Israel is proposing a national Sunday law. The Vatican called for national Sunday laws and the issue is heating up in Europe. Muslims and Jews want Friday and the Sabbath off, but taking Sunday off would require working half a day on Friday.
An E. Coli outbreat has killed 18 and infected over 1600, mostly in Germany, but also in many European countries. There are now 499 cases of haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and most of them are in Germany also. This outbreak is unusual in that most who have come down with HUS are adulets rather than the young and the elderly who are usually the most affected by this bacteria. Their immune systems are relatively weak compared to young and middle aged adults. Also, two thirds of those sickened are women.
The source of the contamination is not yet known, but believed to be associated with food, most likely cucumbers, tomatoes, or lettuce. The bacteria generally originates in cattle and is transmitted to food through water or soil that comes in contact with the feces. Some scientists suspect the deadly E. coli might have come from manure used to fertilize vegetables.
Here are the number of cases of HUS and the number of deaths by country:
Nothing left of Home Depot after yesterday's tornado flattened parts of Joplin Missouri. The death toll has risen to 92.
An F4 Direct Hit on Joplin
May 22, 2011
Joplin Missouri took a direct hit from a F4 Tornado today at 6pm. Among the structures hit were St. John's Regional Medical Center, where multiple injuries were reported, and two city fire stations. The death toll is reported to be at least 24.
Today, at 6:00pm California time, Harold Camping will not be raptured. He may be out of sight, but he will not be on his way to heaven.
There are no earthquakes and Christ has not returned. Let us pray for Harold Camping and his followers.
Harold Camping, and Family Radio
May 20, 2011
Harold says that rapturing will begin at 6 p.m. in the International Dateline at 180 longitude between Pago Pago, American Samoa and Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
What is Harold going to be doing while waiting for the earthquakes to reach California? “We’re not planning anything at all....I’m sure our pre-occupation will be watching that come around…. It’s going to be a horror story of tremendous proportion.”
Harold Camping a False Prophet
May 15, 2011
Family Radio and Harold Camping are preaching the day of the coming of Christ to be May 21, 2011. Jesus is not coming on this day. In fact Harold Camping has refused an offer of one million dollars to buy their radio stations. If they believed that they really were going to be raptured on the 21st they would sell the stations since the offer made by A Bible Answer states they will not take possession of the stations until May 22, the day after Harold Camping and his true followers say they will be gone to heaven.
According to the Huffington Post the May 21 date was calculated by Harold Camping, the leader of an independent Christian ministry called Family Radio Worldwide, which is based in Oakland, Calif. On May 22, there will be a lot of poor and discouraged followers of Harold Camping that be sorry they trusted in man rather than in their Bibles.
Happy Mother's Day
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. Psalm 144:12.
The tenderest earthly tie is that between the mother and her child.
In the children committed to her care, every mother has a sacred charge from God. "Take this son, this daughter," He says; "train it for Me; give it a character polished after the similitude of a palace, that it may shine in the courts of the Lord forever."
This work of molding, refining, and polishing is the mother's. The character of the child is to be developed. The mother must engrave upon the tablet of the heart lessons as enduring as eternity.
Child training is the grandest work ever committed to mortals. The child belongs to the Lord, and from the time it is an infant in its mother's arms, it is to be trained for Him.
The home should be to the children the most attractive place in the world, and the mother's presence should be its greatest attraction. By gentle discipline, in loving words and acts, mothers may bind their children to their hearts.
There is a God above, and the light and glory from His throne rests upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in importance. She has not, like the artist, to paint a form of beauty upon canvas, nor, like the sculptor, to chisel it from marble. She has not, like the author, to embody a noble thought in words of power, nor, like the musician, to express a beautiful sentiment in melody. It is hers, with the help of God, to develop in a human soul the likeness of the divine.
The king upon his throne has no higher work than has the mother. The mother is queen of her household. She has in her power the molding of her children's characters, that they may be fitted for the higher, immortal life. An angel could not ask for a higher mission.
Tornado Aftermath--Alabama May 4, 2011
Tennessee Damage
Seventh-day Adventist President
Message of Hope For Japan
"Seventh-day Adventists around the world unite today with the people of Japan in mourning the losses caused by the 2011 Sendai earthquake and the resulting tsunami. Our thoughts, our prayers and our sympathies go out to those who have suffered such loss.
