HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2013 / SPRING / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
S P R I N G • 2 0 1 3
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1
D E P A R T M E N T S
LETTERS to the Editor
Thought I was the only one
I love the magazine and greatly appreciate what you are doing. I was raised in a third-generation Adventist family and became a believer in 1968. Knowing only Adventism, I set out to honor the Lord by being the best one I could. But after about two months of Bible study, I realized that what I had been taught as a child was not what the Scriptures teach.
I renounced my Adventist affiliation, but I thought I was the only one like myself. It is terrific that your efforts and ministry are available to those whom God has called out of this cultish group. More power to you.
I’m including a check to help cover some of your costs relative to the magazine. God bless all of you at Proclamation!.
Roseburg, OR
Broken record: dishonest worldview
Upon receiving the winter issue, 2012, of Proclamation!, I did as I usually do: I flipped through the whole issue before turning to the letters.
I did not get to the letters as the title “Spiritual Abuse Among Religions” caught my attention.
I was hoping for an article without the slings and arrows with pointed barbs or a specific diatribe against Adventism. The title was general, and yet there was nothing referencing other religions except Adventism which was named 39 times by my count. Yet I am sure there are just as many problems in the Baptist, Free Will Baptist, Anglican, Mormon, Roman Catholic, and many denominations.
This article was well written yet followed the same old idea of the ‘broken record,’ if one keeps repeating the same story, no matter how much truth or lie is in the story, it becomes believable. The title of the article and the substance of the article again showed your inability to be honest in your worldview. Yes, there is abuse in (sad to say) all religions and denominations; yet in keeping your focus only on one you give credence to the idea that all others are without fault.
Rancho Cordova, CA
Editor’s response: The principles outlining the nature of religious abuse which were defined in the article do describe religious abuse in any system. The specific applications of these characteristics to Adventism was our particular focus because this magazine is targeted for Adventists and former Adventists as well as for Christians who are concerned about Adventists and Adventism.
Adventists are generally oblivious to the fact that the way Adventism functions is by the principles of religious abuse, and they struggle with cognitive dissonance and confusion between their beliefs and the clear words of Scripture.
Although abusive people can exist within any organization, wherever the gospel of the Lord Jesus is taught and honored, people are able to be born again. In environments where the word of God and the Lord Jesus is honored, central, and all-sufficient, abuse is far less common.
Disturbing
I enjoy reading your magazine, but I’ve read some stuff in your most recent issue that is kind of disturbing to me.…Dale Ratzlaff in his article says “This teaches us that God’s provision may come from unexpected sources at just the right time. We have seen this time and again at Life Assurance Ministries. It seems that God does not want us to get financially comfortable. Rather, it appears we are to pray as Christ taught His disciples, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’”
I couldn't agree more that “God’s provision may come from unexpected sources at just the right time”. However, I take strong issue with the statement that “God does not want us to get financially comfortable”.
I am a father, and I have two boys. Not only do I want them to be “financially comfortable”, I want them to be secure in my love, and comfortable in every sense of the word. Having my sons on pins and needles, wondering whether or not I’m going to take care of them, is not my idea of fatherhood.
Dale quotes Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Like a lot of pastors and church leaders, he uses verses like this to cover his own doubt and unbelief. There is comfort in shared misery, and it's understandable that he would want others to feel the same way that he does, that God wants us to stand on the razor's edge, wondering if we're going to make it through next month or not.
How about quoting this instead?
Mark 11:24- “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Brothers and sisters, this world is headed down a long, dark tunnel, and there is no light at the end of it. The only light is above, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s dive into His word boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need, and leave our fears and unbelief off the pages of our magazines. Lord knows we get enough of it in this world without reading it in the pages of Proclamation!
Via email
Editor’s response: We are never promised prosperity. This idea that we can command and ask for whatever we want and receive it is, unfortunately, quite a first-world belief. The suffering believers in other nations are not experiencing health and wealth. We all have to trust God. Some of us have comfortable lives. This comfort is God’s grace to us. Some of us have no bank rolls and compromised health. These situations are also God’s grace to us. God disciplines and teaches us when we are His own (Hebrews 12:1-12). Our suffering is for His glory and for the good of the body. Our success is for His glory and for the good of the body. In either case He asks us to trust Him and to let go of our expectation that we should expect health and wealth. We are living sacrifices as we present ourselves to Him for service (Rom. 12:1).
We praise God when we have plenty, and we praise Him when His provision comes at the last minute. Moreover, Matthew 6:25-34 is true: He provides all we need. In ways we cannot explain, God grants us the means to do what He gives us to do. We have often experienced the fact that God gives us the money to do what needs to be done even when on paper the numbers don't make sense. He really does keep His promises!
God blesses us and multiplies our “seed for sowing” and increases “the harvest of [our] righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9:10). For some, this comfort involves having plenty; for others, it is having all we need in spite of financial limitations.
