HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2012 / SPRING / EDITORIAL

S P R I N G • 2 0 1 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1

 

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D E P A R T M E N T S

Editor's COMMENTS
 

 

I don’t remember exactly when or how it started. I just know that several years ago as we began our six-year journey through Romans in our Friday night Former Adventist Fellowship Bible study, I realized that some of our group were having trouble understanding what really happens when we are born again.

The problem was that many were struggling with the concept of having a spirit and with grasping what it means that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, not just the sins of the past. In our shared “great controversy worldview”, Jesus’ blood paid for our past sins and those in the future which we would remember to confess, but we had to be converted and commit to “the Truth” of Adventism once we knew it if we were to expect to be saved. Moreover, because we did not believe we had immaterial spirits that could either be dead in sin or alive in Christ, we lacked any awareness of Jesus’ blood paying for our foundational depravity, our natural state of “deadness”.

Thus were born the Stick People. I am no artist, but I realized that if I could visually demonstrate the concepts of depravity, of trusting Jesus and His sacrifice, and of receiving Life and the Holy Spirit, these mysteries might make more sense.

The Stick People did their jobs, and as months passed, they demonstrated more and more nuances of salvation that the chapters of Romans revealed. My drawing has not improved with the passing years, but the concepts of death, of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, and of our own gift of eternal life have deepened and amazed us all. People look forward to the Stick People drawings, and one young mom even took sidewalk chalk and drew on her driveway the picture of accepting Jesus and coming to life so her four-year-old son could grasp God’s gracious gift.

I have prevailed upon my husband Richard, who has the tools to create recognizable pictures, to help me demonstrate the truth that Jesus justifies us with His blood and gives us life because of His resurrection. Romans 5:10 says, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

As Adventists we thought that Paul was referring here to Jesus’ perfect law-keeping before His death. In the context of Romans, however, it is clear that our salvation is not connected to law-keeping, not even Jesus’s. Rather, our salvation hangs entirely on our sinless Savior’s death, burial, and resurrection. It is Jesus’ explosion of death from the inside-out that saves us. He has broken the curse into which we are born! When we believe in Jesus and His sacrifice, we pass from death to life at that moment, and we do not come into judgment (Jn. 5:24).

In this issue, we share with you the visuals that illustrate the reality of our true nature and the amazing gift of Jesus’ life that transfers us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Also in this issue Dale Ratzlaff expounds from Romans 3 on what is ours when we are justified in Christ, and Nicole Stevenson shares her experience in learning to submit her brokenness to Jesus instead of fighting for perfection. Regular columnists Carolyn Macomber and Chris Lee share their reflections on coming to spiritual life and becoming disciples.

We also introduce two new writers. Cherie Skrivan, one of the bloggers on our newly-launched Proclamation! Blogs site, shares her faith story. Rick Barker, a co-leader of a weekly Bible study for former Adventists in the Dayton, Ohio, area, and also a Proclamation! blogger, launches his new column examining the 28 Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists.

We pray that as you read this issue of Proclamation!, God will glorify Himself and make Jesus’ death and life profoundly real to you. †

 

 

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COLLEEN TINKER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESPANOL

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