Remembering the Radical Politics of the Pioneers: John Byington (by Brian Strayer)

Dr. Brian Strayer, Professor of History at Andrews University, is currently working on the first biography ever written on the life of John Byington, the first president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists who was also a radical abolitionist who actively assisted fugitive slaves fleeing to Canada and who contributed to the development of many social, political, and religious institutions in Antebellum and Victorian America.  The following article is an original contribution to the APF blog by Dr. Strayer drawing on material in his forthcoming book.

Probably the image most Adventists have of Elder John Byington is based on the only photograph they’ve ever seen which portrays the aged patriarch as a silver-haired, balding, bearded, wrinkled, scowling preacher in a black frockcoat and white shirt buttoned tightly around the neck. Consequently, they might be surprised to learn that he was a loving, devoted husband to two wives—Mary Ferris (1823-1829) and Catharine Newton (1830-1885)—for more than sixty years; a warm-hearted but firm father to eight children; and a generous grandpa and great-grandpa to seventeen grandchildren and great-grandchildren who loved to visit him “down on the farm.” Indeed, the Byington’s family reunions made the front page of Battle Creek’s leading newspaper. Despite being busy with farm and church duties, John and Catharine frequently visited, wrote letters to, and prayed earnestly for their scattered family members living in Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and Kansas.

Even Adventists who have heard that Elder Byington never received a salary from the church probably don’t know that the reason he could volunteer his services is because the Byingtons operated profitable farms. In New York John and Catharine owned 200 acres of prime land with 87 farm animals; every year they sold tons of hay, wheat, corn, oats, and potatoes and hundreds of pounds of butter, cheese, and maple syrup as far away as Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. When they moved to Michigan in 1858, they bought 340 acres and sold a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, hides, honey, and Catharine’s homemade mittens and candles in nearby towns. In addition, John sold calendars, repaired teeth, and made loans at ten percent interest. In short, the Byingtons operated profit-making agribusinesses that netted them hundreds of dollars in profits each year. Unlike conservative Adventists, however, the family ate meat, drank tea and coffee, and bought insurance policies (especially after their barn burned).

Perhaps one reason why the Byingtons’ lifestyle differed from other Adventists is that for half a century, the family had been Methodists. John’s brother Jared had helped to establish the Methodist-Episcopal Church in Connecticut in 1799; their father Justus, a circuit-riding preacher in Vermont, had played a key role in founding the Methodist Protestant Church in 1829. For nearly four decades after his conversion in 1816, John himself became a licensed preacher of Methodism in Vermont and New York, and in his forties, he helped form the new Wesleyan Methodist Church in St. Lawrence County, New York. Indeed, prior to his conversion to Sabbath-keeping Adventism in 1852, John had built Methodist chapels and parsonages in Bucks Bridge, Morley, and Lisbon, New York. To a certain extent, Elder Byington remained a “Seventh-day Methodist” throughout his long life (1798-1887), subscribing to the Methodist paper The Christian Advocate, reading John Wesley’s sermons, and regularly attending Methodist (as well as many other) Sunday services. In 1886, only months before he died, Byington recommended in the Review that Adventist social meetings should be revised to follow the pattern of Methodist class meetings.

If John Byington’s close connections to Methodism may surprise many readers, even scholars have been unaware of his radical politics...John himself frequently chaired meetings of the St. Lawrence County Anti-Slavery Society, participated in abolitionist conventions, and—along with several other Byingtons and their Hilliard cousins—signed petitions in the 1850s demanding that the U.S. Congress abolish slavery, which he called 'an outrage' and 'a sin.' New evidence indicates that Anson and John Byington actively assisted fugitive slaves in escaping to Canada along the famous Underground Railroad which ran through Bucks Bridge in St. Lawrence County.

If John Byington’s close connections to Methodism may surprise many readers, even scholars have been unaware of his radical politics. As early as the 1830s, John was active in the short-lived Anti-Masonic Party which opposed membership in all secret societies. In the 1840s, he chaired conventions of the Liberty Party (1843-1848) and the Free Soil Party (1848-1852), both formed to end slavery in the United States. After the Republican Party was created in 1854, John and Catharine became life-long voting members of that party.

In part, the Byingtons’ involvement in the Wesleyan Methodist Church and in the Liberty and Free Soil parties reflected their strong abolitionist views. John’s brother Anson, who in the 1830s and 1840s was president of the Chittenden County, Vermont Anti-Slavery Society, had been expelled from the Congregational Church in 1849 for his abolitionist views and cancelled his subscription to the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald in 1859 because he felt that Uriah Smith did not advocate abolitionism strongly enough. John himself frequently chaired meetings of the St. Lawrence County Anti-Slavery Society, participated in abolitionist conventions, and—along with several other Byingtons and their Hilliard cousins—signed petitions in the 1850s demanding that the U.S. Congress abolish slavery, which he called “an outrage” and “a sin.” New evidence indicates that Anson and John Byington actively assisted fugitive slaves in escaping to Canada along the famous Underground Railroad which ran through Bucks Bridge in St. Lawrence County. Throughout his life Elder Byington enjoyed a close relationship with African Americans like Sojourner Truth and during his travels around Michigan, he was a frequent guest in the Hardy and Minesie homes, Black Adventists living near New Caledonia and Jamestown.

To a significant degree, Elder Byington remained a circuit-riding revivalist preacher throughout his life. Unlike his Adventist ministerial colleagues, he did not receive a salary either from the Michigan Conference or from the General Conference; he did not conduct evangelistic tent meetings to convert non-Adventists; he did not preach long doctrinal sermons or write books on theology. Instead, he and Catharine set out to cheer the discouraged, reconcile differences, urge repentance, and build faith and unity by holding revival, testimony, prayer, quarterly, social, and business meetings; by preaching short homilies about heaven, grace, prayer, conversion, and perseverance; and by visiting and praying with every family in every Adventist congregation in his vast parish. To prepare for this mission, they began every New Year with fasting and prayer. Then they covered hundreds of back roads by horse, buggy, sleigh, and foot and traversed muddy quagmires, snow-drifted fields, dusty paths, and rock-strewn highways, facing carriage accidents, disease, and frequent opposition. Yet during his thirty-five-year ministry, Elder Byington witnessed stronger congregations, faith healings, hundreds of baptisms, and a tightly unified, rapidly growing denomination.

The Byingtons themselves contributed significantly to help make the Seventh-day Adventist Church grow in numbers and unity. John believed firmly that “God is a God of order in temporal as well as spiritual matters.” In 1853 his daughter Martha taught the first Adventist home school; in 1854 his wife Catharine taught the second (after Rochester, New York) children’s Sabbath school; and in 1855 John built the third (after Jackson and Battle Creek, Michigan) Adventist meetinghouse in Bucks Bridge, New York. Called to Michigan in 1857, Elder Byington spent the next thirty years combatting heresies, organizing local churches, promoting “Gospel order” and systematic Benevolence, and helping to create new institutions such as the Review and Herald, the Michigan Conference, the General Conference, the Western Health Reform Institute (where his son Fletcher served as a physician), and Battle Creek College. In addition, he served as the first General Conference president (1863-1865); helped to secure noncombatant status for Adventist soldiers; chaired numerous church committees; and held ministerial credentials into his eighty-eighth year.

