The International Paper for Seventh-day Adventists
O c tob e r 2 01 5
Reach the WORLD
The church’s bold initiative for the next 5 years
O c tob e r 2015
The International Paper for Seventh-day Adventists
18 Hope Wins Over Loss
O c tob e r 201 5
C O V E R
11
D E V O T I O N A L
S T O R Y
Reach the
World
By Wilona Karimabadi
By Andrew McChesney
A bold initiative hopes to take
the gospel further than it’s ever
gone before.
REACH the WORLD
The church’s bold initiative for the next 5 years
Until Jesus comes, we’ll experience both.
20 Sitting by the Stuff
A D V E N T I S T
By Shandra Kilby
8
W O R L D
V I S T A
By Ted N. C. Wilson
It doesn’t take much light to shatter the darkness.
16 Being Grown-up Christians
F
U N D A M E N T A L
We can’t always do things that matter, or can we?
2God’s
2 Messenger: Australian
D I S C O V E R I N G
O F P R O P H E C Y
Dispel the Darkness
L I F E
B E L I E F S
By Elizabeth Camps
Honoring Christ by treating ourselves well
T H E
S P I R I T
Messages Motivate Worldwide
By John Skrzypaszek
The development of theological concepts that corresponded to Ellen White’s stay in Australia
24
A D V E N T I S T
H E R I T A G E
Pioneers Everywhere
By DeWitt S. Williams
Thomas and Henrietta Branch’s place in Africa,
and in history
D E PA RT M E N T S
3 W O
R L D
R E P O R T
3
News Briefs
6
News Feature
10 W O R L D H E A L T H
Relief From
Osteoarthritis Pain
2 7 B I B L E S T U D Y
Elijah: Mighty Man
of Faith
26B
28
I B L E
Q U E S T I O N S
A N S W E R E D
I D E A
E X C H A N G E
Sex, Seriously
www.adventistworld.org
Available in 10 languages online
2
Adventist World | October 2015
C O V E R P H O T O S :
G L O B E : K a s i a B i el / i stock / th i n kstock
P ortr a i ts : D a v i d B . S her w i n
O
WORLD REPORT
WHO
By Joanne Ratsara
Teams Up With
Adventists in Global First
Two sides hope to curb deaths of mothers and babies.
R a ts a r a
B l a n ch a rd
J oa n n e
J a so n
n a quiet street just west of Chicago,
Illinois, I learned an important lesson
about witnessing.
As a young pastor, I had been assigned
to an evangelism field school in connection
with a public campaign to share the gospel
in a neighborhood that had little Adventist
presence. Each day, I visited homes of those
attending the meetings to review the Bible
truths learned the night before.
On the day after evangelist Mark Finley
had presented the Bible’s teaching about
what happens to people when they die, I
moved with dread toward the doorstep of
one attendee. She was a widow at least 70
years of age, living alone in a small brick
home, with no obvious network of support
and friends.
As I reviewed the Bible texts that Pastor
Finley had presented, I prepared myself for
the inevitable response. She was a member
of another faith that teaches that those who
die go immediately to the presence of Jesus,
and I expected her to politely but firmly
reject the viewpoint I was sharing.
Imagine my astonishment as I neared
the end of the Bible study when she
exclaimed, “That’s wonderful news!”
“It is?” I asked cautiously. “Tell me how.”
“Well,” she said, “my husband died 10
years ago, and since then our children have
fallen into huge disputes with each other
about dividing up the estate. They will
hardly talk with each other now. I had
assumed that my husband was up in heaven,
looking down on all this bitterness. Now I
know that he knows nothing about it!”
A wave of relief and gratitude swept
over me. For all my fear and worry, I had
learned the most powerful lesson about
witnessing: The Holy Spirit has already visited those with whom He invites us to
share our faith. Jesus had knocked on that
door before I did.
As you read this month’s cover feature,
“Reach the World,” let the Lord remind you
that all sharing of our faith is but following
to places the Spirit has already visited
to open hearts, prepare minds,
and call to new life in Jesus.
Left: A baby born at Malamulo Hospital in Malawi. Right: Annette Mwansa
Nkowane, left, stands with Paul Ratsara and Patricia Jones.
T
he World Health Organization (WHO) and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church have kicked off an unprecedented global
partnership aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality rates.
Fifty international nursing leaders and educators met in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to start implementing the five-year project to educate
midwives in four African countries. The $1 million project is funded by
the OPEC Foundation for International Development through the WHO
and was designed by WHO officials, the General Conference of Seventhday Adventists, and the Loma Linda University School of Nursing.
“We are grateful to begin this partnership. We will produce something the world will benefit from,” said Annette Mwansa Nkowane,
WHO’s lead nurse and a main proponent of the project. “I believed
and was convinced this would be successful. I believe that with God
all things are possible.”
This is the first time that the WHO, the public health agency of the
United Nations, has partnered with a faith-based organization on a
global scale, said Nkowane, a nurse and midwife educated in Zambia
whose full title is “worldwide technical officer for nursing and midwifery.” The WHO expects the project to contribute toward the achievement of United Nations Millennium Development Goals to reduce
maternal and child mortality.
Seeds for the collaboration were sown in 2009 in Geneva during
a first global health conference hosted by the Health Ministries
Continued on next page
October 2015 | Adventist World
3
Department of the General Conference, the administrative body of the
Adventist world church.
Health Ministries director Allan
Handysides and his successor, Peter
Landless, established a close association with the WHO during the conference, and the WHO began to press the
church to collaborate on the midwives
project. Adventist leaders voted to
accept the WHO’s proposal during a
2010 Spring Meeting at world church
headquarters. But the project didn’t
get off the ground until now because
WHO officials faced challenges securing funding.
Patricia Jones, associate director for
nursing with the Health Ministries
Department of the Adventist world
church, expressed gratitude to the
WHO for its persistence. “Thank you
for not giving up and for having faith in
us in a faith-based group to be trusted
to take on such a project,” she said.
The Geneva-based WHO has identified a global lack of qualified midwives as a contributing factor in the
deaths of mothers and babies, and
looked to the church’s global network
of educators and hospitals as a way to
address the shortfall.
The new project focuses on four
institutions in Africa: Malamulo College of Health Sciences at Malamulo
Hospital in Malawi, Maluti College of
Nursing at Maluti Hospital in Lesotho,
Kanye Adventist College of Nursing at
Kanye Hospital in Botswana, and the
hospital at the Adventist University
Cosendai in Cameroon.
Paul Ratsara, president of the
Adventist Church’s Southern AfricaIndian Ocean Division, where three
of the sites are located, said the project was a sacred trust from God.
“Mothers’ lives will be saved.
Babies will be saved,” he said. n
4
Adventist World | October 2015
E U D
WORLD REPORT
Pathfinders are baptized during a camporee at Switzerland’s Lake Neuchâtel.
Pathfinders Baptized
in Swiss Camporee
2,300 people gather for
Inter-European Division event.
By Andrew McChesney, with reporting from EUD staff
S
even Pathfinders were baptized
in Switzerland’s Lake Neuchâtel
at a weeklong camporee staged
in a cornfield and attended by 2,300
children and their adult leaders.
The Adventist Youth Camporee,
organized every four years by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s InterEuropean Division, offered Pathfinders aged 12 to 16 a chance to study
God’s grace from the biblical story of
Jonah, learn new scouting skills, and
mingle with peers from 20 countries.
As the sun began to set on Friday
evening, scores of campers gathered
on the eastern shore of Lake Neuchâtel to celebrate the baptism.
Each of the uniformed baptismal
candidates entered the water accompanied by a Pathfinder leader holding a white, helium-filled balloon.
The leaders released the balloons
into the evening sky as they raised
Pathfinders from under the water
during the baptism.
“The highlight of this day is the
baptism ceremony,” organizers said in
a statement on the camporee’s Web
site, AYcamporee.org. “Seven Pathfinders get engaged to follow and live
with Jesus! Happy Sabbath!”
The camporee, themed “The
Whale Way, Surprised by Grace,”
took place on the privately owned La
Corbière Farm in Estavayer-le-Lac, a
tourist town of 6,000 people. The
daily program offered 90 workshops
and other activities that Pathfinders
could chose from, with topics ranging
from scouting techniques to environmental concerns.
The main events, held in a giant
tent borrowed from a circus, were
presented on stage in French or German and translated into the other
language. Then, if needed, there was
translation in the different sections of
the tent into the language spoken by
various countries’ delegations. Among
themselves, the Pathfinders tended to
speak in English.
Most of the Pathfinders came
from 13 countries in the Inter-European Division: Belgium, Bulgaria,
5
Camporee
Facts
1. Food: Campers consumed 6,615
pounds (3,000 kilograms) of bread;
17,635 pounds (8,000 kilograms) of
legumes and vegetables; 16,100 pounds
(7,300 kilograms) of fruit; and 2,200
pounds (1,000 kilograms) of potatoes.
Meals were prepared by 80 cooks.
2. Garbage: Volunteers gathered
litter daily to be incinerated into a total
of 565 compressed cubic feet (16 cubic
meters) of garbage.
3. Utilities: The camp’s 80
showers and 89 toilets used 12,950
gallons (49,000 liters) of water daily.
Another 5,550 gallons (21,000 liters)
went for cooking daily. A total of 1,900
rolls of toilet paper were used.
4. Budget: The camporee cost
450,000 Swiss francs (US$476,000).
5. Sleeping and meeting:
The 2,300 attendees slept in 650 tents
and attended meetings in a circus tent
that accommodated 3,000 people. The
campsite covered 861,100 square feet
(80,000 square meters), the size of 11
professional soccer fields.
Adventist School
Changes a Community
in Panama
Young volunteers find thriving Adventist
community where Maranatha built a school.
By Julie Z. Lee, Maranatha Volunteers International
C
all it the power of a Seventhday Adventist school.
Eighteen years ago Adventist volunteers built a school in Changuinola, a humid coastal town of
about 30,000 people in the northeastern corner of Panama.
A few weeks ago a group of 150
young volunteers traveled to the bustling Changuinola Seventh-day
Adventist School to construct two new
classrooms, and to work on two
churches that have sprung up as a
result of the school.
A local church leader, Melania
Peña de Barria, was speechless after
volunteers constructed a new church
building for her congregation during
their two-week mission trip, organized
by Adventist-affiliated Maranatha Volunteers International.
“I feel very happy, excited, thankful. I don’t know if I should laugh or
cry,” said Peña de Barria, a founding
member of the Finca 6 church.
Her congregation had been meeting without a church home for eight
years, gathering in homes, a community center, and, most recently, in a
vacant grocery store. On the final Sabbath of the mission trip, a joyful congregation worshipped in their new
building with the young volunteers.
M a r a n a th a
Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg,
Austria, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, and the Czech
Republic. Those countries have 1,346
Pathfinder clubs with more than
19,000 members aged 6 to 16, according to division statistics. Visiting
camporee delegations represented
Brazil, Britain, and Thailand.
The previous camporee was held
in Rome, Italy, in 2011, and the next
is scheduled for the Czech Republic
in 2019. n
Ella Bates (left), of Aitkin, Minnesota, and
David Shafer of Cox’s Creek, Kentucky,
build classrooms at the Adventist school
in Changuinola, Panama.
The teens volunteered as part of
“Ultimate Workout,” Maranatha’s
annual mission trip for young people
that is celebrating its twenty-fifth
anniversary this year.
