End-Time Preparation

Seventh-day Adventists live in the end time, in the time of the three angels' messages. As such, their primary spiritual goals are (1) to prepare themselves and (2) to help prepare others to live lovingly like Christ, and to stand staunchly in Christ, at the very end of time.

Most Seventh-day Adventists take seriously 2 Peter 3:11-12, "Seeing all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God" (RSV). They take seriously the call of Jesus in Revelation 18:4, "Come out of her [Babylon], my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues."

They also take seriously the words of Ellen G. White as Christ's special messenger to the remnant, "We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in the book of life should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart. The light, frivolous spirit indulged by so many professed Christians must be put away" (The Great Controversy, pp. 489-490).

No wonder many Seventh-day Adventists today are reaffirming the words that Ellen White wrote in 1863 in reference to appropriate styles for the worship service: "The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies for the Church, 1:412).

My burden in this message is the great need that I feel for moral leadership throughout our world church, especially in view of the accommodating, market-oriented baby-boomer phenomena going on in our ranks today.

Baby-boomer Religious Revival

Newsweek magazine for December 17, 1990, featured an article on one more baby-boomer phenomenon, this time a revival of interest in religion. It stated that "at one time or another, roughly two thirds of baby boomers dropped out of organized religion. But in recent years, more than one third of the dropouts have returned."

The article continued, "Unlike earlier religious revivals, the aim this time (aside from born-again traditionalists of all faiths) is support not salvation, help rather than holiness, a circle of spiritual equals rather than an authoritative church or guide. A group affirmation of self is at the top of the agenda, which is why some of the least demanding churches are now in greatest demand."

Our own Signs of the Times for November 1990 (p. 7) quoted an article in USA Weekend by Cindy Lafavre Yorks that said, "To attract churchgoers today, you've got to please the consumer. That means high-tech entertainment. Day Care. Self-help groups. No pleas for money. No Bible thumping. Happy consumers from California to Maryland are eating up 'fast-food religion.'"

If you read Time, you may recall some alarmingly related comments by back-page essayists. In the February 5, 1990 issue, Charles Krauthammer told us that when a standardized math test was given to 13-year-olds in six countries in 1989, Korean children did the best and American children did the worst. "Now for the [really] bad news," he went on. When asked in the same test whether they felt they were good at mathematics, the American children overwhelmingly answered Yes. Krauthammer commented: "American students may not know their math, but they have evidently absorbed the lessons of the newly fashionable self-esteem curriculum wherein kids are taught to feel good about themselves."

In the November 12, 1990 issue of Time, Lance Morrow discussed various addictions current on the American scene and observed that "the American addictions have this in common: a hope of painlessness." Morrow moralized at the end of his essay that the successes America enjoyed in the past were not built on painlessness but on "hard work and sacrifice."

Krauthammer ended his column on math scores with the common-sense observation that "the pursuit of good feeling in education is a dead end. The way to true self-esteem is through real achievement and real learning."

In such a setting, the words of God's special messenger come to us with timely relevance, "The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies, 1:412).

Boomers and "Celebration"

There is considerable excitement in the North American Division these days about the so-called "celebration" churches. Letters in the Review take strong positions, and various people have expressed their curiosity and concern to me. I have been curious and concerned myself! So I have attempted a preliminary investigation on my own behalf, and perhaps you would be interested in some of the things I have found out so far.

One thing I have found out is that the term "celebration-style" has different levels of meaning. But there definitely are extreme definitions of the term, and there definitely is a move underfoot to bring charismatic and entertainment elements into our worship services.

Another thing I have found out is that the vivid video that was being shown in Indianapolis last summer apparently did not tell the real truth. I haven't seen the video, but from what I have been told by people who have seen and believed it, I think it over-stresses certain things. One result of this imbalance is that when people find out that the celebration movement isn't bad in all the ways this video claims it is bad, they aren't sure the movement is harmful at all.

"Baby Boomer" Defined

The observation above that (only) two-thirds of the baby boomers left organized religion and that of these, (only) one third are returning to religion reminds us that baby boomers are not all alike. Of course!

Nonetheless, the baby-boomer generation may fairly be said to manifest certain over-all characteristics, just as ante-bellum Southerners, "Victorians," and people who went through the Great Depression, have been observed to manifest certain over-all characteristics. Exceptions abound. Many baby boomers are strongly supportive of solid basic Seventh-day Adventism. Many others, however supportive they may be in their own way, are determined to recreate the church in their own image. The kind of baby boomers this message is concerned about are the more "characteristic" ones.

Improvements Needed

Many of our worship services need improvement. I warmly agree with people who say that Seventh-day Adventist church services ought to be interesting and vital. For years, in fact, I have taught my students to effect some changes in our typical worship services.

(a) I have pointed out (in harmony with 1 Cor 14:15) that we should sing hymns "with the spirit as well as with the understanding." (b) I have urged my students, when they become pastors, to spend more time teaching members how to work for souls and less time preaching ordinary sermons. (c) I have counseled them to allow plenty of time on Sabbath mornings for members to report what God has done through them during the week. (d) And I have urged that we should preach as if the Seventh-day Adventist message mattered, for eternal life or eternal death.

