Book Review: Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist

Milton Hook has written the first full biography of Desmond Ford - and it is a great read! It provides some timely insight into the man, his message, and the denomination he served for so many years.

Hook writes passionately about his subject and disclaims any idea that history can be written absolutely objectively. Despite that, Desmond Ford is superbly documented with detailed endnotes. And for those of us who know some of the history it resonates as truth. As Hook points out in his introduction to the reader, many of the people he refers to as he tells Ford's story intersected with Hook's own life giving him a direct perspective on the events. But the primary source for the story comes from Des Ford himself.

I can remember, as a young boy, sitting in my country church listening to a much younger Des Ford answering question after question on the Bible. I was impressed with the breadth and depth of his knowledge and the passion with which he spoke. Since then I have met Des Ford quite a few times and heard him speak. One thing that always shines through is his consistent focus on the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone. And this focus remains to this day.

Des Ford's life has been inextricably entwined with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Because of this, Hook's book is much more than a biography of Ford. It is also the story of what must be seen as one of the worst periods of Adventist history when it comes to the way that theology has been done and people have been treated.

Hook begins his book by describing the event that occurred on Saturday afternoon, August 23, 1980 when an enormous crowd heard that Des Ford's thesis was rejected at Glacier View and was probably to face disciplinary action. Hook asks:

Why would a Christian church, in the enlightened and progressive Twentieth Century, deliberately deprive itself of one of its best theologians, who at the same time was loyal, industrious, and arguably their most dynamic preacher of Christ's gospel?

Why, indeed? Hook returns to Ford's childhood in Queensland, Australia to begin to find an answer to that question. From that point the story is a compelling one of a man who is passionate for God and the gospel coming into conflict with a church administration that is more concerned about preserving tradition and power than it is about pursuing greater understanding of theological truth.

The subtitle of the book is reformist theologian, gospel revivalist. This subtitle perfectly describes the life of of Des Ford.

Reformist Theologian

Des Ford was one of the best theologians that the SDA denomination has ever had. From a very early point in his thinking he had questions about the Adventist doctrine of the Investigative Judgment. For much of his career he struggled to find biblical ways to support the doctrine until, eventually, he came to acknowledge that it had no biblical basis. Once he began to publicly share his views, the denominational administration responded by using political machinations to ultimately defrock him.Sadly, the church decided to make decisions on the basis of tradition rather than Scripture.

Des Ford has always remained loyal to the church despite the disgraceful way it treated him. His recent decision to withdraw his membership was also more about his respect for the denomination than his own personal interest. It has also allowed him to carry out his calling to be a gospel preacher without the hindrances of a denomination that constantly instructs its members to have nothing to do with him. His first desire to reform the theology of the church from within was not to be — although for many church members their theology has been reformed!

Gospel Revivalist

The traditional SDA doctrine of the Investigative Judgment is a doctrine that leads to uncertainty of salvation, guilt and frustration, and heightened anxiety around behaviour. In essence, it obscures the true gospel. Keenly aware of the way that perfectionist tendencies in the church were constantly obscuring the beauty of the gospel of justification by grace through faith Des Ford made it his life mission to preach that gospel.

Ford was in constant battle with those who wished to impose their perfectionistic theology onto the church, claiming that theirs was the true Adventism. Ford, one of the denominations clearest articulators of the gospel, found himself constantly battling to keep the message of Jesus Christ's imputed righteousness for sinners alive and shining as a beacon calling church members out of the bondage of a legalistic righteousness that could never save. Thousands of people have found liberation from the burden of guilt and frustration as a result of Des Ford's gospel preaching which still goes on today.

Milton Hook has provided an invaluable resource with Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist. Not only do we learn about the man; we also learn about the SDA Church. At times, we tend to lose sight of Ford has Hook provides detailed discussions of theology and SDA church history.

This, in my view, is probably one of the weaknesses of the book as biography. It is completely understandable that the story of Ford is also, to a large extent, the story of a denomination. But these two stories seem to struggle for dominance in the book. Hook's passion for Ford and the way he was treated by the church comes through strongly. But I would like to read more about what was going on in Ford's mind and how he understands it all.

