vol. 190, no. 9 march 28, 2013 · editor-at-large mark a. finley, ... moses. not just at christmas,...

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Vol. 190, No. 9

Moskala Named Seminary Dean

A Joyful End

The Other Side of Answered Prayer

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A Poem in Progress REflEcTiNg ON chRiST’S wORDS fROM ThE cROSS

www.adventistreview.org

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Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®, executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun, vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik Doukmetzian, legal adviser. editor Bill Knott, Associate editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating editor Stephen Chavez, online editor Carlos Medley, Features editor Sandra Blackmer, Young Adult editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView editor Wilona Karimabadi, news editor Mark A. Kellner, operations manager Merle Poirier, Financial manager Rachel Child, editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the editor Gina Wahlen, Quality Assurance/social media Coordinator Jean Boonstra, marketing Director Claude Richli, editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad sales Glen Gohlke, subscriber services Steve Hanson. To Writers: Writer’s guidelines are available at the Adventist Review Web site: www.adventistreview.org and click “About the Review.” For a printed copy, send a self-addressed en-velope to: Writer’s Guidelines, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.adventistreview.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to Adventist Review, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © Thinkstock 2013. The Adventist Review (issn 0161-1119), published since 1849, is the general paper of the seventh-day Adventist® Church. it is published by the general Conference of seventh-day Adventists® and is printed 36 times a year on the second, third, and fourth Thursdays of each month by the review and Herald® Publishing Association, 55 West oak ridge Drive, Hagerstown, mD 21740. Periodical postage paid at Hagerstown, mD 21740. Copyright © 2013, general Conference of seventh-day Adventists®. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Vol. 190, No. 9

subscriptions: Thirty-six issues of the weekly Adventist Review, US$36.95 plus US$28.50 postage outside North America. Single copy US$3.00. To order, send your name, address, and payment to Adventist Review subscription desk, Box 1119, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1119. Orders can also be placed at Adventist Book Centers. Prices subject to change. Address changes: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257. subscription queries: [email protected]. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257.

18 A Poem in ProgressMARcos PAseggI

Going beyond “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”

14 Joshua: son of nungIlBeRt VegA

He was unsung, aver-age; until God tapped Him to lead His people.

22 The enduring TreasureelleN g. WHIte

God wants us to be happy, now and forever.

24 A Joyful endJessIcA l. PeRRoNe

Looking toward a glorious future

26 For Love or obligation?JeAN-luc lézeAu

It isn’t gratitude until it’s expressed.

28 The other side of Answered PrayerHoPAl gRANt-McclINtock

Being part of God’s answer

4 Letters

7 Page 7

8 World news & Perspectives

13 give & Take

17 Transformation Tips

25 Dateline moscow

30 etc.

31 reflections

18 24 9 6

Creation on DisplayOur world is not theresult of chance.

Jesus’ death on the cross was only the beginning.

ARTICLES DEPARTMENTS 6 geRAld A. klINgBeIl

Watch the Hands

7 sANdRA BlAckMeRChloe the Cat

COVER FEATURE EDITORIALS

nexT Week in AdVentist woRld

on THe CoVer

“Behold, I come quickly . . .” Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing Him better, and hope in His soon return.

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Letters FroM our readers

inbox

iDols » I’m writing in regard to

Vincent MacIsaac’s article “iDols” (Feb. 21, 2013). I’m thankful for the technology that carries the third angel’s message everywhere, but don’t wish to be snowed under by the blizzard of information overload all about us today. Offers of 150 or 250 channels find me answering that I have only one pair of eyes, one mind, and it needs to be kept open heavenward, not drowned by the enemy’s tug-of-war for our souls.

MacIsaac has put his fin-ger on a very important ave-nue for the wily foe’s attack. Satan’s deceptions come with the flood of so many “gadgets” and entertain-ments that eternal interests are “lost among the thorns,” threatening to leave us unprepared for the testing time ahead. My thanks to MacIsaac.

RIChARD BURNS

Cleveland, Tennessee

Lake Titicaca Tour » Thank you for printing

“Lake Titicaca Tour,” by Elton Wallace (Feb. 14, 2013). He was a missionary in the tru-

est sense. I well remember visiting the Wallace home high in the mountains of Rwanda where he was the president of our college, Adventist University of Cen-tral Africa (AUCA).

Review readers may recall that on December 27, 1985, Dian Fossey was murdered in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. Her claim to fame was her 18-year study of the mountain gorilla in Rwanda. Wallace had become Dian’s friend because of his interest in monkeys. Wallace had a pet chimpanzee named Eliza-beth that he had raised from a baby. (That is another story in itself.)

Wallace was called upon to perform the funeral for Fos-sey. In the movie Gorillas in the Mist, Fossey’s last request was that she be buried in the gorilla graveyard beside her most favorite gorilla, Digit. In one of the final scenes of the movie a voice is heard read-ing from Scripture as the camera pans over the gravesite. It was Wallace’s voice as he read from the Bible.

Wallace was an enthusias-tic follower of God, minister-ing to anyone in his sphere of influence. Who knows? Maybe it was his visit to the floating church on Lake Titi-caca that broadened his view as to what constitutes being a missionary.

KEITh hEINRICh

Hutchinson, Minnesota

Must Love God » Thanks for printing Kim-

berly Luste Maran’s ”Must Love God” article (Feb. 14, 2013). I met my wife through an online dating site. We knew each other casually before, but that was it. We were matched on the site! We’ve now been married for six months, and she is defi-nitely the one God had for me. The article was very well written, and I’ll share it with my single friends.

RICARDO BACChUS

Silver Spring, Maryland

Recent Readings » I enjoyed reading the Janu-

ary 17, 2013, Adventist Review. You had not one but two arti-cles that I absolutely had to archive: Martin Proebstle’s “Divine Assassin?” (excellent research—I’ve always won-dered about that story!—and clever artwork with the sights on sin) and Nicholas P. Miller’s “Religious Freedom in the United States.”

I also enjoyed read-ing “Must Love God” (Feb. 14). The article was helpful

in that it gave a sidebar with tips for navigating online dating sites.

I urge the Review to do a much more comprehensive treatment of this topic—per-haps even a series. The brev-ity and missing elements in the story could be highly misleading.

I know. I’d been searching for the right person for 29 years and found her on an Adventist dating site—not one of those that you men-tion. Kimberly Luste Maran’s article, while interesting from a psychological/sociological perspective, would not have been helpful for me as a sin-gle man looking for a godly Adventist wife.

It would be helpful for the Review to do a real review of sites with “Adventist” in their name, or who cater to Sev-enth-day Adventists, with pros and cons for each site. Tell readers how many sub-scribers are Adventists and how easy it is to screen out people with problems and compare the “match philoso-phies” of the different sites. Make sure that christian singlesdating.com is included. This is a labor-of-love site run by a dedicated Adventist woman who, with her hus-band, is highly involved in their local Adventist church.

MARLAN KNITTEL

Bakersfield, California

Moving in the Same Direction

» I enjoyed reading Gerhard Pfandl’s article “Moving in the Same Direction” (Feb. 14), for he touched on the core problems with disunity in our midst: (1) the pressure of culture; (2) independent

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“Mission to Cities” Launched

in South England

Moving in the Same direction

Rogelio’s Testimony

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A Wave and a Greeting

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Divine Assassin?

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| www.AdventistReview.org | March 28, 20134 (260)

Catching Up » I am catching up on read-

ing accumulated over the holidays. Carolyn Stuyves-ant’s “A Christmas Banquet” and Bernie Anderson’s “Bringing the Fire” (Dec. 20, 2012) were great!

I always love reading Dixil Rodríguez’s column. “Mercy Street” (Dec. 13, 2012) was no exception.

I have had times like Michael Oxentenko describes and was blessed by his December 13 “Operation ELF” story and its ending. I think a Grinch stole a para-graph out of it, though. The section “Liquidating the Messiah” should have con-tained an additional para-graph—something along the lines of John saying that Satan was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). Satan has tried to “liquidate” children since the beginning book of Genesis, in the days of Pharaoh and the baby Moses. Not just at Christmas, but today, Satan offers to some the present of “peace”

critical ministries; and (3) congregational and ecumeni-cal tendencies. Let me add a fourth: politics—keep poli-tics out of the church.

Here is my dilemma with this article. Pfandl writes: “The election of Israel was an election not for salvation but for service. Similarly, the Adventist Church has been chosen to serve humanity in the time of the end by pro-claiming God’s message to a dying world. We are saved as individuals, not by belonging to a particular race or church.”

I may be reading him incorrectly, but from my studies of Israel, to me there is no question that Israel was elected for the purpose of salvation of the world. Ellen White writes in The Desire of Ages: “Yet God had chosen Israel. He called them to pre-serve among men the knowl-edge of the law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Savior. He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world” (p. 27).

WILFRED NAGAO

Honolulu, Hawaii

» In the article “Moving in the Same Direction,” Gerhard Pfandl asks, “Can church members work effectively together if they do not agree on what they believe?” Yes, they can! There can be unity in the church without uniformity.

When was the last time that you participated in a dis-cussion with someone who you loved deeply but dis-agreed with strongly? This is

a refreshing and strengthen-ing exercise in faith.

May we never grow stag-nant with the belief that we have all of the answers. May we be true to a heritage that values discussion around Scripture rather than the recitation of a church creed.

BROOKE hENRIKSEN

Salt Lake City, Utah

Clear Thinking » While in the midst of read-

ing Gerhard Pfandl’s excel-lent, well-balanced, and articulate article “Moving in the Same Direction,” I just had to check my list of mem-bers of the Theology of Ordi-nation Committee (see the list in the Jan. 10, 2013, Review), and was glad to see that he is on it. This kind of clear thinking is exactly what is needed on the committee. The most compassionate, understanding, balanced, and Christlike voices come from people who have lived, worked, and/or traveled in multiple countries.

By the way, following the example of a fellow Adventist who we read about, my hus-band and I have committed to praying for every member of the committee by name over the next few weeks. We hope more of our NAD church fam-ily will join us.