"The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is mobilizing to share resources and meet human need in the affected regions. An ADRA representative was in Fukushima on March 12, and more help is coming.
"We remember the Bible's promise in Psalm 91, verse 1: "He who dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," and we claim that promise for the people of Japan, and for all areas affected by this tragedy.
"Seventh-day Adventists have worked in Japan since 1889 and continue to serve the people of that great country. We are committed to helping meet human needs and sharing the greatest news of all: that God loves and cares for each of us, and that He is coming again soon! We call for all Seventh-day Adventists and others to pray for the people of Japan during this time of intense need."
Pastor Ted Wilson, President General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church
Japan Nuclear Meltdown, Sunday 3/20/11
Workers reconnected the power cable to one reactor at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic plant. Radiation levels at the plant went close to zero after a water-spraying operation by troops and fire-fighters, suggesting the water was striking its target, Kyodo News reported yesterday, citing a Tokyo fire department official. The facility, damaged following a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, hasn’t had a “massive radiation release,” said the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. will begin work on restoring power to the cooling system of the No. 2 reactor
Seventh-day Adventists Safe
Dear Friends of Tokyo International SDA Church,
We have confirmed that all our church members are safe and well. Last Saturday worship was canceled because of the transportation disruption and the church was used as a shelter for people stranded around the church in Harajuku.
This coming Sabbath, 19th March, the church will take up a special offering for ADRA Japan and we would like those who have the opportunity and heart to donate to ADRA Japan to support the on-going response. Please follow this link to the ADRA Japan English page.
For people wishing to get involved in the cleanup and support under the direction of ADRA Japan, please contact our church pastor, Andy Espinoza. The affected areas are currently restricted by the government, but as they become opened clean up will begin.
Thank you all for your support and prayers and lets pray and get active in reaching out to the souls of Japan in preparation for Christ's soon return.
Tokyo International Seventh-day Adventist Church
Japanese Nuk Meltdown
Spent Fuel Pools Breeched 3/17/11
Gregory Jaczko, head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "We believe that secondary containment has been destroyed and there is no water in the spent fuel pool and we believe that radiation levels are extremely high which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures."
Tokyo Governor 3/17/11
The governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, suggested that the tsunami was "divine punishment" for the "egoism" of the Japanese people. He called it "tembatsu", divine punishment. "I do feel sorry for the victims," he said.
Ishihara said: "Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism. We need to use the tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has attached itself like rust to the mentality of the Japanese people over a long period of time."
Hungry, Cold, and Thirsty 3/16/11
There is a great need for food, water, and warm clothing in some communities in Northern Japan. Some towns are still cut off from help by road. Attention is focused on rescue and recovery, and the emergency at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
US military has been delivering water and food by helicopter, but more needs to be done. Dropping supplies from planes will be faster in reaching those in need. The planes need not fly through the radiation.
Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles (kilometers) of Japanese coastline, and hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centers that were cut off from rescuers and aid. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 2.5 million households were without electricity. Temperatures were to dip near freezing overnight.
Trade Minister Banri Kaeda said the region was likely to face further blackouts and that power would be rationed to ensure supplies go to essential needs.
Large areas of the countryside remained surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed and people were running out of gasoline for their vehicles.
Public broadcaster NHK said around 380,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters, many of them without power.
In Iwaki town, residents were leaving due to concerns over dwindling food and fuel supplies. The town had no electricity and all stores were closed. Local police took in about 90 people and gave them blankets and rice balls but there was no sign of government or military aid trucks.
Read more: Japanese nuclear meltdown possible, death toll likely over 10,000 -
source
Japan Nuclear Plant Meltdown 3/16/11
1:50pm Japanese Television is reporting that #4 reactor experienced an explosion and fire. Reactors #5 and #6 are not in use, but their temperatures are increasing.
The Japanese government has increased the limit of radiation that a worker may be exposed to.
1:30pm It has been announced that the workers returned to the plant an hour after they evacuated.
10:40 am Tokyo time-- Japanese workers have evacuated from the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. There was no explanation given as to what would happen next.
Japan Quake Tsunami -- March 15, 2011
The Japanese government has just confirmed that reactor #2 has just experienced an explosion similar to the explosions at reactors #1 and #3.
