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June 27, 2013 

Study Confirms Benefit 

of Vegetarian Diet 

Because Bubble Wrap 

Is Impractical 

Mission Impossible 

(With Spies) 

8 

26 

29 

MAKING SURE WE’RE NOT BEING TAKEN

“Behold, I come quickly . . .” 

Our mission is to uplift Jesus Christ by presenting stories of His 

matchless love, news of His present workings, help for knowing 

Him better, and hope in His soon return. 

18 26 12 6 

COVER FEATURE 

18 Lover or Seducer? 

JOHN MARKOVIC 

It’s the difference between 

sincerity and sorrow. 

ARTICLES 

14 Forgiveness 

ROY E. GANE 

How is it possible? 

22 Why You Matter So Much 

TY GIBSON 

We can do things 

nobody else can. 

24 From Strength 

to Strength 

ELLEN G. WHITE 

Doing what has to be done 

DEPARTMENTS 

4 Letters 

7 Page 7 

8 World News & 

Perspectives 

13 Give & Take 

17 Transformation Tips 

29 Dateline Moscow 

31 Reflections 

EDITORIALS 

6 GERALD A. KLINGBEIL 

Offline 

7 WILONA KARIMABADI 

Strong Backs 

ON THE COVER 

With so many voices, how do we 

to know which ones to listen to? 

26 Because Bubble Wrap 

Is Impractical 

ASHELEY WOODRUFF 

We can go only so 

far in protecting our 

kids from bullying. 

NEXT WEEK IN 

ADVENTIST WORLD 

Life Maps 

Often we can’t know where 

we’re going until we look back 

and see where we’ve been. 

Publisher General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists ® , Executive Publisher Bill Knott, Associate Publisher Claude Richli, Publishing Board: Ted N. C. Wilson, chair; Benjamin D. Schoun, 

vice chair; Bill Knott, secretary; Lisa Beardsley-Hardy; Daniel R. Jackson; Robert Lemon; Geoffrey Mbwana; G. T. Ng; Daisy Orion; Juan Prestol; Michael Ryan; Ella Simmons; Mark Thomas; Karnik 

Doukmetzian, legal adviser. Editor Bill Knott, Associate Editors Lael Caesar, Gerald A. Klingbeil, Coordinating Editor Stephen Chavez, Online Editor Carlos Medley, Features Editor Sandra 

Blackmer, Young Adult Editor Kimberly Luste Maran, KidsView Editor Wilona Karimabadi, News Editor Mark A. Kellner, Operations Manager Merle Poirier, Financial Manager Rachel 

Child, Editorial Assistant Marvene Thorpe-Baptiste, Assistant to the Editor Gina Wahlen, Quality Assurance/Social Media Coordinator Jean Boonstra, Marketing Director Claude Richli, 

Editor-at-Large Mark A. Finley, Senior Advisor E. Edward Zinke, Art Director Bryan Gray, Design Daniel Añez, Desktop Technician Fred Wuerstlin, Ad Sales Glen Gohlke, Subscriber Services 

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Send address changes to Adventist Review, 55 West Oak Ridge Drive, Hagerstown, MD 21740-7301. Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts in this issue are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. 

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www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013 | (563) 3

May 16, 2013 

inbox 

LETTERS FROM OUR READERS 

www.adventistreview.org 

Christ, or Kona? 

»» 

Thank you for printing the 

article “Christ, or Kona?” by 

Kimberly Luste Maran about 

Alicia Trott, her incredible 

training accomplishments, 

and her choice not to race in 

the Kona Ironman on Sabbath 

(May 16, 2013). My husband 

and I both train for and 

compete in marathons and 

ultra marathons and have 

also chosen not to race on 

Sabbath. This choice has been 

a difficult one at times, and I 

completely understand the 

struggle that Trott went 

through—not only the personal 

struggle, but also dealing 

with the opinions of 

other athletes in our church 

and training partners. Truly, 

a stand such as hers does 

have a far wider effect and is 

admirable. 

Thank you again for sharing 

and encouraging other 

athletes not to compromise. 

ALINA RICE 

Enterprise, Oregon 

Going in Circles 

»» 

I’m writing regarding Stephen 

Chavez’s editorial 

“Going in Circles” (May 16). 

Amen and amen! To paraphrase 

the poet Ralph Waldo 

Emerson, “Your actions 

May 16, 2013 

Vol. 190, No. 14 

Religious Fr edom 

Threatened 

Sometimes a Christian Cries 

The Truth as It Is in Jesus 

8 

24 

28 

FoR ThouSandS 

oF aThleTeS, 

The IRonman 

TRIaThlon IS a 

big deal. 

Christ, 

or Kona? 

speak so loudly, I can’t hear a 

word you say.” Until we deal 

with the attitude that we 

alone have “the truth,” why 

would anyone be attracted to 

the message? May we show a 

loving, compassionate God 

who is so patient and willing 

to accept anyone who is crying 

out for His presence. 

Then, our message becomes 

appealing and people are 

attracted to the God we profess 

to serve. 

BETTIGENE D. REISWIG 

Port Orford, Oregon 

Slight Flaw 

»» 

The Adventist Review is a 

weekly blessing to me. And 

when I am through reading, I 

pass it along to a relative 

who then passes it to 

another. I mentally say 

“Amen” to many articles, but 

this is my first written 

response. 

Being a “fan” of Clifford 

Goldstein since hearing him 

speak at the Soquel, California, 

camp meeting some 25 

or 30 years ago, and being 

involved and educated in 

music (classical and otherwise) 

since the age of 5, I was 

chagrined at the second 

paragraph in Goldstein’s column 

“Brahms Symphony No. 

2” (May 16). He redeemed 

himself somewhat in paragraph 

4 by admitting that 

“whatever it meant to be 

made in the ‘image of God,’ 

it had to include creativity.” 

Hopefully his taste for classical 

will be expanded by listening 

to inspired works 

such as Brahms’ “Ein 

Deutsches Requiem,” 

Handel’s “Messiah,” 

Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 

9” (and the list could go on). 

My thanks to Goldstein, 

for owning up to this slight 

flaw in his character. 

DORALEE MURPHY 

Healdsburg, California 

Sometimes a 

Christian Cries 

»» 

The May 16 Adventist Review 

was very interesting. I especially 

liked Frank A. Campbell’s 

article “Sometimes a 

Christian Cries.” Campbell 

skillfully presents glimpses 

of the gospel’s ability to heal 

the pain resulting from loss, 

failure, and injustice. He 

does this by using examples 

from the life of Peter, the disciple 

of Jesus. 

While reading, I was 

reminded of scenes from a 

recent made-for-TV production 

of the Bible, in which the 

angels were delivering Lot 

and his family. The angels 

were physically injured while 

fighting with Sodom’s 

vicious and corrupt 

inhabitants. 

Although this was rather 

far-fetched, I was challenged 

with the thought that angels 

suffer emotionally and/or 

mentally while trying to 

deliver us from this world of 

sin. Sometimes even the 

angels must cry! Let’s help 

hasten the time when no one 

need ever cry. 

ERTIS L. JOHNSON 

Canute, Oklahoma 

Legacy of Written 

Words 

»» 

Though he passed away in 

September 2012, Oliver 

© TERRY CREWS 

Jacques’ words lived on to 

bless my heart this Mother’s 

Day weekend with “Eloquent 

Moments of Silence” (May 9, 

2013). Tears ran down my 

cheeks as I read of precious 

memories of not only his 

grandson’s gift, but also his 

own gift to his mother many 

years ago. Now he sleeps, 

awaiting the return of our 

Lord, leaving behind a beautiful 

word picture of emotions 

to be shared when “our 

heavenly Father opens His 

arms to receive His oncewayward 

children” home! 

LINDA WHICKER 

Denver, North Carolina 

A Tale of Two 

Travelers 

»» 

As a longtime missionary 

to India and the Far East, 

your Page 7 feature “A Tale of 

Two Travelers” (May 9), mentioning 

India’s Homer Russell 

Salisbury and Mahajan 

Jagajit Singh Bahadur, was of 

extreme interest to me. My 

wife and I had the privilege 

of living for eight years in 

Salisbury Park in Poona (now 

Pune), India, and heard the 

story of Salisbury many 

times over. Your beautiful 

account of his 1915 experience 

of going down with a 

torpedoed ship, however, 

leaves out perhaps the most 

wonderful deed Salisbury 

4 (564) | www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

ever reportedly did: he gave 

up his place in a lifeboat to 

another passenger. He would 

have otherwise been one of 

the many survivors of the 

disaster. 

But even before we took 

up residence in Salisbury 

Park, where the Southern 

Asia Division headquarters 

were then located, we lived 

for a five-year term in North 

India and had the privilege of 

frequently visiting our 

Adventist school in Mussoorie, 

India. Each trip took 

us up the hill right past the 

summer palace of the maharajah 

of Kapurthala. How 

delightful it would have been 

had we only known at that 

time that the then maharajah’s 

father was saved from 

the same disaster that took 

the life of our wonderful 

missionary leader. 

CHARLES H. TIDWELL, SR. 

Collegedale, Tennessee 

Scriptural Concept? 

»» 

Regarding Mark A. Kellner’s 

news article “No More 

Anniversaries” (May 9), I 

want to know what Bible 

texts support the following 

quote: “We should have been 

home by now. The Lord has 

wanted to come long before 

this. Why [should we] celebrate 

any more anniversaries 

when we could be in 

heaven?” I have heard this 

rhetoric since I was a boy. 

Usually it was used to motivate 

the church to do more. 

Do people have the ability to 

postpone the Advent? Where 

do we find such a concept in 

the Scriptures? 

LARRY YEAGLEY 

Gentry, Arkansas 

Three Great Articles 

»» 

Although I always enjoy 

reading the Review, the April 

18, 2013, edition contained 

three articles that really resonated 

for me. Especially 

important was Tara Vin 

Cross’s “Many Hearts, One 

Love.” If everyone in our 

church would read it and 

take the message to heart, we 

would see great and positive 

changes in our churches. I 

believe the Lord’s coming 

would be hastened. 

I also found “Post Modernism 

in the Classroom,” by 

Michael Zwaagstra, compelling. 

And the cover story 

“Walking the Newsbeat,” 

chronicling how Debbie 

Michel found her way to the 

Lord, was very satisfying. 

DONALD E. CASEBOLT 

College Place, Washington 

A Faith of Don’ts? 

»» 

Wilona Karimabadi’s editorial 

“A Faith of Don’ts?” 

(Mar. 21, 2013) brought to 

mind an experience from last 

summer. I was playing golf 

in Maine, walking the course, 

when a man playing alone 

caught up with my playing 

partner and me. Golf etiquette 

teaches that you allow 

the faster player to play 

through. My friend knew the 

man and introduced us as 

ministers, he a Baptist and I 

a Seventh-day Adventist. The 

Baptist minister turned to 

me and said, “Oh, you are the 

people who outlive everyone 

because of your healthful 

lifestyle.” He thanked us and 

hurried on his way. 

JOEL TOMPKINS 

Greeneville, Tennessee 

The Epidemic 

»» 

Thank you for printing 

Gerald A. Klingbeil’s article 

“Let’s help hasten the time when 

no one need ever cry. 

” 

—ERTIS L. JOHNSON, Canute, Oklahoma 

“In the Wilderness: The Epidemic” 

(Mar. 21). It was a 

blessing in many ways, and I 

especially appreciated the 

most interesting journey 

that his wife’s grandparents 

undertook to come to Jesus 

Christ. I find it exciting to 

know how the truth travels 

to the hearts and lives of 

those who make up our 

heritages. 

JERRY LASTINE 

Metcalf, Illinois 

Where They’ve Been, 

Where They’re Going 

»» 

I am a senior citizen and 

have read the Review for most 

of my life. I appreciate and 

enjoy it. 

I recently read in the 

Review the listing of places 

the editors have visited (Page 

7, Dec. 27, 2012). 

What I found interesting 

was that I have lived in six 

different states, yet only one 

of those was mentioned in 

the list and that was Maryland, 

where the Review editors 

work. I’m grateful that 

the editors do visit in different 

areas, as it is encouraging 

to those residents to 

meet them in person. Some, 

however, might feel left out, 

having lived in only one state 

or country that was not mentioned, 

while possibly several 

of those mentioned have 

been visited several times. 

NORMA MCKELLIP 

Macon, Georgia 

More Bible 

Marking, Please! 

»» 

I’ve enjoyed the “On Your 

Mark” Bible marking topics 

printing on Page 7 of the 

Review several times in 2012. 