NANCy WOLCOTT

Palm Coast, Florida

by killing children. Deuter-onomy 19:10 reminds against shedding innocent blood, and Proverbs 6:16, 17 reminds us again in a list of things God hates the most.

We are urged to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, whose lives are doomed/appointed to be crushed/appointed for destruction, etc. (Prov. 31:8), and commanded to walk justly.

GENNIFER ANDERSON

Oakdale, California

We welcome your letters, noting, as always, that inclusion of a letter in this section does not imply that the ideas expressed are endorsed by either the editors of the Adventist Review or the general conference. short, specific, timely letters have the best chance at being published (please include your complete address and phone number—even with e-mail messages). letters will be edited for space and clarity only. send correspondence to letters to the editor, Adventist Review, 12501 old columbia Pike, silver spring, Md 20904-6600; Internet: [email protected].

“May we never grow stagnant with the belief

that we have all of the answers.” —BROOKE hENDRIKSEN, Salt Lake City, Utah

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Vol. 189, No. 34

Adventist Church Grows

in North America

Mercy Street

Crocs and Prison Garb

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December 13, 2012



Editorials

Watch the HandshANDS ARE AVID AND CAPABLE COMMUNICATORS.

Hands “talk” often more than words can ever say. Hands can turn into tight fists or touch lightly as a father cuddles his baby daughter. Hands can say “stop—no more” or “come on, you can do it.”

The Gospels highlight Jesus’ hands repeatedly. As a carpenter they represented His most val-ued tools. They cut and planed and held the chisel and the hammer. But they didn’t just handle wood—they touched people. Jesus touched lepers (Matt. 8:3) and those struggling with disease (Matt. 8:15; 9:29; 20:34; Mark 7:33). He touched His disciples when they were afraid (Matt. 17:7) and His enemies as they tried to ensnare Him (Luke 22:51). He even touched death (Luke 7:14), something no well-respected Jew would have ever done.

Hands communicate nonverbally. Hands were also an integral part of the Resurrection morn. The disciples had gathered in Jerusalem—they longed for a safe and quiet place where they could make sense of the unthinkable. They were discouraged; they felt perturbed. They had heard strange rumors—but were they true? Jesus appears in the midst of their committee meeting, in which they were discussing the evidence of the Resurrection, and shows them first His hands and feet (Luke 24:36-43). They see the wounds; they touch the Master, tentatively at first, then more confidently. Hope turns to assurance—He lives!

Have you ever noticed that Jesus’ hands were always open, always ready to give, to touch, to encourage, and to share? Somehow I cannot see Jesus holding on to something tightly in His fist. He gives, and gives—and gives more.

His opponent in the great controversy prefers a different gesture. Satan’s favorite posture seems to be the tightly clenched fist, shaking it against the authority of God, demanding equal opportunities, and pulling those who listen to the siren’s beguiling melody into complete destruction: the nail-printed hands versus the tightly clenched fist; selfless service versus a dis-proportionally sized ego; boundless grace versus selfish wants.

Recognition on Resurrection morning is linked to hands.As Adventists (and particularly those of us living in North America) we have tended to ignore

Easter. Association with bunnies, colorful eggs, candy, and heathenism has resulted in a disregard for Resurrection morning. Orthodox Christians may greet each other with “The Lord is risen,” expecting the answer “He is risen indeed!”—but Adventists? In many parts of the world the Easter weekend is one of the most important evangelistic opportunities for Adventists. Adventist churches preach the resurrected and returning Christ over a long weekend. Neighbors and friends, attuned by their culture to this important moment, are ready and willing to join their Adventist friends.

What would happen if we would spend, as a community, an entire weekend (or even week) thinking about and admiring the nail-printed hands of Jesus? What would happen if we were confronted anew by the paradox and the power of the Resurrection? My point is simple: in order to truly understand the message of Resurrection morning, we must come close to Jesus and look at His hands. We must run into His arms and feel the touch of His scarred hands embracing our hungry beings. Revival and reformation begin with the hands of Jesus.

The hands of Jesus speak about righteousness by faith and grace—we need a Savior willing to bear our sins. The hands of Jesus speak about unity and community—we are one in Him, not-withstanding our different backgrounds, opinions, or even expectations. The hands of Jesus speak about the future—we are waiting to share with Him a meal, glorious, everlasting, and marked by gratefulness. And finally, the hands of Jesus speak about giving and service—we are called to bless others as we have experienced God’s immense blessing of salvation.

Right now, think about the resurrected Lord, and allow His hands to touch you today. n

Editorials

Gerald A. Klingbeil


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The Tract That Launched a Church

Thomas Preble was a Free Will Baptist pastor living in Nashua, New Hampshire. William Miller’s message prompted him

to study Bible prophecy, and he soon became an avid student. Preble was excommunicated in 1842 by the Nashua church because of his Advent preaching. In 1844 he became a believer in the seventh-day Sabbath. He was the first Adventist to support the Sabbath in print. His article of support first appeared in the Hope of Israel on

February 28, 1845, and was later reprinted in tract form in March 1845 (see right). This tract led to the conversion of seven families in Paris, Maine, including Edward Andrews (father of J. N. Andrews), and the Cyprian Stevens family (whose two daughters later became Mrs. J. N. Andrews and Mrs. Uriah Smith). This tract also convinced Joseph Bates, who later shared it with Ellen and James White, all becoming Sabbath-keepers and eventual founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Interestingly, Preble observed the Sabbath only through 1847. Later he wrote against the Sabbath, Ellen White, and Seventh-day Adventists, eventually publishing a book in 1867 favoring Sunday called First-Day Sabbath.

Chloe the CatMy FRIEND LORI hAS BEEN BATTLING LIFE-ThREATENING hEALTh issues for quite some time. She has bad days and not-quite-so-bad days, but in the face of daunting challenges her humor, optimism, and faith in God never seem to waver. She finds courage in the Lord’s blessings—both big and small—and her heart is open to the many evidences of God’s love. One of those evidences, she says, is her 11-year-old cat, Chloe.

Lori has been finding emotional and spiritual comfort in playing hymns alone on her piano, sometimes humming along with the music. She soon began to notice, though, that Chloe enjoys the music too.

“As I start to play, Chloe will come and sit on the recliner next to the piano, then lie down and close her eyes for the whole time I’m playing,” Lori says. “It’s almost as if the tone of the music strikes a chord deep within even animals in a way that is their own connection to the Creator.”

Chloe, it seems, is never far away when Lori is feeling particularly ill, “always hovering nearby” as if to be close to her.

“She loves to sleep upstairs in her bed by the heater, but lately she stays close by, as if to be sure I’m OK,” Lori says. “She’s such a comfort and blessing to me. I’m looking forward to Jesus explain-ing to us just how intelligent and intuitive His precious animals really are.”

God shows His love and care for us in countless ways. He assures us that “His heart of love is touched by our sorrows” and that “nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice.”*

Let’s always be open to the messages He sends us, perhaps even through an 11-year-old cat. n

* Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1956),p. 100.

Sandra Blackmer

DAmAges: Pakistani christians survey damage to their homes the morning after Muslim demonstrators set fire to a majority-christian neighborhood of lahore on March 9. Religious liberty advocates are blaming Pakistan’s severe blasphemy laws for enabling the protest.

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In Pakistan, Mob Burns Homes in Anti-Christian ViolenceSeventh-day Adventists among those targeted.By ELIZABETh LEChLEITNER, Adventist News Network

RESIDENTS OF a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, including Seventh-day Adventists, are reeling after a mob torched their homes and businesses in response to alleged insults against Islam’s prophet Muhammad.

The unrest began the week of March 4, 2013, after a report circulated that a young Christian man had committed blasphemy against the prophet. By March 9 the situation had escalated, and thousands of protestors began setting fire to property owned by Christians in a Lahore neighborhood.

While some residents sustained injuries, there was no loss of life. Most Christians had earlier fled under threats of violence and police warnings to leave, a representative of the

Adventist Church in Pakistan said.Church property and the homes of

Adventist members, however, sustained “tremendous damage,” church leaders said. The rented home of the local Adventist pastor and his family was destroyed along with the homes and belongings of at least 40 Seventh-day Adventists.

Songbooks, Bibles, and sound equip-ment at the local Adventist church were burned, but the building itself suffered only minor water damage as firefighters worked to control nearby blazes, an Adventist survey team reported.

At least 170 homes and businesses were torched, according to wire service reports.

Bhatti and his family were among res-

idents who left as the mob headed for their community.

“In his haste [the Adventist pastor] left behind his cell phone and ID card,” a church representative said, adding that a protestor yanked the glasses off his face as he fled.

The pastor and his wife returned the morning after the riots to comfort and pray with affected community mem-bers. Later the family began the process of rebuilding their lives by purchasing necessities for work, study, and ministry.

The Punjab state government pledged to compensate each affected family with the equivalent of US$2,000. Since then, the federal government of Pakistan has promised an additional US$5,000 per family.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Pakistan are assessing the situation and assisting members of the affected Christian community.

Less than 5 percent of Pakistanis are Christian, and blasphemy against the Koran or the prophet Muhammad can carry the death penalty. Religious liberty experts have observed that blasphemy laws are often used to repress religious minorities or settle personal disputes.

In 2011 Salmaan Taseer, a Pakistani businessman and politician, and Shah-baz Bhatti, the only Christian in Paki-stan’s cabinet, were assassinated for their opposition to legislation against blasphemy. Religious freedom advocates have long urged Pakistan to ease its harsh controls on defamation of religion.

“We have always strongly opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are the source of so much injustice in the country, especially for religious minori-ties and Muslim dissidents,” said John Graz, secretary-general of the Interna-tional Religious Liberty Association.

“All religious liberty advocates should express solidarity with the affected fam-ilies and encourage the government to reform this legislation,” he added. n


World news & Perspectives

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n WO R L D C H U R C H

Jirí Moskala Named seventh-day Adventist theological seminary DeanVeteran professor currently chairs Old Testament Department.By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor

JIRí MOSKALA, a veteran Seventh-day Adventist theologian and seminary pro-fessor, will become the new dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Semi-nary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. He will assume the position on July 1, 2013, after current dean Denis Fortin returns to full-time teaching in the Department of Theology and Christian Philosophy at the semi-nary beginning fall 2013.