Unlike the previous two explosions, it is being reported that there may have been a breech in the containment vessel. A high level of radiation has been recorded at the site and many of the workers have been evacuated.
Japan Union Conference
International Ministries Department
Japan Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Address :
846 Kamikawai-cho, Asahi-ku
Yokohama, 241-8501
Japan
Japan Union Conference update on earthquake and Tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Today's date: March 14, 2011
We are very thankful for the many words of encouragement received from both brethren and sisters throughout World. March 11 was a shocking day for Japan and the world. We are so very thankful to God that not one Seventh-day Adventist life has been lost so far.
We have been in the process of assessing the damages to our churches and schools in the disaster area. Two schools and 3-4 churches will need assistance with repairs to their buildings. Thank you very much for your prayers, many emails and telephone calls from all over the world showing great love and concern for the Japanese community and our Adventistchurches and schools. ADRA Japan, a department in Japan Union Conference cooperates in that ADRA Japan serves the whole community and interfaces with the government and other NPOs. ADRA Japan is under the umbrella of Japan Union Conference which takes responsibility for the care of the Seventh-Day Adventist's churches and school's needs. Separate from ADRA Japan, Japan Union Conference is earnestly requesting funds for our churches and schools that have been damaged in the earthquake.
As it is not safe to dispatch repair teams into the area yet, we are at the moment accepting funds towards helping to repair church and school structures. Volunteers will be requested to help once it is safe to enter the areas. Our junior high school's chapel roof fell in, another school is damaged and 3 or possibly more churches have received damage. We dearly need to help these people to rebuild their school and church homes. It was school break and right after graduation for the junior high so we are praising God that no children were injured. Water and electricity is a common need shared with the Non-Adventist community in these areas.
YOU CAN HELP by sending your donation to Japan Union Conference.
Please make your checks out to the following:
General Conference of SDA
Japan Union Conference
Please send your checks to the following address in Japan:
Japan Union Conference of SDA
846 Kamikawai-cho, Asahi-ku,
Yokohama-shi, Japan 241-8501
Japan Quake Tsunami -- March 14, 2011
Survivor video of the destruction of Minami-Sanriku
Seventh-day Adventists Working in Japan Quake Relief -- March 13, 2011
ADRA Japan has begun an initial response to this disaster giving accommodation, food, internet, wifi facility in the its Tokyo office for those who are stranded in the central Tokyo area. Tomorrow morning, ADRA Japan staff will be traveling to affected areas for a needs assessment and define the response that ADRA Japan will implement.
ADRA Japan?s country director will be arriving in the office tomorrow morning in order to define the lines of this response. At the moment, Tokyo has no operational Metro or trains and is facing huge traffic jams. More information will be available in the morning (Tokyo?s morning) as it becomes available.
ADRA Japan's staff are currently working close with the Japan National Disaster Office and NGO coordination and are being supported by Daniel dos Santos, ADRA Asia director, who happened to be in Japan when the disaster struck.
Japan Quake Tsunami -- March 12, 2011
MARCH 13 UPDATE: A spokesman for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency said an ADRA assessment team today reached Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit regions.
ADRA Japan is coordinating with the Japan National Disaster Office and local non-governmental agencies.
MARCH 12 REPORT: Masumi Shimada, president of the Adventist Church in Japan, said that four institutional buildings in Japan sustained minor damage. There are no reports of casualties among church members, he said.
Shimada said there are 17 churches, 10 schools and five other church institutions in the earthquake-affected areas.
In Tokyo on Saturday, the International Adventist Church was set up as a refugee shelter, said Andreas Mazza, a denominational employee visiting from Switzerland.
Mazza reported that ADRA Japan worker Mitsuo Chris Ishii said he was unaware of any Adventist victims, but said an Adventist high school was damaged.
In an e-mail to church leaders in Japan, Adventist Church President Ted N. C. Wilson said he and other church members worldwide were praying for those affected by the disaster.
"May God come especially close to you, the people of Japan, and our dear members as they provide whatever possible assistance in a humanitarian way and bring spiritual encouragement during this tragic natural disaster," Wilson said.
There are about 15,000 Adventists in Japan worshiping in 115 churches.
Fukushima Japan Nuclear Reactor Explosion --March 12, 2011
An explosion sent white smoke rising above a nuclear plant where a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled cooling systems in northeastern Japan, the country's chief Cabinet secretary said Saturday.
