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How Can We Be One With Them?

Colleen Moore Tinker, Managing Editor

Ifelt my stomach tighten. It was Tuesday night, and we were sitting in our living room with ourneighbors as we had every week for the past six months, studying the Bible. My husband Richardand I were third generation Adventists. They were conservative fundamentalists. They didn't trustthe government, higher education, or formal schools. They had home-schooled their daughtersthrough grade 12, and they believed in the literal interpretation of scripture. We had begun our weeklymeetings not to convert them but simply to study the Bible together.

"The Bible clearly says that women are not to teach men," Ron intoned, crossing his legs and puttinghis fingertips together. "It's right here in the Word. Women are not to be in authority over men."

His wife Melanie pushed her long hair behind her ear and looked up at him, silent and approving."But what if a woman feels God calling her to be a pastor?" I asked, mustering my courage. "Many

women won't talk to men pastors about their problems, and I know women pastors who fill a great need forother women."

"Well... ," Ron hesitated for just a moment. "I can see that women might need to talk to women. Butit's not biblical for women to be pastors. If a woman believes she hears God calling her to be a pastor, thenshe is listening to the wrong spirit. God would never give a woman such a call!"

The words hit me like a fist. I had never heard anyone say so brashly that if a woman felt the call ofGod, she was hearing the wrong voice.

"How can I keep studying with these people?" I wondered as I watched Ron's confident arrogance andMelanie's unquestioning agreement.

But we continued to meet. As the months went by we disagreed on many issues: dispensationalism, pre-tribulation rapture, whether or not the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount were for the disciplesalone or for all Christians, and the role of the Holy Spirit.

Often as we discussed Bible verses I longed for our Sabbath School class. There the members had simi-lar backgrounds, similar education, similar experiences, similar questions. In spite of our differences weunderstood each other.

Then something strange began to happen. A bond began to form between the neighbors and us. Webegan sharing stories about our lives, about work, about our struggles and fears. Ron even asked us to layour hands on him and pray for him as he wrestled with a serious problem.

And we continued to read the Bible. Insights from our study began to affect our lives. We began toexperience the love of Jesus in new and more personal ways. Ron began to soften; a new humility began tocolor his speech and demeanor. Melanie began to talk more. Richard and I began to see how arrogant andsuperior we had acted because we had believed that we had more "truth," more "mature" perceptions andunderstanding.

Something even more unexpected happened; we began to feel unity with Ron and Melanie. We stilldisagreed about many doctrinal issues. They still believed that women should never be pastors or bossesover men in the workplace. We still believed that the Sermon on the Mount is for us today. But as westudied the Bible together and talked about Jesus and his gift of the Holy Spirit, we began to embrace thelove and freedom that are Jesus' legacy to us.

As we embraced Jesus, we embraced each other. We began to feel loyal to our neighbors in a deep andfundamental way. Our differences no longer defined us. Our relationship became something significant andlasting: Ron and Melanie became one with us in Christ.

I discovered something I'd never understood: shared doctrine does not unify us. It doesn't create anemotional bond. As we follow the Holy Spirit toward truth, it's not shared back-ground, shared understanding, or shared beliefs that unite us. Rather, it is Jesuswhobrings us into communion with each other.

Jesus does not ask us to rally around our understanding of doctrines. He asks us torally around him. And when we do, we will have community with people we couldnever imagine tolerating.

We become one with him.

Inside Aaventist Today.

ADVISORY COUNCILKen & Jo Abbott

Robert & Kelli BlackGary & Jeanne Bogle

.Antonius & Lilia BrandonTodd & Ginny BurleyRon & Anita CafferkyGreg & Dana Carlson

John & Charlotte CassellKeith & Judy Colburn

Ronald & Patricia CopleJames & Kathryn Dexter

Merlyn & Rosemary DuerksenJames Dunn

Douglas and Patricia EwingDonald & Beverly Farley

Gary & Sharon FraserGary & Annette Frykman

Richard GreenRichard & Kathi Guth

Lyndon & Linda HarderBruce Heinrich

Jim & Jackie HennebergDennis & Jolene HilliardWayne & Susan Jacobsen

John & Judy JacobsonJim & Averille KaatzElton & Marga Kerr

Dean & Dolores KinseyFrank & Helen KnittelRichard & Janis LarsenKen & Florence Lorenz

Don & Penny MillerRick Murray

T. Clint & Elaine NelsonThaine Price

Gary & Ruthe-Marina RainesJudith Rausch

Phil & Joyce ReisweigGordon & Judy Rick

Richard & Missy RouheGlenn & Cherie RouseDoug & Sandy SchultzDon & Ursula Shasky

Walter L. & Lula Ann StilsonJames & Maryan StirlingErvin & Marilynn Taylor

Bob & Karen TorreyJohn & Nancy VogtDavid Van Putten

James & Priscilla WaltersJames & Betty Webster

Tim & St~phanie Welebir

FOUNDATION BOARDDoug Schultz, Board Chair

Keith Colburn, Secretary/TreasurerVirginia Burley

Raymond CottrellElwin Dunn

Reni DupertuisDiana Fisher

Edmund JonesJames Kaatz

Frank KnittelJohn Mclarty

Lourdes Morales-GudmundssonDonShaskyJohn SicklerErvin Taylor

David Van PuttenJames Walters

2 July-August 1998 ADVENTIST TODAY

NEWS AND ANALYSIS _

Contents

The Charlottesville Story ALTON D. JOHNSON

Church is for the Birds ANITA STRAWN DE OJEDA

Living with the Remnant DEBRA LLOYD FOOTE

Surviving in the Body of Christ LYNN JOHNSON (PSEUDONYM)

4 The Cultic Doctrine4 Cultic Doctrine and Judgment4 NPUC Critics of Ratzlaff Answered6 Ellen White and llUth Telling6 More Ellen White and llUth6 Unbiased Approach6 Open Approach

11 Scientific Theology ERVIN TAYLOR11 How to Understand the End-Time Prophecies of the Bible HANSLARONDELLE

7 Southern California Conference One of the Neediest ALBERT D1TTES8 Icelandic Pastor Fired9 Seeker-Sensitive Church Loyal to Conference COLLEEN MOORE TINKER

10 Spectrum and Adventist 'Ibday Consider cooperation24 Oregon Lay Pastor Disfellowshipped COLLEEN MOORE TINKER

LETTERS

BooK REVIEWS

Unity Through Doctrine or Grace?

SoUNDINGS

23 Stop Reading About the Bible! RAl"'DY ROBERTS

ABOUT THE COVER:

Doctrine or the gospel of Christ: which unifies?Which divides? "But I, when I am lifted up fromthe earth, will draw all men to myself." )oho IU2 INIV)

J\QVENTISTToDAY

VOL. 6, No.4JULY. AUGUST 1998

EDITOR EMERITUS:Raymond Cottrell

EDITOR:John McLarty

MANAGING EDITOR:Colleen Moore Tinker

ASSISTANT EDITORS:Cherie RouseJames H. StirlingSusan G. Walters

EDITORIAL ADVISORS:

Steve DailyJames WaltersART DIRECTOR:Richard Tinker/Apollo ProductionsOFFICE MANAGER:Hanan Sadek

Adventist Today reports oncontemporary issuesof importance toAdventist church members. Followingbasic principles of ethics and canonsof journalism, this publication strivesfor fairness, candor, and good taste.

Unsolicited submissionsare encouraged. Payment is comper,itive. Send a self-addressed, stampedenvelope for writer's guidelines.

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Copyright@1998 by Adventist TodayFoundation, a nonprofit organizationdedicated to fostering open dialoguein the Adventist community. ~

ADVENTIST TODAY July-August 1998 3

mailto:[email protected]

The Cui tic DoctrineAs one who has carefully studied

Ratzlaff's book, I find it astounding thatBruce Heinrich and Theodore Lewiswould consider Ratzlaff's views biblicalin contrast with those of historicAdventism. The most basic differencebetween historic Adventism and evan-gelical Protestantism is that the historicAdventist uses Scripture comprehen-sively while the evangelical uses itselectively. Adventists have historicallybased their teachings on the entireBible, both Old and New Testaments,while evangelicals focus primarily oncertain segments of Paul's writings,ignoring not only the Old Testamentbut much of the New as well. Thisselective use of Scripture is fundamen-tally responsible not only for the evan-gelical's dispute with Adventists oversalvation, but also for their disputeswith us over the Sabbath, the state ofman in death, and other issues...

When the Bible condemns salvationby works (Rom. 3:20,28; Gal. 2:16; Eph.2:8-9), it is not referring to sanctifica-tion and the Spirit's work in andthrough believers. Scripture is clear thatthese are the means, not merely thefruits, of our salvation (Phil. 2:12-13; IIThess. 2:13; Titus 3:5). Doing the law isthe condition of justification (Rom.2:13; James 2:24), but it must be a law-keeping produced by faith, as wasAbraham's sacrifice of Isaac (James2:21) as well as his role in Isaac's birth(Rom. 4:19-22). But if we seek to obeyin our own strength, as Abraham did intaking Hagar and producing Ishmael(Gal. 4:23), we cannot be justified.

When all the Bible evidence is puttogether, it is not Ellen White's theolo-gy that is found wanting, but that ofDale Ratzlaff.

Kevin D. PaulsonRedding, California

AT ReaderWMYl-lorm5t1-!otnetow'ny1lle.CA

Cultic Doctrine and Judgment"The gospel, indeed, brings better

news to me than does the investigativejudgment." Page 13, Adventist TodayMarch-April, 1998.

