The firearming of America has we might do well to show how all outcomes. So let us be sure that we do always been one of the nation©s most human beings are victimized by sin, not spend a moment engaging in a counterproductive reactions to social and so make the end of violence and sentimental glorification of war or of stress. Yet in this case, it had one bigotry our common cause. our fighting capabilities. "redeeming" value: guns apparently Actively loving Osama bin Laden Let us not fly the flag at the pulpit comforted not a few anxious hearts! is, I suspect, still some spiritual or in it, spouting self-justifying cliches The proper pastoral response to growth beyond us. Yet we must love that imply God has confined His inter such widespread anxiety, it seems to our human enemies at least enough ests to our side. Let Christians not use me, is to offer our people not exter that we do not let hatred swell. Of words like "revenge," for even when nal, but internal comfort. Not vengeance there is no natural end; fighting is necessary, vengeance is pre comfort they must purchase, or man someone must choose to end it. And cisely what Jesus intended us not to age by their own judgment, strength He whom we follow has asked us to seek. Let us never gloat over our victo and reflexes, but comfort that comes be those who do so. ries or our enemies© losses, nor take joy from gaining a deeply spiritual per in making war, because there is noth spective on how one handles the Understanding war ing even remotely joyful about it. matter of living on a troubled earth I confess I am puzzled, particularly The only thing that makes it possi resting in the hand of God Himself. in the light of what happened to ble for a fully-aware Christian to fight Let us begin with the proposition America on 9/11, by those Christian in a war is the hope that the sum total that God still answers prayers that pastors who use pulpits, (either parish of tears that will be shed because of plead for His comforting presence. or electronic) to glorify war. That fighting the war will be fewer than "Let not your hearts be troubled" still countries may have to fight to prevent the sum total of tears that would have applies. As does the rest of the pas terrorism is clear. That we ought to been shed had we not fought. And sage: "Take my yoke upon you, and honor and encourage soldiers who those are sums that, short of heaven, learn from me; for my yoke is easy, risk their lives in such a cause is also we shall never possess the ability to and my burden is light" (Matt. clear. calculate accurately. 11:28-30). Yet it is equally clear that we Note that the burden Jesus has should find the entire enterprise of Calming fears been carrying (and that He offers to war thoroughly regrettable. Even on 9/11, the average us) is a light burden! Clearly, Jesus is Judeo-Christian theology has long American was not in immediate dan not as worried about the future (or, wrestled with the question of war. ger from terrorism. Even on 9/11, the for that matter, war, the stock market, Under theocratic government, God terrorist threat to our lives dimin or the time of the end) as we are! That occasionally appeared to be a merci ished beside the overall statistical is because Jesus knows that by the less commander (Deut. 20:10-20). But threat of death in an auto accident. mercy of His Father all things will today©s Christian attitudes toward Yet there need be no actual danger ultimately redound to the good of war come primarily from Jesus© teach in order for us to feel afraid. Supposing those who love God. After all, Jesus ing that we should be, as far as ourselves in danger will suffice. Himself lived with the knowledge possible, nonaggressive, preferring One of the fascinating reactions that He was going to die a violent peaceful to violent means. after 9/11 was the increase in the sale death and trusted His Father to carry Knowing, however, that there are of guns in America. And these sales Him through. times when truth must be fought for, took place despite the fact that there An old gospel song says, "This Augustine and others have proposed was nothing whatsoever in the entire world is not my home, I©m just the theology of "just war": War 9/11 episode that could have been a-passing through." Jesus prayed that should only be fought to preserve addressed by the average person carry His disciples, though they were "in peace or to ensure justice. Yet scholars ing a gun. Did people suppose a rec the world" would not be "of the say Augustine©s writings on the topic ognizable terrorist would knock on world"; they would be, in a manner are gloomy and resigned, for in his the front door during dinner some of speaking, resident aliens. heart he knew war to be irreducibly evening? Given the prevalence of It is extraordinarily difficult to live evil. gun-related accidents and heat-of-the- in the world, but not be attached to it Let us be painfully, startlingly moment gun use, its more likely that or adopt its ideas of what makes for aware of one thing: War will always the arming of America against terror ultimate safety and security. So much
MINISTRY August 2002 of us is invested here! Yet this very real Falwell/Robertson interview, he pre less in its political and social struc though transcendent perspective is tended to know which sinners God tures, that we can repair ourselves. the one that we must offer in our ser was punishing on 9/11, and why. The most helpful principle I have mons and our ministry as a whole. In This is biblically unsupportable on found for interpreting prophecy is the end it is this that brings us and our several counts, not the least of which derived from the words of Jesus in people real comfort and security. We is that God reserves the right of judg John 16:4 when He warned His disci can never be entirely at home with ment for Himself and punishes ples about the future troubles they things as they presently are on our sinners in His own time and way, all could expect to come to them: "©I planet. without consulting us. have told you this, so that when the The joys here never totally delight Third, beyond knowing the time comes you will remember that I us, nor do the tragedies take us entire preacher©s thoughts on the matter, warned you©" (NIV). ly by surprise, for we live in expecta what could listeners do with the This passage reminds me that tion of something better. And all of information? Like having a gun eschatology was meant not to provide this applies not only to 9/11 but to under the mattress, did they suppose us with a means of predicting the any and every aspect of the struggle that specific knowledge of world future and managing world events, we and our people face as a part of liv affairs would give them a measure of but as a means of confirming our faith ing where and when we do. personal control? And what if his pre in God©s management when we most dictions turn out to be inaccurate, as need to have it confirmed. We are not A truthful eschatology they no doubt will? Would he dam in control. But we must assure our Following 9/11, the need for pas age more faith than he could build? parishioners that God is in control, tors to address the world situation Lost in the details was the founda- whether or not we understand His eschatologically was clear. Yes, I need tional message of all eschatology: that methods or his Chronology. God personally, and so do you. But God is in charge of the ultimate fate of Our preaching to anxious times is these dramatic events reminded us this earth. An honest eschatology hardly over. Terrorism (which is noth that not just individuals, but all assures of God©s jurisdiction over ing more than another of Satan©s human institutions, all societies, all earthly and political affairs, without ways to distribute pain) will be with governments, all families, need God©s taking liberties with God©s Word. us as long as war is until Jesus makes intervention. In Paul©s words, the Eschatology succeeds if it teaches all things new. Let us, until then, trust whole creation is groaning as it awaits people to trust our Lord to keep His in Him thoughtfully and implicitly, deliverance (Rom. 8:22). eyes on world events, while we "fix who no terror can threaten, m Shortly after last September I heard our eyes on Jesus, the author and per- a radio preacher explain a passage in fecter of our faith" (Heb. 12:2) There Loren Seibold©s new book, A God We Can Trust addresses the ological questions that Christians have asked in the wake of Revelation that he supposed specifi is little in this broken world, and even 9/11. To order, visit
August 2002 MINISTRY a large percentage of those who were baptized first made their decision on a card during a Sabbath morning worship service. The Norfolk Seventh-day Adventist Church has traditional envelope/card holders attached to the backs of the pews. Each week we place in these card holders three tithe envelopes, three guest registration cards, three prayer request cards, and three decision Using decision cards to be used at the end of the sermon. Guest registration cards cards effectively Guest cards are generally far more effective for recording guest attendance than the tradi tional guest book in the church lobby. A major in worship advantage of the in-pew card system over the book in the lobby is the opportunity to put much more information on a card, not the services least of which is a legible address and phone number. In the past, we have tried to get greeters in the lobby to see that guests receive a guest card to fill out, but all too often people uring my 19 years of pastoral are missed. Glenn Holland ministry, I have noticed that We have finally determined that the most countless guests come for the effective way to get the guest cards filled out is weekly worship services. Until to hold up the card during the welcome time last year, though, I did not con at the beginning of the worship service. We Dsciously realize that it is during the weekly invite the guests to fill out this card and hand service that they are most likely to make deci it to my wife or me at the door after the serv sions for membership or active involvement ice. Those who turn in the card receive a in local church life. special gift as a token of our appreciation. The church I currently serve is in Norfolk, When greeting people after the service, my Virginia. Many guests come each week for wife and I hold an attractive basket between numerous reasons. Virginia Beach is nearby, us with these gifts. The gifts include items like so vacationers come from all over the world. Steps to Christ, an attractive summary booklet Norfolk is home of the world©s largest naval about Adventist beliefs, Bible Answers, or base, so military personnel are constantly other such books that are relatively inexpen coming and going. sive but practical for guests. We allow guests With people perpetually moving in and to look through the basket and pick out some out of the area, it has been quite frustrating to thing that would be of interest to them. try to keep up with the ever-changing sea of The guest card does more than simply let faces in the congregation. In the face of this us know who came to church. It includes age challenge the idea of thoughtfully-designed categories, children©s names and ages, phone decision cards struck me. The use of these numbers, and most importantly follow-up cards has helped me tremendously in reach information requests. Translated into the lan ing people for Christ. guage of pastors, this means decisions! On In our weekly worship service, we routinely this portion of the card, people fill in options use three different types of decision-oriented such as, "I would like to know more about Glenn Holland is cards, each with a specific purpose. By careful this local congregation" or "I would like to pastor of the Norfolk follow-up, we have found each type of card to know more about Seventh-day Adventists." Seventh-day Adventist Church in be a potential source of new members for our If either of these boxes is checked, I try to Norfolk, Virginia. congregation. In the past year, we have added pick up the phone and call the visitor within 47 new members by baptism or profession of 48 hours to find out how we can be of more faith; we have also had eight rebaptisms. In specific service. After the call, I may need to the evangelistic meetings we held last October, mail a booklet, but quite often (and better
