Adventist Heritage Center

Transcription

1 Adventist Heritage Center From: Sent: To: Subject: Adventist Review on behalf of Adventist Review Friday, January 15, :00 PM Adventist Heritage Center Evolution Disproven? Three New Discoveries May Suggest So 1

2 New Evidence Leaves Macroevolution Dangling As scientists who accept the literal intent of the Genesis account of origins, we have faced many challenges to our faith during our undergraduate and graduate education, and later on as professional scientists. Sometimes these challenges left us shaken, puzzled, or otherwise uncertain about what to do with some particular piece of information. Often we were driven back to our knees and to God s Word for reassurance that we were moving in the right direction. Always we were directed to analyze more carefully the data from which the challenge had been derived. One of the major challenges has been the question of macroevolution. The theory of macroevolution asserts that the first living cells, and all types of life, are the result of nondirected, naturalistic processes without the intervention... Read more 2

3 A weekly GraceNote from Adventist Review editor Bill Knott "Grace builds kinder, wiser lives. As we admit our brokenness, we stand among the broken. When we confess why we need Christ s forgiveness, we learn to offer others what He in mercy offers us. Grace moderates our judgments, quiets over-eager tongues, and preserves us from the curse of always needing to be right. Grace blesses all it touches, including everyone we touch in Jesus name. It is the surest sign that we were made for peace and fellowship. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott For 42 Years I Thought I Was a Good Adventist Bev s story began in a small town in southern Australia. Her father was a violent alcoholic with a hot temper. Read more 3

4 Adventist Leader in Jamaica Urges Political Candidates to Speak Carefully Everett Brown cautions that personal attacks could lead to violence... Read more Adventist Students Get Boost at Public Universities in Cuba and Beyond Hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist students carted suitcases of... Read more Lucifer is Coming No Adventist could resist investigating a line like that. The hashtag quickly led me... Read more 4

5 Storm Warnings: Where are we in biblical prophecy? Your thoughts will be shared in Adventist Review this March Read more Adventist Community Services provides you with opportunities to serve communities in Christ s name. ACS volunteers provide support and assistance in disaster relief, elder care, crisis care, urban ministries, youth and young adult engagement, tutoring, and mentoring. Your financial gifts to the Adventist Community Services offering on December 12 will make it possible to continue touching one heart and transforming communities. Adventist Review Adventist World AR On the Air Photo Galleries Contribute Photo Submissions Screening Room Twitter Facebook In This Issue News Blogs Reader Response Contact Us Log In Copyright 2016 Adventist Review, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you opted in at our website. Our mailing address is: Adventist Review Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD

6 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these s? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list 6

7 Where are we in the stream of prophecy? * 1. Do you believe the Second Coming will take place in your lifetime? Yes No 2. Have your beliefs on prophecy changed in the last 20 years? Yes No 3. Do you believe Islam will play a role in last day events? Yes No Why or Why not? (optional) 4. Do you believe that the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church will play a dominant role in last day events? Yes No Why or Why not? (optional)

8 5. If the Lord does not return by the year 2035, do you think the current Seventhday Adventist church structure will still exist like it does today? Yes No 6. If Jesus were to return in the next 12 months, what percentage of Seventh-day Adventists do you believe would be ready for that event? Less than 10% 10%-30% 30%-50% 50%-70% 70%-90% Greater than 90% 7. I believe a National Sunday Law will take place in years 6-10 years 10 years OR more Never 8. Do you believe your views on prophecy align with the majority of Seventh-day Adventists? Yes No 9. Which do you consider the greatest threat to religious freedom in the U.S.? Protestantism Catholicism

9 ISIS Gay Marriage Gun Rights Atheism 10. Which do you consider a greater threat to religious freedom? Secularism Religion Other (please specify) Done Powered by See how easy it is to create a survey.

