HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2015 / SPRING / FORMER ADVENTIST CONFERENCE 2015
The tenth annual Former Adventist Conference held in Southern California (SoCal) was memorable for many reasons.
First, it took place at a new venue: The Anchor Bible Church in Redlands, California. Pastor Todd Barnett and the staff and members warmly welcomed and supported the event.
Second, The Anchor requested a pre-session training weekend for its members. Consequently, on the weekend preceding the conference, Dale Ratzlaff spoke twice at The Anchor concluding with a question and answer period in which Dale, Colleen Tinker, and Todd Barnett served as the panel with Richard Tinker moderating.
A third reason the conference stands out is its topic: lessons from the book of Revelation. Since Adventism uses Revelation as the source of many of its fear-inducing proof texts threatening those who do not keep Sabbath with receiving the mark of the beast, Revelation is put on the “back shelf” when those leaving Adventism finally understand the gospel and the new covenant.
This year, Gary Inrig taught Revelation with skill and care, putting Revelation 14 with its “Three Angels’ Messages” into proper biblical perspective and showing that the focus of the book is the centrality of the Lion who is the Lamb. Dale Ratzlaff also taught from Revelation 1 and Revelation 21 and 22. He showed that the Lord’s Day is not the seventh-day Sabbath, and he helped us focus on the glory of heaven that God has promised to share with His people. Sharon Clark and Steve Pitcher shared their testimonies of leaving Adventism and finding the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
This year we welcomed well-known Christian apologist and the executive director of the Institute for Religious Research, Rob Bowman, as the speaker for the Friday evening public meeting. He spoke on “The Trouble with the Trinity” among the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Oneness Pentecostals, and Seventh-day Adventists.
On Friday evening Paul Carden, executive director of The Centers for Apologetics Research, gave a talk entitled “The Problem With Prophets”.
At the end of the weekend we welcomed a new sister in Jesus into our family in Christ. Driving home after the last session—the Sunday sermon by Gary Inrig in which he preached through Revelation 4 and 5 describing the worship of the Lamb by all of heaven—one of the attendees realized that the Lamb who was slain is the reason she can live.
Attendees came from Pennsylvania, Florida, Kentucky, Manitoba, Michigan, Arizona, and California. You can enjoy all the main sessions online at our YouTube channel. Go to YouTube and use the search word “FormerAdventist”.†
Copyright 2015 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Camp Verde, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised May 20, 2015. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
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VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1
PASTOR TODD BARNETT AND THE STAFF AND MEMBERS [OF THE ANCHOR BIBLE CHURCH] WARMLY WELCOMED AND SUPPORTED THE EVENT.