HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2010 / OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

October November December 2010
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 4

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D E P A R T M E N T S

LETTERS to the Editor

 

Indoctrination goes deep

"Ransomed by Truth" (Proclamation! July-Sept, 2010) by Ane Edwards really struck a chord! The indoctrination in the Adventist church goes so deep. It was true in my case, and I see it in my family members.

I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit who gently nudged me to search for truth, and the part you played in making the transition easier!

Clearlake, WA

 

God have mercy on you

I have never read such garbage in my whole life. I have studied what the Seventh-day Adventists believe for almost 30 years. More importantly, I have compared these beliefs with the Bible. I have not found one thing they are wrong about. You must want to be leaders very badly. You have no new light but are determined to have a following. May God have mercy on you.

The Seventh-day-Adventist church appears to fall, but it won't. It is going through to the end. God's true people will stay true to Him. We are not worshiping a day; we worship a Creator and obey His word—His 10 Commandments, including the fourth. There is no truth in your magazine, just slander against the truth and God's word. Please, don't send me and my family any more of your venomous magazines. God have mercy on you.

Rochester, MN

 

Refreshing and edifying

I found a past issue of your magazine in the recycle bin at our local post office and I have really enjoyed reading the articles during some of my more mindless tasks. I have no past association with the Adventist church, but as a Christian who feels the true gospel is very often taken for granted (if not worse!) in a lot of Christian literature, I found the reading very refreshing and edifying. Thank you. Would you please add my name to your subscriber list?

Glenallen, AK

 

Two responses to Ratzlaff's Sabbath in Christ

I ordered your revised Sabbath in Christ book today, but just wanted to know if your book reviews non-biblical history as to why the early Church members, prior to 363A.D., continued to honor the Sabbath on Saturday even after Jesus' resurrection. According to non-Biblical research, I have found two man-made decrees that may have influenced early Christians to change their Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. One historical event was when the Roman emperor, Constantine, proclaimed Sunday would be a day of rest. The other event was when a Church council met in Laodicea in AD 363 to declare "... a seventh-day Sabbath was prohibited by Canon 29...."

Since the Christians living prior to 360 A.D. were from generations to have known Jesus directly and therefore have had first hand knowledge of his teachings, they would logically honor Jesus' teaching with greater knowledge. Why would they have continued to honor the Sabbath as directed by God's ten commandments, or if you think they didn't, why is there not a direct mention of the reason in the Bible? Also, why would the Church feel compelled to make Saturday an illegal Sabbath and not just reason it out as you have done in your book? I realize there are passages in the Bible that show the Apostles meeting and breaking break on Sunday, but these events seem to be a very obscure way for God to reveal his desire for us to honor the Sabbath on a different day other than Saturday. God gave us the Bible as a means to understand his desires for us, and God has always made it very clear in the Bible what His desires are for us. I have not found a reason or an example in the Bible where He would make it difficult for us to understand His desires for us. Also, the early Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit, who would have influenced their actions and words accordingly. For such a profound change to the Biblical doctrine as honoring the Sabbath on the first day of the week instead of the last, God would surely have given us a clear explanation for it in the New Testament. Why would God make this change obscure and practically hidden within the Bible? It's hard for me to follow why God's direction for us would not be more clearly indicated in the Bible. Please give me an example in the Bible where God has kept his desire for His children hidden or obscured.

West Bend, WI

 

I am a pastor in Columbia, SC. I have recently read your book Sabbath in Christ and wanted to write you a quick email to let you know how it has affected me. Let me give you a brief background, not for bragging rights but to let you know just what happened as a result of reading your book.

