HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2009 / MARCH/APRIL / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

MARCH/APRIL 2009
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2

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D E P A R T M E N T S

LETTERS to the Editor

 

Thrilled by assurance

I so much enjoyed the latest issue of Proclamation!, as always. In the latest issue [vol. 10, issue 1] I was thrilled again by the words that Chris Lee wrote in his response to the letter "Death, heaven, and Chris Lee": "The article was written to those people who know they are in Christ…He is completely sufficient, and because of that I have great assurance and confidence."

Again that message brought the thrill to my heart that I first experienced back in 1975 (age 33) when I began a word by word study of the book of Romans and then the short epistles of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians followed by the book to the Hebrews. Paul's letters in the New Testament had never made sense and seemed not to fit with my trained thought patterns of how I would get to go to heaven.

I know that my [growing] comprehension of the gospel was brought about by God's Spirit, for I had been trained as a child and young adult that Jesus' death was for my past sins. Now it was an ongoing work for me and the Holy Spirit to get me through to the Second Coming or death.…

This letter was written to bring you and the entire team encouragement in your ongoing work. I was born in an Adventist home and tried for 32 years [1975-2007], within the Adventist community where I live, to help others learn from the God's Word the assurance of their eternal salvation and what it means to live a life of faith and trust regardless of the circumstances that happen in life (Rom.8:28-39). I finally had to disengage myself from that fellowship, for I could no longer support emotionally or financially a belief system that was not in harmony with God's Word.

With full assurance in Christ, Ceres, CA

 

Hate in your hearts

Congratulations to Colleen Tinker and Dale Ratzlaff for getting a PhD in " The Art of Bashing Religious Organizations: Seventh-day Adventism First."

Unfortunately there are many topics—millions of topics—in the Bible that you people could write about, but you choose to use all your energies attacking the church that you used to belong to. This tells me one thing: that you have hate in your hearts, and that you are going to use your resources to attack that church to the nth degree, obviously satisfying your GUILTY feelings.

You remind me of Ahmadinajad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who, in their hopes of diverting their people's minds of the poor conditions in their countries, bash the US in every speech they make. Empty and narrow minds. Stupid people talk about people, average people talk about things, but brilliant people talk about technical research and how to make this world a better place.

Writing some really good scriptural text from your own research without having to base your article on some church will show me your depth of knowledge.

Via email

 

Sabbath in Revelation?

Berit Fischer ("Amazed by the Bible", January/February, 2009) asked why the Sabbath is not mentioned in Revelation. She needs to check Revelation 14:7, where we are reminded that God created the heavens, the earth and the sea. The wording is much like that of Exodus 20:11, where God is pointed out as the Creator, who created those heavens, earth and sea in six days, and rested the seventh day.

Eagle River, WI

 

Editor's note: Sabbath is not mentioned in Revelation 14:7. The fact that it identifies God as Creator as does Exodus 20:11 does not imply that the Revelation passage is making a "Sabbath statement". We cannot read into the text what it does not actually say. Exodus 20:11 is preceded by verse 8 which says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy" (NIV). Revelation 14:7 begins with these words, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come."

We cannot interpret "Remember the Sabbath day" to mean the same thing as "Fear God and give him glory". The Adventist argument that the call to worship in Revelation 14:7 is a call to "proper worship"—i.e. Sabbath-keeping—is not supported in the text. We cannot superimpose our biases onto the text; we must read it by understanding the plain, normal meanings of the words. Further, we should not get our theology from apocalyptic passages.

 

Worship in spirit and truth

Thank-you for the information in your magazine. I only hope to be able to help support it someday. Can you help me with John 4:24 when it says we are to worship God in spirit and in truth? How do I do that? I cannot see, touch, hear, smell, or really know where my spirit is. Is it just something we do by faith? Any ideas of what this really means would be appreciated.

Puyallup, WA

 

Editor's response: The full text of John 4:24 is this: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." This statement is related to Jesus' statement to Nicodemus in John 3:6 which explains being born again: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Understanding the new birth is key to understanding how to worship in spirit and truth. When we accept Jesus, we are made alive with Christ by God (Eph. 2:4-5), sealed by the Holy Spirit who indwells us (Eph. 1:13-14), and thus we become alive to the things of God, being able to understand spiritual things because we have "the mind of Christ" and are being taught by the indwelling Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11-16).

Being born of the Spirit means we have access to God "by the blood of Jesus" through His body (Heb. 10:19-20). This new connection we have to God by means of His Spirit indwelling us and bringing our own dead spirits to life is what enables us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Truth is the essence of reality; when we are born of God, we finally are able to know, both spiritually and cognitively, what is real and true. We can perceive the difference between right and wrong; we know who Jesus is and what He has done, and we know we owe everything to Him.

When our spirits are alive, both our minds and our spirits honor Him and worship Him for His righteousness and death and resurrection. We praise Him for saving us and for being King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

True worship is not merely knowledge-based. Instead, it involves a heart-response as well that is only possible when the Holy Spirit makes our spirits alive and grateful that God has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13) and that we have passed from death to life (Jn. 5:24).

We only worship in spirit and truth when we are born of the Spirit, and when we are spiritually alive, our spirit cannot help but worship when we contemplate the truth of the gospel and of Jesus' intervention in our lives.

 

Demon in my environment

Every time your magazine comes to my home, I get the feeling that a DEMON has entered my environment. If you want to leave the simple truth and go to the devil, just go and leave the people of God alone. Of course, I know that is a silly request because that is exactly how the devil works.