MINISTRY August 2002 yet), I have an appointment to visit ship service. During announcements heartache. They may wish to remain with the guest. These appointments at the beginning of our service, we anonymous and choose not to fill out frequently become Bible studies and call attention to the prayer request a guest card. However, when it comes eventually, baptisms. cards in the pew racks, and encourage to having someone simply pray for For example, a lady recently filled everyone to fill one out. We say some their requests, they may be more will out a guest card at our worship serv thing like this: "You will notice in the ing to communicate and sometimes ice. She had checked "I would like to rack in front of you, a blue prayer every box on the prayer request card know more about this local congrega request card. Please take it out at this is checked, along with complete con tion." After I inquired if this was a time. If you have a special burden for tact information. If the contact good time to talk, I said, "I was fol prayer, jot it down, and the elder who information is there, this is often the lowing up on your guest registration collects the cards later in the service beginning of a trusting and valuable card requesting more information has committed to have daily prayer relationship with that person. about our local congregation, and for your specific requests throughout The elder on duty for this purpose was wondering how I might be able the coming week. If you have a praise on a given Sabbath collects these to help you." She replied, "Thank you report to share such as an answer to cards by standing on the floor level for calling. I was just wondering what prayer write that on the back of the with the people and inviting every I would have to do to become a mem card. If you also wish to have your one to bring or send their requests to ber of this church." Now we have an request shared with our intercessory the front. We do not read the cards appointment to visit. prayer group which meets weekly, until after the service, but we lift With each of the cards we use, the please check the box on the lower left them collectively to ask God©s special goal is to find an opportunity to talk hand corner of the card." blessing. to the person who filled out the card. Often when guests come to a Immediately after the service, the church, especially if they don©t know elder goes to the copy machine and Prayer request cards someone in the congregation, they makes a copy of all the cards for the Prayer is a major focus in our wor come with incredible pain or pastor, seals the copies in an envelope
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August 2002 MINISTRY for confidentiality, then slides them under the pastor©s office door. The Sample decisions for concluding sermons elder also goes through the cards that are marked, "Please share with The following are a few actual calls for decisions that I have recently used at Intercessory Prayer Group," and makes a copy of only those cards for the conclusion of sermons. I explain each of the decisions, but these simple the prayer group leader. statements are projected on a screen during the appeal: Confidentiality is important. When people know their privacy will 1. I want to be more like Jesus. be respected, it©s amazing how people open up even on these cards. Our 2. I have not been baptized, but would like to be soon. elders have spent a great deal of time 3. I would like to transfer my membership to this church. at elders© meetings just discussing how to react to different kinds of 1. I want God to have first place in my life. issues that come up on prayer request cards. The elders who receive these 2. I desire to follow God, no matter what. cards are seen as "First responders," 3. I am interested in church membership. meaning that if something needs to be done for follow-up, they need to 1. I want to commit my life to God. initiate the process. For example, if someone has a mar 2. I wish to be baptized soon. riage that©s about to fall apart, the 3. Please call me. elder calls the person who filled out 4. I wish to transfer my membership to this church. the card and offers to have prayer on the phone with that person, then dis cusses possible options for counseling, 1. I want to be a Christian. etc. If elders are not sure how to fol 2. I want stronger faith. low up, they are encouraged to call 3. I want to serve God more. the pastor for input. 4. I want to be a Seventh-day Adventist. Our elders have concluded that the way prayer cards are used in the service has been one of the most 1. I understand that God loves me, and wants to save me. effective features of our worship 2. I want to dedicate my life to God and live for Him. experience. 3. I would like to be baptized soon. My decision for Christ 4. Please call me. The most significant change in my entire ministry has been the regular 1. I want to come home to God today. use of decision cards after nearly 2. I want to live a Christian life. every sermon. I have been absolutely amazed by the many responses 3. I want to know how to live for Christ. received over the past seven months! 4. I want to become a Seventh-day Adventist. I preach Bible-based sermons that are oriented to living as a Christian in the everyday world. I conclude by Most of these decisions are the type that demand follow-up. I believe it is inviting people to take the green card imperative that the one who calls for these decisions needs to make the initial from the pew that says, "My Decision contact within a few days of receiving the card. This is a matter of integrity for Christ." and prompt follow-up makes it easier for the person who made the decision The first blank box on the card has to follow it through. a corresponding decision that most everyone can respond to, such as "For 10 days I will pray daily for God to The pastor certainly does not and should not do all the follow-up. bless this church in 2002." And, "I have questions about this church. Please call me."
10 MINISTRY August 2002 Another option on the card is, "I very outspoken, I can only guess how inclined to accept the service of would like to become a Seventh-day long he might have attended church, Christ than when they came. They Adventist." For the past six months, I never communicating his feelings decide to wait for a more favorable have had at least one decision for and, of course, never joining the opportunity; but it never comes. That church membership or baptism church, because no one gave the invi godless discourse, like Cain©s offering, almost every Sabbath, and most of tation! lacked the Savior. The golden oppor the decisions have been unexpected. "Prompt, energetic, and earnest tunity is lost, and the cases of these Often they have been from people I action may save an undecided soul. souls are decided. Is not too much at didn©t even know. No one can tell how much is lost by stake to preach in an indifferent man Just yesterday, for the first time, attempting to preach without the ner, and without feeling the burden we visited with a man who began unction of the Holy Spirit. There are of souls?" 1 attending our church a couple of souls in every congregation who are I have determined that if I can©t months ago. A couple of weeks ago, hesitating, almost persuaded to be conclude every sermon with a very he had filled out a decision card. He wholly for God. The decision is being specific appeal, then I really need to checked that he wanted to become a made for time and for eternity; but it reevaluate my own soul and the mes Seventh-day Adventist. Upon visit is too often the case that the minister sage I am presenting. One of our ing, we discovered he left the church has not the spirit and power of the greatest needs is to have the wisdom 25 years ago, and now has decided he message of truth in his own heart, and unction to lead His people to needs to come back. hence no direct appeals are made to make decisions to follow Him. God In one session we were able to those souls that are trembling in the give us that blessing! 181 review the teachings of the Church balance. The result is that impres to refresh his memory, and he plans sions are not deepened upon the to be baptized in a couple of weeks. hearts of the convicted ones; and 1 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers (Hagerstown. Md.: Because this person is quiet and not they leave the meeting feeling less Review and Herald Pub Assn., 1892), 138, 139. Want to be a church planter ? ^taflifil^^^^ Success
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August 2002 MINISTRY 11 Much of the ministry that must be done in today©s urban areas is complicated by decay ing, crime-ridden neighborhoods. Yet, the urban scene also reflects a new and almost opposite trend: newly-renovated, upwardly- mobile, postmodern, post-Christian, condo- dwelling neighborhoods are flourishing throughout the country.2 The extremes in our culture and even the nature of many kinds of ministry in between make an effective training experience difficult to achieve at or near the Seminary. Thus the idea of sending the "seminary" where the peo Seminary and ple are is an effort that should be applauded! The small southwest Michigan English- speaking church to which I was assigned local church during my M.Div. sojourn at the seminary was a valiant attempt to provide me with "hands- Building a viable relationship? on" experience. However, this exposure was incapable of providing me with the more complete "real world" ministerial experiences I needed as I later entered ministry in the he Seventh-day Adventist Theo Hispanic communities. These and other rea Carlos C. Camarena logical Seminary at Andrews sons led me to be supportive of the seminary©s University has embarked upon a new efforts that attempt to prepare ministers major overhaul of its M.Div. cur in the context of "doing" actual ministry in riculum in an effort to better "original" or "native" settings. equipT ministerial candidates for their min The new program could generate some fur istry. This effort, if followed through with ther dissatisfaction if some basic concerns are close supervision and monitoring, will not attended to. For example, even though improve the training pastors receive and ful the new program points to practical theologi fill the expectations of a successful pastoral cal training, it seems that we are moving into ministry. I felt optimistic when I first heard of that focus without sufficient dialogue this initiative. While 1980s revisions between the local church and the Seminary. improved ministerial training, there has still This lack of dialogue may be exacerbated by been room for improvement. the following (exceptions admitted): Recently I completed the requirements for (1) Pastors who mentor interns may not a Ph.D. candidacy in New Testament studies. possess all the necessary skills to guide interns; Working to earn this degree, along with serv (2) Interns may feel dissatisfaction because ing in the seminary as an occasional local church leadership often misunderstands instructor, has given me the opportunity to a young pastor©s need to "learn the ropes" of discuss with fellow seminarians the strengths ministry; and weaknesses of the present program and (3) Local church people may become dis what could be incorporated into the program satisfied because the intern is not performing in the future. The most striking innovation in the functions traditionally expected; the new curriculum envisions seminarians (4) From the seminarians© viewpoint, it is remaining "in-house" for one year and spend yet to be determined how seminary adminis ing the remaining time in the field working tration will be able to follow the quality and Csr/os C. Camarena is alongside experienced pastors. level of learning of each intern while the stu a gradutate student at The reason for this revision is that the pres dent is away from the seminary. Meaningful the Seventh-day Adventist Theological ent M.Div. curriculum does not allow for cooperation between the seminary and the Seminary, Andrews adequate practical ministerial training. field is imperative to the success of the new University, Berrien "Hands-on" pastoral education cannot be emphasis. Springs, Michigan. fully accomplished in the classroom or in the Further, when seminarians, in their formal geographical area surrounding the Seminary.1 classroom training and/or seminars, are