The Andrews University board of trustees announced his appointment on March 5, 2013, a university statement reported.

Moskala is professor of Old Testa-ment exegesis and theology and chair of the Department of Old Testament at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Sem-inary, the flagship theological training institution for the movement, which has more than 17 million members worldwide. The seminary dean is a member of the General Conference Executive Committee, the International Board of Education, and the Board of Ministerial and Theological Education, to name a few. Additionally, the dean of the seminary works closely with leader-ship from both the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists and the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

“My vision for the theological semi-nary is to be the light for the world and the theological resource for the church,” Moskala said in a statement. “We are here to serve the worldwide church in various capacities to prepare future church leaders to work and deal with different challenges in order to pro-claim the eternal gospel with convic-tion, urgency, and passion, make a difference for good, and prepare people

for the soon second coming of Jesus.”Born in Ceský Tešín, Czech Republic,

Moskala received a Master of Theology in 1979 and a Doctor of Theology in 1990, all from the Comenius Faculty of Protestant Theology (now Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles Univer-sity), Czech Republic. In 1998 he com-pleted his Doctor of Philosophy from Andrews University.

Moskala began his ministry as a pas-tor for the Czecho-Slovakian Union, serving in this capacity until 1989. When the Communist regime fell after the Velvet Revolution, he established and served as the first principal of the theological seminary in Prague for training pastors. Moskala also served in various other capacities including director of the Life and Health Society,

Education Department, and Health Department for the Czecho-Slovakian Union. Moskala has served as a speaker for many Bible conferences and theolog-ical symposia in all 13 divisions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and has lectured at Adventist universities and colleges around the world.

He is a member of various theological societies including the Adventist Soci-ety for Religious Studies, Adventist Theological Society, Chicago Society of Biblical Research, Society of Biblical Lit-erature, and Society of Christian Ethics. Moskala has authored or edited a num-ber of articles and books in both Czech and English. In addition, he has partici-pated in several archaeological expedi-tions in Tell Jalul, Jordan.

Moskala and his wife, Eva Moskalova, have five grown children and three grandchildren.

“Dr. Moskala also has a strong mis-sion and evangelistic focus,” Ted N. C. Wilson, General Conference president, told Adventist Review. “He understands the tremendous task entrusted to Sev-enth-day Adventists, God’s remnant church, to proclaim the three angels’ messages, lifting up Christ, His righ-teousness, His sanctuary service, His ministry in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary, and His soon com-ing. Out of Dr. Moskala’s personal and academic experience grows his passion for the mission of church as it relates to the Christian education process. By God’s grace, Dr. Moskala, as the head of the seminary, will keep in front of semi-nary students not only the academic side, which is very important, but also the practical mission side of their train-ing and work.”

Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, a former dean

neW DeAn: Jir í Moskala, a veteran pastor, administrator, and educator, will be the new dean of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews Univer-sity in Berrien Springs, Michigan, beginning July 1, 2013. he is currently professor of Old Testament exegesis and theology and chair of the Department of Old Testament at the institution.

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Hope Channel Launches in Poland, expansion PlannedLaunch of television service cements growing media ministry.By ADVENTIST NEWS NETWORK STAFF

SEVENTh-DAy ADVENTIST Church leaders in Poland say the March 2013 launch of Hope Channel Poland signals the continued growth of media minis-try in the central European nation.

Hope Channel Poland offers 24/7 Internet television, and plans are in place to enter local cable and satellite networks in the coming months. The network broadcasts original Polish pro-gramming, as well as translated media produced by tedMEDIA Productions from the church’s Trans-European Divi-sion, headquartered in England.

“This is a significant move for the church in Poland,” said Pawel Lazar, president of Hope Channel Poland and

PoLisH LAUnCH: The Seventh-day Adventist church is producing 24/7 internet television from the newly launched hope channel Poland at the Voice of hope Media center in warsaw. church leaders have identified media as an ideal method of ministry in the European country.

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at church-owned Loma Linda University and director of the General Conference’s Education Department, noted the new seminary dean’s extensive background.

His “balance of global perspective, scholarship, teaching, and administra-tive experience make Dr. Moskala emi-nently well qualified to be the new dean,” she said. “Beyond this, he has an energetic, cheerful personality, and the soul of a pastor.”

Colleague JoAnn Davidson, a profes-sor of theology at the seminary, said Moskala’s “love of Hebrew and his insight into the Hebrew Bible are mar-velous. His insights into the biblical text are very rich. He’s an able scholar, a strong statesman, a beloved teacher here, and a strong choice. He has a vision for the seminary. I think he will be excellent.”

Ben Schoun, a general vice president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church and chair of the Andrews Univer-

sity board, said of Moskala, “It was evi-dent during the search process that his colleagues have high regard for him, both for his professional credentials and his friendly and gentle personal-ity. Being a product of the formerly Communist Czech Republic, he does not take for granted the blessings of free-dom that we enjoy to value our faith and live according to the dictates of our con-science. I believe that he will lead the seminary well.”

Said Lael Caesar, a research professor of Hebrew Bible at Andrews who is also an associate editor of Adventist Review magazine, “In his new responsibilities Jirí Moskala should enjoy wide support among the many to whom he has already proved a great blessing.”

And Adventist Review associate editor Gerald Klingbeil praised Moskala’s global perspective: “Anybody who has ever traveled with Dr. Moskala has known him as somebody who is com-

fortable transitioning between different cultures. His familiarity with the larger world church outside of North America will undoubtedly be a blessing for the seminary; his love and passion for this church is contagious and inspiring.”

The primary mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary is to prepare ministers and teachers for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It offers a Master of Divinity; Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry, Religion, Religious Education, and Youth and Young Adult Ministry; dual degrees in Master of Arts in Youth and Young Adult Ministry/Master of Social Work and Master of Divinity/Master of Social Work; and five doctoral programs: Doctor of Ministry; Doctor of Philosophy in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology, Reli-gion, and Religious Education; and Doc-tor of Theology. n

—with reporting from Keri Suarez, Andrews University

ˇ



n U n i t E D stat Es

La sierra University receives Presidential service AwardAdventist school one of five honored by Corporation for National and Community Service.By ADVENTIST NEWS NETWORK STAFF

LA SIERRA University was one of five educational institu-tions named a Presidential Awardee in the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest honor a college or university in the United States can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

La Sierra, a Seventh-day Adventist university located in Riverside, California, received the award for its efforts to improve educational and developmental outcomes for chil-dren in distressed areas.

At a March 4, 2013, ceremony in Washington, D.C., La Sierra president Randal Wisbey received the 2013 Presiden-tial Award from the Corporation for National and Commu-nity Service (CNCS) during the annual meeting of the American Council on Education.

“Service to others is a key part of La Sierra’s mission and indicative of the Christian ethos that drives our work as a learning community,” Wisbey said. “I am humbled by the way in which students, faculty, and staff daily live out this value through formal and informal outreach efforts to help people in local and global communities.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, special assistant to President Barack Obama, and Wendy Spencer, CNCS CEO, presented the award.

Projects in La Sierra’s Promise Neighborhoods initiative included tutoring and mentoring elementary students, fund-raising for after-school programs in the surrounding public school district, and interactive learning experiences

created by biology and communication students in the uni-versity’s natural history museum.

Total service hours, including all campus service and overseas missions, culminated in nearly 1,900 students ful-filling almost 85,000 hours. For academic service-learning classes alone, about 900 La Sierra students provided more than 14,000 hours of service.

The four other 2013 Presidential Award winners were Georgia Perimeter College in Georgia, Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, the University of Connecticut, and Nazareth College in New York. A total of 690 higher educational insti-tutions were named this year to the organization’s honor roll.

CNCS, an independent federal agency, has administered the award since 2006 and manages the program in collabo-ration with the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the American Council on Education and Campus Compact. n

serViCe AWArD: la Sierra University president Randal wis-bey, center, received the 2013 Presidential Award from wendy Spencer, cEO of the corporation for National and community Service, and Jonathan greenblatt, special assistant to U.S. pres-ident Barack Obama at a March 4, 2013, ceremony.

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the church’s Polish Union Conference.“When I started church work many

years ago, we had good success with public meetings, but now we are finding that media is the best way to connect with our society, especially young peo-ple,” Lazar added.

Church officials in the country say

Hope Channel Poland will help lay the groundwork for urban outreach planned for Warsaw in 2014. Currently church leaders are designing billboards advertising Adventist television to install in major cities.

Close to 6,000 Adventists worship in 118 churches in Poland. The church also

operates a college, publishing house, and the Voice of Hope Media Center in Warsaw.

Warsaw is among dozens of cities worldwide where Adventists will host coordinated evangelism efforts in the coming years as part of the Mission to the Cities initiative. n


n n O Rt H a M E R i C a

retired executive secretary Clyde Franz turns 100Centenarian served church in U.S., British West Indies, and CubaBy ANSEL OLIVER, Adventist News Network

CLyDE FRANZ, a retired Seventh-day Adventist Church executive who oversaw membership statistics and missionary recruitment for international outposts, turned 100 on March 1, 2013.

Franz served as executive secretary of the denomination from 1970 to 1980. He celebrated his centennial with his two children, relatives, and friends visit-ing from several states.

“They’re making a big deal out of this when all I’ve really done was get up 36,000 times, more or less, and I’m here,” he quipped during a phone interview from his home at a retirement facility in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He pauses and more solemnly says, “I should add that I’m thankful to the Lord for all those times.”

His daughter, 72-year-old Sue Smith, said her father has always embraced humor. “He loves to tell little jokes. His mind is really sharp. . . . Dad’s had an interesting life. He’s been a wonderful father.”

Franz walks a mile or two each day and participates in his facility’s exercise club. He’s the oldest in the group. The youngest is 70.