Desmond Ford tends to be more of a chronicle of events, discussion of theology, and criticism of the denomination. One day I would really like to see an autobiography written by Ford or a biography that truly delves into the mind and heart of the man. Having said that, enough of the mind and heart of the man is present in Hooks book to lead us to admire Des Ford's courage, determination, patience, and passion as he sought, and continues to seek, to bring the good news of salvation through grace alone by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Despite the sadness of a story of a church that rejects its own "children", it's a celebration of the power of the gospel to reassure us that we are children of God and that it matters naught what humans think. Des Ford's life is a powerful illustration of that fact.

Related Links

• The Great Invitation (Des Ford's web site)
• Good News Unlimited
• The Shaking of Adventism (features Ford prominently)
• Reflections on Adventism: An Interview with Dr Desmond Ford

Technorati Tags: Desmond Ford,Seventh-day Adventism

Book Review: It's All About Jesus

The latest book to critique Seventh-day Adventism comes from Edith Fairman Cooper entitled It’s All About Jesus: Observations of a Former Seventh-day Adventist. There are a number of things about this book that make it particularly interesting and important. Firstly, there is Cooper’s personal history. It would appear that she has no "axe to grind". One of the criticisms frequently made by those within the SDA denomination is that ex-Adventists must be so critical because they have been mistreated and are expressing their anger against the church. This may or may not be the case for some, but it doesn’t appear to be the case for Cooper. From what she says, she seems to have had a very positive experience of Adventism and left it with sadness and considerable grieving. She claims that the only reason she left is because of the evidence she examined. In the preface of her book, she explicitly states that her aim is not to present her findings ’in a critical, unkind spirit that does not reflect Christ.’ Instead, she wanted to write ’with a concern and a hope that what [she] present[s] will serve as a witness to the risen Savior and will help someone understand clearly the saving grace of Christ.’ This, in fact, becomes her "compass" as she writes. Her essential thesis is that the problematic doctrines of SDAism obscure the gospel about Jesus. Secondly, Cooper has some highly relevant skills that she has brought to the task. For approximately 35 years she worked as a social science analyst for the ’...[US] Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service, authoring numerous reports for Congress.’ Her journey out of her 27 years of Adventism began when a friend of hers remarked to her, ’You know what they say about Adventists.’ She didn’t know what her friend was referring to so decided to go on the internet and do some research. She came across a heading Seventh-day Adventism Reexamined. She found what to her was ’astonishing information’ but wondered whether it was the product of ’disgruntled former SDAs criticizing the church, or whether the concerns were valid.’ She decided to bring her research skills to bear on the issue and so she eventually came to her decision to leave Adventism. The third thing that is significant is that she writes with considerable balance. Not only does she critique what she understands to be non-biblical doctrines, but she surveys important denominational or individual responses to the criticisms made of the church. For example, F D Nichol’s book E G White and Her Critics is discussed. She also makes the point that much of the denomination’s official doctrines are quite orthodox, e.g., on the Trinity (despite the early history of anti-Trinitarian theology) and creationism (a literalist interpretation of Genesis consistent with fundamentalist evangelicalism). Cooper and her family continue to believe these orthodox doctrines and, to some extent, practice the lifestyle of Adventism. Fourthly, Cooper is a woman and black. This provides her with two important perspectives leading her to discuss the relationship of Adventism to race and gender over the course of its history - two areas a lot of critics overlook with their focus on doctrines. Fifthly, It’s All About Jesus contains most of the important criticisms of Adventist doctrine and lifestyle concerns in one book. Cooper has clearly used her research skills to draw together a wide range of sources and summarised the major problems with Adventism. It would be difficult to find a better general introduction to the criticisms of Adventism so clearly presented and in one place. The book also has the benefit of being heavily referenced with all sources clearly identified - a great help for those who wish to do further investigation. There are also a number of extended footnotes with extra information or discussion on various issues. Before turning to some criticisms of the book, let me indicate the