12 MINISTRY August 2002 expected to recognize and become Although there are some chal The implications of making the engaged in new ministry opportuni lenges to the newly proposed M.Div. local church the focus of practical ties, such "new" ministries are often program, the seminary and Church ministerial training are deep and viewed with suspicion by many in the administrative leadership is to be affect almost every other area of local church. This means that smooth commended for their courage in Seminary training. The following local church-seminary relationships steering the ship into uncharted practical suggestions are given to may not come easily. Local churches waters and for looking for alternative strengthen the cooperative efforts of who have seminarians in training will ways to train future pastors. If the the local church and the seminary in need some meaningful orientation to seminary and church leadership pastoral training. the new training process. decide to ignore the need for change, Thus it seems there could be a cer we could later discover with pro Selecting the "trainees" tain level of incompatibility in this found sadness that we have been Ministers are recognized in the "marriage." Yet, given mutual consul servicing an obsolete machinery. community for their character and tation, the relationship certainly Although the road ahead may be commitment. Ideally, no seminarian could be productive. Some seminary "rough" (for a while), I believe that should be accepted into the M.Div. professors, for example, recognize this new local church-seminary rela program unless he or she is endorsed that changing times require different tionship will turn out to be a truly and highly recommended by his or approaches to ministry. These profes productive one. her local church. The local church has sors try to steer their courses to meet With this end in mind, we should a unique perspective of the minister©s new ministerial challenges. The local establish multiple models of contact spiritual and leadership abilities. church may need to be made aware and interaction between the local A form letter, signed by a prospec that some of these new approaches churches and the proposed programs tive minister©s pastor, merely stating should not be perceived as "liberal," of the seminary and regularly adjust that the candidate is a "member in but rather as new ways to reach and develop all seminary programs good standing" is a poor substitute for groups that would otherwise be in light of local church-seminary having a more in-depth knowledge of unreachable. contacts. the shepherding and evangelistic
August 2002 MINISTRY 13 End time The Gospel Spiritualism- Sabbath Great controversy Rapture- By G. Edward Reid according to Junior age By Dan M. Appel By Clifford Goldstein dispensationalism Mary Magdalene By M lan Schurch By Martin Weber By Doug Batchelor
State of the dead Health-end time Prayer Rapture History©s grand Tender concern By Joy Swift By Herb Douglass By Roger Morneau By Steve Wohlberg design and Coming ofheavenfor climax humanity By Ray Woolsey By June Strong
When Isn©t lair
Health Health Bible truth Salvation Grief Adventist By Kay Kuzma By Hans Diehl for the By Doug Batchelor By Joy Swift doctrine DeWitt Wffliams Aileen Ludington last days By Arthur Maxwell By Mark Finley qualities of an applicant. Perhaps the gories. The inference behind such an graduate3 should not be decided sim Seminary should require an interview approach is that the students will ply because a seminary-required with the candidate©s pastor. know how to apply all that they have curriculum has been completed, or Perhaps we should interview local learned to any situation they may because the student has completed church elders and even the spouse of encounter. But, to our frustration, this the required period of "testing" with the candidate? It may be argued that does not happen. out committing major blunders. The this approach would be somewhat Knowledge that has been absorbed local church should also cast the first impractical or would greatly reduce by compartments does not flow or vote. This proposal may not be pop the number of candidates. Yet a force interact between compartments quite ular, but if our goal is to produce ful counterargument could be that as readily as one might hope, once the ministers, it would be illogical to taking the above approach seriously student gets into the real world of exclude the local church from the would send a message that we are ministerial work. This is made particu process of evaluation. serious about our convictions about larly evident in biblical or theological Completion of a core curriculum the quality of our ministers and the courses where it is traditional to leave and approval by the union/confer importance of effective ministry in the coursework essentially unrelated ence officers should be only two parts the local church. to the ministerial student©s later min of the equation. Recognition by the istry and where no intentional or community should tell us that the Having pastor-professors focused attempt is made to relate the seminarian is ready to be given the Historically, seminaries have been coursework directly to the future work title of "pastor" and the M.Div. accused of forming theologians not of the student. degree. Yet, we must recognize that pastors. A way of rectifying the Few pastors are able to connect the further evaluation may be needed as implied wrongs would be to have pas "compartments" of knowledge in to what would be required to "mint" a tor-professors and/or professor-pastors their preaching, teaching, leadership, new pastor. Such evaluation should be in our ministerial training. or administration. Studies demon done by more than one committee or (1) Seminary teachers would be strate that there is a need to restruc board. pastor-professors, exposed to actual ture the cognitive content, a content The complexity of pastoral min pastoral ministry. This seems to be which still seems to rely on the anti istry makes it obvious that these sug the intended purpose of the new quated model of brain compartmen- gestions are only a beginning. Yet the M.Div. curriculum. talization. It is not enough to create time to implement changes is now, (2) Seminary teachers should also new disciplines or courses to fit new when we still have our present aims in be professor-pastors. This does not realities. There is a need to look at our mind. We need to establish ongoing mean that professors be assigned to curricula as a whole. We hope that the consultations at all levels: union/con pastor local churches, but that in their new M.Div. program will give consid ference and seminary administration, teaching, they make their material eration to the wider picture and in a and local church leadership. BB applicable to local church ministry. more integrative way. The great majority of students 1 See the interview with Seminary Dean. Dr. John McVay. in Adventist Review, June 28, 2001. Or at enrolled on the Andrews Seminary Graduation requirements
August 2002 MINISTRY 15 Delivering the message
sage of the Book, in the power of the rowing up during the Great Spirit. "The firmness with which Luther Depression, I worked for most relied on the Holy Scriptures imparted G of my teen years as a messenger THOMAS A. DAVIS great authority to his teaching," wrote for a telegraph company. My job was to the Reformation historian, Merle deliver telegrams. Good news, bad D'Aubigne. That firmness of conviction, news, deaths, births, a planned arrival, that assurance, especially at a time when sickness—it didn't matter. If I knew the the whole idea of having solid convic content of the message, I had no tions is suspect, must be ours today. authority to change it. My duty was to deliver it as it had been given to me. The whole message Looking back, I realize that the work I Being "wise as serpents and harmless did then and what I've done as a minis This was early in his ministry. He as doves," we, as messengers, must ter since is not all that different. wrote that, afterward, over and over deliver the message entrusted to us fully, One of my sons-in-law, a Seventh- again while preaching he heard himself faithfully, impartially, even if in fear and day Adventist pastor, was invited to say, "The Bible says." He felt that he had trembling. We must deliver it promptly, preach at the community Christmas cel a rapier in his hands which, through its like a telegram, regardless of its content. ebration in town. Afterwards, a woman power, slashed deeply into men's con And we must deliver the whole mes approached him and said a significant sciences, leading them to surrender to sage—leaving nothing out—even for thing: "You preached as though you God. For him, the Bible became a flame the sake of proclaiming some favorite really believe the Bible. We don't hear in his hands, melting away unbelief. doctrine or topic. that kind of preaching much anymore." He saw the Bible as a hammer which I once heard a conference president we must keep on using, even though it say of a preacher, "He has only one ser Scripture©s primacy and power may be disagreeable to those listening; mon." He did not mean that literally, Recently I read an old article written it is bread for the hungry that we must but we knew what he meant. Like Paul, by Billy Graham in which he discussed keep on offering, even though some the preacher must be able to affirm, "'I his struggle some years before sur refuse it. "We Christian ministers have have not shunned to declare unto you rounding the place of the Bible in his the Word of God," he wrote. "Our the whole counsel of God'" (Acts 20:27, preaching. He had struggled with many Commander said, 'Go, take this mes NKJV, emphasis supplied). doubts and questions about the Bible. sage to a dying world!' Some messen Declaring the whole counsel is hard. He told of walking alone down a trail as gers today neglect it, some tear up the It means we sometimes have to reprove, he wrestled with his doubts. "Finally," message and substitute one of their rebuke, and have patience at all times. he wrote, "in desperation, I surrendered own. Some delete part of it. Some tell "Proclaim the message and, welcome or my will to the living God revealed in the people that the Lord does not mean unwelcome, insist on it. Refute false Scripture. I knelt before the open Bible what He says. Others say that He really hood, correct error, call to obedience— and said: 'Lord, many things in the Book did not give the message, but that it was but do all with patience and with the I do not understand. But Thou hast said, written by ordinary men who were all intention of teaching" (2 Tim. 4:2, "The just shall live by faith." All I have too prone to make mistakes." Jerusalem Bible). received from Thee I have taken by faith. Unfortunately, some of us do fall into The seventeenth-century Puritan, Here and now, by faith, I accept the one or another of these categories. Richard Baxter, put preaching in a con Bible as Thy Word. I take it all. I take it Recently I heard of a Seventh-day text every preacher should remember: without reservations. Where there are Adventist congregation that wanted to "I preach as never sure to preach again, things I cannot understand, I will reserve get rid of its pastor because he seldom if and as a dying man to dying men." judgment until I receive more light. If ever preached from the Bible. This from Deliver the message. The content this pleases Thee, give me authority as I a congregation in a denomination that will take enough of itself. • proclaim Thy Word, and through that used to call itself "the people of the authority convict me of sin and turn sin Book"? Seventh-day Adventists have a Thomas A. Daw's is a former editor of the Adventist Review. He ners to the Savior." simple commission: to deliver the mes writes from Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada.
