Corporate Repentance - Robert J. Wieland

history of our past, the hope of the soon return of
Christ must then fade further into uncertainty.
A special 1992 issue of the Adventist Review
on the Second Coming reported on the well-known
uncertainty of many of our youth. Cheryl R.
Merritt reports the frightening reality, "We are a
generation of nonconviction when it comes to
Jesus' second coming." "I really don't think we can
have any idea of when He'll come" (Daniel Potter,
21, Union College). "I can't imagine it happening
in my lifetime" (Shawn Sugars, 22, Andrews
University).
This reveals a terrible problem. If we lose our
faith in the nearness of the second coming, we lose
the reason for our existence as a special church.
Our forefathers built into our denominational name
our confidence in the soon return of Christ, for the
dictionary defines the word "Adventist" not as
some dim hope in a "far-off divine event," but
confidence in the soon coming of the Lord. There
is a close relationship between understanding
Christ's Laodicean call to repent and our
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