The Changuinola school project
started 18 years ago when Maranatha
volunteers built the main part of the
campus at the request of the Adventist
Church in Panama. Its enrollment has
swelled past 450 students, and Ultimate Workout volunteers added two
Continued on next page
October 2015 | Adventist World
5
M el i ss a
Extreme Makeover:
Pathway to Health Edition
Four touching stories from a free megaclinic
in the United States
By Tom Ish
A
M a r a n a th a
more classrooms this summer.
The school is credited with sparking a growth in Adventism in the surrounding community and has been
linked to two new congregations,
Finca 6 and Las Tablas.
One Ultimate Workout team
focused on Finca 6, while another
worked on the Las Tablas church. Earlier this year, Maranatha volunteers
constructed a sanctuary for Las Tablas,
and the Ultimate Workout team finished the project with a coat of paint.
The young people also assisted the
community in other ways, including
treating more than 300 dogs, cats,
chickens, cows, and pigs at a free,
two-week veterinary clinic led by
Becky Childers, a veterinarian from
California.
Veterinarian outreach may seem
like an unusual ministry, but Childers
said it offered teens a new way to look
at service.
“I think it really showed that you
can love and care for a person by caring for things that are important to
them,” she said. n
Ish
WORLD REPORT
Becky Childers, a veterinarian from
California, cares for a dog during a
two-week free veterinary clinic.
6
Adventist World | October 2015
nthony Fry, a 48-year-old
homeless man, appreciated
the blood tests and health
assessments he received at a Seventhday Adventist-sponsored megaclinic
that offered US$8 million in free
services in the state of Washington.
But the most outwardly noticeable
benefit was a haircut and new suit.
The dramatic transition unfolded
snip by snip under the eyes of captivated onlookers at a Your Best Pathway to Health event in the city of Spokane, where 1,600 volunteers provided
free health care, haircuts, and clothing
to 3,111 people during two days.
Fry, scruffy-bearded and goodnatured, didn’t want to cut off much
hair at first. But he then decided that
something drastic needed to happen
to his chest-length, salt-and-pepper
locks, held down by a well-worn
leather hat, if he was going to get a
job. The haircutting process was like
giving three full haircuts, said Page
Colson, a 17-year veteran hairdresser
from Tennessee who headed the clinic’s hairstyling department.
Fry was pleased with the result.
“It’s a beautiful service being provided
here,” the close-clipped Fry said from
the barber’s chair.
Fry, a former volunteer firefighter
and camp host from Wenatchee, a
town about 170 miles (275 kilometers) west of Spokane, said he was left
homeless 10 weeks earlier after a series
of unfortunate circumstances. He
learned about the clinic through one
of the tens of thousands of pamphlets
about the event distributed by volunteers and the city of Spokane.
After the haircut, lifestyle counseling volunteer Dorothy Nelson of
Loma Linda, California, and her
daughter, Janet Penner of Auburn,
Washington, ushered Fry through various Pathway stations, including a
clothing trailer where he obtained a
new suit and a prayer from its director, Sam Knnabliam.
The stunning outward transformation was a precursor to another transformation in progress: Fry has decided
to study the Bible and wants to be
baptized. Nelson said the reassuring
truth was that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks
at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Fry wants
to follow Jesus.
Left: Anthony Fry is pictured before and
after his makeover at the free megaclinic in Spokane, Washington.
Right: Hairstylist Jody Meyer untangles
Nicole’s hair.
the surgery. “It was awesome. If I had
not been lying down, my jaw would
have hit the floor,” she said.
Nicole also received blood tests, a
massage, and care for skin issues.
When asked if anyone had prayed
with her, she said at least eight people had.
Below: Volunteer Paul Pitts (right)
speaks with college student Kerwin
Foster at the mega-clinic.
M el i ss a
Ish
Eight Hours to Comb Hair
M el i ss a
Ish
Wedding Dreams
“I would never marry you!”
Those piercing words not only
halted Christopher Amonson’s marriage plans but also led him away from
his home in Spokane to live in the
Nevada desert for two years.
The young man, however, could
not get his girlfriend, Crystal Parmer,
out of his mind, so he returned to be
with her. When Parmer realized that
the man she had dated for nearly five
years couldn’t live without her, she
asked him to marry her.
But the couple faced a challenge:
Both were between jobs and couldn’t
afford a wedding.
Seeking assistance for some health
needs, the duo went to the megaclinic.
Amonson, 33, gained a new pair of
eyeglasses while Parmer, 31, enjoyed a
massage. A volunteer learned that the
couple was planning to get married,
and directed them to Knnabliam’s
clothing trailer, where Parmer got a
wedding dress, and Amonson a tuxedo.
“I started crying,” Parmer said
about the moment she received the
wedding dress. “This is a blessing, a
gift from God.”
Nicole, a 31-year-old sewing
instructor and costume seamstress
from Spokane, showed up at the
megaclinic with an unusual plea: She
needed someone to untangle her hair.
Nicole, who asked that her last
name not be published, found herself
bedridden, unable to care for her
lengthy, reddish-brown locks after
surgery late last year. State health-care
assistance did not cover personal
needs like hair, and after eight months
she had a mass of matted tangles.
Nicole learned about the megaclinic
via a letter she received from a home
health worker.
Volunteer hairstylist Jody Meyer, of
Spokane, spent about eight hours
working to untangle and comb the
hair, a few strands at a time. She said
Nicole was brave to endure the pain
from all of the tugging. “It’s like having your hair caught in a car door and
being dragged down the road,” Nicole
said, wincing in the hairdresser’s chair.
Although the sensitive nerve endings on her head became tender and
enflamed during the delicate process,
Nicole found relief in a physical therapy treatment. Since the surgery, she
had found it difficult to keep food
down and was not entitled to any further state physical therapy assistance.
Nicole said the treatment made the
pain go away for the first time since
Patient From Farthest Away
As the crowd waned on the afternoon of the first day of the megaclinic,
volunteer chaplain Paul Pitts and his
wife, Karyl, from Arizona headed to
the bus station downtown to hand out
Pathway to Health brochures. The
couple happened upon a college student, Kerwin Foster, who expressed
interest in the event but had to catch a
bus at 5:00 p.m.
When Foster asked for a lift to the
clinic, the couple whisked him away in
their car. “I thought I should take the
opportunity to receive a blessing,”
Foster said. “This is all very gracious.”
Foster, who doesn’t have insurance,
needed some dental care. But since
that department was filled with
patients, Pitss ushered him to a variety
of other stations: a health assessment,
a blood draw, a physical exam, massage therapy, lifestyle counseling, and
chaplaincy services. Arrangements
were made for Foster’s blood test
results to be shipped to Florida.
“This is not a one-day thing,” Paul
Pitts told Foster as he waited for care
between stations. “We’re going to be
staying in touch.”
After the couple took Foster out to
lunch on their way back to the bus
station, the young man thanked them
profusely. “Words cannot express my
appreciation,” said Foster, who was
raised a Methodist. “I must now pay it
forward and do something to help
someone else.” n
October 2015 | Adventist World
7
W O R L D
I
V I S T A
t is no accident that at the
beginning, and near the end of
Christ’s earthly ministry, weddings
were the focal point of lessons Christ
wanted to teach His followers.
The first, at the wedding of Cana,
was a lesson in faith, trust, and obedience—faith that God can supply
needs, trust that He will do what is
best, and obedience in following God’s
instructions—even when those
instructions might seem not to make
sense, such as asking the servants to
fill the vessels with water (see John
2:1-11), when they needed unfermented wine.1
The second lesson was brought
home one evening as Jesus and His
disciples sat on the Mount of Olives,
where they had a clear view of the hills
and valleys surrounding Jerusalem.
The sun had just set, and the sky was
painted with the colors of dusk.
Taking in the beautiful scene, the
group noticed a home, brilliantly lit.
They heard sounds of laughter and
noticed 10 young women, dressed in
white, and holding brightly burning
lamps while standing outside. Clearly
it was a wedding party, waiting for the
bridegroom’s arrival.
Jesus takes in the familiar, festive
scene and uses the occasion to teach
His disciples throughout the ages
some important lessons.
We know the story, recorded in
Matthew 25:1-13, well. Often referred
to as the parable of the 10 virgins, it
tells the story of five wise and five
foolish young women who were waiting for the bridegroom to appear.
While all had lamps that were burning, only the wise ones brought
enough oil to last through the night.
The Wise Ones
While this parable is full of meaning, let’s consider for a few moments
the important work of the wise
women. First, their lamps were lit, and
they had enough oil to keep their
lights shining, even through the darkest of nights.
In the Bible, oil often represents
the Holy Spirit (see Zech. 4:1-6).
Before we can let our lights shine, we
need to be filled with this special oil.
In the book Christ’s Object Lessons
Ellen White beautifully explains how
the Holy Spirit prepares us to shine:
“So the followers of Christ are to
shed light into the darkness of the
Dispel
world. Through the Holy Spirit, God’s
Word is a light as it becomes a transforming power in the life of the
receiver. By implanting in their hearts
the principles of His Word, the Holy
Spirit develops in men the attributes
of God. The light of His glory—His
character—is to shine forth in His
followers. Thus they are to glorify
God, to lighten the path to the Bridegroom’s home, to the city of God, to
the marriage supper of the Lamb.”2
Today a misunderstanding about
God and His character enshrouds the
world in darkness. God is calling each
one of us to let our lights shine
brightly for Him, not only for the sake
of brightness, but—just as the wise
women in the parable did—to light
the way for others to find their way to
the Bridegroom, Jesus, and to the
Bridegroom’s home, heaven.
How to Let Our Lights Shine
But how do we let our lights shine?
We are told, “Practical work will have
far more effect than mere sermonizing.
We are to give food to the hungry,
clothing to the naked, and shelter to
the homeless. And we are called to do
more than this. The wants of the soul,
the
Darkness
Let your light shine.
By Ted N. C. Wilson
P H O T O :
emre
n a c i g i l
Don’t let anyone tell you
that you aren’t needed.
“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the
laborers are few. Therefore pray the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37, 38).
And in James 1:25 we are admonished
to be “a doer of the work.”
The Edge of Eternity
only the love of Christ can satisfy. . . .
There are many from whom hope has
departed. Bring back the sunshine to
them. Many have lost their courage.
Speak to them words of cheer. Pray for
them. There are those who need the
bread of life. Read to them from the
Word of God. Upon many is a soul
sickness which no earthly balm can
reach nor physician heal. Pray for these
souls, bring them to Jesus.”3
Take the Call
Let’s take this call from God personally and seriously. We can do nothing of ourselves. Only as we lean completely on the Lord for His direction
and leading can we follow His call.
Christ and His righteousness must
permeate our lives.
The world is awash in existential
behavior, with many people thinking
that everything is relative, but it is not!
There are absolutes, and they are
found in the Word of God. Jesus tells
us, “Behold, I am coming quickly!
Hold fast what you have, that no one
may take your crown” (Rev. 3:11). We
Seventh-day Adventists are called to
be faithful to God.
Working Hand in Hand
I challenge you to become involved
in the daily mission of the church far
more than you ever have before. We
are counting on you! God is counting
on you! Evangelism is the lifeblood of
the church. All of us are to be in
involved, through personal witnessing,
small group evangelism, or public
evangelism in its various forms. I
invite you to become involved, even if
you think it won’t work in your area.
Adapt your methods, but reach out.