As a busy family man, farmer, preacher, and administrator, Byington had little time for writing books, tracts, and articles. Instead, he penned short letters, reports, and two- or three-paragraph exhortations to readers of the Review and Youth’s Instructor reflecting his optimistic, can-do spirit and deep piety. Unlike the heavy doctrinal and theological sermons sent in by his ministerial colleagues, John wrote homilies emphasizing the need for homes “permeated with prayer” and offered sage advice about a wide spectrum of practical Christian living. While he strongly opposed some of the popular fads of his day (debating schools, bloomers, croquet, and spiritualism), he also played the role of an Adventist “Dear Abby” in his question-and-answer column ion the Youth’s Instructor. His final written contribution (“Peace with God”) appeared in the Bible Echo in May 1887 four months after his death. In it he made the point that justification “has no reference to our good works,” but to Christ’s forgiveness of our sins, and that unless “the Holy Spirit fills the heart, we cannot have peace with God.” But if the Spirit dwells within us, he added, we can have grace, power, and a “hope that reaches forward to the heavenly rest.” In these few words, Elder John Byington aptly summarized the underlying theme of his ministry and, in a sense, staked his position on a contentious issue that would be debated at the Minneapolis General Conference the following year.

Adventist Peace Church in Chattanooga works for racial and economic justice (by Lisa Diller)

(The Well in Chattanooga is one of five Adventist congregations currently working toward certification as an "Adventist Peace Church".  Lisa Clark Diller, a professor of history at Southern Adventist University and the APF coordinator for the The Well, shares this update of recent Well activities focused on racial and economic justice as well care for creation.) One of the Well’s (wellonthesouthside.org) core values is that it must strive to be an incarnational community. This means the Well is very intentional about being present in the physical space of our immediate neighborhood.

When the community is celebrating, mourning, building, or dialoging, we at the Well want to be there alongside our neighbors. We host the local Jefferson Heights Neighborhood Association meetings at our facility. Our once-a-month Deep Well Sabbaths take our worship into the neighborhood through fellowship, education, service, or small group worship.

It is this commitment to being part of the Kingdom of God in the Southside of Chattanooga that leads us to connect with the mission of the Adventist Peace Fellowship. Becoming an Adventist Peace Church, when we discovered this network, was a very obvious move for us to make. The APF campaigns that we are most deeply involved with as a natural part of our life and ministry on the Southside are racial reconciliation, care for creation and economic justice.

We appreciate the vocabulary and the language of APF in helping us root our peacemaking activities in the theology and history of the Adventist Church and its local congregations around the world. Thinking intentionally about what we are doing helps give greater meaning to it. It is also true that being part of the network of Peace Churches helps us stay accountable to what we are doing.

For instance, in the months of November and December we helped the Cowart Place Neighborhood Association plant dozens of trees in the industrial landscape of the Southside as they turned an empty lot into a park. Our children/family group collected quarters and handed out Christmas greetings with rolls of quarters and small quantities of laundry detergent at local laundromats on the Southside. While this small activity does not go far towards achieving lasting economic justice, it does educate our children and families about the realities of many people in the urban core and the challenges they face in going about the most mundane elements of everyday life, such as doing laundry.

Finally, members from the Well joined several urban peace workers and the Chattanooga Police Department on a march for peace and reconciliation in one of the most challenged of our Southside Communities, Alton Park. This was a way of recognizing, in a peaceful way, the national conversation we are having in the U.S. about the police violence and racial reconciliation. The march consisted of a very diverse group of people, and it was an educational experience for the Well members who participated.

We look forward to more inspiration from our sister churches and for more ways to be part of the Kingdom of God and as we grow the followers of Jesus in Chattanooga.

Peace activists convene at Oakwood University for Adventist Peace Education Week

Dr. Keith Augustus Burton (one of the APF's founding Advisory Board members and the director of the Adventist-Muslim Center at Oakwood University) presents the 2015 Adventist Peace Fellowship Peace and Justice Calendar to internationally known peace activist Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

(Republished by permission of Kay Campbell writing for the Huntsville Times)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Want to feel less discouraged about the disarray and violence in the world? Then join a protest movement, say Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, a pro-peace group originally organized by mothers against war.

During the evening presentation on Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, marking Adventist Peace Education Week at Oakwood University, Kelly and Benjamin took questions from the audience of about 30 about what their protests and demonstrations do. Kelly has just been sentenced and will report on Jan. 23 to a federal prison for a three-month sentence for walking into Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri with a loaf of bread and letters from Afghan teenagers she was trying to deliver to the commander of the base from which drones are controlled that are killing people in Afghanistan.

"You always feel like a fool out there," said Benjamin, who recently participated in a"die-in" in Senator Elizabeth Warren's office to bring attention to the civilian deaths in Gaza from Israel's strong-handed response to Hamas. "But that's how a movement starts. That's how it gets built up. That's how it gets talked about."

But it's been 13 years, with no end in sight, that the U.S. has been at war in the Middle East. When will that stop? Given the money involved in the military-industrial-congressional complex, Kelly and Benjamin said, perhaps never unless American citizens become more active in protesting the growing militarism abroad - and at home, for that matter, as local police departments become a dumping ground for excess military supplies. Despite the horrors in the world, both activists said they see signs of progress.

"People who do these actions tend to be more optimistic than people just sitting at home, getting more and more disgusted with how things are," Benjamin said. "When you're on the front lines, you do find those little victories."

Career of action

Kathy Kelly has spent most of her adult life on the frontlines. Kelly holds a master's in religion, but has spent most of her adult life traveling to the heart of dangerous and pained places. During the embargo on Iraq, she helped to take medication and other humanitarian supplies - in violation of the United Nations embargo - to people who were dying.

"It was a death row for children," Kelly said, quoting a British aid worker she talked to in Iraq when she delivered the supplies.

She was living in Baghdad at the time of the American invasion as a living example of how pro-peace actions involve simplicity and direct service. In Afghanistan, where she has also lived for years, she helped set up a woman's cooperative to make blankets to give to people who are freezing, sometimes to death, with the war-caused disruption of electricity in the cities. To make sure she in no way contributes to America's wars, since the early 1980s, Kelly has voluntarily limited her income to below the taxable level of income tax.

"The IRS became my spiritual director in living in solidarity with the poor," Kelly said.

"Blood will not wash away blood," Kelly said, summing up why she is against war. The connection between America's actions in Iraq and the recent escalation of ISIS and even the massacre in France is clear: Most of the leaders of ISIS were held as teenagers in cruel circumstances in the same American prison in Iraq, where they met and began pledging their lives to fighting together. The gunmen in France were trained in the camps in Yemen that also have direct connections to people formerly held in American camps in Iraq.

"Please don't hear me make excuses for anyone anywhere who decides to put up a gun and kill, but let us be aware of the consequences, let us see the context in which evil is going to exist," Kelly said.

Huntsville's bloody hands

Like several of the Huntsville-area peace activists who welcomed the crowd, both Kelly and Medea Benjamin made reference to the reliance that the Huntsville area has on the machinations of war, including being a center for development and testing of the drone bombers and surveillance machines. Those instruments of death could be turned to good, Medea said.

