M a y 2 3 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 15

May 23, 2013

An Ancient prophecy And the heArt of mission

Ziggurats,

Stonetheand

Mountains,

major changes for Adventist media center

Above All else

Good for nothing

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18 Ziggurats, Mountains, and the StoneGerald a. KlinGbeil

A prophetic snapshot that reveals a lot

14 Above All Elserachel lemons

A glimpse of what it means to be devoted

22 A Call to Serviceellen G. White

We have responsibilities, but we also have gifts.

24 A Day to RememberhelGa Pedzy

Some things are just impossible to forget.

26 Good for NothingJosette P. stevens-lassen

It’s amazing what some people consider valuable.

4 Letters

7 Page 7

8 World News & Perspectives

13 Give & Take

17 Transformation Tips

28 Ask the Doctors

29 Dateline Moscow

30 Etc.

31 Reflections

18 14 11 6

Unity in DiversityWhat happens when young adults from around the world live in New York City to serve God for one year?

The image of Daniel 2 still captivates and still of-fers a message of hope.Illustration by Steve Creitz

ARTICLES DEPARTMENTS 6 marK a. Kellner

Battle Creek’s Long Shadow

7 Gina WahlenBeyond the Basics

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.

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: revieweditor@gc.adventist.org. 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. 15

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: addresschanges@rhpa.org. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257. Subscription queries: shanson@rhpa.org. OR call 1-800-456-3991, or 301-393-3257.

www.AdventistReview.org | May 23, 2013 | 3(451)

LetterS FroM our readers

inbox

Helen’s Kitchen » I thoroughly enjoyed

Wilona Karimabadi’s cover article about Helen Moore (“In the Kitchen With Helen,” Apr. 25, 2013), and will look for her products next time I’m shopping at Sprouts.

Since Moore is no longer producing and selling her tofu steaks, it would be very much appreciated if she would share the recipe. They sound wonderful.

ARTEEN WOOD

Escondido, California

» What a nice surprise to see Helen Moore’s picture on the cover of the Review!

Remembering her and Tony from days of yore (sans children) in So. Lancaster, Massachusetts, and to see their faithfulness through the years—and their contri-butions to the faith—is inspiring.

May many find their way to good health through her witness via food!

MARLENE SMITH

Naples, Florida

It Makes No Sense » If evil is nonsensical, as

Clifford Goldstein suggests in “It Makes No Sense” (Apr. 18, 2013), then it follows that

the originator of evil, Satan, and his cohort of demons are irrational beings. Nonsensi-cal behavior is a hallmark of demented individuals, and insanity is a legally valid defense in human justice.

Satan’s rebellion began with his challenge of God’s fairness, when he was not accorded identical privileges to Jesus. While his behavior, casting aspersion on the Lord and bringing suffering and death to countless humans, is unspeakably evil, it is completely consistent with his character. It’s a rational means to under-mine God’s kingdom. The great controversy between Christ and Satan is a battle of ideas as demonstrated by the dialogue between the antag-onists during Christ’s temp-tation in the wilderness.

The suffering and death of innocent children is one of the many indicators of how far we find ourselves from the Edenic ideal our Creator intended for us.

GEORGE JAVOR

New Leipzig, North Dakota

Dealing With Disappointments

» The message I received from Delbert Baker’s “Deal-ing With Disappointment” (Mar. 28, 2013) is this: pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!

By some miracle God led me to the Adventist Church at the

age of 21. If God had not taken me in, I would have been destroyed many years ago.

But somewhere, somehow, the kind and loving God became a fire-breathing monster to me, and I prac-ticed my religion on auto-pilot for a very long time.

Baker’s use of Paul’s victo-rious life as taken from Holy Scripture is commendable, but however correct and appropriate those verses are, they don’t have any “skin” on them. The skin I refer to is 12-step programs. I began attending regularly in 1994. At that time the only thing left of that 21-year-old young woman was a shell, a very thick one.

At first the members would say to me: “We’re going to love you until you can love yourself.” Quite frankly, I didn’t believe a word of it. They kept saying it to me knowing that if I kept “coming back,” I would learn how to love myself.

These 12-step meetings are usually held in church basements (non-Adventist). [The Adventist Church has organized a 12-step program called Regeneration. I have attended a few of these meet-ings in Takoma Park, Mary-land.] In the “outside” 12-step fellowship I’ve come to know God through Jesus. He is kind, compassionate, and lovable. This Jesus is the very same Jesus who cared enough for me to spare my life by bringing me into the Adventist Church.

We have a saying in our fellowship: Religion is for people who are afraid they are going to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.

RObERTA HUDSON

STRACHAN

South Bend, Indiana

Wrong Message Given?

» We love receiving the Review and have subscribed to it for many years, but I have some concern about the message conveyed by the cover of the March 21, 2013, edition. The caption under the picture says, “People leave the Adventist church” “because they’ve changed their beliefs.” I thought about the many hands just my particular issue goes through until it reaches my mailbox, to say nothing of the thousands of other mail-boxes that received this same issue. I thought of the many pieces of “literature” we all have distributed door to door, telling the world about a loving Savior and the true biblical message for these last days as it is found in the Adventist Church. In one sweeping moment a message is sent to the employees of the USPS as they deliver our mail that “more and more” of us no longer believe what we have been preaching. Per-haps we all need to be more conscious of how easy it is for words to convey the wrong message, even on a magazine cover.

JUNE LOOR

Hendersonville, North Carolina

beyond belief » I was particularly inter-

ested in the article by Andy Nash entitled “Beyond Belief” (Mar. 21). From my observations, I believe that if we can find the way to keep people happy in the Ad-

A p r i l 2 5 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 12

Adventist Youth March

Against Violence

Human Suffering

and Creation

More Than You Asked For

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April 25, 2013

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In the

Kitchen With

HelenVegeTAriAn

Food goeS

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1927 WMMC asked my father to come and be their chef. He worked there for 10 years. Then he and our fam-ily went back to Michigan.

What modern facilities they now have! Praise the Lord, WMMC is listed as one of the best hospitals in the nation.

EVELyN (KNECHT)

WELLMAN

Dayton, Tennessee

Every Article Outstanding

» Every article in the Febru-ary 21, 2013, Review was outstanding!

The call from God and the passionate power given to Carlton Byrd (see Celeste Ryan Blyden’s cover story “Carlton Byrd Takes New York by Storm”) took my breath away! I pray that God will keep Byrd humble and dependent on Him.

“At the Well,” with Galina Stele, was inspiring. My heart was stirred with com-passion and understanding over Lilian Han Im’s “The Eternal Chapter.” Han Im’s own renewed hope gave this reader confidence.

The article that prompted this letter, however, was Vin-cent MacIsaac’s “iDols.” MacIsaac gave the best advice himself: “Let’s use current technology to transform the world, and at the same time, let’s not be transformed by it.”

ventist Church, we will also find the way to win more souls into the church.

When I was about 35, an older church member told me that the local church was unfriendly. (He never actu-ally left the church.) My wife and I conducted a little experiment: that next Sab-bath we each just stood in the foyer of the church and did not approach anyone. We counted 14 persons or cou-ples who came to us with friendly greetings and con-versation. As we grew older, this did not happen as often, but we also recognized that it was our duty to approach those we didn’t know and welcome them.

Earlier this decade I posted regularly on an “Adventist” Internet forum, which might better be characterized as an “ex-Adventist forum.” Almost to the letter, these ex-Adventists presented doctri-nal differences for the reasons they left the church. Yet as I got better acquainted with them I found that most had bad personal experi-ences, or couldn’t accept what seemed to be faulty administration of the church.

Doctrine is very impor-tant. But we must under-stand doctrine in the light of the cross. I have always used the Bible as a reference book. Three years ago I started tak-ing about an hour a day reading four to six chapters

every day. It opened my eyes to things I hadn’t really known before.

Jesus emphasized His teaching. An understanding of Bible truth will always lead us to Him. We need to look at what is preached from the pulpit. We need to support Sabbath school teachers who will lead Bible-based discussion. And most of all, we need to get back into the habit of just reading the Bible through every year.

HUbERT F. STURGES

Grand Junction, Colorado

White Memorial Medical Center

» I was happy to read CMBell Company’s cover article “One Hundred Years of Care and Healing,” on White Memorial Medical Center (WMMC) in the February 28, 2013, Review. I’m 89 years old, and the picture of the First Street Dispensary brought back memories. I remember that old building, which was across the street from the hospital.

My father, Elwin Knecht, went to Loma Linda in 1922 to take the dietitian course when it was first offered. In

Thomas Edison was con-cerned that inventions made to cause good could be turned around to cause evil. Satan would want to use every invention meant to convert the world to cause sin instead. Let us pray that we will be good examples; also pray for those who can influence our children and youth to gain victories over addictions—pray too for our pastors, teachers, and any-one who will be guided by God to be winning, tactful, and firm in their counseling of others.

VELMA bEAVON

Dayton, Montana

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: letters@adventistreview.org.

M a r c h 2 1 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 8

A Faith of Don’ts?

Church to Receive $45

Million in Reparations

The Perfect 10

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March 21, 2013

PeoPle leave the adventist ChurCh only beCause they’ve had a bad

exPerienCe, right? NoT ANyMoRe. A New sTuDy iNDiCATes ThAT MoRe AND

MoRe ChuRCh MeMbeRs ARe leAviNg beCAuse They’ve ChANgeD TheiR belieFs.

www.adventistreview.org

F e b r u a r y 2 8 , 2 0 1 3

Vol. 190, No. 6

100 Years OF

Care and Healingthe ministry of

white memorial

medical center

Driving Distracted

Adventists Provide

emergency Care in honduras

Alternative Adventist

education

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February 28, 2013

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“Jesus emphasized His teaching. An understanding of

Bible truth will always lead us to Him.” —HUbERT F. STURGES, Grand Junction, Colorado

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Editorials

Battle Creek’s Long ShadowbATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, WHERE THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF Seventh-day Adventists was organized 150 years ago, may loom larger in Adventist memory than it does in real life. Signs in the downtown business district point tourists toward the “Historic Adventist Village,” but apart from a certain, well-known breakfast cereal maker’s headquarters, there’s little to suggest an Adventist “flavor” to the place.

Yes, the Seventh-day Adventist Tabernacle sits on a downtown corner, and several hundred come each Sabbath for Bible study and worship. But if you look for “The San,” as the Battle Creek Sanitarium was familiarly called, you’ll find a massive federal office complex—and a his-torical site marker. John Harvey Kellogg, longtime Adventist and later apostate, has truly “left the building.”