Please send me further topics 

so I can add them to my 

marking plan! 

PATRICIA B. MUTCH 

Berrien Springs, Michigan 

We’ve received quite a few 

requests for additional material 

on this Bible marking series. We 

now have the entire yearlong 

series available. Please write to 

Merle Poirier, Adventist 

Review, 12501 Old Columbia 

Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904- 

6600; e-mail poirierm@gc. 

adventist.org; or fax 301-680- 

6638 to request this material. 

—Editors. 

We welcome your letters, noting, 

as always, that inclusion of a letter 

in this section does not imply that 

the ideas expressed are endorsed by 

either the editors of the Adventist 

Review or the General Conference. 

Short, specific, timely letters have 

the best chance at being published 

(please include your complete 

address and phone number—even 

with e-mail messages). Letters will 

be edited for space and clarity only. 

Send correspondence to Letters to 

the Editor, Adventist Review, 12501 

Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 

20904-6600; Internet: letters@ 

adventistreview.org. 


Editorials 

Gerald A. 

Klingbeil 

Offline 

I RECENTLY RECEIVED A FASCINATING E-MAIL REPLY TO A MESSAGE I 

had sent to a friend teaching at Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen in Austria. It was one of those 

prewritten messages that the mail software sends off automatically once it receives a message 

during a specific time period. This is what it said: “Thank you for your e-mail. Our availability 

from May 13 to 17, 2013, is limited because of a project of Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen called 

‘ECGO—[German abbreviation for] A Campus Goes Offline.’ By means of this project we want to 

motivate students and employees to reflect on responsible usage of modern instruments of 

communication.” 

For five days an entire school campus went offline—I was intrigued. Can you imagine five days without 

e-mails, text messages, tweets, Facebook updates, news from your favorite news outlet, or 

your preferred TV programs? 

Increasingly we live more online than in the real world. Need to buy some supplements, a 

computer, or running shoes? Go to the online store of your favorite e-tailer, and you’ll be able to 

find anything your heart may desire (and often even at better prices than in the brick-and-mortar 

stores). Have you noticed that people waiting for an appointment in the doctor’s office look at 

their hands—or better, the smartphones or tablets they’re holding in their hands? No eye contact, 

little (if any) conversation—just me and my smartphone. We keep track of hundreds (or perhaps 

thousands) of Facebook friends who tell us about an extraordinary café latte or the color of a 

sweater they are wearing today. * We have become news junkies who need to know right now what’s 

currently happening in China or Timbuktu or the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. I find 

myself pulling out my smartphone when it vibrates—even when I am in the middle of listening 

to a wonderful sermon. The vibration speaks of urgency and immediacy. 

“A Campus Goes Offline” is a wonderful idea that could be replicated individually or in our 

families and churches. How many hours a day do we spend connected or online? Can you imagine 

the time we would suddenly have if the computer stays off for a day or two or five? (I would not 

be able to do most of my work, which would mean that you wouldn’t receive your copy of the 

Adventist Review.) What would happen if we would turn off our phones for 24 hours (or longer)? 

Well, we would be able to visit a friend in person. We could write one of those old-fashioned 

paper letters without LOL, FYI, ASAP, or any other abbreviation, walk to the post office, and mail 

it to a friend who needs encouragement. In church we could truly listen to one another as we 

study Scripture together instead of looking at our devices and following our agendas. Instead of 

always saying “I am busy” to our children we could plan a day hike (or an evening stroll) with the 

family. The possibilities are unlimited (and no, I am not suggesting that modern communication 

tools are evil; I am busy writing on one right now!). 

I have decided to go offline more often. I need to walk away more frequently from the sounds 

and vibes of modern communication and entertainment so that I can discover again the still soft 

voice that God loves using when communicating with His children. I need to retrain my ears and 

my eyes to enjoy solitude or the immediacy of the people around me. So next time you send me 

an e-mail or a text message or a letter, you may have to wait a bit longer for a response. I may be 

busy listening. n 

* 

For truth’s sake I need to confess that I am not on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, or any other social network. We also 

do not have a TV or cable at home—but we do have a very fast fiber optics connection. 


Strong Backs 

I HEARD A GREAT SERMON IN CHURCH A FEW WEEKS AGO. A SERMON 

just for me, about having a strong back. You’ve heard about my new life as a sufferer of back 

issues in this magazine before. At the time, I thought the episode was a “one and done” type of 

thing. I was wrong. Over the past seven months I have had two more flare-ups, resulting in an 

MRI that revealed I am now the proud owner of a herniated disc. I am much better, but I hesitate 

to say back to normal because I have learned and accepted that disc issues are akin to dormant 

volcanoes. You may feel that all is well for the most part until something (and I wish I knew for 

sure) happens and the flare-up is in full force, rendering a normally active person temporarily 

sidelined. Needless to say, I’m not terribly happy about this, but I do remind myself that things 

could be much worse. 

So it was in this frame of mind and body that I heard that great sermon. No, it never mentioned 

backs. It was about crosses we bear that are not of our choosing. The idea really hit 

home. In this life we are handed things that we would rather hand back—illness, divorce, financial 

problems, death, etc. But we must remember that God does not give us more than He 

knows we can handle and equips us to do exactly that—handle it. So (and forgive me for totally 

talking to myself here) instead of saying, “God, remove this burden from me completely,” 

which is not always a bad prayer to pray, perhaps we may ask something different of the One 

who knows better than we do. 

Maybe our prayer should then be “Lord, if You see fit not to remove my burdens completely, 

please just grant me a strong back to carry them.” Literally. n 

Wilona 

Karimabadi 

When God Moves 

Some scholars have suggested that Psalm 68 is the most difficult psalm to understand. 

There appears to be no regular pattern; it’s often thought of as possibly a series of titles or 

opening stanzas. However, if the psalm is studied carefully, one can hear described the movement of the ark (the 

presence of God) as it is transported by the priests. Read the story of David bringing the ark from Obed-Edom’s 

house to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. Then read Psalm 68 as outlined below. See if you can detect God “on the 

move.” (Special note: Ellen White describes portions of Psalm 68 sung often by Jesus while here on earth and also 

sung by the angel choir as Jesus ascended into heaven.) 

verses 1, 2: The ark is lifted up. 

verses 3-6: The assembly is encouraged to praise God. 

verses 7-10: The march in the wilderness is 

remembered. 

verses 11-14: The victories of war are celebrated. 

verses 15-19: Shouts increase as the ark is taken up the 

hill toward Zion. 

verses 20-23: The priests reach the summit; all enemies of 

God will be crushed. 

verses 24-27: The procession of the assembly is 

described. 

verses 28-31: Future conquests are anticipated. 

verses 32-35: Ultimate praise as the assembly bursts forth 

in song. 

james jacques joseph tissot

World News & Perspectives 

■■NORTH AMERICA 

Major Study 

Affirms 

Adventists’ 

Vegetarian Diet 

More than 70,000 

studied in U.S. 

By ANSEL OLIVER, Adventist 

News Network 

PEOPLE WHO eat a vegetarian diet live 

longer than those who eat meat, according 

to a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-day 

Adventists. 

A study published June 3, 2013, in 

JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal of the 

American Medical Association, said vegetarians 

experienced 12 percent fewer 

deaths over a six-year period of 

research. 

Researchers at Loma Linda University, 

an Adventist institution in southern 

California, conducted the study, which 

was funded by the United States 

National Institutes of Health. Researchers 

tracked 73,308 Adventist Church 

members who follow the church’s 

dietary counsel of a plant-based diet to 

varying degrees. 

Of the study’s participants, researchers 

said 5,548 were vegans, 21,177 were 

lacto-ovo vegetarians (also eating dairy 

products and eggs), 7,194 were vegetarians 

who also ate fish, and 4,031 ate 

meat infrequently. The rest of the study 

participants ate meat. 

The findings confirm health benefits 

of eating a vegetarian diet, the lead 

study author Dr. Michael Orlich told 

Bloomberg News. 

“People should take these kinds of 

results into account as they’re considering 

dietary choices,” Orlich told Bloomberg. 

“Various types of vegetarian diets 

may be beneficial in reducing the risk of 

death compared to nonvegetarian 

diets.” 

Orlich, director of the preventive 

medicine residency program at Loma 

BRANDAN ROBERTS/ANN 

LLU PHOTO 

EAT VEGGIES, LIVE LONGER: A vegetarian diet is said to increase longevity, according to 

a study of Seventh-day Adventists conducted by Loma Linda University researchers and 

funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. 

Linda University Medical Center, said 

the study was aided by studying subjects 

who have low rates of alcohol and 

tobacco use. 

Researchers pointed out that the 

health benefits were even more beneficial 

for men. It remained unclear why 

women were less affected by a vegetarian 

diet. Future research will examine 

gender-specific reactions to certain 

foods. 

Dr. Kathleen Kuntaraf, associate 

Health Ministries Department director 

HEALTH RESEARCHER: Dr. Orlich, director 

of the preventive medicine residency program 

at Loma Linda University Medical 

Center, was lead study researcher. 

for the General Conference of Seventhday 

Adventists, affirmed that a vegetarian 

diet is part of living a wholistic, 

healthy life. 

“More and more people are recognizing 

that our principles from 150 years 

ago are truly scientific,” she said. 

Seventh-day Adventists have long 

advocated a vegetarian diet. The 

founder of Loma Linda’s School of Public 

Health overcame resistance in the 

health community in the 1940s to produce 

a landmark study on the benefits 

of a vegetarian diet, discovering that 

such a diet indeed contained sufficient 

protein, among other benefits. 

In recent years, Adventists have been 

noted as one of the longest living people 

groups ever studied. In 2008 Blue 

Zones author Dan Buettner wrote extensively 

about the health principles of Adventists 

and their longer, healthier 

lifespans. 

According to a JAMA Internal Medicine 

news release: “The possible relationship 

between diet and mortality is an important 

area of study. Vegetarian diets have 

been associated with reductions in risk 

for several chronic diseases, including 

hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes 

mellitus, and ischemic heart disease 

(IHD), according to the study 

background.” n 

—with additional reporting by Adventist 

Review staff 

8 (568) 

| www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013


Royce Williams, Longtime 

Evangelist, Passes to His Rest 

Served It Is Written ministry for 31 years 

By MICHELE STOTZ, It Is Written 

ROYCE WILLIAMS, a longtime 

Seventh-day Adventist pastor and 

evangelist who served It Is Written 

television for 31 years as a 

manager, global evangelism coordinator, 

director of field services, 

and special projects coordinator, 

died unexpectedly May 28, 2013, 

from complications of pneumonia. 

He was 85. 

Williams worked for It Is Written 

full-time from 1976 to 2007, 

which marked his fifty-sixth year 

of denominational service. 

Although he retired December 

31, 2007, he continued working 

on a nearly full-time basis until 

shortly before he entered the 

hospital in early May. 

While at It Is Written, he 

assisted speakers George Vandeman, 

Mark Finley, Shawn Boonstra, 

and John Bradshaw. He 

traveled extensively around the 

world—coordinating evangelistic 

meetings and special projects, 

and holding evangelistic series of 

his own. 

Williams had crossed the Atlantic 106 times and the 

Pacific 84 times, had flown on 91 different airlines and had 

visited 64 countries. He traveled with Finley on at least 22 

overseas evangelistic trips, and held training seminars in 

every nonregional conference in the United States and most 

of Canada. 

In 2006 Williams traveled to Africa to deliver solarpowered 

“Godpod” Bibles to people living in the Kalahari 

Desert. One year later he accompanied Boonstra on It Is 

Written’s trip to the Arctic, where—partly by dogsled—they 

delivered Inuktitut-language Bibles to Inuit people living in 

remote areas. 

Earlier this year he joined Bradshaw for a major evangelistic 

series in Central America. Said Bradshaw, “It was truly 

inspirational to see him each night as he returned from his 

IT IS WRITTEN 

LONGTIME EVANGELIST: Royce Williams, a Seventhday 

Adventist pastor and evangelist who served It Is 

Written for 31 years and continued in retirement, 

passed to his rest at age 85 on May 28, 2013. 

meetings energized—glowing 

with the joy he had received 

from preaching the Word of God 

and seeing people respond to 

the call of Jesus.” 

Royce Carlton Williams was 

born on a farm northeast of 

Greeley, Colorado, on February 

15, 1928, the youngest of four 

brothers—all delivered in the 

same farmhouse by a country 

doctor. His father had traveled 

from Missouri to Colorado at 

the age of 2 in a covered wagon 

pulled by mules. When Williams 

was 4, his family moved to 

Nebraska, where he grew up on 

a cattle ranch. 