In recommending these improvements, I have attempted to follow the Spirit of Prophecy closely, citing, for example,

"All who would have their names retained in the book of life, should now, in the few remaining days of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and true repentance" (The Great Controversy, pp. 489-490).

"The minister should begin as if he knew he was bearing a message from God. He should make the essential points of truth as distinct as mile-posts, so that the people cannot fail to see them" (Gospel Workers, p. 168).

"The sermon should frequently be short, so that the people may express their thanksgiving to God" (Ibid., p. 171).

"The greatest help that can be given our people is to teach them to work for God, and to depend on Him, not on the ministers.... Let church-members, during the week, act their part faithfully, and on the Sabbath relate their experience. The meeting will then be as meat in due season, bringing to all present new life and fresh vigor" (Testimonies, 7:19).

The fact that some Seventh-day Adventist church services seem dull does not mean that "celebration" is our only option for improvement. There is a third way, based on the Spirit of Prophecy, one that involves singing with our minds and spirits both engaged, preaching as if what the Bible says really mattered, teaching people how to teach our basic truths to others, and giving them time to report the wonderful ways God has used them.

Justification Examined

The celebration style is sometimes justified by use of Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 609: "Our meetings should be made intensely interesting," and vol. 9, pp. 143-144: "The evil of formal worship cannot be too strongly depicted." These admonitions are certainly needed in some, perhaps a great many, of our North American churches.

But honesty requires respect for context. The context of the first of these statements is a warning against tardiness and "long, dry speeches" and an appeal for "the very atmosphere of heaven"—not for the atmosphere of secular entertainment. The context of the second is a call for congregations to sing with "soft"—"not loud"—music. It is also a call for congregations to sing with cultivated voices and to use "correct pronunciation," which leaves little room for breathy crooning and slouchy country-western pronunciation.

Yes, many of our worship services need improvement, but "celebration" style isn't our only choice. God has provided us an option of His own devising. "The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies, 1:412).

My Experience With "Celebration" Services

In the fall of 1990 my wife and I attended the Willow Creek Community Church, the big non-denominational celebration-type church west of Chicago. Early in February this year I also attended one of the more famous celebration type Adventist churches, in view of its being held up as a model for other Adventist churches to copy. (I am not speaking of the famous "celebration" church in Portland, Oregon, which I have not attended and cannot evaluate on personal observation.)

Regretfully, I must say that the Adventist service I attended had much more in common with the Willow Creek service than I would have preferred. Both seemed to me like accommodations to market-oriented baby-boomer demands. Every attempt to please the customer. High-tech entertainment. No pleas for money (while I was there, anyway; but see below). Helping people feel good about themselves.

I asked the Adventist church for tapes so I could get a fairer grasp of the message being presented, for I had been told that though the services may be questionable, the preaching is really good. I found that the eight sermons on the tapes, like the one I heard live, typically lasted thirty minutes or more and were quite capably ad libbed. They cited the Bible more or less and the writings of Ellen G. White somewhat. They were emotional to a degree (in my judgment) and made considerable use of slang, though they were commendably grammatical. Their overall content seemed tailored to the baby-boomer tastes alluded to in the Newsweek and USA Weekend articles quoted above.

On the tapes I heard the pastor make fun of rumors that his church wasn't fully in harmony with Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. At the same time, he seemed to repeat remarks derogatory of other Adventist churches. He definitely deemphasized repentance in favor of merely accepting God's acceptance. And in the sermons on raising money for his proposed new "celebration center," he insisted that God had called him to establish a complex of buildings including a glassed-in amphitheater for 5000, complete with tropical plants and a flowing waterfall behind the pulpit, occupying nearly half a square mile of irrigated park land. His rough estimates while preaching ran from $3,000,000 to $100,000,000. (I later learned that the vacant land was for sale at $10,000,000.)

It seems inadmissible to me that God could have inspired Ellen G. White to write her testimonies against big congregations and lavish churches and then have personally summoned the celebration pastor to build his glassed-in amphitheater for 5000 people on 300 expensive California acres. And if the pastor is lamentably self-deceived on this subject, the likelihood is enhanced that he is lamentably self-deceived on his style of worship also.

The pastor seems to be working hard. And he is a pleasant person to meet. I have known him off and on for years. I like him. What I have written here is a disappointment.

We aren't to judge motives, so Testimonies, 5:238 (1882) may or may not be appropriate but is a warning: "There have of late arisen among us men who profess to be the servants of Christ, but whose work is opposed to that unity which our Lord established in the church. They have original plans and methods of labor. They desire to introduce changes into the church to suit their ideas of progress and imagine that grand results are thus to be secured. These men need to be learners rather than teachers in the school of Christ. They are ever restless, aspiring to accomplish some great work, to do something that will bring honor to themselves."

Would it not be a kindness for responsible moral leadership to challenge some of our affable, caring, hard-working brother's ideas?

"Creative Alternatives"

Some months before attending either of the celebration churches (the non-Adventist one and the Adventist) to which I have referred, I participated in a minister's retreat for one of our Western conferences. We were all handed a document called "Creative Sabbath Morning Alternatives," distributed by one of the Union Conference departmental men. It was accompanied by an elaborate analysis of a carefully worded survey conducted a short time before in certain Adventist Sabbath schools.

