HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2014 / WINTER / LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

W I N T E R • 2 0 1 4
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 4

 

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D E P A R T M E N T S

LETTERS to the Editor
 

 

Thank you for abortion article

I want to thank you for your article in Proclamation! about the abortion mills in the Seventh-day Adventist hospitals. This issue was one of the major reasons I left the Adventist church in the 1990s. Whenever I would bring this issue of Adventist abortion mills to the attention of Adventists, most of them responded with yawning indifference. The pastors with whom I spoke about this subject did not seem greatly concerned about it, either.

Surprisingly, most of the so-called “historic” Adventist ministries ignored it. Crews, Grotheer, Spear, and others just would not confront it. To the best of my knowledge, the only “historic” ministries concerned about the Adventists and abortion were those led by Drs. Colin and Russell Standish and Vance Ferrell.

I suppose, in a way, this blindness by Adventists on the problem of abortion in their institutions and among their members is much like Adventists’ blindness toward financial corruption in the organization as well as other abuses. As long as these things don’t immediately impact them, the typical Adventist is not concerned about it.

Continue to fight the good fight.

Maugansville, MD

 

Lack of moral voice

I just completed reading the article on abortion in the Adventist Church. What an amazing article. Thank you for bringing this to light. I had read some things about this, but never in this much detail.  I left the Adventist Church almost five years ago. I always struggled with the lack of “moral” voice in the church, but was brought up being taught morality would be a sign of the “true” church in these last days. I don’t think most non-medical working Adventists are aware of this abortion problem, either. Thank you.

Russell, KS

 

Watch it burn

Obviously you can’t resist proselytizing your lies and deceit to satisfied, current Adventist members. My thoughts regarding Proclamation!: why fill up the landfills with more garbage? I’ve found something that eagerly eats up every word of your magazine. I hear it’s going be a cold winter, and my campfire hungrily awaits another issue. Not only did I enjoy watching it burn last time, I enjoyed the warmth of the flame. The next one will be toast also, so go ahead and keep ’em coming (although I’d rather you didn’t)!

Elfers, FL

 

Men in prison need truth

Praise the Lord. First, I must thank you all, your Proclamation! has really helped me in here, and I am able to share your teaching with other men. I read your article on abortion, and how [Adventist] hospitals are doing abortions. I need this information. The men in here need to know the truth. Please forgive my writing; I am now 71 years old, and I have been in here for 25 years now. Please pray for me.

 

Editor’s note: The Adventist organization has a large, active prison ministry.

 

You’ll cry for the rocks

Proclamation of lies and hatred, how will you stand in the judgment? Being critical and liberal to the extreme, read 1 Timothy 4:1-2. Pride comes before a fall!! Your smiles and jewelry will look pretty stupid when the Judge of the universe returns to reward the faithful! Sorry, but you will cry for the rocks to hide you!!! Look at all the people you have deceived!

Champaign, IL

 

Encouragement to me

“Your labor is not in vain.” As the world darkens and what is called “the church” sees increasing apostasy, your humble stand for God’s word is an encouragement to me.

Winnetka, IL

 

Fuel for another fire

I am getting a new wood stove, and I just want you to know, I will use your magazine to start the first fire in my stove! You should be ashamed of the things you write, and you will have to answer to God for your trying to take people OUT of God’s remnant church!

via email

 

Send another copy

Hi, would you please send two copies of this magazine to our church? Right now, we receive one for our senior pastor, but the youth pastor would also like to receive one. Thank you!

Benton Harbor, MI

 

Unsolicited advice

I know this is unsolicited advice, but I will give it anyway. If you are truly followers of Christ, you would stop attacking the 7th Day [sic] Adventist church and preach your own teachings which your group thinks are taught in the Bible. I am sure you would agree with me that there is no religion/denomination/ religious group on earth that has no faults. There will always be things that people think are wrong in every organization. Instead of wasting your time trying to convince Adventists that they are in the wrong denomination, why doesn’t your group just concentrate on preaching your own teachings without having to malign the Adventist church? I believe if you did that, you would become more successful than you are with the constant onslaught on a worldwide church like the Adventist church. May the Lord allow you to see the light.

Accokeek, MD

 

Editor’s note: The following letter is from Nancy Paige, the granddaughter of Carrie Johnson credited with writing the book I Was Canright’s Secretary (Review and Herald, 1971). This book has been used to prove that Dudley Canright, a contemporary of James and Ellen White and a preacher who worked for them for several years, returned to the Seventh-day Adventist Church before he died. Canright’s own books tell his story of disagreeing with the Whites and of leaving Adventism, returning to his original Baptist roots. Nevertheless, the Adventist organization has actively promulgated the idea that Canright “recanted” and returned to Adventism before he died. The following letter is an interesting insight into Carrie Johnson from her own granddaughter.