16 MINISTRY August 2002 A season for everything and a time for every purpose.
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Trust Services General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6600 USA www.willplan.org Dispensationalists interpret the full 70 weeks period symbolically, maintaining it is a period of 490 years. This they do either according to the year-day principle (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6) or because of the Hebrew word shabua in the original text that may be translated as "sevens." 1 The first 69 of the 70 weeks are therefore 483 years. Up to this point, they reason much like theologians of the Historical School, including Seventh-day Adventists. But then they introduce a long gap by moving the sev entieth week into the distant future just before the Second Coming. Even more star- tlingly, they believe the happenings of the A dispensationalist seventieth week do not have to do with Jesus the Messiah, but with the antichrist. Again, much in Dispensationalist interpre calculation error tation depends on the 1,260 days/42 months/three-and-a-half years being literal time so that the combined numbers total pre cisely 50 percent of the last prophetic week of n arithmetic error in Dispensa Daniel 9:24-27. If this is correct, it discredits Edwin de Kock tionalist prophetic calculation the Historical School to which Martin Luther, seriously challenges Dispensa- John Calvin, John Knox, and many other tionalists© position on the inter Reformers belonged. pretation of biblical prophecy. The original essentials of Dispensationalist AThe prophetic core of the Futurist School, thinking did not, as is often believed, origi to which Dispensationalists belong, is the 70 nate with John N. Darby and the Plymouth weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27. Into the Brethren, but rather with writers like last of these weeks of this period they fit the Francisco Ribera (1537-1591), a Jesuit scholar three-and-a-half years referred to in Daniel at the Spanish University of Salamanca, more 7:25 and other scriptures. They believe this than 400 years ago. three-and-a-half-year period to be literal, cal Known as Futurism, his approach to endar time 1,260 nonsymbolic days or 42 prophecy was intended to refute the teach actual months that make up the first half of a ings of the sixteenth-century reformers and seven-year period of tribulation. Then, they their antecedents, including medieval aver, a personal, future antichrist will domi Catholics like Joachim of Floris (c. 1135- nate the world. 1201), "the first to apply the year-day It is argued further that this period will principle to the 1260 years."2 begin with the rapture and end with Christ©s Ribera reached back to the early church return in glory. However, a serious calculation fathers, such as Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons error undermines this scenario. (c. 130-c. 200), who also located the But first a little background. antichrist in a temple and believed that the three-and-a-half years were literal time.3 With Origins of Dispensationalist and this view, Irenaeus differed from Tertullian secret rapture teaching (c. 160-c. 240), his North African contempo The rapture has been depicted spectacular rary, who maintained that the entire 70 weeks Edwin de Kock, an ly by Charles C. Ryrie, Hal Lindsey, and lately were fulfilled by the First Advent.4 English and Bible Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Lindsey©s Though sometimes at loggerheads with the teacher, lives in Edinburg, Texas. The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) became a pope, Irenaeus also furthered the Latin inter worldwide bestseller, a success repeated 30 pretation by teaching that the church should years later by the Left Behind1" series. A dust- rely more heavily on tradition and that all cover advertisement hails the series as "the Christians should be guided in their thinking fastest-selling fiction . . . ever." by the bishops.5
18 MINISTRY August 2002 At first, for two centuries, vii.25: ©Time, times, and a half;© Dan. make up half of the week described in Protestants dismissed or ignored xii.7: ©Time, times, and half a time;©Rev. Daniel 7:25, Dispensationalists rely Ribera©s Futurism. Later it began to xii.14: ©Forty and two months;© Rev. on the literalized calculations made appear in their theology in the works xi. ii [sic] Bxiii.5: ©the thousand two by Maitland. of Anglican scholars such as Samuel hundred and threescore days;© Rev. xi.3: The entire Dispensationalist end- R. Maitland (1792-1866), his disciple are not mystical phrases relating to a time scenario depends heavily on James H. Todd (1805-1869), and oth period of 1260 years; but, according to these calculations: the idea that the ers who followed. their plain meaning, denote a period Tribulation will last for seven years Todd emphatically denied that the of 1260 natural [literal] days."7 We will (from the rapture to Christ©s return in papacy was the antichrist or that see, however, that this is impossible. glory), the denial that the papacy is Catholicism was a flawed religion. He Maitland refers to six of the seven the antichrist, and the notorious Gap (and through him both Maitland and scriptural passages that mention this theory. This interpretation has far- Ribera) had a substantial influence, period, omitting only Revelation reaching implications. Millions could not only on Dispensationalists but 12:6. In chapter 23 of my book, Christ be confused and even lost as they also on the thinking of John Henry and Antichrist in Prophecy and History,3 await the rapture thinking, "When Newman (1801-1890) and Henry I deal with them synoptically as "the my Christian friends disappear, I will Edward Manning (1808-1892). These Sevenfold Prophecy and the Year-Day have a second chance of seven more were prominent members of the Principle." How readers understand years to prepare before the end!" Oxford Movement who, shortly after the three-and-a-half years/42 the mid-1840s, along with other months/1,260 days is crucial to Futurism Anglican priests, converted to the prophetic interpretation. This is true Futurism also blinds the world to Roman Catholic Church. for adherents of the Historical School, the perils posed by the real antichrist, Newman and Manning, who even Dispensationalists, and the Roman who is not a bogeyman of the future tually became Cardinals, saw Pro Church. but an entity that is already active in testantism to be a fulfillment of In equating the antichrist©s 42 the world. Daniel©s prophecies. That is, they saw months referred to in Revelation 13:5 But, alas, there will be no rapture, Protestant faith to be an installment with the three-and-a-half years that only a single Second Advent, to burst or forerunner of the abomination that makes the Catholic sanctuary service desolate. Even some To them, the continual sacrifice taken away was the sacrifice of the of your Biblci Mass, which Protestants reject. heros could'vl? Manning, who headed the Catholic benefitted Church in England, was particularly emphatic on this point.6 from access Again, it was the influence of | to our •-.'" Futurist presuppositions that played a major part in convincing these and leadership others of the truth of the Catholic resources! position. church leadership role The intellectual basis for these evlpfeave you feeling like you're developments began with Samuel R. watering through the wildernejs Maitland early in the nineteenth cen alone? AdventSource has a valuable tury. His first and key publication on supply of resources to strengthen,,;!!*-£ prophecy was a 72-page pamphlet: An your leadership skills and make Enquiry into the Grounds on which the more effective spiritual leader.f|p|| Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John irder your free leadership resoi|f||lf Has been Supposed to Consist of 1260 "catalog call or visit us on-line: Years (1826). 800.328.0525 Its mainstay was a major denial, on www.adventsource^ page 2, of the year-day principle. This Source is what he wrote: "After much consid soft Avenue eration, I feel convinced that, ©the mSm^i-I^Jffsmfm -. time, times, and dividing of time;© Dan.
August 2002 MINISTRY 19 upon a startled planet, like lightning No, when the Lord©s messenger expanse of centuries. that illuminates the sky (Matt. 24:27). said to Daniel, "Seventy weeks are The Gap theory, then, is closely Jesus and countless radiant angels determined upon thy people and bound up with the idea that the three- will descend with a shout and trum upon thy holy city" (Dan. 9:24), he and-a-half years/42 months/1,260 pet blasts to announce the day of had been sent specifically to explain, days are literal, calendar time. So for salvation and doom, invading the not obscure, the prophecy. Obviously Dispensationalists much depends on atmosphere with unimaginable he meant exactly 490 consecutive Ribera©s ideas and particularly splendor (Matt. 16:27; Luke 21:27; years, not 2,490 years or more. Maitland©s explicit denial of the year- 1 Thess. 4:16-18). Every eye will see If God had wished to put the day principle. Thus, if the argument Him, and the nations of the lost will Jewish nation on hold for two mil that the 1,260 years are literal time wail because of Him (Matt. 24:30; lennia, he would have said so quite that can be disposed of, the 1,260 Rev. 1:7); for it is suddenly too late to clearly, for " ©the Lord God does noth prophetic days must be symbolic, rep accept Him as their Savior. They call ing, without revealing his secret to resenting as many years. to the rocks and mountains to fall his servants the prophets©" (Amos 3:7, upon them and hide them from His RSV). But the fact is that after A.D. 34 The eighteen-day discrepancy face (Rev. 6:14-17). He would no longer work in the same Simply stated, the heart of the way through the His people Israel as error the Dispensationalist error is The Cap theory in ages past, but through the that the three-and-a-half years/42 The Gap theory is inherently and Christian church consisting of con months/1,260 days must be prophet deeply flawed, for it defies all known verted Jews as well as Gentiles. ic and not literal time, because they laws of arithmetic and common sense, The period of the church, more are shorter than three-and-a-half as well as what the Bible teaches. over, is not as Miles B. Johnson puts years on the calendar. Miles Beardsley Johnson says: "As it "signless and timeless"; for the How many days are there in a a result of the rejection of Christ and Bible does mention specific signs, as year? According to the calendar, it is His crucifixion, Israel©s clock stopped in Matthew 24:30 and Luke 21:25. It 365 days, except in the case of leap and the Mystery of Grace, the church, also deals with many time periods of years. The actual number is 365.2422 was introduced. Israel, like a train, varying length, including the 1,260, days. Calculating on this basis we was taken off the main line and 1,290, 1,335, and 2,300 years. have the following: 365.2422 x 3.5 = shunted into a sidetrack where she 1,278 days; not 1,260 days. There is has remained for 1900 years. Her Why the Cap theory is an 18-day discrepancy! steam is up again; her bell is ringing; embraced This being true, the Dispensa she is poised, ready to complete her If the Gap theory is so seriously tionalist computation also does not run. Since the period of the church is flawed, why would thinking people constitute 42 months of literal time signless and timeless, these past 1900 insist on it? but somewhat less than 41-and-a-half years are a ©time-out© period as in It rationalizes the ancient error of months. Therefore the 1,260 days football and basketball."9 Irenaeus and others like him, who cannot be part of the seven-year tribu Such language is certainly pictur believed that the Second Advent lation that Dispensationalist theology esque and, for certain minds, would take place in what was, for insists on. Further, they therefore can beguiling. The Lord©s great time him, the near future. But Christ did have nothing to do with the 70 weeks prophecies are not really a train or a not return within that period. So by of Daniel 9:24-27. football game. There is nothing in any the sixteenth century, when Ribera Interpreters of the Historical of them, and especially not in Daniel was pondering these matters, 1,400 School do not run into this problem; 9:24-27, to suggest the kind of gap years had passed and now almost their calculation is different: 360 x proposed in this theory. God thinks 1,900 years have elapsed. 3.5 (or 42 x 30) = 1,260. These, how and expresses Himself clearly, coher How should this be dealt with? ever, can obviously not be natural ently, without theological double talk. The correct approach is simply to time units. An ordinary year does not Suppose a friend invites our family admit that early Catholics like contain 360 days, nor are all months to visit him for a week. We go to his Irenaeus were wrong, and that the made up of 30 days not even in the house, but then at the breakfast table root of their error was the failure to lunar calendar used by ancient Israel. on the sixth day we announce that apply the year-day principle. To deny If such a year is arithmetically impos the seventh day of our visit will occur this fact, however, is to be stuck in a sible in a literal sense, it must be a a year into the future. For this reason, mental time warp, the viewpoint of symbolic entity. It can therefore be we shall in the meantime just linger about A.D. 200, creating a need for reasonably based on the year-day around in his home and on his prop Jesuitical ingenuity which really equivalence explained in Numbers erty. That would be foolish. seeks to explain away that vast 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6.