The document itself was eight and a half pages long, single-spaced. I searched it then and later but found nothing at all about renewing the distinctive message of Seventh-day Adventism, or preaching the prophecies, or encouraging deep Bible study. Nothing about calls for repentance. Instead I found a typical "church-growth" paper based on market research, that is, on finding out what people want and trying to provide it. It was another example of baby-boomer revivalism.

The document offered several lists of "creative Sabbath morning alternatives." One of the lists was titled "Principles to Prevent Boring Church Services." The seventh principle was "Praise, thanksgiving, cheerfulness, pleasure, delight." Another list of creative alternatives offered twelve suggestions under the heading, "Celebration Church." Number 9 in this list was "Whole person encouraged to worship with body, mind, and spirit. This is expressed by raising hands, standing, kneeling, singing, clapping, reciting scripture, praying, et cetera."

A list of several "Key Attitudes Contributing to Successful Worship Services" ended with this key observation: "What people wear to church is not an issue in many of the fellowship and celebration-oriented churches." I could have assumed that this item about what people wear had reference to what visitors and troubled youth might wear, had it not been that the Union Conference representative who presented the paper made a big point of the item. In a coy but appealing manner, he recommended in no uncertain terms that we actually encourage our women to come to church "with all their jewelry on" to keep visitors from feeling out of place.

Evaluative Questions

It is time to ask some evaluative questions. Let's start—not because it's the most important item but because we just mentioned it—with what to wear.

Dress

Is what people wear to church a matter for indifference and accommodation? For some baby-boomers, evidently, it is, based on "market research." But historically Seventh-day Adventists have expected one another to get their guidance by going "to the law and to the testimony" (Is 8:20). Says Testimonies, 6:355, "Many need instruction as to how they should appear in the assembly for worship on the Sabbath. They are not to enter the presence of God in the common clothing worn during the week. All should have a special Sabbath suit, to be worn when attending service in God's house. While we should not conform to worldly fashions, we are not to be indifferent in regard to our outward appearance. We are to be neat and trim, though without adornment."

(Elsewhere, incidentally—as in The Health Reformer, Feb. 1, 1872, p. 6—Ellen G. White encouraged church members to sacrifice in order to help poorer members secure appropriate Sabbath clothing.)

We recall that at the burning bush God offered specific instructions in respect to Moses' clothing, requiring him to take off his shoes. God gave specific instructions as to the robing of the Old Testament priests. And in 1 Corinthians 10, He told us that our women in particular are to dress modestly. In heaven, the angels "veil their faces" in God's presence (Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 106). The precise application of this inspired information is doubtless susceptible of some adaptation to prevailing culture (e.g., God required Moses but not the priests to go barefoot), but it reveals that God does not look at Sabbath clothing the way some of our celebration people do. According to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, He does care about what we wear for public worship.

Music

Is it true that young people today won't sing the old songs? The baby-boomer revival favors contemporary songs accompanied (as at the Adventist celebration church) by powerful synthesizers, bass guitars, and electronic drums. They say that young people won't sing the old songs. I think congregationalism plays a role here, a desire for independence from the hymnbook that the rest of the church is using. Entertainment plays a part too. But the given reason often is that young people won't sing the old songs.

Well, young people do love to sing "Silent Night." In fact, as we all know, "Silent Night" is one of the most popular religious songs ever written. Yet it was composed in 1818, which was 173 years ago. Perhaps the most popular hymn today is "Amazing Grace." It was written in 1779, which was 212 years ago. The fact is that people young and old like to sing songs that are easy for them or that they know well, no matter how old the songs are. If our baby boomers refuse to sing most real hymns, some part of the reason may be that our Sabbath-school, junior-camp, and classroom leaders didn't teach them the great hymns when they were small. By contrast, at the church I attend, our elementary school children once sang "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" to the tune from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (No. 12 in our current hymnal) by memory and with evident relish.

My twin brother, Lawrence Maxwell, who edited the Guide for many years, reports that one of his junior choirs loved most to sing, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is," a golden oldie for sure. And there's Jim Nix's book of early Advent hymns, published under the leadership of Fred Stephan. The kids love it.

The truth is that Adventist young people will sing any hymn they are lovingly and meaningfully taught to sing. So while no one would insist on singing only hymns in the hymnbook—why not teach them mostly hymns that have passed the test of time and that unite them with other Adventist congregations? (The current Adventist hymnal has a special three-column index to songs that young people are known to enjoy!)

The basic claim of some articulate baby-boomers that they represent the youth of the church and speak for the youth of the church is a mistake that ought not to go unchallenged. Our baby-boomers were indeed young once, but that was some years ago. Today many of them are middle-aged professionals—men and women who, I believe, ought to be growing up and sensing new responsibilities (as, of course, many are). By contrast, since I began looking into the celebration worship style I have had several real youth tell me how much they actually dislike it. Just recently one of the mothers in the small church I attend told me that her academy-senior son is thinking seriously of going into the ministry but is hesitating because he is worried that his conference president might require him to follow the celebration format.

Clapping

Is it true that the Bible requires us to clap our hands? Baby boomers frequently cite Psalm 47:1 in favor of worship-time hand clapping. What about this?