In 1946 Williams was drafted 

into the Navy, and was discharged 

a little more than six 

months later. But that was 

enough for him to qualify for 

the GI Bill, enabling him to 

attend college. In 1947, after a 

few months at Union College, 

and after falling in love with his 

soon-to-be wife, Frances, Williams 

decided to become a minister. 

After graduating from Union College in 1951, Williams 

served as a pastor in Missouri for two years before accepting 

a call to the Philippines. During the next 23 years, he 

served as a mission director, union evangelist, and Far Eastern 

Division ministerial secretary, before returning to the 

United States to work with It Is Written. 

Williams said that the most thrilling moment of his ministry 

was the night in 1953 when he sat in the home of Mr. 

and Mrs. Roy McKee as they responded to his appeal for 

baptism. They were the first people who came to Christ as a 

result of his ministry. 

Willams is survived by his wife of 66 years, Frances; children 

Marlin, Sheryl, Terry, and Darlene; 10 grandchildren; 

and two great-grandchildren. n 




Adventist Pastor to Lead Churchspecific 

Focus for Digital Publisher 

Martin Weber heads new product department for Logos Bible Software 

By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor 

THE LEADING domestic publisher of 

Bible software and digital media for 

churches has hired a Seventh-day 

Adventist pastor to spearhead a new 

effort aimed at the Adventist market. 

Martin Weber, a pastor and editor 

who served the Seventh-day Adventist 

Church for 41 years, most recently as 

communication director for the Mid- 

America Union, recently retired from 

denominational service and accepted 

the invitation of Logos Bible Software to 

become the firm’s Seventh-day 

Adventist product manager. 

Based in Bellingham, Washington, 

Logos has more than 2 million customers 

of its Bible software worldwide, with 

users in more than 210 countries, and 

publishes in more than 30 languages. It 

is the only electronic publisher to offer 

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary 

and the Ellen G. White writings as 

part of an integrated Bible study software 

system. Logos is believed to be the 

first non-Adventist publisher to create a 

position specifically aimed at serving 

the Adventist market. 

Weber, in a telephone interview, said 

his task will be to expand the list of 

Adventist-related publications—which 

now stands at 18, including the recent 

addition of the Andrews Study Bible 

notes—to cover a broad range of the 

movement’s writers and thinkers. 

“I’m hoping to take leading Adventist 

writers and speakers, contemporary 

and historical, and have them available 

in an Adventist-specific package,” he 

said. Logos has a proprietary database 

system in which thousands of documents 

can be searched at once for highly 

specific results. For example, it will be 

possible to type “Rev. 14:6” and see 

where every Adventist author in the 

MID-AMERICA UNION 

PRODUCT MANAGER: Martin Weber, who 

recently retired from denominational service 

as Mid-America Union communication 

director, is the new Seventh-day Adventist 

product manager for Logos Bible Software 

in Bellingham, Washington. 

database has ever quoted the first 

angel’s message. 

Logos can also transcribe into print 

format various Adventist audio and 

video archives and make them searchable 

with a keystroke by users. Potentially, 

one could instantly discover 

every time Voice of Prophecy founder 

H.M.S. Richards was recorded speaking 

the word “Gethsemane” in his 

nearly five decades of radio broadcasting 

or whenever George Vandeman 

used the word “Armageddon” in his 

35 years of telecasting. Logos hopes to 

package the written transcripts of 

their messages, and those of more 

than a dozen other beloved Adventist 

teachers past and present—with their 

original audio or video—thus opening 

up a multimedia trove of teaching 

treasure for today’s Adventists. 

Weber is working with Logos leaders 

to provide Adventists materials in languages 

other than English, giving priority 

to Spanish, Portuguese, French, and 

German. Ultimately, he said, thousands 

of articles in the archives of numerous 

Adventist publications can be bundled 

into general categories such as spirituality, 

outreach, Adventist history, prophecy, 

etc. The whole mass of documents 

can then be searched specifically, so that 

any Adventist document included in the 

database that used the word “Millerite” 

will be instantly discoverable. Participating 

Adventist publishers and 

authors would receive royalties from 

Logos sales of their documents. Weber 

said he wants to “work in collaboration 

with existing Adventist publishers, 

seeking ‘win-win’ partnerships for the 

sake of benefiting church members 

globally.” 

Another advantage for Seventh-day 

Adventists, Weber said, is that evangelists 

and pastors may publish digitized 

versions of their own outreach books 

and study guides through Logos, thus 

avoiding denominational prejudice by 

bearing the imprint of a nonsectarian 

publisher. Such resources would also 

be available to the wider Logos user 

base of Christians across denominational 

lines. 

Weber’s four decades of denominational 

service on five continents have 

uniquely equipped him to service the 

Adventist market through Logos. Along 

with his work at the Mid-America 

Union, Weber served at the Voice of 

Prophecy in 1983 and two years later 

became assistant to the director/ 

speaker for It Is Written. He wrote 100 

telecast scripts and answered more 


than 8,000 letters from viewers seeking 

biblical information. 

During the early 1990s Weber served 

as associate editor for Ministry magazine 

and as a member of the General 

Conference Executive Committee and 

the Ministerial Association. He also 

authored several books on Adventism, 

served as an adjunct professor at 

Adventist colleges, was a member of the 

International Police and Fire Chaplain’s 

Association, and was volunteer chair for 

The Hope of Survivors, an international, 

ASI-affiliated organization supporting 

victims of clergy sexual abuse. 

Tom Lemon, Mid-America Union 

president, said, “I have experienced 

[Martin] Weber as a deeply sincere and 

highly committed church leader. I 

appreciate his commitment to the 

church, even as he has fearlessly 

pointed out opportunities for the 

church to be more like her master, Jesus 

Christ.” 

Logos Bible Software describes itself 

as the leading provider of multilingual 

tools and resources for Bible study on 

Macs, PCs, and mobile devices. Logos 

has served pastors, scholars, and everyone 

who wants to study the Bible since 

1992, partnering with 150 publishers to 

offer nearly 35,000 Christian e-books to 

users in 210 countries. n 

—with information from the Mid-America 

Union and Logos Bible Software 


One-volume Adventist Bible 

Commentary Due in 2015 

Andrews Bible Commentary, at 1,800 pages, to be a ready reference 

By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor 

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS and others 

interested in the Adventist perspective 

on Scripture will soon have a new, 

one-volume resource on the Bible. 

The Andrews Bible Commentary, due for 

release at the 2015 General Conference 

session in San Antonio, Texas, is the 

church’s first concise, one-volume commentary, 

and is intended as a coordinated 

resource with the Andrews Study 

Bible, released by Andrews University 

Press in June 2010. 

Andrews University president Niels- 

Erik Andreasen announced the new 

commentary on Monday, April 15, at the 

Spring Meeting of the General Conference 

Executive Committee, in Battle 

Creek, Michigan. 

The commentary project is coordinated 

by Andrews University Press, the 

world church’s only regularly established 

academic publishing house, with 

funding from Andrews University and 

the General Conference, and oversight 

by a project committee of General Conference 

and Andrews personnel. 

As with the Andrews Study Bible, the 

Andrews Bible Commentary is intended 

specifically for the general reader, as 

well as pastors and church elders, providing 

basic Bible teaching in the congregation, 

Andreasen said. 

In making his announcement, 

Andreasen referred the delegates to a 

purpose statement for the commentary 

that had been approved by the project 

committee. It states that the Andrews Bible 

Commentary “is a concise, one-volume 

exposition of Scripture written by faithful 

scholars of the church as a companion 

to the Andrews Study Bible for lay readers, 

pastors, students, and teachers living in 

expectation of the Advent hope.” 

“This commentary is aimed to help 

the person in the pew. It is written in 

plain language,” Andreasen said. He 

told the delegates that the writers had 

been instructed to write at the same 

reading level that they would write an 

article for the Adventist Review, the general 

church paper of the Adventist 

Church. 

When it is published and released in 

2015, the Andrews Bible Commentary will 

have about 1,800 pages of commentary 

and helpful articles, or about three 

times the original content of the 

Andrews Study Bible, according to 

Andrews University Press staff. 

Andreasen said 60 writers, all Bible 

scholars from church institutions and 

organizations around the world, have 

been contracted to work on the commentary 

under the direction of a small 

editorial team. The general editor is 

Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, retired director 

of the General Conference’s Biblical 

Research Institute. Associate editors are 

Greg King (Old Testament), dean of the 

School of Religion, Southern Adventist 

University; Gerald Klingbeil (Old Testament), 

associate editor, Adventist Review/ 

Adventist World; and John McVay (New 

Testament), president of Walla Walla 

University. 

Andreasen said some of the writers 

have already completed their assignments. 

He assured General Conference 

president Ted N. C. Wilson that a small 

printed sample of selected portions of 

the commentary will be available for the 

next full meeting of the General Conference 

Executive Committee at Annual 

Council in October 2013. n 

—with information from Andrews University 

Press 



■■WORLD CHURCH 

Global Religious Freedom Remains a Concern 

Church experts express concern over increased intolerance worldwide 

By ELIZABETH LECHLEITNER, Adventist News Network 

ANDREW KING/ANN 

THE MOST recent report by the U.S. 

Commission on International Religious 

Freedom (USCIRF) has Seventh-day 

Adventist human rights experts concerned 

over growing state-sponsored or 

condoned intolerance toward minority 

faith groups worldwide. 

“We are again reminded that for religious 

minorities, of which Seventh-day 

Adventists are in many regions, things 

can actually be very difficult and, in 

many places, are getting worse,” said 

Dwayne Leslie, director of legislative 

affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist 

world church. 

The report from the independent 

commission categorizes offenders as 

tier 1, tier 2 or “watch list” countries. 

Tier 1 nations are designated as “countries 

of particular concern” (CPCs), 

where religious liberty violations are 

defined as “systemic, ongoing, and egregious,” 

and include torture, prolonged 

detention without charges, disappearances, 

and “other flagrant [denials] of 

life, liberty or the security of persons.” 

Countries redesignated as CPCs this 

year are Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, 

North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and 

Uzbekistan. 

Newly categorized this year as tier 1 

nations are Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, 

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and 

Vietnam. While not yet officially CPCs, 

these countries do “meet the threshold” 

for tier 1 designation, the report states. 

Countries designated as tier 2 by the 

report are so listed for displaying “negative 

trends that could develop into 

severe violations of religious freedom.” 

These countries are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, 

Cuba, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, 

Laos, and Russia. 

A small third group of nations comprise 

a watch list, and the commission 

is “monitoring” them for violations. 

Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Ethiopia, 

Turkey, and Venezuela are on this list. 

Western Europe has drawn criticism in 

recent years for curbing religious expression 

among minority faiths. Laws in 

EYE ON LIBERTY: Dwayne Leslie, director 

of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day 

Adventist world church, speaks at a recent 

religious liberty event at the Canadian 

embassy in Washington, D.C. Leslie is 

among religious freedom advocates troubled 

by this year’s report from the U.S. 

Commission on International Religious 

Freedom. 

France and Belgium now ban the burqa 

and other full-face veils. Switzerland has 

barred the construction of new minarets, 

or prayer towers atop Muslim mosques. 

And so-called defamation of religion 

laws—which religious freedom experts 

say could restrict religious speech worldwide—continue 

to emerge in the region. 

In Iran, Leslie said, the government 

continues its oppression, arrest, and, in 

some cases, torture of Christians, most 

recently American pastor Saeed Abedini, 

who was imprisoned in Iran in 

September ostensibly for his religious 

beliefs. 

Pakistan, too, has made headlines in 

recent months for violence against 

Christians. In March a mob torched the 

homes and businesses of a Christian 

community in response to alleged 

insults against Muhammad. 

Nigeria is another increasingly troubling 

area, Leslie said. The extremist 

group Boko Haram has unleashed sectarian 

violence on Christian communities 

in recent years, regularly bombing 

churches and leaving hundreds of worshippers 

dead. Since January, Adventists 

in the country have reported declining 

church attendance and some church closures 

amid the country’s worsening 

religious conflict. 

Countries such as Iran, Pakistan, 

and Nigeria, Leslie said, are deeply 

entrenched in intolerance, and the 

report is unlikely to change their behavior. 

But for newly watch-listed countries, 

“dialogue can hopefully lead to 

greater freedom of belief,” he said. 

After reviewing religious freedom 

violations, USCIRF makes policy recommendations 

to the U.S. president, secretary 

of state, and Congress. These 

recommendations can include arms 

embargos, restrictions on exports, and, 

Leslie added, further talks with some 

offending nations. 