I hold a B.S. in Bible and Secondary Education/English from Baptist Bible College in Pennsylvania. Before I started work on my Masters of Divinity I joined a local synagogue to learn the Hebrew language. Years later I enrolled at Southern Evangelical Seminary, where I currently study, to earn an M.Div in Biblical Studies/Languages. I am a ferocious reader and this past year alone I have purchased well over 200 books, reading many of them. Your book by far and away was the best book I have read this year and stands atop as one of the best books I have ever read outside of the Bible. Sabbath in Christ challenged me in so many ways and cleared up so many things that I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am in the Lord Jesus for what you did. If that book impacted no one else, at least know that it got my attention and has opened my eyes and made me look at the Scriptures in a new, Christ-centered way. I have now purchased several copies and am having my interns go through it with me throughout the course of a semester, and will do so with every new intern that works under me—I believe this book is that important!

I always believed that we were no longer bound to keep the Sabbath but never had a good answer. Now, because of your book, I do. I never was able to tell when Paul was using the phrase "Law" to mean the civil, ceremonial, or moral Law—now I know! And I never understood the purpose of the ritual laws, as they seemed so obscure ("do not wear clothes mixed with wool and linen"), but now, because of your work, I do. Thank you so much, brother.

I believe your book was saying that all of the ritual laws were "tutors" that lead us to Christ, is that right? So, laws such as not cutting the corners of the beards, not yoking different animals, and leaving the corners of the field untouched all point to Christ? I have begun to examine each and every one of the laws with a Christ-centered perspective and have been greatly overjoyed to see how He fulfills them all.…

As I sit in my study with your book on my desk, I thank God for you and hope your work gets into many hands.

Columbia, SC
 

Vatican spokesperson elected president? This might as well have been the headline on the election of Ted Wilson as the new Seventh-day Adventist president. Roman Catholic theology, unchanged since promulgated at the Council of Trent (1547), could not have been stated better than Ted Wilson's words at his inaugural sermon which I quote below. Ted Wilson's Adventist theology (2010) "Grace is the promise of God's pardon and the provision of God's power – justification and sanctification. You cannot separate what Christ does FOR you (justifying you daily as if you had not sinned) from what He does IN you (sanctifying you daily as you submit to Him and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to change your life to become more and more like Jesus.) This is the everlasting Gospel spoken about in the first angel's message. It is righteousness by faith." Roman Catholic Council of Trent (1547) "Justification… is not only a remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of the grace and gifts whereby an unjust man becomes just and from being an enemy becomes a friend, that he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting… For though no one can be just except he to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet this takes place in that justification of the sinner, when by the merit of the most holy passion, the charity of God is poured forth by the Holy Ghost in the hearts of those who are justified and inheres in them; whence man through Jesus Christ, in whom he is ingrafted, receives in that justification, together with the remission of sins, all these infused at the same time, namely, faith, hope and charity. For faith, unless hope and charity be added to it, neither unites man perfectly with Christ nor makes him a living member of His body." What is even more shocking is that the same Council of Trent issued "anathemas" or curses of eternal death and perdition to those who dared believe differently, i.e. the emerging Protestant movement led by Luther. Canon 11 "If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and remains in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is only the good will of God, let him be anathema." Seventh-day Adventism, while denouncing Roman Catholicism as "the beast of Revelation", is one of the most ardent defenders of Roman Catholic theology. Further, while Seventh-day Adventism decries the union of Protestantism with Roman Catholicism, it speaks that voice from deep within the bosom of Roman Catholic doctrine and theology. That false theology will continue to be propagated world wide under the ministry of Ted Wilson and his myriad of false prophets, repeating the anathemas of the Council of Trent against those of us who by the grace of God have been called out of Adventism and led to salvation by the imputed and justifying righteousness of Christ, received by faith alone. —Haroldo S. Camacho, former Adventist pastor, evangelist, and church leader, now a sinner saved by Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone.

Send it to Satan

I'm all for Sister White and the Bible; I don't belong to any church, but I keep the seventh-day Sabbath and love the Lord with all my heart. I spend one hour every night reading the Bible and sister White. She is right on.

I put all your papers in the trash can. Send it back to Satan where it belongs.

Coalmont, TN

 

Thank God for rescuing me

I thank God each day for rescuing my family and me from Adventism. That 38 years was enough for me! To think that I went to Oakwood University and even gave Bible studies! That religion helped to ruin my son's belief in God.