Every effort, under God’s guidance,
that you make in reaching the hearts
of people will bear fruit.
Church leaders and church members are to work hand in hand for
mission outreach. Ellen White wrote:
“The work of God in this earth can
never be finished until the men and
women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite
their efforts with those of ministers
and church officers.”4
Revolutionize Your Thinking
Let the Holy Spirit revolutionize
your thinking. Take the church’s mission of outreach into your hands on a
daily basis, working closely with
church leaders and pastors. Let it be
total participation, no one left out,
everyone a missionary, total member
involvement. Do something for Jesus
and for others. Don’t let anyone tell
you that you aren’t needed; the Holy
Spirit will empower you as heaven’s
messenger to light your neighborhood. Revival and reformation will
become personal and real.
“It is the privilege of every soul to
be a living channel through which
God can communicate to the world
the treasures of His grace,” wrote Ellen
White. “There is nothing that Christ
desires so much as agents who will
represent to the world His Spirit and
character. . . . All heaven is waiting
for channels through which can be
poured the holy oil to be a joy and
blessing to human hearts.”5
Jesus challenges us with this truth:
We are at the edge of eternity. Truly,
Jesus is coming soon! God wants to
work in and through us. If ever there
were a time to let our lights shine for
Jesus, it is now (see 1 Peter 2:9)!
We are told that “it is not learned,
eloquent speakers that are needed
now, but humble, Christlike men and
women, who have learned from Jesus
of Nazareth to be meek and lowly,
and who, trusting in His strength, will
go forth . . . to give the invitation:
‘Come; for all things are now ready’
(Luke 14:17).”6
Jesus is coming soon! Lift your
light high and share it in practical
ways, pointing those around you to
the One who has given us salvation
and has promised to take us home
soon! This is your church and your
work as you lean completely on
Christ, total member involvement.
This is our work, entrusted to us from
heaven itself. May God guide each of
us in the days ahead as we “reach the
world” for Christ.
Arise! Shine! Jesus Is Coming! n
1 See
Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.:
Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), p. 149.
2 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.:
Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900), p. 414.
3 Ibid., pp. 417, 418. (Italics supplied.)
4 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View,
Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, p. 117.
5 E. G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 419.
6 E. G. White, Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 36.
Ted N. C. Wilson is
president of the Seventhday Adventist Church.
October 2015 | Adventist World
9
By Peter N. Landless and Allan R. Handysides
W O R L D
H E A L T H
Relief From
Osteoarthritis Pain
Like my father, I have osteoarthritis.
I wonder whether I inherited this,
and what I can do about it. The biggest problem is knee pain that seems
to be present much of the time. I am
67 years old, and I have to admit that
I am somewhat overweight.
Y
ou did not mention whether
you are male or female. That
might be of interest, because
women have more osteoarthritis of the
knee than do men. About 25 percent
of people over age 55 have arthritis
in their knees, and the prevalence
increases as we age. Osteoarthritis of
the hands can be inherited, along with
other forms of arthritis.
Previous injury, work-related
stress to the knee, and, of course, obesity all may play contributory roles in
osteoarthritis.
Arthritis is inflammation of a
joint, and as a consequence of pain,
muscle weakness can follow. The cartilage lining the bones of the joints
becomes damaged, and irregular surfaces are then even more prone to
damage—a typical vicious cycle.
Misalignment of a joint leads to
uneven wear and tear. In the knee, most
pain is experienced between the kneecap and the femur (long thighbone).
10
Adventist World | October 2015
Knee arthritis typically is more
painful when climbing stairs, getting
out of a chair, or walking long distances. Sometimes a person complains
that their knee “gave way”; this can
mean a ligament or cartilage is damaged, but more often it means the
muscles supporting the joint are weak.
Tendons might be inflamed and
cause pain that is mistaken for arthritis.
X-rays usually show evidence of
arthritis, but at times pain caused by
arthritis occurs in the absence of
X-ray changes being visible.
Blood tests are not indicated, nor
are they helpful in osteoarthritis.
Relief of pain is often the most
pressing problem to the patient. Studies
have shown that nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents are superior in
pain relief to acetaminophen or
paracetamol. The side effects of acetaminophen, however, are fewer than the
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents,
so it’s preferred as a first-line treatment.
Injections of hyaluronic acid into
the joint do not seem beneficial. Injections of corticosteroids, while relieving
pain, tend to degrade the bones of the
joint and so are limited in their scope.
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate
are commonly used for pain relief. And
while studies have found little toxicity,
the evidence on these substances suggests no efficacy over and above a placebo (the “feel good” effect that
occurs through the perception that
the treatment may or will help).
In our opinion, exercise to
strengthen the muscles around the
knee will improve pain in many circumstances and will promote stability
of the joint. Exercises should be aimed
at improving the functions a person
performs on a daily basis, such as
bending, climbing stairs, flexing the
knees while lifting weights, and
improving balance.
Weight loss, combined with
strengthening exercises, has been
found to be superior to exercise.
If the joint is found to be poorly
aligned (deformed), sometimes a
brace can be helpful.
Southeast Asians seem to have
reduced inflammatory flare-ups of
osteoarthritis; whether this is genetic
or related to dietary composition has
not been answered. Some claim turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, and there is some limited data
supporting this. A major study would
be required to permit the recommendation of turmeric for arthritis as a
fully tested therapy.
We suggest that you lose some
weight, strengthen your muscles, and
perhaps have a physical therapist
oversee your exercise program. Simple
lifestyle interventions are often the
most effective!
Surgical approaches have not been
covered. These should be discussed
with a joint specialist.
Our prayer is that the Lord will
strengthen you and, as you seek help
and apply the advice given, that you
will experience wholeness in Christ
and relief from discomfort. n
Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear
cardiologist, is director of the General Conference
Health Ministries Department.
Allan R. Handysides, a board-certified gynecologist, is a former director of the General Conference
Health Ministries Department.
P H O T O : T h i n kstock P hotos / i stock
C OV E R S T O RY
By Andrew McChesney
Reach the World
It’s Personal
The church’s new strategic plan calls on every member to share Jesus.
A
small prayer group that a
Seventh-day Adventist couple
began in western Kenya in
2011 has grown to 400 people and
witnessed the baptism of 16 pastors
from other denominations during
the world church’s recent 100 Days of
Prayer initiative.
The couple, entrepreneurs Philip
Rono and his wife, Calvin Chepchumba Rono, are convinced that the
baptisms on June 18, 2015, were a
direct result of an outpouring of the
Holy Spirit during the 100 Days of
Prayer, a daily prayer program that ran
from March 25 to July 3, 2015, the
start of the General Conference session
in San Antonio, Texas, United States.
“The 100 Days of Prayer became a
big miracle that took everyone by surprise,” Philip Rono said by phone. “It
has always been our tradition to invite
those of other faiths, but this time the
number was big, and we were surprised
with how the Lord moved them.”
The Ronos’ passion for sharing
Jesus is just what Adventist Church
leaders hope to see repeated among
every one of the church’s 18.5 million
members over the next five years. A
G LO B E :
P ortr a i ts :
K a s i a
B i el / i stock / th i n kstock ,
D av i d
B .
S her w i n
main focus of the church’s new Reach
the World strategic plan, which will be
implemented from 2015 to 2020, is to
find a way for every Adventist to get
involved in evangelism.
The strategic plan, based on the
results of a two-year survey of more
than 41,000 current and former
church members, aims to provide
vision and direction in carrying out
the church’s mission of preparing people for the return of Jesus. It urges
General Conference department directors and world division leaders to create programs that nurture church
October 2015 | Adventist World
11
C OV E R S T O RY
members’ relationship with God and
provide them with ways to evangelize.
Current programs include 777,
during which church members pray at
7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., seven days a
week; 10 Days of Prayer every January;
100 Days of Prayer; and Believe His
Prophets, a daily online Bible reading
with twice-a-week passages from the
writings of church cofounder Ellen G.
White. Those are all overseen by the
General Conference’s Ministerial
Association.
Other church initiatives include
Mission to the Cities, comprehensive
health ministry, and Revival and Reformation.
Adventist Church president Ted N.
C. Wilson said those programs will be
used to encourage every member to
get involved in evangelism. “It is
essential for our full proclamation of
the three angels’ messages and the falling of the latter rain of the Holy
Spirit,” Wilson said. “Everyone must
be involved in sharing Christ and this
precious Advent message within the
context that they feel comfortable as
the Holy Spirit leads them.”
He said church leaders and church
members should work hand in hand
for mission outreach, noting that
Ellen White wrote, “The work of God
in this earth can never be finished
until the men and women comprising
our church membership rally to the
work and unite their efforts with those
of ministers and church officers”*
The drive to get every member
involved—“total member involvement,” as Wilson calls it—is to become
a major focal point for the entire
church over the next five years. Wilson
is placing the General Conference’s
Sabbath School/Personal Ministries
Department, led by newly elected
director Duane McKey, directly under
his office to serve as adviser, and all
departments will be involved in this
integrated evangelism outreach.
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Adventist World | October 2015
Prayer groups in Eldoret, Kenya, have swelled from a few dozen to
a few hundred as people focused on prayer and revival.
How 16 Pastors Got Baptized
Philip and Chepchumba Rono’s
prayer group in Eldoret, Kenya, offers
a glimpse of the total member involvement envisaged by church leaders
thousands of miles away at world
church headquarters in Maryland,
United States.
The Kenyan couple started a small
prayer group of five people under the
world church’s Revival and Reformation program in 2011. Members of
the group prayed for two to four
hours every Monday and, as the
church unveiled 777 and 10 Days of
Prayer, encouraged one another to
observe those daily initiatives on
their own.
Attendance soared after the couple
placed an even greater emphasis on
prayer and organized a second group
in a larger, Adventist-owned building
in Eldoret in February 2014. The second prayer group grew in 2014 from
50 to 150, then to a crowd of 200 people who attended 10 Days of Prayer in
early January 2015. It swelled to 300
people when 100 Days of Prayer
started in late March, and to more
than 400 people in May.
The new group initially agreed to
For four years Chepchumba Rono,
and her husband, Philip, used initiatives that were part of the church’s
Revival and Reformation initiative to
conduct community Bible meetings.
meet two days a month for Revival
and Reformation meetings.
“Then we saw that this was not
adequate, and we began to meet three
days a month, usually on Thursdays,
Fridays, and Sabbaths,” Philip Rono
said. “On Sabbaths people prayed in
the afternoon, went home for a couple
hours, and then returned at 7:00 p.m.
for all-night prayers.”
Attendees followed the daily 10
The plan urges General Conference
department directors and world division
leaders to create programs that nurture
church members’ relationship with God and
provide them with ways to evangelize.
tion, another group of pastors from a
nearby region have asked for private
seminars to learn about Adventism.
Rono said the revival in western
Kenya was the result of prayer. “We
need to take prayer very, very seriously,
especially during this period of revival
and reformation,” he said. “Meeting
every week makes a big difference. We
have witnessed many miracles.”
Rono and his wife are now setting
up a “center of influence”—a wellness
center with treatment rooms, a library,
a chapel for daily prayers at 1:00 p.m.,
and a restaurant in downtown Eldoret—as they latch onto another world
church program, Mission to the Cities.
The couple toured several wellness
centers in the United States this summer looking for ideas and advice.
What Divisions Are Doing
All-night prayer meetings conducted by Philip Rono and others resulted in 16 pastors requesting to be baptized into the Seventh-day
Adventist Church.
