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HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER / EDITOR'S COMMENTS
July August September 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 3
D E P A R T M E N T S
Editor's COMMENTS
Apologists for truth
Colleen Tinker
It's funny how my perspective has changed. During my years as an Adventist I knew almost nothing about Christian apologetics. I'd heard of Josh McDowell and his book Evidence That Demands A Verdict, but I'd never read it. I also knew C. S. Lewis was an academic who devoted his post-conversion years to writing insightfully about Christianity, and I had read Mere Christianity and two or three other books of his. That was about all I knew.
Christian apologetics meant little to me because I believed "mere" Christianity was only a starting place. If I thought about Christian apologists at all, my thoughts were similar to what I thought about Billy Graham: what a shame they don't know the Sabbath. How powerful they could be for "the truth" if they were open to it.
During the eleven years since we wrote our resignation letter to the Adventist church, Richard and I have come to know several Christian apologists. It has happened gradually—at first we only vaguely understood the significance of what they were doing.
Over the past four years, however, we have come to have deep gratitude to God for what these courageous men and women do. Apologetics is hard and often-hated work, and God prepares both the work and the workers to whom He assigns the tasks. Because of their commitment to the gospel, the body of Christ has been equipped to recognize and resist a great number of false religions.
In fact, we have found ourselves swept into a swell of apologetics—and no one is more surprised than we. We didn't see this coming when we graduated from our Adventist colleges with our degrees in music and public relations.
Just as God brings us the work He prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10), He also brings people and provisions to us at just the right time. Last week He sent me Julie.
On Sunday Julie Born, the wife of our worship pastor at Trinity Church, told me she had a magazine she'd been saving for me. On Monday I went to her house and received a copy of the April, 1957 issue of The Kings' Business magazine. It was the official publication of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University), and it contained a detailed analysis of Seventh-day Adventism written by Dr. Louis Talbot, then the chancellor of the Institute.
Julie told me her father, Walter DeBlauw, had found this old magazine in a box of publications he had received from a mentor of his who had subscribed to it. He asked Julie if "those people who work with Adventists" were still at her church. When she said yes, he asked her to give us the magazine. This unexpected gift was like finding gold. The Talbot article came exactly on time to run as a companion to our story about another set of apologists: Walter Martin and Donald Grey Barnhouse.
We are delighted to share Steve Pitcher's documented article examining the conversations between Walter Martin and Adventist leaders between 1955-56 followed by Talbot's 1957 examination of Seventh-day Adventism. Dale Ratzlaff contrasts the simple gospel with General Conference president Ted Wilson's message in his first sermon to the world church. Ane Edwards describes how she was transformed by truth, and Carolyn Macomber responds to the "second angel's message" of Revelation 14.
We pray God will reveal what He knows we need to know through the work of the gospel apologists who are featured in this issue.
Join us in study and worship
The next Former Adventist Fellowship weekend, titled "Choose you this day", will be held Friday, February 18, through Sunday, February 20, 2011, at Trinity Church, Redlands, California. For information and registration call (909) 794-9804 or go to FormerAdventist.com and click on FAF Weekends.
Join us financially
The Life Assurance Ministries board recently met and laid plans for the coming year that left the members excited. More details will come in subsequent issues. We ask for your prayers, and please ask God if He is leading you to be part of this ministry through financial support as we seek to proclaim truth and honor our Lord Jesus. †
Copyright 2010 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Glendale, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised September 27, 2010. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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