"These could be used for good - to fight forest fires, to track endangered wildlife, to help farmers or realtors or as hobbies," Medea said. "Let's develop technology for positive uses, and let's quit using drones for killing."

Medea has been part of protests that have flown surveillance drones over the homes of those making decisions about military uses of drones to let them see how it feels to have that impersonal monitoring. They don't like it.

"They usually have us arrested," Medea said, shrugging.

Only peace activists can introduce new solutions to global disruptions, both Kelly and Medea said. Otherwise, those in power will hear only from people who think the way to solve problems of violence is with a stronger counter-violence. And citizens also have push the government to quit supporting repressive governments - like that in Saudi Arabia - and encourage patient negotiations, which, so far, is what is happening with Iran despite some pressuring for military action there, too.

"We've just concluded the biggest arms deal in the history of humanity with Saudi Arabia - the center of this radical Muslim teaching and a terribly repressive government," Medea said. "How do you think that looks to people in the Muslim world who are trying to build democracies?"

Keeping the long arc of justice in mind is crucial to peace work, Kelly said.

"Just think - if this meeting were held 100 years ago, how many people in this room wouldn't be able to vote, to own land, to marry," Kelly said. "Some things that seem unthinkable, even impossible, can be closer than we think. Let us not despair. We are all part of one another - and that way peace lies."

Oakwood University Students and Adventists in Ohio Participate in Protests

We reported earlier that Andrews University students were active in demonstrations calling for racial justice. Also, the president of the Northeastern Conference made a public statement. These were not the only Adventists who joined the national conversation. Students at Oakwood University and Adventists in Ohio also participated, reports Spectrum. Here are a number of articles that reported on their involvement. Excerpts below:

Pastors: Prayer trumps protest (Lori Kurtzman, Columbus Dispatch, 7 Dec 2014)

Church leaders and members gathered outside the Statehouse yesterday to call for prayer in a time of social unrest. “You can’t meet anger with anger,” said John Boston, pastor at Central Seventh-day Adventist Church on the Near East Side. “We want to meet anger with calm, protest with prayer.”

March on Wynn Drive to University Blvd. (Oakwood University, 5 Dec 2014)

We understand that some of our Oakwood students along with other students have been involved in the organizing of a demonstration (#ShutItDownHSV) for December 5, at 4:30 p.m. We support the rights of our students to peacefully protest. However, we are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of our students and anyone else who has planned to participate.  We do not support the breaking of traffic laws and ask every Oakwood student, “If you choose to participate, to do so peacefully and lawfully, in accordance with the laws of the city of Huntsville.”

We also invite students who wish to express themselves, but do not wish to march to join us on Sunday, December 7, at 5:00 p.m. in Moran Hall to help assemble an action plan for how Oakwood students can support the mission of creating “One Huntsville.”

March on Wynn Drive to University Blvd: A message from Oakwood University president (Oakwood University, 5 Dec 2014)

Tonight I stood among our students as they made their voices heard. I marched with them. I felt their unrest. I could sense that they wanted change and equality. As I looked at their faces, I couldn't help but think how this experience would change them forever. Being able to protest for change is a beautiful thing. And we are proud of how they conducted themselves in the midst of their pain and anger.

Students from Oakwood University fill streets with peaceful protest (WAFF 48, 5 Dec 2014)

The protest started to block off Wynn Drive from Oakwood University all the way to University Drive Friday evening.

UPDATE: #ShutItDownHSV protest march remains peaceful along University Drive (Matt Kroschel, WHNT 19, 5 Dec 2014)

Oakwood University students and other local college students angered by high-profile cases in Missouri and New York gathered for a protest march Friday evening. Students used social media and the Twitter hashtag #ShutItDownHSV to get out the word.

Oakwood University Students are Joined in Protest by the Huntsville Community on a March to Shut Down University Drive (Jonathan Bratton, Vimeo, Dec 2014)

Oakwood University Students are Joined in Protest by the Huntsville Community on a March to Shut Down University Drive

Following Ferguson protests, Oakwood University students start seeking solutions; want police body cameras ( Paul Huggins, AL.com, 7 Dec 2014)

Two days after 300 Oakwood University students marched in protest against African American deaths by police, they began working on "tangible solutions," such as requiring police body cameras, that they intend to deliver to city officials.

Oakwood students have ‘What’s next’ meeting after protests (Shevaun Bryan, WHNT 19, 7 Dec 2014)

A quiet Sunday meeting was filled with ideas from the same minds that brought a massive demonstration to the Rocket City.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Leslie Pollard, @LesPollard. "Black Lives Matter--at the Oakwood demonstration for justice in Huntsville!" (6:14 PM - 5 Dec 2014)

Announcing the 2015 Adventist Peace and Justice Wall Calendar

The APF is pleased to announce publication of our first wall calendar featuring Adventist pioneers whose lives continue to challenge and provoke as champions of nonviolence, peacemaking, social justice, environmentalism, freedom of conscience, and human rights.  The 12"x12" calendar includes major U.S. holidays and days of significance to socially conscious persons of all faiths or none.  Days of particular importance to peacemakers in the Adventist tradition are highlighted in red.

The APF 2015 wall calendar will be mailed to pastors, teachers, and others in the APF network, and sent as a thank-you to individuals who make an online donation of at least $25 to the APF before the end of January.  Donations will help support the ongoing work of the APF and creation of an Adventist peace and justice curriculum for use in school and church settings.

Among the individuals whose stories are told throughout the year on the calendar are prominent poet and novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, Arna Bontemps (February); champion of gender equality, Sojourner Truth (March); Soviet era prisoner of conscience Vladimir Shelkov (August); and revolutionary missionaries to Peru, Fernando and Ana Stahl (September).  The calendar also announces the first annual Adventist Peace Education Week (January 12-19), and first annual Adventist Peace Fellowship Sabbath (May 23).

A high resolution sample from the calendar (featuring A. T. Jones for the month of January) can be downloaded as a PDF file.

For more information about the calendar, see the interview with its creator, APF director Ronald Osborn, by Jared Wright at Spectrum Magazine online.

Northeastern Conference President Calls for Racial Justice

Dr. Daniel Honoré, president of the Northeastern Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, read the following statement at the worship service this past Sabbath (Dec. 6, 2014) at the Ephesus SDA Church in Harlem, NY: The original document can be accessed online here.

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Hundreds of Students at Andrews University March for Racial Justice (by Shenika McDonald)

An original report by Shenika McDonald On Saturday, December 6, approximately 250 Andrews University students, faculty, staff, and Berrien Springs community members participated in a justice march to the Berrien Springs Police Department.  It was the first public protest in the school’s history. For many students this was a chance to lend their voice to a worthy cause. The march was held in memory of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Jr. – two Black, unarmed men killed by the police. Shastri Lloyd, a senior theology major and coordinator of the posters used in the event, said that “the march helped to engage Oronoko County Police in real conversation about them being proactive about race issues, and how they affect their approach to law enforcement.”