Four workers were injured after the blast at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. It was not immediately clear where the blast occurred inside the plant, or what caused it.
The roof of a reactor at the plant collapsed following the explosion around 3:30 p.m., Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported, citing Tokyo Electric Power Company.
Harold Camping preaches that Jesus is coming on May 21, 2011.
"JUDGMENT DAY is feared by the world and is the day that God will destroy the world because of the sins of mankind. The world is correct in believing that Judgment Day will come. The Bible gives us the correct and accurate information about that Day.....Because the year 2011 A.D. is exactly 7,000 years after 4990 B.C. when the flood began, the Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment.
Amazingly, May 21, 2011 is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Biblical calendar of our day. Remember, the flood waters also began on the 17th day of the 2nd month, in the year 4990 B.C.
The Holy Bible gives several additional astounding proofs that May 21, 2011 is very accurate as the time for the Day of Judgment." Harold Camping
We are eagerly waiting for May 21. Why do we care? Because it is not just his teaching of when Jesus will come that is in error, but many other of his doctrinal teachings are in error. When the world does not end, it ought to awaken some to the fact that Harold Camping is a false prophet and his Bible teaching is not to be trusted. This is not the first time he has prophesied the end would come. He had made a similar prophecy in 1994.
From a current article on the subject:
"Once again, Harold Camping is making his prediction concerning Judgment Day, which he declares will take place on May 21. There has also been another date predicted of Dec. 21, 2012. I wonder which date is correct?
On July 16, 1994, Camping made the same prediction, when he stated the end would occur in September
Biblical scholar's date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012.
"That date has not one stitch of biblical authority," Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. "It's like a fairy tale."
The real date for the end of times, he says, is in 2011.
The Mayans and the recent Hollywood movie "2012" have put the apocalypse in the popular mind this year, but Camping has been at this business for a long time. And while Armageddon is pop science or big-screen entertainment to many, Camping has followers from the Bay Area to China.
Camping, 88, has scrutinized the Bible for almost 70 years and says he has developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden within the Good Book. One night a few years ago, Camping, a civil engineer by trade, crunched the numbers and was stunned at what he'd found: The world will end May 21, 2011...."Source
As Seventh-day ADVENTISTS, we understand that Jesus is coming soon. We have been giving that message boldly. The end is at hand, but not in May of this year. The Bible is clear in regards to our being able to know that the return of Jesus is near. There are signs that tell us. This forum, Signs of the Times directs our minds to events that point to His soon coming. Just a boldly as we preach the soon return, I also say that Jesus is not coming in May of 2011. There remains some specific Bible prophecies that must happen before Jesus comes. They can happen rapidly, but they will not happen in the next three months.
2012 is a date that many in the world are thinking that the end may come. There too, are many false prophecies. So, we await that date when many will understand that they have trusted to the wrong "teachers". The Bible is to be our counselor and our guide. There we find a safe source of information regarding the end of the world. "The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware...Be ye therefore ready, also for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke 12:26, 24:40.
The wise will understand as the time approaches that it is near. There are many signs in the Bible. We have noted these verses and are pointing to the signs of the times as they occur. We will not name a day or an hour when the Son Man will come. That is not for us to know. "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Mark 13:32
Australian Floods 1/30/2011
Australia’s Queensland state, recovering from its worst flooding, is facing two cyclones that may hit towns along 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) of coastline this week.
“Queensland continues to face the prospect of two very significant weather events,” state Premier Anna Bligh told reporters yesterday. “We are expecting the first one, Tropical Cyclone Anthony, potentially to be quite small compared to the second event.”
Anthony is set to hit the coast south of Townsville, 340 kilometers (210 miles) south of Cairns, with winds gusting to 140 kilometers an hour, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Ports and train services stopped operating yesterday and communities in the Townsville-Mackay area went on alert.
Flooding in Australia’s northeastern state since November has killed as many as 32 people and affected 30,000 homes, shut down coal mines, cut rail links and damaged crops. The reconstruction effort will cost at least A$5 billion ($4.97 billion) and will cut state economic growth this year, Bligh said on Jan. 28.
Queensland contributes about 19 percent of Australia’s economic output, producing about 80 percent of the country’s coking coal, and is responsible for 10 percent of its exports, Treasurer Wayne Swan said earlier this month.
