LAM's three-fold ministry niche

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HOME / PROCLAMATION MAGAZINE / 2000 / OCTOBER/NOVEMBER / LAM'S THREE-FOLD MINISTRY NICHE

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2000
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

A R T I C L E S

LAM's three-fold ministry niche

Editor

Doubtless, many of you who receive this issue of Proclamation will have a number of questions come to your mind? What is the need for another journal/news letter dealing with Adventist issues? With Adventist Today and Good News Unlimited, etc. why the need for Proclamation?

Adventist Today is doing an excellent job bringing issues to the Adventist community from the perspective of those within the Adventist Church. This journal reports on SDA news, gives a careful analysis of that news and adds the candid opinions of its editors. However, because of its large Adventist readership and support, it is limited in helping former Adventists or questioning Adventists find answers to their questions outside of Adventism.

My good friend, Des Ford, and his associates at Good News Unlimited, (GNU) have done an excellent job of clarifying the gospel. They have helped many thousands within the SDA church move away from Adventism's early legalism to a more evangelical understanding of the gospel. What was considered "Ford heresy" in the 80's is now accepted theology in many Adventist circles. Des Ford is destined to have a very positive place in Adventist History despite the many who considered him to be the "omega of apostasy" just a few years ago.

Good News Unlimited has ministered to thousands with gospel-centered, Christ-exalting articles and messages which have been a real blessing to many spiritually hurting and hungry people. However, it appears to me that GNU has chosen not to enter what I believe to be a desperately needed ministry: helping former Adventists find a suitable church home in their local community.

Judging by the many hundreds of letters and phone calls I receive from former Adventists around the world, there is a real need to help these people. I know this may sound harsh to some of my readers, but many former Adventists need help in separating fact from fiction in the "tapes" that play in their minds and conscience. Many people are leaving Adventism and many more will continue to do so in the months and years ahead, given the denomination's hesitation to squarely face known error. When these people do leave, regardless of the reasons for them leaving, they have a set of questions that must be dealt with before they can function as normal Christians in another church setting. From my own experience, and observing the experience of hundreds of other former Seventh-day Adventists, this is a very difficult time. I have observed that it generally takes about two years to free the "guilt tapes" that play within the mind.

I also recognize there are few Evangelical pastors or other Christians who are equipped to help these people with their set of questions. During this time there is a strong need to fellowship with others who are going through, or have come through, the same experience. Therefore there is a great need for many more former Adventist fellowship groups! Granted, these may only be "half-way houses", but they are needed, nonetheless.

These people will continue to need sound Bible teaching on the gospel. They need do develop a well-thought-out and trustworthy hermeneutic. They must jettison SDA's "here-a-little-and-there-a-little" proof-text method of interpreting the Bible and learn to study the Bible contextually. They must recognize that doctrines that are not clearly stated in context in didactic passages are to be questioned. They must realize the difference between majors and minors. They must be able to separate Christian fundamentals upon which all Christians should agree from peripheral, less essential interpretations and deductions that can be held without harming functional church unity. Yes, they will question all the unique "truths" of Adventism. And this is traumatic! Only those who have done this can understand the experience. When some of these "truths" fall and are found to be built on nothing but sand—poor interpretative principles which have become Adventist sacred tradition—there is a deep sense of sadness and loss. Some have likened it to divorce. When the church you thought was a champion of truth is found out to be one that covers up the truth and twists the truth and castigates those who find the truth, it brings deep sadness and hurt. Often, when Adventists leave the SDA church they are shunned and treated as "unclean" by many of their former friends. I have received dozens of calls and letters describing this exact situation. Underlining, again, the need for friendship and communication in former Adventist fellowship groups around the world. These groups need adequate resources to honestly answer the set of questions former Adventists always have.

Questions former Adventists ask

What about Ellen G. White, is she a true profit or is she a false prophet?
What is this thing about 1844 and the investigative judgment? Is it true or not?
If the SDA church is not the true remnant church, then where do I go?
What about the state of the dead?
What about hell?
What about clean and unclean meats?
What about meat? Must I be a vegetarian to be translated with the living saints as Ellen White taught?
If I worship on Sunday, will I receive the mark of the beast?
If I leave the Sabbath, will I be lost as Ellen White said?
What about the Sunday law?
What about drinking a little wine?
Is speaking in tongues of the devil or is it a true gift of the Holy Spirit?
What about all the "guilt tapes" I have in my head if I do something Ellen G. White said was wrong?
Are these "guilt tapes" the Holy Spirit telling me I am going in the wrong direction and I need to go back to Adventism, are they of the devil, or are they just the remnants of legalism?
How can I tell what is truth?
Should I always follow my conscience?
Are the Ten Commandments still binding? If so, then is the Sabbath still binding?
If the Sabbath is still binding what is O.K. to do on the Sabbath and what is wrong to do on the Sabbath?
How do I know which Old Testament laws are valid today and which are not?
Are there really two laws: one moral and one ceremonial? Or is there only one law?
Who can I trust during the time I am re-evaluating my theology?

The list is certainly not a complete list, but these are the questions I had to answer and the type of questions I am asked nearly every day by former or inquiring Adventists.

So then, the first reason for Life Assurance Ministries and this news letter, Proclamation, is to encourage former Adventist fellowship groups and provide credible information, books, and Bible studies for those who choose to leave Adventism.

The second reason for Life Assurance Ministries is to bring into sharp focus the unscriptural doctrines and practices of the Seventh-day Adventist church. It is my prayer, and also the prayer of many Adventist pastors, SDA scholars and even some church administrators, that I talk with, that Adventist church will eventually come to grips with its known error and have the courage to renounce it and move toward mainstream Christianity. There are so many good things in Adventism, just think what it could be without all the encumbering error! Many of these SDA leaders have privately encouraged me to continue to expose the known errors of Adventism.

There is yet a third reason for this ministry. There are many Evangelicals who see Adventists as main stream Christians and that is just how Adventists wants to be seen. Yet, at the same time, often Adventist evangelists, following the lead of Ellen G. White, portray mainstream Christianity as the fallen daughters of Babylon following the harlot of Revelation, the Catholic church. Adventists can't have it both ways! Evangelicals need to know the real, historic teachings of Seventh-day Adventists. They need to know that SDAs claim to be the remnant church of Bible prophecy, as all new converts to Adventism are now—since the recent General Conference in Toronto—required to publicly vow. Evangelicals need to know that Ellen White's writings are considered a "continuing and authoritative source of truth" in SDA's statement of Fundamental Beliefs. They need to know that SDAs believe that the seventh-day Sabbath is the seal of God and will become the dividing line between those who serve God and those who receive the mark of the beast. Evangelicals need to know that Ellen White taught that unless they understand the new ministry of Christ that supposedly started in 1844, their prayers are worthless. Evangelicals need know that Adventists teach that those who believe that deceased Christians "go to be with the Lord," at death, are under one of the two great deceptions of Satan.

Evangelicals need to know the real teachings of Adventism. Then they will be able to make the correct evaluation of Adventism. †

What was considered Ford heresy in the 80's is now accepted theology in many Adventist circles.