10 Login Search Subscribe Menu Adobe Stock Church Manual Updated After Inadvertent Omission Missionary Pastor Dies Before Sabbath Sermon in Kenya Olympic Champion Usain Bolt Was Raised in Adventist Home I Inspired Churchgoers Just Enough to Buy My Album Church Members Spring Into Action After Deadly Earthquake in Italy What Doesn t Change The Saviour binds Himself by promises forever an for all: I will never refuse anyone who comes to Me (John 6:37). SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

11 Lucifer is Coming Jared Thurmon is the Strategic Partnerships Liaison for Adventist Review. You can reach him anytime on twitter Does Hollywood understand the last great scenes in the drama better than many Christians? A 5-minute read A s I scrolled through my news feed this morning, I stumbled across an item trending on Twitter: #LuciferisComing. No Adventist could resist investigating a line like that. The hashtag quickly led me to a flurry of posts, 85% of which were written by concerned Christians upset about a new television show on Fox slated to premiere on January 25. The series stars actor Tom Ellis as Lucifer the tall, dark and handsome and misunderstood--fallen archangel now in the city of angels Los Angeles. Communications specialists sometimes argue that there s no such thing as bad publicity. Fox may secretly be reveling in the controversy. But I m guessing this may be a one and done series that Lucifer is Coming could shortly be followed by Lucifer Has Left the Building. So I decided to hijack a headline to underline an important truth. The truth is Lucifer has been misunderstood by many. It s intriguing that Christian viewers raise issues with shows like this. What were they expecting from the entertainment industry? Were they not entertained? Many who read this article probably wouldn t choose to spend their time on things that don t build up their insight or character. Even if the new series tanks after the third episode, it might have unintentionally served a good purpose. You see, I actually do believe Lucifer is coming. I have to grudgingly tip my hat to Fox for at least portraying the enemy more accurately than Christian tradition usually has done. In the popular imagination from medieval times to the present, the devil is likely red, has horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. The Bible, though, tells us that this being is on a far different level of sophistication and attractiveness. He s good looking, commands powers many can only dream about, and seeks one objective: to become the ruler of this world by convincing humanity that living for self is the meaning of life. In the words of avowed occultist Aleister Crowley, Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law. And as the oldest created being in existence, he s had a long time to refine his appeal to both men and angels. In what reads like a tragic love letter from the broken heart of the Lord to Lucifer, God says: 12 You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty

12 14 You were the anointed cherub I established you 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you 17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty (Ezek. 28:12, 14, 15, 17, NKJV). Biblical prophecy reminds us that this majestic and beautiful being is coming one day soon to planet earth. Why? To claim what he believes are rightfully his the keys of the kingdom. Seventh-day Adventists underline even more than Fox that #LuciferisComing and very soon. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14 NLT) Seventh-day Adventist co-founder and thought leader Ellen G. White described Lucifer s coming very clearly: The world is a theater; the actors, its inhabitants, are preparing to act their part in the last great drama. With the great masses of mankind, there is no unity, except as men confederate to accomplish their selfish purposes. A power from beneath is working to bring about the last great scenes in the drama, Satan coming as Christ Testimonies for the Church 8:27, 28. And in the final volume of her Conflict of the Ages series The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan she asserted: As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1: The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: Christ has come! Christ has come! The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. (Great Controversy, 624). The Book of Revelation portrays the whole world in the last days as looking for a compelling leader to help it navigate the political, economic, and environmental chaos of the age. Confused by forces beyond their control or their understanding, human beings willingly give their allegiance to a sophisticated ruler who promises both stability and ultimate personal freedom. Others dream of escape to an untainted world where human beings can re-establish sanity and billionaires such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos invest heavily in space vehicles that could theoretically colonize another planet. Each week s box office numbers remind us that our culture is fascinated by the war that began in the stars, and hungers for a superhero who offers a new world order we can never seem to manufacture for ourselves. Yes, Lucifer is coming, and prophecy tells us that his coming precedes the coming of Christ. Complaining about Hollywood s programming misses the point: Adventists should be making headlines by affirming that yes, in fact, #LuciferisComing but so is our real Saviour, whose sacrifice and love offers the only real redemption this broken planet will ever find. It s our mission to teach the world how different the value systems of Christ and Satan really are and why the faith of Jesus is our only hope.