I came to such somber reflections when in this city for the General Conference’s Spring Meet-ing. The fellowship was grand; the historical presentations were both excellent and informative. I learned a lot, and so did many others who’d had far more years in this movement than I can claim.

Driving around Battle Creek (my hotel was not the main venue, hence I had a daily commute), I saw, as noted, little evidence of a Seventh-day Adventist impact on the town. In a way, that’s understandable: after the fire that claimed the Review and Herald Publishing Association build-ing and after Ellen White’s vision that our headquarters should be close to Washington, D.C., the Adventists moved on, and Battle Creek went its own way.

The aforementioned Dr. Kellogg—whose brother, Will, founded the eponymous breakfast food empire—built the San into a major institution, only to see it destroyed by fire in 1902. Ellen White counseled that the facility should not be rebuilt, but Kellogg ignored her advice. Forty years later the U.S. government bought the property for use as a hospital for returning World War II soldiers, and John Harvey Kellogg died a year later.

What are the lessons Seventh-day Adventists can take from the Battle Creek experience? I can’t claim a complete list, but here are a few thoughts that came to mind after five days in Bat-tle Creek, Michigan.

First, God knows our destiny better than we do. It might well have seemed—to some of our pioneers and their successors—that staying in Battle Creek and expanding our “empire” there would have been a good thing. But the Lord had a different plan, and that difference may well have shaped our destiny. Being in and around Washington, D.C., has created great opportuni-ties for our movement’s leadership and our people, ones that might not have been available elsewhere.

At the same time, we have a responsibility to remember the past. The Historic Adventist Vil-lage in Battle Creek is a fine reminder of our heritage, but much more can—and shall, God will-ing—be done to show that heritage off. Not to boast, but to remind our people and to inform others that what began in a small Michigan city has since circled the globe. I believe the Village and its sponsors, the Adventist Heritage Ministry, deserve your support, including financial, to accomplish this task.

I believe we also should brighten the corner where we are, to borrow from the old chorus. While there’s no doubt that much was done for Battle Creek when it was an Adventist strong-hold, perhaps more could have been done to ingrain our message in the community. What might Battle Creek be like if our health message had continued promulgation after leaders decamped for the shores of the Potomac?

I wonder what we’re doing today in each of our towns and cities in which we have a major presence. Can we do more for others? Can we be of greater service to those in physical and spir-itual need? Can we touch more lives in the manner that Jesus did?

For me, one of the greatest lessons of the Battle Creek experience is that not only should we learn from the past, but we must apply those lessons! Wherever we find ourselves, we should be good and fruitful ambassadors for Christ and for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, sharing the blessed hope we have with others, and helping them find that which we have discovered. n

Editorials

Mark A. Kellner

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Watching the Signs Do you know the signs of His coming? Are you watching?

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earth-quakeS

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Beyond the Basics NOT LONG AGO, A COLLEGE-AGE FRIEND MADE A bIG TURNAROUND IN his life. Wanting to learn more from God’s Word, he dug deeply into Daniel and Revelation, amazed at the accuracy of prophecy. But recently he was startled to hear a presenter on his Adventist campus state, “When I no longer have anything to say about Jesus, then I’ll talk about prophecy.”

“Jesus is what matters,” a theology major echoed. “And the fruits of the spirit. Love. Joy. Peace.” Basics are fundamental, but it’s important to grow beyond “one-plus-one.”No doubt about it—Jesus is my “all in all.” He is the foundation of my faith. But He is much

more. Jesus reveals Himself through prophecy. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, NKJV, see also 1 Peter 1:10-11).* We cannot separate Jesus from prophecy.

Many churches, including ours, preach the amazing truth that Jesus died on the cross to save sin-ners—and we are all sinners. Many, including Adventists, serve the underprivileged and seek justice.

But Jesus calls us to move beyond Basic Christianity 101. He calls us to be His remnant people, those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12, NKJV), and He urges us to preach the “everlasting gospel”: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth”(verse 7, NKJV).

This is no exclusive club—He wants all “who dwell on the earth” (verse 6, NKJV) to be part of His remnant church. The more I learn about Jesus, the more amazed I am that He actually entrusts the proclamation of His powerful, life-changing, lifesaving prophetic messages to us. n

* Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Gina Wahlen

n N O RT H A M E R I C A

Media Center Board Votes Sweeping Operational ChangesSimi Valley property to be sold, media ministries to relocateBy MARK A. KELLNER, news editor

AFTER 41 years as a church entity and 18 years in its current location, the Ad-ventist Media Center (AMC) in Simi Val-ley, California, is facing the end of its existence. On April 29, 2013, the center’s board voted several actions that will change the nature of Seventh-day Ad-ventist media outreach in North America.

“The media ministries’ mission and messages of hope and wholeness have helped to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout North America and beyond. We appreciate the tireless efforts of the many media center employees and ministry staff mem-bers,” said Dan Jackson, president of the North American Division (NAD) and chair of the media center’s board. “We expect the media ministries to continue

to maintain and provide the level of programs and services which will meet the future needs of the division,” he added.

As voted, the move envisions the church’s various North American radio and television ministries, which include Breath of Life Ministries, Faith for Today, It Is Written, Jesus 101 Biblical Institute, La Voz de la Esperanza, and the Voice of Prophecy, to relocate away from the Simi Valley facility, which is to be sold. A time frame of 12 to 18 months will be allocated for this pro-cess. According to an NAD statement, “efforts will be made to minimize the impact on employees who will be affected by and during the transition and relocation period.”

The decision, the NAD statement said,

“comes after two years of research, con-centrated studies, continual meetings (which included two major summit meetings), as well as private interviews with stakeholders. From these meet-ings, NAD leadership has developed documents that summarize the aspects of the summits, meetings, and inter-views. Participants of the summits included media ministry speakers, innovative Adventist pastors who are already using innovative media effec-tively, as well as church administrators and communication personnel.”

The NAD announcement stressed two other points concerning Seventh-day Adventist media work in the division, which claims more than 1 million members.

First, the division will maintain an “ongoing commitment to provid-ing funding for the media minis-tries,” the statement said. “As a part of this process, and in clear under-standing that the media ministries are part of the NAD ministry effort, funding levels from the division would be identified for each of the media ministries in order to allow

HOUR OF DECiSiON: members of the Adventist media center board met on a sound stage at the organization’s simi Valley, california, facility on April 29, 2013. the group voted to allow the seventh-day Adventist church’s north American division media ministries to relocate and for the media center property to be sold.

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World News & Perspectives

n SO U T H E R N A S I A- PAC I F I C

Adventist Youth Among First responders at Bangladesh Factory CollapseFour rescued alive, 26 others recovered by teens trained in disaster relief.By bENJAMIN RAKSHAM, Bangladesh Union Mission, reporting from Savar, Bangladesh

SEVENTH-DAy ADVENTISTS were some of the first responders to a commercial factory building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, that has captured international media attention and sparked debate over building standards.

Ten Adventist youth trained in earthquake preparedness and potential building collapse situa-tions were some of the first on-site after the April 24, 2013, collapse and helped bring out 30 victims, four of whom were still alive.

Another group of 125 Adventist young people went to the disaster site on Satur-day, April 27, to assist rescue teams. That group helped recover three women as well as several bodies. They also pro-vided food and water to survivors.

The eight-story commercial building is known as Rana Plaza and is located approximately 28 miles (45 kilome-ters) from the capital city of Dhaka.

The building housed five garment factories, production lines, banks, and hundreds of shops. An estimated 3,500 people were in the building at the time of the collapse, the majority of whom were female factory workers under the age of 25. At press deadline approxi-mately 400 bodies had been recovered and 2,444 injured people had been res-cued, but hundreds were still unac-counted for.

ADRA Bangladesh also responded promptly by providing oxygen tanks, masks, flashlights, hammers, shovels, and other tools as preliminary assis-

tance. According to director Serpa Santana Landerson, ADRA Bangladesh plans to donate cash to the Prime Minis-ter’s Relief Fund after committee approval is received.

During an April 26 Adventist Youth evening meeting, young people spontaneously collected 12,100 taka (approx-

imately US$160) for the victims.Reports have confirmed that at least

one Seventh-day Adventist, a boy named Bitu Baroi, who was working in one of the garment factories, was still missing. His mother works at Polly-wog, an Adventist-sponsored handi-craft industry located on the Adventist Church’s Bangladesh Adventist Union Mission campus.

The disaster area is about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) from the union office.

The garment industry is a major for-eign currency earner in Bangladesh and the biggest industry in the coun-try. Bangladesh is the second-largest garment exporter country in the world after China. There are more than 5,000 such factories in Bangladesh, mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong regions. And that number counts only factories reg-istered with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporting Associa-tion. There are hundreds more not under this umbrella.

There are about 6 million factory workers, mostly women, employed directly in this industry. n

—with additional reporting by Adventist News Network

them to fulfill their mission.”And, according to the statement, the

NAD will make a “commitment to explore new possibilities for media development. The division anticipates a

significant role for the media ministries in the future of media in North America; beyond the role they currently play.”

According to the NAD announcement, “the North American Division Commit-

tee will receive the recommended pro-posal from the AMC board.” A final vote approving the move is expected at the year-end divisional meeting in Novem-ber 2013. n

DOiNG GOOD: rescuers work on saturday, April 27, 2013, to recover survivors of the factory collapse in savar, Bangladesh. Ad-ventist workers wore orange uniforms.

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MEDiA NOTiCE: Adventist church member thais Landerson is interviewed at the fac-tory collapse site. she is the daughter of serpa santana Landerson, who serves as Bangladesh country director for the Ad-ventist development and relief Agency.

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n WO R L D C H U R C H

Adventist Church Promotes Next Step for Comprehensive Health MinistryAt Spring Meeting, delegates hear about outreach approachBy ELIZAbETH LECHLEITNER, Adventist News Network, reporting from Battle Creek, Michigan

ADVENTIST EVANGELIST Mark Finley quoted a line April 14, 2013, from his mentor, television ministry legend George Vandeman, to encourage Sev-enth-day Adventists to take a more pro-active approach to personal and corporate health.

The line comes from a story Vande-man was fond of telling: The only way to reach an ancient monastery perched atop a towering mountain was a single rope. A monk peering over a sheer cliff pulled tourists up in a wicker basket. “How often do you replace the rope?” one asked nervously.