overall structure. There are four main parts to the book covering the major areas of criticism. The first deals with Ellen G White, the church’s prophetess and one of the founders of the movement. In this section, Cooper argues, on the basis of Hebrews 1:1-2, that Jesus is the prophet for the last days. In contrast, SDAism teaches that Ellen White and her writings, often referred to by Adventists as the ’Spirit of Prophecy’, constitute a mark of the true church of the last days on the basis of the denomination’s interpretation of certain passages in Revelation. Cooper believes that this has resulted in a displacement of Jesus Christ as the ultimate authority for Christians. In this section, she also considers Ellen White’s plagiarism, the nature of her claimed visions, and the influence she had over almost every aspect of life - many teachings of which, it is claimed, Ellen White herself did not manage to live up to. Part 2 surveys the ’questionable’ doctrines and teachings of SDAism. These include the Cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary-Investigative Judgment doctrine; the Sabbath as it relates to the covenants of Scripture; the Adventist understanding of the Law; and Remnant Church theology. In Part 3, Cooper turns to some other concerns including the way that Ellen White allegedly abused her power and influence in relation to people; the way the denomination has treated individuals; and the issue of tithing. Cooper concludes with an epilogue in Part 4 where she summarises her experience and her findings, concluding that SDAism obscures Christ, the center of the gospel. At the back of the book, an Appendix contains a brief description of the ’various theological factions within Adventism’ as described by Dale Ratzlaff - another ex-Adventist critic; a discussion of the nature of man [sic] arguing for the conscious existence of the soul in the intermediate state between death and resurrection; information on Ellen White’s literary assistants; and a brief critique of the Clear Word Bible - a paraphrased version of the Bible heavily promoted by Adventist Book Centres. Now I turn to my evaluation of the book. Cooper must be complimented on her rigorous research. For anyone who has kept in touch with the controversies within SDAism, there will be few surprises. Cooper describes/summarises these well and presents them persuasively in a mostly balanced approach. The book is easy to read and the extensive footnotes are invaluable for doing further research. There is some very useful historical material included. Not only does Cooper critique the doctrines and teachings of the denomination; she also includes social history related to those who disagreed with the doctrines, e.g. Dudley M Canright, Albion Fox Ballenger, Desmond Ford, Dale Ratzlaff, and Raymond Cotrell. The book is very up-to-date. There are some "problems" with the book. Firstly, Cooper is clearly not a theologian. A good deal of her writing repeats the arguments of others. For example, in the discussion of the biblical covenants, she draws on Dale Ratzlaff’s writings. Cooper’s summaries are useful, but do not always do justice to the detail and rigour of Ratzlaff’s arguments. The reader of Cooper’s book may well wish to read further in the original sources - something the footnotes make easier to do. The fact that Cooper is not a theologian shows up most obviously, in my view, when she discusses the ’nature of man’ in the Appendix. Actually, ’discusses’ is not the right term. Cooper reproduces a lengthy excerpt from Dudley M Canright’s book Seventh-day Adventism Renounced. This is a very old publication (although it has recently returned to print) so there has been a great deal of theological discussion in the intervening years within the general Christian community on this topic. Scholars such as Clark Pinnock, and others, have increasingly come to see the SDA doctrine of annihilationism and unconsciousness of the person in the intermediate state as more consistent with the holistic view of Hebrew thought about the person. Because Cooper is not a theologian and most of her theology is, therefore, "second-hand", I would encourage readers of her book to investigate the theology in much more depth, reading arguments both for and against any particular position. The investigation of any position should include this, anyway. Overall, It’s All About Jesus: Observations of a Former Seventh-day Adventist is an engaging, informative introduction to the problems with Seventh-day Adventist doctrine and culture which should be read with the same caution one exercises with any controversial piece of literature. The overarching thesis of the book, that ’it’s all about Jesus’ is an excellent criterion for all Christians to use when evaluating doctrine. Anything which obscures the gospel about Jesus Christ should be seen as highly suspect. Click on this link to purchase It’s All About Jesus: Observations of a Former Seventh-Day Adventist or click on the image of the book at the start of this post. Related Links