"In The Cultic Doctrine of Seventh-day-Adventists Dale Ratzlaff makes apowerful point-that the historicAdventist doctrine of the investigativejudgment undermines the gospeL" Page14, Adventist Today March-April, 1998.

Apparently two of your writers dis-agree with Paul as to what is included

The meetings

were recorded,

but the G.C. will

never make the

transcripts

public ...

in the gospel. Paul's gospel included thejudgment, according to Romans 2:13,16.

In other words, Paul's "good mes-sage" embraced the entire process of sal-vation. The good news of the judgmentis that all who obey the law and havefaith in Jesus will be justified, declaredrighteous. We need not fear because ofa sinful past. Jesus was raised to life tobecome our advocate and to procureour justification. Now and in the judg-ment. Ain't that the Good News?

Stewart 1. BauerRedding, California

Letters to the EditorAdventist Todayp.o. Box 8026Riverside, CA 92575-8026

NPUC Critics of RatzlaffAnswered

In the current issue of AdventistToday (March-April 1998) on pages 6and 9 Drs. Rodriguez, Davidson, andGane inquire why Dale Ratzlaff seemedto ignore the arguments set forth inGeneral Coriference publications afterGlacier View. Perhaps some light can bethrown on the situation.

The books mentioned sprang fromthe Daniel and Revelation committeeestablished to reply to the questions Ihad raised on Dan. 8:14 and ourInvestigative Judgment teaching. Onemember of the committee whom Iregard as one of the best scholars in thechurch said to me: "On this committeethose who know most say least, andthose who know least say most." Iunde~stood this because the situationwas identical in the pre-Glacier Viewcommittee which was appointed by thechurch to meet with me for manyhours. The meetings were recorded, butthe G.c. will never make the tran-scripts public because of this feature.Another scholar in his college officewaved his hands at the seven books 'andsaid to me, "Don't read them! Simplyawful!" Apparently he viewed them as a'snow job'. I agree. I know of noAdventist scholar who would dare towrite or say the arguments found there-in to any group of non-Adventistscholars.

Let me illustrate. In volume three ofthe series, The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus,and the Nature of Prophecy, the articleby Gerhard Hasel admits that "the actu-al wording of the command ofArtaxerxes I of 457 BC makes noexplicit mention of any order to rebuildthe city ofJerusalem." "... the validity ofapplying the 457 BC decree dependsupon an uncertain interpretation ofEzra 4:7-23." (p.51) In the Ferch article

"Commencement Date for the Seventy-Week Prophecy" (pp. 64-74) we findthese apologies.

"Unfortunately, no explicit proclama-tion is known ... .Interpreters, therefore,have been obliged to deduce ... " (p. 65).

"Ezra 7 mentions a third decree,issued this time by the Persian kingArtaxerxes .... Assuming that this kingis Artaxerxes 1.... " (p. 68).

Key words in the Ferch argument are'pre~umably', 'seem', 'suggests', and'implied'. See pages 70 and 74. Hiswhole case is guesswork about the dat-ing of Ezra 4, whereas most modernscholars agree with the Jerome BiblicalCommentary. that confesses: "We mustleave as an insoluble enigma the date ofchapter 4" (p. 388).

This uncertainty makes the conclu-sions of Hasel and Ferch invalid andquite unacceptable to scholars not dedi-cated to propping up crumbling tradi-tions. No outside press would dream ofpublishing the materials found in theseseven volumes.

However, at least these books areconsistent with the church paper. In theAdventist Review (Vol. 158, No. 31,"Special Issue on Bible Doctrines,"1981, pp. 26-27) we find the followinglanguage as it labors to support theInvestigative Judgment: "it seems clear,"i'assuming," "suggests," "The Scripturesdo not offer a detailed explanation ofthe work that was to begin in heaven in1844," "it is reasonable to assume," "theterm 'investigative judgment' is notfound in the Bible."

To return to the D & R committeewhose works are recommended to us,we are forced to wonder how the com-mittee can be so certain of 1844 whenthey admit repeatedly that the startingdate is uncertain.

Men involved in trying to preservethe Investigative Judgment must belonely men. Most scholars inAdventism gave up the task long agoand thus they never write or preachabout it.

The consensus statement of GlacierView (since buried by the church whenread more closely) made the followingadmissions:

1. It is the little horn, and not thesins of the saints, which defiles thesanctuary.

2. The cleansing of Daniel 8:14 hasto do with restoring the damage donenot by the saints but by the little horn.

3. The meaning of the key verb inDaniel 8:14 is not basically "cleanse,"but "justify, vindicate, and restore."

4. There is no obvious verbal linkbetween Daniel 8 and Leviticus 16.

5. The year-day principle is notexplicit in scripture.

This uncertainty

makes the conclu-

sions of Hasel and

Ferch invalid and

quite unacceptable

to scholars not

dedicated to prop-

ping up crumbling

traditions.

6. Hebrews 9 does draw on the Dayof Atonement to illustrate that whichChrist did by his sacrifice.

7. "Within the veil" applies to thesecond veil, not the first, and points toaccess to the Most Holy Place immedi-ately after the Cross.

8. Hebrews does not teach a two-apartment ministry (or two phases).

9. Christ, not the Father, is the greatJudge in the final judgment.

10. We should not speak of ourLord's heavenly ministry in terms ofapartments.

11. The New Testament viewed thesecond advent as imminent in its day(and thus had no cognizance of 1844).

12. Sacrificial blood purifies ratherthan defiles.

One is forced to ask: "What wouldthe three good doctors (named on p. 8of AT) say to an unsophisticated believ-er who asked them for the NewTestament verses on the InvestigativeJudgment?" Furthermore, what would betheir answer if someone more learnedreferred to the Bible principle, seventimes set forth, that "in the mouth oftwo or three witnesses shall every wordbe established," and applied it to 1844?There isn't even one verse, one witness,that proves 1844. Both Testaments aresilent. Neither years nor days are men-tioned in Dan. 8:14, though days arementioned elsewhere in the book. TheHebrew expression 'ereb boqer'(evening morning) is but a reference tothe daily (tamid) service with its con-tinual offering before sunset and afterdawn ..

The brethren quoted in AT insistthat the purpose of the InvestigativeJudgment is to vindicate God. That isnot our traditional interpretation, asanyone who reads GC 428, 280, 482,485 can see. Drs. Heppenstall andMaxwell introduced the view thesegood men are claiming as originalAdventism.

When Dr. Rodriguez claims thatthere is no reason for Adventism toexist if wrong on the IJ he is sayingsomething that is appalling. If I consid-ered him correct I would leaveAdventism this very day. Is not our taskto present "the everlasting gospel" ofRev. 14:6 mirrored in that physical restevery seventh day which testifies to ourconstant rest of conscience throughfaith in the finished work of Christ?

It's time for the church to be honest,to come clean. How can anyone withintelligence read Hebrews nine and tenin modern translations (which ARE lin-guistically correct) and hold to the bag-gage we invented to mask our disap-

5

LETTERS TO THE EDITORAdventistToday,P.O. Box 8026

Riverside, CA 92515-8026E-mail: [email protected]

Thank you for the wonderful editor-ial by John McLarty. He hit it on thehead ...

In the mid 1800's there were scholarlywritings which were footnoted, but thepopular writings had extensive copyingwithout giving credit. By the end of thecentury this practice ended ....

Looking back we see that the Whiteswere wrong in choosing to follow thepopular writing style of the day, or atleast not to give it up when everyoneelse did. But at the start they were in ahurry to get the information out, andwhen the practice stopped in the gener-al population, she was set in her ways.By the time Mrs. White was finally con-vinced to change the style, she was soold, and had written so many thousandsof pages, and had read so many hun-dreds, if not thousands of books andarticles, that it was too late to pinpointall the sources. It was not a white lienor an intentional cover up, but animpossible task to reference .... She isnot denying her copying, but theseapparent denials were part of herattacks on Fundamentalism .... Dr.Walters missed the true issue involved.

Kevin HellerudRedlands, California

Unbiased ApproachWe enjoy your honest, unbiased

approach to relevant issues in thechurch.

CarolynMcGill, TreasurerVallejoDrive Seventh-dayAdventist Church,Gkndale,C~fmn~ '

Open ApproachI appreciate your open approach to

facts.Jack WilliamsDayton, Tennessee

More Ellen White and TruthWhen I joined the church one of

the first books I read was F. D. Nichol'sEllen White and Her Critics, There Ilearned about her copying and otherissues of how she composed her works.This introduction to E.,G. White stoodme well when I came into contact withtext-critical approaches to the NewTestament, and later the OldTestament. Later as a seminary studentin the early '80s I was not fazed by therevelations of Numbers and Rea, unlikemany around me who never heard suchthings (and never read Nichol). To

lie nor an inten-

tional cover up, but

an impossible task

Bruce Hienrich I would say, if you wereto read some of the critical material onthe Bible you would find it as disturb-ing as what you have read about E. G.White. If previously you were blissfullyignorant of the issues surroundingWhite's writings, perhaps you are nowliving in blissful ignorance of the issuessurrounding the Bible. They are notmuch different.

Jim MillerMadison, Wisconsin

was not denying

her copying ...

pointment over 1844? It is not neces-sary for a church to be infallible forGod to use it, but it is necessary to behonest.

I should confess that I too for yearsdid my labored best to defend the 1] andonly surrendered as continued studyproved that the evidence contrary tothe traditional view was overwhelming.