20 MINISTRY August 2002 The literalism of Ribera (together claim priority in exposing this error. tory, as Futurism does, dissociates with Irenaeus), Maitland, and the More important are its implications. them from the 2,300 days. But expos Dispensationalists is also discredited The seven-years© tribulation, sup ing Maitland©s and Ribera©s error by the fact that the medieval papacy posedly beginning with the three- vindicates the year-day principle and has already to an astonishing extent and-a-half years referred to, becomes indicates that the 2,300 prophetic fulfilled the 1,260 prophetic days as an unnecessary hypothesis, together days should be calculated as years. years in real time between 538 and with that of the peculiar Gap men The time has come to discard 1798. But for many adherents of tioned above. So does the rapture emphatically Ribera©s Futurism and Futurism and Dispensationalism, (allegedly separated by seven years Dispensationalism, its offspring, by such argumentation is too indirect. from the Lord©s return in glory). insisting with greater vigor on the Laying bare their fuzzy math with its Furthermore, the discovery of this Historical School of prophetic inter faulty arithmetic is quicker and more error undermines the idea that Israel pretation. It is the only one that to the point. It is an axe that cuts and the Christian church are sepa actually fits the facts of the Bible©s such an eschatology off at its roots. rate, discontinuous entities. predictions and their fulfillment in This Dispensationalist doctrine history. H The importance and precision teaches that the Jews, and even the of the 1,260-day period modern Israeli state, are still the 1 D Guthrie. eta!. eds., third ed , The New Bible Commentary Revised (Grand Rapids, Mich Eerdmans Publishing 1975). 698 2 LeRoy Edwin Froom. Finding the Lost Prophetic Witnesses The 1,260-day time period seems favorite people of God. All this can (Washington, D C . Review and Herald Pub. Assn . 1946). 31. 3 Quoted in LeRoy Edwin Froom. Th? Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers. to be particularly important because now be discarded. The Histonca! Development of Prophetic Interpretation (Washington, D C Review and Herald Pub Assn.. 1946). 1-247-249 the Bible mentions it seven times and Furthermore, for Seventh-day 4 Tcrtulhan, quoted in Froom. Prophetic Faith, 1 260. 5 Irenaeus quoted in Wilhs Lindquist, Chustianity and Byzantium, in different ways. We may have won Adventists the interpretation of the 70 vol. 4 of The Universal Histoiy of the World, ed Irwin Shapiro, et al (New York Golden Press, 1966). 304 dered why the Lord did not, to keep it weeks is crucially important as the 6 Henry Edward Manning, The Temporal Power of the Vicar ofjesus Christ (Ended), 159, 160. quoted in Froom, Pmphetic Faith, 3:736 simple, refer in every case to three- 7 Samuel R Maitland "An Enquiry into the Grounds on Which the first part of the 2,300 days in Daniel Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John Has Been Supposed to Consist of 1260 Years (1826)," quoted in Froom. Pmphetic Faith, and-a-half years. Why did He in some 8:14. This is essential for the integrity 3542 8 Available for S23.95 (postage and handling included) from the verses also speak of days or months? of the Seventh-day Adventist sanctu author, [email protected] (PO Box 2325, Edmburg, TX 78540- 2325). See book review on page 31 He may have first equated 1,260 ary doctrine. Making the 70 weeks 9 Miles Beardsley Johnson, quoted in Sakae Kubo. The Open Rapture (Nashville, Term : Southern Pub. Assn . 1978), 15 days with 42 months and three-and- coincide with the end of human his 10 Francisco Ribera. quoted in Froom, Prophetic Faith, 2:492. a-half years (as in Rev. 11: 2, 3 and Rev. 12:6, 14) to ensure that we would understand this to be an exact, specif Bible Commentary. GD-ROIVI now ic period not the approximation that the seventeenth-century Jesuit Includes Ellen White Writings tried to pass off to his readers. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary Second, God may also have want CD-ROM, version 2.0, features: ed us to compare these figures and notice that they cannot be literal • Ellen G. White Published Writings (unlock fee required) time, as some expositors would one • New Libronix Digital Library System'"— day assert. The biblical 1,260-day search for topics or texts, follow links period makes prophetic sense only on from the Seventh-day Adventist Bible the basis of the year-day principle. Commentary to Ellen White's writings, Dr. Ribera, more than 400 years click on a topic reference in the index ago, had been more clever though and go directly to the page. more devious than his Anglican and • Updated Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary (vol. 8) other Protestant disciples. He realized • Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology (vol. 12) quite well that from the very begin • Gugliotto's Handbook for Bible Study ning (even in the time of Irenaeus) there had been a problem with his 0-8280-1718-2. Complete package, US$199.00, Can$318.49. reckoning, so he slipped in an unob Upgrade only (requires return Diversion 1.0), USS79.95, Can$127.95. trusive gloss: "Note that these days do Review & Herald Publishing not completely make up three years Helping Others Prepare for Eternity and a half, just as Christ did not com Visit your local Adventist Book Center plete a half year [sic] of preaching." 10 1-800-765-6955 www.adventistbookcenter.com. The implications of the error Price and availability subject to change. Add GST in Canada. One purpose for this article is to
August 2002 MINISTRY 21 has accomplished and they mustn©t be put in where they don©t belong the place that belongs to Christ alone. I could eat only vegetables, walk three miles every morning, and listen to nothing but Gregorian chant and still be as cold as a bucket of ice. But if I knew Christ truly, I would begin to thaw. Yet the assertion that standards are not the heart of the gospel often leads to the extreme opposite of saying that standards are inconse quential and should be left to personal preference. This is a wrong conclusion. It ignores the whole essence of what a standard Lifestyle standards: actually is. The definition of a standard A lifestyle standard is a choice made in the light of our primary interest and commit A middle approach ments in life. In a nonspiritual context we see many who make choices because of a chosen goal. Athletes may choose a particular diet hat is the actual relation and exercise to be in shape for an upcoming Rob Wilcox ship between the practice race. Musicians may organize their schedule of lifestyle standards and around their practice hours, carefully keeping belief in the Christian away disrupting influences. Thought leaders gospel? Discussions over develop a lifestyle that allows them time for thisW issue cover a broad spectrum of approach quiet reflection. The point is simple: Lifestyle, and opinion, all the way from total indiffer both in a Christian and a secular context, is ence to an obsessive preoccupation with shaped and affected by primary chosen com every behavioral detail. To resolve the dilem mitments. ma, we need to take a look at the whole issue Of course, we must recognize that of standard formation. We need to expose the Christians will find that their faith commit underlying principles and ultimate implica ments and values will often run counter to tions of such standards and their relationship their surrounding culture. Where that occurs, to true spirituality. the struggle between faith and culture is Perhaps we should begin with two basic inescapable. We cannot simply go with the principles. First, standards are not the heart of flow of our culture, especially when to do so the gospel. Second, the gospel impacts the is inconsistent with the claims of our faith. whole of human life and behavior. Hence Christians need a lifestyle standard that is distinctly Christian, that is genuinely Standards not the heart of the responsive to the way of Christ. gospel Paul©s primary mission was the proclama The middle way tion of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, not As alluded to above, our need for and vegetarianism, a specific dress code, or any emphasis on standards at once produces two particular form of behavior. Christ was the competing positions. On the one hand, stan great and consuming focus of all that the dards can become so central that they can Rob Wilcox works apostle did, and for a very good reason. turn into a form of destructive legalism. We with Adventist Paul had grasped clearly that the mere can enforce standards to define a particular Frontier Missions as a church planter in adoption of certain behaviors never creates life, in which standards are desperately clung Albania. new life. One may do everything that might to as the ticket into the good graces of God or be expected and still miss the essential ele even one©s fellow church members. Standards ment. Laws, prohibitions, rules, and self-disci are thus insinuated into the heart of faith, pline simply cannot accomplish what Christ and the gospel is all but crowded out. That
22 MINISTRY August 2002 extreme is, of course, unacceptable. serve others. Standards, when operat with each other within the church. On the other hand, in a system of ing in their true role, are the servants Such an approach may produce a cer belief where standards are minimized, of the deeply held goals and aspira tain conformity and uniformity, but it we tend to forget that the gospel by tions at the very heart of one©s life. will never bring us to a powerful its very nature must impact the whole Their foundation and the power to expression of the life that is in our life. No single lifestyle choice can live according to them is truly found Lord. We must aim at helping each escape the probe and judgment of the in the life of the Spirit. other wrestle honestly with what it gospel. When the gospel©s judgment Walking in this middle way, how means to be deeply challenged and and influence are so pervasive, it ever, raises several issues to which we loved by the living God. Such necessitates the rejection of certain must give special attention. If we fail wrestling will inevitably lead to that aspects of the culture in which the to deal with them, they will hinder us wonderfully painful mix of broken believer lives. in our aim to "prove what the will of helplessness in the light of our own The gospel also calls us to die to God is, that which is good and accept sins, and a hungry passion to be con the outlooks, activities, and attitudes able and perfect" (Rom. 12:2, NASB). tinuously transformed. This alone will that characterize the heart of "the provide a solid foundation for the for world," thus holding up highly the Issues in the middle way mation of a truly Christian lifestyle. need for Christian standards (1 John One issue is the context in which Embraced by God©s grace and empow 2:15-17). we discuss, apply, and live out stan ered by His Spirit, we will have a keen As opposed to the two positions, I dards. The only proper context for sense of sin and the need for radical suggest a middle way. This is found lifestyle change is that of the convert change in our patterns of living. where the heart is learning to truly ed heart. The transformed