Days of Prayer and 100 Days of Prayer
programs in their homes.
In May, during the 100 Days initiative, two members of the group
invited 12 pastors from other denominations to attend the all-night prayer
sessions.
“They were so impressed by the
reception and the lessons presented,
and they felt that they needed to know
more about Seventh-day Adventists,”
Rono said.
A three-day seminar was organized
immediately, and 50 pastors were
invited to attend it in Eldoret. At the
end of the seminar a group of pastors
P H O T O s :
A n dre w
M c C hes n e y
asked if another three-day meeting
could be held in their hometown so
that their church members could
attend. After that meeting, 16 pastors
requested baptism.
In August members of two of the
churches whose pastors became
Adventist decided to rename their
church as Adventist. A member of the
prayer group donated US$12,400
toward the purchase of the properties,
and the local Adventist conference
pledged to pay the difference.
A series of fall meetings have been
scheduled to reach the baptized pastors’ former congregations. In addi-
Blasious Ruguri, president of the
Adventist Church’s East-Central Africa
Division, which includes Kenya, said
prayer was vital for the fulfillment of
the church’s Reach the World goals.
In his division, he said, “prayer life
by all members in every church will be
maintained to keep the fire burning in
every heart.”
Ruguri also said his division has
found that child evangelism is
extremely effective in reaching people,
and that people respond more readily
when women are involved in mission
initiatives.
World church leaders are encouraging each region of the world
church—indeed, every member—to
find methods that work best for them.
The South American Division has
found that Revived by His Word and
its successor, Believe His Prophets,
have gained considerable traction
among its members.
“We are motivating our people to
dedicate the first hour every day to be
in the presence of the Lord, participating in #RBHW, #BHP, studying the
October 2015 | Adventist World
13
C OV E R S T O RY
Indonesia care groups use contextualized resources during their
weekly IEL meetings.
Abe
Abe
Sabbath school lesson, and praying,”
said division president Erton Köhler.
#RBHW and #BHP are the social
media hashtags for the daily Bible
study plans, and Adventist Twitter
users in the South American Division
are among the most active worldwide
in using them.
“The only way to be renewed is
personal time with God at the best
time of the day, when the mind is
open to read, understand, and be close
to God,” Köhler said.
Paul Ratsara, president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, said
his region’s biggest challenge related to
the availability of resources. “It is my
dream that sufficient Bibles and Spirit
of Prophecy books will be available for
all of our members,” Ratsara said. “We
need to make sure that every member
intensifies their reading plans.”
He said he greatly appreciated
Revived by His Word, and now Believe
His Prophets, and he intended to promote the reading plan vigorously. “As
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Adventist World | October 2015
C a rpe n a / S S D
the availability of smartphones and
Internet penetration increases, more
and more of our members will have
access to the huge blessing of these
daily readings,” he said.
Access to the Bible and Spirit of
Prophecy is also a challenge in the
South Pacific Division, whose president intends to put a strong emphasis
on discipleship. “The written Bible is
very accessible to most of the people
in the South Pacific in English and
French, two of the main languages,
and in all the languages of the Pacific
Islands,” president Glenn Townend
said. “But not everybody, let alone
Seventh-day Adventists, can read.”
He said three entities—It is Written Oceania, the Papua New Guinea
Union, and the Solomon Islands Mission—have worked on putting the
Bible and some of Ellen White’s
books into audio forms on solarpowered “Godpods.”
“Also, leaders will teach and model
creative biblical ways to pray, and
C a rpe n a / S S D
Hope Channel will have programs on
spiritual habits that connect people
with their God,” Townend said. “The
Bible reading plan will certainly be
encouraged. Discipleship does not
happen without a close connection to
Jesus through spiritual habits.”
In the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, president Leonardo R. Asoy faces
a formidable challenge with a number
of unreached groups as well as millions of people from three of the
world’s major religions, Buddhism,
Hinduism, and Islam. He said the division would continue to use initiatives
such as Mission to the Cities and One
Year in Mission to reach those communities, but it would put a stronger
focus on nurturing and retention.
“New members, particularly those
coming from non-Christian religions,
need mentoring, a sense of belonging,
training in personal evangelism, and
discipleship, so they can become joyful, active Christians who share Jesus
through their life examples,” he said.
Asoy expressed particular enthusiasm for a new local program called
Integrated Evangelism Lifestyle, which
was championed by his predecessor,
Alberto Gulfan, Jr., and he said would
advance Reach the World’s objectives.
“It uses Christ’s method of evangelism and encourages members in personal revival and reformation,” he said.
Under the program, members
commit to two months of prayer,
focused Bible study, and preparation.
After this time, members invite their
family, friends, and neighbors to join
them in weekly care groups in their
homes or other informal settings. The
focus is on building relationships.
During these weekly gatherings, they
discuss topics of general interest, such
as health, family, happiness, and community involvement, and offer faithbased perspectives. They also choose
projects to do as a group to improve
their communities.
While the family unit is the basic
starting point, with one family inviting another family to join the group,
care groups also consist of individuals
with common backgrounds, such as
young professionals, single parents,
and seniors.
“The focus is not on evangelism as
an event. Instead, the Integrated Evangelism Lifestyle program offers evangelism as a process through long-term
personal contact and the nurturing of
individuals,” Asoy said. “It will take
time, but we look forward to seeing
how the Lord will lead.” n
* Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain View,
Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 9, p. 117.
ReaD MORE:
Read the Reach the World strategic
plan at www.adventistarchives.org/
reach-the-world.pdf.
The 2011-2013 survey behind the
strategic plan can be accessed at
documents.adventistarchives.org/
Statistics/Other/ACRep2013.pdf.
Read Adventist Review’s synopsis of
the strategy at www.adventistreview.
org/church-news/story2921-whatyou-need-to-know-about-theadventist-churchs-new-strategy.
Andrew McChesney is
news editor for Adventist
World.
Reach the World
OBJECTIVES
Twenty-one goals divided into three categories.
Reach Up to God
1. To involve Adventist members in daily Bible study
2. To engage all members in doctrinal study, essential for spiritual maturity
3. To make all members better acquainted with Ellen White’s counsel and
prophetic ministry
4. To increase the engagement of church members in biblically authentic
spiritual practices
5. To foster, among pastors, teachers, members, and students in denominational
institutions, greater appreciation for and insight from a study of Scripture that
uses the historical-grammatical method and historicist approach to interpretation,
including the understanding of prophecy
6. To encourage church members to adopt regular patterns of worship
Reach In With God
7. To enhance unity and community among church members
8. To nurture believers in lives of discipleship and to involve them in service
9. To increase the engagement of young people in the life of the church
10. To affirm the administrative role of pastors in organizational leadership
11. To improve leadership practices in order to enhance the credibility of, and trust
in, the church organization, its operations, and mission initiatives
Reach Out With God
12. To enhance Adventist outreach and presence across the 10/40 window
13. To enhance Adventist outreach and presence in large urban areas worldwide
14. To make planting new groups of believers a priority in all parts of the world
15. To substantially reorient our understanding and methods of mission
16. To engage all church members, pastors, and leaders in full partnership
17. To increase the involvement of young people in the mission of the church
18. To encourage local churches to take the initiative in communicating the three
angels’ messages and carrying out the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
19. To raise the profile of mission to non-Christian religions and belief systems
20. To strengthen the world church’s global resources for mission
21. To optimize communication plans and methodologies so as to empower the
work and witness of the church
October 2015 | Adventist World
15
F U N D A M E N T A L
B E L I E F S
By Elizabeth Camps
Being
NUMBER 22
GrownA Christlike character begins
S
ome time ago a friend and I were reminiscing about
our first year in college, when everything seemed so
fresh, new, and exciting. There we were, on a huge
campus, with hundreds of new people we could meet every
day. The possibilities had seemed endless, and we were
excited, to say the least.
My friend and I also talked about all the things we
experienced for the first time when we came to college.
From living in a dorm room with a roommate to cooking
our own meals and remembering to do a load of laundry
every now and then so we had clean clothes.
Something else was significant. For the first time, we
were responsible for ourselves in every way. We were truly
on our own; we no longer had Mom and Dad waking us up
every morning, making sure we ate regular and healthy
meals, and pushing us to go to bed early every night. Now
in college, for the first time, we decided when to wake up,
when to eat, and when to go to bed. Although we may not
have realized it at the time, being completely accountable
for oneself is a big responsibility! In the same way that we
had full responsibility over ourselves as young adults, God
has entrusted us with the full responsibility of taking care
of our bodies.
Being Adult Christians
The phrase “Christian behavior” evokes a number of
ideas and concepts. We may think about how we should
treat and interact with others. We may also think about how
we are a reflection of God and the church whenever we
interact with those who have never heard the three angels’
messages. Because of this, we often pay careful attention to
how we act, and keep in mind to always be a positive influence. But if we take a closer look, we can find that the concept of Christian behavior does not refer only to our relationship with others but also to the way we treat ourselves.
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Adventist World | October 2015
A quick review of the actual wording of fundamental
belief 22 is instructive. “We are called to be a godly people
who think, feel, and act in harmony with biblical principles
in all aspects.” In other words, we practice being followers
of Jesus in every part of our lives. This involves not just our
interaction with others but also the way we dress. We recognize that clothes can transform appearance, but can
never change our character.
This Christlike character does not only represent inner
beauty; it also involves our own bodies. It seems that God
wants us to not only treat others in a Christlike way but
also treat ourselves in a Christlike way.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, we read that our bodies are
temples of the Holy Spirit, meaning that Jesus lives in us
and is represented to the world through us. We are called to
honor God with our bodies.
How better to honor God than by taking care of this
temple He has entrusted to us? This means taking care of
our basic health needs, such as making sure we get enough
sleep every night, eating well, and drinking enough liquids
throughout the day. Paul emphasizes the necessity of taking
care of our physical needs in 1 Corinthians 10:31, saying,
“If you eat or drink, or if you do anything, do it all for the
glory of God.”* Eating and drinking has something to do
with our walk with Jesus.
Being an Adult Is Hard
When I entered college as a young adult, the last things
on my mind were my sleeping and eating habits. In the
hustle and bustle of brand-new classes, work, and many
new responsibilities, I often forgot about getting to sleep at
a reasonable hour. Sometimes I wouldn’t go to bed until
2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. It was a similar story when it
came to my eating habits. I got so caught up with all the
busyness of life that I forgot about food and neglected to
-up
Christians
with taking care of ourselves
consciously plan my eating. I just bought or made something that kept me going—quickly.
Even after college, taking care of ourselves is often not
our first priority, and it proves to be just as difficult. Our lives
become even busier with work projects, families, and church
events that keep us occupied. It seems that no matter what
stage of life we are in, we have to fight to care for our bodies.
Yet in the midst of all the responsibilities of life, I am
drawn to John 14:15: “If you love me,” Jesus tells me, “you
will obey my commands.” My motivation for living a
Christlike life involving my character, my body, and my
mind must be love-driven. If we love God, we will want to
honor Him; and God has asked us to honor Him by caring
for our bodies. By focusing on God and loving Him, we
will have the desire and willingness to care for ourselves.
It’s good to know that God cares about every part of us:
the spiritual, the emotional, and the physical. He thinks of
even the smallest details for us, and reminds us of it again
and again in the Bible, His love letter to us. So when He
calls us to live a Christlike life, we must remember that it
not only touches those around us—it affects us as well. n
* All scriptures in this article are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 2005 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
Elizabeth Camps works as a writer and
public relations specialist for Adventist Risk
Management in Silver Spring, Maryland,
United States. She has a passion for her craft.
