HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2011 / JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER / THE LIFE EXAMINED WITH CAROLYN MACOMBER

July August September 2011
VOLUME 12, ISSUE 3

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D E P A R T M E N T S

The life EXAMINED
with Carolyn Macomber

 

Fear, fear, FEAR!

Carolyn Macomber

 

Fear: racing heart, sweaty palms, acute anxiety—what is happening?!

As an Adventist I lived in fear. Would I be able to stand up for the Sabbath Day when the Sunday laws came? Would I make it through the investigative judgment, or would Jesus find that I hadn't reproduced His character? Would He find an unconfessed sin on my record that would keep me from eternal life? Fear was pervasive, all-encompassing, and constant. Every news event might signal the beginning of the end of time and the enforcement of Sunday laws.

Recently, I asked several former Adventists what their fears were, and here are some of their answers:

"I was terrified of probation closing. What happened if my name had already been examined?What if I sinned after the door had closed and it was too late to confess it?"

"I was afraid of death, end times, and judgment—you name it, I was afraid. From my youngest years this was the continuing theme of my childhood: FEAR."

"I had a huge fear of the end time events, of being hunted down by all my non-Adventist friends and family."

"Most of all I feared being in and out of salvation depending on my day's behavior."

Many of us lived with constant fear as Adventists—although we learned to hide it well. When I was leaving Adventism I remembered a passage from Ellen White (the prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist Church): "Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their garments was written in large characters—thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting. I asked who this company were. The angel said ‘these are they who have once kept the Sabbath and have given it up.'" (Early Writings, p. 37.2)

Would I be one of those "howling in agony?" I wondered as I made steps to leave Adventism.

A few months ago I came across a picture of a group of men, some in masks, pointing guns at the heads of two children. The picture was taken at a Seventh-day Adventist Summer Camp in Michigan during a live enactment of supposed end-time events. The gunmen were role-playing those who would hunt and kill Sabbath-keepers (the kneeling youth in the picture) during the coming "time of trouble", and the audience was composed of the children attending camp this summer.*

Many non-Seventh-day Adventist Christians send their children to Adventist summer camps believing that their children are going to a Christian camp. What Christian parents would want their children to view this terrifying role-playing? Many Christian parents monitor what their children see in the media. How might this grisly role-playing affect the children forced to watch it? Additionally, how might those watching children be imprinted by the message that those who worship on Sunday will hunt and shoot Sabbath-keepers? What kinds of nightmares might they have?

Fear… Fear… Fear…

I remember sitting in the kitchen of a friend's home discussing the economic state of the U.S.A. and what would happen if the country's debt were to be called into account. When I was an Adventist, that conversation would have triggered acute fear, but I distinctly remember not being afraid. Instead, with awe I realized I felt deep peace. It was such a new experience for me that I commented on it to my never-been-Adventist friends. Christ has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, joy, and a sound mind.

I no longer live with the pervasive fear I had as an Adventist. I no longer am afraid that I will die and cease to exist, never knowing if I am saved or not. Praise God that the fear-inducing doctrines of Adventism are healing!

Now I know that Jesus has disarmed Satan and has set me free from the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). I don't have to worry about the time of trouble because Jesus has already given me eternal life.

"Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" (Jn. 11:25-26).

I believe, Lord Jesus. In you there is no fear. †

 

*See http://arthurandteresabeem.blogspot.com/2011/07/sda-pre-enactment-of-last-day-events.html)

 

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Carolyn Macomber was a doctoral student at Andrews University when she discovered inconsistencies between Adventism and the Bible. She withdrew her membership from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 2009. She is a member of The Chapel Evangelical Free Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, where she is the leader of a Former Adventist Fellowship. She teaches at an inner city private school in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and a small group leader for Bible Study Fellowship in Granger, Indiana. She shares her discoveries in this column, and you can read her experiences of processing out of Adventism into the Christian community at her blog or watch her testimony HERE.