The state produces 32 percent of Australia’s vegetables and 33 percent of fruit, including 55 percent of tomatoes, and is the world’s biggest exporter of coal used to produce steel
Source
1/24/2011
Urban planning has also played a pivotal role in making Brisbane vulnerable. After 1974, authorities said the newly built Wivenhoue Dam would save Brisbane from severe flooding but what they didn't take into account was that the city and its surroundings would change dramatically over the next 35 years.
Rapid urban development, a growth in the population and the dubious practice of building on flood plains have all raised the flooding risk in areas once considered flood-free. The building of houses, roads, drains and other infrastructure has changed the way water flows through river catchments, said Professor Chris Eves of the Queensland University of Technology.
Bad urban planning even in a nation such as Australia can increase the risk of flooding by taking away natural defences that let rainwater seep away safely. "It's created the potential to flood areas that were safe in 1974, and we're seeing that now," Professor Eves said.
Source
January 20, 2011
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rural towns in Australia's southeast and the nation's third largest city were on flood watch Friday as rivers surged in a weeklong flood crisis that has created widespread devastation across the continent.
Residents of Brisbane, the capital of northeast Queensland state which was devastated by flooding last week, were sandbagging low-lying homes again as a high tide was expected on the main river that snakes through the city.
Source
In northwest Victoria, where at least 11 towns have been evacuated in the past three days in the face of record floods, police yesterday found the body of an eight-year-old boy who had fallen into a stream.
Flood warnings were in place yesterday for 13 Victoria state rivers, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.
Thunderstorms lashed the southeast of Australia’s Queensland state and its capital Brisbane, knocking down power lines just as the city returned to work after its worst floods since 1974.
The rain and storms, which delivered hailstones as big as golf balls and packed 95 kilometer-per-hour (60 mph) winds, are moving north and may continue today and tomorrow, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.
Source
The helicopter crews who rescued dozens of people from Queenland's floods have described their battle to save lives during fierce weather.
Video-Helicopter Rescue Discussion
January 17, 2011
Residents of the town of Horsham, which lies 190 miles northwest of Melbourne and is home to 14,000 people, were rushing to protect their homes with sandbags as the swollen Wimmera River threatened 500 properties.
The river is expected to peak overnight at more than 13ft and could inundate another small 12 towns.
Rest of article
January 14, 2011
ABC Emergency Report:
Flood levees protecting the Queensland border town of Goondiwindi are being severely tested as the Macintyre River passes record levels. At 2pm it was 10.64 metres and steady. The weather bureau has warned of a flood level higher than the forecast 10.85 metres today.
A reservoir has broken its banks at Beaufort in western Victoria and more than about 70 residents of the town, west of Ballarat, have been told to evacuate their homes. The State Emergency Service says the dam walls could burst and up to 150 houses could be under threat as heavy rain continues to lash the state.
The Brisbane River had dropped to 1.9 metres at 2.30pm. About 26,000 homes had either major or partial flooding when the river peaked at 4.46 metres and 50,000 homes and businesses in Brisbane and Ipswich are currently without power. Fifteen people have been confirmed dead as a result of this week's floods, with the number of missing being revised down to 55. Authorities say they hold grave concerns for 12. The Bremer River is also falling quickly at Ipswich where 3,000 homes were flooded.
The ABC has launched an interactive map of the Queensland flood. Please 'Submit a Report' about what's happening in your area. The map includes both verified and unverified reports. Please note, this is an experiment in gathering information from the community. Do not base your travel or safety decisions solely on information from this map and note the time sensitivity of the information provided.
Flash floods have wreaked havoc with lives and property in south-east Queensland. These key quotes reveal the gravity of the situation.
"The debris was just too much, to see people screaming out on roofs to get help, it's just been horrible. I wouldn't ask for anyone to go through this. This is just so bad." - Grantham resident Linda Weston.
"I saved about four people and I couldn't get anyone else. We ended up getting to the railway line just before the boat motor stopped ... [then] just watched everyone else float by, screaming out for help and not being able to help them." - Rob Wilkin, who saw the wall of water coming into Grantham.
source
January 11, 2011. The flood from Wappa Dam falls in Yandina.