“Every time it breaks,” the monk said.The punch line hit home for many

delegates to the first business session of Spring Meeting in Battle Creek. They laughed, but they also paused to reflect on their own lifestyles, not unlike early church leaders who, 150 years ago, first heard church cofounder and prophet Ellen G. White’s account of her vision on seemingly radical health principles. Don’t smoke. Exercise. Leave that pork chop off the menu.

That vision, given in a time period when bloodletting and doping were common medical practices, would become the backbone of what is today a wholistic global health ministry. The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates a network of approximately 600 hospi-tals, clinics, and dispensaries world-wide, and counts many innovative health leaders among its members.

But at the movement’s Spring Meet-ing top church officials called for a renewed emphasis on the comprehen-

sive side of health minis-try—the blending of physical and spiritual com-ponents. The discussion was a continuation of what world church health and ministerial leaders first addressed at a summit last month.

“We’ve been doing this for 150 years. It’s in our DNA,” Finley said. “But we’re taking a new look at it.”

Delegates reviewed and accepted 10 recommendations that came out of that summit. They include refocusing on Christ’s method of meeting physical needs before spiritual ones, and finding ways to integrate these methods into curriculums and practices at the church’s education institutions. The document also pledges to support the work of “centers of influence,” where such ministry is already taking place.

“ ‘If less time were given to sermoniz-ing, and more time were spent in per-sonal ministry, greater results would be seen,’ ” said Dr. Allan Handysides, co-director for the Adventist world church’s Health Ministries Department, quoting a passage from White’s landmark book The Ministry of Healing (p. 143).

Adventist world church president Ted N. C. Wilson also referred to White’s writings. “The best thing you can do in New York is medical missionary work,” he said, referring to a line from a letter she wrote. “Health,” he continued, “is the right arm of evangelism. Health is what opens the door.”

Going forward, health ministry will be deeply rooted in church initiatives

such as Mission to the Cities, church leaders said.

Some delegates, however, questioned whether the world church’s current budget for health ministries could fund a quality, appealing program that will impact the community. A delegate from the church’s South Pacific Division strongly urged the Executive Committee to review existing successful commu-nity programs and incorporate them into mainstream ministry. He cited depression- and addiction-recovery programs as possible examples.

Mike Ryan, an Adventist world church vice president, agreed. “We have so many programs, but bridging them to create something big, we’re weak on that”—which was the impetus behind the urgent call for “comprehensive” health ministry.

Jonathan Duffy, president of the Ad-ventist Development and Relief Agency, applauded the new approach to health ministry. He said there are steps to con-version, beginning with raising aware-ness and ending with lifelong discipleship.

“What excites me is that this is a genu-ine attempt at blending ministries,” Duffy said. “All of us have to consider this and ask, ‘How am I contributing to this ministry?’ How does ADRA fit into this? We are part of the preparatory work.”

Handysides said not only should the

HEALTH EVANGELiSM : mark finley, special assistant to the Adventist world church president for evangelism, urges spring meeting delegates to reprioritize the church’s early health message.

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At Adventist Health Conference, Faces in the CrowdFrom all over Europe, they all come with a story.By STEPHEN CHAVEZ, coordinating editor, reporting from Prague, Czech Republic

THE EUROPEAN Health Conference (EHC) held in late April and early May in Prague is the perfect place to experience the Adventist Church in all its diversity. Participants at the conference all believe healthful living is an essential part of what it means to be a Seventh-day Ad-ventist. But there are almost as many ways to demonstrate the message as there are participants.

Bohumil Kern is health ministries director of the Czecho-Slovakian Union. He’s honored that Prague was chosen as the site of this first all-European health conference, and he attributes this honor to the role Prague has traditionally played as a gateway between Eastern and Western Europe.

Kern describes a ministry model that has for many years now served to break down barriers and make friends in com-

munities in the Czech Republic and Slo-vakia. They’re called “health clubs,” and they are neutral venues where people can come to stop smoking, learn to cook more healthfully, reduce the health risks associated with obesity, discover how to come to terms with their addictions, and receive counseling for depression.

The concept has been so successful that it’s been exported to many coun-tries in Eastern Europe. In the Czecho-Slovakian Union alone more than 260 teachers in nearly 90 health clubs “teach secular people about the Adventist life-style.” The clubs meet in community centers, schools, civic buildings, and church social halls.

In a partnership with Loma Linda University, teachers in these health clubs twice a year receive intensive training in specialties such as nutrition, physical

therapy, addictions, and counseling.These health clubs are augmented by

“reconditioning camp meetings,” where small groups of people spend up to seven days in a natural setting. The daily sched-ule includes outdoor activities appropri-ate to both summer and winter, and features lectures about health and well-ness. The evening program includes lec-tures with a spiritual component. Kern, who pastors three churches in addition to his role at the Czecho-Slovakian Union, says that many of those who join the church have had contact with one of these health clubs at one time or another.

Flynn Bosch, 14, attends the confer-ence with his mother, Edith, from Coimbra, Portugal. What does a 14-year-old want out of a conference that features such topics as “Biblical Views on Disease and Healing” and

message be comprehensive—appealing to physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual needs—but the delivery should be, too.

“Every church, every hospital, every institution, every supporting ministry must be comprehensive in its message,” Handysides said. “Even these meetings

are going to have to change,” he added, referring to the long hours spent sitting in conference rooms during church business sessions. n

CLUB MAN: Bohumil Kern, health minis-tries director for the czecho-slovakian Union, helped develop “health clubs” throughout the czech republic and slova-kia. “they’re not just exercise clubs,” he says. “they’re about disease prevention.”

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PRAYER PARTNER: carol squier, attend-ing the conference from Berrien springs, michigan, is a walking testimony of the power of prayer to heal both physically and spiritually.

EARLY TRAiNiNG: fourteen-year-old flynn Bosch from coimbra, portugal, visits neigh-bors and helps with health expos as part of his healing ministry to his community.

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“Hope, Healing, and Diversity”?“I’m interested in all kinds of health

and disease,” he says. Not surprisingly he’s considering a career as a medical doctor. His mother says that one of his favorite books is about anatomy and physiology.

In his local community Bosch is active in his church’s health ministry out-reach. At health expos he and others take blood pressure, help measure body mass, and take blood samples to be screened for diabetes and cholesterol. What does he consider the most impor-tant thing to share with others regard-

ing the Adventist health message? The eight natural remedies: nutrition, exer-cise, water, sunshine, temperance, air, rest, and trust in divine power.

If you’ve ever been part of a prayer chain, perhaps you know the name Carol Squier. For years her prayer requests have been shared around our table at Adventist Review staff meetings. After hearing her introducing herself to someone at the conference, I was finally able to put a face to the name.

Squier, who lives in Berrien Springs, Michigan, is a sincere and devout believer in the power of prayer. Her

experience with prayer over the past year reflects perfectly the purpose of the EHC to explore “perceptions, expec-tations, and facts; an exploration through science, faith, and culture.” She lost both her husband and son to cancer last year, but not before they both accepted Jesus as their Savior. They may have lost their battle to cancer, but they received something far more precious.

Squier, herself a cancer survivor, makes sure people who experience the trauma of that diagnosis don’t go through the struggle alone—not if she knows about them. n

n WO R L D C H U R C H

Shawn Boonstra to Lead Voice of Prophecy Ministry, Board SaysFormer speaker/director of It Is Written takes the helm.By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor, with reporting from the North American Division

SHAWN bOONSTRA, a veteran of Seventh-day Adventist media outreach, will be the new speaker/director of one of radio’s longest-running religious programs, The Voice of Proph-ecy, the flagship Adventist media outreach started in 1929.

“Shawn has clearly demonstrated that he has a heart for evangelism and for reaching those who need to hear the messages of Christ’s love and redemptive power,” said Dan Jackson, president of the Voice of Prophecy board and of the North American Division, in a statement.

Boonstra, a pastor who currently is an associate ministe-rial director at the North American Division concentrating on evangelism, was from 2004 to 2011 speaker/director of It Is Written, the church’s pioneering television outreach. He had earlier spent six years at the Canadian It Is Written program, including five as speaker/director there. Earlier he pastored a number of Adventist congregations in British Columbia.

Boonstra’s selection to head the Voice of Prophecy (VOP) ministry was voted April 30, 2013, by the organization’s board of directors, meeting in Simi Valley, California.

Boonstra has also authored more than 15 outreach- oriented books. He and his wife, Jean, social media coordi-nator for Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines, have two daughters.

Boonstra replaces Fred Kinsey, who served the Voice of Prophecy for five years. Pastor Kinsey was named VOP

interim speaker/director after Lon-nie Melashenko, then-speaker/director, accepted a call to the Ketter-ing Health Net-work in Ohio in July 2008. Kinsey was named VOP speaker/director in 2009, while still serving as the assistant to the president for communication for the North American Division. In August 2010 Kinsey was asked to serve VOP full-time.

Under Kinsey’s leadership, VOP expanded the voices heard on the 15-minute daily and 30-minute weekly radio programs by Mike Tucker, Elizabeth Talbot, and Willa Sandmeyer. He also led the ministry to become involved with social media, including the introduction of a VOP iPhone app.

“We are grateful for Fred’s ability to bring a diversity of programming to the Voice of Prophecy, which allowed this ministry to continue to win souls for Christ,” said Jackson. “We also applaud his commitment to the Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church and the role he played in communication ministry at the division for many years,” he said. n

SHAWN BOONSTRA

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Adventist life

One recent Monday morning, on the way to school, our 4-year-old was singing passionately from her car seat. She belted out her two lines again and again. She had inadvertently mixed up two widely known songs, however, creating a cute and still meaningful mash-up: “Jesus loves the little children; over the hills and everywhere!”—kiMBERLY LUSTE MARAN, laurel, maryland

I was at my friend’s house right around lunchtime. Her 7-year-old son invited me to stay for lunch. I told him I’d have lunch with them another time, sharing that I was going home to have a sweet potato that was already in the process of baking. Not wanting me to leave, he replied, “We have potatoes! And we can make them sweet!”