Desmond Ford, Auburn, CA

Ellen White and Truth TellingIn Adventist Today, vol. 6, no.2, the

editor and authors have not introducedany new conflicts that have not beenpresented in the past. Historically thesituations and doctrines have been care-fully studied and established by the It t h.tdenomination. Could not our time now was no a w I ebe better spent on developing spiritualgrowth? If we disagree with the basicdoctrines and Ellen White, should weactively try to destroy an effective,flourishing organization? ..

The article by an ethicist on E. G.White's Truth Telling is surprisinglyunethical, being based on one disgrun-tled employee, which all organizationshave, and some of whom have been ter-minated as was Fanny Bolton for not t ~ Shfollowing instructions. Sister White did 0 re.erence.... enot hide the situation, and the support-ing information is on the CD of E. G.White's writings for anyone to investi-gate. Many writers use literary assistantsto check articles grammatically andeliminate repetition. Many authorshave large librades and from the ~amount of published information avail-able, it takes wisdom to discern truthfrom fiction. Obviously since EllenWhite's writings, taken in context, havewithstood the test of time, she wouldhave had to be inspired by God.

It is disappointing to have contem-porary issues of disbelief in Adventismsimilar to the same issues that havebeen present for the past 150 years. It ismy prayer that we can become onceagain a Seventh-day Adventist move-ment ....

William D. Gish RPh, MPHArlington, Washington

mailto:[email protected]

"Southern California used to have the

Southern California ConferenceOne of the Neediest

highest or second-highest tithe per capita

in North America, but they were formerly

a Caucasian conference.

ALBERT DIITES

The Southern CaliforniaConference (SCC) is thesecond-largest conference inthe North AmericanDivision, with a membership of 49,000.It turned in the third-highest amount oftithe in 1997-$22 million. Yet thefinancial report presented at the confer-ence 1997 year-end meeting shows it tobe one of the neediest.

In 1996 the North American Divisionappropriated $717,486 to the SouthernCalifornia Conference. Only twoSouthern Union black conferencesreceived more financial aid. SCC's titheper capita (tithe per person) is the low-est of all the white conferences, almostas low as the per capita of some blackconferences.

"Southern California used to have thehighest or second-highest tithe percapi-.ta in North America, but they were for-merly a Caucasian conference," saysGeorge M. Crumley, treasure~ of theNorth American Division (NAD). "TheAfro-Americans, Asians, and Hispanicsare as faithful as the Caucasians but [are]not as high-income." Crumley addedthat Asians and Hispanics are thefastest-growing ethnic groups in thePacific Union, and blacks have 25,000members. He says, "Asians are first-generation Adventists and thus [evange-listically] aggressive."

Also in 1996, the SoutheasternCalifornia Conference-also qualifyingfor a subsidy because of a low tithe percapita, even though it is the largest andtraditionally the wealthiest conferencein the division-received $205,647 inassistance.

So what has happened to SouthernCalifornia Adventists? Are they rich orare they poor? According to conferenceofficers, the rich members have aban-doned the region to lower-incomeminorities, qualifying it for "assistanceon the basis of tithe per capita," as listedin the financial report.

Are there any factors that affect thesize of subsidy the NAD gives a confer-ence other than the tithe per capita?What if the tithe per capita is over-inflated by a higher-than-normal numberof deaths and apostasies?Suppose in 1998the XYZ Conference has a total tithe of$2,000,000 and its total membership is2,000 members. Then the per capitaannual tithe is $1,000. But suppose thateach year normally about 340 of these2000 members die and about 330 aposta-tize, thus leaving only about two thirds ofthe group to be counted. Then the tithe

per capita would be about $1,500 [assum-ing none had been contributed by thosecounted out]. Conversely, if there werefewer deaths and apostasies, with morepeople remaining to be counted in, theper capita figure would be lower.

Crumley said, "We [NAD] limit subsi-dies if the deaths and apostasies [D&As]are below normal, so [the D&As] won'tlower their [the conferences'] tithe percapita and [thus cause a conference to]qualify for more [i.e., excess] assistance."Crumley said that Southern Californiaqualifies for financial aid because of itswell-below-average tithe per capita andits "special situation."

A conference that does not encourageits churches to keep their church mem-bership records up to date could abusethe subsidy system, if people were bap-

News and Analysis

tized but then stopped coming to churchand then were left on the church booksyear after year. This higher-than-realnumber of members [like low D&As]would pad the membership rolls, givingthe false impression of a lower-than-actual tithe per capita. As a hedgeagainst such irregularities, if the tithe percapita in a given conference falls abnor-mally low, the NAD limits the confer-ence's subsidy.

Less than a year ago, Larry Cavinessbecame president of the SouthernCalifornia Conference. As president hehas found what he describes as "not onlyfantastic opportunities, but monumentalchallenges. One of these challenges isfinancial." Caviness continues:

"This conference used to be the mostmonetarily wealthy region in NorthAmerica. Over the last 20 years, howev-

er, much has changed. The most signifi-cant area of change is demographic. Agood share of high-income Adventistmembers who used to live here haveretired and moved to be with their chil-dren. Others have left our conference forother reasons. Some find their livelihoodin Los Angeles and vicinity but live out-side the conference boundaries.Ethnically, this conference is still one ofthe richest in North America. Thoughwe celebrate this wealth in diversity, itdoes bring challenges. Many of our peo-ple groups are recent immigrants and aretrapped in earning little more than mini-mum wage. So although many are faith-ful in tithing, the per capita amount islow because of their economic status."

Citing one of Southern California'smost prominent churches as an example


News and Analysis --.lL.- .......;..:.J

Icelandic Pastor Fired

"The conference president is just a

puppet in many ways," he says. "The

[five) regional portions [each) have bud-

gets to hire pastors.

of the changes brought by ethnic diversi-ty, Caviness says:

"(The Los Angeles) White Memorial(Church), once a largely professionalchurch, is now an ethnically diversechurch in a largely Hispanic area. Weare currently in the process of applyingto the North American Division forresources so we can hire an extra pastorto minister to English-speakingHispanics there."

Caviness says the financial toHofthese "financial challenges" is evident inthe conference pastoral staff, which nowserves 146 churches: it has been reducedfrom 180 people to 138 in just the pastfew years-a 24-percent cut. TheConference Committee also has elimi-nated several departments. The youthdepartment once had three or four direc-tors; now it has only one.

Doug Schultz, head elder of theGlendale City Church, agrees that thedemographic change has altered the con-.,ference financial structure considerably.He knows of 34 nationalities in the con-ference, many of them living at a lower-than-average socioeconomic leveL "Wereally have five conferences within aconference," Schultz says. "There are lotsof Spanish churches, a Filipino church,and many regional churches. Each eth-nic group has a vice president in charge,so we have many segregated systems."

At this time the Southern CaliforniaConference is divided into five regions:Los Angeles Metro, West, Asian-Pacific,African American, and Hispanic.

Schultz feels this segregation into region-al systems has added expense and made theconference more difficult to'administer."The conference president is just a puppetin many ways," he says. "The [five]regionalportions [each] have budgets to hire pastors.

The churches are becoming congregational,cumbersome, and expensive."

Schultz cites his own church-Glendale City-as an example. It is oneof the wealthiest and most supportive inthe conference, but, he says, it is "verycongregational:" 45 percent of themoney coming in to the local churchstays there. Schultz said that many high-income members and fringe Adventistsfinancially support the local church, but

many of them give only to specific pro-jects or equipment or programs.

However, Schultz believes the present, church finance problem is primarily cul-turaL He says the Yallejo Drive Churchin Glendale-once the home church ofthe Yoice of Prophecy-is one halfFilipino. He says, "Yallejo Drive is stillbig, but many older, wealthy physiciansfrom there now live in Palm Springs andare dying off, and young physicians arenot coming in." Some of the more afflu-

S teinthor Thordarson was firedin March, 1998, from hisemployment as a pastor inIceland. According to email hesent to Don Ashlock of the EvangelicalSabbath Association this May, there wasno doctrinal disagreement with the con-ference and no moral lapse.

"The conference leaders simply did notlike my ways of doing things, such asthinking independently and reaching outto the public in new and innovativeways," he said.

He has already established an inde-pendent ministry, and the ministry of

ent White Memorial Church membersare now attending the (nearby) GlendaleCity Church, Shultz says, but many ofthe White Memorial Church membersfeel they should merge with the Spanishwork, because they have only 1/3 asmany members as the Spanish-AmericanChurch just a block away on the samecampus.

According to Schultz, althoughDavenport and Rea never were issues inthe Southern California Conference,conference credibility is down because inthe past the conference administrationmade unwise decisions, in the view ofthose Glendale City Church memberswhose giving patterns are now funneledmore toward the local church thantoward the broader programs supportedby the conference and world churchheadquarters.

Schultz's final comment may reflectthe problem many churches now face:"It's just hard to know how to maintainour sense of mission and stay relevant."

In the midst of great challenges,Caviness sums up the SouthernCalifornia situation by focusing on thepositive. ''The children of this diverseconference are our best investment," hesays. "If properly taught principles of sci-ence, faith, and stewardship, these youngpeople will build a strong base of leader-ship and financial support in the nearfuture."

church and legal affairs in Iceland hasgranted him and his congregation ofabout 60 people full legal status as anindependent church which they callBODUNARKIRK]AN (The Church ofProclamation).

In a recent visit to Damascus RoadCommunity Church in Damascus,Maryland, Pastor Thordarson told BobFournier, associate pastor at DRCC, thathis church's goal is to reach all of Iceland(population approximately 270,000) witha radio and television ministry. They planto begin production of video tapes forbroadcasting this fall.