"Six Inches of Rain in Half and Hour--Biblical Proportions"
Jan. 11, 2011
But nothing downstream was expected to be as fierce as the flash flood that struck Toowoomba on Monday. It was sparked by a freak storm - up to 6 inches (150 millimeters) fell in half an hour.
"There was water coming down everywhere in biblical proportions," Toowoomba council member Joe Ramia told the AP.
Ramia, 63, was driving downtown when the flash flood struck. He parked his car and dashed on foot for higher ground, keeping an eye on the carnage unfolding below: Cars transformed into scrap metal as they were flung into an elevated railway line, giant metal industrial bins tossed about as if made of paper, a man clinging desperately to a power pole as the relentless tide surged around him.
Ramia watched as a rescue official pushed through the churning water and yanked the man to safety. Others, including five children, were not as lucky, and were swept to their deaths.
"You were powerless to do a thing," said Ramia, a lifelong resident of Toowoomba. "While we can rebuild, you can't replace people. ... I've never seen anything like this."
source
January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011
Amazing footage of East Creek near Chalk Drive / Chalk Lane rising and washing away lots of cars during Flash Flood in Toowoomba on Monday January 10, 2011.
December 30, 2010
Christian Music
by John Thurber
Music played a large role in the ministry of youth evangelism for many years. When Academy and college was out for the summer the youth in the conference were invited to join my wife and me for the next ten weeks to do youth evangelism. No one was asked to audition for the group, but the first week was spent rehearsing, then we went to out in the academy’s school bus to witness.
Our youth teams always tried, in the music, to exemplify the gentle, kind, and meek spirit, of our Savior. We also tried to lead the youth to uphold the standards of, and respect for, our church through their music. In doing this work, we were following the inspired counsel of Ellen White.
“Students (youth) go out into the highways and hedges. Endeavor to reach the higher as well as the lower classes. Enter the homes of the rich and the poor, and as you have opportunity ask would you be pleased to have us sing? We should be glad to hold a song service with you. Then as hearts are softened, the way may open for you to offer a few words of prayer for the blessing of God. Not many will refuse.” (Review & Herald August 27, 1903)
One youth witnessing experience that really stands out in our memory involved an alcoholic who also happened to be a millionaire. The pastor of the church asked us to witness to this lady, and when we arrived at her home, she welcomed us with a smile.
One of the young men introduced the team and told her we had just come to sing a few songs for her. As the team began to sing some of the simple, familiar hymns, she began to weep and we knew the Holy Spirit was working on her heart. After about the third song, some of the youth testified of their experience with Christ, and this to made a deep impression on her.
After a few more songs, she stood up and pointed to a picture on the wall. That is a picture of my father she told us. He was brought up a Catholic, and was known for his honesty. She went on to tell us how, at one point in his life he purchased a Bible and studied it for himself. In his study he became convinced that Saturday was the true day of worship. And he kept the Sabbath for the rest of his life.
I know you young people keep the right day, she told us, and began to weep again.
May we pray with you? Asked one of the young ladies from our team. I would love that, she answered.
This witness opened the way for further contact and study by the pastor. It also gave our youth team a stronger faith in the promises of the wonderful Spirit-lead writings of Ellen White.
As one who has been involved in many of these types of experiences, I can say with conviction that it is not the beauty of form, or ceremonies, or dress, or even accomplishment, that God can use best, but the willing heart and simple voice that sings with understanding.
The Adventists
The ADVENTISTS, a documentary on health has been broadcast on PBS stations during the past year.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an American-born religion that began in the mid-1800’s. From the outset it gave a priority to a healthy lifestyle as part of its understanding of Scriptures. Special diets, concentration on exercise and healthy living have resulted in its membership living on average 8-10 years longer than others.
National Geographic's Dan Buettner collaborated in a study by the National Institute on Ageing and later wrote about its findings in a book that became the best-selling The Blue Zones. In his interview for the film he shares what he discovered about Adventists. "Week after week, month after month, year after year they're observing the Sabbath, maintaining a plant-based diet and getting exercise. And we know that each of those are associated with longevity - lower body-mass-index, lower rates of heart disease and lower rates of cancer."
Current Spotlight Article
Higher Education, The Great Deception ~ Part 2
By Little Steps
By Richard Myers
Inscribed on the gates at Harvard University we read: “After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the civil government; one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning, and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers lie in the dust.” What would John Harvard, who was a Puritan minister, say if he could see Harvard today?