I just grinned from ear to ear.—JENNi LANE, summerville, GeorGia

I ThirstThat dark day of death He said, “I thirst.”Now He thirsts for grape juice.Nothing else tastes the same up there.He’s been waiting 20 centuries to savor the flavor of crushed grapes.He can hardly wait to drink it again . . . with us.Juicy fruit marked our fall from grace.This fruit juice connects us to the gift of grace.A drinking party is planned like never before . . . the joy of fresh grape juice together at the beginning of perfect eternity! ***Today I thirst. He tells me,“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”And “Blessed are those who . . . thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be filled”(John 19:28; John 7:36-38; Isa. 55:1; Matt. 5:6).*

—DORiS BURDiCk, lincoln, nebrasKa

* Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

poem

let’s prAy

Have a prayer need? Have a few free minutes? Each Wednesday morning at 8:15 EDT the adventist review staff meets to pray for people—children, parents, friends, cowork-ers. Send your prayer requests and, if possible, pray with us on Wednesday mornings. Send requests to: Let’s Pray, adventist review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600; fax: 301-680-6638; e-mail: prayer@adventistreview.org.

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The 14-Day nuTella Challenge

above all elseby RACHEL LEMONS

I once had a friend who was an athe-ist. He was also as smart as a whip. Having completed a master’s degree at a prestigious university, he could easily go toe to toe with

just about anyone in cleverly giving proof of God’s nonexistence. From an intellectual point of view, I knew I was no match for him. In fact, we never engaged on this level.

Seeing RelationshipsOne time, however, he brought up the

subject of God. He asked how I could believe in something so nonsensical as a God I couldn’t hear or see. So I posed the fol-lowing question to him: “Can you explain your relationship with your mom to me?”

He shot me a look of bewilderment. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Your relationship with your mom. How would you describe it to me?” Silence. I continued. “I can’t explain my relationship with my mom to you; how-ever, it exists. We talk; we laugh; we love. The relationship exists, but how can I describe something so intangible? I can only experience it. That’s why I believe in God, because I experience Him. I see Him moving in my life. I talk to Him, and He answers. It’s less of something that I can explain and more of some-thing that I experience.”

So now the question is posed to you: How can you possibly believe in God? What proof do you have to support your belief in God?

The proof is in your relationship with Him.

Are you experiencing God in such a way that you are assured of His exis-tence? Are you experiencing a God who answers when you call? A God who gets involved in your story? Whatever your answer may be, I would like to invite you to go a little deeper with God. Experience a God who is active and eager to answer when you call. Experience a God who loves to get involved in the human story.

The Journey: Sharpening Our God Gauge

Christianity is a journey. There are no couch-potato Christians. Take any foot-ball player at the end of the game with a clean jersey and pristine cleats, and you can conclude that he’s been sitting on the bench for the entire game. The same is true in our Christian walk. Christian-ity is a contact sport. It requires that we get involved and get dirty. It involves a God who is actively involved in our lives. We do not serve a god of wood or stone who doesn’t answer when we call. The most exciting thing about Christianity is that we serve a God who loves to get involved in the human story!

Far too often our spiritual growth is stalled because we are unable, unwill-ing, or unaware of how to hear God’s voice. Our ability to perceive God mov-ing in our lives has become dull. And sometimes, at some point along the way, we begin to doubt that God actually

Heart and Soul: Theology

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gets involved in the human story. And more than anything else, this is what we want. We want God to show up and be real and apparent. When hardship and destruction come, we want clarity and a solution. We want to see a manifesta-tion of God. We want to know that our God is as real as our pain.

Our God gauge is off, and sharpening this ability—learning to tune in—will take us to the next level in our relationship with God.

Speak, Lord; I’m ListeningNot so long ago I shared a story with

a friend about a plane ride I had taken. As I sat in the middle seat of my row, I felt impressed that the woman sitting next to me was a Seventh-day Adventist. Over the course of the trip, during my conversation with her, the impression was confirmed. While I recounted this story, my friend interjected, “How did you hear God’s voice?” I paused and thought of how to answer that question. And again today I ponder that question. How can we hear God’s voice? How can we rest assured that God gets involved in the human story? For many of us, if we could receive confirmation of this, we would experience an immediate growth spurt in our spiritual lives.

In order to hear God’s voice and expe-rience Him moving in our lives, we must first believe that God exists and recognize that He is the God of the uni-verse. Hebrews 11:6 says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because

above all elseanyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” It is impor-tant that we first acknowledge that God exists and recognize who He is.

Next, we must clearly understand that God actively gets involved in the human

story. Even when it seems that He’s somewhere offstage, He’s still a charac-ter in the story. Psalm 66 gives us assur-ance of this. In fact, Psalm 66:5, 16 invite us by saying: “Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for man-kind!” “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.” The psalmist speaks with assur-ance throughout this chapter about the awesome works of God’s hands.

In this concept we see two levels of responsibility. If you have not yet experi-enced God’s movement in your life and you want to go deeper with God, it is your responsibility to read the Bible to see and understand how God has moved in the past. Spend time with Christians, those with strong spiritual experiences, who can share with you how their rela-tionship with God has impacted their lives. If, on the other hand, you are a

mature Christian, it is your responsibility to be open and expressive about how God has moved in your life, because in doing so, your experience will give evidence to those around you. The proof of God’s exis-tence is in your relationship with Him.

Finally, we must trust that God will answer us when we call. If there is one assurance we have in God’s Word, it is that He will respond to our prayers. The Bible is replete with assurances that God will listen and answer: “Call to me and I will answer you” (Jer. 33:3). “He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him” (Ps. 91:15). “Before they call I will answer; and while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isa. 65:24).

How to Experience God Moving in Our Lives

Sometimes even seasoned prayer warriors find themselves at a standstill when it comes to understanding God’s moving and leading in their lives. Try-ing to discern God’s action (and inac-tion) sometimes sends longtime Christians into a tailspin in their rela-tionship with God. And often enough, it’s most difficult to understand God’s movement in our lives because of our emotional involvement in the situation.

Understanding God’s movement in our lives may require a drastic change in perspective. Reading a book with the page pressed against your nose permits you to see only one or two words on the page. However, when you adjust the book to arm’s length, you can see much more and read so much better.

Our walk with God is the same.

GOd ALreAdY KNOWS tHe deSireS OF YOur HeArt, But He WANtS tO

HeAr FrOM YOu.

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sion. Focus on delighting yourself in God. Don’t selfishly ask Him for any-thing during this time; just spend the time with Him, getting to know Him and enjoying His presence. Read the Gospels. Put yourself in the story and imagine how you would react. Delve into Psalms and spend time praising God for who He is. I guarantee you will begin to see and perceive God’s movement in your life. You will experience a God who is actively involved in your story.

Implications for the Church at Large

Our 14-day Nutella challenge may seem to be an individual matter. But it could have a serious positive impact on corporate spiritual growth. It all comes down to Philippians 2:3, 4, which says: “Value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” Delighting yourself in your relationship with God frees up your mind from self-ish preoccupations. You learn to “not be anxious about anything” (Phil. 4:6). The energy used to pray for yourself and your own needs can now turn toward the needs of others. This allows us to channel the same fervency to stand in the gap for those around us—to approach God in prayer on their behalf. When we are assured that God is con-cerned about us, will act on our behalf, speak to our hearts, and move in our lives, we can confidently speak to Him on behalf of others. This is one of Chris-

tianity’s most exciting, spiritually revo-lutionizing aspects.

ConclusionIf you find yourself questioning that

God will actually get involved in your story, just check out the fire of His pas-sion for you in Psalm 18:6-14. Read it now! Experience a God who sees you as “the apple of his eye” (Deut. 32:10) and who longs for you to prove His existence through your relationship with Him. He longs for you to hear Him when He whispers your name. He longs for you to recognize His movement in your life as evidence of His love.

Your God is deeply involved in the human story. Contrary to all our low expectations of Him, He’s committed to doing exceeding abundantly more than what we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20, 21). Truly delight yourself in your relationship with Him, and you will hear and experi-ence God as you never have before. n

RACHEL LEMONS, A GRADUATE OF

OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY AND THE

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, IS THE

AUTHOR OF Fish Food, THE 2013

YOUNG ADULT DEVOTIONAL

PUBLISHED BY REVIEW AND HERALD.

Obsession with one moment of one day of one week in one month of life’s expe-rience is like demanding full beauty from a single thread in the vast tapestry of our lives. By contrast, Psalm 37:4 invites us to “delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This formula involves two jobs: delight-ing ourselves in the Lord (the easier of the two) and experiencing our heart’s desires (the harder one). But the harder one is God’s business.

So tell God what you desire. Reveal your plans, dreams, and goals to Him. Be spiritually vulnerable before Him. And focus on doing your job, which is delighting yourself in Him.

The Nutella Challenge“How do I do that?” you ask me.

Think of a few of your favorite things—football, chocolate, your cat, your chil-dren. Whatever it is that brings a smile to your face, think of it right now. Put a picture of it in front of you. Revel in the joy and happiness it brings you. Delight in the way it gently tugs at the corners of your mouth until you break into a smile. Now think of Jesus. Imagine your relationship with Him. Does it bring you the same joy? Changing our per-spective is about learning how to delight in the Lord. It’s about taking our eyes off our desires and fixing our eyes upon the Lord, just as Peter had to do as he was walking on water toward Jesus (Matt. 14:22-33). God already knows the desires of your heart, but He wants to hear from you. Tell them to God, and then focus on enjoying your relation-ship with Him as much as you enjoy your favorite things. This is your 14-day Nutella challenge.

I call it that because I first posed this challenge to a friend, whose number one delight in life is Nutella. For the next 14 days, let God be your magnificent obses-

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Almanac Advice and Anniversary AnxietyMOST ADVENTIST bELIEVERS ARE AWARE THAT 2013 IS THE 150TH anniversary of the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The first General Conference session occurred, and the formation of the Adventist Church started, on May 21, 1863.

It’s a bit of a misnomer to use the word “started,” because the golden thread of Seventh-day Ad-ventist beliefs are Bible-based and can be traced from Genesis to Revelation (see Isa. 61:4; Rev. 14: 6-12). To the thoughtful believer this period is a time to reflect on why we are still here, and ask what we can do to help finish the work that will lead to Christ’s return.

Almanac AdviceWe can profit from counsel Ellen White gave to Arthur Grosvenor Daniells (1858-1935),

president of the General Conference at the end of the first 50 years of the Seventh-day Ad-ventist movement. In a personal letter she wrote: “Again and again I have been shown that the past experiences of God’s people are not to be counted as dead facts. We are not to treat the record of these experiences as we would treat a last year’s almanac. The record is to be kept in mind, for history will repeat itself.”*

Last year’s calendar and facts have become dated, thereby having little value; so we discard it. Ellen White’s advice to Daniells was perceptive. Don’t treat the history of the early days of the Adventist movement as old, irrelevant, and discardable information. Instead, review, study, and learn from them. We should be enlightened by the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of our move-ment’s early days.

