HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / APRIL MAY JUNE / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

April May June 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2

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D E P A R T M E N T S

LETTERS to the Editor

 

True proclamation

My neighbor loaned me a copy of Proclamation! (Jan-March, 2010) to look at and see what I thought. It's a great magazine—what a true proclamation of the true gospel. Praise the Lord. Glory to His name…

I am a retired missionary and Baptist pastor. Please put me on your mailing list to receive Proclamation! If at all possible, could you send me three copies of the last issue. I'd like a copy for my personal files and the other two for my sons-in-law who are active Baptist pastors…Thank you and God bless

Everett, WA

 

Killing the prophets is not new

Surely the money that is spent to publish Proclamation! would be far more wisely spent if it were used to help spread the gospel to the many around the world who haven't heard it yet. Using this money to tear down the faith of loyal followers of Jesus is certainly not what God had in mind when He asks us to be faithful stewards.

At the end of creation week, God rested from all His work—on the seventh day; therefore God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, as a perpetual memorial and reminder that He is the Creator. He has commanded (not suggested) that we keep the Sabbath holy and rest from our labors, too. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten that begins with the word "Remember". Nowhere in His word has God said that He has changed His mind and no longer wants each seventh-day Sabbath to be the memorial and reminder that in six days He created the earth and everything on it.

Sabbath was God's creation, and Sunday is man's tradition…

You try to discredit God's messenger and prophet, Ellen White; Jesus reminded the scribes and Pharisees that their ancestors had killed many of the prophets. It's nothing new. Please cancel my name from your mailing list; Jesus is coming soon. You don't have time to twist and misinterpret the plain teachings of God's word.

Queensbury, NY

 

Editor's note: Because we frequently receive letters that challenge us to spread the gospel to those who don't know Jesus instead of "attacking" Adventism or dividing the body of Christ, I'm going to address this issue raised again in this letter.

First, we have to define our terms before we understand each other's challenges. The biblical gospel is defined clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Christ died for our sins according to Scripture; He was buried, and He rose to life on the third day according to Scripture. These three historic facts are the pure gospel which Paul says is "of first importance". This is the message he faithfully delivered everywhere he preached.

Newly elected General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson defined the gospel thus during his sermon on July 3, 2010, on the last Sabbath of the 29th Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session:

The Sabbath and its significance relates to each of the three angels' messages in Revelation 14. The first angel, "having the everlasting Gospel"—the righteousness of Christ—proclaims, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." God is the Creator and is to be worshiped on His Sabbath day as a sign of our loyalty to His Word and creative power.

The Bible never defines the gospel as "the righteousness of Christ", nor does it link Sabbath-keeping with the gospel. Paul's definition in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 echoes the same message repeated throughout the New Testament: the gospel is the good news that Jesus was crucified once-for-all for the sins of the world (see Rom. 3:21-26; Heb. 10:12). He died and rose to life on the third day—and all these details were foretold in the Old Testament. His death on the cross completed the atonement in full; there is no continuing application of His blood in the heavenly sanctuary. When we trust Christ for His payment of our sin, we are counted righteous (Rom. 10:3-4), and we pass from death to life (Jn. 5:24) as the Holy Spirit brings our dead spirits to life (Jn. 3:3-6) and seals us as a guarantee of our future physical glorification (Eph 1:13-14).

Claiming to "follow Jesus" does not make one a Christian. Accepting God's verdict that we are condemned to eternal death (Jn. 3:18; Eph. 2:3) and in need of a Savior, and placing our trust in the Lord Jesus to have paid in full the debt of our past, present, and future sins results in our being born again. This new birth is what makes a person a Christian (Jn. 3:3-6; Eph. 1:13-14; 2:4-10).

Proclamation! exists to share the biblical gospel with those who have only learned a distorted gospel which Paul says is really not a gospel at all (Gal. 1:6-10).

 

Love your magazine

I love to read about people getting saved. It touches my heart. I am not an Adventist and never have been. I married a former Adventist, and we attend Pastor Mark Martin's church. I know little about Adventist doctrine and want to know less, but I love your magazine.

Phoenix, AZ

 

Better cold than lukewarm

I was struck by your question on your cover, "Do your children know Jesus?" Well, mine do—as well as I can teach them. I teach them that Jesus is the "Lamb of God", our Passover. Jesus is more important than your Easter bunny and boiled eggs.

I want to be taken off your list. I believe the Adventists are better off as cold as they are than lukewarm as you and your group are becoming—or already are.

Tyler, TX

 

Proclamation integral

I want to thank you for the latest issue of Proclamation! I felt that your reply to "Steps to Christ" was excellent, as you answered the challenge with both Christian love and Biblical truth!

I really appreciated the article "Do Your Children Know Jesus?" All the articles were good, but this one especially spoke to me. Right now, early in our journey out, I am appreciating articles that point out where we were led astray over the deeper theologically-based ones. It was so enlightening to see where as a sixth generation SDA I had been taught error and to have you back it up with Biblical truth. I am now better equipped to root out deception and see the truth according to God's Word.

Proclamation! has been an integral part of our journey out of Adventism, our quest to discovering the truth in God's Word, and to our taking off Adventist sunglasses—thank you for being faithful to Him!