Aside from starting a conversation, the protesters chanted several phrases such as “black lives matters,” “hands up, don’t shoot,” “I can’t breathe,” and “no justice, no peace.” Once at the police department the protesters walked around the building following the model of Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho.  They prayed for both the protection of officers who put their lives on the line for the safety of Oronok County, and for individuals in the future to never feel oppressed by the officers’ power. There was a moment of silence that lasted 4.5 minutes to represent the 4.5 hours Michael Brown Jr.’s dead body was left in the street before he was finally attended to.

The protest was led by Andrews students, including, Tanya Loveday, Ndubuisi Nwade, Jameel Daniels, Karyle Barnes, Dwayne Wescom, Nephtali Eugene, Shastri Lloyd, and Persephanie Chiddick, as well as Chaplain Michael Polite. The event was covered by South Bend news station WSBT22 and made their website’s top news for the day. (WSBT’s coverage can be found at: http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/hundreds-rally-for-justice-inberrien-springs/30100712)

The movement does not end here. Students have many plans for the future, including projects in Benton Harbor and boycotts. This peaceful protest in the small town of Berrien Springs is part of a massive national movement, and the students of Andrews University are doing their part help the oppressed and share justice as is commanded by God.  More information, photos, and videos of the march can be found on Facebook using the hashtag: #breakthewalls

Mel Gibson to Direct Film About Desmond Doss

Mel Gibson, whose film credits include "The Passion of the Christ" (2004) and "Apocalypto" (2006), will direct his first movie in eight years.  "Hacksaw Ridge" will tell the story of Seventh-day Adventist conscientious objector Desmond T. Doss, the first and only World War II pacifist to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.  The film will star Andrew Garfield (of "The Amazing Spider-Man") in the role of Doss.  The project marks a somewhat surprising turn for the director and actor most famous for his starring roles in violent action films built around themes radically opposed to the values of conscientious objection and nonviolent Christian peace witness that guided Doss and other Adventists of his generation.  Yet Gibson, a devout  Catholic, has also shown a long-standing interest in telling religious stories.  "The project looks a perfect fit for the religiously minded Gibson," The Guardian newspaper notes. "The Oscar-winning director’s 2004 film 'The Passion of the Christ' was an enormous box office hit, taking more than $600m worldwide after attracting huge numbers of Christian filmgoers in the US. However, the film also drew accusations of antisemitism, charges that have dogged Gibson ever since." The Adventist Peace Fellowship features Doss along with other Adventist peacemakers on the APF website, and during the month of May on its soon-to-be-released 2015 wall calendar.  When drafted into the military during World War II, Desmond Doss, like virtually all Seventh-day Adventists in the United States, refused to carry a weapon and entered the service as a noncombatant medic.  During basic training he faced harassment and ridicule from his fellow soldiers for his principled stand as a conscientious objector committed to saving rather than taking lives.  One of his officers sought to have him discharged on grounds of alleged mental illness.  Doss was assigned to the Pacific theatre where he distinguished himself for his remarkable valor.  In one incident, he personally carried 75 wounded men, one by one, off of a fire-swept battlefield, exposing himself repeatedly to a barrage of mortar and heavy machine-gun fire without any regard for his own safety.  In another battle, he continued to care for the injured even after being wounded by a grenade.  Doss became the first conscientious objector to receive America’s highest military award.  His Medal of Honor citation reads in part: “Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers.  His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.”

Bates Versus Byington: Words Versus Actions

Which is more important, actions to change the world or words to herald Jesus' return? I hope we see this as a false choice, but let's consider the question in the context of an early Adventist debate.

Joseph Bates was active in the U.S. anti-slavery movement before he believed in Jesus' soon return. Although after his conversion he continued to oppose slavery, his new theology or eschatology significantly changed his approach to abolitionism. He wrote:

Some of my good friends that were engaged in the temperance and abolition cause, came to know why I could not attend their stated meetings as formerly, and argued that my belief in the coming of the Saviour should make me more ardent in endeavoring to suppress these growing evils. My reply was, that in embracing the doctrine of the second coming of the Saviour, I found enough to engage my whole time in getting ready for such an event, and aiding others to do the same, and that all who embraced this doctrine would and must necessarily be advocates of temperance and the abolition of slavery; and those who opposed the doctrine of the second advent could not be very effective laborers in moral reform. And further, I could not see duty in leaving such a great work to labor single-handed as we had done, when so much more could be accomplished in working at the fountain-head, making us every way right as we should be for the coming of the Lord.[1]

Bates believed he was moving from working with one hand to working with two and moving from peripheral branches to the root or fountain-head. Rather than merely get right about slavery and alcohol, bates wanted to be “every way right.” Adventist historian Douglas Morgan states that Bates believed issue-oriented activism “would never be widespread enough to transform human society before Christ's return” (Adventism and the American Republic, p. 27). That is, Bates felt that even his best efforts toward abolition would inevitably fail to end slavery, whereas if he labored for Jesus' return, he could (a) turn more people against slavery as they converted to true Christianity and (b) actually speed the release of slaves (which would only happen at the second coming).

Bates and others believed from their study of Revelation that there would be people in bondage and slavery right down to the end of time (Rev. 6:15; 13:16). Jesus' return was the only cure; slavery in the U.S. could not be stopped short of this apocalyptic event.

I can sympathize with this viewpoint. When studying peace and social justice in graduate school, it seemed I prayed more fervently for Jesus' return with each new issue covered—war, hunger and malnutrition, genocide, human trafficking, violence against women, insufficient healthcare, environmental deterioration, etc. Each topic felt too big, too impossible to solve or even minimize. “God you have to come end this because we can't. It's too big. Each individual problem is too big.” If I were Bates, I would probably have also thought slavery in the U.S. could never be abolished.

Not every Adventist shared Bates' viewpoint. Morgan highlights the counter-voice of Anson Byington, brother of the first Adventist president, John Byington.

Anson Byington grew disenchanted with the Review by 1859 because of its passivity on the issue of slavery and wrote announcing that he would not be renewing his subscription. He declared, “I dare not tell the slave that he can afford to be contented in his bondage until the Savior comes however near we may believe his coming. Surely the editor of the Review could not afford to go without his breakfast till then. If it was our duty to remember those in bonds as bound with them eighteen hundred years ago, it must be our duty still” (Morgan, p. 28).

Byington held both convictions—for social action and for evangelism pointing to Jesus' return. “Expectation of Jesus' soon return combined with accountability to his way taught in the gospels, and for Byington the love of neighbor there enjoined implied public responsibility” (Morgan. p. 28).

The results of the Civil War would prove Bates' view to be too limited. Change was in fact possible. Slavery in the U.S. was abolished in his lifetime. Bates was wrong; Byington was right.

But here we are today, one hundred fifty years later, and slavery is greater today around the world than it was at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.[2] Bates was wrong about the inability to stop legal slavery in the U.S., but he was actually right on a larger scale. The demon of slavery has grown bolder and stronger, despite the efforts of governments[3] and organizations like International Justice Mission or Tiny Hands International (the Christian nonprofit I work for).

Bates and Byington each have something to say to Adventists today. On the one hand, Byington tells us that change is possible, that Christians can make a difference to reduce the suffering of God's children, that we should combine social action with Christian preaching. On the other hand, Bates tells us that our compassionate actions will not lead to the ultimate good we wish for the world, for God's pure and complete will to be done on Earth as in Heaven. We can facilitate change—the gates of hell will not prevail—but the change will be limited in scope. This ultimate desire for righteousness/justice will only be realized after Jesus returns and demolishes this world's empires (Dan. 2).