Seeker-Sensitive Church Loyalto Conference

He acknowledges that he can see howlocal giving versus conference givingcould become a divisive issue in seeker-

COLLEEN MOORE TINKER

By all accounts the MountainView Seventh-day AdventistChurch in Las Vegas, Nevada,is unique. Most obviously, it'sa contemporary church with programsdeliberately designed to be attractive tothe unchurched. Less obviously, it's a com-pletely conference-loyal church returningincreasing amounts of tithes and offeringsto the Nevada-Utah Conference.

Most surprising, perhaps, is the factthat Mountain View is not a new church.Established in 1933, it has been the"mother church" to four other churches inLas Vegas which swarmed from MountainView and started new congregations. Inspite of its establishment, however, its for-mat has changed drastically.

During the past ten to twelve years themembers of Mountain View have gradual-ly changed their worship services. One byone certain traditions began to disappear.First they stopped ushering the worship-pers out, allowing them inste~d to leavethe sanctuary when they wished. Thenthey instituted a small praise service at thebeginning of church. Eventually no elderssat in front during the service.

Seven years ago the church was readyfor a completely new format. With thehelp of Darrold Retzer, then the presidentof the Nevada-Utah Conference, theybegan a search for a new pastor who couldhelp them become a contemporary, dedi-cated congregation with a burden for theunchurched community. More than a yearlater they found the answer to theirprayers in the person of David Gemmel1.

Dave had most recently been with KayKuzma's Family Matters in Georgia. Atthe time Mountain View contacted him,he was also considering taking a church inAsheville, NC. He chose Las Vegas partlybecause the demographics were ideal forbuilding the kind of church which he andthe congregation envisioned. Las Vegas isa city of change. Many new people moveinto the area, a fact that keeps the com-munity from becoming stagnant.

Before he arrived, Gemmell asked for thechurch to send him the names of the sevenmost influential members of the congrega-tion, which then numbered about 430 withan attendance of 150. After he received thenames, Gemmell contacted each one andasked if he or she would be willing to giveone hour per week for ministry. Those sevenbecame the pastoral advisors.

"We have no decision-making power,"says David Sandquist, one of the seven,"but each week we meet with the pastorto pray for the needs of the congregationand to keep each other accountable." Forthe first three years, those seven replacedthe board of elders. This year, however,

sensitive churches.

the church reinstated a board of elders.During the first year and a half after

Gemmel's arrival, the church worked onrefining its mission statement. The result,"Transforming the unchurched intomature disciples of Jesus Christ," becamethe standard by which the members evalu-ate every prospective program and out-reach opportunity.

Several of the congregational leadershave attended Willow Creek leadershipseminars, and the church services areshaped by many of the ideas these peoplehave brought back with them. MountainView currently has two church servicesevery Sabbath. The first service, called"Vintage," meets at 9:00 A.M. and is moretraditional than the 11:30 AM. service.For example, the worship team leads

News a'!lal\.nalysis

praise singing at both services, but at 9:00they do not use percussion. Similarly, theydo not do drama at the first service.

"New Wine" is the name of the secondservice. It features praise singers and aband, drama and other special presenta-tions, and occasionally a Garden of Prayer.It is growing so fast that the church isconsidering having a third service.

The church now has about 650 mem-bers with about 500 attending each week.Every week about one-third of the congre-gation is composed of "seekers,"unchurched people who are looking forspiritual significance. Gemmel structureshis sermons so that they center on eitherJesus or the love of God.

"The services are designed so that anyweek a seeker could visit and could findGod," Sandquist says.

The Mountain View Church producedits own Net '96 and '97 instead of using.the satellite transmission. This year it will

use the satellite downlink of Net '98, butthe staff will show it in the multi-purposeroom instead of in the sanctuary.

When seekers want to be baptized,they study the beliefs of Adventism. Theyare baptized into Christ and into theSeventh-day Adventist Church.

In answer to the question, "How doyou stay in the good graces of the confer-ence?", Sandquist replied that the churchis intentional about staying within thedenominational structure. Baptisms areup, tithe is up, offerings are up, andGemmel is on the conference executivecommittee. These facts are sweet to thesmall Nevada-Utah Conference.

"The conference hasn't looked twicebecause their tithe is up," Sandquistquipped.


News and Analysis

He acknowledges that he can see howlocal giving versus conference giving couldbecome a divisive issue in seeker-sensitivechurches. He says the Mountain Viewchurch has a great local need that thechurch's budget cannot meet.

"We need more staff," he says, "butthere's no conference budget for more.Volunteers pick up some of the slack, butit'~ not enough. We raise half of one pas-tor's salary, but that's all we've been ableto manage. We have bought lights andsound equipment, but we have manygrowing needs without the money to

.fund them."Sandquist admits that changing from a

traditional format to a contemporary oneprobably could not happen in manyplaces. He also states that MountainView is perhaps one of only a fewAdventist churches that have changedfrom a traditional to a contemporary for-mat without starting a separate service ora whole new congregation. During thetransition, he admits, several membersdid move to other churches in town. But

the majority stayed, and there have beenenough new people moving in to keepthe attendance up.

"Las Vegas is a great seeker town," hesays; "many people are moving in; wehave good demographics to try this."

Mountain View is not the onlychurch benefiting from the Las Vegasdemographics. Two other churches intown-Central Christian and its daugh-ter church, Canyon Ridge-offer WillowCreek-modeled worship services. CentralChristian, founded in 1962, is non-denominational and has undergonetransformation since its senior pastorGene Appel arrived in 1985. Today ithas five services per weekend, two onSaturday night and three on Sunday,with a total of 3,500 people attendingeach week. Canyon Ridge migrated fromCentral Christian five years ago. Today ithas a membership of approximately 785.Every Sunday it has four services, threein the morning and one at night, andbetween 2,200 to 2,500 people attendevery weekend.

Mountain View offers regular "seekerevents" such as an annual Christmas can-tata; it also offers small groups and variousministry outlets, including helping to pro-duce the weekly services.

The staff and ministry leaders havedeveloped a ten-year growth plan, and aseven-step program structures the mem-bers' involvement in the ~hurch. Theseven steps are: 1. Building a relationshipand sharing a witness; 2. Attending aseeker event; 3. Making a decision for theLord; 4. Structuring a "believer service"-a service in which fellow believers canparticipate as opposed to a "seeker service"which is less interactive and offers moreanonymity; 5. Joining a small group; 6.Discovering your niche-getting involvedin ministry; 7. Stewardship.

"We're committed to providing a placewhere people can find God," Sandquistsays. Even though their style and methodsmay be controversial to some, however,the church is also committed to one otherthing. As Sandquist puts it, "We want tobe Adventist." ~

Spectrum and Adventist Today ConsiderCooperation .

Recently Douglas Schultz, AdventistToday's board chair, and Les Pitton,Association of Adventist Forum's boardchair, have renewed discussions aboutpossible cooperation.

"We have been entertaining discus-sions regarding cooperative effortsbetween Spectrum and AdventistToday," says Schultz, "but it's prema-ture to comment on what form thatcooperation may take. So far nothinghas been decided, but we are anxiousto be supportive to Spectrum in anyway we can." ~

: Next Issue ...• Report on Science and Faith Conference at AU• The Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska• How Constituency Meetings Work

Institute, and he'll also teach on the reli-gion faculty at Columbia Union College.

The Association of Adventist Forums(AAF) has not yet named a successor toBranson, but an announcement is likely tobe imminent.

Six years ago when Adventist Today wasforming, its founders contacted Spectrumleaders about publishing the two maga-zines under the aegis of Spectrum'sAssociation of Adventist Forums. Afterinvolved discussions, both parties decidedthat any close association would not wellserve either publication.

Long-time editor of Spectrum,Roy Branson, has formallyresigned. Spectrum, a journalof progressive Adventismthat began in 1969, has dragged thechurch into recognition of its relation-ship to larger intellectual and socialissues. For example, Spectrum led the dis-cussion nearly 30 years ago of EllenWhite's literary dependency.

"Although some of us who have writtenfor Spectrum have sometimes questionedRoy's liberal use of the blue pencil, I thinkthat history will show a huge denomina-tional debt to Roy Branson and his associ-ates at Spectrum," says Jim Walters, publish-er of Adventist Today.

Branson suffered two heart attacks dur-ing the last year, and he has decided thathe wants to spend time doing some acade-mic pursuits besides editing. He will contin-ue his involvement with the Washington

10 July~August1998 ADVENTIST TODAY

BOOK REVIEWS

He says that he does not believe in Biblicalinerrancy (p..85). This claim seems puzzling sincehe seems to spend most of the book supporting theBible's accuracy.

Scientific Theologyby Paul A. Giem

REVIEWED BY ERVIN TAYLOR

The author, who holds bothan M.D. and an M.A. in reli-gion from Loma LindaUniversity, defines"Scientific Theology" as a "theology thatuses the method of science" (p. 15).Later in the book he states that he is notreally advocating the use of the scientificmethod in theology "so much as advo-cating the use of a method honed on thestudy of reproducible events [science] inthe study of non-reproducible [supernat-ural] events" (p. 31, foornote 29). Hedoes admit that the "supernatural issomewhat more difficult to study thannature" (p. 63).

He considers a breathtaking diversityof topics-chapter titles such as:"Nature", "Inspiration and Revelation","The Bible", "The Pentateuch andJoshua", "God, Freedom and Time","The Trinity", "Sin", "Salvation", and"Life After Death". What are all of thesetopic.s doing in the same volllIl}e?