Well, there are more than 140 references to singers and singing in the Bible. More than one hundred and forty! Yet only this one, Psalm 47:1, suggests that people ought to clap in connection with their music. By that measure, clapping was evidently a very rare experience even among ancient Jewish people. It is nowhere commanded or even mentioned in the New Testament. We have no information that it will be practiced in heaven.

The normal response to Scripture reading and words of praise in Bible times was "Amen." Not only do we find the saying of Amen modeled and instructed in the Psalms (as in 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48), but we also find that Deuteronomy 27 contains twelve injunctions to "let all the people say Amen" as part of worship in Old Testament times. We also learn from 1 Corinthians 14:16 that saying Amen—unlike clapping—was practiced in the New Testament church.

Second-century Christians used Amen. In Chapter 65 of his Apology Justin Martyr told the Imperial authorities that "when he [the worship leader] has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people express their assent by saying Amen."

Most impressive to me is the fact that Amen is the response of choice among those beings privileged to worship God face to face. At the conclusion of the magnificent universal anthem that John witnessed in Revelation 5, the four living creatures—the beings closest of all to God Himself—responded reverently by saying Amen (Rev 5:14; see also Rev 19:4).

Some baby-boomer musicians tell me that after all the practice time they invest, they deserve a burst of applause. Other musicians that I know, however, do their best so that God may be glorified, and they are offended by the cacophony of clapping that calls attention to their performances. These musicians feel most successful when their renditions cause people to focus on God and to utter awe-inspired Amens or to sit hushed in deeply reverent silence. Not long ago, such a musician expressly reminded me of this.

Saying a reverent Amen means, "Yes, that is true," or "May God make that promise come true." Amen is a confirmation of a message. It is not a form of applause. There is no place for applause in a worship service. Applause is a secular response and worship is spiritual. Applause encourages preachers and musicians to be ever more superficial and entertaining, whereas the hushed and reverent Amen encourages them to be ever more penetrating and spiritual.

Seventh-day Adventists who are old enough will remember that at least in North America (as well as in most other parts of the Adventist world) clapping for spiritual musical items was considered thoroughly inappropriate until very recent times. It seems to me that it first crept into very limited use around 1980; but it was given a solid boost at the 1985 General Conference session, when a seemingly impatient spokesman announced that despite criticism of the practice, clapping for musical items had the approval of the General Conference Committee.

However, the Old Testament, the New Testament, common sense, and heaven itself call us to revive the reverent Amen response and not give in to the noisy hand clap of the baby-boomer trend.

Dancing

What about religious dancing? Baby-boomer "celebration" people usually cite David's dancing before the Lord in 2 Sam 7, some phrases about dancing in Psalms 149 and 150, and perhaps another passage or two.

As for the phrases in Psalms 149 and 150, they do invite people to dance, but they also say, "Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to wreak vengeance on the nations." When our celebration advocates take literally the invitation to use two-edged swords to wreak vengeance on kings, we'll have better reason to trust their sincerity in requiring us to approve literal dancing.

As for David's dancing before the Lord in 2 Samuel 7, if we are to use his example as a reason for doing the same thing today, are we also to wear the linen ephod, as he did on that occasion? Are we to offer sacrifices as he did? And are we to give a cake of raisins to all the participants as he did?

We are Bible Christians. We note that dancing had no stipulated part in the worship of God laid down authoritatively in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Dancing had no part in New Testament worship. Dancing plays no part at all in heavenly worship as we know of it. And dancing was never recommended by God's messenger to the remnant.

We conclude that the current demand for license to dance in church is part of the baby-boomer revivalist fad, with its real roots somewhere else than in Scripture. Perhaps one of the roots of the baby-boomer religious dance lies somewhere in the realm of sex appeal. The Adventist celebration church that I attended offered no dancing as such the day I was present, but it did have three young women (one wearing a prominent necklace) up front during the songs performing attractive arm and hand movements. The young women were actually doing synchronized sign language, ostensibly to benefit the deaf—but why? The words of the songs were projected behind them on a big screen.

During the same service a group dramatized the crucifixion while a singer sang about the meaning of Christ's death. Unaccountably, the rough Roman soldiers were represented by two young women, fetchingly attired, who were at their prettiest when swinging their arms in time with the music to nail Jesus to the cross.

Enthusiasm

Now what about the basic argument that we ought to have much more enthusiasm in our worship services because crowds cheer wildly at football games? Let's ask a return question. Is the way people behave at football games really a model for how we should behave at a worship service?

For that matter, is the way people behave at a football game the only appropriate expression of joy? Is it the only appropriate way to express our joy over having a quiet evening at home by the fire? Is it the only appropriate way to express joy on a honeymoon?

Let us ask an even more penetrating question: Is the way football crowds cheer wildly under the influence of booze, competition, hero worship, and mass hysteria, an appropriate way for Christians to express joy even at a football game?

Let us recommend that we never again confuse the question of worship by citing football inanity as a criterion. Instead, let us probe the matter further by asking whether excitement itself is a worthy aspect of true worship.