My ex-husband was a lay-elder, and I was his abused (physically and mentally) wife.

A few years ago I started reading the Bible for myself. God really opened my eyes, and now I have a relationship with Him, serving Him in Spirit and in truth!

God bless you all!

West Mifflin, PA

 

You've committed the unpardonable sin

I'm deeply sorry about your publication; it reminds me of the country western song, "Sittin' At Home Diggin' Up Bones." I know one thing; I would not want to be in your shoes if what Adventists teach turns out to be the truth. And rest assured we are all going to know the answer to that question in a very, very short time. Here is one thing I do know. Your publication comes across as very demonic in spirit. If that is true, then you have lied to the Holy Spirit who will be sealing us very soon. I do think that you have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit which at some point in the near future will dawn on your consciousness in sheer terror.

A Faithful & True Witness (Rev. 3:14).

Via email

 

Appreciation

We appreciate your magazine so much. It has enlightened us and taken away the guilt we have long endured. Thank you.

Yuba City, CA

 

Jesus could have sinned

Dr. Talbot (Proclamation!, July-October, 2010) says that Jesus could not have sinned. If that is the case then His 33 years of life and His death on the cross proved nothing. The fact that a Being who was incapable of sinning lived a sinless life is meaningless (sort of like a mortal being dying), and gives us no hope of ever overcoming temptation. But if One who could have sinned, instead resisted temptation and lived a sinless life, now that is astounding, and it gives hope to mankind that sin can be overcome in the strength of Christ (Phil. 4:13).…Talbot uses the argument that because God cannot sin, therefore Jesus (who is God, of course) could not sin. In His divinity that makes sense, but as a human He could have sinned, otherwise He was not tempted in all points as we are…Dr. Talbot uses James 1:13 to prove that Jesus could not be tempted, because God cannot be tempted. But, to use Dr. Talbot's logic, then neither could He die, since God is immortal and cannot die. But Jesus did die. What died? His human nature, of course. In the same way, in His human nature, He could be tempted and could have sinned.…We must therefore conclude that in His human nature He was subject to the same trials and tribulations that come to all mankind; that, like us, He could not do anything of Himself, including the resisting of temptation; but, through the power of Holy Spirit, He could be, and was victorious over temptation. Talbot has created a worse problem than the one he set out to solve. Unless of course he doesn't believe that Jesus was fully human and fully divine.

 

Editor's response: The Adventist view shaped by the Great Controversy requires Jesus to be a human example showing us how to resist temptation and keep the law. This view is not biblical. Hebrews 2 explains that only a perfect human could qualify as the sufficient sacrifice to pay for all human sin. Jesus was that perfect human.

Moreover, His perfection did not depend upon resisting temptation; it depended upon the fact that He was born spiritually alive, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was never an object of wrath (Eph. 2:3) requiring being born again. Because He was God—never giving up any of His divine attributes (Col. 1:19; 2:9)—He was perfect and had spiritual life from conception. Because He was human He qualified to pay for human sin.

We cannot explain how this hypostatic union works; we only know the Bible declares this singular mystery to be true. Jesus did not come to demonstrate we can resist sin; we are never expected to be perfect in our mortal flesh. Rather, Jesus came to be our Substitute and to pay for all our sin, and we are counted righteous and faultless before God when we place our faith in Him because God credits Jesus' personal righteousness to us (2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9; Rom. 3:21-31; 5:10-11).

 

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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

Your book by far and away was the best book I have read this year and stands atop as one of the best books I have ever read outside of the Bible. Sabbath in Christ challenged me in so many ways and cleared up so many things that I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am in the Lord Jesus for what you did.

I'm deeply sorry about your publication; it reminds me of the country western song, "Sittin' At Home Diggin' Up Bones." I know one thing; I would not want to be in your shoes if what Adventists teach turns out to be the truth. And rest assured we are all going to know the answer to that question in a very, very short time.