Appreciate your insight
I live in an Adventist retirement village, and we have the Adventist services but also [Christian] Church [services]. After I read Proclamation!, I pass it onto our pastor; it helps him alot. My dad’s business partner’s wife and her family were strong Adventists, and I still have contact with some of them, so I appreciate your insight and input. I pray daily for you and your ministry.
Gresham, OR
A contented, thankful Adventist
I started receiving Proclamation! about four years ago.…I feel that you generalize too much as to what the average Seventh-day Adventist believes and what they are like. Each member has his own experience with God. Many churches are diverse, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a diverse group of people all over the world.
I am very saddened by some of the angry, judgmental, and vindictive letters written by Seventh-day Adventists. I am not threatened by your publication; I am saddened that Proclamation! seems to be capitalizing on the vindictiveness of those letters. I am also disappointed in the sarcasm against Ellen White…Yes, we have to decide if she is a prophetess of God or a tool of the Devil. I believe she is a Prophetess who lived a godly life and lifted up Jesus Christ in wonderful ways through her many books like The Desire of Ages, Christ’s Object Lessons, and so forth.…
I feel that your understanding of Seventh-day Adventists being “under the law” because they keep the Sabbath is mistaken. The Bible is clear that if we love Jesus we will cherish/keep His commandments, not to earn Heaven or to avoid hell, but to honor the Savior. We as Christians should all be under grace. Being under grace means that our motivation is not ego-centric. We follow Jesus wherever He goes with no selfish motivation. Being under law means we are selfishly motivated by fear of punishment, or we simply want our reward in Heaven.…
I sign off as a contented and thankful Seventh-day Adventist Christian who believes in a holistic lifestyle, simple modest apparel, cherishing God’s Sabbath, and preparing to meet Jesus when He comes so we can crown Him King. Perhaps the members of Proclamation! never saw the Adventist Church the way I do.
Beloit, WI
Editor’s response: We realize that no two Adventists will understand Adventism exactly the same. This fact, however, does not negate the reality that Adventists of all kinds share a worldview that has been designed by Ellen White’s interpretations. Adventists hold these things in common: man has no immaterial spirit that survives the death of the body; Sabbath has some degree of eternal significance; Jesus could have failed in His mission; Ellen White was at the least a positive historical figure for Adventists, and Satan is the scapegoat on whom Jesus places the sins of the saved at the end of the investigative judgment.
Christianity is not defined as “following Jesus and His teachings”. Jesus defined it as being born again of water and of the Spirit (Jn. 3:3-6). It is admitting one is hopelessly sinful and unable to obey God, and then placing the full weight of one’s faith and trust in the atonement in Jesus’ blood completed on the cross. It means receiving His own resurrection life as we believe and receive His eternal seal and guarantee, the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14). We receive His imputed, personal righteousness credited to us, and we begin to live as heirs of God (Rom. 8:15-18).
Jesus fulfilled the law and keeps all the requirements of the new covenant. When we are in Him, we are no longer under the law. We are hidden with Christ in God, eternally secure and counted righteous!
Religious abuse
Thank you for the Winter 2012 issue of your magazine. You are right on in all your comments. Former Adventists need reassurance that we are on the right path to Christ, away from the Adventist church. People who have never been a member of that organization cannot understand the strong statements against it.
[Some] adherents to that cult think you have to be vegetarian to be saved. One person even told me that I had to give up using baking powder if I wanted to make it through the last days. Outsiders have no idea of the strange doctrines espoused by Adventists because of their so-called prophetess, Ellen G. White. Their worst belief is that some races of men were formed from an amalgamation of man and beast. When I read that in one of the prophet’s writings, it made me want to vomit. Since that statement about amalgamation is a hideous lie, that makes the one who uttered it a liar, and thus a daughter of Satan. This magazine and sites which expose the unbiblical doctrines are essential to help people get out of that cult.
Via email
Hideous mark on the face of the earth
Please remove my name from your mailing list. Your magazine is justified by Satanic forces, and your publishings are a hideous mark upon the face of the earth! I had no idea that I would have this junk coming to my mailbox. I believe in the Bible totally and for you to contradict the Holy Word is just outrageously disgusting! In the judgement you will have to answer for misleading people away from the true faith which is the Seventh-day Adventist faith.
Marietta, GA
Second generation in Holland
I am a second generation Seventh-day Adventist born in 1949.
In 2010 I visited a workshop of the International Cultic Studies Association in Connecticut. It was for second-generation former members of sects and cults, and I attended because of my work as a counselor for people who were born into cults or sects. Wow, what an eyeopener for me!
In Holland I cannot find the right information about the issues associated with Adventism, so I am happy with your site and with the world-wide web!
I look forward to reading your magazine, and I share it with other Adventists!
De Bilt, The Netherlands
Copyright 2013 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Casa Grande, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised April 3, 2013. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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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