“You would never guess he’s going to be 100,” said fellow resident Karl Bahr, who served with Franz at the Adventist Church headquarters as controller.

Franz also still drives, mostly to take his 98-year-old retired missionary doc-tor friend to visit his 101-year-old wife in a nearby nursing home twice a day. Franz passed a state driving exam two months ago, which gives him a license for another five years. He said he’ll likely not drive that long, though.

Franz married three times, and each time he outlived his vow of “till death do

us part.” He says he enjoyed each mar-riage, but that he’ll remain a bachelor.

He doesn’t have any secrets to longev-ity, he said, other than being a vegetarian and living as a Seventh-day Adventist. He believes observing the Sabbath—tak-ing a day off each week—has helped. “It’s healthful, but it goes further than that. When we take the Sabbath off,

we’re serving God.”As secretary in the 1970s, he ran the

department charged with filling mis-sion posts, still in an era before national leaders took most leadership roles.

“In those days, unlike today, our number one job was finding missionary recruits for divisions. Nowadays divi-sions pretty much find their own per-sonnel,” he said.

Don Yost, who worked for Franz as the founder of what is now the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, said

Franz was “very well organized, very congenial, efficient in doing the things that needed to be done. Just a very fine person to work with.”

Franz was born on March 1, 1913, to self-supporting missionaries in Camagüey, Cuba. In 1932 he earned an accounting degree at Southern Mission-ary College—now Southern Adventist University.

He went on to serve as secretary-trea-surer of several Adventist conferences, including Alabama-Mississippi, Ken-tucky-Tennessee, Iowa, and the British West Indies Union. In the 1950s he served in the Antillean Union, based in Cuba, for two years as president.

He also served as secretary of the Inter-American Division, based in Miami, Florida, from 1954 to 1961, and then as the division’s treasurer until 1966.

It was at the 1966 General Conference session in Detroit, Michigan, that Franz’s college classmate Robert Pierson was elected president of the Adventist world church. “Hey, Bob,” he remem-bered joking at a chance meeting in Cobo Hall, “if you ever need a janitor there someday, remember me.” Within a week Franz was “there,” having just hours after the encounter been appointed an associate executive secre-tary of the denomination. Four years later he was appointed secretary.

But Franz is still a treasurer at heart. His top hobby is managing his own finances in a spare bedroom he’s con-verted into a study, complete with com-puter and copier.

In anticipation of his milestone birth-day, he said, “I just can’t ignore the way the Lord has directed and led through all these years. I’ve been blessed beyond measure.” n

ConTenTeD CenTenAriAn: clyde franz served as secretary of the Adventist world church from 1970 to 1980. March 1, 2013, marked his 100th birthday.

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adventist life

The earthquake in Haiti was all over the news. My husband and I were discussing how much we could give to help the relief. We asked our boys if they would like to give anything to help the children in Haiti. Our youngest son disappeared. A while later he reappeared holding his bank. “Did you decide to give something?” we asked.

“Yes,” he responded. “Can I please give it all?”I often think of how different our church and our world would be if instead of calculating

what to give we just gave our all.—LeAnn AUsTin, PIttsBuRgH, PeNNsylVANIA

At church one Sabbath my 3-year-old niece, Keira, asked Grandma for some juice. After she drank her apple juice, she snuggled next to Grandma and asked, “Can I have some dis-ciple juice?”

“Water?” Grandma guessed. “No, disciple juice,” insisted Keira. Then Grandma remembered that Communion had

been held the previous Sabbath and that she had explained to Keira how Jesus and the disciples ate bread and drank grape juice together.

“Oh, you want grape juice?” said Grandma.“Yes, grape juice,” Keira affirmed.

—meLAnie BeAULieU, BeRRIeN sPRINgs, MIcHIgAN

sound Bite

“Jesus gives more than the breath that gives us life.”—DAViD WADDingTon, IN RegARd

to JoHN 3:16, 17, duRINg HIs octoBeR

13, 2012, seRMoN At tHe cHeRRy HIll

seVeNtH-dAy AdVeNtIst cHuRcH IN

NeW JeRsey

What is your favorite? Here are the top five Bible translations (based on both dol-lar sales and unit sales):

New International VersionKing James VersionNew Living TranslationNew King James VersionEnglish Standard Version

—tHIs INfoRMAtIoN, fRoM cHRIstIAN BookselleRs

AssocIAtIoN (cBA; WWW.cBAoNlINe.oRg/NM/

docuMeNts/Bsls/BIBle_tRANslAtIoNs.Pdf), Is

BAsed oN A lIst of ActuAl sAles IN cHRIstIAN

RetAIl stoRes IN tHe uNIted stAtes tHRougH

deceMBeR 29, 2012.

did you know?

share with us

We are looking for brief submissions in these categories:

sound Bites (quotes, profound or spontaneous)

Adventist Life (short anecdotes, espe-cially from the world of adults)

Camp meeting memories (short, humorous and/or profound anecdotes)

Favorite (Church) Family Photos (must be high resolution min. 1000 px JPEGs)

Please send your submissions to Give & Take, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; fax: 301-680-6638; e-mail: [email protected]. Please include phone num-ber, and city and state from which you are writing.

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practice, Joshua’s case seems to com-municate more than simple genealogi-cal information. Rather, it seems to highlight Nun as the man who reared this noble son. Perhaps, then, we should consider what compelled Moses to design his servant’s business card to read “Joshua, son of Nun.”

SlaveryNun, like his son after him and his

father before him, was born into servi-tude. Egyptian slavery was a cruel and abusive system, utterly dehumanizing, and lacking any redeeming features. Though they toiled and struggled under increasingly harsh conditions, slaves never reaped any benefits for their labor.

Mr. NunI imagine that one day Nun crawls

home showing signs of physical abuse. An Egyptian whip has left its mark on

Devotional

Plagues and promises have interplayed in dra-matic fashion in Israel’s liberation from Egypt. Exodus events are fresh on every Israelite mind.

And now, after Yahweh’s miraculous interventions, the former slaves are well on their way to the Promised Land. Nev-ertheless, Amalek, a local warlord, stands in their way, poised to destroy Israel’s dream of nationhood. As his military commander to confront the Amalekite army, Moses chooses a youth named Hoshea, renaming him Joshua (Num. 13:16).

Nun’s SonJoshua’s identity seems inseparably

linked to his father. Thirty references, from Exodus to Nehemiah, identify him as “son of Nun.” By way of contrast, Moses, his mentor, is never labeled “son of Amram.” Although referring to a son by his father’s name was then common

MAkinG Junior ProUD oF DADDy

By GILBERT VEGA

| www.AdventistReview.org14 (270)

his back. His young lad, Joshua, is horri-fied. He asks questions; Nun tries to ignore him, but Joshua is persistent. Who beat his daddy, and why? He comes to comprehend what slavery is and what it is doing to his father. “Daddy,” he says, “when I grow up I’m going to fight them. I will never be a slave!” Nun detects the boiling anger building within Joshua’s adolescent heart. It would have been the ideal time for him to foster hostility.

He could have reasoned: If I bring him up heartless, he will suffer less in this abusive system. I will teach him to fight, to lie, cheat, and bribe so he can take every opportunity to deal with injustice. Nun could have instilled in his child a “beat the system” mind-set that would collect “payback” for yesterday’s abuses upon his race.

But he didn’t. He would not let cir-cumstances derail his paternal respon-sibility. He would not allow present realities to control the script of his life or that of his son. Nun selected another option—to raise his boy to be a man of

integrity; a man governed by sound moral principles. And so without a 66-book revelation, or some child-rear-ing manual for slaves, he set out to raise a man. Yes, Joshua would be such a man. Integrity would be the goal—even as a foreigner in the midst of an abusive society. Joshua would learn to be a man of high moral standards, an individual

of integrity and a God-fearing person. Though he was going against conven-tional wisdom, he would not give in. And that is precisely what he did. By doing that, Nun raised more than a man—he raised a historical figure.

MoldingThe dominant society under whose

shadow we grow will mold us into its image. Its spell will shape us, either by choice or unwittingly. Most individuals follow the path of least resistance. Peo-ple do not want to face opposition while executing the casual drudgeries of life. It has always been so. Hence, to dare to be different and to break established

We should consider What coMpelled Moses to design

his servant’s business card as Joshua, son oF nun

15

30). Those two, Joshua and Caleb, were indeed a very special class. Sadly, the camp of Israel did not have the steely resolve that Joshua possessed. He stood out because he had been raised to boldly live out his undergirding principles regardless of immediate rewards or dan-gers. As a father, Nun simply wanted his son to be a man of integrity. Thus he wove into his character the traits that would make him such an individual. In time, those traits set Joshua apart from among the host of Israel. Moses spotted those personal traits and chose him as his protégé from among the thousands of Israel. Years later there was yet another promotion. On that occasion God specifically named Joshua to replace Moses. Needless to say, God was also profoundly impressed by the son of Nun.

ConclusionNun probably did not raise his boy

with any eyes for the spotlight. But God picked and placed him in a path of glory. Nun may not have educated his son to think of leadership. But God molded him to lead the throngs of Israel. What Nun did accomplish, was raising Joshua

to practice principles of nobility even as a slave in a land of servitude. But God used those principles to make him the conqueror of the Promised Land.

A traveler watched as a gritty farmer tilled the earth in a stony, rugged, and unpromising landscape. “Tell me, sir, what does the land yield?” The rugged farmer replied: “This land produces men.” It is often the arduous circum-stances of life that mold and stamp lives of distinction. Egypt’s grueling servi-tude and a slave’s nobility produced for Israel, and for history, one of God’s ablest men, Joshua son of Nun. God give us more Nuns.

giLBerT VegA, PH.D., AN

ExPERIENCED CHURCH LEADER,

CURRENTLY PASTORS THE LOMA

LINDA SPANISH SEVENTH-DAY

ADVENTIST CHURCH, LOMA LINDA,

CALIFORNIA.

parameters is a heroic undertaking. It is never easy to step away from the huddle and to think and act outside of it. Tow-ing the line is so much more natural. And it was profoundly so for a family of slaves whose instinctive priority in life was survival.

