Reviewing Adventist World, NAD Edition

June, 2012
Vol. 8, No. 6
http://www.adventistworld.org/

Adventist World is free online. For that reason, I only review or comment on articles that I believe to be of special interest. This includes editorials, special supplements, and NAD features not available online.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
This issue is interesting reading from first page to last. For those of you who don’t have the time or inclination, I can give you the flavor of the reporting, the sentiment, and the theology by providing a sampling of the quotes I found inspiring, jaw dropping, hard to take seriously, informative, antediluvian, and dumb.

However, before I begin, I do want to give my enthusiastic thumbs up for EYE HEALTH by Drs. Handysides and Landless, THE STORY OF A ONE DAY CHURCH, reported by Dick Duerksen, and a great mission story, THE CHURCH THAT MET UNDER A TREE by Ephraim Nkonya.

QUOTES
A hundred stimulating Sabbath school discussions that try to answer the question “Why does God allow suffering?” melt away in the midnight silence of another hospital waiting room. We speak softly; we hold each other’s hands; we move repeatedly to prayer.
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Before the start of a massive March 24 evangelistic outreach in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, Ted N. C. Wilson, General Conference president, had encouraging words: “Everyone can be part of God’s remnant church.”

The World Church has committed itself to distribute 175 million copies of the Great Hope and the larger version [The Great Controversy] this year and next year.
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How is The Great Hope different from the great controversy? What chapters are included, and why? See http://www.sharethegreathope.com/chapters.html
Two Million copies of the unabridged version have been distributed in North America.
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Young people are trained for one year and during this time are given various responsibilities by their supervisors. After one year the best students are hand picked for additional theological training…’All our students are self-supporting and need to fund themselves,’ said Hao Ya Jie, church and school leader.
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Rather than being governed by an oligarchy, the church works through committees and is dependent upon the working of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide as issues are discussed and voted.
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The church system throughout its various levels of administration, from the local church to the conference/mission to the union to the division/General Conference level, and, of course, at worldwide sessions of the General Conference, use methods of consensus and democratic voting after seeking God’s guidance through the Bible, the Spirit of Prophecy, earnest prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

As we near the end of this world, we must not allow the devil to divide the church with controversy or conflict. Let us plead with the Lord for revival and reformation leading to the latter rain of the Holy Spirit that will keep us united in our biblical beliefs and our mission to this world. We must follow the example of the early disciples as we fulfill God’s designs for us as His last-day disciples.
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Male church leaders must advocate for women in ministry.
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Approximately 107 women serve as pastors of local churches in 34 conferences of the North American Division—2.7 percent of the total pastoral workforce of more than 4,000 pastors.
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Plans are being laid for a global field school of evangelism, where preachers from all over the world will come to New York to study comprehensive plans for urban evangelism. Not only will they preach to the people of New York,--they will also take away key lessons and strategies so they can replicate what happens in New York all over the planet.
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Women’s Ministries Emphasis Day should not be confused with Mother’s Day celebrations, common in most churches, since not all women are mothers.
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We do not need to ask whether the Son was really born by the Father, or whether the Father and the Son are superior to the Spirit. So even though Mary was “found to be with child by the Holy Spirit”, the Spirit is not the Father of the Son, who is Himself “Eternal Father.”
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In December of 2007 the project was submitted via the EUD to a special appropriations committee at the General Conference. Eight months later Matthias and Klaus got the green light, and the team began to further develop the concept. The year 2009 was reserved for bringing the regional church administrations on board (including representatives from all German-speaking European countries), and the project was finally voted in December of that year.
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Especially is this true of those who are unable to give an intelligent reason for their faith, and of those who have a zeal not according to knowledge. Such believers should talk less in vindication of our faith, and study their Bible more, letting their deportment bear eloquent testimony to the power for good which the truth exercises on the willing heart and life.
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[At a Chinese] university something out of the ordinary occurred. The English department decided that in order for students to have a strong foundation in English, they must read English books. One of the courses in the curriculum is Bible, and all English majors use it as a textbook for studying English. Inevitably, the university also made sure the instructors were agnostics or atheists, who viewed the Bible merely as a language text rather than a holy book.
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That’s when the Lord took their case in His own hands and allowed the bloodguilt to fall on the land in the form of a prolonged famine.
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Immediately Watts stood in the carriage and responded, “Madam, could I in fancy grasp the poles and hold creation in my hand, I would still be measured by my mind, for the mind is the measure of a man.”
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Harvard University followed 121,000 people for 20 years and found the following foods most effective in helping people maintain a healthy weight: 1. Nuts  2. Yogurt  3. Fresh Fruit  4. Whole Grains  5. Fresh Vegetables