Beyond that, Leslie said, the report 

“constantly keeps religious liberty in 

the public eye, reminding people why 

it’s important for us to continue to fight 

for freedom for all people of faith.” n 


CAMP MEETING MEMORIES 

For some years in the 1940s the Iowa Conference camp meetings 

were held in a church camp near Cedar Falls, Iowa. Since it was 

quite a distance from the town, we stocked a small store with 

some basic foodstuffs. Being the youngest “worker,” I was given the 

responsibility of operating the store. I soon found that, with getting 

the food from the town and keeping the store open at certain 

hours for the convenience of the campers, I was not getting much 

from the camp meeting. I went home that year feeling rather 

empty. 

When time for the next camp meeting approached, I began to 

pray that I would receive some spiritual benefit along with the 

other campers. God answered my prayer the first night. The speaker’s 

theme was from the story of blind Bartimaeus. When Bartimaeus 

reached Jesus, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to 

do for you?” (Mark 10:51). 

The message to everyone was “What are you expecting, what 

are you here for?” When I answered the question in accordance 

with my prayers, that camp meeting experience was spiritually fulfilling—store 

and all. 

—HAMPTON WHITE, REED CITY, MICHIGAN 

ADVENTIST LIFE 

When our son Jonathan was small, my husband, Dick, was taking 

him for a walk in the park. Jonathan saw two teens up in a large 

tree and knew just what to say: “Zacchaeus, you come down!” 

—CAROLYN MILLARD, LOLO, MONTANA 

When Harvey Byram, then principal at Dallas Junior Academy in 

Texas in 1976, poked his head into the seventh and eighth-grade 

classroom one morning, we all interrupted our activities to hear 

what he had to say. “I have good news and bad news for you. The 

good news is that we will have only a half day of school this 

morning!” 

Our soaring spirits were quickly dashed as he continued, “The 

bad news is the other half of the day will be after lunch!” 

—ED FRY, PINEHURST, TEXAS 

© TERRY CREWS 

PHOTO 

SPLASH FOR CASH: When approached by the Associated Student 

Body of Union College, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to help raise 

money for an organization that works to prevent human trafficking 

on three continents, John Wagner, Union’s president, jumped—that 

is, dove—at the opportunity. He and four other faculty members 

challenged the student body to raise money. The faculty member 

who raised the most promised to do something, uh, memorable. 

Wagner raised the most money, and fulfilled his pledge by diving 

off the high dive in a suit. The money not only went to a great 

cause, but Wagner saved $12 on dry cleaning. 


Heart and Soul: 

Theology 

BY ROY E. GANE 

the great controversy. But the magnitude of the 

problem and the stakes involved are vastly greater 

than any other situation involving a need for forgiveness. 

All human inhabitants of Planet Earth 

have been in rebellion against God. All have sinned 

against Him and His eternal law of love that governs 

and safeguards the universe (Rom. 3:23; cf. 

Matt. 22:37-40). The penalty for that sin is eternal 

FOR 

death (Rom. 6:23) because intelligent beings with 

free choice whose lives are not controlled by love 

are destructive and follow Satan in challenging the 

sovereignty of the benevolent Creator, who alone 

gives and sustains life. To make matters worse, 

fallen humans are incapable of adequately keeping 

God’s law even if they want to (Rom. 7). 

Because God’s eternal moral character is love 

BY BEARING THE PENALTY OF ALL HUMAN SIN, CHRIST HAS 

DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD JUSTLY GIVES MERCY TO ALL HUMANS. 

We know from personal experience 

that forgiveness is a process involving 

two parties and two stages. 

First, it must be offered by the 

wronged party as an act of mercy. 

This stage completes forgiveness by the wronged 

party and makes it available for the party that committed 

the offense. Second, the party that committed 

the offense must accept forgiveness. Acceptance of 

forgiveness involves acknowledgment that the 

offense was wrong, trust in the goodwill of the forgiver, 

restoration of goodwill toward that party, and 

commitment to refrain from further offenses in the 

future. With completion of this stage, the offending 

party enjoys the benefits of forgiveness. 

A community context complicates forgiveness 

because other parties can ask: On what basis is it fair 

for the wronged party to offer forgiveness to one 

offender but not another? Will mercy harm the community 

by allowing or even encouraging further 

offenses in the future? This is especially serious when 

the offender has not only wronged another party, but 

has violated a rule or law that has been established to 

protect the community by establishing known 

boundaries of conduct and equal penalties for violation 

of those boundaries. Adequately addressing 

these questions so that a forgiven offender can be 

accepted within the community requires that forgiveness 

be mercifully extended in such a way that justice 

is maintained. The offender not only needs to be forgiven; 

this party also needs to be justified. 

Further complicating forgiveness is a situation 

in which the offending party is a group of people. 

What if individuals within the group accept forgiveness 

offered to it, but others do not? To accomplish 

lasting peace between the wronged party and 

the group, those who do not accept forgiveness 

must be identified and removed from the group. 

For example, when a rebel group or offending 

nation is defeated in war, terms of peace can 

include corporate amnesty. But for individuals to 

enjoy the benefits of the amnesty, they must accept 

it and lay down their weapons. Otherwise their 

threat must be eliminated. 

All of the dynamics just described apply to God’s 

efforts to save human beings within the context of 

(1 John 4:8), and because love includes both justice 

and mercy, He must maintain full justice when He 

forgives. To do otherwise would violate His nature, 

which sustains all life, and jeopardize the safety of 

the universe. It is the death of Christ, who is Himself 

God (Col. 1:19; 2:9), which makes it possible for 

God to justly justify sinners (Rom. 3:26). As God, 

Christ is the Creator (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2) and therefore 

can represent everyone on Planet Earth. As the 

originator of human life, He is our ultimate Father 

(Isa. 9:6; compare Luke 3:38). Just as Abraham 

could represent any of his descendants (Heb. 7:9, 

10), Christ has represented all humans in order to 

bear the penalty of our sin as our substitute so 

that we might escape death and enjoy eternal life 

(John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:14, 21). Thus Christ’s sacrifice is 

both representative and substitutionary. 

Now we can understand how Christ’s sacrifice 

solves relational aspects of evil on earth by accomplishing 

seven things: 


SEVEN 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

OF CHRIST’S 

SACRIFICE 

be confused with legal-only justification of individuals) to 

human beings who rebelled against Him, and, in this sense, 

are forgiven as a group (Col. 2:13-15; Rom. 5:18). 

Remember the way God corporately forgave the Israelite 

nation after the rebellion at Kadesh. Instead of wholesale 

destruction, God gave them a new opportunity (Num. 14:20). 

This corporate legal amnesty does not mean that everyone 

will be saved. Rather, it is conditional in the sense that God 

GIVENESS 

1 

Restoration of Human Rule Over Planet Earth 

Jesus described the effect of His death: “Now is 

the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this 

world will be driven out” (John 12:31; NRSV). 1 

Satan has been “the ruler of this world” because he 

usurped humanity’s dominion over earth (Gen. 1:26, 28) through 

deception resulting in human choice of him (Gen. 3). But when 

the God-man Christ died, bearing the full effects of human sin as 

the representative of all humanity, He annulled Satan’s right and 

reclaimed the lost dominion for the human race. 

In other words, since the cross event, the whole world 

belongs to Christ not only as the Creator-God who was always 

over the world, whether its master was human or Satan (compare 

Matt. 4:8-10), but now also as the representative Human 

subregent who has succeeded where Adam failed (compare 

Rom. 5:12-17). Therefore, He has the right to share the dominion 

with His faithful people as a gift to them (Dan. 7:22, 27). 

The world, and eternal life on it, belong to them, just as 

Canaan already belonged to the Israelites when they reached 

its borders (Num. 32:7; Deut. 3:18), and they need only to 

appropriate what is already theirs in order to enter into their 

rest (Heb. 4) in dwellings that God has already provided for 

them (John 14:2, 3). 

2 

Corporate Amnesty 

By winning back the dominion of Planet Earth 

for humans through Christ’s sacrifice, God “was 

reconciling the world to himself, not counting 

their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19, 

NRSV). That is, having decapitated the rebellion by destroying 

the right of the devil and his angels to exercise subregency 

over earth, God has granted corporate legal amnesty (not to 

offers to a group terms that individuals must accept and keep 

on accepting in order to enjoy the benefits. 

3 

Mercy With Justice 

By bearing the penalty of all human sin, 

Christ has demonstrated that God justly gives 

mercy to all humans (Rom. 3:24-26; 5:15-18; 

compare Ps. 85:10). So the “gold” of Christ’s justifying 

sacrifice is behind the “currency” of His merciful corporate 

forgiveness. In this sense Christ’s sacrifice legally 

justified the human race as a group, showing the universe that 

God is justified in allowing the race to continue. This gift of 

corporate justification is the first step in a process. Individual 

salvation depends upon a second step at which people personally 

accept the justification that is already available for them. 

The two steps of justification were symbolized at the Israelite 

sanctuary. Regular public sacrifices (Num. 28; 29) accomplished 

corporate justification that maintained God’s 

life-giving Presence with them, but individuals also needed to 

offer their atoning sacrifices in order to receive the benefits of 

belonging to the covenant community (Lev. 4; 5; etc.; Num. 

15:22-29; contrast verses 30, 31). 

At a further stage, represented at the sanctuary by the Day 

of Atonement service, God vindicates His own decisions to 

forgive or not forgive individuals, depending on whether they 

have loyally accepted and continued to accept His gift of forgiveness 

(Lev. 16; 23:26-32; Dan. 7:9-14; 8:14). Through God’s 

vindication, the loyal are morally “clean” (Lev. 16:30) in the 

sense that their sins are now eternally irrelevant (Jer. 31:34). 


BY GIVING HIS SON 

TO BE BORN, LIVE, 

AND DIE TO SAVE US, 

GOD HAS SUPREMELY 

DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE 

AND GOODWILL TOWARD 

ALL HUMANITY. 

4 

Continuation of the Human Race 

The effect of Christ’s provision for the human 

race to continue began at the Fall into sin (Gen. 

3), long before the cross. The penalty for rebelling 

against God was immediate death (Gen. 

2:17; compare Rom. 6:23), which He justly could have administered 

the same day to make humans extinct. Adam and Eve 

could live on only because God provided for their redemption 

through the future sacrifice of Christ (Gen. 3:15; 1 Peter 1:18- 

20; Rev. 13:8; 17:8). By continuing to live on probation, humans 

have the opportunity to see through Satan’s deception and 

make a fair choice between him and God. 

5 

Appeal to Individually Accept Mercy 

By giving His Son to be born, live, and die to 

save us, God has supremely demonstrated His 

love and goodwill toward all humanity (Luke 

2:14; John 3:16; Rom. 2:4; 5:6-8). So we can trust 

that the amnesty He offers is genuine and not a trick. By being 

lifted up on the cross, Christ draws all people to Himself 

(John 12:32) so that they can individually experience peace 

with God through justification that they receive by accepting 

His gift of amnesty (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; compare John 3:16). 

Christians who point to the Savior “are ambassadors for 

Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat 

you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20; 

NRSV). The appeal is to accept the corporate amnesty 

described in the previous verse: God “was reconciling the 

world to himself” (verse 19). The message of these verses is: 

Because you are alive by virtue of corporate reconciliation to 

God, live accordingly (as individuals). 

Moral Restoration 

The divine Christ made Himself vulnerable to 

6 

the temptations that assail all humanity. He did 

this by becoming a descendant of many generations 

of sinners (Matt. 1), taking weakened human 

nature on His sinless divine nature (Luke 1:30, 31, 35). But He 

remained morally unblemished (Heb. 4:15) and therefore qualified 

to be our representative sacrifice (compare Lev. 22). 

Having overcome where we have failed, Christ enables our 

inadequate will (Rom. 7) to choose God and His way of love. 

He does this by serving as our example (Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Peter 

2:21), uniting our lives with His (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27), and 

empowering our moral transformation through the gift of 

the Holy Spirit (John 3; 16:8; Rom. 5:5; 8:1-4; Titus 3:5-7). This 

transformation is a journey, not a single stop. It is not enough 

for us to accept amnesty/justification on one occasion (compare 

1 Kings 1, 2); we need an ongoing relationship with 

Christ that continues to loyally accept His gift by faith (John 

8:11; Col. 1:21-23; 1 John 5:12) and extends it to others (compare 

Matt. 10:8; 18:23-35). 