Camino, CA

 

Beg for forgiveness

I wrote your office about this garbage that you keep sending us. If you have a problem with Adventist teachings, you should get down on your Christian goody knees and beg the Almighty for forgiveness. We do not want your literature to ever to be sent to us. You have a lot of nerve; because you're unhappy you are trying to indoctrinate all Adventist Christians. The best thing for your magazine would be to preach how happy you are in your newfound glory and work on saving non-believers instead of trashing the Adventist church.

We do not want your magazine to clutter our post office box.

Tri Cities, WA

 

Deliverance from the bondage of sin

I just recently left Adventism and now attend an evangelical congregation. I have never felt such freedom and deliverance from the bondage of sin as I do now.

I grew up Adventist and left about two years ago when I was 19. Doubts about my beliefs began to creep into my mind as I delved deeper into Adventist theology. It was through my time spent teaching Adventist prophecy meetings and "magabooking" (I was a literature evangelist with the Iowa-Missouri conference of Seventh-day Adventists and basically sold E. G. White books door-to-door) that I began to question my beliefs. After leaving Adventism, all my Adventist "friends" began to treat me unkindly and even harassed me through phone calls, at my work place, and also by visiting my home. People I respected now viciously attacked me and my family, calling us "Babylonians" and our new evangelical church "Babylon." Like the old saying says, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me." No hateful words can take away my newly found salvation.

I am very happy in my new church home and enjoy the freedom I've received from Jesus Christ's saving grace! Please send me your magazine so I can continue to learn why Adventism is so dangerous and unbiblical.

Springfield, MO

 

Happy Adventist

God's blessings to all of you! I am a current Adventist and am very happy in Christ and in this church. Christ ALONE is my LORD and Savior, and I have chosen the Adventist church as my church because I feel that in Christ alone I am saved, and because of my love for Him I choose to worship on Saturday. I am not plagued by guilt or fear but am motivated by love through my personal relationship with God. I don't feel those who worship on Sunday or Wednesday or any other day of the week are somehow bad or lost. We should worship God every day of the week anyway!

And I agree that He is my rest and that in Him alone I find my joy, my peace, my rest and my salvation. I have even found this in my experience within the Adventist church. I am sorry that people have been hurt by others in this church, or have been misguided by some teachers who point at other things rather than Jesus. But this is not the case for all Adventists. There are always those who are off-base in any group of people, seeing we are all human. Please don't throw all of us under the bus saying we are all a cult or all fear we are not saved, etc.

I am saddened by the finger-pointing on both sides and I want to apologize for anything wrong or hurtful that Adventists or a church may have done. However, I know our Jesus is full of grace and I hope we can keep our eyes on Him, not on each other, as we grow in our personal relationship with Him, and in so doing He will bring unity, not division. I don't mind getting your magazines, and if you could please include some responses from Adventists that aren't crazy, such as this one, I'd appreciate it! May God continue to bless each of us in our walk towards Him!

Via email

 

Editor's response: First, if you are secure in your salvation and confident that one's day of rest does not have to be Sabbath, perhaps you should ask yourself why you stay in an organization that teaches that the seventh-day Sabbath will be the dividing line between the saved and the lost.

Further, although there are superficial differences between various Adventists, all hold to certain foundational beliefs. These core beliefs are: Sabbath as "holy time" with eternal significance; "soul sleep", or the belief that humans are physical bodies enlivened by breath or a "life force" but without an immaterial spirit that survives death; a "great controversy worldview", the belief that Satan is the scapegoat, and some level of loyalty to Ellen White, either as a prophet or as a historically significant person who helped shape the Adventist organization under God's direction.

All five of these core beliefs are extra-biblical and have no Scriptural support. It is because of the foundational doctrines of Adventism that we have left that organization and now produce this magazine. We did not leave because we were hurt or because we were disillusioned by misguided teachers. We left because the core doctrines of Adventism deny Christ's finished atonement, distort the nature of man, present a Jesus who could have failed and a God who is on trial, credit Satan with more importance than he has and with being in a continuing conflict with Jesus, and Adventism endorses an extra-biblical prophet who contradicts the Bible.

We were also happy Adventists, but the joy of knowing the sovereign, infallible Jesus and trusting His inerrant word has eclipsed all other identities. There is no greater thing.

 

Praying for you

Just yesterday I found out about an Adventist website trying to "counteract" Dale Ratzlaff's ministry—how sad.  I keep you all in my prayers every day and know that God is leading. I was a fourth generation Adventist and had 16 years of Adventist education but started wavering when I was finishing college—information about Ellen G. White's plagiarism and "Glacier View" were big factors.  I never felt entirely comfortable not observing the Sabbath until about 3 years ago, when I found an internet discussion about Jesus being our Sabbath rest. Then I found Dale's book Sabbath in Christ and ended up on your mailing list.  Thank you so much for your excellent magazine.

I just wanted to let you know there are people praying for you and your ministry.

Salem, OR

 

 

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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

If you have a problem with Adventist teachings, you should get down on your Christian goody knees and beg the Almighty for forgiveness.

It was through my time spent teaching Adventist prophecy meetings and "magabooking" that I began to question my beliefs.