Excitement vs. Laodicea

The initial application of the Laodicean message to Sabbatarian Adventists in the late 1850s aroused a good deal of excitement—not screaming excitement, to be sure, but repentance excitement. Significant moral gains were achieved that Heaven was pleased with. But the full reformation required was not achieved before the excitement receded, and soon Elder and Mrs. White found the work of reformation even more difficult than before. We might therefore conclude that at least some kind of excitement, repentance excitement, was a good thing in the late 1850s and, hence, would be a good thing in the 1990s.

But what did God's special messenger tell the remnant about this sort of thing in Testimonies, 1:187? "Lest his people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness."

The article just before the one in which the above excerpt appears ("The Shaking," pp. 179-184) contrasts two groups: "November 20, 1857, I was shown the people of God, and saw them mightily shaken. Some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, were pleading with God. Their countenances were pale, and marked with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great earnestness were expressed in their countenances."

In this vision Ellen White saw angels pressing in around this earnestly repenting group—while other angels were flying away from believers who "seemed indifferent" and "did not participate in this work of agonizing."

So what happened to the earnestly repenting group? From them Sr. White soon "heard a voice that sounded like many musical instruments, all in perfect strains, sweet and harmonious." (Notice the kind of music.) Then she saw the people themselves. The number of angels around them had doubled. She noticed—and this seems significant—that the people themselves "moved in exact order, firmly, like a company of soldiers." (Evidently there was no separatist congregationalism among them.) Their faces "shone with the light and glory of heaven. They had obtained the victory."

Ellen White observed that gaining the victory "called forth from them the deepest gratitude, and holy, sacred joy." Here was true celebration, based on deep repentance.

The victorious ones constituted only a small group, relatively speaking, but their numbers were immediately increased by other people taking hold of the truth and coming into the ranks—for these repentant victorious ones now taught "the truth in great power. It had effect" in winning the people who heretofore had been hesitating.

Sr. White asked what had made this great change in the effectiveness of Adventist witnessing. An angel answered, "It is the latter rain, the refreshing from the presence of the Lord, the loud cry of the third angel."

We conclude that excitement, hand clapping, dancing, worldly dress, and the almost exclusive use of contemporary music are not what God asks for when we worship Him. Nonetheless, He offers us true joy in worship, and also great effectiveness in increasing our numbers. But He offers neither the joy nor the numbers on the basis of baby-boomer market-research accommodation. He offers both on the basis of our response to His calls for earnest repentance.

Is it any wonder, then, that in the last several months I have learned of two widely separated congregations that vastly increased their membership when they chose to fast and pray seriously over an extended period? There are ways to increase both the numbers and the quality of our congregations without resorting to near-secular, emotional church-growth techniques.

The Need for Moral Leadership

The burden of my message is the need for moral leadership in a time of baby-boomer accommodation. Our winter-quarter Sabbath school lessons on 1 and 2 Samuel manifested the same sort of burden.

King Saul was a kind of accommodating baby-boomer. He certainly thought he could choose his own way of worshiping God. Samuel was commissioned to take him a stern message (1 Sam 15:22), "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

Before Saul there was Eli, an accommodationist himself and the father of two accommodationists. We are told (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 577) that he "greatly erred" in letting his sons serve in the holy ministry. He found that when his sons had grown to midlife, they were as self-centered as many of today's midlife baby boomers. "His sons had been brought up to think of no one but themselves, and now they cared for no one else. They saw the grief of their father, but their hard hearts were not touched."

Ellen White warns us not to be modern Eli's: "Those [parents and church leaders] who [like Eli] have too little courage to reprove wrong, or who through indolence or lack of interest make no earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God, are held accountable for the evil that may result from their neglect of duty" (Ibid., p. 578).

I have long been aware of a sentence in Testimonies, 5:463—I expect you too have noticed it—which says that "the work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under the most discouraging, forbidding circumstances." What made this statement seem doubly striking to me not long ago was my discovery, while reading the Fall 1990 ADVENTISTS AFFIRM, that the next sentence says, "The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith."

To the extent that today we give in to baby-boomer market-oriented church-growth accommodation and "worldly conformity," we are procrastinating to a bitter tomorrow; for the warnings, the calls for repentance, must be given! Our options are only whether we or someone else will give the warnings and whether the warnings will be given now or in a much more difficult time. "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me," Jesus says, "cannot be my disciple."

Much of the bitterness of the difficult time ahead will apparently come from enemies whom we once encouraged to throng our churches by presenting them an accommodating kind of assurance. According to The Great Controversy, p. 608, "As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition.... They become the most bitter enemies of their former brethren."

No wonder God has informed us that "the most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies, 1:412).

The Example of Jesus

We hear much these days about meeting people's "felt needs." A well known passage is cited from Ministry of Healing, p. 143, "The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, 'Follow Me.'"

Jesus certainly attempted to meet some felt needs. Plainly, He provided medical services, there being practically no other available in His day. And He relieved the poor, comforted the sorrowing, and instructed the ignorant, as the context specifically points out.

But, as the Ministry of Healing passage itself allows us to conclude, Jesus did not attempt to meet all of the people's felt needs. In view of their grinding poverty, their keenest felt need was for daily food; yet when they begged Him to provide food on a daily basis, Jesus refused, telling them rather to seek first God's righteousness, trusting God to provide their food after they met the conditions. Another intensely felt need was for political freedom; but when they tried to crown Jesus, He refused permission, referring the people rather to spiritual freedom.