150th AnniversaryRecently the leadership of the Adventist Church was enriched as it followed Ellen White’s “almanac

advice” and reviewed the history of the first 50 years of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. Church leaders met in Battle Creek, Michigan, where the church started, at a commemorative sesquicentennial event. For two days leaders prayed and studied, listened, and discussed engag-ing historic presentations on a wide range of topics that highlighted many lessons learned.

After the commemorative sessions, and after doing the business of the GC Spring Meeting, leaders headed home inspired and refocused to forward the movement where they have responsibilities. Ironi-cally, as they traveled around the globe they were confronted with the glaring realities of a suffering world.

Anniversary AnxietyAs the 150th commemorative events ended, national and international reports repeatedly broadcast news

of the Boston Marathon bombing (April 15, 2013), citing those killed and wounded in the explosions. This event and multiple other news stories provided an unsettling reminder of the impact of sin and our inhu-manity toward each other. The month of April also reminds us of other historic events that speak to the great controversy and demonstrate the weight of sin and strife in the world.

In United States history a number of devastating wars and heinous acts of violence have begun in April: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War. The Branch Davidian fiasco occurred in Waco, Texas, and the Oklahoma City bombing shocked the nation in April. It’s the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, the Virginia Tech shootings, the race riots in Los Angeles, and the ecologically disastrous British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

As Adventists were commemorating, these and many other anniversaries cause us to realize that our work and witness are badly needed in a hurting world. While we learn from our history, we also long for the Sec-ond Advent, when Jesus will establish His eternal kingdom and end the reign of sin, suffering, and strife. n

* Ellen G. White letter 238, 1903, in The Publishing Ministry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1983), p. 175.

DELBERT W. BAkER IS A GENERAL VICE PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.

Transformation Tips

Delbert W. Baker

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by GERALD A. KLINGbEIL

I just don’t get it,” one of my students had told me. “This book is too difficult for me to understand.” He was referring to the book of Daniel, one of the all-time favorites of Seventh-day Adventists all around the world. “And,” he had added, “what are all these weird animals and strange prophecies supposed to mean, anyway?” Juan1 came from a solid Adventist home and had just recently committed himself to fol-

lowing Jesus. “I know I should pay more attention, but every time I start reading Daniel or Revelation I feel like ‘turning off’—it is just too weird and too complicated.”

Juan’s reaction is, undoubtedly, duplicated many times in Adventist academies, col-leges, and churches all around the world. While many love spending time with these fas-cinating prophetic books, others tend to be turned off by their language, imagery, and complex symbolism. They may struggle to look at the big picture that these apocalyptic books present—all pointing to the Lamb and His final victory in the great controversy between good and evil.2

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power of deities was measured by the success of their earthly worshippers. The book of Daniel was written in this particular historical context and with these questions in mind. Its first part (chapters 1-6) tells the stories of four young men from Judah and their inter-action with heathen kings and an often-antagonistic society. Would they stay faithful to their God? Would they with-stand the temptations of assimilation and blending in? Would they be able to become a blessing, hinted at so often in Scripture (cf. Gen. 12:1-3), and reach their captors who had become neigh-bors and perhaps even friends?

Guided by divine revelation, Daniel included not only faith-building stories but also mind-boggling prophetic pan-oramic scenes that highlighted one important concept: the God of Israel, Yah-weh, was in full control of history—and interested in communicating this pro-

phetic timetable to those who loved and worshipped Him—regardless of their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Daniel was not only a book for its time: it speaks to all ages, and particularly to those living at the time of the end (Dan. 12:1-4).

Setting the StageDaniel 2 is a great chapter for seeing the

link between God’s story and human his-tory. The condensed version goes like this: a king’s dream becomes the nightmare of his scholars, who fail to tell him his osten-sibly forgotten message from on high. Never one to do things halfheartedly, King Nebuchadnezzar threatens his court scholars with execution if they are not able to recount the dream. Daniel and his three Hebrew friends are informed of this dras-tic decree that will affect them as well, and after requesting more time, they pray for their lives. During the night God reveals to

Daniel the dream and its meaning. Daniel then approaches the court official in charge of the execution and is brought before the king.

Truly this is a real-life suspense story, full of nail-biting moments—yet it is also full of God moments. The first occurs

Who Would be stronger than the gods that Meet on the Mountain?

A book for a Special TimeThe book of Daniel was written some-

time during the sixth century B.C., a perplexing time for God’s people. Jeru-salem had fallen repeatedly to the Baby-lonian King Nebuchadnezzar and, finally, had been destroyed in 586 B.C. Ruins now marked the place where the Solomonic Temple had once stood. While thousands had perished, others had been taken as prisoners to Babylon, where they had settled. Instead of using their native Hebrew, these captives had been forced to use Aramaic and Babylo-nian instead. A new language, a new political system, a new country, new gods—where was the God of Israel in all of this? Could He still speak, or had He been silenced forever by the seem-ingly more powerful Babylonian gods who were worshipped by their masters?

Questions like these must have crossed the mind of more than one of the Jewish exiles. These questions were legitimate in a world in which the

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second chapter of Daniel with my Bibli-cal Aramaic class students—one of the few chapters in the Old Testament that is written in Aramaic.3 Here is my per-sonal translation of Daniel 2:34, 35, fol-lowed by the interpretation of the dream in verses 44, 45: “You watched until a stone [indeterminate] was cut—not by human hands—and smote the image at its feet of iron and pottery and crushed them. Then the iron, the pottery, the

bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed altogether, and they were like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind lifted them up, and no place could be found for them. However, the stone that smote the image became a huge mountain [indeterminate] and filled all the earth” (verses 34, 35).

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will establish an eternal king-dom, which will not be destroyed; and the kingdom will not be left to another peo-ple; it will smite and put an end to all these kingdoms and will be established forever; just as you saw that the stone [determinate] was cut off from the moun-tain [determinate]—not from human hands—and crushed the iron, the bronze, the pottery, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king

what will be after this and (be assured), the dream is certain and its interpreta-tion is trustworthy” (verses 44, 45).

Did you catch it? The descriptive sec-tion mentions a stone coming from nowhere (verse 34) while the interpretive section has the stone coming from the mountain (verse 45). The translators of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, noticed this discrepancy and thus inserted “from the mountain” in verse 34. The biblical text continues with a surprising description of the dra-matic transformation of the stone, which becomes “a huge mountain” (verse 35), filling the whole earth. Clearly this stone is beyond this world: its identity and ori-gin has been of particular interest to bib-lical interpreters.4 A quick search in standard commentaries on Daniel brings to light a number of interpretations of the stone/mountain symbolism in Daniel 2. What is Daniel telling us by saying it the way he did? What would a Babylonian king, living in the sixth century B.C. in Mesopotamia, understand by a text involving stones and mountains?

Of Stones and MountainsThere are few references in Mesopota-

mian literature to stones used in cir-cumstances similar to the ones found in Daniel 2. In the Gilgamesh Epic, the Mes-opotamian Flood story, the main charac-ter has a dream about the coming of Enkidu (a wild created being meant to teach Gilgamesh humility) as a meteor that lands at Gilgamesh’s feet.5 We see from Mesopotamian lists that deities and sacred space were often related to stones. Mountains, on the other hand, played a big role in most religions of the ancient Near East, as we can see in the architecture of many temples and tombs. The design of the Mesopotamian ziggurat (or temple) represents an artifi-cial mountain, similar to the shape and design of Egyptian pyramids.6 Mesopo-tamian ziggurats were considered to be the actual home of the deity.7 The names

right after Daniel received the vision. I would imagine that everybody (including me) would immediately rush out of the prayer meeting and knock on the door of the king’s palace. There is no time to be lost. No precious minutes can be squan-dered. However, that’s not what Daniel does. He settles down and praises God in one of the most significant prayers of praise in all of Scripture (Dan. 2:20-23).

Here is another God moment. As Dan-iel is brought before the irate king he is confronted with the key question: “Are you able to tell me my dream?” What a temptation just to say “Yes” and get on with it—it would have looked great on Daniel’s résumé. Yet Daniel does not fall into this trap, either. His answer is illus-trative of the type of person he is and the kind of relationship he has with his Lord. “No, I cannot do that; matter of fact, not one of your scholars can do it, but there is a God in heaven who reveals myster-ies” (cf. verse 27). Daniel understands the real balance of power—even at the epi-center of an ancient superpower.

The Dream and the StoneThe large statue made of different

materials has been a solid staple of Ad-ventist preaching and evangelism for more than 150 years. We have heard about the golden head, the silver chest and arms, the bronze belly and thighs, the iron legs, and the partly iron and partly clay feet. We also recall its end—smashed by a stone cut from a moun-tain—the remains of the impressive statue became insignificant like chaff on a threshing floor. We may even remem-ber the meaning of the dream pointing to a sequence of four major kingdoms that are finally upended by the estab-lishment of God’s kingdom (verses 37-45). Been there—done that. We know—and yet we often overlook—sig-nificant details that may have spoken more profoundly to one of the partici-pants of this incredible drama.

I first saw this when I translated the

daniel turns the Way people

think about religion and

history upside doWn and

inside out by unexpected

outcoMes and surprising

eFFects.

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from a mountain. In the king’s mind the high elevations and mountains were divine meeting places; who would be able to cut off a sizable stone that could hit the statue and not only topple it over, but crush it into powder? Who would be stronger than the gods that meet on the mountain? It is this great God of heaven, Daniel’s God; and once Nebuchadnezzar has understood the meaning of the dream he falls on his face and worships (verse 46). He does not as yet understand everything about this God of heaven, but he realizes that this God truly is the “God of gods and Lord of kings” (verse 47).

I Am Talking to youDaniel 2 tells a story of how the God

of heaven communicates with individu-als living outside the chosen commu-nity of faith. As Daniel tells the story, he uses concepts that were known to any-one living in the ancient Near East at the time. Yet these concepts and terminol-ogy are not just being used uncritically. Rather, Daniel turns the way people think about religion and history upside down and inside out by unexpected outcomes and surprising effects. Missi-ologists call this process “contextualiza-tion”—the process of “translating” a particular (foreign) concept into a dif-ferent culture, using concepts and ele-ments that are familiar to this culture.