Christian BEHAVIOR
We are called to be a godly people
who think, feel, and act in harmony with
biblical principles in all aspects of personal
and social life. For the Spirit to recreate
in us the character of our Lord we involve
ourselves only in those things that will
produce Christlike purity, health, and joy in
our lives. This means that our amusement
and entertainment should meet the highest
standards of Christian taste and beauty.
While recognizing cultural differences, our
dress is to be simple, modest, and neat,
befitting those whose true beauty does
not consist of outward adornment but in
the imperishable ornament of a gentle and
quiet spirit. It also means that because our
bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit,
we are to care for them intelligently. Along
with adequate exercise and rest, we are to
adopt the most healthful diet possible and
abstain from the unclean foods identified in
the Scriptures. Since alcoholic beverages,
tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs
and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we
are to abstain from them as well. Instead,
we are to engage in whatever brings our
thoughts and bodies into the discipline of
Christ, who desires our wholesomeness,
joy, and goodness. (Gen. 7:2; Ex. 20:15; Lev.
11:1-47; Ps. 106:3; Rom. 12:1, 2; 1 Cor. 6:19,
20; 10:31; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; 10:5; Eph. 5:1-21;
Phil. 2:4; 4:8; 1 Tim. 2:9, 10; Titus 2:11, 12;
1 Peter 3:1-4; 1 John 2:6; 3 John 2.)
October 2015 | Adventist World
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D E V O T I O N A L
When
W
hen I was in elementary
school, I was pretty
attached to my
grandparents, who, unfortunately,
lived far from us. But a few times a year
they would come to visit for weeks at
a time. It was always a welcome treat
for me, for it involved some bending
of the weekday rules: delicious treats
always ready after school, late-night
story time, and many other elements
typical of grandparents who know
how to spoil their grandkids. To me,
their visit made the day-to-day routine
of school, homework, and strict
bedtime seem much more lighthearted
and vacation-like.
Those fun days would roll by
quickly, however. And before I knew it,
we’d be at the airport saying goodbye.
Then it would be back to the normal
routine, which felt devastating, because,
let’s be honest, in most cases grandparents trump parents. They would promise a phone call on arrival, saying that it
wouldn’t be long before we’d be
together again, but I don’t remember
that making me feel a lot better. Perhaps I was an overly sensitive child,
but after their plane disappeared
from view (this was before September 11), I’d literally sink into
depression. I’m not kidding—I
would cry every day, roam listlessly around the house, and
generally not be able to smile.
Thankfully, this malaise would
last only about a week. But I
behaved as if I were in mourning. So much so that my parents
quickly grew frustrated with my
tears and sullen face, reminding
me that my grandparents were
very much alive and only a phone
call away. But it wasn’t the same.
18
Adventist World
Hope
Wins
Over Loss
By Wilona Karimabadi
In that moment the disciples’ heavy hearts were lightened
with that element that still eases our burdens today: hope.
Sure, I knew I could hear their
voices whenever I wanted to, but that
amounted to nothing in comparison to
their physical presence—to seeing them
and being around them on a daily basis.
To this day, I still remember how lost I
felt when they’d leave, with a void in my
stomach where nothing seemed fun
anymore and I just felt so utterly sad.
Those Poor Disciples
I’ve been working through a oneyear nonconsecutive Bible reading
plan, which, at the time of this writing, has me in week 40 of 52. It’s been
a fulfilling experience, as I’ve been
reminded of scriptures I’ve known
and loved, and delved into many new
ones, some leaving me awed and others causing me to scratch my head.
But as I’ve read through the Gospels
and recounted the disciples’ experiences with Jesus, I have really felt for
them, for during Christ’s crucifixion
and eventual ascension, their sense of
loss had to have been horrible.
After years of walking and talking
with their Savior, the One for whom
they had left everything and everyone
to follow, He was gone. I can just
imagine how they felt in those dark
hours after He died on the cross. Of
course they knew what He had taught
them. And I imagine they believed in
His promises never to leave them,
even if they could no longer be in His
physical presence. But it had to have
felt so bittersweet when He returned
to heaven.
We do know that after His resurrection, He didn’t leave them just yet.
“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive. He
appeared to them over a period of
P H O T O :
mo n ke y
bus i n ess
forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).*
The disciples asked the Lord about
His plans to restore the kingdom of
Israel. Perhaps in their human hearts
and minds they wished for Christ to
come through in the way they always
thought He would, accomplishing the
redemption of His people once and
for all, right then and there. I’m sure
they hoped against hope that at the
end of it all their beloved Savior
wouldn’t have to actually leave them
again. But Christ reminded them that
only the Father had the time frame
absolutely right. In the meantime,
however, He really was planning on
making good on His promise to be
with them always and, most important, to empower them. “But you will
will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth” (verse 8).
A Promise Made Good
As my grandparents would
encourage me over the phone once
they made it to their own home safely,
I believed that it really wouldn’t be
long until we saw each other again.
And after my weeklong depression
finally abated, it got easier to look forward to that. Being busy with tasks at
hand—school, friends, childhood
life—certainly helped.
The disciples had big tasks of their
own to accomplish now—to go and
tell. Christ had challenged them to
preach and teach in His name,
establishing His kingdom on earth,
preparing His people for His eventual
return, a work that continues with us.
I’m sure it had to have felt over-
i m a ges / i stock / th i n kstock
whelming to even think of what lay
ahead as they watched Him taken up
into the sky until that cloud hid Him
from their sight (verse 9). But Christ
wasn’t about to leave them without
more encouragement—awe-inspiring
encouragement.
“They were looking intently up
into the sky as he was going, when
suddenly two men dressed in white
stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’
they said, ‘why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus,
who has been taken from you into
heaven, will come back in the same
way you have seen him go into
heaven’ ” (verses 10, 11).
I believe that in that moment their
heavy hearts were lightened with that
one element that still eases our burdens today: hope.
My childhood sadness was finally
quelled with the promise of seeing my
beloved grandparents again, and soon.
And when they passed away years
later, my adult sadness and the longing I still feel for them from time to
time is again quelled with that same
hope. I will see them again, and soon.
This hope carried the disciples forward. And it is that same hope that
carries us forward today, until we
reach that moment when goodbyes
will truly be a thing of the past. What
a lot we have to look forward to! n
*Texts credited to NIV are from the Holy Bible, New
International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by
Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Wilona Karimabadi is
an assistant editor for
Adventist World.
October 2015 | Adventist World
19
A D V E N T I S T
L I F E
By Shandra Kilby
by the
Finding Spiritual Fulfillment
in Mundane Tasks
T
he wind is blowing hard, so
I get up to close my office
window. As usual, I pause for a
moment, letting my gaze linger upon
the gut-pinching view. Every time
I look out my window a desperate
emotion boils up, threatening to
leap from my throat, but somehow
I am addicted to the sight. Haggard
towers, pockmarked from bullet holes;
rushing lines of traffic; countless rows
of laundry flapping from countless
apartment balconies in the dirty
air of Beirut—the view represents
millions of unreached people. As
my fingers close around the window
frame, a nearby mosque begins
its mournful call to prayer. For a
moment I consider the sheer number
of people who have never heard the
gospel message—people right outside
my window—and my heart can
barely keep itself from bursting. But
obediently I shut the window and sit
back down at my desk.
20
Adventist World | October 2015
After all, it’s not my job to reach
those people.
I work as a personal assistant for
an Adventist office in the Middle East.
Like countless other denominational
employees throughout the world
church, I complete reports, fill out
statistical data forms, and collect
information from our various fields.
On slower days I water the potted
plants and clean the windows. It’s a
job that goes by many names—personal assistant, secretary, or administrative assistant—but whatever it may
be called, I’m quite sure that I’m not
the only one in our denomination
who can sometimes feel that the stack
of reports cuts a cruel dividing line
between me, the office worker, and
“them,” the mission of the church:
those nameless, faceless people waiting to be touched by heart-to-heart
ministry. We want to be out there,
leading souls into a relationship with
Christ—but for whatever reason, God
P H O T O :
S teve
has called some of us to jobs that have
less action.
Are office workers missionaries?
Are those engaged in denominational
support roles really partaking in ministry? Recently I began searching
God’s Word to see if it offers any
advice for office workers.
Tarrying by the Stuff
First Samuel 30 tells the harrowing
story of when David and his 600 men
returned to the city of Ziklag to find it
plundered, burned, and looted. Their
wives, children, and livestock had been
captured, and, as can be expected,
David and his men fell into momentary despair. Hastily pulling themselves together, they determined to
pursue the retreating Amalekite
army—not an easy feat! Burdened
down with weapons, food, and presumably a fair amount of other military supplies, they promptly departed.
The Bible doesn’t specify whether
H i x / S omos
Im a ges / F use / th i n kstock
We can be left
they were speed-walking, jogging, or
running, but it does say that by the
time David and his 600 men reached
the brook Besor, one third of his men
were too exhausted to continue.
Rather than taking a break for his men
to rest, David decided to leave the 200
weary soldiers at the brook. To lighten
the load of the still-pursuing 400, he
had them leave their baggage with the
exhausted men. The Bible records that
these 200 men tarried by the stuff (1
Sam. 30:24).
Many office workers feel like those
200 men who had to sit by the “stuff ”
while others go forward to fight the
battles of the Lord. Our role can feel
unimportant, unrecognized, and
insignificant. But, like the exhaustion
of the men, we each have our own
things that keep us back from crossing
the creek. Health issues, family obligations, age, experience, education, or
other circumstances can keep devoted
Christians from doing frontline, soulwinning ministry. We can be left pondering whether we are really contributing to the mission of the church.
If you’ve wondered about that, you
wouldn’t be the first one. In fact, some
of David’s own men accused the 200
of being unworthy to share the reward
at the end. Verse 22 records that after
David’s army rescued their families
and possessions from the Amalekites,
some of his soldiers felt that the 200
who had “tarried by the stuff ” should
not share in the spoils. “Because they
did not go with us, we will not give
them any of the spoil that we have
recovered, except for every man’s wife
and children, that they may lead them
away and depart.”
It was as if the support staff that
remained behind was substandard,
lazy, and unworthy of a reward. The
ones from the battlefront urged them
just to take their wives and be gone.
Not so with David.
David must have recognized that
pondering
whether we are
really contributing
to the mission of
the church.
these 200 men, although not engaged
in hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield, were nonetheless a valuable
asset to his army. After all, if they
hadn’t stayed by the luggage—thus
lightening the load of the pursuers—
perhaps they wouldn’t have been able
to travel fast enough to catch up with
the enemy. David’s answer to the disgruntled fighters is inspiring:
“My brethren, you shall not do so
with what the Lord has given us, who
has preserved us and delivered into
our hand the troop that came against
us. . . . As his part is who goes down to
the battle, so shall his part be who
stays by the supplies; they shall share
alike” (verses 23, 24).
The book Christ’s Object Lessons
shares an interesting tidbit from God’s
perspective for those who stay by the
“stuff ”—or, in our day, stay in the
office: “Not the amount of labor performed or its visible results but the
spirit in which the work is done makes
it of value with God.”1 Not everybody
can fight on the front lines, but we can
faithfully stay by the duties given to
us. We can care devotedly for the supplies and pray for those who are in
battle. At the end of the day, whether
we have been wielding a sword or
tending supplies, God will give us an
equal reward. Although we office
workers might not be baptizing
new members or preaching evangelistic series, God views our humble,
devoted efforts as worthy of the same
recompense!