It is a matter of simple observation that Jesus offered no "self-help courses" or "self-esteem seminars," in spite of the way the people were downtrodden by the Romans. He organized no family counseling programs, useful as we think they are. Perhaps He would have provided some of these services if He had had more time; or perhaps He knew that if people really consecrated themselves to Him and really became concerned to help the needy, their self-esteem would take care of itself. "The greatest help that can be given our people is to teach them to work for God, and to depend on Him, not on the ministers" (Testimonies, 7:19).

The evidence is clear that, although Jesus did definitely assure people of His Father's love for them and of His own warm acceptance of "whoever comes to Me," He rarely offered what is today called "assurance." Rather than catering to people's felt needs in order to make them comfortable, Jesus, as soon as He got the people's attention, preferred to talk about their unfelt needs, trying to make them uncomfortable so they would repent and ask for the kind of help they most needed. Jesus was constantly getting down to business, applying the ax to the root of the tree.

It seems almost unbelievable—but it's in the Bible so it is believable—that Jesus, who emptied heaven to save the human race, became deeply concerned as soon as He saw large numbers of people thronging His sermons. The very morning after reaching the peak of His popularity (when He fed the five thousand), He drove most of His followers permanently away from Him by telling them solemnly that if they really wanted life they should eat His flesh (see John 6). And in Luke 14, His reaction to seeing a large crowd was to tell the people that being His disciples would likely cost them their families and even their lives.

Jesus obviously didn't tell people these things in order to drive them away! He told them these things because He knew they had to know them if they were ever to qualify for entrance into eternity. His top-priority goal is to produce wonderful people possessing His own wonderful character. "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church" (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 69). With so splendid—and by His grace so achievable—a goal in view, anything less is second-rate, even sordid by comparison.

Most of Christ's parables contained a strong element of warning. In the parable of the expensive pearl, He taught that salvation costs us everything. In the parable of the wheat and tares, He taught that destiny is determined by character. In the parable of the two debtors, he taught that even after we've been forgiven we can still be lost if we refuse to be forgiving. In the parables of the two builders and the two sons, He taught that even calling Christ "Lord" won't save us without actual obedience. And so on, through almost all of His forty or so parables.

We are told (Steps to Christ, p. 12) that Jesus wept as He "denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity," and that there were tears in His voice "as He uttered His scathing rebukes." Praise God for those tears. Yes! But the statements show that Jesus did in fact denounce hypocrisy, etc., and did in fact deliver scathing rebukes.

Ministers today are called on to "shake off your spiritual lethargy. Work with all your might to save your own souls and the souls of others. It is no time now to cry, 'Peace and safety.' It is not silver-tongued orators that are needed to give this message. The truth in all its pointed severity must be spoken" (Testimonies, 5:187).

Scripture does not promise the crucial end-time "seal of God" to superficially happy people. It offers it instead to those who "sigh and cry over all the abominations" that are going on in the church (see Ezekiel 9). According to Ellen White, the Seventh-day Adventists who will be saved when Jesus comes will not be the ones who have accommodated their principles to market studies but will be the "sighing, crying ones" who have been "holding forth the words of life." Faithfully, they will have "reproved, counseled, and entreated." (See Testimonies, 5:210-211.)

No wonder we've been told that "the most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies, 1:412).

Lessons from Our Heritage

In defense of even the more vigorous variety of "celebration" worship today, some Seventh-day Adventists are referring to noisy enthusiasm in the earliest Adventist history and saying we should revive such noisy enthusiasm in order to be "true to our heritage." So let's examine our heritage.

Evangelistic preaching was often flamboyant in the 1830s and 1840s, teeming with graphic word pictures and emotional illustrations. Camp meetings conducted by the various denominations were like magnets attracting highly demonstrative types of people.

By contrast, William Miller and his leading associates presented cerebral messages that required careful analysis of complex Bible prophecies, thus setting the format which Seventh-day Adventist evangelists emulated for a hundred years.

Miller became deeply concerned when he heard the rumor that in some Millerite meetings people were shouting, "Bless the Lord" and similar slogans. "I have often obtained more evidence of inward piety," he wrote, "from a kindling eye, a wet cheek, and a choked utterance, than from all the noise in Christendom." When individuals attending Millerite meetings began showing "bodily manifestations," Millerite leaders rebuked their behavior as "evil, only evil." When an enthusiast objected that Joshua Himes was throwing cold water on the Holy Spirit, Himes replied that he would throw the Atlantic Ocean on such behavior before he would let it continue. (See Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry, 308, 309, 481-484; emphasis Miller's.)

Top Millerites opposed noisy enthusiasm decisively. They displayed strong moral leadership. Their example is part of our heritage.