But that was not what Nun inculcated into Joshua’s DNA. Joshua’s lesson one was to be true to himself in spite of external forces. He learned and lived that lesson in Egypt and in the desert. Standing by his principles anywhere, regardless, became a lifestyle.

The TestFast-forward to the border of the

Promised Land. Moses sends a scouting party of 12 men, including Nun’s son Joshua, to bring back an eyewitness report of Canaan’s bounty. I picture him returning to the Israelite camp excited about the land that he and the 11 others have surveyed. He is upbeat and opti-mistic. But his passion makes him odd. For of the 12 men who give their report, only one other voice shares his position. Still, when it is his turn, Joshua speaks his heart and goes on record on the side of the minority report. Undaunted by numbers, he speaks his conscience.

Nun’s son, and Caleb, his friend, stand their ground in spite of the hostile envi-ronment. Hurled abuse does not bend or crack them. It only tests and proves the character that father Nun has instilled in Joshua, his son. These sterling qualities, demonstrated under pressure, do not materialize out of a vacuum. They are the by-product of his mentorship under Nun. The lessons learned in captivity are now elevating him into a bold and visionary leader of men.

UniquenessOf all the men of Israel who left Egypt

old enough to fight, only two individuals entered the Promised Land (Num. 14:26-


Dealing With DisappointmentDISAPPOINTMENT. NOBODy LIKES IT; BUT EVERyBODy ExPERIENCES IT.

We’ve all had those dreams and desires that, as we’ve matured, we’ve had to readjust and slide into our mental background. They didn’t fit with reality, so we just smiled at them and moved on.

However, some disappointments are not so easy to deal with. Our relationships, children, marriage, careers, and health are areas in which dealing with disappointment isn’t quite so simple.

When we think about how to deal with disappointment, it’s helpful to define the word. The root of “disappointment” is “appoint,” meaning “to decide on or ordain.” Disappointment happens when we don’t get something we believe would be best. It’s simply an expectation that we wanted, expected, even felt was due us that didn’t come to pass or happen the way we thought it should. Therefore we are unhappy, discontented, disappointed.

But if we don’t handle disappointment in a positive way, it will react upon us negatively. Our Christian maturity and practical success are reflected by how we deal with disappointment.

The apostle Paul provides us with advice about how to deal with disappointment and illus-trates how he dealt with it in his own ministry. His approach for dealing with disappoint-ment was “learned contentedness.” He wrote, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situa-tion, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:11-13).

Acts 20 records Paul’s final trip to Jerusalem as he faced the danger and disappointment of being accused and imprisoned. We can learn from Paul five principles about dealing with disappointment:

1. Act on Your Duty: Paul wrote, “I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house” (verse 20). No matter how disappointed you may feel, stay focused on your known duties and responsibilities. Don’t let disappointment derail you.

2. Adapt to the Facts: “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there” (verse 22). Every disappointment has realities that we may want to avoid or deny. Resist that temptation. In the might of Christ, face the truth and move on.

3. Adhere to Your Partnership: “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me” (verse 23). One of the most comforting and empowering aspects of our walk with Christ is knowing that we are not alone. Christ is with us. Believe it (you don’t have to feel it), then act on it.

4. Assume a Resolute Attitude: “But none of these things move me” (verse 24, KJV). I absolutely love this principle. I accept it as a personal challenge: to reach a place in my experience where disappointments and trials don’t bother me. That’s true growth!

5. Accomplish With Confidence: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (verse 24). This is rich. Paul says God has given me my race to run, my ministry to accomplish, and I will not only do it, but I will do it with joy and with a positive testimony.

Finally, the big perspective: While we may get stuck focusing on the here and now, our present situation isn’t the end of the story. Paul encouraged his fellow believers to see the big picture. He wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:16, 17). n

DeLBerT W. BAker IS A GENERAL VICE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.

Transformation Tips

Delbert W. Baker

www.AdventistReview.org | March 28, 2013 | 17(27 3)

Cover

Progress it iS our privileGe to PURSUE TO ThE END

tHe reCitinG JeSuS left unfiniSHeD

Apoemin


By MARCOS PASEGGI

The Rabbi is dying. He is not any rabbi. He is the Rabbi, the one who left people “astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one

having authority” (Matt. 7:28, 29).1

But He is dying. He implored to be spared the bitter cup (Luke 22:42).

He was not.Now He hangs from the cross. Most of

His followers have deserted Him. The same acolytes who were acclaiming Him mere hours before now pretend they do not know Him. He feels alone and rejected by all (Matt. 26:56; see also Isa. 53:3).

Agonizing, He resorts to the same comfort tool He has used throughout His 33 years of joys, trials, and tribula-tions: He goes to the Scriptures for sup-port. In His most trying hour, Jesus makes David’s experience His own. He begins to recite one of the great song prayers in the Psalms. “With a loud voice,” He cries, “ ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ ” (Matt. 27:46, citing Ps. 22:1). In the tradition of the time, “citing the first words of a text was . . . a way of identifying an entire passage.”2

But it is too late for further develop-ments. It is the ninth hour. The sacrifice is almost perfect. There is no more time, not even for reciting the Scriptures. While it is very likely He had memorized the entire psalm, Jesus never makes it past the first line of David’s poem.3

The Rabbi dies well before His recit-ing is finished. Though He might have fast-forwarded in His mind to the glori-ous ending of the poem, it would be for others to complete what He had begun.4

From Lines to PoemJesus, however, was not the first to

repeat some of David’s lines in Psalm 22 on that fateful afternoon at Golgotha.

The chief priests, scribes, and elders had mocked Him a few hours before saying, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now” (Matt. 27:43; cf. Ps. 22:7, 8). “In their blindness they did not see that they were fulfilling the prophecy,” writes Ellen White.5 But their ridiculing act “led men to search the Scriptures as they had never done before. . . . [Those men] never rested until . . . they saw the meaning of Christ’s mission.”6

At the same time, the light began to shine on those who heard Christ’s words on the cross.7 They started to connect the dots, to move from isolated lines to the poem as a whole and the big picture it represents. Because if there is something significant about Psalm 22, it is that there is—interlaced along the continuum of human suffering and seeming dejection—a golden thread connecting humanity’s personal and corporative past to a thankful present

and a glorious future. David’s strange song con-tains the message of the Bible in a nutshell; in its few lines the highs and lows of our exis-tence find their place within the all-encompassing

story of redemption.It is for us then to make them ours,

proclaiming to the world those lines Jesus did not happen to recite.

Enforcing the Blueprint: Creation

You are He who took Me out of the womb;You made Me trust while on My mother’s

breasts.I was cast upon You from birth.From My mother’s wombYou have been My God (Ps. 22:9, 10).

After perusing at least a dozen schol-arly commentaries on Psalm 22, I find the limited space devoted to discuss the

david’s strange song contains the Message oF

the bible in a nutshell.


Believing in God as our Creator makes a huge difference, indeed. According to David, God started to work in him before he was even born (Ps. 22:10). Indeed, he writes, “I was thrust into your arms at my birth” (NLT).10 Since the very beginning, God fashioned David and made him part of His people for the glory of His name (see Isa. 43:21). Moreover, it is the Lord who takes David out of the womb and teaches him to trust when he is still on his mother’s breasts (Ps. 22:9). This abil-ity to trust is the basis of any meaning-ful relationship with our human parents, and in turn with God.11

God formed us “an intricate unity” (Job 10:8), and out of this realization a natural connection develops: His work as the Creator is an entitlement on Him-self, as attested by one of the throne room scenes witnessed by John the rev-elator: “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created” (Rev. 4:11). It is a motivation to praise Him that cannot but grow exponentially once we realize He does not only create. He also hears. And He saves.

Applying the Contingency Plan: Salvation

I will declare Your name to My brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. . . .

For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;

Nor has He hidden His face from Him;

But when He cried to Him, He heard (Ps. 22:22-24).

Sometime ago I was shopping for groceries in my local supermarket, which boasts a large section of certified kosher foods. It was a few days before Passover, and I could not help noticing a buzz of excitement in the “kosher quar-ters.” Jewish matrons of every age and bearing walked around chatting anima-tedly, discussing the prices and alleged properties of the goods offered. Chil-dren in skullcaps were running to and fro, making a joyful noise—and a folk-loric mess. Bearded and beardless men in suits and ties, seemingly profession-als, discussed over their cell phones in loud voices—supposedly with their exacting wives—about the right amount or brand name of a specific product to be purchased.

As I walked amazed among them, I could not help wondering what the fuss was all about (which is, incidentally, what practicing Jewish people all around the world ask every year at Passover: “Why is this night different from all other nights?”). Traditionally, as Christians we have stressed the differences between cele-brating the memory of a physical liberation (from the bondage in Egypt) and a reminder of a spiritual liberation (from the bondage of sin). But as I paced through the kosher aisles apprehending the scene of joyous anticipation, an all-encompass-ing similitude dawned on me: For all our differences, the celebration of Passover implies enacting mementos of God’s intervention in human affairs. Both Jews and Christians believe God is not one of the gods of the ancient Greeks, forever detached, forever unreachable in an unchangeable cosmos. He is not the impervious, immutable deity, the eternal continuum who is beyond even the possi-

above verses quite striking. Often mini-mized, even overlooked altogether, these and other “creation passages” are foundational for understanding the timely unfolding of the plan of salva-tion. Many Bible commentators, how-ever, seem to miss the extent to which the belief in humanity as God’s supreme act of creation brings home the meaning of the whole process of redemption (which is, in fact, to bring humans back “to the perfection in which [they were] created”).8

But while some “sons of the kingdom” seem to be dozing off, others are coming to sit at the creation table (see Matt. 8:11, 12). A. J. Jacobs is an agnostic journalist who, as a personal experiment, set out to follow the Bible injunctions as literally as possible for one whole year. While he found a few of the commands were rather easy to follow, others presented various cognitive challenges. Specifically, in his mind he found it hard to accept the six-day Creation story as it is told in Gen-esis. One night, however, Jacobs decided to convince himself about the possibility of a recent creation. While he never man-aged to dispel his doubts completely, he writes that he found the prospect “fasci-nating.” He started to think of the impli-cations of accepting God as Creator. Suddenly he felt more connected to other human beings; everyone had become his brother or sister. But he also realized that creation belief made his life more signifi-cant. He was important because he was created by God, and God made humanity the pinnacle of creation, “vastly superior to the beasts and nature” (see Ps. 8:5-8).9 Even for this agnostic, the possibility of believing the Bible account as true made a huge difference.

the dying rabbi never made it beyond the first

line of the poem. But it is for His followers to

carry on the task He left unfinished.


