HOME / PROCLAMATION! MAGAZINE / 2015 / SUMMER / EDITORIAL
S U M M E R • 2 0 1 5
VOLUME 16, ISSUE 2
D E P A R T M E N T S
Editor's COMMENTS
A s this issue of Proclamation! is getting ready to go to the printer, Richard is streaming coverage of the 60th General Conference (GC) Quinquennial Session in our office while we work. This extravaganza featuring delegates and presenters from every world division of the organization is themed, “Arise! Shine! Jesus is coming!”
We have listened to plenary sessions, Sabbath School lessons, interviews, musicians from various world divisions, and Let’s Pray hosted by David Franklin and Kandus Thorp. We have heard a variety of speakers urging attendees to “finish the work” so Jesus can come before the next GC session can convene.
We have supplemented Hope Church Channel’s coverage with news stories published by Adventist News Network, Adventist Today, and Spectrum magazine and have learned that Ted N.C. Wilson was re-elected to another five-year term as president by a more than 90% vote and that the delegates succeeded in suspending the newly-introduced electronic voting devices.
I am saturated with Adventist publicity and practice, and I realize it feels familiar. Even though I never attended a GC session, I participated in countless camp meetings and services as an Adventist. I recognize the pride of being “special”, of being selected for position or performance at the pinnacle of Adventist experience: the GC session which, Ellen White said, was “the highest authority that God has upon the earth.” When the GC is in session, private judgment must be surrendered (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 492).
It feels familiar—and at the same time, I have a sense of being sucked into unreality. The pomp and circumstance, the pride of Adventist identity, the confidence that they carry “truth”—I remember that I shared that pride and identity. Those things once defined me.
Looking back and reliving an echo from my past, I know now that as powerful as Adventism is, it was never the strongest force in my life. The Father was always drawing me, protecting me even inside Adventism, and ultimately, in His time and way, revealing the beauty of the gospel and the irresistible fact that Jesus is my Substitute. Jesus keeps the covenant with the Father, and in the fullness of His time, He overwhelmed me with the fact that He has done everything necessary for my salvation. I bring nothing to Him—not even Sabbath-keeping—nothing but the admission of my depravity and my need for a Savior.
The Lord Jesus is my life! He is truth, and He has rescued me.
Adventism was a mirage; it seemed to offer fellowship, identity, purpose, belonging, but those things were shadows of reality. Adventism did not offer an infallible Jesus and His inerrant word. It did not teach me that I am utterly unable to seek, please, or find God (Rom. 3:9-16). It taught me that I could—and should—avoid sin by prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit. But Adventism was wrong. It did not teach me my only way out of terminal sin was in being born again.
The agnosticism Martin Carey describes in his article in this issue is all too familiar. The confusion promulgated within The Clear Word which Steve Pitcher describes summarizes the Adventism that shaped my worldview, and the subtle but powerful similarities between Ellen White’s descriptions and those of Joseph Smith discussed by Dale Ratzlaff reveal the deception which posed as reality and obscured the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
This week as I am observing Adventism, I thank my Father for opening my eyes and showing me what I couldn’t see. I pray that those who desire truth will hear His voice and will become so uncomfortable with the dissonance between Adventism and God’s word that they will not rest until they fall at the foot of the cross in repentance and find mercy and grace—and life.
As you read Joni Schmidt’s faith story and Carolyn Macomber, Rick Barker, and Chris Lee’s columns, ask God to teach you what He knows you need to know and to show you the truth of the gospel. His word cannot fail, and Jesus is Lord of all.
He, not Adventism, is the final word. †
Copyright 2015 Life Assurance Ministries, Inc., Camp Verde, Arizona, USA. All rights reserved. Revised July 20, 2015. Contact email: proclamation@gmail.com
COLLEEN TINKER
For further STUDY
Back issues of Proclamation! and additional studies:
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Commentary/study of the daily Sabbath School lessons:
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