13 News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

14 Login Search Subscribe Menu Colombian students sorting out toiletries to give away to Adventist students in Cuba. (All photos: Aljafet Chable / IAD) Church Manual Updated After Inadvertent Omission Missionary Pastor Dies Before Sabbath Sermon in Kenya Olympic Champion Usain Bolt Was Raised in Adventist Home I Inspired Churchgoers Just Enough to Buy My Album Church Members Spring Into Action After Deadly Earthquake in Italy What Doesn t Change The Saviour binds Himself by promises forever an for all: I will never refuse anyone who comes to Me (John 6:37). SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

15 Adventist Students Get Boost at Public Universities in Cuba and Beyond The Inter-American Division kicks off a major initiative to transform students into ambassadors. POSTED JANUARY 13, 2016 H, Inter-American Division undreds of Seventh-day Adventist students carted suitcases of clothes and toiletries to Cuba as the Adventist Church kicked off a major effort to transform Adventist students into church ambassadors on public universities in the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of South America. More than 700 university students, professionals, and church leaders gathered in Cuba s capital, Havana, for a four-day conference intended to provide leadership skills and training to hundreds of Adventist students studying on public campuses throughout the Adventist Church s Inter-American Division. Jiwan Moon, director of Public Campus Ministries for the Adventist world church, joined other church leaders in encouraging attendees to recommit themselves to God s Word and become missionaries on their campuses and in their communities. The university is not going to come to the church, nor will the church come to the university. Our meeting point is the community, Moon said. You are to be ambassadors and messengers of the cross in your non-adventist institutions, living the missionary spirit on your campuses. The goal is to pair Adventist students on non-adventist campuses with local church leaders and professionals, mobilizing them to create so-called centers of influence on campus that will go out into the community to share love, joy, and hope. Jiwan Moon presenting a seminar to church leaders during the event.

16 Suitcases of Gifts Part of that joy and love was shared as students traveling to Cuba brought suitcases of clothing and toiletries such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, and soap to share with hundreds of Adventist students on the island. It was important to make of this summit a missionary event as well, so we wanted our delegates to be part of benefiting another student in Cuba, said Hiram Ruiz, director of public campus ministries for the Inter-American Division. Conference attendees also took a day to paint and repair dormitories at the Adventist Seminary in Havana. Cuba was an ideal location to carry out the conference, Ruiz said. Other than the small Adventist Seminary, Adventist students have no access to Adventist education on the island, so bringing support, networking and fellowship to them was a real blessing, he said. The conference offered seminars on how to survive in a secular world, how to testify without arguing, how to establish new ministries on campus, how to keep faithful to Bible principles, how to preach the gospel, and how to become a mentor. This Has Brought Me New Hope Beatriz Frometa, a second-year dentistry student in Cuba, said that learning that there are more than 1.5 million university students like her around the world was a real eyeopener. This has brought me new hope because I m not alone, she said. I have learned new techniques on how to motivate others to want to know more about the Word of God. Stefania Casa, a student from Baja California, Mexico, said she appreciated information on how to influence others for good. I ve learned how we can be an influence in our school, and to our friends, our peers and teachers about the love of God and how they too can learn of His grace, she said. Robert Soler, a literature professor at Marta Abreu Central University in Las Villas, Cuba, said the conference reinforced the need to strengthen an on-going ministry on his campus called University Adventist Youth, or Jovenes Adventistas Universitarios. The group has carried out many activities in the community, including distributing free pizzas to the homeless one night. That night we were able to share the love of Jesus with men and women who mostly live on the streets, Soler said. What s Next for Students Establishing an ongoing ministry is what public campus ministries is all about and leaves a lasting influence, Ruiz said. This ministry is here to stay, he said. Long gone are the days when each union gathered their Adventist students studying in public campuses once a year for a gettogether for a few hours on a Sabbath. We have a new direction, a permanent ministry in the church. That permanent ministry will consist of the challenge of getting every local church involved in supporting those students, Ruiz said. Moving forward, local churches will now begin accounting for all their university students, and Adventist professionals that could team up to mentor them will help establish centers of influence on their campuses. You are a generation that God is training in this secular world, Israel Leito, president of the Inter-American Division, told the conference. Do not conform to the models of this world. We have another model. God is calling you to be different, to shine your light where you are. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Online Exclusives Gracenotes Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions

17 Events Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Writer's Guidelines Advertising Adventist World Partners Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

18 Login Search Subscribe Menu Everett Brown urging political candidates be more mindful of the effect of their campaign rhetoric. (Damian Chambers / IAD) Church Manual Updated After Inadvertent Omission Missionary Pastor Dies Before Sabbath Sermon in Kenya Olympic Champion Usain Bolt Was Raised in Adventist Home I Inspired Churchgoers Just Enough to Buy My Album Church Members Spring Into Action After Deadly Earthquake in Italy What Doesn t Change The Saviour binds Himself by promises forever an for all: I will never refuse anyone who comes to Me (John 6:37). SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+

19 SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS Adventist Leader in Jamaica Urges Political Candidates to Speak Carefully Everett Brown cautions that personal attacks could lead to election violence. POSTED JANUARY 13, 2016, Inter-American Division The president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica has implored political candidates to choose their words carefully in upcoming national elections. The Adventist Church is the single largest denomination on the Caribbean island-nation, and its leaders have joined representatives of other faiths in calling for calm after previous election campaigns turned violent. In recent years, violence has diminished during election season but campaign rhetoric from opposing candidates has increased. The administration of the union calls upon all our political leaders to keep the campaign rhetoric clear from personal attack, said Everett Brown, newly re-elected president of the Jamaican Union Conference. He cautioned that personal attacks fuel unethical tensions and embarrassing dispositions between opponents that can boil over into physical violence and even death. Let us not be weighed in the balance and found wanting, Brown said at a dedication service for newly elected officers and directors of the Jamaican Union Conference at the Mandeville Adventist Church. Among those in the audience was Jamaica s national security minister, Peter Bunting, and national parliament member Audley Shaw. A constituency debate between National Security Minister Peter Bunting, right, and his then-opposing candidate in the constituency, Danville Walker, at Adventist-owned Northern Caribbean University in Manchester, Jamaica, in December Campaign rhetoric from opposing candidates has grown heated in recent years. (Nigel Coke / IAD) After re-affirming the church s commitment to God, the preaching of the gospel, and nation building, Brown offered a reminder of the Adventist world church s official stance of not supporting any political party, candidate, or activity.

20 It is the right of our members as citizens to exercise their franchise and vote for the candidates of their choice, but the church will not publicly or privately endorse any political party or support partisan political activities, he said. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the single largest denomination in Jamaica, accounting for more that 300,000 people in a population of 2.8 million, according to the most recent national census. The date of the general elections has yet to be set. But campaigning is starting for the vote, which by law much be held from Dec. 29, 2016, to April 16, Brown, speaking Jan. 3, said his union administration s belief that it has a mandate to lead people to Jesus saving grace was not negotiable, but at the same time church members could not ignore social issues that threatened the country. The murders and murder rate are alarming and concern all of us, he said. Furthermore, he said, too many children are abused, raised in dysfunctional homes and communities, don t attend school, and have gone missing. Must we not go the extra mile in securing, planning for, and helping our children maximize their full potential toward a better country and a brighter world? he said. The church is ready to be a part of the solution, he said. Let us do more managerially and sacrificially to make tertiary education more accessible to our people. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.

