HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2012 / WINTER / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

W I N T E R • 2 0 1 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 4

 

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D E P A R T M E N T S

LETTERS to the Editor
 

 

One of the best

Thanks so much, Martin Carey, for “Will you send your oldest son away?” in Proclamation!, which arrived today. I always read the magazine, but your article was one of the best ever! I thought it was going to be a testimony by an ex-Adventist who was “sent away” for rejecting his Adventist upbringing.  But your exposition of Galatians 3-4 is one of the best I’ve ever read!  Maybe it’s because today is my 57th birthday, and Galatians was the first book I preached through about 35 years ago; but your contrast and graphics on pages 12-13 caused my eyes to well up with tears.

I’ve been pastoring a small town church in southern Oregon for 10 years. The only other church in town is Adventist. They are nice folks, but the legalism, spiritual darkness, and rejection of the Christ of the Bible is painful. Some of my folks are good friends with some of them. I have not made any “good” friends among them but have several acquaintances. The few in our church who care about how we differ from the Adventists have been reading Proclamation! almost as long as I have. If you're ever up in our area, I hope you’ll stop by. If not, I'll find you in heaven and give you the tearful hug you deserve.

Also, please tell everyone there at Life Assurance Ministries to not be discouraged by those who oppose your proclaiming the truth. You are in good company!

Williams, OR

 

Jesus was a Seventh-day Adventist

The staff of Proclamation! must believe they are doing God’s work to call Adventists out of their church to go into the Sunday churches, and after reading the letters of people loving their new fellowships that promote immortal souls burning forever in hell and no day for Christ except an hour or two on Sunday morning, I may agree with you.

I was raised a Catholic, and the doctrine of people being tortured now and for eternity turned me from God. My wife and I are very soft-hearted people, and when we learned of the terrible cruelty to the animals we were eating, we signed up for vegetarian living from the local Adventist church where we also learned of a God who is not the tyrant the popular churches teach Him to be—One we would gladly follow.

Also, we learned the Bible teaching about jewelry, so we sold our engagement and wedding rings to help the church’s ministry to the blind. It gives me pleasure to think of some blind child being taken care of and having Bible tapes to listen to as opposed to the foolish and worldly adornment we were taught as being good.

I can picture the meat-eating, coffee-loving, jewelry-wearing Adventists just loving your magazine, as would the Pope and also Joseph Smith were he alive.

Jesus was different, though. He was a Seventh-day Adventist, and as His follower I must also be one, for He says, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow me” (Jn. 10:27).

Sandpoint, ID

 

Giving out truth

I saw your magazine at a friend’s house—I believe it was the December issue (Oct-Dec, 2011)—with such an excellent article on why keeping the Sabbath is not for today [“Enjoy Sabbath Rest Today” by Sheryl Barker]. We had just visited a Reformed Baptist Church when visiting Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the sermon was on keeping the Sabbath, and it was just awful.

The same magazine of yours had an equally excellent article by a “cowboy” who was a psychologist …[“Never Without Blood” by Martin Carey]. Anyway, I’ve never heard of you all and have never been an Adventist nor a Worldwide Church of God member, but you are giving out truth which is sadly rare today.

So I want to send a gift, and I would appreciate being placed on your mailing list. And if you can tell what issue I saw, and if you have a copy you could send me, I would be grateful.

Winnetka, IL

 

Adventists invading Jalisco, Mexico

On your website in Spanish you provide digital copies of your magazine, ¡Proclamación!, through April-June of 2010. Though the complete magazines are available there, we would be able to use the actual print copies of the magazine to much greater advantage. Is this magazine still being published in Spanish? Are print copies of the editions shown on your website available? If so, what is the cost?

We are located in the Highlands of Jalisco, the least-reached region of Spanish-speaking Mexico. The percentage of people who identify themselves as evangelicals is 0.3%. Recently the Adventists invaded the region, establishing a center in the city of Arandas, pop. 78,000. There are two small Christian churches in Arandas, a Baptist church and an independent Bible church, plus a newly initiated church-planting effort by the Assemblies of God. The Adventists have especially targeted the Baptist church, a group of about 60, and have drawn off some families, split some families, and pulled away many contacts. The group is looking for easy-to-consume materials to put into the hands of Adventists and those being drawn toward the cult. Your magazine would appear to be a great resource.

Thank you for your work making these materials available on your website.

Via email

 

Editor’s response

¡Proclamación! is not available in printed format because of the cost of printing. It is, however, available online in PDF format which can be printed on a laser or ink jet printer. There is no limit to the number of copies one may print, and it may be freely distributed.