It takes quite abit of digging touncover the main point. It appears to gosomething like this: "Science and theol-ogy both approximate [the same] truth,and therefore [they] must fit togetherharmoniously where they overlap" (p.12). He says that he does not believe inBiblical inerrancy (p. 85). This claimseems puzzling since he seems to spendmost of the book supporting the Bible'saccuracy. He says, for example, that" ... there are some historical, scientific,and/or philosophical ideas which are soin conflict with Biblical authority thatthey can't both be right, and at thispoint I believe that the Bible has moreauthority in those areas of conflict" (p.86). He thus must argue that "the entireOld Testament is [historically and scien-tifically] reliable " (p. 97). Later, hestates that the" entire Bible is [histori-cally and scientifically] reliable ... " (p.120). With this view, he can thendefend, in quite sophisticated ways, theconventional Adventist understandingof the historicity of Genesis, such as a

short age «10,000 years) creationism, aworldwide flood, the historicity of thebook of Daniel, and so on.

Although he accepts the reality of avery, very old universe (19 billionyears-p.37), he does, after an extensiveand well-informed discussion, reject allof the geochronological methods of dat-ing that indicate very old organic life onearth. He appears to accept the validityof Gentry's arguments about pleochroichalos (p. 168-169) and suspects any treering date older than 5,000 years (p. 188,

footnote 158). His eva.luation of radio-carbon dating is that it "a.lmostmathe-maticallY. eliminates the evoluti()fiarytime. scale and almost mandates somekin(fot cteationist [short] timescale" (p.175). He does not explain how he reach~

How to 'Understand theEnd ..Time Prophecies ofthe Bibleby Hans LaRondelle.

REVIEWED BY DESMOND FORD

Hans LaRondelle's volume ischiefly a commentary on thebook of Revelation, but it. indud" ,ignifie,n' di"w;-sions of Matt. 24 and 2 Thess. 2. It is ascholarly work worthy of its author andis a mine of exegetical diamonds.

In particular we have in this study acompetent rebuttal of Dispensationalism.For example, the author points out thatboth Christ and Paul took the OldTestament promises made to literal Israeland applied them globally. (Compare Ps.

es that conclusion. The fact that he says"almost ... mathematically," however,leaves the possibility that he mightabandon his basic thesis when AMS-based radiocarbon dates in excess of60,000 years become available. (See hissec.tion on radiocarbon dating on pages175-190 and his comment on page 269.)

This book might have made an inter-esting contribution to the science/reli-gion dialogue from the late 18th centuryto the middle of the 19th century. Atthe end of the 20th century, however, it

is difficult to know how to classify it. Itis certainly a unique, scientifically liter-ate approach to Adventist apologetics.But in spite of the book's title, theologyis not scientific and cannot be studiedscientifically.

37:11, 29 with Matt. 5:5, and Gen. 13:15with Rom. 4:13.) Then we have thisexcellent summary:

The underlying principle is clear.Christ removes all ethnic restrictions inthe new-covenant people and thereforealso the geographic Middle East centerfor Christ's church. Wherever Christ is,there is the holy place! This is an essen-tial part of the gospel hermeneutic. Forthe Shekinah holiness of the old temple,the New Testament substitutes the holi-ness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Giving evidence of wide research,LaRondelle has skillfully attempted a dif-ficult task-blending positions taken bynon-Adventist exegetes with severalAdventist distinctives. To this end someof the traditional positions taken byUriah Smith and even Ellen White arediscarded. He points out that a numberof features found in Revelation 11 were


not fulfilledih the FrencSimilarly, the USA doesncharacteristics ...ofthetwo~hoRev. 13. He repuditites Auguas a fulfillment of Rev. 9:15.other hand, the author still followstoricist patterns and speaks in denomintional categories, seeing both thePapacand an end-time remnantQf Sabbath.- "

Wherever Christ is, there is the holy place! Thisis an essential part of the gospel hermeneutic.

keepers within the prophet's purview.The year~dayprincipleis retained,despite the fact that nearly all Adventi .scholars trained in apocalypticshaverejected it. Dr. Kai Afasoill's The EncI pfHistoricism clearly shows thatsil1ce18most major exegetes have forsaken themorass 6fdate-seekingwithin thi$e .

Typical of the author's choice toretain historicism despite its almostuversalrejection today is hisfollqwing

tiSt positions thereby. Thus therespap opriately a great gulf fixederween the author's views and thoseresented in the typical Revelation sem-

il1ar.Thesameis true of Dr. RoyNaden's excellent work, The LambAmong Beasts recently published by theReview ana HeralCl..When I first wrotealong such lines in 1979 I told my wife;thatYmight be sacked in consequence.Now such divergence is acceptable.

Particularly to be commended here isthe 'clear-cut stand taken by LaRondelleagainst the Adventist tendency to useEllenG. White as another Bible. Hegoes out of his way in pages 491-497 toshow that we have misused Rev 19:10.And happily he invokes Ellen White insuppQrt of his position.

This workis not a devotional com-mentary, and neither does it set forth thegospel of grace as the chief key to theapQcalypse.But it remains a learned andvaluable text which can bring great prof-

to every reader. It towers above popu-wOrks like The Late Great Planet Earth

as the Empire State Building does aboveasingl~ story Woolworth's! ~

God of the DesertMAX GORDON PHILLIPS

On the burning sand I walkedtoward the cool oasis.I had a map.

So when God came by and offeredme his, I laughed and said,"I don't need it."

But he wouldn't stop bothering me.Every time I looked aroundhe was following.

When I stopped among the rocksto look for water once

He caught up.

II

Holding out a canteen of water,he said, "If you drink this,you will never thirst."

Knowing this was not rational,I said, "Over the hillis a spring."


But the water I found was noxious;around it human bones werebleaching in the sun.

Exhausted I fell beside the pool,defiant, trying to rest.I couldn't.

III

When God caught up, he said,"If you want shelter,I have a tent."

"I don't need it," I lied;he ignored my lie,said nothing.

Suddenly leaping to my feet,I raced across the sand,my eyes fixed.

I threw away my map-there it was!The oasis!

IVTired, bleeding, but triumphant,I looked over my shoulder;he was running after.

He ran with a pack on his back:water, medicine, bandages-I scorned them.

"Leave me alone, God!"He slowed, thenstopped.

Far in the distance the oasiswas shining in the sun!I would show him!

V

But I stumbled on a long, long timebefore I knew the oasiswas a mirage.

All around the night turned black.I was thirsty, bleeding, tired.The desert was cold.

I stopped and sat down on a rock,my head in my hands.I was lost.

But I heard a sound behind me,and when I looked around,there was God.

U NIT Y THROUGH DOCTRINE OR GRACE?

ADVENTIST FUNDAMENTALISM:

Hartlanders controlled the church. board, SabbathSchool, even church potlucks and socials.

ALTON D. JOHNSON

hear strange and disturbing stories and discovered the morale ofmy members was low. They saw the Hartlanders as "carpet bag-gers" from out of town who imposed their standards of moralityon the church. Hartlanders controlled the church board,Sabbath School, even church potlucks and socials. Some of mymembers complained that Hartland students and staff were"running the church" and "driving people away" with their sin-cere yet judgmental confrontations of members and visitorsregarding jewelry, dress, make-up, etc. Others told of a youngstudent from Hartland who, on one or two occasions just beforeI arrived, had, from the pulpit, enlightened the membersregarding his ongoing battle with "secret sin." The membersand I found the spirit of many Hartlanders divisive and detri-mental to a spirit of love and unity in our local church family.

For example, in my absence, my head elder, who was on thestaff at Hartland, preached sermons about the "trend in theAdventist church toward worldliness and apostasy." He cited "awest coast Adventist pastor who practiced mass hypnotism onhis congregation;" a conference in the Pacific Northwest that"held a ceremony to burn E. G. White books;" and other suchwild allegations, as "evidences" of the Adventist church's con-dition. During my tenure, the elder left and was later"ordained" as an Adventist minister by Steps to Life, an inde-pendent Adventist fundamentalist ministry in Kansas.

Comparing notes with other pastors, I discovered that


Alton Johnson has been a pastor and chaplain inthe USA and has been a "dark county" evangelistin Canada, where he and his wife established twochurches. They live in Southem California.

hortly after I began pastoring the Charlottesville,Virginia, Adventist Church, I learned that over adozen of my members were staff and students froma nearby self-supporting Adventist college I'd neverheard of, Hartland Institute. It adjoined my churchdistrict, so I toured the campus and met the presi-dent, Colin Standish, and other staff members. Atthat time Hartland, though unaccredited, had anenrollment of about 100 Adventist students from

around the world. It offered classes in religion, business, educa-tion, and other basics.

I was impressed with the earnestness of both staff and stu-dents and invited Dr. Standish, a former president of ColumbiaUnion College and West Indies College, to preach inCharlottesville. I looked forward to working together withHartland students in community outreach.

Unfortunately, my dreams never became reality. I began to

Hartlanders were generating controversy not only in my churchbut in all the local Adventist churches they were attending. (Thestaff and students did not attend a Hartland church on Sabbaths;they dispersed into the Adventist churches in the region.) As Iread Hartland literature, particularly articles by Standish in OurFirm Foundation, it soon became apparent that not only wasHartland's spirit exclusive and intolerant, but its theology was out-side the Adventist mainstream.

Adventist Fundamentalists: more fit for heaven, or just fitting aprofile?