Projecting the Outcome: Re-creation

All the ends of the worldShall remember and turn to the Lord,And all the families of the nationsShall worship before You.For the kingdom is the Lord’s,And He rules over the nations (Ps.

22:27, 28).

Psalm 22 connects our present thanksgiving for the reality of salvation to the worship to be bestowed by “all the families of the nations” (verse 27). God’s rule “over the nations” (verse 28) makes “all the ends of the world . . . remember and turn to the Lord” (verse 27).14 It is the moment God’s imprint on us, first applied at Creation, later man-gled by sin but repurchased at the cross, now becomes perfect once again. The Lord restores a kingdom “which shall never be destroyed” because “it shall stand forever” (Dan. 2:44).

Within this context, the sufferings described in Psalm 22—the groaning and the crying, the siege by the forces of evil, and even the feeling of God’s desertion—are nothing more than a “light affliction, which is but for a moment”; in fact, they are “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). We might be “encircled” by “bulls” (Ps. 22:12). We might be “surrounded” by “dogs” (verse 16).15 We might feel as if the Lord has brought us “to the dust of death” (verse 15). But even in our seemingly darkest hour, “we do not lose heart” (2 Cor. 4:16), because the ending is a fore-gone conclusion.

Which nevertheless is not supposed to be a safe conduct for remaining on the sidelines.

Reciting the PoemThe dying Rabbi never made it

beyond the first line of the poem. But it is for His followers to carry on the task He left unfinished. We are the ones who must keep connecting the dots that link God’s creation with His salvation and future new creation. We are the ones sent to make sense of the “besieging

part” of the great controversy, dis-patched to open the eyes obscured and the hearts puzzled with the enlighten-ment of God’s revelation. We are the ones to proclaim that even though “now we see in a mirror, dimly,” then we will see “face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12).

The reciting must go on, because the story has to be retold “to the next gen-eration” (Ps. 22:30; see also Ps. 102:18). Everyone needs to hear that “He has done this” (Ps. 22:31). His past actions are the best guarantee that He will ful-fill what is left “until the day dawns and the morning star rises in [our] hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).

Feeling forsaken? unheard? belea-guered? bedeviled? Look at the big pic-ture—and finish the poem! From now on, it only gets better. n

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible texts are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by per-mission. All rights reserved.

2 James L. Mays, “Prayer and Christology: Psalm 22 as Perspective on the Passion,” Theology Today 42 (1985): 322.

3 See James Howell, “Commentary on Psalm,” retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=5/10/2009&tab=5.

4 Ibid. 5 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View,

Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), p. 749. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.:

Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 16. 9 A. J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically (New York:

Simon & Schuster, 2007), p. 107.10 Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from

the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

11 See Cintia Paseggi, “Born to Connect,” Adventist World, NAD Edition, January 2012, pp. 28, 29.

12 Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases (Silver Spring, Md.: E. G. White Estate, 1993), vol. 16, p. 231.

13 Ibid., p. 232. (Italics supplied.)14 For the connection between God as a deliverer

and His rule over the nations, see also Psalm 72:11, 12.15 For the use of animal metaphors in Psalm 22, see G.

Eidevall, “Images of God, Self, and the Enemy in the Psalms: On the Role of Metaphor in Identity Construction,” in P. Van Hecke, ed., Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible (Leuven, Bel-gium: Leuven University Press, 2005), pp. 55-66.

mArCos PAseggi, MARRIED TO

CINTIA AND PROUD FATHER OF TWO

ENERGETIC SONS, IS A TRANSLATOR,

BIBLE RESEARCHER, AND AUTHOR

FROM OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

bility of interacting with humans on earth. On the contrary, He is the God who comes down, who reveals Himself, who gets involved, and who has power to guide and even alter the course of cir-cumstances (see, for instance, Dan. 2:28). Be it in ancient Egypt or in our hearts, we believe God changes things. And He answers prayer (Ps. 22:21), for He has a long record of doing so (verses 4, 5).

This awareness is the reason we declare and praise His name (verse 22). It is what motivates not only a personal expression of worship, but a corporate one. As individuals and also as a group, we yearn to give glory to His name, “for He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted” (verse 24).

Every time God intervenes in the life of His people, His redeeming actions elicit a response of praise and witnessing. It was the case of Moses on the seashore of the Red Sea (“He has become my salvation” [Ex. 15:2]). It was also the response of Hannah when she saw her prayer answered (“I rejoice in Your salvation” [1 Sam. 2:1]). It was the experience of Mary before the birth of Jesus (“He who is mighty has done great things for me” [Luke 1:49]). Even Jesus breaks in a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Father when He Himself witnesses “men . . . convicted and converted to the truth” (see Matt. 11:25).12 The author of Hebrews applies the words of Psalm 22:22 to Jesus Himself, as He extols the God of salvation among His human brethren (Heb. 2:12).

The process of God’s act of redemp-tion, and its corresponding human response of gratitude, is straightforward. Ellen G. White writes, “All who . . . desire to know the truth will see the power of God when it is revealed, and will acknowl-edge it” (see Ps. 50:14, 15).13 It is the natu-ral response of those who, based on the firm ground of knowing where they come from, now rejoice in God’s supreme act of intervention (see Isa. 43:1). Moreover, God’s act of salvation now guarantees each one of us a privileged spot as we move to the third major stage of the story of redemption (see 2 Cor. 4:14).


spirit of Prophecy

the

By ELLEN G. WhITE

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abun-dant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by

the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorrupt-

ible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

We may have high anticipations in regard to the things of this life, but we shall meet with disappointment. We shall find that they fade away. But here is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,

reserved in heaven for you.” We want our thoughts to be fixed on the things that will abide, not upon those that pass away with the using. If we fix our hopes on the future, immortal world, we shall not be disappointed.

When Christ came into this world, He saw that men had left the future, eternal life out of their reckoning. He came to present that life before us, that by beholding it we might be led to change our relation to the things of this life, that our affections might be placed upon the things above, and not upon the things of the earth, so soon to pass away. The shadow that Satan has caused

enduring treasure


to intervene between our souls and God, Christ seeks to roll back, that the view of God and eternity may become clear. While He does not despise this world, He places it in its proper posi-tion of subordination. And then He places the things of eternity in their rel-ative importance before us, that we may fix the eye of faith upon the unseen. The things of temporal interest have power to engross the thoughts and affections, and it is important that we should be constantly educating and training our minds to dwell upon things of eternal interest. Will this make us unhappy? Will it cause us to have a hard time here? No, indeed. Receiving the gift of God will make everything in life easy. The more of the Spirit of God, the more of His grace, is brought into our daily experience, the less friction there will be, the more happiness we shall have, and the more we shall impart to others.

We read in the Bible about the resur-rection of Christ from the dead; but do we act as though we believed it? Do we believe that Jesus is a living Savior, that He is not in Joseph’s new tomb, with the great stone rolled before it, but that He has risen from the dead, and ascended on high, to lead captivity captive, and to

give good gifts unto men? He is there to plead our cases in the courts of heaven. He is there because we need a friend in the heavenly court, one who is to be our advocate and intercessor. Then let us rejoice in this. . . . Many judge of their religious state by their emotions; but these are not a safe criterion. Our Chris-tian life does not depend upon our feel-ings, but upon our having a right hold from above. We must believe the words of God just as He has spoken them; we must take Christ at His word, believe that He came to represent the Father, and that the Father, as is represented in Christ, is our friend, and that He desires not that we should perish, or He would never have given His Son to die our sac-rifice. The cross of Calvary is an eternal pledge to every one of us, that God wants us to be happy, not only in the future life, but in this life. . . .

We should not cast ourselves away, saying, “I am a sinner, and when I become good enough, I will come to Christ; then I can believe and pray.” You will never be good enough of yourselves to merit the favor and help of God. You must come just as you are. Christ meets you as you draw nigh to Him. Place your hand in the hand of Jesus, and He will direct you. Believe that He keeps you, and then it will be found that in the trial of your faith you will come off more than conqueror through Him that loved you. We gain the victory through faith in Christ’s power to save us. Then the trial of our faith will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Christ. You will praise God that you have found in Christ a present help in every time of need. . . .

What is it to be a Christian? It is to be Christlike. To be a Christian is to act as Christ acts, to have His spirit at all times, in all places, and under all circum-stances. When we are brought into adverse circumstances, when our natural feelings are stirred, and we want to give vent to them, then our faith is tried; then we are to manifest the meekness and gentleness of Christ. . . . “If any man

offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body”—the whole man. What we want is to be under the control of Jesus. We do not want our own way. I have heard some plead as an excuse for their wrong course, “You know that it is my tempera-ment, it is my disposition, transmitted to me from my parents.” Yes; and they have cultivated it, and educated themselves in it, and thus excused all their wrongdo-ing. Instead of yielding to temptation, they should lay hold upon the arm of Infinite Power, saying, “I will come to God just as I am, and plead with Christ to give me the victory. I shall be more than conqueror through him that loved me.”