• Seventh-day Adventist Church (Wikipedia)
• Adventist Church Official Web Site
• Adventist Biblical Research Institute

Book Review: Amazing Journey, Amazing Grace

Ken and Nancy Eirich, in their book Amazing Journey, Amazing Grace: The Incredible Story of How God Led Two Pentecostal Pastors Into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, tell the story of their lives from childhood, to their marriage, up until their becoming members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Their is no doubt that they have both been on an amazing journey. Both come from dysfunctional families with all the psychological trauma that brings. Nancy was constantly abused as a child in almost every way imaginable. Her story is heartrending. Ken’s story is also deeply affecting as he describes his childhood rejection and consequent self-destructive behaviour as he moved into adulthood. It is wonderful to see that both of these people have escaped from the prisons of their past and found love and security in God. My comments below are not intended to detract from that in any way. However, there are some disturbing aspects of their story. An over-reliance on "miracles" The Eirichs constantly claim miraculous intervention in their lives to such an extent that, by the end of the book, the miraculous becomes trivialised. Almost everything good that happens to them is attributed to miraculous intervention by God and anything bad the work of Satan trying to frustrate God’s detailed plan for them. This overemphasis on the miraculous leads to a number of concerns:

1. Dependence on miracles - throughout the Eirichs’s story, their faith in God rises and falls depending on what happens to them. At times, they question God’s love for them because they can’t see God working miracles for them. On a number of occasions, they describe how they ’needed’ a miracle from God to cope with events in their lives. When people rely on "miracles" to cope, faith will inevitably be fragile. The Bible warns about seeking miracles and, despite the fact that God can work miracles, makes the point that they can be counterfeited. In addition, there are times when the miraculous is used as evidence of truth. Although the Eirichs describe how they studied the Bible when considering SDA doctrine, they make the point that 15 miracles they believe they can list makes them certain that God had led them to the SDA denomination. Most Christians will want to affirm that God is capable of working miracles. But making miracles a central feature of everyday life is bound to end in disappointment eventually. The authors of this book experience disappointment frequently, but they seem very capable of rationalising all events to be either miraculous signs or satanic interference.
2. Trivialisation of the miraculous - the authors claim they can ’identify 15 indisputable miracles from the Lord that surrounded [them] becoming Seventh-day Adventists’ (p. 207) One was God impressing one of the elders of the Lethbridge Church to put a sandwich sign on the sidewalk advertising the Net ’99 meeting. They write that, unless this person had been obedient to the Lord’s impressing him to do this, it wouldn’t have been there for them to see when they drove down the street. Another alleged miracle is said to be the timing of the Net ’99 program which was delayed at the Lethbridge Church and had to be recorded from the satellite and shown later. They write, ’after a two week delay, things settled down and they decided to go ahead with the series. Interestingly enough, we had not even moved to Lethbridge when the series had been originally scheduled to begin. That two week delay gave the Lord the time necessary to get us moved and lead us to see the sign. Had the church been able to start the series on time, we would have missed the seminar completely!’ (p. 207) One has to wonder why God couldn’t have miraculously got them there on time for the original starting time rather than putting the organisers through so much frustration trying to plan the program! According to the authors, Ken remembering that the Net ’99 program was on was a miracle. And God knew exactly which session they needed to go to because Ken was particularly interested in the topic for that session. And on and on it goes. For a sensitive reader, the question inevitably arises: Why is it that God spends so much time working these trivial miracles (which, admittedly, are important to the authors) when miracles don’t seem to occur in situations where they would seem to be more urgent - war torn areas; people dying from HIV/AIDS; children being abducted from their homes and raped; kids being killed by trees in church yards falling on them (these last two were real events in my local city); women being sold as sex slaves; wives victimised by violent husbands; etc etc etc. That God should spend so much time getting two people to a Net ’99 meeting to persuade them that the SDA Church is the right church seems to be completely unfair when miracles are desperately needed in life and death situations. This leads to the next point.
3. Egocentric supernaturalism - the way these writers speak, God constantly works miracles for them. But they give no consideration to how all of this intervention works when there are other people in the world. On one occasion, when they were feeling particularly down, they discussed how they would love to have a Thanksgiving dinner which they had missed out on because of them moving from one location to another. Lo and behold, some neighbours knock at the door and invite them to a late Thanksgiving dinner. Why were they having Thanksgiving so late? The people they had originally invited had been ill and couldn’t make it until now. Did God make these people ill so that the Eirichs could have their Thanksgiving dinner when he knew they would want it so badly? If God is manipulating events and providing signs for this couple as frequently as they claim, then God must be manipulating events and people long before the miraculous events occur just for them. What the authors describe as miracle raises a host of theological questions about how God interacts with the world and with people.