Bates' point is important because it reminds us that we're in for the long haul. That is, we shouldn't get discouraged when our efforts lead to much smaller changes than we hope for. Instead, we should act as we're able, knowing that God can bless our loaves and fishes but that perfecting the world is not in our grasp, that rescuing the world is on Jesus' shoulders, not ours. This shouldn't discourage us from doing what we can; rather it should let us know we need to play the long-game and not give up when things fail to improve as substantially or as quickly as we wish.

In his book The World Is Not Ours To Save, Tyler Wigg-Stevenson paints a daunting picture of the world today, lamenting the inadequacy of our remedies. He writes:

In response to the litany of human woes filling the pages above, some may be saying, “Okay, okay, I get it—the world is terrible! So, what's the secret? What's the plan? What's the solution?

There is no secret. No plan. No solution—until the kingdom of God comes—to the dilemma of living in a fallen world. That's the point. The answer is not a course of action, a recipe, a hidden formula. But the absence of evident solutions does not absolve us from the pain of loving the world as Christ loves it.

Confronted with this tension, the only response is resolute commitment. We can realize that there is no solution and simultaneously refuse to be defeated or paralyzed by that fact. (p. 60)

Wigg-Stevenson's purpose in describing this reality as he sees it relates to the two lessons we can learn from Bates and Byington—we need to do what we can, but we shouldn't be discouraged by a world beyond complete repair. He warns, “A generation of Christians that thinks it is called to save the world is a generation firing on the fuel of false hopes. It is signing up for exhaustion and disillusioned burnout. I can already see its signs in the audiences I speak to and the people I meet. It is imminent. And, for the love of God, we can't afford to let it happen” (p. 60).

I hope the Adventist community can increasingly embrace these lessons so activists will also be concerned about Jesus' return and evangelists will also care about social issues affecting people today. To be only an activist or only an evangelist is to miss the importance of the other element, like trying to make chocolate milk with only milk or only chocolate. While Jesus' healing and preaching can be studied separately, the intertwining of these actions reveals the synergy that can result from approaching them in a more unified way—social action that speaks to God's good future, and preaching that calls for us to embody God's traits of compassion, justice and love.

“Thus says the LORD, 'Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come And my righteousness to be revealed.'” Isaiah 56:1

“True sympathy between man and his fellow man is to be the true sign distinguishing those who love and fear God from those who are unmindful of His law.” Ellen White (Welfare Ministry, p. 36)

“It is only by an unselfish interest in those in need of help that we can give a practical demonstration of the truths of the gospel.... Much more than mere sermonizing is included in preaching the gospel.... The union of Christlike work for the body and Christlike work for the soul is the true interpretation of the gospel.” Ellen White (Welfare Ministry, p. 32-33)

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[1] Autobiography of Joseph Bates, 1792-1872, Chapter 23. Accessed online on November 20, 2014, http://www.earlysda.com/bates/joseph-bates23-end.html.

[2] Andrew Cockburn, “21st Century Slaves,” National Geographic. Accessed online on November 20, 2014, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/.

[3] “35.8 Million People Held in Modern Slavery,” al Jazzera. Accessed online on November 20, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/18/modern-slavery-millionstrappedtoday.html.

Featured Image Credit: "Chain (PSF)" by Pearson Scott Foresman - Pearson Scott Foresman, donated to the Wikimedia Foundation. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chain_(PSF).jpg#mediaviewer/File:Chain_(PSF).jpg

Flanders Field: Reflections on War by Reinder Bruinsma

Reinder Bruinsma originally posted this essay on his blog (30 October 2014, link). Dr. Bruinsma was one of the presenters at the WWI symposium APF reported about this summer (link), and he is contributing two chapters to a book on Adventist mission and social ethics that will be published by the Andrews University Press in 2015. See his full (translated) bio below.

Flanders Field

It was some twenty years ago that I first realized how terrible the First World War had been. In far away Australia I visited the War Memorial—a museum that pays a lot of attention to the Australian contribution to the Allied cause in the Great War (as WW I is referred to in many countries). During that visit I understood better than ever before that nations from all over the world were involved in this world-wide dispute. A few years ago I was, quite unexpectedly, also confronted with this same fact, as I was travelling with a group in Turkey. Our guide told us that near the Dardanelles more than one million soldiers lost their lives in Word War I.

There are, however, few places that are so moving, as far as the Great War is concerned, as Ieper in Belgium. In a part of southwestern Belgium and the North-West of France one finds dozens of war cemeteries, where hundreds of thousands of men and women from dozens of different nations have found their last resting place. The remains of the trenches in which the opposing armies were involved in an inhuman process of cruelty and senseless violence, still tell their macabre story. But it is, in particular, the Flanders Field Museum in Ieper that is unforgettable in its sadness. It is truly a fitting monument for the millions who lost their lives between 1914 and 1918. And, why and for what, in fact, did they die? Its subject matter would make the visitor even more downhearted, were it not for the magnificent medieval building, the famous Lakenhal, in which this museum is housed.

I have always loathed everything that has to do with war. As a boy I never liked books about war and I did not go to war movies. I was fortunate enough that I could escape the obligatory military service, since I studied theology—which at the time in the Netherlands provided a possibility to stay out of the army. But, had I been conscripted, I would have refused to bear arms. It always made me proud to belong to a church that was opposed to war and that advocated a non-combatant position.

To my deep regret, in many countries this Adventist tradition of non-violence has been watered down, or even changed into the opposite. This is especially true for Adventists in the United States, where so-called patriotic feelings have ‘inspired’ ever more men and women to serve their country by opting for a career in the military. A visit to Flanders Fields should be required for all fellow-believers who consider joining the army!

Yes, I know there are weighty arguments against radical pacifism. I must admit that I am happy that people are currently fighting the IS, and I would not want to live in a place where there is no police. But there are at least as solid arguments for resurrecting the Adventist tradition of non-violence. After all, in our world there are plenty of men and women who are prepared to take up arms. But there are always too few people who want to do everything to promote and model peace. Remember: Blessed are the peace makers. Real happiness is for those who pursue reconciliation and peace. They will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9). My visit to the Flanders Field Museum reinforced in me that long-held conviction.

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Reinder Bruinsma Bio (partially translated by Google Translate; original): "I live with my wife Aafje in Zeewolde (Flevopolder, Netherlands). I have over forty years of experience working within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in various capacities and in various countries. I have written twenty books and hundreds of articles in both Dutch and English. Writing is now one of my main activities. Since September 2011, I also temporarily held the position of president of the denomination in Belgium and Luxembourg. Fortunately, there still remains some time for travel and other fun things.

Featured Image Credit--Flanders Field: By King, W. L. (William Lester) (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007663169/) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Making Peace (Brown, Adventist World)

Nathan Brown originally wrote this essay for Adventist World (8 November 2014, link).

Making Peace

November 11 is known in various parts of the world as Armstice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day. It marks the anniversary of the end of World War I, ironically tagged as “The War to End Wars.”