In order to understand how great the love of Jesus is for you, look to Calvary. You can then know something of the depth, the breadth, and the height of that love, and you can see something of the condescension of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, as step by step the Savior descended into the valley of humilia-tion. He did not stoop to sin, to defile-ment, but He stood on this atom of a world to battle with Satan and his host, and here to win for us an immortal inheritance, an inheritance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and which fadeth not away. When He ascended on high, and led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, He left the battle in our hands, but we are not to fight in our own strength; we should certainly fail if we attempted it. Christ is there present with the Father, to bring to our help the unseen intelligences, the angels of God. What we need is the simplicity of faith, the meekness and humility of Christ. Then we shall trust wholly in the Lord of heaven, and He will be at our right hand to help us. n

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED

IN THE ReVIeW ANd HeRAld, MARCH

8, 1892. eLLen g. WHiTe, ITS

AUTHOR, WAS ONE OF THE

FOUNDERS OF THE SEVENTH-DAY

ADVENTIST CHURCH. HER LIFE AND WORK TESTIFIED

TO THE SPECIAL GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.


Poem

a Joyful End By JESSICA L. PERRONE

The Dove flies soft and swift,Frail wings against the burdened air.Below His circlesSleepless malice surges from the depths.The Bird knows what will follow:The thunder from the deep,Declaring ownership of earth’s humanity;the rhythm of the drums declaring death forever.

The Dove knows what will follow,And knowing it, He hurtles toward the earthAgainst the mist that masks the mighty serpent,For He is undeterred.He swoops like eagles,Streaking light against the stretching darkness.

The pebble in His claw is smooth and giant-slaying.

It strikes the serpent’s head.

The drums fall silent.Sun breaks through, and trumpets rent the air.

The joyful end has come. n

JessiCA L. Perrone WROTE THIS

WHEN SHE LIVED IN MAPLE GROVE,

MINNESOTA.


a Joyful End By JESSICA L. PERRONE

The Dove flies soft and swift,Frail wings against the burdened air.Below His circlesSleepless malice surges from the depths.The Bird knows what will follow:The thunder from the deep,Declaring ownership of earth’s humanity;the rhythm of the drums declaring death forever.

The Dove knows what will follow,And knowing it, He hurtles toward the earthAgainst the mist that masks the mighty serpent,For He is undeterred.He swoops like eagles,Streaking light against the stretching darkness.

The pebble in His claw is smooth and giant-slaying.

It strikes the serpent’s head.

The drums fall silent.Sun breaks through, and trumpets rent the air.

The joyful end has come. n

the Power of WaterSTRETChING My LEGS IN ThE ROOMy ExIT ROW OF ThE BOEING 767, I LOOKED around to see a window seat beside me and a jumper seat for a flight attendant across from me. Both were empty. I prayed for the person who would sit beside me for the 10-hour flight from Moscow to New York.

Then someone plopped down into the seat. His ample frame extended over the armrest. Worse, he carried the sweaty odor of someone unacquainted with the cleansing power of water.

Speechless, I frantically prayed, What do You want me to do?Opening my eyes, I glanced over at my seatmate. He was asleep.At that moment a flight attendant strapped herself into the seat facing me. She appeared to be in

her early 50s, and sadness seemed to cling to her eyes. I blurted out, “Why are you sad?”The woman looked surprised. “I’m not sad.”“Then where’s your smile?”That broke the ice, and we started talking. Within minutes we established that we had a

mutual friend in Moscow, my former boss. The flight attendant and my former boss had met a decade earlier at a Moscow riding club.

Ten hours later, as we descended into New York, Brenda* and I exchanged e-mail addresses and agreed to arrange a dinner with our mutual friend.

We made several attempts to arrange the dinner. But nothing worked out. Then the e-mails stopped.

Last September, 10 months later, I felt impressed to contact Brenda. She wrote back that she would arrive in Moscow the following week. We agreed to meet.

Over dinner I quickly learned that Brenda was standing at a crossroads in her life. From my own experience I knew that a crossroads is the best place to grasp Jesus’ hand. But how could I share that?

I did not find the words, and I ended up listening.Brenda raised a lot of questions. She wanted to know why I didn’t order a glass of red wine

with the meal. She asked why I didn’t want to join her for a cup of coffee afterward. She asked what I drank if I avoided alcohol and coffee, and, at my reply, she gasped, “Just water?”

I felt like a failure. I had not shared my love for Jesus.We kept in contact by e-mail, and a month later my new friend wrote that she was returning to Moscow

and invited me to dinner.It seemed like a second chance. I prayed extra-hard.But once more the words evaded me. So again I just listened.Brenda wept as she described a series of broken relationships. She acknowledged having an addiction to

alcohol. Then she startled me. Looking me straight in the eye, she asked, “Do you have such nice skin because you don’t drink alcohol or caffeine?”

As we finished eating, Brenda made a promise. Saying she wanted a better complexion, she said, “I prom-ise that I will not drink any alcohol or caffeine for two months.”

I was shocked. I hadn’t said a single word about the harmful effects of alcohol or caffeine.As Brenda’s words sank in over the next few days, I began to rejoice. Freed of the influence of those mind-

numbing drugs, her mind would become more clear and receptive to the Holy Spirit.So when is the right time to witness? Only on Sabbath? Certain times of the week? Of course not! The right

time to share our faith—to do good—is always. This principle is confirmed by Paul, who wrote: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).

It took a year from the unexpected meeting on a 767 jet until Brenda quit alcohol and caffeine. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The last I heard, her two-month commitment had stretched into four months. In fact, Brenda now drinks only water. She says her complexion is improving. I’m excited to see where Jesus will lead. n

* not her real name

AnDreW mCCHesneY IS A JOURNALIST IN RUSSIA.

Dateline moscow

Andrew McChesney


As i see it

For Love or By JEAN-LUC LÉZEAU

In the particularly hot debate about cutting the United States’ budget deficit, members of congregational delegations face each other, each side wrapped in their own ideolo-

gies. One wants to make sure that pro-grams for the poor are not going to be cut while the wealthy get tax breaks. The other sticks to its “ideological purity,” which is an “anaphylactic allergy to tax increases.”1

The search for the secret formula that will reduce the deficit and please every-body is still on, but will likely never be found. Could the reason for this stale-mate be a lack of love?

Will O’Brien contrasted biblical love and political ideologies with the follow-

ing words: “When we truly discover love, capitalism will not be possible and Marxism will not be necessary.”

Gandhi went to the heart of the ques-tion when he said, “There is enough for everyone’s need, but there is not enough for everyone’s greed.”

A Fair System?While members of Congress argue

the pros and cons of different tax rates, some of the candidates from last year’s presidential election floated the idea of doing away with the current system completely and introducing a flat tax. One candidate printed bumper stickers that read: “If 10 percent is good enough for God, then 9 percent should be just fine for the federal government!”2

Another candidate trying to outbid the 9 percent flat tax suggested 0 percent.3

Arguments against a flat tax are numer-ous. Alan Blinder, a professor of eco-nomics and public affairs at Princeton University, says it would be a folly,4 demonstrating that in fact the rich would pay less and the poor more.

Whether we are in a “craze” for a flat tax, or that it would be a “folly” or plain “beautiful”5 to adopt, it is not the first time in history that it was thought to be the panacea for all fiscal problems.

At the turn of the twenty-first century governments in Eastern Europe such as Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Georgia, and Romania all adopted a flat tax, although their rates differ, from 12 to 33 percent.6 Prob-ably influenced by their decades of Com-munist rule, they felt that tax should be equal for all. Interestingly, four of them—Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan—chose to set their flat rate tax at 10 percent.7

Pros and cons oF A flAt tAx


For Love or

Political parties in England, Germany, and Spain are toying with the same idea. Going further back into history, we see that Sébastian Vauban in France (1633-

1707) and Charlemagne (742-814) favored a common tax rate of 10 percent for everybody.

This shouldn’t surprise us, since God Himself warned the Israelites when they asked for a king: “He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants” (1 Sam. 8:15). Even before tithe was mentioned in the Bible, (Gen. 14:20), traces of evi-dence seem to show that a pre-Mosaic tithe system was practiced in Egypt and Babylonia. Tithe receipts in hieroglyphs and on cunei-form tablets can be seen at the British Museum8 and show that it was commonly practiced among civilized nations at the time.

What is remarkable is that not a sin-gle document shows when this practice started, who decided on the amount, nor people complaining about tithe being a burden.

We may wonder how such a practice came about so early. Ellen White wrote: “The tithing system reaches back beyond the days of Moses. . . . Even as far back as the days of Adam. . . . This was continued through successive generations, and was carried out by Abraham, who gave tithes to Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God.”9 It seems that the initial prin-ciple from God was expressed as an oral tradition that was gradually adopted by neighboring nations before Moses first mentioned it in Genesis. God’s principle evolved into a system by people who worshipped heathen gods, then into a common tax system.

The Spiritual DimensionToday’s situation could be improved

if the ideologies and convictions that drive this debate were found in Chris-tian behavior. God declared tithe holy

(Lev. 27:30-32), and that special bless-

ings are attached to those who practice it (2 Chron. 31:5-12; Mal. 3:10).

Then how can we explain that fewer than 30 percent of Seventh-day Advent-ists return tithe?10 Is the remaining 70 percent so saturated with God’s bless-ings that they don’t need more?

I recently heard the expression “faith-fulness ratio” used in the context of tithe, a term used by fund-raisers to

explain that we can’t expect more than 30 percent of our members to be faith-ful in returning God’s tithe.

It was the first time I’d heard the term in the context of tithe. I shudder as I try to understand what it means. According to that concept, the widow who gave her two mites—all she had, and she was sorry to give so little—made a mistake. She could have argued that she had been saturated with bills, taxes, etc.

We often forget in this materialistic world that giving in the New Testament went beyond percentages. We read about the early church that “no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared every-thing they had.” “There were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:32, 34). They could have rightly claimed satura-tion as well.

Did God make a mistake in deciding unilaterally that tithe would be 10 per-cent? Shouldn’t He have decided on a regressive tithe for the poor and a higher tithe bracket for the rich? With our Carte-

sian minds, that’s how we would engage God on this topic today. Some treasurer may even wish to increase tithe, just as governments raise taxes, to 12 or 13 per-cent to fund all their projects.

In His wisdom God decided that a flat tithe of 10 percent was fair. Who are we to argue with our Creator?