A naive view of doctrinal truth The Eirich’s are totally convinced on the absolute, 100% truth of SDA doctrine. They write, ’We believe with all our hearts that we have found a pearl of great price here with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and are convinced that if there is any church on this planet that has correctly interpreted the Bible, it is the Seventh-day Adventist Church.’ (p. 221) There are, undoubtedly, many SDAs who would agree with them. But even within the denomination, there have been theological controversies over such important issues as their doctrine of the investigative judgment; the interpretation of biblical prophecy; the gospel; and others. Many scholars who are also SDAs have repeatedly shown major problems with some of the doctrinal positions the church holds. No denomination can possibly have a perfect understanding of the Bible - not while the membership is made up of imperfect humans! It is clear that the Eirichs subscribe to a highly conservative version of Seventh-day Adventism. I have read widely across a whole range of denominational literature. My conclusion is that some truth can be found in many denominations and some error in all of them. Although the Eirichs claim to have studied the Bible, a large degree of their certainty seems to be based on experience and alleged miracles. If this is the case, and they are convinced that God has miraculously brought them to the beliefs they hold, how will they be open to the possibility of error in their belief system? Evaluating truth claims on the basis of anything other than an examination of the evidence is a very dangerous thing to do. At one point, Nancy Eirich decided to go onto the internet to see what she could find out about the SDA Church. She turned up a number of sites that were critical of Adventism and its doctrines. She is quite disturbed by what she is reading and decides to call Ken to have a look. As she goes to do this, ’... the Lord spoke audibly to me and told me to stop! The voice of the Lord told me not to be afraid, but to trust Him. He then asked, "What is the fruit these teachings are producing in Ken’s and your life?" To this I confessed, "We are closer to you now than we have ever been. We have a peace I never thought possible, and we ’know that we know’ what we are learning is the Truth, and You have performed many miracles to bring us into the Seventh-day Adventist Church." To this the Lord said, "Follow; don’t lead!" And that is exactly what I decided to do--I would trust the Lord and His leading without doubt or questioning.’ (p. 202) Ironically, she goes on to study what the sites said about Seventh-day Adventists in order to ’satisfy [her] own insatiable curiosity...’. But, of course, if you have made a decision to proceed with no doubts and no questions, it could hardly be a careful evaluation. Obscurity of the gospel Although the title of the book contains the phrase ’Amazing Grace’, the grace in the story is primarily about the way the the Eirichs see God has having worked so many miracles on their behalf, rescuing them from their previous lives, and blessing them by bringing them into the SDA Church. As I have previously said, the liberation from the situations they were in during the early parts of their lives are worthy of celebration. And one most certainly would want to thank God for that. But the amazing grace of the gospel is mostly neglected. There is no clear declaration of the freely provided salvation provided by God’s grace through no more than accepting it by faith. Not only is this amazing grace neglected, but is actually obscured by the emphasis on them joining a denomination which, in their eyes, is the ultimate church on earth. Remnant Church theology The Eirichs clearly believe that the SDA denomination is the one true church. In the epilogue to the book they write, ’At this present time, God has many people in many denominations who truly love Him, but unfortunately the vast majority are being deceived by various systems of false religion. That is why--in these end days--God is calling those who truly love Him out of that system of apostate religion into His true church. And that is exactly what happened to us: God called us out of Babylon (false religion) into His Remnant Church.’ (p. 221) For the authors, the SDA Church is that church. They later go on to say that they ’came out of the Pentecostal Church, not the Catholic Church, but I believe that our zeal for the message of Adventism far surpasses that of many of those who were brought up in the rank and file.’ (p. 221) How’s that?! Not only have they come into the one true church, but they are more zealous than those who were brought up in the movement. This is a very elitist posture to take and highly judgmental. They have found the truth, the one true church, and everyone else lacks zeal and knowledge. How can this lead to anything but arrogance and elitism? Old Covenant orientation There is a distinct Old Covenant orientation to the authors’ beliefs. One of the issues they discuss is their being persuaded that the Mosaic food laws are still in force. In one of the seminars they attended, they ’learned the truth about the importance of God’s dietary laws and the health of our bodies.’ (p.203) Ken was particularly impressed with Isaiah 66:15-17 ’...when he realized how God felt about eating pork!’ (p. 204) After they ’...poured over the evening’s lesson with little excitement...’ and with Ken ’... looking for a loop-hole...’ they came to the conclusion that ’...it was all true--meats were still clean and unclean...’ (p. 204) Unfortunately, they overlooked passages in Scripture which make it clear that the Old Covenant Mosaic laws are no longer in force (eg, Hebrews; Galatians). They overlooked Acts 15 where the Mosaic laws are specifically said not to apply to Gentile Christians. They overlooked Mark 7:19 where Jesus declares all foods clean. And so on. In coming to their conclusion in regard to the issue of clean and unclean foods they seem to have taken a proof-text approach with no consideration of historical and cultural context and passages of scripture that explicitly state that the food laws of the Old Testament are no longer binding on Christians. Interventionist God At the beginning of the book, Doug Batchelor, the SDA evangelist from whom they first heard the Adventist message, writes a foreword in which he states that, ’[f]or the true believer nothing is a coincidence. But every apparent coincidence is further evidence of our heavenly father’s intervention in our lives.’ This belief is impossible to sustain in real life. If God were to constantly intervene in everyone’s life the world would be in total chaos (at least from our point of view!). The Bible doesn’t teach a constantly intervening God. Believing that every event is determined by God (whether actively or by allowing it) will ultimately lead to despair, frustration, and often loss of faith because of disappointment. And making decisions by trying to read the "signs" of events on the assumption that God is behind every one of them is also unbiblical. This is dangerous theology and the reader would do well to read some of the excellent Christian literature written on this subject by authors such as Phillip Yancey (Disappointment with God) and Gary Friesen (Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View). In summary, we can celebrate the freedom that the authors of this book have experienced as they have journeyed out of very painful, traumatic circumstances in their lives. This cannot be underestimated. And it may be that God has, in fact, worked some miracles on their behalf. But the book ultimately becomes focused on persuading the reader that the one true church is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They conclude their story with a quotation from Ellen G White (the prophetess of the Adventist denomination) who wrote that, ’"It is as certain that we have the truth, as that God lives." We wholeheartedly agree!’ (p. 222) We live in an age where absolute certainty has produced great evil. We are experiencing the results of absolute certainty in the fundamentalist extremism of terrorism, racism, and other forms of hatred in the world today. Arrogant claims that we have the whole truth - that we know we are right - need to be abandoned for respectful dialogue where genuine listening occurs and mutual exchange of wisdom takes place. This can only happen if we are intellectually humble about what we think know. There is nothing wrong with feeling confident in what we believe - that is natural and good. But to arrogantly set oneself up as the possessors of truth to the exclusion of others can only lead to isolation and elitist judgmentalism. So let’s thank God for the fact that the Eirichs now live without the oppression and evil of their early lives. But let’s be careful that we use our God-given minds to think wisely, to test all things, and to hold on to what is good. Most of all, let’s celebrate the amazing grace that God demonstrated in Jesus Christ and his provision of salvation for all. Being led to a denomination is not what Christianity is about. Being led to Jesus is everything it is about.

Seeing the Light -- Of Science (Salon)

Ronald Numbers -- a former Seventh-day Adventist and author of the definitive history of creationism -- discusses his break with the church, whether creationists are less intelligent and why Galileo wasn't really a martyr. Read his interview here.