Accountability 

By making amazingly graceful provision for 

our eternal salvation, Christ’s sacrifice removes 

7 

any excuse to continue rebelling against God. 

Therefore God is fully justified in letting those 

who reject Him suffer eternal extinction (Rev. 20) that would 

have been the fate of all humanity if Christ had not died. If people 

reject His corporate amnesty as applying to them, they are 

on their own and must bear their own penalty for rebellion. 

Amnesty for all has the goal of making peace, so it can benefit 

only those who accept peace on the victor’s terms. 

Behold the Lamb 

It was normal for a Roman execution to be nauseatingly brutal 

and gory, a far cry from the tame and sanitized scenes in our 

passion plays. But it wasn’t business as usual on the hill of 

death that day. When the tortured Jewish carpenter breathed 

His last, “then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two 

from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were 

split, and the graves were opened. . . . So when the centurion and 

those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake 

and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, 

‘Truly this was the Son of God!’ ” (Matt. 27:51-54, NKJV). 2 

Roman soldiers recognized that in doing their job, they had 

unwittingly committed a crime of cosmic significance. But the full, 

vast scope of what was accomplished that day would have 

stunned them much more: The world had just changed hands forever, 

and the Son of God would rise to call for their allegiance. n 

1 

Bible texts credited to NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the 

Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council 

of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. 

2 

Texts credited to NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 

1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

ROY E. GANE IS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW BIBLE AND ANCIENT 

NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY. 


Transformation Tips 

Geography of Happiness 

EVERYONE SEARCHES FOR HAPPINESS, BUT FEW FIND IT. ERIC WEINER, 

former National Public Radio journalist, traveled to places in which people were known to be happy. In a 

world of problems, calamities, and atrocities Weiner visited countries that research documented that the 

people living there were happy. 

In his book The Geography of Bliss (2008), Weiner describes visiting nine countries that rated high 

on happiness surveys: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Thailand, Great Britain, 

India, and the United States. He concluded that while so-called happier countries had some elements 

in common, they also had significant differences. 

Weiner is quick to admit that he didn’t come up with much that was revolutionary or particularly 

spiritual. He came away with a few broad, anecdotal conclusions, such as: money matters, 

but less than we think. Family is important; so are friends. Envy is toxic; so is excessive thinking. 

Trust, as well as gratitude, is essential. 

Further, Weiner posits that extroverts are happier than introverts; optimists are happier 

than pessimists; married people are happier than singles, though people with children are 

no happier than childless couples; people who attend religious services are happier than 

those who do not; people with college degrees are happier than those without; people with an 

active sex life are happier than those without; women and men are equally happy, though women 

have a wider emotional range. 

Happiness research bears out that people can do several things to increase feelings of happiness 

and well-being. Acts such as smiling, making eye contact, saying hello, sending an appreciative 

e-mail, doing kind deeds, thinking of things you are grateful for before sleep, singing songs, working 

in nature, having fun, and meditating are a few ways to increase your feeling of well-being. 

Location Is Not Everything 

So does a person have to live in a certain place to be happy? Fortunately no. The Bible demonstrates 

that a Christian can experience a sense of well-being or happiness wherever they are—in the midst 

of problems and trials and calamities—anyplace in the world. Christians are happy not because 

of where they live but because of what they believe. In fact, a believer in Christ is more interested 

in pleasing God than in seeking happiness. Christians know that lasting happiness will be realized 

only in the new earth (Rev. 21). 

Case in point: Paul and Silas sang joyfully while in prison (Acts 16:16-34), not your typical happy 

locale. In a dark, dank prison Paul and Silas belted out songs of praise. 

While there are things we can do to be happy, lasting happiness that allows you to sing in prison and in 

the martyr’s flames comes from something much more substantive. Paul and Silas had a connection and a 

sure foundation that gave them a song in the midst of trouble. They had a sense of heavenly happiness, that 

attitude Jesus spoke about in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12). 

Paul and Silas knew their lives were under the umbrella of providence. Like the Hebrews in the fiery 

furnace, they had a conviction that God could deliver them, but they would not worry if He chose not to 

(Dan. 3:16-18). They believed, as did Joseph, that people can do evil things, but that in partnership with God 

the evil that people intend works out for good. They knew that all things work for the good of those who 

love God (Rom. 8:28). Their peace, their happiness if you will, transcends location and situation (Phil. 4:7). 

John Wilhelm Rowntree (1868-1905) began to lose his sight in his mid-20s. After an examination a doctor 

told Rowntree that nothing could be done, and that Rowntree would soon go completely blind. Outside the 

office, Rowntree stood holding on to a railing to collect himself. Suddenly he felt the love of God embrace 

him, and he was filled with a joy that he had never known before. Under circumstances that were hardly 

ideal he experienced the presence of God and a sense of joy and peace that made him truly happy. 

True happiness is a choice. That choice brings with it true peace and joy. Well-being is found in a relationship 

with a Person, not a place. n 

Delbert W. 

Baker 

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


Cover 

Lover 

The Dilemma 

Marriage may be God’s most powerful 

metaphor for helping us grasp the intensity 

and complexity of His relationship 

with us—Christ gave Himself up for the 

church He loved (Eph. 5:25). But His passion 

for us is under constant threat— 

from seduction. When seduction works, 

devastated parents stand impotently by 

as some smooth-talking deceiver 

exploits their child because no talking, 

no persuasion, no hard evidence seems 

DOES “SPIRITUALITY” MEAN MORE 

or 

BY JOHN MARKOVIC 

A 

horrible and shocking thing has happened 

in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, 

the priests rule by their own authority, and 

my people love it this way. But what will 

you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:30, 31). 

capable of making a child change course. 

Passion and hunger for emotional 

attachment produce persistent refusal to 

accept sound advice. Parent and friend 

must let disaster have its course. Young 

life is wasted for lack of discernment. 

“How would I know the difference?” 

asked a student in one of my classes. 

The question is urgent, for marriage is 

one of life’s greatest decisions: How do 

we distinguish the true lover from the 

seducer? Spiritually, our surest safeguard 

against seductive infatuation is 

knowing the True Lover well. An intimate 

and informed relationship with 

Jesus Christ is the best protection from 

seduction’s falsehood. 

Seduction 

Jesus, the Suitor, wants to be chosen. 

Opposite Him is Satan, the master 

seducer, using the same words and 

phrases. There is plenty of duplicity in 

language use. And the more similar the 

language, the more difficult to detect 

deception. The seducer makes promises, 

lies wrapped in truth. So it was at the 

tree of knowledge of good and evil. And 

so with Jesus in the desert. Flattery, flirtation, 

evoking self-pity, all are his tools. 

Those who doubt, who are hurting, who 

are marginalized, ostracized, who are 

unchurched, nonchurched, dechurched, 

as the “emergents” like to say, are especially 

in danger, for his dishonesty 

thrives on our vulnerability. And if we 

are unsure of the Word of the True 

Lover, we will the more easily fall for the 


seducer’s fake spirituality and falsehood. 

The seducer wants to be taken for 

the real thing. Mental confusion works 

in his favor. While the sincere Suitor 

offers His life to His beloved, the 

seducer wants to use her for a night. 

Contemporary Spirituality 

Today’s seduction seems much more 

potent than decades ago. Changes in 

our academic and cultural settings 

within the past six decades have made it 

THAN ONE THING? 

Seducer? 

easier for the seducer. For example, the 

Bible’s role in one’s life was much easier 

to discuss with yesterday’s atheists than 

with today’s postmodernists. It was 

easier for Christian youth to hold their 

ground on Genesis 1 against regnant 

secularism, naturalism, and atheism 

than for young Christians today against 

an evolution that has been christened as 

theistic. In my years in the Communist 

educational system of the former Yugoslavia, 

I had an easier time resisting 

Marxist teachers than my children in a 

Christian educational system today riddled 

with theistic evolutionist sentiment 

and postmodern philosophizing. 

Religious leaders claiming Jesus today 

rank among the greatest perpetrators of 

the confusion of our age. Brian McLaren’s 

book A Generous Orthodoxy 1 powerfully 

examples this confusion. McLaren 

has been called “the Moses leading us 

out of the land of Modernity,” and “recognized 

as the Martin Luther of Emergence 

internationally.” 2 With his 

world-embracing title (see note 1), one 

wonders what he teaches that everyone 

of all stripes does not already believe. 

McLaren and many other contemporary 

Christians work hard to confuse by their 

distinctions—“We are not religious, we 

are spiritual!” Spirituality is in, and being 

religious is out! No more talk about do’s 

and don’ts. Now we’re asked to reject 

the old ways of religiosity and adopt 

new ways of spirituality. At the same 

time contemporary spirituality literature 

overflows with admiration for the 

medieval Patristic tradition. Mysticism 

and the monastic way of life enjoy new 

esteem. Richard J. Foster and Gayle D. 

Beebe offer the tradition of mysticism as 

the seven paths of Christian spirituality. 

3 New heroes of spirituality include 

Martin Luther and John Calvin, together 

with Ignatius of Loyola. We are expected 

to model not only Augustine and Francis 

of Assisi, but Pseudo-Dionysius and the 

Cloud of Unknowing. The Protestant tradition 

is even blamed for society’s evil 

by contrast with the spiritual model of 

the medieval Catholic mystical tradition. 

Tired of Religion 

People are said to be tired of religion. 

While this may indeed be so, much more 

mischief may be accomplished by continually 

repeating that claim. Moreover, while 

many are indeed thirsty for meaningful 

spirituality, the term also legitimizes personal 

lifestyles that will not tolerate doctrine’s 

divisiveness, and the “judgmental” 

criticisms of “sinful behavior.” 

Opposing religiosity to spirituality 

well pleases the seducer. For Christ’s 

true disciples are both devotedly religious 

and deeply spiritual, with spiritual 

signifying being under the guidance of 

the Holy Spirit. For more than one spirit 

is abroad (1 John 4:1). 

The Mystics and Mysticism 

Mystics love to stress that materialism, 

atheism, consumerism, and other forces 


of modernity—including the influence of 

the Protestant Reformation—have deanimated 

nature. We need to reanimate 

nature. We have forgotten, they claim, that 

God’s Spirit is present everywhere in 

nature. The rhetoric, unsupported by serious 

study of the Scriptures, satisfies many 

a whimsical lifestyle. For many, it is far 

easier to live according to the book of 

nature, than according to the Bible. In this 

they may overlook that (nature’s beauty, 

design, and complexity notwithstanding) 

it is the God of Creation, rather than any 

object or force of nature, the inner self 

included, that we are required to worship. 

Bible study, some say, leads to argument, 

but when we pray we stop arguing. Thus 

prayer, along with contemplation and 

meditation, opposes biblical investigation. 

None of these is wrong per se. But chosen 

instead of Bible study they may facilitate 

every manner of diabolical deception. The 

Bible’s prayers disclose a manner, language, 

content, and intent far different 

from those taught by many modern mystics 

and spiritual gurus. Biblical meditation 

is frequently a matter of thought about 

God’s law (Joshua 1:8; Ps. 1:2; 119:48). 

Mysticism’s past 50-plus years have 

shown great dynamism across the western 

world. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, National 

Public Radio’s award-winning religion 

correspondent, reports that fully half of all 

Americans have had a life-altering spiritual 

or mystical experience. 4 Accepting 

mysticism as just another form of spirituality 

immediately elevates the status of 

Christian mysticism. But assurances that 

Christian mysticism is different from that 

practiced in the Far East are complicated 

by dismissive opinion that the differences 

are of cosmetic and not essential nature. 

BIBLICAL MEDITATION 

IS FREQUENTLY 

A MATTER OF THOUGHT 

ABOUT GOD’S LAW. 

Problems With Definition 

Mystics themselves may be rather 

mystical about the true nature of mysticism. 

Definition of the mystic as one 

who seeks companionship with Christ, 

one whose religious life is centered 

around experiences with or of God 

rather than around traditionally 

accepted beliefs and doctrine, may not 

say much, though it purports to be 

informative on the subject matter. 

Christians in general seek companionship 

with Christ. But all Christians 

are not therefore, whether in their own 

minds or in popular understanding, 

mystics. Most self-identified mystics 

would reject the premise that they are 

the same as Christians in general. Furthermore, 

all truly converted Christians 

center their lives around experiences 

with God, rather than around doctrines 

and dogmas. Yet they do not, for such 

reason, deem themselves mystics. To 

define mystics in these terms may 

equate with arguing that because the 

seducer is loving, attentive, caring, gentle, 

nice, quotes the Scriptures, and so 

forth, he is the true lover. 