In part one of our series, we asked how it is that Yale and Harvard as well as multitudes of other schools which were founded as Christian institutions can end up so far removed from God. How did this happen to America's oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in the world?
One way in which it happens is that the church itself is unfaithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the research I have studied, I found no mention of the failure of the church in its doctrinal teaching. Why would this effect the relationship between church and school? If the school is to continue its mission of training young men and women to be Christians, the teachers themselves must be Christians. Not in profession only, but in reality, living the faith of Jesus. When the church falls from grace why would we expect the teachers to continue in the true faith? We would not. Jesus warned us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. That leaven is hypocrisy. I contend that part of the problem with the fall of the Christian schools is the fall of the churches themselves. Babylon is fallen.
One of the results of the failure of church members and pastors to live the truth, is the baptism of those who are not truly converted. The lack of piety is reproduced not only in those coming in from outside the church, but church members also fail at bringing their children to Christ. The young ones go through the church schools and then some become teachers in these very schools. Others become ministers and priests. The failure of those charged with the spiritual condition of the church is seen in the failure of the administrators and teachers in the schools to not only live the truth, but to teach it. It is impossible for the unconverted teacher to maintain the mission of the church when it is contrary to his desire to become successful in the world.
In 1934 Pastor Jay T. Stocking, a female Congregationalist pastor, addressed a seminar on the decline of her church’s commitment to higher education with this statement: "The chief means on which a college must rely for the realization of its purpose are its teachers. It is Christian teachers who make a Christian college. They are not only the interpreters of facts; they are also the incarnation of interpretations. It is idle to expect men who are not Christians to help provide a Christian education." She may have been pointing out the results of hiring non-professing Christian teachers, but I take it further to placing non-converted "Christian" teachers in such positions. The results will be the same. (1)
In his book The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches, James Burtchaell, presents his study of seventeen American colleges and universities that were founded by Christian denominations--Congregationalist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, and Evangelical.(2) He shows that today they are anything but Christian institutions and makes a strong case as to how these schools were lost to the churches that established them. In his research he discovered a number of changes that occurred over a period of time. There was not one large step that caused the separation, but many "little" steps over a period of many years that allowed the world to take over the administration of these schools. One of which was the hiring of teachers not of the denomination's faith.
It was not in one big step that this would occur.
It was first softening the church's requirement that teachers be not only Christian, but of their faith. More than that, the teacher would have to teach in harmony with church doctrine.
Over time this requirement was relaxed so that it would be satisfactory if they were just church members.
Then the requirements were further relaxed to allow for members of other Christian churches.
Then, it would be relaxed even further to allow non-believers if they were of good character and would carry out the church mission.
Then the last step would be removing all religious requirements for teachers.
The world was in the school.
Burtchaell saw that "Access to independent funding often provided the first inspiration to the colleges that they might stand on their own. The patronage of the churches was often stingy, and their chosen trustees were sometimes there more to be humored than to help. As the colleges gained in sophistication and financial stability, they naturally suffered church fools less gladly." There were many ways the schools gained independent monies. Once they were financially independent, then there was no need to comply with burdensome church requirements.