Sadly, almost 100 years later, we still live in a violent, war-ravaged, and divided world. Violent conflict is a significant cause of injustice, poverty, and suffering. Included in the costs of war are the direct victims and shattered lives, the attention and resources devoted to military machinery that would be better diverted to alleviating other human needs, and the continuing suffering of war survivors and veterans, even among the “victors.”

There is something about making war that messes with our humanity. The ongoing struggles experienced by veterans of the Vietnam War are perhaps the most notorious example of this. Australians were involved in the Vietnam War between 1962 and 1973, during which time 521 Australian personnel died in active service. In the three following decades, 421 “surviving” veterans are known to have committed suicide, with the suicide rate increasing decade by decade.

The figures are even more disturbing when we look at the much larger veteran population in the United States. Reports vary across the many studies that have been conducted, but as early as 1979 a report from the University of Denver’s School of Professional Psychology concluded that “more Vietnam veterans have died since the war by their own hand than were actually killed in Vietnam.”

And the suicide statistics are simply the most extreme count of larger problems, often grouped under the generic designation of post-traumatic stress disorder. Suicide is an expression of the mental, emotional, and spiritual scarring that also contributes to mental illness, homelessness, alcoholism and other drug dependencies, family breakdown, and continuing physical ill-health.

Both in practice and in aftermath, there is a stark difference between being prepared to die for one’s beliefs, family, or nation—“Greater love hath no man than this . . .” (see John 15:13)—and killing for one’s beliefs, family, or nation. That is why the people of God are called to a different way of living, even amid the violence, warmongering, and other conflicts of our world. The kingdom of God, as inaugurated by Jesus, is never advanced by violence.

At the heart of the gospel of Jesus is God’s gracious and grand act of peacemaking, reconciling sinful human beings with their Creator. This is another way of understanding the plan of salvation, and one that we can readily appreciate from our experiences of human relationships. And the reconciliation we receive becomes the pattern for us to be “ambassadors” for this reconciliation (see 2 Cor. 5:18–21).

Even in the Old Testament, the concept of peace is closely linked with salvation and the gospel: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation” (Isa. 52:7, NLT*).

This gospel of peace also becomes the motivation, pattern, and resource for working for peace in our violent world: “The heart that is in harmony with God is a partaker of the peace of heaven and will diffuse its blessed influence on all around. The spirit of peace will rest like dew upon hearts weary and troubled with worldly strife” (Ellen White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 28).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9, NLT). Taking this further, not only did He affirm the commandment against killing, precluding Christian support of war, He said we should not be angry or hold a grudge (see Matt. 5:21-26), and that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute (see Matt. 5:43-48), meaning that we should take active steps to seek their good.

There are many inspiring stories of people who have devoted their lives to peacemaking in world trouble spots, bringing glimpses of reconciliation and healing, and often alleviating much of the injustice and suffering these conflicts have brought. Whether working for peace between nations or between two bitter family members, Jesus said that those who do such work will be rightly described as “children of God.”

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*Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Featured Image Description & Credit: "Box with graves of deceased internees of several conflicts at the Bremgarten cemetery in Berne; Berne, Switzerland. In the foreground polish in the background french and belgium soldiers (1914–18, 1939–45), in centre the stele for the deceased internees of the armée de l'est (1871), WWI and WWII." © Chriusha (Хрюша) / CC-BY-SA-3.0 / (optional) Wikimedia Commons.

Stewards of God's Gifts (Davidson)

"Christians and Creation Care," is the lead article in the November/December edition of the Lake Union Herald. In this article, Jo Ann Davidson, professor of theology at the Andrews University seminary, expands the notion of stewardship to include all of the earth. She writes:

It seems curious, even ironic, that Christians who believe in the Divine creation of this planet, and who maintain the importance of good stewardship of money, such as tithing, have been mostly silent about stewardship of anything else, even as critical issues concerning the environment gather more and more attention.... Our definition of stewardship needs to become more comprehensive. (p. 14)

After highlighting a number of key verses on creation care from both the Old and New Testaments, Davidson looks ahead to the age to come.

The Apocalypse...concludes with the resplendent restoration Old Testament prophets promised earlier, reminding again that redemption involves the renewal of creation with the material world participating! Salvation is never depicted as escaping from the Earth but, rather, reclaiming it! Jesus comes again to restore this damaged planet--not annihilate it. When he destroys sin and evil, the material world...will be reestablished in its original glory! (p. 17)

Moving to application of theology, Davidson instructs:

Seventh-day Adventists could, thereby, be honoring the Creator by recycling, preserving water and composting, etc., and exhibiting the link of the plant-based diet to environmental issues (p. 17)

Davidson then concludes,

Resurrection day will begin to erase all that has been lost because of sin. We await the future kingdom of peace when all creation will be restored with us. In the meantime, thankfully, there are now many helpful resources that can inform our stewardship. Each person can make a difference. Creation care is a significant way we can show appreciation to the Creator for the gift of life. (p. 17)

The two pages following Davidson's article are also dedicated to creation care. Page 18 has two extended quotes from Ellen White on the topic, and page 19 describes ways to recycle aluminum, electronics, glass paper, plastics and steel (PDF).

[Blog feature photo credit: By Mark6davies (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons]

Adventist Physicians Confront Ebola

Two Adventist doctors--Gillian Seton and James Appel (a member on the APF Advisory Board)--who have been screening potential Ebola patients at Cooper Hospital in Liberia, are currently in the United States. Dr. Seton plans to return to Liberia, while Appel will be returning to Chad where he has worked for more than a decade. We feature Appel's book, Nasara, on the APF resource page.

Here is a non-exhaustive round-up of the considerable media coverage they have received:

LLU Alumni Deliver Health Care at Ebola Stricken Region (ANN, 15 Aug 2014)

Dr. Gillian Seton, a 2008 graduate of Loma Linda, has served since February at Cooper Adventist Hospital in Liberia as a participant in the university’s Deferred Mission Appointment program. The program, developed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, provides financial support to medical and dental students committed to overseas mission service.

Another physician, Dr. James Appel, a 2000 Loma Linda graduate, is expected to arrive this week in Liberia to provide medical care alongside Seton at Cooper Adventist Hospital. Appel has spent the last decade as a family medicine physician in the north-central African country of Chad. (article link)

Back from Africa, Loma Linda University Med School Grads Discuss Ebola (Steinberg, The Sun, 28 Oct 2014)

Seton and Dr. James Appel were in Loma Linda recently to attend the Global Healthcare Conference at Loma Linda University and speak to community members.

Lack of protective gear, few sinks for handwashing and little training in infectious disease control combine to make hospital work in West Africa dangerous, as this year’s outbreak Ebola takes its toll, according to Loma Linda University medical school graduates back from the continent.

“I am very disappointed by the American public’s reaction (to the Ebola threat),” said Seton, 33. “It makes me very angry.”

Seton and Appel bristle at the notion that Ebola can spread like a wildfire.