Opposing economic exploitation of 

workers does not make me a Marxist. 

Supporting equal treatment of women 

and men does not make me a feminist. 

That Paul was caught up in a vision, and 

a mystic one at that (2 Cor. 12:1-4), does 

not make him a mystic. And claiming 

Ellen G. White to be a mystic denies 

understanding of both the true nature of 

mysticism and of White’s message. 

White herself has recorded rather stern 

warnings against mysticism. “The study 

of God’s Word should take the place of 

the study of those books that have led 

minds into mysticism and away from 

truth.” 5 In referring to the John Harvey 

Kellogg’s The Living Temple, she cautions, 

“We do not need the mysticism that is in 

this book. Those who entertain these 

sophistries will soon find themselves in 

a position where the enemy can talk with 

them, and lead them away from God.” 6 

Here is a fair enough definition of mysticism—a 

spiritual-intellectual notion that 

truth proceeds “from certain inner lights.” 

By contrast, Bernard McGinn, scholar of 

Western mysticism, simply defines it as a 

utopian dream. But he does believe proper 

research of the written records left behind 

by and about the Christian mystics can 

help our understanding. 7 

McGinn’s three headings of analysis 

on mysticism are (1) as an element of 

religion; (2) as a way of life; and (3) “as 

an attempt to express a direct consciousness 

of the presence of God.” 8 We 

may add a fourth: mysticism as the end 

result of certain (mystical) practices. 

Analyzing a Phenomenon 

Mysticism, a term evoking secrecy, 

whose lexical basis means “to close” 

(the eyes or lips—Greek, muein), 9 is an 

ancient phenomenon familiar to Egyptian, 

Babylonian, Hindu, Greek, and 

medieval peoples. Like ancient Gnostics 

claiming unique esoteric knowledge of 

spirituality (gnosis) that liberates from 

this material and evil world, mystics 

claim to possess knowledge of how to 

reach a higher and unique level of contemplative 

consciousness that is essential 

to attain union with the divine 

within, or the divine outside oneself. 

Mystics are able to perforate “the veil 

of physical reality” and glimpse the 

world beyond, reports Hagerty. 10 She 

also reports a finding of American philosopher 

and psychologist William 

James (1842-1910) that mystics know 

“firsthand ‘the [realities] of the 

unseen.’ ” According to her summary of 

20 (580) 

| www.AdventistReview.org | June 27, 2013

James, all mystical experiences share: 

(1) ineffability (human language cannot 

describe them); (2) a noetic quality (“a 

deep insight that is truer to the person 

than the material world itself”); (3) 

transience (they quickly ebb); and (4) 

surprise (they “pounce”: external power 

“takes control, pushing the mystic into 

the passenger’s seat”). 11 She quotes 

James: “the mystic feels as if his own 

will were in abeyance, and indeed sometimes 

as if he were grasped and held by 

a superior power.” 12 

Answering my query on the ultimate 

objective of his meditation and spirituality, 

a Hindu priest responded, “To 

become one with Brahman.” 

I asked again, “Does that mean, when 

I become one with Brahman, I cease to 

exist as an individual, distinct person?” 

“Yes,” he said. 

To that, I could say nothing but “Thank 

you.” And according to Franciscan priest 

Richard Rohr, a mystic whose lectures I 

have attended, critical, analytical, dualistic 

thinking (good versus evil, right versus 

wrong) is a primitive and immature 

way of thinking, even predatory, and certainly 

inadequate to the experience of 

spiritual truths, divine love, divine forgiveness, 

or the divine presence. For these 

it is essential that we learn the nondualistic 

state of mind, actually, a superior 

level of contemplative consciousness, a 

“third-eye” seeing reality. Journey to this 

contemplative consciousness involves a mixture 

of light and darkness and more or 

less requires cessation of thought. 

In Conclusion 

Ron, a friend of mine, studied the 

Bible with Bob. 13 Bob could not accept 

the Sabbath truth. He wanted a different 

answer. He would pray to God, he told 

Ron. Bob prayed and prayed until one 

night he was visited by a being he 

believed was Jesus, who told him to 

remain faithful to his Orthodox tradition. 

He promptly stopped further Bible 

study with Ron. Evidently, it’s possible 

to have your prayers answered contrary 

to the Bible. Years passed by, and Ron 

forgot about Bob. One day Bob knocked 

on Ron’s door, and confessed that for all 

of this time he had had no peace, and 

that life was not good for him. Prayer 

had sent him back to what the Bible says. 

He eventually got baptized and became a 

leading elder in the local church. 

God’s Word created everything that is 

(Ps. 33:6, 9). His original gift of humanity 

involved the power to think and to 

do 14 —thoughts and actions that should 

be guided by obedience to that very lifegiving 

Word that makes us wise unto 

salvation through its reproof, correction, 

and righteous instruction (Deut. 

8:3; Matt. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:15, 16). Our experience 

of and with God engages rather 

than sets aside our intelligence, and is 

subject to the entrance of that Word 

that brightens the path our feet must 

follow (Ps. 119:105). God’s promise of 

Edenic restoration guarantees to saved 

humanity an eternal, distinct, and intelligent 

individuality—we shall know as 

we are known (1 Cor. 13:12). Becoming 

one with Brahman, or as Christian mystics 

say, achieving oneness with the 

divine, where personal individuality is 

lost, is the sale of mindlessness and 

nonpersonhood, in effect, the sale of 

death and nonexistence, as something 

desirable. It is rearticulation of the 

ancient lie, “You will not certainly die, 

. . . you will be like God” (Gen. 3:4, 5). 

The choice between the options of mysticism 

thus exposed, and the plain 

teachings of Scripture, is the choice 

between the deceptions of the seducer, 

and the affections of the True Lover. n 

1 

Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a 

Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, 

Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, 

Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, 

Green, Incarnational, Depressed-yet-hopeful, Emergent, 

Unfinished Christian (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004). 

2 

See Phyllis Tickle, Emergence Christianity: What It Is, 

Where It Is Going, and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: 

Baker, 2012), p. 99. The “Moses” nickname derives 

from popular conversation. 

3 

Richard J. Foster and Gayle D. Beebe, Longing for 

God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion (Downers Grove, 

Ill.: InterVarsity, 2009). 

4 

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Fingerprints of God: The 

Search for the Science of Spirituality (New York: Penguin 

Group, 2009), p. 33, and endnote 23. 

5 

Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Mountain 

View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1948), vol. 6, p. 132. 

6 

Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: 

Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1, p. 202. 

7 

Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism, The 

Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism 

(New York: The Crossroad Pub. Co., 1991), vol. 1, pp. xiixv. 

McGinn’s monumental commitment to his own 

conviction has so far produced five volumes totaling 

more than 3,000 pages of text and footnotes. 

8 

McGinn, pp. xv, xvi. 

9 

James A. Wiseman, Spirituality and Mysticism: A 

Global View (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2006), p. 7. 

10 

Hagerty, p. 16. 

11 

Ibid., p. 25. 

12 

Ibid. Also William James, The Varieties of Religious 

Experience: A Study in Human Nature (Cambridge, Mass.: 

Harvard University Press, 1902, 1985), p. 3. 

13 

Not their real names. 

14 

Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: 

Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 17. 

JOHN MARKOVIC IS A PROFESSOR 

OF HISTORY AT ANDREWS 

UNIVERSITY, WHO HAS ALSO 

STUDIED THE PHENOMENON OF THE 

EMERGENT CHURCH. 


Devotional 

BY TY GIBSON 

One day in a little Australian 

town called Byron Bay I 

noticed a sign that read “I 

saw the universe change 

today.” Whoever wrote 

those words was paying attention. 

God’s Three Options 

According to “chaos theory,” the single 

movement of a butterfly’s wing may be 

the determining factor in the formation 

of a hurricane. According to the 

Bible, the movements of each 

individual life exert determinative 

effects on the quality of other 

lives, even to the point of impacting 

eternal destinies. 

Each deed you execute triggers 

a series of outcomes for which 

you are the solitary source. 

As God went forward with the work 

of creation, only three conceivable possibilities 

lay before Him. He could create 

(1) machines, (2) slaves, or (3) free 

moral agents. Only the third option 

would be consistent with the aspirations 

of love, which is the essence of 

who God is. So here we are, beings of 

huge and magnificent significance, 

beings who matter so much that our 

actions run adjacent to God’s actions as 

genuinely free, beings who possess the 

power to create effects for which we 

alone are the cause, and which ripple 

into eternity with never-ending impact. 

God created humanity “in his own 

image” (Gen. 1:27), which means, among 

other things, that every human being is 

“endowed with a power akin to that of 

the Creator—individuality, power to 

think and to do.” 1 

The human being is a mind-boggling 

wonder. Standing in blown-away awe of 

what it means to be human, King David 

sang to the Creator, “What is man that 

You take thought of him, and the son of 

man that You care for him? Yet You have 

made him a little lower than God, and 

You crown him with glory and majesty!” 

(Ps. 8:4, 5). 2 Daniel the prophet realized 

the weightiness of our moral influence 

when he said that those “who lead . . . 

many to righteousness” will “shine . . . 

like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 

12:3), while others, he said, will go down 

in history with “disgrace and everlasting 

contempt” (verse 2). Said another way, 

human actions carry eternal effects. 

The Difference You Make 

In the wake of each person’s decisions, 

strands of history are set in 

motion that otherwise would never 

unfold. The shape of reality itself has 

EACH DEED YOU EXECUTE 

TRIGGERS A SERIES OF 

OUTCOMES FOR WHICH YOU 

ARE THE SOLITARY SOURCE. 

been and is being incrementally configured 

by the wondrous outworking of 

your will, my will, every other will, and 

the interplay between them all. What 

you do matters immensely because 

what you do brings into existence one 

relational dynamic after another, either 

positive or negative, that otherwise 

would not exist. Each deed 

you execute triggers a 

series of outcomes for 

which you are the solitary 

source. 

There are people—real people with 

names and faces—who are what they 

are, who know what they know, who feel 

what they feel, fear what they fear, and 

love what they love because of you. 

There is pain in the world right now 

that would not exist if I had not done 

some particular deeds that imposed it. 

And, no doubt, there is joy in some heart 

right now that would not be there if I 

had not given it. More amazing still, 

your “fingerprints,” and mine, are upon 

the very heart of God. Your life, and my 

life, have impacted the Almighty Creator 

of the universe. He has known grief and 

pain, as well as elation and joy, because 

of you and because of me. Jesus 

explained that anything I do for or 

against any human being registers in 

His heart as if done to Him. At the very 

least, this means that the effect of every 

moral action is borne by God because of 

His infinitely empathetic love for every 

person (Matt. 25:40-45). Divinity itself is 

injured by our wrongs and blessed by 

our right doing. The loss of one soul will 

leave God forever bereft of the companionship 

that might have been His if that 

soul had been saved, and the rescue of 

one soul will bestow immeasurable, 

eternal joy upon God’s heart. 

There are men and women and children 

who await your impact, who crave 

your love, who may be morally elevated 

by your example, made alive 

by your kind words, forever 

saved by your revelation of 

the Savior’s heart. It lies 

within my power as a human 

being, made in God’s image, 

to actualize events and relationships 

of everlasting 

beauty that cannot come to pass apart 

from my choices. Every act of love I perform 

constitutes an infinite moral good 

that makes a difference to the course of 

history and, therefore, in the eternal 

scheme of reality itself. If I speak a word 

of encouragement to a heavy heart, it 

matters on a grand and eternal scale. If I 

Why You 

visit a sick person and envelop their 

heart in compassion, that deed means 

something of staggering worth. If I feed 

a hungry child, doing so constitutes a 

crucial experience of generosity in that 

child’s existence, as well as in God’s 

existence as the Omni-benevolent One 

who loves that child as Himself. 

Each human being’s life carries an 

“eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17), a 

weight of moral and relational dignity 

that only eternity itself can measure. 

Which means that the measurement of 

my life’s influence will never reach its 

final calculation. Each deed will ripple 

forever in its effect. 

Take it in: the overall content of reality 

for other created beings and for God 

Himself will forever bear the mark of 

your individual existence, and mine. 

Every deed you perform stands com- 


pletely alone as a new piece of reality 

that could not have occurred if you had 

not made it happen. Our lives are so 

astoundingly fraught with materializing 

significance! 

Are You Paying Attention? 

Which, of course, urges the question: 

What will I do with my life, my weighty, 

grave, massively impactful life? And 

what will you do with yours? 

Really, there is but one course to pursue: 

Go for broke living for God and for 

others. Spend and be spent for the 

advancement of God’s self-giving kingdom. 