The stone and mountain references in Daniel 2 are not the only biblical passages that contextualize cultural thoughts and values to meet people where they were.10 God repeatedly sends messages through His prophets that do not leave unbeliev-ers with their false ideas but take them further—much further by introducing them to the living God. At the end of the day Nebuchadnezzar falls to the ground and recognizes the power and strength of Daniel’s God, the God of heaven, so differ-ent from his own gods. But the story does not end with this one interaction between Yahweh and Nebuchadnezzar.

The book of Daniel describes a long jour-ney that would ultimately result in the king’s recognition of Yahweh not only as the God of heaven, but as “the Most High” (Dan. 4:32), the one above every-thing, the one who is actively involved in human history, who appoints and removes kings. He is the God who comes close to Nebuchadnezzar and speaks so he can understand. After all—and above all—the great God of heaven is Imman-uel—God with us. n

1 Not his real name.2 This article is based on research presented in Gerald A.

Klingbeil, “ ‘Rocking the Mountain’: Text, Theology, and Mis-sion in Daniel 2,” in “For You Have Strengthened Me”: Biblical and Theological Studies in Honor of Gerhard Pfandl in Celebration of His Sixty-fifth Birthday, ed. Martin Pröbstle, Gerald A. Klingbeil, and Martin G. Klingbeil (St. Peter am Hart, Austria: Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen, 2007), pp. 117-139.

3 The Aramaic sections of the Old Testament include mainly Daniel 2:4-7:28 and Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:11-26. Two shorter verses in Genesis 31:47 (two words) and Jeremiah 10:11 are also written in Aramaic.

4 C. L. Seow, “The Rule of God in the Book of Daniel,” in David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J.J.M. Roberts, ed. Ber-nard F. Batto and Kathryn L. Roberts (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2004), pp. 224-226, for example, suggests that the rock/mountain symbols point to Abraham’s descendants who will mediate divine sovereignty on earth. Furthermore, Seow argues that the mountain is a reference to the coming of the nations to Mount Zion (Isa. 2:1-4; Micah 4:1; Ps. 22:28, 29). Cf. Gerhard Pfandl, “Interpretations of the Kingdom of God in Daniel 2:44,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 34 (1996): 249–268, for a concise history of interpretation.

5 John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chav-alas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Down-ers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2000), p. 733.

6 Hartmut Waetzoldt, “Tempelterrassen und Ziggurrate nach der sumerischen Überlieferung,” in “An Experienced Scribe Who Neglects Nothing”: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Jacob Klein, ed. Yitschak Sefati et al. (Bethesda, Md.: CDL, 2005), pp. 322-342.

7 Waetzoldt, p. 332.8 Othmar Keel, Die Welt der altorientalischen Bildsymbolik und

das Alte Testament, 5th ed. (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1996), p. 100.

9 Cf. Richard J. Clifford, The Cosmic Mountain in Canaan and the Old Testament, Harvard Semitic Monographs 4 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972).

10 Other biblical references that use a known theological concept in order to communicate a completely different truth include Ps. 121:6 and, surprisingly, also Gen. 1 and 2, among others.

GERALD A. kLiNGBEiL, D.LiTT., IS

AN ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF adventist

revieW WHO ENJOYS DISCOVERING

AMAZING GEMS OF DIVINE TRUTH IN

SURPRISING PLACES.

of these temples illustrate the relation-ship between humans and deity. For example, the ziggurat of Larsa, another city-state in Mesopotamia, is called “house of the link between heaven and earth,” while the ziggurat of Kish is known as “exalted dwelling place of Zababa and Inanna, whose head is as high as the heavens.” The name of the ziggurat of Nippur is “house of the mountain.”8 Similar, in texts from Ugarit, a site in northern Syria, the home of the gods is linked to Mount Saphon.9

between Theology and Mission

The exasperated response of the terri-fied intellectual elite of Babylon to Nebu-chadnezzar’s command at the beginning of Daniel 2 is indeed significant: “No one can reveal it [the dream] to the king except the gods, and they do not live among humans” (verse 11). The refer-ence to the gods, not living where mortal beings live, introduces us to one of the main themes of Daniel 2. While the God of Daniel is interested in communicating the future and guides those who trust in Him through difficult times, the gods of King Nebuchadnezzar are not able (or willing) to do the same, since they live far removed from humanity in the high places of mountains or ziggurats.

The God of heaven is different (verses 18, 19, 37, 44). He is able and willing to reveal the future to the king, and the God of heaven does it in a way that the king of Babylon will understand. God wants to guide Nebuchadnezzar from something known to something new. At the same time God is subtly but consis-tently, undermining familiar religious concepts. The gods do not respond and do not give the necessary wisdom to know the dream of the king or supply its interpretation. The statue, which was so important to the dream and, as we can see later in Daniel 3, also very important to King Nebuchadnezzar, is smashed by a stone that has been cut off

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Spirit of Prophecy

by ELLEN G. WHITE

God has given His people a great work to do in the world, and every soul who professes to be a son or daughter of God should

give evidence that his heart is being impressed by the Holy Spirit. This will mean everything to the success of his labors. The Lord has placed various gifts in the church that we may appreciate these gifts, and act our part in the grand finishing-up work of this earth’s his-tory. Let us understand our need of communion with God. We are to experi-ence the sanctifying power of His grace on the human heart. We are to be sub-missive to the will of God, and willing to engage in the work that He has appointed His servants to do.

We can not afford to lose any more

are assembled here will cherish their human traits of character. There is dan-ger of their failing to see the need of individually humbling themselves before God each day, and several times

each day, and of asking Him for the spir-itual help they must have if they are to serve faithfully and acceptably in any office. They may be engaged in the pub-lishing work, or in some line of medical work, or in the school work; but what-ever our work for human beings may be we must perfect a Christian character, or we shall miss the mark. If we neglect to humble our hearts before God, we shall fail of gaining all that we might gain. . . .

My brethren, in your field of labor, you may be surrounded by unfavorable cir-cumstances; but the Lord knows all about this, and He will supply your lack by His own Holy Spirit. We need to have much more faith in God. Very soon the strife and oppression of foreign nations will break forth with an intensity that you do not now anticipate. You need to realize the importance of becoming acquainted with God in prayer. When you have the assurance that He hears you, you will be cheerful in tribulation; you will rise above despondency, because you experience the quickening influence of the power of God in your hearts.

What we need is the truth. Nothing can take the place of this—the sacred, solemn truth that is to enable us to stand the test of trial, even as Christ endured. Early in His ministry the disci-ples wanted the Savior to go up to Jeru-salem and show Himself there. “If thou be the Christ,” they said, “show thyself to the world.” Christ was doing this very thing, but He was doing it in a way they did not perceive. Speaking to the people on the streets, and healing the sick, Christ was working to make impressions that would arouse the sen-

time than we have already lost. We can not afford to be careless. We need the wisdom that cometh from God, and not that wisdom which is natural to the human heart. We need to study the Word of the living God, and to be sancti-fied through the truth. When the truth sanctifies the receiver, he will carry the light of truth to others. And when the worker is placed in a position where he is required to bear a straight testimony, God will inspire that testimony. Those who have no disposition to learn of Jesus, and who think they know all that is worth knowing, will be indifferent to the communication that God sends; but it will impress the hearts of those who are humble enough to learn of Christ.

Last night there was represented to me the danger there is that those who

A Call to Service

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sibilities of the people. Even to the last He exercised His miracle-working power. These were the very deeds He came to the world to do.

We each need to experience a thorough

conversion. Many of us take so much of self along with us that we fail entirely of representing Christ. We can not afford to have such an experience as this; for the eyes of the world are upon us. My breth-ren, when you speak to others, and they reply in a way that is not pleasant, do not allow yourselves to be aroused. Remem-ber that Jesus was met in the same way. His precious words of truth were met

with scorn. But did He cease His work because of this? No; He would continue His work until He had gathered about Him a multitude of hearers. The Savior would have us study our words and

actions, and follow His example. Let us not, when we meet with insults and taunts, take up these things, and try to answer them. Let us rather go right on as though they had not been spoken.

Often as you seek to teach the present truth, opposition will be aroused; and if you seek to meet the opposition with argument, you will only multiply it, and that you can not afford to do. Hold to

the affirmative. Angels of God are watching you, and they understand how to impress those whose opposition you refuse to meet with argument. If Christ had not held to the affirmative in the wilderness of temptation, He would have lost all that He desired to gain. Christ’s way is the best way to meet our opponents. We strengthen their argu-ments when we repeat what they say. Keep always to the affirmative. It may be that the very man who is opposing you will carry your words home, and be con-verted to the sensible truth that has reached his understanding. n

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED

IN THE GENERAL CONFERENCE

bulletin, MAY 18, 1909. 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.

A Call to Service

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Adventist Life

by HELGA PEDZy

When I first met Edward, the man who later would become my husband, I was filled with contradictions. I

attended church on Sundays, so it was dif-ficult for me to date someone who went to church—and even closed his busi-ness—on Saturdays, because he believed it was the day God asks us to keep holy. Edward never discussed the issue with me in detail; he just politely asked me one time to come to church with him. My answer was an emphatic “No.” Being a devout member of a different denomina-tion, I determined that one day he would join my church. The situation changed when I began having doubts about some of my church’s practices and beliefs. I wondered whether they were biblically based and appropriate for Christians. I had a close relationship with God, but I didn’t want to stop attending church, because I realized how difficult it is to preserve a connection with God without the support that church membership provides. I decided, however, not to dis-cuss these concerns with Edward.

The following summer in Berlin, Ger-many, I served as a camp tent leader for 12-year-old girls from East Berlin. I had a wonderful time with them, but I was unable to attend church services for two weeks. Afterward, I was happy to be back in my home church, but I encountered another situation involving church prac-tices that was even more serious, and love for my church began to diminish. Sunday morning worship services became mere routine, and my prior earnestness to “win” my boyfriend to my church denomination was extinguished.

Not Seeing Eye to EyeOne day I went to visit Edward at his

We CoMMeMorAte MAny DAys—so WHy not tHe dAY

OF Our BAPtiSM?

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place of business, but only his father, Anton, was there. Anton shook my hand and then pulled out from under the counter a worn, taped-up Bible. He then opened it to the book of Revelation and started to explain to me the meaning of the number 666.