In 1854, some non-Sabbath keeping Adventists got excited over the mistaken idea that Christ was coming back within that year. Some time later, some of these Adventists accepted the Sabbath and began creating trouble for their fellow Seventh-day Adventists. They wanted constantly to relive the emotional highs they had experienced back in the 1854 expectancy. In 1863, Ellen White's attention was directed to these excitement-hungry Adventists, and what she said about them is instructive for us today (see Testimonies 1:409-422).

a. "Some are not satisfied with a meeting unless they have a powerful and happy time," she observed in 1863. "They work for this, and get up an excitement of feeling" (Testimonies, 1:412). To this she responded: "The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart."

b. Just as today, one of the arguments used to defend worship-time excitement in 1863 was that the ministers who promoted it were able to reach certain kinds of people. "Such preachers have success among a certain class," Ellen White acknowledged, but she deplored their success, warning that it would "greatly increase the labor of those servants whom God shall send, who are qualified to present before the people the Sabbath and the gifts in their proper light" (ibid., p. 414).

c. One of the taped sermons cited above contains the wish that all Adventists could be wired in such a way that they could be caused to forget everything they'd ever learned about worship—so they would shout out loud and do other exciting things. Ellen White observed in 1863, "There are many restless spirits who will not submit to discipline, system, and order (ibid., p. 413). "The only remedy... is thorough discipline and organization" (ibid., p. 411).

d. Both of the celebration congregations that I attended were at times extremely noisy. Much of the music was loud. Further, the Adventist service was notable for its sermon on humility—a fine, polished presentation with a paradoxical ending. (I returned for the second service to be sure I had heard the ending correctly and found it more pronounced the second time.) After an eloquent appeal for humility the pastor closed his message with an example of "arrogance," setting off "humility" the more clearly by contrast. He said he chose the word "arrogance" as representing the worst forms of pride.

In his example, a person whom he described as a far better musician than himself had stayed after service the previous Sabbath until nearly everyone else had left. Then, after mentioning several positive aspects of the service, the musician had spoken privately to the pastor about the music style the pastor employed, hoping to help him change to a different style. This, the pastor insisted (in 1991), was sheer "arrogance."

Back in 1863 Ellen White observed, "Noise was considered by many the essential of true religion, and there was a tendency to bring all down upon a low level. Many regarded this as humility, but when opposed in their peculiar views, they would become excited in a moment, manifest an overbearing spirit, and accuse those who did not agree with them, of being proud, and of resisting the truth and the power of God" (ibid., pp. 409-410).

In 1863, Ellen White opposed noisy enthusiasm with strong moral leadership. It's part of our heritage.

Many North American Seventh-day Adventists are acquainted with the controversy over music caused by the camp meeting held in Muncie, Indiana in September 1900. Dr. Paul Hamel's study of it in his Ellen G. White and Music (see the Fall 1990 ADVENTISTS AFFIRM) is particularly helpful at the present time. Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell, who attended the Muncie camp meeting on behalf of the General Conference, reported to Ellen White that the music was so loud it "drowned" everything else. The whole experience, they said, was "much excitement and music."

The Haskells' list of instruments used and a lay-eyewitness's list largely coincide: "trumpets, flutes, stringed instruments, tambourines, an organ, and a big bass drum." That's all! Without electronic amplification, the flutes, tambourines, reed organ, and stringed instruments are not likely to have made very much noise. Whatever actual noise was produced at the Muncie camp meeting probably came mostly from the trumpets and the single large drum. And we learn that the Muncie Daily Herald of September 13 estimated that some 3,500 people were present for some of the meetings, which is a number large enough to absorb a great deal of the sound that the trumpets and drum were able to generate.

We conclude that the Muncie camp meeting at its most hysterical wasn't very loud compared to the high-decibel potential of modern amplified synthesizers, drums, and string bases. Even so, the music at Muncie was perceived to be loud. By people unused to it, it invoked palpable religious fervor and excitement—which the local conference president defended by arguing that the musicians were using only those instruments mentioned in the Bible.

Church leadership at the 1901 General Conference took a clear stand in harmony with Ellen White's counsel. The Indiana leaders submitted their resignations in response to strong moral leadership at the top. It's part of our heritage. Leadership opposition to noisy emotional worship styles is a part of our heritage that God surely wants us to reaffirm today.

Recent Negative Influences

The celebration movement has not risen in a vacuum. We have observed that it is a product of the baby boomer generation. But baby boomers are not entirely responsible for it. Other factors influencing celebrationism include, of course, (1) the intense impact of television and (2) the development of a bevy of contemporary secular music styles that have diluted Christian witness while claiming to expand it.

Another pervasive and highly significant factor has been (3) the trend among many American Pentecostal churches since 1950 to become Evangelicalized and of many American Evangelical churches to become Pentecostalized.

(4) Before the 1950s, "worship" was characteristically defined by Seventh-day Adventists as "obedience to God's will." Thus W. W. Prescott, in his gloriously Christ-centered booklet, Christ and the Sabbath, said in 1893, "The highest form of worship is in obedience." This widespread old-fashioned Seventh-day Adventist definition of worship was based on the concept of true worship as loyalty to the commandments of God in opposition to the mark of the beast, as presented in the three angels' messages.

For a century Seventh-day Adventists were proud of their little white churches with a copy of the Ten Commandments hanging behind the pulpit. They were proud of them; they attended them regularly. Attendance on Sabbath regularly equaled church membership, with the number of unbaptized children and visitors making up for the missing members. But in the 1950s "worship" came to mean a religious meeting, with vested choirs and palms and cushioned pews. The little white churches gave way to suburban structures indistinguishable from mainline church buildings, and many Adventists eagerly identified our church as "Evangelical." Even so, attendance held good for awhile.