Get, now, the awesome import of 

that ancient word, foundational to three 

world religions, spoken for Israel and 

you from God by His mouthpiece 

Moses, and reiterated by the Lord Jesus 

Christ Himself: “Love the Lord your God 

with all your heart, and with all your 

soul, and with all your mind,” and “love 

your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37, 

39; see Deut. 6:6; Lev. 19:18). 

So what will you do with your life 

today, this very hour? Look around you. 

There are men and women and children 

who await your impact, who crave your 

Matter So Much 

love, who may be morally elevated by 

your example, made alive by your kind 

words, forever saved by your revelation 

of the Savior’s heart. 

“I saw the universe change today,” 

and it was by my choices and yours that 

it happened. 

Did you see it change too? n 

1 

Ellen G. White, Education (Mountain View, Calif.: 

Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1903), p. 17. 

2 

Scripture quotations in this article are from the 

New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 

1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The 

Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

HOW 

YOU 

SHAPE 

THE 

UNIVERSE 

TY GIBSON, AUTHOR OF EIGHT 

BOOKS, CODIRECTS LIGHT BEARERS, 

AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING, 

TEACHING, AND MEDIA MINISTRY. 

SUSAN, HIS WIFE, IS THE LOVE OF HIS 

LIFE. THEY HAVE THREE CHILDREN. 

23

Spirit of Prophecy 

From 

Stren th 

Hostile Tactics 

The enemy well knows that no other 

class can do so much good as young 

men and young women who are consecrated 

to God’s service. Therefore he 

makes every effort to lead them to find 

their happiness in worldly amusements, 

and to justify themselves by 

endeavoring to show these amusements 

are harmless, innocent, and even necessary 

to physical well-being. He presents 

the path of holiness as hard and thorny, 

while declaring that the paths of 

worldly pleasure are strewn with flowto 

Stren 

th 

BY ELLEN G. WHITE 

Life is a mysterious and sacred 

trust. Precious are its opportunities, 

and faithfully should they be 

improved. 

Youth Who Shine 

God desires the youth to stand in that 

position where they can honor Him all 

the time. They cannot afford to go on to 

Satan’s ground every now and then, but 

must press steadily forward to the mark 

of the prize of the high calling of God in 

Christ Jesus. Only as they place themselves 

under the broad shield of Omnipotence, 

can safety be assured to them in the 

hour of temptation. Only there as they 

work out their salvation with fear and 

trembling, can God work through them 

to will and to do of His good pleasure. 

Our youth need to have a clearer 

understanding of what it means to 

overcome by the blood of the Lamb and 

the word of their testimony. They need 

to learn, as they follow on to know the 

Lord, that His going forth is prepared as 

the morning. You have watched the rising 

sun, and the gradual breaking of day 

over the earth. Little by little the light 

increases until the world is flooded 

with the full light of day. This is a beautiful 

illustration of what God desires to 

do for His children in the perfection of 

Christian character. Only by making 

constant advancement can the youth 

fulfill God’s purpose for them. As 

opportunities multiply and are 

improved, the experience will enlarge, 

and knowledge increase. The youth will 

become strong to bear responsibility, 

because they are constantly growing in 

happiness, in holiness, in usefulness. 

ers. In false and flattering colors, he 

arrays the world with its pleasure 

before the youth, and many are led to 

destruction by his deceptions. Those 

who learn to love amusement for its 

own sake open the door to a flood of 

temptations. They are led on from one 

form of dissipation to another until 

they lose the desire for a life of usefulness 

in God’s cause. Their higher aspirations 

are chilled; their spiritual life is 

darkened. Finding their pleasures in the 

world, and the things of the world, they 

become strangers to the Father and to 

the graces of His Spirit. 

There are others whom Satan is binding 

to the world by love of gain. He is employ- 


ing all his ingenuity to lead the youth to 

become so absorbed in the pursuit of 

worldly power and wealth that they can 

give no heed to a “Thus saith the Lord.” 

Thus he leads them to give their lives to 

self-serving, and they develop, not the attributes 

of good, but the attributes of evil. 

If our characters are to meet the 

approval of God, we must fashion the 

life according to the perfect pattern. 

“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 

among us; . . . full of grace and truth.” 

The followers of Christ are to represent 

Him in all that they do and say. They are 

to live His life. The principles by which 

He was guided are to shape their lives 

and mold their characters. 

Modeling Jesus 

The youth should keep ever before 

them the course that Christ followed. It 

was a course of constant overcoming. 

He wrestled with temptations greater 

than any you will be called to meet; and 

He stood the test. He refused to yield to 

temptation. Though physical strength 

failed, His faith did not fail. 

It was not only on the cross that Christ 

gave Himself for humanity, not only in the 

wilderness of temptation and in Gethsemane 

that He overcame in our behalf. 

Every day’s experience was an outpouring 

of His life; every day he learned obedience 

by the things which He suffered. And 

because the life of Jesus was a life of perfect 

trust His service for heaven and earth 

was without failure or faltering. He met 

and resisted all the temptations that man 

must meet because in His humanity He 

relied upon divine power. 

The life of Christ reveals what every 

youth may accomplish through His 

grace. As the enemy worked to overcome 

the Savior, so he works against 

God’s children today. There will come to 

you, as there came to Christ times of 

special difficulty and need. But in every 

trial and difficulty know that Christ has 

passed this way before you. And He who 

came forth from the most severe test 

without one stain of sin, stands ready to 

strengthen all who struggle with Him 

against the powers of evil. He understands 

every difficulty. He waits to hear 

and answer prayer. 

Satan is striving to mold us into his 

likeness. Christ waits to give us power 

to resist the enemy’s temptations. 

With deepest interest the universe of 

heaven watches the conflict between 

Christ, in the person of His saints, and 

the great deceiver. Dear youth, you 

cannot afford to make mistakes in this 

conflict. Guard your spirit, guard your 

words, guard your actions. Open heart 

and mind to the impressions of the 

Holy Spirit, and be determined to 

stand for truth and righteousness. He 

who knows your weakness will impart 

to you strength; angels will work in 

your behalf, enabling you to stand 

firm for God. 

Impacting the World 

Every day you are to prepare for the 

coming of Christ by every day having an 

increased faith, a fuller and deeper 

experience in the things of God. Put 

away foolishness from the life. This is 

not a time for trifling. Believers and 

unbelievers need the help of your influence. 

All around you are those who need 

to know the transforming power of 

truth; and they will know it only as it is 

revealed to them in Christlike lives. Will 

you not help these to obtain joy and 

peace in Christ? If you will put self out 

of sight, and come into right relation to 

God, you will learn to manifest a spirit 

that will make you a blessing to all with 

whom you associate. 

The Lord wants you to help another. 

You should lay hold of every possible 

advantage, that you may be trained for 

efficient service. Every capability and 

power you possess should be regarded 

as a sacred trust, to be used in making 

known the saving power of grace. This 

is your business—your chief business. 

The Savior revealed a wonderful love, 

a wonderful earnestness when He gave 

His life that we might be cleansed from 

GUARD YOUR SPIRIT, 

GUARD YOUR WORDS, 

GUARD YOUR ACTIONS. 

iniquity. He is the pattern to be followed 

by all who have named His name. 

The shortness of time, and the responsibilities 

resting upon us as sons and 

daughters of God should lead us to ask 

ourselves at every step if we are following 

His example. n 

THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED 

IN COLUMBIA UNION VISITOR, 

OCTOBER 2, 1912. ELLEN G. WHITE, 

ITS AUTHOR, WAS ONE OF THE 

FOUNDERS OF THE SEVENTH-DAY 

ADVENTIST CHURCH. HER LIFE AND WORK TESTIFIED 

TO THE SPECIAL GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 


Adventist Life 

BECAUSE 

BUBBLE WRAP 

IS IMPRACTICAL 


Imagine this 

true-to-life story. 

Can you relate? 

BY ASHELEY WOODRUFF 

Caleb had been legally blind as 

far back as he could remember. 

Born with a genetic disorder 

affecting his eyes, Caleb 

had poor depth perception 

and was unable to focus his vision on 

specific objects. Even with corrective 

lenses, his eyesight was 20/70 at best. 

Despite the visual challenges he faced, 

Caleb’s parents were determined to help 

him live as independently as possible. 

When Caleb was 5, his parents 

enrolled him in kindergarten at their 

local elementary school. Caleb was 

placed in special education classes where 

he was guaranteed to receive additional 

help from a trained worker. He learned 

to read and write using braille tablets, 

and quickly showed an aptitude for 

math. Caleb was so skilled in math that 

when he reached the sixth grade, he was 

allowed to take advanced math classes 

with the rest of the student body. 

Unfortunately, some of the other students 

in Caleb’s advanced math class 

were not accepting of his visual impairment. 

Whether they were intimidated by 

his ability to do the problems in his head, 

or because they just didn’t like him, two 

of the boys in the class began to bully 

Caleb. Sometimes it was something 

small and irritating, such as moving his 

backpack. Other times it was more intrusive, 

such as hiding his braille tablet or 

talking calculator. Every day the two boys 

would find some way to make Caleb feel 

as if he truly was handicapped. 

Frustrated and angry, Caleb withdrew 

socially. He brought home poor report 

cards and finally asked his parents if he 

could drop the advanced math class. Concerned 

about his welfare, Caleb’s parents 

questioned him about school. Caleb 

admitted that he was unhappy because 

he was being bullied. Caleb’s parents 

immediately called the school to request 

a meeting with administrators to discuss 

the bullying that was taking place. 

After an action plan had been implemented, 

the school counselor recommended 

that Caleb attend a week of blind 

camp at Leoni Meadows, one of the National 

Camps for Blind Children. The counselor 

felt that Caleb would benefit from being 

around other children who were also visually 

impaired and that it would provide 

opportunities to boost his self-esteem. 

Caleb was enrolled and quickly made 

friends with other kids at the camp. He participated 

in archery, canoeing, horseback 

riding, and even climbed the high ropes 

course. His camp counselor taught him that 

if he could ride a horse, then he could “do 

just about anything” he wanted to. 

Are We Surrounded 

by Bullies? 

It seems almost monthly now that we 

hear reports of severe bullying in the 

news. It comes in many forms: children 

bullying teachers, teachers bullying 

children, and children bullying each 

other. We learn about these events 

because someone recorded them on 

their phone and then posted them to 

YouTube or Facebook. There are dozens 

of cases of bullying, however, that go 

unreported every day across the nation. 

As a parent I wonder what more can be 

done to help protect our children. 

Childhood is supposed to be a time of 

learning how to socialize, and developing 

creativity. It’s when we, as parents, 

take a few steps back and give our children 

the freedom to discover the world 

around them. As a mother I want my 

children to be safe, but I also want them 

to be curious and independent. When I 

see reports of bullying occurring in our 

schools, it makes me wonder what steps 

can be taken to ensure my children will 

be both empowered and protected. 

It’s estimated that thousands of kids 

experience some form of bullying every 

day in schools across the nation, 

whether it’s physical, verbal, or social. 

According to the National Bullying Prevention 

Center 1 and the American Academy 

of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2 

about one quarter to one half of all children 

are bullied. If the child has a disability, 

particularly one that is easily 

noticed, then the child is two to three 

times more likely to be bullied regularly. 

Consider the case of Caleb, a child like 

any other except that he is legally blind. 

His visual impairment made him a target 

for the bullies in his school. Caleb did 

not know how to cope with the bullying 

he received, and as a result he suffered 

emotionally and academically. Caleb’s 

parents were not aware he was being 

bullied until his grades began to suffer. 

Because bullying can occur in many 

nonphysical forms, it may be hard for 

adults to recognize when a child is 

being bullied. In the case of children 

with special needs, the removal of helping 

aids, social exclusion, and verbal 

teasing are typical. Usually the type of 

bullying depends on the child’s gender. 

Boys tend to favor physical forms of 

coercion or intimidation, while girls 

tend to use social tactics such as verbal 

abuse or social exclusion. Both types of 

bullying can be extremely hurtful to the 

victim on the emotional level. 

As if this wasn’t enough, cyberbullying 

is on the rise. The Journal of Adventist 

Education points out that cyberbullying 

allows bullies to harass their victims 

beyond the boundaries of the school 

building and school hours. Cyberbullying 

allows the perpetrators to use an 

“invisible” attack that parents and 

teachers may not know about because it 

takes place via texting or on social net- 

POSITIVE WAYS TO BULLYPROOF YOUR BLIND CHILD 


working sites. “It is possible that the 

damage caused by cyberbullying may be 

greater than the harm caused by traditional 

bullying. Online communication 

can be extremely vicious” and allows for 

others to pile on their comments, without 

having to face the victim. “Once it is 

distributed worldwide, it is often irretrievable.” 