The story of the American Baptists' Linfield College reveals the failure of legally binding contracts to a confession of faith. In 1921 President Leonard Riley identified “careful selection of trustees and of faculty” as key: teachers were to “know Jesus Christ and to do His will;” their theological views were to be scrutinized carefully.There were also restrictions on campus activities. The original grant of land for the school stipulates “title would revert to the local school district if alcohol were ever sold or served there.” Today the college “does not ask and does not know” the religious affiliation of its faculty. The college maintains its American Baptist tradition, although faculty, students and staff are bound by no religious requirements.(3)
In regards to the alcohol ban, it is very sad to note that "The charming campus of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon has been the venue of the IPNC since the first annual event in 1987." IPNC? International Pinot Noir Celebration.(4)
In 1906, the board of the school agreed to prohibit football indefinitely at the request of the president. For the next sixteen years, students frequently pleaded for the reversal of the decision; however, in 1915 President Riley went as far as recommending to the Association of Independent Colleges of Oregon that all intercollegiate football programs be abolished. But, in the spring of 1921, a group of athletic directors and student representatives petitioned the college's Board of Trustees for a reversal of the ban. In 1922 we see a "little" step when the president announced the reversal of the ban on football. On that very same day he announced a gift of $250,000 to further Christian education at the school. (5)
I want to conclude by sharing what was happening at the local First Baptist Church associated with Linfield. "Toward the middle of the next century, the whole body of Oregon Baptists was shaken up by a theological argument: were we 'Conservative' or 'Liberal'? Specifically, do we or do we not read the Scriptures literally? Linfield College was attacked as a stronghold of liberalism; our church tended to line up with the college. More than half the Baptist churches of the state, including some of the largest, formally withdrew from the state body ...... "
The spiritual condition of the church was not any better than the spiritual condition of the school. Today, the school is in the world, how about the church? It now not only recognizes homosexual relations, but "the Official Board authorized present and future pastors to bless such unions as their conscience allows, but not in the church sanctuary." (6)
"While the college has changed much from the early days, its mission has remained constant – to teach undergraduates in an atmosphere of academic freedom that fosters intellectual rigor, creativity, and a sense of personal and social responsibility."(7)
In closing James Burtchaell leaves us with a challenge that cannot be misunderstood. "The failures of the past, so clearly patterned, so foolishly ignored, and so lethally repeated, emerge pretty clearly from these stories. Anyone who requires further imagination to recognize and remedy them is not up to the task of trying again....." In other words, if we fail to learn from history, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Many of our scholars have studied the works of James Burtchaell and other "experts" from the fallen churches but have failed to see the connection between the lack of piety in the schools and the lack of piety in the churches from which they come. By the way, James Burtchaell is Roman Catholic and a practicing homosexual. While his research is helpful, it is not complete. We can learn from the mistakes of others, but we would do better to look to the counsel we have within our own church regarding Seventh-day Adventist education. Looking to the world has resulted in the fall of Babylon and her schools. Let us look to Christ.
Can this disengagement between university and church happen to us? We will look at this further when we continue this series.
1 The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches, James Burtchaell, Eerdmans
America the beautiful, God shed His grace on thee! Yes, God abundantly blessed the United States of America. In Bible prophecy she is the lamb-like beast with two horns. America was a Protestant nation, not a "Christian" nation as is customary when describing a nation which upholds "Christian" values. A Protestant nation is one which values religious liberty while building a system of government based on Biblical morality. An individual is left with freedom to worship God as he sees fit. The laws of the land deal with relationships between man and man, not man and God.
In order that the union might be successful, it was understood that a republic would need an educated and moral society. Therefore, education was an important goal of the founders of the nation. Even before there was a United States the colonies had already established such institutions. It may surprise many today to know that some of the most prestigious universities in the world were founded as Christian schools. Two in particular come to mind, Yale and Harvard. Actually, of the "Ivy League" schools, seven of the eight were established as Christian institutions or by Protestant churches. Of these seven, all were founded in the 1700s except Harvard which began in 1636. It is the oldest of the universities in the U.S.
It is interesting to note that each of these schools has gained prominence in the world, but none are Christian in any sense of the word. Some, contrary to being Christian, are turning out rabidly anti-God students that are leading the world in opposition to morality. One such prominent graduate of Harvard Law School is U.S. President Barrack Obama. This year he established a national day to honor homosexuals. Yes, the Ivy League schools once a bastion of Bible truth, now will crucify any professor who dares to use the Bible to argue in favor of creation. Higher education in the world is anything but "higher education". It has fallen to the level where Satan smiles as he sees his success in perverting truth.
Today on the Harvard campus, there are no debates about the existence of God, but the important issue is that of coed habitation, and not for married couples. "From Stanford to Harvard, more than 30 colleges offer coed dorm rooms or gender neutral housing. Male and female friends can room together by request. The option was first designed to accommodate lesbian, gay and transgender students who felt more comfortable rooming with someone of the opposite gender, but it was later expanded to include anyone who requested it." (1)
The Yale University seal carries with it proof of the fall from grace of this once Christian school of higher education.
Notice the Hebrew words inscribed therein: Urim Thummim The two stones through which God communicated with Israel. Yes, these once great institutions were lights in a dark world. Today, they are no longer communicating light, but darkness.
We ask the question: How is it that a Christian university could end up as they are today completely separated from Christ? In a series of articles we will examine how it happened and ask the question: Can it happen to our institutions of "higher education"?
"The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." John 17:22,23