heart alone The greatest impetus to change is a care about bringing glory to God. can produce a behavior that is pleas vision of what we are intended to be Preoccupation with and fear concern ing to the Lord. as children of God. My lifestyle will ing one©s own destiny, either in the This means that if we are to uphold only change positively when the eyes of God or of certain other people, high standards as a church, we must change has come out of a realization are no longer the motive as it often is look carefully at our theology of con of my failure in some particular area in the legalistic mind set. Neither does version. We must learn to intentional of life to image the living Christ. this middle way allow the easygoing ly cultivate in our teaching and When I seek the empowering of God©s attitude of many who have preaching those attitudes of the heart grace working to effect that change, "embraced" the gospel but forgotten that allow the Spirit to lay down in us then I can truly embrace the gift of a that, by its nature, it calls for a thor the foundation for a new life. new lifestyle pattern with gratitude. ough transformation of the whole life. We cannot bullishly approach ChangeDO coming from anyJ other For example, this middle way standards head on in our dealings direction may look good, especially demands rigorous and careful think ing about how we spend our time, resources, and money. This way chal WESTPOINT OF EVANGELISM lenges us to consider what we really value and where our heart truly is. It invites us to search and root out those "Here I Am - Send Me" choices and lifestyle patterns that reflect the passions and lusts of the Simi Valley, California fallen nature. This middle way does A special Council for evangelists, not trumpet an easy, relaxing ride into the kingdom, but neither does it pastor-evangelists, lay evangelists call for an austere, hard, and cramped and young people interested in outlook that receives its life breath winning hearts for Christ from the fear of stepping outside a boundary. Keynote speaker: A standard lived out in terms of Jere Patzer this middle way should invigorate President, North 'iff both the life of the individual Pacific Union Conference Christian and the church at large. A standard that is truly an expression of Further information: Ministerial Dept. 805-497-9457, ext.330 my commitment to God©s free grace Sponsored by The Voice of Prophecy and Pacific Union Conference, in association should lead me to love actively and with Amazing Facts, Faith For Today, It Is Written, The Quiet Hour, and the North Pacific Union Conference
August 2002 MINISTRY 23 in the immediate moment, but in the truly servant to our relationship with thorny issues of lifestyle choices. This end it will not prove to be something God, they will not encumber our rela is by no means a given. of depth and permanence. It will not tionship with unbelievers who do not The local church should assume remain afloat in rough waters. When adhere to those same standards. responsibility to help new members lifestyle change comes as a result of a If questions arise concerning our understand the fundamentals of deep heart hunger to please God in behaviors, they will be explained in Christian lifestyle. When congrega all areas of life within the context of a terms of how they serve the central tions regularly pursue such a course, salvation experience, only then is it goals of our life, rather than being set they will see the development of a meaningful. forth as ends in themselves. It is these mature understanding of lifestyle central goals of life that have the standards. The whole congregation Have standards hardened into greater power to bring conviction needs to be involved so that we avoid a wall? into the life of the unbeliever. the twin dangers of falling into legal- Members of a church with high ism or the trap of cheap grace and standards must ask themselves, "How Standards in house watered-down faith. do I feel around people who do not Perhaps the greatest challenge to This process demands patience, share my standards? What are my the question of the place of standards remembering the long, twisted path attitudes toward them? Am I critical? in our lives comes within our own fel which we ourselves may have trod in Do I feel superior? Am I threatened? lowships. All of us are extremely our search for an authentic conver Do I befriend people not meeting my sensitive to having another tell us sion and in the development of our standards? Am I able to see their good how we should live. Here there arc no own convictions in regard to lifestyle. qualities? How do I feel and react easy answers, but there are far-reach We also must be discerning with when the expression of their lifestyle ing principles to understand and those who might advocate a different standards cuts across my own? implement. set of standards from our own. In sit As stated above, standards are To begin with, we must accept that uations that do not involve theology inevitably related to culture. As standard formation takes place con but only standards, our greatest con Christians we form a culture which is tinually; it is a task that is never cern should be on the spiritual different from the unbelieving world completed. One reason for this is that dynamics operating in our lives. We around us. Our new culture, if formu young people are continually being need to trust one another and exam lated in a healthy way, expresses the raised within the church. ine whether lifestyle choices flow deepest spiritual commitments of our We cannot automatically assume from a desire to honor God. lives and serves those commitments. that these young people are convert The individual©s process of We must be careful, however. It is ed. It may be that they are asked in wrestling with choices and the spiri easy for the cultural molds we devel certain contexts to abide by certain tual issues beneath such wrestling op to harden into a thick wall which standards, but if we stop here, we fail must never be shortchanged. When shuts everyone else out. When this them. We must aim at bringing them spiritual transformation is in process happens we lose our influence in the to genuine conversion. Then we can then we can be confident that we will wider world. We become isolationis- help them learn how to meet the be moving toward the unity prom tic and cannot fulfill our calling. Such hard questions that arise where faith ised the church. a condition can lead to pride and a commitments meet culture. In essence: The church must learn sense of exclusiveness. Our upcoming generations must to grapple with the middle way, not The answer, of course, is not to learn to make choices based on their only as individual members but also throw away our standards so that we deep heart commitments and know as a body. In fact the more solidly this can relate better to the world around the reasons why they have made middle way is pursued, the less the us, but to make sure that our stan these choices. Lifestyles formulated in church will be plagued with the divi dards have the proper foundation. If this way will be held to with firmness sive forces that gather among us. we are adhering to standards out of and resiliency because they will flow legalistic fear or legalistic superiority, out of heart commitments and clear Where past meets future then we are erecting a wall between understanding. One more crucial area remains to us and others. On another front, those who come be considered: the meeting of the In this case, our standards have in as new believers must also be past and the future in the formula become the source of our identity, helped to grapple with the meaning tion of standards. We cannot fully instead of reflecting our status as chil of their Christian faith within their depend upon the decisions and out dren of God who have been freed cultural context. All too often we looks of those who have gone before from sin in order to love people truly assume that these new Christians will us as if they were infallible. Yet nei and powerfully. When standards are naturally know how to relate to the ther can we casually write them off as
24 MINISTRY August 2002 if our ecclesiastical ancestors were the community of faith. Conclusion out-of-touch ignoramuses. While our spiritual ancestors may I have attempted to set forth a con To relate to our forebears as if they have had their blind spots, we too structive approach for working out were infallible in every aspect of their have ours. Interacting with ideas and the implications of the gospel in lifestyle development is to forget that solutions from an age other than our regard to lifestyle standards within they too had their dilemmas. own helps us to see where our own the fellowship of our churches. I have Something is not sacred just because cultural milieu may have pulled the also sought to point out some of the it has been held and practiced. Yet we wool over our own eyes. pitfalls that exist along the way. should not scoff too quickly at what It is a delicate dance, this dance It would be very naive of me to might seem stuffy and narrow to us. with the past. As we look back into believe that the effort to walk the mid The people who upheld and estab the past, there is a great temptation to dle way would free us completely lished lifestyle standards were seeking simply freeze the specific cultural and from the sometimes twisted labyrinth to wrestle with a crucial issue: How lifestyle patterns of a previous period, of standard formulation. Difficulties does one arrive at maturity in adopting them lock, stock, and barrel. will remain. However, if we can truly Christian living? This appears to make it much easier strengthen the spiritual core, we The point is that they were grap to work out answers to lifestyle issues. might revolutionize the whole. We pling as we must grapple, and it is Anything that does not fit the pattern would do well to remind ourselves arrogant of us to write off their expe previously lived out by our forefa that the tone of the church is not rience as if we are on a higher plane thers is rejected. often set by those who are just begin then they. It may well be that they It may be easier, but it is irrespon ning to enter the roaring maelstrom were on a higher plane spiritually sible. It sidesteps the challenge of the of life where all the crucial issues are than the one on which we stand at middle way, circumvents the process met with and decided. Rather, it is set present. Thus, the voices of the past of learning to think and choose in the by leadership and the more mature can be immensely helpful to us in our presence of God, and fails to perceive members who have either wrestled attempts to work out what is pleasing and then live out the perfect will of well or poorly with the crucial issues to the Lord and genuinely helpful to God for us here and now. of life, m