3 Furthermore, cyberbullying 

diminishes the child’s ability to escape 

the harassment. The message the child 

receives is: “there are no safe places.” 

Children who do not know how to 

cope with the bullying may develop 

mental health problems such as depression 

or anxiety, which can affect the 

child’s ability to do well in school. In 

Caleb’s case, he withdrew from his favorite 

school activities, and his grades began 

to drop. Since his grades were dropping, 

a meeting between school officials and 

Caleb’s parents was the best first step to 

help end the bullying behavior. Caleb’s 

parents also chose to send him to a week 

of blind camp with National Camps for 

Blind Children to help restore Caleb’s 

self-esteem and confidence. 

Since 1967 National Camps for Blind 

Children (NCBC) has offered free-ofcharge 

esteem-building summer and 

winter camp weeks for children and 

adults who are visually impaired. NCBC, 

a program of Christian Record Services 

for the Blind (CRSB), gives campers 

access to outdoor physical activities, 

spiritual enrichment through worship 

with Adventist pastors, and the camaraderie 

of friends and staff members. 

At camp Caleb was able to participate 

in activities such as waterskiing and 

horseback riding with others who were 

visually impaired. During campfire time 

he was able to sing and talk with other 

kids who understood the challenges he 

faced at school. His new friends provided 

Caleb with the emotional foundation 

he needed, and the camp 

counselors were there to help him when 

he became discouraged. 

Proactive Measures 

for Parents 

There are many things we as parents 

can do to help our children learn to cope 

and hopefully avoid bullying. One proac- 

tive measure is to make yourself known to 

your child’s school. By learning how the 

school implements their policies, what the 

current practices are, and whether those 

practices are known to work, will help parents 

know how to address the school 

administration if necessary. 

In her blog “Bullying: A Parent’s Perspective,” 

Mary McDonach states that 

initiating a positive relationship with 

school administrators increases the 

likelihood that problems of bullying 

will be dealt with immediately. Also, by 

being proactive as parents, the child’s 

school is held accountable for following 

through immediately. 

Teaching a child to have good selfesteem 

is always important, and it’s also 

one of the best ways to help combat bullying. 

Children need to feel valued and 

important when they are part of a group. 

Additionally, participating in fun activities 

helps the child develop a sense of 

confidence that will combat any negative 

interactions they might have at school. 

Finally, teaching the child not to react to 

the bully is another proactive step parents 

and teachers can take. Bullies look for a 

reaction from their victims; therefore, 

teaching the child not to give a reaction 

makes the child a less-interesting target. 

Even the best proactive measures, 

however, may not prevent bullying. 

Some kids will continue to be bullies 

regardless of how a child acts. Therefore, 

it’s important that we parents be 

aware of signs that would indicate our 

child is being bullied. They include: 

• becoming withdrawn 

• fear of going to school 

• increasing signs of depression 

(lethargy, loss of appetite or interest in 

normal activities) 

• a noticeable decline in school performance 

(grades or class participation) 

• speaking of another child in fear 

• noticeable decline in the child’s 

self-esteem or self-image 

• indications of physical violence, 

such as bruises, scrapes, or other marks 

Immediate Action Needed 

If there is any suspicion that a child is 

being bullied, immediate action is best. 

There is nothing wrong with confronting 

our children if we suspect something 

is wrong. Children may be 

embarrassed to talk to adults because 

they feel they should be able to handle a 

bullying situation. They may think 

there’s nothing that can be done to stop 

someone from harassing them. 

By approaching the child first, we can 

remove some of the emotional stress for 

the child and also show our kids we 

notice when things aren’t right in their 

world. After talking with the child, parents 

should then arrange to meet with 

the school’s administration to develop 

an action plan. Action plans can include 

mediation between the students and 

increased attention paid to the situation 

while the child is on school grounds. If 

age-appropriate, it may also help to 

involve our children in these meetings. 

By being present during the meeting, 

the child will see that their problem is 

being taken seriously. It will also show 

the child that their parents are interested 

in finding a solution and that the 

child’s input matters. 

Children can also be taught how to be 

assertive with bullies. Assertive does not 

mean aggressive. Assertive means that the 

child stands their ground and forcefully 

informs the bully to leave them alone. This 

may not come naturally to everyone, so 

practicing forceful statements such as 

“Please leave me alone” or “Please do not 

move my stuff” in a loud enough manner 

to get the teacher’s attention is helpful. 

The child should also be encouraged to 

seek the help of the teacher, if avoiding the 

bullies is not an option, and to report each 

incidence of bullying when it happens. n 

1 

National Bullying Prevention Center, 2012, Bullying 

and Harassment of Students With Disabilities, www.pacer. 

org/bullying/resources/students-with-disabilities/. 

2 

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 

“Bullying,” March 2011, www.aacap.org/cs/ 

root/facts_for_families/bullying. 

3 

Susan M. Taylor, “Cyber Bullying Penetrates the 

Walls of the Traditional Classroom,” Journal of Adventist 

Education, December 2010-January 2011, pp. 37-41. 

ASHELEY WOODRUFF IS A 

LICENSED COUNSELOR, MOM, AND 

WIFE WHO LIVES IN NAMPA, IDAHO. 

SHE SPLITS HER TIME BETWEEN HER 

COUNSELING PRACTICE IN BOISE AND 

TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE COLLEGE OF 

WESTERN IDAHO. 


Dateline Moscow 

My Real-Life “Mission 

Impossible” (With Spies) 

RYAN FOGLE MAY BE KNOWN TO THE WORLD AS THE ACCUSED CIA SPY WHO 

was expelled from Russia. But to me he will always be an answer to prayer. 

Fogle made international headlines in May when the Federal Security Service, the successor agency 

to the Soviet KGB, detained him for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian agent. State television aired 

footage portraying him as a bumbling spy, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared him persona non 

grata, and he left the country five days later. But the Ryan Fogle whom I met showed little resemblance 

to the inept spy depicted by Russian authorities. 

Fogle was standing near the United States ambassador when I arrived at Spaso House, the ambassador’s 

residence, for a reception to celebrate U.S. Independence Day in 2011. Youthful and 

clean-cut, he greeted me with a warm smile and a handshake. He told me that he had recently 

arrived in Moscow to serve as third secretary in the embassy’s political section. We spoke 

for about five minutes and swapped contact information. 

The next day I sent Fogle a “nice to have met you, let’s keep in touch” e-mail, the same e-mail 

I try to write to everyone I meet for the first time. He replied with a similarly polite message. 

About a month later a Russian friend from church called me with an urgent problem. A teenage 

relative had been camping out at his apartment for two weeks, unsure whether the U.S. embassy 

had approved his visa application to study at an Adventist university. The teen had received a full 

scholarship, and had traveled to Moscow from his hometown in southern Russia for the required 

interview at the U.S. embassy. But now the school year was about to begin, and he had no idea 

whether or not he would be allowed to travel to the U.S. 

“Should he call the embassy and ask, or would that ruin his chances?” my friend asked. “The 

embassy says very clearly, ‘Don’t contact us; we’ll contact you.’ 

“We’ve been praying for the past two weeks,” he continued, “but there hasn’t been any news. 

Do you know someone at the embassy who could help?” 

For me, the request amounted to a “mission impossible.” I was powerless and saw no way out. 

Then I remembered Ryan Fogle. He didn’t work in the consular section, which handles visas, but 

perhaps he could offer some advice. 

With a prayer, I sent an e-mail to Fogle, explaining the situation. 

He promptly wrote back. “I’ll ask,” he said. 

I prayed for God’s will to be done. This teen had put everything on the line to pursue his studies. He was 

leaving home, family, friends, and everything else dear because he wanted an Adventist education. He had 

pledged to use his newfound knowledge to serve God. 

But what were God’s plans? 

Just hours later I received a phone call from my church friend. 

“You won’t believe what happened!” he exclaimed. “The U.S. embassy just called to say the visa has been 

approved and will be delivered by courier tomorrow.” 

I never heard from Ryan Fogle again. But one thing I know: God can use anyone to fulfill His purposes. 

When Sarah laughed at the news that she would give birth to a son, Isaac, in her old age, the Lord asked, 

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14). 

When an angel announced that Elizabeth would give birth to John the Baptist in her old age, he explained 

to his surprised listener, “For no word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37). 

When the mouths of Jesus’ disciples dropped open at the news that it would be easier for a camel to 

squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, Jesus assured them 

that even rich people could be saved: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” 

(Matt. 19:26). 

God is all-powerful. He can work with absolutely anyone: a barren woman, a rich man, and an alleged CIA spy. n 

Andrew 

McChesney 

ANDREW MCCHESNEY IS A JOURNALIST LIVING IN RUSSIA. 


Reflections 

What’s on Your Headstone? 

THE APRIL 19, 2013, PASSING OF AL NEUHARTH, JOURNALIST, PUBLISHING 

executive, and founder of USA Today, the first truly successful general-interest American national daily 

newspaper, brought back memories of an interview I’d had with him about 30 years earlier. 

Sitting in his suite/apartment at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Mr. Neuharth, attired, I’m sure, in shirt 

and tie, sat at a desk behind which was a table with an old, manual-style typewriter, which he used to write his 

weekly column for the newspaper. USA Today might have been born at the start of the computer revolution, but 

its founder was old school, probably up until his passing at age 89. 

What strikes me now, however, is not Mr. Neuharth’s eye for detail—he chose the glass-front vending boxes 

for the new newspaper, and made them resemble TV sets—or his positive attitude. The fledgling publication 

was going to “make it,” he said, and, indeed, for many years it was a profitable and important part of American 

journalism. 

Instead, it was a photo in the Aberdeen News, the South Dakota daily newspaper closest to Eureka, the 

1,200-person town in which Mr. Neuharth was born—and known as “Allen” until he shortened his first 

name—and is to be buried. The photo, by reporter Calvin Men, shows the tombstone Mr. Neuharth had 

engraved and installed in the family plot at the Eureka Cemetery. On the reverse 

is inscribed “ALLEN NEUHARTH, FOUNDER” and bears the logos—the symbols—of 

the institutions he founded, not all of which were great successes. 

First was SoDak Sports, a weekly newspaper offering exhaustive coverage of 

sports news in, well, South Dakota. It went out of business two years after its 

founding, which is why beneath that image is inscribed “1952 (Failed 1954).” 

There are logos and launch dates for Florida Today, a daily newspaper, the aforementioned 

USA Today, and two charitable endeavors: the Freedom Forum, a foundation 

that supports First Amendment issues and the Newseum, a Washington, 

D.C., museum of the news business. 

Mr. Men’s photo got a fair amount of attention in journalistic circles, and perhaps 

a bit of cynicism from the hard-boiled reporters and editors who thought 

that was all Mr. Neuharth intended as his memorial. But a closer reading of the 

newspaper photo’s caption shows this was what was on the rear of the tombstone, 

not the front, on which, I’d imagine, are the more traditional notations of 

dates of birth, death, and perhaps his wife’s name. 

Still, it’s clear what Al Neuharth believed were his important accomplishments: starting newspapers and 

media organizations. Fair enough, I suppose, and, not having spoken about spiritual matters, I can’t say where 

his heart was, or wasn’t. 

The headstone photo, however, got me thinking: what would I want to have engraved on my headstone? (I’m 

hoping for translation, but “no one knows when their hour will come,” as we read in Ecclesiastes 9:12.) 

I’m a stamp collector, and I enjoy my hobby, but, no, that’s not granite-worthy, I think. Neither is my fondness 

for animals, having been privileged to provide a home for one dog and several cats over the years. A 

husband? Yes, that should be noted, and I’m grateful for the privilege of being married to Jean, whom I love. 

But many people have collected things, or had animal companions, or even been married. Lots of us have 

had what we considered significant careers, but do not feel compelled to take the corporate symbol of our 

employers literally to the grave with us. 

I’d rather have a simple cross—to show my dedication to Jesus and His church—and perhaps a reference to 

Jeremiah 29:11 carved in stone, a reminder, perhaps, that God saved a sinner (me), and has a future and a hope 

promised for those who trust Him. n 

CALVIN MEN/ABERDEEN NEWS 

MARK A. KELLNER SERVES AS NEWS EDITOR FOR ADVENTIST REVIEW AND ADVENTIST WORLD MAGAZINES.

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