The difference between churches and governments is that the latter rely on taxes to survive. Not so in God’s church. Our church uses the resources it receives; but it is not dependent on them. God has provided for His church in the past, and He will continue to do so in the future.

We have an immense privilege to par-ticipate in His mission. If all believers returned God’s tithe, there would be plenty in His treasure house.

So Tax Universalis at 10 percent? Who cares? I want to be faith-ful to God’s command.

Brennan Manning once said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with

their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.”

It’s time to put our money where our mouths are. n

1 Ruth Marcus, “No New Taxes? Not So Fast,” in Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2011.

2 zazzle.com/if_10_is_good_enough_for_god_ bumper_sticker-128806512163986401.

3 Rick Santorum, quoted in “The Craze for Flat Taxes,” The Economist, Oct. 29, 2011.

4 Alan Blinder, “The Folly of the Flat Tax,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 14, 2011.

5 “Flat Is Beautiful,” The Economist, Mar. 3, 2005. 6 “The Case for Flat Taxes,” The Economist, Apr. 14,

2005. 7 taxrates.cc/html/albania-tax-rates.html. 8 Henry Landsdell, “The Sacred Tenth” (1985). 9 Ellen G. White, Counsels on Stewardship (Washing-

ton, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1940), p. 69.10 The Global Tithe Index, www.aiias.edu/gti/

instrument.html.

JeAn-LUC LézeAU HAS SERVED AS

A MISSIONARY, ADMINISTRATOR,

AND DEPARTMENTAL DIRECTOR. HE

DIRECTS SPECIAL PROJECTS FOR

AdVeNtIst WoRld MAGAZINE.

obligation?

our church uses the resources it receives; but

it is not dependent on theM.


we’re all connected.

story

The Other

Side of Answered

Prayer

By hOPAL GRANT-MC CLINTOCK I

didn’t know what was taking place on the other side of the world, but God knew; and He had His hand in the events.

My Side of the StoryThe thought of what I did hit me sud-

denly. What was I thinking? Why did I promise to do that? I didn’t want to give away that amount of money. Maybe I should just send $100, even $50. That seemed more reasonable than the $280 I had promised.

I rang my husband to tell him what I had done and to get his opinion about how much I should send, if any at all. His reply was like a dash of cold water

in my face.“Send all she asked for,” he said,

“plus half again.”That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I

didn’t want to send $280, much less $420.Just then God seemed to speak to me:

Why couldn’t I send $420? I’d just spent more than that buying furniture that wasn’t neces-sary. I could afford to send more than that.

So before I could think of all kinds of excuses and convince myself not to send it, I went to Western Union Money Transfer online and sent $420 to Tracey.

RewindI occasionally send text messages

back home to my friends and family,


Ken how much I should ask for. He said I should ask for what my most pressing need was, which was what I did. When Necola told me how much she was send-ing, more than I’d asked for, my tears wouldn’t stop. I was so excited and amazed at how God had worked.

We Know how It FeelsMost of us know what it feels like to

be the one praying for an answer, or to receive a seemingly big, fat no from God, or to see divine intervention unfold before our eyes, or feel what it’s like to anxiously wait for God to come through for us.

The next time you feel impressed to contact or give to someone, do not hesi-tate. You just might be the answer they’ve been praying for. What if your lack of response to God’s prompting prevents others’ prayers from being answered? n

HoPAL grAnT-mCCLinToCk, A

TRAINED COUNSELOR, LIVES WITH

HER HUSBAND IN MURWILLUMBAH,

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

just to keep in touch. Such was the case when I sent a text on Monday. By Tues-day I’d heard back from almost every-one except my cousin Tracey. This was unusual, since she is usually one of the first to reply. But I figured she was prob-ably out of phone credit and would reply when she got some.

On Wednesday I received a text mes-sage from her saying that she wasn’t in the best of health, that she was out of a job, and that she was in debt up to her neck. In spite of all this, she was still giving God thanks and praise.

When I received her message I was in the middle of reading an interesting book, and without giving it much thought I replied that I’d send her some money, and that she should let me know how much she needed.

She replied saying that she needed $280, if I could spare that much. If not, she said, any amount would help, until God provided the rest.

That’s what led me to send $420 to

Tracey. I let her know that the money was sent, and I asked her to let me know when she received it. I could almost feel her joy and ecstatic praise to God in her text reply a few minutes later.

My Own Experience“You’ll see what my God can do.”“Your God? This is just plain foolish-

ness; what if you can’t make the payments?”

“Don’t worry about it. My God will provide for my needs.”

“We’ll see.”That was the conversation I had had

with my husband, Ken, after I’d decided

we’re all connected.

to purchase a household appliance I needed. Ken isn’t a Christian.

A few months later I found myself sick on my back and out of a job. We had absolutely no money, our bills were pil-ing up, and we had two kids to feed and send to school. On top of that, Ken was down on his luck as well. Where was God when I needed Him?

Just then I received a text message from my cousin Necola, in Australia. I wanted to reply but couldn’t; I had no phone credit, and no money to buy credit with.

The following day I contacted my par-ents and all my siblings and friends to implore their help, but no one was able to assist us by lending us money. There was now nothing more I could do.

That night I lay awake. “Lord, is this where You bring me? I have no job, no money, no one to help. I’m sick and flat on my back. Where’s Your help when I need it? Ken’s asking about the God who was going to help me. Where are

You, Lord? I’ll wait for You, but please hurry.” When I finished talking with God, I heard a message come in on my mobile phone. Out of the blue my friend had sent me a $30 phone credit. With this I decided to text a reply to Necola.

When I received her reply asking how much I needed, I was so excited that I started praising and jumping up and down thanking God. I even forgot to text her back. Ken was skeptical, asking how I could celebrate when I hadn’t received anything yet, and still might not.

I wasn’t sure how much to ask for, because my need was so great and I didn’t want to burden Necola. So I asked


What Do You think?? 1.Can you remember a time you

helped provide an answer to some-body’s prayer? Recall it briefly.

2.What are the theological implica-tions of being used by God to answer someone’s prayer? Isn’t that what angels are for?

3.What spiritual discipline is necessary to cultivate an attitude of openness to God’s generosity? How do you make it stronger?

4.Do you know someone who could use a little material help right now? What are you going to do about it?

SHERRARD, Elwood—b. June 30, 1918, east Texas; d. July 30, 2012, Blue Ridge, Ga. He taught at Walla Walla Col-lege and served as principal of Malayan Union Seminary in Singapore and as business administrator of Philippine Union College and Manila Sanitarium and Hospital. He also served as an administrator of the Adventist Retire-ment Center in southern California. He is survived by his wife, Amy; two daugh-ters, Dena Guthrie and Sherry Mills; three grandchildren; and two

great-grandchildren.WESTBROOK, Lynn B.—b. June 24,

1934, Haileyville, Okla.; d. Sept. 20, 2012, Wichita, Kans. He served as a literature evangelist, publishing director, and pas-tor in the Mid-America Union and Kan-sas-Nebraska conferences. He is survived by his wife, Sally; three sons, Brant, Joel, and Thomas; one daughter, Karen McCarthy; one sister, Shirley McClure; 10 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

At rest


“easter Mourning”IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DAy TO REMEMBER LIFE, AND RESURRECTION. Instead, Easter Sunday became a day for death.

We all knew it was coming. Over the past several weeks Gladys,* the mother of my close friend, had grown weaker and weaker from the cancer that was claiming her body. She had borne her burden bravely, walking slower and slower until she was confined to a wheelchair, and then finally to a bed. Gladys always had a ready smile on her lips and warm words of greeting for her many visitors.

Easter morning dawned bright and clear, but in Gladys’ room it was clear to everyone that the end was near. Throughout the day friends softly came and went—some bringing with them the gift of music that seemed to lift the spirits of everyone in the room. The day slowly wore on until only the closest of friends and family remained. As the evening glow of the setting sun cast shadows around the room, Gladys took her final breath.

A few years later it was my own mother who was dying. One Tuesday morning I received a call informing me that she had suddenly become very ill and had been taken to the hospital. Separated by an entire conti-nent, I had to say goodbye over the phone. How wonderful it was to know that this was not a final goodbye! How wonderful to have the hope that only Jesus can give!

But sometimes there seems to be no hope. As the casket is closed for the last time, or the ashes are scat-tered, those who are left sob with sorrow that cannot be consoled because the mourners do not know the Life-giver, or think that He doesn’t exist, or that if He does exist He is not someone they would like very much. How can we bring hope to the hopeless? How can we introduce them to who Jesus really is?

“I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full,” Jesus explained to the doubting Pharisees (John 10:10). “Don’t cry,” He said to the sorrowing widow of Nain, before He turned to her dead son and commanded, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Luke 7:13, 14). “Don’t be afraid; just believe,” Jesus assured Jairus after the ruler of the synagogue learned of the death of his daughter. Then taking the small limp hand in His, the Life-giver commanded, “My child, get up!” (8:50, 54). “I am the resurrection and the life,” He told Mary shortly before proclaiming, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:25, 43).

Before carrying out this very public miracle, “Jesus wept” (verse 35). But He was not weeping for Lazarus, because He was about to raise him.

“The weight of the grief of ages was upon Him. He saw the terrible effects of the transgression of God’s law. He saw that in the history of the world, beginning with the death of Abel, the conflict between good and evil had been unceasing. Looking down the years to come, He saw the suffering and sorrow, tears and death, that were to be the lot of men. His heart was pierced with the pain of the human family of all ages and in all lands. The woes of the sinful race were heavy upon His soul, and the fountain of His tears was broken up as He longed to relieve all their distress” (The Desire of Ages, p. 534).

Only God can bring life out of death, good out of bad. As I reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the more amazed I am at everything He did, and is doing, to give me—and everyone who will accept Him—real life, abundant life, forever. I can hardly wait to spend eternity with Someone like that.

* not her real name

ginA WAHLen IS ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR OF AdVeNtIst ReVIeW, and longs to

share the hope that Jesus brings with as many people as possible.

reflections


vol. 190, no. 9 march 28, 2013 · editor-at-large mark a. finley, ... moses. not just at christmas,...

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