“The only way to get Ebola is if someone vomits on you, defecates on you, urinates on you or bleeds on you,” Seton said in an interview. (article link)

James Appel Documents Journey to Liberia (Appel, Adventist Health International)

Loma Linda University grads staying in Ebola-plagued region (Steinberg, The Sun, 17 Aug 2014)

In Face of Ebola, California-Trained Doctor Treats Patients in Liberia (Aliferis, State of Health, 21 Aug 2014)

Colorado doctor helping the sick in Ebola-stricken Africa (Illescas, Denver Post, 24 Aug 2014)

Dispatches from Ebola-Hit Liberia (Appel, Spectrum, 8 Sept 2014)

Loma Linda physicians: U.S. Ebola preparedness inadequate (Steinberg, The Sun, 25 Oct 2014)

Headlines: Gillian Seton Says Ebola Epidemic Exaggerates Risks (Dietrich, Spectrum, 28 Oct 2014)

6 QUESTIONS: Missionary doctor returns from epicenter of Ebola outbreak (Kleckner, KULR 8, 30 Oct 2014)

Adventist Videos on Ebola

NAD Social Media Campaign - The Ebola Crisis in West Africa (NAD). "The North American Division is starting a social media based funding campaign to support the fight against Ebola in West Africa. Adventist Health International manages two hospitals in Sierra Leone and Liberia. They are working to provide much needed health care for the people of this region. Please support the dedicated medial professionals and staff who are putting their own lives on the line to provide relief to those suffering in West Africa."

[vimeo 108797800 w=500 h=281] <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/108797800">NAD Social Media Campaign - The Ebola Crisis in West Africa</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/nadadventist">NAD Adventist</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Adventism, Ebola, and You (3ABN). "Due to soaring interest in our 3ABN Today Live program, “Adventism, Ebola, and You,” we have just posted this two-hour program on YouTube. Viewers can watch this fascinating interview with Dr. Peter Landless, director of Health Ministries for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, as well as Dr. James Appel, and Dr. Gillian Seton, who have just returned from caring for patients at the Cooper Adventist Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia."

Part 1 (YouTube)

Part 2 (YouTube)

Islamic Professor Addresses Peace at Oakwood University

"Dr. Mahmoud M. Ayoub, professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut and emeritus professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religions at Temple University," recently spoke at Oakwood University, a historically black Seventh-day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama. Ayoub's presentation ("Islamic Visions of Peace") was for the 2014 'Ahl al-Kitab Lectureship, which was sponsored by Oakwood's Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations and the Huntsville Islamic Center, according to Kay Campbell of AL.com.

Ayoub shared that "'Salaam' as the Qu'ran describes it, is more than the absence of war." Rather, it "is doing something positive--building up the Earth to make it a holy, safe place to make it the abode of God."

Ayoub also spoke about jihad and helping people.

The only armed struggle, or "jihad," authorized by the Qu'ran, said Ayoub...is an armed struggle on behalf of the oppressed.

"This is the ethics of war, according to the Qu'ran," said Ayoub, who is blind and speaks in a still, quiet voice. "War is always a last choice - and if the enemy inclines toward peace, then you should, too."

"Muhammad taught the middle way," Ayoub said. "The goal is to help people who are in need. The world will never be perfect, but it can be a great deal better than it is today. What is the problem? Human greed, and people making idols of a nation or of wealth or even a religion."

This report is based on two articles by Kay Campbell at AL.com:

• What is the Islamic vision of peace? Internationally respected Islamic scholar to lecture in Huntsville (23 Oct 2014)
• Muhammad taught 'middle way;' peace is theme of Quran, says Islamic prof at Oakwood University (23 Oct 2014)

AR: 14 Soldiers in God’s Army

The Adventist Review continues the recent focus on the anniversary of World War I with the story, "14 Soldiers in God’s Army" (Victor Hulbert, 28 Oct 2014).

The article begins with a brief description of the abuse the Adventists experienced:

Fourteen Adventist soldiers laid down their tools at 4:00 p.m. on Friday to prepare for Sabbath. But the sergeants were ready, armed with sticks, revolvers, and boots. Severe beatings followed. The bruised British conscripts then were roughly thrust into prison cells, irons tightly clamped on their wrists, digging into their flesh, their hands behind their backs.

After relating the staggering statistics relating to WWI, Hulbert shares,

Adventist soldiers found a different kind of horror. Determined to keep the Sabbath and not carry weapons, they were beaten, starved, forced to clean toilets to a shine without equipment, and punished with the dreaded “crucifixion,” which saw soldiers shackled in irons and painfully strapped to a gun wheel or some other object for hours in the hot sun.

Hulbert describes the difference between the ways leaders in Great Britain and Germany responded to the war. Adventists in Germany predominantly supported fighting for the nation, though some did resist, which led to the Reform Movement.

Adventists in Britain took a different stance. They followed the Adventist example of noncombatance adopted during the American Civil War in 1861 to 1865. This was not an easy choice, and British Adventists were widely scorned as belonging to an odd, working-class church exported from the U.S.

Things went smoothly, more-or-less, for the first 18 months for the Adventists who were conscripted.

But a new young officer took charge in November 1917, and he declared that Sabbath duty was mandatory. When the Adventists refused to work, they were placed under court martial and sentenced to six months of hard labor at Military Prison No. 3 in Le Havre.

The lengthy article addresses how the Adventists were treated in prison and the steps to their eventual release. Special focus is given to their first Sabbath in prison.

The complete article can be read here.

Additional APF stories about WWI:

• WWI and the Adventist Church (30 Sept 2014)
• Viewpoints #15: Dr. Idel Suarez Jr, Reform Movement President (5 Sept 2014)
• Love Your Enemy? (27 Aug 2014)
• Symposium on the Impact of WWI on Adventism (2 June 2014)

Do Justice: Our Call to Faithful Living (Edited by Nathan Brown and Joanna Darby)

Nathan Brown and Joanna Darby have recently published a collection of essays on just living entitled Do Justice. The book is currently available in Australia, and it will be released in the U.S. in 2015. The One Project plans to distribute the book at their conferences around the world, increasing exposure for the book. ADRA Australia released the first statement about the book, which is fitting because the Forward was written by Jonathan Duffy,  former CEO of ADRA Australia and current ADRA International president.

Mark Webster, the current ADRA Australia CEO, writes that the editors have pulled "together the wisdom of a diverse group of 26 people for whom justice is a passion, harnessing their thoughts, experiences and advice into a cohesive whole." Webster continues,

Authors such as Kendra Haloviak Valentine and Ty Gibson explore that foundational nature of justice to our faith and indeed our existence. Dwight Nelson and Lowell C Cooper, among others, explore the nexus of faith and justice in the context of the church and its beliefs. Lisa Clark Diller and Zivayi Nengomasha join their voices with those of others seeking to make justice an intentional part of their lives. And another group, including Tim Gillespie, Ella Smith Simmons and Mindi Wiygul, share guidance from their own experiences of justice in practice.

The entire review can be read here.

College View Academy Hosts Fundraiser for ISIS Victims

College View Academy students put on a fundraiser for ISIS victims, Megan Conway reports for KLKN TV (ABC 8) in Lincoln, Nebraska (link). Recently, Union College also hosted an event focusing on Iraqis affected by the conflict.