As I continued my study and observation of the practices andteachings of the Hartland staff and students, a fundamentalist pro-file began to take form. This profile characterizes not onlyHartland and others in the right wing of Adventism but also the

As I read Hartland literature,particularly articles by Standish in"Our Firm Foundation," it soonbecame apparent that not only wasHartland's spirit exclusive andintolerant, but its theology wasout~ide the Adventist mainstream.

"religious right" and the "political right." This syndrome includes:1. A strong individualism, which can lead to spiritual isolation-

ism (or political nationalism) and do-it-yourself-ism. This fosters a"saving oneself" mentality-a dependence on one's own goodworks to make one good enough to be saved. Such individualismcan lead to paranoia, legalism, and literalism.

2. Paranoid tendencies-"we are the righteous few against thebig corrupt Government or Denomination."

3. An unbalanced emphasis on "law and order": To the funda-mentalist, the "law" is the "ultimate standard." It becomes themain inspiration for a person to become one's own Saviour: "If Ican obey this standard perfectly enough, then I will be saved."The focus of the fundamentalist is also on resisting temptation,the punishment of sinners, and God's retribution and vengeance,rather than on deepening a relationship with Jesus, which will, ofcourse, lead to the fruit of love, obedience, and other fruit of thespirit. Similarly political fundamentalists are fixated on law andorder, a strong national defense, the death penalty, etc.

4. A literal interpretation of the Bible. Religious fundamental-ists also believe in "verbal inspiration"-God inspired the words ofScripture rather than the prophets. Thus Standish thinks he has abiblical basis for saying that "leadership in the church has been


given by God to men but not to women," and "the appointment ofwomen elders [local church elders] has brought great grief to God'schurch and terrible division" (Keepers of the Faith, pp. 191, 192).

Likewise, the political fundamentalist believes in a literal orstrict ("constructionist") interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

Fundamentalism breeds legalismFundamentalism, as its name implies, is concerned with funda-

mentals, or basics. Its thought tends to be concrete, black andwhite, literal-minded. To the fundamentalist, "relative" is a badword. (It is "anathema" [Keepers, p. 75].) Fundamentalism givesundue weight to the Old Testament concept of "obey and live, dis-obey and die." Since Adventist fundamentalists believe that E. G.White is a true prophet, they would do well to heed her statementthat:

"In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truthin the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studiedin the light which streams from the cross of Calvary" 5BC 1137. Itis through this revelation that we must understand and interpretall that the Old (and New) Testament say about God, law, andobedience.

Adventist fundamentalists will select from E. G. White's writ-ings a statement such as, "We have a heaven to win and a hell toshun." At the same time, they will minimize her statements thatexpress unselfish love for God and others, a love inspired by Hislove for us.

Fundamentalists will virtually say we must love perfectly inorder for God to save us. But apart from Jesus, we cannot love.

Reviving the Charlottesville ChurchMuch of the controversy Hartlanders were arousing in the

churches they attended centered upon their insistence that "faithplus works equals salvation." I decided to preach a series on thissubject, delineating the theological similarities between the apos-tle Paul, the reformers, and Ellen G. White on the one hand (sal-vation is by grace through faith alone) and, on the other,Hartland, Our Firm Foundation, and the Roman Catholic church(salvation is by faith plus works). By the end of the series, very fewHartlanders were still attending. They said I was preaching the"New Theology," shook the dust off their feet, and left to reformother churches. A new, peaceful, happy family spirit-a sense ofrelief-was now pervading the congregation. Members who hadbeen displaced and sidelined were once again assuming responsi-bilities. The preoccupation of the church with lists of do's anddon'ts (works and standards) as virtually the means or root ofattaining heaven was changing to a grace orientation-a gratefulspirit, thankful that Jesus is the Root of our eternal life. They sawthat when He is in the heart and in the Church, then works ofloving obedience are the natural fruit of salvation-but not theroot of justification. All was well, until a scandal broke at theGeneral Conference.

Crisis at Colin Standish's Home Church: Orange, VirginiaWhen the church at nearby Orange, Virginia, lost its pastor, a

General Conference auditor had been receiving mileage to preach

and cover the Orange church on Sabbaths. When the auditor wasfired by the General Conference for alleged misconduct, theOrange church was without a pastor.

The Potomac Conference annexed it to the Charlottesvillechurch, a 30-minute drive away. Although Charlottesville mem-bers were willing to share their pastor with Orange, the feeling wasnot mutual. This action by the Conference created a major uproaramong Hartlanders who attended the Orange church, includingsome who had attended Charlottesville until they heard my"heretical" series on justification by faith alone. As further fuel inthe fire, a Hartland sympathizer had made a videotape (withoutpermission) of a seminar I'd presented in another church on thissubject. My emphasis was on Jesus and His grace-the Root of oursalvation. The video was circulated among Hartland members andstaff. Colin Standish and his followers were in a furor that this"new theology / saved-by-faith-alone" pastor might become theirspiritual leader.

The Conference ministerial secretary informed me he wouldmeet with the Orange church the next Wednesday evening andinvited us to attend. When my wife and I arrived at the church, wewere told to wait outside until we were called for, but we weren'tcalled in.

Hartlanders spoke out at the Orange meeting. After the meet-ing, I was "traded" (against my wishes and the wishes of theCharlottesville members) with the pastor of another church-weswapped districts. This move pacified Colin Standish and theHartland members, because their new pastor was young, unor-dained, with no theological training in either an Adventist collegeor seminary. Hartland must have therefore assumed he would not

be infected with the New Theology they believed is rampant inAdventist theology departments. One of the reasons Hartland wasfounded was to restore and teach the "pure" Adventist doctrines.

At first I could not understand why the Potomac Conferencewould allow the Orange congregation (the majority of whom wereDr. Standish and his followers) to have a controlling voice indetermining who was to be or not to be their pastor, when it wascontrary to the recommendation of the North American Divisionthat Hartland not be allowed a controlling voice in local churchdecisions. Ultimately I assumed it was easier for them to transferme out than to "transfer" Dr. Standish and his followers.

Disheartened and uprooted from Charlottesville, we moved toour new church assignment and began house hunting. However, afew months later, when my wife's old job as an editor at a universi-ty became available, she and I left the Potomac Conference. I amno longer pastoring.

Fundamentalism, religious or political, is a permanent segmentof the spectrum of human thought and behavior. Of course, not allAdventist fundamentalists are sympathetic to Hope Internationalor Hartland Institute. In many churches, the more moderate funda-mentalists quietly endure what they consider to be the too-liberalways of their church, patiently waiting for the final sifting of thetares from the wheat.

Wherever we may be on the spectrum-liberal, moderate, con-servative, fundamentalist, or points in between-we should take toheart the E. G. White counsel from Mind, Character, andPersonality: "We should love and respect one another, notwith-standing the faults and imperfections [too liberal, too strict] thatwe cannot help seeing" (vol. 2, p. 635). ~

Oregon Lay Pastor DisfellowshippedCONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE

The meetings began in February and ranuntil late March. Halversen and Russospent many hours together doing visitation.The meetings were hugely successful. Tony'sclear gospel preaching had paved the wayfor people to respond.

"This man [Russo] was being used ofGod to preach the gospel," says RichardPelham, a Gateway member. "Souls werebeing saved. Fifty people were baptized atthe end of this series. Nothing like that hadever happened here before." He believesthat God brought people to Gateway duringthis time because they would continue tohear the gospel preached.

In a letter addressed to the Gatewaychurch dated May 28, 1998, Halversenwrote, ".. .it was a great joy for me to workwith Pastor Tony Russo ... What I appreciat-ed so much about Tony was his strong con-

viction concerning the doctrines and beliefsof the Seventh-day Adventist church ... Ifelt quite sorry for Tony during our firstweek of the meetings; he was so sick; hehad a high fever and was so weak. I'mthankful through the Grace of Jesus Christhe recovered as soon as he did ... I wouldhighly recommend him to anyone as one ofthe best pastors I have had the privilege towork with during my many years in min-istry."

According to Tony, one of the mostpowerful elders, Phil Stephens, as well asthe head elder, had begun to circulaterumors about Tony during this time.Among other things they accused him ofbeing opposed to the evangelistic series andof faking an illness during the evangelisticmeetings, necessitating Halversen having togo and bring him back to the church.

Meanwhile, says Tony, these elders hadbegun having conversations with Livesay.They made certain that he heard theircomplaints about Russo, and they conferredabout what kind of pastor to bring toGateway.

In April Livesay presented the churchwith the names of potential pastors. One ofthem was the one he had first mentioned toTony in a phone conversation the previousJanuary. This man stood out; Livesay clearlyfavored his hiring, and he asked Tony tosupport him.

"It was clear from hearing the facts aboutthis man," says Tony, "that this possibleassignment was more of a political movethan a call of God to Gateway."

Tony began to worry that the confer-ence, with the help of two elders, wasmanipulating the church into hiring thispastor. Harry Fitzsimmons shared this con-cern. They had, said Harry, several tele-

CONTINUED ON PAGE n



Living with thDEBRA LLOYD FOOTE

My husband actually

heard a five ..percenter

ask one of the church

elders who preached

righteousness by faith,

"Why are you always

preaching about Jesus?"

Debra Lloyd Foote grewup in Rochester, NewYork. She graduated fromAndrews University witha B.S. in elementary edu-cation and an M.AT. ineducation. She and herphysician husband Davidlive in upstate New Yorkand care for teenagedfoster children.