Finding Meaning in the
Mundane
When I look out my office window, the sight of a massive city full of
lost individuals drives a restless wedge
of pain into my ribcage. When I see
the girl 6 or 7 years old begging at the
traffic intersection; when I meet the
hauntingly beautiful Muslim woman
with a purple bruise under her eye;
when I observe the Syrian refugees,
the young men already showing dramatic streaks of gray hair—I can only
pray for more workers on our front
line. As for me, I would like to know
that my life makes a difference here—
for someone, anyone. I am energized
to know that what I do in the office,
no matter how mundane it may be,
plays a small part in supporting the
other “400” who are called to be on
the front line.
Thus it is recorded that “the work
of many may appear to be restricted
by circumstances; but, wherever it is,
if performed with faith and diligence
it will be felt to the uttermost parts of
the earth. Christ’s work when upon
earth appeared to be confined to a
narrow field, but multitudes from all
lands heard His message. God often
uses the simplest means to accomplish
the greatest results.”2
Whether we are waiting by the
brook Besor or are in the heat of the
battle, let us take courage that God
counts our labor as valuable, and if we
are faithful, our work will be felt to
the uttermost parts of the earth. n
1 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review
and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900), p. 398.
G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.:
Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), p. 822.
2 Ellen
Shandra Kilby is a pseudonym.
October 2015 | Adventist World
21
LEGACY
of LIGHT
PART 5: 1891–1900
The Australian Years
God’s Mes senger
E
llen White’s arrival in Australia
in December 1891, and her
nine-year ministry in the land
down under (1891-1900), coincide
with a significant period of her literary
contribution to the global church.
The reality of the great controversy
theme, and its impact on the spiritual
life of the church, was clearly settled in
her thoughts. She referred to the effect
of the struggles not only “upon human
hearts in America” but also “upon the
human minds in that far-off country.”1
Further, prior to her arrival in Australia, Ellen White struggled with the
challenge of facing the unknown,
namely a clear lack of direction from
God regarding her forthcoming journey. “This morning my mind is anxious and troubled in regard to my
duty. Can it be the will of God that I
go to Australia? . . . I have no special
light to leave America for this far-off
country. Nevertheless, if I knew it was
the voice of God, I would go.”2
Ellen White was close to the age of
retirement, in poor health, and her
major goal was to complete her book
on the life of Christ. “I long for rest,
for quietude, and to get out the ‘Life
of Christ,’ ”3 However, her continual
search to understand God’s involvement in human life heightened her
confidence in His presence and guidance. She wrote, “I am presenting the
case before the Lord and I believe He
will guide me.”4 With such entrenched
confidence in God, she arrived in Sydney aboard the S.S. Alameda on
December 8, 1891. This time away
from home opened new opportunities
to reflect on what matters to God.
Ellen White’s contribution to the
church during her years in Australia
may be divided into three significant
segments. First, she nurtured the spiritual life of the relatively infant church.
22
Adventist World | October 2015
Australian Writings
Motivate Worldwide
A look at Ellen White’s life and legacy
By John Skrzypaszek
Second, she provided a visionary
motivation for institutional progress
combined with an urgency for mission. Third, in the period of her most
productive literary years (1888-1911),
the nine years in Australia were significant. She placed a noteworthy
emphasis on the spiritual life for the
worldwide church. In the context of
the great controversy, her publications
explored the inspirational depth of
God’s love that uplifts human value,
dignity, and uniqueness.5 The focal
point of her admiration was Jesus.
Nurturing
Ellen White’s spiritual nurture of
the young church commenced the
moment she arrived in Sydney. On her
first Sabbath in Sydney she spoke from
John 17. In a letter to O. A. Olsen she
explained, “They had never before
heard words that gave them such hope
and courage in regard to justification by
faith and the righteousness of Christ.”6
The same letter suggests that there
was a general lack of understanding of
this vitally important topic. Referring to
A. G. Daniells, she wrote, “He has only a
little glimmering of light upon the subject of justification by faith and the
righteousness of Christ as a free gift.”7
The following Wednesday Ellen
White arrived in Melbourne, where
conditions among the workers at the
Echo Publishing Company were poor.
Based on a vision given to her in 1875,
she spoke about the lack of unity and
harmony among the workers.8 She
warned of the dangers of the prevailing
attitudes. In response, hearts were broken. “The brethren confessed to one
another and fell on one another’s necks,
weeping and asking forgiveness.”9
Space does not permit exploration
of the plethora of spiritual nurturing
provided by Ellen White during this
period, nurture that stemmed from
the depth of her personal search to
understand God’s love. In a diary note
dated December 27, 1891, she wrote,
“I had great freedom in presenting the
plan of salvation and the wondrous
love of God for fallen man.” The
theme of God’s love and the authenticity of her spiritual nurture created a
strong intimacy between Ellen White
and the Seventh-day Adventist Church
in Australia. This relational bond has
been compared to the impact that a
mother exerts on a young child.10
Visionary Motivation
Ellen White shaped the church’s
vision for institutional progress and
the urgency of the mission. In a vision
dated April 1, 1874, she was instructed:
“You are entertaining too limited ideas
of the work for this time. . . . You must
take broader views.”11
The challenge was astounding, for
it had a global application. “The message will go in power to all parts of the
world, to Oregon, to Europe, to Aus-
PART 6: 1900–1915
Ellen White’s Vision for the
Global Church
Ellen White greatly elaborated on
the core biblical idea of the great controversy during her Australia years.
The previously penned historical overview of the conflict between good and
evil highlighted the reality of the interplay between the two opposing forces,
God and Satan. The publications written between 1888 and 1911 directed
the reader’s attention to the heart of
the matter, namely the significance of
one’s spiritual journey with God in a
life opposed by the powers of darkness.
In her classic book The Desire of Ages
(1898), completed in Australia, she
penned the following gem. “Everyone
needs to have a personal experience in
obtaining a knowledge of the will of
God. We must individually hear Him
speaking to the heart. When every other
voice is hushed, and in quietness we
wait before Him, the silence of the soul
makes more distinct the voice of God.”14
Wh i te
In 1897 she began to focus on
another theme, the value of Christian
education. Commenting on the content for Ellen White’s coming book
Education (1903), Willie White wrote
that “more of the plan of redemption
has been worked in by drawing from
Mother’s published works, such as
Patriarchs and Prophets, The Great
Controversy, Desire of Ages, Mount of
Blessing, and Christ’s Object Lessons.”15
It is evident that Ellen White encapsulated the heart of Christian education
and its role in restoring human value,
potential, and uniqueness in the vortex
of the struggle between the opposing
forces. While the forces of evil diminish
human life, God’s presence inspires and
restores its potential for service and the
betterment of society.
While “down under,” Ellen White
drew the attention of the worldwide
church to the importance of shaping a
point of reference not in time speculations but in a personal, implicit trust
and confidence in Jesus. To her, such
faith stems from the trustworthiness
of God’s promises in the Bible. Her
writings urged the worldwide church
to become the extended hands of
Jesus. In fact, while in Australia she
stimulated the work in the United
States through her letters and counsels.
G .
HOME “DOWN UNDER”: Ellen White spent most of her time in Australia
living at “Sunnyside,” her home in Cooranbong, not far from Sydney.
E lle n
tralia, to the islands of the sea.”12
A few months after settling in Australia, she was able to say, “I now look
back at this matter as part of the
Lord’s great plan, for the good of His
people here in this country, and for
those in America, and for my good.”13
With this view Ellen White was
instrumental in setting up a Bible school
for missionary work (August 24, 1892),
followed by the establishment of the
educational institution known today as
Avondale College of Higher Education
(1897). She inspired an interest in health
care and healthful living, encouraging
the church to expand the realm of God’s
mission. Her visionary impetus gave
birth to the Sydney Adventist Hospital
and Sanitarium Health Food Company.
In her mind all institutions had a part to
play in God’s great plan. They were to
engage in the harmonious task of
expanding His mission to the world and
were to be seen as the means to an end.
E st a te
The Elmshaven Years
loss was summed up well by Thomas
Russell, a businessman in the village
of Cooranbong: “Mrs. E. G. White’s
presence in our little village will be
sadly missed. The widow and the
orphan found in her a helper. She
sheltered, clothed, and fed those in
need, and where gloom was cast, her
presence brought sunshine.”16 n
1 Ellen
G. White manuscript 29, 1891, in Sermons and Talks
(Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1990), vol. 1, pp.
155, 156.
2 Ellen G. White manuscript 44, 1891, in Manuscript Releases
(Silver Spring, Md.: Ellen G. White Estate, 1990), vol. 18, p. 155.
3 Ellen G. White manuscript 29, 1891, in Sermons and Talks,
vol. 1, p. 156.
4 Ellen G. White letter 57, 1891, in Arthur L. White, Ellen G.
White: The Australian Years (Washington, D.C.: Review and
Herald Pub. Assn., 1983), vol. 4, p. 18.
5 Books written between 1888 and 1911: The Great Controversy
(1888); Patriarchs and Prophets (1890); Steps to Christ (1892);
Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (1896); The Desire of Ages
(1898); Christ’s Object Lessons (1900); Education (1903); The
Ministry of Healing (1905); The Acts of the Apostles (1911); and
several Testimonies for the Church volumes.
6 Ellen White letter 21, 1891. (See also A. L. White, Ellen G.
White: the Australian Years, vol. 4, p. 22.)
7 Ibid.
8 Ellen G. White Estate Document File 105j: William C. White,
“A Comprehensive Vision.”
9 Ellen White manuscript 45, 1891, in A. L. White, Ellen G.
White: The Austrailian Years, vol. 4, p. 26.
10 Arthur Patrick, “Ellen White: Mother of the Church in the
South Pacific,” Adventist Heritage, Spring, 1993, p. 30.
11 Ellen G. White, Life Sketches of Ellen G. White (Mountain
View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1915), pp. 208, 209.
12 Ibid.
13 Ellen G. White letter 18a, 1892, in Selected Messages
(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958), book
2, p. 234.
14 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.:
Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898), p. 363.
15 Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: The Early Elmshaven Years
(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1981), p. 181.
16 Thomas Russell, Cooranbong, May 3, 1900. This note was
written in an album given to Ellen White on her departure to
America in August 1900.
Greatly Missed
Ellen White’s departure in August
1900 left the Australian church in a
state of loss. During the nine years of
her ministry people felt the kindness
of her loving care. The spirit of the
John Skrzypaszek is
director of the Ellen G.
White Research Center
at Avondale College of
Higher Education in Australia.
October 2015 | Adventist World
23
C O N F E R E N C E
I
ndependent-minded Englishman
Joseph Booth had a missionary
idea for W. A. Spicer, secretary
of Adventism’s Foreign Mission
Board. As he listened, Spicer became
convinced that it would be a great
blessing to the work in central Africa.