KLKN article excerpts:

At the Union College campus tonight, hundreds came out for a benefit concert. The purpose of the concert was giving back to families in the middle of a war zone, thousands of miles away. College View Academy students hosted the benefit concert all in an effort to help the victims of ISIS.

Special guests Mayor Chris Beutler and his wife came to the event. Baked goods were sold and students sang and played instruments.

The volunteers raised just over six and a half thousand dollars. Their hope is to influence other schools and organizations to do the same, stressing that every little bit helps. [complete article]

Update: APF has been told the funds are going to Adventist Frontier Mission's (AFM) refugee ministry in northern Iraq (link). Also, all funds designated for Yazda are being sent to that nonprofit. Finances are going to AFM because neither ADRA nor the Middle East Union is active in the area, we are told. As of Wednesday night (15 Oct), the total raised has increased to $9,500.

The Good Neighbor Community Center posted two short videos of local media coverage:

• KLKN ABC 8 (article transcription)
• 10 11 Now

Union College Hosts Interfaith Iraq Memorial

Today is the International Day of Non-violence. The UN describes three categories of non-violent action:

• protest and persuasion, including marches and vigils;
• non-cooperation; and
• non-violent intervention, such as blockades and occupations. (link)

A meaningful story about an Adventist vigil is the recent memorial service hosted by Union College in Lincoln, NE. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that

300 people of different religious backgrounds gathered for the "Interfaith Iraq Peacemaking and Memorial Service on Sunday, which was dedicated to remembrances of Yazidis who have been killed and enslaved by ISIS" (Chris Heady, 28 Sept 2014).

The article shared the context and motivation for the event:

Lincoln is home to more than 1,000 Yazidis, a group of Kurdish-speaking people who live largely in northern Iraq. Lincoln's Yazidi community is the nation’s largest, and on Sunday some of them, along with other Lincoln residents of various faiths, tried to send out a message of peace to the world. They urged everyone to look at humans as people, not as their faith or skin color.

Doug Hardt of the Union College Center for Interfaith Studies and Culture conceived of the remembrance ceremony after traveling to Iraq this summer. After seeing one million people without homes and after talking with people who had gone through hell, he said, he wanted to do something to remember those who had died.

The article concludes:

As the group of 300 or so reflected during a moment of silence, phones lit the poem on the back of a program: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” (complete article)

See also the earlier article, "Union College's Iraqi memorial service aims to begin healing, reconciliation" (Lincoln Journal Star, 26 Sept 2014).

APF readers who are interested in nonviolent peacemaking in the Middle East may find the following items worth considering:

• CPT - Iraq
• Is There a Nonviolent Response to ISIS? (Flood, Huffington Post, 12 Aug 2014)
• What Can Christians Do About Iraq? (Raushenbush, Huffington Post, 8 Aug 2014)
• Fasting for the Middle East (September 11 to October 20) (Komarnicki, Evangelicals for Social Action, 9 Sept 2014)
• Jim Foley, ISIS, and What I Learned from Being Kidnapped (Gish, Red Letter Christians, 25 Aug 2014)
• ISIS vs the Way of Jesus (Medearis, Red Letter Christians, 11 Sept 2014)
• Acting Like A State: ISIS, the US, and Jesus as Lord (Wilson-Hartgrove, Red Letter Christians, 22 Sept 2014)
• ISIS and the Good Samaritan (Hunt, American Jesus, 22 Sept 2014)
• How Christians Reject Jesus: On Violence and ISIS (Ericksen, Sojourners, 24 Sept 2014)
• War Is Not the Answer (Wallis, Sojourners, 11 Sept 2014)
• more...

"Alternatives to Violence: Various SNVM Members Speak About the War on Da'esh (ISIS)" SNVM member Rasha al-Qass Yousef:

As a Syrian from a Christian background who has many years of experience with different Syrian opposition groups, I believe military intervention against ISIS will only lead to the creation of more extremism.

Before starting with a military solution, why not explore political, economic, and social solutions? Why did it take the West so long to embargo the oil produced by ISIS? Why did the West turn a blind eye to the flood of jihadists entering Syria through Turkey? Why no real pressure on Gulf countries for their official and unofficial massive support of different nefarious armed groups? Why did the “Friends of Syria” fail to provide Raqqa—the first liberated area in the country—with any support for the local community, the civil society organizations, and the emerging local council, despite all the calls to do so?"

—Rasha Qass Yousef, member of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement and the Syrian Democratic Forum, a co-founder of the Haquna Movement, a civil resistance group in the city of Raqqa that campaigned against both the Assad regime and the armed groups who seized the city, including ISIS

Posted on Facebook by the Syrian Nonviolence Movement

Published online by Dissent Magazine

WWI and the Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United Kingdom has compiled information regarding how Adventists in the region responded to World War One--WWI and the Adventist Church. "There were roughly 2,500 Seventh-day Adventist members in the UK in 1914. Some 130 of them were conscripted." The men who chose to be noncombatants experienced "scorn, humiliation, arrest, beating, and even threat of death." Furthermore, "a number spent time in Dartmoor, Wakefield or Knutsford prisons. A particular group of 14 were sent to France and following a court martial in November 1917 were sentenced to six months hard labour at Military Prison #3 in Le Harve."

In addition to four PDF documents--WWI Brian Phillips, Adventist Heroes Devotional Talk, Armstrong Letter 1957, The Tribunal 4-04-1918--the website also lists a number of primary sources and links for further study.

The site also has a devotional video from the 2014 SEC camp meeting. The speaker in the video is "Victor Hulbert, great-nephew of Willie Till, one of the 14 who were court martialled and imprisoned in Le Harve."

Finally, a trailer for the film, A Matter of Conscience, is provided. The complete film is now available:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qSLHb0TGcQ?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

WWI and the Adventist Church (UK)

The Story of Lucille Lewis Byard

I failed to post the following story on September 22, when Benjamin Baker of the Ellen White Estate shared it with me. I included a minimalist telling of this story in a writing project earlier this year. Adventist Archives - - -

On this day (September 22) in 1877, Lucille Lewis Byard was born in Petersburg, Virginia. She accepted the Adventist message in 1902 in New York City, and was an active member in the Jamaica Long Island Church for the rest of her life, serving as a Bible worker and church musician, renowned for her gracious hospitality and vegetarian cooking.

In October 1943 while visiting the Washington, D.C., area, Byard contracted a severe case of pneumonia. She checked into the Washington Sanitarium and Hospital, and since she had a very light complexion, it was assumed she was Caucasian. However, after she was admitted, hospital staff discovered from a patient form Byard had filled out that she was African American. Despite her pleading, Byard was discharged from the hospital. Her family took her to the Freedman’s Hospital (now Howard University Hospital) across town, but she died shortly after on October 20, 1943.

“The Byard Incident,” as it became known, sparked a grassroots protest among black Adventists, who saw the event as a reflection of the unfortunate state of race relations in the church. Several groups were formed, demanding church leaders to act to redress the situation. It was pointed out that African Americans robustly supported the Adventist church with tithes and offerings, yet were unable to be treated in church hospitals, attend certain churches and church schools, and were regularly and systematically discriminated against. Through a series of events, regional (black) conferences were organized in 1945-1946. Byard’s death was a key catalyst of their establishment.