 

I’ve had enough

Please remove my name from your mailing list. Reading your magazine is, for me, a sad and toxic experience. I became a born-again Christian on February 21, 1971, when I was a second year Master of Divinity student at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts before enrolling at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

In 1974, I met a man who…explained to me why he went to church on Saturday. The texts included Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:8-11; Luke 4:16, and Matthew 5:17-20.

The simple truth that Saturday is the Sabbath was inescapable….

I encourage you to look at the ideas/doctrines/Bible truths we hold as Adventists with an open mind and a teachable heart…Meanwhile, take me off your mailing list.

Naples, FL

 

Editor’s response

What the Adventist evangelist and, apparently, the writer’s formal classwork failed to teach him was the New Testament teaching of the new covenant. The holy days, including the seventh-day Sabbath, were shadows of Christ; the substance of those shadows is found in Christ (Col. 2:16-17). Moreover, the law has “only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things” (Heb. 10:1). It serves to increase sin, not to stop it (Rom. 5:20; 3:20; 4:15). Moreover, laws regulating worship and behavior cannot change the heart or stop us from acting out sin (Col. 2:20-23). We need Jesus: the new birth, the finished work of atonement on the cross, and the resurrection life. When we have Jesus, we must trust Him with all the props we used to hedge our bets and to improve our spirituality. We must trust Him alone. He is all we need!

 

Live by Jesus’ message

Thanks for thinking of me, but I have no interest in ex-Adventists or the SDA church. Neither do I find warring apologetics of any value in the real world where I dwell. I would be fascinated to know why I am getting Proclamation! and who felt I needed it. I live by Jesus' message of love your neighbor and be a keeper of the planet—or at least your place on it. What else is there?  

Imagine a church that lived only by what Jesus said: no creed, no dogma and all inclusive. Now there's a worthy mission!

No doubt there are expenses incurred in your ’zine and its distribution. So please remove my name from your mailing list.

via email

 

Editor’s response

Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (Jn. 6:29). “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourselves” (Jn. 6:53). “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:18). “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).

What Jesus said is exclusive and divisive; trusting Him results in our being adopted into God’s family (Rom. 8:15-17) and transferred out of the domain of darkness (Col 1:13). Trusting Jesus brings a sword between the closest relationships when one trusts and the other does not (Mt. 10:34-37). Nevertheless, trusting Jesus means we immediately receive eternal life; we do not come into judgment but have passed out of death into life (Jn. 5:24). Jesus’ teaching was not an inclusive social gospel; it was exclusive and leads to a new life of joy and peace with suffering. Trusting Jesus gives us a new identity as a son or a daughter of God!

 

Quality magazine

We enjoy the quality of your magazine, both intellectually and materially. Thank you one and all.

Yuba City, CA

 

Adventist doctrine harmful

All my neighbors are Adventist. I read from your magazine in a library. Sometimes one of your issues is there…the Adventist doctrine is definitely wrong and extremely harmful to a walk with God. They make a god out of keeping the law. Please send me your current issue and sign me up for receiving them in the future. May the Lord bless you.

Loma Linda, CA

 

Marvelous ministry

Hello! I would like to be a subscriber of your magazine in print form. Is it possible?

I live in Ukraine, Europe. I am a 38-year-old man and am a teacher of English language. I am interested in Christian life material and views.

Thank you for your web page ministry. I have found it marvelous.

Lviv, Ukraine

 

Show a little love

I don't know why you send me your magazine every so often, but I appreciate reading other viewpoints. For the most point, I enjoy the mag, but I've been tempted at times to write. From reading your responses, I rather doubt any letters actually make you think twice about your viewpoint, and so I have hesitated to write until now. I really don't mind people disagreeing with me, as I recognize my humanity, and realize I may have more growing to do. I just have this one suggestion, or maybe two. Why not change the name of the magazine to “I Hate Adventists!!!”? Somehow the message seems to get through in almost every article. Now, I'm not suggesting you actually do, but I'm not saying you don't either. I really don’t know. Were you hurt really that bad by them? Shame on them! I guess my only other suggestion is, lighten up. You, too, are human. I'm not suggesting you’re wrong. In the end, in Paradise, I really do believe our Father will sit us all down and teach us all where we’ve been wrong. Show a little more love, for the Gospel’s sake. Just a thought.

via email

 

Editor's response

We were not hurt by Adventists, and we do not hate them. On the contrary, we love them; we were once Adventists! We desire that Adventists who are where we once were will also come to know Jesus as Lord, the One who completed once for all the atonement for human sin and has already reconciled to God every person who places his or her faith in Him. He alone is all we need, and the joy and peace He puts in our hearts far exceeds any Sabbath happiness we used to seek.

 

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