 

Did Arthur White deceive us?

I contacted you about my grandma’s book, I Was Canright’s Secretary. Just this week I began reading it for the first time in years. My suspicion that she did not write most of the book is confirmed.

The forward has inaccurate information about my grandparents. The first chapter and part of the second chapter were written by her, but she did not author chapters 3 through 10. Chapter 14 has been revised by another writer. Parts of it sound like her, but most of it does not match her style.

I doubt she would have had such sophisticated opinions at age 19. She was never sophisticated.

Chapters 15 and 16 also appear to have been revised. Chapter 18 has also been highly edited. I do not believe she wrote chapter 19, and I suspect she wrote only the first half of chapter 20.

The reason I am convinced of this is because the style changes from a personal narrative to a third person, “researcher” style. She was very simple and untrained. Yes, she was opinionated, but one can see a difference between her private opinions and the supposed historical record.

It is my belief that Arthur White [grandson of Ellen White and former director of the White Estate] is the author of the forward as well as most of the historical and biographical content.

It also may interest you to know that my grandparents were kicked out of the Niles, Michigan, Adventist church in the early 1960s, and they never attended church again. So much for the claims that they were highly involved members. The forward of the book also states that they lived in Dowagiac and attended the Decatur church. They never lived there or attended the Decatur church because they’d already stopped attending church by then.

I do not know the circumstances of their being disfellowshipped from the Niles church. I was about four years old at that time. They never spoke of it except to say how unfairly they had been treated.

This information is not a big deal in the scheme of things. There is such a mountain of evidence against the Adventist organization that my grandma’s book is just a pesky fly in the ointment. But, understanding the deceit of Arthur White and the methods he used to discredit Dudley Canright, does put some pieces of the puzzle in place for me.

I hope this is useful for you.

Nancy Paige

 

Coconut shell matter

I am being nice, but enough is enough. Don’t be brain-less. Stop harassing me by sending your trash magazine to my address. Whoever you are sending this magazine to does not live here anymore. If you have any usable matter in that coconut shell of yours above your neck, use it. Stop sending your magazine to my address.

Corona, CA

 

Negative vibes and prayers

God’s blessings. Throughout the years, off and on, I have had the chance to read some of the writings in Proclamation! One thing that stands out, for sure, are the negative vibes, unrest, and almost hate that are so evident. I just want to say that Jesus loves you and that many of God’s faithful pray for you day and night. May the Lord bless you and make His face to shine upon you and give you His peace. You are loved.

San Bernardino, CA

 

Thank you for your proclamation

As an Adventist I was increasingly dissatisfied with the Adventists’ central doctrine of the investigative judgment. Before my son was born I didn’t care to understand it, but by the time my son was five years old (I was determined to raise him Adventist—an agreement my once-agnostic husband had made with me before we married) I wanted to be able to explain it to him in the simplest of terms. I quickly found this convoluted theory was so twisted that even I, at age 39, could not understand it, much less explain it!

I became so obsessed with this topic that I started asking my brother (who was attending seminary at Andrews University) to explain it. I looked in the Bible for it (silly girl!), and I finally turned to my husband who had been raised Adventist to explain it. I could not distill anyone’s answer into something I could explain to a five-year-old. I began to remember why I didn’t like Adventism, but I had no idea there was another option! Then it just so happened that while we were on a road trip to Arizona, and my seminary brother just happened to be along. The topic of the current Sabbath School lesson came up, and it just happened to be on the investigative judgment! My brother asked my husband’s opinion on the topic, and my husband said he really hadn’t studied it but would like to have sources that were both pro and con on the subject. Well, my brother mentioned several, but the one that stuck in my husband’s brain was a man who had written against this doctrine: Dale Ratzlaff!

Dale Ratzlaff led to Life Assurance Ministries and Proclamation! magazine. Proclamation! magazine led to much study, first by my husband, who then shared his findings with me. Our studying led us to prayer, more studying, and lots of reading. Finally, our studying led us to the gospel and to truth. I never had to explain the investigative judgment to my five-year-old. He is now 13, and he and my husband and I now know that Jesus is our Savior. We are alive in Him!

Grand Terrace, CA

 

Enjoyed the Clear Word article

Thank you for yet another outstanding issue! I read and re-read every issue, and have kept all of them on file ever since I started receiving them. I especially enjoyed the article about the Bible, especially in view of what the Bible says about people who take away from or add to the Bible. Haven’t I heard about Adventist evangelistic meetings where Clear Word Bibles were promised to people who attended all meetings? Or was I imagining such a thing? Please keep up the good work.

Pedricktown, NJ

 

 

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