Johns Hopkins neurosur-geon-:..ane of the most skilledin the country, one recom-mended by Dr. Ben Carson-

had operated on our pastor's brain tumor.But the malignancy had returned. Wewept as he preached his last sermon. Nowhe lay dying.

It was the opportune time for thetakeover to begin: for years the pastor hadbeen fighting an offshoot. It had beenplanted by two couples who moved intothe area and began attending a smallchurch in the pastor's district. During thelong months that the pastor was sick, thetwo couples began visiting his main churchand having potlucks with a small group. Intheir exclusive, righteousness-by-rulesbrand of religion, their beliefs and practicesensured their superiority. They calledthemselves the five-percenters. [The rem-nant.] Their religion spread. Included intheir number were those who followed theteachings of Hartland (which publishesOur Firm Foundation) and of HopeInternational.

During the pastor's illness, the elderstook turns preaching until a new pastorwas sent. The new pastor conducted aRevelation Seminar, and the public came.So did the five-percenters. One five-per-center argued with the pastor in front ofthe seminar guests. Another obtained thelist of "interests" attending the seminarand anonymously send them an inflamma-tory book by Jan Marcussen because theysaid, the pastor was not telling them allthey needed to do. The book offended twoformer Roman Catholics-they did notreturn to the seminars or to our church.Still, eight people were baptized, and threeothers expressed serious interest.

Too Happy in ChurchThe week after the baptism, a five-

percenter visited two of the newly baptizedmembers and the three who were seriouslyinterested. None of the five has ever beenback. The five-percenters also visited oth-

ers in our congregation. When one mem-ber answered her door, the visitor told herhe did not want his daughter to see her lip-

"stick. Another five-percenter told this verycheerful woman, "You irk me." It seemsthat she appeared "too happy" in church.Now she does not appear in church at all.

"Animal Sacrifices" at AVCDuring this fractious time, a five-

percenter told me that Andrews Universitywas teaching New Age theology to thefreshmen and that "they" (she did notidentify "who"] were doing animal sacri-fices at Atlantic Union College. The sameperson told my husband that the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Breathe Free Planto Stop Smoking was New Age.

The Church's regional Conferenceheadquarters decided to restructure ourtwo-church district into four churches andto appoint a new pastor, one nearing retire-ment. In addition to the pastor, our churchasked for a Bible worker and was willing topay most of the salary. The'conferenceadvertised at the Adventist seminary. Awoman with fine recommendations and aMaster of Divinity degree applied and washired. Now, for the cost of a Bible worker,we had a licensed minister who preachedphenomenal sermons, sang like an angel,enjoyed hospital visitation, began a shut-in's prayer group, and was great with theyouth---even giving them baptismal classesand worships at school. But she was not aman, so she endured a very long year ofundermining, attacks, and incredible rude-ness. One five-percenter sat in church untilshe stood up to preach, then walked out.One Sabbath after she preached, a FirmFoundationer stood at the back of ourchurch and, as each attendee filed out,handed out articles on why women shouldnot be pastors.

I had been the youth leader for years. Forthe first several years things went smoothly.Eventually, though, whenever I was out oftown and a substitute led the youth SabbathSchool, I would return the following week

Yet there is hope. Three elders, a new member, and a member who isthe state delegate to the church's Union Executive Committee havebegun an alternative worship service on Sabbaths.

to find our Insight magazines had mysterious-ly vanished-replaced by recent issues ofHartland's The Last Generation. Thisreplacement was not the work of my substi-tute; someone not involved in the youthroom would come in and make the switch.Even after this matter came before thechurch board three times, and even thoughthe board voted that the children's literatureshould never be tampered with or replaced,the problem continued.

Another woman and I began a monthlyyouth church when a poll of the elevenjunior-age young people showed that onlythree of them wanted to be Adventistswhen they grew up. I asked the juniors andyouth what they wanted in "their church."Their immediate response? "No adults" and"no little kids." After participating in a fullday's activities and observing the full room,the Conference president and youth direc-tor both said, "This is the best youth pro-gram in the Conference."

HarassedBecause the parents who home-

schooled their children were not allowedto attend the youth church (and "disrupt"it as they had disrupted the youth SabbathSchool until the leader banned them),they charged us leaders with "being in aconspiracy to break up families and to takeour children from us." Three times ouryouth-church bean-bag chairs were hid-den. Some of the five-percenters wouldyell at me in church, on the phone, in theparking lot; but the worst harassmentoccurred when I had invited a womanAdventist minister to speak to the youth.A five-percenter took the matter to thechurch board to try to block her fromspeaking, but the Conference presidentintervened and told the pastor to removetheir complaint from the agenda.

Finally one of the "true-remnant" toldthe nominating committee that I had been"screaming and yelling at the children." Myshocked response was, "Go right now andcall any junior, any youth in this church.

Ask them if this is true." Of course, no onedid. When her accusation was taken to thegrievance committee, the accuser claimedthe whole problem had been just a mis-communication. After losing 10 poundsand getting an ulcer, I finally resigned allmy church positions.

By now, chaos reigned. Our head elderattended Firm Foundation camp-meetingsand gave permission for handing out off-shoot literature in our church, and theSabbath School superintendent distrib-uted-in church-tapes by John Osborne.

My husband actually heard a five-percenter ask one of the church elders whopreached righteousness by faith, "Why areyou always preaching about Jesus?"

The "cold war" grew so cold that theConference president, secretary, and trea-surer all came and, in a special church busi-ness meeting, warned us about offshoots.Since an NAD policy states that no onewho belongs to Hartland, or HopeInternational may hold a church office, thenominating committee approached sevenpeople in our church who were very active-ly involved in the offshoot groups. Thecommittee asked each one directly whetheror not he or she was involved in such agroup. Only one admitted loyalty. Theother six declared that they were not a partof any offshoot.

Our youth wanted to do missionary out-reach-to drive to New York city and helpwith the van ministry. The five adults theychose as chaperones did not include anyhome-schooling parents. So two of theseexcluded parents said if they weren'tallowed to go, their children wouldn't goeither. Still, the youth voted to take onlytheir original slate of chaperones. So, whilethe leader was in another state taking careof her dying brother, the excluded mothersconvened another meeting to call off thetrip for everyone.

Where our church once had 180 mem-bers, it is now down to about 100 attend-ing. The once very effective Caring forMarriage program, which came under

attack and was "deeply discounted" by thefive-percenters, is now defunct. Our churchschool has cut one teacher from its 1998-99school-year budget. The tithe from ourchurch has fallen from fourth in theConference to tenth.

Yet there is hope. Three elders, a newmember, and a member who is the state dele-gate to the church's Union ExecutiveCommittee have begun an alternative wor-ship service on Sabbaths. It has the approvalof our church board and meets in the multi-purpose room of our church school.

Safe Place to WorshipTypically, an elder, member, or special

guest delivers the sermon or presents amusical program. The service is very infor-mal, beginning with praise songs and fol-lowed by a children's story. The childrenare then dismissed and are cared for by asitter who has Bible games and Sabbathtoys and videos for them. The emphasis ofthis church is on the gospel and on thereclamation of those who have beenoffended out of the church or who havedrifted out or who have an aversion to achurch focused on an endless list of rulesand a litany of man-made traditions. Aschedule is mailed each month, and mem-bers phone and invite their friends. Peoplewho have not been seen in years arereturning. The conference president is infavor of the alternative church. He toldthe parent church and the new one thathe hopes this budding church becomes a"church plant;" he understands that thereneeds to be a safe, protected place for peo-ple to worship God.

Our hope?-that the parent church willfind creative ways to stop the war, stop theshooting. Our prayer?-that the offshoot-ers will lay down their arms and fix theirsights on a new Center, the gracious Jesus.On the cross his arms were open wide tounite us. He promises to write his law inour hearts-to fill us with his loving Spirit.Then we can love him most and open ourarms to love each other as he loved us. ~



ANITA STRAWN DE OJEDA

Church is for the

Iteach in a public school, and there are days when I feellike an ostrich. My school is staffed with wonderful people,many of whom are dedicated Christians that attend otherchurches. There have been many times when I feel eightfeet tall, three-hundred-and-twenty-pounds heavy, and certain thateveryone is staring at my long skinny neck or two-toed feet.

"You're a vegetarian? Why? Does your church make you dothat?"

"You go to church on Saturday? Are you Jewish?""Adventists. Hmmm. Aren't they the cult with missionaries

that go from door to door in groups of two?"In my insecurity, I react like an ostrich. I hunker down, lie

low and try to fit in with the local flora and fauna. I try not tostand out too much without compromising my values. I try to

live my life among the zebras, lions and elephants without caus-ing comment or alarm. The only problem with living like afrightened ostrich is that it puts a real crimp in my spiritualneck.

Reading Matthew 5:16 has really helped me. It says, "In thesame way, let your light shine before men, that they may seeyour good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

The antidote to ostrich-like behavior among Christians is toquit hunkering down and trying to blend in with the crowd.Letting our lights shine before men may make us uncomfort-able; we may feel out of place, but true seekers of the light willrecognize that we are only a poor reflection of the greater light,Jesus Christ. Our Father, not us, will get all of the praise andamazement.

Anita Strawn de Ojeda is an elementary schoolteacher in Nevada. She is currently working on amaster's degree in writing.

perhaps a turkey?What comes to mind when someone says the word,

"turkey?" I immediately think of the foul-smelling, roasted birdthat sat on our table last Thanksgiving for the benefit of ourguests, then sat in our garage for three weeks because we didn'tknow what to do with the leftover meat and carcass. Anotherimage that comes to mind is a person who is silly and perhapsslightly devious. "You turkey, you! What did you do that for?"