(5) But also in the 1950s influential Adventists insisted that Christ was not our example, that for sinners this side of Adam's fall, obedience to God was impossible, and that development of a Christ-like character was certainly impossible. By the 1960s some ministers found their credentials in jeopardy if they but quoted COL 69, "Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church." This theology of the impossible developed vigorously in the 1970s into a theology of easy assurance; indeed, for many Adventist ministers assurance became the test of all other doctrines, including the sanctuary and the judgment. Justification all but eclipsed sanctification. A sentimentalized view of God's love all but eclipsed His law.

(6) At the same time, "liberal" baby-boomer Adventists began to dominate many of our North American college religion departments and some of our most influential pulpits. The extent to which they undermined the faith is almost unbelievable. (For corroboration, see articles by Enoch Oliveira, Edward Zinke, and Gerhard Hasel in the spring 1991 Journal of the Adventist Theological Society.)

The tragic result of the operation of these negative factors is that even Sabbath keeping has become optional in many minds, and church attendance in many of our larger North American churches has fallen to half, or a third, or even a fourth or fifth of the membership. For many in North America, Seventh-day Adventism has lost its uniqueness, its challenge, its tang, its vitality, its true excitement.

And so to take the place of the real vitality and true excitement of God's end-time message, a wave of baby boomers is demanding that we ape the superficial self-pampering excitement of the Pentecostalized Evangelical churches. Babylon is being dragged into our midst instead of our fleeing for our lives out of Babylon.

Conclusion

When I was a boy I was led to feel really proud and grateful to be a Seventh-day Adventist. I was taught that God had raised up this church to teach a very special message and to do a very special work at a very special time. God had earnest Christians in other churches to be sure, but the other churches to which they belonged had become Babylon in contrast to the Seventh-day Adventist church, which God in His grace had styled the remnant church. God's ideal organization I saw as a white church painted on a dark background. I still believe these things.

And I find that a great many of our people, young people included, yes, and many baby-boomers too, believe these things. They want to be Seventh-day Adventists. Many are persisting in standing for the right; but many others are weakening and giving in, because our "celebrationist" baby boomers are often articulate and speak out persuasively, and too many of our administrators and leading pastors and teachers seem afraid to speak back.

Meanwhile, what has been accomplished? First, we have seen the Adventist church painted gray. Embarrassed to state that we have the truth and are the remnant, too many voices have insisted that our message isn't much of an improvement after all. Then they have painted the other churches gray, and insisted that they aren't so bad after all. So what is left? A gray church on a gray background; a church virtually indistinguishable—except for some kind of Sabbath observance—from all the others. And now people want us to celebrate the accommodation.

What special commission has God assigned to the Seventh-day Adventist movement? Has He (1) commissioned us to be almost indistinguishable from Babylon? Has He (2) commissioned us to be all-things-to-all-men cradle-to-grave needs suppliers and ego builders? Or has He (3) commissioned us to concentrate on carrying the third angel's message to all the world through the vehicle of Christ-like lives until everyone on earth has heard Christ's own end-time message and seen it lived?

If number 3 is the answer, then what we believe and teach is so vital that all administrators are duty bound to reaffirm those things and do their best to see that what our pastors and teachers believe and teach is bona fide Christ-centered Seventh-day Adventism.

I believe that many of you administrators feel much as I do. You yearn for wisdom and courage to uphold a high standard of loving but responsible, clearly identifiable Seventh-day Adventist moral leadership—and the wisdom and courage to express it. My prayer is that God will give you this wisdom and courage in rich measure, and that He will give it to you when you need it most, when you're delivering keynote addresses, and sitting on boards and committees, and interviewing workers, and writing letters.

To this end, here is an impressive thought: "If you lower the standard in order to secure popularity and an increase in numbers, and then make this increase a cause of rejoicing, you show great blindness. If numbers were an evidence of success, Satan might claim the pre-eminence; for, in this world, his followers are largely in the majority. It is the degree of moral power pervading the college, that is a test of its prosperity. It is the virtue, intelligence and piety of the people composing our churches, not their numbers, that should be a source of joy" [Counsels to Teachers, p. 94].

There is much we can do to enhance our worship services without cheapening and Pentecostalizing them:

We can work for greater participation by teaching our members how to work for others during the week and on Sabbath tell how God has worked through them.

We can put more life into hymns by singing them "with the spirit and with the understanding."

We can reaffirm the great truths of our distinctive message and teach them in a way that stirs people to take them seriously, to repent of their sins, and to make impelling, life-changing choices.

We can make church appealing and meaningful by preaching the real Christ of cross, sanctuary, and second-coming.

We can uphold Christ's big dream for each one of us. His top priority is to produce wonderful people possessing His own wonderful character. "He is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church." With so splendid—and by His grace so achievable—a goal in view, anything less is sordid by comparison.

And we can take earnestly the inspired counsel which says, "The most profitable meetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized with solemnity and deep searching of heart" (Testimonies, 1:412).