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August 2002 MINISTRY 25 know as Matthew©s Moses typology. For example, the five discourses of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew parallel the five books of Moses in the Old Testament. As Moses was delivered from Pharaoh©s campaign against Jewish male firstborns, so Jesus was rescued from Herod©s awful slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. And just as Moses gave the divine legislation from Mount Sinai, so Jesus delivers His sermon from the mount. Jesus refers to Himself as "one greater than Jonas," "greater than Solomon" and most shockingly of all, as "one greater than the tem ple" (Matt. 12:41, 42, 46). The reality for Christians is that the authority of Jesus is at Jesus' subversive least on a par with the Mosaic legislation. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus (like Moses before Him) is giving out divine legis lation to His followers. It is clear that His sayings purpose was not to "abolish" the Mosaic law but to intensify and apply it in a new context. Some of Jesus© statements seem like fairly he more intensely I study the straightforward intensifications of the law of Paul Fisher Gospels, the less Jesus looks like a Moses. For example, Jesus extends the prohi Norman Rockwell production. bition against the act of adultery to cover The Jesus portrayed in these even the sexual thoughts that would precede accounts can be an incredibly the act. However, not all of Jesus© statements challenging,T even disturbing figure. For are so easily explained as amplifications of the instance, in the context of the terrorist attacks divine principles of the Mosaic law. on the World Trade Center on September 11, The words of Jesus in Matthew 5:39-41 some of His words appear almost subversive. seem to actually fly in the face of the Mosaic Jesus© Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is law of retributive justice, the lex talionis. In sometimes viewed as the most influential reli this passage Jesus reverses the expectations of gious discourse in history. Its message is so His listeners. In the context of an "eye for an penetrating and challenging that some have eye" legal principle, the last thing Jesus© lis wondered if it doesn©t actually contain an teners would have expected to hear was, "Do "unattainable ideal." Is it possible to live by not resist an evil person." the precepts articulated by Jesus on that It is important to realize that the principle Galilean hillside almost 2,000 years ago? of retributive justice requires an exact correla tion between the crime and the punishment. Moses and Jesus The exact injury caused is to be visited upon The background of Jesus© sayings in the one who caused it. And the closer the Matthew 5:38-42 (particularly Luke 6:27-31) punishment fits the crime, the greater the is the Mosaic legislation enshrined in Exodus sense that justice has been served. 21:23-25 and Leviticus 24:20. In these Old For example, the enemies of Daniel who Testament passages Moses, the Israelite legis conspired to feed him to the lions become lator, clearly articulates the concept of justice dinner for the lions in the end. Then there is in terms of retribution; eye for eye, tooth for Haman, who, in the story of Esther, ends up Paul Fisher is a tooth, life for life. This great principal of ret swinging from the very gallows he had con Seventh-day ributive justice is known as the lex talionis. structed for Mordecai the Jew. Justice prevails, Adventist minister currently studying at In Matthew 5-7 Jesus juxtaposes His own and we rejoice in its victory! Harvard Divinity teachings with the Mosaic legislation using School, Cambridge, the formula, "You have heard . . . but I tell A "revised" Script Massachusetts. you." This emphasis of Jesus© teachings fits in In the teachings of Jesus encoded in nicely with what Bible scholars have come to Matthew 5:38-42, the Master reverses the
26 MINISTRY August 2002 expected narrative ending. Jesus envi "Grace ... is not about fairness." 1 As of the lex talionis. The relation sions a new ending to the proverbial Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran martyr between God and the human family human saga involving hostilities, of injustice, once said: "Nothing that is portrayed in just these terms. atrocities, injuries, and insults. we despise in the other man is entire Adam and Eve reject God©s author In this new telling of the story, the ly absent from ourselves."2 ity and in turn God expels them from bad guy doesn©t get what he gives to For Jesus the enemy is not a target the Garden of Eden. The people in the others. The script is written without to be eliminated so much as a human time of Noah pollute the world with reference lex talionis. And in the nar being to be redeemed. How else can wickedness and in return God cleans rative space created by the absence of we understand those incredible words es the earth with a flood. The the law of retributive justice grace from the cross, "Father, forgive them Babel-builders collectively defy heav appears. Jesus skillfully inserts grace for they know not what they do"? en and in return the Lord confuses where justice was expected. There were no harsh polemics or and disperses the people. The children What does it look like when grace strong denunciations of the perpetra of Israel dishonor God in the prom is inserted into the story of human tors but rather an expression of ised land of freedom and in response hostilities and atrocities? In the words divine grace and forbearance toward God sends them into exile and captiv of Jesus, it looks like a turning of the His enemies. ity in Babylon. The reason, however, other cheek, a giving of the cloak, Inserting grace into the story of for the weakness of the law of retribu and a walking of the extra mile. These human hostilities is an amazing and tive justice is given in the statement of are certainly extraordinary responses exceptional thing, a principle that can the principle in Deuteronomy 19:21. to the provocative and insulting disrupt the established pattern of The law of the lex talionis inspires fear, behaviors that precede them. strike and counterstrike and open the which is why it is not an adequate Right at the moment Jesus seems door for peace and reconciliation. basis for either divine or human gov to call for grace, there is a part of us ernment. God is not ultimately that wants to cry out, "It just doesn©t Strike and counterstrike satisfied with a service rendered out of seem fair." But as Philip Yancey says The Bible is full of the pattern of fear of retribution. The Creator longs in What©s So Amazing About Grace? strike and counterstrike, the principle for the allegiance and loyalty of love.
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August 2002 MINISTRY 27 atrocities, injuries and insults. As a PUT TEXT HERE, GOODSALT" result, a great power the greatest s ,^-r^~~- Holy and Anointed Oae INSPIRATIONAL power in all the universe has entered BACKGROUNDS into history, and that is the power of COLLECTION noncoercive, sacrificial love. It is not a demanding, threatening, stick-waving, gun-toting power; 125 HIGH QUALITY JPEG IMAGES IN A SEARCH rather, it is the power of turning the ABLE PC/MAC LIBRARY & PRINTED CATALOG other cheek, a giving away of one©s cloak, a going the extra mile. Martin Turn PowerPoint™ plain text Luther King called it "soul force," and for sermons and songs into many believe that Gandhi, who liber spectacular slides that add ated India from British rule, impact and meaning to effectively demonstrated the very real power of this kind of nonviolence. every sermon and service! But it is primarily at Calvary that Introductory Price GOODSALT the power of grace is most fully illus ONLY $4Jj 00 trated. There we perceive that God©s Buy this CD and other collections at www.goodsalt.com awesome power resides in His willing FREE SHIPPING! or call 1-800-805-8001 ness to take a beating rather than in © GoodSalt inc Nampa, Idaho His ability to inflict one. At Calvary we sense that grace has been inserted Not mere retributive justice the surface."3 And when we come to into a story that would otherwise Beneath and paralleling the Bible©s the New Testament, the rumble have no redemptive ending. narrative of retributive justice is becomes a roar and the quivers of At Calvary we sense that God is another narrative, an even more grace become an earthquake. In Jesus dealing with His enemies, not accord amazing story. In this story, God©s Christ the dams of grace gush out ing to the law of the lex talionis but grace surprises both His enemies and into the world. In this narrative, the with a grace that can surprise and His friends and actually draws His narrative of divine grace, even prosti transform even the hardest hearts. At enemies into friendship with Himself. tutes, tax collectors, and sinners find Calvary we witness the display of an The thread of this story begins a chair at the table. awesome power, not exercised to when God, in the face of Adam and eliminate enemies but to turn ene Eve©s sin, gives them coats of skin to Grace, the controversial mies into friends! cover their nakedness before He sends contradiction The Jesus that we hear in the them out of the Garden. It continues Of course, like the older brother in Sermon on the Mount, if we are will when this pure and holy God choos the parable of the prodigal son, not ing to listen closely, is a Jesus that can es to live in the midst of an unclean everyone is happy with this arrange surprise, disturb, and challenge us. In and impure people on the way to the ment. Not everyone likes this new His words we hear the echo of One Promised Land. The saga advances grace-concluded story. Such grace who is often drowned out by the rau when God chooses not to depose reeks of scandal and irresponsibility. cous voices clamoring for retribution King David although his transgres For those who have worked hard against their enemies. sions were capital offenses. and paid their dues, the story should Albert Schweitzer, Christian schol There are indeed many marvelous n©t end with a celebration for a filthy ar and missionary to Africa, said this biblical stories in which the law of the philanderer. For such cold and pious about Jesus: "He comes to us as one lex talionis is left out of the script! souls the story that ends in turning unknown, without a name, as of old, Jacob the conniver becomes Israel the the other cheek and going the extra by the lakeside, he came to those men conqueror. Samson the hedonist is mile is nothing but a dangerous fairy who did not know who he was. He entrusted with the gift of divine tale. The story line they prefer is one says the same words, ©Follow me!© and strength. Solomon, the fruit of an in which those who kill are killed, sets us to those tasks which he must adulterous relationship, receives the those who maim are maimed, those to fulfil in our time."4 SB divine gift of wisdom and builds the who waste are wasted, and those who 1 Philip Yancey. What©s So Amazing About Grace (Grand holiest of all religious temples. think otherwise share the same fate. Rapids. Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1997), 81. Philip Yancey remarks that "in In His parables and teachings, His 2 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Witness to Jesus Christ, John VV De Grunchy, ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 262. each of these Old Testament stories life and His death, Jesus inserted grace 3 Yancey, 61 4 Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, John the scandal of grace rumbles under into the narrative of hostilities and Bowden, ed. (Minneapolis Fortress Press, 2000), 403,
28 MINISTRY August 2002 P A s T o R©S PASTOR
Wanna kill your church?