The region, Booth insisted, would
benefit dramatically from “colored”
workers. As Spicer wrote, they would
be able to “render special service,
where the white face could not get
access.”1 Besides, Booth had at his
disposal an estate of 2,000 acres, with
buildings, that could serve
as the mission compound,
and much more. Seventh
Day Baptists, owners of
the US$25,000 property,
had agreed to transfer it
to the Adventists for just
$4,000. But somebody had
to run the mission outpost,
manage the compound, and
develop its potential.
a rch i ves
H E R I T A G E
G E N E R A L
A D V E N T I S T
PIONEER FAMILY: Henrietta and Thomas Branch (seated); behind
them: Mabel (center), Robert (extreme left), and Paul (extreme right).
By De Witt S. Williams
Thomas and Henrietta Branch
The Colorado Conference recommended a “colored” family. If the General Conference would pay their transportation, the Colorado Conference
would sponsor them by paying their
salary while in Africa. Thomas H.
Branch was born in Jefferson County,
Missouri, December 24, 1856. Henrietta Paterson was born March 12, 1858,
at Roanoke, Missouri, the youngest in a
large family. They met and married on
December 7, 1876, in Kansas City, Kansas. Their first child, Mabel, was born in
1878. They joined the Adventist church
in 1892. By that time Mabel had been
joined by Thomas (June 1887) and
Paul (March 1891). Robert would come
later (January 1896).
Colorado Pioneers
When the Colorado Conference
chose them, the Branch family were
already pioneers. Henrietta had
received some training as a nurse and
24
Adventist World | October 2015
Adventism’s first African American
missionary family in Africa
would gain extra training to be able to
serve as a missionary doctor. Thomas
was an able speaker, a diligent Bible
student, and enthusiastic lay worker in
Pueblo, Colorado. Today the seeds he
planted a century ago have borne
ample fruit in four large African American churches in Pueblo and Denver.
The Branches were older than
most missionaries sent out by the
church: Thomas was 46; Henrietta, 44.
Their unmarried daughter, Mabel, had
just turned 24. The three boys were 15,
11, and 6, and eager for the new experience. We find no evidence that the
oldest son, Thomas, accompanied his
parents and the rest of the family on
their adventurous expedition.
Since no other Black person from
the Adventist Church had been sent to
Africa, the Branches were again going to
be pioneers. They had no role models to
copy. It took courage, bravery, and great
faith in the providence of God to accept
this Macedonian call. But they were glad
to go. The Colorado Conference
ordained Thomas Branch on May 22
and the account of their departure is
recorded. “Immediately taking leave of
brethren and fellow laborers, and of
those for whom we labored, we went to
Denver, our former home, to make
ready for the journey. . . . We packed a
few necessary articles, and bidding our
friends goodbye, we left for Chicago.
Elder Spicer met us there, and gave us all
needed instructions for our journey.”2
Off to Africa
The Branches sailed for London,
England, Wednesday morning, June 4,
1902, arriving June 12. Their first Sabbath in England they were guests of
the Duncombe Hall church, where
they were “given a hearty welcome by
all the brethren.”3
A fortnight after arriving in London they sailed again, in the company
of the single-minded Joseph Booth,
whose initiative and ideas had started
them on this journey. Before them was
a seven-week voyage from Southampton to East Africa and service for the
Lord in a new field of labor. They had
left the world behind, but could say
with assurance, “We know there is a
great harvest field to which the dear
Lord is taking us and we are glad for a
place in His vineyard.”4
Booth the Maverick
At the mouth of the Zambezi River
the British Consul detained them for
nine days, which apparently allowed
the Branches to find out who Joseph
Booth really was and what he had got
them into. Booth, it turns out, was an
enthusiastic advocate for highly proAfrican political and social ideas. Officials already worried that the teachings
of some Black Americans induced a
spirit of independence, even insubordination among Africans: Ethiopianism,
a movement of African nationalism,
began in South Africa around 1890
when independent African churches
started forming, based on their reading
of the biblical promise that Ethiopia
would one day “stretch out her hands
unto God” (Ps. 68:31, KJV). Colonialists equated Ethiopianism with educated American Negros, though it was
Joseph Booth the Englishman, not
Thomas Branch the African American,
whose ideas and action were to be
associated with this thinking.
Booth had written Africa for the
African, in which he outlined a program for abolishing British colonialism.
Booth believed in complete racial
equality, and felt called by God to speak
against inequalities. His industrial mission was a way to develop financial and
educational independence for Africans.
Spicer and the Adventists knew nothing
of this when Booth first charmed them
with his estate initiative. Booth had
mentioned nothing of it. It took some
effort to convince the authorities that
the Branches were not involved in
Ethiopianism.
Plainfield Mission, the estate outpost, involved great problems between
Branch and Booth. The Branches were
not interested in Booth’s proposals,
but in teaching and preaching the
gospel. Booth was always involved in
some project and never had enough
money to pay the mission bills or the
Branches’ salary. After just six months
the Foreign Mission Board recalled
Booth and asked him to become a
colporteur in England.
Branch continued to direct the
mission until another missionary, Joel
C. Rogers, renamed the mission Malamulo (meaning “commandments”),
and the Branches went to South Africa
in 1907 seeking a better climate and to
put their boys in school. To their great
disappointment, their boys could not
attend White Adventist schools. This,
along with challenges to Henrietta’s
health, led them to return to the
United States the next year. Thomas
was placed once again in charge of the
colored work in Denver.
Branch left at least one more pioneering mark on the work when he
was called to the East Pennsylvania
Conference in 1911. There he organized and pastored the First African
Seventh-day Adventist church of Philadelphia. Later the church was renamed
Ebenezer, and it became the mother of
nearly a dozen African American
churches that exist in the Philadelphia
area today. Henrietta Branch died in
Philadelphia on April 4, 1913.
The Branches were pioneers, in
Colorado, Malawi, and Philadelphia.
Rather than focus on politics and
prejudice, they proclaimed the gospel
and brought true liberation to many.
Their amazing legacy to the Adventist
Church stands as an inspiration and
path-breaking model of the church’s
international mission by everyone,
from everywhere, to everywhere, until
the whole world knows. n
Leading at Plainfield
1 W. A. Spicer, “The
With Booth gone, Branch labored
alone as the director of Plainfield Mission until the Mission Board sent
Joseph H. Watson with his wife and
son to join Branch. But in less than a
year the climate had ravaged Watson. He passed away at age 33, was
buried on the grounds of the mission
station, and his wife and son returned
home. Branch continued as director,
and on July 14, 1906, organized the
first Adventist church in Malawi.
New Missionary Enterprise: Nyassaland,”
Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 27, 1902, p. 17.
2 Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Branch, “Called to Africa,” Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, July 15, 1902, p. 20.
3 Ibid.
4 Thomas Branch and Family, “On the Ocean,” Echoes From the
Field, Sept. 3, 1902, p. 2.
DeWitt S. Williams
directed health ministries
for the North American
Division from 1990 until he
retired in 2010 after 46 years of service. He
served as a pastor and missionary in Africa.
October 2015 | Adventist World
25
B I B L E
Q U E S T I O N S
A N S W E R E D
Sex, Seriously
Why were sexual
offenses punishable
by death in the
Old Testament?
The question of capital
punishment is particularly
sensitive in Western cultures, and I understand the
apprehension. But your
question is about specific
cases legislated in the Old
Testament. I suggest that we
understand the legislation itself,
then try to clarify its foundation.
1. Legal Materials: I will deal only with three
specific legal cases. The first is adultery (Deut.
22:22), considered throughout the ancient Near East to be a
great sin requiring the death penalty for the man and the
women. In the Bible it is also considered a serious sin against
God, against the spouse, and against society. Through capital
punishment people were to “put away [ba’ar, “exterminate,
remove”] the evil from Israel” (verse 22). Adultery was not
simply a private affair, but one that could potentially damage God’s people, making it necessary to remove it from
among them. Could the death penalty be commuted to a
lesser penalty or forgiven by the spouse? This was the case in
the ancient Near East, and some things indicate that this
may have also been the case in Israel. Proverbs implies that
the husband could accept financial compensation from the
adulterer and save the marriage, or at least the life of both
individuals (Prov. 6:32-35; cf. Hosea 3:1-3). Divine forgiveness was also available to sinners (Ps. 51).
The second case is the loss of virginity detected after
marriage (Deut. 22:20, 21). The husband realizes that the
wife, who was expected to be a virgin, was not and feels not
only betrayed but deceived by her. She is to be executed
because “she has done a disgraceful thing [nebalah, an act
that upsets the moral and social orders] in Israel” by being
promiscuous (zanah, prostituting herself; lack of moral
integrity) (verse 21). This is treated as a case of adultery.
The third case is that of a man who had consensual
intercourse with a betrothed virgin (verses 23, 24). This is
also considered a case of adultery, and capital punishment
is the penalty for both. Whether or not in these two cases
the sentence could be commuted by the husband is not
indicated, although it is possible.
2. Possible Rationale: We have to say several things
about this topic. First, these laws were not simply civil mat-
26
Adventist World | October 2015
ters; they revealed the nature and morality of God. Capital
punishment indicates the seriousness of sexual morality in
the eyes of the Lord.
Second, the possibility of commuting the penalty to a
lesser one, and divine forgiveness, was always available to
repentant sinners.
Third, the violation of the sexual laws could adversely
impact the social world by ignoring the seriousness of the
offense, thus relaxing moral integrity. Such violations were
considered mortal wounds to the family and to the social
order because they threatened God’s intention for humanity.
Fourth, sexual promiscuity damaged the two persons by
transforming them into instruments of personal pleasure
in the absence of the mutual respect, responsibility, and
accountability provided by marriage. Sexual intercourse
within marriage unifies a man and a woman in the bonds
of divine love; otherwise it shows no respect for others and
damages the couple’s self-image.
Fifth, sexuality is not our exclusive property. In a sense,
it belongs to the human race, and its misuse damages all of
us in one way or another.
Sixth, virginity is a divine gift to be protected until it
finds its goal within the loving parameters of the divine
institution of marriage. This goal is not always achieved,
but the gift must be preserved in submission to the Lord.
These ideas are foreign to our contemporary world. When
dealing with questions of sexual morality, we have to ask: Who
determines what is morally right and good? Is it the legal system of a secular society, or the permissiveness that characterizes it (“Everyone is doing it!”)? For Christians the answer is
clear: God has revealed His will in the Scriptures. When legal
systems betray Christian morality, we must obey God.
To those who may have wandered away from the divine
intention for human sexuality, I will only quote the Scripture: “Go now [forgiven] and leave your life of sin” (John
8:11, NIV). n
Angel Manuel Rodríguez has served the
church as a pastor, professor, and theologian.
He is retired, living in Texas.
B I B L E
S T U D Y
Elijah
Mighty Man of Faith
By Mark A. Finley
D a n i ele
T
his month we begin a new series of Bible studies.
We will study the great heroes of faith throughout
Scripture. The purpose of these studies is much
more than to learn facts about these faithful men and
women of God; it is to examine the challenges they faced,
explore their reactions to those experiences, and discover
the secret of their stalwart faith. We will learn from their
successes and failures, their victories and defeats, their
mountain peaks and valleys.
We begin with Elijah. We are particularly interested in
Elijah, because although he lived in a time of apostasy, he
remained faithful to God and was translated without seeing
death. Those of us preparing for translation at the second
coming of Christ can learn vital lessons of faith from this
mighty man of God.
1 Read 1 Kings 16:29-33. What was the spiritual
condition of Israel during the days of King Ahab and
the prophet Elijah?
King Ahab reigned for 22 years in Israel. He married Jezebel,
a heathen queen. Together they led the people of God into
Baal worship and deep apostasy. The biblical record declares
that Ahab “did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all
who were before him” (verse 30). What a horrible legacy!