In the midst of his statements I inter-rupted with a question: “What would you say if I were to try to get you to accept a different religion, and how much time would you give me?” I turned to leave, but then Edward walked in. He looked surprised, but he took my hand and we walked out together. I didn’t talk to him at that time about his father’s words; I just looked at him, wondering why God had put this man into my life.

becoming Part of the FamilyA few weeks later I entered an Ad-

ventist church for the first time. The building seemed empty, with no statues, pictures, or candles. I felt out of place. Edward and I continued dating, but I never returned to his church. I did spend many welcoming moments with his fam-ily, however. Anton was a warmhearted, caring, and loving person, and he never mentioned his beliefs or his Bible again.

Two years later Anton was diagnosed with cancer. Edward was very upset. After a year filled with prayers and many somber moments, Anton asked to see us both. With a fading voice he asked us to kneel in front of his bed. His weakening eyes looked at me, and with a smile he asked, “Will you marry min Jung [my boy]?” Looking at Edward, I answered, “Yes.” Anton’s face brightened with a smile. He spoke a prayer filled with love and blessings for Edward and me and for our future life together. I felt the pres-ence of God. A few days later Anton died.

The following year Edward and I were

married. Soon after, however, he informed me that the minister who had married us would be visiting me each week to discuss the Bible and Adventist beliefs. We’re happily married; why can’t they leave me alone? I wondered. I decided to put a stop to this right from the beginning, so I borrowed a lot of jew-elry from friends and was wearing it when the pastor knocked on my door.

The pastor appeared startled by my appearance, but he came in, and I had my first Bible study. We studied together for two years. Eventually our studies turned into discussions about various events in the Bible, marriage, children, family behaviors, diseases, friendships, and the importance of making Jesus the priority in our lives. Finally, on March 26, 1960, I was bap-tized. As I stepped out of the water, three trumpeters played “Holy, Holy, Holy,” my favorite hymn. I had never felt so close to God. Bowing my head, I thanked Jesus for accepting me and becoming my best friend.

A Special DayWe celebrate many special days in our

lives—national holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and various other days we deem important to us. Sadly, how-ever, we often forget the most impor-tant day of all: that of our baptism.

I have now been a member of the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church for more than 50 years and have held numerous church positions of responsibility, but each year on the anniversary of my baptism I recommit myself to God and thank Him for His many blessings. I remind myself that the most important things in life are not positions, but people, and that each of us must serve God with a humble heart.

People can easily become discouraged, and some end up leaving the church. But on the anniversary of my baptism I’m reminded that strong efforts must be made to win them back into the family of God. Jesus wants us to be a blessing to others and to make a positive difference in their lives. Our Lord and Savior is in charge, but we must allow Him to use us as tools in His hands.

The anniversary of our baptism is a day of commemoration, one on which we should reflect on past experiences, espe-cially on answered prayers and the mercies of God. We also should ask the Lord on that day to motivate us to contact newly baptized members and others who are seeking the security of God’s love as well as ours. Caring for and loving one another is evidence that God is working in our lives.

Just Pick a DayThe best day of my life was that of my

baptism, which is why I commemorate it every year. Some people may not remember the date of their baptism. To those I say: “Just pick a day.” I wish we had a national or worldwide “baptism day,” to be celebrated as we do our birthdays, for on that day we accepted Jesus as our brother, friend, healer, and Redeemer—and we were reborn.

So let’s remember to celebrate that special day by remembering Jesus’ bless-ings in our past and looking forward to His triumphant soon return, when I can envision Him saying once again, as He did on the cross, “It is finished.” n

HELGA PEDZY IS A MEDICAL TECHNICIAN

WHO ENJOYS WOODWORKING, SEWING,

AND WRITING. SHE AND HER HUSBAND,

EDWARD, EMIGRATED FROM GERMANY

TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1960. THE

COUPLE HAS TWO GROWN CHILDREN AND A GRANDCHILD.

remember

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DoinG GooD for its oWn sAke

Good for Nothingby JOSETTE P. STEVENS-LASSEN

One May evening my hus-band and I walked home from prayer meeting. As he went to lock our pickup truck parked in front of

our apartment building, he found a man lying on the seat. He was clean, nicely dressed, and held a wine bottle.

The stranger explained that he had no place to spend the night. We told him he could stay with us if he got rid of the wine. We invited him in and gave him some food, and he spent a restful night in our apartment.

The next day Bill* said his stomach bothered him, so I gave him some herbal tea. As we talked, I asked why he wasn’t working. He said that he’d recently had cataract surgery and that he couldn’t see very well.

So that afternoon I took him to an optician and paid the $50 for an office visit. The optician, a friend of ours, gave our new friend a free pair of prescrip-tion glasses—a $200 value.

We put Bill on a bus that evening. He went to a nearby city that had a home-less shelter. We saw him later, and he told us how he was grateful that we had taken him in. He added that he had

prayed for God to help him. I gave him a copy of Steps to Christ, which he could read with his new glasses.

We felt happy that we had had the privilege of helping him, so you can imagine how we felt when a church

member told us how foolish we’d been, adding that we should have called the police instead of enabling him.

Well, if helping someone is foolish . . .

A Piece of JunkOne morning as my husband rode his

bicycle to the school where he taught, he spotted a bracelet on the sidewalk. He picked it up, put it in his briefcase, and thought nothing more about it. The next morning he dropped it on our breakfast table. “Here,” he said, “want a piece of junk?”

I picked up the bracelet and examined it. It was large and heavy, with an unusual design. I thought it rather cheap-looking, but it had initials set in stones, and a name and a blood type engraved on the backside.

As I drove my husband to school that morning, I mentioned that the bracelet must be of some sentimental value to someone. After all, the person had gone to much trouble to have the engraving done

“let’s Face it,” she had told her nepheW,

“no one’s honest enough

to return a bracelet oF that value.”

Story

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and the initials set in stones. We decided to try to find the owner of the bracelet.

I looked in the telephone directory. I called the number of someone with a similar name but received no answer. I walked to the apartment building next door and asked the manager if he had a tenant by the name engraved on the bracelet. He said he didn’t.

“Too bad,” I said, “because my husband found a bracelet with that name on it.”

“Some folks were here yesterday look-ing for it,” he said. “They left a sign.” He pointed in the direction of a nearby tele-phone pole. The sign read: “REWARD!” and listed a telephone number.

Back at our apartment I called the telephone number; a woman answered. “Are you Mrs. Hall?” I asked. “My hus-band found your bracelet.”

After a short pause the woman said, “You’re kidding!”

“No,” I assured her. I gave her our address, and soon an attractive woman and her teenage son appeared at our apartment beaming with joy.

As I handed the bracelet to the woman, I showed her where the latch had broken.

“The bracelet belongs to my uncle,” she said. “I’ll have the latch fixed.” She went on to say how they had spent the entire day before looking for the miss-ing bracelet. They were frantic; the brace-let was made of gold and diamonds, 69 of them. “Let’s face it,” she had told her nephew, “no one’s honest enough to return a bracelet of that value.”

Her uncle had cried when he realized that his bracelet was lost, because the diamonds on it came from his late wife’s wedding jewelry, and it had a lot of sen-timental value. The woman thanked me profusely and handed me an envelope.

I drove to the school where my hus-band was teaching. “Look,” I said excit-edly as I came into his classroom. I held in my hand a $100 bill.

“Praise God,” he exclaimed. We used it to buy flowers for that Sabbath’s wor-ship service, which happened to be our wedding anniversary. The floral arrangement was displayed in our church sanctuary on Sabbath; then we gave it to our pastor.

A year later the woman to whom I

returned the bracelet was still telling around town how wonderful Seventh-day Adventists are because of this expe-rience. How marvelous is our heavenly Father to allow us to have a part in it. Praise His name! n

* All names in this article have been changed.

JOSETTE P. STEVENS-LASSEN

LIVES IN HAMILTON, MONTANA, AND

LOVES TO REFLECT THE JOY OF

LIVING FOR CHRIST.

What Do yOu think??1. When have you found something of

value that belonged to someone else? Describe it briefly.

2. What did it take to return the item to its rightful owner? What was the owner’s reaction?

3. Do you know how it feels to recover something that you thought was lost forever? Can you describe it in one sentence?

4. What does this story say about the concept of value? What spiritual and practical applications do you see?

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Ask the Doctors

I have enjoyed reading the Ask the Doctors column throughout the

years, but I wonder whether you are as rigorous as you claim to be about evi-dence-based opinions. Take coffee, for example: the latest huge study in the New England Journal of Medicine sug-gests that it’s good for us. Will you now accept the evidence for coffee?

We smile at this question, because we are like the veggie meat in the

sandwich: open to criticism from both the more liberal and conservative of our readers.

The Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White have provided insights into most of the ways we should live. We do real-ize, however, that in modern life many new factors exist that may make claims not referenced in the inspired Word and prophetic writings.

Our encouraging of exercise, for example—particularly of walking—would have seemed unnecessary to Jesus, because He and His disciples walked everywhere. It also appears obvious that Jesus was not a vegetarian. Yet still, we recommend a vegetarian diet.

We might easily reference Ellen White on the elimination of flesh foods from our diet, and rationalize the difference between Christ’s diet and ours as exist-ing because we’re the “end-time peo-ple.” We must, however, be careful not to make too much of a “spiritual virtue” of our vegetarianism.

On the whole, we call for evidence—not about the Lord’s plain and clear instructions, but on the less clear and convoluted construction many might impose upon them. Additionally, as we see the burgeoning plethora of new ideas about disease prevention or con-

evidenced-based Opinionsby ALLAN R. HANDySIDES AND PETER N. LANDLESS

trol, we call for rational thinking. The call for evidence then becomes a filter to keep out the “nonsense.”

On the matter of tea and coffee, how-ever, we have strong advice to avoid it. Ellen White describes the pharmaco-logic properties of caffeine with the sci-entific precision of an expert. She then goes on to recommend that we not use tea or coffee. As an “end-time people,” we need empowering by more than a shot of caffeine.

The study we believe you are refer-encing appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine 366 (May 17, 2012): 1891-1904. The researchers followed 229,119 men and 173,141 women, ages 50 to 71, for some 13 years. After adjust-ing for smoking (and coffee drinkers were more likely to smoke), they showed a reduction in the number of deaths among coffee drinkers that was not huge, but statistically significant. The reduction was dosage-related (the number of cups of coffee per day), and because the endpoint was for death, it had a very clear cutoff. The reduction in deaths held true for most causes, but not for cancer.