I feel pity for you who were once so wise and now so blind as not to be able to understand the simple truth of the great controversy. It's all very simple; God is God and supreme, the law giver and the standard of how life among his creatures is to be lived. If you don't want to accept that, then you will cease to be. The two great points of apostasy from Lucifier down to our day are the unwillingness to accept the authority of God and the belief that God will not destroy in death those who want to destroy His Kingdom and run it their way. So live your life; you have made your choice; you have joined the ranks of the papacy, SO SAD. But leave me alone, depart from me, and remove me from your mailing [list].

Molino, FL

 

Clear Word article well-researched

I wanted to thank you again for working with Stephen Pitcher on the "Is This Word Clear?" article. I found it very informative and well-researched. Please tell Mr. Pitcher that I thoroughly enjoyed the article; the extent of his knowledge was evident by his examples.

Thank you again for laboring in this effort to inform the body of Christ of subtle errors within the Adventist church. I really appreciate your heart to reach those caught in the snare of Adventism. I suppose many don't understand why you are doing what you are doing, but I say, keep running in this race to the reward of the eyes of the Lord and His gospel of freedom.

Via email

 

Clear Word easier to understand

Thanks for your magazine which featured "Is This Word Clear?" I read as you placed a passage side-by-side from The Clear Word and another version of Scripture. The Clear Word is so much easier to understand. Thanks for pointing this out. My next book [purchase] is The Clear Word Bible.

Brooklyn, NY

 

Writers are dishonest or ignorant

After reading many issues with an open mind to see if there was anything of value or a shred of substance to your criticisms, I am convinced that most of your writers are either dishonest or ignorant. Most have a very blatant objective of finding fault so as to undermine the truth of what you do not want to accept for whatever reason. In some cases you rail against bogeymen of your own making. You try to cast Adventism in an extreme light that is not representative, but may have reflected some personal experience that you then try to extrapolate to the entire religion. Strangely, your tactics of attack are guilty of the very thing you attack Adventism for, namely legalism! I am not a cultural Adventist and consider myself a Christian first and a student of the Bible over the past 28 years. Your publication is a travesty to the word of God, taking Scripture out of context, distorting the meanings, and never really examining the true outcomes of some of your interpretations that would be in direct conflict with the whole of Scriptures. Selective reading of the Bible taken out of context merely demonstrates that it is not God that you believe in, but only yourselves.

Hobe Sound, FL

 

Inspirational and intellectually balanced

I was raised in the Adventist church and sent to their schools through high school. I then lived a life in the flesh and away from the things of God. As a young husband and father, God's Spirit reached me as never before, and I was re-baptized into Christ's liberty and joined the Baptist church. I attended seminary. I pastor a local Baptist church and serve as a bi-vocational pastor. I have known the freedom and assurance of a life filled with the grace of God through Christ and by His Holy Spirit. Before, I knew about laws and human effort.

While I am assured and completely confident in the Cross of Christ and the efficacy of the shed blood by Jesus plus nothing more, your publication is clearly inspirational and intellectually balanced. I believe that it is an encouragement to others, and I thank you for sending it to me.

Via email

 

Party on!

I like your gospel; it suits my desires: no doing of the will of the Father, no conforming to the image of His Son, and no following the example of Jesus Christ; no effort, no struggle, no obedience, no faithfulness, and no cooperation with His purpose. For I trust in what He did; that's my righteousness.

My body can sin all I want because I have living spirits inside of me, and I can participate in whatever is unclean and still be saved, just the way I am, without repentance.

Celebrate! Cheers! Trust is our righteousness! What I want is all that's required. I do not have to keep the seventh commandment or that other one which is about the seventh. Thanks for the liberation of your gospel!

Party on! I lift my cup to you! You're one of my own; I love you.

Logan, IL

 

Editor's response: I'm afraid you might find us quite dull; our "partying" runs toward shared meals followed by impromptu Bible studies.

Our salvation is secured entirely by Jesus' work on the cross, and when we repent before Him and believe in His faithfulness to forgive our intractable sin with His blood, our faith is credited to us as righteousness (Rom. 4:9-12; Eph. 2:8-9). After we are saved and our spirits are made alive by the indwelling Holy Spirit, He gives His life to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11), and we honor God with our bodies (1 Cor. 6:20) and offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1) for His purpose. We definitely celebrate, but our celebrating is not self-indulgence or destructive behavior.

Trust is not righteousness. Rather, Jesus' own righteousness is credited to us when we have faith in His promises and finished work. We now make it our goal to please Him (2 Cor. 5:9), for whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).

 

Thank you for supporting me

It's been almost two years now that I have left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I have gone through a terrible emotional and spiritual experience during this period. However, I would like to thank you and your staff for supporting me with each edition of Proclamation! that I have received. I cannot describe in words the support that came to me through this magazine during the difficult times. I also have read the books I've ordered from you…the Bible has a completely different meaning for me now. I am still praying for my friends in the church, but they refuse to study any of the given material.

via email

 

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Send letters to the editor to:

Editor, Proclamation! Magazine
P.O. Box 7776
Redlands, CA 92375

Or email editor: proclamation@gmail.com

Life Assurance Ministries

Mission

To proclaim the good news of the new covenant gospel of grace in Christ and to combat the errors of legalism and false religion.

 

Motto

Truth needs no other foundation than honest investigation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a willingness to follow truth when it is revealed.

 

Message

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not of works, that no one should boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

Thank you again for laboring in this effort to inform the body of Christ of subtle errors within the Adventist church. I really appreciate your heart to reach those caught in the snare of Adventism. I suppose many don't understand why you are doing what you are doing, but I say, keep running in this race…