2
What message did God send to Ahab through the
prophet Elijah? Read 1 Kings 17:1. What qualities must
Elijah have had to deliver such a startling message?
3 How did God provide for Elijah in this time of
national famine? Read 1 Kings 17:1-5; 8-14. What
does that teach us about God?
An old Christian hymn has these words in its refrain:
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in
Jesus, but to trust and obey.” When we trust God implicitly,
d a
V olterr a
and lovingly obey His commands, He takes the responsibility to meet our needs (Phil. 4:19); He keeps His promises.
When we place a priority on the things of the kingdom, He
promises to provide life’s necessities (Matt. 6:28-33).
4 After three and a half years, what command did
God give Elijah? How did Elijah respond to it? Read
1 Kings 18:1-3.
5
What challenge did Elijah give to the prophets
of Baal on Mount Carmel? Why do you think he
asked them to pray first? Read 1 Kings 18:21-24.
Baal worship included idolatry, sun worship, and sexual
immorality. It exalted nature above nature’s God. It placed
priority on creatures rather than on the Creator. On Mount
Carmel, Elijah demonstrated the absolute foolishness of
exalting human theories above divine revelation. Humanistic
forms of religion have absolutely no power to change lives.
6 Read 1 Kings 18:38, 39, 44, 45. How did God
respond to Elijah’s faithfulness?
Faithfulness to God, and trust in His promises, prepare us
to receive His blessings in abundance.
7 Read James 5:17. How is Elijah described in the
New Testament book of James? How is he an example for us?
Elijah was “a man with a nature like ours.” He had challenges and character deficiencies like any other human
being. But through faith in the promises of God, and trust
in His power, Elijah became a mighty man of faith. In the
life of Elijah we learn lessons of trust, obedience, and total
commitment.
Next month we will study more about Elijah, who was
ultimately translated without seeing death. n
October 2015 | Adventist World
27
IDEA EXCHANGE
Prayers are answered, sometimes
with surprising speed.
—Ernie Schultz, Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
spreading of the three angels’ messages if we all get involved.
Please, let’s pray for the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Once received, we
can love and be loved.
(Isaac) B. K. Aidoo
Accra, Ghana
Letters
“It’s a Very Humbling
Experience”
Thank you for publishing Bill Knott’s
interview with the newly reelected General Conference president (see “It’s a Very
Humbling Experience,” September
2015). And thank you, Pastor Wilson, for
reminding us of this statement found in
Ellen G. White’s Testimonies for the
Church: “The work of God in this earth
can never be finished until the men and
women comprising our church membership rally to the work and unite their
efforts with those of ministers and
church officers” (vol. 9, p. 117).
Alexander Becker
France
I appreciate the thoughts of our world
church president concerning the true
humiliation to our Maker and the
Prayerw
Amazing Growth
On July 20, 2015, I mailed a letter to
Adventist World, commenting on the
huge difference between per capita
Adventist membership in Africa and the
United States, and suggesting a story
about it. Fifteen days later I found just
such a story, Pardon K. Mwansa’s “Amazing Growth,” in the August edition!
Obviously the article was being prepared long before my letter arrived, but
it does prove that prayers are answered,
sometimes with surprising speed.
Ernie Schultz
E dmond, Oklahoma,
United States
His All—for Jesus
I am writing in regard to Dyhann BuddooFletcher’s article “Jamaican Gives Up His
Dreadlocks—His All—for Jesus” (August.
2015). The key to the story is that this
Jamaican man believes so strongly in the
message he learned from the Bible that he
was willing to give up his ties to his old
life. It seems to me that he wanted there to
be no doubt about his desire to follow
Jesus in baptism, and no question about
his loyalties. So he made a visible, public
change. Faith and courage like that
encourages me!
Anne Oyerly
B errien Springs, Michigan,
United States
Angels at Work in South Africa
Thank you for the fine job of condensing
my article, “Angels at Work in South
PRAISE
Please pray for my family to have a
financial breakthrough, forget the
past, and prepare for tomorrow. We
also need heavenly protection.
Kipkosgei, Kenya
Please pray for our small group who,
despite the difficult terrain, work to
communicate the Adventist message
in our community. Also, I would like
to get married.
Perfect, Ivory Coast
I am deeply disappointed; I have made
some requests to God but have not yet
received an answer. Please pray that
God answers soon.
E.S.A., Brazil
Please pray for my mother to keep her job.
Carolina, Colombia
28
Adventist World | October 2015
Africa” (April 2015). I was a bit disappointed that space did not permit printing
the picture of my nephew, David Otis and
his family on a mission trip to South Africa
in 2012, thus culminating the circle of
angelic influence begun in the 1800s.
A small correction, also: My genealogical records show that my grandfather,
David Fletcher Tarr, was the eleventh of 15
children born to James and Hannah (Brent)
Tarr, as mentioned in my submitted article,
not the 12th of 16 children as printed.
Elaine Tarr Dodd
Collegedale, Tennessee, United States
Thank You
I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian
living in a remote village in the Rift Valley, Kenya. I was so inspired and touched
when reading Adventist World to the
extent that I would like to receive it by
mail, to unite with my fellow Adventists
in belief, mission, life, and hope. Thank
you and may God bless you.
Lel Richard
Kenya
Adventist World is produced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and distributed to members free of charge. Contact
your local church conference or division
about receiving Adventist World in your
church. We are also on the Internet at
www.adventistworld.org, in several languages, including English. —Editors.
Letters Policy: Please send to: letters@adventistworld.org.
Letters must be clearly written, 100-word maximum. Include the
name of the article and the date of publication with your letter.
Also include your name, the town/city, state, and country from
which you are writing. Letters will be edited for space and clarity. Not all letters submitted will be published.
Please pray for my health, and that I find
a job and a suitable marriage partner.
Karen, United Kingdom
Please pray for Rachel, who is struggling with where to go to school and is
living in her car.
Judy, United States
FoodVersus Supplements
People who market nutritional supplements are often selling shortcuts.
They want us to believe that supplements are easier and more convenient
than just eating nutritionally.
Here are some simple foods that make expensive nutritional supplements
unnecessary. Besides, vegetables are tastier and more satisfying than pills.
The isothiocyanates and sulforaphane in broccoli serve as antioxidants
and help fight cancer.
The nitrate in beets helps improve blood flow and circulation.
Oligosaccharides in beans improve digestive health with lots of fiber.
P H O T O s : J e a n S che i je n / s a n j a gje n ero
A 30-Second
Jesus, beloved Shepherd, consider us.
Grant that we my be one body in You.
Prayer
May strife and malice be far from us, and may nothing hinder
our fellowship.
We are rescued by one, and only one, Savior. Unite us in holy,
strong love, and let us look on one another’s faults with sympathy.
—Maria Aparecida Araujo, São Paulo, Brazil
I am requesting prayer for my family:
my wife and I lost our jobs, my
daughter needs funds to start high
school, and we have a 7-month-old
son. Please pray that God will open
doors for us to get jobs so we can provide for our little family.
Fredrick, Kenya
The Place of Prayer: Send prayer requests and praise (thanks
for answered prayer) to prayer@adventistworld.org. Keep entries
short and concise, 50-words or less. Items will be edited for
space and clarity. Not all submissions will be printed. Please
include your name and your country’s name. You may also fax
requests to: 1-301-680-6638; or mail them to Adventist World,
12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600 U.S.A.
October 2015 | Adventist World
29
IDEA EXCHANGE
89Years Ago
On October 2, 1926, the first authorized Sabbath school in Madagascar was
held in the home of Marius Raspal.
Interest in the Seventh-day Adventist faith sprang up in Madagascar in
1917, when André Rasamoelina, an inspector of Protestant schools, met a
young man named Tuyau, who had attended several Adventist meetings in
Mauritius. His interest aroused, Rasamoelina wrote to Paul Badaut, pioneer
Adventist missionary on Mauritius, whose address Tuyau had given him.
Badaut sent Rasamoelina’s name and address on to the General Conference.
In December 1918 J. L. Shaw sent Rasamoelina some literature. In 1919,
after a further exchange of letters, the Home Missionary Department sent
Rasamoelina some literature that included a copy of Ellen White’s book
Steps to Christ.
Rasamoelina translated the book into Malagasy in his spare time.
During July 1922 Raspal, an Adventist missionary on Mauritius, spent 10
days with Rasamoelina, giving him Bible studies. The General Conference provided US$800 toward the publication of Rasamoelina’s translation of Steps to Christ.
Awe
Say
Positive feelings (awe, wonder,
amazement) may be tied to proteins that
signal the immune system to work harder,
relieving symptoms of poor health and
depression. According to research from
the University of California, Berkeley
(United States), awe-inducing activities,
such as walking in nature, contemplating
art, and listening to music may improve
health and life expectancy.
Source: Emotion/The Rotarian
P H O T O : F reeIm a ges . com / D a n n y de B ru y n e
Rx Health
High-intensity exercise (running, cycling,
splitting wood, shoveling snow) burns
calories, and has these added benefits:
Strengthens the heart and improves
endurance
Lowers the risk of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease
Boosts mental sharpness by regulating
chemicals crucial to grasping and
storing information
Source: Women’s Health
359
That’s the number
of people worldwide
diagnosed with the
polio virus in 2014 (out of a population of
more than 7 billion).
Just US$1 buys 10 doses of oral polio
vaccine.
Source: The Rotarian
P H O T O : F reeIm a ges . com / J oel R or a b a ugh
30
Adventist World | October 2015
P H O T O :
C D C
G lob a l
H e a lth
5O
5O W O R D S O R L E S S
My Favorite...
Bible Character
n Despite
his misdeeds, God forgave David and
was always there for him. I’m happy to know that
I can count on God. Like David, I’m prone to
commit many errors. But I realize that God has
other plans for me. I want God to lead in my life.
—Rachel, France
n My
favorite Bible character is Joseph. Although
he was innocent, his obedience in doing his
father’s errands landed him in prison. But
through God’s intervention he became prime
minister in a foreign land. His story inspires me.
—Gloria, Kumasi, Ghana
n My
favorite Bible personality is Isaiah. He
was bold and uncompromising. We don’t see
many people like that today, in a world with the
temptations, trappings, and allure of our
high-tech world.
—Tayo, Lagos, Nigeria
n My
favorite person is Queen Esther. She was
brave and trusted every situation to God. She
went to King Ahasuerus not knowing whether she
would live or not. I want to trust my life to God
in every situation.
—Esther, Austria
Next time, tell us about your favorite Bible promise. Send it
to letters@AdventistWorld.org and put in the subject
line, “50 Words.”
“Behold, I come quickly…”
Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ, uniting
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Vol. 11, No. 10
October 2015 | Adventist World
31
* Isaac Bediako is a farmer in Nkoranza, Western
Ghana. He has helped lead hundreds of people to
Christ and more than 40 into the church by
distributing more than 130,000 Adventist World
magazines in surrounding villages since 2006.
Every month
Adventist World
gets it into these
dedicated hands.
Isaac Bediako* stays in touch with his
Seventh-day Adventist family around the
world thanks to Adventist World.
Stay connected with your church
family. Contact your communication
department if the free Adventist World
magazine is not regularly distributed
in your church. You can also read it
online at www.adventistworld.org
in 11 different languages.
One Family.
One World.
Adventist World.