It's a phrase we use whenwe are vegetarianly mad at

someone.Next time you think of it,

check the back of a quarter or adollar bill. Will you find a turkey?

No, a powerful eagle. But ifBenjamin Franklin had had his way,the turkey would have been ournational bird. That's right, theturkey. Benjamin Franklin was agreat admirer of the turkey, and I'veoften wondered why. My concept of

turkey has nothing to do with strengthand dignity. I think of turkeys as well-

fed, ineffectual and just a little self-satisfied.Gullible, too, seeing how they end up as the cen-

terpiece on millions of tables each Thanksgiving.If Franklin admired turkeys so much, there must be

more to the turkey than met the eye. Checking myfacts, I realized that he was referring to the wild turkey. Turkeysare native to North and Central America and were first domes-ticated by the Indians of Central America. When the conquis-tadors returned to Spain, they carried with them treasure, gold,and turkeys. By the mid-1500s, turkeys were well established asa domesticated bird in Europe.

Meanwhile, back in North America, wild turkeys were liv-ing the, well, wild life. When settlers started flocking to theBritish colonies, they brought along their horses,cows, sheep, chickens and turkeys. That's whenthey discovered that turkeys already existed herein North America. Of course, the local turkeysweren't half as complaceqt as their domesticatedcounterparts about being shot and eaten.

From a turkey's point of view, living in domes-tication is a lot easier than roughing it in the wild.Someone feeds you twice a day; no hunting forthe next meal. Sure, you're surrounded by a fence,but that just keeps the wiid things out. Being aturkey is so easy. But turkeys don't think aboutwhat happens to their pen mates when they startdisappearing one by one in November.

I challenge you to examine yourself on a regularbasis to check your domestication level. Are you awild turkey, out there hunting and searching forspiritual food? Or are you a more domesticatedturkey, waiting in the pen for your next feeding?

Are you a chicken?Unfortunately, I find myself more often acting

like a chicken than a Christian. I don't mean the"Oh, I'm so scared; I'm just a big chicken" kind ofchicken. Our English language is full of negativeallusions to chickens. The primary characteristic ofa chicken that I most often emulate is the chicken'sneed to establish a pecking order.

I know all about real-life chicken pecking orders. When Iwas a little tyke, we lived on a farm complete with goats,ponies, and chickens. The biggest, meanest chicken in theflock was a huge black-and-white rooster named Sampson.

It was my job to go to the hen house twice a day to collecteggs, a task I enjoyed since I loved playing with and watchingthe chickens. One day Sampson got the brilliant idea in his lit-tle chicken brain that I should be subordinate to him in thepecking order. I was somewhere between the ages of four andsix; most definitely bigger than Sampson.

On this particular morning when I walked through the gateinto the chicken pen, Sampson came rushing over to me, wingsoutstretched, squawking with indignation. When he got aboutthree feet from me, he flew up into the air and planted hisscrawny little chicken feet right in my chest. The force of hisflight and surprise attack pushed me back on my little behind,screeching and crying.

I managed to escape Sampson that morning. After Sampsontook on my brother and sisters and then even my dad, his luckchanged. My grandpa, a fine Norwegian with a penchant forchicken and dumplings, took care of our Sampson problem thenext Sunday.

Matthew 7:1-5 illustrates perfectly the chicken trap I fallinto on a regular basis: "Do not judge, or you too will bejudged. For in the same way you judge others, you will bejudged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured toyou. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother'seye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"


Have you ever walked into church and gotten the Sampsontreatment: a well-meaning saint coming at you with arms out-stretched, ready to plant a bony finger of rebuke in your chest?I've been on both ends of the pecking order phenomenon. Infact, I'm convinced that judging is the Adventist pastime. Hereare some typical chicken thoughts:

"I saw George and Matilda walking out of WalMart at 7:03last Saturday night. I checked my sunset table and sunset wasn'tuntil 7:36." This said by someone who yells at his or her childrenand knocks them around now and then to keep them in line.

"You're not going to believe this, but I think Dr. Craigsmokes. Yes, smokes! Shocking, isn't it? His breath smelled funnyand then one day when he gave me a ride home from church Inoticed a pack of cigarettes under the seat of the car." Said bysomeone who prefers channel surfing to honest exercise.

A chicken is a Christian who spends more time worrying aboutthe pecking order of his fellow believers than he does working onhis own relationship with God. The good news is, we're not con-demned to a life in the chicken coop. If we find ourselves fluffingour feathers and strutting around the churchyard, we can pray thatGod will help us to remember the words ofMicah 6:8, "He has shown you, 0 man,what is good. And what does the Lordrequire of you? To do justly and to lovemercy and to walk humblywith your God."

Be a goose!The next time someone calls me a goose, I will choose to feel

complimented. I'll assume, of course, that I am being compared tothe Canada goose. You have probably seen a "V" formation ofCanada geese. Scientists have discovered that when geese fly information, the leading bird provides an uplift for the birds behind.This uplift gives them at least 71 percent greater flying range thanif each bird were to fly alone. Geese take turns flying point. Geesehonk from behind to encourage those in front. If a goose isinjured, two geese fall out of formation and follow it down to helpand protect it. They stay with the goose until it is either able tofly again or until it is dead, and then they launch out on theirown or with another formation to catch up with their group.

20 July-August 1998 ADVENT1STTODAY

There are many lessons we can learn from the goose. Workingtogether, we can accomplish a lot more than if we were to flyalone. We should share in leadership responsibilities. We shouldencourage each other, especially our leaders. We should stickwith our wounded, not leave them to the world.

The members of my Sabbath School class are real geese. Theirprayers and concern have helped me through many a roughweek. At the beginning of the summer, I set a short-term goal formyself. A friend from work invited me to train with her and thenrun in a half-marathon with her at the end of summer. I foolishlyaccepted. I'm not a runner. The longest I'd ever run was sixmiles, back when I was sixteen and in shape. When I shared mygoal with my friends here at church, one gave me a book on run-ning. Another got up early with me on Tuesday mornings andran with me while her daughter baby-sat my girls. Throughoutthe summer, these people encouraged and uplifted me.

On the day of the race, I got up early and started the race feel-ing fine. By mile 9, I told my training partner to take off withoutme. My knee hurt dreadfully and I was doing the shuffle ratherthan the kick. I knew somewhere ahead of me my husband and hisbrother and sister-in-law and my daughters were waiting for me.

By mile 12.9, I was really shuffling and there was a hillahead. Just when I was giving up hope of

ever finishing the race, I looked up andsaw my cheering section at the top of the

hill. I started waving, and before long theysaw me and began to cheer. When I was almost

to the top of the hill, Sarah came running down,chubby three-year-old legs pumping, arms out-

stretched, yelling, "Mommy! Mommy! You'rehere!" Laura was right behind her. They

grabbed my hands and we jogged tothe top of the hill. Barb, myrunning partner who had

already finished, came back to runthe last tenth of a mile with me.

Finishing a half-marathon in the time thatit takes some people to run a whole one didn't matter. I'mproud of my accomplishment, but I know I never could havedone it without all of the geese in my life.

I propose that our church should be full of geese. A church isa place where we can share our concerns about being an ostrichin a world full of zebras, lions, and elephants. A church is a placewhere we can hunt for spiritual understanding and the strengthto kick the complacency out of the turkey. A church is a placewhere we can forgive each other our chickeness. A church is aplace where we are all a flock of geese, working together towardour mutual goal. A church is a place where we know the goalsand aspirations of our fellow geese so that we can encourage anduplift them in times of need.

When we reach our ultimate goal, I can just see Jesus runningtoward us, arms outstretched and tears streaming down his face,"My children! My children! You're here!" We will have made it,not by our own works or merit, but by the grace of God and theencouragement of those he calls his own. I want to be God'sgoose. How about you? ~

U NIT Y THROUGH DOCTRINE o R GRACE?

Surviving in the Body of ChristLYNN ]OHNSON*

Growing.up in a large Adventistcenter, I thought my homechurch represented typicalSeventh-day AdventistChristianity. I grew up listening to a seriesof articulate pastors and countless otherswho intellectually fed me each week.Professional quality music was just part ofthe normal church service. I truly enjoyedattending church even through my tumul-tuous teen years.

In my early twenties, my husband and Irelocated to a rural area of the country.Nothing in my Adventist upbringing hadprepared me for the shock of a 40-memberchurch in a conservative rural community. Iclearly remember thinking to myself aftermy first Sabbath here, "I know I'm aSeventh-day Adventist, but what are thesepeople?" I found the discussions overpotluck dinners to be mind-boggling. Littletime of trouble, big time of trouble, shak-ings and horns were not in my rep~rtoire oftypical Sabbath small talk. I listened in dis-belief as the evils of "mixed swimming"(only children or adults of the same sexcould swim together) and dairy productswere expounded upon over dinner.

I found myself feeling critical and angryas I listened to sermons which seemed tocompletely overlook a God of love and joy.The repetitive focus was upon separatismand the need for purity. The extensive fixa-tion upon Mrs. White's writings, to theexclusion of the Bible, was very troubling tome. Publications like Our Firm Foundationand institutions like Hartland were trusted.Institutions which I had grown up respect-ing like the General Conference and TheReview and Herakl were publicly questioned.Children were told that "The PrimaryTreasure, Our Little Friend, and] unior Guidedon't have good stories for children inthem," so these papers were banned (andremain so) in our church.

An actual quotation from a SabbathSchool class (e

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