This study involved a large number of people, which is impressive, but whether the coffee caused longer life or whether longevity was associated in some way with other causal factors could not be determined. Nor did the researchers explore why more coffee drinkers smoke. If coffee drinking is causally related to smoking, then it’s not valid to remove the smokers from the equation. When left in, coffee drinkers who are smokers did not do well.

Whether a group of vegetarians would benefit from drinking coffee is not clear. Perhaps the phytochemicals in coffee are already present in the vege-

tarian diet, and, as with vitamins, once you have enough, more does not help.

What would the results have shown for decaffeinated coffee drinkers? We don’t know. Will we now recommend coffee? No, because caffeine is still addictive. But we will put this study in our memory file and compare it to future studies. Others must replicate the results.

Our call for evidence is really a call for balance. Just as we are cautious about this study, we are cautious about some of the data used to promote one or another position in lifestyle among Ad-ventists. Our caution does not mean we reject the proposed position (though sometimes we do), but that evidence has to be more than a published opin-ion with which we resonate. n

Send your questions to Ask the Doctors, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. Or e-mail them to blackmers@gc.adventist.org. While this column is provided as a service to our readers, Drs. Landless and Handysides unfortunately cannot enter into personal and private communication with our readers. We recommend you consult with your personal physician on all matters of your health.

ALLAN R. HANDYSiDES, A

BOARD-CERTIFIED GYNECOLOGIST,

IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE HEALTH

MINISTRIES DEPARTMENT OF THE

GENERAL CONFERENCE.

PETER N. LANDLESS, A

BOARD-CERTIFIED NUCLEAR

CARDIOLOGIST, IS AN ASSOCIATE

DIRECTOR OF THE HEALTH

MINISTRIES DEPARTMENT OF THE

GENERAL CONFERENCE.

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Lucky 12OLEG, My PERSONAL TRAINER, THINKS 12 IS A LUCKy NUMbER.

We’ve been talking about the number 12 since his thirty-eighth birthday on March 12. Oleg pointed out that we think in 12-hour cycles, and that there are 12 months in a year. We also do our gym exercises in twelves: five sets of 12 crunches, four sets of 12 weight lifts, three sets of 12 minutes on the treadmill.

Oleg asked me what else involves a 12. I told him about eggs and buns sold by the dozen in the United States. He found that surprising, because things come in 10s in Russian stores.

Oleg and I have been working out together for more than a year, three to four days a week. Oleg is a great role model: muscular and toned, he does not use steroids or smoke, unlike many other personal trainers and bodybuilders at the gym. He has taught me a lot about good health: Purposely control the size of food portions. Avoid food after 6:00 p.m. Never relax after a meal; instead, get up and wash the dishes.

Oleg knows that I choose not to train from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. But he has never asked why.

As we’ve worked out, I’ve wondered whether he has any interest in God. After all, we are sowers of the Word, and we are the most effective when we find good ground to plant in. As Jesus said in the parable of the sower: “But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matt. 13:23).

A few weeks ago I sought to gauge Oleg’s spiritual interest by asking him what he believed to be the meaning of life. I wondered whether he would mention God or heaven.

Oleg winced at the question and thought for a few minutes. “The point of life,” he said finally, “is to get married, have children, and through them leave a legacy.”

Those were brave words, considering that Oleg and his wife separated early last year, that she hasn’t spoken to him since then, and that they don’t have any children.

No opportunity to discuss God arose in our conversation.Then the other evening as we paused in the middle of four sets of 12 push-ups, I announced to

Oleg that I had thought about him while reading the Bible that morning.Oleg looked at me curiously.I told him that I had read a story about a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and how Jesus had

healed her, just as He was traveling to meet an ill 12-year-old girl.Oleg’s eyes lit up. “The Bible also has 12s!” he exclaimed. “Remember the 12 saints?”I didn’t remember the 12 saints. I asked whether he meant 12 disciples.“No, no,” Oleg said. “The 12 saints. You know, they were at the Last Supper: Moses, Elijah, and Judas, the

one who betrayed Him.”I struggled to keep a straight face. Oleg spoke with such eagerness and sincerity.But I’m glad we engaged in the conversation. Now I know that Oleg is open to discussing Jesus and the

Bible. He is good ground.We have many more 12s to discuss: the 12 patriarchs, the 12 tribes of Israel, the fact that Jesus was 12

when He first understood His mission on earth, and the 12 gates made of pearl in the New Jerusalem, which I look forward to seeing Oleg walk through. n

ANDREW MCCHESNEY IS A JOURNALIST IN RUSSIA.

Dateline Moscow

Andrew McChesney

www.AdventistReview.org | May 23, 2013 | 29(477)

Manifest: Our Call to Faithful Creativity

Nathan Brown and Joanna Darby, eds., Signs Publishing, Warburton, Victoria, Aus-tralia, 2013, 181 pages, A$24.95, softcover. Reviewed by Stephen Chavez, coordinating editor, Adventist Review.

Most people see “creativity” and think “art.” Creativity is involved

in the process of creating art, but they are not the same. Creativity is that pro-cess that takes the mundane and makes it memorable. It’s what happened when Jesus said, “A man was going from Jeru-salem to Jericho . . .” Or when God said to Moses, “What’s in your hand?”

In Manifest: Our Call to Faithful Creativ-ity, Nathan Brown and Joanna Darby have assembled 30 individuals who have demonstrated their talent at being cre-ative in a number of media: academics, filmmakers, artists, photographers, musicians, ministers, and writers. The book is about creativity, but it’s also about how the creative process informs our experience as Christians, as well as our expression as Christians in an increasingly secular society.

In his chapter Neale Schofield writes about the many television channels available in the United States. “Sadly,” he writes, “we had difficulty determin-ing which were more dull—the Chris-tian channels or the shopping channels.” Proof that even though a church may have television, Internet, publishing, and artistic outlets, that doesn’t mean anyone is watching, lis-tening, reading, or engaging.

The book is divided into five sections: Believing, Being, Serving, Sharing, and Living. And, depending on where you live, the authors of the essays are well known: Trudy J. Morgan-Cole, Bruce Manners, Andy Nash, Glenn Townend,

Alex Bryan, Kay D. Rizzo, Gary Krause, Chris Blake, etc.

The basic premise of the book is sim-ple: To reach a variety of people, you need a variety of expressions. And each of the chapters reveals how the different writers experience creativity in their own chosen form of expression. The strength of the chapters is that the authors speak from real-life experi-ences. They share their successes as well as their struggles. “Like the prophets,” writes Darby, “artists are often called to challenge the norms of society, to ques-tion politics and trends, and to point out the ugliest realities of our world. . . . The risk of reuniting calling with responsibility is that we are likely to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the thing.”

Some of the chapters contain case studies, short vignettes in which the authors describe creativity as either observed or practiced.

Manifest is an outgrowth of the Mani-

fest Creative Arts Festival, which for the last couple years has showcased talent in music, art, film, writing, and acting. The faces seen on the Web site (artsmanifest.info) are all young, a tacit admission that creativity is an essential ingredient in reaching other young people.

Manifest only scratches the surface of this important subject. The writers are from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, not yet including the creative expression of Adventist writers, musicians, and film-makers from other parts of the world. But it’s an important first step.

The lesson of the first decade of the twenty-first century—especially in the industrialized countries of the world—is that the future belongs to the innova-tors. Faith, devotion, beauty, and literature won’t go away. But they will require creative new forms to communi-cate effectively.

This book is an excellent way to begin the conversation. n

Bookmark

| www.AdventistReview.org | May 23, 201330 (478)

Spiritual Lessons From a Needle and threadI ENJOy COUNTED CROSS-STITCHING. THE VARIOUS COLORS, TyPES OF stitches, and overall layout of an emerging picture bring a sense of accomplishment from the project that is different from anything else in my everyday life.

While sewing a long, repetitious section of a gift I was preparing for my new great-granddaughter, I was impressed by the similarities between what I was doing and the growth process of my spiritual life.

One of the very first elements I noticed is patience. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither are counted cross-stitch patterns. Counted cross-stitching involves hours of sewing, concentration, and careful adher-ence to written instructions. Any attempt to rush through it causes mistakes that require either time-con-suming restitching or abandoning the project altogether. The pattern will emerge only when done slowly, one stitch at a time.

In my spiritual life, patience must also be exercised. Hours must be spent in prayer and concentration on the life of Christ with a clear commitment to learning and following God’s plan for my life.

The designer who created the picture I was working on prepared a particular plan with specific instruc-tions to follow in order to reproduce it. Counted cross-stitch involves counting the number of stitches you sew with a certain color or type of stitch, such as straight stitch, back stitch, cross-stitch, or a French knot. It may also call for the use of single, double, or triple threads. If I tried to do it my way, before long the proj-ect would be a tangled mess.

And so I am reminded of the thoughts and promises that God has for my life recorded in Jeremiah 29:11: “ ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ” When I study and seek to understand the Lord’s plan for my life, I am confident He will guide me to where I can be of the most service for Him.

When I follow the instructions spelled out by the cross-stitch designer, the pattern will be perfectly reproduced. When I follow the counsel given to me in the Bible, the Holy Spirit produces the perfection in me that God desires. Now though I try to follow directions carefully, I make mistakes. But when I encounter a mistake, I can always go back to the plan laid out by the cross-stitch designer and redo the section.

Likewise in life, when I become aware of a mistake (or sin) that has affected my relationship with another person or with God, I know I must acknowledge it, take responsibility, and try to correct it.

As I examined my completed project, I discovered a contrast between the upper and bottom side of the canvas. The bottom is a mess of tangled threads with no noticeable plan or pattern. Certainly it is nothing to be proud of. But the upper side reveals a remarkable and beautiful scene, which is an exact duplicate of the picture displayed on the kit I chose.

In my life as well, what seems like a jumble of disconnected events that did not produce a valuable or lasting influence in this world isn’t really that at all. The upper side of the completed project reminds me that God looks on the upper side of my life. He orders what seems like the jumbled mess of my life and con-nects the miscellaneous threads in such a way that the pat-tern that emerges is the fulfillment of the plan He has designed for me. And I am amazed. n

LEO POiRiER IS A RETIRED HOSPITAL

CHAPLAIN WHO WRITES FROM

MASSACHUSETTS.

Reflections

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