21 Login Search Subscribe Menu (Wanja Jacobs / Thinkstock) Church Manual Updated After Inadvertent Omission Missionary Pastor Dies Before Sabbath Sermon in Kenya Olympic Champion Usain Bolt Was Raised in Adventist Home I Inspired Churchgoers Just Enough to Buy My Album Church Members Spring Into Action After Deadly Earthquake in Italy What Doesn t Change The Saviour binds Himself by promises forever an for all: I will never refuse anyone who comes to Me (John 6:37). SUBSCRIBE+NEWSLETTER+ IN THIS ISSUE+NEWS+ARCHIVES+ READER RESPONSE+MEDIA PARTNERS+ SCREENING ROOM+GRACENOTES+ PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

22 For 42 Years I Thought I Was a Good Adventist A retired couple makes a big difference with Manna Inc. in Australia. POSTED JANUARY 13, 2016, South Pacific Adventist Record ev s story began in a small town in southern Australia. B Her mother ran a launderette, and her father was a violent alcoholic with a hot temper. Matters eventually got to the stage where police intervention was necessary to protect Bev and her family. Police officers personally flew Bev, her mother, and her little brother to the city of Adelaide to get away from her father. They moved in with Bev s grandparents, who ran a boarding house. At the age of 10, Bev made two staunch resolutions. First, she would never drink alcohol. She had already seen for herself the pain, heartbreak and irreparable damage that it could cause. Her second resolution was to give the world her love because she had never experienced love herself. Unlike fickle New Year s Eve resolutions that are broken a few days later, these were goals that she was determined to meet. But how could she give her love to the world? Years later, on a rainy day in 1996, Beverley Lowe and her husband, John, were in Perth, Australia. Bev noticed a group of homeless people taking shelter under trees in a nearby park. Let s go home and make some soup for them, she suggested. John was speechless. He realized that Bev didn t mean this to be a one-off activity. It wasn t that he was opposed to service. Quite the contrary. They had fostered several children over the years John Lowe's attitude changed once he and his wife took food to the park. (Manna Inc.) and even adopted a 3 1/2-week-old baby. They had been involved in their fair share of community work. Bev had formed a deaf signing choir. But everything was different now. They were retired farmers. John had worked hard all his life, and he had no desire to start up a new mission now. He silently prayed that his wife would either come up with a different idea or that the city council would refuse them permission to work with the homeless people. When I look back to 1996, I had been an Adventist for 42 years. I thought I had been a good Seventh-day Adventist, John said. But actually I was like the priest and Levite when they wanted nothing to do with the wounded traveler. His attitude quickly changed once he and his wife began feeding the people in the park.

23 Instead of this work being the last thing I want to do, it has become the first thing I do! John said. He and Bev formed a community organization known as Manna Inc. Beverley Lowe distributing food to the homeless. (Manna Inc.) Today, Manna has fed the homeless for more than 19 years and is one of the largest providers of meals for disadvantaged people in Perth. The organization distributes more than 90,000 meals a year, including soup, a main course with a vegetarian option, and dessert. More than 200 volunteers give up their time on a regular basis to prepare and distribute these meals. But that s not all Manna does. In 2001, the organization noticed that many children in Perth were attending school each day without breakfast, and this inspired their School Breakfast Program. It aims to provide a healthy and substantial meal for students five days a week for 40 weeks of the school year. In 2011, a breakfast program began for high school students. But it wasn t just food that the students needed. In 2008, Manna started providing winter school uniforms for students who couldn't afford them. By winter 2014, it had provided uniforms to children in 42 schools. Manna has also been involved in other projects such as Christmas lunches for seniors, providing meals for other charities, and running Manna training programs for other parts of Australia and abroad. All this and much more is only possible by God s grace, John said. We have had many miracles, learned many things and we are still learning. It has been a wonderful journey. News & Features Subscriber Access About Departments Resources Current Adventist News Online Exclusives Gracenotes Events Subscriptions Renew Account Forgotten Password Report Trouble Update Mailing Address Issue Archives Our Roots and Mission Staff Writer's Guidelines Advertising Adventist World Reader Response Photo Galleries Prayer Requests Partners Contact Free Newsletter Photo Submissions Downloads Sunset Calendar Church Locator RSS Feed Copyright 2016, Adventist Review. All rights reserved worldwide.