ecently we attended a meeting "dry-clean" feet before communion. that refused to end. The sermon Infecteria. Site of potlucks featuring Rhad concluded. Choirs had sung. mystery loaf and jello mould. Prayers, praise, and promotions were Longevity Intolerance. Belief that exhausted and two offerings had been JAMES A. CRESS pastors should transfer as soon as they taken. Yet the platform activities exhaust their supply of sermons from dragged on. Sharon whispered her the last location. Relocation is vital if diagnosis, "They are experiencing sepa members concur with diagnosis. ration anxiety." Microphoneolia. Energized by sound She started me thinking. So with amplification to make long speeches. acknowledgment to Peter Wagner's Pastward Vision. Wistful nostalgia for classic, Your Church Can Be Healthy, I the "good old days" combined with offer this glossary of deadly diseases. Costapaedia. Unwillingness to fund assertion that all would be well if the Afford avoidance. Mechanism by children's ministries. church could only return to 1952. which boards declare every new ven Enthusilactia. Absence of joyous Preventadentia. Ability to delay any ture to be financially unfeasible. expression. More visible at worship serv proposal by extended speechifying. Antecreativity. Repetitious humdrum ices than at football matches. Usually causes audience to "gnash in place of (ante) new and innovative Evangelactia. Absence of outreach. teeth." experimentation, particularly evidenced Evangelitus. Compulsion to wash Qualitosis. Willingness to settle for in worship services. hands immediately after greeting less than the best. As offensive as bad Anticreativity. Rejection of every parishioners. Aggravated by those who breath. thing except humdrum. sneeze and wipe their noses as they Schedulectomy. Removal of meeting Appealectomy. Removal of ability to approach the pastor to shake hands. effectiveness caused by awaiting the extend gospel invitations at the conclu Evangelosis. Fear that new members arrival of tardy members before starting. sion of sermons. will disrupt the status quo. Self Disclosia. Over sharing personal Audioterrorism. Mechanical misbe Cossipeah. Abuses "speaking the details. Beware any story which begins, havior of sound systems which pre truth" as excuse to "tell all." Often "on my first day at the boarding dictably malfunction during special exhibited with fervent prayer requests, school." events. by name, for the erring sinner. Separationism. Attempting to Audioterrorists. Manipulative sound Humerology. Reliance on humor to achieve sanctification through avoiding system operators—all first cousins to carry message. Afflicts those who must society. Advocates of "flee to the moun the sound man from heil who pulls the produce a monthly column as well as tains" often offer property for sale at plug if he dislikes a presentation. those who preach shallow sermons. premium prices. Boreality. Consequences of assigning Hyperventilation. Telling everything Substance Abuse. Sermons which are the hymns and scripture in the final six you know about a guest preacher. long on poetry and short on content. minutes before entering the platform. Beware any introduction which begins, Particularly abusive if sermon is being Also describes sermons produced dur "I first met our speaker in 1964." cf. translated into another language. ing these same six minutes. "Oral diarrhea." ThermNObureaucrats. Groups adept Bullexpandia. Relentless repetition of Hypoventilation. Refusal of deacons at impeding movement on any issue. already printed announcements. to open the windows because Sister Visioimpedia. Refusal to look beyond Canon Fire. Attempting to win Jones cannot stand the draft. next week. Although deadly, many debates with proof texts. Immersion Aversion. Avoiding incon eagerly embrace this disease, cf. with Clock Delaysion. Inability to start or venient sacraments. "Do you realize the "Pastward Vision." end a service on schedule. cost of water these days?" Over protest Zecclesiological Exhaustion. Of the Conflictiolious. Deadly infection that of the deacons: "I once had to excavate making of A to Z lists, there is no end! destroys church boards and, on occa a large tree to fill the baptismal pool." Send in your contributions and we'll sion, entire congregations. Another deacon wondered if we could share. Bi
August 2002 MINISTRY 29 RESOURCES
Chapter 10 provides abundant tex strongly recommended to readers inter tual evidence from various Old ested in that subject. Testament prophecies that Jesus of —William H. Shea, Red Bluff, California. Nazareth was the Messiah of those Christ and Antichrist in prophecies. Chapter 11 deals more The Essential Jesus: The Man, Prophecy and History, by Edwin de directly with the Messianic prophecy of His Message, His Mission, edited by Kock. Second printing. Revised edition, Daniel 9:24-27. He dates the 70 weeks Bryan W. Ball and William G. Johnsson. 2001. Pp. V + 340 + appendices, end- (of years) from 457 B.C. to 34 A.D. and (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press® Pub. notes, and bibliography. Diadone utilizes an extensive quote from Sir Isaac Assn., 2002). 299 pages. US$14.99. Enterprises, Box 2325, Edinburg, Texas. Newton to support that starting date. What if the biblical records of Jesus' In spite of the rather sensationalistic Twentieth-century studies have borne death, burial, and resurrection were cover and the obscure location of print out the accuracy of Newton in that merely the "wishful thinking of the early ing, the contents of this book represent regard. The crucifixion of Jesus in the church"? What if Jesus wasn't the divine- a sound, solid, and detailed interpreta midst of the seventieth week is dated to human Savior of sinful humanity, but tion of the prophecies of Daniel written 31 A.D. The balance of this chapter is instead a Jewish sage, a religious genius, from an historicist perspective. dedicated to refuting the dispensation- a misguided visionary, or some kind of This is not a verse-by-verse exegesis alist idea that the seventieth week magician? What if people the world over of those prophecies. Rather, it is a should be cut off from the other 69 and are praying to a Jesus who isn't there; review of the fulfillment of those transferred down to the end of time. believing in a sentimental myth? prophecies with strong attention to his Part 4 deals with the course of church The thoughts expressed in these torical detail. history as it relates to the latter portions "what if" questions are real and they are Part 1 deals with Daniel 2; Part 2 of Daniel 7 and 8. The more specific being promoted by some of today's with Daniel 7; Part 3 treats Daniel 9 and issue of the shift from Sabbath to most educated and persuasive scholars. Parts 4 and 5 review church history as Sunday is treated in the final chapter of Plainly stated, Jesus is under attack. seen through the eyes of the latter parts this section. The Essential Jesus is a thoughtful of Daniel 7 and 8. The book concludes The final major section of this book look at the relevancy of the Savior for with three brief but related appendices. deals with the rise of the barbarian tribe- today—and a defense of the biblical, The first chapter of the introduction kingdoms out of the collapse of the historical viewpoint. The editors have plays off a sound historicist interpreta empire in fulfillment of the symbol of assembled the writings of ten scholars, tion against the presently very popular the ten horns on the head of the Roman besides themselves, who are passionate futurist-dispensationalist interpretation. beast in Daniel 7. This section includes a believers in Jesus. The work of these Daniel 2 is covered in the four chap rebuttal to the preterist and futurist scholars has been composed into this ters of Part 1. interpretations of these same features. one powerful volume on the man, the Two long and historically detailed Appendix 1 supports the application message, and the mission of Christ. chapters cover Daniel 7 in Part 2. The of the year-day principle to symbolic Who was Jesus? Are the Gospel fourth beast of Daniel 7 is often referred time in apocalyptic. Appendix 2 deals accounts of His birth, life, teachings, and to as "nondescript." The composite with the ideology behind the persecu death reliable? Why did He die? Did He character of this fourth beast is borne tion of Christians. Appendix 3 briefly really rise from the dead? Does He have out by the further description of it as covers the subject of literary criticism a future? Will He come again? Does He the sea beast of Revelation 13. Since and conversely literary appreciation of still call men, women, and young peo part of that composite character shows the Bible. ple to discipleship, and if so, what does Greek elements in Rome, a separate This book is very well documented in He expect of those who respond? These chapter (chapter 8) is dedicated to the endnotes and the bibliography and other crucial questions are ad demonstrating this close correspon demonstrates a wide range of materials dressed and answered in this book. dence in history. consulted in the writing of it. The book "I am convinced the time is right for The five chapters of Part 3 discuss represents a well-reasoned and well this book" (Dr. Jan Paulsen, president, various aspects and relations of the researched study of the historical appli General Conference of Seventh-day Messianic prophecy of Daniel 9. cations of the prophecies of Daniel. It is Adventists). m
30 MINISTRY August 2002 A Message for America Here Is What Others Are Saying. "Pastors and evangelists in the Michigan "To be sure, there are several noteworthy "If you want a handbill that draws people Conference are using evangelistic hand printers who produce evangelistic hand like non other, this one is it. It appeals to bills designed for direct mail and door-to- bills. Nevertheless, two years ago, I all classes of people. In fact, it entices pro door distribution. The David Asscherick, approached The Hamblin Company with fessionals and families to curiously seek to ASI sponsored series conducted in Grand my desire to develop a new, up-to-date and attend the meetings promoted, not from a Rapids, Michigan, resulted in a new church being estab attractive handbill. I believe it was their first large-scale sensational perspective, but from a genuine interest created lished. The handbills were designed and printed by The foray into the evangelistic handbill arena, yet their per by the promotion and style of the handbill." Harablin Company. formance and product was certainly up to par. From the Louie Torres I support the work that Ray and Madlyn Hamblin, ASI very beginning, I found The Hamblin Company to be a Director ofLay Training/Evangelism, ASI members, are doing as owners of The Hamblin Company genuine joy to work with! They labored meticulously with Bkck Hills Health & Education Center in providing attractive, eye catching, and effective hand me from start to finish on that first project. Two years later, bills. Pastors, evangelists, and lay people are using these I am still using that same handbill design. It is hands down materials with great success." my favorite handbill yet! Not only is The Hamblin Jay Gallimore, Company prompt and genuine, they are professional, President SDA Church, Michigan Conference helpful and very friendly. I always highly recommend their The Hamblin Company Headquarters products and services to anyone who asks me." David Asscherick 109 E. Logan St. P.O. Box 350 Tecumseh, MI 49286 Speaker, Revelation Promises HOPE seminars 800.274.0016 email: [email protected] Protecting the Homefront Safeguarding your Church, School, Employees and Families
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